Psalms 95:1

O come, let us sing unto the Lord,.... To Jehovah the Messiah, the Lord our righteousness; setting forth, in songs of praise, the glory of his person, the riches of his grace, and our thankfulness to

O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.

Psalms 95 THE The author of this Psalm was David, as is affirmed, ; and although this Psalm be delivered in general terms, as an invitation to mankind to yield unto the true God that praise, and worship, and obedience which he requireth and deserveth, yet it hath a special reference to the days of the Messiah; of which Christians have no great reason to doubt, seeing it is so understood by the Hebrew doctors themselves; as also by the apostle, , &c., and especially , where he not only expounds it of those times, but proves that it cannot be meant of the former times and state of the church. An exhortation to praise God, ,2, for his great power, goodness, and tenderness to his people, . A caution against hardness of heart, ,9. It grieves the Lord, . God’ s threatening against it confirmed with an oath, . He speaks to the Israelites, whose backwardness to this work in the times of the gospel was foreseen by the Spirit of God, which dictated this Psalm.

Psalms 95:1 O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.Ver. 1. O come, let us sing unto the Lord] It is thought by this beginning that this psalm was not penned by David for private use, but for public assemblies, to be sung by the congregation on the sabbath and such like times. It may very well be that they began their morning sacrifice with this psalm, as the Latin Church also afterwards did their matins, or morning service. Let us make a joyful noise] With a clear and loud voice, as of a trumpet; singing with grace in our hearts unto the Lord.

(1) O come.—The invitation is general, and may be contrasted with the heathen warning to the uninitiated, procul este profani. This exhortation to worship God, not with penitence, but with loud thanksgiving, is, as Perowne notes, the more remarkable considering the strain in which the latter part of the psalm is written. Make a joyful noise.—There is no one English expression for the full burst of instrumental and vocal music which is meant by the Hebrew word here applied to the Temple service. Vulg., jubilemus.Rock of our salvation.—As in Psalms 89:26. (Comp. “rock of refuge,” Psalms 94:22.)

PSALM XCV An invitation to praise God, 1, 2. The reason on which this is founded, the majesty and dominion of God, 3-5. An invitation to pray to God, 6. And the reasons on which that is founded, 7. Exhortation not to act as their fathers had done, who rebelled against God, and were cast out of his favour, 8-11. NOTES ON PSALM XCV This Psalm is also without a title, both in the Hebrew and Chaldee: but is attributed to David by the Vulgate, Septuagint, AEthiopic, Arabic, and Syriac; and by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, Hebrews 4:3-7. Calmet and other eminent critics believe that it was composed during the time of the captivity, and that the apostle only followed the common opinion in quoting it as the production of David, because in general the Psalter was attributed to him. The Psalm is a solemn invitation to the people, when assembled for public worship, to praise God from a sense of his great goodness; and to be attentive to the instructions they were about to receive from the reading and expounding of the law; and or these accounts it has been long used in the Christian Church, at the commencement of public service, to prepare the people's minds to worship God in spirit and in truth. Houbigant, and other learned divines, consider this Psalm as composed of three parts. 1. The part of the people, Psalms 95:1 to the middle of Ps 95:7. 2. The part of the priest or prophet, from the middle of Ps 95:7 to the end of Ps 95:8. 3. The part of Jehovah, Psalms 95:9-11. It is written as a part of the preceding Psalm by nine of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS.; but certainly it must have been originally an ode by itself, as the subject is widely different from that in the foregoing. Verse 1. O come, let us sing] Let us praise God, not only with the most joyful accents which can be uttered by the voice; but let us also praise him with hearts tuned to gratitude, from a full sense of the manifold benefits we have already received. The rock of our salvation.] The strong Fortress in which we have always found safety, and the Source whence we have always derived help for our souls. In both these senses the word rock, as applied to God, is used in the Scriptures.

1, 2. A call to unite in worshipping Jehovah.

O come, let us sing unto the Lord - The word here rendered come, means properly “go;” but it is used here, as it often is, as a formula of invitation, in calling on others to share in what is done by the speaker.

1, 2. Let us sing unto the Lord—In Psalms 95:1-2, the language describes the most jubilant and noisy demonstrations known in the Hebrew worship.