Tehillim 95–96 | Psalms of Kabbalat Shabbat

Psalms 95 and 96 continue the call to the people to recognize the name of God. Psalm 95 calls upon the people of Israel to proclaim the name of God, and Psalm 96 calls upon all the nations to recognize His name. Psalm 95 recalls God's greatness as the Creator of the world. As we’ve seen previously, the motif of God’s greatness as Creator appeared in Psalm 89, too. However, there it served as a springboard for a piercing question — where is God and where is His providence? In contrast, in our psalm, the description of God's greatness prompts the opposite question: where is the people and where is their faithfulness to the covenant with God?

The psalm describes God's greatness as Creator and, from this, calls the people to bow to Him. That same Creator who rules over all of creation is our God, and we are His people: “For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, the flock He tends.” This conclusion leads the poet to call upon the people to listen to God's voice: “Today, if you would heed His voice.” The poet recalls the generation of the wilderness who hardened their hearts and did not listen to God’s voice—until the decree of the long wilderness wandering was sealed. Thus, we are given a different perspective on times of exile and divine concealment — they do not stem from God abandoning us but rather from the people abandoning God. These Psalms of Kabbalat Shabbat attempt to correct this and generate a return of the people to God and a renewed calling upon His name.

Psalm 96 likewise addresses the calling upon God’s name, but this time it is a call directed to all the nations. At first, the poet calls upon his fellow Israelites to proclaim God's name to the world: “Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples” (96:3). Then he calls upon the nations themselves to proclaim God's name: “Render to the Lord, O families of the peoples, render to the Lord glory and might” (96:7). This dual calling — by Israel and by the nations — to proclaim God's name leads to a full circle in which even the heavens and the earth — previously mentioned in the context of creation — rejoice in anticipation of God’s revelation: “Let the heavens rejoice and the earth exult; let the sea roar, and all that fills it” (96:11). All of this builds toward the coming day of God's revelation, when justice and righteousness will finally be made manifest.