Psalm 94

The Lord is a God who avenges.
    O God who avenges, shine forth.
Rise up, Judge of the earth;
    pay back to the proud what they deserve.
How long, Lord, will the wicked,
    how long will the wicked be jubilant?
They pour out arrogant words;
    all the evildoers are full of boasting.
They crush your people, Lord;
    they oppress your inheritance.
They slay the widow and the foreigner;
    they murder the fatherless.
They say, “The Lord does not see;
    the God of Jacob takes no notice.”
Take notice, you senseless ones among the people;
    you fools, when will you become wise?
Does he who fashioned the ear not hear?
    Does he who formed the eye not see?
Does he who disciplines nations not punish?
    Does he who teaches mankind lack knowledge?
The Lord knows all human plans;
    he knows that they are futile.
Blessed is the one you discipline, Lord,
    the one you teach from your law;
you grant them relief from days of trouble,
    till a pit is dug for the wicked.
For the Lord will not reject his people;
    he will never forsake his inheritance.
Judgment will again be founded on righteousness,
    and all the upright in heart will follow it.
Who will rise up for me against the wicked?
    Who will take a stand for me against evildoers?
Unless the Lord had given me help,
    I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death.
When I said, “My foot is slipping,”
    your unfailing love, Lord, supported me.
When anxiety was great within me,
    your consolation brought me joy.
Can a corrupt throne be allied with you—
    a throne that brings on misery by its decrees?
The wicked band together against the righteous
    and condemn the innocent to death.
But the Lord has become my fortress,
    and my God the rock in whom I take refuge.
He will repay them for their sins
    and destroy them for their wickedness;
    the Lord our God will destroy them.

• Psalm 94:1-23

Type of Psalm

Didactic psalms: These psalms are psalms that are intended to teach.  In most cases the psalm instructs us in moral principles.

Imprecatory psalms: Asking for vengeance against enemies.  From the two examples above, these requests for vengeance are usually not specific in how God does it.  I have written about this type of psalm or prayer in that they are legitimate requests to God.  We know that God will eventually stamp out all evil in the world.  Praying that God would do as He promises that He will eventually do is legitimate, but when a face is applied to that evil, our first reaction should be one of forgiveness and mercy.

Matthew Henry’s Summary

“This psalm was penned when the church of God was under hatches, oppressed and persecuted; and it is an appeal to God, as the judge of heaven and earth, and an address to him, to appear for his people against his and their enemies. Two things this psalm speaks:—I. Conviction and terror to the persecutors (ver. 1-11), showing them their danger and folly, and arguing with them. II. Comfort and peace to the persecuted (ver. 12-23), assuring them, both from God’s promise and from the psalmist’s own experience, that their troubles would end well, and God would, in due time, appear to their joy and the confusion of those who set themselves against them. In singing this psalm we must look abroad upon the pride of oppressors with a holy indignation, and the tears of the oppressed with a holy compassion; but, at the same time, look upwards to the righteous Judge with an entire satisfaction, and look forward, to the end of all these things, with a pleasing hope.”

• Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary

Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

Psalm 94:3 “Shall wrong forever rule? Are slavery, robbery, tyranny never to cease? ‘LORD, how long … will the wicked triumph?’ Since there is certainly a just God in heaven, armed with almighty power, surely there must be sooner or later an end to the ascendancy of evil; innocence must one day find a defender. This ‘how long?’ of the text is the bitter complaint of all the righteous in all ages and expresses wonder caused by that great enigma of providence, the existence and predominance of evil. The sound ‘how long?’ is very akin to a howl, as if it were one of the saddest of all the utterances in which misery bemoans itself. Many a time has this bitter complaint been heard in the dungeons of the Inquisition, at the whipping posts of slavery, and in the prisons of oppression. In due time God will publish His reply, but the full end is not yet.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, Spurgeon and the Psalms

My Thoughts

This psalm is not attributed to any author.

The psalmist starts by lamenting how long will God wait to lift the oppression.

Verse 2 is the imprecatory verse, in bold above.  The verse simply says to give the proud what they deserve.  This is one of the milder imprecatory verses on the surface, but when you realize how much God despises the proud, it might not end well for them.  Who are they to be proud?  God created everything, and whatever they accomplished, if anything, was using what God had created and probably having a lot of other help from people who are never mentioned.

But then with that one line about giving them what they deserved, the psalmist returns to asking how long.  The psalmist uses poetic language to ask if the creator of the eyes can see what is going on, the creator of the ears can hear what is going on.  Of course, God knows.  He is omniscient, but the psalmist and the people are in pain and their patience is wearing thin.

But then they praise God for the wicked will be thrown into the pit eventually.  And the ones being punished for their misdeeds will have the yoke lifted.

Already, God has given the afflicted support, and a just and loving God cannot support a corrupt ruler.

But comment on the last lines, God often supported rulers to exact His judgment on the people, the aforementioned punishment.  But the psalmist is trying to say “enough is enough’, but will God agree?

Psalm 95

Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
    let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before him with thanksgiving
    and extol him with music and song.
For the Lord is the great God,
    the great King above all gods.
In his hand are the depths of the earth,
    and the mountain peaks belong to him.
The sea is his, for he made it,
    and his hands formed the dry land.
Come, let us bow down in worship,
    let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
for he is our God
    and we are the people of his pasture,
    the flock under his care.
Today, if only you would hear his voice,
“Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,
    as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness,
where your ancestors tested me;
    they tried me, though they had seen what I did.
For forty years I was angry with that generation;
    I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray,
    and they have not known my ways.’
So I declared on oath in my anger,
    ‘They shall never enter my rest.’”

• Psalm 95:1-11

Type of Psalm

Psalms of praise: Exactly as stated.  God is being praised.

Matthew Henry’s Summary

“For the expounding of this psalm we may borrow a great deal of light from the apostle’s discourse, Heb. 3:1-4:16; 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 (ver. 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 (ver. 1, 2) as a great God (ver. 3-5) and as our gracious benefactor, ver. 6, 7. II. That we should teach and admonish ourselves and one another; and we are here taught and warned to hear God’s voice (ver. 7), and not to harden our hearts, as the Israelites in the wilderness did (ver. 8, 9), lest we fall under God’s wrath and fall short of his rest, as they did, ver. 10-11. 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.”

• Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary

Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

Psalm 95:3 ”This is a poetic way of denying the existence of other gods (cf. 96:5), which existed only as statues, not persons (cf. Jer. 10:1–10).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

My Thoughts

This psalm is not attributed to any author.

This psalm is a short psalm of praise to the Rock of our salvation.

God is extoled for His omnipresence, from the mountain tops to the depths of the sea.

Then the psalmist goes into how to worship.  We must bow down before God.  We must kneel.  We are the flock of God’s pasture – a hint we should act in such reverence.

The references to Meribah and Massah are times when the Israelites showed their lack of faith by complaining about not having water.  God was naturally angry with His Chosen People.  He told them that the present generation would not enter the Promised Land.  But now, the psalmist asks God not to think of such times.

Psalm 96

Sing to the Lord a new song;
    sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Sing to the Lord, praise his name;
    proclaim his salvation day after day.
Declare his glory among the nations,
    his marvelous deeds among all peoples.
For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
    he is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the nations are idols,
    but the Lord made the heavens.
Splendor and majesty are before him;
    strength and glory are in his sanctuary.
Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations,
    ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
    bring an offering and come into his courts.
Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness;
    tremble before him, all the earth.
Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.”
    The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved;
    he will judge the peoples with equity.
Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
    let the sea resound, and all that is in it.
Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them;
    let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.
Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes,
    he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
    and the peoples in his faithfulness.

• Psalm 96:1-13

Type of Psalm

Messianic psalms:  These psalms can be shown as being prophetic (or verses within the psalm) and the prophecy relates to the coming Messiah.  Oddly in the lists that follow, Psalm 22 is listed as a psalm of affliction and a prophetic psalm, but not as a Messianic psalm.  Yet, Jesus quotes from this psalm from the cross, the first verse, and there is language within the psalm that could relate to Christ’s suffering, but maybe the person creating the list thought the connection to Messianic prophecy was not strong enough.

Psalms of praise: Exactly as stated.  God is being praised.

Matthew Henry’s Summary

“This psalm is part of that which was delivered into the hand of Asaph and his brethren (1 Chron. 16:7), by which it appears both that David was the penman of it and that it has reference to the bringing up of the ark to the city of David; whether that long psalm was made first, and this afterwards taken out of it, or this made first and afterwards borrowed to make up that, is not certain. But this is certain, that, though it was sung at the translation of the ark, it looks further, to the kingdom of Christ, and is designed to celebrate the glories of that kingdom, especially the accession of the Gentiles to it. Here is, I. A call given to all people to praise God, to worship him, and give glory to him, as a great and glorious God, ver. 1-9. II. Notice given to all people of God’s universal government and judgment, which ought to be the matter of universal joy, ver. 10-13. In singing this psalm we ought to have our hearts filed with great and high thoughts of the glory of God and the grace of the gospel, and with an entire satisfaction in Christ’s sovereign dominion and in the expectation of the judgment to come.”

• Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary

Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

Psalm 96:2 “ ‘Sing to the LORD, all the earth.’ National jealousies are dead; a Jew invites the Gentiles to adore and joins with them so that all the earth may lift up one common psalm as with one heart and voice unto Jehovah, who has visited it with His salvation. No corner of the world is to be discordant, no race of heathen to be dumb. All the earth Jehovah made, and all the earth must sing to Him. As the sun shines on all lands, so are all lands to delight in the light of the Sun of Righteousness. E pluribus unum, out of many one song shall come forth. The multitudinous languages of Adam’s sons, who were scattered at Babel, will blend in the same song when the people are gathered at Zion. Not people alone, but the earth itself is to praise its Maker. Made subject to vanity for a while by a sad necessity, the creation itself also is to be delivered from the bondage of corruption and brought into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Sea and forest, field and flood are to be joyful before the Lord.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, Spurgeon and the Psalms

My Thoughts

This psalm is not attributed to any author.

Again a psalm of praise. And the entire psalm is considered Messianic.

God is a God above all other gods, for they are mere idols, worthless.

All nations should give God all the glory – and in the millennial reign, they will.  But this is just glorifying God who is above all things, and basically saying what Paul says in Romans 1:20 – when you see the awesomeness of God, there is no excuse to disbelieve.

The psalmist tells the heavens to rejoice, and then the fields to rejoice.  For God is everywhere, and God is faithful and righteous.

Some Serendipitous Reflections

Psalm 94

“1. Have you ever continued doing wrong because no punishment or ill consequences seemed to come? How did you become aware of your misdeeds? Should the group help keep you accountable?
“2. What is your feeling about injustice? Why doesn’t God just end it? Is it our job or do we wait for God to intervene and ‘set the record straight’?
“3. When does God seem to come to your rescue: (a) When the wave of trouble is approaching? (b) When your feet get wet? (c) When you’re shivering and worn out? (d) When you’re just about to drown? How has God rescued you?”

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

Psalm 95

“1. What is the New Testament notion of ‘entering God’s rest’ (see Heb 4:1-3)? Does your relationship with God feel like ‘rest’ or is there more ‘work’ to be done?
“2. Is your heart “hard” today? How can it be softened?
“3. How do you live like ‘your fathers’? Or have you left the beliefs of your parents?”

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

Psalm 96

“1. What new thing would you like God to do in your life? How do old habits, limitations or people interfere with your singing a new song? How could it start today?
“2. Does it seem to you that God reigns? Why hasn’t the Just Judge come?”

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

There is one set of questions for each of these psalms.

Substitute whatever group for any reference to a small group or ask who could come to your aid.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.