Psalm 95 commentary

PSALM 95 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
I TRODUCTIO
SPURGEO , "This Psalm has no title, and all we know of its authorship is that
Paul quotes it as "in David." (Hebrews 4:7.) It is true that this may merely signify
that it is to be found in the collection known as David's Psalms; but if such were the
Apostle's meaning it would have been more natural for him to have written, "saying
in the Psalms; "we therefore incline to the belief that David was the actual author of
this poem. It is in its original a truly Hebrew song, directed both in its exhortation
and warning to the Jewish people, but we have the warrant of the Holy Spirit in the
epistle to the Hebrews for using its appeals and entreaties when pleading with
Gentile believers. It is a psalm of invitation to worship. It has about it a ring like
that or church bells, and like the bells it sounds both merrily and solemnly, at first
ringing out a lively peal, and then dropping into a funeral knell as if tolling at the
funeral of the generation which perished in the wilderness. We will call it THE
PSALM OF THE PROVOCATIO .
DIVISIO . It would be correct as to the sense to divide this psalm into an invitation
and a warning so as to commence the second part with the last clause of Psalms 95:7
: but upon the whole it may be more convenient to regard Psalms 95:6 as "the
beating heart of the psalm, "as Hengstenberg calls it, and make the division at the
end of Psalms 95:5. Thus it will form (1) an invitation with reasons, and (2) an
invitation with warnings.
1 Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
BAR ES, "O come, let us sing unto the Lord - The word here rendered come,
means properly “go;” but it is used here, as it often is, as a formula of invitation, in

calling on others to share in what is done by the speaker. It is here to be understood as
used by one portion of an assembly convened for worship addressing the other portion,
and calling on them to unite in the praise of God.
Let us make a joyful noise - The word used here means commonly to make a loud
noise, to shout, Job_30:5. It is especially used
(a) of warlike shouts, Jos_6:16; 1Sa_17:20;
(b) of the shout of triumph, Jdg_15:14;
(c) of the sound or clangor of a trumpet, Num_10:9; Joe_2:1.
It may thus be used to denote any shout of joy or praise. In public worship it would
denote praise of the most animated kind.
To the Rock of our salvation - The strong ground of our confidence; the basis of
our hope; our security. See the notes at Psa_18:2.
CLARKE, "O come, let us sing - Let us praise God, not only with the most joyful
accents which can be uttered by the voice; but let us also praise him with hearts tuned to
gratitude, from a full sense of the manifold benefits we have already received.
The rock of our salvation - The strong Fortress in which we have always found
safety, and the Source whence we have always derived help for our souls. In both these
senses the word rock, as applied to God, is used in the Scriptures.
GILL, "O come, let us sing unto the Lord,.... To Jehovah the Messiah, the Lord our
righteousness; setting forth, in songs of praise, the glory of his person, the riches of his
grace, and our thankfulness to him for spiritual mercies by him: Christ is to be the
subject of our spiritual songs, and is the person to whose honour and glory they should
be directed: in the New Testament we are instructed to sing unto the Lord, the Lord
Christ, Eph_5:19, and this is what Pliny (a) tells Trajan, the Roman emperor, the
Christians in his time did; they sung a hymn to Christ, as to a God:
let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation; to Christ, the Rock, 1Co_
10:4, a Rock, for height, being higher than the saints, than the kings of the earth, than
the angels in heaven, than the heavens themselves; for strength, being the mighty God,
and mighty Saviour; for shelter, being the saints security from avenging justice and
wrath to come: a Rock, on which the church and all believers are built, and which
endures for ever; "the Rock of salvation", being the author of spiritual and eternal
salvation, and the strength and security of it; not only is he strong to do it, but, being
done by him, it is safe in him; wherefore shouts of joy and songs of praise are due unto
him. This shows that vocal singing is meant, singing with an harmonious and musical
voice; and that social singing, or singing in concert together, is intended. The Septuagint
renders it, "to God our Saviour", Luk_1:47.
HE RY, "The psalmist here, as often elsewhere, stirs up himself and others to praise
God; for it is a duty which ought to be performed with the most lively affections, and
which we have great need to be excited to, being very often backward to it and cold in it.
Observe,
I. How God is to be praised. 1. With holy joy and delight in him. The praising song
must be a joyful noise, Psa_95:1 and again Psa_95:2. Spiritual joy is the heart and soul
of thankful praise. It is the will of God (such is the condescension of his grace) that when

we give glory to him as a being infinitely perfect and blessed we should, at the same time,
rejoice in him as our Father and King, and a God in covenant with us. 2. With humble
reverence, and a holy awe of him (Psa_95:6): “Let us worship, and bow down, and kneel
before him, as becomes those who know what an infinite distance there is between us
and God, how much we are in danger of his wrath and in need of his mercy.” Though
bodily exercise, alone, profits little, yet certainly it is our duty to glorify God with our
bodies by the outward expressions of reverence, seriousness, and humility, in the duties
of religious worship. 3. We must praise God with our voice; we must speak forth, sing
forth, his praises out of the abundance of a heart filled with love, and joy, and
thankfulness - Sing to the Lord; make a noise, a joyful noise to him, with psalms - as
those who are ourselves much affected with his greatness and goodness, are forward to
own ourselves so, are desirous to be more and more affected therewith, and would
willingly be instrumental to kindle and inflame the same pious and devout affection in
others also. 4. We must praise God in concert, in the solemn assemblies: “Come, let us
sing; let us join in singing to the Lord; not others without me, nor I alone, but others
with me. Let us come together before his presence, in the courts of his house, where his
people are wont to attend him and to expect his manifestations of himself.” Whenever
we come into God's presence we must come with thanksgiving that we are admitted to
such a favour; and, whenever we have thanks to give, we must come before God's
presence, set ourselves before him, and present ourselves to him in the ordinances which
he has appointed.
JAMISO , "Psa_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.
The terms used to express the highest kind of joy.
rock — a firm basis, giving certainty of salvation (Psa_62:7).
K&D 1-2, "Jahve is called the Rock of our salvation (as in Psa_89:27, cf. Psa_94:22)
as being its firm and sure ground. Visiting the house of God, one comes before God's
face; ‫י‬ֵ‫נ‬ ְ ‫ם‬ ֵ ִ‫,ק‬ praeoccupare faciem, is equivalent to visere (visitare). ‫ה‬ ָ‫ּוד‬ is not confessio
peccati, but laudis. The Beth before ‫תודה‬ is the Beth of accompaniment, as in Mic_6:6;
that before ‫ּות‬‫ר‬ ִ‫מ‬ְ‫ז‬ (according to 2Sa_23:1 a name for psalms, whilst ‫ּר‬‫מ‬ְ‫ז‬ ִ‫מ‬ can only be used
as a technical expression) is the Beth of the medium.
CALVI , "1.Come, let us rejoice before Jehovah. This psalm is suited for the
Sabbath, when we know that the religious assemblies were more particularly
convened for the worship of God. It is not individuals among the godly whom he
exhorts to celebrate the divine praises in private; he enjoins these to be offered up in
the public meeting. By this he showed that the outward worship of God principally
consisted in the sacrifice of praise, and not in dead ceremonies. He enjoins haste
upon them; by which they might testify their alacrity in this service. For the Hebrew
word ‫,קדם‬ kadam, in the second verse, which I have rendered, let us come before,
etc., means to make haste. He calls upon them to speed into the presence of God;
and such an admonition was needed, considering how naturally backward we are
when called by God to the exercise of thanksgiving. This indirect charge of

indolence in the exercise, the Psalmist saw it necessary to prefer against God’s
ancient people; and we should be made aware that there is just as much need of a
stimulus in our own case, filled as our hearts are with similar ingratitude. In calling
them to come before God’s face, he uses language which was also well fitted to
increase the ardor of the worshippers; nothing being more agreeable than to offer in
God’s own presence such a sacrifice as he declares that he will accept. He virtually
thus says, in order to prevent their supposing the service vain, that God was present
to witness it. I have shown elsewhere in what sense God was present in the
sanctuary.
SPURGEO , "Ver. 1. O come, let us sing unto the LORD. Other nations sing unto
their gods, let us sing unto Jehovah. We love him, we admire him, we reverence him,
let us express our feelings with the choicest sounds, using our noblest faculty for its
noblest end. It is well thus to urge others to magnify the Lord, but we must be
careful to set a worthy example ourselves, so that we may be able not only to cry
"Come", but also to add "let us sing", because we are singing ourselves. It is to be
feared that very much even of religious singing is not unto the Lord but unto the car
of the congregation: above all things we must in our service of song take care that all
we offer is with the heart's sincerest and most fervent intent directed toward the
Lord himself.
Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. With holy enthusiasm let us
sing, making a sound which shall indicate our earnestness; with abounding joy let
us lift up our voices, actuated by that happy and peaceful spirit which trustful love
is sure to foster. As the children of Israel sang for joy when the smitten rock poured
forth its cooling streams, so let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
The author of this song had in his mind's eye the rock, the tabernacle, the Red Sea,
and the mountains of Sinai, and he alludes to them all in this first part of his hymn.
God is our abiding, immutable, and mighty rock, and in him we find deliverance
and safety, therefore it becomes us to praise him with heart and with voice from day
to day; and especially should we delight to do this when we assemble as his people
for public worship.
"Come let us to the Lord sing out
With trumpet voice and choral shout."
it becomes us to praise him with heart and with voice from day to day; and
especially should we delight to do this when we assemble as his people for public
worship.
it becomes us to praise him with heart and with voice from day to day; and
especially should we delight to do this when we assemble as his people for public
worship.
EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.
Whole Psalm. â€”These six Psalms 95:1-11; Psalms 96:1-13; Psalms 97:1-12; Psalms
98:1-9; Psalms 99:1-9; Psalms 100:1-5, form, if I mistake not, one entire prophetic

poem, cited by St. Paul in the Epistle to the Hebrews, under the title of the
Introduction of the First Born into the world. Each Psalm has its proper subject,
which is some particular branch of the general argument, the establishment of the
Messiah's Kingdom. The 95th Psalm asserts Jehovah's Godhead, and his power over
all nature, and exhorts his people to serve him. In Psalms 96:1-13 th all nations are
exhorted to join in his service, because he cometh to judge all mankind, Jew and
Gentile. In the 97th Psalm, Jehovah reigns over all the world, the idols are deserted,
the Just One is glorified. In the 98th Psalm, Jehovah hath done wonders, and
wrought deliverance for himself: he hath remembered his mercy towards the house
of Israel; he comes to judge the whole world. In the 99th, Jehovah, seated between
the cherubim in Zion, the visible Church, reigns over all the world, to be praised for
the justice of his government. In the 100th Psalm, all the world is called upon to
praise Jehovah the Creator, whose mercy and truth are everlasting. â€”Samuel
Horsley.
Whole Psalm. â€”This Psalm is twice quoted in the Epistle to the Hebrews, as a
warning to the Jewish Christians at Jerusalem, in the writer's day, that they should
not falter in the faith, and despise God's promises, as their forefathers had done in
the wilderness, lest they should fail of entering into his rest; see Hebrews 3:7, where
verse 7 of this Psalm is introduced with the words, "As the Holy Ghost saith, Today
if ye will hear his voice, "and see Hebrews 4:7, where it is said, "Again, he limiteth a
certain day, saying in David, Today." It has by some been inferred from these words
that the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews ascribes this Psalm to David. It may be
so. But it seems not improbable that the words "in David" mean simply "the Book
of Psalms, "the whole being named from the greater part; and that if he had meant
that David wrote the Psalm, he would have written, "David spake, "or, "the Holy
Ghost spake by David, "and not as it is written, "as it is said in David." â€”
Christopher Wordsworth.
Verse 1. â€”O come, let us sing unto the Lord, etc. The first verse of the Psalm
begins the invitation unto praise and exultation. It is a song of three parts, and every
part (like Jacob's part of the sheep) brings forth twins; each a double string, as it
were, in the music of this praise, finely twisted of two parts into a kind of discordant
concord, falling into a musical close through a differing yet reconciled diapason.
The first couple in this song of praise are multitude and unity, concourse and
concord: "O come", there's multitude and concourse; "let us, "there's unity and
concord. The second twisted pair, are tongue and heart, "let us sing, "there's the
voice and sound; and "heartily rejoice, "there's the heart and soul. The third and
last intertwisted string, or part in the musick, is might and mercy, (rock or) strength
and salvation; God's strength and our salvation: "to the strength (or rock) of our
salvation." â€”Charles Herle (1598-1659) in a "Sermon before the House of Lords",
entitled, "David's Song of Three Parts".
Ver. 1. â€”Come. The word "come" contains an exhortation, exciting them to join
heart and lips in praising God; just as the word is used in Genesis, where the people,
exciting and encouraging each other, say, "Come, let us make bricks; "and "Come,
let us make a city and a town; "and, in the same chapter, the Lord says, "Come, let
us go down, and there confound their tongue." â€”Bellarmine.
Ver. 1. â€”If it be so that one "come, let us" goes further than twenty times go and
do, how careful should such be whom God hath raised to eminence of place that

their examples be Jacob's ladders to help men to heaven, not Jeroboam's stumbling
blocks to lie in their way, and make Israel to sin. â€”Charles Herle.
Ver. 1. â€”There is a silent hint here at that human listlessness and distraction of
cares whereby we are more prompt to run after other things than to devote
ourselves seriously to the becoming praises and service of God. Our foot has a
greater proclivity to depart to the field, the oxen, and the new wife, than to come to
the sacred courts, Lu 14:18, seq. See Isaiah 2:3, "Come ye, and let us go up to the
mountain of the Lord." â€”Martin Geier.
Ver. 1. Joyful noise. The verb eyrh, signifies to make a loud sound of any sort, either
with the voice or with instruments. In the psalms, it generally refers to the mingled
din of voices and various instruments, in the Temple service. This wide sense of the
word cannot be expressed otherwise in the English language than by a periphrasis. â
€”Samuel Horsley.
Ver. 1. The rock of our salvation. Jesus is the Rock of ages, in which is opened a
fountain for sin and uncleanness; the Rock which attends the church in the
wilderness, pouring forth the water of life, for her use and comfort; the Rock which
is our fortress against every enemy, shadowing and refreshing a weary land. â€”
George Horne.
COFFMA , "Verse 1
PSALM 95
A CALL TO WORSHIP A D A WAR I G AGAI ST U BELIEF
Scholars usually group the six psalms from Psalms 95 through Psalms 100 as
liturgical psalms, designed for use by the Israelites as they gathered for Sabbath day
worship. "This group of psalms seems to have been composed for use in the services
of the second temple."[1] Despite such opinions, there is a genuine possibility that
David is the author, as it is so assigned in the LXX, and besides that, the author of
Hebrews in the ew Testament quoted this psalm, stating that it was "in David."
This is alleged to mean merely that the psalm is "in the Psalter"; nevertheless, we
accept the real possibility that David did indeed write it.
This writer claims no skill in evaluating such conclusions as those suggested by
Yates (above), but they are included here as the convictions of dependable scholars.
I TRODUCTIO TO THESE SIX PSALMS
McCaw stated that the six suggest the possibility of an annual "Enthronement
Festival," but refrained from accepting such an "Enthronement Festival" as any
kind of certainty, declaring rather that, "Their abiding value is to enter into the
riches of Old Testament teaching regarding God, the Creator and King."[2] This
writer cannot find sufficient supporting evidence of anything like "An
Enthronement Festival" in the whole compass of Old Testament worship. If there
was really any such thing, why is it never mentioned in the Old Testament?
Psalms 95 begins with the knowledge of God imparted exclusively to Israel, with the

second portion of it providing a warning that Israel should not become unbelievers
as did their ancestors.
In Psalms 96, the exclusiveness of Israel is replaced with a universal call for all
nations and the whole creation to worship God. In this psalm, God appears, not
exclusively as the covenant God of the Hebrews, but as the Creator of the whole
world and the source of all truth and righteousness.
Psalms 97 stresses the knowledge of God as presiding over his whole Creation, and,
"As the faithful One whose goodness and holiness are always being disclosed to all
mankind through Zion."[3]
Psalms 98 is a song of praise, extolling the fact of salvation being known to the ends
of the earth.
Psalms 99 stresses the preeminence of Zion and honors great leaders such as Moses,
Aaron, and Samuel.
In Psalms 100, "We have an appeal for universal adoration of the Lord, Israel's
position as his chosen people, and the enduring quality of the Lord's mercy and
kindness."[4]
Psalms 95:1-3
A I TRODUCTIO TO PSALM 95
"O come, let us sing unto Jehovah;
Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving;
Let us make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.
For Jehovah is a great God,
And a great King above all gods."
Although it is a fact that everyone is "always" in the presence of God in the ultimate
sense, yet there is a special way in which men who are assembling for worship do
indeed "come into God's presence." In this light, these verses are a beautiful and
proper call to worship in churches all over the world even today.
Coming before God with praise and thanksgiving is the very essence of worship.
"A great God ... a great King above all gods" (Psalms 95:3). This is the overriding
fact, the epic truth, that justifies the call to worship God. He is the One and Only

Deity, the First Cause, The First and the Last, Jehovah, Rock, Refuge, High Tower,
Salvation, Most High, the Beginning and the Ending, the Creator and Sustainer of
Everything in the Universe. All of the pagan deities of antiquity are as a mere colony
of insects in comparison with the true God of Heaven and Earth.
ELLICOTT, "(1) O come.—The invitation is general, and may be contrasted with
the heathen warning to the uninitiated, procul este profani. This exhortation to
worship God, not with penitence, but with loud thanksgiving, is, as Perowne notes,
the more remarkable considering the strain in which the latter part of the psalm is
written.
Make a joyful noise.—There is no one English expression for the full burst of
instrumental and vocal music which is meant by the Hebrew word here applied to
the Temple service. Vulg., jubilemus.
Rock of our salvation.—As in Psalms 89:26. (Comp. “rock of refuge,” Psalms 94:22.)
WHEDO , "Verse 1-2
1, 2. Let us sing unto the Lord—In Psalms 95:1-2, the language describes the most
jubilant and noisy demonstrations known in the Hebrew worship. Yet it is carefully
chastened with reverence by the designation “to Jehovah,” “to the rock of our
salvation;” also by the quality of the loud shouting, namely, with thanksgiving and
with psalms, which belonged to the regular order of worship. The occasion was not
one of mourning, confession of sin, and penitence, but of triumph, praise, gladness,
which accords naturally with the associations of the feast of tabernacles.
The rock—Christ, to whom the author of Hebrews (Hebrews 3:6) applies the psalm.
The Septuagint reads, “God our Saviour.”
BE SO , "Verses 1-3
Psalms 95:1-3. O come, let us sing, unto the Lord, &c. — Thus the pious Jews, in
ancient times, exhorted and excited each other to employ their voices in honour of
Jehovah, and to celebrate the rock of their salvation — And Christians are now
called upon to stir up each other to the same blessed work, in the same or similar
language. For the Lord is a great God — And therefore is greatly to be praised; and
a great King — A great sovereign, even the universal Lord of all nations and
worlds; above all gods — Above all that are accounted or called gods, whether
angels, earthly potentates, or the false gods of the heathen.
COKE, "THIS psalm was written by David; for the apostle to the Hebrews cites a
passage out of it under his name. See Hebrews 4:7. It seems to have been intended as
a solemn invitation of the people, when they were assembled together on some
public occasion, to praise their God, and to hear instructions out of his law. But it
also plainly relates to the days of Christ, as the Jews themselves acknowledge, and
as the apostle proves fully in the third and fourth chapters of the epistle before
mentioned.

EBC, "THIS psalm is obviously divided into two parts, but there is no reason for
seeing in these two originally unconnected fragments. Rather does each part derive
force from the other; and nothing is more natural than that, after the congregation
has spoken its joyful summons to itself to worship, Jehovah should speak warning
words as to the requisite heart preparation, without which worship is vain. The
supposed fragments are fragmentary indeed, if considered apart. Surely a singer
has the liberty of being abrupt and of suddenly changing his tone. Surely he may as
well be credited with discerning the harmony of the change of key as some later
compiler. There could be no more impressive way of teaching the conditions of
acceptable worship than to set side by side a glad call to praise and a solemn
warning against repeating the rebellions of the wilderness. These would be still more
appropriate if this were a post-exilic hymn; for the second return from captivity
would be felt to be the analogue of the first, and the dark story of former hard-
heartedness would fit very close to present circumstances.
The invocation to praise in Psalms 95:1-2, gives a striking picture of the joyful
tumult of the Temple worship. Shrill cries of gladness, loud shouts of praise, songs
with musical accompaniments, rang simultaneously through the courts, and to
Western ears would have sounded as din rather than as music, and as more
exuberant than reverent. The spirit expressed is, alas! almost as strange to many
moderns as the manner of its expression. That swelling joy which throbs in the
summons, that consciousness that jubilation is a conspicuous element in worship,
that effort to rise to a height of joyful emotion, are very foreign to much of our
worship. And their absence, or presence only in minute amount, flattens much
devotion, and robs the Church of one of its chief treasures. o doubt; there must
often be sad strains blended with praise. But it is a part of Christian duty, and
certainly of Christian wisdom, to try to catch that tone of joy in worship which rings
in this psalm.
ISBET, "WORSHIP A D REST
‘O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our
salvation.… Let us worship and fall down: and kneel before the Lord our Maker.’
Psalms 95:1; Psalms 95:6 (Prayer Book Version)
Such is the invitation that Sunday by Sunday and day by day we give one another.
We are about to do something joyous, gladsome, and inspiriting, and we wish others
to come along with us and share our happiness. We are to fling ourselves at the feet
of One Whose works proclaim His majesty.
I. Are we to acquiesce in a resting-place no larger than our counting-house or our
office?—Are we never to stretch ourselves beyond the narrow confines of domestic
joys and business interests? Is it that we have lost what Bishop Westcott called ‘the
ennobling faculty of wonder,’ and with it the power of rising above ourselves and
our surroundings? Ah! that is possible. The alarming increase in suicide and lunacy,
in spite of the much higher standard of personal comfort, is a warning that we are
losing something. And what is that? It is worship. Yes, again we are learning that

the soul is made for God, and can find its rest only in Him, that no rest we can find
for ourselves is comparable to the rest in worship. We are not indeed accustomed to
put the two things together, we do not naturally associate rest with days of worship
or places of worship. Worship as an obligation, a duty, we understand, but worship
as a refreshment, a recreation, is quite novel. A day of worship we should suppose to
be a dull and heavy day. And yet some can remember one day when the word spelt
something like rest.
II. And afterwards, though they may not have expressed it, the same feeling was
aroused by some sight of nature.—A sunset, a stretch of mountain peaks, a quiet
English pastoral scene, nay, even a flower, as it was with Linnæus, have excited
feelings too deep for tears. Or it has been the procession of an aged sovereign, dear
to the hearts of the people, or of a weather-beaten soldier who has done his country
great service, or some statesman who has given his nation peace. And as they stood
silent, listening to the gathering roar of the people, they have realised for themselves
those old Bible words, ‘They worshipped the Lord and the King.’
III. Alas! alas! My people are gone into captivity to sense for lack of knowledge.—If
only they knew! But why do they not know? Because the Book—the real Wonder-
Book—is often so imperfectly taught. The very wonder it is meant to excite is
sometimes killed in the teaching of it. Instead of the children finding that they are
insensibly drawn away from earth to a spiritual world of unseen beings, to which
they are led by natural instincts, they never leave the class-room, but are confined to
a school of ethics, where angels never minister, God never interferes, and miracles
never happen. The natural faculty of wonder so strong in a child is checked instead
of developed, and we have young people growing up who never wonder.
Yes, we begin our endeavour with those who pass our churches a little too late.
Pleasant Sunday Afternoons, bright musical services, a carefully-arranged ritual,
may attract and help those who can still admire and wonder, and so worship, but
they cannot, except by Divine grace, touch those to whom life is but a paddock, with
very insufficient pasture and very unreasonable competition. Sunday rest certainly
depends on Sunday worship, but Sunday worship depends on that faculty of wonder
which is kept alive by a living and growing Bible knowledge. It is that which we
must strive for if Sunday is to be in the future what it has been in the past.
—Canon Walpole.
PULPIT, "THIS is a liturgical psalm, probably composed for the temple service,
and still used in the synagogue as one of the Friday evening Psalms which introduce
the sabbath. The Western Church has adopted it into its daily "Order for
Prayer"—a position which it continues to occupy in our own Matins. It consists of
two parts (verses 1-7 and verses 7-11), so strongly contrasted, that separatist critics
suggest an accidental combination of two quite unconnected fragments (Professor
Cheyne). But a deeper and more penetrating exegesis sees in the composition two
trains of thought, purposely set over against each other—one joyous, the other
plaintive; one setting forth the "goodness" of God, the other his "severity" (Romans

11:22); one inviting to joy and thankfulness, the other to self-examination and
repentance; one calling to mind God's greatness and loving kindness, the other
bringing into prominence man's weakness and danger.
In the Septuagint the psalm is ascribed to David, and this view seems to have been
taken by the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews (Hebrews 4:7). But modern critics
are generally of opinion that the style is not that of the Davidical psalms.
Psalms 95:1-7
The song of praise. This seems to terminate with the words, "We are the people of
his pasture, and the sheep of his hand."
Psalms 95:1
O come, let us sing unto the Lord. From this opening phrase, which finds an echo in
Psalms 95:2 and Psalms 95:6, this psalm has been called "The Invitatory Psalm." As
it invited the Jews, so it now invites Christian congregations, to join in the worship
of the sanctuary. Let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation (comp.
Psalms 33:3; Psalms 98:4). Loudness of voice was regarded as indicating earnestness
of heart (see 2 Chronicles 20:19; Ezra 3:13; ehemiah 12:42, etc.). The expression,
"Rock of our salvation" is taken from Deuteronomy 32:15. It is well paraphrased in
our Prayer book Version, "the strength of our salvation."
BI 1-11, "O come, let us sing unto the Lord.
The grandest of creature services
I. It is the most righteous. Adoration rendered to—
1. The greatest Being.
(1) Great in Himself (Psa_95:3).
(2) Great in His possessions (Psa_95:4).
2. The kindest Being.
(1) He made us. Possessing reason, imagination, conscience, freedom, etc.
(2) He supports us—provides for our necessities, watches over us, guides us
through intricacies, and guards us from perils.
(3) He delivers us. “The rock of our salvation.” The strong ground of our
confidence, the foundation on which our safety rests. Who will say then that this
service is not the most righteous,—to adore most the most adorable, to thank
most the supremely kind?
II. It is the most delightful. “Joyful noise.” Worship is the only service that ensures
happiness.
1. It accords with the highest dictates of conscience.
2. It gratifies our highest love.

3. It engages our highest powers.
III. It is the most urgent (Psa_95:7-8).
1. The neglect of this service is the hardening of the heart.
2. The hardening of the heart leads to procrastination.
3. This procrastination involves most calamitous results.
(1) It provokes the Almighty (Psa_95:8).
(2) It leads to ruin (Psa_95:11). (Homilist.)
The Venite
I. A call to praise (Psa_95:1-2; Psa_95:6). Our call to praise and thanksgiving leads on,
as we should expect such an one as David to teach us, to prayer. We praise for evidences
of His nature, and such praise must lead us to pray that His attributes may find their
exercise towards us; that He will deal with us as His perfect nature has dealt with other
generations and other people. We offer thanks for the past, and every past mercy is
ground of prayer for future mercies; every received mercy is a ground of hope upon
which we build our prayers for new mercies.
II. The causes which demand our praise.
1. He is not only the Author of oar salvation, but He has made it strong, firm,
immovable, resting upon Him, the Rock of Ages (Psa_95:1-2).
2. We praise God for permitting us to observe His greatness; for the power to know
Him in His works. It is not until we begin to examine the details of Creation—plants,
birds, insects—to use the telescope upon the heavens, or the microscope upon
invisible objects—that every single work, in itself a wonder, helps us to look up
awestruck to the One Mind which made and which sustains all.
3. His individual care for each of us (Psa_95:7).
III. A caution against the loss of the accepted time (Psa_95:7-10). Alas! we have daily
teaching like the men in the wilderness, that the chastened may only harden themselves
against the hand of love which chastens! And poverty and sickness, by which God seeks
to draw His children to Him, and to purify them for Himself, are made the very grounds
for neglecting and disobeying Him!
IV. Rejection could not finally pass unpunished. There was a sentence upon those
despisers (Psa_95:11). God’s truth requires that His promises should be as sure to His
opposers as to His followers and friends; and the sentence will follow. They could not
enter into God’s offered rest, as Paul explains to the Romans, on account of unbelief. (D.
Laing, M.A.)
The genesis of praise
This has been called the Invitatory Psalm. The Temple at Jerusalem had been restored.
Its doors were again open for worship. And the psalmist sought to allure the people to a
worship long neglected in the time of their exile. From the earliest times this psalm has
filled a somewhat similar place in the services of the Western Church. It is the first note

of praise in the order for morning prayer.
I. The spontaneity of song. Jehovah did not say: “Sing unto Me,” but men said one to
another: “O come, let us sing unto the Lord!” Men sang because they could not help but
sing. There are some things so natural to men that no Divine command is needed. Song
is one of these. It grows naturally out of the emotions of a godly heart. The deepest
feelings of the race have always found their fullest expression in poetry, and poetry
reaches its highest utterance when wedded to music, on whose wings it soars to heaven.
II. The religious inspiration of song. Love is the great kindler of song, and takes on its
noblest, purest forms as it goes out to God. And hence it will be found that in proportion
to the strength of love in any religion is the place and power of its song. To the
lovelessness of most of the pagan and heathen religions is due the poverty and even
absence of song in their worship. To all intents and purposes the Hebrew and its
successor, the Christian, faith are the only ones in which song prevails. And it will be
found, if you look into the history, that as their conception of God grew in depth and
tenderness, the more lovable He was seen to be, so their song grew in volume and worth.
The theology of each age is reflected in its hymnody.
III. The religious occasion of song. The psalm before us probably sprang out of joy at the
reopened temple at Jerusalem, that the feet of Israel could once more stand within the
gates of Zion. Every lofty hymn has a sacred history. And thus the experience of elect
souls is made to help other souls to higher levels of thought and feeling. They are like
climbers who have reached the mountain summit, and beckon those in the valley to
share with them the grand outlook to which their eye has reached. It is for us to respond
to their call, so that as we sing we may be drawn upwards from the mists of earth to
those. Goethe once advised, “as a means of making life less commonplace, that we
should every day, at least, hear or read a good poem.” Better still would it be if we
allowed no day to pass without joining in a hymn of praise. Marvellous has been the
influence of song in the furtherance of religion in the days that are past. The Arians were
among the first to discover its power. They organized singing processions to propagate
their doctrine. Then the orthodox party followed their example. When Ambrose, the
good Bishop of Milan, was ordered to give up one of his churches for Arian worship, he
refused, and his devoted followers surrounded his house day and night to protect him
from the troops of the Emperor. He arranged for his defenders hymns for every hour of
the day and night. It was a charge against Luther that he was singing the whole German
people into the Reformation doctrine. The Lollards gained their name from their custom
of “lulling”—that is, singing softly. The Methodist Revival owed quite as much to the
hymns of Charles Wesley as to the preaching of her saintly brother. The Oxford
Movement owed its success not only to the “Tracts for the Times” and the sermons of
Newman, but to “The Christian Year” of Keble. Where would the Moody and Sankey
movement have been but for the “Sacred Songs and Solos”? The Salvation Army could
not carry on its work without its rough but inspiring music. And my own conviction is
that holy song will be one means of bringing to the Church a deeper unity. Through it the
heart is permitted to speak, and by means of the heart, rather than the intellect,
Christian people are drawn closer together. Theology has too often proved a dividing
influence. Song usually tends to unity. (W. G. Horder.)
Psalmody
I. The practice of singing. Old Testament saints, as well as New, seem never weary of
celebrating the praises of their Lord and Saviour; because He was made an offering for

their sins, dead, risen, and ascended to His throne. And this is still the sweetest subject
in the Church of Christ; for happy are they who have the Lord for their God—yea, thrice
happy they who have “the kingdom of God” set up within them, which “is righteousness,
and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.”
II. The object of singing psalms. The object of singing is, we see distinctly, the praise of
Jesus. It is very important for you to notice that; for as the joy of the believer arises from
his conscious standing in Jesus, so this joy is expressed in celebrating the praises of the
glorious person and redeeming work of Jesus—for “God would have all men to honour
the Son even as they honour the Father.” Singing is the outward expression of inward
joy; and this is no doubt why the Holy Ghost has enjoined it on believers. It shows their
sense of the infinite love of God in Christ Jesus. But at the same time that believers find
joy in singing the praises of Jesus, as they are set forth in the Book of Psalms, they may
also as they sing learn lessons for the practice of daily life. They have an interest not only
in all Jesus was, but also in what Jesus is. Do they see that His trust in God was
unshaken? They trust Him to make theirs steadfast also. Again: was His walk “holy, and
harmless, and undefiled,” so that He could say in truth, “I have set the Lord alway before
me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved”? Then they depend upon Him
for strength to tread in His steps. Were His tempers perfectly holy, so that He could say,
“Thou hast proved Mine heart; Thou hast visited Me in the night; Thou hast tried Me,
and shalt find nothing; I am purposed that My mouth shall not transgress”?—when, I
say, they sing of this, they admire His example, and through His Spirit they strive daily
to “put off the old man” and to “put on the new.” Again: was He carried through the
greatest sufferings in perfect resignation, so that He could say, “Not My will, but Thine,
O Lord, be done”? Then may they look up to Him in every trial for His promised
support. Have the “everlasting gates” been opened, and “the King of glory” gone in? It is
promised to them that they shall “see the King in His beauty”—yea, that they shall
partake of that very glory.
III. The spirit in which we are to sing. Two things are necessary—that a man should sing
spiritually, and that he should sing intelligently—that he should know what he has to
thank God for, otherwise he cannot do it intelligently. Have we not mercies to thank God
for? Why not, then, join the Church of Christ in thanking Him for them? The believer
should live as he sings; his life should be in harmony with his principles. (J. W. Reeve,
M.A.)
Praise the outcome of Divine influence
The whole of Glasgow is supplied with water from Loch Katrine. It is brought through
the intervening country, and is distributed in pipes along every street, and from the
palaces above Kelvin Grove to the wretched flats in the Saltmarket it tells, to those who
have ears to hear, sweet stories of lofty peaks, wooded slopes, cataracts, and sparkling
rivulets in its Highland home. Embosomed in the Mountains of Eternity, and reflecting
in its placid sweep the magnificent devices of uncreated wisdom, we see the vast
unfathomable ocean of Divine love. From that ocean a bountiful outflow of holy
influence has come down into the human mind, and been divided into little rills known
as “psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs.” Not to the rich only do they ripple, but also
to the poor; labour forgets its weariness while taking in or giving out their sacred words,
and the widow mingles their sweetness with her scanty food, and even the little child
sends forth a triumph caught from their melody.

Inciting one another to praise God
You know how the birds stir up each other to sing. One bird in a cage will excite its
fellow, who looks at him and seems to say, “You shall not outstrip me: I will sing with
you,” till all the little minstrels quiver with an ecstasy of song, and form a choir of
emulating songsters. Hark how the early morning of the spring is rendered musical by
the full orchestra of birds. One songster begins the tune, and the rest hasten to swell the
music. Let us be like the blessed birds. Bless the Lord till you set the fashion, and others
bless Him with you. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Rock of our salvation.—
Christ the Rock of our salvation
The shipwrecked mariner, hoping for safety on the sea-girt rock; the hunted fugitive,
flying for a refuge to the cliff on the plain; the fainting traveller, throwing himself down
in the shade of rock in the desert; the steep and precipitous hill, with its encircling
stream, forming the site of a mighty fortress: each of these pictures tells us of weakness
finding comfort and aid, each sets forth the value of the redeeming work, and the mighty
mission of Christ our Lord. For the very idea of a rock is that of stability and strength,
that which cannot be moved, that on which we may rest secure. “For us and our
salvation” Christ died, says the noble language of our Creed. He is the great example of
self-sacrifice, and of the One who devoted Himself to death and suffering for the benefit
of “the many.” But how shall we apply to our own selves the benefit of Christ’s work?
How shall we find a refuge in the Rock of our salvation.? By a humble and faithful
realization of what He has done for us. (J. W. Hardman, LL.D.)
2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with music and song.
BAR ES, "Let us come before his presence - Margin, as in Hebrew, “prevent
his face.” The word in Hebrew means literally to come before; to anticipate. It is the
word which is commonly rendered “prevent.” See Job_3:12, note; Psa_17:13, note; Psa_
59:10, note; 1Th_4:15, note. Here it means to come before, in the sense of “in front of.”
Let us stand before his face; that is, in his very presence.
With thanksgiving - Expressing our thanks.
And make a joyful noise unto him - The same word which occurs in Psa_95:1.
With psalms - Songs of praise.

CLARKE, "Let us come before his presence - ‫פניו‬ panaiv, his faces, with
thanksgiving, ‫בתודה‬ bethodah, with confession, or with the confession-offering. Praise
him for what he has all ready done, and confess your unworthiness of any of his
blessings. The confession-offering, the great atoning sacrifice, can alone render your
acknowledgment of sin and thanksgiving acceptable to a holy and just God.
GILL, "Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving,.... Come with the
sacrifice of praise, there being no other in the days of the Messiah, all ceremonial
sacrifices being put an end to when his sacrifice was offered up; so Arama observes, that
the offering of thanksgiving shall remain, or be left in the days of the Messiah; come with
this to Christ as a priest, to offer it by him to God his Father, to whom it is acceptable
through him, and with this to himself for the great salvation he has wrought out: "to
come before his presence", or "face" (b), supposes his being come in the flesh, his being
God manifest in it, and also as clear and free from the veil of types and shadows; these
all being gone now he is come, and to be beheld with open face; and likewise his having
done his work as a Saviour, and now upon his throne as a King; into whose presence
chamber saints are admitted to make their acknowledgments to him, and profess their
allegiance and subjection to him, and their gratitude for favours received. It signifies an
attendance on him in his house and ordinances, where he shows his face, and grants his
presence; and intends not merely bodily exercise, or a presentation of our bodies only to
him, but a drawing nigh to him with true hearts, and serving him in a spiritual manner:
and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms; with a melodious voice, and grace
in the heart, with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; this belonging to Gospel times
shows that singing of psalms vocally in a musical way is an ordinance of Christ, to be
performed to him under the Gospel dispensation, Eph_5:19.
JAMISO , "come ... presence — literally, “approach,” or, meet Him (Psa_17:13).
SPURGEO , "Ver. 2. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving. Here is
probably a reference to the peculiar presence of God in the Holy of Holies above the
mercy seat, and also to the glory which shone forth out of the cloud which rested
above the tabernacle. Everywhere God is present, but there is a peculiar presence of
grace and glory into which men should never come without the profoundest
reverence. We may make bold to come before the immediate presence of the Lordâ
€”for the voice of the Holy Ghost in this psalm invites us, and when we do draw
near to him we should remember his great goodness to us and cheerfully confess it.
Our worship should have reference to the past as well as to the future; if we do not
bless the Lord for what we have already received, how can we reasonably look for
more. We are permitted to bring our petitions, and therefore we are in honour
bound to bring our thanksgivings.
And make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. We should shout as exultingly as
those do who triumph in war, and as solemnly as those whose utterance is a psalm.
It is not always easy to unite enthusiasm with reverence, and it is a frequent fault to

destroy one of these qualities while straining after the other. The perfection of
singing is that which unites joy with gravity, exultation with humility, fervency with
sobriety. The invitation given in the first verse (Psalms 95:1) is thus repeated in the
second (Psalms 95:2) with the addition of directions, which indicate more fully the
intent of the writer. One can imagine David in earnest tones persuading his people
to go up with him to the worship of Jehovah with sound of harp and hymn, and holy
delight. The happiness of his exhortation is noteworthy, the noise is to be joyful; this
quality he insists upon twice. It is to be feared that this is too much overlooked in
ordinary services, people are so impressed with the idea that they ought to be
serious that they put on the aspect of misery, and quite forget that joy is as much a
characteristic of true worship as solemnity itself.
Ver. 2. Let us come before his presence. Hebrew, prevent his face, be there with the
first. "Let us go speedily ...I will go also", Zechariah 8:21. Let praise wait for God in
Sion, Psalms 65:1. â€”John Trapp.
Ver. 2. (second clause). Let us chant aloud to him the measured lay. twrmz, I take to
be songs, in measured verse, adjusted to the bars of a chaunt. â€”S. Horsley.
3 For the Lord is the great God,
the great King above all gods.
BAR ES, "For the Lord is a great God - For Yahweh is a great God. The object is
to exalt Jehovah, the true God, as distinguished from all who were worshipped as gods.
The first idea is that he is “great;” that he is exalted over all the universe; that he rules
over all, and that he is to be worshipped as such.
And a great King above all gods - This does not mean that he is a great ruler of all
other gods, as if they had a real existence, but that he is king or ruler far above all that
were worshipped as gods, or to whom homage was paid. Whoever, or whatever was
worshipped as God, Yahweh was supreme over all things. He occupied the throne; and
all others must be beneath him, and under his dominion. If the sun, the moon, or the
stars were worshipped - if the mountains or the rivers - if angels good or bad - yet
Yahweh was above all these. If imaginary beings were worshipped, yet Yahweh in his
perfections was exalted far above all that was ascribed to them, for He was the true God,
and the Ruler of the universe, while they were beings of the imagination only.
CLARKE, "For the Lord is a great God - Or, “A great God is Jehovah, and a great
King above all gods;” or, “God is a great King over all.” The Supreme Being has three

names here: ‫אל‬ El, ‫יהוה‬ Jehovah, ‫אלהים‬ Elohim, and we should apply none of them to
false gods. The first implies his strength; the second his being and essence; the third, his
covenant relation to mankind. In public worship these are the views we should entertain
of the Divine Being.
GILL, "For the Lord is a great God,.... Christ is truly and properly God, wherefore
divine service is to be performed unto him; particularly singing psalms, setting forth
therein his greatness and glory: and he is a great one; great in power, wisdom, justice,
truth, mercy, and grace; greatness is to be ascribed unto him, and worship given him,
because of his greatness, Tit_2:13.
and a great King over all gods; he is King of the whole world; his kingdom ruleth
over all; he is King of kings, and Lord of lords; he is King of saints, the government of the
whole church is upon his shoulders, which he exercises in the most wise, powerful, and
righteous manner imaginable; he is above all that are called gods, all the nominal and
fictitious deities of the Heathens; above all civil magistrates, who are gods by office; and
above the angels, who have this name, 1Pe_3:22. Aben Ezra interprets it of angels.
HE RY 3-6, " Why God is to be praised and what must be the matter of our praise.
We do not want matter; it were well if we did not want a heart. We must praise God,
1. Because he is a great God, and sovereign Lord of all, Psa_95:3. He is great, and
therefore greatly to be praised. He is infinite and immense, and has all perfection in
himself. (1.) He has great power: He is a great King above all gods, above all deputed
deities, all magistrates, to whom he said, You are gods (he manages them all, and serves
his own purposes by them, and to him they are all accountable), above all counterfeit
deities, all pretenders, all usurpers; he can do that which none of them can do; he can,
and will, famish and vanquish them all. (2.) He has great possessions. This lower world
is here particularly specified. We reckon those great men who have large territories,
which they call their own against all the world, which yet are a very inconsiderable part
of the universe: how great then is that God whose the whole earth is, and the fulness
thereof, not only under whose feet it is, as he has an incontestable dominion over all the
creatures and a propriety in them, but in whose hand it is, as he has the actual directing
and disposing of all (Psa_95:4); even the deep places of the earth, which are out of our
sight, subterraneous springs and mines, are in his hand; and the height of the hills
which are out of our reach, whatever grows or feeds upon them, is his also. This may be
taken figuratively: the meanest of the children of men, who are as the low places of the
earth, are not beneath his cognizance; and the greatest, who are as the strength of the
hills, are not above his control. Whatever strength is in any creature it is derived from
God and employed for him (Psa_95:5): The sea is his, and all that is in it (the waves fulfil
his word); it is his, for he made it, gathered its waters and fixed its shores; the dry land,
though given to the children of men, is his too, for he still reserved the property to
himself; it is his, for his hands formed it, when his word made the dry land appear. His
being the Creator of all makes him, without dispute, the owner of all. This being a gospel
psalm, we may very well suppose that it is the Lord Jesus whom we are here taught to
praise. He is a great God; the mighty God is one of his titles, and God over all, blessed
for evermore. As Mediator, he is a great King above all gods; by him kings reign; and
angels, principalities, and powers, are subject to him; by him, as the eternal Word, all
things were made (Joh_1:3), and it was fit he should be the restorer and reconciler of all

who was the Creator of all, Col_1:16, Col_1:20. To him all power is given both in heaven
and in earth, and into his hand all things are delivered. It is he that sets one foot on the
sea and the other on the earth, as sovereign Lord of both (Rev_10:2), and therefore to
him we must sing our songs of praise, and before him we must worship and bow down.
JAMISO , "above ... gods — esteemed such by men, though really nothing (Jer_
5:7; Jer_10:10-15).
K&D 3-7, "The adorableness of God receives a threefold confirmation: He is exalted
above all gods as King, above all things as Creator, and above His people as Shepherd
and Leader. ‫ים‬ ִ‫ּה‬‫ל‬ ֱ‫א‬ (gods) here, as in Psa_96:4., Psa_97:7, Psa_97:9, and frequently, are
the powers of the natural world and of the world of men, which the Gentiles deify and
call kings (as Moloch Molech, the deified fire), which, however, all stand under the
lordship of Jahve, who is infinitely exalted above everything that is otherwise called god
(Psa_96:4; Psa_97:9). The supposition that ‫ים‬ ִ‫ר‬ ָ‫ה‬ ‫פוֹת‬ ָ‫ּוע‬ denotes the pit-works (µέταλλα)
of the mountains (Böttcher), is at once improbable, because to all appearance it is
intended to be the antithesis to ‫ץ‬ ֶ‫ר‬ ֶ‫י־א‬ ֵ‫ר‬ ְ‫ק‬ ְ‫ח‬ ֶ‫,מ‬ the shafts of the earth. The derivation from ‫ף‬ ַ‫ע‬ָ‫ו‬
(‫ף‬ ַ‫ע‬ָ‫,)י‬ κάµνειν, κοπιᇰν, also does not suit ‫תועפות‬ in Num_23:22; Num_24:8, for “fatigues”
and “indefatigableness” are notions that lie very wide apart. The ‫ּות‬‫פ‬ ָ‫ּוע‬ ‫ף‬ ֶ‫ס‬ ֶⅴ of Job_22:25
might more readily be explained according to this “silver of fatigues,” i.e., silver that the
fatiguing labour of mining brings to light, and ‫הרים‬ ‫תועפות‬ in the passage before us, with
Gussetius, Geier, and Hengstenberg: cacumina montium quia defatigantur qui eo
ascendunt, prop. ascendings = summits of the mountains, after which ‫תועפות‬ ‫,כסף‬ Job_
22:25, might also signify “silver of the mountain-heights.” But the lxx, which renders
δόξα in the passages in Numbers and τᆭ ᆖψη τራν ᆆρέων in the passage before us, leads
one to a more correct track. The verb ‫ף‬ ַ‫ע‬ָ‫י‬ (‫ף‬ ַ‫ע‬ָ‫,)ו‬ transposed from ‫יפע‬ (‫,)ופע‬ goes back to
the root ‫,יף‬ ‫,וף‬ to stand forth, tower above, to be high, according to which ‫תועפות‬ = ‫תופעות‬
signifies eminentiae, i.e., towerings = summits, or prominences = high (the highest)
perfection (vid., on Job_22:25). In the passage before us it is a synonym of the Arabic
mıfan, mıfâtun, pars terrae eminens (from Arab. wfâ = ‫,יפע‬ prop. instrumentally: a means
of rising above, viz., by climbing), and of the names of eminences derived from Arab. yf'
(after which Hitzig renders: the teeth of the mountains). By reason of the fact that Jahve
is the Owner (cf. 1Sa_2:8), because the Creator of all things, the call to worship, which
concerns no one so nearly as it does Israel, the people, which before other peoples is
Jahve's creation, viz., the creation of His miraculously mighty grace, is repeated. In the
call or invitation, ‫ה‬ָ‫ו‬ ֲ‫ח‬ ַ ְ‫שׁ‬ ִ‫ה‬ signifies to stretch one's self out full length upon the ground, the
proper attitude of adoration; ‫ע‬ ַ‫ר‬ ָⅴ, to curtsey, to totter; and ְ‫ך‬ ַ‫ר‬ ָ , Arabic baraka, starting
from the radical signification flectere, to kneel down, in genua (πρόχνυ, pronum =
procnum) procumbere, 2Ch_6:13 (cf. Hölemann, Bibelstudien, i. 135f.). Beside ‫ּו‬‫ת‬‫י‬ ִ‫ע‬ ְ‫ר‬ ַ‫מ‬ ‫ם‬ ַ‫,ע‬
people of His pasture, ‫ּו‬‫ד‬ָ‫י‬ ‫ּאן‬‫צ‬ is not the flock formed by His creating hand (Augustine:
ipse gratiâ suâ nos oves fecit), but, after Gen_30:35, the flock under His protection, the

flock led and defended by His skilful, powerful hand. Böttcher renders: flock of His
charge; but ‫ד‬ָ‫י‬ in this sense (Jer_6:3) signifies only a place, and “flock of His place”
would be poetry and prose in one figure.
CALVI , "3.For Jehovah is a great God. By these words the Psalmist reminds us
what abundant grounds we have for praising God, and how far we are from needing
to employ the lying panegyric with which rhetoricians flatter earthly princes. First,
he extols the greatness of God, drawing a tacit contrast between him and such false
gods as men have invented for themselves. We know that there has always been a
host of gods in the world, as Paul says,
“There are many on the earth who are called gods,”
(1 Corinthians 8:5.)
We are to notice the opposition stated between the God of Israel and all others
which man has formed in the exercise of an unlicensed imagination. Should any
object, that “an idol is nothing in the world,” (1 Corinthians 8:4,) it is enough to
reply, that the Psalmist aims at denouncing the vain delusions of men who have
framed gods after their own foolish device. I admit, however, that under this term
he may have comprehended the angels, asserting God to be possessed of such
excellence as exalted him far above all heavenly glory, and whatever might be
considered Divine, as well as above the feigned deities of earth. (45) Angels are not
indeed gods, but the name admits of an improper application to them on account of
their being next to God, and still more, on account of their being accounted no less
than gods by men who inordinately and superstitiously extol them. If the heavenly
angels themselves must yield before the majesty of the one God, it were the height of
indignity to compare him with gods who are the mere fictions of the brain. In proof
of his greatness, he bids us look to his formation of the world, which he declares to
be the work of God’s hands, and subject to his power. This is one general ground
why God is to be praised, that he has clearly shown forth his glory in the creation of
the world, and will have us daily recognize him in the government of it. When it is
said, that the depths of the earth are in his hand, the meaning is, that it is ruled by
his providence, and subject to his power. Some read, the bounds of the earth, but
the word means abysses or depths, as opposed to the heights of the mountains. The
Hebrew word properly signifies searching.
SPURGEO , "Ver. 3. For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all
gods. o doubt the surrounding nations imagined Jehovah to be a merely local
deity, the god of a small nation, and therefore one of the inferior deities; the
psalmist utterly repudiates such an idea. Idolaters tolerated gods many and lords
many, giving to each a certain measure of respect; the monotheism of the Jews was
not content with this concession, it rightly claimed for Jehovah the chief place, and
the supreme power. He is great, for he is all in all; he is a great King above all other
powers and dignitaries, whether angels or princes, for they owe their existence to
him; as for the idol gods, they are not worthy to be mentioned. This verse and the

following supply some of the reasons for worship, drawn from the being, greatness,
and sovereign dominion of the Lord.
Ver. 3. He that hath a mind to praise God, shall not want matter of praise, as they
who come before princes do, who for want of true grounds of praise in them, do give
them flattering words; for the Lord is a great God, for power and preeminence, for
strength and continuance. â€”David Dickson.
Ver. 3. The Supreme Being has three names here: la El, hwhy Jehovah, Myhla
Elohim, and we should apply none of them to false gods. The first implies his
strength; the second, his being and essence; the third, his covenant relation to
mankind. In public worship these are the views we should entertain of the Divine
Being. â€”Adam Clarke.
Ver. 3. Above all gods. When He is called a great God and King above all gods, we
may justly imagine that the reference is to the angels who are wont to be introduced
absolutely under this name, and to the supreme Judeges in the land, who also wear
this title, as we have it in Psalms 82:1-8. â€”Venema.
ELLICOTT, "(3) Above all gods.— ot here angelic beings, but the gods of
surrounding tribes, as accurately explained in Psalms 96:4-5. (Comp. Exodus 15:11;
Exodus 18:11.) Commentators vex themselves with the difficulty of the ascription of
a real existence to these tribal deities in the expression,” King above all gods.” But
how else was Israel constantly falling into the sin of worshipping them? It was in the
inspired rejection of them as possessing any sovereign power, and in the recognition
of Jehovah’s supremacy shown by the psalmists and prophets, that the preservation
of Israel’s religion consisted.
WHEDO , "3. For the Lord is a great God—This is the theme of Psalms 95:3-5,
and the reason for this call for abundant and loud praise.
Above all gods—Above all the “gods” of the nations. But the title “gods” is also
sometimes given to princes, judges, and rulers, (Psalms 8:6; Psalms 82:6; Psalms
96:4-5,) to whom it better applies here.
EBC, "The three following verses (Psalms 95:3-5) give Jehovah’s creative and
sustaining power, and His consequent ownership of this fair world, as the reasons
for worship. He is King by right of creation. Surely it is forcing unnatural meanings
on words to maintain that the psalmist believed in the real existence of the "gods"
whom he disparagingly contrasts with Jehovah. The fact that these were
worshipped sufficiently warrants the comparison. To treat it as in any degree
inconsistent with Monotheism is unnecessary, and would scarcely have occurred to a
reader but for the exigencies of a theory. The repeated reference to the "hand" of
Jehovah is striking. In it are held the deeps: it is a plastic hand. "forming" the land,
as a potter fashioning his clay: it is a shepherd’s hand. protecting and feeding his
flock (Psalms 95:7). The same power created and sustains the physical universe, and
guides and guards Israel. The psalmist has no time for details; he can only single out
extremes, and leave us to infer that what is true of these is true of all that is enclosed
between them. The depths and the heights are Jehovah’s. The word rendered

"peaks" is doubtful. Etymologically it should mean "fatigue," but it is not found in
that sense in any of the places where it occurs. The parallelism requires the meaning
of heights to contrast with depths, and this rendering is found in the LXX, and is
adopted by most moderns. The word is then taken to come from a root meaning "to
be high." Some of those who adopt the translation summits attempt to get that
meaning out of the root meaning fatigue, by supposing that the labour of getting to
the top of the mountain is alluded to in the name. Thus Kay renders "the
mountains’ toilsome heights," and so also Hengstenberg. But it is simpler to trace
the word to the other root, to be high. The ownerless sea is owned by Him; He made
both its watery waste and the solid earth.
But that all-creating Hand has put forth more wondrous energies than those of
which heights and depths, sea and land, witness. Therefore, the summons is again
addressed to Israel to bow before "Jehovah our Maker."
The creation of a people to serve Him is the work of His grace, and is a nobler effect
of His power than material things. It is remarkable that the call to glad praise
should be associated with thoughts of His greatness as shown in creation, while
lowly reverence is enforced by remembrance of His special relation to Israel. We
should have expected the converse. The revelation of God’s love, in His work of
creating a people for Himself, is most fittingly adored by spirits prostrate before
Him. Another instance of apparent transposition of thoughts occurs in Psalms 95:7
b, where we might have expected "people of His hand and sheep of His pasture."
Hupfeld proposes to correct accordingly, and Cheyne follows him. But the
correction buys prosaic accuracy at the cost of losing the forcible incorrectness
which blends figure and fact. and by keeping sight of both enhances each. "The
sheep of His hand" suggests not merely the creative but the sustaining and
protecting power of God. It is hallowed forever by our Lord’s words, which may be
an echo of it: " o man is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand."
The sudden turn from jubilant praise and recognition of Israel’s prerogative as its
occasion to grave warning is made more impressive by its occurring in the middle of
a verse. God’s voice breaks in upon the joyful acclamations with solemn effect. The
shouts of the adoring multitude die on the poet’s trembling ear, as that deeper Voice
is heard. We cannot persuade ourselves that this magnificent transition, so weighty
with instruction, so fine in poetic effect, is due to the after thought of a compiler.
Such a one would surely have stitched his fragments more neatly together than to
make the seam run through the centre of a verse-an irregularity which would seem
small to a singer in the heat of his inspiration. Psalms 95:7 c may be either a wish or
the protasis to the apodosis in Psalms 95:8. "If ye would but listen to His voice!" is
an exclamation, made more forcible by the omission of what would happen then.
But it is not necessary to regard the clause as optative. The conditional meaning,
which connects it with what follows, is probably preferable, and is not set aside by
the expression "His voice" instead of "My voice"; for "similar change of persons is
very common in utterances of Jehovah, especially in the Prophets" (Hupfeld).
"Today" stands first with strong emphasis, to enforce the critical character of the
present moment. It may be the last opportunity. At all events, it is an opportunity,

and therefore to be grasped and used. A doleful history of unthankfulness lay
behind; but still the Divine voice sounds, and still the fleeting moments offer space
for softening of heart and docile hearkening. The madness of delay when time is
hurrying on, and the long-suffering patience of God, are wonderfully proclaimed in
that one word, which the Epistle to the Hebrews lays hold of, with so deep insight, as
all-important.
The warning points Israel back to ancestral sins, the tempting of God in the second
year of the Exodus, by the demand for water. [Exodus 17:1-7] The scene of that
murmuring received both names, Massah (temptation) and Meribah (strife). It is
difficult to decide the exact force of Psalms 95:9 b. "Saw My work" is most
naturally taken as referring to the Divine acts of deliverance and protection seen by
Israel in the desert, which aggravated the guilt of their faithlessness. But the word
rendered "and" will, in that case, have to be taken as meaning "although"-a sense
which cannot be established. It seems better, therefore, to take "work" in the
unusual meaning of acts of judgment-His "strange work." Israel’s tempting of God
was the more indicative of hardheartedness that it was persisted in, in spite of
chastisements. Possibly both thoughts are to be combined, and the whole varied
stream of blessings and punishments is referred to in the wide expression. Both
forms of God’s work should have touched these hard hearts. It mattered not
whether He blessed or punished. They were impervious to both. The awful issue of
this obstinate rebellion is set forth in terrible words. The sensation of physical
loathing followed by sickness is daringly ascribed to God. We cannot but remember
what John heard in Patmos from the lips into which grace was poured: "I will spue
thee out of My mouth."
PULPIT, "For the Lord is a great God. Thanks and praise are due to God, in the
first place, because of his greatness (see Psalm cf. 2). "Who is so great a god as our
God?" (Psalms 77:13); "His greatness is unsearchable" (Psalms 145:3). And a great
King above all gods; i.e. "a goat King above all other so called gods"—above the
great of the earth (Psalms 82:1, Psalms 82:6), above angels (Deuteronomy 10:17),
above the imaginary gods of the heathen (Exodus 12:12, etc.)
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth,
and the mountain peaks belong to him.
BAR ES, "In his hand - In his power, or under his control as his own. That is, he

so possesses all things that they can be claimed by no other. His right over them is
absolute and entire.
Are the deep places of the earth - The word used here - ‫מחקר‬ mechqâr - means the
interior, the inmost depth; that which is “searched out,” from - ‫חקר‬ châqar - to search,
search out, explore. The primary idea is that of searching by boring or digging; and the
allusion here is to the parts of the earth which could be explored only by digging - as in
mining, or sinking shafts in the earth. The meaning is, that all those places which lie
beyond the ordinary power of observation in man are in the hand of God. He knows
them as clearly as those which are most plain to human view; he possesses or owns them
as his own as really as he does those which are on the surface of the ground.
The strength of the hills is his also - Margin, “The heights of the hills are his.”
The word rendered “strength” - ‫תועפות‬ tô‛âphôth - means properly swiftness or speed in
running; then, weariness, wearisome labor; and hence, wealth obtained by labor;
“treasures.” Here the expression means “treasures of the mountains;” that is, treasures
obtained out of the mountains, the precious metals, etc. Compare the notes at Job_
22:25, where the same word occurs. All this belongs to God. As he is the Maker of these
hills, and of all that they contain, the absolute proprietorship is in him.
CLARKE, "In his hand are the deep places of the earth - The greatest deeps
are fathomed by him.
The strength of the hills is his also - And to him the greatest heights are
accessible,
GILL, "In his hand are the deep places of the earth,.... The "penetrals" (c) of it;
not only what are penetrated by men, the minerals that are in it; but what are of such
deep recess as to be penetrated only by the Lord himself; these are in the hands and
power of Christ, which he can search into, discover, and dispose of; these are the
foundations of the earth, which cannot be searched out beneath by men, Jer_31:37,
the strength of the hills is his also; or, "the wearinesses" (d) of them, the tops (e) of
them, which make a man weary to go up unto, they are so high; the Targum is,
"the strengths of the height of the hills;''
which takes in both ideas, both the height and strength of them. The hills, that are both
high and strong, are set fast by his power, and are at his command; and bow and tremble
before him, whom men ought to worship.
JAMISO , "The terms used describe the world in its whole extent, subject to God.
SPURGEO , "Ver. 4. In his hand are the deep places of the earth. He is the God of
the valleys and the hills, the caverns, and the peaks. Far down where the miners
sink their shafts, deeper yet where lie the secret oceans by which springs are fed,
and deepest of all in the unknown abyss where rage and flame the huge central fires
of earth, there Jehovah's power is felt, and all things are under the dominion of his

hand. As princes hold the mimic globe in their hands, so does the Lord in very deed
hold the earth. When Israel drank of the crystal fount which welled up from the
great deep, below the smitten rock, the people knew that in the Lord's hands were
the deep places of the earth.
The strength of the hills is his also. When Sinai was altogether on a smoke the tribes
learned that Jehovah was God of the hills as well as of the valleys. Everywhere and
at all times is this true; the Lord rules upon the high places of the earth in lonely
majesty. The vast foundations, the gigantic spurs, the incalculable masses, the
untrodden heights of the mountains are all the Lord's. These are his fastnesses and
treasure houses, where he stores the tempest and the rain; whence also he pours the
ice torrents and looses the avalanches. The granite peaks and adamantine aiguilles
are his, and his the precipices and the beetling crags. Strength is the main thought
which strikes the mind when gazing on those vast ramparts of cliff which front the
raging sea, or peer into the azure sky, piercing the clouds, but it is to the devout
mind the strength of God; hints of Omnipotence are given by those stern rocks
which brave the fury of the elements, and like walls of brass defy the assaults of
nature in her wildest rage.
Ver. 4. In his hand. The dominion of God is founded upon his preservation of
things. "The Lord is a great King above all gods." Why?
In his hand are the deep places of the earth. While his hand holds, his hand hath a
dominion over them. He that holds a stone in the air exerciseth a dominion over its
natural inclination in hindering it from falling. The creature depends wholly upon
God in its preservation; as soon as that divine hand which sustains everything were
withdrawn, a languishment and swooning would be the next turn in the creature.
He is called Lord, Adonai, in regard of his sustentation of all things by his continual
influx, the word coming of wa, which signifies a basis or pillar that supports a
building. God is the Lord of all, as he is the sustainer of all by his power, as well as
the Creator of all by his word. â€”Stephen Charnock.
Ver. 4.
"In whose hand are the recesses of the earth
And the treasures of the mountains are his."
â€”Thomas J. Conant's Translation.
Ver. 4. In his hand are the deep places of the earth. This affords consolation to
those; who for the glory of the divine name are cast into prisons and subterraneous
caves; because they know, that even there it is not possible to be the least separated
from the presence of Christ. Wherefore He preserved Joseph when hurled by his
brethren into the old pit, and when thrust by his shameless mistress into prison;
Jeremiah also when sent down into the dungeon; Daniel among the lions, and his
companions in the furnace. So all who cleave to Him with a firm faith, he
wonderfully keeps and delivers to this day. â€”Solomon Gesner, 1559-1605.
Ver. 4. In his hand are the deep places of the earth. As an illustration of the working
and presence of the Lord in the mines amid the bowels of the earth we have selected
the following: "The natural disposition of coal in detached portions", says the
author of an excellent article in the Edinburgh Review, "is not simply a
phenomenon of geology, but it also bears upon natural considerations. It is
remarkable that this natural disposition is that which renders the fuel most

accessible and most easily mined. Were the coal situated at its normal geological
depth, that is, supposing the strata to be all horizontal and undisturbed or
upheaved, it would be far below human reach. Were it deposited continuously in
one even superficial layer, it would have been too readily, and therefore too quickly,
mined, and therefore all the superior qualities would be wrought out, and only the
inferior left; but as it now lies it is broken up by geological disturbances into
separate portions, each defined and limited in area, each sufficiently accessible to
bring it within man's reach and labour, each manageable by mechanical
arrangements, and each capable of gradual excavation without being subject to
sudden exhaustion. Selfish plundering is partly prevented by natural barriers, and
we are warned against reckless waste by the comparative thinness of coal seams, as
well as by the ever augmenting difficulty of working them at increased depths. By
the separation of seams one from another, and by varied intervals of waste
sandstones and shales, such a measured rate of winning is necessitated as precludes
us from entirely robbing posterity of the most valuable mineral fuel, while the fuel
itself is preserved from those extended fractures and crumblings and falls, which
would certainly be the consequence of largely mining the best bituminous coal, were
it aggregated into one vast mass. In fact, by an evident exercise of forethought and
benevolence in the Great Author of all our blessings, our invaluable fuel has been
stored up for us in deposits the most compendious, the most accessible, yet the least
exhaustible, and has been locally distributed into the most convenient situations.
Our coal fields are so many Bituminous Banks, in which there is abundance for an
adequate currency, but against any sudden run upon them nature has interposed
numerous checks; whole reserves of the precious fuel are always locked up in the
bank cellar under the invincible protection of ponderous stone beds. It is a striking
fact, that in this nineteenth century, after so long an inhabitation of the earth by
man, if we take the quantities in the broad view of the whole known coal fields, so
little coal has been excavated, and that there remains an abundance for a very
remote posterity, even though our own best coal fields may be then worked out."
But it is not only in these inexhaustible supplies of mineral fuel that we find proofs
of divine foresight, all the other treasures of the earth rind equally convince us of
the intimate harmony between its structure and the wants of man. Composed of a
wonderful variety of earths and ores, it contains an inexhaustible abundance of all
the substances he requires for the attainment of a higher grade of civilisation. It is
for his use that iron, copper, lead, silver, tin, marble, gypsum, sulphur, rock salt,
and a variety of other minerals and metals, have been deposited in the veins and
crevices, or in the mines and quarries, of the subterranean world. It is for his benefit
that, from the decomposition of the solid rocks results that mixture of earths and
alkalies, of marl, lime, sand, or chalk, which is most favourable to agriculture.
It is for him, finally, that, filtering through the entrails of the earth, and dissolving
salutary substances on their way, the thermal springs gush forth laden with
treasures more inestimable than those the miner toils for. Supposing man had never
been destined to live, we well may ask wily all those gifts of nature useless to all
living beings but to him why those vast coal fields, those beds of iron ore, those
deposits of sulphur, those hygeian fountains, should ever have been created?
Without him there is no design, no purpose, in their existence; with him they are
wonderful sources of health or necessary instruments of civilisation and

improvement. Thus the geological revolutions of the earth rind harmoniously point
to man as to its future lord; thus, in the life of our planet and that of its inhabitants,
we everywhere find proofs of a gigantic unity of plan, embracing unnumbered ages
in its development and progress. â€”G. Hartwig, in "The Harmonies of ature",
1866.
Ver. 4. â€”The deep places of the earth, penetralia terrae, which are opposed to the
heights of the hills, and plainly mean the deepest and most letired parts of the
terraqueous globe, which are explorable by the eye of God, and by his only. â€”
Richard Mant.
Ver. 4. â€”The strength of the hills. The word translated "strength" is plural in
Hebrew, and seems properly to mean fatiguing exertions, from which some derive
the idea of strength, others that of extreme height, which can only be reached by
exhausting effort. â€”J.A. Alexander.
Ver. 4. â€”The strength of the hills is his also. The reference may be to the wealth of
the hills, obtained only by labour Gesenius, corresponding to the formerâ€”"the
deep places of the earth", explained as referring to the mines Mendelssohn. Go
where man may, with all his toil and searching in the heights or in the depths of the
earth, he cannot find a place beyond the range of God's dominion. â€”A.R. Faussett.
Ver. 4. â€”Hills, The Sea, the dry land. The relation of areas of land to areas of
water exercises a great and essential influence on the distribution of heat, variations
of atmospheric pressure, directions of the winds, and that condition of the air with
respect to moisture, which is so necessary for the health of vegetation. early three
fourths of the earth's surface is covered with water, but neither the exact height of
the atmosphere nor the depth of the ocean are fully determined. Still we know that
with every addition to or subtraction from the present bulk of the waters of the
ocean, the consequent variation in the form and magnitude of the land would be
such, that if the change was considerable, many of the existing harmonies of things
would cease. Hence, the inference is, that the magnitude of the sea is one of the
conditions to which the structure of all organised creatures is adapted, and on which
indeed they depend for wellbeing. The proportions between land and water are
exactly what the world as constituted requires; and the whole mass of earth, sea,
and air, must have been balanced with the greatest nicety before even a crocus could
stand erect. Or a snowdrop or a daffodil bend their heads to the ground. The
proportions of land and sea are adjusted to their reciprocal functions. othing
deduced from modern science is more certain than this. â€”Edwin Sidney, in
"Conversations on the Bible and Science."
COFFMA , "Verse 4
"In his hand are the deep places of the earth;
The heights of the mountains are his also."
Ocean caves and mighty mountain peaks alike are God's. The mighty palm trees of
the desert as well as the tiniest flowers that grow at the snow-line are God's; He
made them all, protects them all and uses them all. The evidence and unmistakable
witness of God's limitless intelligence and glory are seen alike in the sub-microscopic
wonders of the tiny atom and in the measureless light-year distances of the universe,

so large and limitless that even the imagination of men cannot reach to the farthest
edge of it.
ELLICOTT, "(4) Deep places.—From a root meaning “to search,” perhaps by
digging. Hence either “mines” or “mineral wealth.”
Strength of the hills.—The Hebrew word rendered “strength” is rare, found only
here and umbers 23:22; umbers 24:8 (“strength of an unicorn”), and Job 22:25
(“plenty of silver;” margin, “silver of strength”). The root to which the word is
usually assigned means “to be weary,” from which the idea of strength can only be
derived on the lucus a non lucendo principle. Keeping the usual derivation, we may,
with many critics, give the word the sense of “mines” or “treasures,” because of the
labours of extracting metal from the earth. This suits Job 22:25, and makes a good
parallelism. But the LXX. and Vulg. have “heights,” and by another derivation the
Hebrew may mean shining, and so “sunny summit.” With this agrees the rendering
of the LXX. in umbers 23:22; umbers 24:8, and the rhythm is preserved by an
antithetic parallelism, as in next verse.
WHEDO , "4. Deep places—The Hebrew word signifies that which is known only
by searching; but these inmost recesses of the earth were unsearchable. See
Jeremiah 31:37. To the ancients the interior of the earth was a fathomless mystery,
which modern science has only hypothetically dispelled. Here the ancients located
sheol, or hades—the region of departed spirits. They had no conception either of the
absolute or relative dimensions of the earth.
Strength of the hills—The heights of the mountains. The opposite of “deep places of
the earth.” To the former, as the word indicates, we attain by wearisome labour; the
latter are unsearchable, but God knows, governs, and possesses them all. What
language of modern science can more beautifully and impressively exalt our
conceptions of God?
BE SO , "Verse 4-5
Psalms 95:4-5. In his hand — Under his government, and in his possession; are the
deep places of the earth — With all the treasures they contain; even those parts
which are far out of men’s sight and reach. The strength of the hills — Which, with
majestic pride, tower above, and lift up their heads to heaven; is his also — Even the
highest and strongest mountains are under his feet, and at his disposal. The sea is
his — With its unnumbered waves, which roll in perpetual motion round the world;
and all the millions of living creatures, of all forms and sizes, that inhabit its
fathomless depths and immeasurable waters. And his hands formed the dry land —
With all its rich and variegated produce, when, by his word, he commanded it to
appear, and it was so; and he crowned it with verdure and beauty. And though he
hath given it to the children of men, it is, nevertheless, still his, for he reserved the
property to himself. His being the Creator of all, makes him, without dispute, the
Owner and Lord of all.

5 The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.
BAR ES, "The sea is his - Margin, as in Hebrew, “Whose the sea is.” That is, The
sea belongs to him, with all which it contains.
And he made it - It is his, “because” he made it. The creation of anything gives the
highest possible right over it.
And his hands formed the dry land - He has a claim, therefore, that it should be
recognized as his, and that all who dwell upon it, and derive their support from it, should
acknowledge him as its great Owner and Lord.
CLARKE, "The sea is his - The sea and the dry land are equally his, for he has
formed them both, and they are his property. He governs and disposes of them as he
sees good. He is the absolute Master of universal nature. Therefore there is no other
object of worship nor of confidence.
GILL, "The sea is his, and he made it,.... He made it, and therefore it is, and all
creatures in it; he sets bounds to it, and its waves, and restrains the raging of it at his
pleasure, Mat_8:26,
and his hands formed the dry land; the whole world, all besides the sea, the vast
continent; he is the Maker of it, and all creatures in it; without him was nothing made
that is made; and, being the Creator of all things, is the proper object of worship, Joh_
1:2, as follows.
SPURGEO , "Ver. 5. The sea is his. This was seen to be true at the Red Sea when
the waters saw their God, and obediently stood aside to open a pathway for his
people. It was not Edom's sea though it was red, nor Egypt's sea though it washed
her shores. The Lord on high reigned supreme over the flood, as King far ever and
ever. So is it with the broad ocean, whether known as Atlantic or Pacific,
Mediterranean or Arctic; no man can map it out and say "It is mine"; the
illimitable acreage of waters knows no other lord but God alone. Jehovah rules the
waves. Far down in vast abysses, where no eye of man has gazed, or foot of diver has
descended, he is sole proprietor; every rolling billow and foaming wave owns him
for monarch; eptune is but a phantom, the Lord is God of ocean.

And he made it. Hence his right and sovereignty. He scooped the unfathomed
channel and poured forth the overflowing flood; seas were not fashioned by chance,
nor their shores marked out by the imaginary finger of fate; God made the main,
and every creek, and bay, and current, and far sounding tide owns the great
Maker's hand. All hail, Creator and Controller of the sea, let those who fly in the
swift ships across the wonder realm of waters worship thee alone!
And his hands formed the dry land. Whether fertile field or sandy waste, he made
all that men called terra firma, lifting it from the floods and fencing it from the
overflowing waters. "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." He bade the
isles upraise their heads, he levelled the vast plains, upreared the table lands, cast up
the undulating hills, and piled the massive Alps. As the potter moulds his clay, so
did Jehovah with his hands fashion the habitable parts of the earth. Come ye, then,
who dwell on this fair world, and worship him who is conspicuous wherever ye
tread! Count it all as the floor of a temple where the footprints of the present Deity
are visible before your eyes if ye do but care to see. The argument is overpowering if
the heart be right; the command to adore is alike the inference of reason and the
impulse of faith.
Ver. 5. â€”The sea is his. When God himself makes an oration in defence of his
sovereignty, Job 38:1 his chief arguments are drawn from creation: "The Lord is a
great King above all gods. The sea is his, and he made it." And so the apostle in his
sermon to the Athenians. As he "made the world, and all things therein, "he is
styled "Lord of heaven and earth, "Acts 17:24. His dominion also of property stands
upon this basis: Psalms 84:11, "The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for
the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them." Upon this title of
forming Israel as a creature, or rather as a church, he demands their services to him
as their Sovereign. "O jacob and Israel, thou art my servant: I have formed thee;
thou art my servant, O Israel, "Is 44:21. The sovereignty of God naturally ariseth
from the relation of all things to himself as their entire creator, and their natural
and inseparable dependence upon him in regard of their being and wellbeing. â€”
Stephen Charrwick.
Ver. 5. â€”He made it.
The Earth was formed, but in the womb as yet
Of waters, embryon immature involved,
Appeared not: over all the face of Earth
in ocean flowed, not idle; but, with warm
Prolific humour softening all her globe,
Fermented the great mother to conceive,
Satiate with genial moisture; when God said,
Be gathered now, ye waters under Heaven
unto one place and let dry land appear.
Immediately the mountains huge appear
Emergent, and their broad bare backs upheave
unto the clouds; their tops ascend the sky:
So high as heaved the tumid hills, so low
own sunk a hollow bottom broad and deep,
Capacious bed of waters. â€”John Milton.

COFFMA , "Verse 5
"The sea is his, and he made it;
And his hands formed the dry land."
When Jonah was confronted by his fellow ship-mates who demanded to know who
he was, he replied, "I am a Hebrew, and I fear Jehovah the God of heaven and
earth, who made the sea and the dry land" (Jonah 1:9). These words of God's praise
were often used in Israel.
BE SO , "Psalms 95:6. O come, let us worship and bow down — Let us not be
backward, then, to comply with this invitation; but let us all, with the lowest
prostrations, devoutly adore this great and glorious Being. Let us kneel before the
Lord our Maker — With humble reverence, and a holy awe of him; as becomes
those who know what an infinite distance there is between us and him, how much
we are in danger of his wrath, and in how great need we stand of his mercy. The
posture of our bodies, indeed, by itself, profits little; yet certainly it is meet and right
they should bear a part in God’s service, and that internal worship should be
accompanied and signified by that which is external, or that the reverence,
seriousness and humility of our minds, should be manifested by our falling down on
our knees before that great Jehovah, who gave us our being, and on whom we are
continually dependant for the continuance of it, and for all our blessing
EXPOSITOR'S DICTIO ARY, "Psalm 95
This Psalm , the Venite exultemus Domino, "O come, let us sing unto the Lord," was
the chant of the Templars, the Knights of the Red Cross, when during the Crusades
they entered into battle with the Saracens for the conquest of Jerusalem.
In a different spirit the great missionary, Christian Schwartz, took the6th verse, and
put it over the entrance of his new church in Tranquebar: "O come, let us worship
and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our Maker". He called the church
Bethlehem, as his predecessor, Ziegenbalg, had built one with the name Jerusalem,
which was filled with native converts.
A Seaside Sermon
Psalm 95:5
When we remember that the extent of the sea may be roughly estimated at146 ,000
,000 English square miles, or nearly three-fourths of the whole surface of the globe,
and when we recall the fact that the Bible abounds in illustrations from nature, we
might well be astonished if there were no reference to this sublime portion of
creation. Until recently, little was known of the physical aspects of the sea, and
therefore the allusions to the ocean in the Word of God are such as would occur to
any thoughtful observer entirely ignorant of modern science. For example, the silent

but mighty force of evaporation is one of the chief features of the sea system, and the
wise man thus refers to it: "Unto the place from whence the rivers come thither they
return". Again, the Psalmist says, "He layeth up the deep as in a treasure-house".
Consider the ocean as emblematic of three things: (1) of the unrest and instability of
human life; (2) of national anarchy and revolution; (3) of mystery.
I. The sea, in the Bible, is a symbol of the unrest and instability of human life. This
feature of the ocean has been the natural thought of men in all ages. It is true that
there is no mention of the tides in the Bible, as is natural. The Mediterranean is not
a tidal sea.
This unrest of the ocean surface caused by the tides, the winds, the influence of
rivers, the mighty currents which are ever exchanging the heavier and colder waters
of the polar seas for the lighter and warmer waters of the tropical ocean, and again
reversing the action, cause the sea to be "ever restless". There need no words of
mine to speak of the constant changes of "our life"s wild restless sea". The
experience is universal. As unconscious infants received "into Christ"s holy
Church," the prayer went up for us that "being steadfast in faith, joyful through
hope, and rooted in charity," we might so "pass the waves of this troublesome world
that finally" we might "come to the land of everlasting life"; and in that service
which will be read over each one of us, unless the Lord come first, to which the
heart of every mourner will respond, will be heard words that speak of the
recurring changes of human life: "Man that is born of a woman hath but a short
time to live, and is full of misery. He cometh up, and is cut down, like a flower; he
fleeth as it were a shadow, and never continueth in one stay." This unrest of the sea
is more than superficial. It is not only outward but inward. There is a constant
oceanic circulation necessary to its salubrity. The silent action of the sun, ever
absorbing and ever increasing the specific gravity of the surface waters, causes a
vertical action. The heavier waters above are ever sinking below, and the lighter
waters below are ever rising above. Again, many of the sea currents influence the
lower waters—the Gulf Stream, e.g, is more than300 feet deep as it crosses the
Atlantic. Besides this, every single mollusc or coralline secretes solid matter for its
cell which the sea holds in solution; and that very act of secretion destroys the
equilibrium of the ocean, because the specific gravity of that portion of the water
from which the coralline abstracts the solid matter is altered. In the remembrance of
such facts as these, how true and forcible are the words of Isaiah: "The wicked are
like the troubled sea when it cannot rest". "There is no peace, saith my God, for the
wicked." If the surface disturbance of the ocean pictures the changing nature of our
outward life, the hidden and unseen restlessness of the sea, even when its surface
seems most calm, portrays the inquietude of hearts which have not found rest in
Christ. "The wicked are (1) outwardly restless, and (2) their souls are ever ejecting
ungodly and unlovely thoughts."
II. The unrest of the sea is used in the Bible as a striking emblem of national
anarchy and revolution rising beyond the control of established governments.
III. The sea is the one object in nature which is most emblematic of mystery. I

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