Hebrews 3:11

3:11 Rebellion has consequences. • God’s anger is not merely an emotional reaction; it is his just displeasure toward sin (John 3:36; Rom 1:18; 1 Thes 2:16). • God’s oath (see Heb 6:13-20; 7:20-22, 28) was that they would never enter Canaan, the place of rest from their wanderings (Deut 1:19-46; 3:20; 12:10; Josh 1:13).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Heb 3:11. Ὡς ὤμοσα, as [so] I sware) The oath preceded the forty years.—εἰ, if) The Apodosis omits something for the sake of euphemism, which has the force of the oath itself: εἰ here is negative, as ἦ μὴν is affirmative, ch. Heb 6:14.—εἰσελεύσονται, they shall enter) by My ways.—εἰς τὴν κατάπαυσίν μου, into My rest) in the promised land. The people, the sheep; Psa 95:7. מנוחה, rest, is their benefit [their peculiar privilege], Psa 23:2.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Heb_3:11. Ὡς ὤμοσα ἐν τῇ ὀργῇ μου] as accordingly I (as to the sense equivalent to: so that I; see Winer, Gramm., 7 Aufl. p. 431; in the Hebrew אֲשֶׁר) sware (comp. Num_14:21 ff; Num_32:10 ff.; Deu_1:34 ff.) in (not: by) my wrath.

εἰ εἰσελεύσονται εἰς τὴν κατάπαυσίν μου] not enter, shall they, into my rest. εἰ is an exact imitation of the negative Hebrew particle אִם in formulas of swearing, and is to be explained from an aposiopesis of the latter clause. Comp. Mar_8:12; Ewald, Krit. Gramm. p. 661; Winer, Gramm., 7 Aufl. p. 466; Buttmann, Gramm. des neutest. Sprachgebr. p. 308.

κατάπαυσις] in the sense of the psalmist, the undisturbed possession of the land of Canaan promised by God; comp. Deu_12:9-10 : Οὐ γὰρ ἥκατε ἕως τοῦ νῦν εἰς τὴν κατάπαυσιν καὶ εἰς τὴν κληρονομίαν, ἣν κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν δίδωσιν ὑμῖν· καὶ διαβήσεσθε τὸν Ἰορδάνην καὶ κατοικήσετε ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ἧς κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν κατακληρονομεῖ ὑμῖν καὶ καταπαύσει ὑμᾶς ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν ἐχθρῶν ὑμῶν τῶν κύκλῳ καὶ κατοικήσετε μετὰ ἀσφαλείας. Afterwards, because with the possession of the promised land the expected full repose and happiness had as yet by no means come in, the meaning of the promise was sublimated, just as that of the kindred κληρονομεῖν τὴν γῆν Psa_37:9, into the everlasting Messianic blessedness This reference obtains, as is evident from the following disquisition, with our author also.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Heb 3:11 . ὡς ὤμοσα . “As I sware,” i.e. , justifying my oath to exclude them from the land. εἰ εἰσελεύσονται , the common form of oath with εἰ which supposes that some such words as “God do so to me and more also” have preceded the “if”. The oath quoted in Psa 95 is recorded in Num 14:21-23 . εἰς τὴν κατάπαυσίν μου , “into my rest,” primarily, the rest in Canaan, but see on chap. 4.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

So--literally, "as."

I sware--BENGEL remarks the oath of God preceded the forty years.

not--literally, "If they shall enter . . . (God do so to me and more also)," Sa2 3:35. The Greek is the same, Mar 8:12.

my rest--Canaan, primarily, their rest after wandering in the wilderness: still, even when in it, they never fully enjoyed rest; whence it followed that the threat extended farther than the exclusion of the unbelieving from the literal land of rest, and that the rest promised to the believing in its full blessedness was, and is, yet future: Psa 25:13; Psa 37:9, Psa 37:11, Psa 37:22, Psa 37:29, and Christ's own beatitude (Mat 5:5) all accord with this, Heb 3:9.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 11. So I sware in my wrath] God's grief at their continued disobedience became wrath at their final impenitence, and therefore he excluded them from the promised rest.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

11. So I sware, etc. It was the punishment of their madness, that they were deprived of the rest promised them. Moreover, the Lord calls the land, where they might have had their dwelling, his rest. For they had been sojourners in Egypt and wanderers in the wilderness; but the land of Canaan was to be, according to the promise, their perpetual inheritance; and it was in reference to this promise that God called it his rest: for nowhere can we have a settled dwelling, except where we are fixed by his hand. But their right to a sure possession was founded on what God said to Abraham,

“To thy seed will I give this land.” (Genesis 12:7.)

By God swearing, If they shall enter, etc., the atrocity of their evil conduct is made more evident and is more forcibly set forth, for it is an evidence of wrath greatly inflamed. “If they shall enter,” is in the form of an oath, in which something is to be understood, as an imprecation, or some such thing, when men speak; but when God speaks, it is the same as though he said, “Let me not be deemed true,”, or, “Let me not be hereafter believed, if such a thing shall not be so.” However, this defective mode of speaking recommends fear and reverence to us, so that we may not rashly swear, as many do, who are often in the habit of pouring forth dreadful curses.

But as to the present passage, we ought not to think that they were then for the first time denied entrance into the land by God’s oath, when they tempted him in Rephidim; for they had long before been excluded, even from the time they had refused to march forward at the report of the spies. God then does not here ascribe their expulsion from the land to this instance of tempting him as to the first cause; but he intimates that by no chastisement could they have been restored to a sound mind, but that they continually added new offenses: and thus he shows that they fully deserved to be thus severely punished, for they never ceased to increase more and more his wrath by various sins, as though he had said, “This is the generation to which I denied the possession of the promised land, for during whole forty years afterwards it betrayed its obstinate madness by innumerable sins.”

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(11) So.—Rather, as (Heb_4:3). It is with these as it was with their fathers, the generations that came out of Egypt, unto whom God sware, “They shall not enter into My rest” (Num_14:21-24). The form in which these words appear below (Heb_4:3; Heb_4:5) in the Authorised version, “If they shall enter into my rest,” is an imitation of the original construction. See Num_14:23, where “they shall not see” is. as the margin shows, expressed in Hebrew by “if they (shall) see” the land.

Into my rest.—Into the land where Jehovah shall give rest to His people and shall dwell with them. (See Deu_12:9; 1Ki_8:56; Psa_132:14; Isa_66:1; 1Ch_6:31; 2Ch_6:41.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11. So I sware in my wrath] The reference is to Num_14:28-30; Num_33:13.

They shall not enter] This is the correct rendering of the idiom (here used by a Hebraism) “if they shall enter.”

my rest] The writer proceeds to argue that this expression could not refer to the past Sabbath-rest of God: or to the partial and symbolic rest of Canaan; and must therefore refer to the final rest of heaven. But he does not of course mean to sanction any inference about the future and final salvation either of those who entered Canaan or of those who died in the wilderness.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

So I sware in my wrath,.... Swearing is ascribed to God, to show the certainty of the thing spoken of; as of mercies, when he swears in love, and by his holiness; so here, of punishment, when he swears in wrath, in indignation, in sore displeasure, and the threatened evil is irrevocable and inevitable:

they shall not enter into my rest; into the land of Canaan, called God's rest, because he promised it, and gave it to the Israelites as their rest; and where he himself had a place of rest; and where he gave the Messiah, the author of peace and rest; and which was a type of heaven, that rest from toil and labour, which remains for the people of God; and into which it is said this generation did not enter; for the Jews say (f),

"the generation of the wilderness have no part in the world to come:''

but this seems too harsh, for doubtless there were many who died in the wilderness, that went safe to heaven, notwithstanding all their sins and provocations.

(f) Tzeror Hammor, fol. 118. 1.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)

Ver. 11. They shall not enter] This the apostle propounds to unbelievers of his time, that they may beware. Alterius perditio tua sit cautio. Seest thou another suffer shipwreck? look well to thy tackling.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

So I sware in my wrath - God is often represented in the Scriptures as “swearing” - and usually as swearing by himself, or by his own existence. Of course this in figurative, and denotes a strong affirmation, or a settled and determined purpose. An oath with us implies the strongest affirmation, or the expression of the most settled and determined purpose of mind. The meaning here is, that so refractory and perverse had they showed themselves, that he solemnly resolved that they should never enter into the land of Canaan.

They shall not enter into my rest - Margin, As in the original, “if they shall enter.” That is, they shall not enter. The word (אם ‛im) “if” has this negative meaning in Hebrew, and this meaning is transferred to the Greek word “if;” compare 1Sa 3:17; 2Sa 3:35; 2Ki 6:31. It is called “my rest” here, meaning that it was such rest as God had provided, or such as he enjoyed. The particular “rest” referred to here was that of the land of Canaan, but which was undoubtedly regarded as emblematic of the “rest” in heaven. Into that rest God solemnly said they should never enter. They had been rebellious. All the means of reclaiming them had failed. God had warned and entreated them; he had caused his mercies to pass before them, and had visited them with judgments in vain; and he now declares that for all their rebellion they should be excluded from the promised land. God speaks here in the manner of human beings. Men are affected with feelings of indignation in such circumstances, and God makes use of such language as expresses such feelings. But we are to understand it in a manner consistent with his character, and we are not to suppose that he is affected with the same emotions which agitate the bosoms of people. The meaning is, that he formed and expressed a deliberate and solemn purpose that they should never enter into the promised land. Whether this “rest” refers here to heaven, and whether the meaning is that God would exclude them from that blessed world, will be more appropriately considered in the next chapter. The particular idea is, that they were to be excluded from the promised land, and that they should fall in the wilderness. No one can doubt, also, that their conduct had been such as to show that the great body of them were unfit to enter into heaven.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

As I have sworn in my wrath:[1] if they shall enter into my rest. But if here implies the same as they shall not. See Mark viii. 12. And that this is the sense here, appears by the 18th verse, where it is expressly said, they should not enter into his rest; i.e. to rest in the land of Chanaan [Canaan], promised to them. (Witham)

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Si introibunt, Greek: ei eiseleusontai.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

So I sware in my wrath: such were their provocations and temptations of their Redeemer, that he determined their punishment; the certainty of which he fixed by an irreversible oath, which is the highest confirmation of vengeance when it cometh from wrath; as of his promise, when it issueth from grace, Num 14:27-36; Psa 95:11; compare Heb 6:17,18. And the spring of it here is wrath, enraged by their murmurings and unbelief.

They shall not enter into my rest: the punishment is expressed in an expostulatory form, which is vehemently asserting the negative of the question; They shall never enter into my rest. If they enter in, then I am neither true nor God. The rest literal was the land of Canaan, Deu 12:9; in the truth of that type, heaven. It is the Redeemer who speaks this, whose rest is by way of efficiency, purchase, and donation; he gives entrance into it, and shuts out of it, Mat 7:21-23. This is a shutting them out of all peace, into eternal sorrow, anguish, distress, and trouble, and every other evil contrary unto this rest.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

11. I sware—Made an affirmation, to be held as sure and firm as the divine existence. So Num_14:21, “As truly as I live;” and Num_14:28-29, “As truly as I live… your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness.”

My rest— To the Israelites the words meant a failure to attain Canaan; with the deeper implications underlying of a death under the divine wrath. To the spiritual Israel the literal Canaan had no significance except as a type of the eternal rest.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11. So I sware in my wrath. A figure of speech which means that God, indignant at their unbelief and sin, declared they should not enter Canaan. See Num. 14:20–35. Shall not enter my rest. Canaan, while the Israelites were yet in bondage, was promised as a land of rest. On the weary journey in the wilderness it was still looked to as the rest. To prohibit from entering the rest was then to prohibit from entering Canaan. It is, however, a type of heaven, the land of eternal rest. Hence, the warnings that are pointed out in the next verses.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

11. ὡς, “as” (Heb. אֲשֶׁר), not “so” (ὥς) as in A. V., for ὥς is rare in prose, and is not found in the N. T.

ὤμοσα. The reference is to Num 14:28-30; Num 32:13.

Εἰ ἐλεύσονται, “if they shall enter”; but “They shall not enter” (Heb 3:18 μὴ εἰσελεύσεσθαι) is here a correct rendering (A. V., R. V.) of the Hebraism. It is an imitation of the Hebrew אִם, and the apodosis is suppressed (aposiopesis, see Winer, p. 627).

τὴν κατάπαυσίν μου. See Deu 12:9-10. The writer proceeds to argue that this expression could not refer to the past Sabbath-rest of God: or to the partial and symbolic rest of Canaan; and must therefore refer to the final rest of heaven. But he does not of course mean to sanction any inference about the future and final salvation either of those who entered Canaan or of those who died in the wilderness.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11. ds μοσα) according as I sware, -Vulg. sicut juravi, in that time of disobedience. Loqui Dei magnum est: jurare vero nimis metuendum .(Primas.).

The rendering so that is not required by the original Hebrew, and is (apparently) unexampled in Greek. -Comp. Winer p. 578 (Moulton’s note),

εἰ εἰσελεύσονται) They shall not enter... Oompare Mark viii. 12 (εἰ 30; 1 Sam. iii. 17, See Winer-Moulton p. 627.

els τὴν κατάπαυσιν) The rest was primarily Oanaan (Deut. xii. 9 f.), and then that divine kingdom and order of which the earthly Oanaan was an imperfoct typo. At the first tho occupation of the promised Laud was treated as being ideally the fulfilment of the highest destiny of Israel in perfect fellowship with God (Lev. xxvi, 11 f). But the partial outward accomplishment of the national hope necessarily fized attention upon tho spiritual realities with which the imperfect earthly blessings corresponded. The unsatisfying character of the temporal inheritance quickened the

KaTénaycin MOoY—"

aspiration after a truer inheritance which the prophets cherished and deepened.

The writer of the Epistle afterwards identifies the true rest with the rest of God after Oreation (iv. 4. Th rest which God had proposed for His people was no other than that into which He [imself had entered.

Primasius (translating Chrysostom) distinguishes these three reste: Notandum tres requies ab apostolo in ‘hac epistola commemorari, unam sabbati, quo requiovit Deus ab operibus suis; socundam Palastinw, in quam ingressi Israclitw roquicturi erant a miseria et laboribus multis; tertiam quoque, qua vora eat requies, regnum videlicet cslorum, ad quam quos .pervenire coutigerit planissime requicscont a laboribus et srumnis hujus ssculi.

κατάπαυσις) In classical Greok the word means ‘a stopping,’ ‘a causing to cease,’ literally or figuratively: in the uxx. ‘a rest’ or ‘rest.’ Comp. Deut. xii. 9; Is. Ixvi. 1 (Acts vii. 49); 2 Macc. xv. 1. It is found in the N. T. only in this context besides the quotation in the Acts.

(ὃ) The general application of the lesson of the wilderness (12—15).

The words of the Psalm which have boon quoted at longth aro now applicd gonerally to Christians. Tho reality of the blessings which they havo received depends upon the faith with which they receive the present voice of God while it is still addressed to them.

[Wherefore, I repeat,] '* take head, brethren, lest haply there shall be in any one Of you an evil heart of unbelia/, in falling away from Him who is a living God; "but exhort your own selves day by day so long

THE EPISTLE ΤῸ THE HEBREWS.

- ’ ** Brerere, ἀδελφοί, μή ποτε ἔσται ἔν τινι ὑμῶν καρδία πονηρὰ ἀπιστίας ἐν τῷ ἀποστῆναι ἀπὸ θεοῦ ζῶντος,

as it is called Today, that no one of you be hardened by the deceitfuiness of sin—" for we are become partakers of Christ, if at least we hold the beginning of our confidence firm eento the end—'S while it ie said

Today, if ye shall hear His voice,

Harden not your hearts, as in the Provocation.

Brooke Foss Westcott (1825–1901), The Epistle to the Hebrews (1889) and The Epistles of St John (1883) — public domain (pre-1929). Text recovered from Internet Archive / Google Books OCR scans. Westcott’s Gospel of John commentary is not included (its OCR lost the chapter running-heads required for reliable verse-keying). Some Greek quoted in the Hebrews volume is imperfectly rendered by the OCR.