Oh come, let’s worship and bow down. Let’s kneel before Yahweh, our Maker,
Parallel Translations
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Oh come, let’s worship and bow down. Let’s kneel before Yahweh, our Maker,
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O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.
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O come, let us bow down and bend the knee; let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;
Cross-references (30)
Passages linked to Psalms 95:6 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Philippians 2:10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,
- Psalms 100:3 Know that Yahweh, he is God. It is he who has made us, and we are his. We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
- Psalms 95:1 Oh come, let’s sing to Yahweh. Let’s shout aloud to the rock of our salvation!
- Ephesians 3:14 For this cause, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
- Daniel 6:10 When Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house (now his windows were open in his room toward Jerusalem) and he kneeled on his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did before.
- 1 Corinthians 6:20 for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
- Isaiah 54:5 For your Maker is your husband; Yahweh of Armies is his name. The Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer. He will be called the God of the whole earth.
- 2 Chronicles 6:13 (for Solomon had made a bronze platform, five cubits long, and five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the middle of the court; and he stood on it, and knelt down on his knees before all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven)
- Luke 22:41 He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and he knelt down and prayed,
- 1 Peter 4:19 Therefore let them also who suffer according to the will of God in doing good entrust their souls to him, as to a faithful Creator.
- Ezra 9:5 At the evening offering I arose up from my humiliation, even with my garment and my robe torn; and I fell on my knees, and spread out my hands to Yahweh my God;
- Isaiah 17:7 In that day, people will look to their Maker, and their eyes will have respect for the Holy One of Israel.
- 1 Kings 8:54 It was so, that when Solomon had finished praying all this prayer and supplication to Yahweh, he arose from before Yahweh’s altar, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread out toward heaven.
- Acts 7:60 He kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, “Lord, don’t hold this sin against them!” When he had said this, he fell asleep.
- Acts 10:25-26 When Peter entered, Cornelius met him, fell down at his feet, and worshiped him. But Peter raised him up, saying, “Stand up! I myself am also a man.”
- Exodus 20:5 you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me,
- Mark 14:35 He went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass away from him.
- John 1:3 All things were made through him. Without him, nothing was made that has been made.
- Acts 21:5 When those days were over, we departed and went on our journey. They all, with wives and children, brought us on our way until we were out of the city. Kneeling down on the beach, we prayed.
- Revelation 22:8 Now I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. When I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who had shown me these things.
- Psalms 72:9 Those who dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him. His enemies shall lick the dust.
- Revelation 22:17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” He who hears, let him say, “Come!” He who is thirsty, let him come. He who desires, let him take the water of life freely.
- Ecclesiastes 12:1 Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw near, when you will say, “I have no pleasure in them;”
- Hosea 8:14 For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces; and Judah has multiplied fortified cities; but I will send a fire on his cities, and it will devour its fortresses.”
- Acts 20:36 When he had spoken these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.
- Job 35:10 But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night,
- Psalms 149:2 Let Israel rejoice in him who made them. Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.
- Matthew 4:2 When he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry afterward.
- Hosea 6:1 “Come! Let’s return to Yahweh; for he has torn us to pieces, and he will heal us; he has injured us, and he will bind up our wounds.
- Matthew 4:9 He said to him, “I will give you all of these things, if you will fall down and worship me.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (16 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 6. Come ye, let us worship Now that the…
6. Come ye, let us worship Now that the Psalmist exhorts God’s chosen people to gratitude, for that pre-eminency among the nations which he had conferred upon them in the exercise of his free favor, his language grows more vehement. God supplies us with ample grounds of praise when he invests us with spiritual distinction, and advances us to a pre-eminency above the rest of mankind which rests upon no merits of our own. In three successive terms he expresses the one duty incumbent upon the children of Abraham, that of an entire devotement of themselves to God. The worship of God, which the Psalmist here speaks of, is assuredly a matter of such importance as to demand our whole strength; but we are to notice, that he particularly condescends upon one point, the paternal favor of God, evidenced in his exclusive adoption of the posterity of Abraham unto the hope of eternal life. We are also to observe, that mention is made not only of inward gratitude, but the necessity of an outward profession of godliness. The three words which are used imply that, to discharge their duty properly, the Lord’s people must present themselves a sacrifice to him publicly, with kneeling, and other marks of devotion. The face of the Lord is an expression to be understood in the sense I referred to above, — that the people should prostrate themselves before the Ark of the Covenant, for the reference is to the mode of worship under the Law. This remark, however, must be taken with one reservation, that the worshippers were to lift their eyes to heaven, and serve God in a spiritual manner.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain By these three words he signifieth one thing: meaning…
By these three words he signifieth one thing: meaning that they must wholly give themselves to serve God.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 95:6 O come, let us worship and bow…
Psa 95:6 O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.
Ver. 6. O come, let us worship and bow down] With our whole bodies prostrate on the ground, our hands and feet stretched out (Kimchi). The Jews’ gesture of adoration at this day is the bowing forward of their bodies, for kneeling they use none (no more do the Grecians), neither stir they their bonnets in their synagogues to any man, but remain still covered.
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The Lord our maker] Who hath not only created us, but advanced us, as he did Moses and Aaron, 1Sa 12:6.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain By which expressions he teacheth that even in gospel…
By which expressions he teacheth that even in gospel times God is to be glorified and worshipped, as well with the members of our bodies, as with the faculties of our souls.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain O come, let us worship and bow down,.... Before…
O come, let us worship and bow down,.... Before him who is the Rock of our salvation, the great God and great King, the Creator of the ends of the earth, the proper object of all religious worship and adoration: Christ is to be worshipped with every part of external worship under the New Testament dispensation; psalms and songs of praise are to be sung unto him; prayer is to be made unto him; the Gospel is to be preached, and ordinances to be administered, in his name; and likewise with all internal worship, in the exercise of every grace on him, as faith, hope, and love: see Psa 45:11,
let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; both in a natural and spiritual sense: Christ is the Maker of us as creatures, of our souls and bodies; we have our natural being from him, and are supported in it by him; and he is the Maker of us as new creatures; we are his workmanship, created in him, and by him; and therefore he should be worshipped by us, Eph 2:10. Kimchi distinguishes these several gestures, expressed by the different words here used; the first, we render worship, signifies, according to him, the prostration of the whole body on the ground, with the hands and legs stretched out; the second, a bowing of the head, with part of the body; and the third, a bending of the knees on the ground; but though each of these postures and gestures have been, and may be, used in religious worship, yet they seem not so much to design them themselves, and the particular use of them, as worship itself, which is in general intended by them.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 6. O come, let us worship] Three distinct…
Verse 6. O come, let us worship] Three distinct words are used here to express three different acts of adoration:
1. Let us worship, נשתחוה nishtachaveh, let us prostrate ourselves; the highest act of adoration by which the supremacy of God is acknowledged.
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2. Let us bow down, נכרעה nichraah, let us crouch or cower down, bending the legs under, as a dog in the presence of his master, which solicitously waits to receive his commands.
3. Let us kneel, נברכה nibrachah, let us put our knees to the ground, and thus put ourselves in the posture of those who supplicate.
And let us consider that all this should be done in the presence of HIM who is Jehovah our Creator.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Psa 95:6. O come, let us worship and bow…
Psa 95:6. O come, let us worship and bow down — Let us not be backward, then, to comply with this invitation; but let us all, with the lowest prostrations, devoutly adore this great and glorious Being. Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker — With humble reverence, and a holy awe of him; as becomes those who know what an infinite distance there is between us and him, how much we are in danger of his wrath, and in how great need we stand of his mercy. The posture of our bodies, indeed, by itself, profits little; yet certainly it is meet and right they should bear a part in God’s service, and that internal worship should be accompanied and signified by that which is external, or that the reverence, seriousness and humility of our minds, should be manifested by our falling down on our knees before that great Jehovah, who gave us our being, and on whom we are continually dependant for the continuance of it, and for all our blessings.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain O come, let us worship and bow down -…
O come, let us worship and bow down - Let us worship him by bowing down; by prostrating ourselves before him. The word here rendered “come” is not the same which is used in Psa 95:1. Its literal meaning is “come,” and it is an earnest exhortation to come and worship. It is not a particle merely calling attention to a subject, but it is an exhortation to approach - to enter - to engage in a thing. The word rendered “worship,” means properly to bow down; to incline oneself; and then, to bow or prostrate oneself before anyone in order to do him homage, or reverence. Then it means to bow down before God in the attitude of worship. It would most naturally refer to an entire “prostration” on the ground, which was a common mode of worship; but it would also express adoration in any form. The word rendered “bow down,” means properly to bend, to bow, spoken usually of the knees. Isa 45:23 : “every knee shall bow.” Compare Jdg 7:5-6; 1Ki 8:54; 2Ki 1:13. The word might be applied, like the former word, to those who bow down with the whole person, or prostrate themselves on the ground. 2Ch 7:3.
Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker - The usual attitude of prayer in the Scriptures. See the notes at Dan 6:10; compare 2Ch 6:13; Luk 22:41; Act 7:60; Act 9:40; Act 20:36; Act 21:5. All the expressions here employed denote a posture of profound reverence in worship, and the passage is a standing rebuke of all irreverent postures in prayer; of such habits as often prevail in public worship where no change of posture is made in prayer, and where a congregation irreverently sit in the act of professedly worshipping God. People show to their fellowmen the respect indicated by rising up before them: much more should they show respect to God - respect in a posture which will indicate profound reverence, and a deep sense of his presence and majesty. Reverently kneeling or standing “will” indicate this; sitting does not indicate it.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 6. Worship… bow down… kneel—Three different words, expressive of…
6. Worship… bow down… kneel—Three different words, expressive of the humblest form of bodily prostration before a superior, and repeated for intensity.
Kneel before the Lord—Literally, Kneel to the face of Jehovah; in his immediate presence—a spiritual anticipation of Heb_10:22. The outward homage must arise from, and sincerely express, the inward feeling and desire. “In the shell of the kneeling there must be contained the kernel of unreserved surrender, which manifests itself in willing obedience.”—Hengstenberg.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 6. Let us offer the lowliest homage expressive of…
6. Let us offer the lowliest homage expressive of humility and submission to His Will, in contrast to that obstinacy of heart (Psa_95:8) which was the ruin of our fathers.
our Maker] It is the ‘making’ of Israel into a nation, rather than the creation of individuals, that is meant. Cp. Deu_32:6; Deu_32:15; Deu_32:18; Isa_44:2; Isa_51:13; Isa_54:5; Psa_100:3; Psa_149:2.
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6, 7. A renewed call to worship Jehovah, on the ground of His relation to Israel.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (6) Worship.—Properly, prostrate ourselves.
(6) Worship.—Properly, prostrate ourselves.
Kneel.—The practice of kneeling low in the East, only used in moments of deep humiliation, is first mentioned in 2Ch_6:13. It was also Daniel’s practice (Dan_6:10).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain O come, let us worship and bow down: let…
O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel. The outward and visible worship of the body is required of man, no less than the inward and spiritual worship of the soul. Before the Lord our Maker; i.e. "who has made us what we are created us, redeemed us, taken us to be his people". (comp. Deu_32:6 Psa_100:3 Psa_102:18 Psa_149:2 Isa_29:23 Isa_43:21 Isa_44:2, etc.)
Public worship.
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"O come, let us worship." This sublime psalm belongs to the Christian Church no less than to ancient Israel; in a sense, more. For the series of psalms to which it belongs have a prophetic character they look forward to the kingdom and gospel of Christ. Times without number chanted by white-robed priests and Levites in the temple court, to the clang of trumpets, harps, and cymbals, they nevertheless outstretch the narrow bounds of the old covenant. In Psalm 100 (the crown of this series) the widest invitation is given to all nations to join in worshipping Jehovah as their God.
I AN INVITATION TO WORSHIP. What is worship? Our English word means honour and reverence paid to worthworth-ship. It stands here for a Hebrew word, literally meaning "to fall" or" prostrate one"s self;" i.e. (according to Eastern usage) by kneeling, and touching the ground with the forehead. So Abraham before the angels; Joshua; (Jos_5:14) the heavenly worshippers in St. John"s vision. (Rev_4:10) So when our Lord was on earth; (Luk_5:12) and elsewhere. So it follows: "bow down... kneel before the Lord." Bodily movements are the natural expression of inward emotions. So then spiritual worship is the corresponding feeling; prostration of soul the knees of the heart. It is the acknowledgment of our dependence; we must add, our sinful unworthiness; and of the infinite worth, majesty, glory, holiness, of our Maker. It is reverence, homage, admiration, carried to the highest pitch adoration. Other feelings, affections, motives, may enter into worship wonder, gratitude, joy, love, obedience, trust. But worship takes all these, and lays them on the altar, as a whole burnt offering, consumed in the flame of holy awe. All the sentiments which go to make up worship may be claimed by fellow creatures; but only in measure and limit. Not only self-respect, but jealous regard for God"s supreme claim, place such limits. Therefore Cornelius was rebuked by St. Peter, and St. John by the angel. (Act_10:26 Rev_22:8, Rev_22:9) But when we behold all good and glorious attributes united in the One Infinite, Self-existent, Eternal Being, the Source of all other being, life, joy, goodness, perfection, reason itself tells us that our worship should be unlimited, absolute. Only blindness, coldness, hardness of heart, and unbelief can prevent the full response of our souls to this invitation. "O come," etc.
II AN INVITATION TO PUBLIC UNITED WORSHIP. "Let us worship." Worship is worthless if not spiritual. (Joh_4:22-24) Outward forms without spiritual reality may even be hurtful, dangerous, deadly. And perhaps silent worship may be the highest worship: "groanings which cannot be uttered". (Rom_8:26) But public, united, vocal worship has great advantages. It prevents our worship from sinking into mere contemplation and meditation. These are most important aids. But worship is not truly worship unless it is actual converse with God calling on him, drawing near to him, bowing our souls in his glorious presence. Vocal united prayer or praise greatly helps this helps us to feel the reality of his presence, and that not only are we thinking of him and addressing him, but that he hears and answers.
III THIS INVITATION HAS A MEANING AND POWER FOR CHRISTIANS, immeasurably transcending all that it could have for saints of old under the old covenant. Worship has regard not only to what God is in himself, but what he is to us. The pious Israelite worshipped him as "our Maker," the Judge of all the earth, the God of Israel of Abraham and his children. Christian worship takes in all these considerations. But think what it adds! After this manner pray we, "Our Father, who art in heaven!" We worship the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We have fellowship with the Father and the Son. We have received, not the spirit of fear, but the spirit of sonship, teaching us to say, "Abba, Father!" We have access with boldness through the blood of Jesus. The darkness is past, and the true light shineth. (Eph_1:2, 3 3:14 2Co_4:6 1Jn_1:3 Rom_8:15 Eph_3:12 Heb_10:19 1Jn_2:8) Wonderful is the longing desire, holy boldness, nearness to God, of many of the ancient saints! (Psa_42:1, Psa_42:2, and many other passages) What ought our worship to be, standing on so far higher a level, where in privilege and knowledge "the least in the kingdom of heaven" is greater than the greatest of them!
CONCLUSION.
1. The possession of spiritual life is an indispensable condition to the offering of spiritual worship. (Joh_4:24)
2. Public worship is not only a means of blessing, a privilege, an enjoyment; it is a high and solemn duty. Christians should take earnest pains to fit themselves for taking part in it.
3. Those who lead the praises of the Church (choristers) have a sacred ministry, calling for consecration of heart as well as ear and voice or (organist"s) fingers.
Associated and public prayer.
1. In meeting together for public prayer, we follow the impulses of our own hearts, as well as obey the commands of our God. Prayer and worship are connected with our whole relation to God. God is in direct relation to the spirits that we are. We feel this, and therefore we must pray for spiritual blessings. God is in direct relation to the bodies that we have. They are his making, the care of his providence. They are subject to weariness and disease; they are the mediums of our virtue and of our vice. Out of the sense of the relation of our bodies to God, we are impelled to pray for temporal blessings. And God is also in close relation to our associations with one another to our associations as families, as Churches, as fellow worshippers, and as citizens. Our best welfare, in all these relations, depends on him who is Lord of all natural laws, Lord of storms, Lord of harvests, Lord of sunshine, Lord of the wrath of men, and Lord too of their wealth. Let any man feel this, as every true man, every thinking man, must feel it, and that man will be impelled by his own spirit to meet with others, and say to others, "O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our Maker." God deals with us collectively here on earth. We may not think of separate Churches in heaven; of organized families in heaven. There are no towns, with distinct town interests, in heaven; no nations, with national qualities and national interests, in heaven. It is peculiar to our present human scenes that God deals with us collectively. This need not relieve our sense of individual responsibility. We do but show what a basis is laid for collective prayer, for public worship, in this fact, that God deals collectively with us. He can punish individuals in another world for their individual wrongdoings. He can only punish nations, as nations, for their national wrong doings, in this sphere. Collectively, God regards us; then collectively we should pray, collectively we should worship, collectively we should live for God. The man that refuses to join in public worship is breaking away from his humanity; and denying the gracious conditions and responsibilities under which God has placed him. It is a more familiar truth, that sharing in public worship is the direct command of our God.
2. What are the reasons which keep men from the performance at all, or from the due performance of this duty of public worship? To put our reasons out into the full blaze of the light is often sufficient to wither them up, and to make us altogether ashamed of them. Perhaps some persuade themselves to say, "Your worship is not really intended for us: it is for Christians, and we do not want to intrude." It is a mistake. God"s worship is for men, all men, all God-made men, whether they fit in with our idea of what God would have them be or not. Some stay from public worship because they cannot arrange their domestic affairs so as conveniently to attend it. Be sure that you have really tried and failed, before you rest in this excuse. Most stay away from sheer indifference, from the carelessness which settles down over souls that willingly live to self and sin. Some men are indisposed to worship; and it is this indisposition with which we have to deal.
3. Under the terms, "associated, and public worship," three forms may be indicated.
(1) Family prayer. When the devoted Richard Baxter lived in Kidderminster, it is said there was not a house in which the evensong of praise might not be heard, and the uplifted prayer of earnest hearts. The rush of modem business life has swept away much family prayer.
(2) Social prayer. Times when two or three meet together, to plead the promise made to two of the disciples who agree to ask. The smaller meetings are specially fruitful in spiritual blessings.
(3) Public prayer. The services of the sanctuaries. The spiritual antitypes of the old temple worship at Jerusalem, "whither the tribes go up." Public worship sustains, as nothing else can do, our dependence on God, the Creator, the Provider, the Redeemer. "He made us, and not we ourselves;" "He redeemeth our life from destruction." He "sent his Son into the world, that we might live through him." Then surely we ought "to worship and bow down. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 6. Here the exhortation to worship is renewed…
Ver. 6. Here the exhortation to worship is renewed and backed with a motive which, to Israel of old and to Christians now, is especially powerful; for both the Israel after the flesh and the Israel of faith may be described as the people of his pasture, and by both he is called "our God."
O come, let us worship and bow down. The adoration is to be humble. The "joyful noise" is to be accompanied with lowliest reverence. We are to worship in such style that the bowing down shall indicate that we count ourselves to be as nothing in the presence of the all glorious Lord.
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Let us kneel before the Lord our maker. As suppliants must we come; joyful, but not presumptuous; familiar as children before a father, yet reverential as creatures before their maker. Posture is not everything, yet is it something; prayer is heard when knees cannot bend, but it is seemly that an adoring heart should show its awe by prostrating the body, and bending the knee.
Ver. 6. You hold it a good rule in worldly business, not to say to your servants, "O come", arise ye, go ye; but, Let us come, let us go, let us arise. Now shall the children of this world be wiser in their generation than the children of light? Do we commend this course in mundane affairs, and neglect it in religious offices? Assuredly, if our zeal were as great to religion, as our love is towards the world, masters would not come to church (as many do) without their servants, and servants without their masters; parents without their children, and children without their parents: husbands without their wives, and wives without their husbands; but all of us would call one to another, as Esau prophesied (chap. 2:3): "Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths, "and as David here practised. John Boys.
Ver. 6. Let us worship and bow down. To fall upon the ground is a gesture of worship, not only when the worshipper mourns, but when the worshipper rejoiceth. It is said (Mt 2:10, 11) that the wise men when they found Christ, "rejoiced with exceeding great joy", and presently, "they fell down, and worshipped him". Neither is this posture peculiar to worship in times or upon occasions of extraordinary joy and sorrow; for the ordinary invitation was, "O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker". Joseph Caryl.
Ver. 6. "Let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker." Not before a crucifix, not before a rotten image, not before a fair picture of a foul saint: these are not our makers; we made them, they made not us. Our God, unto whom we must sing, in whom we must rejoice, before whom we must worship, is a great "King above all gods": he is no god of lead, no god of bread, no brazen god, no wooden god; we must not fall down and worship our Lady, but our Lord; not any martyr, but our Maker not any saint, but our Saviour: "O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation." Wherewith: with voice, "Let us sing; "with soul, "Let us heartily rejoice"; with hands and knees, "Let us worship and bow down: let us kneel"; with all that is within us, with all that is without us; he that made all, must be worshipped with all, especially when we "come before his presence". John Boys.
Ver. 6. Bow down. That is, so as to touch the floor with the forehead, while the worshipper is prostrate on his hands and knees. See 2Ch 7:3. John Fry, 1842.
Ver. 6. Worship, bow down, kneel. Kimchi distinguishes the several gestures expressed by the different words here used. The first we render, worship, signifies, according to him, the prostration of the whole body on the ground, with the hands and legs stretched out. The second a bowing of the head, with part of the body; and the third a be drag of the knees on the ground. Samuel Burder.
Ver. 6. A true conception of God begets
1. A disposition to worship.
2. Mutual incitement to worship.
3. Profound reverence in worship.
4. Overwhelming sense of God's presence in worship.
C.A. Davis.
Ver. 6-7. God is to be worshipped
1. As our Creator"our maker."
2. As our Redeemer, "the people", etc.
3. As our Preserver, "the sheep", etc.
George Rogers.
Psalms 95:7*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain O come, let us worship and bow down; let…
Psa_95:6-7
O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
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Congregational worship
I. Its principle. God made each, and God rules all; and while of each is demanded individual acknowledgment and homage--Stand in awe and sin not, commune with your own heart upon your bed and be still, enter into thy closet, and shut thy door, and pray to thy Father which is in secret,--yet of all is required, that they should acknowledge a common origin, recognize a common supremacy, confess a common necessity, deprecate a common peril, avail themselves of a common salvation.
II. The form. We are enjoined in the text to worship and bow down, and kneel before the Lord our Maker.
III. The benefits. We thus realize by faith the presence of an unseen Deity. We thus recognize the moral supremacy of the God who wilt be our Judge. We feel the precariousness of life, and are thus made to improve its remaining opportunities. The act of coming hither is the confession that we have a soul; and the act of uniting in what is here transacted is a cultivation of the soul for immortality. (T. Dale, M. A.)
Worship
Our modern word worship is the old Saxon worth-ship--that is, in its application, the adequate recognition of Gods worth or due, and the creatures loyal payment of his debt. In the Bible the word signifies generally an act of respect or of homage. Sometimes it is used of the deference which one man pays to another--as, for example, the case of Nebuchadnezzar, who worshipped Daniel. Sometimes it is used to express the spurious devotion which men of old paid to idols. But most frequently it is used to indicate the highest homage that man can pay to his Maker, i.e. adoration. It is only moral intelligence that can appreciate the worth and due of God, and that is capable of offering to Him the sublimest adoration. Now, man is involved in a threefold relationship--a personal one, a family one, and a public one. From none of these will God consent to be excluded, nor is it right that He should be. We cannot dismiss Him from our personal lives, for He so encompasses us that to be rid of God means that we cease to exist. We may not close the door of the family against Him, for the family is peculiarly His institution, over which He has the right of perpetual superintendence. And if public life advances without God as its Captain, it must, as all history demonstrates, finally land in the bog of despair and ruin. But it is not sufficient that God be not excluded from the threefold life of man. He must be actively welcomed into each sphere, and His worthship be recognized therein. Undoubtedly, the most important thing of all is the worship of God in the persona! life of each man. As individuals we must recognize and love God. We cannot in this matter lose ourselves in the crowd. Next in importance to personal life is the life of the family and the worship of God there. With every fibre of my being I say to you, guard your families. Do not let your children grow up little better than heathens--teach them the Fatherhood of God and His right to their love and service. But now let us give all our attention to the matter of the public acknowledgment of the worship of God. The New Testament throughout assumes the necessity of public worship, while in several places it commands it (Heb_10:25; Mat_18:20; 1Co_14:40). And there is the example of Christ (Luk_4:16). But these commands and assumptions are not arbitrary; they simply voice the Divine instinct within us, that gregarious instinct which results in public gatherings. It is this instinct that makes public worship a necessity, for in it we express our common belief, our common prayers, and our common thanksgivings. Each of us is bound to a common Creator by a common bond, and each creature is bound to every other creature by virtue of the bond which binds all to God, and this common bond must receive common recognition. How shall this recognition be best set forth so as to employ the whole of our faculties in the exercise? Our public worship should be a service common to all. It is impossible for any minister to pray so as to comprehend all the needs of his people; at best he can only touch the surface, and it is inconvenient and might be indecorous for each person to state his own case in public. But there are certain thanksgivings and prayers which touch every nature, and in public worship these should be stated. Christ taught His disciples a form of prayer in which they were to say, Our Father, Give us, Our trespasses--a prayer common to all. But for thanksgiving and prayer to be common they must be responsive--this is demanded by the necessity of the case. The Bible patterns of worship are responsive. Read the accounts of worship in Rev_5:12. And that great Temple book--the Psalter--was composed for responsive worship. This, you perceive, brings us at once to the question of a liturgy. Might we not have a series of liturgies, compiled, if you will, from the Bible only, so arranged as to promote unity of thought? (F. C. Spurt.)
Adoration
The psalm contains two strophes or stanzas: the first consisting of five verses and the second of six. Each of these stanzas opens with an invitation. The first is an invitation to praise offered loudly with the voice. O come, let us shout joyfully to the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation; let us go forth to meet Him with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to Him with hymns. And the second stanza begins with an invitation to something altogether different,--to worship, or as we had better render it, to adoration. O come, let us prostrate ourselves, let us bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. The word which is rendered worship means prostration, literally nothing less than prostration. The two Words which follow mean something less emphatic--the first, the bending of the body while the worshipper still stands, the second kneeling. Nothing changes in the East so far as habit is concerned, and you cannot to-day enter a mosque without seeing each of these three words literally acted on. Sometimes the worshipper bends his head and shoulders, then he kneels, then he prostrates himself entirely, touching the ground with his forehead. This, so far as the outward posture goes, is undoubtedly what the psalmist meant to invite the congregation of Israel to do, as being the outward expression of adoration. But adoration is an inward act of the soul which corresponds with those postures of the body which have just been described. It is the soul recognizing its nothingness before the magnificence of God, its sin before His purity, its ignorance before His omniscience, its feebleness before His power. It is the creature lying in the dust and understanding, as by a flash of light from heaven, what it is to have a Creator and to be alive in His presence. It is sinful man emptying himself of self-assertion before the Being who made him, knowing himself, or almost knowing, himself as he is known, crying: Out of the deep have I called unto Thee, O Lord, etc. When we assemble and meet together in church, it is to render thanks for the great benefits that we have received at Gods bands, to set forth His most worthy praise, to hear His most holy Word, and to ask those things which are requisite and necessary as well for the body as the soul. Of these four objects of assembling together in church, that of hearing Gods Word, whether read or preached, is not now in question. But what is the relation of the other three, thanksgiving, praise, and prayer for blessings, to adoration? They all three differ from adoration in this, that in each of them the soul is less prostrate, more able to bear the thought of self, than in pure and simple adoration. Certainly, in praise we seem to forget self more easily than in thanksgiving or prayer, since thanksgiving carries the mind back to something which we have received, and by which presumably we have profited, and prayer, in the narrower sense of the word, asks for new blessings, whether for the body or soul. Pure adoration has no heart for self; it lies there silent at the foot of the throne, conscious only of two things, the insignificance of self and the greatness of God. And yet adoration must be the basis, so to put it, of true thanksgiving, and praise, and prayer; it is the fitting acknowledgment of our real relations with God, which should precede them. It sometimes does, indeed, imply so paralyzing a sense of this our nothingness before God that left to itself it would make praise, thanksgiving, and prayer impossible. But here, as we lie in the dust, the one Mediator between God and man bids us take heart as He utters that most consoling sentence: No man cometh unto the Father but by Me. He-bids us, as it were, take His hand, and thus, with Him and by Him, not merely adore God, but praise Him, thank Him, pray to Him. Let us, then, briefly remind ourselves of some leading benefits of worship, which explain the importance which is assigned to it by the Church of Christ. First of all, it places us, both as individuals and as a body of men, in our true place before God our Creator. Unless, or until, we believe that one Being exists to whom we stand in a relation utterly different from that in which we stand to any other--namely, that of owing our very existence to Him--worship is impossible. Worship only begins when faith acknowledges the Almighty Creator: it dies away as faith in Him decays; it dies away as He gives place in thought to some purely human imagination respecting how the universe came to be what it actually is. But even where there is no difficulty in believing in God the Creator, and no disposition to question His existence or His power, we sometimes observe that this great belief has no practical effect whatever upon life and thought. Many men practically live as though it were not true that it is God who has made us and not we ourselves. Now, the corrective to this--which is a practical failure, after all, rather than an intellectual mistake--the corrective to this is worship. Worship places us face to face with the greatness of the Creator. The very first effort of worship implies that God is resuming, has resumed, His true place in our thoughts, that He is no longer jostled out of our mental life by a hundred puny worthless rivals belonging to the world of sense. Worship, too, obliges us to think that we are ourselves. It is one thing to hold the immortality of man as an abstract tenet; it is another to be looking forward with a steady, practical aim to a life to come. Worship, depend upon it, is the great preparation for another life--a waste of time, no doubt, if the soul dies with the perishing body, if decay be succeeded by no resurrection, but a use of time than which none can be more sensible, more legitimate, if there be a most certain hereafter, and if, while the things that are seen are temporal, the things that are not seen are eternal. And thus, lastly, worship is a stimulus to action when--and, of course, only when--it is sincere. If it be true that to work is to pray, it is also true that to pray is to work. Prayer is, in fact, work, since it makes a large demand upon the energies of the soul, and it creates and trains in us capacity for other kinds of work than itself. It not only illuminates the understanding and kindles the affection, it braces, it invigorates the will. In worship we are in contact with the most real of all beings; with Him off whose will all else that is strictly depends, and in comparison with whom the most solid matter in His universe is but as an unsubstantial shadow. This contact with the highest reality cannot but brace us, and accordingly we find in all ages that the noblest resolves to act or to suffer have again and again been formed as though in obedience to what seems a sudden overpowering flash of light during worship. So it was with Isaiah when he saw the vision in the temple. Then said I, Here am I; send me. So it has been with more than one enterprise of our own day; the original resolution to make the venture has dated from the half hour of sincere worship, in which the energies of a single character have been lifted altogether above their average level, so that it became natural and easy to remove the mountains of obstacles around that had before barred the way to action. In another world we shall probably look back upon the way in which we have spent much of our time here with deep, although unavailing, regret; but we may be sure that no such regret will ever be felt on account of any time that has been devoted to the worship of our Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. (Canon Liddon.)
The duty of external worship
External adoration may be considered as--
I. A part of that natural homage which the whole man, soul and body, owes to God, upon the account of His creation and preservation of us, and His sovereign dominion over us. We all look for the glorification, not only of our souls, but bodies, in the life to come. Now, a reward supposeth a work; it is meet and right, therefore, that we should worship and glorify God in this life with the body as well as the soul, if so be we expect that God should glorify both our bodies and souls in another.
II. A help and assistance towards promoting the spiritual worship of our souls. There is so close a connection between the mind and its organs, that they act, as it were, by consent; and the motions of the one do commonly, and in some degree, pass into the other. And this natural sympathy shows itself nowhere more remarkably than in acts of devotion. We usually blame the body to a high degree, as the great clog and hindrance of the soul. And so it often is. But here it may be made to draw equally in the yoke of duty; nay, even to give wings to the mind, which it presseth down, and overwhelms on many other occasions. Nor is the body more beholden to the soul, for the beginning of its motions, than the soul afterwards is to the body, for the increase of hers.
III. A sign by which we express to others the religious esteem and veneration that dwells in us. Great are the advantages which the people of God, when they are met together, do mutually receive from it. The cold and remiss worshipper is, at the sight of an exemplary, kindled into some degrees of holy warmth; the fervent and devout in the presence of it becomes yet more inflamed. A religious emulation rises then in the breast of the faithful, a holy strife and desire of excelling. But believers are not the only persons that receive benefit by it; unbelievers, too, though unwillingly, have their share. The profane scoffer, who dares encounter a single Christian without shame or fear of reproof has here an answer to his bold scoffs, in that still and powerful argument, which arises from the behaviour of a devout multitude, worshipping God in the beauty of holiness: such an argument as will destroy all its unreasonable suspicions, and convince him of the sincerity of mens hearts towards God, by the natural unaffected signs of it, which are shown in his service: such as will put him in mind of the numbers of devout and good men against which he engages; lead him on from the thought of the present congregation to those of the same kind that are spread over the face of the earth; and make him sit down and consider whether with such a small strength (his own, and that of a few more) he can encounter so many thousands, even the united wisdom and practice of mankind (1Co_14:24-25). (Bp. Atterbury.)
Spiritual worship
Whatever other ends are secured by sanctuary service,--the education of thought, the quickening of sensibility, and the deepening of religious trust,--this is one main end, the worship of God. We bow before God because He is infinitely just, and true, and pure, and good,--worthy of all our reverence and love; and the song of redemption, as it is celebrated in heaven, fixes our attention upon the glory of the Saviours nature, as well as the merit of the Saviours work.
I. Everything in a Christian service should be regulated so as to advance spiritual life. The instincts of a fervent Christian man will resent all that is showy and formal, and will rejoice in all that lifts his heart and his thoughts into communion with the living God.
II. If that spiritual worship be present there will be no cry for forms of prayer. To enjoy prayer is one of the marks of true devoutness, and when there is delight in approaching God, the soul will choose its own simplest forms of speech. They will be touched with a broken spirit and a contrite heart. Meditation is prayer in preparation, and prayer is preparation spoken.
III. In the preservation of spiritual devoutness the worshippers have much to do. Remember this: that worship must be in harmony with our life, and not a brilliant exception to it. True prayer is connected with the continuous life of God in the soul. It is not the lifting up into a region we are strangers to, a kind of Alpine summit situation to which we have painfully climbed, but rather the enjoyment of an air which is the common breath of our souls. Then the worshipper can afford his earnest and hearty Amen! This he ought to do, this God wishes him to do: Let all the people say, Amen.
IV. In such spiritual worship, praise takes, its appropriate place. We desiderate united praise. It is not loudness we want; shouting, either in preaching, praise, or prayer, is not power; but we do want the united service of all voices and hearts, as they are touched with the Spirit of the living God. Nothing is so painful as a kind of languid indifference, or a listless mannerism, as though we had little at all to do with the service. Every man, woman, and child in the sanctuary ought to sing, ought to be in earnest about it, and ought to do their best at it.
V. In such spiritual service we are typing and tasting the worship of heaven. That worship we may well believe will be all that is deepest in reverence, all that is sweetest in melody, all that is purest in love. (W. M. Statham.)
Divine worship
I. The component elements of true worship. As it is the chief fact with regard to man, so it is of the highest consequence.
1. It has its inward principles. Its root is in the soul. God is a Spirit, etc. There must be--
(1) Profound reverence. This is the basis of religious excellence, and is inspired by the contemplation of God and of ourselves in His sight.
(2) Humility.
(3) Submissive trust and love.
(4) Humble hope.
2. It has its proper external acts. As the face is the index of the emotions, so outward acts are the index of the spiritual feelings within. There must be--
(1) Appropriate postures and demeanour.
(2) Appropriate times.
(3) Appropriate acts and places.
Splendour of churches is only blameable when it interferes with charity; God, who requireth charity as necessary, accepteth the other also as being an honourable work.
II. The reasons rendering Divine worship obligatory.
1. It is based upon our relations to God and the constitution and nature of the human mind.
2. It is a Divine institution. In the Old Testament it is abundantly commanded; taken for granted in the New Testament.
3. It is of supreme importance to the mental and spiritual welfare of the world.
(1) Its importance to ourselves is great. It maintains a sense of religion in the soul.
(2) To others the value is great.
Without our days, and acts, and places of worship, men would become entirely abandoned to a worldly and irreligious life. The maintenance of worship is the proclamation of the fundamental truths of religion, which bring blessedness to the individual soul, and peace and prosperity to society. Seek to attain the highest ends of worship in yourselves. Make your life one act of worship, one great psalm. (James Foster, B.A.)
Humility in approaching God
Shall we presume, says Thoreau, to alter the angle at which God chooses to be worshipped--kneel before the Lord our Maker?
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 put both knees on the ground, often to show…
kneel
put both knees on the ground, often to show submission (See: Symbolic Action)
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the people of his pasture
The word "pasture" is a metonym for the food that animals eat in the pasture, which in turn is a synecdoche for everything that Yahweh provides for his people. AT: "we are the people whose needs he meets" (See: Metonymy and Synecdoche)
pasture
an area where animals find grass to eat
the sheep of his hand
The word "hand" here refers to how Yahweh protects his people the way a shepherd protects his sheep. AT: "the people whom he protects like a shepherd protects his sheep" (See: Metaphor)
Today—oh, that you would hear his voice!
"Oh, that you would hear his voice today!" The psalmist purposely interrupts what he is saying.
hear his voice
Here "his voice" represents God speaking or what he says. AT: "listen to God speak" or "hear what God says" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
worship
bow
create
people of God
ewe
voice
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 95:6-7 The great King cares for his people as…
95:6-7 The great King cares for his people as a shepherd cares for his flock (Isa 40:11). • The Lord our maker, the Creator of heaven and earth, also made a people for himself (Isa 45:9-12; 51:12-16).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.