Today, if You Will Hear His Voice: An Exposition of Psalm 95
The Book of Psalms is considered to be the Hebrew hymnal. Actually, there are five separate collections of them. There are different psalms for different occasions. For example, we have the 100th Psalm which is a joyous song of thanksgiving. There are psalms like the 130th in which the psalmist finds himself in the depths of despair and cries out for deliverance and ends with the assurance that He has been heard by the LORD. There are psalms used for teaching such as the 119th. There are psalms which predict the coming of Jesus Christ.
Then there is the 95th Psalm which we address this morning. Is is one of the most troubling of the psalms in that it starts out in the cheerful style of a thanksgiving psalm but ends on the most dismal note unlike other psalms which start on a dismal note and ends with thanksgiving. This gives us pause for reflection. We have the expectation of assurance and joyful resolution we see in the fairy tales where the heroes emerge victorious and live happily ever after. It is the expectation of the Bible for us as well. We think of the beautiful City of God in Revelation 21. But this psalm has the depressing end of a Bergman play, So how do we deal with this psalm?
When we look at Psalm 95, we have no helpful information such as author or occasion. The context of the psalm itself tells us that it was written some time after the Exodus and the experience of Israel in the wilderness. This means that it was written after Israel entered into the Promised Land. The Promised Land is connected with the Land of Rest as we see in the exposition in the Book of Hebrews. So had Israel not entered into rest already? Why does the psalm end with the words “They shall never enter into my rest?” This implies, of course, that there is something greater associated with rest than entrance into earthly Canaan.
The psalm begins with a joyous tone. The first two verses serve as a call to worship and is fine Hebrew poetry. Israel is called to joyfully enter into worship of Yahweh. They are to sing psalms of praise. This is similar to the start of the 100th Psalm. They may have been lined out by the priests as the congregation entered into worship. Another choir may have responded with the next verses or perhaps the congregation itself.
Verse 3 tells us why we are to join in joyful song and worship. Yahweh is sovereign, not just over Israel, but of all the nations of the earth and their false gods. He is the Great King, which is similar to the later expression “King of kings and Lord of lords.” King is a political term and shows that not only does Yahweh rule over the so-called gods or heavenly beings like angels, He rules over the kings of each of the nations. These kings can do nothing in the long run apart from Yahweh’s will. He sets up nations and casts them down.
Verse 4 says that “in His hands are the deep places of the earth.” In Hebrew thought, the deep represents chaos. It is the fear of the unknown which is felt and hard to put into words. The Hebrews often associated chaos with the Gentile nations. All seemed without form and void, so to speak. To this is added that the “strength of the hills are His” as well. Many cites in the Ancient Near East were situated on hills for defensive purposes. But the defenses of the cities of the nations are no match for the strength of Yahweh.
Verse 5 affirms Yahweh as Creator. He made both the sea and the dry land. As Creator, He has the right of ownership and rule over it. The “sea” also has a sense of chaos about it. But we remember that originally the earth was “without form and void.” God imposes meaning on the stuff of creation. We must also remember that even this “stuff” was created by God. There is then no meaning to life or anything else apart from Yahweh.
Verse 6 reiterates the call to worship. Because the LORD is our maker, we should kneel in worship before Him. It is expressed richly in Hebrew parallelism. We too, should make this conclusion as Christians. We have been given even more reason to bow down because of what Jesus, the Son of God, did for us. So when we reflect on how great and good God has been and is to us, we should do the same thing as the ancient Israelites.
Verse seven has two parts which just don’t seem to go together. There is nothing sacred about the verse divisions in the Bible. There is such an abrupt break between the first half and second half of the verse. The first half gives us joyful assurance that we are His people and the sheep of His fold. Up to this point, it has been as joyous as the 100th Psalm. The shepherd takes care of his sheep and protects them from danger. The LORD surely will not let anything happen to His people. If only the second half of the verse was “Amen” and then the psalm ended. For us, it is time for us to sing “O God Our Help in Ages Past” and go home. But it does not end here.
The second half of this psalm begins with “Today, if you will hear His voice.” As the Hebrew “Im” “if” is the same as the end of the psalm which is literally rendered “If they shall enter into His rest,” one should perhaps see a connection here. The construction of verse 11 is properly rendered “They shall never inter into my rest!” The idea is “If they think they are going to enter into my rest, they are sorely mistaken.” So perhaps we should translate verse 7b as “But you are not listening to my voice today.” In Hebrew, as well as Greek, there is a close tie between hearing and obedience. It isn’t just hearing sounds or memorizing a sentence. Hearing has the demand of obedience. It is like when a mother calls out “John David Smith, listen to me!” Mother isn’t interested in her child simply listening carefully but also to obey.
The word “today” is significant in that it is the eternal “now.” The Word of God came to people in various times and ways in times past. God was speaking to them. But “today” also calls us to join in and listen. The writer of the psalm calls the listeners to take the example of the Children of Israel to heart. This was “today” to them. The writer of Hebrews calls out to His flock. That is their “today.” The Word of God also speaks directly to us “today.” So we need to pay the more earnest attention to what God is saying to us.
The psalmist now goes on to summarize the failures of the wilderness generation. They had been called out by Yahweh to great deliverance from Egypt. When Pharaoh’s army drowned in the Red Sea, Miriam leads Israel in joyful praise in Exodus 15. “Horse and rider he has thrown into the sea!” So the Exodus begins with a joyful psalm of praise and worship. But this did not last. It was not long before thirst and hunger drove Israel to grumble. Two of the major failures were at Meribah and Massa which mean “place of provocation” and “place of temptation.” God was provoked by Israel’s grumbling and their constantly putting Him to the test. They had failed to hear the voice of Yahweh. In their “today” they had been disobedient. One thinks of God cursing those who had disobeyed and did not believe the report of Joshua and Caleb and rather listened to the others who had spied out the land. Except for Joshua and Caleb, all the adults would not enter Canaan. There carcasses would fall in the desert like the wild animals. They has seen such wonderful works of deliverance at the hand of the LORD. Yet they thought that Yahweh had led them out of Egypt to kill them. Things had started out so well but had ended so badly.
The writer of Hebrews catches this in his exposition to his hearers in their “today.” The Christians had received Christ with great shouts of joy and thanksgiving. But trials soon came unto the congregation. Some of them had been exiled from their homes and had lost their earthly possessions, they were in their own wilderness, wandering about, looking for refuge. This is why the writer of Hebrews calls his flock to show hospitality to strangers. The people were growing somewhat careless and despondent. They seem to have some doubts whether they had made the right decision to follow Jesus. Should they turn back? If they did, they would suffer the same fate as the children of Israel. They would die in the Wilderness. God will not part the sea so we can return to Egypt. We will not find even the fleeting happiness of eating leeks in Egypt. We will instead die a miserable death. So Psalm 95 was a somber warning to them. It was an encouragement to press onward and not to turn back. There were still even greater trials ahead, perhaps martyrdom, in their future. But there was eternal rest at the end of these trials, even as Jesus, even as Jesus joyfully looked past the cross and saw this true Promised Land, the true rest. The earthly Canaan did not provide rest, or else there would have been no need for the 95th Psalm. There is a rest coming for us, but we must first labor to enter it. The Sabbath comes at the end of the week, not the beginning.
So when we look at this psalm “today,” we should realize that God is admonishing us. Our trials might not be as heavy at this point, at least in America, as it was for Israel in the wilderness or the congregation of “Hebrews.” But there is a great falling away happening, just as was prophesied at the end of time. Christians are being challenged to desert the faith. To commit apostacy is death. The antidote to this is to remember. We need to remember where we came from and where we are going. We need to see what great salvation has been worked among us by Jesus Christ. We need to seriously consider the content of our worship and not just the form of worship. I have seen mass hymn sings on YouTube of groups of Englishmen and women. They show that they still love the songs of Zion. But what happens when they leave? Do they act on their faith? Does it stick? It is so easy to leave worship and forget why we came. We got a little fix of worship. We take our salvation for granted. We want this assurance of being the Lord’s sheep. But we must remember the words of Jesus who says “My sheep obey my voice.” He is the only way out of the wilderness. So let us listen today for the call of His voice.
