Psalm 95:8

Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(8) The mention of the guiding voice suggests to the poet to make God Himself address His people, and with this verse the Divine warning begins.

Provocation . . . temptation.—It is better to keep here the proper names Meribah and Massah (Exodus 17:1-7; Numbers 20:13 : comp. Deuteronomy 33:8).

Benson Commentary

Psalm 95:8-9. Harden not your heart — As if he had said, If ye will hear his voice, and profit by what you hear, then do not harden your hearts by obstinate unbelief and wilful disobedience, rebelling against the light, and resisting the Holy Ghost, and the clear discoveries which he makes of the truth of the gospel; as in the provocation — As you did in that bold and wicked contest in the wilderness. Hebrew, כמריבה, chimeribah, as in Meribah, which was the proper name of the place where this happened, and which was also called Massah, as appears from Exodus 17:7, and Deuteronomy 33:8. As in the day of temptation — In the day when you tempted me. Or, as in the day of Massah, that is, when you were at Massah. When — Or, in which place, namely, in Meribah, or Massah, or the wilderness last mentioned, your fathers tempted me — Doubting of my power, and demanding new proofs of my presence among them, Exodus 17:7, though they had had such extraordinary proofs of my presence and favour in their late deliverance at the Red sea, in my making the bitter waters sweet, and in sending them bread from heaven; and saw my works — Both my works of mercy, which gave them abundant cause to trust me, and my works of justice, for which they had reason to fear and stand in awe of me. Hebrew, my work, namely, that great and stupendous work of bringing my people out of Egypt with a strong hand; of conducting them safely through the Red sea into the wilderness, and of destroying the Egyptians.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

95:7-11 Christ calls upon his people to hear his voice. You call him Master, or Lord; then 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. Christ's voice must be heard to-day. This day of opportunity will not last always; improve it while it is called to-day. Hearing the voice of Christ is the same with believing. Hardness of heart is at the bottom of all distrust of the Lord. 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. God is not subject to such passions as we are; but he is very angry at sin and sinners. That certainly is evil, which deserves such a recompence; and his threatenings are as sure as his promises. Let us be aware of the evils of our hearts, which lead us to wander from the Lord. There is a rest ordained for believers, the rest of everlasting refreshment, begun in this life, and perfected in the life to come. This is the rest which God calls his rest.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Harden not your heart - See this verse explained in the notes at Hebrews 3:8.

As in the provocation ... - Margin, "contention." The original is "Meribah." See Exodus 17:7, where the original words Meribah, rendered here "provocation," and "Massah," rendered here "temptation," are retained in the translation.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

8-11. warning against neglect; and this is sustained by citing the melancholy fate of their rebellious ancestors, whose provoking insolence is described by quoting the language of God's complaint (Nu 14:11) of their conduct at Meribah and Massah, names given (Ex 17:7) to commemorate their strife and contention with Him (Ps 78:18, 41).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Harden not your heart, by wilful disobedience and obstinate unbelief, rebelling against the light, and resisting the Holy Ghost, and his clear discoveries of the truth of the gospel.

As in the provocation; as you did in that bold and wicked contest with God in the wilderness. Or,

as in Meribah, which was the proper name of the place where that happened, and which also was called Massah, as is evident from Exodus 17:7 Deu 33:8.

As in the day of temptation; in the day in which you tempted me. Or, as in the day of Massah, i.e. when you were at Massah.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Harden not your hearts,.... Against Christ, against his Gospel, against all the light and evidence of it. There is a natural hardness of the heart, owing to the corruption of nature; and an habitual hardness, acquired by a constant continuance and long custom in sinning; and there is a judicial hardness, which God gives men up unto. There is a hardness of heart, which sometimes attends God's own people, through the deceitfulness of sin gaining upon them; of which, when sensible, they complain, and do well to guard against. Respect seems to be had here to the hardness of heart in the Jews in the times of Christ and his apostles, which the Holy Ghost foresaw, and here dehorts from; who, notwithstanding the clear evidence of Jesus being the Messiah, from prophecy, from miracles, from doctrines, from the gifts of the Spirit, &c. yet hardened their hearts against him, rebelled against light, and would not receive, but reject him:

as in the provocation; or "as at Meribah" (h); a place so called from the contention and striving of the people of Israel with the Lord and his servants; and when they provoked not only the meek man Moses to speak unadvisedly with his lips; but also the Lord himself by their murmurings, Exodus 17:7 though this may respect their provocations in general in the wilderness; for they often provoked him by their unbelief, ingratitude, and idolatry; see Deuteronomy 9:8,

and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness; or "as in the day of Massah" (i); the time when they tempted him at Massah, so called from their tempting him by distrusting his power and presence among them, by disobeying his commands, and limiting the Holy One of Israel to time and means of deliverance; see Exodus 17:7 and this being in the wilderness was an aggravation of their sin; they being just brought out of Egypt, and having had such a wonderful appearance of God for them, there and at the Red sea; and besides being in a place where their whole dependence must be upon God, where they could have nothing but what they had from him immediately, it was egregious folly as well as wickedness to provoke and tempt him.

(h) "sicut Meribah", Montanus; "sicut in Meriba", Musculus, Tigurine version, Gejerus, Michaelis, so Ainsworth. (i) "sicut die Massah", Montanus, Musculus, Tigurine version; "secundum diem Massah", Gejerus, Michaelis, so Ainsworth.

Geneva Study Bible

{f} Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

(f) By the contemning of God's word.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

8. Harden not your heart, as at Meribah,

As in the day of Massah in the wilderness (R.V.).

Meribah, Strife, and Massah, Temptation, were the names given to the scene of the murmuring at Rephidim at the beginning of the wandering (Exodus 17:1-7); and the scene of the murmuring at Kadesh in the fortieth year was also called Meribah (Numbers 20:1-13). The A.V. follows the LXX and other Ancient Versions in translating the words, but they should certainly be retained as proper names. Cp. Deuteronomy 33:8; Psalm 81:7.

8–11. Jehovah speaks, warning Israel not to repeat the sins of obstinacy and unbelief by which their ancestors provoked Him.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 8. - Harden not your heart, as in the provocation; rather, as at Meribah (see Exodus 17:2-7). And as in the day of temptation in the wilderness; rather, and as in the day of Massah. The children of Israel "tempted" God, and "chided" with Moses at Massah (or Meribah) in the wilderness, where water was first given them out of the rock. Their descendants are warned not to follow the example of their forefathers. Psalm 95:8

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The second decastich begins in the midst of the Masoretic Psalm 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 שׁמע בּ signifies not merely to hear, but to hear obediently, Psalm 95:7 cannot be a conditioning protasis to what follows. Hengstenberg wishes to supply the apodosis: "then will He bless you, His people;" but אם in other instances too (Psalm 81:9; Psalm 139:19; Proverbs 24:11), like לוּ, 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 היּום 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 Merמbah, on the day of Massah. What is referred to, as also in Psalm 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-Merı̂bah (Exodus 17:1-7); from which is to be distinguished the tempting of God in the fortieth year of the Exodus at Merı̂bah, viz., at the waters of contention near Kadesh (written fully Mê-Merı̂bah Kadesh, or more briefly Mê-Merı̂bah), Numbers 20:2-13 (cf. on Psalm 78:20). Strictly כמריבה signifies nothing but instar Meribae, as in Psalm 83:10 instar Midianitarum; but according to the sense, כּ is equivalent to כּעל. Psalm 106:32, just as כּיום is equivalent to כּביום. On אשׁר, quum, cf. Deuteronomy 11:6. The meaning of גּם־ראוּ פעלי is not they also (גם as in Psalm 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 ( equals although they had, cf. גם 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 קוּט coincides with κοτέω, κότος. בּדּור .ען, for which the lxx has τῇ γενεᾷ ἐκείνη, is anarthrous in order that the notion may be conceived of more qualitatively than relatively: with a (whole) generation. With ואמר 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 (אשׁר, not ὅτι but ὥστε, as in Genesis 13:16; Deuteronomy 28:27, Deuteronomy 28:51; 2 Kings 9:37, and frequently) He sware, etc. (אם equals verily not, Gesen. 155, 2, f, with the emphatic future form in n 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 מנוּחה (Deuteronomy 12:9). This is the connection of the wider train of thought which to the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews Heb 3:1, Hebrews 4:1, follows from this text of the Psalm.