Verse 10. "Forty years long " - They did nothing but murmur, disbelieve, and rebel, from the time they began their journey at the Red Sea till they passed over Jordan, a period of forty years. During all this time God was grieved by that generation; yet he seldom showed forth that judgment which they most righteously had deserved.
"It is a people that do err in their heart " - Or, according to the Chaldee, These are a people whose idols are in their hearts. At any rate they had not GOD there.
"They have not known my ways " - The verb [dy yada, to know, is used here, as in many other parts of Scripture, to express approbation. They knew God's ways well enough; but they did not like them; and would not walk in them. "These wretched men," says the old Psalter, "were gifnen to the lufe of this lyfe: knewe noght my ways of mekenes, and charlte: for thi in my wreth I sware to thaim; that es, I sett stHebely that if that sall entre in till my rest;" that is, they shall not enter into my rest.
This ungrateful people did not approve of God's ways-they did not enter into his designs-they did not conform to his commands-they paid no attention to his miracles-and did not acknowledge the benefits which they received from his hands; therefore God determined that they should not enter into the rest which he had promised to them on condition that, if they were obedient, they should inherit the promised land. So none of those who came out of Egypt, except Joshua and Caleb, entered into Canaan; all the rest died in the wilderness, wherein, because of their disobedience, God caused them to wander forty years.
It is well known that the land of Canaan was a type of heaven, where, after all his toils, the good and faithful servant is to enter into the joy of his Lord. And as those Israelites in the wilderness were not permitted to enter into the land of Canaan because of their unbelief, their distrust of God's providence, and consequent disobedience, St. Paul hence takes occasion to exhort the Jews, Heb. iv. 2-11, to accept readily the terms offered to them by the Gospel. He shows that the words of the present Psalm are applicable to the state of Christianity; and intimates to them that, if they persisted in obstinate refusal of those gracious offers, they likewise would fall according to the same example of unbelief. - Dodd.
ANALYSIS OF THE NINETY-FIFTH PSALM
This Psalm contains two parts: - I. An exhortation to praise God, to adore, worship, kneel, ver. 1, 2, 6.
II. Reasons to persuade to it.
1. God's mercies, ver. 3-5, 7.
2. His judgments in punishing his own people Israel for neglect of this duty.
I. The psalmist begins this Psalm with an earnest invitation, including himself; saying: - 1. "O come, let us;" come along with me. Though a king, he thought not himself exempted.
2. And the assembly being come together, he acquaints them what they came for: - 1. "To sing to the Lord." 1. Heartily, joyfully: "Let us make a joyful noise;" make a jubilee of it. 2. Openly, and with a loud voice: "Let us make a joyful noise with Psalms." 3. Reverently, as being in his eye, "his presence." 4. Gratefully: "Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving." 2. "To worship, to bow down, to kneel," ver. 6. Adoration, humble adoration; outward worship-that of the body, as well as inward-that of the soul, is his due; and that for these reasons: - II. 1. Because he is "the Rock of our salvation;" whether temporal or spiritual. So long as we rely on him as a Rock, we are safe from the tyranny of men, from the wrath of God, from the power of the devil, death, and hell.
2. Because he is "a great God, and a great King above all gods," JEHOVAH, a God whose name is I am, an incommunicable name to any other; for his essence is from himself, and immutable; all others derivative and mutable; and the great JEHOVAH, great in power, majesty, and glory; for he "is above all gods." 3. The whole orb of the earth is under his power and dominion: "In his hands are all the corners of the earth; the strength of the hills is his also." The globe in all its extensions is subject to him.
4. And no wonder, for he is the Creator of both, which is another argument: "The sea is his, and he made it; and his hands formed the dry land." 5. "He is our Maker," the Creator and Lord of men also.
6. Our Lord God in particular, for he hath called us to be his inheritance: "For we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand." In which duty, if we fail, he proposeth what is to be expected by the example of the Israelites.
I. God gave them a day, and he gives it to you; it is the hodie, to-day, of your life.
2. In this day he speaks, he utters his voice: outwardly he speaks by his word; inwardly, by his Spirit.
3. This you are bound to hear, to obey.
4. And it is your own fault if you hear it not, for you may hear it if you will; to that purpose he hath given you a day: "To-day if you will hear his voice." 5. Suppose you hear it not; the cause is, the hardness of your hearts: and take heed of it; "harden not your hearts." For then it will be with you as it was with the Israelites.
I. "As in the day of temptation in the wilderness," at Meribah and Massah.
2. "When your fathers," the Israelites that then lived, "tempted me and proved me." They asked whether God was among them or not? They questioned my power, whether I was able to give them bread and water, and flesh? 3. And they found that I was able to do it: "They saw my works;" for I brought them water out of the rock, and gave them bread from heaven, and flesh also.
Their stubbornness was of long continuance, and often repeated, for it lasted forty years: "Forty years was I grieved with this generation;" which drew God to pass this censure and verdict upon them: - 1. His censure was, that they were an obstinate perverse people, "a people that do always err in their hearts;" that were led by their own desires, which caused them to err; the way of God they would not go in; they knew it not, that is, they liked it not.
2. This verdict upon them: "Unto whom I sware in my wrath, that they should not enter into my rest;" i.e., literally, into the land of Canaan that I promised them. The oath is extant, Num. xiv: "As I live, saith the Lord, your carcasses shall fall in the wilderness;" and in the wilderness they did fall, every one except Caleb and Joshua, a fearful example against stubbornness and disobedience. Let him that readeth understand.