Today, If You Will Hear His Voice: An Exposition Of Psalm 95

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.