Psalm XCV
1 O COME, let us sing unto the Lord! Let us make a joyful noise to the rock
of our salvation!
2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, And make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.
3 For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is
his also.
* Augustine says, on verses 1, 2 — “Prophetia est prsedicentis, non audacia jubentis.”
5 The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.
6 O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our
maker.
7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of
his hand.
8 To-day if ye will hear his voice! harden not your heart, as in the provocation. And as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
9 When your fathers tempted mc, proved me, and saw ray work.
10 Forty years long was I grieved with this generation,
And said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:
11 Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.
The connection” HoLY jov ill God, not discorcl nor dejection, appear in the
with the pre- “^ ‘’ J L 1-
ceding Psalm, old covenant as the fundamental sentiment of adoration.” Thus truly spoke Tholuck in regard to the gladsome calls that begin so many of these Psalms.
The King and Kingdom, the Judge and the Judge’s vengeance, are within sight, hastening on, almost at the door.* With these solemn prospects influencing them, the flock and the shepherd are now heard inviting men to enter the fold while it is the day of grace. Augustine felt this connexion when he wrote — “Venturus est! prseveniamus faciem ejus in confessione.”
‘’ 0 come, let us sing cheerfully to Jehovah (Deut. xxviii. 47), Let us raise the peal of melody to the rock of our salvation! Let us come early before him (q.d., ere ever he calls), tcith praise; We icill raise the peal of melody in psalms to him.’’ (Ver. 1, 2.)
He is great, and he is Sovereign over all (ver. 8); the deeps and the heights are his (ver. 4); the sea and the land (ver, 5); he is our Maker — and “Maker” is equivalent to God vyho made us all that we are in grace, as a nation and as individuals, Deut. xxxii, 6 illustrates it. So in Psa, c, 2, and many other places. Our God is a shepherd to us who glory in the blessedness of being pastured by him, and defended as well as guided by him (ver, 6, 7) —
“To-day, 0 that ye would hear his voice!”
* Horsley connects Psa. xcv., xcvi., xcvii., xcviii., xcix., c, as an entire prophetic poem, and calls it, “^ The introduction of the First-begotten into the world.”’
This is the force of verse 7, ^yDI^n D^^, like Exod. xxxii. 32, “And now, O that thou wouldst forgive their sin!” and like Luke xix. 42, “0 that thou hadst known!” It is an intensely earnest call on those addressed to hearken to that voice, viz., to the call of God; while verse 8, in the same breath, entreats them not to be as Israel at Meribah and Massah — “like Merihali, like the day of Massah in the wilderness.” Only let us not fail to notice, that while it is the fiocJc who speak in verses 1-7, it is the Shepherd who takes up their expostulating words, and urges them home himself at verse 8 to the end, using the argument which by the Holy Ghost is addressed to us also in Hebrews iii.
There is something very powerful in this expostulation, when connected with the circumstances that give rise to it. In themselves, the burst of adoring love, and the full outpouring of affection in verses 1-7 are irresistibly persuasive; but when the voice of the Lord himself is heard (such a voice, using terms of vehement entreaty!) we cannot imagine expostulation carried further. Unbelief alone could resist this voice; blind, malignant unbelief alone could repel
The fiock and the Shepherd together inviting men now to enter the fold.