1 Oh come, let us sing to the Lord!
Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving;
Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.
3 For the Lord is the great God,
And the great King above all gods.
4 In His hand are the deep places of the earth;
The heights of the hills are His also.
5 The sea is His, for He made it;
And His hands formed the dry land.
6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
7 For He is our God,
And we are the people of His pasture,
And the sheep of His hand.
Today, if you will hear His voice:
8 “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion,
As in the day of trial in the wilderness,
9 When your fathers tested Me;
They tried Me, though they saw My work.
10 For forty years I was grieved with that generation,
And said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts,
And they do not know My ways.’
11 So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”
Though this psalm has no heading in the Hebrew text, early Jewish tradition (i.e., the Septuagint) attributes it to David—which attribution is confirmed by the explicit reference to David in Hebrews 4:7 as the one through whom this psalm was revealed. — Wechsler, page 229.
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This psalm, and the five following, are priceless illustrations of the victorious power of a Divinely-given faith that will enable the lovers of Messiah in that dark night of shame, torture and death to sing praise to His name in the sure expectation of His glorious appearing and Kingdom. — Williams, page 373
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This psalm may be thought of as a prelude to another cluster of Messianic Psalms. …[It is] an inspired prophecy that will have its fulfillment just prior to the manifestation of the Messiah and the glorious Kingdom Age.
The call of the first verse, “O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation” is that of the “Faithful Remnant” of Israel at the close of the coming Tribulation.” — Phillips, pages 209-210.
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David begins by exhorting his people (v.7, where he uses the Hebrew term am, typically reserved for Israel) to join him in singing for joy (the joy attending worship) to the Lord for His beneficial works on behalf of man—starting with His work of Creation. — Wechsler, page 229.
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The second reason (vs. 6-7a) presented by David for worshiping and bowing down to the Lord is His work as Israel’s Shepherd—a role that is intended to highlight not so much His sovereign power over Creation as His specific, intimate, and consistent power in Creation with His covenant people, Israel. To emphasize this notion of relationship, David refers to Israel as the people of God’s pasture … This OT imagery of God as the Shepherd of Israel is likewise applied by Jesus to Himself in John 10:11-17, 26-30, in one of the few NT passages where He explicitly affirms His co-identity with God. — Wechsler, page 230.
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In this last section, which is cited in its entirety in Hebrews 3:7-11 (and explained thereafter through 4:10), David presents, in the form of a challenge, the third—and, with respect to its benefit for man, greatest—reason for worshiping God with thanksgiving and joy, to wit: His undiminished, unretracted, and unrestricted gift of rest … A comprehensive or all-encompassing” rest, beginning with “spiritual” rest—i.e., “resting” from our “works” to please God (since we never can; Hebrews 4:10; see also Ephesians 2:8-9) and accepting the work of salvation that He Himself has accomplished for us—and eternally consummated by our future renewal to “incorruptibility” (see 1 Corinthians 15:50ff), when our minds and bodies are, like our souls, fully redeemed from corruption, and we enter into the eternal rest (i.e., unstained perfection and holiness) of the New Creation. — Wechsler, pages 230-231.
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The writer of the Psalm was given words to speak for Jehovah to warn the whole house of Israel, but especially the unbelievers, that they must be obedient to God or perish (vs. 8-11). They are reminded of what happened to their forefathers in the wilderness of Sinai when they tried the patience and goodness of God by complaining of their hardships and their unbelief in God’s love and willingness and power to provide for them in the midst of a desert land. Read Exodus 17; Numbers 20 and 27:14. They were not permitted to enter the “rest” of the promised land, but died in the wilderness because of their rebellion. Other Scriptures reveal that many of Israel will be just as rebellious in the Tribulation, and will not heed the last call, thus they will suffer the judgments of the Lord. — Phillips, page 212.
