John Calvin Commentary Psalms 95:11

"Wherefore I sware in my wrath, That they should not enter into my rest." — Psalms 95:11 (ASV)

Regarding the phrase Wherefore I have sworn in my wrath, I see no objection to the relative אשר, asher, being understood in its proper sense and read as To whom I have sworn. The Greek version, taking it as a mark of similarity, reads, As I have sworn. However, I think it may be properly considered as expressing an inference or conclusion. This is not as if they were finally deprived of the promised inheritance only when they tempted God; rather, the Psalmist, having spoken in God's name about the obstinacy they displayed, takes the opportunity to infer that there was good reason for their being prohibited, with an oath, from entering the land.

As they multiplied their provocations, it became more evident that, being incorrigible, they had been justly cut off from God’s rest. The meaning would be clearer by reading it in the pluperfect tense: I had sworn. For God had already shut them out from the promised inheritance, having foreseen their misconduct, before He thus contended with them.

I have elsewhere referred to the explanation for the elliptical form of the oath. The land of Canaan is called God’s rest in reference to the promise. Abraham and his descendants had been wanderers in it until the time fully came for entering into its possession.

Egypt had been a temporary asylum and, as it were, a place of exile. In preparing to establish the Jews in their rightful heritage of Canaan, according to His promise, God could very properly call it His rest. The word must be taken, however, in the active sense, this being the great benefit God bestowed: that the Jews were to dwell there, as in their native soil and in a peaceful dwelling.

We might pause for a moment here to compare what the Apostle states in the third and fourth chapters of his Epistle to the Hebrews with the passage we are currently considering. That the Apostle follows the Greek version need not cause surprise. Nor should he be considered as specifically intending to expound on this passage.

He only insists upon the adverb To-day, and upon the word Rest; and first, he states that the expression to-day, is not to be confined to the time when the Law was given but properly applies to the Gospel, when God began to speak more openly. The fuller and more perfect declaration of doctrine demanded greater attention.

God has not ceased to speak: He has revealed His Son and is daily inviting us to come to Him. Undoubtedly, it is our duty, given such an opportunity, to obey His voice. The Apostle next reasons from the concept of rest, to an extent that we should not assume the Psalmist's own words justify.

He first posits that since there was an implied promise in the punishment announced here, there must have been some better rest promised to the people of God than the land of Canaan. For, when the Jews had entered the land, God held out to His people the prospect of another rest, which is defined by the Apostle as consisting in that renouncing of ourselves, by which we rest from our own works while God works in us.

From this, he takes the opportunity to compare the old Sabbath, or rest under the Law, which was figurative, with the newness of spiritual life. When it is said that He swore in His wrath, this intimates that He was, in a way, compelled to inflict this punishment—that the provocation was not common or slight, but that their awful obstinacy inflamed His anger and drew this oath from Him.