Liturgical prayer and praise – Psalm 95 as an entrance to worship
The number 95 has no prominent numerological symbolism in the Bible like the numbers 7, 12 or 40 do. It appears in Ezra 2:20 and Nehemiah 7:25, where it indicates the number of descendants of Gibbar and Gibeon respectively who returned from exile in Babylon. The number's most important biblical connection is however Psalm 95, which opens with the words "Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord" and contains the well-known exhortation "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts." This psalm has taken a central place in both Jewish and Christian liturgy. In Jewish tradition, Psalm 95 is part of the Kabbalat Shabbat liturgy, where it is sung as one of the psalms that open the Sabbath service. In Christian tradition it is known as "Venite" and has been used as an opening hymn in morning services for centuries. Theologically, the psalm calls for praise and obedience, and warns against repeating the Israelites' rebellion at Meriba and Massa in the wilderness. Psalm 95 is quoted extensively in Hebrews 3:7–4:11, where the author uses the exhortation not to harden one's heart as the basis for a theological exposition on God's rest and the necessity of faith. In the Kabbalat Shabbat liturgy, which was formalized by the kabbalists in Safed in the 1500s, Psalm 95 is one of six psalms (Psalms 95–99 and 29) sung to welcome the Sabbath. In gematria, the number 95 has the value of several Hebrew words, but none of these have gained a prominent place in kabbalistic literature. Gibbar (Ezra 2:20) and Gibeon (Nehemiah 7:25) likely refer to the same group of returnees, where the variation in names may be due to different traditions in the lists of those who returned from the Babylonian exile.*