Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 95:10

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 95:10. 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 ידע 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 charite: for thi in my wreth I sware to thaim; that es, I sett stabely 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, Hebrews 4:2-11, 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, Psalms 95:1-2; Psalms 95:6.

II. Reasons to persuade to it.

1. God's mercies, Psalms 95:3-5; Psalms 95:7.

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," Psalms 95:6. 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, Numbers 14:28-29. "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.

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

“Forty years long was I grieved with that nation, And said, It is a people that do err in their heart, And they have not known my ways.”

Alas, the tragic story of the wilderness sojourn of Israel is prophetic of the church of Christ itself. The current dispensation of God’s grace corresponds in many ways to the probationary journey of Israel from the Red Sea to the Jordan, typical, as they are, of the Christian’s journey from the waters of his baptism to the Jordan of death.

Only two exceptions survived the death of that generation, namely, Caleb and Joshua, and these two symbolize the “few” that shall be saved among the legions of alleged believers in Christ. Christians, in ordering their walk before God, should ever remember that, “Narrow is the gate, and straitened the way, that leadeth unto life; and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:14).

Those scholars who like to dwell on the liturgical use of this psalm, generally assign it to the great Jewish Festival of Tabernacles. At Psalms 95:7, above, a priest is supposed to have interrupted the singing with the blunt warning of Psalms 95:7-11, recounting the disaster that came to Israel in the wilderness, resulting in the loss of an entire generation of them.

Kidner pointed out the appropriateness of this warning to such an occasion as the Feast of Tabernacles. That great Jewish feast commemorated the stirring events of the Wilderness Wanderings; and the people, recalling those days of the homelessness of the people, re-lived those eventful times by constructing brash arbors (as we would call them) and living in those make-shift residences during the week of the festival.

Kidner noted that, “If Israel, in holiday mood, remembering the history of the Wilderness, and perhaps romanticizing it (as all of us are tempted to do for `the good old days’), actually received this warning at the Feast of Tabernacles, it would have been a cold douche of realism.”Derek Kidner, op. cit., p. 345. It would have starkly reminded the whole nation of how utterly displeased was the Heavenly Father with that first generation that he led out of Egyptian slavery. Let it be noted that this psalm’s being identified with the feast of Tabernacles cannot exclude its Davidic authorship.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Forty years long - All the time that they were in the wilderness. During this long period their conduct was such as to try my patience and forbearance.

Was I grieved - The word used here - קוט qûṭ - means properly to loathe, to nauseate, to be disgusted with. It is translated “loathe” in Ezekiel 6:9; Ezekiel 20:43; Ezekiel 36:31; and grieved in Psalms 119:158; Psalms 139:21. It is here expressive of the strong abhorrence which God had of their conduct. Compare Revelation 3:16.

With this generation - With the entire generation that came out of Egypt. They were all cut off in the wilderness, except Caleb and Joshua.

And said, It is a people - It is a characteristic of the entire people, that they are disposed to wander from God.

That do err in their heart - In the Epistle to the Hebrews Hebrews 3:10 where this is quoted, it is, “They do always err in their heart.” The sense is substantially the same. See the notes at that place.

And they have not known my ways - See the notes at Hebrews 3:10.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

10.Forty years I strove with this generation ⁽⁶⁷⁾ The Psalmist brings it forward as an aggravation of their perverse obstinacy, that God strove with them for so long a time without effect. Occasionally it will happen that there is a violent manifestation of perversity which soon subsides; but God complains that he had constant grounds of contention with his people, throughout the whole forty years. And this proves to us the incurable waywardness of that people. The word generation is used with the same view. The word דור, dor, signifies an age, or the allotted term of human life; and it is here applied to the men of an age, as if the Psalmist had said, that the Israelites whom God had delivered were incorrigible, during the whole period of their lives. The verb אקוט, akut, which I have rendered I strove, is, by some, translated contemned, and in the Septuagint it reads, προσωχθισα, ⁽⁶⁸⁾ I was incensed, or enraged; but Hebrew interpreters retain the genuine meaning, That God strove with them in a continual course of contention. This was a remarkable proof of their extreme obstinacy; and God is introduced in the verse as formally pronouncing judgment upon them, to intimate, that after having shown their ungodliness in so many different ways, there could be no doubt regarding their infatuation. Erring in heart, is an expression intended not to extenuate their conduct, but to stamp it with folly and madness, as if he had said, that he had to do with beasts, rather than men endued with sense and intelligence. The reason is subjoined, that they would not attend to the many works of God brought under their eyes, and more than all, to his word; for the Hebrew term דרך, derech, which I have rendered ways, comprehends his law and repeated admonitions, as well as his miracles done before them. It argued amazing infatuation that when God had condescended to dwell in such a familiar manner amongst them, and had made such illustrious displays of himself, both in word and works, they should have shut their eyes and overlooked all that had been done. This is the reason why the Psalmist, considering that they wandered in error under so much light as they enjoyed, speaks of their stupidity as amounting to madness.

(67) “The men of that age, or, as we say in English, the generation then upon the stage.” — Stuart on Hebrews 3:10.

(68) “προσωχθιζα I was indignant, was offended at The word is Helenistic. The Greeks use ὀχθέω and ὀχθίζω According to etymology, it consists of πρός,to, against, upon, and ὀχθη,bank, shore It is applied primarily to a ship infringing upon the shore, or, as we say, running aground. It answers to the Hebrew מאס קוט קו, etc.” — Stuart on Hebrews 3:10

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

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

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

Forty years long was I grieved with this generation,.... The generation of the wilderness, as the Jews commonly call them; and which was a stubborn and a rebellious one, whose heart and spirit were not right with God, Psalms 78:8, wherefore, speaking after the manner of men, God was grieved with them, as he was with the old world, Genesis 6:6, or he was "weary" of them, and "loathed" them as the word l sometimes signifies; wherefore, after the affair of the spies, to which Aben Ezra thinks this had reference, they did not hear from the mouth of the Lord, there was no prophecy sent them by the hand of Moses, as the same writer observes; nor any history or account of them, from that time till they came to the border of Canaan; so greatly was their conduct and behaviour resented: and it was much such a term of time that was between the beginning of the ministry of John the Baptist and of Christ, and the destruction of Jerusalem; during which time the Jews tempted Christ, tried his patience, saw his works, and grieved his Spirit, which brought at last ruin upon them:

and said, it is a people that do err in their heart; he was not only inwardly grieved with them, but, speaking after the same human manner, he gave his grief vent, he spoke and gave this just character of them. The apostle adds "alway", Hebrews 3:10 and so does the Arabic version here, and which is implied in the words "do err"; they not only had erred, but they continued to do so; and their errors were not merely through weakness, ignorance, and mistake, but were voluntary, and with their whole hearts; they sprung from their hearts, which were desperately wicked; they erred willingly and wilfully; and this the Lord, the searcher of hearts, knew and took notice of:

and they have not known my ways; they had his law, his statutes, and his judgments, and so must know the ways he prescribed them to walk in; but they did not practically observe them: or his ways of providence; which they did not take that notice of as they ought to have done; they did not consider them as they should, nor improve them in the manner as became them; they were not thankful for their mercies as they ought; nor did the goodness of God lead them to repentance.

l אקוט "fastidio habui", Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Gejerus, so Cocceius, Michaelis.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      7--To day if ye will hear his voice,   8 Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:   9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.   10 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:   11 Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.

      The latter part of this psalm, which begins in the middle of a verse, is an exhortation to those who sing gospel psalms to live gospel lives, and to hear the voice of God's word; otherwise, how can they expect that he should hear the voice of their prayers and praises? Observe,

      I. The duty required of all those that are the people of Christ's pasture and the sheep of his hand. He expects that they hear his voice, for he has said, My sheep hear my voice,John 10:27. We are his people, say they. Are you so? Then hear his voice. If you call him Master, or Lord, then do the things which he says, and be his willing obedient people. Hear the voice of his doctrine, of his law, and, in both, of his Spirit; hear and heed; hear and yield. Hear his voice, and not the voice of a stranger. If you will hear his voice; some take it as a wish, O that you would hear his voice! that you would be so wise, and do so well for yourselves; like that, If thou hadst known (Luke 19:42), that is, O that thou hadst known! Christ's voice must be heard to-day; this the apostle lays much stress upon, applying it to the gospel day. While he is speaking to you see that you attend to him, for this day of your opportunities will not last always; improve it, therefore, while it is called to-day,Hebrews 3:13; Hebrews 3:15. Hearing the voice of Christ is the same with believing. To-day, if by faith you accept the gospel offer, well and good, but to-morrow it may be too late. In a matter of such vast importance nothing is more dangerous than delay.

      II. The sin they are warned against, as inconsistent with the believing obedient ear required, and that is hardness of heart. If you will hear his voice, and profit by what you hear, then do not harden your hearts; for the seed sown on the rock never brought any fruit to perfection. The Jews therefore believed not the gospel of Christ because their hearts were hardened; they were not convinced of the evil of sin, and of their danger by reason of sin, and therefore they regarded not the offer of salvation; they would not bend to the yoke of Christ, nor yield to his demands; and, if the sinner's heart be hardened, it is his own act and deed (he hardening it himself) and he alone shall bear the blame for ever.

      III. The example they are warned by, which is that of the Israelites in the wilderness.

      1. "Take heed of sinning as they did, lest you be shut out of the everlasting rest as they were out of Canaan." Be not, as your fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation,Psalms 78:8. Thus here, Harden not your heart as you did (that is, your ancestors) in the provocation, or in Meribah, the place where they quarrelled with God and Moses (Exodus 17:2-7), and in the day of temptation in the wilderness,Psalms 95:8; Psalms 95:8. So often did they provoke God by their distrusts and murmurings that the whole time of their continuance in the wilderness might be called a day of temptation, or Massah, the other name given to that place (Exodus 17:7), because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us or is he not? This was in the wilderness, where they could not help themselves, but lay at God's mercy, and where God wonderfully helped them and gave them such sensible proofs of his power and tokens of his favour as never any people had before or since. Note, (1.) Days of temptation are days of provocation. Nothing is more offensive to God than disbelief of his promise and despair of the performance of it because of some difficulties that seem to lie in the way. (2.) The more experience we have had of the power and goodness of God the greater is our sin if we distrust him. What, to tempt him in the wilderness, where we live upon him! This is as ungrateful as it is absurd and unreasonable. (3.) Hardness of heart is at the bottom of all our distrusts of God and quarrels with him. That is a hard heart which receives not the impressions of divine discoveries and conforms not to the intentions of the divine will, which will not melt, which will not bend. (4.) The sins of others ought to be warnings to us not to tread in their steps. The murmurings of Israel were written for our admonition,1 Corinthians 10:11.

      2. Now here observe,

      (1.) The charge drawn up, in God's name, against the unbelieving Israelites, Psalms 95:9; Psalms 95:10. God here, many ages after, complains of their ill conduct towards him, with the expressions of high resentment. [1.] Their sin was unbelief: they tempted God and proved him; they questioned whether they might take his word, and insisted upon further security before they would go forward to Canaan, by sending spies; and, when those discouraged them, they protested against the sufficiency of the divine power and promise, and would make a captain and return into Egypt, Numbers 14:3; Numbers 14:4. This is called rebellion,Deuteronomy 1:26; Deuteronomy 1:32. [2.] The aggravation of this sin was that they saw God's work; they saw what he had done for them in bringing them out of Egypt, nay, what he was now doing for them every day, this day, in the bread he rained from heaven for them and the water out of the rock that followed them, than which they could not have more unquestionable evidences of God's presence with them. With them even seeing was not believing, because they hardened their hearts, though they had seen what Pharaoh got by hardening his heart. [3.] The causes of their sin. See what God imputed it to: It is a people that do err in their hearts, and they have not known my ways. Men's unbelief and distrust of God, their murmurings and quarrels with him, are the effect of their ignorance and mistake. First, Of their ignorance: They have not known my ways. They saw his work (Psalms 95:9; Psalms 95:9) and he made known his acts to them (Psalms 103:7); and yet they did not know his ways, the ways of his providence, in which he walked towards them, or the ways of his commandments, in which he would have them to walk towards him: they did not know, they did not rightly understand and therefore did not approve of these. Note, The reason why people slight and forsake the ways of God is because they do not know them. Secondly, Of their mistake: They do err in their heart; they wander out of the way; in heart they turn back. Note, Sins are errors, practical errors, errors in heart; such there are, and as fatal as errors in the head. When the corrupt affections pervert the judgment, and so lead the soul out of the ways of duty and obedience, there is an error of the heart. [4.] God's resentment of their sin: Forty years long was I grieved with this generation. Not, The sins of God's professing people do not only anger him, but grieve him, especially their distrust of him; and God keeps an account how often (Numbers 14:22) and how long they grieve him. See the patience of God towards provoking sinners; he was grieved with them forty years, and yet those years ended in a triumphant entrance into Canaan made by the next generation. If our sins have grieved God, surely they should grieve us, and nothing in sin should grieve us so much as that.

      (2.) The sentence passed upon them for their sin (Psalms 95:11; Psalms 95:11): "Unto whom I swore in my wrath, If they shall enter into my rest, then say I am changeable and untrue:" see the sentence at large, Numbers 14:21, c. Observe, [1.] Whence this sentence came--from the wrath of God. He swore solemnly in his wrath, his just and holy wrath but let not men therefore swear profanely in their wrath, their sinful brutish wrath. God is not subject to such passions as we are; but he is said to be angry, very angry, at sin and sinners, to show the malignity of sin and the justice of God's government. That is certainly an evil thing which deserves such a recompence of revenge as may be expected from a provoked Deity. [2.] What it was: That they should not enter into his rest, the rest which he had prepared and designed for them, a settlement for them and theirs, that none of those who were enrolled when they came out of Egypt should be found written in the roll of the living at their entering into Canaan, but Caleb and Joshua. [3.] How it was ratified: I swore it. It was not only a purpose, but a decree; the oath showed the immutability of his counsel; the Lord swore, and will not repent. It cut off the thought of any reserve of mercy. God's threatenings are as sure as his promises.

      Now this case of Israel may be applied to those of their posterity that lived in David's time, when this psalm was penned; let them hear God's voice, and not harden their hearts as their fathers did, lest, if they were stiffnecked like them, God should be provoked to forbid them the privileges of his temple at Jerusalem, of which he had said, This is my rest. But it must be applied to us Christians, because so the apostle applies it. There is a spiritual and eternal rest set before us, and promised to us, of which Canaan was a type; we are all (in profession, at least) bound for this rest; yet many that seem to be so come short and shall never enter into it. And what is it that puts a bar in their door? It is sin; it is unbelief, that sin against the remedy, against our appeal. Those that, like Israel, distrust God, and his power and goodness, and prefer the garlick and onions of Egypt before the milk and honey of Canaan, will justly be shut out from his rest: so shall their doom be; they themselves have decided it. Let us therefore fear,Hebrews 4:1.