Unlike many other Psalms, Psalm 95 does not provide any information about its author or about who spoke it. Noting that fact, some might conclude that knowing that information is not important.
Explicit NT revelation, however, shows that this would be a faulty conclusion.The use of Psalm 95 in Hebrews 3-4 teaches us that it is important for us to know who spoke at least some of Psalm 95.
The Ultimate Speaker of Psalm 95:7-11
Scripture teaches that the Spirit is the ultimate Author of the entire Bible (2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:20-21). Even so, the Spirit specifies that He was the One who spoke what is said in Psalm 95:7-11.
Psalm 95:7 For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice, 8 Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: 9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work. 10 Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways: 11 Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.
Hebrews 3:7 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, 8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: 9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. 10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. 11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)
The Human Speaker of Psalm 95:7-8
Beyond specifying that the Spirit is the ultimate Speaker of Psalm 95, the NT reveals that David was also the one who spoke what is said in Psalm 95:7-8.
Hebrews 4:7 Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Psalm 95:7 For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice, 8 Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
Discussion
From what the NT reveals in Hebrews 3-4, we see that both the Spirit and David spoke what is said in Psalm 95:7-8. Because this truth about Psalm 95 is not revealed at all in the OT but is made explicit in the NT, we know that the Spirit wants us to know and ponder the significance of this truth.
Why then does the Spirit want us to know that David spoke was what is said in Psalm 95:7-8?
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