7 For he is our God. We are the people of his pasture, And the sheep in his care. Today, oh that you would hear his voice!
he again defines a certain day, today, saying through David so long a time afterward (just as has been said), "Today if you will hear his voice, Don't harden your hearts."
while it is said, "Today if you will hear his voice, Don't harden your hearts, as in the rebellion."
Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit says, "Today if you will hear his voice, Don't harden your hearts, as in the provocation, Like as in the day of the trial in the wilderness, Where your fathers tested me by proving me, And saw my works for forty years. Therefore I was displeased with that generation, And said, 'They always err in their heart, But they didn't know my ways;' As I swore in my wrath, 'They will not enter into my rest.'"
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with me.
For you were going astray like sheep; but are now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer{"Overseer" is from the Greek episkopon, which can mean overseer, curator, guardian, or superintendent.} of your souls.
For this God is our God forever and ever. He will be our guide even to death.
"Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!" For this is he who was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make ready the way of the Lord, Make his paths straight."
Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the assembly of the Lord and{TR, NU omit "the Lord and"} God which he purchased with his own blood.
I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and I'm known by my own; even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep, which are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice. They will become one flock with one shepherd.
While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. Behold, a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him."
They shall know that I, Yahweh, their God am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, says the Lord Yahweh. You my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, says the Lord Yahweh.
Turn your ear, and come to me; hear, and your soul shall live: and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
Behold, the Lord Yahweh will come as a mighty one, and his arm will rule for him: Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom, [and] will gently lead those who have their young.
But our God is in the heavens. He does whatever he pleases.
Know that Yahweh, he is God. It is he who has made us, and we are his. We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
"I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 95
Commentary on Psalms 95 Matthew Henry Commentary
Psalm 95
For the expounding of this psalm we may borrow a great deal of light from the apostle's discourse, Heb. 3 and 4, where it appears both to have been penned by David and to have been calculated for the days of the Messiah; for it is there said expressly (Heb. 4:7) that the day here spoken of (v. 7) is to be understood of the gospel day, in which God speaks to us by his Son in a voice which we are concerned to hear, and proposes to us a rest besides that of Canaan. In singing psalms it is intended,
This psalm must be sung with a holy reverence of God's majesty and a dread of his justice, with a desire to please him and a fear to offend him.
Psa 95:1-7
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,
The latter part of this psalm, which begins in the middle of a verse, is an exhortation to those who sing gospel psalms to live gospel lives, and to hear the voice of God's word; otherwise, how can they expect that he should hear the voice of their prayers and praises? Observe,
Now this case of Israel may be applied to those of their posterity that lived in David's time, when this psalm was penned; let them hear God's voice, and not harden their hearts as their fathers did, lest, if they were stiffnecked like them, God should be provoked to forbid them the privileges of his temple at Jerusalem, of which he had said, This is my rest. But it must be applied to us Christians, because so the apostle applies it. There is a spiritual and eternal rest set before us, and promised to us, of which Canaan was a type; we are all (in profession, at least) bound for this rest; yet many that seem to be so come short and shall never enter into it. And what is it that puts a bar in their door? It is sin; it is unbelief, that sin against the remedy, against our appeal. Those that, like Israel, distrust God, and his power and goodness, and prefer the garlick and onions of Egypt before the milk and honey of Canaan, will justly be shut out from his rest: so shall their doom be; they themselves have decided it. Let us therefore fear, Heb. 4:1.