Psalm 96
13 verses · BSBPsalms book hub →
Speaks with:1 Chronicles 16×2Psalms 145×2Isaiah 42×2Revelation 19×2Psalms 98×1Psalms 33×1
Summary
Chapter summary
'Oh sing unto Jehovah a new song: sing unto Jehovah, all the earth.' Declare his glory among the nations: 'for all the gods of the peoples are idols; but Jehovah made the heavens.' Ascribe unto Jehovah glory and strength; worship him in holy array. 'Say among the nations, Jehovah reigneth.' Let the heavens be glad, the sea roar, the field exult, the trees of the wood sing for joy: 'before Jehovah; for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with his truth.'
Context
Poetry · David, Asaph, Sons of Korah, others — Psalms overview
The world behind this chapter
Psalms 96The history
Almost this entire psalm turns up in the Chronicles account of the day the ark was brought to Jerusalem, in the song David put into Asaph's hands. So the material belongs to that event even if this arrangement was made later for regular temple use. Israel reused its own best texts.
Bring an offering and come into his courts is the vocabulary of a royal court. A subject approaching a king brought tribute; a vassal state sent it annually. The psalm asks the whole earth to do to God what nations did to emperors.
All the gods of the nations are idols, and the word used is close to nothings. Worshippers in that world did not think the statue was the god. Priests performed a mouth-washing ceremony to bring the deity into the image, after which the statue was fed, dressed, and carried in procession. The psalm's claim is not that the ritual failed; it is that there was never anyone there to move in.
The beauty of holiness meant dressing for it. Priests had prescribed garments and washings, and worshippers came in their best. Approach was a considered thing.
What it meant to them
The last lines summon the fields, the trees, and the sea to be glad because God is coming to judge the earth. That sounds odd to modern ears and did not to theirs: a world under bad management is glad when someone finally arrives to set it right.
And say among the heathen that the LORD reigneth was a job, not a chorus. A tiny nation was given a message for everybody else.
Sources cited
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews & Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
- Alfred Edersheim, The Temple: Its Ministry and Services
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Psalms 96. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.