Psalms 95:7–95:8

Psalm 95:6-7 6. Come ye, let us worship, and bow down; [46] let us kneel before the face of Jehovah our Maker. 7. Because he is our God, and we the people of his pastures, and the flock of his hand; to-day, if ye will hear his voice. 6. Come ye, let us worship Now that the Psalmist exhorts God's chosen people to gratitude, for that pre-eminency among the nations which he had conferred upon them in the exercise of his free favor, his language grows more vehement. God supplies us with ample grounds of praise when he invests us with spiritual distinction, and advances us to a pre-eminency above the rest of mankind which rests upon no merits of our own. In three successive terms he expresses the one duty incumbent upon the children of Abraham, that of an entire devotement of themselves to God. The worship of God, which the Psalmist here speaks of, is assuredly a matter of such importance as to demand our whole strength; but we are to notice, that he particularly condescends upon one point, the paternal favor of God, evidenced in his exclusive adoption of the posterity of Abraham unto the hope of eternal life. We are also to observe, that mention is made not only of inward gratitude, but the necessity of an outward profession of godliness. The three words which are used imply that, to discharge their duty properly, the Lord's people must present themselves a sacrifice to him publicly, with kneeling, and other marks of devotion. The face of the Lord is an expression to be understood in the sense I referred to above, -- that the people should prostrate themselves before the Ark of the Covenant, for the reference is to the mode of worship under the Law. This remark, however, must be taken with one reservation, that the worshippers were to lift their eyes to heaven, and serve God in a spiritual manner. [47] 7 Because he is our God While it is true that all men were created to praise God, there are reasons why the Church is specially said to have been formed for that end, ( Isaiah 61:3 .) The Psalmist was entitled to require this service more particularly from the hands of his chosen people. This is the reason why he impresses upon the children of Abraham the invaluable privilege which God had conferred upon them in taking them under his protection. God may indeed be said in a sense to have done so much for all mankind. But when asserted to be the Shepherd of the Church, more is meant than that he favors her with the common nourishment, support, and government which he extends promiscuously to the whole human family; he is so called because he separates her from the rest of the world, and cherishes her with a peculiar and fatherly regard. His people are here spoken of accordingly as the people of his pastures, whom he watches over with peculiar care, and loads with blessings of every kind. The passage might have run more clearly had the Psalmist called them the flock of his pastures, and the people of his hand; [48] or, had he added merely -- and his flock [49] -- the figure might have been brought out more consistently and plainly. But his object was less elegancy of expression than pressing upon the people a sense of the inestimable favor conferred upon them in their adoption, by virtue of which they were called to live under the faithful guardianship of God, and to the enjoyment of every species of blessings. They are called the flock of his hand, not so much because formed by his hand as because governed by it, or, to use a French expression, le Troupeau de sa conduite. [50] The point which some have given to the expression, as if it intimated how intent God was upon feeding his people, doing it himself, and not employing hired shepherds, may scarcely perhaps be borne out by the words in their genuine meaning; but it cannot be doubted that the Psalmist would express the very gracious and familiar kind of guidance which was enjoyed by this one nation at that time. Not that God dispensed with human agency, intrusting the care of the people as he did to priests, prophets, and judges, and latterly to kings. No more is meant than that in discharging the office of shepherd to this people, he exercised a superintendence over them different from that common providence which extends to the rest of the world. To-day, if you will hear his voice [51] According to the Hebrew expositors, this is a conditional clause standing connected with the preceding sentence; by which interpretation the Psalmist must be considered as warning the people that they would only retain possession of their privilege and distinction so long as they continued to obey God. [52] The Greek version joins it with the verse that follows -- to-day, if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts, and it reads well in this connection. Should we adopt the distribution of the Hebrew expositors, the Psalmist seems to say that the posterity of Abraham were the flock of God's hand, inasmuch as he had placed his Law in the midst of them, which was, as it were, his crook, and had thus showed himself to be their shepherd. The Hebrew particle 'm, im, which has been rendered if, would in that case be rather expositive than conditional, and might be rendered when, [53] the words denoting it to be the great distinction between the Jews and the surrounding nations, that God had directed his voice to the former, as it is frequently noticed he had not done to the latter, ( Psalm 147:20 ; Deuteronomy 4:6 , 7.) Moses had declared this to constitute the ground of their superiority to other people, saying, "What nation is there under heaven which hath its gods so nigh unto it?" The inspired writers borrow frequently from Moses, as is well known, and the Psalmist, by the expression to-day, intimates how emphatically the Jews, in hearing God's voice, were his people, for the proof was not far off, it consisted in something which was present and before their eyes. He bids them recognize God as their shepherd, inasmuch as they heard his voice; and it was an instance of his singular grace that he had addressed them in such a condescending and familiar manner. Some take the adverb to be one of exhortation, and read, I would that they would hear my voice, but this does violence to the words. The passage runs well taken in the other meaning we have assigned to it. Since they had a constant opportunity of hearing the voice of God -- since he gave them not only one proof of the care he had over them as shepherd, or yearly proof of it, but a continual exemplification of it, there could be no doubt that the Jews were chosen to be his flock. Footnotes: [46] "That is, so as to touch the floor with the forehead, while the worshipper is prostrate on his hands and knees. -- See 2 Chronicles 7:3 ." -- Fry. [47] "Il faut neantmoins tousjours adjoustor ceste exception, que les fideles eslevans les yeux au ciel, adorent Dieu spirituellement." -- Fr. [48] Hammond, after making a similar remark, adds -- "But it is more reasonable to take the explanation from the different significations of rh, [the word which Calvin renders pasture,] as for feeding, so for governing, equally applicable to men and cattle; from whence it is but analogy, that mrh, which signifies a pasture, where cattle are fed, should also signify dominion or kingdom, or any kind of politeia, wherein a people are governed And then the other part, the sheep of his hand, will be a fit, though figurative, expression; the shepherd that feeds, and rules, and leads the sheep, doing it by his hand, which manageth the rod and staff, Psalm 23:4 . The Jewish Arab reads, the people of his feeding, or flock, and the sheep of his guidance.'" [49] The text reads, "Si tantum nomen Legis posuisset." This is evidently a mistake of the printer for Gregis. The French version reads -- "Le Troupeau." [50] The flock under his conduct or guidance. [51] The ancient Jewish writers frequently apply these words to the Messiah: and they have argued from them, that if all Israel would repent but one day the Messiah would come; because it is said, "To-day, if ye will hear his voice." [52] Hammond observes, that the particle 'm, im, here rendered if, is in other places often used in an optative signification, as in Exodus 32:32 , "If thou wilt" for "O that thou wouldst forgive them;" and that therefore the rendering here may be, "O that to-day ye would hear his voice;" -- a reading, he adds, which "may be thought needful to the making the sense complete in this verse, which otherwise is thought to hang (though not so fitly) on the 8th verse, and not to be finished without it." He then goes on to say, "But it may be considered also, whether this verse be not more complete in itself by rendering 'm, if, thus: Let us worship and bow down, and kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and sheep of his hand, if ye will hear his voice to-day,' i e., speedily, -- if ye will speedily perform obedience to him, -- setting the words in form of a conditional promise, thereby to enforce the performance of the condition on our part. The condition to the performance of which they are exhorted, (verse 6,) is paying God the worship and lowly obedience due to him; and the promise secured to them in this performance, that he will be their God, and they the people of his pasture, etc., i e., that God will take the same care of them that a shepherd does of his sheep; preserve them from all enemies, Midianites, Philistines, Canaanites, etc." [53] "Non erit proprie conditionalis, sed expositiva; vel pro temporis adverbio sumetur." -- Lat. -- "Ne sera pas proprement conditionnelle, mais expositive; ou bien elle sera prinse pour Quand." -- Fr.

For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his {e} hand. To day if ye will hear his voice, (e) That is, the flock whom he governs with his own hand. He shows how they are God's flock, that is, if they hear his voice.

For he [is] our God; and we [are] the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice, The people of his pasture — Whom he turns not out into commons and fallows, but feeds among lilies, Song of Solomon 2:16 . And the sheep of his hand — His cades brought up at hand, eating of his meat and drinking of his cup, and lying in his bosom, as Uriah’s ewe lamb did, 2 Samuel 12:3 . Today if ye will hear his voice — i.e. While the day of grace lasteth, which is not long, 2 Corinthians 6:2 . Qui paenitenti veniam spospondit, peccanti crastinum non promisit, saith Gregory.

Our God, in a peculiar manner; and therefore it will be most unreasonable and abominable for us to forsake him, when the Gentiles submit to his law. The people of his pasture ; whom he feedeth and keepeth in his own proper pasture, or in the land which he hath appropriated to himself. The sheep of his hand; which are under his special care and conduct, or government; which is oft expressed by the hand, as Numbers 4:28 31:49 Judges 9:29 . Today, i.e. forthwith or presently, as this word is used, Deu 4:4 ,8 27:9 Joshua 22:16 ,18 , &c. Or, this day ; in this solemn day of grace, or of the gospel, which the psalmist speaks of as present, according to the manner of the prophets. And this word, though belonging to the following clause, as appears from Hebrews 3:7 , may seem to be thus placed, to show that it had some respect to the foregoing words also. For the sense of the place may be this, We (Jews) are or shall be the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand ; God will still own us for his people this day , i.e. in the days of the Messiah, if this day or in that time we shall hear his voice. Otherwise God will reject us, and receive the Gentiles in our stead. If ye will hear his voice; if you will hearken to his call, and obey his further commands; which may be added as a necessary caution and admonition to the Israelites, that they might understand and consider that God’s presence and favour was not absolutely, necessarily, and everlastingly fixed to them, as they were very apt to believe, but was suspended upon the condition of their continued obedience, which if they violated they should be rejected, and the Gentiles performing it should be received to his mercy. And this clause may be connected either, 1. With the former words, as the condition of their interest in God as their God, as was now said. Or, 2. With the following verse; If you are willing to hearken to God’s call delivered by his Son, take the following counsel.

For he is our God,.... God over all, blessed for ever, truly and properly God, and therefore to be worshipped: "our God"; in whom we have interest, who became our head and surety in covenant; took upon him our nature, is our "Immanuel", God with as, which increases the obligation to worship him; these are the words of New Testament saints: and we are the people of his pasture; for whom he has provided a good pasture; whom he leads into it, and feeds in it, even by the ministry of the word and ordinances: and the sheep of his hand; made and fashioned by his hand, both in a natural and spiritual sense; led and guided by his hand, as a flock by the hand of the shepherd; are in his hand, being put there for safety by his Father; and upheld by it, and preserved in it, and from whence none can pluck them; see Deuteronomy 33:3 receiving such favours from him, he ought to be worshipped by them. The Heathens had a deity they called Pan, whom they make to be a keeper of sheep (e); and some Christian writers have thought that Christ the chief Shepherd is meant; since, when the Heathen oracles ceased, after the coming and death of Christ, a voice is (f) said to be heard at a certain place, "the great Pan is dead: today, if ye will hear his voice"; the voice of the Shepherd, the voice of God, says Aben Ezra, his Word, as the Targum; the voice of the Messiah, both his perceptive voice, his commands and ordinances, which ought to be hearkened to and obeyed; and the voice of his Gospel, and the doctrines of it; which is to be heard not only externally, but internally: when it is heard as to be understood, to be approved of and believed, and to be distinguished; so as to have a spiritual and experimental knowledge of it; to feel the power and efficacy of it, and practically attend to it; it is an evidence of being the sheep of Christ; see John 10:4 , where the sheep are said to know the voice of the shepherd, and not that of a stranger; of which Polybius (g) gives a remarkable instance in the goats of the island of Cyrnon, who will flee from strangers, but, as soon as the keeper sounds his trumpet, they will run to him: though the words may be connected with what follows, as they are in Hebrews 3:7 , where they are said to be the words of the Holy Ghost, and are applied to times, and are interpreted of the voice of the Son of God in his house; for though it may refer to some certain day in David's time, as the seventh day sabbath, in which the voice of God might be heard, the word of God read and explained; and in Gospel times, as the Lord's day, in which Christ speaks by his ministers; and to the whole time of a man's life, which is called "while it is today", Hebrews 3:13 , yet it chiefly respects the whole day of the Gospel, the whole Gospel dispensation, 2 Corinthians 6:2 . (e) "Pan ovium custos----" Virgil. Georgic. l. 1. v. 17. "Pana deum pecoris veteres coluisse feruntur", Ovid. Fasti, l. 2.((f) Plutarch. de orac. defect. p. 419. (g) Hist. l. 12. in principio.

Christ calls upon his people to hear his voice. You call him Master, or Lord; then be his willing, obedient people. Hear the voice of his doctrine, of his law, and in both, of his Spirit: hear and heed; hear and yield. Christ's voice must be heard to-day. This day of opportunity will not last always; improve it while it is called to-day. Hearing the voice of Christ is the same with believing. Hardness of heart is at the bottom of all distrust of the Lord. The sins of others ought to be warnings to us not to tread in their steps. The murmurings of Israel were written for our admonition. God is not subject to such passions as we are; but he is very angry at sin and sinners. That certainly is evil, which deserves such a recompence; and his threatenings are as sure as his promises. Let us be aware of the evils of our hearts, which lead us to wander from the Lord. There is a rest ordained for believers, the rest of everlasting refreshment, begun in this life, and perfected in the life to come. This is the rest which God calls his rest.

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

For he is our God - Not only the God whom we worship as the true God, but One who has revealed himself to us as our God. We worship him as God - as entitled to praise and adoration because he is the true God; we worship him also as sustaining the relation of God to us, or because we recognize him as our God, and because he has manifested himself as ours. And we are the people of his pasture - whom he has recognized as his flock; to whom he sustains the relation of shepherd; who feeds and protects us as the shepherd does his flock. See the notes at Psalm 79:13 ; compare Psalm 23:1-3 . And the sheep of his hand - The flock that is guided and fed by his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice - His voice calling you; commanding you; inviting you; encouraging you. See this passage explained in the notes at Hebrews 3:7-11 . The word "today" here means "the present time;" now. The idea is, that the purpose to obey should not be deferred until tomorrow; should not be put off to the future. The commands of God should be obeyed at once; the purpose should be executed immediately. All God's commands relate to the present. He gives us none for the future; and a true purpose to obey God exists only where there is a willingness to obey "now," "today;" and can exist only then. A purpose to repent at some future time, to give up the world at some future time, to embrace the Gospel at some future time, is "no obedience," for there is no such command addressed to us. A resolution to put off repentance and faith, to defer attention to religion until some future time, is real disobedience - and often the worst form of disobedience - for it is directly in the face of the command of God. "If ye will hear." That is, If there is a disposition or willingness to obey his voice at all; or, to listen to his commands. See the notes at Hebrews 3:7 .