Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hebrews 3:7
Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, Today if ye will hear his voice,
7. Wherefore ] The verb which depends on this conjunction is delayed by the quotation, but is practically found in Heb 3:12, “Take heed.” Christ was faithful: therefore take heed that ye be not unfaithful.
as the Holy Ghost saith ] For this form of quotation see Mar 12:36; Act 1:16; 2Pe 1:21.
To day if ye will hear his voice ] Rather, “if ye hear,” or “shall have heard.” The quotation is from Psa 95:7-11, and the word means “Oh that ye would hear His voice!”; but the LXX. often renders the Hebrew im by “if.” The “to-day” is always the Scripture day of salvation, which is now, 2Co 6:2; Isa 55:6. “If any man hear my voice I will come in to him,” Rev 3:20. The sense of the Imminent Presence of God which reigns throughout the prophecies of the O. T. as well as in the N. T. (Heb 10:37; Heb 1:2. Thess.; 1Pe 1:5, &c.) is beautifully illustrated in the Talmudic story of the Rabbi ( Sanhedrin 98. 1) who went to the Messiah by direction of Elijah, and asked him when he would come; and He answered “to-day.” But before the Rabbi could return to Elijah the sun had set, and he asked “Has Messiah then deceived me?” “No,” answered Elijah; “he meant ‘Today if ye hear His voice.’ ”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
7 19. A solemn warning against hardening the heart
[This constant interweaving of warning and exhortation with argument is characteristic of this Epistle. These passages (Heb 2:1-4, Heb 3:7-19, Heb 4:1-14, Heb 6:1-9, Heb 10:19-39) cannot, however, be called digressions, because they belong to the object which the writer had most distinctly in view namely, to check a tendency to relapse from the Gospel into Judaism].
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Wherefore – In view of the fact that the Author of the Christian dispensation has a rank far superior to that of Moses. Because Christ has claims on us far greater than those which Moses had, let us hearken to his voice, and dread his displeasure.
As the Holy Ghost saith – In Psa 95:7-11. This is full proof that in the estimation of the author of this Epistle the writer of this Psalm was inspired. The Holy Spirit speaks through the word which he has revealed. The apostle quotes this passage and applies it to those whom he addressed, because the admonition was as pertinent and important under the Christian dispensation, as it was under the Jewish. The danger of hardening the heart by neglecting to hear his voice was as great, and the consequences would be as fearful and alarming. We should regard the solemn warnings in the Old Testament against sin, and against the danger of apostasy, as addressed by the Holy Spirit to us. They are as applicable to us as they were to those to whom they were at first addressed; and we need all the influence of such appeals, to keep us from apostasy as much as they did.
Today – Now; at present. At the very time when the command is addressed to you. It is not to be put off until tomorrow. All Gods commands relate to the present – to this day – to the passing moment. He gives us no commands about the future. He does not require us to repent and to turn to him tomorrow, or 10 years hence. The reasons are obvious:
- Duty pertains to the present. It is our duty to turn from sin, and to love him now.
(2)We know not that we shall live to another day. A command, therefore, could not extend to that time unless it were accompanied with a revelation that we should live until then – and such a revelation God does not choose to give. Every one, therefore, should feel that whatever commands God addresses to him are addressed to him now. Whatever guilt he incurs by neglecting those commands is incurred now. For the present neglect and disobedience each one is to answer – and each one must give account to God for what he does today.
If ye will hear – In case you are willing to hearken to God, listen now, and do not defer it to a future period. There is much in a willingness to hear the voice of God. A willingness to learn is usually the precursor of great attainments in knowledge. A willingness to reform, is usually the precursor of reformation. Get a man willing to break off his habits of profaneness or intemperance, and usually all the rest is easy. The great difficulty in the mind of a sinner is in his will. He is unwilling to hear the voice of God; unwilling that he should reign over him; unwilling now to attend to religion. While this unwillingness lasts he will make no efforts, and he sees, or creates a thousand difficulties in the way of his becoming a Christian. But when that unwillingness is overcome, and he is disposed to engage in the work of religion, difficulties vanish, and the work of salvation becomes easy.
His voice – The voice of God speaking to us:
(1)In his written word;
(2)In the preached gospel;
(3)In our own consciences;
(4)In the events of his Providence;
(5)In the admonitions of our relatives and friends. Whatever conveys to us the truth of God, or is adapted to impress that on us, may be regarded as his voice speaking to us. He thus speaks to us every day in some of these ways; and every day, therefore, he may entreat us not to harden our hearts.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Heb 3:7-8
As the Holy Ghost saith
Scripture
1.
The authority of the Scripture is not of man, but of the Holy Ghost.
2. The Scriptures are no dumb letter, but the voice of the Holy Ghost, who by them speaketh.
3. The Holy Ghost is God, the Inspirer of the prophets that wrote the Scripture.
4. The Holy Ghost is a distinct person of the Godhead from the Father and the Son, exercising the proper actions of a person inspiring the prophets, inditing the Scriptures, and speaking to the Church. (D. Dickson, M. A.)
To day, if ye will hear His voice. –
The voice of Jesus
are the voices audible to man throughout this terrestrial sphere. As he journeys on the pathway of life, they salute his ears at every step. In the busy city, the secluded hamlet, the open field; in the arid desert, and on glassy ocean, their words are heard. These voices are vastly dissimilar in their utterances and in their tones, and are fraught with momentous consequences to man. There is creations voice, and they who lend an attentive ear will find tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in tones, and good in every thing. Then there is the voice of conscience, which proclaims sin and guilt, warns of misdoing, and harasses with fears. Then there are a multitude of human voices which make glad the heart. The voice of a mother, resonant with ineffable tenderness. The voice of friendship, how it brightens the eye, awakens sympathy, cheers in the hour of adversity. How welcome the voice of mercy, as it announces pardon to the transgressor, or utters a gracious reprieve to the condemned. Then there are other voices, the object of whose utterance is to lure man from the path of virtue, degrade, and destroy. But amid these multifarious voices, the one referred to in our text ever sounds distinct. Like sweetest music it falls upon the ear of the soul, and, when listened to, makes melody in the heart. It is the voice of Divine love, compared with which human affection sinks into insignificance. It sounds in the ear of the sinner and tells of liberty, comfort, strength. Sometimes this voice is preceded by manifestations of Almighty power such as occurred to Elijah on Horebs mount. The destructive wind of adversity may break in pieces the mountain of earthly prospects; the fire of personal afflictions may threaten to consume our bodies; and then follows the still, small voice, proclaiming the illusive character of the fleeting things of time. This voice is constantly asking admission to the human heart Rev 3:20). The saints of old heard it, and were filled with joy; the disciples, journeying, heard it, and their hearts burned within them. Saul of Tarsus heard it, and it crushed out all his pride, laid him low in the dust, subdued his rebellious spirit, and evoked the prayer–Lord, what wilt Thou have me do? But how many close their ears to that voice, and turn away from the loving Saviour t The hue of health flushes the cheek, vigorous physical life is theirs, easy circumstances surround them, and all will be well. The period when we are to hear that voice is to-day; now is the accepted time, this is the day of salvation. By to-morrow the pulse may cease its beating. To-day, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts. He asks your attention, your heart, your soul, your all; but He uses no compulsion. If ye will hear! (R. Kingshott.)
An admonitory address
I. THE GREATNESS OF THE SPEAKER.
1. He who addresses you is Christ the Redeemer. This calls for serious consideration.
2. It is He who has witnessed all your past life and behaviour.
3. It is He who will judge you at last, as having a perfect knowledge of your whole life.
4. His judgment is upright. Then there will be no mercy, but all will be judgment.
II. THE THINGS WHICH CHRIST SAYS.
1. He says that your time is gone! This is a serious address.
2. He says that eternity is at hand!–a long, a never-ending eternity!
3. Christ farther says, What have you done with your privileges, and how have you improved the means of grace in past time?
4. Christ still farther says, When will you be ready, and what would make you ready to enter into glory?
III. THE TIME SET FOR YOUR HEARING THESE THINGS is mentioned in our text as being today–not to-morrow.
IV. THE CONSEQUENCES OF ATTENDING TO OR NEGLECTING THESE THINGS. If repentance be obtained, heaven will be your everlasting happy home. If sin continues, hell will be your doom. (James Kidd, D. D.)
A dissuasive from procrastination
I. There is a voice which may, with emphatic propriety, be termed THE VOICE OF GOD.
1. the providences of God, particularly those of an afflictive nature.
2. The sacred Word–both law and gospel.
II. THE VOICE OF GOD DEMANDS OUR SERIOUS ATTENTION,
1. Should a servant decline the reasonable commands of his master–a son, the gentle authority of his father–or a subject turn his back upon his prince, who might condescend to address him?
2. The nature of the subject upon which He deigns to address us is another reason for our attention to His voice. He calls us to no hard service. He invites us to approach that we may receive those blessings which constitute the happiness of man.
III. YOUR ATTENTION TO THE VOICE OF GOD SHOULD BE WITHOUT DELAY.
IV. IF WE WOULD LISTEN TO THE VOICE OF GOD WE SHOULD BE CAUTIOUS NOT TO ADOPT A CONDUCT WHICH WILL PREVENT OUR ATTENTION TO ITS ADMONITIONS.
1. Yon must avoid that state of insensibility into which so many nominal Christians have fallen.
2. It will be of equal importance that you also studiously avoid the inordinate cares of life, which first this obstruct and then close up the avenues to the soul, and so produce a fatal insensibility.
3. Moreover, it will be of vast consequence that you avoid temptation; for the mind is rendered insensible in proportion as it becomes familiar with sin.
4. Finally, beware of the whirlpool of scepticism–the dangerous shoals and fatal rocks of infidelity. (S. Lowell.)
Peril of delaying repentance
Not to listen to Gods voice (evil and perilous though it be) is a far lesser evil than to will not to listen to it. Men fail to listen through the impulse of passion; they will not to listen through deliberate choice. A single sin, grave though it be, is of human infirmity; to defer repentance, when called, is deliberately to reject God.
1. He does not promise you time. One time is ours, now. The past is gone; the future is not yet. One time we ever have, a time fleeting by, an ever-passing present. God renews to us this present again and again, in every moment of our being. You can attend, or pray, or resolve at this moment. When the next is come, you may, if Gods grace continues, do the same. But you cannot efface what you have done; you cannot replace what you have left undone. But there will be a morrow which will have no to-morrow except eternity. God has promised pardon to the penitent, but where has He promised a morrow to the procrastinator?
2. He has not promised thee grace. He gives His grace at all times freely. We have no claim upon it; else it were not grace, but debt. He gives it overflowing, without, beyond, against our deserts. But He gives it with wisdom also. He gives it although it is abused; but He does not give it in order that it should be abused, or to encourage mans abuse of it. But it would be to encourage mans abuse of it, to store it up for those who not only again and again refuse it, but who refuse it now because they may have it hereafter (Rom 2:4-5). What is it but to make the mercy of God the occasion of sin, to sin on now, because God is so good, that thou thinkest that He will give thee grace to repent hereafter? And when wishest thou that He should give thee grace to amend? Next year? or the next? or the next? No! In none of these, if thou art even thus far honest with thyself, dost thou wish to amend. No, not yet. How is this? Because thou knowest full well, that even in these six years, thy passions will not be exhausted, thy desires will not be weakened; the wants which thou suppliest unlawfully will still be craving; the evil habits which thou nurturest will be even strengthened; the embers of thy earthly fires will not have died out. When, then, God may ask, wilt thou choose Me? Alas, if thou speakest truly, thou wilt say, When I have nothing else to prefer to Thee. God is nothing to thee. Thou wantest, willest, wishest nothing of God, but to escape Him. It is not God thou choosest, but thyself still. One thing alone thou really choosest, impunity in sin. Those who picture to themselves future repentance, picture to themselves at best only the exchange of pleasure for pleasure, unlawful pleasure, it may be, for lawful; but mostly they picture to themselves a time when they shall be worn out to the world and the world to them, in sickness or death. Then they would give up what they cannot keep; they would part with what has parted with them; and they would receive in exchange–not God whom they know not, but–in some way, they know not how, escape from hell.
3. But wilt thou then have the will to repent? Judge of the future from the past. Think of the time when thou wert just hesitating on the borders of sin, when it first looked pleasant to thee, when first thou was tempted to some slight forbidden gain to take some little thing that was not thine, to give way to some childish or youthful vanity, to taste some slight forbidden pleasure. If thou hast not repented yet, hast thou more or less mastery over thyself now than then? Is it easier to thee to abstain from greater sin now than from lesser sin then? Too surely, thy bands have been bound faster around thee; thy desires have become stronger; thy will weaker. People sin, out of the very habit of sinning. Sin wears out the heart, the mind, the soul, the strength; not itself. It lives on upon the life of soul and body. It lives upon their destruction; but itself thrives and is vigorous in their decay. You have seen the fungous, unsubstantial, putrid, stinking, disgusting, poisonous, fed from the yet living tree. You know it to be the token of decaying life on which it feeds. Such is sin. Its seat is in the will. It corrupts the will. The corrupted will anticipates the sin in act; it survives the power to enact. Avarice, falsehood, hatred, censoriousness, vanity, hypocrisy, love of ill-gotten goods, impurity, will live on in the aged sinners soul; they will accompany him to the last; they will pass out of this world with him and in him; but whither will they accompany him? Will they escort him, as an angel-train, guarding him from the evil spirits, who wait for the departure of the disembodied soul, to seize on their lawful prey? Will they carry him to Abrahams bosom, into the realms of peace and truth and love, where nothing defile, I shall enter? Will they present him before the judgment-seat of Christ, who bids us to love one another as He has loved us, to purify ourselves as He is pure, to deny ourselves as He denied Himself and emptied Himself of His glory that He might take our shame, and thereby bring us to partake of His glory and His love? (E. B.Pusey, D. D.)
Taking the first opportunity of grace
1. It is God which worketh in us both to will and to do (Philippians if. 13). And no man can come to Christ except the Father draw him (Joh 6:44). Is it not then a point of wisdom to yield when God draws?
2. Thou knowest not what a day may bring forth; therefore put not off the grace that is offered thee to-day. Boast not thyself of to-morrow Pro 27:1).
3. By putting off an opportunity men make themselves more unfit for another opportunity; for sin, the longer it groweth the stronger it groweth, and the heart useth to be more hardened by putting off means of softening. As they who had received grace were exhorted to persevere therein, put not off to-day, much less let childhood put off to youth, or youth to man-age, or man-age to old-age, or old-age to death-bed. (W. George.)
The offer of salvation
1. That while men have the offer of salvation and the word preached unto them, it is their day.
2. That by the outward hearing, God requireth the heart to be brought down and mollified.
3. That He requireth present yielding, to-day, while he calleth, without delay, because we cannot be sure how long God will spare or continue his offer beyond this present.
4. He that studieth not to yield his heart to believe and obey Gods word, sounding in his cars, hardeneth his heart. For what is it else not to harden their heart, but heartily to believe and give obedience? (D. Dickson, M. A.)
Religion to-day
I. THE VOICE THAT SPEAKS. To-day if ye will hear His voice: whose voice? The voice of God. It is the Holy Ghost that speaks, the source of all inspiration; so that all Scripture may be regarded as His voice. And if it he the voice of God, does it not demand your deep attention, your prompt obedience? Shall God speak, and man refuse to hear? Nor does He speak to you in vengeance, but in love. He does not make His appeal to-day to the sword of justice, but He makes His appeal to the blood of His Cross. And oh 1 can there be any subject more momentous–involving, as it does, your highest interests for time and for eternity? To-day if ye will hear His voice. But how does He speak? Most impressively, most earnestly: by His Word, by His Gospel, by His providence, by your teas, in, by your conscience. But what does He say? There are two subjects, on which He addresses you: your own condition as a sinner in His sight–your guilt, pollution, and depravity; and the rich provision of His mercy in the mediatorial character and work of His beloved Son.
II. THE PROMPT AND IMMEDIATE ATTENTION IT DEMANDS. To-day if ye will hear His voice. Why to-day? Because to-day all is ready. The great salvation is ready; the way of access to the throne is ready; the great Intercessor there is ready; the angels that hover over this assembly are ready; and the Church on earth is ready, to bid you welcome to its communion, Why to-day? why to-day? Because you will never have a more suitable season than to-day. Be assured, that the longer you delay, the more deep and firm will be the hold which the world will get of your heart; the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches, like the thorns in the parable, will have grown up to choke every good resolution. Why to-day? why to-day? Because you have delayed long enough. Ah! too long–too long. You should have heard His voice long ago; you should have heard His voice in the days of your youth; you should have heard His voice in early childhood. You should have heard His voice the first time He spoke to you. You should have heard His voice in the advantages which you enjoyed; in parental instruction–in the Sabbath School-under a faithful ministry. Why to-day? why to.day? Because you may not see to-morrow. Amid the stillness of this night, death may enter in at your window. Or to-morrow may come, and this voice not speak to you to-morrow. Or if the voice speak to you to-morrow, you may not be in circumstances to profit by it. Now, it convinces of sin; to-morrow it may not convince. Now, conscience speaks; but to-morrow conscience may be seared.
III. THE SOLEMN WARNING, the admonition, the remonstrance, by which a prompt and immediate attention to the voice that speaks to you is enforced. To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.
1. Harden not your heart with infidel objections. Do not say–The Scripture is not true. Have you proved it? Can you stake eternity upon it? You know you cannot!
2. Do not harden your heart by saying you cannot believe. You will not. It is not for want of evidence, but for want of inclination.
3. Do not say, I am not responsible for my belief. Iris false. You are responsible for your belief; the great God holds you responsible for your belief; and so far from your not being responsible for your belief, your destiny will turn upon it. It is upon that very thing it will hinge. He that believeth, shall be saved; and he that believeth not, shall be damned.
4. Harden not your heart. Oh! think of the consequences if you do. The result is inevitable; the consequence is infallible. He will turn upon you in indignation, who now bends to you in condescension and love. The cup of salvation is handed round amongst you; dash it not untasted from your lips. The sceptre of His grace is stretched out to you; touch it and live. (T. Raffles, D. D.)
Instant consideration of religion recommended
I. THE EXCELLENCE OF RELIGION, AND YOUR INTEREST IN THE PRACTICE OF IT. Both these are indisputable. What do you set your thoughts on, when you take the affairs of religion under your consideration? Is it not the glory of God, and your own salvation from sin and wrath? Now what is so excellent in itself, so honourable, so suitable to the capacities of thinking beings, as these pursuits which form the nature of practical religion?
II. THE UNCERTAINTY OF LIFE, AND TILE DANGER OF DYING UNPREPARED FOR ETERNITY. What is human life? A vapour, appearing a little while, and then vanishing.
III. THE IMMUTABILITY OF GODS PRESENT DEMANDS. Whatever He requires of you now, He will require twenty or thirty years hence, should you live so long. The method of pardon is already fixed. The Unchangeable will never alter it. And if He will not, men cannot. If you dislike at present humiliation; if you feel now an aversion at a dependence on the Lord Jesus Christ for justification; if the duties of holiness seem hard and disagreeable at this instant, they will for ever be so, in relation to depraved dispositions.
IV. THE LONGER IT IS DELAYED, YOUR AVERSION AND INABILITY TO IT WILL INCREASE. Was your life threatened with some distemper, how would you reason, and how would you act? Would you say, I will stay till I be a little worse, and then I will apply to a physician? Would it not be reckoned madness to sport in this manner with life and health?
V. THE NECESSITY OF AN OPERATION OF DIVINE GRACE ON YOUR SOULS. God is now striving with you. But what if these are the last touches He will ever give a heart so long hardened against Him? (Alex. Shanks.)
The solemn caution
I. THE VOICE REFERRED TO.
1. It is the voice of mercy.
2. It is the voice of Divine authority.
3. It is the only voice directly connected with the sinners salvation.
4. This voice addresses us through various mediums of communication.
II. THE ATTENTION DEMANDED.
1. That we hear so as to understand it.
2. That we hear so as to believe it.
3. That we hear so as to obey it.
III. THE SPECIFIED PERIOD FOR HEARING CHRISTS VOICE,
1. Short.
2. Uncertain.
3. Succeeded by the darkness of the grave.
IV. THE IMPORTANT CAUTION ANNEXED. Harden not your hearts
1. By inattention to the concerns of the soul.
2. By pursuing the works of darkness.
3. By yielding to the influences of unbelief.
4. By a sordid attachment to the present world. Application.
(1) You are all responsible, for the voice of Christ has repeatedly sounded in your ears.
(2) You have all your day–a period given for the improvement of your privileges and mercies.
(3) How necessary, then, to hear His voice! How important that you harden not your hearts!
(4) Let our influence be laid out in bringing the ignorant and perishing of our race to hear the joyful sound, that they may not perish for lack of knowledge!
(5) Let us be watching and preparing for the second advent of the Saviour, when they that are in their graves shall hear His voice and live. (J. Burns, D. D.)
Sinners entreated to hear Gods voice
1. The first motive which I shall set before you with this view, is the shortness and uncertainty of life. I urge you to become religious to-day, because you are not sure of to-morrow. Need I tell you, that you are frail as well as mortal; that you must not only die, but may die soon and suddenly? Who, let me ask, are the persons that die suddenly and unexpectedly? Are they the feeble, the infirm? No, observation will tell you, that they are the youthful, the vigorous, the strong. She will tell you that while the former, like a reed, bend before the blast and escape, the latter, like the stubborn oak, brave its fury, and are prostrated.
2. This remark suggests a second reason, why you should not postpone religion to another day. You cannot properly, or even lawfully, promise to give what is not your own. Now to-morrow is not yours; and it is yet uncertain whether it ever will be. To-day, then, is the only time which you can properly or lawfully give to God.
3. A third reason why you should commence a religious life to-day, is, that if you defer it, though but till to-morrow, you must harden your hearts against the voice of God. God commands you to commence immediately a religious life. Now if you do not comply, you must refuse, for there is no medium. Here then is a direct, wilful act of disobedience to Gods commands; and this act tends most powerfully to harden the heart; for after we have once disobeyed, it becomes more easy to repeat the disobedience. But this is not all. If you disobey, you must assign some excuse to justify your disobedience, or your consciences will reproach and render you uneasy; if no plausible excuse occurs, you will seek one. If none can readily be found, you will invent one. This also tends most powerfully to harden the heart. A man who is frequently employed in seeking arguments and excuses to justify his neglect of religion, soon becomes expert in the work of self-justification. He is, if I may so express it, armed at all points against the truth; so that in a little time nothing affects him, no arrow from the quiver of revelation can reach his conscience. But if, as is sometimes the case, his excuses prove insufficient, and his understanding and conscience become convinced, he can avoid compliance only by taking refuge in an obstinate refusal, or by resolutely diverting his attention to some other object, till Gods commands are forgotten, or by a vague kind of promise that he will become religious at some future period. Whichsoever of these methods he adopts, the present impression is effaced, and his heart is hardened. He has resisted the force of truth, and thus rendered it more easy for him to resist it again. In a word, he has less religious sensibility; he has become more inaccessible to conviction, and less disposed to yield to it, than before. Now this is precisely what the Scriptures mean by hardening the heart to-day. (E. Payson, D. D.)
The Holy Ghost saith to-day
It is the mistake and ruin of many, both young and old, that they believe and obey Satan rather than God. The one motto is to-day! the other is to-morrow!
I. A CREST SPEAKER. Much depends, for the way in which we regard and treat what is said, on the person who says it. In connection with the Holy Ghost being the speaker here I have three remarks to make. In regard to what is said, you may be sure that.
1. It is important–for the Holy Ghost saith it. Much importance is attached to what great men say. A mans position gives importance to what he says–a king, for instance, or a statesman, or a master, or a judge. How much more important is the word of the Holy Ghost, whether it be in the way of warning, or encouragement, or command, or reproof! When He comes to you, you may be sure it is some momentous errand that has brought Him; and while all Scripture is His Word, such a saying as that in our text is His, in a special sense, and is of peculiar significance. And as, when a king speaks, every voice is hushed, so when the Holy Spirit speaks, there may well be the deepest interest, attention, and reverence. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith.
2. It is true–for the Holy Ghost saith it. Sometimes the word of the wisest and greatest is not to be trusted, and even the truest and best may mistake. Here is One who never deceived, never mistook, never was untrue, whose word never was broken–the Holy Ghost. He is the Spirit of truth. His is the Scripture which cannot be broken.
3. It is kind–for the Holy Ghost saith it. He is the Spirit of Love as well as of Truth. With what a gentle voice He speaks. I dare say you have seen people in anxiety about their souls. Their happiness was gone. And in regard to all this, you have heard it said that it was the Holy Spirits doing; and you have thought hardly of Him in consequence. And yet never was He more kind than when He did this very thing. When He awakens and alarms, it is to warn of coming danger, and lead to flight and safety. Will you not listen to Him as a loving Friend?
II. A MOMENTOUS WORD.
To-day! This is what the Holy Ghost says. It is a little word, but it has a world of meaning in it. It may be said to be at once a warning and an invitation.
1. It sets before us the time for repenting. Sin is rebellion against God, and each new sin is another act of rebellion still further endangering the rebels head. What is to be done? The sin must have an immediate arrest laid upon it–must be forsaken. Here is a boy who has begun to be in earnest about his soul. He knows he is lost. He would like to be saved. But he would like to keep his sins too, at least for a while. He is just like that lad, who, while working among the waggons on a railway, has had his leg so bruised and crushed that there is nothing for it but to have the limb taken off. But he cannot make up his mind to part with it. Day after day he asks to have the operation deferred, each day thinking it will not be so difficult the next; though his whole experience has proved that it would have been easier at first, and that the longer the delay, the more difficult it will always become. At length the surgeon, if he is wise and kind, will break in on this state of things, and say, We cannot tamper with a matter of this kind any longer. It is as much as your life is worth, to put off another day. The choice lies between your limb and your life; which are you prepared to lose? Whatever is to be done, must be done at once. It must be now or never. And even so it must be with sin, with the evil habit, the forbidden indulgence–it must go at once. I know how difficult it is. It is compared to cutting off a right hand, or plucking out a right eye. Ill repent one of these days. Ill repent to-morrow. And thus it goes on from day to day, till at length the Holy Ghost breaks in with His great word, and says, To-day! There must be no more putting off. You have lost too much time already. It is as much as your soul is worth to wait longer. Or is there a girl who has got a sense of her sin, but fears she is too far gone to be saved. She has put off so long, that she believes she is now past hope. Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. She is like to give way to utter despair. Nay, but the Holy Ghost saith, To-day! It is not too late yet. It may be too late to-morrow.
2. It sets before us the time for believing. But here, too, what delay! Here is one trying to make himself better first. He says he is not fit to come to Jesus as he is. His heart is too hard: his sin is too great. He is like that diseased boy who can hardly walk, and yet refuses to see the doctor, or to knock at the infirmary door, because he is too ill, or does not yet sufficiently feel his need of help. He hopes to go by and by. He might not be received as he is. His case is too desperate. He must try to improve himself a little first. He does not see that the worse he is, the greater is the necessity for getting help at once. And when the Holy Ghost saith To-day, it is as if He said, Now is the time to flee to Jesus, whatever you may be. Now is the time to come to Him, all as you are. What a happy day it would be if we heard some of you saying, Lord we take Thee at Thy word to-day I we come to Thee to-day!
3. It sets before us the time for working. It is good for ourselves to work. Idleness of every kind is evil,–unhealthy for the body, for the spirits, for the soul. And so, Christian workers get personal benefit from their work. We need to be doing some work for Christ and for others, to keep our own souls healthy and lively and right. It is good for others. There are few for whom the youngest of us could not do something. It is pleasing and honouring to God. God likes to see His people working. It is one proof of their love to Himself. But where is all this to be done? Here on earth. And by whom? Not only by the old, but by the young also. And when? Now. Perhaps some of you are purposing to be workers when you are grown up. You think of doing nothing meanwhile. But the Holy Ghost saith, To-day;–not when you are older, but now while you are yet young. The kind of work which the Lord now asks of you can only be done here–not in heaven. Can you think of so many perishing all around you, without your doing anything for them? Can you do or give nothing for the heathen now? And so it is as regards giving for Christ. I fear we are far behind in this respect. What a sad thought it will be, I might have done something for Christ, if I had only began in time!
4. It sets before us the best time for repenting, for believing, for working–to-day. Not when you are older, not when you are better qualified,but just now, immediately–to-day. You must have noticed the tide gradually coming in till the shore was covered; and when it was at its full, how eager the fishermen were to get their boats afloat; and how easy it was then as compared with what it was when the tide was back. The tide may be said to he in with you now: it is full tide; it is the time for getting your own boat afloat, and helping others with theirs: and for your encouragement, and for your warning, ere it go back, the Holy Ghost saith, To-day!
5. It sets forth the time for repenting, for believing, for working, as very short: a day–this day–to-day. You say you must enjoy yourselves, and see what the world can do for you. Or you must learn your business first. Nay; but here again, the Holy Ghost saith, Today! It is slipping past, and will soon be over.
6. It sets forth what may be the only time for repenting, for believing, for working. Oh that thou hadst heard, even thou, in this thy day! As if every one had his day–and when that is lost, it is lost for ever. Thou knewest not the time of thy visitation. This may be the only to-day we shall ever see.
III. THE LESSON.
1. Value to-day. Regard it and treat it as you do other precious things. We may well say what a daughter told me she heard her dying mother, a Christian woman, saying a few days ago. It was Sabbath morning, and when the early sunshine lighted up her room, after a long night of restlessness and suffering, she was overheard saying, Dear day! Oh yes, it should be a dear day to us all, for it is the day of grace, the day of salvation.
2. Improve to-day. Make hay when the sun shines. If the day is so precious and so short, then surely we should make the very most of it. Do not waste it. Lay it out as a steward of God.
3. Remember that the night cometh.–Every day has its night, and so has this one. Whether you are improving it or not, it is going away, and the night will soon be on. (J. H. Wilson, D. D.)
The entreaty of the Holy Ghost
I. THE SPECIAL VOICE OF THE HOLY GHOST.
1. How does the Holy Ghost thus speak?
(1) He saith this first, in the Scriptures. Every command of Scripture calls for immediate obedience.
(2) Further, while the Holy Ghost speaks in Scripture on this wise, He speaks in the same manner in the hearts of His people, for he is a living and active agent.
(3) The like is also true when the Holy Ghost speaks in the awakened.
(4) Once more, the Holy Ghost speaks thus by His deeds as well as by His words. We have a common proverb that actions speak more loudly than words. Now the acts of the Holy Spirit in the leading of many to the Saviour are so many practical invitations, encouragements, and commands to others.
2. But why so urgent, blessed Spirit, why so urgent? It is because the Holy Ghost is in sympathy with God; in sympathy with the Father who longs to press the prodigal to his bosom; in sympathy with the Son who is watching to see of the travail of His soul.
II. A SPECIAL DUTY. Hear His voice–that is, hear it obediently, eager to do what he bids you, as he enables you. Do not hear and forget. Retain the truth in your memories, and, better still, practise it in your lives.
1. Hear ye the Lord when He instructs you. How often are mens ears stopped up with the wax of prejudice, so that they are dull of hearing. They have made up their minds as to what the gospel ought to be, and will not hear what it is.
2. But the Lord does more than instruct you, He commands; for let men say what they will, the Gospel to be preached to the ungodly is not merely warnings and teachings, it has its solemn, positive commands.
3. But the Lord does more than command, He graciously invites; with tenderness He bids sinners to His banquet of mercy. Shall His love be slighted, and His bounty treated with scorn?
4. But the Lord does more than invite, He adds His promises. Oh do not count yourselves unworthy of them.
5. The Lord also threatens, as well as entreats. He declares that the despisers shall wonder and perish. If Christ be rejected, eternal wrath is certain.
III. A SPECIAL TIME EMPHASISED.
1. To-day, that is while God speaks. Oh, if we were as we should be, the moment God said Seek ye My face, we should reply, Thy face, Lord, will I seek: as soon as the invitations of mercy were heard there would be an echo in our souls to them. Hear God to-day, for to-day He speaks.
2. The apostle says in the next chapter, To-day–after so long a time. I see that some of you have bald heads, or grey hairs lie thick upon them. Is it not long enough to have provoked your God these sixty years? To-day, that is, especially while the Holy Ghost is leading others to hear and to find mercy; to-day, while the showers are falling, receive ye the drops of grace; to-day, while there are prayers offered up for you; to-day, lest the preaching of the Word of God should come to be a matter of routine, and the preacher himself, discouraged, should lose all zeal for your soul; to-day, while everything is peculiarly propitious, hear ye the voice of God. While the wind blows, hoist the sail; while God is abroad on errands of love, go forth to meet Him. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
To-day
From first to last, salvation is the product of the mighty energies of the Holy Ghost, and is brought about by His voice speaking to our hearts. We shall never be disposed to seek for salvation until the Holy Spirit of God in one way or another begins to stir our desires. Further, we may say that, although we are distinctly commanded to repent and believe the gospel, we never shall repent without His first having convicted us of sin; so that from first to last, on our side as well as His, salvation is of the Lord. All this is true; but it is only one side of the truth, though it is a side we must not ignore. I can imagine a man saying or feeling, If that be so, I am not responsible for my conduct. If the Holy Spirit of God is not pleased to strive with me it is impossible for me to come to Christ; therefore, unless He make me willing I can do nothing. I do not distinctly feel that He is drawing me now, and therefore there is nothing for it but to go on living in sin until my call comes, if it ever do come at all.
1. First, are you quite sure that God has not spoken to you, and that you may not have failed to hear His voice, either because in your sin you did not wish to hear it, or because in your perversity and ignorance you had made up your mind that His voice must speak in a certain particular way, while God has seen fit to speak after quite a different manner?
2. And, second, is your conscience quite clear that He never has spoken to you, and you have known it, and been convinced of it, and yet have hardened your heart against His call? It is quite true that you cannot come unless the Spirit draw, but is it equally true that He has never drawn? It is not too much to say, that whatever moves you in the right direction, whatever influences you to forsake sin and turn to God, is the work of the Holy Ghost. The fervent desire after better things, the inward restlessness, the sense of guilt, the feeling of shame, the fear of punishment, the longing for purity and moral freedom–all these are the effects of the influence of God the Holy Ghost. You shall never be able to say, I would, but God would not. Oh that God might never have to bring the apposite charge against you. I have spoken of one great danger against which we have to guard, if we would benefit by the Divine voice, the danger of ignoring it, and failing to recognize it; but remember there is yet another danger, and to it our text more particularly alludes; it is the danger of bearing Gods voice so plainly that we can entertain no reasonable doubt but that it is Gods voice, and yet while He is speaking hardening our hearts against Him. Harden not your heart. These words bring before us the thought of a capacity that we all possess. We all possess the power to harden our hearts against the gracious influences of God. It is a dangerous thing to do under any circumstances, even when our relations with God are not concerned. I once heard a man say, I used to think it manly to repress my feelings, and so I set myself to steel my heart against them, and now I cannot feel when I would. Happen what may, I might offer my fortune for a tear, and offer it in vain. This may be a serious matter. We have no more right to murder our feelings than any other element in our manhood, but that is a small thing as compared with the folly and the sin of hardening our heart against the Holy Spirit of God. And remember this is a sin which we all remain capable of committing, however strong the influences of God the Holy Spirit may be. He never so influences us that it is impossible for us to resist Him. What shall we say of the folly of him who mutilates his own moral nature of all its higher sensibilities and capacities of spiritual apprehension, and of his own accord elects to be past feeling–twice dead, plucked up by the roots, and withered? But remember, there is only one way of avoiding this terrible issue and that is by yielding at once. But when the Holy Ghost speaks, and you hear His voice: there is always a now in it. He takes care to put before you something to be done then and there. To-day harden not your heart. You are responsible for this winged moment that is even now flying from you. The Holy Ghost saith, To-day if ye shall hear His voice, harden not your hearts. Oh, think of all the possibilities, the glorious possibilities of to-day! (W. Hay Aitken, M. A.)
To-day–a voice for the opening year
I. THE HOLY GHOST COMMANDS IT, AND THEREFORE IT IS BINDING. The obligation is founded on
1. Absolute proprietorship.
2. Mediatorial interposition.
II. THE HOLY GHOST COMMANDS IT, AND THEREFORE IT IS PRACTICABLE.
III. THE HOLY GHOST COMMANDS IT, AND THEREFORE IT IS URGENT.
1. The Holy Ghost thoroughly understands the transcendent importance of the work. The Holy Ghost knows exactly the portion of time allotted you for the work. (Homilist.)
The right time
You admit that it would be the right time to start on a certain journey when the following four conditions were all combined. First, a clear duty to undertake the journey; secondly, a safe route; thirdly, a suitable conveyance waiting for you; fourthly, the danger that you could not go on a later day. To these might be added that year life depended on your starting at once (as happened to myself years ago, when I found myself in a village where cholera was raging fearfully). Now all these five conditions meet, and press you to betake yourself to the Lord Jesus for immediate salvation. Add now to these undeniable arguments the other one–that every day you postpone makes it harder for you to come. Manyyears ago the merchant-ship Lowell went ashore on the New England coast in a terrific gale. Her bows projected so far up towards the shore that the crew leaped off the bow-prit and were rescued, one by one, by the keeper of a neighbouring lighthouse. All leaped off except the first mate, who had been in feeble health; he continued to walk the deck and give orders to the men. The keeper shouted to him, Jump ashore this tide or you are lost! The poor man continued to tramp the deck, which soon crashed to fragments, and he was swallowed up in the wreck. What was the matter? The terrors of the scene had so deranged his weak nerves, that he had become insane and laud, heal at the idea of danger. Yet that unhappy officer of the sinking ship did not act more insanely than you do in persisting in risking the life of your precious soul. When Jesus calls, your salvation depends on prompt obedience. It was short work with Peter when Christ said to him, Follow Me. Again was it short work with him when be was sinking in the waves arid cried out, Lord, save me. It was short work with the Philippian jailer when he heard Pauls directions and threw himself into the Saviours arms on the spot. All the Bible narratives (except that of Nicodemus) describe a prompt action where salvation was secured. Prompt obedience saves! (T. Christlieb, D. D.)
Only to-day is yours
To-day only, to-day is yours; to-morrow belongs to God, and you have no right to take it for granted that He will certainly give it you. What if He does not? An incident occurred some years ago which illustrates this point in a manner so exceptionally startling that I should not venture to relate it to you if it had only come to me by hearsay. I am able to relate it as a fact on the authority of a gentleman who was acquainted with the person referred to. A young lady of good family, a woman of the world, and a devotee of fashion, came home from a religious service, which she had been induced to attend, evidently profoundly impressed. On returning to her chamber, and turning over in her mind all she had heard, I suppose she felt under the force of a mighty influence that was drawing her towards better things. Moved no doubt by a spiritual impulse, she sat down by her table, and took pen, ink, and paper, and wrote down these words: If God spare my life for six months from this time, I will give my heart to Him. She signed her name, and then I suppose a misgiving must have crossed her mind, for she drew her pen through what she had written, and she wrote again underneath, If God spares me for three months from this time, I will give my heart to Him. Once again the voice within, I apprehend, urged the danger of delay. Are you sure that you will live three months longer? And a second time she drew her pen through what she had written, and once more she wrote, If God spare me for one month from the present date, this day month I will give my heart t, Him. The day before that date there was to be a great fancy dress ball, and she had made up her mind she must go to that ball at all costs; something, I conclude, told her that it would not be consistent to go if she were a real Christian, so she fixed the date just one day beyond this last scene of dissipation. If God spare me one month from this time, I will give my heart to Him; and she signed her name, and she went to her bed. The next morning her ladys maid came to call her as usual. She tapped at the door, but there was no answer. She threw it open, entered the room, looked at the bed. There upon the bed lay her young mistress, a cold corpse, and by her side was a sheet of paper, and on this sheet of paper were written the words, If God spare me for one month, I will give my heart to Him. God did not spare her for one night. She had heard Gods voice, but, alas I there would seem to be too much reason to fear that she had done what I entreat you not to do. To-day if ye shall hear His voice, harden not your hearts. One more illustration, and it shall be on the brighter side. Some years ago at the close of an evangelistic service, a rough sort of man–a collier he was–came up to the minister who had preached. Sir, he said, do you mean what you told us in your address to-night? What did I tell you? Why, sir, you said that if we were determined to seek and find salvation, we might have it to-night. Yes, said the preacher, I did mean that. Very well, sir; then I want to find it. It must be settled to-night with me; it must be settled now. Thank God, said the preacher, I am glad to hear you say that. Now let me try and show you how you may get it. Well, they had a long talk together. The preacher set before the poor ignorant man as plainly as ever he could the way of salvation; and then they got to their knees, and there they knelt praying and crying to God together, while the preacher sought to direct the seeking soul to Christ. Time was creeping on, and at last the clock struck eleven. The preacher was very weary, and naturally enough, having his own home duties to care for, he said to the collier, My dear fellow, I think now that perhaps you had better go home and consider what I have been saying. I dont see that we can get very much further to-night; for the poor man was very ignorant and full of unbelief. Sir, didnt you tell me that it might be settled to-night? Yes, said the preacher. Very well, then he said; I have made up my mind if it can be settled to-night it shall be settled to-night; I dont rise from my knees until it is settled. Very good, then, said the preacher, if that is so we will stay together. The clock struck twelve, still they were kneeling together; one, and still they were kneeling together; two, and still they were there. The summers sun was just rising, daylight was just beginning to dawn, the poor man was thoroughly worn out. Like Jacob wrestling with the angel, he had no strength left. The moment of our weakness is the moment of Gods power. Fairly exhausted and wearied out, at last he was fain to trust himself in the arms of Christ. He might have done so at first as well as at last, but it was only after these hours of anguish that he was brought to the point of utter helplessness and self-despair, and so at length he just rested his weary soul on Jesus, and in a moment the burden was gone. He sprang to his feet with a joyful shout. Glory be to God, he cried, it is settled at last; it is settled at last! With a happy heart he went on his way rejoicing. In the middle of that day there was a hue and cry raised in the neighbourhood that there had been an accident down in the coal-pit, and, as is the custom in colliery districts, everybody rushed to the pit to know what had happened. The tidings soon spread that a portion of the earth in the pit had fallen in, and there was every reason to fear that a man was buried under the rubbish. Half a dozen stalwart colliers were soon at work, working with all that heroic determination which distinguishes those men under such circumstances. For many a long hour they continued their toil, until at last they got near to the place where the unfortunate man was imprisoned. Gently and carefully they prised up the superincumbent mass, and freed one shattered limb after another, and at last lifting the weight off the mans breast, they dragged him out all crushed and shattered as he was. As he felt the load taken off him, he opened his eyes for the last time. A smile came over his begrimed countenance as he gasped out, Thank God it was settled last night! and he fell back and died. To-day, to-day, to-day! (W. HayAitken, M. A.)
The folly of procrastination
It is recorded of Archias, a chief magistrate, in one of the Grecian states, that he was unpopular in his government, and excited the hatred of many of the people, who conspired against his life. The day was arrived when a fatal plot was to be executed.
Archias was more than half dissolved in wine and pleasure, when a courier from Athens arrived in great haste with a packet, which contained, as it afterwards appeared, a circumstantial account of the whole conspiracy. The messenger being admitted into the presence of the prince, said, My lord, the person who writes you these letters conjures you to read them immediately; they contain serious affairs. Archias replied, laughing, Serious affairs to-morrow; and so continued his revel. On the same night, in the midst of that noisy mirth, the end of which is heaviness, the assailants rushed into the palace, and murdered Archias, with his associates; leaving to the world a striking example of the evil of procrastination. In ten thousand affecting instances, something like this has been the conduct and the fate of men respecting the concerns of eternity. They have been warned, but, like the unhappy prince whose case we have recited, they have said, Serious things to-morrow, and when in an unexpected hour their souls have been required, they have left the world exclaiming, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof! (S. Lowell.)
The importance of the present moment
The old sun-dial at Alfric, in Worcestershire, has lately been repaired, and its motto regilt. Now all eyes may read the weighty words inscribed on it by a vanished hand of long ago–On this moment hangs eternity. Is this statement true? Assuredly it is.As we live and act at the present moment we decide our future: living for God, we shall live for ever with God; living for this world, we pen.-h with it.
Come while the lamp burns
There is a story told in ancient history of a certain king who lighted a lamp, and had it hung in his palace: he then sent heralds forth to bring every criminal and rebel to his presence, that they might obtain pardon. Those who came while the lamp was burning were set free; but those who delayed till the lamp had gone out, or who altogether neglected the invitation, met with a terrible death.
The folly of increasing the burden of sin by delay
A hermit was conducted by an angel into a wood, where he saw an old man cutting down boughs to make up a burden. When it was large be tied it up, and attempted to lift it on his shoulder, and carry it away; but, finding it very heavy, he laid it down again, cut more wood, and heaped more on; and then tried again to carry it off. This he repeated several times; always adding something to the load, after trying in vain to raise it from the ground. In the meantime, the hermit, astonished at the old mans folly, desired the angel to explain what this meant. You behold, said he, in the foolish old man an exact representation of those who, being made sensible of the burden of their sins, resolve to repent, but soon grow weary, and, instead of lessening their burden, increase it every day. At each trial they find the task heavier than before, and so put it off a little longer, in the vain hope that they will by and by be more able to accomplish it. Thus they go on adding to their burden till it grows too heavy to be borne; and then, in despair of Gods mercy, and with their sins unrepented of, they lie down and die. Turn again, my son, and behold the end of the old man whom thou sawest heaping up a load of boughs. The hermit looked, and saw him in vain attempting to remove the pile, which was now accumulated far beyond his strength to raise. His feeble limbs tottered over their burden; the poor remains of his strength were fast ebbing away; the darkness of death was gathering around him; and, after a convulsive and impotent attempt to lift the pile, he fell down and expired.
Harden not your hearts
Hardening the heart
I. TO HARDEN THE HEART IS TO CHERISH A VOLUNTARY INSENSIBILITY TO GOD AND DIVINE OBJECTS.
II. HOW THE HEART IS HARDENED.
1. By fixing its affections supremely on the world. A striking exemplification of this was furnished by that miser whose band, cold in death, still held its firm grasp upon his gold, when his spirit had gone to the bar of God.
2. By refusing to turn the attention to Divine things. No truth is plainer than this; that a man will not feel what he does not think of. God unthought of, must leave the heart as hard and unmoved as it would be were there no God, no Christ, and no heaven.
3. By excusing sin. The object of every excuse formed by the mind is to impair or destroy a sense of obligation and guilt.
4. By presumptuous hopes and expectations from futurity. The very language of such hopes is, the authority and glory of God shall not be felt now; the evil of sin and the awful realities of a future world shall not be felt now; all sensibility shall be deadened by hopes from futurity. These hopes of a future repentance, fellow-sinner, are a shield to your heart, which the arrows of the Almighty will never penetrate.
III. TO ENFORCE THE EXHORTATION NO LONGER TO HARDEN THE HEART, BY THE CONSIDERATIONS IMPLIED IN THE TEXT, To-day if ye will hear His voice. The declaration implies
1. That to harden the heart is a fatal obstacle to bearing and obeying the gospel.
2. To harden the heart is the only obstacle to an immediate compliance with the demands of the gospel.
3. To abstain from hardening the heart is as easily done at the present as any future time.
4. The last consideration is that those who now harden their heart may never hear and obey the gospel. This appears, if we consider, in all such cases, the increase of guilt. To harden the heart against the voice of God once is a high measure of provocation; and if it be the tendency of sin, of accumulated guilt, to exhaust the patience of God and to provoke His speedy vengeance, what must be the effect of hardening the heart with the formal design of continuing to rebel against Him? When in its own nature it involves every act of future sin; when its whole strength–strength, too, thus to offend God–is derived from the fact that God is good and long-suffering? What purpose embodies baser ingratitude, a more direct insult to God, greater hardihood in rebellion, and a greater amount of crime; and what purpose could the sinner form to provoke Gods instant vengeance if this does not? Again, there is a fearful principle of Gods administration which arrays all its alarms before such persons. Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone. (N. W. Taylor, D. D.)
Soul insensibility
I. HOW THIS HARDNESS OF HEART IS EVIDENCED.
1. One of these signs is dulness of conscience. A sensitive conscience is only the possession of those whose hearts have not been hardened, or have been softened. But where there is religious insensibility the hearing of the conscience is confused, its sight perplexed, its voice low and weak. This is the state of the moral nature of which Paul speaks when he describes a
conscience seared with a hot iron–an allusion, evidently, to the custom, that was very prevalent among ancient Eastern doctors, of cauterising any affected flesh. Sin is indeed a terrible caustic to the conscience. At first it burns the living moral tissue very painfully, but at last it leaves it insensitive, almost destroyed.
2. Another sign of a hardened heart is poverty of love. No tale of human want or woe stirs their pity or prompts their help; no statement of Gods great bounty or wondrous love awakens their praise.
3. Another sign–comprising those we have mentioned, and suggesting several more–is inability to be moved by the gospel truth.
II. HOW THIS HARDNESS OF HEART IS ATTAINED.
1. By familiarity with the mere theory of religion. It is well enough to have true ideas, to accept a correct creed; but if those ideas linger only in the intellect, are merely themes for memory, imagination, logic, and do not send down into the affections an influence that will permeate the entire being; if that correct creed is a mere mental property, held and defended jealously by the mind, but not colouring and controlling the plans and loves and whole scope of the daily life, then those ideas, that creed, however true, produce hardness of heart. They lose their freshness, and thus much of their force. The soul becomes accustomed to them, as the forester to the rustling of the foliage, or the mariner to the murmur of the waves. And that familiarity intercepts every effort to arouse, and startle, and awaken.
2. By a neglect of religious claims. Some by procrastination, others by stolid indifference, refuse to come face to face with such questions as What must I do to be saved? The capacity for religion diminishes, and almost dies out through disuse. Is it not thus with every power we possess?
3. By conscious indulgence of any sin. The man who continues, perhaps, in a very studied secrecy, to carry on some business scheme that he knows to be fraudulent, to cherish some desire that he knows to be impure, to maintain a habit that he knows is stamped with meanness, or uncharitableness, is doing the very best he can to become insensible to sincerity, holiness, nobility, and love.
III. HOW THIS HARDNESS OF HEART IS TO BE PREVENTED.
1. Be earnest. Triflers petrify with terrible rapidity.
2. Be real. They who simultaneously live two lives–the outward, upright, pious, irreproachable; the inward, false, godless, corrupt are, by all the restraint and repression that their hypocrisy involves, hardening their hearts, becoming in heart as hard as a piece of nether millstone.
3. Be watchful. Not only to avoid trifling and to keep wide of all hypocrisy, but because of the insidious influence of familiarity with holy things, there is need in every one for watchfulness. Often introspect yourself to see if you are getting less tender-hearted; and if you are, use every means that can soften and quicken you again.
IV. How THIS HARDNESS OF HEART IS TO BE REPROVED.
1. How can the hard heart be broken? God has provided the means.
(1) The dispensations of His providence, such as the loneliness of Jacob, the manifold sorrows of Job, the sickness of Hezekiah, are designed to quicken our spiritual nature.
(2) Gods Word is a hammer that has crushed the pride, shivered the self-righteousness, broken the stony heart of many a sinner.
(3) The Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, and all that cross signifies of a life of love, of sacrificial suffering, and of atoning death, is the great power for melting and subduing human hearts.
(4) The Spirit of God, sometimes using these means, sometimes acting directly upon the human spirit, is the power that takes away the stony heart, and gives a heart of flesh.
2. What are the signs that the heart is rightly broken?
(1) There is consciousness of sin. As in broken stones we find fossils of the reptile or the fern, telling of the time when it was a soft, clay like substance, easily impressible; so in the process of breaking the hard heart, there is revealed the reptile of actual sin, as well as the fern of fair promise. God be merciful to me a sinner! Father, I have sinned.
(2) There is the sense of Gods gracious presence. When the heart is rightly broken, He who was sent to heal the broken-hearted is there. The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and sayeth such as be of a contrite spirit. (U. R. Thomas.)
The response of the heart
I. WHEN WE HEAR GODS VOICE THE HEART MUST RESPOND. The assent of the intellect, the admiration of the understanding, the fervour of the imagination, and even the conviction of the conscience, do not suffice. God speaks to the heart. Oh that Christ may dwell there! Gods voice is to soften the heart. Alas I by nature we are bard-hearted; and what we call good and soft-hearted is not so in reality and in Gods sight. God wishes us to be delivered from hardness of heart, that is, from dulness of perception of His love and beauty, from ingratitude and lukewarmness towards Him, from pride and impenitence, from self-seeking and unrest. When we receive Gods Word in the heart, when we acknowledge our sin, when we adore Gods mercy, when we desire Gods fellowship, when we see Jesus, who came to serve us, the heart becomes soft and tender. For repentance, faith, prayer, patience, hope of heaven, all these things make the heart tender. Can we be hard–thinking much of ourselves, discontented with our lot, envious or unforgiving, worldly and restless–when we hear the voice of God–I am the Lord thy God; I have loved thee with an everlasting love; thou art Mine. As I have loved you, love one another.
II. ALL SIN BEGINS IN THE HEART. And what is the error of the heart? What else hut unbelief? God speaks, and the heart is to believe. If the heart is hardened, it believes not; and regarding neither the threatenings nor the promises, it leans not on the strength and love of God: unbelief is the mother of all sin and sorrow.
III. UNBELIEF IS DEPARTURE FROM THE LIVING GOD. HOW simple is this! As long as you trust God you are near Him. The moment you doubt Him your soul has departed into the strange country. Faith is the link between Gods fulness and strength and our emptiness and weakness. If the soul cries out, Abide with me, or Nearer to Thee, the answer of Jesus is, Only believe! (A. Saphir.)
Of the causes of bawdiness of heart
1. Natural hardness. This is the original cause of habitual hardness. If that be not taken away this will accompany it; both will be mixed together.
2. Unbelief. This makes men disrespect promises, threatenings, mercies, judgments, and all other means which are of use to soften, or break mens hearts (Deu 1:32; Deu 9:25; Psa 78:22; Psa 78:32).
3. Hypocrisy. By this men cover and hide their sin, whereby they wax bold in sinning.
4. Pride. For this is ordinarily joined with scorn, disdain, and such like vices as make men refuse and reject the means which might mollify their hearts.
5. Presumption. When sins are committed against knowledge, conscience, light of nature, and motions of the Spirit, they are as heavy weights that press out all spiritual sense and life.
6. Of committing or long lying in the same sin. Many small knocks or blows, long continued, do in time as much as a great blow at once.
7. Relapse.
8. Lewd company. Lewd companions will by evil counsel, bad example, bold encouragement, make men impudent and obstinate in sinning Pro 1:10, &c.).
9. Superfluity of the things of this world; as of wealth, honour, ease, pleasure, applause, and other such things as men by nature delight in.
10. Multitude of crosses not sanctified. There are as many blows upon the smiths anvil (2Ch 28:22; Psa 78:31-32). (W. Gouge.)
Remedies for preventing or redressing hardness of heart
I. TAKE HEED OF ALL AND EVERY OF THOSE CAUSES WHENCE HARDNESS OF HEART ARISETH.
1. Regeneration. Hereby natural hardness is removed.
2. Faith. Hereby unbelief is redressed.
3. Sincerity. This keeps out hypocrisy.
4. Humility Hereby pride and other like vices are kept down.
5. A fear of God. This will withhold us from gross sins.
6. Christian prudence. This will make men weary of multiplying sins and long lying therein.
7. Spiritual watchfulness. This will uphold in such a course as will preserve us from relapse.
8. Holy jealousy, lest we should by company be drawn aside.
9. Contempt of this world and of the things thereof, that we be not ensnared and overcome thereby.
10. Patience under all crosses, as laid on us by our heavenly Father for our good.
II. LABOUR TO FEEL THE HEAVY BURTHEN OF SIN (Psa 38:4). (W. Gouge.)
Harden not your hearts
The metal of the human soul, so to speak, is like some material substances. If the force you lay upon it do not break it, or dissolve it, it will beat into hardness. If the moral argument by which it is plied now, do not so soften the mind as to carry and to overpower its purposes, then on another day the argument may be put forth in terms as impressive, but it falls on a harder heart, and therefore with a more slender efficiency. You have resisted to-day, and by that resistance you have acquired a firmer metal of resistance against the power of every future warning that may be brought to bear upon you. You have stood your ground against the urgency of the most earnest admonition, and against the dreadfulness of the most terrifying menaces. On that ground you have fixed yourself more immoveably than before; and though on some future day the same spiritual thunder be made to play around you, it will not shake you out of the obstinacy of your determined rebellion. (T. Chalmers, D. D.)
Obduracy of heart
There is a striking image employed by one of the old divines to illustrate the obduracy and insensibility of the human heart. He compares a man in this condition to the blacksmiths dog, who, although lying at the foot of the anvil, is rather not moved at all by the sparks which are continually falling about him, or only disturbed for an instant; while he returns again and again to his old position, and sleeps as sound as ever.
Hardening the heart
The pirate Gibbs, whose name for many years was a terror to commerce, was finally captured and executed in the city of New York. He acknowledged before his death that when he committed the first murder his conscience made a hell within his bosom; but, after he had sailed for years under the black flag, his conscience became so blunted he could rob a vessel, murder all its crew, and then lie down as peacefully to rest as an infant in its cradle.
Hardness of the heart
Stones are charged with the worst species of hardness: As stubborn as a stone. And yet the hardest stones submit to be smoothed and rounded under the soft friction of water. Ask the m, rinds of stones on the seashore what has become of all their angles, once so sharp, and of the roughness and uncouthness of their whole appearance. Their simple reply is, Water wrought with us, nothing but water; and none of us resisted. If they yield to be fashioned by the water, and you do not to be fashioned by God, what wonder if the very stones cry against you? (J. Palsford.)
The hardening of the heart
has its gradations of
1. Carnal security, which comforts itself with the outward possession of the means of grace; and from–
2. Natural indifference and insensibility to the Word, proceeds on through
3. Unbelieving disparagement.
4. Faithless neglect, and
5. Reckless transgression of the Word
6. To rejection, contempt, and denial of it; and thence to a
7. Permanent embittering of the wicked heart; to a
8. Conscious stubbornness of the wicked will; to the
9. Bold tempting of the living God Himself, until in
10. Complete obduracy, judicial retribution begins the fulfilment of its terrible work. (J. P. Lange.)
Hardening the heart
On a winter evening, when the frost is setting in with growing intensity, and when the sun is now far past the meridian, and gradually sinking in the western sky, there is a double reason why the ground grows every moment harder and more impenetrable to the plough. On the one hand, the frost of evening, with ever-increasing intensity, is indurating the stiffening clods. On the other hand, the genial rays, which alone can soften them, are every moment withdrawing and losing their enlivening power. Take heed that it be not so with you. As long as you are unconverted you are under a double process of hardening. The frosts of an eternal night are settling down upon your souls; and the Sun of Righteousness, with westering wheel is hastening to set upon you for evermore. If, then, the plough of grace cannot force its way into your ice-bound heart to-day, what likelihood is there that it will enter to-morrow? (R. M.McCheyne.)
Hardness of heart
Known, discovered, and revealed sins, that are against the conscience, (are) to be avoided as most dangerous preparatives to hardness of heart. (S. Rutherford)
Harden not your hearts
Harden not your hearts; there is no need, they are hard enough already. Harden not your hearts; there is no excuse, for why should you resist love? Harden not)our hearts; there can be no good in it–a man is the less a man in proportion to his loss of tenderness of heart. (Christian World Pulpit.)
Sin hardens the heart
The effects of sin may be compared to those of the river north of Quite, petrifying, according to Kirwins account, the wood and leaves cast into its waters; or to those of the busy feet of passers-by causing the crowded thoroughfare to grow hard. (G. Neil, M. A)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 7. Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, Today] These words are quoted from Ps 95:7; and as they were written by David, and attributed here to the Holy Ghost, it proves that David wrote, by the inspiration of God’s Holy Spirit. As these words were originally a warning to the Israelites not to provoke God, lest they should be excluded from that rest which he had promised them, the apostle uses them here to persuade the Christians in Palestine to hold fast their religious privileges, and, the grace they had received, lest they should come short of that state of future glory which Christ had prepared for them. The words strongly imply, as indeed does the whole epistle, the possibility of falling from the grace of God, and perishing everlastingly; and without this supposition these words, and all such like, which make more than two-thirds of the whole of Divine revelation, would have neither sense nor meaning. Why should God entreat man to receive his mercy, if he have rendered this impossible? Why should he exhort a believer to persevere, if it be impossible for him to fall away? What contemptible quibbling have men used to maintain a false and dangerous tenet against the whole tenor of the word of God! Angels fell-Adam fell-Solomon fell-and multitudes of believers have fallen, and, for aught we know, rose no more; and yet we are told that we cannot finally lose the benefits of our conversion! Satan preached this doctrine to our first parents; they believed him, sinned, and fell; and brought a whole world to ruin!
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The Spirit enforceth his counsel for those Hebrews improvement of his doctrine about the gospel Prophet, by alleging a sad example of their fathers refusing to hear and obey him, from Heb 3:7-11. The allegation might be best placed in parenthesis, and the introductive illative particle:
Wherefore, may refer to Heb 3:12; Take heed, brethren.
As the Holy Ghost saith; as the Spirit, the Holy One, that third relation in the Trinity, whose essence is holiness, is the author of what the psalmist doth write, and is here quoted by him, Psa 95:7-11. So that the example registered is true and infallible, and should suitably affect them, reading it.
To-day if ye will hear his voice; every present time, wherein the great Builder and Lord of Gods church speaketh to them; God would not have a hearer of his Prophet to procrastinate a day, but to be exercising all those internal acts, which this word of sense hear doth comprehend, such as reacheth the heart as well as the ear; if you will attend, intend, believe, love, and obey; a hearing better than all external sacrifices, 1Sa 15:22. The angel of the covenant speaking his mind and will to them by Moses and the prophets, which was for the matter of it faith in Gods covenant, made with them in and through Christ, Psa 95:7; compare Exo 23:20-23.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7-11. Exhortation from Ps95:7-11, not through unbelief to lose participation in thespiritual house. Seeing that we are the house of God if we hold fastour confidence . . . (Heb 3:6).Jesus is “faithful,” be not ye unfaithful (Heb 3:2;Heb 3:12). The sentence beginningwith “wherefore,” interrupted by the parenthesis confirmingthe argument from Ps95:7-11, is completed at Heb3:12, “Take heed,” c.
Holy Ghost saithby theinspired Psalmist so that the words of the latter are the words ofGod Himself.
To-dayat length; inDavid’s day, as contrasted with the days of Moses in the wilderness,and the whole time since then, during which they had been rebelliousagainst God’s voice; as for instance, in the wilderness (Heb3:8). The Psalm, each fresh time when used in public worship, by”to-day,” will mean the particular day when it was, or is,used.
hearobediently.
his voiceof grace.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith,…. In Ps 95:7
today if you will hear his voice; either the precepts of Christ, to hear which is to obey them; and this is an acknowledgment to Christ as King of saints, and is a testimony of love to him, and is wellpleasing in his sight; and in which the saints find pleasure themselves, and profit also: or the Gospel of Christ, which is a voice of love, grace, and mercy; of peace and reconciliation; of pardon and righteousness; of liberty, redemption, and salvation by Christ; and to hear it, is not only to hear it externally, but internally, so as to understand it, and distinguish it from the voice of a stranger, and to approve of it, and believe it, and put in practice what is heard: and “today” may intend some festival day in David’s time, when, and on account of which, this psalm was penned; as the feast of tabernacles, which was a type of Christ tabernacling in human nature; or it may regard the time of man’s life, while it is day, or the present instant of life: or rather the whole Gospel dispensation. The psalm from whence these and some following words are taken, belongs to the Messiah; for the person the subject of it, is called the rock of our salvation; and every thing in it is applicable to him; as the ascription of deity, and divine worship; the creation and preservation of the universe; yea, he is represented as a shepherd, and the saints as his sheep; which plainly points at the office of Christ; and these very words are often made use of by the Jews, and applied to the Messiah, showing that if the Jews would repent but one day, or keep the sabbath but one day, the son of David, the Messiah, would come; since it is said, “today if you will hear his voice” d; which the Chaldee paraphrase renders , “his Word”, his essential Word, the Lord Jesus Christ.
d T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 98. 1. Shemot Rabba, sect. 25. fol. 109. 3. & Shirhashirim Rabba, fol. 19. 3.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Cautions against Apostasy. | A. D. 62. |
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.) 12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. 13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; 15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. 16 For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. 17 But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
Here the apostle proceeds in pressing upon them serious counsels and cautions to the close of the chapter; and he recites a passage out of Ps. xc. 7, c., where observe,
I. What he counsels them to do–to give a speedy and present attention to the call of Christ. “Hear his voice, assent to, approve of, and consider, what God in Christ speaks unto you apply it to yourselves with suitable affections and endeavours, and set about it this very day, for to-morrow it may be too late.”
II. What he cautions them against–hardening their hearts, turning the deaf ear to the calls and counsels of Christ: “When he tells you of the evil of sin, the excellency of holiness, the necessity of receiving him by faith as your Saviour, do not shut your ear and heart against such a voice as this.” Observe, The hardening of our hearts is the spring of all our other sins.
III. Whose example he warns them by–that of the Israelites their fathers in the wilderness: As in the provocation and day of temptation; this refers to that remarkable passage at Massah Meribah, Exod. xvii. 2-7. Observe,
1. Days of temptation are often days of provocation.
2. To provoke God, when he is trying us, and letting us see that we entirely depend and live immediately upon him, is a provocation with a witness.
3. The sins of others, especially our relations, should be a warning to us. Our fathers’ sins and punishments should be remembered by us, to deter us from following their evil examples. Now as to the sin of the fathers of the Jews, here reflected upon, observe,
(1.) The state in which these fathers were, when they thus sinned: they were in the wilderness, brought out of Egypt, but not got into Canaan, the thoughts whereof should have restrained them from sin.
(2.) The sin they were guilty of: they tempted and provoked God; they distrusted God, murmured against Moses, and would not attend to the voice of God.
(3.) The aggravations of their sin: they sinned in the wilderness, where they had a more immediate dependence upon God: they sinned when God was trying them; they sinned when they saw his works–works of wonder wrought for their deliverance out of Egypt, and their support and supply in the wilderness from day to day. They continued thus to sin against God for forty years. These were heinous aggravations.
(4.) The source and spring of such aggravated sins, which were, [1.] They erred in their hearts; and these heart-errors produced many other errors in their lips and lives. [2.] They did not know God’s ways, though he had walked before them. They did not know his ways; neither those ways of his providence in which he had walked towards them, nor those ways of his precept in which they ought to have walked towards God; they did not observe either his providences or his ordinances in a right manner.
(5.) The just and great resentment God had at their sins, and yet the great patience he exercised towards them (v. 10): Wherefore I was grieved with that generation. Note, [1.] All sin, especially sin committed by God’s professing privileged people, does not only anger and affront God, but it grieves him. [2.] God is loth to destroy his people in or for their sin, he waits long to be gracious to them. [3.] God keeps an exact account of the time that people go on in sinning against him, and in grieving him by their sins; but at length, if they by their sins continue to grieve the Spirit of God, their sins shall be made grievous to their own spirits, either in a way of judgment or mercy.
(6.) The irreversible doom passed upon them at last for their sins. God swore in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest, the rest either of an earthly or of a heavenly Canaan. Observe, [1.] Sin, long continued in, will kindle the divine wrath, and make it flame out against sinners. [2.] God’s wrath will discover itself in its righteous resolution to destroy the impenitent; he will swear in his wrath, not rashly, but righteously, and his wrath will make their condition a restless condition; there is no resting under the wrath of God.
IV. What use the apostle makes of their awful example, Heb 3:12; Heb 3:13, c. He gives the Hebrews a proper caution, and enforces it with an affectionate compellation.
1. He gives the Hebrews a proper caution the word is, Take heed, blepete—look to it. “Look about you; be upon your guard against enemies both within and without; be circumspect. You see what kept many of your forefathers out of Canaan, and made their carcasses fall in the wilderness; take heed lest you fall into the same sin and snare and dreadful sentence. For you see Christ is head of the church, a much greater person than Moses, and your contempt of him must be a greater sin than their contempt of Moses; and so you are in danger of falling under a severer sentence than they.” Observe, The ruin of others should be a warning to us to take heed of the rock they split upon. Israel’s fall should for ever be a warning to all who come after them; for all these things happened to them for ensamples (1 Cor. x. 11), and should be remembered by us. Take heed; all who would get safely to heaven must look about them.
2. He enforces the admonition with an affectionate compellation: “Brethren, not only in the flesh, but in the Lord; brethren whom I love, and for whose welfare I labour and long.” And here he enlarges upon the matter of the admonition: Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. Here observe, (1.) A heart of unbelief is an evil heart. Unbelief is a great sin, it vitiates the heart of man. (2.) An evil heart of unbelief is at the bottom of all our sinful departures from God; it is a leading step to apostasy; if once we allow ourselves to distrust God, we may soon desert him. (3.) Christian brethren have need to be cautioned against apostasy. Let those that think they stand take heed lest they fall.
3. He subjoins good counsel to the caution, and advises them to that which would be a remedy against this evil heart of unbelief–that they should exhort one another daily, while it is called to-day, v. 13. Observe, (1.) We should be doing all the good we can to one another while we are together, which will be but a short and uncertain time. (2.) Since to-morrow is none of ours, we must make the best improvement of to-day. (3.) If Christians do not exhort one another daily, they will be in danger of being hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Note, [1.] There is a great deal of deceitfulness in sin; it appears fair, but is filthy; it appears pleasant, but is pernicious; it promises much, but performs nothing. [2.] The deceitfulness of sin is of a hardening nature to the soul; one sin allowed prepares for another; every act of sin confirms the habit; sinning against conscience is the way to sear the conscience; and therefore it should be the great concern of every one to exhort himself and others to beware of sin.
4. He comforts those who not only set out well, but hold on well, and hold out to the end (v. 14): We are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast to the end. Here observe, (1.) The saints’ privilege: they are made partakers of Christ, that is, of the Spirit, nature, graces, righteousness, and life of Christ; they are interested in all that is Christ’s, in all that he is, in all that he has done, or can do. (2.) The condition on which they hold that privilege, namely, their perseverance in the bold and open profession and practice of Christ and Christianity unto the end. Not but they shall persevere, being kept by the mighty power of God through faith to salvation, but to be pressed thus to it is one means by which Christ helps his people to persevere. This tends to make them watchful and diligent, and so keeps them from apostasy. Here observe, [1.] The same spirit with which Christians set out in the ways of God they should maintain and evidence to the end. Those who begin seriously, and with lively affections and holy resolutions and humble reliance, should go on in the same spirit. But, [2.] There are a great many who in the beginning of their profession show a great deal of courage and confidence, but do not hold them fast to the end. [3.] Perseverance in faith is the best evidence of the sincerity of our faith.
5. The apostle resumes what he had quoted before from Ps. xc. 7, c., and he applies it closely to those of that generation, Heb 3:15Heb 3:16, c. While it is said, To-day if you will hear, &c. as if he should say, “What was recited before from that scripture belonged not only to former ages, but to you now, and to all who shall come after you; that you take heed you fall not into the same sins, lest you fall under the same condemnation.” The apostle tells them that though some who had heard the voice of God did provoke him, yet all did not so. Observe, (1.) Though the majority of hearers provoked God by unbelief, yet some there were who believed the report. (2.) Though the hearing of the word be the ordinary means of salvation, yet, if it be not hearkened to, it will expose men more to the anger of God. (3.) God will have a remnant that shall be obedient to his voice, and he will take care of such and make mention of them with honour. (4.) If these should fall in a common calamity, yet they shall partake of eternal salvation, while disobedient hearers perish for ever.
6. The apostle puts some queries upon what had been before mentioned, and gives proper answers to them (v. 17-19): But with whom was he grieved forty years? With those that sinned. And to whom did he swear? c. Whence observe, (1.) God is grieved only with those of his people who sin against him, and continue in sin. (2.) God is grieved and provoked most by sins publicly committed by the generality of a nation when sin becomes epidemic, it is most provoking. (3.) Though God grieves long, and bears long, when pressed with the weight of general and prevailing wickedness, yet he will at length ease himself of public offenders by public judgments. (4.) Unbelief (with rebellion which is the consequent of it) is the great damning sin of the world, especially of those who have a revelation of the mind and will of God. This sin shuts up the heart of God, and shuts up the gate of heaven, against them; it lays them under the wrath and curse of God, and leaves them there; so that in truth and justice to himself he is obliged to cast them off for ever.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Wherefore (). Probably this inferential conjunction (, , because of which) goes with (harden not) in verse 8 rather than with (take heed) in verse 12 unless the long quotation be considered a parenthesis. The long quotation in verses 7-11 is from Ps 95:7-11. After the quotation the author has “three movements” (Moffatt) in his discussion of the passage as applied to the Jewish Christians (Heb 3:12-19; Heb 4:1-10; Heb 4:11-13). The peril of apostasy as shown by the example of the Israelites is presented with vividness and power.
As the Holy Ghost saith ( ). Just this phrase nowhere else in the N.T., except Act 21:11 (Agabus), though practically the same idea in Heb 9:8; Heb 10:15. In 1Ti 4:1 the adjective “Holy” is wanting as in Heb 3:2; Heb 3:3. But the writer quotes this Psalm as the Word of God and in 4:7 attributes it to David.
If ye shall hear ( ). Condition of third class with and first aorist active subjunctive of .
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith [ ] . See on ch. Heb 1:6. The formula the Spirit the holy (Spirit) is common in the N. T. with the exception of the Catholic Epistles, where it does not occur. The construction of the passage is as follows : Dio wherefore is connected with blepete take heed, ver. 12. The point is the writer’s warning, not the warning of the citation. The whole citation including the introductory formula, down to rest, ver. 11, is parenthetical. Today if ye will hear his voice [ ] . The Hebrew reads, O that you would hear his voice today. Today is prophetically interpreted by the writer as referring to the Christian present, the time of salvation inaugurated by the appearance of Christ.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Wherefore, (as the Holy Ghost saith,” (dio kathos legei to pneuma to hagion) “Wherefore, just as the Holy Ghost says, affirms, or speaks with an appeal of yearning; The idea is take heed or be cautious to these divine revelations, Heb 2:1-3; The Holy Spirit is personified as speaking or communicating knowledge to needy men, Act 1:16; Psa 95:7-11.
2) “Today if ye will hear his voice,” (semeron ean tes phones autou akousete) “If you all hear his voice today,” at this point in time, Heb 3:15; He speaks or communicates to the conscience and souls of men, reproving of sin, righteousness, and the judgement that is to come, Joh 16:7-11; Act 24:25; 2Co 6:2; Heb 4:7; One day at a time in mercy, love, and compassion he calls, saying “Come to me,” Rev 3:20; Rev 22:17.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
He proceeds in his exhortation, that they were to obey Christ speaking to them; and that he might add more weight to it, he confirms it by the testimony of David; for since they were to be sharply goaded, it was better, for the sake of avoiding offense, to bring forward another person. Had he simply reproached them for the unbelief of the fathers, they would have less favorably attended to him; but when he brought forward David, it was less offensive. Now, the import of the whole is, — As God from the beginning would his voice obeyed, and could not endure perverseness without punishing it severely, so at this day he will not lightly punish our stubbornness, unless we become teachable. But the discourse is suspended until we come to the words, “Take heed, brethren, lest there be at any time in any of you,” etc. That the passage, then, may flow better, it would be proper to include the rest in a parenthesis. (60) Let us now consider the words in order.
7. As the Holy Ghost saith, etc. This availed much more to touch their hearts than if he had quoted David by name. And it is useful for us to familiarize ourselves with such expressions, so that we may remember that the words adduced from the books of the prophets are those of God and not of men.
But as this sentence, Today, if ye will hear his voice, is a part of a former verse, some have not unsuitably rendered it thus, “Would to God you would this day hear his voice.” It is indeed certain that when David called the Jews God’s people, he immediately drew this conclusion, that the voice of God ought to have been heard by them; for as to those whom he there invited to sing praises to God and to celebrate his goodness, he reminded them at the same time that obedience was the chief worship which he required, and that it was better than all sacrifices. The chief thing, then, was to obey the word of God.
(60) There is the same parenthesis in our version; but Beza, Doddridge, Macknight, and Stuart, do not use it, but connect “therefore” or wherefore with “harden not,” which seems more suitable. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
Heb. 3:7-19 form part of an exhortation, based on the superiority of Christ over Moses, and the conduct of the Jewish people in their relation to Moses. They were the chosen people of God, and yet they provoked Him by their unbelief, and were consequently precluded from entering the rest of Canaan. A promise of rest is also given to us. What is it? It cannot be the Sabbatic rest of God from the work of creation: it cannot be the rest of settling in Canaan. It is the rest of belief in Christ, ceasing from our own works and trusting in Christ. Let us take care lest we also fail to gain our rest.
Heb. 3:7. Holy Ghost.Better throughout the epistle Holy Spirit. Here conceived as Inspirer of the Bible-writers; and inspiration carries persuasion and authority (Heb. 3:7-11 are a parenthesis). In what sense was the Holy Spirit in the older dispensation? The prophetic gifts, and the special endowments of such kings as Saul and David, gave the Jews their idea of inspiration.
Heb. 3:8. Harden not.Do not resist good influence. See case of Pharaoh. The peril of free-will is that we can harden ourselves against. Provocation.Or time of provocation: from , to embitter. One typical occasion is referred to (Exo. 17:7. Compare 1Co. 10:1-12). Day of temptation.If single day be meant, the reference may be to the aggravations of the time of worshipping the golden calf. But the expression may be intended to sum up the thirty-eight years of testing Israel amid the wilderness experiences. Those years of wandering in the desert made up their day of testing.
Heb. 3:9.Then comes a play on the words tempted, proved, Me. They tested Me in an evil and unworthy spirit. God may be tested by us when we want to believe, but feel as if we could not. God must never be put to the test by us in a spirit of doubting and suspicion, and with a view to the support of our self-schemes, and of our unbelief.
Heb. 3:10. Grieved.The figure in the word is running a ship ashore.
Heb. 3:11. My rest.For the Jews that was Canaan. It was called rest because it came after their long wanderings. The figure of God swearing is consistent with the idea of Him as an Eastern king. But the swearing is strictly official.
Heb. 3:12.Carries on the wherefore or whence of Heb. 3:7. Evil heart of unbelief.Doubting may be good or bad, right or wrong, according to the state of will that is behind it. An evil heart wants to doubt, and is keen to find reasons and excuses. Faith, when intellectual only, is belief; when inspired by heart-feeling, it is trust. Departing.In the sense of apostatising.
Heb. 3:13. Exhort.Admonish; use Christian fellowship for the establishing of faith. Deceitfulness of sin.Sinful delusions; either influence of Judaising teachers, or of persecution and worldliness.
Heb. 3:14. Partakers of Christ.Of His living and saving grace.
Heb. 3:19. Could not.The failure was altogether on their side. The word unbelief reminds us that the reason of failure was a heart-reason.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Heb. 3:7-19
The Warning of Ancient Failures.This passage is hortatory. It is an earnest appeal and warning breaking in upon the course of argument, after the manner of this writer. What is its special point of view? The times of Moses have been prominent in the writers thought. They were times which there was a strong disposition to unduly magnify. It was easy to slip over the painful things in the older history. But they were there, and were there for the permanent warning of Gods people. The evils, and especially the great evil of unbelief, which broke relations with Jehovah, prevented many from realising the fulfilment of Gods promise, and delayed the fulfilment for many years, were evils still working; and they would prove as effective as ever in delaying or removing the spiritual blessings of the new covenant. Apostasy is always the bad fruitage of cherished unbelief.
I. The responsibility of self rests upon self.Harden not your hearts. A man has control of, power of influence upon, his own heart for good or for evil. He can deal with, restrain, check, qualify, resist, the influences which rest upon his own heart. Therefore it is said, Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. Every man is responsible for himself to himself, as well as to God. And this is true in relation to unbelief. Negligence of spiritual culture, injudicious reading, unsuitable associations, and other things, tend to nourish unbelief; but these are all within a mans own control. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
II. The responsibility for each rests on the other.But exhort one another day by day lest any of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. It is true that each man must bear his own burden; but it is also true that each must bear the others burden; the strong bear the infirmities of the weak. We can come into each others lives as gracious remedial forces; and this is especially true when mischievous teachers are exerting injurious influence, and the young, or those of receptive or sceptical dispositions, are placed in special temptation. We can exhort one another.
III. Our anxiety should concern the subtlety of sin and temptation.Unbelief begins in secret questionings and doubtings: it easily grows into a fatal habit. The tempter keeps up the subtlety of Eden by suggesting suspicions,Yea, hath God said. But the kind of subtlety indicated here is the exaggeration of a lower truth so as to push a higher one out of thought. The magnifying of Moses was intended to push out of thought the spiritual claims of Christ.
IV. The direction in which evil works is generally towards unbelief.Trust is the element in which spiritual life thrives. Therefore the main effort of evil is to disturb that trust. Suspicion, doubt, unbelief, are the elements in which evil thrives. This is illustrated in the experience of the Israelites during their forty years of desert experience. It is the experience of religious life to-day. An age of criticism is an age of enfeebled spiritual life.
V. Unbelief always means hindrance from blessing.It did, when those who came out of Egypt with Moses died in the wilderness (save the two men of faith, Caleb and Joshua). It did, when it kept the nation back from Canaan for eight-and-thirty years. It does, for God can make no response where there is doubt or unbelief. He cannot, because His response could be no blessing to men who were in such a mood of mind. Gods ever-working law of blessing is succinctly given by the Lord Jesus thus, According to your faith be it unto you. The good man always responds to trust. He can do anything for those who commit their interests wholly to him. And the good God is checked from blessing by nothing else as He is by distrust. The saddest thing is said concerning the towns beside the Lake of Galilee, in relation to the Lord Jesus, He could not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief. Do we ask anything of God? His first word in response always is, Believest thou that I am able to do this?
SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES
Heb. 3:7. The Holy Ghost in the Old Testament.Even as the Holy Ghost saith, in the book of psalms. God the Spirit bears relation to man the spirit. For man is a spirit. The great Spirit can overshadow, hallow, help, purify, teach, us dependent spirits. Luther illustrates the relation of the Divine Spirit to the human spirit by the effect of fire in heating, and in some respects changing the character of, water, so that under the power of the fire the water can do what of itself it could not do. The great fire-spirit can penetrate and influence the water-spirit. God, as a Spirit, must always have borne relations to the human spirit, and this superadding and inworking of Gods Spirit must always have been the secret source of all moral goodness. The inspirings of God are not the exclusive privilege of any one age. Illustrate this from
I. The patriarchal period.We cannot expect to find much respecting a subject which is the burden of Gods last and highest revelation in this primitive age. We may, however, look for some hints that would indicate, even then, the apprehension of God as working for man, not only externally in nature and providence, but in the very heart of things, and upon the mind or spirit of men. We ought not, however, to be surprised if we also meet with some confusion between mans spiritual nature and the Spirit of God, or the spiritual working of God. As specimens of the references that may be found, turn to three passages:
1. Gen. 1:2 : The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. The Spirit is evidently apprehended as the great quickening principle, bearing intimate relation to life, and so dealing with the inward, secret heart of things.
2. Gen. 6:3 : My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh. The reference may be either to the Holy Spirit, or to the spiritual as opposed to the animal principle in man. Whichever meaning we prefer, the passage indicates discernment of the relation God bears to the inner, spiritual nature of man.
3. Gen. 41:38 : Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is? Without pressing unduly the meaning of Pharaoh in his use of the term Spirit of God, we have here also the indication of the same idea on the part even of the idolatrous peoples. Besides such passages as these we have many suggestions of Gods inwardly helping men in those days. At first we have only external relations with Adam and Noah, excepting perhaps the hint of internal relations afforded by the terms in which Enoch is spoken of: Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. Passing thus into the spiritual world seems to suggest Divine culture of the spiritual nature. But by-and-by we come to visions, dreams, inward voices, seen and heard by Abraham and Jacob. These reveal personal and individual relations of God with men, and His immediate communication with mans mind and spirit. These visions, dreams, and inward voices are the proper beginnings and foreshadowings of the spiritual impulses, the inner workings of the Holy Spirit, which we know. And observe how exactly Abrahams faith was like ours. He believed an inward voice which could not be absolutely verified, even as by our faith we now lay hold of the unprovable. Blessed, said Christ, are they who have not seen, and yet have believed. It is said in relation to the offering of his son God did tempt Abraham. This tempting, testing, trying of Abraham was manifestly God spiritually dealing with Abrahams spiritual nature. And the same remark may be applied to the scene at Jabbok: it was the wrestling together of the Divine Spirit and the human spirit of Jacob.
II. The Mosaic period.This was coincident with a more extensive and exact outward revelation of God. The prominent thing is minute and elaborate ceremonial: the entire outward life of the people in its social, political, and religious phases coming under Divine regulation. We may, however, reasonably expect clearer signs of the recognition of the inward workings of God on the part of those who, within the ceremonial, cultured their inner, spiritual nature. We find a number of passages in which the skill, talents, power to prophesy, and to deliver the country, are traced to the inworking of the Spirit of God. As specimens, refer to Exo. 31:2-3 : I have called Bezaleel and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, etc. Bezaleels talents, genius, are directly traced to the inspiration of God. The same applies to Balaams power of prophesying. See Num. 24:2 : And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel abiding in his tents according to their tribes; and the Spirit of God came upon him. See also in reference to the judges:Jdg. 3:10 : OthnielThe Spirit of the Lord came upon him and he judged Israel and went out to war. Jdg. 6:34 : The Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon. So of Saul and Sauls messengers. 1Sa. 10:10 : A company of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them. 1Sa. 19:20 : The Spirit of God was upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied. There is an exceedingly interesting passage in Num. 11:17, etc. Moses felt oppressively the burden of his charge in the ruling and judging of so great a people. God graciously arranged for the appointment of seventy elders to relieve him of part of the burden. In connection with this arrangement God said, I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them. See Num. 11:25 : When the spirit rested on them they prophesied, and did not cease. Compare Num. 11:29. Here we have very distinctly presented Moses own spirit, and the Spirit of God overshadowing and inspiring it. God is called the God of the spirits of all flesh in Num. 16:22; Num. 27:16-17. And we have the hardening of the hearts of men traced to the operation of Gods Spirit, as in Deu. 2:30 : But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him: for the Lord thy God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate.
III. The Davidic period.Here one or two passages will suffice to remind of more familiar ones. Turn to Psa. 51:10-12 : Cast me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. Here you observe that repentance was bringing up to light some of the deepest feelings and convictions of Davids soul; it was making him intensely spiritual: so he came to realise his inner dependence on the teachings and movings of Gods Spirit, and was led to express his fear lest at any time he should be left without the succour of the Spirit. See also Psa. 143:10 : Teach me to do Thy will; for Thou art my God: Thy Spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness. But even in this period it is evident that the externality of God, the things God does for us, still occupy chief attention. God is rock, refuge, fortress, deliverer. The inward inspirations of God are clearly recognised, and lovingly dwelt upon, only in the intenser, more spiritual moments of life.
IV. The prophetic period.And what may we expect in this prophetic age? Its characteristic feature is a struggle to bring to its proper light and influence the inward claims and workings of God. The prophets do not, however, fully deal with the nature of this inward working of God. That would have been to anticipate Pentecostal times. They assume, assert, and vindicate the fact, and then proceed to urge the duty of mans offering spiritual response to the fact. They were, as prophets, inwardly, Divinely moved men. Not really different from others, only the prominent examples of inspiration which every heart open to God might surely know. So their very presence asserted Gods spiritual relations with spirit. In the histories of the prophetic period we have the continuation of the idea on which we have dwelt: that talent, especially prophetic, is due to the working of Gods Spirit. Elisha desires a first-borns portion of Elijahs spirit (2Ki. 2:9; 2Ki. 2:15). Pul and Tiglath-pileser are said to be stirred up to war by the Spirit, as we have seen Sihon was hardened. And the captives of Babylon were roused up by the Spirit to return to their own land (Ezr. 1:5). In the actual prophecies we have again and again the formula, The word of the Lord came unto me, implying operation of God on the spirit. Nehemiah says in his prayer, Yet many years didst Thou forbear them, and testified against them by Thy Spirit in Thy prophets. Isaiah speaks of the wanderings of Israel in the desert in this way:Isa. 63:10-11 : But they rebelled, and vexed His Holy Spirit: therefore He was turned to be their enemy, and He fought against them. Then He remembered the days of old, Moses, and His people, saying, Where is He that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of His flock? where is He that put His Holy Spirit within him? Ezekiel often speaks of the inner impulses of the Spirit. Zechariah, speaking of the former time, says (Heb. 7:12), Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts hath sent in His Spirit by the former prophets. Enough has been said to show that throughout all ages of the world men have, with more or less distinctness, recognised the relation between God the Spirit and mans spirit; with more or less clearness men have seen, as one text expresses it, that there is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding. But it will be suggested to your minds to inquire: Have we any reason for identifying this work of the Spirit in Old Testament times with the work of the Holy Ghost in this our Christian dispensation? Is the Spirit of God spoken of in the old age to be identified with the Holy Ghost of the new? If it is not, then we shall have to face the difficulty of two senses in which the Spirit of God is spoken of in Scripture, and to deal with the confusion of imagining there has been no unity in the Divine dealings with our race. All thought of Gods education of the world must be put away, and we must think of His ways with us as a number of abrupt and unconnected dealings, fashioned for adaptation to peculiar and unexpected circumstances. The God of the whole earth He can hardly be called. Turn to two passages in the epistles of Peter (1Pe. 1:10-11): Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the suffering of Christ and the glory that should follow. Now the spirit of the prophets is declared to have been the Spirit of Christ. The Spirit of Christ is none other than the Holy Ghost: for in 2Pe. 1:21 it is said, For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. We may therefore say that, apprehended in its most simple form, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost, the Third Person of the Trinity, may be conceived of as God acting upon mans spirit, inspiring, moving, leading him to the apprehension of all moral truth, and the expression in conduct of all moral goodness. There is a spirit in man, and the Spirit of God influences it, giving to it understanding and impulse.
Heb. 3:10. Can God suffer?Is there any sensibility in God that can suffer? Is He ever wrenched by suffering? Nothing is more certain. He could not be good, having evil in His dominions, without suffering even according to His goodness. For what is goodness but a perfect feeling? And what is a perfect feeling but that which feels towards every wrong and misery according to its nature? And thus it is that we freely impute to Him, whether we observe it or not, every sort of painful sensibility that is related to bad and suffering subjects. We conceive of Him as feeling displeasure, which is the opposite of pleasure. We ascribe it as one of His perfections that He compassionates, which means that He suffers with the fallen. We conceive that He loathes what is disgusting, hates what is cruel, suffers long what is perverse, grieves, burns, bears, forbears, and is even afflicted for His people, as the Scripture expressly declares. All which are varieties of suffering. We also ascribe it to God, as one of His perfections, that He is impassible; but here, if we understand ourselves, we mean that He is physically impassible, not that He is morally so. Moral impassibility is really to have no sensibilities of character, which is as far as possible from being any perfection. Indeed there is a whole class of what are called passive virtues that cannot, in this view, belong to God at all, and His perfection culminates without including more than half the excellencies demanded even of us, in the range of our humble, finite capacity. There is then some true sense in which even Gods perfection required Him to be a suffering Godnot a God unhappy, or less than perfectly, infinitely blessed; for though there be many subtractions from His blessedness, there is never any diminution; because the consciousness of suffering will bring with it, in every case and everlastingly, a compensation which, by a great law of equilibrium in His and all spiritual natures, fully repays the loss; just as Christ, assailed by so many throes of suffering sensibilityin the temptation, in His ministry, in the gardenstill speaks of His joy, and bequeaths it as a gift most real and sublime to His followers. It is this suffering sensibility of God that most needed to be revealed, and brought nigh to human feeling, in the incarnate mission of Jesus.Horace Bushnell, D.D.
Heb. 3:12. Good Unbelief and Bad.An evil heart of unbelief. A head of unbelief may be good; a heart of unbelief must be bad. Doubt may be a condition of mental growth; suspicion and mistrust spoil all moral relations. It is said of the Berans, Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so. But their superior nobility consisted in their taking an attitude of interested doubt. They listened well, but would not believe until they had removed their reasonable hesitation by full inquiry. It may even be said that a man cannot be capable of faith if he is incapable of unbelief. A mere uninquiring recipiency indicates a very undeveloped moral nature. A man is not manly unless he is able to say, I can doubt, but I do believe. Doubt is the impulse to inquiry and search; and therefore absolute certainty is not attainable by man in relation to anything in which he is interested. He is always under inspiration to prove all things. Unbelief of the head then may be good. Intelligence involves doubting. He who receives everything thinks about nothing, and receives only as a sponge does. All mental attainments are battles with unbelief. I am not sure about it; then, I must satisfy myself about it. Intelligent men go through doubt to faith. Unbelief of the heart is bad. That is the unbelief which is so sternly rebuked in the Scriptures. A man may doubt, but want to believe if he can. A man may doubt, and want to find excuse for not believing if he can. The one is good, and the other is evil. The Israelites of the wilderness did not, fail by reason of intellectual unbelief, but by reason of failure in heart-trust: their sin was an evil heart of unbelief. Capernaum and the cities of Galilee were not condemned for intellectual unbelief, but for heart-resistance of the claims of the great Teacher. The unbelief that imperils is not opinion, but feeling, mood, bias. It is a resistance of the will, a moral condition which makes evidence ineffective, and persuasion helpless. When the heart influences the head, unbelief becomes ruinous.
Heb. 3:13. The Deceitfulness of Sin.The most marked characteristic of sin is indicated in its first personification, when it was set in relation to mans moral fall. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. Subtlety, secret movement, insincerities, and deceptions, are essentials in the working of sin. That they must be so is seen at once when we apprehend that sin is no creative agency, but a disturbing and upsetting agency. If a man is going to do something, he can be open and above-board; but if he is going to upset something, he will have to work in secret and practise deceptions. The enemy who sowed tares in the wheat-field had to do it secretly and deceptively while men slept. The special deceitfulness of sin referred to here is its way of affecting a mans will and purpose and heart in relation to the religious life. Its agency is self-interest. In the saved man the self-interest is dethroned, and the Christ-interest enthroned. The work of evil is the subtle endeavour to revive the self-interest. The man finds himself growingly interesting to himself, and before he is aware he finds his heart self-hardened against Christ through the deceitful workings of sin.
Our Only PossessionTo-day.In what sense can a man be said to possess anything? Strictly speaking a man has nothing but the use of things. As the old satirist expresses it, the man who sits down to a loaded table of luxuries really has no more than the little that he can eat. The farmer thought he possessed goods and time. Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. He had power to hold no handful of the goods and no day of time. We speak of what we will do on the morrow, and no man has any to-morrow until God gives it to him, and then he has to call it to-day.
To-morrow, Lord, is Thine,
Lodged in Thy sovereign hand.
A man has one thing onlythe present hour. To-daythat is our only actual possession. Everything else save the thing of the hour, and every coming hour, is Gods possession, not ours; He will give it to us if it pleases Him so to do.
Heb. 3:14. Safety in continuing.If we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end. St. Paul expresses the same truth in commending patient continuance in well-doing. And the risen and living Lord bade His Church be faithful unto death. Older Scriptures present the same truth, Then shall ye know, if ye follow on to know the Lord.
I. There is no safety in beginning a Christian profession.There might be, if we were translated as soon as we had planted our first footstep on the Christian highway. There is not, because that first step does but start a pilgrimage, which is a serious testing of that beginning. The teaching which exaggerates the safety of an act of beginning is mischievous.
II. There is no safety in spasmodic experiences.Such as are provided for Christians in times of religious excitement. Many think they are safe because they have felt intense feelings occasionally.
III. There is only safety in continuance and persistency.Because the Christian life is a moral cult, an advancing sanctification, a man only keeps right by keeping on.
Heb. 3:16. Relief of a Dark Picture.The story of the murmuring, distrustfulness, and self-interested rebelliousness of ancient Israel in the wilderness is a sad, dark story. It never ceases to surprise and pain us; and we never feel that the excuses offered for them are sufficient to relieve the darkness. They were the chosen people of Jehovah, brought out of a stern bondage by magnificent displays of Divine power which ought to have inspired absolute confidenceprovided for in every way, every recurring need graciously met, every foe held off, and a plain way made for the possession of the Promised Land. And yet persistent rebellion at last reached a climax, and the judgment went forth that doomed every man who had come out of Egypt to find a grave in the wilderness. It was the doom of those who could not take God at His word, and trust Him fully. There is a relief to the almost too dark picture. Two men stand out to view. They will be spared. They will enter the Promised Land. And what is there peculiar in their case? They kept their trust in God. They followed the Lord fully. God always honours full trust.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 3
Heb. 3:13. The Power of Habits.Hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. The longer you sit under the gospel and continue in sin, the more easily you can hear it without alarm. If a person were obliged to sleep near a waterfall, he would not be able for the first few weeks to sleep soundly for the noise, but in a very short time he would hardly be able to sleep without it. I have seen in Scotland a dog, during the blacksmiths labour at the anvil, sleeping soundly with the shower of live sparks falling around him.Dr. Cumming.
So used to it.You may observe, in travelling on a railroad, how the young cattle run away in terror from the engine, while those that have often seen it pass go on quietly grazing and do not regard it; so one who has been accustomed to be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, will acquire more and more of the same kind of familiarity. Suppose that there is in your neighbourhood a loud bell, that is ringing very early every morning to call the labourer to some great manufactory. At first and for some time your rest will be broken by it; but if you accustom yourself to be still, and try to compose yourself, you will become in a few days so used to it that it will not even wake you. But any one who makes a point of rising immediately at the call will become so used to it, in the opposite way, that the sound will never fail to rouse him from the deepest sleep. Both will have been accustomed to the same bell, but will have formed opposite habits from their contrary modes of action. Of sporting dogs there are some, such as the greyhound, that are trained to pursue hares; and others which are trained to stand motionless when they come upon a hare, even though they see it running before them. Now both are accustomed to hares, and both have originally the same instinctsall dogs having an instinctive tendency to pursue game. But the one kind has always been accustomed to run after a hare, and the other has always been chastised if it attempted to do so, and has been trained to stand still.Whately.
Perilous Beginnings.You remember the old story of the prisoner in his tower, delivered by his friend, who sent a beetle to crawl up the wall, fastening a silken thread to it, which had a thread a little heavier attached to the end of that, and so on, and so on, each thickening in diameter until they got to a cable. That is the way in which the devil has got hold of a great many of us. He weaves round us silken threads to begin with, slight, as if we could break them with a touch of our fingers, and they draw after them, as certainly as destiny, at each remove, a thickening chain, until at last we are tied and bound, and our captor laughs at our mad plunges for freedom, which are as vain as a wild bulls in the hunters nets.A. Maclaren, D.D.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
B.
Warnings and exhortations with respect to pilgrimage. Heb. 3:7-19
1.
Israels pilgrimage: Heb. 3:7-11
Text
Heb. 3:7-11
Heb. 3:7 Wherefore, even as the Holy Spirit saith,
Today if ye shall hear His voice,
Heb. 3:8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation,
Like as in the day of the trial in the wilderness,
Heb. 3:9 Where your fathers tried Me by proving Me,
And saw My works forty years.
Heb. 3:10 Wherefore I was displeased with this generation,
And said, They do always err in their heart:
But they did not know My ways;
Heb. 3:11 As I sware in My wrath,
They shall not enter into My rest.
Paraphrase
Heb. 3:7 Since the Son is the Fathers faithful Apostle or Lawgiver in His church, I, by commission from Him, say to you, as said the Holy Ghost to the Jews by David, To-day when ye shall hear Gods voice by His Son, commanding you to enter into the rest of heaven.
Heb. 3:8 Be not faithless and obstinate as your fathers were in the bitter provocation at Kadesh, where they refused to go into Canaan, in the day of temptation in the wilderness.
Heb. 3:9 Where your fathers, from the time of their departure out of Egypt until they arrived at Canaan, tempted Me by their disobedience, and proved Me by insolently demanding proofs of My faithfulness and power, notwithstanding they saw my miracles forty years. See Deu. 9:7.
Heb. 3:10 Wherefore I was exceedingly displeased with that generation which I had brought out of Egypt, and said, They always err, not from ignorance, but from perverseness of disposition; and they have utterly disliked My method of dealing with them.
Heb. 3:11 So, to punish them for their unbelief, I sware in My wrath, they shall not enter into My rest in Canaan.
Comment
Wherefore even as the Holy Spirit saith
This is a quotation from Psa. 95:7.
a.
He attributes these words to the Holy Spirit, thus establishing the inspiration of the scriptures.
b.
Men who question the inspiration of the Bible have hundreds of such verses of which to dispose.
Harden not your hearts
This suggests immediate action in favor of God, not against Him.
a.
This subject is emphasized all through the New Testament:
1.
Joh. 9:4 : while it is day.
2.
Act. 22:16 : Now why tamest thou?
3.
Rom. 13:11 : awake out of sleep.
4.
Act. 16:33 : same hour
Man is able to receive the word, but has the choice of hardening his heart.
as in the day of provocation
There were two reasons why the Jews needed to be reminded:
a.
They were foolishly inflated on account of the glory of their race:
1.
They needed to be reminded of their own sinfulness.
2.
Their feeling of superiority blinded them to the reality of their condition.
b.
They needed to know that falling away was dangerous.
To what does the provocation refer?
a.
Two possibilities:
1.
Numbers, chapters thirteen and fourteen: Spies bring back a report: We are as grasshoppers. (Num. 13:33)
And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron and the whole congregation said unto them, Would that we had died in the land of Egypt or would that we had died in the wilderness. (Num. 14:2)
2.
Exodus 17 may be referred to:
a)
Here the Israelites cried against Moses and complained. (See Num. 17:1-7)
b)
Moses gave the places names. (Num. 17:7)
1.
Massahprovingtempting.
2.
Meribahchidingstrife.
b.
We do not know to which of the two places David referred.
Like as in the day of the trial in the wilderness
The term wilderness refers to any waste land, and this was the type of country in which the Jews traveled. They were led through the wilderness because:
a.
It was less likely to lead to war.
b.
It gave God a chance to prove His power and love.
where your fathers tried Me by proving Me
God brought them giftswater, manna and quails for food, the cloud and the pillar of fire for guidance and protectionyet they asked, Where is His power?
It increased their guilt, when in spite of so many evidences of His power they made so little progress.
Trying by proving illustrated:
a.
NewellA boy says, Father has forbidden me to do this and says I will be punished. I do not believe it. I will do what he said not to do and see if he will.
b.
The action of Israel was a trying thing upon the patience of God; yet it also proved that He meant every word spoken.
and saw My works forty years
Not once or for a short timebut for forty years.
History of their waywardness:
a.
First, in the wilderness of sinwhen they murmured for bread and God gave them manna. Exo. 16:4.
b.
Secondthey murmured because of lack of water. Exo. 17:2-9. This place is called Massah and Meribah.
c.
ThirdDuring the third year after their departure from Egypt, they provoked God at Sinai by making the golden calf. Exo. 32:10.
d.
FourthAt Taberah (Num. 11:3) they murmured for want of flesh, and were smitten with a plague, Num. 11:33. Many were buried here. Num. 11:34.
e.
KadeshCaleb and Joshua as spies are rejected.
1.
Num. 14:30 : God says all shall die but Caleb and Joshua.
2.
Deu. 1:34-35 : God ordered them to turn into the wilderness, where they wandered 38 years. Deu. 2:14.
f.
Wilderness near Mt. Hor. Num. 21:4-5. No bread or water. God sent serpents, and finally a brazen serpent was erected to save them.
3.
Newell says it refers to the eleven-day journey from Horeb by way of Mt. Sinai unto Kadesh Barnea that because of unfaithfulness took forty years.
Wherefore I was displeased with this generation
Generation means race, or men of one age.
Here was God, their Father, grieved at their refusal to follow His leading.
and said, They do always err in their heart
Err means to wander, go astray.
Their consistent errors must have brought the longsuffering Father to the breaking point.
but they did know My ways
They were as ignorant of God as they were of the paths of the desert.
They seemed senseless, unable to understand the ways of God.
a.
This was not an excuse, but an accusation.
b.
This condition did not save them, but destroyed them.
as I sware in my wrath
Sware refers to what God spoke.
Num. 14:30-35 : God here stated they shall not enter, because they listened to the report of the ten spies.
Wrath refers to His condemnation;
a.
God has a right to be wrathful.
1.
A lack of anger is a weakness.
2.
Tolerance is to be desired above intolerance, but it can also become a vice rather than a virtue.
b.
God has wrath when His longsuffering comes to an end.
c.
It is not good for man to reap and not sow.
1.
It is not good for man to sow wickedness, and not reap the same.
2.
God has made a consistent world for us.
d.
God used them as an example unto us.
1.
1Co. 10:11-12 : happened by way of example.
They shall not enter into My rest
Num. 14:20 is the place where God reached this decision.
The generation that showed a lack of faith was not given the privilege to enter Canaan.
Study Questions
412.
Where is the quotation from the Holy Spirit found?
413.
Does this establish the inspiration of the scriptures?
414.
Who can harden or soften hearts in this verse?
415.
Can you name other scriptures that place the responsibility upon man? cf. Rom. 13:11.
416.
What day of provocation is referred to, Pharaohs or Israels?
417.
Is it a certain time, or the whole exodus?
418.
Name some instances of provocation. cf. Num. 13:32; Exo. 17:1-7.
419.
Could it be at Massah and Meribah alone?
420.
What is meant by trial in the wilderness?
421.
What is a wilderness in the scriptures?
422.
Why did the Israelites go into the wilderness?
423.
Who are the fathers referred to here?
424.
How did they try God?
425.
What is meant by try?
426.
What did the trial prove concerning God?
427.
How long did they try God?
428.
What is meant by works?
429.
Tell of the Israelites provocation of God that brought about works of God.
430.
What is meant by generation?
431.
What did God declare concerning that generation?
432.
What is meant by err?
433.
Where was the seat of their trouble?
434.
Why didnt they know Gods ways?
435.
Is ignorance a sufficient excuse for disobedience?
436.
What is meant by swear?
437.
What is the wrath of Godanger, or condemnation?
438.
Is wrath a good quality or a bad one?
439.
Would it be good for man if God were a weakling?
440.
Would it be good for man not to reap what he sows?
441.
Where and when did this swearing take place? cf. Num. 14:23.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(7) Wherefore.Since without steadfastness all will be lost. With the words introducing the quotation compare Heb. 9:8; Heb. 10:15.
Whether the marks of parenthesis here introduced in our ordinary Bibles (not inserted by the translators of 1611) express the true connection of the verses is a question very hard to decide, and one that does not admit of full discussion here. It is very possible that the writer (like St. Paul in Rom. 15:3; Rom. 15:21; 1Co. 1:31) may have merged his own exhortation in that which the quotation supplies (Heb. 3:8); and the objection that Heb. 3:12 would naturally in that case have been introduced by some connective word is shown to be groundless by such passages as Heb. 8:13; Heb. 10:23; Heb. 12:7; Heb. 12:25. On the other hand, if we connect Wherefore, in this verse, with Take heed in Heb. 3:12, we have greater regularity of structurea strong argument in this Epistle. It seems unlikely, moreover, that the writer (whose tenderness of tone and sympathy are so manifest in his words of warning) would at this stage adopt as his own the stringent and general exhortation, harden not your hearts: the spirit of Heb. 3:12 (lest haply there shall be in any one of you) is altogether different. On the whole, therefore, it seems best to consider Heb. 3:7 (To-day . . .) to Heb. 3:11 (. . . my rest) as a pure quotation, enforcing the warning that follows.
Psalms 95, the latter part of which (Heb. 3:7-11) is here cited, is in the LXX. ascribed to David, but is probably of later date. (As to Heb. 4:7, see the Note.) In most important respects the words of the quotation agree with the Greek version, and with the Hebrew text. The chief exceptions will be noted as they occur.
To day if ye will hear his voice.Rather, To-day if ye shall hear (literally, shall have heard) His voice. The Greek will not allow the sense in which the words are naturally taken by the English reader, if ye are willing to hear. The meaning of the Hebrew words is either(1) To-day, oh that ye would hearken to (that is, obey) His voice! or, (2) To-day if ye hearken to His voice. The voice is that which speaks in the following verses. As the words stand before us, the Psalmist does not formally complete the sentence here commenced (if ye shall hear . . .). He introduces the divine words of warning, but adds none in his own person. The entreaty Harden not your hearts is at once the utterance of the divine voice and the expression of his own urgent prayer. Other passages in which the hardening of the heart is spoken of as the work of man himself are Exo. 9:34; 1Sa. 6:6; Pro. 28:14.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
a. Israel’s failure to attain God’s rest portrayed as warning, Heb 3:7-11 .
7. Wherefore In view of the fact that your forming a part of Christ’s eternal house depends on your hold fast.
Holy Ghost saith In Psa 95:7-11. Our author assumes that what the psalm says, the Holy Ghost saith; that is, the psalm is inspired.
As The so corresponding to this as is implied at Heb 3:12, before. Take heed. The Holy Ghost in the ancient psalm utters all the reproofs of 7-11, so (Heb 3:12,) do you take heed. See our note on Heb 3:12. The warning to the old Mosaic era of the house (Heb 3:2) is still sounding from the Holy Ghost in your ears.
Today Since you have been so little attentive in past days, let this be the day to hear his, God’s, voice.
2. Dread warnings against disobedience to the Son, like the Jews’ disobedience to Moses, Heb 3:7 to Heb 4:13.
As Christ stands parallel to Moses, so our Christian Hebrews stand parallel to ancient Israel, and so must take warning by Israel’s fatal example.
The Illustration ( Heb 3:7-11 ).
‘Wherefore, even as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as in the provocation, at (or ‘like as on’) the day of the trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tried me by proving me, and saw my work forty years.” ’
‘Wherefore,’ because they are the house over which Christ is the Son, and because of what He has been revealed to be, let them remember the words of the Holy Spirit, by responding to Him in faith.
‘Even as the Holy Spirit says.’ Notice how he calls the words of Scripture, ‘what the Holy Spirit says’. (Compare Heb 2:4; Heb 9:8; Heb 10:15; Mat 22:43; Mar 12:36; Act 1:16 see also 1Co 2:13). The words are taken from Psa 95:7-9. The present tense ‘says’ stresses that the Holy Spirit continually speaks through the Scriptures.
‘Today’ is intended to be emphasised, see Heb 3:13. He wants them to apply it to their own day and recognise its immediate urgency, as we can apply it to ours. If the people suffered judgment because they failed to listen to Moses, how much more if they fail to listen to their Messiah and High Priest. And this is true ‘Today’ and on every ‘Today’.
The Holy Spirit through Scripture then warns against them hardening their heart. We need to hear when His voice speaks, or there may come a time when it is silenced because out hearts are hardened against it by sin. Let them remember ‘the provocation’, ‘ the day of trial’, that time when, after the great deliverance from Egypt, and after He had wonderfully provided sweet water from bitter, and manna and quails, Israel were in the wilderness and were tried by being thirsty for water and murmured against Yahweh, provoking God that little bit too far. It was not just that they grumbled, they harshly criticised God.
The verse is quoted virtually from LXX. In the Hebrew ‘in the provocation’ is ‘as at Meribah (strife)’, the time when Israel provoked and tested Yahweh, saying, “Is Yahweh among us or not?” (Exo 17:7 compare Num 20:13). While ‘at the day of the trial in the wilderness’ is, in the Hebrew, ‘as in the days of Massah (trial) in the wilderness’ again referring to Exo 17:7. The LXX translates the meaning of the place names rather than citing them (or it may be that the Greek words were intended as place names).
But the warning in both cases is against provoking God in the face of testing, by murmuring and not trusting Him in such times of trial, and turning at such times against the leaders of God’s people. In spite of all that God had already done, they turned against Him and His servants Moses and Aaron. It was the precursor of, and symbolic of, all the future murmuring that would yet be to come, which would lead on to their final failure to obey God about entering the land, which brought God’s curse on them so that they could not enter the land. And it was a warning that the recipients of Hebrews also beware of behaving in the same way.
‘And saw my work forty years.’ The ‘forty years’ is transposed from the following verse as compared with the original Hebrew, emphasising that for forty years they saw the work of God in the wilderness. And what was that work? It was the resulting hardship under which He put them because of their disobedience. They were displeasing to God for ‘forty years’ (Heb 3:17), and suffered hardship accordingly. Instead of a quick transition into the land promised to them, the land of Canaan, which they could have entered after two short years, they suffered in the wilderness for these ‘forty’ long years until the murmurers had died out. (If we take the whole passage together this is necessarily the significance). It should be noted that little is spoken of those final thirty eight years in Numbers apart from rebellion, deaths and catastrophes, and a repetition of the sin of Meribah at a new Meribah (Num 15:1 to Num 20:13).
But assuming that Hebrews was written in the early seventies AD some see the forty years as intended to parallel the period from when Christianity commenced, either at the crucifixion and resurrection or at Pentecost, to the time of writing, and thus interpret ‘saw my work forty years’ as meaning His general activity on behalf of His people. If this be so then the writer is calling on his readers to look back over the forty years of Christian history and take note of its lessons. Both great persecution and great blessing had been experienced, and they must learn from it. But if this was so it would mean that the application did not quite tie in with the illustration. For the forty years since Pentecost had not been specific times of God’s displeasure, whereas the forty years in the wilderness were (Heb 3:17). On the other hand, it must be agreed that illustrations must never be overpressed.
It should be noted that the murmuring at ‘Meribah’ occurred at both ends of the period in Exodus/Numbers (Exo 17:7; Num 20:13), the same name being given to two separate places where similar events took place (compare Deu 33:8), but the emphasis in the Psalm is on the first one.
Interestingly the Jews also connected the period of forty years in the wilderness with the times of the Messiah based on this verse. Rabbi Eliezer says, “The days of the Messiah are forty years, as it is said, Forty years long was I grieved with that generation”.
Applying the Story of the Wilderness Journey to the Christian Faith Heb 3:7 to Heb 4:11 offers a doctrinal discourse to support his claim that Jesus Christ is the Apostle and High Priest of this heavenly calling. He provides the readers with a sobering example of the children of Israel who fell in the wilderness and later never entered into its true rest with Joshua, all because of disobedience. In this passage of Scripture the author warns his readers not to miss their opportunity to enter into rest as Israel missed theirs under the ministries of Moses and Joshua (Jer 31:2). God provided Joshua as a type of “saviour” who failed to lead Israel into their rest, and He has provided Jesus Christ as our Saviour to bring us into our eternal rest.
Jer 31:2, “Thus saith the LORD, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.”
The Unbelief of the Children of Israel in the Wilderness – The major event referred to in Heb 3:7 to Heb 4:11 is found in Num 14:1-35, at the peak of Israel’s rebellion, where they tempted the Lord by wanting to turn back to Egypt and stoning Moses for telling them not to rebel. It is at this point that the Lord decided to destroy the entire congregation and begin anew with Moses; but the servant of God interceded in their behalf and God cancelled His wrath against them. Instead of destroying them, God swore that none of them would enter into the Promised Land.
Note that Heb 6:4-6 does not describe the only person that will go to hell after backsliding, because all backsliders will go to hell, but this passage describes the only type of backslider who cannot repent and be restored back to God. It is a person who backslides willfully and knowingly after rising to maturity in the faith. The author has given us the example of the children of Israel in the wilderness whom God destroyed (Heb 3:7 to Heb 4:10), and he will later give us the example of Esau who found no repentance, though it sought it with tears (Heb 12:16-17).
Exegesis and Commentary on Psa 95:7-11 Heb 3:7-11 is a quote from Psa 95:7-11, while in Heb 3:12 to Heb 4:10 the author offers an exegesis and commentary on this Old Testament passage.
Psa 95:7-11, “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, Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work. 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: Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.”
Here is a summary of the author’s exegesis of Psa 95:7-11.
Heb 3:12 warns the readers to not depart from God
Heb 3:13-15 exegetes Heb 3:7 b
Heb 3:16 exegetes Heb 3:8-9
Heb 3:17 exegetes Heb 3:10
Heb 3:18 to Heb 4:6 exegetes Heb 3:11
Heb 4:7-10 serves as a commentary to this exegesis
There is a progression of events in Heb 3:16-19. (See Num 14:1-35 as a reference to the events described here.)
1. They (Israel) provoked God (Heb 3:16).
2. God became angry (Heb 3:17).
3. God punished them (Heb 3:18).
It is important to note that the children of Israel started their journey in faith. All those who put the blood of the Passover lamb upon their doorways were spared from God’s judgment upon Egypt. This was an act of faith on each individual’s part that identified him and his family with Moses, the servant of God. This act of faith positioned them under the same blessings of Moses. The emphasis upon their lack of faith in this Epistle is in reference in their failure to persevere in their faith, not in their initial decision to believe and obey the Lord. The author of Hebrews is using this event of their failure to warn “believers” to not turn back as the Israelites did. Both began in faith, but not everyone continues in faith.
Heb 3:7 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,
Heb 3:8 Heb 3:8 Heb 3:9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.
Heb 3:9 Exo 15:23, “And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah.”
Exo 17:7, “And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?”
Numbers 14 and Num 20:2-5
Heb 3:10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.
Heb 3:11 Heb 3:11 Comments The first generation of Israelites in the wilderness did not enter the Promised Land. This privilege was given to the next generation. A 40-year journey was necessary in order to eliminate the first generation of Israelites who left Egypt.
Heb 3:12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
Heb 3:12 Illustrations – The examples listed in 1Co 10:1-11 regarding Israel’s departure from God illustrate Heb 3:12 well.
Heb 3:13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
Heb 3:13 Heb 4:7-9, “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. For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.”
Heb 3:13 “lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” – Comments – Heb 3:13 warns every believer to beware lest their heart becomes hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. We see a similar statement of such hardening in Heb 12:15, “Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;” We must also interpret Heb 6:4-6 and Heb 10:28-29 and Heb 12:25 as being similar statements.
The sins of Samson are a good illustration of the deceitfulness of sin. The heart is deceitful above all other things. Note:
Jer 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
When we see the unbelief of the children of Israel (Heb. 4:19), we must check ourselves (2Co 13:5), since we, too, have the capability of sinning in the same way they sinned (Heb 4:11).
Heb 3:19, “So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.”
2Co 13:5, “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?”
Heb 4:11, “Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”
Heb 3:14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;
Heb 3:14 Heb 3:15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
Heb 3:13-15 Heb 3:16 For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.
Heb 3:16 Heb 3:17 But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?
Heb 3:17 Num 14:29, “Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me,”
The women and children were not directly in sin, although they shared in the punishment of these sins.
“whose carcases fell in the wilderness” – Comments The first generation of Israelites died in the wilderness because God swore in His wrath that they would not enter the Promised Land.
Heb 3:17 Comments In Heb 3:17 the author is exegeting Heb 3:10, “Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.”
Heb 3:16-17 Comments The Contrast Between Those Who Came Out With Moses and Those who Died in the Wilderness Heb 3:16-17 makes a contrast between the fact that these Israelites came out of Egypt with signs and wonders and with the faithful words of Moses, the servant of God, and between the fact that they dies in the wilderness because of their sins. This contrast is clearly stated in Heb 4:1-2.
Heb 3:18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?
Heb 3:18 Heb 3:18 Scripture Reference We find this oath from the Lord recorded in Num 14:28-30.
Num 14:28-30, “Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me, Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.”
Heb 3:19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
Heb 3:19 Luk 18:8, “I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?”
Num 14:11, “And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them?”
Heb 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”
Scripture References – Note other references to unbelief:
Mat 13:58, “And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.”
Mat 17:20-21, “And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.”
Mar 6:6, “And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.”
Mar 16:16, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”
Joh 16:9, “Of sin, because they believe not on me;”
Rom 3:3-4, “For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.”
Rom 11:20, “Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:”
Rom 11:23, “And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.”
Unbelief and disobedience are closely related.
Heb 4:6, “Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:”
Heb 4:11, “Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”
Heb 4:1 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
Heb 4:1 Rom 11:20, “Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:”
Php 2:12, “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”
Heb 4:1 “lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest” Comments – While walking in this rest of God, we can still have occasions where we are troubled in our spirit. Note:
2Co 2:13, “I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother: but taking my leave of them, I went from thence into Macedonia.”
2Co 7:5, “For, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears.”
Heb 4:1 “any of you should seem to come short of it” – Comments – Many, today, try to find rest by seeking comfortable homes, jobs, financial securities, retirement benefits, etc. Illustration:
Luk 12:19, “And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease , eat, drink, and be merry.”
Heb 4:1 Comments – The children of Israel who failed to enter into rest were those whose carcasses fell in the wilderness. We are to follow the example of God’s original intent for them. That is, God did not intend for them to spend forty years in the wilderness. However, God wants us to avoid that, and march right on to the Promised Land by faith. The forty years in the wilderness is not a type of God’s will for us today, even though some Christians have chosen that for their lives. God’s will for you is to go in possess the land of promise.
Heb 4:1 Comments: The Call to Enter into Rest – A key word in Heb 4:1-10 is “rest.” It is used a total of nine times, six times as a noun and three times as a verb in Heb 4:1-11.
Heb 4:2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
Heb 4:2 Heb 4:2 “did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it” Comments – Why did this preaching not profit the children of Israel in the wilderness: because they were not obedient to the commands of God. In other words, they did not mix faith with hearing. Note:
Rom 2:13, “(For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.”
Jas 2:17, “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.”
Heb 4:3 For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
Heb 4:3 [205] Kenneth Hagin, “Ten Times Better,” The Word Of Faith Magazine, 20 February 2003.
Scripture Reference – Note a similar verse:
Mat 11:28-30, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest . Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Heb 4:3 “as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest” Comments – BDAG says that this is a Hebraistic used in oaths, so a strong negative “certainly not” should be used here in translating (see IV). Example, “if they do enter in, then…” The apodosis is left out of this conditional sentence. [206] For this reason, the NASB, NIV, and RSV omit “if” and translates this passage as a quote with “not,” although the KJV and YLT keep its literal translation.
[206] See also A.T. Robertson, A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research (Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman Press, c1934, 1994), 1023-24.
ASV, “ They shall not enter into my rest.”
NIV, “They shall never enter my rest.”
RSV, “ They shall never enter my rest.”
Old Testament Quotes in the New Testament – Heb 4:3 quotes from Psa 95:11, “Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.”
Heb 4:3 “although the works were finished from the foundation of the world” Comments – Even though the work was ended, Israel did not enter into its rest.
Scripture References – Note similar verses about God’s works being finished from the foundation of the world:
Rev 13:8, “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world .”
Rev 17:8, “The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world , when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.”
Heb 4:4-9 God’s Seventh-Day Rest – Heb 4:4-9 explains why the quote in Heb 4:3 means that we have a rest for believers.
Heb 4:4 For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.
Heb 4:4 Heb 4:4 “of the seventh day on this wise” Comments – That is, he spoke “concerning the seventh day in this way, or thus.”
Heb 4:4 Old Testament Quotes in the New Testament – Heb 4:4 is a quote from Gen 2:2.
Gen 2:2, “And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.”
God’s seventh-day rest is also mentioned in:
Exo 20:11, “For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.”
Exo 31:17, “It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.”
Heb 4:5 And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.
Heb 4:5 Heb 4:6 Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:
Heb 4:6 Heb 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.
Heb 4:7 Psa 95:7-8, “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, Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:”
Why did God designate another day for mankind to enter into His rest: because those who were preached to the first time did not believe.
How can anyone take salvation so lightly after seeing how God has entered into rest and has fixed a day for us to enter in this rest, and after seeing so many people in unbelief, although they know God’s plan of salvation?
Heb 4:7 “To day, after so long a time” – Comments – From the Exodus of the children of Israel to King Solomon was 480 years (1Ki 6:1).
1Ki 6:1, “And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD.”
Heb 4:7 “as it is said, Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts” – Comments – In the book of Numbers and in the forty years in the wilderness, they did not believe God’s Word, especially God’s command to enter into rest. Jesus Christ gives the same call to us today.
Mat 11:28-30, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Heb 4:8 For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.
Heb 4:8 Mat 1:21, “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.”
Act 7:45, “Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David;”
Heb 4:8 Comments – Moses referred to the Promised Land as Israel’s “rest” and “inheritance” (Deu 12:9-10). If Moses had led the children of Israel in the Promised Land and given the people a complete rest, there would have been no need to allow Joshua to serve as their leader. However, because of Moses’ failure in the wilderness, Joshua was raised up to bring Israel into rest through the conquest of Canaan (Deu 31:7, Jos 22:4). However, Israel did not obtain a complete rest with Joshua, for Israel soon fell away from the Lord during the time of the judges and lost their land and their possessions. Therefore, David speaks of another rest in the book of Psalms. Also, Moses serves as a type and figure of the failure of the Law, while Joshua serves as a type and figure of Jesus Christ, who is able to bring all people into eternal rest.
Deu 12:9-10, “ For ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which the LORD your God giveth you . But when ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which the LORD your God giveth you to inherit, and when he giveth you rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety;”
Deu 31:7, “And Moses called unto Joshua, and said unto him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou must go with this people unto the land which the LORD hath sworn unto their fathers to give them; and thou shalt cause them to inherit it.”
Jos 22:4, “And now the LORD your God hath given rest unto your brethren, as he promised them: therefore now return ye, and get you unto your tents, and unto the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you on the other side Jordan.”
Heb 4:8 Comments – Heb 4:8 is a contrary to fact sentence in the Greek text.
Heb 4:9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
Heb 4:9 Isa 11:10, “And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.”
Jer 6:16, “Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls . But they said, We will not walk therein.”
Eze 34:14-15, “I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down , saith the Lord GOD.”
Old Testament Application – The Greek word “rest” ( ) is used only one time in the New Testament. This word literally refers to a Sabbath rest, or observation, commanded by Moses under the Law (Exo 20:8-11; Exo 31:12-17).
Exo 20:8-11, “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.”
New Testament Application – Just as God called Israel to a Holy Sabbath rest on the seventh day, God also calls us to cease from our work, to put off the works of the flesh and to walk in the Spirit of God. We, as Christian, do now enter into the Lord’s Sabbath every day as we walk in the Spirit. We serve Him with our spirit (Rom 1:9), and yield our bodies as living sacrifices (Rom 12:1).
Rom 12:1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice , holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”
Rom 1:9, “For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers;”
Believers still observes particular days as unto the Lord (Rom 14:5-6). Sunday is the day many Christians observe unto the Lord (Joh 20:19, Act 20:7, 1Co 16:2, Rev 1:10). However, we should conduct every day as the Holy Sabbath.
Rom 14:5-6, “One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.”
Joh 20:19, “Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week , when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.”
Act 20:7, “And upon the first day of the week , when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.”
1Co 16:2, “ Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.”
Rev 1:10, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day , and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,”
Eternal Application – This word “Sabbath rest” has an eternal meaning. There will be an eternal unrest to the lost (Rev 14:11). There will be an eternal rest to those who are saved (Rev 14:13).
Rev 14:11, “And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.”
Rev 14:13, “And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.”
Heb 4:10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
Heb 4:10 “My ageless purposes are set in Eternity. Time is as a little wheel set within the big wheel of Eternity. The little wheel turneth swiftly and shall one day cease. The big wheel turneth not, but goeth straight forward. Time is thy responsibility Eternity is Mine! Ye shall move into thy place in the big wheel when the little wheel is left behind. See that now ye redeem the time, making use of it for the purposes of My eternal kingdom, thus investing it with something of quality of the big wheel. As ye do this, thy days shall not be part of that which turneth and dieth, but of that which goeth straight forward and becometh one with My great universe.
“Fill thy days with light and love and testimony. Glorify and honor My Name. Praise and delight thyself in the Lord. So shall eternity inhabit thy heart and thou shalt deliver thy soul from the bondages of time. Thou shalt experience a liberation from the pressures of time and shalt in thine own heart slow down the little wheel. So shall ye find a new kind of rest. Ye shall have a foretaste of the Sabbath rest , into which the whole earth shall enter before long. When this time comes, I Myself will slow down the little wheel of time, and there shall be an adjustment, and it shall be as it was in the beginning.
“The pressures of time have increased as sin has increased, and all too often My children have been found living more in the little wheel than in the big. This happens whenever the flesh is in ascendancy to the Spirit. Whenever the opposite is true, ye have always experienced a fleeting but glorious freedom from the racing little wheel. Is it not true? Ye have found the Spirit always unhurried, and ye have marveled to find how oblivious ye had been to the passage of time whenever ye have been truly in the Spirit.
“Ye can live here as much as ye choose. Ye can enjoy this rest and disengage thyself from the little wheel as often and as long as ye desire. Ye shall lose nothing and gain much. Try it as a therapy for thy physical body. Always it shall most certainly be a tremendous source of energy and vitality for thy spiritual life!” [207]
[207] Frances J. Roberts, Come Away My Beloved (Ojai, California: King’s Farspan, Inc., 1973), 31-2.
Heb 4:10 “he also hath ceased from his own works” – Comments – Our works are works of the flesh (Gal 5:19-21). The author of Hebrews will again refer to our works of the flesh in Heb 6:1, when he refers to the doctrine of “repentance from dead works”. As children of God we are to put these fleshly works aside and live and walk in the spirit and in holiness (Heb 12:14).
Gal 5:19-21, “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Heb 12:14, “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:”
Heb 4:10 “as God did from His” Comments – God set the example by entering into the first Sabbath rest (Exo 31:17).
Exo 31:17, “It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.”
Heb 4:10 Illustration When a father prepares for his retirement from a family-owned business, he hands over its management to his son. He does so by giving this son a charge that encompasses the purpose and mission of the business. Adam, the first man, failed to faithfully execute his office as the manager of the earth that God the Father had handed to him. Thus, Adam was unable to hand this task over to his son and himself enter into rest. However, Jesus Christ was obedient to this divine commission, so that He can now bring His brethren into eternal rest. As we follow Christ in obedience, we find rest and inner peace in this life and hope of complete rest in Heaven. We have the potential to walk in a large measure of rest in this life while awaiting deliverance from our mortal bodies, from the sufferings that this world brings upon all of mankind.
Heb 4:11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
Heb 4:11 Heb 12:1, “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,”
The words “labour” (Heb 4:11) and “run” (Heb 12:1) reveal that we have a purpose and course to follow in this life. It means that we must pursue this course with intensity, not becoming distracted with the cares of this world. On the other hand, the words “rest” and “patience” reveal that there is a rest in God that removes the anxiety of striving for the goals that are set before us. We are to learn to wait upon the Lord daily and become strengthened by Him; otherwise, fatigue will overcome us as we run. This is not an easy lesson in life to learn, nor an easy balance to manage.
Note that the land of Israel, in the time of Joshua and King Solomon, had rest because of the battles fought by Joshua and David.
Jos 21:43-45, “And the LORD gave unto Israel all the land which he sware to give unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein. And the LORD gave them rest round about , according to all that he sware unto their fathers: and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them; the LORD delivered all their enemies into their hand. There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass.”
1Ki 8:56, “ Blessed be the LORD, that hath given rest unto his people Israel , according to all that he promised: there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant.”
Heb 4:11 Comments – Just as Moses called Israel out from Egypt into Canaan, God is calling the believers in Heb 4:11 to strive to enter into that spiritual rest. We as believers have entered into this rest (Heb 4:3). Therefore, Heb 4:11 is exhorting us to maintain this position of rest in the midst of persecutions. We lose this place of rest through disobedience, as did the children of Israel in the wilderness.
Heb 4:3, “For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.”
In Heb 10:32-33, we see that these Hebrews had endured afflictions and reproaches. Thus, their rest was not necessarily outward physical comforts, but an inner rest of the soul in the midst of life’s challenges.
Heb 10:32-33, “But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions; Partly, whilst ye were made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye became companions of them that were so used.”
Scripture References – Note similar verses:
Jer 6:16, “Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls . But they said, We will not walk therein.”
Mat 11:28-30, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest . Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Joh 6:29, “Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.”
A warning lesson from the history of Moses:
v. 7. Wherefore, (as the Holy Ghost saith, Today if ye will hear His voice,
v. 8. harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness,
v. 9. when your fathers tempted Me, proved Me, and saw My works forty years.
v. 10. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known My ways.
v. 11. So I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter into My rest,)
v. 12. take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
v. 13. But exhort one another daily while it is called Today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
v. 14. For we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end.
The last thought in the first paragraph of the chapter had been that of persevering faith and trust, looking forward to the joyful realization of our hope on the last day. The sacred writer now wishes to emphasize the need of this faithfulness for obtaining the prize, and to that end refers to the journey of the children of Israel through the desert and some of the principal incidents of the forty years included in that journey. He quotes Psa 95:7-11, stating at the same time that it was the Holy Ghost to whom the words there written are to be ascribed as the real Author. The passage gives a reason for his earnest warning: Today, when you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the provocation (Meribah), as on the day of temptation (Massah) in the wilderness. The prophet refers to the incident related Exo 17:1-7; Num 20:1-13, and the writer of our letter quotes the Greek translation of the Hebrew words which are probably the proper nouns of the station in the wilderness where the people rebelled. Their conduct at that time was provoking to the Lord; it challenged His wrath, it demanded His punishment. For, as the quotation continues: Where your fathers tested Me, putting Me to a proof, and saw My works forty years. It is a bitter complaint which the Lord here voices. The children of Israel, by their unruly behavior, put the Lord to a trial, to a proof, just as though they wanted to satisfy themselves as to the length of time that they could oppose His will. The entire history of the journey through the wilderness presents practically a succession of incidents of a nature calculated to provoke the wrath of the Lord. Although He performed miracles of goodness and mercy and judgment before their eyes during all that time with the intention of winning them to Himself, yet they remained a stubborn and rebellious generation.
But the Lord will not be mocked, as the quotation from the prophet continues: Wherefore I was indignant with this generation and said, Always they are astray in their heart; but they, not would they understand My ways; so I swore in My anger, They shall never enter into My rest. The Lord finally grew tired of the continual challenge of the people of Israel; He was exasperated, filled with disgust, loathing, and abhorrence, as the Hebrew text implies. See Num 14:21-23; Num 32:10-13; Deu 1:34-36. All the attempts of the Lord were turned aside in scorn; they persisted in going astray from the way marked out by His Word and command: they refused to acknowledge that He was leading them in paths of goodness and mercy and long-suffering, that His every thought for them was a thought of peace. So the Lord finally swore in His bitter anger at their obstinacy that they should not enter into the land which He had intended for them as a haven, a place of rest and security. The idea of rest in the Land of Promise incidentally acquired a wider scope and a deeper significance, as the application of this passage throughout the present letter indicates.
The sacred writer, having inserted this quotation with its warning lesson, takes up the thread of his argument once more, in driving home the moral of the story: See to it, brethren, lest there be in any one of you a wicked heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. The earnest anxiety of the writer is apparent in the entire structure of the sentence, which, incidentally, is contracted as if he had written in great agitation. They should see to it, they should take heed, lest perhaps, by any bad chance, there might be in any one of the readers a bad, wicked, evil heart, caused by a condition of unbelief. For this condition would show itself in departing from the living God. The Lord is the Author and Source of life; not only is He able to come to the assistance of all people that are in need, but He is the only One that can transmit and keep the one true life in the hearts of those that are His own. Should a believer, therefore, scorn and spurn the fellowship of God by departing from Him and His life, he would have only himself to blame for the final damnation which would come upon him.
The sacred writer, therefore, continues his warning on the positive side: Rather admonish one another every day, so long as that period endures which is called “today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceit of sin. This is one of the functions of their calling which Christians should be glad to take upon themselves, to exhort, to admonish one another, to spur one another on in sanctification. It is a kindness which is not a mere matter indifferent, but whose manifestation is required by the duty which Christians owe one another. Sanctification in every Christian congregation is a matter calling for constant vigilance, for the practice of love which must be carried on daily, day after day. For now is God’s great Today, now is the time of grace, now is the time that He wants us to listen to His wonderful invitation to the heavenly meal. So long as God still issues His pleading call, we should take heed to pay attention to it quickly; for we do not know when this time of grace may come to an end. And there is always the danger of being hardened by a neglect of the Word in time. Sin is present in so many pleasant and deceitful guises, and the devil is so unusually proficient in his ability to make the greatest defections from the will of God appear as mere innocent pastimes, that it requires the most vigilant care on the part of every Christian lest he become callous to the pleadings of the Word of God and become a prey to eternal death. Sin in heart or life blinds a person to the beauty and the meaning of God’s wonderful offer of salvation.
To the observance of this vigilance we should be inspired also by another consideration: For partakers of Christ we have become, if we but hold firm the beginning of our confidence to the end. See Heb 3:6. This is a thought which is often brought out by the Apostle Paul when he warns the Christians against carnal security, and by Peter, when he bids us make our calling and election sure, 2Pe 1:10. We must never lose sight of the fact that by our conversion we have partaken and are now partaking of Jesus Christ, of all the blessings and gifts which He has earned for us by His redemption. This fact, however, puts us under the obligation of remaining in His grace, of keeping unto the end at least that amount of firm confidence in His redemption which is the essence of faith. So sure must the believer’s confidence in His Lord be that it will withstand all attacks until the end, till it will be beyond trial and temptation, finally triumphant, in the presence of Christ. Firmness, confidence, faithfulness, are required of all disciples of the Lord Jesus.
Heb 3:7-9. Wherefore, &c. “We are the people of God, if we continue steadfast: wherefore, let me advise you, and exhort you, in the words of the inspired Psalmist, Today, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, and be not stubborn and disobedient, as were our fathers at Massah and Meribah in the wilderness; (Exo 17:2-7.) when they tempted God, and tried how far his power and goodness would extend.” The reasoning throughout this epistle is in general taken from the state of the children of Israel in the wilderness, and from what was done and said there; and the comparison is run between Christ and Moses; Christ and the high-priest;the sacrifice of Christ, and the sacrifices then and there appointed;the wilderness in which the Jews wandered, and the present life of Christians;the land of Canaan, and the state of happiness or rest, to which we are called by Christ. The people of God are called out of the world, as the Israelites were out of Egypt: the people of God at present are going as it were through the wilderness, towards their rest in heaven, just as the children of Israel were marching through the wilderness to Canaan.As this was the plan of the apostle, he speaks about the tabernacle, and the Jewish worship as at that time; and does not so much as mention the temple, except possibly in one place; or the state of things at the time when he was writing. His design was, to shew that the Lord Jesus Christ, and what he did, were infinitely more excellent, and infinitely more advantageous, than what Moses was and did. The superior dignity of the person of Christ was shewn in ch. 1. The reason of his condescension to become incarnate in ch. 2. His infinite superiority to Moses, in the present chapter: in further proof of which he proceeds to shew, that the rest promised by Christ to his people, is infinitely superior, and infinitely more excellent than that which Moses proposed to the children of Israel; whence this inference is as strong as possible, that the Hebrews ought to adhere steadfastly to the word preached by Christ, if they desired to obtain that more excellent and glorious rest. Mr. Peirce observes, that the wherefore, at the beginning of Heb 3:7 connects with the beginning of Heb 3:12. Wherefore, take heed, brethren, lest, &c. and that the citation from the 95th psalm, which comes between, is to be read in a parenthesis.Having cited that psalm, the author dilates upon it, and applies it to his purpose, in the following part of this, and the beginning of the next chapter.
to Heb 4:13
Heb 3:7 to Heb 4:13 . The author, in detailed development of the paraenesis already contained in Heb 3:1 ; Heb 3:6 , warns against unbelief and apostasy, making the basis of this warning the admonitory utterance of Scripture in Psa 95:7-11 ; and by means of a parallelizing of the people of God of the present time, i.e. the Christians, with the people of God of Moses’ day, i.e. the Israelite fathers in the wilderness, a parallelizing equally suggested by this passage of Scripture as by the preceding comparison of Christ with Moses, he sets forth before the eyes of his readers the fate of the ancient people of God, who because of their unbelief were consigned to destruction, that the readers may earnestly ponder thereon.
Heb 3:7 . ] Wherefore, i.e. either: because Christ stands higher than Moses (so Carpzov, Zachariae, Bhme, Stuart, Kurtz, and Woerner; comp. already Schlichting), or, which is better: because we are the of God, only in the case that we hold fast the and the of the Christian hope unto the end (Heb 3:6 ). The tempus finitum belonging to is , Heb 3:12 (Erasmus, Annott .; Calvin, Estius, Piscator, Pareus, Grotius, Owen, Seb. Schmidt, Limborch, Bengel, Peirce, Carpzov, Wetstein, Abresch, Zachariae, Bhme, Bleek, Bisping, Alford, Kurtz, Woerner, al .), in such wise that forms an intervening clause. The length of the intervening clause, at which de Wette takes umbrage, decides nothing against the supposition of such construction, which at all events possesses the advantage of greater regularity and naturalness, since the author, owing to the care which he everywhere bestows upon his diction, in other cases, too, accurately fits in his discourse again to the opening words of the proposition, notwithstanding the occurrence of lengthy intervening clauses. Comp. Heb 7:20-22 , Heb 12:18-24 . That, moreover, which de Wette further objects, that in the intervening clause the discourse takes a new departure with , Heb 3:10 , forms no valid counter-argument, since the connectedness of the preceding and following words as part of a Biblical citation follows naturally. In any case, Heb 3:10 connects itself with that which precedes, without a new beginning, in a simply relative fashion, if as we are perfectly justified in doing we write instead of . When de Wette, finally, discovers a difficulty in the fact that the warning, Heb 3:12-13 , does not appear in the form of a simple application of the passage of Scripture, but, on the contrary, begins with an analysis of the same, this also is without weight, inasmuch as the correctness of this assumed fact must itself be contested. In addition to this, if the author had conceived of the structure otherwise than has been indicated, he would assuredly have placed , Heb 3:12 , instead of the disconnected . For neither is it permissible to appeal (with Tholuck) to the disconnected , Heb 12:25 , in proof of the opposite, since this passage, on account of the rhetorical character of the description which there immediately precedes, is totally different from ours. Others, as Schlichting, Jac. Cappellus, Wittich, Heinrichs, Kuinoel, Klee, Stein, Stengel, Ebrard, Bloomfield, Delitzsch, Reuss, and Hofmann, connect immediately with , in connection with which, however, the direct address of God, coming in Heb 3:9 ff., occasions a great harshness; or else, as Tholuck, de Wette, and Maier, who appeal to Rom 15:3 ; Rom 15:21 , 1Co 1:31 ; 1Co 2:9 , leave the application to be supplied in thought from these words; or, finally, supplement in a somewhat free manner: therefore conduct yourselves in accordance with that which the Holy Ghost speaks .
] the Spirit of God in prophecy ; comp. Heb 9:8 , Heb 10:15 .
] is in the Hebrew ( ) an independent clause, and the expression of a wish: “would that you would only to-day listen to His (God’s) voice!” It is possible that the LXX. also understood the words as a wish, since elsewhere, too (e.g. Psa 139:19 ), they render the particle of wishing, , by . Differently, however, does the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews take the words (against Hofmann). He regards as the protasis, and as the apodosis; comp. Heb 3:15 ; Heb 4:7 .
In the application denotes the time of salvation which has come in with the appearing of Christ upon earth, and the voice of God which through Christ sounds forth to the readers by means of the gracious message of the gospel.
II Heb 3:7-19
7 Wherefore, as the Holy Spirit saith: To-day if ye will [om. will] hear his voice, 8harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness, 9 when [where ] your fathers tempted me, proved me [by proving],6 and saw my works [during] forty years. 10Wherefore I was grieved [was angry] with that [this]7 generation, and said, They do always err [go astray] in their heart; and they have not known [but they did not know] my ways. 11So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest. 12Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart13 of unbelief, in departing [falling away, ] from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To-day; lest any of you8 be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14For we are made [have become] partakers of Christ, if [provided that, ] we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end; 15while it is said, To-day if ye will hear [if ye hear] his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. 16For some, when they had heard, did provoke, [for who, when they heard, provoked him?]: howbeit not all [nay, did not all they?] that came 17 out of Egypt by Moses [?]. But [And] with whom was he grieved [angry during] forty years? was it not with them that had sinned [?], whose carcases fell in the wilderness? 18 [!] And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to 19 them that believed not [disobeyed, ]? So [And] we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
[Heb 3:7., as, , according as, not, if ye will hear, but, if ye hear, or shall have heard, See Del., De W., Moll. Still the precise import of the Hebrew original of the Psalm is doubtful, and it is possible that the Septuagint may intend its as having an optative forcewould that! Yet we do not seem authorized in our Epistle to depart from the natural rendering of the words.
Heb 3:9., where, not when, as Eng. ver. , in proving, instead of .
Heb 3:10. , emphatic; but they did not know, etc., to be cordinated apparently not with , but with and , adversative. So De W., Del., Moll.
Heb 3:11. , Eng. ver., so I swore as if =. Moll, so that=; so De Wette, Del. Bib. Union, literally, as.
Heb 3:14., we have become, not are made, , precisely if=provided that: stronger than , if.
Heb 3:16. , for who? all modern scholars read , who? instead of the ancient , some, indefinite, which is nearly unmeaning.
Heb 3:17. . Moll rightly follows Del. in making this not a question, but a statement descriptive of the effects of the wrath. So Bib. Un.
Heb 3:18., Eng. ver., so, without reason. It is not an inference, but the statement of an actual fact. De Wette, Del., Moll, Bib. Union rightly and.K.].
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Heb 3:7. Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith, etc.The exhortation to take warning from the example of their ancestors against apostasy is introduced by , as an inference from the preceding statements, and is to be conceived as corresponding () to the address of the Holy Spirit; , however, is neither to be immediately connected with , (Schlicht., Ebr., Del., etc.), thus producing a blending of the principal with the subordinate sentence; inasmuch as God, in the citation, Heb 3:7-11, is speaking in the first person; nor with , Heb 3:12 (Erasm., Calv., Este, Grot., Bl., Ln., Bisping, etc.), for this stands too remote. Nor again is the hortatory addition to be supplied (Thol., De W.); but the abrupt breaking off of the construction in the main sentence is characteristic. It gives to the reader a moments interval of repose, and yet, at the same time, summons him to reflection, and to a right application of the passage. With new emphasis, and starting, as it were, afresh, the exhortation is subsequently given by the author himself in Heb 3:12.
Heb 3:8. To-day, if ye hear his voice, harden not your hearts.As the Sept. often translates the Hebrew particle of desire by , it is possible that it has so taken the words here according to the common understanding of the Hebrew text, in which stands first for the sake of emphasis: Would that to-day ye might hearken to His voice! It is possible, however, that in Heb. here simply introduces a hypothetical condition [so Delitzsch]. The citation is from Psa 95:7; Psa 95:11, which, by the sudden introduction of the speech of Jehovah, belongs to the class of those that bear a prophetic character. The author is thus entirely warranted in not restricting the to-day to the actual present of the Psalmist (left in Heb. unnamedin the Sept. mentioned as David); and in regarding the address itself as that of the Holy Spirit, while, at the same time, the Holy Scripture is regarded in all its parts as (2Ti 3:16). Del. communicates the following remarkable Messianic Haggada from bab. Sanhedrin, 98 a.: R. Joshua Ben Levi once found Elijah (the Tishbite) standing at the entrance of the cave of R. Simeons Ben Jochei. He asked him: Do I come into the future world? Elijah answered: If the Lord (, name of the Shechina that was invisibly present with Elijah) wills it. R. Joshua stated that he saw indeed but two (himself and Elijah), but he heard the voices of three. He asked him further: When comes the Messiah? Elijah: Go and ask Him in person. Joshua: And where? Elijah: He is sitting at the gate of Rome. Joshua: And how may He be recognized? Elijah: He is sitting among poor persons laden with diseases; and while others unbind their wounds at the same time, and then bind them up, He unbinds and then again binds up one wound after another, for He thinks: Perchance I am about to be summoned (called to make my public appearance); and I do this that I may not then be detained! (as would be the case if He unbound all wounds at the same time). Then came Joshua to Him, and He cried: Peace unto thee, son of Levi! Joshua: When comest Thou, Lord? He: To-day. On returning to Elijah, Joshua was asked by him: What said He to thee? Joshua: Peace unto thee, son of Levi. Elijah: In this He has given to thee and to thy father a prospect of the future world. Joshua: But He has deceived me in that He said to me that He comes to-day. Elijah: His meaning in that was thisTo-day, if ye hear His voice.
Heb 3:8. As in the provocation in the wilderness.The Heb. reads: As at Meribah (Numbers 20), as at the day of Massa, in the wilderness (Exodus 17). Our author takes these proper names etymologically, as appellatives, and the words as added to define the time of the . The is a particle of time, the same as at Heb 9:9, as in the Hellenistic, and is not to be turned into a term of comparison=. Otto considers that here also Numbers 14 is alone referred to.
Heb 3:9. Where your fathersduring forty years.The last mentioned temptation took place in the first year of the Exodus; the first mentioned in the fortieth. But the hardness of the people always remained the same, to which Moses refers, Deu 33:8. The is a particle of place corresponding to , and not, by attraction to , Gen. for , with which (Erasm., Schmid, Beng., Peirce). The forty years in the wilderness are in the synagogue also regarded as typical. R. Elieser says: The days of the Messiah are forty years, as it is said, Psalms 95. (Sanh., fol. 99, 1). And to the question: How long continue the years of the Messiah? R. Akiba answered: Forty years, corresponding to the sojourning of the Israelites in the desert (Tanchuma, fol. 79, 4). The admonition of our Epistle must, therefore, have made a powerful impression, if this number of years since the ministry of Christ had, when this Epistle was composed, nearly elapsed. That the author has in mind this typical relation, is clear from the fact that the forty years, which in the Heb. belong to the following clausea construction which he himself recognizes at Heb 3:17he here carries back to the preceding, and shows that he intends this construction by introducing between the dissevered parts the particle (so Intpp. generally since Calov).
Heb 3:10. Wherefore I was angry with this generation.The Hellenistic from , steep, high bank, or cliff, implies violent, tempestuous excitement, which one either occasions or experiences. Usually it has the latter sense, denoting the feeling of violent displeasure awakened by opposition. The belongs not to (Erasm.), but to . A secondary idea of contempt can hardly belong to (Heinr., Steng.), though very possibly to(Ln.); but it is impossible that, by the latter pronoun (), instead of , the author could have intended in this connection an incidental reference to his readers (Bhm., Bl., De W.). In this passage also the author follows the Alex. Cod. of the Sept. in reading , while the Vat. Cod. follows the Heb. in reading .
Heb 3:11. As I sware in my wrath that they shall not enter into my rest.Possibly should be taken as=as, but it may also, corresponding to the Heb. (Ewald, 337, a.), denote result=, so that. It then, indeed, usually takes the Infin., or the Opt. with , though sometimes also the Indic. (Win., p. 410) [, so that, as easily takes the Ind. as the Opt.K.]. The in the clause containing the substance of the oath, is in imitation of the Heb. . The formula has sprung from the suppression of the apodosis, and negatives the thought, while affirms it. The refers originally to the rest of the Promised Land, Deu 12:9-10. But the idea of the rest of God, proceeding from this starting point, acquired a wider scope and a deeper significance.
Heb 3:12. Take heed that there be notliving God., after words of seeing, in the Fut. Indic., expresses not only a warning, but, with it, anxiety in regard to a failure to give heed Hart., Part. II., 140). The enclitic means, not ever, at any time (Beza, Eng. Ver., etc.), but perchance, and the individualizes the admonition, so as to bring it home to each person in conscientious self-examination. The Gen. indicates the relation of quality; the evil heart, then, is not to be regarded as the cause or ground (Bl., etc.), nor as the consequence of unbelief (De W., etc.). Nor, again, is either faithlessness or disobedience (Schultz). The latter is the consequence of unbelief, Heb 3:18; Heb 4:6; Heb 4:11, which appears here as exhibiting its internal essence in apostasy from God. We are not by to understand Christ (Gerh., Dorsch, Calov, Sebast. Schmidt, Schttg., Carpz.), although the warning refers to the lapse from Christianity to Judaism. And God is here called , living, not in contrast with dead works of law, Heb 6:1; Heb 9:14 (Bl.), and not in contrast with dead idols, as Act 14:15; 2Co 6:16; 1Th 1:9 (Bhme), but as He who works with living efficiency, Heb 9:14; Heb 12:22; who executes His threats, Heb 10:31; but chiefly who has appointed Christ as He did Moses, and thus accomplished the fulfilment of His promises. This latter point is overlooked by most interpreters, but is involved directly both in the fundamental conception of our Epistle, and in the immediate connection of the passage.
Heb 3:13. But exhort one another dailysins.With the warning stands connected a summons to , i.e., to language at once of consolation and of admonition, with which the hearers are to render daily aid to one another, so long as this period of gracious waiting shall continue. In classical, as well as in New Testament use (Col 3:16) , is frequently=. Individual self-exhortation cannot be expressed by , which would rather demand . (to-day with the def. art.) cannot denote the life-time of individuals (Theodoret, Theoph., Primas., Erasm., Este, Dorsch, etc.), but must be identical with the day of the Psalm, and thus with the interval of grace extending to the second coming of the Messiah. We might also, in this sense, translate , is named, (Vulg., Est., Bl., Ln., etc.), but inasmuch as this is liable to the misconception: So long as we can yet speak of to-day, the rendering is called=so long as the to-day of the Psalm sounds in our ears (Calv., Thol., Bhm., Del., etc.), would seem to deserve the preference. The Aor. Pass. is not to be softened down; it contains a reminder of the divine judicial hardening of those who abuse the means of grace through the deceitfulness of sin. For this reason is designedly placed before , not as contrasting them with their fathers in the wilderness (Bhme, Bl.), which would almost necessarily require a , also, but to designate with emphasis the readers as those who are highly favored (Del.). Apostasy from Christianity is here designated as sin, absolutely; for the essence of sin is apostasy from God; but Christ is the Son of God, and has brought to its accomplishment the will of God on earth. The deceit, therefore, which now works upon the heart, is worse than the earlier, Gen 3:13.
Heb 3:14. For we have become joint partakers with Christ if we hold fast, etc.As in the former chapter the author now again enforces the preceding exhortation by the greatness of the salvation which has been bestowed on us. The term , have become, reminds us that we do not possess this salvation by nature, and that consequently without the observance of the requisite condition, we are liable to have it withdrawn from us. This condition, again, introduced by the particle [not of mere condition with opt., but] of doubt, , if, , precisely if, provided that (with Subj.) is presented not simply and objectively, as a mere condition, but as of questionable fulfilment, and hence enforces the need of self-examination, of watchfulness, and of fidelity. And for this reason cannot mean participants of Christ, i.e., having part in His person; but only participants along with Christ, associates of, or joint partakers with Christ in the possessions and blessings of the kingdom of God. Riehm, overlooking this requirement of the context, prefers, with more recent scholars, the rendering participes, sharers in, instead of associates, or sharers with, as the more comprehensive and significant. He is right, indeed, as to the matter of fact, where he says (II. 719): Christ, the Mediator of the New Covenant, enters into such intimate personal fellowship with the believer, that it can be said of the latter that he possesses Christ; and along with Christ Himself all that Christ has obtained has also become his own; as one who has part in Christ, he has also part with Christ in the heavenly glory and blessedness. But the context demands the limitation above given. The term must imply partners or associates of Christ, yet without its being referred back, as by Schultz, to the term brethren of Christ (Heb 2:11); and the term being narrowed down to . By Erasm., Schultz, Stein, etc., understand the settled elementary principles or foundations of the Christian religion. Luther renders it the commenced or inaugurated essenceangefangene Wesen (as translation of substantia). Vatablus, Este, Bisping make it a periphrasis for faith, in so far as faith produces our subsistence in the spiritual life, or originates the subsistence of Christ within us. Instead of either of these meanings, the context points us to a meaning of familiar to the later Greek, viz., firm confidence, as the only one which meets its exigencies. For stands here in the same connection as , hope, Heb 3:6, and in fact denotes this hope in its relation as daughter of faith, and by virtue of its relationship remaining amidst all assaults steadfastly and confidently directed toward the goal. As such it needs perpetual fostering and culture, in order that that beginning of the Christian career, which is wont to be characterized by joyfulness, energy and strength (1Ti 5:12; Rev 2:4), and which, in the case of the readers, has been so characterized (Heb 6:10; Heb 10:32; Heb 13:7), may have a corresponding end. The is, therefore, a beginning, not in the sense of imperfection and weakness, which led Ebrard to find in the readers a set of catechumens and neophytes, but the opening or inauguration of the Church life in its full vitality and power (Camero, Grot., Bhme, Thol., etc.).
Heb 3:15. In its being said to-day if ye hearharden not, etc.The author resumes the citation, yet not for the purpose of expressing an admonition, thus making the citation proper extend only to to-day (v. Gerl.), or to hear His voice (Capell., Carpz., etc.), and the author resume his exhortation at harden not, etc., in the applied words of the Psalm, as the answering clause to . For this formula of introduction makes it necessary to take the following words as an entire citation. Nor may we again (with Beng., Michael., etc.), enclose Heb 3:14 in parenthesis. and connect . immediately with the requisition (, etc.), Heb 3:13; for the verse thus forms not merely an unnecessary and halting appendage, but unnaturally and absurdly summons the readers to mutual admonition by the previous utterance of the words of the Psalm. Nor may we (with Chrys., Grot., etc.), take Heb 3:16-19 parenthetically, and connect ., with Heb 4:1; a construction forbidden alike by the subsequent course of thought, and the connecting particle . Nor may we attach Heb 3:15 directly to Heb 3:14; thus either assigning the mode of procedure by which steadfastness of faith is to be maintained (Vulg., Luth., Calv.), or the reason and necessity of maintaining it in order that we may be partakers with Christ (Ebr.). For . is not= , or . Better, therefore, to take the words in question as protasis, or conditioning clause to Heb 3:16, which latter verse is then to be taken as interrogative with an interposed =for, why, (according to genuine Greek usage) to which also the corresponds (Seml., and most recent interpreters). [This last construction is undoubtedly possible; and I believe it preferable to either of the others, except that which would connect it with Heb 4:1, as held by Chrys., Grotius and others. In this case, however, it is not a case of proper parenthesis, so that Heb 4:1 would stand in regular construction with Heb 3:15. Rather as the author was about to proceed to the train of thought, Heb 4:1, he was led, especially by the language of the quotation itself, to restate sharply and distinctly what had been previously but implied and hinted at, the actual crime and the actual punishment of the ancient Israelites, from which so weighty admonitions were drawn. He, therefore, abruptly breaks off in the middle of his sentence, to introduce in a series of sharp interrogations and, statements these ideas: which being accomplished, he returns,with a natural change of construction, occasioned by the long interposed passage,to the idea which at Heb 3:15, he had started to develope. This obviates entirely the objection drawn from the particle , Heb 4:1, and the otherwise anacoluthic character of the construction, and is, in my judgment, the only solution of the problem of Heb 3:15, that is not attended by nearly insuperable difficulties. The construction, therefore, which I prefer, is decidedly that of Chrys., in a somewhat modified form.K.]. Of course must then be taken interrogatively; and the authors purpose is either to repel the idea, that perhaps there were only a portion who were guilty of the provocation, to wit, the people who were at the time at Meribah and Massa (Bhme, Ebr.); in which case the author would reply that all Israel failed to enter into the Promised Land, for the reason that the whole people were guilty of the sin of unbelief and apostasy; or he designs to emphasize the fact that it was precisely Israel, the highly favored people, that had been conducted forth from Egypt to become Gods special possession, in whom all this had taken place (Del.). I see no reason for separating the two ideas. For while points to the prerogative, which they enjoyed who heard the word of God, and the attendant obligation to obedience, the next and following interrogative sentence, , brings into closest connection (in ) the universality of the sin, and in , the preceding gracious experience and privilege: [while suggests here the same contrast between Moses, and his relation to the ancient Theocracy and Christ, as , Heb 1:2, between the angels and Christ.K.].
Bisping remarks: yet perchance not all? but erroneously. For in interrogations=nonne, has always an affirmative force (Khner, II., 579; Hart., Part., II., 88). The exceptional cases of Joshua, Caleb and those of tender age, are not of a nature to detract from the truth thus broadly stated, and to require that be taken, as it generally was before Bengel, indefinitely (, some, instead of , who?) thus giving the rendering (Erasm., Luth., Eng. ver., etc.), for some, when they heard committed provocation, but not all those who came out of Egypt by Moses. How could the 600,000 whom Moses brought out of Egypt, be called ? The rendering of Bengel, Schultz, Kuinoel; Nay, only they who, etc. It was merely they who, [as if denying an assertion that certain men indeed provoked God, but it was not those who came out of Egypt, etc., to which the author replies, Nay, they were all those=they were none but those] would require the article before , in order to give clearly a predicative character to . [But this would scarcely mend the matter, and Bengels construction would then be little less harsh than it is now].
Heb 3:17. With whom was he angrywilderness.Most recent interpreters put the second interrogative mark, or still a third one, at the close of the period, after wilderness, to avoid the heavy and dragging effect of the last clauseif without an interrogation. But this construction overlooks the parallelism with Heb 3:18-19, which, in like manner, distribute themselves into three members. For the last clause of these latter verses is not a mere continuation of the facts previously stated; but it points to the fulfilment of the Divine oath, lying before our eyes, in the exclusion of the people from Canaan through unbelief. So also in Heb 3:17 the last clause, whose carcasses, points to the manifestation of the Divine wrath, in the fact that those who had fallen away from God, dying, as it were, gradually, during their bodily life, became walking corpses (Del.). Grotius says rightly ex historia cognoscimus, while Seb. Schmidt, followed by Bl., with most later interpreters, maintains; , non de lectione aut cognitione histori, sed de convictione animi e disputatione, seu doctrina prmissa. [That is, Seb. Schmidt, Bl., etc., followed by Alford, regard Heb 3:19, And we see that they could not,etc., as an inference, the result of a chain of reasoning, of which, however, it is very difficult to trace any previous links; while Del. and Moll, following Grotius, make it the result stated as well known and clearly seen in the pages of the historical record, and thus brought up as a historical fact to enforce the positions of the author, and so the clause, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness, stands related to what precedes. It is the authors statement, in Scripture language, of the results of the wrath of God.K.]. The history of Israel is typical, and to this and to the state of things which follows from it, the author is referring (as shown immediately by the commencement of the following chapter), not drawing conclusions from previous premises., members, particularly hands and feet, is the term by which the LXX. render the Heb. in the sense of bodies or corpses.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. Our being kept unto salvation, springs from the promised and vouchsafed power of God, yet only through faith, which does not waver or draw back (Heb 10:38-39; 1Pe 1:5): and thus the Apostle has in these words expressed in the most definite manner the theme of his exhortation. In his purpose to carry it out still further, he again lays hold, with the skilful hand of a master, upon the word of the early Scriptures, and says what he has to say to the brethren, the partakers of the heavenly calling, in the words of the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of David. For the Epistle to the Hebrews is in so far analogous to the Revelation of John, as it brings into close union the two Testaments, and sets forth the profoundest and ultimate elements of New Testament truths, as a proper fulfilment of the types and preparatory institutions of the Old Testament, as the innermost sense and spirit of the ancient word, which was written beforehand wholly for the fulness of times (Stier).
2. With the doctrine of predestination in all its forms, this section stands in decided antagonism; for the author speaks indeed of a hardening, which has for its result, the non-attainment of the promised rest; and in like manner of a Divine will and work which are herein accomplished. But this is by no means referred to any original wrath of God, or to His eternal counsel. Rather it is the deceitfulness of sin, by which the obduracy is produced, and against this is directed an earnest warning. The wrath of God appears as the holy fire of righteous indignation upon those who, in consequence of their evil heart of unbelief, have fallen away from the living God, and have provoked and tempted Him, before that He could prove Himself unfaithful, and fail of His own word. And it is unbelief that is emphatically declared to have been the cause of the hardening of the heart, and, as united with disobedience, to have been the ground of the destruction of those who fell in the wilderness. But that unbelief itself is not purposed or produced of God, and that the capacity to believe in the preached word is not refused by God to individual men, or taken from them previously to their own self-determination, is clear from the earnestness of the exhortation that each one should, during the gracious season of his pilgrimage, give heed to the preached word, and not allow himself to be hardened against it, but rather, by the influence of mutual admonitions within the Church, should incite himself to lay to heart the history of the Israelites, and to an unwavering maintenance of the confidence of faith. [That nothing is said here of the doctrine of predestination, proves nothing more against it than is proved by every passage of warning or exhortation in the New Testament. Few Calvinists believe that the doctrine of predestination is incompatible with the free agency and consequent accountability of man.K.].
3. The hardening of the heart has its gradations of carnal security, which comforts itself with the outward possession of the means of grace, and from natural indifference and insensibility to the word, proceeds on through unbelieving disparagement, faithless neglect, and reckless transgression of the word, to rejection, contempt, and denial of it, and thence to a permanent embittering of the wicked heart; to a conscious stubbornness of the wicked will; to the bold tempting of the living God Himself, until, in complete obduracy, judicial retribution begins the fulfilment of its terrible work.
4. Unbelief is, in its inmost essence, faithlessness and apostasy, and hence always manifests itself as disobedience and corruption. In outward corruption the Divine judgment brings the inward depravity, the , to light, and, at the same time, to its due reward. For God, in contrast with the faithless and apostate, remains true to Himself and His word, and as the living God carries His judgment through all resistance of the world and the devil, to victory; bringing His threats, as well as His promises, to gradual, but sure and unchecked accomplishment.
5. It is Gods, will indeed that all men be saved, and this will is potent and mighty; yet as a gracious will, it exercises no compulsion, while, as the will of the living God, it renders possible the fulfilment of the indispensable conditions of salvation; and, as the will of the Holy God, works not magically, but by the ordinary means of grace. The decision of our destiny is thus entrusted to our own will, since God has in a reliable way made known to us our destination to salvation, and provided and proffered the sure means for its attainment.
6. The duty of self-examination, and of the conscientious use of the means of grace, we must never lose sight of; since we have not as yet entered into rest, but are merely on the way to the goal. If our gracious fellowship with Christ is completely to triumph over our natural fellowship with our fathers, it must be nurtured and promoted in the way that God has ordained. Otherwise the end will not correspond with the beginning. For previous obedience excuses not subsequent apostasy, and a faith that has been abandoned does not justify at the Divine tribunal.
7. Since the gracious will of God aims at the salvation of men; while with some His judgments only produce obduracy, as the punishment of unbelief, and in consequence of this, exclusion from salvation; and since to every individual a period of grace is allotted whose limit is unknown, we must suppose that grace has, up to this point, applied in sufficient measure all its means, ways, and resources, and that God, by virtue of His omniscience, has determined this point of time in which the work of grace ceases. But with obdurate hardness, sin passes over into a permanent condition.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Our life is a pilgrimage, if: 1, our goal is entrance into the rest of God; 2, our companions the people of God; 3, our Leader the Spirit of God; 4, our rule the word of God; 5, our Helper the Son of God.Believers have chiefly to guard themselves: 1, against false security in faith; 2, against arrogance and boasting of faith; 3, against wanderings and backsliding from faith.How exceedingly important that the season of grace be not neglected: 1, we know not the moment at which our gracious reprieve is ended; 2, they who neglect, incur the sure wrath of God; 3, they who walk under the wrath of God do not come into the land of promise.We must hearken to the voice of the Holy Spirit as it speaks to us: 1, in the Holy Scripture; 2, in our own conscience; 3, from the mouth of converted brethren.He who does to-day what God demands, has best cared for to-morrow; and he who does this daily, in the to-day gains eternity.In self-examination we have particularly to take heed to our heart: 1, whether it is an erring heart, or one steadfast in the faith; 2, whether it is an evil heart, or one converted to God; 3, whether it is a presumptuous heart, or one that is led in the discipline of the Holy Spirit.Why deception through sin is the most dangerous: 1, because it most frequently occurs, and is most rarely corrected; 2, because it is most easily accomplished, and brings the heaviest lossesTo sin all times and ways are alike, but grace has its ordained means, and its limited times; therefore be warned aright, and then in turn warn others.How can any one be lost in the possession of the means of grace? 1, if he does not use the means of grace which are proffered to him; 2, if his use of the means of grace is in truth an abuse; 3, if he does not perseveringly continue the right use of the means of grace unto the end.Let us practice the duty of mutual watching and exhortation: 1, on the basis of the word of God; 2, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit; 3, as members of the people of God in a common lowliness; 4, from the hearty compassion of genuine brotherly love; 5, for mutual furtherance in faith and obedience toward the Lord our God.
Starke:Let every one see to it that he rightly avail himself of to-day, i.e., of the present time; for this alone is ours, since the past is already gone, and the future is still uncertain. Besides, if the present is properly employed, it brings with it a blessing for the future (Gal 6:10; Isa 55:6).The examples of the wicked stand in the Holy Scripture for our improvement (1Co 10:6). There is no better means to be employed against obduracy of heart, than that by frequent self-examination and befitting fidelity, we learn to obey the convictions that have been wrought within us; for thus conscience maintains its tender sensibility, and is preserved from all hardening, 2Co 13:5.The more proofs and testimonies men have of the guidance and care of God, the heavier becomes the sin, if they will still neither believe nor hope, Mat 23:37-38.God has come to the aid of human weakness, and uttered in His word many a declaration with the virtual confirmation of an oath, in that He swears by Himself and appeals to the inviolable truth of His being and life.Divine threatenings are not an empty and dead sound, but have a mighty emphasis; they are fraught with Gods jealous zeal, and are finally put in force. Ah! that thou mightest be awakened by them to repentance! Jos 23:15; Zec 1:6.Man departs from God, and becomes involved in spiritual death, when he begins to deny the truths which bring salvation (Act 13:46); or to live in conscious and deliberate sins, which are incompatible with union with God.Oh! how necessary that the whole Christian body be aroused! but who thinks thereupon? We avoid speaking of spiritual things in our common intercourse; and this is a sure sign of a great backsliding.Preachers cannot do every thing, and cannot be everywhere; therefore, the fathers of the household must be also bishops of the household; nay, one Christian must be bishop to another, and he has good authority and right to rebuke and correct in another what he sees worthy of reproof (1Th 5:11; Jam 5:19).A man can easily be hardened if he does not take knowledge and care of himself, and take to heart the admonition of others.Sin is a powerful and deceitful thing; powerful in evil desires, by which one is very easily swept away when he does not, with the grace of God, set himself against them; but deceitful when by the plausible assurance that a thing is right, allowable, and free from peril, it ensnares the man, seduces him into sin, and, unawares, gets the mastery of him. Ah! let every one be on his guard against it (Eph 4:22).Christ, with all His attributes, offices, and possessions, belongs to us; for us was He born, for us He died, for us He arose, for us He lives, and for us He intercedes. Therefore, if we have Christ, we are wanting in no good whatsoever (Psa 34:11; Rom 8:32).In Christianity two things are of preminent importancean upright character and a steadfast continuance in it. The one cannot and must not be without the other; for if we fail at the outset in uprightness of character, much more shall we fail in steadfastness. And if the latter is wanting, the beginning and the earlier progress will be in vain (Eze 33:12).One day is like another; we may always fail and fall: therefore, to-day, to-morrow, and at all times there is need of watchfulness and caution (1Co 10:12).God is inconceivably long-suffering, and waits long before He punishes; and meanwhile He is doing good to sinners, and always alluring them to repentance (Rom 2:4).O! how many men fail to attain that natural limit of life which God has appointed! They cut it short to themselves by wilful sin, and it is shortened to them again by the Divine wrath (Pro 10:27).Wilt thou charge unrighteousness upon God, that He lets good come to one and evil to another? Look, He is so righteous that He punishes none except him who is deserving of punishment (Job 34:11; Wis 12:15).Unbelief is the source of all sin. From unbelief sprang murmuring and all disobedience, inasmuch as by this they denied the presence, omnipotence, wisdom, and grace of God.
Berlenburger Bible:Since Christ is to rule in us as Lord in His house, we must accept the condition of hearing His voice and giving heed to it at every moment.The people demand indeed, Christ, but when He comes without sufficient adornment and decoration, they reject Him, and are hardened.All evil which befalls us springs from our giving no ear to the voice of God, just as our hearkening to it is followed by nothing but good.The ways of God are entirely unknown and strange to the flesh; the heart of man always wanders about in other things; and thus, also, the dispensations of God are entirely contrary and repugnant to mans self-will.Tenderly as God loves a soul, He cannot treat with tenderness its corrupt disposition.They are zealous for the Sabbath, and have no rest in their heart.God commences His chastisement by depriving us of rest, in order that we may observe that we have lost something.If we love others, we admonish them. Open your eyes and see!Unbelief is a toilsome and an evil thing, which also allows no repose to others.Now we still hear the call, to-day; but the gracious interval may soon close and end. Thus the boundary, with all its uncertainty, is to be kept before our eyes. But God creates this uncertainty, not in order to vex us, but in order to guard us against false security.The present life is to be regarded merely as a day. Blessed is he who uses it for eternity!God has appointed the period of life as the period of repentance; yet we may not say that the limit of grace reaches absolutely to the limit of nature.Paul is obliged to give more space to warnings than to doctrines. Such admonitions are commonly disliked; one must, therefore, deal in them sparingly; yet they spring from an evangelical heart.Whoever wilfully neglects salvation, who can help him?In warning a person against the danger of being hardened, we do not deny his former possession of grace, but we remind him that he must not lose his previous grace.
Laurentius:The ground of the admonition is twofold: 1, Christs superiority to Moses; 2, the appeal of the Holy Spirit.The greater the grace of God, so much the greater frequently is the wickedness of men.Believers also need to be admonished.By the false pretexts of sin man is deceived, and by the deceitfulness of sin he is hardened.By frequent admonition, much evil can be guarded against.Faith can be again lost.Not the beginning, but the end, receives the crown.Unbelief is the capital sin, and is specially punished by God; the examples of punishments inflicted on others should serve as a warning to us.
Rambach:The heart is hard even by nature, but God endeavors to soften it. If we oppose ourselves to Him, the hardness becomes obduracy.Unbelief is the single and proper cause of damnation.Sin has regard to the disposition. With the ungodly she uses force and not cunning, saying, Thou must do that. With believers whom she is unable to rule, she employs cunning and deception.
Steinhofer:It is the office of the Holy Spirit to testify and to warn against the sin of unbelief, and this office He constantly exercises in the preached word.What takes place in the case of souls that come into the state of grace, and what is required in order that we may remain in this condition.
Hahn:What God has already done in us, gives us a new incentive to fidelity.Though we ourselves find nothing in ourselves, we are still as yet not justified; but we must appeal to another that he should pronounce our justification.We have before us a goal; therefore we should seek to preserve one another; one should kindle anothers zeal, not light the flame of his passion. Such are the obligations of Christian fellowship.
Rieger:We meet, within the barriers of the race-course of faith, not only footsteps in which to follow, but also doubtful and dangerous deviations, and connected with these, warnings of the Holy Spirit.Every one has his fixed barriers and ordained course of faith, from his first hearing of the voice of God even to the goal.In regard to faith, and our participation in the heavenly calling, we must neither be timid and distrustful, nor again secure and heedless as if there were no danger.The deceitfulness of sin need only to withdraw one to-day after another, from the attention of thy heart, in order to cheat thee unobserved of thy whole gracious season of many years.In admonitions and appeals from the word of God, lies a drawing and a calling of God, which sin cannot so much destroy as our own purposes.
Von Gerlach:As long as the Holy Spirit is still working on the heart, so long continues our respite of grace.
Heubner:The continuous office of the Holy Spirit in the Church is, to lay Christ upon the heart, to urge us to faith, to rebuke unbelief.Even in the Old Testament we perceive the voice of the Spirit.The Spirit urges not irresistibly.The guilt is mans, the merit is Gods.The foolishness of men is a perpetual provoking and tempting of God.The to-day Isaiah 1. a word reminding us of the daily never-ceasing preaching of the Divine word; 2. a word that awakens to repentance; 3. a word of warning against delay; 4. a word of consolation, for where God still calls and still makes His voice heard, the period of grace has not as yet flown by.Without rest, without repose, wanders round the disobedient son, who hears not the voice of his father.The weary, wandering soul must strive after the rest of God.Who trembles not at the words, never to attain to the rest of God; forever to be banished from the realm of peace?If the ultimate issues of the wicked heart are so emphatically set before us in the case of others, this should make us all the more strict and rigorous towards ourselves.To fall away from the living God, is to fall away from true life.Had sin no deceitful form, she would not lead astray; let him who knows her, warn the in experienced; let all be indefatigable in exhorting and in hearing.The grace obtained through Christ remains only to the steadfast believer; it becomes punishment to him who does not hold on to faith.
Stier:Nothing is demanded of us previously to, or upon any other ground than, our having heard the word of God which brings us grace and salvation.The successive stages of apostasy are always the same.
Ahlfeld:To-day let the voice of God warn you against being hardened. We consider 1. the course by which obduracy proceeds onward to judgment; 2. the course by which grace breaks in pieces the hard heart.Labor with earnestness against thine own hardening. The chief points of this labor are: 1. honest self-examination; 2. hearty, mutual, fraternal admonition; 3. diligence in looking back over the grace which we have received.
Von Bogatzky:We must not only guard against rude blasphemers, and abominate them, but also take heed to our own heart, and see how this wanders, swerves, and becomes alienated from God.Whoever holds a sin to be small and insignificant, is already deceived by sin, falls already into error, and, corrupted by his delight in error, is finally utterly hardened.The commencement of upright and genuine faith brings us already to a complete union with Christ, and is a true foundation, receives Christ as a whole, and rests entirely in Christ as upon its reliable foundation.Holding fast, we are to hold out unto the end.Our heart is so unbelieving, that if we ten times experience the help of God, and find ourselves strengthened in faith, still when there comes a fresh emergency, trial and exercise of our faith, unbelief again immediately bestirs herself.Our God is alone the living God; thus He will give us also life, and power, and full supplies, and will be Himself our life, our light and salvation, and the strength of our life. Thus we need not with our hearts turn with lustful desires to the needy creatures who assuredly without Him can give no life, no true joy and satisfaction, and thus also we need not fear, any creatures, not even the devil.We have to pray for nothing but faith (although we have it already), in order that we may also maintain faith, and thus, believing unto the end, may save our souls.
Hedinger:Gods wrath spares not the fathers, much less the children. Why? The latter should have made the conduct and fate of the former a mirror, in which they might behold and gaze upon their own.
[Owen:The formal reason of all our obedience, consists in its relation to the voice, or authority of God.We see many taking a great deal of pains in the performance of such duties as, being not appointed of God, are neither accepted with Him, nor will ever turn unto any good account unto their own souls.Consideration and choice are a stable and permanent foundation of obedience.Many previous sins make way for the great sin of finally rejecting the voice or word of God.Old Testament examples are New Testament instructions.Especial seasons of grace for obedience, are in an especial manner to be observed and improved.It is a dangerous condition for children to boast of the privileges of their fathers, and to imitate their sins.Take heed, gray hairs are sprinkled upon you, though you perceive it not. Death is at the door. Beware, lest your next provocation be your last.When repentance upon convictions of provocations lessens or delays, it is a sad symptom of an approaching day, wherein iniquity will be completed.Whithersoever sin can enter, punishment can follow.Though vengeance seems to have a lame foot, yet it will hunt sin, until it overtake the sinner.A careless profession will issue in apostasy, open or secret, or in great distress, Mat 13:5-6.This privative unbelief is two-fold: 1. in refusing to believe, when it is required; 2. in rejecting the faith after it hath been received.We have but a most uncertain season for the due performance of certain duties. How long it will be called today, we know not.Union with Christ is the principle and measure of all spiritual enjoyments and expectations.Therefore are the graces and works of believers excellent, because they are the graces and works of them that are united unto Christ.Constancy and steadfastness in believing, is the great touch-stone, trial and evidence of union with Christ, or a participation of Him.God sometimes will make men who have been wickedly exemplary in sin, righteously exemplary in their punishment.No unbeliever shall ever enter into the rest of God].
Footnotes:
[6]Heb 3:9.For , , recent critics read after Sin. A. B. C. D.* E. M. Uff., 73, 137, Ital. Copt., . The lect. recept. is made up from the LXX. Cod. Alex. in which the first and the Vat. in which the second is wanting.
[7]Heb 3:10.For , we are to read with Sin. A. B. D. M., 6, 17, , [this, not that () the author, as supposed by many, changing the pronoun for the sake of a more direct application to his readers. This view, however, is rejected by MollK.].
[8]Heb 3:13.Instead of , read with B. D. E. K. L., 46, 48, . Sin., however, has the former reading.
(7) Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, Today 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 always err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. (11) So I swore in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) (12) Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. (13) But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. (14) For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end; (15) While it is said, Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. (16) For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. (17) But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? (18) And to whom swore he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? (19) So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
I pause the more frequent over those verses, where God the Holy Ghost is spoken of, in any of his more express personal acts, in order to direct the Reader’s attention to the subject. Among the latter-day heresies, the denial of his Person and Godhead, is specially marked. And the Reader will do well to consider, how very often the Lord hath ascribed to himself personal exercises; such as speaking and commanding, and the like, as if to guard the Church against this deadly sin. Surely the thing itself, being so plain, as all the ministry of the Holy Ghost must imply; it need not have been said as here; Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith; unless it had been intended in a more palpable way, and manner, to keep the minds of the faithful always alive, in their attention, both to his Person, and Godhead. See Heb 9:8 and Commentary.
Concerning what is here said, by God the Holy Ghost, in charging the people, to be on the watch, lest an evil heart of unbelief should creep in among them; (and he holds up before them the history of those whose carcasses fell in the wilderness, by way of remark, I shall beg to offer a few brief observations.
And, first. Let the Reader take notice, to whom these words are spoken, namely, to the brethren. Not to the carnal and unregenerate; but to those of whom it is said, verse 14, for we are made partakers of Christ; or, as it might have been rendered, for we have been made partakers of Christ; for it refers to an act past: and an act made on God’s part; not on ours: having been so made, before the foundation of the world, Eph 1:4-5 . Let the Reader make this his first observation on the passage. It is to the Church, the brethren, to whom the Holy Ghost speaks.
Secondly. They are admonished to take heed against an hardness of heart, and an evil heart of unbelief. Now this is not the original stony heart, which the Church, as well as the whole Adam-race, has by nature. For the Lord promised to take this away, and in regeneration it is actually taken away, Eze 36:26 with Joh 3:3-8 . But it is that hardness of heart, which even the Lord’s people, in the unrenewed part of their nature, their body of sin which they carry about with them, are too apt to imbibe, from mingling with carnal company, and an absence from ordinances, neglect in reading the word of God: and a shyness, or little frequency at the mercy seat. These things bring on coldness, and distance, between Christ and the soul: and like the Church, a sleepy, slothful frame is felt, Son 5:2 and Commentary.
Thirdly. The Lord plainly shews in what follows, by calling upon the Church to exhort one another, that it is the Church, and not the carnal which is here admonished; and by the remedy proposed by exhortation, it is as plain, that absence from the Lord, and his courts, and inattention to the several means of grace, were referred to, as the causes of inducing this hardness, and insensibility of heart and unbelief.
Fourthly. The carcasses of those which fell in the wilderness, plainly shew, that they differed wholly from the Lord’s people here admonished. They are so spoken of elsewhere, as those with whom God was not well pleased, 1Co 10:5 . And who were they? Not the Lord’s people in Christ, who from everlasting are chosen in him; predestinated to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself; and accepted in the beloved, Eph 1:4-6 . Who are they then, I answer, the children of Israel, after the flesh: or perhaps also partly that mixed multitude, which went up out of Egypt with Moses. See Exo 12:37-38 and Num 14:26-37 . Those men, while the miracles of the Lord’s servant in Egypt, were warm in their remembrance, followed Israel, but they knew not the Lord; neither followed the Lord. Hence the expressions: For some, howbeit not all. See Reader! distinguishing grace! And do not forget, what God the Spirit hath also said on the same subject. For they are not all Israel which are of Israel. Neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children, but in Isaac shall thy seed be called, Rom 9:6-7 . The nation of Israel, as a nation, like any other nation where there is a professing Church, as a professing Church, did all enjoy the outward privileges. They had all the Manna, and all drank of the Rock; the Cloud to screen by day, and the pillar of fire by night. But these were only common things to them, like Ordinances. Unbelief then, and un-regeneration now, produce the same effect. The five words of Christ, Ye must be born again: Joh 3:7 , becomes the sole qualification to an entrance into Christ’s kingdom.
7 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,
Ver. 7. Wherefore as the Holy Ghost ] It is well observed by Calvin, that the words after “wherefore,” toHeb 3:12Heb 3:12 , should be enclosed with a parenthesis, and then the sense is clear. If Jerome and Egranus had observed so much in this and other places, they would not so sharply have censured St Paul for his obscurities and incongruities, and lame senses and sentences. (Jerome Epist. ad Algesiam. Joh. Egran. apud Jo. Manl. loc. com.)
7 19 .] See the summary at the beginning of the chapter. Exhortation , founded on the warning given by the Spirit in Psa 95 , not to allow an evil heart of unbelief to separate them from this their participation in the house of God .
7 .] Wherefore (i. e. seeing that they are the house of Christ if they hold fast their confidence and boast of hope. It has been disputed, what verb is to be connected with, . Some (as Schlichting, J. Cappellus, Heinrichs, Cramer, Kuinoel, Ebrard, al.) join it immediately with , and regard the Writer as making the Spirit’s words his own: but this labours under the great difficulty that in Heb 3:9 the speaker is God Himself, and so an unnatural break is made at the end of Heb 3:8 (Delitzsch acknowledges this difficulty, but does not find it insuperable, and adopts the view). Others, as De W. and Tholuck, believe that the construction begun with is dropped, and never finished, as in Rom 15:3 ; Rom 15:21 ; 1Co 1:31 ; 1Co 2:9 ; supplying after , . ., or understanding more freely, “wherefore let it be so with you, as” &c. But by far the best way is, with Erasm. (annot.), Calv., Est., Pisc., Grot., Seb. Schmidt, Limborch, Bengel, Peirce, Wetst., Abresch, Bhme, Bleek, Lnem., al., to take the whole citation, including the formula of citation, as a parenthesis, and join with Heb 3:12 . The length of such parenthesis is no objection to this view: see ch. Heb 7:20-22 ; Heb 12:18-24 , where the Writer, after similar parentheses, returns back into the previous construction. Nor again is it any objection, that in the midst of the citation, another occurs, Heb 3:10 ; for that belongs strictly to the citation, and finds both its preparation and its apodosis within its limits. Nor again, that the sentence beginning with , Heb 3:12 , is more an analysis of the citation than an application of it: had this been so, we should more naturally have expected to find , ch. Heb 12:25 supporting, instead of impugning (as Tholuck) this last reply to the objection), even as the Holy Spirit saith (in Psa 95 , Heb. and Eng. This Psalm in the Heb. has no writer’s name: in the LXX it is headed, . And it is ascribed to David in ch. Heb 4:7 below. The passage is cited as the direct testimony of the Holy Spirit, speaking through David: cf. reff.), To-day, if ye hear his voice (“In the Psalm, according to the Hebrew, the words corresponding to these, , the second hemistich of the 7th verse, form an independent sentence, to be taken as a powerful exhortation expressed in the form of a wish, , o si, utinam , as often. The sense from Heb 3:6 is, ‘Come let us fall down and bow ourselves, kneel before Jehovah our Creator. For He is our God and we the people of his pasture and the flock of his hand.’ Then this sentence follows: ‘O that ye might this day hearken to His voice!’ stands first with strong emphasis, in contrast to the whole past time, during which they had shewn themselves disobedient and rebellious against the divine voice, as e. g. during the journey through the wilderness, alluded to in the following verses: ‘to-day’ therefore means ‘ now ,’ ‘ nunc tandem .’ Then in the following verses, to the end of the Psalm, is introduced, in the oratio directa, that which the divine voice, which they are to hear, addresses to them. And it is probable that the LXX took the words in the sense of the Hebrew: at least their rendering of by elsewhere gives no sure ground for supposing the contrary, seeing that they often give for as utinam , and that, in places where they would not well have understood it otherwise: e. g. Ps. 138:19. Yet it would be obvious, with such a translation, to take this period not as an independent sentence, but either in close connexion with the preceding period of the 7th ver., as a declaration of the condition of their being His people, or in reference to the following, as a protasis to which Heb 3:8 , . . ., forms the apodosis. In this last way the Writer of our Epistle appears to have taken the words, from his beginning his citation with them: and yet more clearly from Heb 3:15 , and ch. Heb 4:7 .” Bleek: and so De Wette, on the Psalm: and Tholuck and Lnemann: and Calv. as an alternative. will thus refer to the day in which the Psalm was used in public worship, whenever that might be. See below), harden not your hearts (Heb. heart. Bleek remarks, that this is the only place (in Heb. and LXX: . . of the act of man is found Exo 8:15 ; Exo 8:32 ; 1Ki 6:6 ) where this expression ‘to harden the heart’ is used of man’s own act: elsewhere it is always of God’s act, cf. Exo 4:21 ; Exo 7:3 (Exo 7:22 ; Exo 8:19 ); Exo 9:12 ( Exo 9:35 ); Exo 10:20 ; Exo 10:27 ; Exo 11:10 ; Exo 14:4 ; Exo 14:17 ; Isa 63:17 , and , Deu 2:30 ; whereas when the hardening is described as the work of man, the formula is used, Deu 10:16 ; Neh 9:17 ; Neh 9:29 ; 2Ch 30:8 (where however [23] reads ); 2Ch 36:13 ; Jer 7:26 al., or , 4 Kings 17:14. For N. T. usage see reff.), as in the provocation (Heb. , “as (at) Meribah.” In Exo 17:1-7 we read that the place where the children of Israel murmured against the Lord for want of water was called Massah and Meribah, , LXX. But the subsequent account of Num 20:1-13 , makes it plain that the two names refer to two different events and places: and this is further confirmed by Deu 33:8 , “Thy holy One whom thou didst prove at Massah, and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah.” In the Psalm these two are mentioned together, and the LXX as usual translate the names, using here however the uncommon word , for , which is their word in Exo 17:7 , Num 20:24 (so [24] [25] ), and in Num 20:13 (24 Ald.); Num 27:14 ; Deu 32:51 ; Deu 33:8 ; Psa 80:7 ; Psa 105:32 ; the only places where they have preserved the proper name, being in Eze 47:19 ( ), Eze 48:28 ( ). In giving, for the proper names, their meaning and occasion, they have in fact cast light upon the sacred text; though it is rather exegesis than strict translation. The word itself, , is supposed by Owen to have found its way into the LXX from this citation: but there is no ground whatever for such a supposition. Though the subst. does not again occur, the verb occurs 35 times, and generally of men provoking God to anger. It has also been conjectured by Michaelis, that the LXX may, as they have never rendered Meribah by this word elsewhere, have read , Marah, in their Hebrew text here, which they render in Exo 15:23 ; Num 33:8-9 . This may have been so, but is pure conjecture), in the time of (the , as the Writer takes it, seems, by Heb 3:16 below, where only the verb introduces the question, not . , to be subordinate to the , and as so often, to signify ‘ during ,’ at the time of: so , our contemporaries, , : see Bernhardy, p. 241: Blomf., Glossary on Agam. 342. In the Heb. this second clause is distinct from the first, and introduces a fresh instance: see below) the day of the temptation in the wilderness (Heb., , as in the day of Massah in the wilderness: viz. that of the second murmuring against Moses and Aaron for want of water: see Num 20:1-13 . The place was in the wilderness of Sin, near Kadesh: ib. Num 20:1 ), where (we have the same construction of after in ref. , , , , . c. And in this latter way it is taken by Erasm. Schmid, Francke, Bengel, and Peirce. But the former way seems the more likely, on account of the arrangement of the words: if the latter had been intended, the order would more probably have been , . . And the usage of for , though not found elsewhere in this Epistle, is not uncommon in the LXX, cf. Psa 83:3 ; Eze 21:16 ; Est 4:3 ; Sir 23:21 , and is found 24 times in the N. T.) your fathers tempted by way of trial (‘ tempted ( me ) in trying ,’ or ‘ proving ( me ).’ It will be seen that the more difficult reading is sustained by the consent of the most ancient MSS., and expressly supported by Clem.-alex [26] ; who cites the whole passage, and, as is evident by his insertion of before , from our Epistle: and continues, , . . . The idea of such a reading being “an alteration to remove a seeming roughness of style” (Dr. Bloomfield) is simply absurd, the roughness existing not in the received text and LXX, but in the expression . It is very difficult to account for such a reading: and Bleek supposes that it may have existed in the Writer’s copy of the LXX; , i. e. , being written for ; and instances ch. Heb 10:5 , , and ch. Heb 12:15 , , as similar cases. For the usage of the word , see reff.), and saw my works (Heb., , “ moreover they saw my work ” i. e. my penal judgments; so Ewald, and Bleek: and so the word is used in Psa 64:10 ; Isa 5:12 ; Hab 1:5 ; Hab 3:2 ; for these penal judgments lasted during the forty years, and it is they which are described in the next sentence. The meaning given by most expositors, “ although they saw my works (miracles of deliverance, &c.) for forty years ,” is not so likely, seeing that these provocations happened at the beginning of the forty years. But see below) forty years (these words in the Heb. most probably belong, as rendered in our E. V., to what follows: an arrangement rendered impossible here, on account of following. But that such arrangement was not unknown to our Writer is plain, from his presently saying, Heb 3:17 , ; It is therefore likely that he did not choose this arrangement without reason. And if we ask what that reason was, we find an answer in the probability that the forty years’ space is taken as representing to the Hebrews their space for repentance; their , between the opening of the preaching of the gospel (cf. ch. Heb 2:2 ), and their impending destruction. This idea was recognized by the Jews themselves in their books: e. g. Sanhedr. fol. 99. 1, “R. Eliezer dixit: dies Messi sunt 40 anni, sicut dicitur, Quadraginta annos &c., Psa 95:10 ;” and then follows a proof of it from this passage in the Psalm: Tanchuma, fol. 79. 4, “Quamdiu durant anni Messi? R. Akiba dixit, Quadraginta annos, quemadmodum Israelit per tot annos in deserto fuerunt.” “And if,” continues Bleek, “this idea of the days of the Messiah was prevalent, that they were the immediate precursors of the (the age to come) as the time of the great Sabbath-rest, and the completed glory of the people of God, this is something very analogous to the acceptation of the period of the forty years which seems to underlie what is said of them in our Epistle.” If so, it is possible that the meaning of above may be, that they saw My wonderful works and took no heed to them, and thereby increased their guilt).
[23] The CODEX VATICANUS, No. 1209 in the Vatican Library at Rome; and proved, by the old catalogues, to have been there from the foundation of the library in the 16th century. It was apparently, from internal evidence, copied in Egypt. It is on vellum, and contains the Old and New Testaments. In the latter, it is deficient from Heb 9:14 to the end of the Epistle; it does not contain the Epistles to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon; nor the Apocalypse. An edition of this celebrated codex, undertaken as long ago as 1828 by Cardinal Angelo Mai, has since his death been published at Rome. The defects of this edition are such, that it can hardly be ranked higher in usefulness than a tolerably complete collation, entirely untrustworthy in those places where it differs from former collations in representing the MS. as agreeing with the received text. An 8vo edition of the N.T. portion, newly revised by Vercellone, was published at Rome in 1859 (referred to as ‘Verc’): and of course superseded the English reprint of the 1st edition. Even in this 2nd edition there were imperfections which rendered it necessary to have recourse to the MS. itself, and to the partial collations made in former times. These are (1) that of Bartolocci (under the name of Giulio de St. Anastasia), once librarian at the Vatican, made in 1669, and preserved in manuscript in the Imperial Library (MSS. Gr. Suppl. 53) at Paris (referred to as ‘Blc’); (2) that of Birch (‘Bch’), published in various readings to the Acts and Epistles, Copenhagen, 1798, Apocalypse, 1800, Gospels, 1801; (3) that made for the great Bentley (‘Btly’), by the Abbate Mico, published in Ford’s Appendix to Woide’s edition of the Codex Alexandrinus, 1799 (it was made on the margin of a copy of Cephalus’ Greek Testament, Argentorati, 1524, still amongst Bentley’s books in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge); (4) notes of alterations by the original scribe and other correctors. These notes were procured for Bentley by the Abb de Stosch, and were till lately supposed to be lost. They were made by the Abbate Rulotta (‘Rl’), and are preserved amongst Bentley’s papers in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge (B. 17. 20) 1 . The Codex has been occasionally consulted for the verification of certain readings by Tregelles, Tischendorf, and others. A list of readings examined at Rome by the present editor (Feb. 1861), and by the Rev. E. C. Cure, Fellow of Merton College, Oxford (April 1862), will be found at the end of these prolegomena. A description, with an engraving from a photograph of a portion of a page, is given in Burgon’s “Letters from Rome,” London 1861. This most important MS. was probably written in the fourth century (Hug, Tischendorf, al.).
[24] The MS. referred to by this symbol is that commonly called the Alexandrine, or CODEX ALEXANDRINUS. It once belonged to Cyrillus Lucaris, patriarch of Alexandria and then of Constantinople, who in the year 1628 presented it to our King Charles I. It is now in the British Museum. It is on parchment in four volumes, of which three contain the Old, and one the New Testament, with the Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians. This fourth volume is exhibited open in a glass case. It will be seen by the letters in the inner margin of this edition, that the first 24 chapters of Matthew are wanting in it, its first leaf commencing , ch. Mat 25:6 : as also the leaves containing , Joh 6:50 , to , Joh 8:52 . It is generally agreed that it was written at Alexandria; it does not, however, in the Gospels , represent that commonly known as the Alexandrine text, but approaches much more nearly to the Constantinopolitan, or generally received text. The New Testament, according to its text, was edited, in uncial types cast to imitate those of the MS., by Woide, London, 1786, the Old Testament by Baber, London, 1819: and its N.T. text has now been edited in common type by Mr. B. H. Cowper, London, 1861. The date of this MS. has been variously assigned, but it is now pretty generally agreed to be the fifth century .
[25] The CODEX VATICANUS, No. 1209 in the Vatican Library at Rome; and proved, by the old catalogues, to have been there from the foundation of the library in the 16th century. It was apparently, from internal evidence, copied in Egypt. It is on vellum, and contains the Old and New Testaments. In the latter, it is deficient from Heb 9:14 to the end of the Epistle; it does not contain the Epistles to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon; nor the Apocalypse. An edition of this celebrated codex, undertaken as long ago as 1828 by Cardinal Angelo Mai, has since his death been published at Rome. The defects of this edition are such, that it can hardly be ranked higher in usefulness than a tolerably complete collation, entirely untrustworthy in those places where it differs from former collations in representing the MS. as agreeing with the received text. An 8vo edition of the N.T. portion, newly revised by Vercellone, was published at Rome in 1859 (referred to as ‘Verc’): and of course superseded the English reprint of the 1st edition. Even in this 2nd edition there were imperfections which rendered it necessary to have recourse to the MS. itself, and to the partial collations made in former times. These are (1) that of Bartolocci (under the name of Giulio de St. Anastasia), once librarian at the Vatican, made in 1669, and preserved in manuscript in the Imperial Library (MSS. Gr. Suppl. 53) at Paris (referred to as ‘Blc’); (2) that of Birch (‘Bch’), published in various readings to the Acts and Epistles, Copenhagen, 1798, Apocalypse, 1800, Gospels, 1801; (3) that made for the great Bentley (‘Btly’), by the Abbate Mico, published in Ford’s Appendix to Woide’s edition of the Codex Alexandrinus, 1799 (it was made on the margin of a copy of Cephalus’ Greek Testament, Argentorati, 1524, still amongst Bentley’s books in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge); (4) notes of alterations by the original scribe and other correctors. These notes were procured for Bentley by the Abb de Stosch, and were till lately supposed to be lost. They were made by the Abbate Rulotta (‘Rl’), and are preserved amongst Bentley’s papers in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge (B. 17. 20) 1 . The Codex has been occasionally consulted for the verification of certain readings by Tregelles, Tischendorf, and others. A list of readings examined at Rome by the present editor (Feb. 1861), and by the Rev. E. C. Cure, Fellow of Merton College, Oxford (April 1862), will be found at the end of these prolegomena. A description, with an engraving from a photograph of a portion of a page, is given in Burgon’s “Letters from Rome,” London 1861. This most important MS. was probably written in the fourth century (Hug, Tischendorf, al.).
[26]-alex. Clement of Alexandria, fl. 194
, “wherefore,” since it is only by holding fast our confidence to the end, that we continue to be the house of Christ and enjoy His faithful oversight, cf. Heb 3:14 . was probably intended to be immediately followed by (Heb 3:12 ) “wherefore take heed,” but a quotation is introduced from Psa 95 which powerfully enforces the . Or it may be that connects with , but the judicious bracketing of the quotation by the A.V. is to be preferred. The quotation is introduced by words which lend weight to it, , a form of citation not found elsewhere in exactly the same terms, but in Heb 10:15 we find the similar form . Cf. also Heb 9:8 . Agabus uses it of his own words (Act 21:11 ). In 1Ti 4:1 we have cf. Revelation 2-3. “It is a characteristic of the Epistle that the words of Holy Scripture are referred to the Divine Author, not to the human instrument” (Westcott). The Psalm (95) is ascribed to David in Heb 4:7 as in the LXX it is called , although in the Hebrew it is not so ascribed. The quotation contains Heb 3:7-11 .
, “to-day” is in the first instance, the “to-day” present to the writer of the psalm, and expresses the thought that God’s offers had not been withdrawn although rejected by those to whom they had long ago been made. But Delitzsch adduces passages which show that in this psalm was understood by the synagogue to refer to the second great day of redemption. “The history of redemption knows but of two great turning points, that of the first covenant and that of the new” (Davidson). And what the writer to the Hebrews fears is that the second announcement of promise may be disregarded as the first. Force is lent to his fears by the fact that the forty years of the Messiah’s waiting from 30 70 A.D., when Jerusalem was to be destroyed, were fast running out. The fate of the exasperating Israelites in the wilderness received an ominous significance in presence of the obduracy of the generation which had heard the voice of Christ Himself.
, “if ye shall hear His voice” (R.V., Vaughan); not “if ye will hearken to His voice.” The sense is, “If God should be pleased, after so much inattention on our part, to speak again, see that ye give heed to Him”.
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Heb 3:7-19 (complete paragraph includes Heb 3:7 to Heb 4:13)
7Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says,
“Today if you hear His voice,
8Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me,
As in the day of trial in the wilderness,
9Where your fathers tried Me by testing Me,
And saw My works for forty years.
10Therefore I was angry with this generation,
And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,
And they did not know My ways’;
11As I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.'”
12Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. 13But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end, 15while it is said,
“Today if you hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts, as when they provoked Me.”
16For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? 17And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.
Heb 3:7 “as the Holy Spirit says” This is attributing the inspiration of the OT to the Holy Spirit. In context this is very significant because Scripture is attributed to the Father in Heb 1:5; Heb 1:13; Heb 2:6; Heb 2:11; Heb 4:3-4; Heb 10:9; Heb 13:5. Therefore, this is a strong passage on the deity and personality of the Spirit (See Special Topic: Personhood of the Spirit , cf. Heb 9:8; Heb 10:15).
SPECIAL TOPIC: THE TRINITY
“today if you hear his voice” Heb 3:7-11 are a quote from the Septuagint of Psa 95:7-11, which is a warning to Israel during the wilderness wandering against unbelief. Heb 3:17 through Heb 4:13 is based on an exposition of this passage. This is a third class conditional sentence. They had the opportunity to see and hear (cf. Heb 3:9) but willfully refused and hardened their hearts.
Heb 3:8 “do not harden your hearts as when they provoked me” The historical allusion is to Israel’s wilderness wandering period. The Masoretic Hebrew text lists the geographical sites of Israel’s rebellion as Meribah (cf. Exo 17:7; Num 20:13) and Massah (cf. Exo 17:7; Deu 6:16). The Septuagint translates them by their etymology (Meribahplace of strife and Massahtemptation, cf. Heb 3:9).
The term “heart” refers to the entire person (cf. Deu 6:4-5). These Israelites initially had faith, but later did not act in faith (i.e., the report of the 12 spies, cf., Numbers 12). As a result they were not permitted to enter the Promised Land.
SPECIAL TOPIC: THE HEART
“as in the day” Here is an example of the Hebrew term “yom” used in a figurative sense (cf. Joh 8:56; Heb 8:9), not in the sense of a literal 24 hour period.
SPECIAL TOPIC: YOM
Heb 3:9 “tried Me by testing Me” The term “provoking” in Heb 3:8 and the term “test” in Heb 3:9 in the Masoretic Text are “meribah” and “massah,” two geographical locations mentioned in Exo 17:1-7 where Israel rebelled against God.
In the Greek translation two different terms for “test” or “try” are used. The first (peiraz) normally had the connotation of “to test with a view toward destruction” and the second (dokimaz) “to test with a view toward approval,” but in this context they are synonymous. See Special Topic at Heb 2:18.
“and saw my works” God’s miraculous dealings with the children of Israel during the forty year period of the wilderness wanderings did not bring them to complete trust. The parable in Luke 16 of Lazarus and the rich man combined with Mat 24:24 shows that the miraculous is not necessarily the sign of God, nor the best tool for winning men to faith (cf. the devil’s temptation of Jesus in Mat 4:3; Mat 4:6).
“forty years” This number is used often in the Bible. It must be a Hebrew idiom for a long, indefinite period of time. Actually, in this context, it refers to 38 years (cf. Num 14:34).
The author of Hebrews has modified both the Hebrew text and Greek text of this Psalm (e.g., Paul’s quote of Psa 68:18 in Eph 4:8) by connecting the “forty years” with the Israelites seeing YHWH’s miracles during the wilderness wandering period. However, the Masoretic Text and Septuagint relate the phrase to YHWH’s anger at the people during this period (cf. Psa 95:10). New Testament authors under inspiration often interpret the OT by rabbinical word plays. This seems to violate our modern commitment to authorial intent as the proper way to interpret the Bible. We must allow the NT authors the right to use the OT in ways that would be inappropriate for modern interpreters. We cannot reproduce the hermeneutical approach of the inspired authors.
Heb 3:10 “I was angry with this generation” A good example of YHWH’s anger and judgment is found in Num 14:11; Num 14:22-23; Num 14:27-30; Num 14:35.
“know” The Hebrew term has an element of personal relationship (cf. Gen 4:1; Jer 1:5), not just facts about someone or something. Biblical faith has both a cognitive element (truths) and a personal element (trust).
“My ways” There are many synonyms in Hebrew referring to God’s Law (cf. Psa 19:6-9; Psalms 119). God’s will was clear to them (i.e., OT Israelites), but they willfully rejected it. This was the problem of the unbelieving Jewish recipients of Hebrews. The message of Jesus had changed “God’s ways” (i.e., Mat 5:21-48; Mar 7:19; Mar 10:5-6). It was hard for these Jewish worshipers to leave Moses and trust completely in the Apostolic message of a “new covenant” (i.e., Jer 31:31-34; Eze 36:22-38) totally apart from human performance!
SPECIAL TOPIC: TERMS FOR GOD’S REVELATION (using DEUTERONOMY and PSALMS)
Heb 3:11 “as I swore in my wrath” God’s wrath is as true biblically as is God’s love. It must be stated; however, that both are anthropomorphic metaphors using human emotions and terminology. They surely are true about God but not ultimate. God has adequately revealed Himself to us, but there is so much about God that we simply cannot receive while still a part of this temporal, physical, sinful reality.
SPECIAL TOPIC: GOD DESCRIBED AS HUMAN (ANTHROPOMORPHISM)
Heb 3:12
NASB, NRSV,
NJB”Take care brethren”
NKJV”Beware”
NJB”be careful”
This is a present active imperative; continue to be watchful! It not only is the beginning of the life of faith that is crucial, but also the finish (cf. chapter 11)!!!
NASB, NKJV”brethren”
NRSV”brothers and sisters”
NJB”brothers”
See note at Heb 3:1. This designation seems to refer to believing Jews, although it could denote ethnic paternity.
“an unbelieving heart” This describes a believer who deserts the living God. A believing heart is one that continues firm to the end (cf. Heb 3:14 and chapter 11). The phrase “unbelieving heart” reflects a Hebrew idiom “heart of unbelief” (cf. Heb 4:6), as does “fall away,” which reflects the Hebrew shuv (“return” or “turn”).
“that falls away from the living God” This is an aorist active infinitive. This verb is the source of our English word “apostasy.” This is addressing a developing faithlessness (it is the opposite of Heb 3:14). To whom does this passage relate: (1) believing Jews or (2) unbelieving Jews? The use of “brothers” in Heb 3:1 and the added phrase “partakers of a heavenly calling” and “brothers” in Heb 3:12 demand that it refer to believers.
What then is the warning relating to: (1) salvation or (2) faithfulness? In context it seems to refer to faithfulness; Jesus was faithful, they must be faithful. Hebrews views the Christian life from the end (cf. Heb 3:14), not the beginning (like Paul).
The “falling away” of Heb 3:13 must relate to continual faith and faithfulness. The Israelites had faith, but not functioning, obedient faith. They rejected God’s promise of the land flowing with milk and honey by accepting the spies’ report (cf. Numbers 13-14), not their belief in God. In this context “falling away” does not mean “falling from faith,” but “falling from faithfulness”! However, both are required for a helathy faith. See note at Heb 3:16-18.
God always comes to us in a covenant relationship. We must respond in faith and faithfulness. The Sovereign God has allowed us to participate in our initial decision and on-going discipleship. The author of Hebrews is difficult to follow because
1. he uses rabbinical logic and hermeneutics
2. he is addressing two groups
a. believing Jews
b. unbelieving Jews
3. he views Christian assurance and victory from the criteria of faithfulness as well as faith
4. he focuses on faithfulness to the end (cf. Heb 4:14; chapter 11). He views the Christian life from its conclusion, not its beginning.
The phrase “the living God” is a play on God’s covenant name YHWH, which is from the Hebrew verb “to be” (cf. Exo 3:14). See Special Topic: Names for Deity at Heb 2:7. These readers were not rejecting YHWH, but the irony is that rejecting the gospel of Jesus Christ is, in fact, a rejection of YHWH (cf. 1Jn 5:9-12).
SPECIAL TOPIC: APOSTASY (APHISTMI)
Heb 3:13 “But encourage one another” This is a present active imperative. Believers are to emulate the Spirit and the Son in encouraging faith and faithfulness (cf. Heb 10:24). This is the same root as the word paraclete, which means “one called alongside to help” and is used of the Spirit (cf. Joh 14:16; Joh 14:26; Joh 15:26; Joh 16:7) and of Jesus (cf. 1Jn 2:1).
“Today” “Today,” used in Psalms 95, shows that the time for trusting God and finding His rest was still open as it was in David’s day. The author is emphasizing that now is the time for decision because there comes a time when continual rejection results in blinded eyes that cannot see (i.e., unpardonable sin of the Gospels and the sin unto death of 1 John).
No one chooses the time when they come to God (cf. Joh 6:44; Joh 6:65). Our only choice is to respond, and respond immediately. Continued rejection and willful unbelief causes a spiritual hardening of the human heart (cf. Aorist passive subjunctive, “be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin”). This is not God’s will, but the inevitable consequence of rejection. The people of God who left Egypt in faith balked at God’s promise related to possessing the Promised Land. Believers often practice practical unbelief. Beware of segmenting initial faith from continuing faith (cf. Heb 3:6; Heb 3:14).
“that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” This is an aorist passive subjunctive. Sin is personified as the enemy that hardens hearts. Notice how this truth is presented:
1. take care brethren (Heb 3:12)
2. lest one have (Heb 3:12)
a. an unbelieving heart
b. fall away from God
3. encourage one another (Heb 3:13)
4. lest you be hardened by sin (Heb 3:13)
5. we are partakers, if we hold fast (Heb 3:14)
What a powerful encouragement and warning these verses present.
Heb 3:14 “we have become partakers of Christ” This is a perfect active indicative. This implies a finished progress that results in an abiding state of being.
“if” This is a third class conditional which means potential action. This is another warning admonishing Christians to hold fast their confession (cf. Heb 3:6; Heb 4:14; Heb 10:23).
NASB”if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end”
NKJV”if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end”
NRSV”if only we hold our confidence firm to the end”
TEV”if we hold firmly to the end the confidence we had at the beginning”
NJB”if we keep the grasp of our first confidence firm to the end”
This is an emphasis on perseverance. It is as valid a biblical emphasis as is security. They must be super-glued together for a biblically balanced perspective (cf.HEBREWS 3:6; Heb 4:14; Mar 13:13; Rom 11:22; 1Co 15:2; Gal 6:7-9; 1Jn 2:19; Rev 2:7; Rev 2:11; Rev 2:17; Rev 2:26; Rev 3:5; Rev 3:12; Rev 3:21; Rev 21:7). See SPECIAL TOPIC: GUARANTEE at Heb 2:2. For “to the end” see Special Topic at7:11.
Most biblical doctrines come in dialectical or paradoxical pairs. The Bible is an eastern book which uses figurative language expressing truth in very strong statements, but then balances it with other seemingly contradictory statements. Thereby truth is found between the two stated extremes. Western people tend to proof-text one side of the paradox and radicalize truth by literally and dogmatically interpreting one expression of truth without seeking and being open to the opposite truth. In many ways this is the major source of tension among modern western denominations! See Special Topics below.
SPECIAL TOPIC: CHRISTIAN ASSURANCE
SPECIAL TOPIC: ARCH
Heb 3:15 “if” This is another third class conditional sentence, like Heb 3:14, which means potential action. This is a quote from Psa 95:7-8, which has been the focus of chapter 3.
Heb 3:16-18 There are three rhetorical questions in these verses (cf. Heb 3:16-18). If this analogy is taken literally, it seems that all who died in the wilderness (cf. Numbers 14), including Moses, Aaron, and the faithful priests during Korah’s rebellion, were all spiritually lost for eternity. This is impossible. This is a play on the words “rest” and “disobedience.” These are the two key terms of this context. God has a “rest” for those who trust Him (and continue to trust Him), yet there are consequences for “disobedience,” both to unbelievers and believers!
Heb 3:19 The unbelief of Heb 3:19 deals with the continuing faithlessness of Israel during the Wilderness Wandering Period!
Holy Ghost. App-101.
will = should.
7-19.] See the summary at the beginning of the chapter. Exhortation, founded on the warning given by the Spirit in Psalms 95, not to allow an evil heart of unbelief to separate them from this their participation in the house of God.
Heb 3:7. , wherefore) A choice inference, and the strength of this whole passage. Jesus is , faithful: be not ye , unfaithful, Heb 3:2; Heb 3:12-[24] , the Holy Ghost saith) So ch. Heb 9:8, Heb 10:15.– – , ) Psa 95:7, at the end; LXX., – . The word , to-day, is an expression of Davids, and is opposed to that day, which was in the time of Moses, Heb 3:8.-, if) If you will obediently hear His voice. Under this hearing, there is included any sort of hearing whatever, Heb 3:16, ch. Heb 4:2. The force of this clause (hemistich) is joined in the Hebrew with what goes before, and thence it redounds upon what follows.-, voice) which is full of grace, in these words of the prophet, to be heard on that very account.
[24] , even as) The Apodosis is at Heb 3:12.-Not. Crit.
Heb 3:7-19
EXHORTATIONS AND WARNINGS DRAWN FROM
THE EXAMPLE OF THE ISRAELITES UNDER MOSES
Heb 3:7-19
Heb 3:7 —Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith,-The Apostle now proceeds to make a personal application of the important truths elicited in the course of the preceding paragraph; and to warn his Hebrew brethren against the dangers of apostasy, by referring to Gods dealings with their fathers. His words may be briefly paraphrased as follows: Since it is true, he says in substance, that Jesus as the Apostle of God is so much superior to Moses; and since it is also true, that your belonging to the house of God under him, and your enjoying the blessings of the New Covenant through him, depend on your holding fast the confidence and the boasting of your hope even to the end of life, you should now take as a warning to yourselves the following solemn admonition made by God to your fathers; and beware lest there be also in any of you an evil heart of unbelief. The quotation is made from the ninety-fifth Psalm, in which David earnestly invites his brethren to worship Jehovah (verses 1, 2) ; (1) on the ground that he is above all gods, the Creator of all things, and the good Shepherd of Israel (verses 3-7) ; and (2) on the ground that the neglect of Gods word and his ordinances had cost a whole generation of their fathers the loss of Canaan (verses 8-11). This last portion of the Psalm, our author here quotes and applies as a part of his own exhortations and warnings. Observe that these words of David are ascribed to the Holy Spirit; for holy men of God spake [in ancient times] as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. (2Pe 1:21.) See also 2Ti 3:16-17.
Heb 3:7 —To-day, if ye will hear his voice,-Or rather, if ye hear his voice. Now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation. God never says to anyone, Hearken to my voice and obey my precepts tomorrow. His command is, Do it now; at the very moment that you hear his voice and know his will. And hence the order of the primitive Church was (1) to preach the Gospel to sinners; (2) to receive the confession of such as became penitent believers; and (3)to baptize them on the same day, or even at the same hour of the night. See Act 2:41 Act 16:33 Act 18:8, etc. And after their baptism the converts continued steadfast in the Apostles teachings, giving all diligence to make their calling and their election sure. But now, how very different is the practice of the Church. It is amazing how both saints and sinners now procrastinate and trifle with the word and the ordinances of God.
Heb 3:8 —Harden not your hearts,-To harden the heart, is to render it insensible in any way. Here, the admonition of the Apostle to his Hebrew brethren is, not to harden their hearts by neglecting even for a day the voice of Jehovah, however expressed. His commands have all respect to the present; and any unnecessary delay in obeying them has always of necessity a hardening influence on the heart. Men who hear the Gospel in their youth or early manhood, and do not then obey it, seldom do so afterward. It is to all who hear it a savor either of life unto life or of death unto death. (2Co 2:16.) Under its influence, no man can long remain stationary in the Divine life. He must by the laws and impulses of his own nature become either better or worse, as the current of life flows onward. If he does not soften and purify his heart by obeying the truth, he will of necessity harden it by his disobedience. And hence the great concern of the Apostle that all who hear the voice of God should obey it promptly and heartily, even while it is called To-day, lest any should be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
Heb 3:8 —as in the provocation, etc.-The Hebrew rendered literally is as follows: Harden not your heart; like Meribah, like the day of Massah in the wilderness. That is, harden not your hearts, as your fathers did at Meribah; as they did on the day of Massah in the wilderness. These names were both given to a place near Mount Horeb, where the children of Israel murmured for water. (Exo 17:1-7.) And when Moses had supplied their wants, he called the name of the place Massah [temptation] and Meribah [strife], because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us or not? The name Meribah was given also to Kadesh (most likely the same as Kadesh Barnea) in the wilderness of Zin (Num 27:3); because [there] the children of Israel strove with the Lord and he was sanctified in them. See Num 20:1-13. Whether David, in Psa 95:8, refers to one or both of these places is a question on which expositors are not wholly agreed. It seems most likely, however, that he has in view only the place of strife and temptation near Mount Horeb; as the strife at Kadesh did not occur until about thirty-seven years after that God had sworn in his wrath that the rebellious generation which came out of Egypt under Moses should never enter into his rest. (Num 14:20-35.) This view is corroborated by the Greek translation of our author, which is identical with that of the Septuagint, and may be literally rendered into English as follows: Harden not your hearts as in the bitterness, on the day of temptation in the wilderness. It seems, therefore, that the excessive provocation of the people, here elegantly rendered bitterness by the Apostle, occurred on the day of temptation; and of course at the same place, near Mount Horeb.
Heb 3:9 —When your fathers tempted me-The Hebrew of this verse is literally rendered into English as follows: Where [expressive of either the place where or the time when] your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work. The Textus Receptus of Elzevir runs thus: Where [hou, where or when] your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. This differs from the Hebrew only in the two following unimportant particulars: (1) in the Hebrew, the noun work is singular; but in the Greek, the corresponding word is plural; (2) in the Hebrew, the expression, forty years, is, according to the Masoretic pointing, connected with what follows, as in the seventeenth verse of this chapter; but in the Greek, it qualifies the preceding verb saw. These slight differences do not, however, in any way affect the sense of the passage, the meaning being obviously the same in both the Hebrew and the Greek. Nor does the reading of Bagster as given in our best manuscripts differ in meaning from the Hebrew text. Literally rendered it stands thus: Where your fathers made trial by proof, and saw my works forty years. See critical notes on this verse.
Heb 3:10 —Wherefore I was grieved with that generation,-That is to say, Because your fathers so often provoked and tempted me in the wilderness, I was sorely grieved and vexed with them. The word rendered, grieved (prosochizo) is Hellenistic, and like the corresponding Hebrew word means properly to feel a loathing; to be disgusted with any person or thing. The meaning is, that the generation of the children of Israel contemporary with Moses and Aaron, had by their multiplied transgressions become loathsome to God; and, speaking after the manner of men, he was disgusted with them. Many manuscripts have this (toutee) instead of that (ekeinee) generation. In the Hebrew, the word answering to generation has no qualifying epithet. It is, however, sufficiently defined by the context; and evidently means the generation which came out of Egypt under Moses, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness.
Heb 3:10 —and said, They do always err in their heart;-The Greek word rendered err (planao), as well as the corresponding Hebrew word means to wander, to go astray. There is perhaps in the use of this word an allusion to the wanderings of the Israelites in the desert; but it is of their heart-wanderings that Jehovah here complains. These, he says, were constant. They do always (aei) wander in heart. The word heart (kardia) means properly the central organ of the blood-vessels, situated in the thorax, and supposed to be the seat of animal life. But figuratively it means the seat of the affections, comprehending also not unfrequently the seat of the will and the understanding; as when we speak of a willing heart, an understanding heart, an obedient heart, etc. But in all such cases, the reference is primarily and chiefly to mans moral and emotional nature. As, for instance, when the fool says in his heart, No God, he expresses a sentiment of his depraved heart, rather than a judgment of his darkened and perverted understanding ; though both his heart and his intellect are involved and implicated in the enormous falsehood. Blinded and hardened by the love of sin, he first wishes there were no God; and then, perchance, he is led to believe what he so ardently desires. See Romans 1:28, and 2Th 2:10-12.
Heb 3:10 —and they have not known my ways.-The children of Israel were quite as ignorant of the ways of God, as they were of the meandering paths of the desert. Like benighted wanderers, they were lost in the mazes of their own follies; and had as yet learned but little of the gracious designs of God in his dealings with them. They were still extremely sensuous; and their hearts were set on worldly pleasures and enjoyments. When they failed to reach Canaan as soon as they expected, they then turned back in their affections, and began to long for the leeks, onions, and flesh-pots of Egypt. They seemed willing to endure Egyptian servitude, or almost anything else, rather than submit to that Divine discipline which was necessary to qualify them for the promised rest.
Heb 3:11 —So I sware in my wrath,-This is of course a figurative expression, and means simply that when the Israelites murmured and rebelled against God at Kadesh Barnea, he then resolved that they should never enter into his rest. Previous to this they had often provoked and dishonored him by their murmurings against him and his servant Moses. This they did before they crossed the Red Sea, when they were closely pursued by Pharaoh and his hosts. (Exo 14:10-12.) Another like provocation occurred at Marah in the wilderness of Shur (Exo 15:22-26) ; another in the wilderness of Sin (Exo 16:1-3) ; another, at Massah and Meribah near Reph- adim (Exo 17:1-7) ; another, at Sinai, where they made and worshiped the golden calf (Exo 32:1-29) ; another, at Taberah in the wilderness (Num 11:1-3); another at Kibroth-Hattaavah (Num 11:4-34) ; and still another, at Kadesh Barnea, where the people believed the evil report of the ten spies, and refused to go up at the command of God and take possession of the land of Canaan (Num 14:1-4). On this last occasion, that wicked and perverse generation filled up the cup of their iniquity; and the Lord said, Because all these men who have seen my glory and my miracles which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, have tempted me now these ten times and have not hearkened to my voice; surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it. … I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel which they murmur against me. Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the Lord, as ye have spoken in mine ears so will I do unto you; your carcasses shall fall in the wilderness; and all that are numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against me, doubtless ye shall not come into the land concerning which I sware to make you all dwell therein, save Caleb, the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.” (Num 14:22-30.) After this they wandered through the desert in unknown paths, for about thirty-seven years; at the close of which we find them again at Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin, murmuring for water; in consequence of which the place was called Meribah Kadesh. (Num 20:1-13.) These places can be traced on any good map of the exodus and wanderings of the Israelites.
Heb 3:11 —They shall not enter into my rest.-This clause is best explained by referring to the passage just cited from Numbers 14. Up to this time, for about eighteen months after their departure from Egypt, the Lord had borne with the people. But this last act of rebellion was intolerable; and God therefore now swore in his wrath that they should never enter into his rest. The word rest (katapausis) has in this connection a double reference, as will appear in our exegesis of the next chapter. Primarily, it means the rest of Canaan; and secondarily, it means the heavenly rest, of which the rest in Canaan was but a type. See note on 1: 5. From this rest, in its twofold sense, it seems that most of that wicked and perverse generation were excluded. That there were some exceptions in each case, must of course be conceded. Of this we have the most clear and reliable evidence given in the Old Testament. Joshua and Caleb entered Canaan and enjoyed Gods rest in its typical sense; and Moses and Aaron, with doubtless some others, though excluded from Canaan, entered into the heavenly rest. But it is not in harmony with the design of the Apostle to notice these exceptions. He purposely leaves all such out of view, and affirms simply what was true of the masses. They, it would seem, were excluded from Gods rest in its twofold significance. See notes on Heb 4:3 Heb 4:6.
Heb 3:12 —Take heed, brethren, etc.-As if he had said, Beware, brethren, of an evil unbelieving heart such as the Israelites had in the wilderness, lest like them you too apostatize from the living God, and perish on your way to the Promised Land. Three things are clearly implied in the words of our text: viz. (1) that the Hebrew Christians were in great danger of apostatizing from the living God, as their fathers had done. And if so, then it follows that a Christian may fall from grace; for to apostatize from God is simply equivalent to falling away finally and forever from the grace of God. See notes on Heb 6:4-6. (2) That this danger arises wholly from an evil heart of unbelief. So long as we have an unwavering trust in God and in his word, all is well. Nothing can, under such circumstances, separate us from the love of God which is in Jesus Christ our Lord. (Rom 8:39.) But let the heart at once become evil and distrustful, and then his condition becomes at once awfully alarming. (3) It is further implied in the words of our author, that every Christian may, through the grace of God, avoid the dangers of apostasy, by keeping his heart with all diligence. (Pro 4:23.) It is true that without the grace of God we can do nothing by way of saving ourselves or anyone else (Joh 15:5); and it is also true, that even with this promised grace we can accomplish comparatively but little (1Co 3:6-7). The work is of God and not of us. Nevertheless, it has pleased God in the exercise of his wisdom and love to give to every man an agency in the work of redemption commensurate with his capacity and means of doing good. And, consequently, the man who looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his doing. (Jas 1:25.) And hence the following earnest exhortations to constant watchfulness and perseverance in the Divine life.
Heb 3:13 —But exhort one another daily,-This admonition is not addressed merely to the Elders of the Church, but to every member of it. All are required to exhort and admonish one another daily as members of the family of God, and as joint heirs of the grace of life. And yet, how very generally is this duty neglected. How often, says Mr. Barnes, do church-members see a fellow- member go astray without any exhortation or admonition. How often do they hear reports of the inconsistent lives of other members, and perhaps contribute to the circulation of these reports themselves, without any pains taken to inquire whether they are true. How often do the poor fear the rich members of the Church, or the rich despise the poor, and see one another live in sin, without any attempt to entreat and save them. I would not have the courtesies of life violated. I would not have any assume a dogmatic or dictatorial air. I would have no one step out of his proper sphere of life. But the principle which I would lay down is this: that the fact of church membership should inspire such confidence as to make it proper for one member to exhort another whom he sees going astray. Belonging to the same family; having the same interests in religion; an<J all suffering when one suffers, why should they not be allowed tenderly and kindly to exhort one another to a holy life ?
Heb 3:13 —while it is called To-day;-Do not procrastinate, or put off till tomorrow what should be done today. Much may depend in such cases on prompt and proper action; and it is to be feared that thousands are eternally lost through the neglect of it. If the members of every congregation of disciples, would all watch over one another, not as censors, but as members of the body of Christ, how many errors might be corrected in their incipiency. But as it is, how very different are the results. How many delinquent Christians are allowed to become hardened in sin, before even the Elders of the Church call on them and admonish them! How very unlike these Elders are to the Good Shepherd that careth for the sheep.
Heb 3:13 —through the deceitfulness of sin.-That sin (hamartia) is very deceptive is well known to everyone who has examined carefully the workings and operations of his own heart. It has by the fall of man been implanted as a principle in human nature; so that it is now natural for man to follow after its deceitful lust. (Eph 4:22.) For to will, says Paul, speaking as a representative of those under law without the helps and consolations of the Gospel, is present with me; but how to perform that which is good, I find not. For the good that I would I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but Sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man; but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of Sin which is in my members. (Rom 7:18-23.) True, indeed, in and through the process of regeneration the body of Sin is destroyed (Rom 6:6); so that we Christians are not now, as formerly, its slaves; its has no longer dominion over us (Rom 6:14 Rom 6:17-18) ; for we are not now under law but under grace. But though the body of Sin has been destroyed, its animus still remains as a thorn in the flesh of every Christian; so that unless we are constantly on our guard, and, like Paul, keep our bodies in subjection (1Co 9:27), we are ever liable, as were the ancient Israelites, to be misled by the deceitfulness of Sin which is in our members. Its promises to us are all pleasure and happiness, but its rewards are misery and death. (Rom 6:23.) And hence the necessity of exhorting one another daily, even while it is called To-day, lest any of us be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
Heb 3:14 —For we are made partakers of Christ, etc.-The Apostle assigns here as another reason for constant perseverance and watchfulness, that our being finally partakers of Christ and his benefits, will depend on our holding fast to the end of life the beginning of our confidence in him. We have not yet reached the end of our course. We are still in a state of trial; and we are therefore ever liable to lose through our neglect or disobedience that of which we have already to a certain extent become partakers; but which, for the present, we hold on certain conditions. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance; but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that which he hath. (Mat 8:12.) See note on verse 6.
The word rendered confidence (hupostasis) is of different etymology from that which is so rendered (parreesia) in the sixth verse. The former looks rather to the ground of our confidence in Christ; and the latter to our free and open confession of it. They are, however, used here by our author as synonymous terms, to denote simply that firm and well-grounded confidence in Christ, which if held fast to the end of life, will secure for us an abundant entrance into his everlasting Kingdom. Of this confidence the Hebrews were then partakers; they were then in possession of that faith which purifies the heart. And hence the Apostle requires of them simply that they continue to hold fast the beginning of their confidence firm even to the end of life. Hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. (Rev 3:11.)
Heb 3:15 —While it is said, Today, etc.-The proper grammatical connection of this verse is still a matter of dispute among the critics. Some of them, as Ebrard and Alford, maintain that it stands properly connected with what immediately precedes; and that the object of our author in the use of this clause is simply to give strength to the affirmation made in the fourteenth verse, that our being made partakers of Christ is conditioned on our holding fast the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end. As if he had said, For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end; [as is clearly implied] in the saying, To-day if ye hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. Others, as Tholuck and Delitzsch, make it the beginning of a sentence, and so connect it with the sixteenth verse as follows: In the saying, Today if ye hear his voice harden not your hearts, as in the provocation [it is implied that the provokers to whom the Psalmist refers, were themselves redeemed of the Lord, and yet fell under his wrath, and came short of the promised rest]. For who were they that having heard gave provocation? Was it not indeed all who under Moses leadership came out of Egypt? Others, as Bengal and Michaelis, connect the fifteenth verse with the thirteenth, and include the fourteenth in parentheses. And others again, as Chrysostom and Erasmus, connect it with the beginning of the fourth chapter, making verses 16-19 parenthetical.
On the whole, I think it best to combine the first two., hypotheses. It seems to me that the fifteenth verse is logically connected with both what precedes and what follows: though it does not, as Delitzsch supposes, form the beginning of a sentence. I would therefore render verses 14-19 as follows: For we have been made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end; [as implied] in its being said, To-day if ye hear his voice harden not your hearts as in the provocation. [As if the Apostle had said, It is not enough that you have been redeemed, and that you have commenced your march for the heavenly rest: you must persevere in your begun course to the end of life, or otherwise you will all fall short of the promised rest, as did your fathers in the wilderness.] For who were they that having heard did provoke ? Was it not indeed all who came out of Egypt by means of Moses? And with whom was he displeased forty years? Was it not with those that sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he sware that they should not enter into his rest, but to the disobedient? So we see that they could not enter, on account of unbelief.
Heb 3:16 —For some, when they had heard, did provoke:-The original manuscripts of the New Testament were written without any accents and also without any marks of punctuation. As early as 240 B.C. Aristophanes of Byzantium introduced into the School of Alexandria an imperfect system of both accents and punctuation; chiefly, it would seem, for the benefit of teachers and scholars of rhetoric. But accents were not generally used by Christian writers till after the middle of the fifth century; and it was not till about the beginning of the tenth century that the custom of using them became universal. And so also of the system of Greek punctuation. It too was gradually introduced with sundry changes and modifications. About the middle of the fifth century, Euthalius, a Deacon of Alexandria, divided the New Testament into lines (sti- choi), each line containing as many words as were to be read without any pause or interruption of the voice. In the eighth century, the comma (,) was invented; and the Greek note of interrogation ( 😉 in the ninth. But it was not till after the invention of the art of printing, about the middle of the fifteenth century, that the present system of Greek punctuation was universally adoped by Greek scholars.
It is obvious, therefore, that no authority is to be attached to these marks of accent and punctuation, except so far as they are supported by the conditions of the context and the well-known laws and principles of the Greek language. And it may therefore be still a question whether the word tines (tines) in our text should be accented on the first or on the second syllable. If on the first (tines), then it is equivalent to the interrogative pronoun who, and requires a mark of interrogation at the close of the sentence in which it stands. But if on the second (tines), it is an indefinite pronoun equivalent to some, as in our English Version, and requires that the sentence shall close with a period.
What, then, is the proper meaning of this word? Is it an interrogative or an indefinite pronoun? Is it equivalent to who or to some ? That it should be rendered who in the seventeenth and eighteenth verses, is conceded by all: for here, indeed, the context will admit of nothing else. But is it not almost, if not quite, as obvious, from the scope of the authors argument, that it must have the same meaning in the sixteenth verse? Having, in the verses immediately preceding, solemnly warned his brethren against the dangers of apostasy from Christ, and having illustrated the whole matter by a general reference to the fortunes of their fathers in the wilderness, and also by Gods subsequent warnings and admonitions through David, our author now makes a more sweeping and definite application of Old Testament history. Lest any should attempt to avoid the force of his general argument, on the ground of its seeming indefiniteness; and should be disposed to take refuge in the vain hope that though some of the less enlightened of their brethren might fall, they themselves yrould nevertheless escapefearing this, the Apostle makes another more definite and heartsearching appeal to the well known facts of Old Testament history. He reminds his readers by an appeal to their own knowledge of the facts, that it was not merely a few of the most ignorant and superstitious of their fathers that fell in the wilderness on account of their disobedience; but that it was in fact the whole redeemed nation who came out of Egypt under Moses. The few exceptions, consisting of Joshua, Caleb, Eliezer, and perhaps a few more of the Levites, are purposely and with strict rhetorical propriety kept in the background; and the great mass of the people who had been once enlightened and consecrated to God, are brought forward as persons doomed to destruction, in order to make a more vivid and lasting impression on the minds and hearts of the Hebrew brethren. For who, says the author, were they that having heard did provoke? Were they the children and servants of your fathers? Or were they a few of the most ignorant and depraved of that generation? Nay indeed, were they not all of the six hundred thousand who came out of Egypt by Moses? The force of this appeal could not be avoided; and it must have made a very deep impression on the mind and heart of every Hebrew Christian who read this Epistle.
Heb 3:17 —But with whom was he grieved forty years?-With what sort of persons was God displeased for the space of forty years? Was it with babes and slaves and such other persons as were ignorant of Gods will? Nay indeed; was it not with them that sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? They were persons who knew Gods will and transgressed his law. They were all sinners. And their sin so provoked God that he caused their members (chola), such as their arms, legs, etc., to be scattered as fragments through the wilderness; leaving them there as a monument of his righteous displeasure, and as a warning to all subsequent generations. See Num 26:64-65.
Heb 3:18 –And to whom did he sware, etc?-The history of Israels provocations and of Gods dealings with them, was so fully recorded in the Old Testament and so generally believed by the Hebrew Christians, that any formal presentation of evidence in the case was wholly unnecessary; and our author therefore again, with great rhetorical effect, employs the interrogative style of address. By means of a series of questions addressed to their understanding, he brings home with great power to their hearts and consciences what they were all forced to concede, that the six hundred thousand full-grown men who came out of Egypt under Moses, perished in the wilderness through their unbelief. They once believed in God and confided in his servant Moses: for how indeed could they do otherwise? They had seen Gods judgments on Pharaoh and on his hosts in Egypt and in the Red Sea; they had seen the manna rained down from heaven, and they had beheld the waters flowing from the rock at the command of God; they had heard his voice from the top of Sinai, and they had witnessed many other manifestations of his power and Divinity, for the space of eighteen months, before they came to the plains of Kadesh. But after all this, through an evil heart of unbelief, they there rebelled against him, and so provoked him on the very borders of Canaan, that he was constrained to swear in his wrath, that they should not enter into his rest. See Num. 14: 20-35. All this the Hebrews well understood and readily conceded. And hence without further argument, Paul simply concludes in harmony with their own convictions, that owing to practical infidelity a whole generation of Gods chosen people were excluded from the promised rest.
Heb 3:19 —So we see, etc.-In this verse, the Apostle states the result of the whole matter. It was not owing to any unforeseen or fortuitous circumstances, nor to the superior strength of their enemies, that the Israelites were unable to enter the land of Canaan; but it was owing simply to their own infidelity and disobedience. And this is given as a warning to all Christians to beware, lest they too fall after the same example of unbelief.
Commentary on Heb 3:7-19 by Donald E. Boatman
Heb 3:7 –Wherefore even as the Holy Spirit saith
This is a quotation from Psa 95:7.
a. He attributes these words to the Holy Spirit, thus establishing the inspiration of the scriptures.
b. Men who question the inspiration of the Bible have hundreds of such verses of which to dispose.
Heb 3:7 –Harden not your hearts
This suggests immediate action in favor of God, not against Him.
a. This subject is emphasized all through the New Testament:
1. Joh 9:4 : -while it is day.
2. Act 22:16 : Now why tamest thou?
3. Rom 13:11 : -awake out of sleep.
4. Act 16:33 : -same hour
Man is able to receive the word, but has the choice of hardening his heart.
Heb 3:8 –as in the day of provocation
There were two reasons why the Jews needed to be reminded:
a. They were foolishly inflated on account of the glory of their race:
1. They needed to be reminded of their own sinfulness.
2. Their feeling of superiority blinded them to the reality of their condition.
b. They needed to know that falling away was dangerous.
To what does the provocation refer?
a. Two possibilities:
1. Numbers, chapters thirteen and fourteen: Spies bring back a report: We are as grasshoppers. (Num 13:33)
And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron and the whole congregation said unto them, Would that we had died in the land of Egypt or would that we had died in the wilderness. (Num 14:2)
2. Exodus 17 may be referred to:
a) Here the Israelites cried against Moses and complained. (See Num 17:1-7)
b) Moses gave the places names. (Num 17:7)
1. Massah-proving-tempting.
2. Meribah-chiding-strife.
b. We do not know to which of the two places David referred.
Heb 3:8 –Like as in the day of the trial in the wilderness
The term wilderness refers to any waste land, and this was the type of country in which the Jews traveled. They were led through the wilderness because:
a. It was less likely to lead to war.
b. It gave God a chance to prove His power and love.
Heb 3:9 –where your fathers tried Me by proving Me
God brought them gifts-water, manna and quails for food, the cloud and the pillar of fire for guidance and protection-yet they asked, Where is His power? It increased their guilt, when in spite of so many evidences of His power they made so little progress.
Trying by proving illustrated:
a. Newell-A boy says, Father has forbidden me to do this and says I will be punished. I do not believe it. I will do what he said not to do and see if he will.
b. The action of Israel was a trying thing upon the patience of God; yet it also proved that He meant every word spoken.
Heb 3:9 –and saw My works forty years
Not once or for a short time-but for forty years.
History of their waywardness:
a. First, in the wilderness of sin-when they murmured for bread and God gave them manna. Exo 16:4.
b. Second-they murmured because of lack of water. Exo 17:2-9. This place is called Massah and Meribah.
c. Third-During the third year after their departure from Egypt, they provoked God at Sinai by making the golden calf. Exo 32:10.
d. Fourth-At Taberah (Num 11:3) they murmured for want of flesh, and were smitten with a plague, Num 11:33. Many were buried here. Num 11:34.
e. Kadesh-Caleb and Joshua as spies are rejected.
1. Num 14:30 : God says all shall die but Caleb and Joshua.
2. Deu 1:34-35 : God ordered them to turn into the wilderness, where they wandered 38 years. Deu 2:14.
f. Wilderness near Mt. Hor. Num 21:4-5. No bread or water. God sent serpents, and finally a brazen serpent was erected to save them.
g. Newell says it refers to the eleven-day journey from Horeb by way of Mt. Sinai unto Kadesh Barnea that because of unfaithfulness took forty years.
Heb 3:10 –Wherefore I was displeased with this generation
Generation means race, or men of one age.
Here was God, their Father, grieved at their refusal to follow His leading.
Heb 3:10 –and said, They do always err in their heart
Err means to wander, go astray. Their consistent errors must have brought the longsuffering Father to the breaking point.
Heb 3:10 –but they did know My ways
They were as ignorant of God as they were of the paths of the desert.
They seemed senseless, unable to understand the ways of God.
a. This was not an excuse, but an accusation.
b. This condition did not save them, but destroyed them.
Heb 3:11 –as I sware in my wrath
Sware refers to what God spoke.
Num 14:30-35 : God here stated they shall not enter, because they listened to the report of the ten spies.
Wrath refers to His condemnation;
a. God has a right to be wrathful.
1. A lack of anger is a weakness.
2. Tolerance is to be desired above intolerance, but it can also become a vice rather than a virtue.
b. God has wrath when His longsuffering comes to an end.
c. It is not good for man to reap and not sow.
1. It is not good for man to sow wickedness, and not reap the same.
2. God has made a consistent world for us.
d. God used them as an example unto us.
1. 1Co 10:11-12 : -happened by way of example.
Heb 3:11 –They shall not enter into My rest
Num 14:20 is the place where God reached this decision.
The generation that showed a lack of faith was not given the privilege to enter Canaan.
Study Questions
412. Where is the quotation from the Holy Spirit found?
413. Does this establish the inspiration of the scriptures?
414. Who can harden or soften hearts in this verse?
415. Can you name other scriptures that place the responsibility upon man? cf. Rom 13:11.
416. What day of provocation is referred to, Pharaohs or Israels?
417. Is it a certain time, or the whole exodus?
418. Name some instances of provocation. cf. Num 13:32; Exo 17:1-7.
419. Could it be at Massah and Meribah alone?
420. What is meant by trial in the wilderness?
421. What is a wilderness in the scriptures?
422. Why did the Israelites go into the wilderness?
423. Who are the fathers referred to here?
424. How did they try God?
425. What is meant by try?
426. What did the trial prove concerning God?
427. How long did they try God?
428. What is meant by works?
429. Tell of the Israelites provocation of God that brought about works of God.
430. What is meant by generation?
431. What did God declare concerning that generation?
432. What is meant by err?
433. Where was the seat of their trouble?
434. Why didnt they know Gods ways?
435. Is ignorance a sufficient excuse for disobedience?
436. What is meant by swear?
437. What is the wrath of God-anger, or condemnation?
438. Is wrath a good quality or a bad one?
439. Would it be good for man if God were a weakling?
440. Would it be good for man not to reap what he sows?
441. Where and when did this swearing take place? cf. Num 14:23.
Heb 3:12 –Take heed, brethren
Profit by their mistake, the author is saying. Society makes a fool of itself every generation:
a. One generation seemingly has to try everything for itself rather than to be warned.
b. Foolish is the man who will not learn from others.
Heb 3:12 –lest haply
Perhaps, or lest there be, is the meaning of this expression.
There is a likelihood of falling away unless a person is careful.
Heb 3:12 –there shall be in any one of you
This is personal-any one of you.
We need warning, and we have it.
a. 1Co 10:12 : Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
b. 1Co 9:27 : -I buffet my body.
c. 1Co 10:5; 1Co 10:10.
d. 2Pe 2:4.
e. 2Pe 2:7.
f. Jud 1:5 : Now I desire to put you in remembrance, though ye know all things once for all, that the Lord, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.
Heb 3:12 –an evil heart of unbelief
Sin will cause people to disbelieve.
The so-called good moral man does not exist:
a. Unbelief is evil-sufficient to keep one out of Gods rest.
b. Mar 16:16 : He that disbelieveth shall be condemned. The devil seems to sow doubt.
a. To Eve, Gen 3:4-5 : Ye shall not surely die-ye shall be as God.
b. To Jesus. If, Matthew 4.
1. Mat 4:3 : If thou art the Son of God command that these stones become bread.
2. Mat 4:5-6 : On pinnacle of temple: If thou are the Son of God, cast Thyself down.
Heb 3:12 –in falling away from the Living God
You can not fall away unless you were there.
Some say: You never had it if you lost it.
The Jews fell away after believing and being saved.
This falling away is falling from fellowship, and results in falling into the hands of God.
Heb 10:31 : It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living. God.
Heb 3:13 –but exhort
To exhort is to give a pep talk:
a. We should not let anothers spiritual enthusiasm freeze up.
b. This young Timothy was told to do.
1Ti 6:2; These things teach and exhort.
c. Be careful lest you get into a rut of browbeating, People need feeding as well as rebuking. Exhort means to encourage.
Heb 3:13 –one another day by day
We have a responsibility to one another daily:
a. We should have a constant interest in our brethren.
b. A day missed in encouragement may result in an eternity lost.
Heb 3:13 –so long as it is called To-day
It includes every time that God addresses us.
Every time that Gods sacred mouth speaks, remember, Today if ye shall hear His voice.
Jesus warned about the passing of the day:
a. Joh 12:35 : Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you.
b. Joh 9:4 : The night cometh when no man can work.
A seasonable time will not always last.
Heb 3:13 –lest any one of you
This makes it broad enough to include all:
a. 1Co 10:12 : Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
b. Overconfidence in any endeavor is dangerous.
Heb 3:13 –be hardened
He is talking to Christian people, yet some say, once saved, always saved.
Sin makes one tough, calloused:
a. Saul, a wonderful specimen of mankind, became hardened against David.
b. Judas was trained among the other disciples, yet his heart was hardened against Jesus.
Heb 3:13 –by the deceitfulness of sin
Sin is seductive:
a. Col 2:8 : -maketh spoil of you through . . . vain deceit.
b. Mat 13:22 : -deceitfulness of riches.
The sin here of primary concern is apostasy.
Ways to be deceived:
a. Deceive self. 1Co 3:18; Gal 6:3; 1Jn 1:8; Jas 1:22.
b. Fair speeches deceive the simple. Rom 16:18.
c. Deceitfulness of riches. Mat 13:22.
d. False teachers. Mat 24:24 : -lead astray . . . the elect.
e. Deceived by the devil. Rev 12:9 : Satan, the deceiver of the whole world.
Heb 3:14 –for we are become partakers
It is also translated, made partakers.
a. We become partakers in faithfulness to our call.
b. We cannot expect a faithful Christ to save an unfaithful person.
Heb 3:14 –partakers of Christ
Christ partook of mans flesh that man might partake of Him.
Being a partaker entitles one to the benefits:
a. It has the idea of sharing in, participating with.
b. The true calling of all true believers is meant here.
Heb 3:14 –firm unto the end
As long as life shall last must be the determination of the child of God:
a. There is no time for relaxation, compromise, or half-heartedness.
b. Hold fast is the exhortation in Rev 3:11.
We do not know when the end will be, so we must be firm always.
Heb 3:15 –Today if ye shall hear His voice
The warning from Psa 95:7 is quoted:
a. It suggests the urgency of action, the very day one hears.
b. We have only one chance, Heb 9:27.
No purgatory, or second chance, is taught in this book.
Heb 3:16 –For who when they heard did provoke?
This passage is translated differently:
a. The King James version says: For some, when they had heard
b. It also is translated: Who were those hearers who did bitterly provoke.
How does the difference arise?
a. The early manuscripts did not have punctuation or accent marks.
b. In 240 B.C., Aristophanes introduced an imperfect system for the benefit of scholars and teachers.
c. In the fifth century, Christian writers began to use accents.
d. Not until the tenth century did accents have a universal usage.
e. The problem arises in the word who. Either:
1. Who is an interrogative and requires a question mark at the end of the sentence, Or.
2. Who is an inadequate pronoun equivalent to some and requires a period at the end of the sentence.
The word some suggests that some did not provoke, but this group was very small:
a. Joshua and Caleb were two of the hundreds of thousands, so even the word all in this verse is justified.
b. The lesson to be gained is to avoid being like the Israelites.
Heb 3:16 –nay did not all they that came out of Egypt by Moses
The King James version translation may give room for some exceptions:
Howbeit not all that came out . . .
a. Joshua and Caleb are exceptions.
b. Clarke suggests: . . . all the priests and whole tribe of Levi, for they were not of the ones to fight.
1. Num 26:63-65 seems to eliminate this.
2. Some may have lived, however, for Eleazar, the son of Aaron, was one who did take possession:
a) See Num 26:60 : -Eleazar son of Aaron.
b) Sec Num 34:17 and Jos 24:33.
Heb 3:17 –And with whom was He displeased forty years
The King James version states, But with many of them God was not well pleased.
Disbelief or doubt displeases God, as it breaks fellowship, or is a barrier to fellowship:
a. Disbelief drove Adam and Eve out of the garden.
b. Disbelief drove Israel into the wilderness.
c. Disbelief keeps men away from God. Heb 11:6.
Heb 3:17 –was it not with them that sinned whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
Individuals are not discussed, but a disbelieving nation is.
a. Joshua and Caleb were the exceptions.
b. Moses and Aaron did not enter Canaan.
c. 1Co 10:5-13 suggests that not all perished, so we must conclude that those innocent ones who were too young to disbelieve did not perish.
d. Num 14:29 says that all who were twenty years old or under should enter.
Funerals must have been often and sad, as a generation perished in the wilderness because of unbelief.
Heb 3:18 –and to whom sware He that they should not
This refers to Gods condemnation and punishment. This is pronounced in Num 14:20-38. Num 14:22 says that they tempted God ten times.
Heb 3:18 –not enter into His rest
It was a land of rest as God planned it:
a. No more bondage and oppression.
b. Cisterns, cities, farms, etc., were to be taken over. Deu 6:10-11.
Those who did enter were disobedient like their parents, hence Canaan really never did become a place of rest.
Heb 3:18 –but to them that were disobedient?
King James version: But to them that believed not.
a. Mar 16:16 expresses the awfulness of disbelief:
1. You do not have to be a great worker of evil, only a disbeliever.
2. Disbelief in the love, providence and gift of Jesus Christ is sufficient to condemn a man.
Disbelief is equivalent to disobedience.
Heb 3:19 –And we see
Gods word is for us to study so as to find out how God deals with man:
a. 1Co 10:11 : Now these things happened unto them by way of example; and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come.
b. Wise men profit by others mistakes; fools never learn.
Heb 3:19 –they were not able to enter in
This then is a warning to all Christians.
If every word spoken by angels was stedfast, Heb 2:2, then this word must be heeded.
Reward goes only to the faithful:
a. Rev 2:10.
b. 1Co 9:24-27.
c. Mat 10:22.
Heb 3:19 –because of unbelief
They were believers who became unbelievers:
a. This is a lesson against backsliding, trifling.
b. Is this unbelief the same as infidelity?
1. No-it is not believing God.
2. There is a difference in believing God and believing in God.
3. Paul believed God. Act 27:25 : For I believe God, that it shall be even so as it hath been spoken unto me.
This was backsliding for Israel:
a. Hosea describes Israel as a backsliding heifer. See Hos 4:16.
b. Revised Version: Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer. Israel hath behaved himself stubbornly like a stubborn heifer. If you have worked on a farm you can understand this. Some say it is impossible for men to fall away and be lost. If you point out a backslider, they say he was not saved in the first place. It amounts to, If you get it, you cant lose it; if you lose it, you never had it. It is a dangerous doctrine, If you cant be lost-. People can take all kinds of advantages of God, yet be saved.
c. Let us study the Scriptures on the subject:
1. Notice the many names given to backsliders.
a) Pro 14:14 : -shall be filled with his own ways-
Hos 11:7 : People who are bent to backsliding-
b) Shrinking back: Heb 10:38 : -righteous shall live by faith.
Some people shrink back. They lack courage. Some are like a horse with a collar sore; they never get in and pull.
c) Falling away: Heb 3:12 : -evil heart of unbelief in falling
Luk 8:13 : -and in time of temptation fall away.
Heb 10:26-31 : -sin wilfully.
Heb 6:4-6 : For as touching those who-fell away.
d) Falling from grace: Gal 5:4 : -ye are fallen away from grace. How can man promote the doctrine that man cant fall away from grace?
e) Being hindered: Gal 5:7 : Ye were running well, Who hindered you . . .?
f) Removed from the faith: Gal 1:6 : -ye are quickly removing from him that-
g) Again entangled therein: 2Pe 2:20 : -they are again entangled . . . the last state is become worse with them than the first. cf. 2Pe 2:21-22.
2. Some examples of backsliding:
a) Israel: Hos 4:16 : Israel slideth back. Exodus 32 records Moses on the Mount and Israel making a golden calf.
b) Solomon: 1Ki 11:4 : When Solomon when he was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods. cf. Heb 3:9.
c) Simon Peter: Mat 26:69-75 : cursing, I know not the man.
d) The Galatians: Gal 1:6 : I marvel that ye are so quickly removed.
e) Simon the Sorcerer: Act 8:13 : He believed and was baptized.
Act 8:23 : Thou art in the gall of bitterness-
f) Judas: Mat 26:48.
g) Ananias and Saphira: Act 5:1-11.
3. Some practical thoughts in relationship to backsliding:
a) Our duty to one who errs.
Mat 18:15-17 : If thy brother sin against thee, go to him.
1Co 5:1-5 : Deliver such a one to Satan.
Gal 6:1 : Restore such a one.
b) Some things that will keep one from backsliding:
1) Lords Supper rightly observed:
1Co 11:30 : -for this cause many among you are weak and sickly, and not a few sleep.
2) Christian fellowship that exhorts:
Heb 10:25 : Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together-
3) Guarding ones life with doctrine:
1Ti 6:20 : Guard that which was committed unto thee.
1Co 11:2 : Hold fast the traditions even as I delivered them unto you.
4) Prayer and meditation: Mat 26:41.
c) A realization that we need not fail, but that we can escape backsliding: 1Co 10:13.
d) The backslider is not fit for the kingdom: Luk 9:62.
e) The way back to God for the backslider: Act 8:22 : Repent and pray.
4. A warning on backsliding. For the willful sinner there is no way back. Hebrews 4-6 :
a. Simon Peters fall was a spur-of-the-moment sin not planned at all; he was sorry, and so he repented.
b. Ananias and Sapphira, and Judas each planned their sin; it was willful, and there was no repentance.
Study Questions
442. Does God feel that one generation should learn from another?
443. Define lest haply.
444. Does He make the application personal?
445. Give some warnings to man in the New Testament. cf. 1Co 10:12; 1Co 9:26; 1Co 10:5; 1Co 10:10; Jud 1:5; Jud 1:7.
446. What is the significance of take heed?
447. Is unbelief a serious matter according to Heb 3:12?
448. Can a moral man who is an unbeliever be rightly spoken of as a good moral man?
449. How serious is unbelief in the category mentioned in Revelation?
450. What did unbelief do to Adam and Eve?
451. What did it do to Israel after the Egyptian bondage?
452. Did the devil try to work on Christ in this realm?
453. What is implied in the expression, falling away from God?
454. Were, they once with God?
455. Can you fall from a building without first being in it or on it?
456. Does this verse give encouragement to the doctrine of man that if you had it, you cant lose it; if you lose it, you never had it?
457. What is our estate if we fall? cf. Heb 10:31.
458. Define the word exhort.
459. How are we to exhort? cf. 1Ti 6:2.
460. How frequently should we exhort?
461. What is meant by, so long as it is called today? cf. Joh 9:4.
462. Does any one of you include you?
463. Is Heb 3:12 a warning against overconfidence? cf. 1Co 10:12.
464. What will harden man?
465. How does sin harden?
466. Give example of hardened hearts in the word of God.
467. What docs sin do to people, according to Heb 3:13? Discuss deceit.
468. What is the kind of sin that is involved here?
469. Can you name some verses that speak of various kinds of deceit?
470. Who is deceived in 1Co 3:18; Gal 6:9; 1Jn 1:8?
471. What method is used in Rom 16:18; 2Pe 2:18?
472. What deceives, according to Mat 13:22?
473. Who deceives in Mat 25:24?
474. Who deceives in Rev 12:9?
475. Define partakers.
476. Why should we be partakers of Christ? Does it entitle us to anything?
477. What qualifies us to be a partaker of Christ?
478. How many evil situations could be avoided if? Heb 3:14.
479. Explain hold fast.
480. What is meant by, beginning of our confidence?
481. Firm unto the end-end of what?
482. What is the value of the uncertainty of the time of the end?
483. What is the significance of today if ye shall hear His voice?
484. Whose voice is referred to?
485. What Psalm is quoted?
486. If God has spoken, has man a right to expect more?
487. What did the Jews want from Jesus?
488. What was a sign? What did Jesus answer?
489. Harden not your hearts puts the responsibility upon whom?
490. How did God harden Pharaohs heart? Was God to blame?
491. As in the provocation: would this refer to the day when the Jews provoked Jesus?
492. What day is referred to?
493. Does day always mean 24 hours?
494. For who, when they heard refers to whom?
495. Is the word who always translated who?
496. What is implied by the word provoke?
497. Is it an accurate literal translation to say that all who came out of Egypt did provoke God?
498. Who were some exceptions?
499. Who does Clarke think may have been exceptions?
500. Cf. Num 26:63-65 to see if Clarkes view can be substantiated.
501. Did any live besides Joshua and Caleb? Cf. Num 26:65.
502. How long was God displeased?
503. Show other instances in the life of people when God was displeased.
504. What happened to those with whom God was displeased?
505. If their bodies did not fall, was it an inference that God was not displeased with them?
506. What was the age of those who did get to enter? Cf. Num 14:29.
507. How many funerals a day did it require?
508. To whom did God swear?
509. What did He pronounce at this time? Cf. Num 14:20-28.
510. What number of times did they provoke God? See Num 14:22.
511. In what way was Canaan to be a place of rest? Cf. Deu 6:10-11.
512. The author has talked about disbelief all the way through, but now he uses the word disobedient. Why?
513. Are disbelief and disobedience the same?
514. And we see has what significance?
515. They were not able carries what warning to us?
516. Because of unbelief-were they ever believers?
517. If so, what warning do we have?
518. Were they rank infidels?
519. Is there a difference in believing God and believing in God? Cf. Act 27:25.
520. Was disbelief equivalent to backsliding?
521. What terms or synonyms are used for this condition of disbelief?
522. What are some examples of backsliding?
523. What should we do to the backslider?
524. What would you suggest doing to keep people from backsliding?
525. What is the way back to God for the backslider?
526. Is there a way for all backsliders to repent?
527. Why could Simon repent, but Ananias and Sapphira couldnt?
Commentary on Heb 3:7-19 by Burton Coffman
Heb 3:7-11 –Wherefore, even as the Holy Spirit saith, Today, if ye shall hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, Like as in the day of the trial in the wilderness, Where your fathers tried me by proving me, And saw my works forty years. Wherefore, I was displeased with this generation, And said, They do always err in their heart: But they did not know my ways; As I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.
THE SECOND EXHORTATION
The quotation here is from Psa 95:7 ff and introduces the second of a series of exhortations designed to bolster the lagging faith of the Hebrew Christians and to warn them against apostasy, the warning being strongly reinforced by the appeal to the analogous falling away which took place in that generation which entered the wilderness after their deliverance from Egypt but were cut off from entering the promised land. Note the attribution of this Psalm of the Holy Spirit. David, as the human instrument through whom the words came, is not mentioned; and thus the author of this epistle takes his place alongside other New Testament writers in making God the author of the Old Testament (2Pe 1:21).
The experience of Israel in the wilderness of wanderings was indelibly engraved upon the conscience of all the Jews, especially regarding the failure to enter the promised land, the shameful record of which was outlined expressly in their scriptures (Exodus 17; Numbers 13-14; Deu 9:10). Thus the warning in this place is dramatically intensified by an appeal to the historic disaster that prevented a whole generation from entering Canaan.
Today, if ye shall hear his voice is an appeal for action NOW. The consequences of failure are so supremely tragic, and the tendency to procrastination so universal, that action is demanded now, today. One steals who presumes upon tomorrow; tomorrow belongs to God; “Behold now is the acceptable time; behold now is the day of salvation” (2Co 6:2). The statement of Paul underlines the fact that life does not come to people a day at a time, but a moment at a time; hence, NOW is the day of salvation. And why today? (1) People have waited long enough already. (2) There may never be a tomorrow for any man. (3) The difficulty of obedience is only multiplied and compounded by delay. (4) God has commanded obedience NOW. (5) The impulse to respond or obey may diminish or disappear. (6) Subsequent obedience (even if it comes) may not be as effectual and fruitful. (7) There is no better time than NOW to do the Father’s will.
If you hear his voice raises the question of how God’s voice may be heard today; and following are some suggested answers: (1) the voice of God through the holy scriptures as read or preached; (2) the admonitions of faithful loved ones and friends; (3) through conscience which, however depraved, must inevitably retain some vestiges of regard for duty toward God; (4) through the message of God as revealed by consideration of the creation in the light of reason; (5) through God’s providential blessings upon every man; and (6) through the spiritual hunger that rises in every heart and which instinctively reaches for a knowledge of God and longs for his approval.
Harden not your hearts is another admonition that affixes the responsibility and blame for hardness of heart upon the hardened himself. Only in the sense of his permitting it, is it ever correct to believe that God hardens hearts. True, the Old Testament states that God “hardened Pharaoh’s heart” (Exo 7:13); but the next verse declares that Pharaoh was STUBBORN. The same sunshine melts butter and hardens concrete; and the same gospel saves some and destroys others (2Co 2:12). People’s hearts are hardened by continuing in sin, procrastination, and by the gradual atrophy of spiritual perception brought on by the practice of disobedience. People may go a little at a time, further and further into sin, until finally they become hardened and confirmed in their rebellion against God. Even in such a state, one may, if he will permit it, be softened and healed by the word of God. How may the stony heart be broken? “Is not my word like a fire, saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock into pieces?” (Jer 23:29).
Heb 3:8 has been an interesting example of a couple of Hebrew proper names being translated as common nouns, Meribah and Massah, being rendered “provocation and temptation.” This is due to the fact that the proper names given by Moses to the places where those sad episodes took place came, in time, to have a broader meaning (Exo 1:7). There are many examples in all languages where such has occurred. For example, Quisling is the name of a Norwegian collaborator with the Nazi invaders which came to signify “traitor.”[7]
Forty years, as mentioned in Heb 3:9 and Heb 3:17, would seem to be a delicate hint of the fact that when this author wrote, just about the same length of time, that is, forty years, had passed since the resurrection of Christ, and suggesting that the ancient defection of that generation of Israelites might be typical of what was threatening among the generation addressed in Hebrews. The word “works” in this place should be rendered in the singular, according to Westcott who observed that
The Hebrew is singular. The many works of God in the wilderness were all one work, one in essence and aim, whether they were works of deliverance or chastisement. Under this aspect acts of righteous judgment and of mercy were parts of the same counsel of loving discipline.[8]
The “generation” mentioned in Heb 3:10 is that of the Israelites who provoked God and were prohibited from entering the promised land. The question rises as to how their defection was applicable to the situation confronting the Christians to whom Hebrews was addressed. To be sure, all the things that happened to ancient Israel were ensamples for them that believe (1Co 10:1-11); but even more is apparently intended here. The whole typical structure of Israel corresponds to many facts and events in Christianity. The death of Christ is called “an exodus” (founded on Luk 9:31); Christ is the true Passover sacrifice for his people (1Co 5:7); he is the lamb without blemish and without spot (1Pe 1:19); Christians during their probation are said to be, like Israel of old, “the church in the wilderness” (Act 7:38); and, as Bruce pointed out:
Their (the Christians’) baptism is the antitype of Israel’s passage through the Red Sea (1Co 10:1 ff); their sacrificial feeding on him (Christ) by faith is the antitype of Israel’s nourishment with manna and the water from the rock (1Co 10:3 ff); Christ, the living Rock, is their guide through the wilderness (1Co 10:4); the heavenly rest that lies before them is the counterpart to the earthly Canaan which was the goal of the Israelites.[9]
They do always err in their hearts; but they did not know my ways. These two statements seem, at first, not to belong together; but the reason of their being connected was clearly explained by T. Brooks who wrote:
The proper remedy for crime is, therefore, the knowledge of God’s ways. But we must not fall into the mistake of supposing that the knowledge of the ways of God signifies the being informed as to the purport of those laws. Here, as in many other parts of scripture, the word denotes approval by experience, as well as knowledge in the ordinary sense.[10]
The physical death which overtook the lost generation in the wilderness was but a physical penalty for their rebellion against God; and, although they were never allowed to reacquire the lost advantage in the physical sense of entering Canaan, it may rightfully be supposed that all of them who repented and brought themselves into harmony with God’s purpose still retained the hope of eternal life, Moses himself being a prime example of this. Far more dreadful, therefore, was the danger threatening the Hebrew Christians who, if they fell away, stood to suffer the loss of even “all spiritual blessings” that are in Christ.
I sware in my wrath calls attention to God’s making an oath; and although mentioned elsewhere by Zacharias (Luk 1:73), Peter (Act 2:30), and Stephen (Act 7:17), it is in Hebrews that this fact receives the greatest attention, there being no less than six references to it, the others being Heb 3:18; Heb 4:3; Heb 6:13; Heb 6:16; Heb 7:21. Swearing on the part of God should be thought of in an accommodative sense; and such a concept is introduced here for the sake of emphasizing the absolutely eternal and irrevocable nature of God’s judgments; and yet it cannot be accepted that God’s oath is any stronger than his word, the thought being altogether anthropomorphic, since in the case of man, their swearing is said to increase the respect due their words.
They shall not enter into my rest refers to the prohibition by which God refused admittance of Israel to Canaan and immediately loomed in the author’s mind as a type of that rest the Hebrew Christians were in danger of forfeiting, a thought that he at once developed and made the basis of the remainder of this second admonition. The Greek margin (English Revised Version (1885)) shows these words to be literally, “if they shall enter into my rest”; but the context demands a translation of such an idiomatic phrase in words that cannot be mistaken. The common versions are therefore correct.
[7] Encyclopedia Britannica, 1961Edition, Vol. 18, p. 885.
[8] Brooke Foss Westcott, op. cit., p. 81.
[9] F. F. Bruce, op. cit., p. 62.
[10] T. Brooks, The Biblical Illustrator (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1967), Hebrews, Vol. I, p. 245.
Heb 3:12 –Take heed, brethren, lest haply there should be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God.
Five definite facts emerge from this verse: (1) that it is possible for Christians to fall away from the living God; (2) that such a disaster is due to an unbelieving heart; (3) that an unbelieving heart is evil (not merely `smart’); (4) that God is not a mere influence but a living person; and (5) that there are adequate grounds upon which a Christian may avoid falling away. The tenderness of the author appears in his use of “haply.” Not wishing to write flatly that they were in mortal danger of being lost, he proposes such an awesome possibility as something that just might “haply” befall them. These words take up and illustrate the lesson of Psalms 95 which had just been quoted at length. The Psalm is divided into two parts, the first (Psa 95:1-7) being a warning against the disobedience; and it is the second portion of the Psalm which the author quoted. The message of the entire Psalm is that people should worship God, but that mere worship, unaccompanied by obedience, will not avail. Regarding the possibility of apostasy so forcibly mentioned here, it should be noted that the Bible nowhere authorizes any confidence to the contrary. Apostasy comes under consideration again in Heb 6:1-8, where from its treatment there, it cannot possibly be doubted that the author is warning his readers against a present real, and impending danger, a threat to any Christian who might allow an evil heart of unbelief to develop within him. Indeed, if there is no such thing as the possibility that a true child of God might fall away and be lost, how could the author of this epistle have introduced such a subject, and how could he have warned them to “take heed” against a non-existent danger?
An evil heart of unbelief contains another intimation of the moral basis of faith. Unbelief does not exist apart from antecedent evil in people’s hearts. Christ said, “And this is the judgment, that light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil” (Joh 3:19). People who have accepted the truth and are actually in the faith of Christ, if they do not live up to the moral requirements of that faith, become alienated from it, grow to despise and hate it, and at last find themselves in rebellion against God.
The living God identifies the God of the Christians as the creator, upholder, and governor of all the universe; and this expression is used several times in the New Testament. It featured Peter’s noble confession (Mat 16:16); Caiaphas used it when he administered an oath to Jesus (Mat 26:63); it was frequently in the writings of Paul (Rom 9:26; 2Co 3:3; 2Co 6:16; 1Th 1:9; 1Ti 3:15; etc.); and the apostle John saw an angel “having the seal of the living God” (Rev 7:2). It is extremely appropriate that the Being within whom the life principle is self-contained, and whose existence is eternally in the present tense (“I AM that I AM” – Exo 3:14), should be called the living God.
Heb 3:13 –But exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called Today; lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
The Greek pronoun rendered here “one another” is variously translated in the New Testament, as in “be at peace AMONG YOURSELVES” (1Th 5:14); “Fervent in your love AMONG YOURSELVES” (1Pe 4:8); “And be ye kind ONE TO ANOTHER” (Eph 4:32); and “Forbearing ONE ANOTHER and forgiving EACH OTHER” (Col 3:13). Thus the persons so strongly commanded in this place to “exhort” and the persons to be exhorted can be none other than the Christian membership itself, and that as manifested in their most intimate personal relationships, such as families, congregations, fellow-workers, and close associates of every kind.
Is this commandment heeded today? It is strongly to be feared that it is forsaken. How many families must there be where there is no daily exhortation to faithfulness in Christ! How many people work side by side without ever knowing if a fellow-worker is even a Christian or not and who for months or years never mention either God or religion, except, perhaps, profanely! When this writer was once minister of Central Church of Christ, Houston, Texas, a brother placed his membership with that church one Sunday; and, for the first time, another brother in that same church learned that he had daily worked side by side with that other man for two years in a synthetic rubber plant. These people attended different congregations until the time mentioned; and neither of them had the slightest idea that the other was a Christian!
Why do not Christians exhort one another daily, as commanded? (1) Some perhaps fail through natural timidity, but that is a weakness that should not be allowed to stand. Let people overcome their timidity and exhort their fellow-workers. (2) Some are ashamed of Christ. Why those long weeks of deathly silence, wherein even some parents speak no loving words of exhortation? No wonder children grow up asking in their hearts, “Do they really believe it?” Such a reticence can be attributed to one’s being ashamed of Christ. (3) Still others have accepted a notion that it is impolite to speak of Christ, or faith, or religion; and, although it is possible that there are occasions or circumstances in which true politeness might omit the type of exhortation commanded here, yet this commandment is directed squarely at members of the family of God, Christians, and is applicable to all of them in the every day associations of life, like those in the family, in business, and in recreation. (4) Broken or mixed families, in a religious sense, are another deterrent. When unbelieving partners are linked with Christians, the daily exhortations are infinitely more difficult, if not impossible; and the loss of the spiritual benefit that would normally accrue from them is tragic, first in the life of the Christian partner, and secondly in the lives of the children.
The overwhelming power of the admonition delivered by the Holy Spirit in this paragraph is seen in the rules, or techniques laid down, by which a truly successful Christian life may be achieved and strengthened. Strangely enough, both of these directives lean heavily toward self-help! First, the man who would wish to continue as a Christian should boldly speak of his faith, glorying in it every day, and seizing every possible chance to extol his love and appreciation of God, the sweetness of service in Christ, and every other joy and benefit of salvation (Heb 3:6). The second of these rules is in Heb 3:13; and it commands the entire Christian community, whether in the family, the congregation, or in other close and intimate contact, to “exhort one another day by day.”
Lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin … The hardening of the heart through sin’s deceit is a danger enhanced by the fact that “The heart is deceitful above all things” (Jer 17:9). Charles Spurgeon, as quoted in Biblical Illustrator, noted that “When these two deceitful ones lay their heads together to make up a case, there is no wonder if man, like a silly dove, is taken in their net.”[11] The deceit of sin and also the deceit of the heart combine to visit ruin in people’s lives. People’s deceitful hearts subconsciously desire to be deceived, thus making the deception far easier and more extensive than otherwise. The deceitfulness of sin extends to every conceivable phase of it. Sin promises the transgressors happiness, only to plunge him in sorrow. It promises joy, but delivers wretchedness, shame, misery, and remorse. It promises liberty, but binds the sinner with the most disgusting chains of slavery. It promises light, but submerges the soul in outer darkness. It promises knowledge, as in the case of Adam and Eve, but provides with that knowledge a devastating sense of shame, guilt, and bitterness. Yes, sin deceives. It promises to be nothing serious. It mocks the ship of Alexandria with the gentle zephyrs of the south wind (Act 27:13), only to smite with the full fury of Euraquilo when the unwary ship has ventured out of its haven. It feints with the right and devastates with the left.
ENDNOTE:
[11] Charles Haddon Spurgeon, The Biblical Illustrator (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1967), p. 264.
Heb 3:14 –For we are become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end.
On this verse, Albert Barnes inquired:
What else can be said so honorable of a man as that he “is a partaker of Christ,” that he shares his feelings here, and that he is to share his honors in a brighter world? Compared with this, what is it to participate with the rich and the gay in their pleasures; what would it be to share in the honors of kings and conquerors?[12]
The union of Christ and his members provides the entire foundation of their hope. Those who believe and obey Christ partake of his righteousness, by imputation; receive the judicial discharge from their sins, by means of his sacrifice; and look forward to entering heaven itself by having become members of his spiritual body the church.
Here again, as in Heb 3:6, is given the necessity for believers to continue faithfully and enthusiastically “to the end”; what end? Any end whatsoever! Perhaps the words “to the end” are unspecific on purpose in order to cover a range of meanings such as: (1) the end of a particular period of temptation; (2) the end of life; (3) the end of the world; and (4) perhaps even “the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls” (1Pe 1:9). Such expressions as this, seeming at first to be indefinite, are often far richer in meaning than a more specific statement would have been.
Regarding the word “confidence,” its rather broad meaning accentuates the unity of this verse with the statement in Heb 3:6, “glorying of our hope.” In fact, “confidence” contains the thought of “glorying”; and this is indicated by the translation “in this confidence of glorying” (2Co 11:17). Westcott said, “It is used by the Greek writers for firmness under torture; and generally for courageous firmness of character.”[13]
[12] Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1963), Vol. Hebrews, p. 88.
[13] Brooke Foss Westcott, op. cit., p. 85.
Heb 3:15 –While it is said, Today if ye shall hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
While it is said, Today means persevere as long as life lasts, or as long as there is any today. Since this is a quotation from Psa 95:7, it is possible the author means, “As long as the Bible says Today.” The rest of this verse is parallel to Heb 3:8 to which the reader is referred for notes.
Heb 3:16 –For who, when they heard, did provoke? nay, did not all they that came out of Egypt by Moses?
Here is a solemn warning against trusting in a majority or what is popular. The author pointedly reminds his readers that the wilderness failure of Israel was on a national scale, supported by the overwhelming majority, and popularly led and advocated by the great princes of Israel (Num 13:3-16). The statement that “all they” rebelled is hyperbole, exaggeration for the sake of emphasis; and, while it is true that Caleb and Joshua refused to be with the majority and survived to enter Canaan, “The exception was so small that the apostle had no scruple in saying that they all provoked God by their disobedience,” as Barnes put it.[14] The exception was so small that the names of only two have come down through history as repudiating the majority.
THE LOST GENERATION
The tragic case of that lost generation in the wilderness is of epic proportions. They had begun so gloriously, led of God himself, seeing their enemies humbled by a series of shocking plagues, crossing the Red Sea on dry land, arming themselves from the wreckage of Pharaoh’s drowned army, engaging in the most dramatic instantaneous exodus of all time, overcoming all obstacles, and singing the songs of triumph and victory; how could they have failed after all that? If so fantastic a beginning could be nullified by ultimate defeat, surely the apparent reasons for it should be of the most definite concern for believers in all ages. And what are those reasons? (1) They had a morbid fear of hunger and other looming dangers. The relative security of their lives as slaves seemed preferable to the unknown dangers ahead. People have always counted it a privilege to fight and die for liberty, if need be; but here was a generation that simply could not bring themselves to do it. (2) They exaggerated the dangers that confronted them, saying, “The land eateth up the inhabitants thereof” (Num 13:32). (3) They failed to manifest that essential self-respect which is an ingredient of all success, saying, “We were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight” (Num 13:33). One might call that “the grasshopper complex” and find a great many examples of it today. (4) They accepted the majority report brought in by the ten unfaithful spies. The multitude of Israel looked at the ten instead of the two, blindly following the majority, feeling that wisdom was in that course, and unaware until too late that ignorance, defeat, folly and death lay with the majority. People of the present day are confronted with exactly the same danger. What do the majority say about God, Christ, the church, baptism, the Lord’s Supper, Christian living, sobriety, virtue, prayer, and piety? Concerning majorities, people should have the courage of Caleb and Joshua. They should have the grace to accept the sentiments of an old motto once said to be over the gates of the University of Glasgow; “What do they say? Who are they? Who cares?” (5) The most important and all-encompassing reason for their failure was their unbelief, a condition bluntly noted in Heb 3:19 and Heb 4:2, below. Instead of glorying in their faith and exhorting one another daily to maintain it, they permitted themselves to drift away from it, until in an evil hour they found themselves in a state of rebellion against God.
ENDNOTE:
[14] Albert Barnes, op. cit., p. 91.
Heb 3:17 –And with whom was he displeased forty years? was it not with them that sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
The writer continues to focus upon the overwhelming disaster that befell Israel in the wanderings, again mentioning the forty-year duration of the offense, as in Heb 3:9, and stressing the summary judgment of death upon an entire generation. The holy antagonism of God toward all sin is seen in the fact that so extensive and final a penalty was invoked; but also the heavenly mercy and forbearance of God are observed, not only in that forty-year period of his sublime patience with Israel, but in his waiting until they all died of natural causes rather than directly by divine flat. That Israel deserved to die instantly for their sin appears in the fact that God was ready thus to punish them but yielded to the intercession of Moses (Exo 32:32). It has already been noted that this physical judgment against them did not compromise their right of eternal salvation, based upon their faith, repentance and obedience subsequent to their apostasy. (See under Heb 3:8). Also, in contrast, the Hebrew Christians, by their apostasy, would incur an even more terrible penalty in that they stood to forfeit heaven itself.
Heb 3:18 –And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that were disobedient?
The Book of Hebrews makes a great thing of obedience, affirming that even Christ was made perfect by it (Heb 5:8-9) and that the salvation he authored is “unto all them that obey him”; and also marking especially the obedience of so illustrious a person as Abraham (Heb 11:8). In this verse, disobedience is made the basis of God’s denying Israel the right to enter Canaan, the “rest” spoken of being a reference to their dwelling in that good land, rather than a mention of the sabbath day, the sabbath day, of course, being a rest that they did actually receive and enjoy throughout their whole history. In spite of the fact that the KJV translates this verse “believed not” instead of “disobedient,” the English Revised Version (1885) is far preferable. Unbelief is indeed a sin, damning and destructive enough; but it is followed by overt and willful actions against the laws of God, such actions being of themselves fatal to the receiving of God’s approval, no matter if founded in unbelief, as Israel’s were, or not. One of the great heresies of the Reformation appeared in the doctrine of salvation by “faith alone” and the attendant notion that the only sin, actually, is unbelief. See more on this under Heb 11:6.
Heb 3:19 –And we see that they were not able to enter in because of unbelief.
And we see is a transitional phrase which means, “We see in the familiar record of the Pentateuch,” or “We see in the details just mentioned.” This passage shows that the exclusion of Israel grew out of moral necessity, their unbelief having betrayed them into outright rebellion against God. The application, of course, is that, if God spared not them, neither will he spare Christians guilty of the same conduct.
That lost generation of the Israelites suffered incredible hardships in the wilderness, being subject to the incursions of armed enemies, enduring hunger and thirst and wretchedness, being exposed to the sickening agonies inflicted by poisonous serpents, finding no certain habitation, marching every day of their lives in step with frustration, disease and death. And yet it all could have been different. God gave them the right to enter Canaan immediately upon their coming out of Egypt, but through unbelief and disobedience they failed to enter, Never, perhaps, in human history is there so clearly outlined a case in which the religious and spiritual failures of a people issued so promptly and irrevocably in their temporal and physical poverty as well, leaving the lesson for all to see. Moffatt commented on this in these words,
The world at large may ridicule the idea that a man’s spiritual standing can have the remotest connection with the success or failure which may attend his pursuit of temporal objects: and we are far enough from alleging that the maintenance of religious principle will necessarily insure the prosperous issue of every enterprise; but its absence may, at any time, throw obstacles in the way which might not, under other circumstances, require to be encountered; and when we find that unbelief and nothing else was the cause of the exclusion of so many Israelite wanderers from the choice and productive land of Canaan, we seem to read, in characters so plain that only willful error can mistake their meaning, the great truth that the earthly prospects of all may be materially and even vitally affected by the possession or the want of faith.[15]
ENDNOTE:
[15] H. B. Moffatt, The Biblical Illustrator (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1967), p. 287.
HAVING demonstrated the pre-eminence of the Lord Christ above Moses in their respective ministries about the house of God, the apostle, according unto his design and method, proceeds unto the application of the truth he had evinced, in an exhortation unto stability and constancy in faith and obedience. And this he doth in a way that adds a double force to his inference and exhortation; first, in that he presseth them with the words, testimonies, and examples recorded in the Old Testament, unto which they owned an especial reverence and subjection; and then the nature of the examples which he insists upon is such as supplies him with a new argument unto his purpose. Now this is taken from the dealing of God with them who were disobedient under the ministry and rule of Moses; which he further explains, Heb 3:15-19. For if God dealt in severity with them who were unbelieving and disobedient with respect unto him and his work who was but a servant in the house, they might easily understand what his dispensation towards them would be who should be so with respect unto the Son and his work, who is Lord over the whole house, and whose house are we.
Heb 3:7-11. , , , , , , , , , . , . .
There are some little varieties in some words and letters observed in some old manuscripts, but of no importance or use, and for the most part mere mistakes; as for , for , for ; as many such differences occur, where some have tampered to make the apostles words and the translation of the LXX. in all things to agree. , sicut; the Syriac and Arabic translations omit this word. Wherefore the Holy Ghost saith. . So the LXX. in the psalm, sicut in exacerbatione, in irritatione, in the provocation. Syr., ut ad iram eum provocetis tanquam exacerbatores, both in the psalm and here also, departing both from the Hebrew text and the apostolical version, that you stir him not up to anger as provokers. . So the LXX. in the psalm. Vulg., secundum diem tentationis, according to the day of temptation; that is, as those others, the fathers of the people, did in the day of temptation: so also in this place following the LXX. in the psalm, though not only the original but that version also might more properly be rendered, sieur in die tentationis, as in the day of temptation. . The translator of the Syriae version in the psalm, qua tentarunt, that is, qua die; referring it unto the time of the temptation, the day wherein. Here quum, when, to the same purpose. Neither was there any need of the variety of expression, the word used by that translator in both places being the same, referring unto time, not place, the day of temptation, not the wilderness wherein it was. Vulg., ubi, properly where; as the Arabic, in quo, in which, desert, the next antecedent. Ethiop, Eo quod tentarunt eum patres vestri, tentarunt me, Whereas your fathers tempted him, they tempted me. For it was Christ who was tempted in the wilderness, 1Co 10:9.
Saw my works , forty years. Here the apostle completes the sense; for although sundry editions of the New Testament, as one by Stephen, and one by Plantin, out of one especial copy, place the period at , my works, yet the insertion of after by the apostle, proves the sense by him there to be concluded. So is it likewise by the Syriac in the psalm, and by all translations in this place. However, the Ethiopic, omitting , seems to intend another sense. The LXX. and Vulgar Latin in the psalm follow the original; though some copies of the LXX. have been tampered withal, to bring them to conformity with the apostle here, as usually it hath fallen out. And there is no doubt but that the order of the words in the Syriac version on the psalm came from this place.
, offensus fui, incensus fui; Arab., exsecratus sum, I cursed this generation. . The original in the psalm, , [3] this people, which in the psalm is followed by the Syriac; and, contrary to the apostle, the same expression is retained in that version on this place. The LXX. in the psalm have taken in these words of the apostle, and left out those of the original; wherein they are (as almost constantly in the Psalms) followed by the Vulgar Latin.
[3] The Hebrew in the psalm is in reality . ED.
, wherefore. It expresseth an inference from what was spoken before, manifesting the ensuing exhortation to be deduced from thence. And it hath respect unto the exhortation itself which the apostle directly enters upon, 1Co 10:12, Take heed, brethren, Wherefore take heed, brethren.
There is therefore a hyperbaton in the discourse, the words that agree in sense being separated by an interposition of other things; and there is between them a digression to an example or argument for the better enforcement of the exhortation itself.
, as the Holy Ghost saith; or, that I may use the words of the Holy Ghost.There is an emphasis in the manner of the expression, , that Holy Spirit; so called , by way of eminency, the third person in the Trinity, who in an especial manner spake in the penmen of the Scripture. Those holy men of God spake , moved, acted, inspired by the Holy Ghost, 2Pe 1:21.
, as he saith. This may intend either his first immediate speaking in his inspiration of the psalmist, as it is expressed, Heb 4:7, , saying in David, where these words are again repeated; or his continuing still to speak these words to us all in the Scripture. Being given out by inspiration from him, and his authority always accompanying them, he still speaketh them.
The words reported by the apostle are taken from Psa 95:7-11. He mentions not the especial place, as speaking unto them who either were, or whom he would have to be exercised in the word, 2Ti 3:15. Besides, though such particular citations of places may be needful for us, for a present help unto them that hear or read, it was not so to the holy penmen of the New Testament, whose writings are continually to be searched and meditated upon all our lives, Joh 5:39. Whereas ours are transient and for the present occasion, every thing in their writings (which makes us attentive and industrious in our search) is to our advantage. The leaving, therefore, of an uncertainty whence particular quotations are taken is useful to make us more sedulous in our inquiries.
This psalm the apostle makes use of both in this chapter, and the next. In this, he manifests it to contain a useful and instructive example, in what happened unto the people of God of old. In the next, he shows that not only a moral example may be taken from what so fell out, but also that there was a type in the things mentioned in it (and that according unto Gods appointment) of our state and condition; and moreover, a prophecy of the gospel state of the church under the Messiah, and the blessed rest therein to be obtained. Here we have the consideration of it as historical and exemplary; in the next we shall treat of it as prophetical.
The Jews had a tradition that this psalm belonged unto the Messiah. Hence the Targum renders these words of the first verse, , to the rock of our salvation, , before the mighty one of our redemption; with respect unto the redemption to be wrought by the Messiah, whom they looked for as the Redeemer, Luk 24:21. Sover. 7, , in that day, seems to refer unto the same season. And the ancient Jews do frequently apply these words, To-day, if ye will hear his voice, unto the Messiah. For from these words they have framed a principle, that if all Israel would repent but one day the Messiah would come, because it is said, To-day, if ye will hear his voice. So in the Talmud. Tract. Taanith., distinc. Mamarai Maskirin. And the same words they used in Midrash Shirhashirim, cap. 5: Heb 3:2. And this is no small witness against them as to the person of the Messiah; for he is God undoubtedly concerning whom the psalmist speaks, as is evident from Heb 3:2-7. He whose voice they are to hear, whom they acknowledge to be the Messiah, is Jehovah, the great God, Heb 3:3; who made the sea, and formed the dry land, Heb 3:5; the LORD our maker, Heb 3:6. And indeed this psalm, with those that follow unto the 104th, is evidently of those new songs which belong unto the kingdom of the Messiah. And this is among the Jews the , or principal new song, expressing that renovation of all things which under it they expect. The next psalm expresseth it: Sing unto the LORD , a new song. , saith Rashi, This psalm is for the time to come; that is, the days of the Messiah. , hodie, today, this day. A certain day or space of time is limited or determined, as the apostle speaks in the next chapter. And the psalm being in part, as was showed, prophetical, it must have a various application; for it both expresseth what was then done and spoken in the type, with regard to what was before as the foundation of all, and intimateth what should afterwards be accomplished in the time prefigured, in what the words have respect unto as past.
The general foundation of all lies in this, that a certain limited present space of time is expressed in the words. This is the moral sense of them: limited, because a day; present, because to-day. And this space may denote in general the continuance of mens lives in this world. ; that is, saith Rashi, , in this world, in this life: afterwards there will be neither time nor place for this duty. But yet the measure of such a day is not merely our continuance in a capacity to enjoy it, but the will of God to continue it. It is Gods day that is intended, and not ours, which we may outlive, and lose the benefit of it, as will afterwards appear.
Again, the general sense of the word is limited to a special season, both then present when the words were spoken, and intimated in prophecy to come afterwards. For the present, or Davids time, that refers, saith Aben Ezra, to , come, let us fall down and worship, Heb 3:6; as if he had said, If you will hear his voice, come and worship before him this day.And in this sense, it is probable that some especial feast of Moses institution, when the people assembled themselves unto the solemn worship of God, was intended. Many think that this psalm was peculiarly appointed to be sung at the feast of tabernacles. Neither is it unlikely, that feast being a great type and representation of the Son of God coming to pitch his tabernacle amongst us, Joh 1:14. Let this, then, pass for Davids typical day. But that a farther day is intended herein the apostle declares in the next chapter. Here the proper time and season of any duty, of the great duty exhorted unto, is firstly intended, as is evident from the application that the apostle makes of this instance, Joh 1:13, Exhort one another daily, while it is called , to-day; that is, whilst the season of the duty is continued unto you.So was it also originally used by the psalmist, and applied unto the duties of the feast of tabernacles, or some other season of the performance of Gods solemn worship.
, si, if; a mere conditional, as commonly used. But it is otherwise applied in the New Testament, as Mat 8:19, I will follow thee , whithersoever thou goest. And Mat 12:36, Every idle word , which men shall speak. There is no condition or supposition included in these places, but the signification is indefinite, whosoever, whatsoever, whensoever. Such may be the sense of it in this place; which would, as some suppose, remove a difficulty which is cast on the text; for make it to be merely a conditional, and this and the following clause seem to be coincident, If ye will hear, that is, obey his voice, harden not your hearts; for to hear the voice of God, and the not hardening of our hearts, are the same. But there is no necessity, as we shall see, to betake ourselves unto this unusual sense of the word.
, Ye will hear his voice: . Where-ever this construction of the words doth occur in the Hebrew, that is joined with , whether it be spoken of God in reference unto the voice of man, or of man in reference unto the voice of God, the effectual doing and accomplishment of the thing spoken of is intended. So Num 14:22, They have tempted me these ten times, , and have not heard my voice; that is, have not yielded obedience to my command.So of God with reference unto men: Jos 10:14, There was no day like that, before nor after it, that the LORD should hearken to the voice of a man; that is, effectually to do so great a thing as to cause the sun and moon to stand still in heaven. So between man and man, Deu 21:18-19. See Mat 18:15-17. It is frequently observed, that to hear, to hearken, in the Scripture, signifies to obey, or to yield obedience to the things heard; as to see doth to understand or believe, and to taste denotes spiritual experience; words of outward sense being used to express the inward spiritual acts of the mind. Sometimes I say it is so, but this phrase is always so used. The Holy Ghost, therefore, herein lays down the duty which we owe to the word, to the voice of God, when we hear it in the way of his appointment, that is, to yield sincere obedience unto it; and the hinderance thereof is expressed in the next words. Now, as this command is translated over into the gospel, as it is by our apostle in the next chapter, it hath respect unto the great precept of hearing and obeying the voice of Christ, as the great prophet of the church; given originally, Deu 18:19, Whosoever will not hearken unto my words, which he shall speak in my name (for the Father speaketh in the Son, Heb 1:1-2). I will require it of him, Act 3:22-23; which was again solemnly renewed upon his actual exhibition: Mat 17:5, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. See 2Pe 1:17. And he is thereon, as we have seen, compared with Moses in his prophetical office, and preferred above him, Joh 1:17-18.
, the voice of the LORD, is sometimes taken for his power, inasmuch as by his word, as an intimation and signification of the power which he puts forth therein, he created and disposeth of all things. See Psa 29:3-5; Psa 29:7-9, where the mighty works of Gods power and providence are assigned unto his voice. See also Mic 6:9. Sometimes it is used for the revelation of his will in his commands and promises. This is the of God, the word of his will and pleasure. But it is withal certain that and are used principally, if not solely, for a sudden, transient voice or speaking. For the word of God as delivered in the Scripture is and , sometimes , not or . So the lifting up of the voice amongst men, is to make some sudden outcry; as, They lifted up their voice and wept. These words, then, do ordinarily signify a sudden, marvelous speaking of God from heaven, testifying unto anything. So doth , Mar 1:11, , And there was a voice from heaven. So Mat 17:5; Luk 3:22; Joh 12:28, , There came therefore a voice from heaven: which when the multitude heard, they said , thundered; for thunder was called , the voice of God. So the , the voices, Exo 19:16, that accompanied the or lightnings, that is, the thunders that were at the giving of the law, are rendered by our apostle , Heb 12:19; that is, the thunders from heaven which accompanied the words that were spoken. So is used Act 10:13; Act 10:15; Act 26:14. Hence came the , Bath Kol among the ancient Jews: or, as. in the Chaldee, , Gen 38:26. There came filia vocis (the daughter of the voice) from heaven. And so the Syriac version in this place: , if you will hear the daughter of the voice.
They called it so, as being an effect or product of the power of God, to cause his mind and will to be heard and understood by it. They thought it was not the voice of God himself immediately, but as it were the echo of it, a secondary voice, the offspring of another. And whereas they acknowledge, that after the building of the second temple the , or , the Spirit of prophecy and of inspiration, ceased in their, church, they contend that revelations were made by the by the , or immediate voice from heaven, though they can instance in none but those which concerned our Savior, which the apostles declared and made famous, 2Pe 1:17. But it may be there is that in this tradition which they understand not. Elias in his Tishbi tells us, , The Cabbalists say that it is the voice of a property in God which is called Kol; and it may be it is so. They have no other way to express a person in the divine nature but by , a special property. And one of these, they say, is called Kol, that is, the Word, the eternal Word or Son of God. His especial speaking is intended in this expression; which is true. So his speaking is called his speaking from heaven, Heb 12:25; although I deny not but that the immediate speaking of the Father in reference unto the Son is sometimes so expressed, Mat 17:5, 2Pe 1:17. But an especial, extraordinary word is usually so intended. So our Savior tells the Pharisees, that they had not heard , the voice of God at any time, nor seen his , his shape, Joh 5:37. They had heard the voice of God in the reading and preaching of the word, but that was , his word. His they had not heard. Notwithstanding all their pretences and boastings, they had not at any time extraordinary revelations of God made unto them. For there is an allusion to the revelation of the will of God at Horeb, when his , or , or voice, was heard, and his or , his shape, appeared, or a miraculous appearance of his presence was made; both now being accomplished in himself in a more eminent manner, as the apostle declares, Joh 1:16-18. It is true the Lord Christ calls his ordinary preaching, as we say, viva voce, , his voice, Joh 10:3; Joh 10:16; but this he doth because it was extraordinary, his person, work, and call being so. Wherefore the psalmist in these words, as to the historic and typical intendment of them, recalls the people unto the remembrance and consideration of Gods speaking unto them in the giving of the law at Horeb, and exhorts them unto obedience unto it formally upon that consideration, namely, that the will of God was uttered unto them in a marvellous and extraordinary manner. And as to the prophetical intendment of it, he intimates another extraordinary revelation of it, to be made by the Messiah, the Son of God. , , Harden not your hearts. This expression is sacred; it occurs not in other authors. To harden the heart, is a thing peculiarly regarding the obedience that God requireth of us. , hardness, is indeed sometimes used in heathen writers for stubbornness of mind and manners. So Aristotle says of some that they are , famous for stubbornness. Such as Homer describes Achilles to have been, who had , a hard, stubborn, inflexible mind. So is sometimes used, duricervicus, hard-necked or stiff-necked, curvicervicum pecus, a crook-necked, perverse beast.
But to harden, is scarcely used unless it be in the New Testament and in the translation of the Old by the LXX. Three times it occurs in the New Testament, Act 19:9, Rom 9:18, and in this chapter; everywhere by Paul, so that it is a word peculiar unto him. , therefore, to harden the heart, in a moral sense, is peculiar to holy writ; and it is ascribed both to God and man, but in different senses, as we shall see afterwards. By this word the apostle expresseth out of the original; that is, to be hard, heavy, and also difficult. In Hiphil it is to harden and make obdurate, and is used only in a moral sense. The LXX. render it constantly by , induro; or gravo, 1Ki 12:4 : to harden, or to burden. Sometimes it is used absolutely: Job 9:4, , hardened against him, that is, himself; hardened himself against him. Ofttimes it hath , the neck, added unto it: , Pro 29:1, that stiffeneth, or hardeneth his neck; as one that goes on resolvedly, as will not so much as turn aside or look back towards any one that calls him. Sometimes it hath , the spirit joined to it: Deu 2:30, , he hardened his spirit. But most commonly it hath the heart, as here. And it still in man denotes a voluntary perverseness of mind, in not taking notice of, or not applying the soul unto the will of God as revealed, to do and observe it.
, as in the provocation; . The LXX. render this word, where it is first used, by , convitium, a reproach, Exo 17:7; afterwards constantly by , contradiction, or contention by words, as Num 20:13; Num 27:14, Deu 33:8; and nowhere by , as in this place of the psalm. Hence some suppose it is evident that the present Greek translation is not the work or endeavor of the same persons, but a cento of many essays. I rather think that we have hence a new evidence of the insertion of the apostles words into that version; for, as I will not deny but that the writers of the New Testament might make use of that Greek version of the Old which was then extant, so that many words and expressions are taken from them, and inserted in that which we now enjoy, is too evident for any man of modesty or sobriety to deny. And this word, as here compounded, is scarce used in any other author. is bitter, in opposition to , sweet, pleasant; that is the proper, natural sense of the word. So also of and , to make bitter to the taste or sense. But the metaphorical use of these words in a moral sense is frequent for exacerbo, provoco. The Hebrew , is to stir up to anger, to vex, imbitter, provoke, as 1Sa 1:6.
So must be exacerbatio, provocatio, an imbittering, a provocation to anger by contention: , which here is so rendered, is jurgium, a strife agitated in words. We render it chiding. The story which this principally refers unto is recorded, Exo 17:1-7,
And they pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink. Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD? And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children, and our cattle, with thirst?
And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me. And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?
Another story to the like purpose we have of what befell the people in the wilderness of Zin nearly forty years afterwards, when, in their murmuring for water, another reek was smitten to bring it forth, whereon it is added, This is the water of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, Num 20:13. is also said on the same occasion that they chode with Moses, Num 20:3.
, ; as in the day of Massah, or temptation; , from , to tempt; the other name given to the place before mentioned in Exodus: for thence it is that the apostle takes his example, where both the names are mentioned, and where the place is said to be called Massah and Meribah; whereas in that of Numbers it is only said, This is the water of Meribah, or strife. And yet it may be not without respect to the latter also. The first instance was at the beginning, the latter at the close of their provocations. As they began so they ended. This was a remarkable passage between God and that people; for, first, a double name is given to the place where it fell out: He called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, Exo 17:7. Meribah, which the apostle renders , seems principally or firstly to respect Moses as the object of it: Exo 17:2, , and the people chode with Moses. Thence had the place the name of Chiding, Meribah, from jareb. And God was the immediate object of their temptation. So in the text there is made a distribution of these things distinctly, whence these several names arose. And Moses said unto the people, , Why do ye chide with me (Meribah)? and wherefore do ye tempt the Lord (Massah)? For in the same things and words wherein they chode with Moses they tempted the Lord. And hence the same word, of chiding, striving, contending, or provoking, is used in this matter towards the Lord Num 20:13, , they strove (or chode) with the LORD.
Secondly, This matter, as a thing exceedingly remarkable, is often called over and remembered again in the Scripture. Sometimes on the part of the people; and that,
1. To reproach and burden them with their sins, as Deu 9:22, And at Massah ye provoked the LORD to wrath; and sometimes,
2. To warn them of the like miscarriages, Deu 6:16, Ye shall, not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah. So also in the 95th Psalm, from whence the apostle takes these words. Again, it is remembered as an instance of the faithfulness of Levi, who clave to God in those trials: Deu 33:8,
And of Levi he said, Let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy Holy One, whom thou didst prove at Massah, and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah.
The mercy likewise that ensued in giving them waters from the rock is frequently celebrated, Deu 8:15, Psa 78:15-16; Psa 105:41, Neh 9:15. Moreover, in this rock of Horeb lay hid a spiritual Rock, as our apostle tells us, 1Co 10:4, even Christ, the Son of God, who, being smitten with the rod of Moses, or the stroke and curse of the law administered by him, gave out waters of life freely to all that thirst and come unto him. In this matter, therefore, is comprehended a great instance of providence and a great mystery of grace. But yet notwithstanding all this, although the especial denomination of the sin of the people be taken from that instance of Exodus 17, yet the expressions are not to be confined or appropriated only thereunto. For the particular provocation on which God sware against them that they should not enter into his rest fell out afterwards, Numbers 14, as we shall see in our progress. But this is eminently referred unto,
1. Because it was upon the very entrance of that course of provoking which they constantly persisted in until they were consumed;
2. Because of the signal and significant miracles and works which God wrought thereon.
, ; in the desert, or wilderness, namely, of Midian, where-into that people entered upon their coming through the sea. In their way towards Horeb, their fourth station was at Rephidim, where the things fell out before recounted. So they received refreshment in a type, from the spiritual Rock, some days before the giving of the fiery law.
, is referred both to time and place as well as persons. We render here, when, when your fathers tempted me; and so in the psalm; referring what is spoken to the time mentioned, or the day of temptation. So the Syriac, in which day.
The Vulg. Lat.., ubi, where, that is in the desert, at Meribah or Massah. And this is the proper signification of the word. Nor is either or , the interrogative, ever used in any good authors to denote time, but place only. Where, that is , in the wilderness, where they tempted God and saw his works forty years.
, ; your fathers, or forefathers; , progenitors, 2Ti 1:3. So is often used, and most frequently; although in one place be added: , Jer 11:10; the first springs and heads of any nation or family, the whole congregation in the wilderness, whose posterity they were.
, ; proved me. This word is seldom used in an ill sense, as the former is almost continually. is to have experience, upon search, investigation, and trial, Psa 139:23. The experience, therefore, that they had of the power of God upon their temptations, is that which by this word is intended. They proved me and found by trial that I was in the midst of them. , ; and saw my works. And saw my work, in the psalm. is rendered by . It signifies also, moreover, somewhat above a mere conjunction; and so doth , most frequently quinetiam. Some suppose it may be here taken for etse etiam, although. They tempted me, and proved me, although they saw my works.And so these words are placed as an aggravation of their sin in tempting of God, distrusting of him, after they had had such experience of his power and goodness, in those mighty works of his which they saw. But the order of things also seems to be intended. First they tempted God, They tempted me. Then they had an experience of his power, They proved me; and that by the production of his mighty works which they saw. For generally all the works of God in the wilderness, whether of mercy or judgment, were consequents of, or ensued upon the peoples tempting of him. Such was his bringing water out of the rock, and sending of quails and manna. The people murmured chode, strove, tempted; then the power of God was manifested and the works were wrought which they saw. were the judgments that he wrought and executed on Korah, Dathan, and Abiram; and on the spies that brought up an evil report on the land, with those that adhered unto them. This order and method of things is here expressed. They tempted God by their complaints, repinings, murmurings, seditions, unbelief, weariness of their condition, with impatient desires and wishings after other things. Hereupon they had frequent trials of the power, care, and faithfulness of God; as also of his holiness, and indignation against their sins. All these were made manifest in the mighty works of providence, in mercies and judgments which he wrought amongst them, and which they saw. They had them not by report or tradition, but saw them with their own eyes, which was a great aggravation of their unbelief. Jarchi refers this to the works of God in Egypt only; but this is contrary to our apostle, although they are not to be excluded: Num 14:22, They have seen my glow, and my miracles (my glorious works), which I did in Egypt, and in the wilderness.
, forty years. Here the apostle finisheth the sense of the words, referring them to what goes before: They saw my works forty years.The psalmist as was before observe, placeth these words in the beginning of the next verse, and makes them to respect the season of Gods indignation against them for their sins; , forty years was I grieved. By the apostle, the space of time mentioned is applied unto the peoples seeing of works of God; by the psalmist, to Gods indication against them. And these things being absolutely commensurate in their duration, it is altogether indifferent to which of them the limitation of time specified is formally applied; and the apostle shows it to be indifferent, in that in the 17th verse of this chapter he plies the space of time unto Gods being grieved with them, as here unto the peoples sin: With whom was he grieved forty years?Only, it may be, the apostle made this distinction of the words to intimate, that the oath of God against the entering of that people into his rest was not made after the end of forty years, as the order of the words in the psalm seems to import: Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they We not known my ways: unto whom I sware in my that they should not enter into my rest. They seem to intimate, that God thus sware in his wrath after he had been grieved with them forty years. But they do but seem so: really they only declare that it was the same people with whom he was grieved concerning whom he sware; for the oath of God here intended is that mentioned, Num 14:20-23. The people falling into a high sedition and murmuring, upon the report of the spies that were sent to search the land, the Lord sware by himself that that whole generation should wander forty years in that wilderness, until they were all consume. Now, this was upon the next year after their coming up out of Egypt, and after which the forty years of their prorations and Gods indignation ensue. But these things, as to time, were of the same duration. The people came out of Egypt, and entered into the wilderness in the first month of the year. At the end of the fortieth year from their coming out of Egypt, the eleventh month of it, is issued the history of three of the books of Moses, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers. In the last month of that year Moses reviewed and repeated the whole law, the dealings of God, and sins of the people, as recorded in the book of Deuteronomy. About the end of that month, as is probable, he died, and was lamented thirty days, or all the first month of the forty-first year. After which, about three or four days, the people prepared to pass over Jordan, under the conduct of Jos 1:11. This was the space of time mentioned, containing as wonderful issues and successes of things as ever befell the church of God in the like space of time. Every year in the whole forty was full of instances of the peoples sins, provocations, temptations, and unbelief; and every year also was filled with tokens of Gods displeasure and indignation, until the close of the whole dispensation came, wherein that generation that came out of Egypt under Moses was consumed, and the indignation of God rested in their consumption. And it is not unlikely but that the apostle minds the Hebrews of this space of time granted unto their forefathers in the wilderness after their coming up out of Egypt, with their abuse of it, because an alike space of time was now, in the patience of God, allotted unto the whole church and people of the Jews, between the preaching of Christ and that wasting destruction that was to come upon them. And according to this type it fell out with them; for, as after their forefathers, who came up under Moses out of Egypt were consumed in forty years in the wilderness, a new church, a new generation, under the conduct of Joshua, entered into the rest of God; so within forty years after the preaching of spiritual deliverance unto them, which was rejected by them, that whole generation was cut off in the wrath of God, and a new church of Jews and Gentiles, under the conduct of the true Joshua, enters into the rest of God.
, Wherefore I was grieved. The apostle here alters the tenor of the discourse in the psalmist, by interposing a reference unto the cause of Gods being grieved with the people, in the word , wherefore; that is, because of their manifold temptations and provocations, not cured, not healed, although for so long a season they beheld his works. They continued in the same kind of sins on the account whereof God was first provoked, and sware against their entering into the land. For, as we have before observed, the oath of God passed against them at the beginning of the forty years; but they abiding obstinately in the same sins, the execution of that oath had respect unto all their provocations during the whole forty years. , I was grieved. This word is supposed peculiar unto the Hellenistical Jews, nor doth ,it occur in any other author, but only in the Greek version of the Old Testament. Nor is it used by the LXX. in any place to express , the word here used in the original, but they render it by , , and . In the New Testament it is only in this place, and thence transferred into the psalm. It is generally thought to be derived from or , the bank of a river, a rising hill or ridge by the waters side. Thence is , to be offended, to bear a thing difficultly, with tediousness and vexation, so as to rise up with indignation against it, like the ground that riseth against the waters. is the same, with an addition of sense, to be greatly grieved. And this word, to be grieved, is ambiguous even in our language: for it either is as much as dolore affici, to be affected with sorrow and grief, or a being wearied, accompanied with indignation; as we say, such or such a thing is grievous, that is, grave, molestum, or troublesome. And so is the word here used, grieved, that is burdened, and provoked, offended. So Jerome: Displicuit mihi generatio ista, displeased me. Pertuli eam, sed non sine taedio, I bare them, but not without wearisomeness. Symmachus and Aquila render the original word by , to be displeased.
is a word often used, and of an ambiguous signification, to cut off,. to contend, to abominate, (hence by the Arabic it is rendered cursed them,) to be divided with trouble, offense, weariness, and grief. It is commonly in the feminine gender, and joined with , my soul, or , my life. This is the intendment of it: The appointed time of Gods patience was worn out with their continued provocations, so that he was wearied with them, and weary of them, he could bear them no longer.
The Vulgar Latin in some copies reads, Proximus fui huic generationi, I was near to this generation. And so are the words still in some of the Roman offices. Some think that countenance is given hereto by the sense of the word , which may signify accedere or proximate ad ripam animo hostili, to draw near to a shore, a bank, with a hostile mind. Now, it doth not denote only that particular provocation, when God in an especial manner entered his caveat against them that they should not enter into his rest, seeing not only the psalmist in this place, but also our apostle, Jos 1:17, directly refers it to the frame of his mind towards them during the whole forty years. He was wearied by them, and grew weary of them.
, that generation; , in the generation, that is, with that generation. is an age of man, or rather the men of one age: Ecc 1:4, One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh, that is, the men of one age. See Deu 32:7. So is , as in Homers Iliad, 6:146:
, .
And when it is taken for aetas or seculum, it doth not primarily intend a duration of time, but the persons living in that time. Herodotus, in Euterpe, reckons thirty years to a , a generation. So doth Plutarch also in De Defect. Oraculorum. The generation here denotes no limited season, but com-priseth all the persons that came up out of Egypt above twenty years of age, who all died within the space of forty years afterwards.
, They always err in heart; ,They are a people erring in heart. The words of the psalmist are somewhat changed by the apostle, but the sense is absolutely the same, for, taking the people to be sufficiently signified, he adds a word to denote the constant course of their provocations, always, on all occasions, in every trial. Not in any one condition did they give glory to God, neither in their straits nor in their deliverances, neither in their wants nor in their fullness, but continually tempted and provoked him with their murmurings and unbelief. , Populus errantes corde, or errantium corde; that is, populus vecors, a foolish, unteachable people. is most usually so to err as to wander out of the way: Isa 53:6; Gen 37:15; Pro 7:25. And in Hiphil, it is to cause to err or wander, to seduce, to draw aside: Hos 4:12; Isa 19:13. And it is properly rendered by and , which have both a neuter and active signification, to err, to wander, and to seduce or draw aside : whence is erro, vagabundus, a wanderer, a vagabond; and also deceptor, seductor, impostor, a seducer, a deceiver, or impostor. In both which senses the Jews blasphemously applied it unto our Lord Jesus Christ, Mat 27:63. The words, then, denote not a speculative error of the mind, a mistake or misapprehension of what was proposed unto them, in which sense the terms of error and erring are most commonly used, but a practical aberration or wandering by choice from the way of obedience made known unto them; and therefore they are said to err in their heart, . For though that be commonly taken in the Scripture for the entire principle of moral operations, and so compriseth the mind and understanding, yet when an immediate respect is had unto duties and sins, it hath an especial regard to the affections and desires of the heart; so that to err in heart, is, through the seductions and impulsions of corrupt affections, to have the mind and judgment corrupted, and then to depart from the ways of obedience.
, and they have not known my ways; . The apostle renders by , an adversative, but; which is frequently used for , and, as it is rendered by ours. Yet an opposition may also be intimated, They have not known. It is said before that they saw the works of God, which were parts of his ways; and his laws were made known unto them. Of these two parts do his ways consist, the ways of his providence, and the ways of his commands; or the ways wherein he walketh towards us, and the ways wherein he would have us walk towards him. And yet it is said of this people, that they knew not his ways. As we said, therefore, before concerning their error, so we must now say concerning their ignorance, that it is not a simple nescience that is intended, but rather an affected dislike of what they did see and know. It seems to be made up of two parts: First, They did not so spiritually and practically know the mind, will, and intention of God in them, as thereon to believe in him,to trust him, and to honor him. This is the knowledge of God which is required in the law and promised in the covenant. Secondly, In that light and knowledge which they had of the ways of God, they liked them not, they approved them not, they delighted not in them. And this is the constant intention of that word to know, where the object of it is God, his ways, or his will.
, so I sware in my wrath; . The use of the word is so various, as that it may denote either the persons spoken unto or the reason of the things spoken. The Vulgar Latin in some copies reads in this plate, quibus, to whom, as though it had taken for , but commonly, sicut; is often put for , quapropter, so that. So Beza, whereupon, for which cause or reason, the consideration of the state, condition, and multiplied miscarriages of that people that came out of Egypt.
I sware. Of the oath of God and his swearing we must deal afterwards expressly. The declared unalterable purpose of God about the dying of that people in the wilderness, expressed in the way of an oath, is that which is intended. And God is said to swear in his wrath, because he declared that purpose of his under a particular provocation. The whole matter is recorded, Num 14:21-23, and Num 14:28-35,
But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD. Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt, and in the wilderness, have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it… Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me, doubtless ye shall not come into the land concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised. But as for you, your carcasses, they shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcasses be wasted in the wilderness. After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, (each day for a year,) shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years; and ye shall know my breach of promise. I the LORD have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.
We have here the especial occasion of this swearing of God. The whole fabric of the ark and tabernacle being finished, the worship of God established, the law and rules of their polity being given unto them, and a blessed frame of government in things sacred and civil set up amongst them, their military camp, charge, and order in marching, to avoid emulation and confusion, being disposed, all things seemed to be in, a great readiness for the entrance of the people into the promised land. Whereas- they were but a confused multitude when they came out of Egypt, God had now formed them into a beautiful order both in church and state. This he insists on in his dealings with them, Ezekiel 16. Why should they now stay any longer in that wilderness, which was neither meet to entertain them nor designed for their habitation? Wherefore, to prepare a way for their entrance into Canaan, spies are sent by Gods direction, with excellent instructions, to search out the land, Num 13:17-20. Upon their return, the peevish, cowardly, unbelieving multitude, terrified with a false report which they made, fall into an outrageous repining against God and sedition against their ruler.
Hereupon the Lord, wearied as it were with their continued provocations, and especially displeased with their last, whereby they had, what lay in them, frustrated his intentions towards them, threatened to consume the people as one man, Num 14:12; but Moses, pleading with him the interest of his own name and glory, prevailed to divert the execution of that commination. And yet so great was this provocation, and so absolutely had the people of that generation discovered themselves to be every way unfit to follow the Lord in that great work, that, to show the greatness of their sin, and the irrevocableness of his purpose, he sware with great indignation concerning them, in manner and form above declared.
, if they shall enter. So in the Hebrew, , if they shall enter. So, frequently in the place of Numbers from whence the story is taken. The expression is imperfect, and relates to the oath of God wherein he sware by himself. As if he had said, Let me not live,or not be God, if they enter;which is the greatest and highest asseveration that so they should not do. And the concealment of the engagement is not, as some suppose, from a , causing an abruptness of speech, but from the reverence of the person spoken of. The expression is perfectly and absolutely negative. So Mar 8:12, with Mat 16:4; 1Sa 14:44; 1Ki 20:10.
, into my rest. The pronoun my is taken either efficiently or subjectively. If in the first way, the rest that God would give this people is intended; They shall not enter into the !and which I promised to give unto Abraham and his seed, as a state of rest, after all their wanderings and peregrinations upon my call and command.Or it may be expounded subjectively, for the rest of God himself; that is, the place wherein he would fix his worship and therein rest. And this seems to be the proper meaning of the word my rest; that is, the place where I will rest, by establishing my worship therein.Hence this was the solemn word of blessing at the moving of the ark of God, Arise, O LORD, into thy rest; so Psa 132:8, 2Ch 6:41. A place for the Louis, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob, Psa 132:5. So he calls his worship his rest and the place of his rest, Isa 11:10; Isa 66:1. And the Targumist renders these words, Into the rest of the house of my sanctuary: as he speaks elsewhere, This is my rest for ever; which place is cited by Rashi on these words. [4]
[4] VARIOUS READINGS. Instead of the clause, … , as it stands above, Tischendorf reads ./ Lachmann concurs with him; and the manuscripts quoted in support of this reading are such as A B C D E, C D E inserting after . Both of these critics, moreover, read instead of . EXPOSITION. Erasmus, Calvin, Grotius, Bengel, Wetstein, Carpzov, Ernesti, Bleek, etc., connect all the quotations, Isa 66:7-11, under the government of , as the protasis, of which Isa 66:12 is the opodosis. Schlichting, Cappellus, Heinrichs, Kuinoel, Klee, and Ebrard, understand … as a parenthesis, and the citations as dependent upon the preceding . TRANSLATION. , although they saw. De Wette. ED.
Heb 3:7-11. Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation, in the wilderness: where your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do always err in their hearts; but my ways they have not known. So sware in my wrath, If they shall enter into my rest.
The exhortation is here pursued which was engaged into at the beginning of the chapter, and which after some diversion is returned unto at the close of the sixth verse. The argument whereby it is confirmed and carried on in these words is taken ab eventu pernicioso, from the pernicious event of the alike disobedience in others, which the Hebrews are dehorted from. And this the apostle shows by an eminent instance, or the induction of an example to that purpose. And this was such as those to whom he wrote knew to be so as it was by him reported; which they had especial reason to attend unto and consider, which had formerly been recommended to them, and which was purposely designed to be monitory unto them in their present condition: which things render an example cogent and effectual. Known it was to them, as being recorded in the Scripture, wherewith they were acquainted; and it was likewise of near concernment unto them, so deserving their consideration, inasmuch as it was their own progenitors or forefathers who so miscarried as to be therein proposed unto them for an example of an evil to be avoided. It had also, after the first recording of it in the history of the times wherein it fell out, Numbers 14, been resumed and recommended unto their most diligent consideration, Psalms 95. And, as he afterwards informs them, there was a prophecy infolded, or a typical representation made of their present state and condition, with directions for their wise and safe deportment under it. All these things render the example proper, and the exhortation from it cogent.
Now, whereas the example had been twice recorded, once materially, where the fact is first expressed, and then formally, as an example, where it is resumed and improved by the psalmist, our apostle takes it together with its improvement out of the latter place. It lies therefore before us under both considerations, as a fact recorded by Moses, as an example pressed by the psalmist.
FIRST, We may consider in the words,
First, The note of inference wherein the apostle engageth the whole unto his purpose, Wherefore.
Secondly, The manner of his introduction of this persuasive example, both as to the fact and its former improvement, As the Holy Ghost saith.
Thirdly, The manner of its proposition, in way of exhortation; wherein we have,
First, The general matter of it, which is obedience unto God; expressed,
1. By a supposition, including a positive assertion of the duty especially intended, If ye will hear his voice.
2. By a prohibition or removal of the contrary, Harden not your hearts.
Secondly, The time or season of its due performance, To-day.
SECONDLY, There is in the words the example itself on which the exhortation is built or founded: and this consists of two parts or branches;
First, The sin; and,
Secondly, The punishment of the persons spoken of.
First, The sin: on the account whereof there are mentioned,
1. The persons sinning; they were the fathers, the fathers or progenitors of them to whom he wrote; your fathers, illustrated by their multitude, they were a whole generation.
2. The quality or nature of their sin, which consisted in two things;
(1.) Provocation, As in the provocation;
(2.) Temptation of God, And in the day of temptation they tempted me and proved me.
3. The aggravation of their sin;
(1.) From the place where it was committed, it was in the wilderness;
(2.) From the means of the contrary which they had to have preserved them from it, they saw the works of God, And saw my works;
(3.) From the duration and continuance of their sinning, and the means of the contrary, Forty years.
Secondly, The punishment of their sin is expressed in the pernicious event that ensued, whence the exhortation is taker,; and therein is expressed,
1. The causa procatarctica, or procuring cause, in the sense that God had of their sin: it grieved him, Wherefore I was grieved with that generation.
2. The expression that he gave of it, containing a double aggravation of their sin,
(1.) In its principle, They did err in their hearts;
(2.) In their continuance in it, they did so always, And said, They do always err in their hearts;
(3.) In its effects, They did not know his ways.
3. There is the causa proegoumena, or producing cause of the punishment mentioned, in the resolution that God took and expressed concerning the persons sinning: which also hath a double aggravation:
(1.) From the manner of his declaring this resolution; he did it by an oath, Unto whom I sware:
(2.) From the frame of his spirit; it was in his wrath, Unto whom I sware in my wrath.
(3.) The punishment of the sin itself, expressed negatively, If they shall enter into my rest; that is, they shall not do so. And this also hath a double aggravation:
[1.] From the act denied; they should not enter, not so much as enter:
[2.] From the object; that was the rest of God, They shall not enter into my rest.
We have so particularly insisted on the opening of the words of this paragraph, that we may be the more brief in the ensuing exposition of the design and sense of them; wherein also we shall interpose the observations that are to be improved in our own practice.
FIRST, The illative, wherefore, as was first observed, denotes both the deduction of the ensuing exhortation from the preceding discourse, and the application of it unto the particular duty which he enters upon, Heb 3:12. Wherefore; that is, Seeing the Lord Christ, who is the author of the gospel, is in his legatine or prophetical office preferred far above Moses in the work of the house of God, as being the son and lord over that house as his own, wherein Moses was a servant only, let us consider what duty is incumbent on us, especially how careful and watchful we ought to be that we be not by any means diverted or turned aside from that obedience which he requires, and which on all accounts is due unto him.This he pursues unto Heb 3:11, where the hyperbaton that is in these words is issued.
Obs. 1. No divine truth ought in its delivery to be passed by, without manifesting its use, and endeavoring its improvement unto holiness and obedience.
So soon as the apostle had evinced his proposition concerning the excellency of Christ in his prophetical office, he turns himself unto the application of it unto them that are concerned in it. Divine knowledge is like a practical science; the end of all whose principles and theorems is in their practice; take that away and it is of no use. It is our wisdom and understanding how to live unto God; to that purpose are all the principles, truths, and doctrines of it to be improved. If this be not done in the teaching and learning of it, we fight uncertainly, as men beating the air.
Obs. 2. In times of temptations and trials, arguments and exhortations unto watchfulness against sin and constancy in obedience are to be multiplied in number, and pressed with wisdom, earnestness, and diligence.
Such was the season now with these Hebrews. They were exposed to great trials and temptations: seduction on the one hand by false teachers, and persecution on the other hand by wrathful adversaries, closely beset them. The apostle, therefore, in his dealing with them adds one argument unto another, and pursues them all with pathetical exhortations. Men are often almost unwilling to be under this advantage, or they quickly grow weary of it. Hence our apostle closeth this hortatory epistle with that entreaty, Heb 13:22 : Suffer the word of exhortation. He was afraid they might have thought themselves overburdened with exhortations. And this befalls men on three accounts:
1. When they are grieved by their multiplication, as if they proceeded from a jealousy concerning their sincerity and integrity; so was it with Peter, Joh 21:17.
2. On a confidence of their own strength, which they would not have suspected; as with the same Peter, Mat 26:33.
3. From a secret inclination lying against the thing exhorted unto, or to the thing dehorted from.
But these are the ordinances of God for our preservation in such a condition; and these our necessities in it do call for. And pregnant instances hereof are given by our apostle, especially in this epistle and in that unto the Galatians, whose condition was the same with that of these Hebrews. Both of them were in danger to be seduced from the simplicity of the gospel by inveterate prejudices and the subtilty of false teachers; both of them were encompassed with dangers, and exposed unto persecutions. He understood their temptations and saw their dangers. And with what wisdom, variety of arguments, expostulations, exhortations, and awakening reproofs, doth he deal with them! what care, tenderness, compassion, and love, do appear in them all! In nothing did the excellency of his spirit more evidence itself, than in his jealousy concerning and tender care for them that were in such a condition. And herein the Lord Christ set him forth for an example unto all those to whom the work of the ministry and dispensation of the gospel should afterwards be committed. In this care and watchfulness lie the very life and soul of their ministry. Where this is wanting, whatever else be done, there is but the carcass, the shadow of it.
This, then, is of excellent use, provided,
1. That the arguments in it proceeded on be solid and firm (such as in this case are everywhere laid down by our apostle), that our foundation fail us not in our work. Earnest exhortations on feeble principles have more of noise than weight; when there is an aim of reaching mens affections, without possessing their minds with the due reasons of the things treated about, it proves mostly evanid, and that justly.
2. That the exhortation itself be grave and weighty, duty ought to be clothed with words of wisdom, such as may not, by their weakness, unfitness, uncomeliness, betray the matter intended, and expose it unto contempt or scorn. Hence the apostle requires a singular ability unto the duty of admonition, Rom 15:14, Filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.
3. That the love, care, and compassion of them who manage such exhortations and admonitions be in them made to appear. Prejudices are the bane and ruin of mutual warnings. And these nothing can remove but a demonstration of love, tenderness, and compassion, acting themselves in them. Morose, peevish, wrathful admonitions, as they bring guilt upon the admonisher, so they seldom free the admonished from any. This course, therefore, the condition of them that are tempted, who are never in more danger than when they find not a necessity of frequent warnings and exhortations, and the duty of those who watch for the good of the souls of men, require to be diligently attended unto.
SECONDLY, The manner of the introduction of the persuasive example proposed is to be considered, As saith the Holy Ghost. The words are the words of the psalmist, but are here ascribed unto the Holy Ghost. Our apostle, as other divine writers of the New Testament, useth his liberty in this matter. Sometimes they ascribe the words they cite out of the Old Testament unto the penmen of them; as to Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the like, Luk 24:27; Mat 2:17; Mat 4:14; Joh 12:41; Act 2:25, sometimes to the books wherein they are written; as, It is written in the book of Psalms, Act 1:20, and sometimes they ascribe them unto the principal author, namely, the Holy Ghost, as in this place. Now, as they used their liberty therein, so it is not to be supposed that they fixed on any particular expression without some especial reason for it. And the ascribing of the words of the psalmist in this place immediately unto the Holy Ghost, by whom he was inspired and acted, seems to have been to mind the Hebrews directly of his authority. His intention from the words was, to press a practical duty upon them. In reference unto such duties the mind ought to be immediately inflamed by the authority of him that requires it. Consider,saith he, that these are the words of the Holy Ghost(that is, of God himself), so that you may submit yourselves to his authority.Besides, the apostle intends to manifest that those words have respect unto the times of the gospel, and in an especial manner unto that season of it which was then passing over the Hebrews. He therefore minds them that they were given out by the Spirit of prophecy, so that the concernment of the church in all ages must lie in them. The Holy Ghost saith; that is, as he spake to them of old in and by David (as it is expressed, Heb 4:7), so he continues to speak them unto us in the Scripture, which is not only his word, but his voice, his speaking, living, and powerful voice, for so we may comprise both senses before mentioned.
Obs. 3. Exhortations unto duty ought to be well founded, to be built on a stable foundation, and to be resolved into an authority which may influence the consciences of them to whom they do belong.
Without this they will be weak and enervous, especially if the duties exhorted unto be difficult, burdensome, or any way grievous. Authority is the formal reason of duty. When God gave out his law of commandments, he prefaced it with a signification of his sovereign authority over the people, I am the LORD thy God. And this is our duty in giving our exhortations and commands from him. The engagement of his authority in them is to be manifested. Teach men, saith our Savior, to do and observe whatsoever I have commanded, Mat 28:20. His commands are to be proposed to them, and his authority in them to be applied unto their souls and consciences. To exhort men in the things of God, and to say, This or that man saith so,be he the pope or who he will, is of no use or efficacy. That which you are to attend unto is what the Holy Ghost saith, whose authority the souls of men are every way obnoxious unto.
Obs. 4. Whatever was given by inspiration from the Holy Ghost, and is recorded in the Scripture for the use of the church, he continues therein to speak it to us unto this day.
As he lives forever, so he continues to speak forever; that is, whilst his voice or word shall be of use to the church. As the Holy Ghost saith; that is, speaks now unto us. And where doth he speak it? In the 95th Psalm; there he says it, or speaks it unto us. Many men have invented several ways to lessen the authority of the Scripture, and few are willing to acknowledge an immediate speaking of God unto them therein. Various pretences are used to sub-duct the consciences of men from a sense of his authority in it. But whatever authority, efficacy, or power the word of God was accompanied withal, whether to evidence itself so to be, or otherwise to affect the minds of men unto obedience, when it was first spoken by the Holy Ghost, the same it retains now it is recorded in Scripture, seeing the same Holy Ghost yet continues to speak therein.
THIRDLY, There is in the words, first, The matter of the exhortation intended, that which it aims at and intends. This in general is obedience unto God, answerable unto the revelation which he makes of himself and his will unto us. And this is,
1. Expressed in a supposition, including a positive assertion of it, If ye will hear his voice; It is your duty so to do; and this is that which you are exhorted unto.
(1.) The voice of God is ordinarily the word of his command, the voice or signification of his will; which is the rule of all our duty or obedience.
(2.) In this place, as commonly elsewhere, not the word of command in general is intended, but an especial call or voice of God in reference unto some especial duty at some especial season. Such was the voice of God to the people in the wilderness at the giving of the law, which the people heard, and saw the effects of. Hence is the command translated into the voice of God, in giving out the gospel by the ministry of his Son Jesus Christ. From the former is the occasion of the words taken in the psalm; and to the latter is the application of it made by the apostle.
(3.) The psalmist speaks to the people as if the voice of God were then sounding in their ears. For that which was once the voice of God unto the church (being recorded in the Scripture) continues still to be so; that is, it is not only materially his revealed will and command, but it is accompanied with that special impression of his authority which it was at first attested withal. And on this ground all the miracles wherewith the word of old was confirmed are of the same validity and efficacy towards us as they were towards them that saw them; namely, because of the sacredness of the means whereby they are communicated to us.
This, then, is the object of the duty exhorted unto, the voice of God:
which, as it is used by the apostle, is extended virtually and consequentially to the whole doctrine of the gospel, but with especial respect to the revelation of it by Christ Jesus; as in the psalm it regards the whole doctrine of the law, but with especial regard unto the delivery of it to Moses on mount Sinai. The act exercised about it is hearing, If ye will hear his voice. The meaning of this word hath been before explained. It is an act of the whole soul, in understanding, choosing, and resolving to do, the will of God declared by his voice, that is intended. And this further appears from the ensuing charge: If ye will hear, harden not your hearts; that is, If you think meet to obey the voice of God, if you will choose so to do, take heed of that which would certainly be a hinderance thereof. Thus dealeth the apostle with the Hebrews; and herein teacheth us that,
Obs. 4. The formal reason of all our obedience consists in its relation to the voice or authority of God.
So, therefore, doth the apostle express it, so is it declared in the whole Scripture. If we do the things that are commanded, but not with respect to the authority of God by whom they are commanded, what we so do is not obedience properly so called. It hath the matter of obedience in it, but the formal reason of it, that which should render it properly so, which is the life and soul of it, it hath not: what is so done is but the carcass of duty, no way acceptable unto God. God is to be regarded as our sovereign Lord and only lawgiver in all that we have to do with him. Hereby are our souls to be influenced unto duty in general, and unto every especial duty in particular. This reason are we to render to ourselves and others of all the acts of our obedience. If it be asked why we do such or such a thing, we answer, Because we must obey the voice of God. And many advantages we have by a constant attendance unto the authority of God in all that we do in his worship and service; for,
(1.) This will keep us unto the due rule and compass of duty, whilst we are steered in all that we do hereby. We cannot undertake or perform any thing as a duty towards God which is not so, and which, therefore, is rejected by him, where he saith, Who hath required these things at your hand? This is no small advantage in the course of our obedience. We see many taking a great deal of pains in the performance of such duties as, being not appointed of God, are neither accepted with him, nor will ever turn unto any good account unto their own souls. Had they kept upon their consciences a due sense of the authority of God, so as to do nothing but with respect thereunto, they might have been freed from their laboring in the fire, where all must perish, Mic 6:6-9. Such are most of the works wherein the Papists boast.
(2.) This, also, will not suffer us to omit anything that God requires of us. Men are apt to divide and choose in the commands of God, to take and leave as it seems good unto them, or as serves their present occasion and condition. But this also is inconsistent with the nature of obedience, allowing the formal reason of it to consist in a due respect unto the voice of God; for this extends to all that is so, and only to what is so. So James informs us that all our obedience respects the authority of the Lawgiver, whence a universality of obedience unto all his commands doth necessarily ensue. Nor doth the nature of any particular sin consist so much in respect to this or that particular precept of the law which is transgressed or violated by it, as in a contempt of the Lawgiver himself, whence every sin becomes a transgression of the law, Jas 2:9-11.
(3.) This will strengthen and fortify the soul against all dangers, difficulties, and temptations that oppose it in the way of its obedience. The mind that is duly affected with a sense of the authority of God in what it is to do will not be territa monstris. It will not be frightened or deterred by any thing that lies in its way. It will have in readiness wherewith to answer all objections, and oppose all contradictions. And this sense of the authority of God requiring our obedience is no less a gracious effect of the Spirit, than are that freedom, and cheerfulness, and alacrity of mind which in these things we receive from him.
Obs. 6. Every thing in the commands of God, relating unto the manner of their giving out and communicating unto us, is to be retained in our minds and considered as present unto us.
The psalmist, after so long a season, as the apostle speaks, calls the people to hear the voice of God, as it sounded on mount Sinai at the giving of the law. Not only the law itself, and the authority of God therein, but the manner also of its delivery, by the great and terrible voice of God, is to be regarded, as if God did still continue so to speak unto us. So also is it in respect of the gospel. In the first revelation of it God spake immediately in the Son; and a reverence of that speaking of God in Christ, of his voice in and by him, are we continually to maintain in our hearts. So in the dispensation of the gospel he continues yet to speak from heaven, Heb 12:25. It is his voice and word unto us no less than it was when in his own person he spake on the earth. And God being thus, both in his commands and the manner of his giving them out, rendered present unto us by faith, we shall receive a great incitation unto obedience thereby.
Obs. 7. Consideration and choice are a stable and permanent foundation of obedience.
The command of God is here proposed unto the people, to their understanding to consider it, to their wills to choose and embrace it: If ye will hear his voice. Consider all things, all concerns of this matter; whose command it is, in what manner given, what is the matter of it, and what are its ends, and what is our own concernment in all this.Men that are engaged into some course of obedience or profession as it were by chance, or by their minds being merely pre-occupated with education or custom, will leave it by chance or a powerful diversion at any time. Those who are only compelled unto it by some pungent, galling convictions, so that they yield obedience not because they like it or choose it, but because they dare not do otherwise, do assuredly lose all respect unto it as their convictions do by any means wear off or decay.
A deliberate choice of the ways of God, upon a due consideration of all their concernments, is that which unchangeably fixeth the soul unto obedience. For the strongest obligations that are unto it ought to be in our own wills. And it is the most eminent effect of the grace of Christ, to make his people willing in the day of his power; nor is any other obedience acceptable with God, Rom 12:1.
2. The apostle carries on and enforceth his exhortation unto obedience, in the words of the psalmist, by a caution against or prohibition of the contrary, or that which would utterly prevent it, as having done so formerly in others: Harden not your hearts. To clear his intention herein, we must inquire,
(1.) What is intended by heart; and,
(2.) What by the hardening of it.
(1.) The heart in the Scripture, spoken of in reference unto moral obedience, doth not constantly denote any one especial faculty of the soul; but sometimes one, sometimes another, is intended and expressed thereby. What is peculiarly designed, the subject-matter treated of and the adjuncts of the word will discover. Thus, sometimes the heart is said to be wise, understanding, to devise, to be filled with counsel; and, on the other side, to be ignorant, dark, foolish, and the like; in all which places it is evident that the mind, the , the guiding, conducting, reasoning faculty is intended. Sometimes it is said to be soft, tender, humble, melting; and, on the other side, hard, stubborn, obstinate, and the like; wherein principal regard is had to the will and affections. The word, therefore, is that whereby the principle of all our moral actions, and the respective influence of all the faculties of our souls into them, are expressed.
(2.) By the sense of the object is the meaning of the act prohibited to be regulated: Harden not. The expression is metaphorical, and it signifies the unfitness and resistency of any thing to receive a due impression from that which is applied unto it; as wax when it is hard will not receive an impression from the seal that is set unto it, nor mortar from the trowel. The application that is made in the matter of obedience unto the souls of men is by the Spirit of God, in his commands, promises, and threatenings; that is, his voice, the whole revelation of his mind and will. And when a due impression is not made hereby on the soul, to work it to an answerableness in its principles and operations thereunto, men are said to resist the Spirit, Act 7:51; that is, to disappoint the end of those means which he makes use of in his application to them. By what ways or means soever this is done, men are thereby said to harden their hearts. Prejudices, false principles, ignorance, darkness and deceit in the mind, obstinacy and stubbornness in the will, corruption and cleaving unto earthly and sensual objects in the affections, all concur in this evil. Hence in the application of this example, Act 7:13, the apostle exhorts the Hebrews to take heed that they be not hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Now, deceit firstly and principally respects the mind, and therein consists the beginning and entrance into the sin of hardening the heart. A brief consideration of the condition of the people in the wilderness upon whom this evil is charged, will give much light into the nature of the sin that here comes under prohibition. What were the dealings of God with them is generally known, and we have elsewhere declared. As he gave them instruction from heaven, in the revelation and delivery of the law, and intrusted them with the singular benefit of the erection of his worship amongst them, so he afforded them all sorts of mercies, protections, deliverances, provision, and guidance; as also made them sensible of his severity and holiness, in great and terrible judgments. All these, at least the most part of them, were also given out unto them in a marvelous and amazing manner. The end of all these dispensations was to teach them his will, to bring them to hearken to his voice, to obey his commands, that it might be well with them and theirs, In this state and condition sundry things are recorded of them; as,
(1.) That they were dull, stupid, and slow of heart in considering the ways, kindness, and works of God. They set not their hearts to them to weigh and ponder them, Deu 32:28-29.
(2.) What they did observe and were moved at (as such was the astonishing greatness of some of the works of God amongst them, such the overpowering obligations of many of his dealings with them, that they could not but let in some present transient sense of them upon their minds), yet they soon forgot them and regarded them not, Psa 78:11-12.
(3.) That their affections were so violently set upon earthly, sensual, perishing things, that in comparison of them they despised all the promises and threatenings of God, resolving to pursue their own heartslusts whatever might become of them in this world and to eternity, Psa 78:18-19. All which are manifest in the whole story of their ways and doings, By this means their minds and spirits were brought into such a frame and condition, that as they did not, so they could not hearken to the voice of God, or yield obedience unto him: they became
a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God, Psa 78:8.
For by these ways and degrees of sin, they contracted a habit of obstinacy, perverseness, and uncircumcision of heart, neither did the Lord, in his sovereign pleasure, see good by his effectual grace to circumcise the hearts of the persons of that generation, that they might fear and serve him, whereby they came to be hardened unto final unbelief and impenitency. It appears, then, that unto this sinful hardening of the heart, which the people in the wilderness were guilty of, and which the apostle here warns the Hebrews to avoid, there are three things that do concur:
(1.) The minds sinful inadvertency and neglect, in not taking due notice of the ways and means whereby God calls any unto faith and obedience.
(2.) A sinful forgetfulness and casting out of the heart and mind such convictions as God, by his word and works, his mercies and judgments, deliverances and afflictions, at any time is pleased to cast into them and fasten upon them.
(3.) An obstinate cleaving of the affections unto carnal and sensual objects, practically preferring them above the motives unto obedience that God proposeth to us. Where these things are, the hearts of men are so hardened that in an ordinary way they cannot hearken unto the voice of God. We may hence also take some observations for our instruction.
Obs. 8. Such is the nature, efficacy, and power of the voice or word of God, that men cannot withstand or resist it, without a sinful hardening of themselves against it.
There is a natural hardness in all men before they are dealt withal by the word, or this spiritual hardness is in them by nature. Hardness is an adjunct of that condition, or the corruption of nature, as is darkness, blindness, deadness, and the like; or it is a result or consequent of them. Men being dark and blind, and dead in trespasses and sins, have thence a natural hardness, an unfitness to receive impressions of a contrary kind, and a resistency thereunto. And this frame may be increased and corroborated in men by various vicious and prejudicate habits of mind, contracted by custom, example, education, and the practice of sin. All this may be in men antecedent unto the dispensation or preaching of the word unto them. Now unto the removal or taking away of this hardness, is the voice or the word of God in the dispensation of it designed. It is the instrument and means which God useth unto that end. It is not, I confess, of itself absolutely considered, without the influencing operation of the Spirit of grace, able to produce this effect. But it is able to do it in its own kind and place; and is thence said to be able to save our souls, Jas 1:21;
able to build us up, and to give us an inheritance among all them which are sanctified, Act 20:32;
being also that immortal seed whereby we are begotten unto God, 1Pe 1:23. By this means doth God take away that rural darkness or blindness of men;
opening the eyes of the blind, turning them from darkness to light, Act 26:18;
shining in their hearts, to give them the knowledge of his glory in the face of Jesus Christ, 2Co 4:6;
as also quickening them who were dead in trespasses and sins; and thereby he removes that hardness which is a consequent of these things. And God doth not apply a means to any end which is unsuited to it or insufficient for it. There is therefore usually such a concomitancy of the Spirit with every dispensation of the word of God that is according to his mind and will, as is able and sufficient to remove that hardness which is naturally upon the hearts of men.
Everyone, therefore, to whom the word is duly revealed, who is not converted unto God, doth voluntarily oppose his own obstinacy unto its efficacy and operation. Here lies the stop to the progress of the word in its work upon the souls of men. It stays not unless it meets with an actual obstinacy in their wills, refusing, rejecting, and resisting of it. And God, in sending of it, doth accompany his word with that power which is meet to help and save them in the state and condition wherein it finds them. If they will add new obstinacy and hardness to their minds and hearts, if they will fortify themselves against the word with prejudices and dislike, if they will resist its work through a love to their lusts and corrupt affections, God may justly leave them to perish, and to be filled with the fruit of their own ways. And this state of things is variously expressed in the Scripture. As,
(1.) By Gods willingness for the salvation of those unto whom he grants his word as the means of their conversion, Eze 18:23; Eze 33:11; 2Pe 3:9; 1Ti 2:4.
(2.) By his expostulations with them that reject his word, casting all the cause of their destruction upon themselves, Mat 23:34. Now, as these things cannot denote an intention in God for their conversion which should be frustrated, which were to ascribe weakness and changeableness unto him; nor can they signify an exercise towards them of that effectual grace whereby the elect are really converted unto God, which would evert the whole nature of effectual grace, and subject it to the corrupt wills of men; so they express more than a mere proposal of the outward means, which men are not able savingly to receive and improve. There is this also in them, that God gives such an efficacy unto these means as that their operation doth proceed on the minds and souls of men in their natural condition, until, by some new acts o their wills, they harden themselves against them. And,
(3.) So the gospel is proposed to the wills of men, Isa 55:1, Rev 22:17.
Hence it is that the miscarriage of men under the dispensation of the word, is still charged upon some positive actings of their wills in opposition unto it, Isa 30:15, Mat 23:37, Joh 3:19; Joh 5:40. They perish not, they defeat not the end of the word towards themselves, by a mere abode and continuance in the state wherein the word finds them, but by rejecting the counsel of God made known to them for their healing and recovery, Luk 7:30.
Obs. 9. Many previous sins make way for the great sin of finally rejecting the voice or word of God.
The not hearing the voice of God, which is here reproved, is that which is final, which absolutely cuts men off from entering into the rest of God. Unto this men come not without having their hearts hardened by depraved lusts and affections. And that it is their nature so to do shall be afterwards declared. Here we only respect the connection of the things spoken of. Hardening of the heart goes before final impenitency and infidelity, as the means and cause of it. Things do not ordinarily come to an immediate issue between God and them to whom the word is preached. I say ordinarily, because God may immediately cut off any person upon the first refused tender of the gospel; and it may be he deals so with many, but ordinarily he exerciseth much patience towards men in this condition. He finds them in a state of nature; that is, of enmity against him. In this state he offers them terms of peace, and waits thereon, during the season of his good pleasure, to see what the event will be. Many in the meantime attend to their lusts and temptations, and so contract an obdurate senselessness upon their hearts and minds; which, fortifying them against the calls of God, prepares them for final impenitency. And this is the first thing that is considerable, in the general matter of the exhortation in hand. Secondly, The time and season for the performance of the duty exhorted unto is expressed, To-day. To-day if ye will hear his voice. The various respects of the limitation of the season of this duty have been spoken to in the opening of the words. The moral sense of it is no more but the present and proper season of any duty; which what is required unto, in this case of yielding obedience to the voice of God, shall be afterwards declared. And in this sense the word is generally used in all authors and languages. So is frequently in the Hebrew in other places, as in this. And a proper season they called , a good day, a meet season,
1Sa 25:8. It may be only a day of feast is there intended, which they called , a good day, a day of mirth and refreshment, Leviticus 23. And so it is commonly used by the rabbins, especially for the feast which the high priest made his brethren after the day of expiation; for on that day they were obliged to many observations, under the penalty of excision. This begat fear and terror in them, and was part of their yoke of bondage. Wherefore when that service was over, and they found themselves safe, not smitten by the hand of God, they kept , a good day, whereon they invited unto a feast all the priests that ministered. But most frequently they so express a present opportunity or season. So the Greeks use , as in Anacreon,
;
My care is for today (the present season); who knows to-morrow (or the time to come)?
To the same purpose are and , used in the gospel, Mat 6:34 : Take no care-for the morrow (things future and unknown): the morrow shall take care for the things of itself (provision shall be made for things future according as they fall out). Sufficient unto the day (the present time and season) is the evil thereof. To the same purpose do they use hodie in the Latin tongue, as in these common sayings,
Sera nimis vita est crastina, vivhodie:
And,
Qui non est hodie, eras minus aptus erit;
with many other sayings of the like importance. This, then, is the sense and meaning of the word absolutely considered. The apostle exhorts the Hebrews, in the words of the psalmist, to make use of the present season, by the use of means, for the furtherance of their faith and obedience, that they may be preserved from hardness of heart and final unbelief. And what arguments unto duty are suggested from a present season shall afterwards be considered. To enforce this exhortation, the apostle minds them that there is in the words of the psalmist,
1. A retrospect unto a monitory example. For others there were who had their day also, their season. This they improved not, they answered it not, nor filled it up with the duty that it was designed unto; and therefore the sad event befell them mentioned in the text. Hence doth he enforce his exhortation: It is now to-day with you, it was once to-day with them of old; but you see what a dark, sad evening befell them in the close of their day. Take heed lest it be so with you also.
2. A respect unto the day enjoyed in the time of the psalmist, which completed the type; of which before. And yet further; there was,
3. More than a mere example intended by the psalmist. A prophecy also of the times of the gospel was included in the words, as our apostle declares. in the next chapter. Such a season as befell the Jews at the giving of the law, is prefigured to happen to them at the giving of the gospel The law being given on mount Sinai, the church of the Hebrews who came out of Egypt had their day, their time and season for the expressing of their obedience thereunto, whereon their entrance into Canaan did depend. This was their day, wherein they were tried whether they would hearken unto the voice of God or no; namely, the space of thirty-eight or forty years in the wilderness. The gospel was now delivered from mount Sion. And the church of the Hebrews, to whom the word of it first came, had their peculiar day, prefigured in the day after the giving of the law enjoyed by their forefathers. And it was to be but a day, but one especial season, as theirs was. And a trying season it was to be, whether in the limited space of it they would obey the voice of God or no. And this especial day continued for the space of thirty-eight or forty years, from the preaching of the gospel by our Lord Jesus Christ, and his death, unto the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus; wherein the greatest part of the people fell, after the same example of unbelief with their forefathers, and entered not into the rest of God. This was the day and the season that was upon the Hebrews at this time, which the apostle exhorts them to the use and improvement of. , then, or to-day, signifies in general a present season, which men are not long to be intrusted with; and it hath a triple respect, limitation, or application:
1. Unto the season enjoyed by the people in the wilderness, who neglected it.
2. Unto the persons spoken unto in the psalmist typically, who were exhorted to use it.
3. Unto the present Hebrews, whose gospel day was therein foretold and prefigured. In all which we are instructed unto the due use of a present season.
Obs. 10. Old Testament examples are New Testament instructions.
Our apostle elsewhere, reckoning sundry instances of things that fell out amongst the people of old, affirms of them , 1Co 10:1; All these things befell them types. The Jews have a saying, ; That which happeneth unto the father is a sign or example unto the children. In general, and in the order of all things, Discipulus est prioris posterior dies; The following day is to learn of the former. Experience is of the greatest advantage for wisdom. But there is more in this matter. The will and appointment of God are in it. From thence, that all the times of the old testament, and what fell out in them, are instructive of the times and days of the new, not only the words, doctrines, and prophecies that were then given out, but the actions, doings, and sufferings of the people which then fell out, are to the same purpose. There is more in it than the general use of old records and histories of times past, which yet are of excellent use unto a wise consideration in things moral and political. This many have made it their work to manifest and demonstrate. The sum of all is comprised in those excellent words of the great Roman historian concerning his own work, [Liv., Pref.]:
Ad illa mihi acriter pro se quisque intendat animum, quae vita, qui mores fuerint: per quos viros, quibusque artibus, domi militiaeque, et partum et auctum imperium sit. Labente deinde paullatim disciplina, velut desidentes primo mores sequatur animo; deinde ut magis magisque lapsi sint; turn ire coeperint praecipites: donec ad haec tempora, quibus nec vitia nostra, nec remedia pati possumus, perventum est. Hoc illud est praecipue in cognitione rerum salubre ac frugiferum; omnis to exempli documenta in illustri posita monumento intueri: inde tibi quod imitere capias; inde, foedum inceptu, foedum exitu, quod rites;
Hereunto (in reading this history) let every one diligently attend, to consider who were the men, what was their life and manners, by what means and arts this empire was both erected and increased. And then, moreover, how good discipline insensibly decaying was attended with manners also differing from the former; which in process of time increasing, rushed all things at length headlong into these times of ours, wherein we can endure neither our vices nor their remedies, This is that which, in the knowledge of past affairs, is both wholesome and fruitful, that we have an illustrious monument of all sorts of examples, from whence you may take what you ought to imitate, and know also, by the consideration of actions dishonest in their undertaking and miserable in the event, what you ought to avoid.
And if this use may be made of human stories, written by men wise and prudent, though in many things ignorant, partial, factious, as most historians have been, unable in many things to judge of actions whether they were really good or evil, praiseworthy or to be condemned, and in all things of the intentions with which and the ends for which they were done; how much more benefit may be obtained from the consideration of those records of times past, which as they were delivered unto us by persons divinely preserved from all error and mistake in their writings, so they deliver the judgment of God himself, to whom all intentions and ends are open and naked, concerning the actions which they do report! Besides, the design of human story is but to direct the minds of men in things just and honest with reference unto political society and the good of community in this world, with respect whereunto alone it judgeth of the actions of men and their events; but all things in the Scriptures of the Old Testament are directed unto a higher end, even the pleasing of God and the eternal fruition of him. They are therefore, with the examples recorded in them, of singular and peculiar use as materially considered. But this is not all. The things contained in them were all of them designed of God for our instruction, and yet do continue as an especial way of teaching. The things done of old were, as Justin Martyr speaks, , foredeclarations of the things of Christ. And Tertullian, to the same purpose, Scimus ut vocibus, ira rebus prophetatum; Prophecy or prediction consisted in things as well as words. And Chrysostom, Serm. ii., de Jejun., distinguisheth between prophecy by speech or words, and prophecy by examples or actions.
Our apostle expressly treateth of this subject, 1 Corinthians 10. Considering the state of the people, in their deliverance from Egypt and abode in the wilderness, he refers the things relating unto them to two heads;
1. Gods miraculous works towards them, and marvellous dealings with them;
2. Their sins and miscarriages, with the punishments that befell them. Having mentioned those of the first sort, he adds, , Now these were all our examples, 1Co 10:6, types representing Gods spiritual dealing with us. And having reckoned up the other, he closeth his report of them with , They befell them, that God in them might represent unto us what we are to expect, if we sin and transgress in like manner.They and their actions were our types. , a type, hath many significations. In this use of it, it signifies a rude and imperfect expression of any thing, in order to a full, clear, and exact declaration of it. So Aristotle useth in opposition to , a general and imperfect description, to an exact distinction. Thus they were our types, in that the matter of our faith, obedience, rewards, and punishments, were delineated aforehand in them.
Now, these types or examples were of three sorts:
1. Such as were directly instituted and appointed for this end, that they should signify and represent something in particular in the Lord Christ and his kingdom. It is true that God did not institute any thing among the people of old but what had its present use and service amongst them; but their present use did not comprehend their principal end. And herein do types and sacraments differ. Our sacraments have no use but that with respect unto their spiritual end and signification. We do not baptize any to wash the body, nor give them the supper of the Lord to nourish it. But types had their use in temporal things, as well as their signification of things spiritual. So the sacrifices served for the freeing of the people from the sentence of the law as it was the rule of their polity or civil government, as well as to prefigure the sacrifice of the body of Christ.
Now those types which had a solemn, direct, stated institution, were materially either persons, as vested with some certain offices in the church, or things.
(1.) Persons. So the Lord raised up, designed, and appointed Moses, Aaron, Joshua, David, Solomon, and others, to typify and represent the Lord Christ unto the church. And they are to be considered in a threefold capacity:
[1.] Merely personal, as those individual men; unto which concernment all their moral good and evil did belong. In this sense what they did or acted had no respect unto Christ, nor is otherwise to be considered but as the examples of all other men recorded in the Scriptures.
[2.] As to the offices they bare in the church and among the people, as they were prophets, captains, kings, or priests. In this respect they had their present use in the worship of God and government of that people according to the law. But herein,
[3.] In the discharge of their offices and present duties, they were designed of God to represent in a way of prefiguration the Lord Christ and his offices, who was to come. They were a transcript out of the divine idea in the mind and will of God, concerning the all-fullness of power and grace that was to be in Christ, expressed by parcels and obscurely in them, so as by reason of their imperfection they were capable.
(2.) These types consisted in things, such as were the sacrifices and other institutions of worship among the people. That this was the design and end of the whole Mosaical divine service we shall manifest in our progress. This, therefore, is not the place to insist particularly upon them.
2. There were such things and actions as had only a providential ordination to that purpose, things that occasionally fell out, and so were not capable of a solemn institution, but were as to their events so guided by the providence of God as that they might prefigure and represent somewhat that was afterwards to come to pass. For instance, Jer 31:15, sets out the lamentation of Rachel, that is, the women of the tribe of Benjamin, upon the captivity of the land: A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children, refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.. It is evident from Jer 40:1, that after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, Nebuzaradan gathered the people together that were to go into captivity at Ramah. There the women, considering how many of their children were slain, and the rest now to be carried away, brake out into woeful and unspeakable lamentation. And this was ordered, in the providence of God, to prefigure the sorrow of the women of Bethlehem upon the destruction of their children by Herod, when he sought the life of our Savior; as the words are applied, Mat 2:17-18. And we may distinguish things of this kind into two sorts,
(1.) Such as have received a particular application unto the things of the new testament, or unto spiritual things belonging to the grace and kingdom of Christ, by the Holy Ghost himself in the writings of the Gospel. Thus, the whole business of Rebekahs conceiving Jacob and Esau, their birth, the oracle of God concerning them, the preference of one above the other, is declared by our apostle to have been ordained in the providence of God to teach his sovereignty in choosing and rejecting whom he pleaseth, Romans 9. So he treateth at large concerning what befell that people in the wilderness, making application of it to the churches of the gospel, 1 Corinthians 10; and other instances of the like kind may be insisted on, almost innumerable.
(2.) This infallible application of one thing and season unto another, extends not unto the least part of those teaching examples which are recorded in the Old Testament. Many other things were ordained in the providence of God to be instructive unto us, and may, by the example of the apostles, be in like manner applied; for concerning them all we have this general rule, that they were ordained and ordered in the providence of God for this end, that they might be examples, documents, and means of instruction unto us. Again, we are succeeded into the same place in the covenant unto them who were originally concerned in them, and so may expect answerable dispensations of God towards ourselves; and they were all written for our sakes.
3. There are things that fell out of old which are meet to illustrate present things, from a proportion or similitude between them. And thus where a place of Scripture directly treats of one thing, it may, in the interpretation of it, be applied to illustrate another which hath some likeness unto it. These expositions the Jews call , and say they are made , parabolical or mystical; wherein their masters abound. We call them allegories; so doth our apostle expressly, Gal 4:21-26. Having declared how the two covenants, the legal and evangelical, were represented by the two wives of Abraham, Hagar and Sarah; and the two sorts of people, even those that sought for righteousness by the law and believers, by their children, Ishmael and Isaac; he adds that these things are an allegory. Chrysostom supposeth that Paul useth that expression, of an allegory, in a large sense, for any type or figure, seeing the things he mentioneth were express types the one of the other. But the truth is, he doth not call the things themselves an allegory, for they had a reality, the story of them was true; but the exposition and application which he makes of the Scripture in that place is allegorical, that is, what was spoken of one thing he expounds of another, because of their proportion one to another, or the similitude between them. Now this doth not arise hence, that the same place of Scripture, or the same words in any piece, have a diverse sense, a literal sense and that which is mystical or allegorical; for the words which have not one determinate sense have no sense at all: but the things mentioned in any place holding a proportion unto other things, there being a likeness between them, the words whereby the one are expressed are applied unto the other.
Now, in the using of these allegorical expositions or applications of things in one place unto another, sundry things are wisely and diligently to be considered; as,
1. That there be a due proportion in general between the things that are one of them as it were substituted in the room of another. Forced, strained allegories from the Scripture are a great abuse of the word. We have had some who have wrested the Scripture unto monstrous allegories, corrupting the whole truth of the literal sense. This was the way of Origen of old in many of his expositions; and some of late have taken much liberty in the like proceeding. Take an instance in that of the prophet Hosea, Hos 11:1, Out of Egypt have I called my son. The words are directly spoken of the people of Israel, as the passage foregoing evinceth: When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt. But these words are applied by the evangelist unto the Lord Christ, Mat 2:15; and that because of the just proportion that was between Gods dealing with that people and with him, after he was carried into Egypt.
2. That there be a destined signification in them. That is, although the words are firstly and principally spoken of one thing, yet the Holy Ghost intended to signify and teach that whereunto they are applied. An intention of the application is included in them. Thus these words of the prophet, Out of Egypt have I called my son, did firstly and properly express Gods dealing with the people of Israel; but there was also an intention included in them of shadowing out his future dealing with his only Son, Christ Jesus. The discovery hereof is a matter of great skill and wisdom; and great sobriety is to be used in such applications and allusions.
3. That the first, original sense of the words be sacredly observed. Some will not allow the words of Scripture their first, natural sense, but pretend that their allegories are directly intended in them; which is to make their expositions poisonous and wicked.
I have added these things because I find many very ready to allegorize upon the Scripture without any due consideration of the analogy of faith, or the proportion of things compared one to other, or any regard to the first, genuine sense of the words which they make use of. This is plainly to corrupt the word of God; and however they who make use of such perverted allusions of things may please the fancies of some persons, they render themselves contemptible to the judicious.
But in general these things are so. All things in the Old Testament, both what was spoken and what was done, have an especial intention towards the Lord Christ and the gospel; and therefore in several ways we may receive instruction from them. As their institutions are our instructions more than theirs, we see more of the mind of God in them than they did; so their mercies are our encouragements, and their punishments our examples. And this proceedeth,
1. From the way that God, in infinite wisdom, had allotted unto the opening and unfolding of the mystery of his love, and the dispensation of the covenant of grace. The way, we know, whereby God was pleased to manifest the counsels of his will in this matter was gradual. The principal degrees and steps of his procedure herein we have declared on the first verse of this epistle. The light of it still increased, from its dawning in the first promise, through all new revelations, prophecies, promises, institutions of worship, until the fullness of time came and all things were completed in Christ; for God had from of old designed the perfection of all his works towards his church to be in him. In him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge were to be laid up, Col 2:3; and all things were to be gathered into a head in him, Eph 1:10. In him God designed to give out the express image of his wisdom, love, and grace, yea, of all the glorious properties of his nature. For as he is in himself, or his divine person, the image of the invisible God, Col 1:15, the brightness of glory, and the express image of his person, Heb 1:3, so he was to represent him unto the church; for we have the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, 2Co 4:6. In him, that is his person, his office, his work, his church, God perfectly expressed the eternal idea of his mind concerning the whole effect of his love and grace. From hence he copied out, in various parcels, by prophecies, promises, institutions of worship, actions, miracles, judgments, some partial and obscure representations of what should afterwards be accomplished in the person and kingdom of Christ. Hence these things became types, that is, transcripts from the great idea in the mind of God about Christ and his church, to be at several seasons, in divers instances, accomplished among the people of old, to represent what was afterwards to be completed in him. This the apostle Peter declares 1Pe 1:9-12,
Receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us, they did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel.
The prophets were those who revealed the mind and will of God to the church of old; but the things which they declared, although they had a present use in the church, yet principally they respected the Lord Christ, and the things that afterwards were to come to pass. And herein were they instructed by that Spirit of Christ wherewith they were inspired, namely, that the things they declared, and so the whole work of their prophecy wherein they ministered, did principally belong to the times of the gospel. And therefore are they all for our instruction.
2. This is part of that privilege which God had reserved for that church which was to be planted and erected immediately by his Son. Having reckoned up the faith of the saints under the old testament, what it effected, and what they obtained thereby, the apostle adds, that yet
God had provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect, Heb 11:40.
Neither themselves nor any thing that befell them was perfect without us. It had not in them its full end nor its full use, being ordained in the counsel of God for our benefit. This privilege did God reserve for the church of the new testament, that as it should enjoy that perfect revelation of his will in Christ which the church of the old testament received not, so what was then revealed had not its perfect end and use until it was brought over to this also.
See hence what use we are to make of the Scriptures of the Old Testament. They are all ours, with all things contained in them. The sins of the people are recorded in them for our warning, their obedience for our example, and Gods dealing with them on the account of the one and the other for our direction and encouragement in believing. We are not to look on any parts of them as bare stories of things that are past, but as things directly and peculiarly ordered, in the wise and holy counsel of God, for our use and advantage. Especial instances we shall meet with many, towards the end of the epistle.
Consider also what is expected from us above them that lived under the old testament. Where much is given much is required. Now we have not only the superadded helps of gospel light, which they were not entrusted with, but also whatever means or advantages they had, they are made over unto us, yea, their very sins and punishments are our instructions. As God in his grace and wisdom hath granted unto us more light and advantage than unto them, so in his righteousness he expects from us more fruits of holiness, unto his praise and glory.
There is yet another observation which the words opened will afford unto us, arising from the season, which the apostle presseth upon their consideration in that word to-day. And it is that,
Obs. 11. Especial seasons of grace for obedience are in an especial manner to be observed and improved. For this end are they given, and are made special, that they may be peculiarly improved.
God doth nothing in vain, least of all in the things of grace, of the gospel of the kingdom of his Son. When he gives an especial day to the husbandman and vineyard, it is for especial work. To-day, if ye will hear his voice. We may therefore inquire, first, what is necessary unto such an especial season; and then what is required unto a due observance and improvement of it. And I shall refer all, by a due analogy, unto those especial days respected in the text.
1. For the first, such a day or season consists in a concurrence of sundry things:
(1.) In a peculiar dispensation of the means of grace; and hereunto two things are required:
[1.] Some especial effects of providence, of divine wisdom and power making way for it, bringing of it in, or preserving of it in the world. There is, there ever was, a strong opposition at all times against the preaching and dispensation of the gospel. It is that which the gates of hell engage themselves in, although in a work wherein they shall never absolutely prevail, Mat 16:18. As it was with Christ, so it is with his word. The world combined to keep him from it, or to expel him out of it, Act 4:25-27. So it dealeth with his gospel and all the concernments of it. By what ways and means, on what various pretences this is done, I need not here declare, as it is generally known. Now when God, by some especial and remarkable acts of his providence, shall powerfully remove, overcome, or any way divert that opposition, and thereby make way for the preaching or dispensation of it, he puts a speciality upon that season. And without this the gospel had never made an entrance upon the kingdom of Satan, nor been entertained in any nation of the world. The case before us gives us an instance. The day mentioned in the text was that which the people enjoyed in the wilderness, when the worship of God was first revealed unto them and established amongst them. By what means this was brought about is summed up in the prophet Isaiah, Isa 51:15-16 :
I am the LORD thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The LORD of hosts is his name. And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people.
The work which God wrought when he brought the people out of Egypt was so great, that it seemed to be the creation of a new world, wherein the heavens were planted, and the foundations of the earth were laid. And what was the end of it, what was the design of God in it? It was all to put his words into the mouths of his people, to erect Zion or a church-state amongst them, to take them into a covenant-relation with himself for his worship. This made that time their special day and season. The like works, for the like purpose, at any time will constitute the like season. When God is pleased to make his arm bare in behalf of the gospel, when his power and wisdom are made conspicuous in various instances for the bringing it unto any place, or the continuance of its preaching against oppositions, contrivances, and attempts for its expulsion or oppression, then doth he give a special day, a season unto them who do enjoy it.
[2.] It consists in an eminent communication of the gifts of the Holy Ghost unto those by whom the mysteries of the gospel are to be dispensed, and that either as to the increase of their number or of their abilities, with readiness unto and diligence in their work. When God thus gives the word, great is the army of them that publish it, , Psa 68:12. The word is of the feminine gender, and denotes the churches; which, Psa 68:27 of that psalm, are called , which we render congregations; that is, churches, in the same gender: Bless ye God in the congregations, , the churches or congregations publishing the word or glad tidings, as the word signifies And hereof there is a great army : for the church in its work and order is , as bannered ones; that is, , as bannered armies, armies with banners, Son 6:10. When God gave the word (it is a prophecy, of the times of the gospel), great was the number of , that like armies with banners, not for weapons, but for order and terror to the world, preached or published it. Such was the day that our apostle called the Hebrews to the consideration of. It was not long after the ascension of Christ when the gifts of the Spirit were poured out on multitudes of all sorts, as was foretold: Act 2:16-18,
This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days (saith God), I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: and on my servants, and on my handmaids, I will pour out in those days of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.
The extent of the communication of the Spirit at that season is emphatically expressed in these words, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. As the act of pouring denotes abundance, freedom, largeness, plenty, so the object, or all flesh, signifies the extent of it, unto all sorts of persons. And you know how great and eminent were the gifts that were communicated unto many in those days; so that this work was every way complete. By this means the churches were many, whose work and duty it is to be , 1Ti 3:15, the pillars of the truth, that is, to hold it up, and to hold it forth, Php 2:16. When, then, there is any such season wherein in any proportion or similitude unto this dispensation, or in a way or manner any thing extraordinary, God is pleased to give or pour out of the gifts of his Spirit upon many, for the declaration and preaching of the word of truth, then doth he constitute such an especial day or season as that we are inquiring after.
(2.) When God is pleased to give out signal providential warnings, to awaken and stir up men unto the consideration of and attendance unto his word and ordinances, this makes such a season to become a special day; for the end of extraordinary providences is to prepare men for the receiving of the word, or to warn them of impendent judgments for the contempt of it. This mark did God put upon the season respected here by the apostle. For unto the mention of the pouring out of the Spirit that of signs and judgments is adjoined: Act 2:19-20,
And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke: the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come.
The things here spoken of were those signs, prodigies, and judgments, which God showed unto and exercised the people of the Jews withal before the destruction of Jerusalem, even those foretold by our Lord Jesus Christ, Matthew 24. And they were all wrought during the time that they enjoyed the dispensation Of the gospel before described. And what was the end of them? It was evidently to put a signal mark and note upon that day and season of grace which was then granted unto that people; for so it is added, Mat 24:21, And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved, that is, whosoever shall make use of these warnings by signs, and wonders, and dreadful representations of approaching indignation and wrath, so as to attend unto the word dispensed by virtue of the plentiful effusion of the Spirit before mentioned, and yield obedience thereunto (that is, make use of the day granted to them), they shall be saved, when others that are negligent, rebellious, and disobedient, shall utterly perish.
(3.) When it is a season of the accomplishment of prophecies and promises for the effecting of some great work of God in and upon the outward state of the church, as to its worship. The day the people had in the wilderness was the time when the great promise given unto Abraham four hundred and thirty years before was to have its typical accomplishment. Hereupon the outward state of the church was wholly to be altered; it was to be gathered from its dispersion in single families, into a national union, and to have new ordinances of worship erected in it. This made it a great day to the church. The day whereunto the application of these things is made by the apostle, was the season wherein God would make that great alteration in the whole worship of the church, by the last revelation of his mind and will in the Son. This was a great day and signal. So also when the time comes of the fulfilling of any especial, prophecy or prediction for the reformation of the church, it constitutes such a season. Something of this nature seems to be expressed, Rev 14:6-8 :
And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come… And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
The time approaching wherein Babylon is to be destroyed, and the church to be redeemed from under her tyranny, as also to be freed from her pollution, and from drinking any more of the cup of her fornication, which is the greatest change or alteration that the outward state of it is left obnoxious unto in the world, the everlasting gospel is to be preached with such glory, beauty, and efficacy, as if it were delivered from the midst of heaven; and men will have an especial day of repentance and turning unto God given unto them thereby. And thus is it also at sundry seasons, wherein the Lord Christ deals with his churches in one place or another in a way of preludium, or preparation unto what shall ensue in his appointed time amongst them all.
These and the like things do constitute such a special season and day as that we inquire after; and whether such a day be not now in many places, needs no great travail of mind or eminency of understanding to determine.
2. It is declared in the proposition laid down, that such a day, such a season, is diligently to be attended unto and improved. And the reasons or grounds hereof are,
(1.) Because God expects it. He expects that our applications unto him in a way of obedience should answer his unto us in a way of care and tenderness, that when he is earnest in his dealings with us, we should be diligent in our observance of him. Every circumstance that he adds unto his ordinary dispensations is to have its weight with us; and in such a day they are many. See Isa 5:1, etc.: My well-beloved hath a vineyard , in an horn of a son of oil ( planted in a fat and fruitful soil; that is, furnished with all possible means to render it fruitful): and he fenced it (protected it by his providence from the incursion of enemies), and gathered out the stones thereof (removed out of it whatever was noxious and hurtful, it may be the gods of wood and stone in an especial manner out of the land); and planted it with the choicest vine (in its order, ordinances, and institutions of worship), and built a tower in the midst of it (that is, for its defense; namely, the strong city of Jerusalem, in the midst of the land, which was built as a city that is compact together, all as one great tower, whither the tribes went up, the tribes of the LORD, unto the testimony of Israel, Psa 122:3-4),and also made a wine-press therein (the temple and altar, continually running with the blood of sacrifices): and he looked that it should bring forth grapes. His expectations answer his care and dispensations towards his church. That is the meaning of the word , he looked, he expected. Expectation properly is of a thing future and uncertain, so is nothing unto God; being therefore ascribed unto him, it only signifies what is just and equal, and what in such cases ought to be: such a vineyard ought to bring forth grapes answerable to all the acts of Gods care and grace towards it; and we may see in that place what is the end of frustrating such an expectation. Such are the dealings of God with churches and persons in the day we have described, and an expectation of such fruit is it accompanied withal.
(2.) Such a day is the season that is allotted unto us for especial work, for especial duty. Some singular work is the end and design of such a singular season. So the apostle informs us, 2Pe 3:11 :
Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness?
The supposition in the words, concerning the dissolution of all these things, is an intimation of such a day as we have described from one circumstance of it, namely, the impendent judgments of God then threatened to the church and state of the Jews, which was now expiring. And the inference that he makes from that supposition is unto a peculiar holiness and godliness. That this at such a time is intended, is a thing so evident, that he refers it to the judgment of them to whom he wrote.
What manner of persons ought ye to be? Judge in yourselves, and act accordingly.Great light, great holiness, great reformation, in hearts, houses, churches, are expected and required in such a day. All the advantages of this season are to have their use and improvement, or we lose the end of it. Every thing that concurs to the constitution of such a day hath advantages in it to promote special work in us; and if we answer them not our time for it is irrecoverably lost; which will be bitterness in the end.
(3.) Every such day is a day of great trials. The Lord Christ comes in it with his fan in his hand, to sift and try the corn; to what end is declared, Mat 3:12 :
His fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
The fan of Christ is his word, in and by the preaching whereof he separates the precious from the vile, the wheat from the chaff. He comes into his floor, the church, where there is a mixture of corn and chaff; he sifts and winnows them by his word and Spirit, so discarding and casting off light, empty, and fruitless professors. Such a day is described by Dan 12:10 :
Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.
Many, that is, of the saints, shall be purified, , purged (made clean from such spots, stains, or defilements, as in their affections or conversation they had contracted); and made white, , (shall be whitened in their profession, it shall be rendered more eminent, conspicuous, and glorious); and tried, (as in a furnace, that it may appear what metal they are of). Thus shall it be with believers, so shall they be exercised in their spirits, and so approved; but wicked and false professors shall be discovered, and so far hardened that they shall go on and grow high in their wickedness, unto their utter destruction. So it fell out on the day of his coming in the flesh, and so it was foretold, Mal 3:1-3. The whole people jointly desired his coming, but when he came few of them could abide it or stand before it. He came to try them and purify them; whereon many of them, being found mere dross, were cast off and rejected. Christ in such a day tries all sorts of persons, whereby some are approved, and some have an end put to their profession, their hypocrisy being discovered. And it therefore concerns us heedfully to regard such a season; for,
(4.) Unto whom such a day is lost, they also themselves are lost. It is Gods last dealing with them. If this be neglected, if this be despised, he hath done with them. He says unto them in it, This is the acceptable time, this is the day of salvation. If this day pass over, night will come wherein men cannot work. So speaks our Savior concerning Jerusalem, which then enjoyed that day, and was utterly losing it: Luk 19:41-42,
And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.
Both the things, and words, and manner of expression declare the greatness of the matter in hand. So doth the action of our Savior, he wept; which is but once more recorded of him in the gospel, Joh 11:35. And the word here used, , denotes a weeping with lamentation. The consideration of what he was speaking unto moved his holy, tender, merciful heart unto the deepest commiseration. He did it also for our example and imitation, that we might know how deplorable and miserable a thing it is for a people, a city, a person, to withstand or lose their day of grace. And the words here used also are of the like importance: If thou hadst known, even thou. The reduplication is very emphatical, Thou, even thou, thou ancient city, thou city of David, thou seat of the temple and all the worship of God, thou ancient habitation of the church; if thou hadst known. And there is a wish or a desire included in the supposition, which otherwise is elliptical, If thou hadst known, O that thou hadst known!It is sometimes well rendered by utinam. And again it is added, At least in this thy day. They had enjoyed many lesser days of grace, and many before in the messages and dealings of the prophets, as our Savior minds them in that great parable, Mat 21:33-36. These they despised, persecuted, and rejected, and so lost the season of their preaching; but they were lesser days, and not decretory of their state and condition. Another day they were to have, which he calls This their day; the day so long foretold, and determined by Daniel the prophet, wherein the Son of God was to come, who was now come amongst them. And what did he treat with them about? The things which belonged unto their peace, of repentance and reconciliation unto God, the things which might have given them peace with God, and continued their peace in the world; but they refused these things, neglected their day, and suffered it to pass over them unimproved. What was the issue thereof? God would deal no more with them, the things of their peace shall now be hid from them, and themselves be left unto destruction. For when such a dispensation is lost, when the evening of such a day is come, and the work of it not accomplished,
[1.] It may be God will bring a wasting destruction upon the persons, church, or people that have despised it. So he dealt with Jerusalem, as it was foretold by our Savior in the place before insisted on, Luk 19:43-44 : The things of thy peace are now over and hid from thee.What then will follow or ensue? Why, The days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation; Because thou hast not discerned thy day, nor regarded it, hast not answered the mind of God in it, all this shall speedily befall thee, as it did accordingly. The same hath been the issue of many famous Christian churches. The very places where they were planted are utterly consumed. Temporal judgments are ofttimes the issue of despised spiritual mercies. This is the language of those providential warnings by signs and prodigies, which ofttimes such a season is accompanied withal. They all proclaim the impendent wrath of God upon the neglect of his gracious call. And with examples hereof are all records, sacred and ecclesiastical, filled.
[2.] God may, and sometimes doth, leave such a people, church, or persons, as have withstood his dealings in a day of grace, in and unto their outward station in the world, and yet hide the things of their peace utterly from them, by a removal of the means of grace. He can leave unto men their kingdoms in this world, and yet take away the kingdom of heaven, and give that unto others. They may dwell still in their houses, but be in the dark, their candlestick and the light of it being consumed. And this hath been the most common issue of such dispensations, which the world groans under at this day. It is that which God threateneth, 2Th 2:11-12. Because men would not receive the truth in the love thereof, that is, because they would not improve the day of the gospel which they enjoyed, God sent them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie. And how came it to pass? By removing the sound and sincere preaching of the word, he gave advantage to seducers and false teachers to impose their superstition, idolatry, and heresies upon their credulity. So God punished the neglect and disobedience of the churches of Europe under the papal apostasy. And let us take heed lest this vial of wrath be not yet wholly emptied; or,
[3.] God may leave unto such persons the outward dispensation of the means of grace, and yet withhold that efficacy of his Spirit which alone can render them useful to the souls of men. Hence the word comes to have a quite contrary effect unto what it hath under the influences of Gods especial grace. God in it then speaks unto a people as is expressed Isa 6:9-10 :
Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.
I have now done with them,saith God; I have no design or purpose any more to deal with them about their conversion and healing. And therefore, although I will have the preaching of the word as yet continued unto them, yet it shall have no effect upon them, but, through their own unbelief, to blind them and harden them to their destruction.And for these reasons, amongst others, ought such a day as we have described carefully to be attended unto.
This duty being of so great importance, it may be justly inquired, How may a man, how may a church know that it is such day, such a season of the gospel with them, so as to be suitably stirred up unto the performance of their duty? I answer, They may do so two ways:
1. From the outward signs of it, as the day is known by the light and heat of the sun, which is the cause thereof. What concurs to such a day was before declared. And in all those things there are signs whereby it may be known. Neglect and ignorance hereof were charged by our Savior on the Jews, and that frequently; so Mat 16:3 :
O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky, but can ye not discern the signs of the times?
How they discerned the face of the sky he shows in Mat 16:2-3; namely, they judged by usual known prognostics what the weather would be in the evening or morning, that so they might accordingly apply themselves unto their occasions. But,saith he, as God hath planted such signs in things natural, hath so ordered them that one should be a sign and discovery of another, so he hath appointed signs of this day of grace, of the coming of the Messiah, whereby it also may be known. But these,saith he, ye cannot discern. , Ye cannot. But withal he lets them know why they could not. That was because they were hypocrites, and either grossly neglected or despised the means and advantages they had to that purpose. The signs we have before mentioned are such, as being brought at any time to the rule o the word, they will reveal the season that they belong unto. And herein consisted the wisdom of those children of Issachar, who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, 1Ch 12:32.
2. Such a day or season will manifest itself by its efficacy. When God applies such a concurrence of means, he will make men one way or other sensible of his design and end. The word in such a day will either refine and reform men, or provoke and enrage them. Thus when the witnesses preach, which is a signal season of light and truth, they torment them that dwell on the earth, Rev 11:10. If they are not healed, they will be tormented. So it was at the first preaching of the gospel, some were converted, and the rest were hardened: a signal work passed on them all, and those who dispensed the word became a sweet savor in them that are saved, and in them that perish. The consciences of men will discover their times. God will one way or other leave his witness within them. An especial day will make an especial approach unto their hearts. If it make them not better, they will be worse; and this they may find by the search of themselves. God in this dispensation effectually speaks these words unto an evident experience in the minds of men:
He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still, Rev 22:11.
The especial duty incumbent on men in such a day, is in all things to hearken to the voice of God.
We now proceed unto the SECOND part of the words under consideration, comprising the example itself insisted on, and whereon the exhortation itself is founded. And this consists of two general parts: first the sin, and secondly the punishment of the people of old.
First, The sin is contained in these words: As in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: where your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works, forty years.
1. The first thing occurring in the words according unto our former distribution of them, relating to the sin mentioned, is the persons of the sinners. They were their fathers, the progenitors of them to whom the apostle wrote. And they are in the next verse further described by their multitude, they were a whole generation, I was grieved with that generation.
Who these were was declared before in the exposition of the words, and it is plain from the story who are intended. It was the people that came up out of Egypt with Moses; all of whom that were above twenty years of age at their coming into the wilderness, because of their manifold sins and provocations, died there, Caleb and Joshua only excepted. So the Lord threatened, Num 14:26-30,
And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me. Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you; your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness, and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me, doubtless ye shall not come into the land concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
And so it came to pass; for when the people were numbered again in the plains of Moab, it is said, Among these there was not a man of them whom Moses and Aaron the priest numbered, when they numbered the children of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai; that is, besides those two who were excepted by name, Num 26:64-65. These were the fathers ofthe present Hebrews; that is, as it is expressed, Jer 11:10, , their forefathers, as we render the words; rather their first fathers, those whom God first took into the express covenant with himself, for the place hath respect unto that very sin which is here reported: They are turned back to the iniquity of their first fathers, which refused to hear my words, who hearkened not unto the voice of God. And this limits the term unto those in the wilderness, seeing the former patriarchs did not refuse to hear the word of God. But they are generally called indefinitely, , the fathers, as others also that followed in succeeding generations; once by our apostle they are termed , progenitors, 2Ti 1:3. Now the psalmist mentioning (and our apostle from him) the sin of the people in the wilderness, and proposing it with its consequents unto the present Hebrews, calls them their fathers,
(1.) Because that people were exceedingly apt to boast of their fathers, and to raise a confidence in themselves that they must needs receive mercy from God on their account. And they had, indeed, no small privilege in being the posterity of some of those fathers. Our apostle reckons it as one of their chief advantages, Rom 9:4-5 :
Who are Israelites, to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came.
It hath a place in the great series of the privileges of that church. And when the church-state is made over to the Gentiles, it is promised her, that instead of these fathers she should have her children, Psa 45:16, those that should succeed unto them in holiness and the favor of God. But this people ran into a woeful mistake, which their posterity are hardened in at this day. Their only privilege in this matter was because God had freely and graciously given his promises unto their fathers, and taken them into covenant with himself; and the due consideration hereof tended only to the exaltation of the rich and free grace of God. So Moses expressly declares, Deu 7:7-8, and elsewhere. But forgetting or despising this, they rested on the honor and righteousness of their fathers, and expected I know not what as due unto them on that account. This vain confidence our Savior frequently rebuked in them, and so did the apostle. And for this reason the psalmist and the apostle, having occasion to mention the sins of the people of old, calls them their fathers; minding them that many of them in whom they gloried were sinful provokers of God.
(2.) It is done to mind them of their near concernment in the example proposed, unto them. It is not taken from amongst strangers, but it is what fell out amongst their own progenitors.
(3.) To warn them of their danger. There is a propensity in children to follow the sins of their fathers. Hence some sins prove eminently national in some countries for many generations. The example of parents is apt to infect their children. The Holy Ghost, then, here intimates unto them their proneness to fall into disobedience, by minding them of the miscarriage of their fathers in the same kind. This intimates unto them both their duty and their danger. Again, these fathers are further described by their number. They were a whole generation; that is, all the people of that age wherein they were in the wilderness. And this contains a secret aggravation of the sin mentioned, because there was in it a joint conspiracy as it were of all the persons of that age. These are they who were guilty of the sin here reported. And we may observe from this expression and remembrance of them,
Obs. 12. That the examples of our forefathers are of use and concernment unto us, and objects of our deepest consideration.
God in his dealings with them laid in instruction for their posterity. And when parents do well, when they walk with God, they beat the path of obedience plain for their children; and when they miscarry, God sets their sins as buoys to warn them who come after them of the shelves that they split upon. Be not as your fathers, a stiff-necked generation, is a warning that he oft repeats. And it is in the Scripture an eminent part of the commendation or discommendation of any, that they walked in the way of their progenitors. Where any of the good kings of Judah are testified unto for their integrity, this is still one part of the testimony given unto them, that they walked in the way of David their father, in the paths that he had trod before them. And on the other side, it is a brand on many of the wicked kings of Israel, that they walked in the ways of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. Their examples, therefore, are of concernment unto us,
First, because ofttimes the same kind of temptations are continued unto the children that the fathers were exercised withal. Thus we find in experience that some temptations are peculiar to a nation, some to a family, for sundry generations; which produce peculiar national sins, and family sins, so that at least they are prevalent in them. Hence the apostle chargeth national sins on the Cretians, from the testimony of Epimenides, who had observed them amongst them;
, , ,
Tit 1:12, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. Lying, dissimulation, cruelty, and sloth, were the sins of that nation from one generation to another, children learning them from the example of their parents. So many families for a long season have been infamous for cruelty, or deceit, or the like. And these hereditary sins have proceeded in part from hereditary temptations: some are inlaid in their natural constitutions, and some are inseparably annexed unto some special course of life and conversation, wherein persons of the same family succeed one another. Now it is a great warning unto men, to consider what sad events have befallen them that went before them by yielding unto those temptations which they themselves are exercised withal.
Again, there is a blessing or a curse that lies secretly hid in the ways of progenitors. There is a revenge for the children of the disobedient unto the third and fourth generation; and a blessing on the posterity of the obedient for a longer continuance. The very heathen acknowledged this by the light of nature. Plato says expressly, , Punishment falls on the fourth generation. And they had the substance of it from their oracle:
,
, , .
So is that saying common in the same case, Iliad. 308:
, .
The design is what we have asserted, of the traduction of punishment from wicked parents to their posterity. But there are conditions of the avoidance of the curse, and enjoyment of the blessing. When fathers have made themselves obnoxious to the displeasure of God by their sins, let their posterity know that there is an addition of punishment coming upon them, beyond what in an ordinary coupe of providence is due unto themselves, if they continue in the same sins. So God tells Moses, in the matter of the golden calf which Aaron had made, when he had prevailed with him not immediately to destroy the whole people: Nevertheless, saith he, in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them, Exo 32:34; that is If by their future sins and idolatry they shall provoke me to visit and punish them, I will add unto their punishment somewhat from the desert of this sin of their forefather Whence is that proverb among the Jews, That there is no evil befalls them but it hath in it some grain of the golden calf. , saith Rashi, He will mix a little somewhat of the guilt of this sin with the rest of their sins. And therefore the same word, of visiting, is here used as in the threatening in the commandment, Exo 20:5. And when one generation after another shall persist in the same provoking sins, the weight of Gods indignation grows so heavy, that ordinarily in one part or other it begins to fall within the third or fourth generation. And doth it not concern men to consider what have been the ways of their forefathers, lest there lie a secret, consuming curse against them in the guilt of their sins? Repentance and forsaking their ways wholly intercept the progress of the curse, and set a family at liberty from a great and ancient debt to the justice of God. So God stateth this matter at large, Ezekiel 18. Men know not what arrears may by this means be chargeable on their inheritances; much more, it may be, than all they are worth is able to answer. There is no avoidance of the writ for satisfaction that is gone out against them, but by turning out of the way wherein they are pursued. The same is the case of the blessing that is stored for the posterity of the obedient, provided they are found in the way of their forefathers. These things render them and their ways objects of our consideration. For moreover,
Obs. 13. It is a dangerous condition, for children to boast of the privilege of their fathers, and to imitate their sins.
This was almost continually the state of the Jews. They were still boasting of their progenitors, and constantly walking in their sins. This they are everywhere in the Scripture charged withal. See Num 32:14. This the Baptist reflected on in his first dealing with them: Bring forth, saith he, fruits meet for repentance; and think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father, Mat 3:8-9. On every occasion they still cried out, We have Abraham to our father, he who was so highly favored of God, and first received the promises. For his sake and by his means they expected to be saved temporally and eternally. Hence they have a saying in their Talmud, Abraham sits at the gates of hell, and will not permit that any transgressors of Israel shall go in thither, a great reserve against all their sins, but that it will deceive them when they are past relief. It is true they had on this account many privileges, as our apostle testifies in sundry places, Rom 3:1-2; Rom 9:4-5; and so he esteemed them to be as to his own personal interest in Php 3:4-5. But whilst they trusted unto them and continued in the sins of them who had abused them, it turned to their further ruin. See Mat 23:29-32. And let their example deter others from countenancing themselves in privileges of any kind whilst they come short of personal faith and obedience. Again,
Obs. 14. A multitude joining in any sin given it thereby a great aggravation.
Those here that sinned were all the persons of one entire generation. This made it a formal, open rebellion, a conspiracy against God, a design as it were to destroy his kingdom and to leave him no subjects in the world.
When many conspire in the same sin it is a great inducement unto others to follow. Hence is that caution in the law, Exo 23:2, Thou shalt not follow a multitude to de, evil. The law, indeed, hath an especial respect unto judgment and causes of differences among men. But there is a general direction in the law for our whole course: ; Thou shalt not be after many (or great men) unto evils, Take heed of the inclination of a multitude unto evil, lest thou art also carried away with their errors and sin;and this aggravates the sin of many. It doth so also, that the opposition unto God therein is open and notorious, which tends greatly to his dishonor in the world. And what resentment God hath of the provocation that lies herein is fully expressed in Numbers 14, from Num 14:20 unto Num 14:35, speaking of the sin of the congregation in their unbelief and murmuring against him. In the first place, he engageth himself by his oath to vindicate his glory from the reproach which they had cast upon it, Num 14:21, As truly as I live, saith he, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD. Some take these words to be only an asseveration of that which follows; as if God had said, As truly as I live, and as the earth is filled with my glory, all these men shall perish;but the words rather contain the principal matter of the oath of God. He swears that as they, by their conjunct sin and rebellion, had dishonored him in the world, so he, by his works of power and vengeance on them, would fill the earth again with his glory. And there is in the following words a representation of a great , or commotion, with great indignation: They have, saith he, seen my miracles, and have tempted me now these ten times, Num 14:22. The Hebrew doctors do scrupulously reckon up these temptations. The first, they say, is in Exo 14:11, when they said,
Because there were no graves in Egypt.
The second in Marah, Exo 15:24,
The people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?
The third in the desert of Sin, Exo 16:2-3,
The whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, and said, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in Egypt, when we sat by the flesh-pots.
The fourth when they left manna until the morning, Exo 16:19-20,
And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning. Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank.
The fifth was when some of them went out to gather manna on the Sabbath-day, Exo 16:27-28, which God called a
refusing to keep his commandments and his laws.
The sixth was in Rephidim, at the waters of Meribah, Num 20:2-13. The seventh in Horeb, when they made the calf, Exodus 32. The eighth at Taberah, Num 11:1-3. The ninth at Kibroth-hattaavah, Num 11:31-34. The tenth upon the return of the spies, Numbers 14. Thus are the ten temptations reckoned up by some of the Jews, and by others of them they are enumerated with some little alteration. But whether the exact number of ten be intended in the expression is very uncertain; it seems rather to intend multiplied temptations, expressed with much indignation. So Jacob when he chode with Laban told him, Thou hast changed my wages ten times, Gen 31:41; that is, frequently, which he so expressed in his anger and provocation. So doth God here, Ye have tempted me these ten times; that is, So often, so far, that I neither can nor will bear with you any longer.In the whole discourse (which sinners ought to read and tremble at) there is represented as it were such a rising of anger and indignation in the face of God, such a commotion of soul in displeasure (both made use of to declare an unchangeable will of punishing), as scarce appears again in the Scripture. Thus it is for a multitude to transgress against God, as it were by a joint conspiracy. Such issues will all national apostasies and provocations receive. And this is the first general part of the example proposed to consideration, namely, the persons sinning, with the observations that arise from thence.
2. The second is the matter or quality of their sin, which is referred unto two heads:
(1.) Their provocation, In the provocation, in the day of temptation.
(2.) Their tempting of him, They tempted me, and proved me.
(1.) Their sin consisted in their provoking. It seems not to be any one particular sin, but the whole carriage of the people in the actions reflected on, that is intended; and that not at any one time, but in their whole course. The word in the original, as was declared, signifies to chide, to strive, to contend, and that in words: Isa 45:9, , Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! And how doth or maybe do it? Shall the clay say to him that made it? etc. It is by saying, by speaking against him, that he may so strive with him. But the apostle hath expressed it by a word denoting the effect of that chiding, that is exacerbation or provocation. The expression of the actions here intended, in the places before mentioned, Exodus 17, Num 20:13, the chiding of the people, as we observed before, is directly said to be with Moses, as their tempting afterwards is of the Lord. Thus Moses says unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD? Exo 17:2. But it is also said expressly, They strove (the same word) with the LORD, Num 20:13. The meaning is, that striving or chiding (, from ) being properly an altercation with or in words, Moses, and not God, was the immediate object of their chiding; but because it was about and concerning the works of God, which Moses had no relation unto but as he was his minister, servant, and employed by him, the principal object of their chiding, as formally a sin, was also God himself. In striving with Moses they strove with him, and in chiding with Moses they chode with him. This expression, then, in general compriseth all the sinful actions of that people against God under the ministry of Moses.
There are two things to be considered in this matter of provocation;
[1.] The sin that is included in it;
[2.] The event or consequent of it, God was provoked. The former seems firstly intended in the Hebrew word, the latter in the Greek.
[1.] For the sin intended, it is evident from the story that it was unbelief acting itself by murmuring and complaints; the same for the substance of it by which also they tempted God. This the apostle declares to have been the great provoking sin, Num 20:19 : So we see that they could not enter in, by reason of unbelief. That was the sin which so provoked God as that he sware in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest. Yet it is not their unbelief absolutely considered that is intended, but as it brought forth the effects of chiding with Moses and murmuring against God, which on all occasions they fell into. Though unbelief itself, especially in such a season, be a provoking sin, yet this murmuring and chiding so added unto its provocation that it is directly laid on their accounts. But they also, as the apostle says, are to be resolved into their spring or cause, that is, unbelief. They are but an especial sign, circumstance, or effect of their unbelief.
[2.] The effect of this sin was the provocation or exacerbation of God. The Hebrew word which the apostle here expresseth by , is ; which sometimes is taken actively, for provoking, inciting, stimulating, imbittering; sometimes passively, for indignation, perturbation, sorrow, grief, trouble. In the whole it includes the imbittering of the mind of its object, with an excitation unto anger, displeasure, and wrath. Now, these things are ascribed unto God only by an anthropopathy. Such effects being usually wrought in the minds of the best men when they are unjustly and ungratefully dealt withal, God, to show men the nature of their sins, ascribes them unto himself. His mind is not imbittered, moved, or changed; but men have deserved to be dealt withal as if it were so. See Jer 8:19; 2Ki 21:15; Isa 65:3; Jer 25:7; Jer 32:29; 2Ch 28:25.
Now, this provocation of God by their unbelief, acting itself in murmuring, chiding, and complaining, is further expressed from the season of it, it was in the day of temptation, the day of Massah. The denomination is taken from the name of the place where they first murmured for water, and tempted God by the discovery of their unbelief. As it was called Meribah from the contention, chiding, and provoking, so it was called Massah from the tempting of God there, the day of temptation. In this expression, not the addition of a new sin to that of provocation is intended, but only a description of the sin and season of that sin. It was in the day of temptation that God was so provoked by them. How also they tempted him we shall see afterwards. Now, as this day signally began upon the temptation at Meribah, so it continued through the whole course of the peoples peregrination in the wilderness, their multiplied tempting of God made this whole time a day of temptation.
Now, let us consider hence some further observations:
Obs. 15. The sinful actings of men against those who deal with them in the name of God, and about the works or will of God, are principally against God himself.
The people chode with Moses; but when God came to call it to an account, he says they strove with him and provoked him. So Moses told the people, to take them off from their vain pretences and coverings of their unbelief: Exo 16:2, The whole congregation murmured against Moses and Aaron. But saith he, Exo 16:7, The LORD heareth your murmurings against him: and what are we that ye murmur against us? As if he had said, Mistake not yourselves, it is God, and not us, that you have to do withal in this matter. What you suppose you speak only against us, is indeed directly though not immediately spoken against God.So God himself informs Samuel, upon the repining of the people against him: They have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them; because he ruled them immediately in the name of God, 1Sa 8:7. They pretended weariness of the government of Samuel, but were indeed weary of God and his rule. And so what was done against him, God took as done against himself. And under the new testament, our Savior in particular applies this rule unto the dispensers of the gospel, Luk 10:16, saith he, He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me. The preachers of the gospel are sent by Christ, and therefore their opposition and contempt do first reflect dishonor upon him, and through him upon God himself.
And the reason hereof is, because in their work they are representatives of God himself, they act in his name and in his stead, as his embroiders: 2Co 5:20, Now then, saith the apostle, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christs stead, be ye reconciled to God. They treat with men as sent of God, in his name, about the affairs of Christ. The violation of an ambassador amongst men is always esteemed to redound unto the dishonor of him by whom he is employed; for it is he unto whom the injury and affront are principally intended, especially if it be done unto him in discharge of his office Nor are kings or states ever more highly provoked than when an injury is offered or an affront done unto their ambassadors. The Romans of old utterly destroyed Tarentum in Italy, and Corinth in Greece, on that account; and occasions of the same nature have been like of late to fill the world with blood and tumult. And the reason is, because, according to the light of nature, what is done immediately against a representative as such, is done directly and intentionally against the person represented. So it is in this case. The enmity of men is against God himself, against his way, his works, his will, which his ambassadors do but declare. But these things absolutely are out of their reach. They cannot reach them nor hurt them; nor will they own directly an opposition unto them. Therefore are pretences invented by men against those who are employed by God, that under their covert they may execute their rage against God himself. So Amaziah, priest of Bethel, complained to Jeroboam the king, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of lsrael: the land is not able to bear all his words. It is not because he preached against his idolatry, or denounced the judgments of God against the sins of men, that Ama-ziah opposeth him; no, it is merely on the account of his sedition, and the danger of the king thereby, Amo 7:10. And when, as itis likely, he could not prevail with the king for his destruction, he deals with him personally himself, to flee away, and so to render himself suspected, Amo 7:12-13. He had used an invidious expression concerning him to the king, , He hath conspired against thee; that is, to take away thy life. The word is used concerning two kings of Judah, one after another, and the matter ended in their death, 2Ch 24:25; 2Ch 25:27. And it is mostly used for a conspiracy ending in death. And yet all this was from enmity against God, and from no affection to the king. Under the shade of such pretences do men act their opposition unto God upon his messengers. God sees that they are all but coverts for their lusts and obstinacy, that himself is intended; and he esteems it so accordingly.
Instruction lies plain herein for them who, by vainly-invented pleas and pretences, do endeavor to give countenance to their own consciences in opposition unto those who speak in the name and treat about the things of God. Let them look to it; though they may so satisfy themselves, in and by their own prejudices, as to think they do God good service when they kill them, yet they will find things in the issue brought unto another account. This lies so clear from what hath been spoken that I shall not further insist on it. But let them principally consider this, and thence what is incumbent on them, who are called to deal with others in the name of God. And,
[1.] Let them take heed that they neither do, nor act, nor speak any thing but what they have sufficient warrant from him for. It is a dangerous thing to entitle God or his name unto our own imaginations. God will not set his seal of approbation, he will not own a concernment in our lie, though we should think that it tends to his glory, Rom 3:7. Neither will he own what is done against us as done against himself, unless we stand in his counsels, and be found in the ways of his will. There is no object of a more sad consideration, than to see some men persecuting others for their errors. They that persecute, suppose them in the right as to the matter in difference between them and those whom they do oppress, yet do certainly act against God in what they pretend to act for him; for they usurp his authority over the souls and consciences of men. And they that are persecuted do sacrifice their concernments to the darkness of their own minds. God may concern himself in general to own their integrity towards himself, even in their mistakes; but in the particular wherein they suffer he will not own them. Whether, therefore, we are to do or to suffer any thing for God, it is of great concernment unto us to look well to our call or warrant. And then,
[2.] When men are secured by the word and Spirit of God that their message is not their own, but his that sent them, that they seek not their own glory, but his, they may have hence all desirable grounds of encouragement, supportment, and consolation, in all the straits and temptations they meet withal in this world. They can be no more utterly prevailed against (that is, their testimony cannot) than can God himself. So he speaks to Jeremiah:
I will make thee a fenced brazen wall; they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee: for I am with thee to save thee, and to deliver thee, saith the LORD, Jer 15:20.
And in what they suffer God is so far concerned, as to account all that is done against them to be done against himself. Christ is hungry with them, and thirsty with them, and in prison with them, Mat 25:35-40. Again,
Obs. 16. Unbelief manifesting itself in a time of trial is a most provoking sin.
This, as we have showed, was the sin of the people in their provocation of God. And it is a great sin, the great sin, the spring of all sins at all times; but it hath many aggravations attending of it in a time of trial. And this compriseth the first sense of the limitation of time in that word, This day, before intimated, namely, an especial time and season wherein the guilt of this sin may be eminently contracted. For I speak not of unbelief in general with respect unto the covenant and the promises thereof, but of unbelief as working in a distrust of God with respect unto the dispensations of his providence. It is a disbelieving of God as to any concernment of our own when we have a sufficient warrant to believe and put our trust in him, when it is our duty so to do. And two things we may make a brief inquiry into:
[1.] What is required that men may be in such a condition as wherein they may contract the guilt of this sin? And hereunto three things do belong:
1st. That in general they be found in the way of God. Gods promises of his presence, and of his protection unto men, are confined unto his own ways, which alone are theirs, or ought so to be: He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways, Psa 91:11; that is, theways that he hath appointed thee to walk in. The benefit of which promise the devil vainly attempted to deprive our Savior of, by seducing him to ways that were not his, ways that God had not appointed. Men in ways of their own, that is, in the crooked paths of sin, are not obliged to trust in God for mercy and protection in them. So to do, or to pretend so to do, is to entitle God to their lusts. For men to say they trust in God in the pursuit of their covetousness, injustice, oppression, sensuality, or in ways wherein these things have a prevailing mixture, or to pray for the protecting, the blessing presence of God in them, is a high provocation. Every difficulty, every opposition that such men meet withal is raised by God to turn them out of their way. And to expect their removal by him, or strength and assistance against them, is to desire the greatest evil unto their own souls that in this world they are obnoxious unto. The Israelites here blamed were in the way of God, and no opposition ought to have discouraged them therein.
2dly. That in particular they have a warrantable call to engage into that way wherein they are. A way may be good and lawful in itself, but not lawful to a man that enters upon it without a sufficient call to engage in it. And this deprives men also of the grounds, of expectation of Gods presence, so as to that particular way wherein they cannot contract the guilt of this sin; though commonly it is distrust of God that casts men into such ways. It was the way and work of God that the Israelites should destroy the Amorites and possess their land; but when they would in a heat, without a sufficient warrant, go up into the hill and fight with them, Moses says unto them,
Go not up, for the LORD is not among you;… and they were discomfited unto Hormah, Num 14:42-45.
Unto a lawful way, then, in general, a lawful call in particular must be added, or we have not a sufficient foundation for the discharge of that duty whose defect is now charged by us.
3dly. They must have a sufficient warranty of the presence and protection of God. This is that which makes faith and trust a duty. And God gives it two ways,
1. In general, in the promise of the covenant, wherein he hath undertaken to be with us, to bless us, and to carry us through the course of our duty: Heb 13:5, He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. This alone is a sufficient ground and foundation for faith and trust in every condition. And this the Israelites had in the promise made unto Abraham and others of their forefathers,
2. By giving some signal instances of his power, wisdom, and care, in his presence with us, by protection, direction, preservation, or deliverance, in those ways of his wherein we are engaged. When by this means he hath given us experience of his goodness, faithfulness, and approbation of the ways wherein we are, this adds a specialty unto the general warrant for faith in the word of promise. And this they also had in all those works of God which they saw for forty years.
[2.] It must be inquired, what it is that makes any time or season to be a day of trial, seeing the miscarriage of men in such a season is expressed as a great aggravation of their sin. And they are the things that follow:
1st. That there be a concernment of the glory of God in the performance of that duty wherein we are to act faith, or to trust in God. So God tried the faith of Abraham in a duty wherein his glory was greatly concerned. For by his obedience in faith, it appeared to all the world that Abraham respected God, and valued a compliance with his will above all things in this world whatever. So God himself expresseth it, Gen 22:12 : Now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. This was the tenth and last trial that befell Abraham. Nine times he had been tried before:
1. In his departure out of his country;
2. By the famine which drove him into Egypt;
3. In the taking away of his wife there by Pharaoh;
4. In his war with the four kings;
5. In his hopelessness of issue by Sarah, whence he took Hagar;
6. In the law of circumcision;
7. His wife taken item him again by Abimelech;
8. His casting out of Hagar after she had conceived; 9. His expulsion of Ishmael
In some of these it is known how he failed, though in most of them he acquitted himself as became the father of the faithful. But now the fluctus decumanus came upon him, his last and utmost trial, wherein he was made a spectacle to men, angels, and devils. The Jews tell us great stories of the opposition made by Satan, in his arguing with Abraham and Isaac about and against their obedience in this thing; and no doubt but he employed himself unto that purpose. And it is endless to show how many eyes were upon him; all which gave a concernment of glory unto God. Here, therefore, Abraham in a most especial manner acquits himself; whence God gives him that testimony, Now I know that thou fearest God; that is, Now thou hast made it known beyond all exception. And this puts a blessed close unto all his signal trials. When, therefore, God calls men forth unto the performance and discharge of any duty wherein his glory and honor in the world is concerned, then he makes it unto them a time of trial.
2dly. Difficulties and opposition lying in the way of duty make the season of it a time of trial. When men have wind and tide with them in their sailing, neither their strength nor their skill is tried at all; but when all is against them, then it is known what they are. When the sun shines and fair weather continues, the houses that are built on the sand continue as well as those that are built on the rock; but when the rain, and the floods, and the wind come, they make the trial Whilst men have outward advantages to encourage them in the ways of God, it is not known what principles they act from; but when their obedience and profession are attended with persecution, reproach, poverty, famine, nakedness, death, then it is tried what men build upon, and what they trust unto, then it is to them a time of trial.
Further; to give light unto our proposition, we may inquire how or by what means men do or may act and manifest their unbelief at such a time or season. And this may be done several ways:
[1.] By dissatisfaction in and discontent at that condition of difficulty whereinto they are brought by the providence of God for their trial. Herein principally did the Israelites offend in the wilderness. Their condition pleased them not. This occasioned all their murmurings and complaints whereby God was provoked. It is true they were brought into many straits and difficulties; but they were brought into them for their trial by God himself, against whom they had no reason to repine or complain. And this is no small fruit, effect, and evidence of unbelief in trials, namely, when we like not that condition we are brought into, of poverty, want, danger, persecution. If we like it not, it is from our unbelief. God expects other things from us. Our condition is the effect of his wisdom, his care and love, and as such by faith ought it to be acquiesced in.
[2.] By the omission of any duty that is incumbent on us, because of the difficulties that attend it, and the opposition that is made unto it. The fearful and unbelieving go together, Rev 21:8. When our fear or any other affection, influenced or moved by earthly things, prevails with us to forego our duty, either absolutely or in the most special and eminent instances of its practice, then unbelief prevails in the time of our trials. And this way also in particular did the Israelites fail. When they heard of fenced cities and sons of Anak, they gave up all endeavors of going into the land of Canaan, and consulted of making a captain to lead them back again into Egypt. And no otherwise is it with them who forego their profession because of the giant-like opposition which they find against it.
[3.] When men turn aside and seek for unwarrantable assistances against their difficulties. So did this people, they made a calf to supply the absence of Moses; and were contriving a return into Egypt to deliver them out of their troubles. When men in any thing make flesh their arm, their hearts depart from the Lord, Jer 17:5.
[4.] When men disbelieve plain and direct promises merely on the account of the difficulties that lie against their accomplishment. This reflects unspeakable dishonor on the veracity and power of God; the common sin of this wilderness people, they limited God, and said, Can he do this or that? Seldom it was that they believed beyond what they enjoyed. Here lay the main cause of their sin and ruin. They had a promise of entering into the land. They believed it not; and, as our apostle says, they could not enter in because of unbelief. The promise was to their nation, the posterity of Abraham; the accomplishment of it in their persons depended on their faith. Here was their trial. They believed not, but provoked God; and so perished.
Now, the reasons of the greatness of this sin, and its aggravations, are contained in the previous description of it. Every instance declaring its nature manifests it also to be heinous. I shall take up and only mention three of them:
[1.] There is, as was showed, an especial concernment of the glory of God in this matter. He calls men forth in such a season to make a trial of their obedience. He makes them therein, as the apostle speaks, a spectacle unto men and angels. And the hinge that the whole case turns upon is their faith. This all other actings hold a conformity unto. If here they discharge themselves aright, the glory of God, the manifestation whereof is committed unto them, is preserved entire. If herein they fail, they have done what lies in them to expose it to contempt. See Num 14:21. So was the case in the trial of Job. God permitted Satan to try to the uttermost whether he believed in him and loved him sincerely or no. Had Job failed herein, how would Satan have vaunted and boasted, and that against God himself! And the same advantage do others put into his hands, when at any time they miscarry in point of faith in a time of trial.
[2.] The good and welfare, the peace and prosperity of the church in this world, depend on the deportment of men belonging to it in their trials; they may, at least as unto Gods outward dispensations towards them, sin at a cheaper rate at other times. A time of trial is the turn of a churchs peace or ruin. We see what their unbelief cost this whole generation in the wilderness; and these Hebrews, their posterity, were now upon the like trial. And the apostle by this instance plainly intimates unto them what would be the issue if they continued therein; which accordingly proved to be their utter rejection.
[3.] Add hereunto, that it is the design of God in such particular instances to try our faith in general as to the promises of the covenant and our interest therein. The promise that this people had principally to deal with God about, was that of the covenant made with Abraham, the which all pretended to believe. But God tried them by the particular instances mentioned; and failing therein, they failed as unto the whole covenant. And it is so still. Many pretend that they believe the promises of the covenant as to life and salvation by it firmly and immovably. God tries them by particular instances, of persecution, difficulty, straits, public or private. Here they abide not, but either complain and murmur, or desert their duty, or fall to sinful compliances, or are weary of Gods dispensations. And this manifests their unsoundness in the general; nor can it be otherwise tried.
Again, observe that,
Obs. 17. There is commonly a day, a time, wherein unbelief ariseth to its height in provocation.
We showed before that there is a day, an especial season of Gods dealing with the sons of men, by his word and other means of grace. The due observance and improvement hereof is of the greatest importance unto them. Today, if ye will hear his voice; that is, the day wherein Gods dispensations of grace and patience come to their , status rerum inter incrementum et decrementum, their height. After this, if not closed with, if not mixed with faith and obeyed, they either insensibly decline, in respect of their tender or efficacy, or are utterly removed and taken away. In like manner there is a day, a season wherein the unbelief of men in its provocation comes to its height and uttermost issue, beyond which God will bear with them no longer, but will break off all gracious intercourse between himself and such provokers This was the direct case with these Israelites They had by their unbelief and murmuring provoked God ten times, as was declared before; but the day of their provocation, the season wherein it arrived to its height, came not until this trial mentioned, Numbers 14, upon the return of the spies that went to search the land. Before that time God often reproved them, was angry with them, and variously punished them, but he still returned unto them in a way of mercy and compassion, and still proposed unto them an entrance into his rest, according to the promise; but when that day once came, when the provocation of their unbelief was come to its height, then he would bear with them no longer, but swears in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest. From that day he took hold of all occasions to exercise severity against them, flooding them away, Psa 90:5, until that whole evil generation was consumed. And so it was with their posterity as to their church and national state. God sent unto them, and dealt variously with them, by his prophets, in several generations. Some of them they persecuted, others they killed, and upon the matter rejected them all, as to the main end of their work and message. But yet all this while God spared them, and continued them a people and a church, their provocation was not come unto its height, its last day was not yet come. At length, according to his promise, he sent his Son unto them. This gave them their last trial, this put them into the same condition with their forefathers in the wilderness, as our apostle plainly intimates in the use of this example. Again, they despised the promises, as their fathers had done in the type and shadow, so did they when the substance of all promises was tendered and exhibited unto them. This was the day of their last provocation, after which God would bear with them no more in a way of patience; but enduring them for the space of near forty years, he utterly rejected them; sending forth his servants, he slew those murderers, and burned up their city. This is that which our Savior at large declares in his parable of the householder and his husbandmen, Mat 21:33-41.
And thus in Gods dealing with the antichristian state, there is a season wherein the angel swears that there shall be time no longer, Rev 10:6; that God would no longer bear with men, or forbear them in their provocations and idolatries, but would thenceforth give them up unto all sorts of judgments spiritual and temporal, unto their utter confusion, yea, send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness, 2Th 2:11-12. And concerning this day two things may be observed:
[1.] That it is;
[2.] That it is unalterable.
[1.] It is uncertain. Men know not when their provocations do come or will come unto this height. Jerusalem knew not in the entrance of her day that her sin and unbelief were coming to their issue, and so was not awakened to their prevention; no more than the men of Sodom knew when the sun arose that there was a cloud of fire and brimstone hanging over their heads. Men in their sins think they will do as at other times, as Samson did when his locks were cut, and that things will be made up between God and them as formerly, that they shall yet have space and time for their work and duty; but ere they are aware they have finished their course, and filled up the measure of their sins.
For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them, Ecc 9:12.
For the day of the Lords indignation comes as a snare on them that dwell on the face of the earth, Luk 21:35. And men are often crying, Peace, peace, when sudden destruction comes upon them, 1Th 5:3. When Babylon shall say she sits as a queen, and is no widow (her sons being again restored unto her),
and shall see no sorrow; then shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine, and she shall be utterly burned with fire, Rev 18:7-8.
Hence is Christ so often said to come as a thief, to manifest how men will be surprised by him in their sins and impenitency. And if the outward peace and the lives of men in this condition be respited for a while, as ofttimes they are, yet they are no longer under a dispensation of patience. There is nothing between God and them but anger and wrath. If men knew when would be their last trial, and which were it, we think they would rouse up themselves to a deep consideration of it, and a serious compliance with the call of God. But this, in the holy will and wisdom of God, is always hid from them, until it be too late to make use of it, until it can produce no effects but a few despairing wishes. God will have none of his warnings, none of his merciful dispensations put off or slighted with the hope and expectation of another season, by a foolish promising whereof unto themselves men ruin their souls every day.
[2.] It is unalterable and irrecoverable. When the provocation of unbelief comes to this height there is no space or room left for repentance, either on the part of God or the sinner. For men, for the most part, after this they have no thought of repenting. Either they see themselves irrecoverable, and so grow desperate, or become stupidly senseless and lie down in security. So those false worshippers in the Revelation, after time was granted unto them no longer, but the plagues of God began to come upon them, it is said they repented not, but bit their tongues for anger, and blasphemed God. Instead of repenting of their sins, they rage against their punishment. And if they do change their mind in any thing, as Esau did when he saw the blessing was gone, it is not by true repentance, nor shall it be unto any effect or purpose. So the Israelites finished their sin by murmuring against the Lord upon the return of the spies, and said they would not go up into the land, but would rather return into Egypt, Numbers 14. But after a while they changed their minds, and they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up unto the place which the LORD hath promised, Num 14:40. But what was the issue? Their time was past, the Lord was not among them: The Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and smote them, and discomfited them, even unto Hormah, Num 14:45. Their change of mind was not repentance, but a new aggravation of their sin. Repentance also in this matter is hid from the eyes of God. When Saul had finished his provocation, Samuel, denouncing the judgment of God against him, adds, And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent, 1Sa 15:29. God firms his sentence, and makes it irrevocable, by the engagement of his own immutability. There is no change, no alteration, no reprieve, no place for mercy, when this day is come and gone, Eze 21:25.
Let persons, let churches, let nations, take heed lest they fall unawares into this evil day. I say unawares to themselves, because they know not when they may be overtaken by it. It is true, all the danger of it ariseth from their own negligence, security, and stubbornness. If they will give ear to previous warnings, this day will never come upon them. It may not, therefore, be unworthy our inquiry to search what prognostics men may have into the approach of such a day. And,
[1.] When persons, churches, or nations, have already contracted the guilt of various provocations, they may justly fear that their next shall be their last. You have,saith God to the Israelites, provoked me these ten times, that is, frequently, as hath been declared, and now your day is come. You might have considered before, that I would not always thus bear with you.Hath God, then, borne with you in one and another provocation, temptation, backsliding? take heed lest the great sin lies at the door, and be ready to enter upon the next occasion. As God told Cain, Gen 4:7, If thou dost not do well , peccatum ad ostium cubat, sin lies down at the door, as a beast ready to enter on the next occasion, the next opening of it. After former provocations so lieth that which shall fill the ephah, and have the talent of lead laid upon it. Take heed, gray hairs are sprinkled upon you, though you perceive it not. Death is at the door. Beware lest your next provocation be your last. When your transgressions come to three and four, the punishment of your iniquities will not be turned away. When that is come, you may sin whilst you will or while you can; God will have no more to do with you but in a way of judgment.
[2.] When repentance upon convictions of provocations lessens or decays, it is a sad symptom of an approaching day wherein iniquity will be completed. Useful repentance, that is, that which is of any use in this world for the deferring or retarding of judgment, is commensurate unto Gods dispensations of patience. When the fixed bounds of it (as it hath fixed bounds) are arrived at, all springs of repentance are dried up. When, therefore, persons fall into the guilt of many provocations, and God giving in a conviction of them by his word or providence, they are humbled for them according to their light and principles; if they find their humiliations, upon their renewed convictions, to grow weak, decay, and lessen in their effects, they do not so reflect upon themselves with self-displicency as formerly, nor so stir up themselves unto amendment as they have done upon former warnings or convictions, nor have in such cases their accustomed sense of the displeasure and terror of the Lord, let them beware, evil is before them, and the fatal season of their utmost provoking is at hand, if not prevented.
[3.] When various dispensations of God towards men have been useless and fruitless, when mercies, judgments, dangers, deliverances, signally stamped with respect unto the sins of men, but especially the warnings of the word, have been multiplied towards any persons, churches, or nations, and have passed over them without their reformation or recovery, no doubt but judgment is ready to enter, yea, if it be into the house of God itself.
Is it thus with any, is this their estate and condition? let them please themselves while they please, they are like Jonah, asleep in the ship, whilst it is ready to be cast away on their account. Awake and tremble; you know not how soon a great, vigorous, prevalent temptation may hurry you into your last provocation. And this is the first head of sin instanced in.
(2.) They are said also to have tempted God: In the temptation; when your fathers tempted me. Wherein their provocation did consist, and what was the sin which is so expressed, we have declared. We must now inquire what was their tempting of God, of what nature was their sin therein, and wherein it did consist. To tempt God is a thing frequently mentioned in the Scripture, and condemned as a provoking sin. And it is generally esteemed to consist in a venturing on or an engaging into any way, work, or duty, without sufficient call, warrant, or rule, upon the account of trusting God therein; or, in the neglect of the use of ordinary means in any condition, desiring, expecting, or trusting unto any extraordinary assistances or supplies from God. So when men seem rashly to cast themselves into danger, out of a confidence in the presence and protection of God, it is said that they tempt God. And sundry texts of Scripture seem to give countenance to this description of the sin of tempting of God. So Isa 7:11-12 : When the prophet bade Ahaz ask a sign of the Lord in the depth or in the height above, he replied, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the LORD; that is, I will rest in what thou hast said, and not tempt God by seeking any thing extraordinary.And so when Satan tempted our Savior to show his power by casting himself down from a pinnacle of the temple, which was none of his ways, Mat 4:7, he answers him by that saying of Deu 6:16, Thou shalt not tempt the LORD thy God. To venture, therefore, on any thing, unwarrantably trusting unto God for protection, is to tempt him. And this is usually and generally allowed as the nature of this sin and sense of this expression.
But yet I must needs say, that upon the consideration of all the places where mention is made of tempting the Lord, I am forced to embrace another sense of the meaning of this expression, which if it be not utterly exclusive of that already mentioned, yet it is doubtless more frequently intended, and doth more directly express the sin here condemned. Now, this is a distrust of God whilst we are in any of his ways, after we have received sufficient experiences and instances of his power and goodness to confirm us in the stability and certainty of his promises. Thus to do is to tempt God. And when this frame is found in any, they are said to tempt him; that is, to provoke him by their unbelief. It is not barely and nakedly to disbelieve the promises, it is not unbelief in general, but it is to disbelieve them under some peculiar attestation and experience obtained of the power and goodness of God in their pursuit and towards their accomplishment. When, therefore, men are engaged into any way of God according to their duty, and meeting with opposition and difficulty therein, if they give way to despondency and unbelief, if they have received any signal pledges of his faithfulness, in former effects of his wisdom, care, power, and goodness, they tempt God, and are guilty of the sin here branded and condemned. The most eminent instances of tempting God in the Scripture, and which are most frequently mentioned, are these of the Israelites in the wilderness. As they are here represented in the story, so they are called over again both in the Old Testament and the New: Psa 78:41, Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel; and 1Co 10:9, they tempted Christ. And wherein did this temptation consist? It was in this, and no other, they would not believe or trust God when they were in his way, after they had received many experiences of his power and presence amongst them. And this is directly expressed, Exo 17:7, They tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not? They doubted of and questioned his presence, and also all the pledges and tokens which he had given them of it. And this sin of theirs the psalmist at large pursues, showing wherein it did consist, Psa 78:22-23,
They believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation, though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven.
Psa 78:32, For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works. Psa 78:41-42, They turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy. Thus plain doth he make the nature of their sin in tempting of God. It was their distrust and disobeying of him, after they had received so many encouraging evidences of his power, goodness, and wisdom amongst them. This, and this alone, is in the Scripture called tempting of God. For that of our Savior, Mat 4:7, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God, it was taken, as was observed, from Deu 6:16, where the following words are, as ye tempted him in Massah. Now this tempting of God at Massah was that which we have declared, namely, the disbelieving of him after many evidences of his power and faithfulness. And this directly answers the end for which our Savior made use of these words; which was to show that he was so far satisfied of Gods presence with him, and of his being the Son of God, that he would not tempt him by desiring other experience of it, as though what he had already were not sufficient. And the reason why Ahaz said he would not tempt the Lord in asking a sign, was no other but because he believed not either that he would give him a sign or that he would deliver: and therefore he resolved to trust to himself, and with his money to hire the Assyrians to help him; which he did accordingly, 2Ki 16:7-9.
And this sin is called tempting of God, from its effect, and not from its formal nature. They tempted God; that is, by their unbelief they provoked him and stirred him up to anger and indignation. And from the discovery of the nature of this sin we may observe, that,
Obs. 18. To distrust God, to disbelieve his promises, whilst a way of duty lies before us, after we have had experiences of his goodness, power, and wisdom, in his dealing with us, is a tempting of God, and a greatly provoking sin.
And a truth this is that hath , meat in his mouth, or instruction ready for us, that we may know how to charge this aggravation of our unbelief upon our souls and consciences. Distrust of God is a sin that we are apt, upon sundry perverse reasonings, to indulge ourselves in, and yet is there nothing wherewith God is more provoked. Now, it appears in the proposition laid down, that sundry things are required that a person, a church, a people, may render themselves formally guilty of this sin; as,
[1.] That they be called unto or engaged in some especial way of God. And this is no extraordinary thing. All believers who attend unto their duty will find it to be their state and condition. So were the Israelites in the wilderness. If we are out of the ways of God, our sin may be great, but it is a sin of another nature. It is in his ways that we have his promises, and therefore it is in them, and with reference unto them, that we are bound to believe and trust in him; and on the same account, in them alone can we tempt God by our unbelief.
[2.] That in this way they meet with oppositions, difficulties, hardships, temptations; and this, whilst Satan and the world continue in their power, they shall be sure to do. Yea, God himself is pleased ofttimes to exercise them with sundry things of this nature. Thus it befell the people in the wilderness. Sometimes they had no bread, and sometimes they had no water; sometimes enemies assaulted them, and sometimes serpents bit them. Those things which in Gods design are trials of faith, and means to stir it up unto a diligent exercise, in their own natures are grievous and troublesome, and in the management of Satan tend to the producing of this sin, or tempting of God.
[3.] That they have received former experiences of the goodness, power, and wisdom of God, in his dealings with them. So had this people done; and this God chargeth them withal when he reproacheth them with this sin of tempting him. And this also all believers are or may be made partakers of. He who hath no experience of the especial goodness and power of God towards him, it hath been through his own negligence and want of observation, and not from any defect in Gods dispensations. As he leaveth not himself without witness towards the world, in that he doth them good, sending them rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with food and gladness; no more is he wanting towards all believers, in giving them especial tokens of his love, care, and kindness towards them; for he is the savior of all men, but specially of those that believe, 1Ti 4:10. But as the most in the world take no notice of the effects of his care and goodness towards them, so many believers are negligent in treasuring up experiences of his especial care and love towards them. Yet this hinders not but that the ways and dealings of God are indeed such as have been declared.
Now, where these things concur, the distrust of God is a high provocation of him. It is unbelief, the worst of sins, expressing itself to the greatest disadvantage of Gods glory, the height of aggravations; for what can God do more for us, and what can we do more against him? Surely, when he hath revealed his ways unto us, and made known unto us our duty; when he hath given us pledges of his presence with us, and of his owning of us, so as to seal and ascertain his promises unto us; then for us, upon the opposition of creatures, or worldly difficulties, about outward, temporary, perishing things (for their power and efficacy extends no farther), to disbelieve and distrust him, it must needs be a high provocation to the eyes. of his glory. But, alas! how frequently do we contract the guilt of this sin, both in our personal, family, and more public concernments!
A due consideration hereof lays, without doubt, matter of deep humiliation before us.
And this is the second general head insisted on by the apostle in the example proposed, namely, the nature of the sin or sins which the people fell into, and which he intends to dehort his Hebrews from.
3. The third general head of this discourse contains a triple aggravation of the sin of the people in their provoking and tempting of God:
(1.) From the place wherein they so sinned, it was in the wilderness.
(2.) From the means they had to the contrary, they saw the works of God.
(3.) From the continuance of the use of those means, and the duration of their sin under them, it was thus for forty years: They saw my works forty years.
For these, as they are circumstances of the story, so they are aggravations of the sin mentioned in it.
(1.) They thus dealt with God in the wilderness: what wilderness is intended we showed before, in the exposition of the words. And however there may be a peculiar respect unto that part of the wilderness wherein the definitive sentence of their exclusion from the land of Canaan was given out against them, which was in the wilderness of Paran, Num 12:16, at the very borders of the land that they were to possess, as appears Num 14:40, yet because the time of forty years is mentioned, which was the whole time of the peoples peregrination in the deserts of Arabia, I take the word to comprehend the whole. Here, in this wilderness, they provoked and tempted God. And this contains a great aggravation of their sin; for,
[1.] This was the place wherein they were brought into liberty, after they and their forefathers had been in sore bondage unto the Egyptians for sundry ages. This was a mercy promised unto them, and which they cried out for in the day of their oppression:
They cried; and their cry came up unto God, by reason of the bondage, Exo 2:23.
Now, to handsel their liberty, to make an entrance into it by this rebellion against God, it was a provoking circumstance.
[2.] It was a place wherein they lived solely and visibly upon Gods daily extraordinary provision for them. Should he have withheld a continual working of miracles in their behalf, both they and theirs must have utterly perished. This could not but have affected them with love and fear, great preservatives of obedience, had they not been extremely stupid and obdurate.
[3.] They were in a place where they had none to tempt them, to provoke them, to entice them unto sin, unless they willfully sought them out unto that very end and purpose; as they did in the case of Midian. The people now dwelt alone, and were not reckoned among the nations. Afterwards, indeed, when they dwelt among other nations, they learned their manners; but as that was no excuse for their sin, so this was a great aggravation of it, that here it sprung merely from themselves and their own evil heart of unbelief, continually prone to depart from the living God.
(2.) It was a place wherein they continually saw the works of God; which is the second general head mentioned in the aggravation of their sin: They saw my works. And this did aggravate their sin on many accounts:
[1.] From the evidence that they had that such works were wrought, and that they were wrought of God, they saw them. This Moses laid weight on, Deu 5:3-4, The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, , who are all of us here alive this day. The LORD talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire. Not with our fathers; that is, say some, our forefathers who died in Egypt, and heard not the voice of God in Horeb: or, Not with our fathers; that is, only, their fathers were alive at the giving of the law, but the covenant was not made with them only, but with us also.So Rashi on the place, , Not with our fathers only. And then . is as much as , as Aben Ezra observes, with us also. And he confirms this kind of speech from that of God to Jacob, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel; that is, Thou shalt not be called only so;for he was frequently called Jacob afterward, Others suppose that by the fathers, Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, are intended, who were the especial fathers of the people. Now, they received the promise, and therein had the covenant of grace confirmed unto them, but had no share in the special covenant which was made in, by, and at the giving of the law; and in this sense the emphasis is on the word , this covenant, this which is now made in the giving of the law. For my part, I am apt to think that God doth in these words of Moses show his indignation against all that provoking generation of their fathers in that wilderness, and affirms his covenant was not made with them, because they despised it, and received no benefit by it; for it had a peculiar respect unto the land of Canaan, concerning which God sware that they should not enter it. It was not with them,saith he, whom God despised and regarded not, but with you who are now ready to enter into the promised land, that this covenant was made.See Heb 8:9. The ground why I produced this place, is toshow what weight is to be laid on immediate transactions with God, personal seeing of his works. Herein they had an advantage above those who could only say with the psalmist, Psa 44:1,
We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old.
They saw with their own eyes what was but told or reported unto others. And herein they had a double advantage,
1st. In point of evidence. They had the highest and most unquestionable evidence that the works mentioned were wrought, and wrought of God, they saw them. And this is clearly the most satisfactory evidence concerning miraculous works. Hence our Savior chose those to be the witnesses of his miracles who had been , spectators, of them.
2dly. In point of efficacy for their end. Things seen and beheld have naturally a more effectual influence on the minds of men than those which they only hear of or are told them:
Segnius irritant animos demissa per aures, Quam quae sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus. Hor, ad Pison., 180.
This, therefore, greatly aggravates their sin, that they themselves saw these works of God, which were signal means of preserving them from it.
[2.] From the nature of the works themselves which they saw. They were such as were eminent effects of the properties of God, and means of their demonstration, and therein of the revelation of God unto them. Some of them were works of power, as his dividing of the sea, whose waves roared; some of majesty and terror, as the dreadful appearances, in thunders, lightnings, fire, smoke, and earthquake, at the giving of the law; some of severity and indignation against sin, as his drowning the Egyptians, the opening of the earth to swallow up Corah, Dathan, and Abiram, and the plagues that befell themselves; some of privilege, favor, love, and grace, as the giving of the law, intrusting them with his oracles, and forming them into a church and state, Isa 57:16; some of care and providence for their continual supply, in giving water from the rock, and bread from heaven, and preserving their garments from waxing old; some of direction and protection, as in the cloud and pillar of fire, to guide, direct, and refresh them night and day in that waste howling wilderness; in all which works God abundantly manifested his power, goodness, wisdom, grace, faithfulness, tendering them the highest security of his accomplishing his promises, if they rejected not their interest in them by their unbelief. And it is a matter well worthy consideration, how excellently and pathetically Moses pleads all these works of God with them in the Book of Deuteronomy. And all these works of God were excellent means to have wrought up the hearts of the people unto faith and obedience; and unto that end and purpose were they wrought all of them. This he frequently declared whilst they were under the accomplishment, and thereon afterwards reproacheth them with their unbelief. What could be more suited to beget in the minds of men a due apprehension of the greatness, goodness, and faithfulness of God, than they were? And what is a more effectual motive unto obedience than such apprehensions? The neglect of them, therefore, carries along with it a great aggravation of sin. To tempt God, to murmur against him, as though he could not or would not provide for them, or make good his word unto them, whilst they saw, as it were, every day, those great and marvelous works which had such an impression of his glorious image upon them, it made way for their irrecoverable destruction.
(3.) The third aggravation of the sin of this people is taken from the time of their continuance in it, under the use of the means to the contrary before insisted on, it was forty years. The patience of God was extended towards them, and his works were wrought before them, not for a week, or a month, or a year, but for forty years together! And this increaseth the greatness and strangeness of this dispensation, both on the part of God, and theirs also; on the part of God, that he should bear with their manners so long, when they had so often deserved to be destroyed as one man, and which he had threatened often to do; and on their part, that so long a course of patience, accompanied with so many works of power and mercy, all of them for their instruction, most of them unto their present benefit and advantage, should have no effect upon them to prevent their continuance in their sin unto their ruin.
And these are the aggravations of their sin, which the psalmist collects from the circumstances of it, and which the apostle repeats for our warning and instruction; and this we shall draw out in the ensuing observations.
Obs. 19. No place, no retiredness, no solitary wilderness, will secure men from sin or suffering, provocation or punishment.
These persons were in a wilderness, where they had many motives and encouragements unto obedience, and no means of seduction and outward temptation from others, yet there they sinned and there they suffered. They sinned in the wilderness, and their carcasses fell in the wilderness; they filled that desert with sins and graven And the reason hereof is, because no place as such can of itself exclude the principles and causes either of sin or punishment. Men have the principle of their sins in themselves, in their own hearts, which they cannot leave behind them, or yet get off by shifting of places, or changing their stations. And the justice of God, which is the principal cause of punishment, is no less in the wilderness than in the most populous cities; the wilderness is no wilderness to him, he can find his paths in all its intricacies. The Israelites came hither on necessity, and so they found it with them; and in after ages some have done so by choice, they have retired into wildernesses for the furtherance of their obedience and devotion. In this very wilderness, on the top of Sinai, there is at this day a monastery of persons professing themselves to be religious, and they live there to increase religion in them. I once for some days conversed with their chief (they call him Archimandrite) here in England. For aught I could perceive, he might have learned as much elsewhere. And, indeed, what hath been the issue of that undertaking in general? For the most part, unto their old lusts men added new superstitions, until they made themselves an abomination unto the Lord, and utterly useless in the world, yea, burdensome unto human society. Such persons are like the men of Succoth whom Gideon taught with the thorns and briers of the wilderness, Jdg 8:16. They learned nothing by it but the sharpness of the thorns and the greatness of their own folly. No more did they at best learn any thing from their wilderness retirements, but the sharpness of the place, which was a part of the punishment of their sin, and no means sanctified for the furtherance of their obedience. These two things, then, are evident:
[1.] That the principle of mens unbelief and disobedience is in themselves, and in their own hearts, which leaves them not upon any change of their outward condition.
[2.] That no outward state of things, whether voluntarily chosen by ourselves, or we be brought into it by the providence of God, will either cure or conquer, or can restrain the inward principles of sin and unbelief. I remember old Jerome somewhere complains, that when he was in his horrid cave at Bethlehem, his mind was frequently among the delicacies of Rome. And this will teach us,
1st. In every outward condition to look principally to our own hearts. We may expect great advantages from various conditions, but shall indeed meet with none of them, unless we fix and water the root of them in ourselves. One thinks he could serve God better in prosperity, if freed from the perplexities of poverty, sickness, or persecution; others, that they should serve him better if called unto afflictions and trials. Some think it would be better with them if retired and solitary; others, if they had more society and company. But the only way, indeed, to serve God better, is to abide in our station or condition, and therein to get better hearts. It is Solomons advice, , Pro 4:23, Above or before every watch or keeping, keep thy heart. It is good to keep the tongue, and it is good to keep the feet, and it is good to keep the way, as he further declares in that place, but saith he, Above all keepings, keep thy heart. And he adds a great reason for his caution: For, saith he, out of it are the issues of life. Life and death, in the means and causes of them, do come out of the heart. So our Savior instructs us that in our hearts lie our treasures; what they are, that are we, and nothing else. Thence are all our actions drawn forth, which not only smell of the cask, but receive thence principally their whole moral nature, whether they are good or bad.
2dly. Look for all relief and for help against sin merely from grace. A wilderness will not help you, nor a paradise. In the one Adam sinned, in whom we all sinned; in the other all Israel sinned, who were an example unto us all. Men may to good purpose go into a wilderness to exercise grace and principles of truth, when the acting of them is denied elsewhere: but it is to no purpose to go into a wilderness to seek for these things; their dwelling is in the love and favor of God, and nowhere else can they be found. See Job 28:12-28. Do not expect that mercies of themselves will do you good, or that afflictions will do you good, that the city or the wilderness will do you good; it is grace alone that can do you good. And if you find inward benefits by outward things, it is merely from the grace that God is pleased to administer and dispense with them. And he can separate them when he pleaseth. He can give mercies that shall be so materially, but not eventually, like the quails, which fed the bodies of the people whilst leanness possessed their souls. And he can send affliction that shall have nothing in it but affliction, present troubles leading on to future troubles. Learn, then, in all places, in every state and condition, to live in the freedom, riches, and efficacy of grace; for other helps, other advantages have we none.
3dly. Let us learn, that whithersoever sin can enter punishment can follow. Culpam sequitur poena pede claudo. Though vengeance seems to have a lame toot, yet it will hunt sin until it overtake the sinner: Psa 140:11, Evil shall hunt the violent man to overtake him Go where he will, the fruits of his own evil and violence, the punishment due to them, shall hunt him and follow him; and though it should sometimes appear to be out of sight, or off from the scent, yet it will recover its view, and chase until it hath brought him to destruction, , to thrustings down, until he be utterly thrust down. Saith the Targum, The angel of death shall hunt him until he thrust him down into hell. The heathen owned this:
Quo fugis, Encelade? quascunque accesseris oras, Sub Jove semper eris.
Punishment will follow sin into the wilderness, where it is separated from all the world; and climb up after it to the top of the tower of Babel, where all the world conspired to defend it. It will follow it into the dark, the dark corners of their hearts and lives, and overtake them in the light of the world. God hath , an eye of revenge, that nothing can escape.
Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD, Jer 23:24.
God declares whence it is that none can hide from his presence or escape his justice. It is from his omnipresence; he is everywhere, and all places are alike unto him. Adam when he had sinned went behind a tree; and others, they would go under rocks and mountains; but all is one, vengeance will find them out. This is that which the barbarians thought would not let a murderer live, however he might escape for a season, Act 28:4.
Obs. 20. Great works of providence are a great means of instruction; and a neglect of them, as to their instructive end, is a great aggravation of the sin of those who live when and where they are performed.
They saw my works, saith God, works great and wonderful, and yet continued in their sin and disobedience. This heightened their sin, and hastened their punishment. We shall take an instance in one of the works here intended, which will acquaint us with the design, end, and use of them all; and this shall be the appearance of the majesty of God on mount Sinai at the giving of the law. The works accompanying it consisted much in things miraculous, strange, and unusual, as thunder, lightning, fire, smoke, earthquakes, the sound of a trumpet, and the like. The usual working of the minds of men towards these unusual effects of the power of God, is to gaze on them with admiration and astonishment. This God forbids in them: Exo 19:21, Charge the people, lest they breakthrough unto the LORD to gaze. This is not the end or design of God in these works of his power, in these appearances and evidences of his majesty, that men should gaze at them to satisfy their curiosity. What, then, was aimed at in and by them? It was to instruct them unto a due fear and awful reverence of God, whose holiness and majesty were represented unto them; that they might know him as a consuming fire. And this was declared in the issue. For the people coming up unto a due fear of God for the present, and promising obedience thereon, God took it well of them, and approved it in them, as that which answered the design of his works: Deu 5:23-29,
And it came to pass, when ye heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, (for the mountain did burn with fire,) that ye came near unto me (these are the words of Moses to the people), even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders; and ye said, Behold, the LORD our God hath shewed us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire: Now therefore why should we diet for this great fire will consume us
Go thou near and hear all that the LORD our God shall say; and speak thou unto us all that the LORD our God shall speak unto thee; and we will hear it, and do it. And the LORD heard the voice of your words when ye spake unto me; and the LORD said unto me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken unto thee: they have well said all that they have spoken. Oh that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!
God never casts bruta fulmina; all his works are vocal. They speak, or rather he speaks in them. Now, that they may be instructive unto us, sundry things are required:
[1.] That we take notice of them, and notice of them to be his. Some are so stayed, or so obstinate, or so full of self and other things, that they will take no notice at all of any of the works of God. His hand is lifted up, and they will not see, they will not behold it. He passeth by them in his works on the right hand and on the left, but they perceive it not. Others, though they take notice of the works themselves, yet they will not take notice of them to be his; like the Philistines, they knew not whether the strange plague that consumed them and destroyed their cities were Gods hand or a chance. But until we seriously consider them, and really own them to be the works of God, we can make no improvement of them.
[2.] We are to inquire into the especial meaning of them. This is wisdom, and that which God requireth at our hands: so Mic 6:9,
The voice of the LORD crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it,
, The voice of the LORD, is often taken for the power of God manifesting itself in its effects and mighty works. In this sense it is repeated six or seven times in one psalm, Psa 29:3-9. The voice of God here, then, is the works of God. And what do they do? They have a voice, they cry to the city. The voice of God in his rod doth so; that is, his afflicting and correcting works, as in the end of the verse. It cries , to the city; that is, the city of God, Jerusalem, or the church: though some think that is put for ad excitandum; it cries to excite or stir up men, that is, to repentance and amendment. And what is the issue? , The man of wisdom, say we, it is wisdom, or rather substance, that is, the substantial wise man, who gives no place to vanity and lightness, he shall see the name of God: that is, he shall discern the power and wisdom of God in his works; and not only so, but the mind of God also in them, which is often signified by his name. See Joh 17:6. And so it follows, Hear ye the rod; they are works of the rod, or correction, that he speaks of. This he commands us to hear; that is, to understand. So frequently signifies. So speak the servants of Hezekiah to Rabshakeh, Isa 36:11, Speak, we pray thee, unto thy servants in the Syrian language, , for we hear it; that is, can understand it. So are we to hear the rod; that is, to learn and understand the mind of God in his works. This is required of us. And that we may do so, two things are necessary:
1st. That we consider and be well acquainted with our own condition. If we are ignorant hereof we shall understand nothing of the mind of God in his dispensations. Security in sin will take away all understanding of judgments. Let God thunder from heaven in the revelation of his wrath against sin, yet such persons will be secure still. God doth not often utterly destroy men with great and tremendous destructions before he hath given them previous warnings of his indignation. But yet men that are secure in sin will know so little of the sense of them, that they will be crying Peace and safety, when their final destruction is seizing upon them, 1Th 5:3. God speaks out the curse of the law in his worksof judgment; for thereby is the wrath of God revealed from heaven against the ungodliness of men, Rom 1:18. But yet when men hear the voiceof the curse so spoken out, if they are secure, they will bless themselves, and say they shall have peace, though they add drunkenness to thirst, Deu 29:19. And this for the most part blinds the eyes of thewise men of this world. They neither see nor understand any of the works of God, though never so full of dread or terror, because being secure in their sin, they know not that they have any concernment in them. If they do at any time attend unto them, it is as the people did to the voice that came from heaven unto our Savior; some said it thundered, others, that an angel spake. One says one thing of them, another, another thing, but they endeavor not to come unto any certainty about them. This is complained of Isa 26:11, LORD, when thy hand is lifted up, theywill not see. The lifting up of the hand in general is to work or to effect any thing; in particular, to correct, to punish, it being the posture of one ready to strike, or redoubling his blows in striking; as God doth when his judgments are in the earth, Isa 26:9. In this state of things, saith the prophet, They will not see; they will neither consider nor endeavor to understand the mind of God in his works and judgments. And how doth God take this of them? Saith he, The fire of thine enemies shall devour them; that is, either their own fiery envy at the people of God, mentioned in the foregoing words, shall consume themselves, they shall be eaten up and consumed with it, whilst they will not take notice of the mind of God in his judgments towards them; or, the fire wherewith at length thou wilt consume all thine adversaries shall fall upon them;or, lastly, thou wilt turn in upon them a wicked, furious people, who shall destroy them, as it befell the Jews, to whom he speaks in particular. One way or otherGod will severely revenge this security, and neglect of his works thereon. But they who will wisely consider their own condition, how it is between God and them, wherein they have been faithful, wherein false or backsliding, what controversy God hath, or may justly have with them, what is the condition of the state, church, or nation whereunto they do belong, will discern the voice of God in his great works of providence. So is the matter stated, Dan 12:10, Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand. And when shall this be? When there is a time of great trouble, Dan 12:1, when Gods judgments are greatly in the world. The end of these troubles is to purify men, to cleanse them, by the removal of all filth of flesh and spirit that they may have contracted, as dross is taken away from silver in the furnace; and to make them white, by causing their sincerity, constancy, and perseverance in their holy profession to appear in their trials. But the wicked men, secure in their sins, shall yet continue in their wicked-nest, and thereby shall be so blinded that none of them shall understand the mind of God in his great works and tremendous dispensations. But , they that have an understanding in their own state and condition, and in the state of things in the church of God (as it is said of the men of Issachar, that they were , knowing in the seasons), they shall understand, or come to the knowledge of the will of God and their duty in these things And of a failure herein see how God complains, Deu 32:28-29.
2dly. That we consider what peculiar impressions of his will God puts upon any of his works. Hereby we may know much of his mind and design in them. All the works of God, if duly considered, will be found to bear his image and superscription. They are all like him, were sent by him, and are becoming him. They have on them tokens and marks of infinite wisdom, power, and goodness. Those of providence which he intends to be instructive have a peculiar impression of the design of God upon them, and a wise man may see the eye of God in them. So he speaks in the psalmist, I will guide thee with mine eye, Psa 32:8. He would make him see the way and paths that he was to walk in, by that respect which he would have unto them in the works of his providence. This, then, I say, we should inquire after and wisely consider; because,
Obs. 21. The greater evidence that God gives of his power and goodness in any of his works, the louder is his voice in them, and the greater is the sin of them that neglect them; which also is another proposition from the words.
God made then his works evident unto them, so that they saw them, They saw my works; so they could not deny them to be his. But if men will shut their eyes against the light, they justly perish in their darkness. God sometimes hides his power, Hab 3:4, That was the hiding of his power. That is, as the Targumist adds, it was laid open; his power, that before was hid from the people, was now manifested. But sometimes he causeth it to shine forth; as it is said in the same place, He had horns coming out of his hand, Horns, or shining beams, rays of glory, arose from his hand, or his power, in the manifestation of it in his works. He caused his power to shine forth in them, as the sun gives out light in its full strength and beauty. Then for men not to take notice of them will be a signal aggravation of their sin and hastening of their punishment. Now, we can never know what appears of God in his works, unless by a due consideration of them we endeavor to understand them or his mind in them. Again,
Obs. 22. Because the end of all Gods works, of his mighty works of providence towards a person, a church, or nation, is to bring them to faith and repentance; which is also another observation that the words afford us.
This end he still declared in all his dealings with this people. And it is the principal design of the Book of Deuteronomy to improve the works of God which they had seen unto this end. And
who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them, but the transgressors shall fall therein, Hos 14:9.
And herein lies a great aggravation of the misery of the days wherein we live, the works, the great works of God, are generally either despised or abused. Some account all that is spoken of them , as a mere fable, as some did of old the things concerning the resurrection of Christ, upon the first report of it, Luk 24:11. And if they are not so in themselves, but that such things as are spoken of are done in the world, yet as to their relation unto God they esteem it a fable. Chance, natural causes, vulgar errors, popular esteem, were the originals with such persons of all those great works of God which our eyes have seen or our ears heard, or which our fathers have reported unto us. Brutish persons and unwise! there is scarce a leaf in the book of God, or a day in the course of his providence, that doth not judge and condemn the folly and stupidity of their pride. The very heathen of old either by reason scorned, or by experience were made afraid, to give countenance unto such atheism. Nor do I esteem such persons, who live in an open rebellion against all that is within them and without them, against all that God hath done or said, worthy any consideration.
Because they regard not the works of the LORD, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up, Psa 28:5.
Others will not deny God to be in his works, but they make no use of them but to gaze, admire, and talk. There is somewhat less evil in this than in the former atheism, but no good at all. Yea, where God multiplies his calls by his works, men by this slight consideration of them insensibly harden their hearts into security. Others abuse them, some by making them the rise of their vain and foolish prognostications: There is such a prodigy, such a strange work of God, such a blazing star,or the like. What then? Such or such a thing shall follow this or that year, this or that month.This is a specious way whereby atheism exalts itself; for nothing can give countenance to these presumptions but a supposition of such a concatenation of causes and effects as shall exclude the sovereign government of God over the world. Others contend about them; some whose lives are profligate, and whose ways are wicked, are afraid lest they should be looked on as pointed against them and their sins, and therefore they contend that they have no determinate language, no signification in them. Others are too forward to look upon them as sent or wrought to countenance them in their desires, ways, and aims. Amongst most, by these and the like means, the true design of God in all his great and strange works is utterly lost, to the great provocation of the eyes of his glory. This, as I have showed, is every mans faith, repentance, and obedience; which how they have been improved in us by them we may do well to consider. Again, observe from the words that,
Obs. 23. God is pleased ofttimes to grant great outward means unto those in whom he will not work effectually by his grace.
Who had more of the first than these Israelites in the wilderness? As the works of God amongst them were the greatest and most stupendous that ever he had wrought from the foundation of the world, so the law was first vocally given unto them and promulgated amongst them; and not only so, but they had the gospel also preached unto their ears as we, not so clearly, indeed, but no less truly, Heb 4:1-2. See their privileges and advantages as they are enumerated by our apostle, Rom 3:2; Rom 9:4-5. God might well say of them as he did afterwards of their posterity, What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Isa 5:4; for fencing, and planting, and stoning, nothing more could have been done. Outward means, ordinances, afflictions, mercies, they wanted not; and yet all this while God did not circumcise their hearts to love him with all their heart, and all their soul, that they might live, as he promiseth at other times to do, Deu 30:6 : yea, it is said expressly that he gave them not eyes to see, or ears to hear, that they might know him and fear him. He did not put forth or exercise an effectual work of inward grace during their enjoyment of the outward means before mentioned. And therefore, when God promiseth to make the covenant of grace under the gospel effectual unto the elect, by writing his law in their hearts, and putting his fear into their inward parts, he says expressly and emphatically that he will not make it as he made that with the people in the wilderness; and that for this reason, because they (that is, the generality of them) had only the outward administration of it, and did not enjoy this effectual communication of saving grace, which is there called a writing of the law in our hearts, and putting of the fear of God in our inward parts, Heb 8:8-12, from Jer 31:31-34. In like manner, when our Lord Jesus Christ preached the gospel unto all, yet it was to some only to whom it was given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, Mat 13:11-16. I know some are displeased at this; but for the most part they are such as will be pleased with nothing that God either doeth or saith, or can do or say, unless he would give them a law or a gospel to save them in and with their sins. They are ready to dispute that God is unjust if he give not grace to every man, to use or abuse at his pleasure, whilst themselves hate grace and despise it, and think it not worth acceptance if laid at their doors. But thus God dealt with this people in the wilderness; yea, they had means of obedience granted them after he had sworn they should die for their disobedience. And who art thou, O man, that disputest against God? Nay, the righteousness of God in this matter is clear and conspicuous; for,
[1.] God is not obliged to grant any especial privilege, even as unto the outward means of grace, unto any of the sons of men. And to show his sovereignty and absolute freedom herein, he always granted them with great variety in a distinguishing manner. So he did of old: He shewed his word (, his words, that is, his institutions)
unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation; and as for his judgments, they have not known them, Psa 147:19-20.
These outward means themselves were their peculiar privilege and enclosure. This was the advantage of the Jews, that unto them, and unto them alone, were committed the oracles of God, Rom 3:2. And God, as he gave and granted these outward means of grace to them alone, so he might have justly denied them unto them also; or else he might have granted them unto all others and withheld them from them. For he dealt not thus with them because they were in and of themselves in any thing better than those who were excluded from their privileges, Deu 7:6-9. And thus God dealeth still, even unto this day, with the nations of the world; some he intrusteth with the gospel, and some have not the sound of it approaching unto them. Man would not abide in the condition wherein God made him, Ecc 7:29; and God may justly leave him in the condition wherein by sin he hath cast himself. That he will afford outward means unto any is of mere grace, liberality, and bounty. And shall we say he is unjust if he give no more, when no rule or law of justice obligeth him unto what he doth? Men may by such means and apprehensions sooner provoke God to take away what they have than to add to them what they have not. A beggars murmuring as though he had not his due, when any thing is given him, is the worst way of getting his alms increased.
[2.] Even outward means themselves, when singly dispensed, have many blessed ends which shall be effected by them; for they all tend variously to the glory of God. This, I acknowledge, is despised by men of profane and wicked principles, who have no concernment therein. Men whom nothing will satisfy but the making of all grace so common as that it should be prostituted unto the corrupt wills of men, to be used or abused at their pleasure, as indeed they utterly evert all effectual grace, so they must find another scripture to countenance them in their opinion. The Book of God will not do it. They measure things merely by their own advantage. But to those that know God and love him this is of great weight. That the wisdom, holiness, goodness, righteousness, and severity of God, be exalted and glorified, as they are in the dispensation of the outward means of grace, though eventually not effectual unto the salvation of some, is a matter of great rejoicing unto all that do believe. Again, they may redound unto the great advantage of men, and that both in this world and unto eternity. So saith our Savior, Mat 11:23
And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained unto this day.
The exaltation of Capernaum consisted in its enjoyment of the outward means of grace, in the preaching and miracles of our Savior; and although the end of all was that she was to be brought down to hell for her obstinacy in unbelief, yet whilst she enjoyed these things she had a real privilege, and was much exalted thereby. And there might have been a use of these means, which although it would not have delivered Capernaum from hell at last, because not prevalent against final impenitency, yet it might have delivered it from that hell of temporal destruction which befell it not long after, as prevailing against their open and professed obstinacy. And so Sodom, had she been intrusted with the like means of instruction, might have continued in her outward state and condition by such a use of them unto that or unto this day. For there may be such a conviction of sin as may produce that repentance and humiliation which will avert temporal judgments, which will not produce repentance unto salvation and deliverance from judgments eternal. And this renders the gospel the greatest privilege and advantage of any kingdom or nation in the world, and their principal interest to maintain it. Whatever work God is pleased to do secretly and effectually on the hearts of any, to bring them to the eternal enjoyment of himself, the very outward dispensation of the gospel itself is suited to bring forth that profession and amendment of life in all which shall secure unto them the enjoyment of peace and tranquillity in this world. Besides, the taking off of men from their present sinful courses will tend to the mitigation of their future punishment or a diminution of their stripes. There are, then, many mercies in this one of the outward means of grace, considered absolutely and in itself.
[3.] Where God grants the use of the outward means of grace to any, ordinarily, if not always, he hath a design to communicate by them especial saving grace unto some. These means granted unto the people in the wilderness, where they seem to have had as sad an event as ever they had anywhere in the world, yet were not lost as to their end and use of the conveyance of especial grace towards some. Some, yea doubtless many, were converted unto God by them, and made obedient. That they died in the wilderness is no argument as unto individuals that they died in final unbelief, no, though we should conclude that they died all penally; for they did so as they were members and parts of that people, that provoking generation, which God dealt withal according to the demerit of the community. And so, many men may fall and be cut off penally in national desolations, as those desolations are just punishments for the sins of that nation, though they themselves were not personally guilty of them. So the daughters of Zelophehad state the matter, Num 27:3,
Our father died in the wilderness, and he was not in the company of them that gathered themselves together against the LORD; but died in his own sin.
He was a sinner as all men are, and so on his own personal account there was no reason to complain of his dying in the wilderness; but yet he had no hand in those especial provocations for which God was so displeased as that he cut them off signally in his wrath, and finally. But he, it may be, and many others of them doubtless, had the spiritually efficacious benefit of the means of grace which they enjoyed. The matter is plain in Caleb, Joshua, and others, and a great multitude of the new generation, who believed and entered into rest. Now, the saving of one soul is worth the preaching of the gospel to a whole nation, and that for many years. And whilst God carries on his work visibly, he will take care secretly that not one hidden grain of his Israel shall fall unto the ground.
To sum up this whole matter: These outward means are granted unto men in a way of grace, favor, and bounty. Their ends, singly considered, are good, holy, and righteous. Moreover, they are all of them properly effectual in that they always attain the end whereunto they are designed.
And that men are not bettered by them, or more advantaged than they are, is merely from their own pravity and obstinacy. And those who approve not of this dispensation seem to have a great mind to contend with Him who is mightier than they.
Furthermore, from the exposition before premised we may observe, that,
Obs. 24. No privilege, no outward means of grace, no other advantage whatever, will secure men in a course of sinning from the wrath and justice of God.
Who could be made partakers of more things of that kind than were this people at that time? Besides the great privilege derived unto them from their fathers, in that they were the posterity of Abraham, the friend of God, and had the token of his covenant in their flesh, they had newly erected amongst them a glorious church-state, wherein they were intrusted with all the ordinances of Gods worship. These privileges the apostle sums up, Rom 9:4-5,
Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers.
The adoption was theirs; God had no other children or family in the world but them, they were his family when his curse was upon all other families of the earth. And the glory was theirs; it was unto them and amongst them that God so manifested his glory as that it became their glory, their glory above all the nations of the world. And the covenants were theirs; both the covenant that was made with Abraham, in all the benefits of it, and the especial covenant that God made with them at Sinai. There also was the law given unto them, and the solemn worship of God, in all the laws and ordinances thereof, made their peculiar. What works of providence God wrought amongst them we have declared. Doubtless they bare themselves high on these things. So when they contended with Moses and Aaron, their plea was, that all the people was holy, so that they saw no reason for their peculiar preeminence. And who also amongst the sons of men is not ready on far less occasions so to do? Some cry they are the church, and some boast of other things; but be men what they will, their privileges and advantages what they can desire, if they are secure and obstinate sinners, the wrath of God at one time or other will overtake them. And some will one day find to their sorrow what their boasting will cost them. Laodicea hath done so long ago; and so in due time will she who says, I sit as a queen, and shall see no sorrow. For although the hand of church -privilege should join in with the hand of secular advantage, yet the guilty shall not go unpunished. And one reason hereof lies in another proposition that ariseth from the words, namely, that,
Obs. 25. There are determinate bounds fixed unto Gods patience and forbearance towards obstinate sinners.
So here he assigned the space of forty years for the consumption of this provoking generation. And as in the point of promise it is observed, that the very same night wherein the time limited was accomplished the people were delivered out of Egypt; so in the point of threatening it is remembered, that at the end of forty years, wherein the people wandered in the wilderness, there was not one remaining of those who were first numbered in Horeb. However men may flatter and please themselves, nothing can secure sinners from punishment in the appointed season. See 2Pe 3:8-10.
Secondly, We shall now proceed to the last thing contained in the example insisted on by the apostle; and that is, the consequent of the sin of the people in their punishment. And this is expressed,
1. In the procuring cause of it, that in the sense God had of their sin, it grieved him: Wherefore I was grieved with that generation. The meaning of the words, both in the psalm and in this place, hath been before declared. It expresseth how God stood affected towards the people, as to the inward frame of his heart; for these, affections doth God take upon himself for our instruction. He says that he will
rejoice over his people, assuredly with his whole heart and his whole soul, Jer 32:41;
and upon the account of their sin it is said, that it grieved him at his heart that he had made man on the earth, Gen 6:6. And these expressions, wherever they are used, are signs of great and signal actions So in the last case mentioned, God said it grieved him at his heart, because he was going to do that which could proceed from no principle that we can apprehend but great trouble and molestation. That, then, which is here intended is such a , such a frame or habit of mind or heart in God, as had the people of that generation for its object. It is not, then, , dolor, or grief, properly so called, that is here intended; neither does either of the words here used, the one by the psalmist, the other by the apostle, express that passion: for although God ascribes it often unto himself, yet it is not here intended, but rather indignation and trouble. He was burdened, vexed, displeased beyond what patience or forbearance could extend unto. In brief, it includes these two things:
(1.) The judgment or mind of God concerning the greatness of their sin, with all its aggravations; and,
(2.) His determinate will of punishing them. Hence we may observe that,
Obs. 26. The heart of God is greatly concerned in the sins of men, especially of those who on any account are his people, and so esteemed.
Men live, and act, and speak, as if they thought God very little concerned in what they do, especially in their sins; that either he takes no notice of them, or if he do, that he is not much concerned in them. That he should be grieved at his heart, that is, have such a deep sense of mens sinful provocations they have no mind to think or believe. They think that, as to thoughts about sin, God is altogether as themselves, Psa 50:21. But it is otherwise; for God hath,
(1.) A concernment of honor in what we do. He made us for his glory and honor; nothing whereof can we any way assign unto him but by our obedience; and whatever is contrary hereunto tends directly to his dishonor. And this God cannot but be deeply sensible of. He cannot deny himself. If men lose the rent which they expect from their tenants, and have obliged them to pay, and which they refuse upon mere will and stubbornness, they will find themselves to have a concernment therein; and shall God lose all the revenue that is due unto him, without expressing an indignation against the guilt of men who deal so unjustly and fraudulently with him? Nay, he is deeply concerned in this matter, as he is our sovereign Lord.
(2.) He is concerned in point of justice also, as he is the supreme ruler and governor of all the works of his own hands He is God, to whom vengeance doth belong, who hath said, Vengeance is mine, and I will recompense. And he needs no other reason to induce him to punish sin but himself, his holiness and his justice being his nature. And this he expresseth after the manner of men, affirming that he is grieved, or vexed and provoked to indignation, with the sins of men. How this provocation is heightened by this aggravation of sin, that it is committed by his own people, under peculiar, unspeakable, obligations unto obedience, hath been declared before.
2. Proceed we with the exposition of the words There is in them the judgment that God made and gave concerning this people and their sin, which is expressed as the reason why he was grieved with them: He said, They do always err in their hearts; and my ways they have not known.
He said; not that God expressly used these words, but he made this judgment concerning them. This was the sense he had conceived of them. So the word is most frequently used for the conception of the mind. It is the , or sense of the mind, not the , or outward expression, that is intended.
And in this judgment which God passed on that sinful generation he declares three things:
(1.) The principle of all their sins, they did err in their hearts
(2.) Their constancy in or obstinacy unto this principle, they did so always
(3.) The consequent, or rather concomitant evil unto or with these, they knew not the ways of the Lord: And they have not known my ways.
(1.) God placeth the original of all their miscarriages in their error, the error of their hearts. An error of the heart in things moral, is a practical misjudging of what is good or evil unto men. So this people, through the power of their lusts sad darkness, their temptations and obstinacy, did, in many instances wherein they were tried, judge that sin and rebellion were better for them than faith, submission, and obedience. They did not in general notionally and formally judge that sin, as sin, was better than obedience, which no creature is capable of doing; but practically and particularly they judged that it was better for them to do the things wherein their sin consisted than to omit or forego them: so they erred in their hearts. There the seat of their error is fixed. Now, besides that the heart is here, as in sundry other places, taken for the practical understanding, or for the whole principle of all our moral actions, as it regards both the mind, will, and affections, the expression seems to intend a further discovery of the nature of their sin, with a further aggravation of it. They sinned from and with their hearts; and God lets them know that he doth not so much insist on their outward actions, as that he took notice that their hearts were not right with him. That was the principle of all their rebellions, for which he abhorred them. As he spake in another place of the same people, when their hearts went after their idols, he regarded them not.
(2.) The adjunct of this their error is their constancy unto it, or persistency in it: They do always err. Two things may be denoted hereby:
[1.] That in all instances, whenever it came to a trial, they practically chose the wrong side. It may be they did not so universally, but they did so generally, which warrants the denomination. Or,
[2.] It denotes the continuance in their error; is, not to cease or give over. Though God had exercised great patience and forbearance towards them for a long season, yet they would never change their minds or hearts at any time.
(3.) There is the consequent of this great principle of their sin, or rather, another concomitant principle of their miscarriages, they knew not the ways of God: And they have not known my ways. This may be exegetical of the former, and declare wherein their error consisted, namely, in this, that they knew not, they judged not aright of the ways of God. But, as I said, I shall rather look upon it as another principle of their miscarriages. As they erred in their hearts because they liked the ways of sin, so they disliked the ways of God because they knew them not, and from both rushed into all manner of miscarriages and provocations. We are hence instructed first, that,
Obs. 27. In all the sins of men God principally regards the principle; that is, the heart, or what is in it.
They do err, saith he, in their hearts. The heart he principally requires in our obedience; and this he principally regards in mens disobedience. My son, saith he, give me thine heart; and, O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me! When the heart is upright, as to its general frame, design, and principle, God will bear with many failings, many miscarriages. And when it is false, and gone off from God, thousands of duties are of no esteem with him. We know little, yea, directly nothing, of the hearts of men; and a man would therefore think that we should little concern ourselves in them, or not at all, but merely rest satisfied in outward acts and effects, wherein our concernment lies. But yet even amongst us it is quite otherwise. If once a man begins justly to suspect that the hearts of them with whom he hath to do be not upright with him, but false and guileful, let them pretend what they will, and act what they please, all is utterly disregarded and despised. So saith he, Hom. II. i. 312,
, ,
, ,
I hate him like the gates of hell, who, pretending fairly to me, reserves otherthings in his mind.
And if it be thus with men, who judge of the hearts of others only by effects, and that with a judgment liable to be inflamed by groundless suspicions and corrupt imaginations, how much more must it be so with God, before whose eyes all the hearts of men lie open and naked, whose glory and property it is to be , the judge, searcher, knower of all hearts? Again,
Obs. 28. The error of the heart in the preferring the ways of sin before obedience, with its promises and rewards, is the root of all great provoking sins and rebellions against God.
Many sins are the effects of mens impetuous lusts and corruptions; many they are hurried into by the power and efficacy of their temptations; most are produced by both these in conjunction; but as for great provocations, such as carry in them apostasy, or rebellion against God, they proceed from a deceiving and a deceived heart. There are many noisome and hurtful errors in the world, but this is the great soul-mining error, when the heart is practically corrupted to prefer sin and its wages before obedience and its reward. It seems, indeed, a hard and difficult thing to do this notionally, especially for such as admit of any sense of eternity. But yet the contrary hereunto, namely, to prefer obedience, with its promises and rewards, consisting in things future and invisible, unto sin and its present ways, is expressed as an act or fruit of faith, and which nothing else will enable us unto. This was the evidence of the faith of Moses, that he
chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater fiches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward, Heb 11:25-26.
And so the apostle expresseth the working of faith in this matter: 2Co 4:18,
While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
It is the work of faith so to look into, so to see and discern invisible and eternal things, as on their account to prefer obedience unto God, with afflictions, temptations, and persecutions, unto sin, with all its present pleasures and wages. But, practically, this is frequently found amongst men. And how this is brought about or effected; how the mind is prejudiced and obstructed, as to its making a right judgment concerning its rules; how it is diverted from a due consideration of the things and reasons that should influence it, and lead it thereunto; how it is entangled and seduced unto present approbation of appearing satisfactions; and how the will is thereby deceived into a consent unto sin, I have declared in a particular discourse to that purpose. [5] In brief, when the directive part of the mind is diverted from attending unto the reason of things proposed unto it; when it is corrupted by false pretences imposed on it by the outrage of corrupt lusts and affections, which have possessed the imagination with their objects and their present deceivableness; when the judging, accusing faculty of it is baffled, slighted, and at least partially silenced, as wearied with doing its work in vain, and accustomed to repulses; when in its reflective acts, whereby it should receive impressions from its own self-accusations and reproofs, it is made obtuse, hard, and senseless, not regarding what is spoken in it or to it; and when by these means carnal affections bear sway in the soul, impetuously inclining it to seek after their satisfaction, then is the heart under the power of the error we speak of, that error which is the principle of all great provocations and apostasies from God.
[5] See the authors treatise on Temptation, volume 6 of this edition of his works. ED.
For,
[1.] This sets all the lusts of the soul at liberty to seek after their satisfaction in sin;
[2.] Makes it slight and contemn all the promises annexed unto obedience; and,
[3.] Disregard the threatenings that lie against sin, and so prepares it for the utmost rebellion.
And of all errors let us take heed of this practical error of the heart. It is not mens being orthodox, or sound in their opinions, that will relieve them if they are under the power of this great, fundamental error. And it is a matter to be lamented, to see how men will contest for their opinions under the name of truth, and cast manner of severe reflections on those that oppose them, whilst themselves err in their hearts, and know not the ways of God. And this is a frame which of all others God most abhorreth; for when men pretend to be for him, and are really against him, as all such are, shall not the Searcher of hearts find it out? Orthodox liars, swearers, drunkards, adulterers, oppressors, persecutors, are an unspeakable burden unto the patience of God. Again,
Obs. 29. A constant persistency in a course of sin is the utmost, highest, and last aggravation of sin.
They do always err, in every instance of obedience, and that continually. This filled up their measure; for herein consists that finishing of sin which brings forth death, Jas 1:15. Sin may be conceived and brought forth, and yet death not ensue. But if it be finished, if men err in their hearts always, inevitable destruction will be the consequent of it. This, as was said, is the highest and last aggravation of sin; for,
[1.] It includes a neglect and contempt of all times and seasons of amendment. God gives unto men, especially those who live under the dispensation of the word, many peculiar times or seasons for their recovery. They have their day, their especial day, wherein they ought in an especial manner to look after the things of their peace, as hath been declared. It may be this day is often revived to the persons spoken of, and often returned upon them; but it is as often despised and neglected by them.
[2.] It includes a rejection and disappointment of the means of repentance which God is pleased graciously to afford unto them. During the season of his patience towards sinners, God is pleased to grant unto them sundry means and advantages for their amendment, and that in great variety; but they are all rejected and rendered fruitless in an unchanged course of sinning.
[3.] It includes a contempt of the whole work of conscience from first to last. Many assistances conscience doth receive in its work: convictions from the word, excitations by judgments, mercies, dangers, deliverances; but yet in this condition all its actings are baffled and despised. And what can be more done against God? what can add to the guilt of such sin and sinners? And this may serve to justify God in his severity against persons that always err in their hearts, that continue in a course of sinning. In the day when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed, and all transactions between God and the souls of men laid open, the holiness, righteousness, and just severity of God against impenitent sinners, will on these and other accounts be gloriously displayed.
Obs. 30. None despise or desert the ways of God but those that know them not.
For whatever they may profess, yet indeed profligate sinners know neither God nor his ways: They err in their hearts; and have not known my ways. Who would seem more fully to have known the ways of God than this people? The ways of his providence, wherein he walked towards them, and the ways of his law, wherein they were to walk towards him, were all before them. They saw the former themselves, and that appearance of the power, wisdom, and greatness of God in them, as never had any generation of men from the foundation of the world. And for the ways of his law and worship, who should know them if they did not? They heard God himself proclaiming his own law on mount Sinai, and had it afterwards written by him in tables of stone; and for the residue of his institutions, they received them by fresh revelation, seeing them all exemplified in the erection of the tabernacle and practice of the service of it. And yet all this while, being unbelieving and obdurate, they knew not the ways of God; nay, though they professed that they knew them, and that they would observe them, yet in truth they knew them not. And such were their posterity and successors in unbelief and disobedience, of whom the apostle speaks, Tit 1:16,
They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.
So was it with this people; so it is with all that despise the ways of God. Whatever they profess, as some of them will be forward enough to profess much, yet indeed they know not God or his ways. So our Savior tells the Pharisees, that, notwithstanding all their boasting of their wisdom, skill, and knowledge of the law, and of God himself, yet being, as they were, proud, hypocritical self-justiciaries, that they had not indeed heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape, Joh 5:37; that is; that they had no real acquaintance with him or knowledge of him. Whatever notion such persons have or may have of the ways of God, whatever skill in the outward letter of his laws and institutions, yet they know neither the righteousness, nor the holiness, nor the efficacy, nor the usefulness, nor the beauty of any of them. These things are spiritually discerned, and they are spiritually blind; these are spirit and life, and they are flesh, and dead. And all this is evident from mens despising of the ways of God or their dereliction of them. This none can do but those that know them not; for, they that know the name of the LORD, that is, any of the ways whereby he reveals himself, will put their trust in him, Psa 9:10. They will forsake neither him nor them. What Paul speaks in a way of extenuation as to some of the Jews, Had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of life, we may apply by way of exprobration unto some: Had they known the ways of God, as once they professed they did, they would not have forsaken them.And this may support us against the offenses and scandals that are in the world upon the account of the apostasies of professors. Some that have professed religion in its power turn sensual worldlings; some who have professed it in its truth, as Protestants, turn Papists and idolaters. Shall any reflection be taken from hence, or be cast on the right ways of God, as though they were such as deserved to be deserted? Whatever men, such men, have pretended or professed, the truth is, they never knew the ways of God in their light, power, efficacy, or beauty. Julian, that infamous apostate, was wont to boast concerning the Scriptures, That he had read them, known them, and condemned them. Unto whom it was truly replied, That if he had read them, yet he understood or knew them not; of which there needed no other evidence but that he condemned them.
3. Unto whom I sware in my wrath, that they should not enter into my rest. This is the last thing that remaineth to be considered; and it is the issue or event of the sin before declared, what it came to in the holiness and righteousness of God, and what was the punishment that was inflicted on the offenders. And in this decretory sentence of God concerning this people, after all their temptations and provocations, there is considerable,
(1.) The irrevocableness of the sentence denounced against them. It is not any longer a mere threatening, but a sentence irreversibly passed, and enrolled in the court of heaven, and committed for execution unto the honor, power, and veracity of God; for he sware unto it, or confirmed it by his oath. All mere promises or threatenings whatever about temporal things have a tacit condition included in them. This, as occasion requires, is drawn forth, so as to alter and change the event promised or threatened. But when God interposeth with his oath, it is to exclude all reserves on such tacit conditions, it is to show that the time wherein they might take place or be of use is elapsed. And the threatening so confirmed becomes an absolute sentence. And until it comes unto this, the state of sinners is not absolutely deplorable. But when the oath of God is gone out against them, all reserves for mercy, all former allowances of conditions are utterly cut off. And this is not the state only of them concerning whom it is recorded in an especial manner that he did so swear; but in such instances God shows what is the way of his holiness and severity with all sinners who fall into the like provocations with them. For hereon doth the apostle ground his exhortation and caution, Heb 4:11,
Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief;
but if the tenor of Gods dealings with such unbelievers were not absolutely the same, if the oath of God extended only unto that generation, though they fell, yet others might stand under the same guilt with them, which the apostle hence demonstrates to be otherwise.
(2.) The greatness of their sin, in the great offense that God took at it, and the provocation which, as it were, befell him thereon: He sware in his wrath; that is, with great indignation. Let the place be read as before set down, where the frame of the heart of God towards them is expressed, and the greatness of his wrath and indignation will appear. Now, whereas the holy nature of God is not in itself capable of such commotions, of such smoking wrath and anger as are therein described and represented, the sole end of these expressions must needs be to show the heinousness of the sin that the people were guilty of. And herein lies an infinite condescension of God, in taking care to instruct some in and by his deserved wrath against others: for such weak and mean creatures are we, that we have need thus to be instructed in the holiness of Gods nature and the severity of his justice against sin; for whatever we may ween concerning ourselves, we are not indeed capable of any perfect notions or direct apprehensions of them, but stand in need to have them represented unto us by such effects as we can take in the species of into [our] minds.
(3.) There is in the words the punishment itself denounced against this provoking people, that they should not enter into the rest of God. And there is a double aggravation of the punishment in the manner of the expressing of it:
[1.] In the act denied: They shall not enter, no, not so much as enter into it. Doubtless many of the people during their wanderings in the wilderness had great desires that they might at least see the place promised for a habitation to their posterity, and wherein all their future interests were to be stated. So in particular had Moses. He prayed, saying,
I pray thee, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon, Deu 3:25.
So, doubtless, did many others of them pray and desire. But the sentence is passed, they shall not now so much as enter into it, nor set one foot within its borders.
[2.] In the expression of the object denied there lieth another aggravation. He doth not say that they shall not enter into the land of Canaan, no, nor yet into the promised land; but he describes it by such an adjunct as may let them see the greatness of their sin and their punishment, and of his displeasure. They shall not, saith he, enter into my rest; It is my rest, the place where I will dwell, where I will fix my worship and make myself known: you shall not enter into my rest.
And so have we passed through this passage of this chapter; on which though it may be we have seemed to dwell somewhat long, yet, as I suppose, not longer than the matter doth require, nor indeed so long as we should and would have done, but that sundry concerns of it will again occur unto us, both in this and the next chapter. Some few observations from the last clause of the words we may yet touch upon; as,
Obs. 31. When God expresseth great indignation in himself against sin, it is to teach men the greatness of sin in themselves.
For that end is he said here to swear in his wrath. There are expressions in Scripture about Gods respect unto the sins of men that are strangely emphatical; as, sometimes he is said to be pressed under them as a cart is pressed that is laden with sheaves sometimes, that he is made to serve with sin, and wearied with iniquity; sometimes to be broken with the whorish heart of a people, and grieved at the heart that he had ever made such a creature as man; sometimes, that the sins of men are a fume in his nostrils, that which his soul loatheth; commonly, to be angry, vexed, and grieved, to be wrathful, stirred up to fury, and the like.
Now, all these things, taken properly, do include such alteration, and consequently imperfections and weaknesses, as the pure, holy, perfect nature of God can by no means admit of. What is it, then, that God intends by all these expressions, by these ascriptions of that unto himself which really is not in him, but might indeed justly befall that nature whereof we are partakers, on the supposition of the like occasions? As was said, it is all to express what indeed sin doth deserve, and that a recompence of revenge is to be expected, or that it is of so great a demerit as to excite all the perturbations mentioned in the nature of God, were it any way capable of them. So doth he make use of all ways and means to deter us from sin. And there is much of love, tenderness, and care in all these expressions of anger, wrath, and displeasure. So he is pleased to teach us, and such teachings do we stand in need of. Again,
Obs. 32. God gives the same firmitude and stability unto his threatenings that he doth unto his promises.
He swears to them also, as he doth in this place. Men are apt secretly to harbor a supposition of a difference in this matter. The promises of God they think, indeed, are firm and stable; but as for his threatenings, they suppose one way or other they may be evaded. And this deceit hath greatly prevailed in and inflamed the minds of men ever since the first entrance of sin. By this deceit sin came into the world, namely, that the threatenings of God either would not be accomplished, or that they were to be understood after another manner than was apprehended. Hath God said so, that you shall die if you eat? Mistake not; that is not the meaning of the threatening; or, if it be, God doth not intend to execute it; it will be otherwise, and God knows it will be otherwise.This gave sin its first entrance into the world; and the same deceit still prevails in the minds of men. Hath God said that sinners shall die, shall be cursed, shall be cast into hell? Yea, but sure enough it will be otherwise; there will be one way or other of escape. It is good to affright men with these things, but God intends not so to deal with them. Whatever the threatenings be, many things may intervene to prevent their execution. What God promiseth, indeed, that shall come to pass; we may expect it and look for it; but as for these threatenings, they depend on so many conditions, and may so easily at any time be evaded, as that there is no great fear of their execution.But what is the ground of this feigned difference between the promises and threatenings of God, as to their stability, certainty, and accomplishment? Where is the difference between the two clauses in that text, He that believeth shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned ? Are not the holiness of God and his faithfulness as much concerned in the comminatory part as in the promissory part of his word? Would not a failure in the one be as prejudicial to his glory as in the other? The principles from which his threatenings proceed are no less essential properties of his nature than those which are the springs of his promises; and his declaration of them is no less accompanied with the engagement of his veracity and faithfulness than that of the other; and the end aimed at in them is no less necessary to the demonstration of his glory than that which he designeth in his promises. And we see in this particular instance that they are also confirmed with the oath of God, even as his promises are. And let none think that this was an extraordinary case, and concerned only the men of that generation. This oath of God is part of his law, it abides for ever; and all that fall into the like sin with them, attended with the like circumstances, do fall under the same oath of God, he swears concerning them, that they shall not enter into his rest. And we little know how many are even in this world overtaken in this condition, the oath of God lying against them for their punishment, and that eternal. Let men take heed of this great self-deceiving; and let not men be mockers in this matter, lest their bands be made strong; for,
Obs. 23. When men have provoked God by their impenitency to decree their punishment irrevocably, they will find severity in the execution.
They shall not enter, no, not so much as enter. Behold, saith our apostle, the severity of God: on them which fell, severity, Rom 11:22. Men will find that there is severity in the execution who despised the threatening, and that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. When sinners shall see the whole creation on fire about them, hell open under them, and the glorious, dreadful Judge of all over them, they will begin to have a due apprehension of his terror. But then cries, outcries, repentings, and wailings, will be of no use. This is the time and place for such considerations, not when the sentence is executed, no, not when it is irrevocably confirmed.
Obs. 24. It is the presence of God alone that renders any place or condition good or desirable.
They shall not, saith God, enter into my rest. This makes heaven to be heaven, and the church to be the church; everything answers the manner and measure of the presence of God. And without this, Moses expressly preferred the wilderness before Canaan.
Our Great High Priest
“Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)”
There are many, very many, who, while professing faith in Christ, yet perish in unbelief. In these verses, the Spirit of God identifies unbelief as the greatest of all evils and gives us a strong warning against it by example (Psa 95:7-11).
The Israelites professed to be and were called God’s people, but they were a rebellious, murmuring, unbelieving people. “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come (1Co 10:11). Four things are here stated about the unbelieving Jews who perished in the wilderness under the wrath of God. Let us lay them to heart and be warned.
Those who perished, perished because they would not hear Gods voice as he spoke to them by Moses. God speaks to us by his Son. He declares, This is my beloved Son, hear ye him (Heb 1:1-2). God has given us greater light than he gave the Jews. If we perish, as they did, in unbelief, ours will be the greater condemnation.
Those men and women perished because they hardened their hearts. There is a natural hardness of heart with which we are all born; but this text speaks of a willful, deliberate, voluntary hardness of heart, a hardness of heart that is acquired by the rejection of truth, despising the light of the gospel and the warnings of Holy Scripture, by a willful continuance in rebellion and unbelief (Mat 11:20-24; Pro 29:1).
Those who perished in the wilderness perished because they dared to defy God. They tried his patience, despised his and long-suffering, and murmured against his providence. Though they had seen his goodness, lived upon his provisions, enjoyed his protection, and witnessed his miracles for forty years, still, they believed him not.
God was grieved with that nation. They wearied him with their sins, displeased him with their unbelief, and provoked him to anger with their complaints. He therefore declared that they could not enter into the land of Canaan, the promised land of rest. So, too, all who harden their hearts against the gospel of Gods free and sovereign grace in Christ shall be forever shut out of heaven by their unbelief.
as: Heb 9:8, 2Sa 23:2, Mat 22:43, Mar 12:36, Act 1:16, Act 28:25, 2Pe 1:21
To day: Heb 3:13, Heb 3:15, Heb 4:7, Psa 95:7-11, Pro 27:1, Ecc 9:10, Isa 55:6, 2Co 6:1, 2Co 6:2, Jam 4:13-15
hear: Psa 81:11, Psa 81:13, Isa 55:3, Mat 17:5, Joh 5:25, Joh 10:3, Joh 10:16, Joh 10:27, Rev 3:20
Reciprocal: Gen 19:15 – hastened Exo 7:13 – General Deu 18:19 – General Jos 4:10 – hasted 2Ki 17:14 – but hardened Job 8:5 – thou wouldest Psa 106:25 – hearkened Ecc 8:6 – therefore Isa 44:1 – now Jer 8:20 – General Hos 13:13 – for he Mic 6:1 – ye Mat 5:25 – whiles Mar 10:5 – For Mar 16:14 – unbelief Luk 1:70 – spake Luk 8:6 – General Luk 9:35 – hear Luk 12:58 – give Luk 13:25 – once Luk 19:42 – the things Luk 20:42 – himself Joh 12:35 – Yet Joh 14:26 – Holy Ghost Act 2:30 – being Act 13:18 – about Act 17:32 – We will Act 21:11 – Thus Act 24:25 – when Eph 4:21 – heard 2Ti 3:16 – All Heb 10:15 – General
Heb 3:7. Paul now makes a quotation from Psa 95:7-11, but strengthens it with the declaration that it is the Holy Ghost (or Spirit) that says it. That means that David was inspired to make the statement. Hear his voice means to hear God who speaks to us through his Son (chapter 1:1).
Heb 3:7. Wherefore. Since it is only the giving up of your hope that can rob you of this blessedness, . . . beware of unbelief (a connection that unites the wherefore with Heb 3:12); or lest you harden your hearts (a connection that unites the wherefore with Heb 3:8). The former explanation gives a good sense, and the length of the parenthesis is no objection (see Heb 7:20-22; Heb 12:18-24, where we have similar examples); but perhaps the second explanation is simpler, and commends itself to Delitzsch and others. It is also adopted in the Authorised Version.
As the Holy Ghost saith. The quotation is from the ninety-fifth Psalm, which in the Hebrew has no authors name, but in the Greek Version is ascribed to David, as it is in Heb 4:7.
If ye will hear quite misleads; if ye hear (literally, if you shall have heard).
Today equals, with the whole phrase, whenever He speaks, whenever you hear His voice.
Section 4. (Heb 3:7-19; Heb 4:1-13.)
And leading on through the wilderness to final rest.
The fourth section is of a very different character. It is the shadow following the light, and in Hebrews we find how the brightest lights can cast the deepest shadows. As a fourth section it reminds us of that wilderness through which the Lord led Israel of old into their rest, and that for us too there is a wilderness, a scene of trial through which we are called to pass on to the rest which for us also still and ever lies beyond us. We are called, therefore, to persevere, to hold on our way, to “hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm to the end.” This, in fact, is the test of the reality of things with us. Continuance is the proof of divine work.
1. The first subsection insists upon the spirit of obedience as always the condition of blessing. Grace does not alter this for a moment. It produces in us such a spirit. It meets the conditions; and faith is the very principle of fruitfulness, working, as it does, by love. The exhortation to God’s people of old abides, then, for us, as much as it did for them: “Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.” The truth speaks with authority, which those who are true will recognize; and the more precious the truth is, the sadder the consequences of practical refusal. To trifle with any truth is perilous, and hardening of heart is the necessary result. How many will one find with consciences, if one may so say, locally paralyzed through refusal of that in which the voice of God was once recognized by them? or, perhaps, the refusal to listen to that in which it was feared God might be speaking; for it is a wrong thought that responsibility only comes with the conviction of God having spoken. There is accountability easily to be detected by the question, Were you willing to have Him speak? What hearts we have, to which such a question could ever need to be put! How sad, above all, that unbelief should in believers produce a disregard, like this, of the one supreme Voice, like which there is no other! Thus the “ifs” come in here. All these are the tests of profession, under which the true and the false alike come necessarily, just because they are needed to distinguish between the false and the true; and also because God uses them to exercise those that are really His people; for we have in us the flesh still, and therefore those tendencies to departure from God which make His constant grace so needful.
But then they are not warnings to the believer against having too much faith, or too simple faith, but they are the very reverse. They are warnings to persevere in joyful confidence to the end. All through this epistle, where the substance which is replacing the shadows is yet invisible, it is faith that is, as it were, the one necessity, and which is as much emphasized, though from another side, as it is in the epistles to the Romans and Galatians.
2. And this is what is dwelt upon in the second subsection, in which the word is seen as needing to be mixed with faith, unbelief being the very root and principle of disobedience; and if we are become the “companions” of Christ, (better not “partakers” here, which would give another thought from what is intended, but what is in the first chapter translated “fellows,”) Christ is the complete Example of faith from first to last. We, therefore, must hold “the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end.”
Difficulties are supposed, for how could faith show itself if there were no difficulties? Difficulties are, therefore, not strictly a hindrance to faith, but even the reverse. They are the conditions of its manifestation; they are a means of its exercise, and so actually of its growth. Those whose “carcases fell in the wilderness” are not types of believers in any sense, but of those who fail of final entrance into the rest of God; for that is what Canaan here typifies, as is obvious. It is important to distinguish between this final entrance and that under Joshua, which, as we know, was not final, and is for us the type of present entrance into our heavenly portion by faith. In this way we must remember that Joshua is not typically a continuation of Numbers or Deuteronomy, but a new beginning, parallel with these. It is while we are in the wilderness that, in fact, we enter also by faith into our heavenly inheritance. The experience of the wilderness and the laying hold of the inheritance, in this way, go together. The searching of the land by the spies (Num 13:1-33) answers, however, but partially to this, while Deuteronomy ends typically our whole earthly history with that review of the wilderness-course throughout, which is only fulfilled for us at the judgment-seat of Christ. Joshua added to the books of Moses would make them a hexateuch, which the higher critics would have them to be, but which they are not; Joshua being, in fact, a new beginning, the Genesis of a new pentateuch, the historical books. We must have God’s truth in God’s order, or we shall not find it even God’s truth.
3. The third subsection shows us what the actual rest is. We are entering into rest, we who have believed; but we have not entered. From the nature of it, as described presently, no one could enter into it in this life. We are going on to it, and God has been always speaking of it, as in the Sabbath type, keeping it before men from the beginning. God rested on the seventh day from all His works. That was at the beginning; but man violated that rest, and it remains for us only a shadow of what is yet to come. The apostle quotes, also, David’s words, long after Joshua’s day, as showing that Israel’s coming into the land was still not rest. After they had come in, it was still said: Today, if ye will hear His voice.” The rest remains, then, a true “keeping of Sabbath” for the people of God, -a rest which will be God’s rest also, or what good could be in it? A rest, too, in which he who rests ceases from all the labor which sin has imposed. Such a rest has not come for us. This carries us, in fact, on to eternity, the eternal rest, of which we have seen long since that the Sabbath is the type, and not of any millennial anticipation of it. The thousand years are a time in which the earth has indeed come to its regeneration. Sin does not reign any more. Righteousness reigns, but still sin exists; and it is after the thousand years that death, “the last enemy,” is put under Christ’s feet, and the judgment of the dead comes with that. As a consequence, what we speak of sometimes as millennial rest, is not strictly correct. God cannot rest except with the perfect accomplishment of perfect blessing. He cannot rest while there are enemies yet to be put under the feet, -before sin and death are cast alike into the lake of fire.
4. In the fourth subsection the apostle exhorts all, therefore, to use diligence to enter into the rest before us, and again brings forward, as a warning, Israel’s unbelief in the wilderness. Good tidings had come to them of the land to which God was bringing them, but they had not faith to receive them. The word, full of promise and blessing as it was, yet only exposed the unbelief which goes too surely in company with a rebellious spirit. Though good, it brought out but evil, and thus it is characteristic of the word of God to search us out and make manifest to us what we are. If we submit ourselves to this searching, how great will be the blessing in it! It will bathe us in the very light of God, and thus purge from our eyes the film that hinders the perception of other things.
“For the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword; piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, both of joints and marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there a creature that is not manifest in His sight, but all things are naked and laid bare unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” Thus the word of God acts in the power of Him whose word it is. It brings the soul into His presence. The aroused conscience brings everything before God for judgment. Mists roll off as before the sun; and if the light shine as when at first, at God’s bidding, it broke out upon the darkness and the yeasty waves of the shoreless and barren sea, still we have the word which says: “God saw the light, that it was good.” The beginning of communion with God, whatever may be the matter of it, is the reception of the truth. “Soul and spirit” as thus named together can only be the two parts of the immaterial nature of man; which Scripture, spite of what many think, everywhere clearly distinguishes from one another. The soul is the lower, sensitive, instinctive, emotional part, which, where not, as in man, penetrated with the light of the spirit, is simply animal; and which also, where man is not in the power of the Spirit of God, will still gravitate towards this. The spirit is intelligent and moral, that which knows human things (1Co 2:11). In the “natural man,” which is really the psychic man, the man soul-led (1Co 2:14), conscience, with its recognition of God, is in abeyance, and the mind itself becomes earthly. Important enough it is, therefore, to divide between “soul and spirit.” Joints and marrow” convey to us the difference between the external and the internal, the outward form and the essence hidden in it. Not at all that even the form is unimportant. Everything in nature forbids such a thought. But its beauty and effectiveness depend upon its appropriateness to the idea which rules in it. The word of God must thus be in the highest sense the book of science. All the highest and deepest knowledge is in it, and that of things naturally inaccessible to man; while everything, also, is in right relation and proportion, nothing overbalanced. It has, indeed, none of the pedantry or technical knowledge in which science is apt to shroud its wisdom, but a sweet, homely simplicity and familiarity of greeting, welcoming all comers to it, which deceives the would-be wise, who cannot understand how God’s light should shine for babe and for philosopher, and how God’s learning can have so little savor of the schools. Yet, is it true wisdom to make nought of it for this? Rather, does it not show us God’s real desire for the education of the masses, about which men are beginning to show such very tardy earnestness? All the highest, deepest, and most practical knowledge made the possession of all that will with a Divine Teacher also for the lowly but inquiring soul!
The apostle having proved our Lord Jesus Christ to be the great Prophet and Teacher of his church, doth in these words draw an inference from the foregoing conclusion: namely, that seeing Christ is the chief apostle and prophet of his church, seeing he was a teacher sent of God to instruct the world in the practice of their reasonable duty, that therefore it is our obliged duty to hearken to Christ’s voice, and that now to comply with his call, and that presently: Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, “Today if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.”
Observe here, 1. The person spoken of, and that is Christ; his voice; that is, the voice of Christ our great apostle, speaking in his gospel.
Observe, 2. A duty required of us in reference to his person, and that is, to hear and obey Christ’s voice.
Observe, 3. The circumstance of time, and the special season when this duty of hearing Christ’s voice is to be performed, and that is presently; “Today if you will hear his voice.”
Observe, 4. A cautionary direction given to all those that sit under the dispensation of the gospel, and hear Christ’s voice speaking to them therein; namely, to take heed that they harden not their hearts.
Learn hence, 1. That the voice which speaks unto us in and by the gospel, is Christ’s voice.
2. That it is the great duty of all those that sit under the preaching of the gospel, to hear and obey Christ’s voice.
Learn, 3. That it is not only their duty to hear Christ’s voice, and answer his call in the gospel, but to do it now, to do it presently, and without delay; Today if you will hear his voice.
Learn, 4. That it is the duty and ought to be the special care, of all those that sit under the dispensation of the gospel, and that hear Christ’s voice speaking to them therein, to take heed that they harden not their hearts.
Observe lastly, From our apostle’s drawing an instance out of the Old Testament, namely, that of the Jews in the wilderness, to instruct the Hebrews to make use of the present season for hearing the voice of Christ under the New Testament; we learn, That Old Testament examples are New Testament instructions. The examples of our fore-fathers are of use and concernment to us, and ought to be the objects of our deepest consideration: Your fathers tempted me, and I was grieved with that generation.
Lessons from the Unbelief in the Wilderness
The writer turns to a quotation from Psa 95:7-11 . This Psalm is a call to worship God and a warning against a disobedient heart. The writer was warning the Hebrew people against a hardening of their hearts and rejection of God. Their fathers had rebelled against God in the wilderness and because of that were not allowed to enter into “rest,” which in their case was the promised land, or Canaan. The events in the wilderness clearly demonstrate God will not tolerate unbelief after He has shown His power to His people. So, the writer called his readers to worship and asked them to remain receptive so they could enter into God’s “rest,” which, for the Christian, is heaven ( Heb 3:7-11 ).
The writer next issued a warning to his brethren. Notice he said, “in any of you,” which indicated he was not only concerned with the church as a whole but with individuals who make up the church. The warning is against the “heart of disbelief” which is one that does not trust God and His promises. A heart such as this can cause one to distrust God so much that he will turn totally away. Remember, the readers of this letter were considering rejection of Christ which would cause them to turn back to Moses’ law ( Luk 9:62 ). It is significant to note the writer equates rejection of Christ with rejection of God ( Heb 3:12 ).
Heb 3:7-9. Having demonstrated the pre-eminence of Christ above Moses in their respective ministries, the apostle, according to his design and usual method, now proceeds to the application of the truth he had evinced, in an exhortation to stability and constancy in faith and obedience. And this he does in a way that adds double force to his exhortation, in that he both reminds them of, and urges upon them the words, testimonies, and examples recorded in the Old Testament, to which they professed a special deference and subjection; and also in that the nature of the example, which he insists upon, is such as supplies him with a new argument for his purpose. Now this is taken from Gods conduct toward them, who were disobedient under the ministry of Moses, which he further explains, Heb 3:15-19. For if God dealt in severity with them who were unbelieving and disobedient, with respect to him who was but a servant in the house, they might easily learn from this what his displeasure would be toward those who should behave so with respect to the Son, who is Lord over the whole house, and whose property all the members of it are. Wherefore This word shows that what follows is an inference from what precedes; as the Holy Ghost saith The expression is emphatical, , that Spirit, that Holy Spirit, so called by way of eminence; who in an especial manner spake in and by the penmen of the sacred Scriptures, 2Pe 1:21. The words here quoted are taken from Psa 95:7, which the apostle tells us (Heb 4:7) was written by David. Hence we learn that David wrote his Psalms by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, as our Lord likewise testifies, Mat 22:43. The judgments of God executed on sinners in ages past, being designed for the reproof and instruction of those who come after, the Holy Ghost, by David, very properly founded his exhortation to the people of that age upon the sin and punishment of their fathers in the wilderness. And the apostle, for the same reason, fitly applied the words, which the Holy Ghost spake to the people by David, to the Hebrews in his day, to prevent them from hardening their hearts when they heard Gods voice speaking to them in the gospel of his Son. To-day Now, at the present time, while the season of grace lasts, and you are favoured with the means thereof; if ye will hear his voice If ye ever intend, or will consent to do it; harden not your hearts By inattention, by thoughtlessness, by unbelief, and disobedience. Observe, reader, God speaks by his works, particularly those of creation, providence, and grace, and in and by his word; and to hear him, implies that we hearken to, understand, believe, and obey him; and instead of rejecting his counsel, that we suffer it to enter into our hearts, so as to influence our spirits and conduct; as in the provocation , bitter provocation; that is, as the Israelites hardened their hearts when they provoked me by their strife and murmurings. See Exo 16:4; Exo 17:2-9; Exo 32:10; Num 10:33; Num 11:3; Num 11:33; Num 11:35; Num 12:16; Num 13:25-32; Num 14:4-22; Deu 1:6-7; Deu 1:19-22; Deu 1:34-35; Deu 2:14; Deu 9:7; Deu 32:51; 1Co 10:4. In short, their whole story manifests a continued scene of provocation. When Or where, rather, as the Syriac and Vulgate read the words; for the word when would imply that, at the time of the bitter provocation chiefly referred to, the Israelites had seen Gods works forty years, contrary to the history, which shows that that provocation happened in the beginning of the third year from the going out of Egypt: whereas to read where instead of when, agreeably to the matter of fact, represents God as saying by David, that the Israelites tempted him in the wilderness during forty years, notwithstanding all that time they had seen his miracles. The tempting God, here spoken of, consisted in their calling in question his presence with them, their distrusting his power to help and save them, or his faithfulness to his promises; or their despising ordinary means of help and deliverance, and desiring extraordinary. See note on Psa 95:8-9; Mat 4:7; and proved me Put my patience to the proof, even while they saw my glorious works both of judgment and mercy; or had proof by experience of my power, providence, goodness, and faithfulness, and that for forty years.
ARGUMENT 1
THE TWO CROSSINGS.
7-16. You must remember this letter is written to the Palestinian Christians, whose progenitors made the fatal mistake of turning back at Kadesh-Barnea, in open violation of the positive commandment of God, and defiant of Moses their leader. They had not left Egypt for a home in Arabia, but with the distinct understanding that they are to possess and perpetually inhabit the land of Canaan. It was no long journey from the Red Sea crossing to Palestine, as it only took them eleven days to travel from Mt. Sinai on the sea coast to Kadesh-Barnea on the Canaan border. Kadesh means holy and Barnea means delight. So, in eleven days march they actually reached Canaan, the land of holy delight. Gods order was to enter unhesitatingly and take possession of the land. Their hearts failed them at Kadesh-Barnea; they go into camp and send out twelve leaders representing the twelve tribes, to explore the land and bring them word. They spend forty days peregrinating the country, admiring the majestic cities, walled up to heaven, contemplating the huge warrior giants who inhabit the land. Meanwhile they are unutterably astonished and delighted with the paradoxical fruitfulness of the land. In their travels they pass through the valley of Eschol, are delighted with the delicious grapes, of which they carry on with them specimens. I traveled through that valley in 1895, down to its terminus in the city of Hebron, over the same ground trodden by the spies. The entire valley is still devoted to the growing of grapes, which excel the productions of all other lands in sweetness and size. After forty days the spies returned to Kadesh-Barnea, loaded with specimens of the exuberant and delicious fruits of the land. They unanimously not only corroborate the wonderful reports which they had heard while in Egyptian bondage, but certify that the land is even better than the, had ever heard. While this is the unanimous report, the majority of ten asseverate positively that the land is utterly impregnable by reason of its walled cities and innumerable panoplied, gigantic warriors, in consequence of which it is utterly impossible for them to take it by conquest. At the same time Joshua and Caleb stand up side by side and proclaim aloud to all Israel, Let us go up at once and possess the land, for we are abundantly able. They did not mean that they were able by their own power, but the reason why they declare boldly that they are able to take it was because they had faith in God to conquer the giants and give them the land, according to His promise, whereas the faith of the other ten had woefully collapsed. Consequently, they took the cowardly side of the question. The multitude believe the ten rather than the two, and uproariously clamor aloud, Back into Egypt! Joshua and Caleb, Moses, Aaron and Miriam do their utmost to lead them from Kadesh-Barnea into the land; but they rebel against them and march back into the wilderness. God now decrees that none who had reached majority when they had crossed the sea shall ever see the land of promise, but they shall all die in the wilderness. This decree symbolizes the fact that God wants us to go directly from our conversion into entire sanctification. When we refuse we come under the decree that everything in our hearts which rebelled against holiness must die before we can ever enter the sanctified experience. Did all those people who died in the wilderness go to hell? We hope not. They turned back from Kadesh-Barnea about the first of July in the second year of the Exodus, wandered in the wilderness thirty-eight years, returning again to Kadesh-Barnea. While they were marching toward Canaan they were in the justified experience, but while marching back- toward Egypt they were under condemnation. The dark history of these thirty-eight years is unwritten. Where they went and what they did we know not. Terrible was their mortality during this period. From the time they turned back at Kadesh-Barnea God put them under an awful castigatory discipline, symbolic of the miserable life of the backslider. Before they got away from Kadesh-Barnea God sent an awful pestilence, heaping the camp with mountains of e dead. During this pestilence every one of the ten spies who brought in the evil report of the land fell dead. This symbolizes the appalling fact that all the preachers who oppose entire sanctification fall dead spiritually, as these spies were all great tribal leaders, and rank as preachers. Do you know the names of the ten cowardly spies? I do not know them, though they are laid down in the Scriptures. They are not worth remembering. We can not afford to fill up our memories with trash. But we all know the names of Joshua and Caleb throughout all Christendom. Children have been named for them in very many families. Only one hundred and fifty years ago the big preachers closed all the churches against John Wesley and the Methodist preachers. In this short time we have forgotten their names. They have utterly sunk into oblivion. But we have not forgotten Wesley, Fletcher, and others whom they drove out of the churches. History repeats itself. The very names of the great men in the church who are this day persecuting the holiness people will rot in a century; while, as in the case of Joshua and Caleb, all future generations will remember with gratitude the people who in this day stand in the front of the battle, and unfurl the banner of truth and holiness. Why did not Moses, Aaron and Miriam, who had enjoyed the sanctified experience forty years,-Moses and Aaron having received it at the burning bush, and Miriam doubtless at an earlier date,-enter the promised land? Though Moses lost his experience by impatience at the waters of Meribah, doubtless he soon regained it, growing brighter and brighter to the end. There was a fundamental reason why Moses could not lead Israel into Canaan. He was the great lawgiver, and emblematizes the law. If he had led them into Canaan, it would involve the conclusion that we can be sanctified by loyal obedience, i.e., by good works, which is utterly untrue, and has proved a snare to millions. It is this day the fatal heresy of the popular churches. Therefore, it would not do for Moses to lead them into the land. Aaron was the high priest, and emblematizes the visible Church. If he had led them in it would inculcate the fatal heresy that you can be sanctified by church rites, and obedience to the preachers. Miriam was a fire-baptized prophetess. If she had reached the land it would involve the conclusion that the holiness evangelist can sanctify you, which is also a fatal heresy. Joshua is a Hebrew word which means Jesus. Hence, Joshua was the only one who could lead them in, thus forever teaching the world that none but Jesus can save and sanctify. Doubtless the terrible castigatory judgments of wasting pestilences, fiery serpents, destroying angels, burning thirst, withering sandstorms, signal defeats by their enemies, and perpetual devastating wars waged against them by the Arabs, conduced much to their humiliation, bringing about many genuine death- bed repentances. Meanwhile, they enjoyed the powerful preaching of Moses, Aaron, Miriam, Joshua, and Caleb. Therefore, it is to be hoped that many of them were reclaimed, sanctified and taken to heaven, But it is a significant fact that they lost their Canaan-life in this world, sadly whiling away their days in the howling wilderness. The great majority of Christians at the present day have nothing in this life but a howling wilderness experience. Oh. how we need a million Joshuas to lead the Church O the present day out of the wilderness into the land of corn and wine! Glory to God, He is fast raising them up! We are now in the van of a grand army of lay preachers, male and female, whom God is raising up to preach holiness to the ends of the earth, hasten His coming, and bring on the millennium.
17. Whose carcasses fell in the wilderness. It is a sad phenomenon which no luminous Christian can deny, i.e., that the popular church at the present day is largely filled up with spiritual carcasses, fallen in the wilderness. A grave council of preachers representing a great ecclesiasticism recently held a council of twenty days, legislating and deliberating in the interest of the church. At the beginning of the period, a committee of profound theologians was appointed to deliberate and legislate, and if possible find a remedy for the appalling worldliness which is freezing the church into an iceberg and sweeping the members into hell. They spent the whole twenty days in the execution of the work committed to their charge. The result was a series of legislations establishing restrictive laws against dancing, card-playing, theater-going, circuses, horse races, and whisky drinking, giving all these restrictive rules the full force of disciplinary law. Six years have elapsed. I have traveled in about thirty States of the Union, made diligent investigation, and not found a solitary instance in which those restrictive laws have been enforced by a pastor in that church. What a lamentable demonstration of deficient spiritual light, wisdom and experience on the part of the great theologians who represented that church in her highest ecclesiastical council! Why did they not all get down on their knees and cry to God for the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire, thus leading the clergy and the membership by precept and example to the only possible remedy in the case? We everywhere see the devils buzzards i.e., popular and sinful amusements, vices and follies devouring the Lords sheep in the pastures of the various popular churches. What is the true remedy? Common sense, enlightened by the Holy Ghost, readily gives the answer. Buzzards will not eat live sheep; they eat only the dead ones. Jesus Christ still lives. He is the resurrection and the life. Why do n t they call them all to the altar, get on their knees, and pray till the resurrection power comes down and raises all their members from the dead? That is not sanctification which the popular clergy are fighting, but it is the regeneration which they all claim; it is the complete and effectual remedy for all the vices and follies which now flood the churches, blot out the distinction between the Church and the world, bring heathen shame on the name of religion, and send the people to hell by the wholesale.
Heb 3:7 to Heb 4:13. With this warning the comparison between Christ and Moses changes into an exhortation, based on Psa 95:7-11. This psalm is concerned with the house or community of which Moses was the head, and its lessons are applied to the house of the new covenant. The ancient people of God missed their destiny because of unbelief, and Christians must be on their guard against a like danger. After making his quotation the writer proceeds to explain it by his customary method of allegory. First of all (Heb 3:12-19) he points to the solemn warning which is impressed on us by the apostasy of ancient Israel. The danger of unbelief is always present, and Christians must never weary of kindling one another to greater faith; for unbelief is an insidious sin, and grows upon us before we know (Heb 3:12 f.). The psalm speaks of an opportunity which is offered to us to-day, and to the writer of the epistle this word has a special significance. It is meant to be prophetic of that interval of time which is still left before Christ returns in glory. The readers are exhorted to make good use of this interval, which is quickly passing. If they can preserve for this little time the faith with which they entered on the Christian life, they will be assured of their place among Christs people (Heb 3:14 f.). The psalm suggests the further reflection (Heb 3:16-19) that none can presume to reckon themselves quite secure from the danger of falling away from God. Those who rebelled in the wilderness were no other than the chosen people, who had experienced the great deliverance. They all fell into sin, and were doomed to wander in the wilderness for forty years, until their whole generation perished. God had purposed that they should enter into His rest, but in the end His purpose was frustrated. And it was they themselves who forfeited the promised rest by their disobedience.
It has been conjectured from the insistence on forty years (Heb 3:9; Heb 3:16) that the writer connected this period in a special manner with his thought of to-day. The interval that would elapse between Christs death and His second coming was to correspond with that period of forty years which Israel had spent in the wilderness. There would thus be a peculiar urgency in his warning, since the interval of forty years must have been nearing its close before the earliest date that can be assigned to the epistle. But the conjecture, though a possible, is not a very probable one. If the writer had wished to impress on his readers that they could reckon the time of Christs coming by the OT analogy, he would have taken some means to make his thought more definite.
Verse 7
This passage (Hebrews 3:7-11) is quoted from Hebrews 3:7-11; Psalms 95:7-11.
3:7 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye {f} will hear his voice,
(f) So that God was to speak once again after Moses.
B. The Danger of Disbelief (The Second Warning) 3:7-19
"The comparison between Christ and Moses leads to one between their followers. The writer uses the conduct of the Israelites as a means of challenging his readers to a closer walk with God." [Note: Morris, p. 33.]
The writer next reminded his readers of the fate of the Israelites when they failed to continue believing God at Kadesh Barnea. His purpose was to help them realize the serious consequences of that behavior and to motivate them to persevere faithfully in the apostles’ teaching. This exhortation is really a commentary on Psa 95:7-11 in which the writer assumed a correspondence between the successive generations of God’s people and consistency in God’s character. [Note: Lane, p. 83.] In Heb 3:6 the writer warned of losing our privilege of serving as priests in the present. Now he warned of losing some of our privileges as heirs in the future.
"Today" stresses the urgency of immediate action. This writer used it eight times in Hebrews. The context of the words quoted (Psa 95:7-11) is very significant. The verses immediately preceding those quoted (Psa 95:6-7 a) are a call to bow down and worship the Lord. That was the writer to the Hebrews’ desire for his readers. The words he quoted urge avoidance of Israel’s sin. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ initiated a new Exodus.
". . . the writer of Hebrews appeals to his recipients not to become discontented because of their suffering, and not to let discontentment give way to open rebellion-lest they, like their forefathers, lose the blessings of the privileges that now were available to them as believers." [Note: Pentecost, p. 76.]
"The grand and terrible lesson of Israel’s history is that it is possible to begin well and end poorly. In fact, this tragic human tendency dominates much human spiritual experience." [Note: R. Kent Hughes, 1:98.]
"’Rest’ (katapausis), as used here, points to a place of blessing where there is no more striving but only relaxation in the presence of God and in the certainty that there is no cause for fear." [Note: Morris, p. 35.]
"Rest" is another of the writer’s favorite words. For Israel, "rest" meant the enjoyment of all that God had promised the nation when they entered the Promised Land, not just entrance into the Promised Land. The next generation of Israelites did enter the Promised Land and experienced rest there because they chose to trust and obey God (cf. Jos 1:13; Jos 1:15; Jos 21:44; Jos 22:4; Jos 23:1). For the Christian, "rest" is the enjoyment of all that God has promised us, not just going to heaven. This includes the full enjoyment of rewards that can be ours if we follow the Lord faithfully. All Christians will go to heaven and receive many blessings (Ephesians 1; 1 Peter 1), but some blessings are reserved for believers who continue to trust and obey God when faced with temptations to apostatize. [Note: See the Appendix at the end of these notes.] The crown of righteousness, the crown of life, the crown of glory, etc., are such rewards. Much confusion has resulted because Christians have interpreted "rest" simply as Canaan and heaven. In chapter 4, the writer spoke of "Sabbath rest," which is something different.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
The threatening of the Old Testament, that unbelievers shall not enter into the rest of God, is all the more to be taken to heart by the New Testament people of God
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)