"The Great King Above All Gods"

As noted in the Beyond Today Bible Commentary on Psalm 93, Psalms 95-99 are royal psalms celebrating God as King--perhaps composed for temple worship during the fall festival season. Though these psalms have no attribution in the Hebrew text of the Scriptures, the Greek Septuagint translation titles them "of David." The New Testament confirms this attribution in the case of Psalm 95, quoting from the psalm (compare verses 7-11; Hebrews 3:7-11) and declaring it the work of the Holy Spirit (verse 7) through David (4:7).

Psalm 95 moves through three aspects of worship: celebration (verses 1-5); humility and reverence (verses 6-7); and obedience (verses 8-11). Beginning with the celebration aspect, David calls for people to praise God with shouts, thanksgiving and joyful singing (verses 1-2). The reasons for praise? God is great and above all gods (verse 3)-meaning above all false idols (see Psalm 96:4-5)-for He is the Creator and Sustainer of all things, including everything that people have set up as objects of worship (Psalm 95:4-5; compare Psalm 96:5). This is also the reason for obedience. The Expositor's Bible Commentary points out that God's role as Creator establishes His kingship. Since God "has made everything, no one may isolate a single aspect of God's creation to be his god. The Lord rules over the seas (Psalm 93:3-4) and the great mountains (Psalm 90:1-2). They belong to the Lord by creative fiat. Creation and dominion are hereby established as corollary to each other" (note on Psalm 95:3-5).

In light of God being our Maker and our God, we worship and bow down before Him (verse 6). "The Hebrew word translated worship means literally 'to prostrate oneself.' When bow down, kneel, and worship occur together as in this verse, they amplify each other and call for a reflective, humble approach to God" (Nelson Study Bible, note on verses 6-7).

Verse 7 further explains the basis for honoring and obeying God: "We are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand." This seems a mixed metaphor, with people in a pasture. Note the unmixed metaphor in Psalm 100:3: "We are His people and the sheep of His pasture." However, reversing these is justified on the basis of the whole picture of people under a king as the sheep of a shepherd being a rather common metaphor in the ancient world. "Since kings were commonly called the 'shepherds' of their people...their realms could be referred to as their 'pastures' (see Jeremiah 25:36; Jeremiah 49:20; Jeremiah 50:45)" (Zondervan NIV Study Bible, note on Psalm 95:7). We live in the "pasture" of the earth, which was formed by God. Moreover, like the earth we ourselves are "of His hand"--made by Him and in His care.

Sheep know and follow the voice of their shepherd (John 10:3-4). Yet the nation of Israel had not done so well as the sheep of God's flock. David urges us to hear the Shepherd's voice (Psalm 95:7b, which tells us to not become stubborn, rebellious and wayward, as ancient Israel had become in the wilderness (verses 8-11). The New King James Version sets verses 8-11 inside quotation marks, as in these verses God is speaking within the words of the psalm, referring to Himself with "Me" and "My."

Although the Israelites had seen God's wonderful work (verse 9) in delivering them from Egypt by many miracles, they failed to trust Him for their daily needs of food and water.

In verse 8, the NKJV reads, "Do not harden your hearts, as in the day of rebellion, as in the day of trial in the wilderness" (italics added), while the NIV leaves the two italicized words here untranslated: "Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the desert" (verse 8). At their encampment at Rephidim the people complained against God and Moses because they were thirsty. God gave them water there from a rock, but Moses renamed the site Meribah, meaning "strife, quarreling, contention." The Greek Septuagint and the New Testament translate this word as "rebellion." Massah, meaning "testing," is another name "given to the place where the Israelites murmured for want of water (Exodus17:7; Deuteronomy 6:16; Deuteronomy 9:22; Deuteronomy 33:8); called also Meribah" (The New Unger's Bible Dictionary, p. 824, "Massah").

Yet it was not at this particular rebellion that God declared the older generation of Israelites would not enter His rest, as Psalm 95:11 states. Rather, this came a bit later in Numbers 14 (see verses 28-30). Here the people had refused to progress from their encampment at Kadesh to entering the Promised Land because they feared the giants (the Anakim) there and the fortified cities of the Canaanites (see Deuteronomy 1:28). It was at that time that God "took an oath, saying, 'Surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see that good land of which I swore to give your fathers'" (Deuteronomy 1:35). Entry into the Promised Land equated to finding rest (see Exodus 33:14; Deuteronomy 12:10, Deuteronomy 25:19, Joshua 1:13-15). Thus, Meribah and Massah in Psalm 95, while likely alluding on one level to the specific episode at the water, was evidently meant more as a general description of the attitude of the Israelites in their wanderings. Indeed, as noted above, in translating this passage into Greek, the book of Hebrews translates these words as well-showing that they are not mainly intended as place names.

The psalmist states that although God continued to care and provide for the people, He was angry with them during the wilderness years. They never developed a heart receptive to Him or His ways (verse 10). Near the end of their 40 years of wandering, God and the people had another face-off over water at Kadesh (also renamed Meribah). Moses lost patience with the people and struck the rock twice, bringing on himself and Aaron the severe penalty of being excluded from entering the ancient Promised Land (Numbers 20:1-13; see the Beyond Today Bible Commentary on this passage).

"Rest" in Psalm 95 is "a rich concept indicating Israel's possession of a place with God in the earth where they are secure from all external threats and internal calamities (see Deuteronomy 3:20; 1 Kings 5:4...)" (Zondervan, note on Psalm 95:11). The call to not rebel so as to enter God's rest still applies. This is what Hebrews 3-4 explains, warning Christians against falling into faithless disobedience like ancient Israel (see Hebrews 3:12-13; Hebrews 4:11). These New Testament chapters point out that the warning and exhortation of Psalm 95 is given not to those who failed to enter God's rest in the time of Moses and Joshua, but rather to those long after-in a time David designated as "Today" when he was inspired to compose the psalm (see Hebrews 4:7). The applicable time called "Today" still continues, we are told (verse 8; see also 3:13). Hebrews 4:9 uses the Greek word sabbatismos--meaning Sabbath observance (resting from weekly labor), which the ancient Israelites flagrantly violated--to designate the rest God's people are still to enter today. Moreover, the passage makes clear that this is as a type of the future rest to be experienced in God's Kingdom-the Promised Land still to come.

To better understand how the weekly Sabbath relates to rest--past, present and future-see the free booklet Sunset to Sunset: God's Sabbath Rest.