Lectionary Calendar
Monday, July 21st, 2025
the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
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Bible Commentaries
Keil & Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary Keil & Delitzsch
Copyright Statement
The Keil & Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary is a derivative of a public domain electronic edition.
The Keil & Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary is a derivative of a public domain electronic edition.
Bibliographical Information
Keil, Carl Friedrich & Delitzsch, Franz. "Commentary on Psalms 95". Keil & Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary. https://studylight.org/commentaries/eng/kdo/psalms-95.html. 1854-1889.
Keil, Carl Friedrich & Delitzsch, Franz. "Commentary on Psalms 95". Keil & Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary. https://studylight.org/
Whole Bible (43)Old Testament (1)Individual Books (5)
Verses 1-2
Jahve is called the Rock of our salvation (as in Psalms 89:27, cf. Psalms 94:22) as being its firm and sure ground. Visiting the house of God, one comes before God's face; ק×Ö¼× ×¤Ö¼× × , praeoccupare faciem , is equivalent to visere ( visitare ). תּ××× is not confessio peccati , but laudis . The Beth before ת××× is the Beth of accompaniment, as in Micah 6:6; that before ××ר×ת (according to 2 Samuel 23:1 a name for psalms, whilst ×××ר can only be used as a technical expression) is the Beth of the medium.
Verses 3-7
The adorableness of God receives a threefold confirmation: He is exalted above all gods as King, above all things as Creator, and above His people as Shepherd and Leader. ××××× (gods) here, as in Psalms 96:4., Psalms 97:7, Psalms 97:9, and frequently, are the powers of the natural world and of the world of men, which the Gentiles deify and call kings (as Moloch Molech, the deified fire), which, however, all stand under the lordship of Jahve, who is infinitely exalted above everything that is otherwise called god (Psalms 96:4; Psalms 97:9). The supposition that תּ×עפ×ת ×ר×× denotes the pit-works ( μεÌÏαλλα ) of the mountains (Böttcher), is at once improbable, because to all appearance it is intended to be the antithesis to ××קר×Ö¾×רץ , the shafts of the earth. The derivation from ××¢×£ ( ××¢×£ ), καÌμνειν, κοÏιαÍν , also does not suit ת×עפ×ת in Numbers 23:22; Numbers 24:8, for “fatigues” and “indefatigableness” are notions that lie very wide apart. The ×ּסף תּ×עפ×ת of Job 22:25 might more readily be explained according to this “silver of fatigues,” i.e., silver that the fatiguing labour of mining brings to light, and ת×עפ×ת ×ר×× in the passage before us, with Gussetius, Geier, and Hengstenberg: cacumina montium quia defatigantur qui eo ascendunt , prop. ascendings = summits of the mountains, after which ×סף ת×עפ×ת , Job 22:25, might also signify “silver of the mountain-heights.” But the lxx, which renders δοÌξα in the passages in Numbers and ÏÎ±Ì Ï ÌÌÏη ÏÏÍν οÌÏεÌÏν in the passage before us, leads one to a more correct track. The verb ××¢×£ ( ××¢×£ ), transposed from ×פע ( ×פע ), goes back to the root ××£ , ××£ , to stand forth, tower above, to be high, according to which ת×עפ×ת = ת×פע×ת signifies eminentiae , i.e., towerings = summits, or prominences = high (the highest) perfection (vid., on Job 22:25). In the passage before us it is a synonym of the Arabic mıÌfan , mıÌfaÌtun , pars terrae eminens (from Arab. wfaÌ = ×פע , prop. instrumentally: a means of rising above, viz., by climbing), and of the names of eminences derived from Arab. yf' (after which Hitzig renders: the teeth of the mountains). By reason of the fact that Jahve is the Owner (cf. 1 Samuel 2:8), because the Creator of all things, the call to worship, which concerns no one so nearly as it does Israel, the people, which before other peoples is Jahve's creation, viz., the creation of His miraculously mighty grace, is repeated. In the call or invitation, ×ש×תּ××× signifies to stretch one's self out full length upon the ground, the proper attitude of adoration; ×ּרע , to curtsey, to totter; and ×Ö¼×¨× , Arabic baraka , starting from the radical signification flectere, to kneel down, in genua ( ÏÏοÌÏÎ½Ï , pronum = procnum) procumbere, 2 Chronicles 6:13 (cf. Hölemann, Bibelstudien, i. 135f.). Beside ×¢× ×רע××ª× , people of His pasture, צ×× ××× is not the flock formed by His creating hand (Augustine: ipse gratiaÌ suaÌ nos oves fecit ), but, after Genesis 30:35, the flock under His protection, the flock led and defended by His skilful, powerful hand. Böttcher renders: flock of His charge; but ×× in this sense (Jeremiah 6:3) signifies only a place, and “flock of His place” would be poetry and prose in one figure.
Verses 7-11
The second decastich begins in the midst of the Masoretic Psalms 95:7. Up to this point the church stirs itself up to a worshipping appearing before its God; now the voice of God (Hebrews 4:7), earnestly admonishing, meets it, resounding from out of the sanctuary. Since ש×××¢ ×Ö¼ signifies not merely to hear, but to hear obediently, Psalms 95:7 cannot be a conditioning protasis to what follows. Hengstenberg wishes to supply the apodosis: “then will He bless you, His people;” but ×× in other instances too (Psalms 81:9; Psalms 139:19; Proverbs 24:11), like ××Ö¼ , has an optative signification, which it certainly has gained by a suppression of a promissory apodosis, but yet without the genius of the language having any such in mind in every instance. The word ××Ö¼×× placed first gives prominence to the present, in which this call to obedience goes forth, as a decisive turning-point. The divine voice warningly calls to mind the self-hardening of Israel, which came to light at Merîbah, on the day of Massah. What is referred to, as also in Psalms 81:8, is the tempting of God in the second year of the Exodus on account of the failing of water in the neighbourhood of Horeb, at the place which is for this reason called Massah u - MerıÌbah (Exodus 17:1-7); from which is to be distinguished the tempting of God in the fortieth year of the Exodus at MerıÌbah , viz., at the waters of contention near Kadesh (written fully MeÌ - MerıÌbah Kadesh , or more briefly MeÌ - MerıÌbah ), Numbers 20:2-13 (cf. on Psalms 78:20). Strictly ××ר××× signifies nothing but instar Meribae , as in Psalms 83:10 instar Midianitarum ; but according to the sense, ×Ö¼ is equivalent to ×Ö¼×¢× . Psalms 106:32, just as ×Ö¼××× is equivalent to ×Ö¼×××× . On ×ש×ר , quum, cf. Deuteronomy 11:6. The meaning of ×Ö¼×־ר××Ö¼ פע×× is not they also ( ×× as in Psalms 52:7) saw His work; for the reference to the giving of water out of the rock would give a thought that is devoid of purpose here, and the assertion is too indefinite for it to be understood of the judgment upon those who tempted God (Hupfeld and Hitzig). It is therefore rather to be rendered: notwithstanding (ho'moos, Ew. §354, a) they had (= although they had, cf. ×× in Isaiah 49:15) seen His work (His wondrous guiding and governing), and might therefore be sure that He would not suffer them to be destroyed. The verb ק×Ö¼× coincides with κοÏεÌÏ, κοÌÏÎ¿Ï . ×Ö¼×Ö¼×ר .×¢× , for which the lxx has ÏηÍÍ Î³ÎµÎ½ÎµÎ±ÍÍ ÎµÌκειÌνη , is anarthrous in order that the notion may be conceived of more qualitatively than relatively: with a (whole) generation. With ×××ר Jahve calls to mind the repeated declarations of His vexation concerning their heart, which was always inclined towards error which leads to destruction - declarations, however, which bore no fruit. Just this ineffectiveness of His indignation had as its result that ( ×ש×ר , not οÌÌÏι but ÏÌÌÏÏε , as in Genesis 13:16; Deuteronomy 28:27, Deuteronomy 28:51; 2 Kings 9:37, and frequently) He sware, etc. ( ×× = verily not, Gesen. §155, 2, f, with the emphatic future form in ûn which follows). It is the oath in Numbers 14:27. that is meant. The older generation died in the desert, and therefore lost the entering into the rest of God, by reason of their disobedience. If now, many centuries after Moses, they are invited in the Davidic Psalter to submissive adoration of Jahve, with the significant call: “To-day if ye will hearken to His voice!” and with a reference to the warning example of the fathers, the obedience of faith, now as formerly, has therefore to look forward to the gracious reward of entering into God's rest, which the disobedient at that time lost; and the taking possession of Canaan was, therefore, not as yet the final ×× ×Ö¼×× (Deuteronomy 12:9). This is the connection of the wider train of thought which to the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews Hebrews 3:1, Hebrews 4:1, follows from this text of the Psalm.