Psalms 95:11
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So I swore on oath in My anger, “They shall never enter My rest.”
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
Jahve is called the Rock of our salvation (as in Psa 89:27, cf. Psa 94:22) as being its firm and sure ground. Visiting the house of God, one comes before God's face; קדּם פּני, praeoccupare faciem, is equivalent to visere (visitare). תּודה is not confessio peccati, but laudis. The Beth before תודה is the Beth of accompaniment, as in Mic 6:6; that before זמרות (according to Sa2 23:1 a name for psalms, whilst מזמר can only be used as a technical expression) is the Beth of the medium.
Open source ↗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 (Psa 95:7) 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, I. That we should "make melody unto the Lord;" this we are here excited to do, and assisted in doing, being called upon to praise God (Psa 95:1, Psa 95:2) as a great God (Psa 95:3-5) and as our gracious benefactor (Psa 95:6, Psa 95:7). II. That we should teach and admonish ourselves and one another; and we are here taught and warned to hear God's voice (Psa 95:7), and not to harden our hearts, as the Israelites in the wilderness did (Psa 95:8, Psa 95:9), lest we fall under God's wrath and fall short of his rest, as they did (Psa 95:10, Psa 95:11). 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.
Open source ↗95:11 The generation of Israel that wandered in the wilderness for forty years failed to enter the place of rest that Israel enjoyed after the conquest of the land (1 Kgs 8:56; see Deut 12:9). The Lord promised them the land and gave it to them (Isa 28:12), but they did not obey him (Isa 28:1). The warning reminds every generation of the need to obey in faith. • The rest that God provides includes peace, provision, and protection (Ps 132:14-18). The author of Hebrews challenged a new generation to enter the rest provided by Jesus Christ (Heb 3:7–4:13).
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
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Now we who have believed enter that rest. As for the others, it is just as God has said: “So I swore on oath in My anger, ‘They shall never enter My rest.’” And yet His works have been finished since the foundation of the world.
So I swore on oath in My anger, ‘They shall never enter My rest.’”
And again, as He says in the passage above: “They shall never enter My rest.”
not one will ever see the land that I swore to give their fathers. None of those who have treated Me with contempt will see it.
And to whom did He swear that they would never enter His rest? Was it not to those who disobeyed?
This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths: ‘Where is the good way?’ Then walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it!’
For you have not yet come to the resting place and the inheritance that the LORD your God is giving you.
And I heard a voice from heaven telling me to write, “Blessed are the dead—those who die in the Lord from this moment on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labors, for their deeds will follow them.”