Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 95:7

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 95:7. For he is our God — Here is the reason for this service. He has condescended to enter into a covenant with us, and he has taken us for his own; therefore -

We are the people of his pasture — Or, rather, as the Chaldee, Syriac, Vulgate, and AEthiopic read, "We are his people, and the sheep of the pasture of his hand." We are his own; he feeds and governs us, and his powerful hand protects us.

To-day if ye will hear his voice — To-day-you have no time to lose; to-morrow may be too late. God calls to-day; to-morrow he may be silent. This should commence the eighth verse, as it begins what is supposed to be the part of the priest or prophet who now exhorts the people; as if he had said: Seeing you are in so good a spirit, do not forget your own resolutions, and harden not your hearts, "as your fathers did in Meribah and Massah, in the wilderness;" the same fact and the same names as are mentioned Exodus 17:7; when the people murmured at Rephidim, because they had no water; hence it was called Meribah, contention or provocation, and Massah, temptation.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalms 95-96 God the creator of the universe

Six psalms, 95 to 100, are grouped so as to form a series for use in temple worship. The first psalm opens by calling people to worship God because he is the saviour (95:1-2), the great God (3), the creator and controller of the universe (4-5), the maker of the human race (6) and, above all, the covenant Lord and shepherd of his people (7). Worship, however, must be joined to obedience. Israel’s experiences in the wilderness show that people might claim to belong to God, but be so complaining, disobedient and stubborn that it is impossible for them to enjoy the inheritance God promised (8-11; cf. Exodus 17:1-7; Numbers 11:1-23; Numbers 20:2-13; Hebrews 3:7-10).

After the worshippers have heeded the warning of the previous psalm and prepared their hearts in a right attitude of worship, they are urged to praise God with further singing. Besides praising him for his great works, they are to proclaim his wonders to others (96:1-3). Idol-gods cannot be known, because they have no life. The living and true God can be known, both through the created universe and through the worship of the sanctuary (4-6). People everywhere should therefore bring him worship, praise and sacrificial offerings (7-9). Because he is Lord of the universe, all creation joins in bringing him praise. Because he is Lord of the world of humankind, he will establish his righteous kingdom on the earth (10-13).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

“Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before Jehovah our Maker: For he is our God, And we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, oh that ye would hear his voice.”

“Oh come” in the Latin is Venite, adopted as the opening word of the chorus in the famed Latin hymn, Adeste Fideles, “Oh Come All Ye Faithful,”Great Songs of the Church, No. 452. in which hymn the line, Venite Adoremus, is repeated three times.

“The people of his pasture” We might have expected “sheep of his pasture” here, since it is sheep and not people who need pasture. However, such mixed metaphors are very common in scripture. Moreover, in this arrangement, the metaphor of the Lord himself as “The Good Shepherd” automatically comes to mind.

“Today, oh that ye would hear his voice” These words form the opening line in Hebrews 3:7, where this passage is used as the background of what is written there, Psalms 95:11, being quoted directly. “The passage in Hebrews 3:7 to Hebrews 4:13, expounding this psalm, forbids us to confine its thrust to Israel. “The `Today’ of which it speaks is this very moment; the `ye’ is none other than ourselves, and the promised `rest’ is not Canaan, but salvation.”Derek Kidner, Vol. II, p. 343.

One of the most important revelations in the New Testament turns upon this very passage. Hebrews 4:4 ties the “rest” mentioned in Psalms 95:11 with God’s “rest” on the seventh day of creation, demanding that the present time, “this very moment,” as Kidner expressed it, be identified with God’s resting “on the seventh day.” The meaning of this is profound. H. Cotterill, the bishop of Edinburgh, declared that from this passage in Hebrews (Hebrews 7:3 to Hebrews 4:13), “We must conclude that the seventh day of God’s rest which followed the six days of creation is not yet completed.”The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 1, p. xxvii. The general lack of understanding this has led to many errors of interpretation. When God told Adam and Eve that they would surely die “on the day” that they ate of the forbidden tree, it could not have meant “within twenty-four hours,” but during the current dispensation of God’s grace. Thus Adam and Eve shall yet perish in the person of all their posterity, excepting only the redeemed. (For further comment on this, See Vol. 1 (Genesis) of my Pentateuchal commentaries, pp. 30,31.)

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

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 Psalms 79:13; compare Psalms 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.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

7Because 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 אם, 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, (Psalms 147:20; Deuteronomy 4:6.) 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.

(48) Hammond, after making a similar remark, adds — “But it is more reasonable to take the explanation from the different significations of רעה, [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 מרעה, which signifies a pasture, where cattle are fed, should also signify dominion or kingdom, or any kind of πολιτεία, wherein apeople 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, Psalms 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 אם, 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 8^th 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 אם, 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.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Psalms 95:1-11

O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. For the LORD is a great God, a great King above all gods. In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also. The sea is his, he made it: his hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker. For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand ( Psalms 95:1-7 ).

So the beautiful psalm encouraging us of singing unto the Lord, making a joyful noise of praise unto Him, coming into His presence with thanksgiving. It's a beautiful psalm, really, of thanksgiving and making a joyful noise with praise for the greatness of God.

Now there is the warning. "For he is our God; we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand."

Now to-day if you will hear his voice, harden not your heart, as in the provocation, as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work. 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: Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest ( Psalms 95:7-11 ).

Here we are warned not to harden our heart against God or the work of God. The example that is given to us is the children of Israel in the wilderness. They had come to the border of the land that God had promised to them. They had come to Kadesh Barnea. They're on the border of entering in to the land that God had promised to give to them. Now God had made some marvelous promises. He said, "I'll drive out the enemy from before you. I will go before thee and drive out your enemies. And every place you put your foot, I've given it to you for your inheritance." All these glorious promises.

Moses said, "Well, let's send spies in that they might spy out the land, that we might know what kind of a land we're coming into." And so they picked from each tribe a man to go in and to spy out the territory. And when they returned, ten of the spies brought a discouraging report. "The cities are big, the walls are high, the people who dwell in them are like giants. We were like grasshoppers before them. They'll eat us up."

Joshua and Caleb brought back an encouraging report. They said, "Ah, sure they're giants, but they're bread for us. Let's go in and eat them up. Their defenses have departed from them. Let's go in right now and take it." But the people were discouraged by the ten fellows who brought the evil report, and they began to murmur against the Lord and against Moses, and they said, "Let's choose a leader that will take us back to Egypt. We were fools to follow Moses out here."

And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them because of their unbelief. Failing to believe God that He would bring them into this land of rest and promise that He had promised to give them. And because of their unbelief, they did not enter into the rest, but they wandered for forty years there in the wilderness and perished in the wilderness experience.

Now these things all happened, Paul tells us, to them as an example for us. The whole history of Israel's deliverance out of Egypt and coming into the Land of Promise is known as typical history. That is, there are spiritual analogies to be drawn from it. And in the spiritual analogy, the land of Egypt represents the old life of bondage that we experienced in our life of sin. The Promised Land, coming into this Promised Land spiritually represents that glorious life in the Spirit that God wants you to know. That life of rest, resting in God.

Now between my conversion and entering into the fullness of the life in the Spirit, there is a wilderness that I must pass through. And there is a legitimate wilderness experience. As I am growing, as I am learning about God, as God is revealing His power to me, as I come to the bitter waters of Mara, and yet I see how God can turn the bitter waters sweet and I realize how God can take the bitter experiences of my life and bring sweetness out of them. As I'm learning to follow God with the pillar of fire and with the cloud, and I'm learning to just commit my life and trust God to lead me and guide me, coming into this new relationship with God, into this new life and experience.

But there is an illegitimate wilderness experience, too. God doesn't expect you to spend your whole life in a spiritual yo-yo. God wants to bring you into a full, rich, abundant life of the Spirit. God wants to bring you into His rest. That glorious rest that God has for His people where you're not always worried, not always upset, not always fretting, not filled with anxieties. But where you have that neat confidence and beautiful rest, "The Lord's going to take care of it, you know. So the place is burning down, God's got another place, you know." And that beautiful neat rest that you just know it's in the Lord's hands. You know the Lord is taking care of it. He's proven Himself to you. You're confident that God's got the whole thing under control. And hey, that is a glorious place to live.

Where you just learn that even in tragedies, apparent tragedies, God's hand is working and God's going to bring out His perfect purpose and will. And it's going to be for the best. So the children of Israel perished in the wilderness, never entering into the Promised Land.

Now, in Hebrews this psalm is quoted, even as the scriptures say it, "Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts as in the day of provocation." Don't harden your heart against God for in Hebrews it says, "Lest, a promise having been given to us of entering into his rest, we should fail to come in to it" ( Hebrews 4:1 ).

There are many people today who are failing still through unbelief to enter into that rest that God has for you. Your Christian experience is still like a wilderness experience. You haven't really entered in to that full rest in the Lord. But God wants you to enter into that rest. So let us beware, lest the promise having been given to us of a place of rest that we would fail to enter into it. What a tragic thing when there is rest for us that we are so filled with turmoil and worry and anxiety when God has promised rest to you. So harden not your heart, believe and trust God.

"

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

1. Exhortation to praise the sovereign Lord 95:1-7a

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 95

The psalmist extolled Yahweh as the great King above all gods and urged the Israelites to worship Him alone rather than disbelieving Him. The Septuagint translators credited David with writing this psalm, which the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews followed (Hebrews 4:7). This is another "enthronement" psalm (cf. Psalms 47, 93, 96-99).

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

God was Israel’s Maker in a double sense. He created the nation and He redeemed it (cf. Deuteronomy 32:6). He was also Israel’s Shepherd, and the Israelites were His sheep.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

2. Exhortation to believe the sovereign Lord 95:7b-11

Israel, however, had been a wayward flock in the past. This led the writer to warn the people to avoid the sins that had resulted in the wilderness wanderings, "the world’s longest funeral march." [Note: Wiersbe, The . . . Wisdom . . ., p. 265.] At Meribah (lit. strife; Exodus 17:1-7; Numbers 20:2-13) and Massah (lit. testing; Exodus 17:1-7) Israel tested God by demanding that He provide for them on their terms. They should have simply continued to trust and obey God. Perhaps the writer mentioned these rebellions and not others because they so clearly reveal the ingratitude and willfulness that finally resulted in God sentencing that generation to die in the wilderness. Their actions betrayed the fact that they had not learned God’s ways, specifically, that He would do what was best for them in His own time and way. That generation could have entered into rest in the land of milk and honey. Likewise, believers who fail to follow their Good Shepherd faithfully can look forward to a life of hardship and limited blessing. In view of the urgency of this exhortation, the writer began it by calling for action "today."

The writer to the Hebrews quoted Psalms 95:7-11 in order to urge Christians to believe God and move ahead in faith. Not obtaining rest, for the Christian, means failing to enter into all the blessings that could have been his (or hers) if he (or she) had faithfully trusted and obeyed God.

This psalm is a sober reminder that praise needs to connect with trust and obedience. It also anticipates the time when those who follow the Shepherd faithfully will reign with Him in His beneficent rule over the earth (cf. Psalms 2; 2 Timothy 2:12 a; Revelation 3:21; et al.).

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

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.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      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.   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.

      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,

      I. How God is to be praised. 1. With holy joy and delight in him. The praising song must be a joyful noise,Psalms 95:1; Psalms 95:1 and again Psalms 95:2; Psalms 95:2. Spiritual joy is the heart and soul of thankful praise. It is the will of God (such is the condescension of his grace) that when we give glory to him as a being infinitely perfect and blessed we should, at the same time, rejoice in him as our Father and King, and a God in covenant with us. 2. With humble reverence, and a holy awe of him (Psalms 95:6; Psalms 95:6): "Let us worship, and bow down, and kneel before him, as becomes those who know what an infinite distance there is between us and God, how much we are in danger of his wrath and in need of his mercy." Though bodily exercise, alone, profits little, yet certainly it is our duty to glorify God with our bodies by the outward expressions of reverence, seriousness, and humility, in the duties of religious worship. 3. We must praise God with our voice; we must speak forth, sing forth, his praises out of the abundance of a heart filled with love, and joy, and thankfulness--Sing to the Lord; make a noise, a joyful noise to him, with psalms--as those who are ourselves much affected with his greatness and goodness, are forward to own ourselves so, are desirous to be more and more affected therewith, and would willingly be instrumental to kindle and inflame the same pious and devout affection in others also. 4. We must praise God in concert, in the solemn assemblies: "Come, let us sing; let us join in singing to the Lord; not others without me, nor I alone, but others with me. Let us come together before his presence, in the courts of his house, where his people are wont to attend him and to expect his manifestations of himself." Whenever we come into God's presence we must come with thanksgiving that we are admitted to such a favour; and, whenever we have thanks to give, we must come before God's presence, set ourselves before him, and present ourselves to him in the ordinances which he has appointed.

      II. Why God is to be praised and what must be the matter of our praise. We do not want matter; it were well if we did not want a heart. We must praise God,

      1. Because he is a great God, and sovereign Lord of all, Psalms 95:3; Psalms 95:3. He is great, and therefore greatly to be praised. He is infinite and immense, and has all perfection in himself. (1.) He has great power: He is a great King above all gods, above all deputed deities, all magistrates, to whom he said, You are gods (he manages them all, and serves his own purposes by them, and to him they are all accountable), above all counterfeit deities, all pretenders, all usurpers; he can do that which none of them can do; he can, and will, famish and vanquish them all. (2.) He has great possessions. This lower world is here particularly specified. We reckon those great men who have large territories, which they call their own against all the world, which yet are a very inconsiderable part of the universe: how great then is that God whose the whole earth is, and the fulness thereof, not only under whose feet it is, as he has an incontestable dominion over all the creatures and a propriety in them, but in whose hand it is, as he has the actual directing and disposing of all (Psalms 95:4; Psalms 95:4); even the deep places of the earth, which are out of our sight, subterraneous springs and mines, are in his hand; and the height of the hills which are out of our reach, whatever grows or feeds upon them, is his also. This may be taken figuratively: the meanest of the children of men, who are as the low places of the earth, are not beneath his cognizance; and the greatest, who are as the strength of the hills, are not above his control. Whatever strength is in any creature it is derived from God and employed for him (Psalms 95:5; Psalms 95:5): The sea is his, and all that is in it (the waves fulfil his word); it is his, for he made it, gathered its waters and fixed its shores; the dry land, though given to the children of men, is his too, for he still reserved the property to himself; it is his, for his hands formed it, when his word made the dry land appear. His being the Creator of all makes him, without dispute, the owner of all. This being a gospel psalm, we may very well suppose that it is the Lord Jesus whom we are here taught to praise. He is a great God; the mighty God is one of his titles, and God over all, blessed for evermore. As Mediator, he is a great King above all gods; by him kings reign; and angels, principalities, and powers, are subject to him; by him, as the eternal Word, all things were made (John 1:3), and it was fit he should be the restorer and reconciler of all who was the Creator of all, Colossians 1:16; Colossians 1:20. To him all power is given both in heaven and in earth, and into his hand all things are delivered. It is he that sets one foot on the sea and the other on the earth, as sovereign Lord of both (Revelation 10:2), and therefore to him we must sing our songs of praise, and before him we must worship and bow down.

      2. Because he is our God, not only has a dominion over us, as he has over all the creatures, but stands in special relation to us (Psalms 95:7; Psalms 95:7): He is our God, and therefore it is expected we should praise him; who will, if we do not? What else did he make us for but that we should be to him for a name and a praise? (1.) He is our Creator, and the author of our being; we must kneel before the Lord our Maker,Psalms 95:6; Psalms 95:6. Idolaters kneel before gods which they themselves made; we kneel before a God who made us and all the world and who is therefore our rightful proprietor; for his we are, and not our own. (2.) He is our Saviour, and the author of our blessedness. He is here called the rock of our salvation (Psalms 95:1; Psalms 95:1), not only the founder, but the very foundation, of that work of wonder, on whom it is built. That rock is Christ; to him therefore we must sing our songs of praises, to him that sits upon the throne and to the Lamb. (3.) We are therefore his, under all possible obligations: We are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. All the children of men are so; they are fed and led by his Providence, which cares for them, and conducts them, as the shepherd the sheep. We must praise him, not only because he made us, but because he preserves and maintains us, and our breath and ways are in his hand. All the church's children are in a special manner so; Israel are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand; and therefore he demands their homage in a special manner. The gospel church is his flock. Christ is the great and good Shepherd of it. We, as Christians, are led by his hand into the green pastures, by him we are protected and well provided for, to his honour and service we are entirely devoted as a peculiar people, and therefore to him must be glory in the churches (whether it be in the world or no) throughout all ages,Ephesians 3:21.