Psalm 95 Bible Commentary

Jamieson, Faussett, and Brown

(Read all of Psalm 95)

Ps 95:1-11. David (Heb 4:7) exhorts men to praise God for His greatness, and warns them, in God's words, against neglecting His service.

1. The terms used to express the highest kind of joy.
rock--a firm basis, giving certainty of salvation (Ps 62:7).

2. come . . . presence--literally, "approach," or, meet Him (Ps 17:13).

3. above . . . gods--esteemed such by men, though really nothing (Jer 5:7; 10:10-15).

4, 5. The terms used describe the world in its whole extent, subject to God.

6. come--or, "enter," with solemn forms, as well as hearts.

7. This relation illustrates our entire dependence (compare Ps 23:3; 74:1). The last clause is united by Paul (Heb 3:7) to the following (compare Ps 81:8),

8-11. warning against neglect; and this is sustained by citing the melancholy fate of their rebellious ancestors, whose provoking insolence is described by quoting the language of God's complaint (Nu 14:11) of their conduct at Meribah and Massah, names given (Ex 17:7) to commemorate their strife and contention with Him (Ps 78:18, 41).

10. err in their heart--Their wanderings in the desert were but types of their innate ignorance and perverseness.
that they should not--literally, "if they," &c., part of the form of swearing (compare Nu 14:30; Ps 89:35).