Hebrews 3:15

While it is said--connected with Heb 3:13, "exhort one another . . . while it is said, To-day": Heb 3:14, "for we are made partakers," &c., being a parenthesis. "It entirely depends on yourselves that the invitation of the ninety-fifth Psalm be not a mere invitation, but also an actual enjoyment." ALFORD translates, "Since (that is, 'for') it is said," &c., regarding Heb 3:15 as a proof that we must "hold . . . confidence . . . unto the end," in order to be "partakers of Christ."

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

Heb_3:15

To-day if ye will hear His voice

To-day

I.

TO-DAY: HOW RELATED TO YESTERDAY AND TO-MORROW. We are putting yesterday to its noblest use when we are using its experience to make the life of to-day better. We are preparing for the morrow in the truest way when we are striving with all our might to be faithful to the opportunity of to-day.

II. TO-DAY: ITS IMPORTANCE. To-day is the critical moment of life. Our vital concern is with to-day. Life in to-day is an impressive feature of Biblical teaching. The emphasis of both Testaments is on to-day. We must work while it is day. To look back is, in the judgment of the Master of our life, to unfit ourselves for the work of the kingdom of God. To be loyal to the Christian idea and order of life, we must be ready to break with the old for the sake of the new. There is little need, then, to dwell on the past. It is not behind us. In a very real sense it goes with us. The new continues, it does not efface the old. There is no dead past; the past is living in the present. Our present character is the Divine judgment upon our past conduct. But to-day is not only a history of the past, it is also a prophecy of the future. It is by watching to-day we can tell what will be on the morrow. Foresight is truly insight. There is no violent break between yesterday and to-day. Whatever is to come out of to-day exists in to-day. The future is not a revolution but an evolution. To-day is the child and heir of yesterday; to-morrow will be the child and heir of to-day.

III. THE BLESSING AND OPPORTUNITY OF A DAY. It comes to us laden with blessing and promise, full of history and full of prophecy. It has taken many thousands of years to prepare it for us. In the very fuel that feeds its fires is the vegetation of primeval years. Every day that dawns has countless relations with things far and wide. Ancient Egypt and Israel, Greece and Rome, Scandinavia and primitive Germany, priests and philosophers, prophets and poets, discoverers and inventors, innumerable thinkers and workers, known and unknown, have helped to prepare the materials out of which to-days opportunity has been made. We inherit the good, material and moral, wrought out through the experiences of many men and many races of men through many centuries. In the life of to-day are the results of the labour and struggle of all the yesterdays. No day is poor and commonplace. To the prepared soul every day is full of marvel and joy. Every day has its comedies and tragedies. Genius does not invent, it discovers and interprets. To find examples of heroism we need not turn to classic pages, nor search the annals of martyrdom. Heroism is as unfailing a reality as the daily dawn. Around and in each day are all the great marvels of creation, all the moral forces and splendours of life, and all the sacred realities to which the deeply moved soul has witnessed in every age. It is a familiar saying that life is but a day. It is said to express the awful and pathetic brevity of our existence upon this earth. But when we say each day is a life, we are giving expression to a truth of deeper importance and of greater practical value and use. There is nothing small. In the smallest things are the elements of the greatest. One day of life has in it the quality of the whole. In its acts and relations we see God making history, and man making his own future--making the character which creates condition and decides destiny. Are we making the most and the best of the opportunities of to-day? One of our older poets has represented the days as coming to us with their faces veiled; but when they have passed beyond our reach and call, the draped figures become radiant, and the gifts we slighted are seen to be right royal treasures. Let us make the most and the best of each days opportunity for pure and noble enjoyment. The lesson of joy is as Divine a lesson to learn as that of obedience and sacrifice. Let us make the most and the best of each days opportunity for thought and meditation. The inner life constantly needs deepening. The mind closed against new truth is already dying. Let us make the most and the best of the opportunity for moral and spiritual growth and beneficent service which is afforded by the daily task. It is in the sphere of every-day duties most men must win the discipline which our earthly life is meant to yield, most form the character which is the crown of life, and prepare themselves for wider usefulness. It is only by living up to the ideal and duty of making each day perfect in itself we can make life a spiritual triumph. There are only twelve hours in a day, yet how much can be done in and with a day. If we throw away a day no miracle will bring it back to us. There is no to-morrow for the work that ought to be done to-day. The cry, Too late, is not false. The mercy of God is infinite every way, but an opportunity lost is lost for ever. Other doors may open, but that door is for ever shut. The exhortation, Prepare to meet thy God, is, indeed, an exhortation to prepare for life, not death. Every day we meet God; every day we need to be prepared to meet Him. We prepare for what we suppose to be great days. But every day may be a great day, a Divine day. To-day all good and great things are possible. Let us by our faith and faithfulness, by our obedience to all best visions and impulses, turn it into a day of salvation, a day of God, one of the days of the Son of Man, one of the days of heaven upon earth. (John Hunter.)

To-day

1. Let me ask those who believe the truths of the gospel, but who put off the renunciation of the sins they condemn, and the consideration of the truths themselves to a future period, have you a reliable guarantee that you will have a future in which to consider, pray over, and meditate on these things? There is no such thing. The space between life and death is quickly traversed.

2. But, in the next place, addressing those who are thus procrastinating, let me suppose that you reach the remotest horizon of human age; is it not true that every day you neglect Divine truths the probability of your ever accepting then diminishes? In this world you require time to grow in knowledge; why should you argue that what God recognises in His providence He should not recognise in grace; but that He should leave you to a lifetime of ignorance, indifference, apathy, and then should give you light enough to guide you to heaven in your last moments?

3. But there is a third argument against all such delay. It is that whilst you are delaying the salvation of the soul, your heart is not all the while remaining empty. Your heart is being coloured by all it comes into contact with in the world. Now, if your soul has for forty, fifty or sixty years been absorbed about what you shall eat, what you shall drink, wherewithal you shall be clothed; or about the worlds wealth, or the worlds ambition, or the worlds cares, will it be very easy to disengage it from its old routine upon a dying bed? Will it be very easy to alter the currents, change the channels, and empty the springs of such a heart when its beating becomes feebler, and lifes sandglass is almost run out?

4. There is another fact, let me mention, one suggested to me by conversation with a physician, and I think it is a very just one, namely, the very structure of the brain, which is the hand of the mind, adapts itself to the action of the thoughts that have constantly passed through it. Now, if your thoughts have been ceaselessly absorbed with the things of this world, your brain is just adapting itself to the things of this world, and becoming unfit for others. A blacksmiths arm would never do for the most exquisite handwriting; his arm has been accustomed to other work; and that is only a coarser illustration of what is true of the brain, that it becomes adapted and physically fitted to the trains of thought that have ceaselessly rushed through it; till, when you come to speak to a dying man who has never had Divine thoughts in his heart and head, you have to deal with the most intractable of all materials; till, almost despairing, you must cease to teach, and begin only to pray. But I take another view of the danger of such a course.

5. As people grow older, on the supposition that they live to a protracted age, the impressibility of the mind becomes less, the blood chills with age, it runs more sluggishly through the arteries and veins; the memory in old age, you know quite well, becomes less retentive. Then is not that another evidence that it must be very difficult to impress Divine truths, everlasting motives, upon memories that scarcely recollect next day what was said on this; upon hearts that Mammon has trodden into the hardness of iron, and in which passions have scorched every fair and fragrant blossom?

6. Let me notice another reason and explanation of the danger of this procrastination: you are creating and strengthening every day a refuge to which you have recourse. It is a singular law in human nature, that what becomes your habit becomes almost your very nature; and as you are making to-day a refuge from conviction, a refuge from what you feel to be duty, that procrastination becomes a habit; and every time that you do so, the next time you will be abler to do so.

7. But now the final result of not hearing Gods voice, and of thus procrastinating to a future, is what is here called the hardening of the heart. Love degenerates to zero; the enthusiasm of your spring is all frozen hard in the winter of old age; what once awakened you to joy, to hope, to fear, to alarm, fails to awaken you any more; and it is possible that God may say, as he said of one of old, Let him alone; My Spirit will not strive with man any more; like Pharaoh, He gives him up to the hardness he himself has originated, an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. Some of you will say, But is not the Holy Spirit of God able to change any heart, however hard? Is He not able to convert a man in his last gasp? The Holy Spirits work is always exercised on a system that promotes holiness, that glorifies Himself, that honours His holy Word; and your acting on the pleas that I now quote for you is simply sinning because grace abounds, and making the Holy Spirits omnipotence an excuse for your worldliness. And, in the next place, let me remind you, that while the Holy Spirit is able to do all this, He will not, and it is unreasonable to expect that He will, dishonour the means that He has instituted. But perhaps you will argue, But we know that men have been converted on their deathbeds; very frequently we read of instances the most remarkable of deathbed conversions; and this ought to cheer us in the prospect of a deathbed conversion. First of all, are you perfectly sure that your case is parallel in all points with the cases that you read? And then, in the next place, are you quite sure that such cases are not exceptional? I admit at once grace has its trophies in every age. But if this be exceptional, not the general rule, would you act in this way in common life? Would you plunge into the roaring cataract because one man, half a century ago, did so, and escaped? And then, let me add, those remarkable cakes that you quote had not the opportunities that you have had. Now that is a very modifying element. The dying thief never heard of a Saviour till he saw Him nailed to the Cross. In none of these cases--here is the striking fact--was there a previous hardening process under the knowledge and the preaching of the truth. But some encourage themselves with this: But you know the scenes of a deathbed are very solemn. They are very solemn indeed. And may it not be true, you will say, that when eternity envelops us like an ocean, that then we shall think, and pray, and believe, and be saved? When the house is tumbling to ruins about the tenant, when life is ebbing from all the shores of the senses, when you are distracted by hopes to-day, by depression to-morrow; when cares in this world that you have left unsettled, pains and agonies within, separations, tears, sympathies, and sorrows are about you--oh! let me ask, is that an hour for thinking about the soul, of God, of the judgment-seat, a Saviour, an eternity? You may disguise it as you like, but you may depend upon it it is not. It is so easy in health to speculate what you will do; it is so difficult in a dying hour to settle what was unsettled before. The following illustration is is by an American traveller: In my to and fro rambles in foreign lands I once met with a party of young Englishmen, one of whom had lost his passport. By one dodge and another he continued to get on without it at the stations of secondary importance, but at length he came to the frontiers: the demand to see and examine the document was stern and imperative; his lack of it, as well as the artifices by which he had heretofore concealed it, was detected, and his further progress disgracefully arrested. How many will come to the frontiers of that eternal world towards which we are all journeying without a passport? We may evade all scrutinies at the way-star, ions. We may be admitted into reputable and virtuous society. We may enter the Church. We may eat and drink in the presence of Christ. But all this does not constitute a passport into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Without holiness no man shall see the Lord. Only learn wisdom from the children of this world, and do not delay to get your passport till you reach the very station where it will be demanded. It will then be too late. Now is the accepted time. (J. Cumming, D. D.)

The voice of God and the hard-heartedness of man

I. THE VOICE OF GOD! Ah! it is a wonderful thing that the High and Holy One should condescend to speak to a rebellious and apostate race for their good.

1. And if you ask how He utters His voice to man, I answer, in the first place, it is uttered through the medium of external nature. By those who will listen to it, the voice is heard above, below, and around them. And yet there are men in this age of science and education, who can tread upon the green carpet of the earth, bespread with fruit and flower, without any responding emotions to the Giver of them all; who appear deaf to the countless notes by which His voice is uttered, and His wisdom, power and love proclaimed, and to whom it is requisite now as of old to say, If ye will hear His voice, harden not your heart.

2. I next observe, that the voice of God is uttered through the medium of passing events. Whatever occurrence takes place, the really wise man hears in it a message from the throne of the Eternal. When affluence and power are bestowed, he hears the voice of God declaring, Here are means and opportunities for promoting My glory and advancing the welfare of My creatures. Make a right use of them. De a wise steward over them. When, on the other hand, poverty comes, he hears the voice of God admonishing, Learn the perishable nature of earthly wealth, and lay up for thyself treasures in heaven. When sickness and bereavement come with their desponding and painful associations, he hears the voice of God declaring, It is good for thee to be afflicted; before thou wast afflicted thou wentest wrong; but now thou shalt learn my statutes.

3. I next observe, that the voice of God is uttered through the medium of human instruction and example. Here a believing husband seeks to impress his wife with the truths of the gospel; there a wife, whose affections are set on things above, deplores the excessive worldliness of her husbands mind.

4. I observe, further, that the voice of God is uttered through the medium of His inspired Word.

II. THE NATURE, OR THE MANNER AND CHARACTER OF THE RESISTANCE MADE BY MAN TO THE VOICE of God. The resistance commonly offered to the Divine appeals is not that of the fool, who saith in his heart, there is no God, nor that of the recklessly worldly or the profoundly infidel, who cry out, What is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto Him? The resistance offered by the bulk of the impenitent, is that described by the expression, hardening the heart as in the provocation; a delay and a disinclination to act up to the convictions of conscience from a deep rooted love of sin, like that of the people in the wilderness, than which nothing can be more provoking to the Holy One of Israel. When men disobey what they believe to be the voice of God, they must try to find some plausible excuse for their disobedience, or they must be most uncomfortable and uneasy in their minds. The individual who is frequently employed in gathering pleas for the neglect of religion soon becomes an adept in the work of self-justification. Having engaged in a warfare with his reason, his judgment and the best affections of his nature, he has nearly gained the victory, and the consequence is that he feels less religious responsibility than before, and is become almost inaccessible to any means of conviction. Now this is precisely what the Scripture means by hardening the heart; and this is the very thing that is done by those in a Christian land, who refuse to become Christians indeed and in truth. (H. Hughes, B. D.)

Neglecting the day of grace

An artist solicited permission to paint a portrait of the queen. The favour was granted; and the favour was great, for it would make the fortune of the man. A place was fixed, and the time. At the fixed place and time the queen appeared: but the artist was not there; he was not ready yet. When he did arrive, a message was communicated to him, that her majesty had and would not return. Such is the tale. The King eternal consented to meet man. He fixed in His covenant and promised in His Word, the object, place, and time of the meeting: it is for salvation it is in Christ; it is now. He has been true to His own appointment; but how often is it otherwise with man! (W. Arnot.)

Now is the time

When I think of opportunities, I think I may liken us here to-night to a number of men in the Arctic regions. They have been frozen up for a long time, and the ship is high and dry on great masses of ice. The thaw comes on; but the thaw, however, will last but for a very short time. They set their saws to work; they see a split in the ice; there is a long and very narrow lane of water. If they can get the ship along there before the water freezes it up again they may yet reach the shores of dear old England, and be safe; but if not they are frozen in for another winter, and very likely will be frozen in for ever. Well, n-w, to-night it seems just so with us. It seems as if the Spirit of God had purposely brought some of you here; and I do trust He is opening, as it were, the lane of mercy for you--causing your sins for a little time to loose their frosty hold, and openingyour heart a little to the genial influences of the gospel. But, oh! if it should be frozen up again. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3:15 This verse again quotes Ps 95:7-8, the exhortation from that portion of the psalm. It sums up the author’s own exhortation in Heb 3:12-14, focusing on the importance of listening and responding favorably to God’s voice.

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

Heb 3:15. Ἐν τῷ λέγεσθαι, while it is said) The connection is with Heb 3:13, in reference to παρακαλεῖτε. Even in the psalm the Divine exhortation (paraclesis) precedes, viz. O come ye. Comp. היום, Psa 95:7, taking into consideration the preceding Athnach, which is a subdistinctive of the latter hemistich [in the Hebrew]; i.e. it entirely depends on you that this may not only be a mere invitation and offer, in the first instance, but also [the source of] real enjoyment, in the second. So ἐν τῷ λέγειν, in that He saith, ch. Heb 8:13.—ὡς ἐν τῷ παραπικρασμῷ, as in the Provocation) כמריבה; it is taken as a proper name, with its signification.

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

Heb_3:15-16. With regard to the construction of Heb_3:15 the views of expositors greatly differ. It is assumed(1) That Heb_3:15 forms an independent, complete sentence. It is then supposed that the citation introduced by ἐν τῷ λέγεσθαι embraces only the words σήμερον … ἀκούσητε, and that afterwards with μὴ σκληρύνητε κ.τ.λ. the author proceeds, it is true, in the following words of that Biblical citation, but appropriates them to himself, and employs them only for the clothing of the admonition to be uttered on his own part. So Flacius Illyricus, Jac. Cappellus, Carpzov, Kuinoel, Winer, Gramm., 5 Aufl. p. 620, and Bloomfield; comp. also Hofmann ad loc. As, however, the same words: μὴ σκληρύνητε τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν ὡς ἐν τῷ παραπικρασμῷ, had already been adduced, Heb_3:8, in the midst of the Biblical citation, and as a constituent part thereof, it could not possibly occur to the reader here at once to detach them from σήμερον … ἀκούσητε, and to understand them as words of the author addressed to themselves; and the less so, because Heb_3:16 ff. there follows a comment on the passage, in which Heb_3:16 glances back to σήμερον … παραπικρασμῷ, Heb_3:15 (Heb_3:7 f.); Heb_3:17 to the προσώχθισα κ.τ.λ., Heb_3:10; Heb_3:18, finally, to the ὤμοσα κ.τ.λ., Heb_3:11, so that the natural explanation can only be, that the author intended to refer back to the whole Scripture citation already previously adduced, Heb_3:7-11, but thatinasmuch as he might presuppose it as known from that which precedeshe expressly repeats it only to the point at which the first member of his comment could attach itself. (2) Heb_3:15 is connected with that which precedes, in that ἐν τῷ λέγεσθαι κ.τ.λ. is either regarded as epexegesis to μέχρι τέλους, Heb_3:14 (Primasius, Estius, Cornelius a Lapide, Bisping, Reuss), or is attached to the conditional clause ἐάνπερ … κατάσχωμεν there occurring (Erasmus Schmid, Wolf), or to all the words of Heb_3:14 : μέτοχοι … κατάσχωμεν (Ebrard, Alford), or, finally, is construed with παρακαλεῖτε, Heb_3:13 (Cameron, Peirce, Bengel, Cramer, Baumgarten, Abresch). But in the first case one must expect ἄχρις οὗ λέγεται, or something similar, in place of ἐν τῷ λέγεσθαι. In the other cases Heb_3:15 would drag as a feeble addition; in the last, moreover, Heb_3:14 would, contrary to all probability, become a parenthesis. (3) Heb_3:15 is combined with that which follows. With φοβηθῶμεν οὖν, Heb_4:1, it is connected by Chrysostom, Oecumenius, Theophylact, Olearius, Wittich, Valckenaer. Heb_3:16-19 must then be regarded as a parenthesis, and οὖν, Heb_4:1, as a particle of resumption. But of a resuming of the, as yet, incomplete thought, Heb_3:15, in Heb_4:1, there is no appearance in the form of discourse in the latter passage, notwithstanding the accuracy of style on the part of our author. On the contrary, from the tenor of Heb_4:1, it is indubitable that this verse is represented by virtue of οὖν as a consequence from Heb_3:16-19. These verses, therefore, can form no parenthesis. But thus every possibility of connecting Heb_3:15 with Heb_4:1 falls away.

There remains, therefore, no course open but to take Heb_3:15 with the first question of Heb_3:16 : τίνες γὰρ ἀκούσαντες παρεπίκραναν; as one whole. This is done by Semler, Morus, Storr, Heinrichs, Dindorf, Böhme, Klee, Bleek, de Wette, Tholuck, Winer, Gramm., 7 Aufl. p. 532; Delitzsch, Maier, Moll, Kurtz, Ewald, and Woerner. The sense is: When it is said: to-day, etc., (now, I ask:) who then were they who, although they heard (the voice), resisted? was it not all, etc.? On ἐν τῷ λέγεσθαι, comp. ἐν τῷ λέγειν, Heb_8:13.

γάρ serves for the strengthening of the particle of interrogation, but, at the same time, confirms the state of the fact expressed, Heb_3:14. See Klotz, ad Devar. p. 245 f. Comp. also Mat_27:23; Joh_7:41; Act_19:25; 1Co_11:22.

From what has been already observed, it is evident that Heb_3:16 contains two questions, of which the second forms the answer to the first. This view of Heb_3:16, appearing only rarely in antiquity (in the Peshito, with Chrysostom and Theodoret), and only asserted afresh since the beginning of last century, is now almost universally regarded as the true one. According to the mode of interpretation formerly current, two affirmative statements were recognised in Heb_3:16, the first of which was limited by the second. τινές was accordingly written instead of τίνες,[61] and the thought was found expressed that some, it is true, but by no means the totality of the Israelites, proved rebellious. As those who formed an exception to the rebelliousness or unbelief of the τινές, expositors accordingly thought either of Joshua and Caleb only (so Oecumenius, Theophylact, Primasius, Seb. Schmidt, Owen, and others), or else, with reference to Num_14:29 ff; Num_1:45; Num_1:47, at the same time of all the Israelites who, at the numbering, had not attained an age of twenty years, as also the Levites and women (so Cornelius a Lapide, Braun, Carpzov, al.). But, considering the small number of responsible believers, which, in comparison with the enormous total mass of responsible unbelievers (more than six hundred thousand), retires altogether into the background, the latter could not possibly be designated by the mere τινές; nor can appeal be made for the opposite view to 1Co_10:7-10, since the ΤΙΝΈς there several times recurring specializes only the ἘΝ ΤΟῖς ΠΛΕΊΟΣΙΝ, Heb_3:5, in its different subdivisions. In addition to this, the interrogatory form in the parallel clauses, Heb_3:17-18, already presupposes the interrogatory form also for Heb_3:16, and, as follows of necessity from the whole subsequent disquisition (comp. Heb_4:1-2; Heb_4:6; Heb_4:8), the thought must be expressed in Heb_3:16 that the whole of the Israelites were disobedient in the wilderness, and therefore came short of the promised goal, in connection with which the wholly isolated exceptions are passed over unnoticed as not being taken into account.

ἈΛΛΆ] decides the preceding question with the expression of astonishment conveyed in a counter-question: but (can there be a doubt as to the answer?) was it not all of those who came forth out of Egypt?

πάντες οἱ] Erroneously Bengel, Schulz, Kuinoel, and others: only such as, etc.

διὰ Μωϋσέως] by Moses, i.e. by his agency and under his guidance. Διά is used with considerable freedom, since we should properly expect with it, instead of ἘΞΕΛΘΌΝΤΕς, a passive notion as ἘΞΑΧΘΈΝΤΕς. Comp. ΔΙʼ ὯΝ ἘΠΙΣΤΕΎΣΑΤΕ, 1Co_3:5.

[61] Wrongly is it supposed by Bisping, who (equally as MCaul) espouses afresh this interpretation formerly current, that it is a matter of indifference whether in connection therewith the two clauses be taken as questions or as absolute statements. For, in reality, οὐ has in a question, like the Latin nonne, always an affirmative sense. See Kühner, II. p. 579; Hartung, Partikellehre, II. p. 88. ἀλλʼ οὐ πάντες cannot consequently signify, as Bisping maintains, but certainly not all, but, on the contrary, only but certainly all.

Heb_3:15-19. Confirmation of the warning statement, Heb_3:14. That the blessing-fraught fact (μέτοχοι τοῦ Χριστοῦ γεγόναμεν), declared Heb_3:14, is realized singly and solely in the case that the condition stated, of firmness of faith to the end, is fulfilled, is shown by the example of the Fathers. Their unbelief, their ἀπιστία (comp. Heb_3:19), was the cause why they did not attain to the goal.

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 3:15 . ἐν τῷ λέγεσθαι .… “While it is said to-day, etc.” The construction of these words is debated. Bleek, Delitzsch, von Soden and others construe them with what follows, beginning at this point a fresh paragraph. The meaning would thus be: “Since it is said, ‘To-day if ye hear his voice, harden not, etc.,’ who are meant, who were they who heard and provoked?” This is inviting but the γὰρ of Heb 3:16 is decidedly against it. Davidson connects ἐν τῷ λεγ . with what immediately precedes: “ ‘if we hold fast … unto the end, while it is said,’ i.e. , not during the time that it is said, but in the presence and consciousness of the saying, Harden not, etc.… with this divine warning always in the ears”. Similarly Weiss. Westcott connects the words with Heb 3:13 , making 14 parenthetical. Either of these constructions is feasible. It is also possible to let the sentence stand by itself as introductory to what follows, taking μὴ σκληρ . as directly addressed to the Hebrews, not as merely completing the quotation: “While it is being said To-day if ye hear His voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation”. The λέγεσθαι thus contains only the clause ending with ἀκούσητε .

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

So long as this voice soundeth out.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 15. While it is said, To-day] You may see the necessity of perseverance from the saying, "Today, if ye will hear his voice," therefore harden not your hearts-do not neglect so great a salvation; hold fast what ye have obtained, and let no man take your crown. See on Heb 3:7-9, and Heb 3:12.

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

15. While it is said, etc. He intimates that the reason for making progress never ceases as long as we live, because God calls us daily. For since faith responds to the preaching of the Gospel, as preaching continues through the whole course of our life, so we ought to continue growing in faith. The phrase, then, while it is said, is the same as though he had said, “Since God never makes an end of speaking, it is not enough for us readily to receive his doctrine, except we exhibit the same teachableness and obedience tomorrow and every following day.”

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.

(15) If ye will hear.—Rather, as before (Heb_3:7), if ye shall hear. The true connection of this verse is not easily decided. By many it is held that the words should be joined with what follows, and commence a new paragraph; but this does not seem probable. Either Heb_3:14 is parenthetical, so that this verse emphasises the reference to “today” in Heb_3:13; or the thought of the writer is that we must “hold fast the beginning of our confidence” in the presence of this divine warning—whilst day by day these words are addressed to us anew.

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

While it is said today,.... Exhort one another, and hold fast Christ and his Gospel, and faith and confidence therein; what follows is a repetition of the citation in Heb 3:7 in order to make a further improvement of it; which shows, that the words belong to the present times of the Gospel, and contain in them matter of moment, and great concern; and that Scripture instructions and exhortations are of perpetual use.

in order to make a further improvement of it; which shows, that the words belong to the present times of the Gospel, and contain in them matter of moment, and great concern; and that Scripture instructions and exhortations are of perpetual use.

Hebrews 3:16

heb 3:16

heb 3:16

heb 3:16For some, when, they had heard,.... The Arabic version adds, "his voice"; the law on Mount Sinai; the voice of words, with the voices and thunderings that attended it; the book of the covenant read; the whole system of laws and ordinances delivered to Moses, and by him to them; and also the Gospel, for that was preached to the Israelites in the wilderness, and heard by them; as appears from Heb 4:2 and which seems chiefly intended: and yet some of the hearers of it

did provoke; not only Moses, to speak unadvisedly with his lips; but they provoked Jehovah himself, and the angel of his presence, and his Holy Spirit, by their idolatry, ingratitude, and unbelief: and the aggravation of their sin is, that they did it when they had heard the Gospel, and while they were hearing it; which shows that the Gospel may be heard to no advantage; as when it is heard in a careless and indifferent manner; when it makes no impression, takes no place, and has no root; when the world and the things of it are the great concern of the mind, while hearing it; when it is not attended with the power and Spirit of God; when it is not received in love, nor mixed with faith, nor put in practice: and hence the Gospel heard, comes to be an aggravation of men's condemnation:

howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses; that is, they did not all provoke, but some did; which is another aggravation of their sin; they were just come out of Egyptian bondage; brought out of it by the Lord, with the mighty and outstretched arm of his power; and yet they provoked him: and this was done by Moses; by the hand of Moses, as the Syriac version renders it; by his means, by him as an instrument; and yet they provoked him: but however all did not, yet these were but few; it seems only Caleb and Joshua, out of six hundred thousand; God will have a few to serve him in the worst of times.

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

15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.

Ver. 15. While it is said] sc. To you now, as it was said to them of old, Heb 3:7. We must see our own names written on every precept, promise, example, &c., Hos 12:4. There God spake with us.

To day if ye will hear, &c.] The negligent spirit cries, Cras Domine, Tomorrow, Lord. In crastinum seria. But who can tell what a great bellied day may bring forth? Either space or grace may be denied. God may leave men under his ordinances, as rocks in the midst of rivers, as blind at noonday.

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.

While it is said, Today ... - That is, persevere as long as life lasts, or as long as it can be said “today;” and by persevering in this manner you will have evidence that you are the friends of the Redeemer. This is a quotation from Psa 95:7. Paul means, undoubtedly, to make use of this language himself as a direct exhortation to the Christians to whom he was writing. He entreats them, therefore, as long as it could be said “today,” or as long as life lasted, to take care lest they should harden their hearts as had been done in the temptation in the wilderness.

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

From the 6th and 14th verses we learn the great happiness conferred on us at baptism; but all this, happily, we are taught is dependent on faith, on the foundation of our spiritual and divine being.

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).

This is another circumstance of the example of the Jews applied to them: That since now Christ is speaking to you, as he did to your forefathers then; the same voice concerning you both, so as, not to-morrow, or when you will, but To-day, if you will believe what God speaketh to you by him, and hath recorded in his word concerning his being the Messiah, and render not yourselves deaf to God’s voice, or obdurate through unbelief, as your forefathers did, when their unbelief and hardness of heart imbittered God’s Spirit against them, because acting in it against their solemn vows and engagements to him, so as to apostatize from him.

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

15. While—Heb_3:14-15 are, it is to be noted, a single sentence. While refers to hold steadfast in Heb_3:14. We finally partake Christ if we hold steadfast, or persevere while the to-day of warning and probation lasts.

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

While it is said, Today, etc. Commentators have found unnecessary difficulty in determining the connection of en tw legesyai . Many, taking the words as the beginning of a new sentence, have been at pains to discover the apodosis to them. Cbrysostom, Grotius, Rosenmuller, and others find it in fobhywmen oun , Heb_4:1; notwithstanding the oun , which seems evidently to introduce a new sentence, and the long parenthesis which, on this supposition, intervenes. Others find it in mh sklhrunhte ("harden not your hearts"), in the middle of the citation of ver. 16, as if the writer of the Epistle adopted these words as his own. Delitzsch finds it in ver. 16, taken as an interrogation (tinev , not tinev : see below); thus: "When it is said, Today... harden not your hearts as in the provocation,... who did provoke? Nay, did not all?" The gar after tinev he accounts for by its idiomatic use found in such passages as Act_8:31 Act_19:35, conveying the sense of the English, Why, who did provoke?" But this use of gar , obvious in the texts adduced as parallel, would be forced here; the structure of the sentence does not easily lend itself to it. Still, this is the view taken by Tholuck, Bleek, De Wette, Lunemann, and others, as well as Delitzsch. But, notwithstanding such weighty support, difficulties are surely best avoided by taking en tw legesyai , not as commencing a new sentence, but in connection with ver. 14 preceding, as it seems most natural to take it in the absence of any connecting particle to mark a new proposition. In this case the translation of the A.V gives a fully satisfactory sense: "If we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end, while it is still being said, To-day," etc.; i.e. (as in ver. 13) "so long as it is called Today." Ebrard, Alford, and others, taking the same view of the connection of the words, prefer the translation, "In that it is said." But the other seems more in accordance with the thought pervading the passage.

Vers. 15-19. As redemption from Egypt did not protect Israel from punishment, so misbelief in Christians will be visited with the Divine displeasure and final failure. The sacred writer refers us to the psalm from which he had drawn such affecting exhortations to steadfastness in the spiritual life, and now advances to enforce the lessons of earnestness by a series of weighty inquiries derived from the overthrow of many Israelites in the desert. The ideas resemble those of Paul, who in 1Co_10:1-5 instructs us that the Hebrews were baptized unto Moses, and ate spiritual meat and drank spiritual drink, and yet many were overthrown in the wilderness. The first question is (in the Revised Version) Who were they that did provoke at Meribah and awakened the Divine displeasure? This inquiry is answered by another. Did they not all come out of Egypt, anti while the destroying angel was abroad their families were safe; when the sea opposed their march it was dried up to give them passage, and when the enemies pursued them with rage and breathed out threatenings and slaughter, were they not redeemed? These were they who added the baseness of ingratitude to the sin of unbelief. Another inquiry follows, which is With whom was he displeased, and was it not with those whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? It is the historic realization of a truth penned many centuries afterwards by St. James, who writes," Lust, when it hath conceived, bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." These unbelievers died under the frown of Jehovah, and left their sad experience as a beacon to warn against sins which provoked the Divine anger and laid them low in the dust of death. The inquiry advances once more, and asks:

Who were they who were denied the privilege of entering upon themuch-desired inheritance of Canaan? There is an awfulness in the oath which Jehovah takes, that the unbelieving Hebrews should not enter the pleasant land, with its fertile soil, its pastures, its vineyards, its brooks and streams, and the margin of the Mediterranean Sea. There is no secret in the cause of their failure, as there is no secret in the cause of Christian success. They could not enter in because of unbelief, which, while it barred their entrance into Canaan, excludes men from the "inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away." If these sad and awful punishments overtook Israel according to the flesh, then the truth which the author designed to teach is that redemption from sin, condemnation, must, to secure all the fruits and issues of the gospel, be associated with humble and persevering fidelity to our profession of faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. B.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The danger of unbelief:

v. 15. While it is said, Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation

v. 16. For some, when they had heard, did provoke; howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.

v. 17. But with whom was he grieved forty years? Was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness?

v. 18. And to whom sware he that they should not enter into His rest but to them that believed not?

v. 19. So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

The inspired author here defines and justifies his use of the word "today" in connection with his warning to all believers to remain steadfast to the end: in that it is said, Today when you hear His voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation (at Meribah). Psa 95:7-8. This present day is the time of which we may be sure; we know that the Lord’s grace is being proclaimed to us now. It is now, therefore, that we should heed the Lord’s warning and make the most of the present opportunity. For the dangers attending an insolent testing of God’s patience are such as to make salvation a matter of chance and gambling: For some, having heard, yet provoked Him; was it not all that had gone forth from Egypt through Moses? Although all the children of Israel that went forth from Egypt heard the Word and will of God, yet they deliberately and maliciously challenged God’s government and set about to embitter and provoke Him. And, unfortunately, there was not much choice among the rebellious people; they were all guilty of this provoking conduct, all the men that left Egypt under the leadership of Moses. It was not a case of having a few exceptional sinners to deal with, the whole mass of the gloriously rescued people whose faith had "carried them through between the threatening walls of water and over whom Miriam sang her triumphal ode," were in the same condemnation.

The sacred writer, drawing another lesson from the incidents in the wilderness, asks: But with whom was He angry, exasperated, forty years? Was it not with them that had sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? It was not a matter of change of mind, of foolish caprice on God’s part, nor was it lack of power to carry out His promise to the children of Israel. But their conduct provoked His anger, their sins challenged His punishment, the result being that all the men of twenty years and over that had left the land of Egypt sank into forgotten graves in the wilderness. That was God’s punishment upon them because of their sin. The author, therefore, concludes his series of rhetorical questions by asking: And to whom did He swear that they should not enter into His rest unless it was to them that believed not? Not disobedience primarily, but unbelief, which was the cause of the various outbreaks against the Lord, caused the punishment to strike them. Moses freely and frankly told the people this very fact, Num 14:28-35. God finally affirmed with an oath that He would pour out His punishments, having the soundest reasons for vindicating His course of action. They did not reach the Land of Promise, they did not enter into the blessings of rest and peace which the Lord had promised to obedient, believing children. The conclusion of the sacred author emphasizes just this one point: And we see that they could not enter in on account of their unbelief. They could not reach their goal, the end of the way, because at the bottom of their entire unruly conduct lay the refusal to believe in the Lord, their God, with all their heart, with all their soul, and with all their mind. Their example should have its proper effect upon the Christians of all times. Every attention to sin with its deceitfulness, every shrinking from conflict in the interest of the Lord, endangers the faith, if it does not outright pluck it out of the heart. Our trust in God, to be of the right kind, must be centered in the promises of Scriptures and not permit itself to be moved from this foundation. There is too much at stake to make light of the matter or fatuously to rely upon a safe solution in the future. Today the Lord is calling; today we should give heed. To-morrow may be too late. Our Mediator is in every respect greater than Moses, but for that very reason we should cling to Him in all humility of heart.

Summary

The sacred writer, in showing the superiority of Christ over Moses, compares the two mediators, draws a warning lesson from the wilderness journey, and pictures the dangers of unbelief.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The intention of our apostle in these and the following verses, is to confirm his preceding exhortation, to hearken unto the voice of Christ, speaking in and by the gospel; and this he does by propounding the example of the Israelites, who came forth by propounding the example of the Israelites, who came forth out of Egypt under the conduct of Moses, and heard the voice of God in the wilderness; howbeit all did not provoke, but only some.

Note here, 1. How the apostle again repeateth over the words of the Psalmist, which he had mentioned before, Heb 3:7-8. Today if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

From whence we may learn, that the repetition, yea, frequent repetition of matters of moment, is very useful and necessary: We can never hear that too often, which we can never learn too well.

Note farther, The privilege which the Israelites of old enjoyed in the wilderness, and which we now enjoy under the gospel: Both theirs and ours is this, To hear the voice of God. This is a very great privilege, but privileges are as men use them; in themselves they are very valuable, but unto us they are no more than as they are prized and improved by us. Many, yea, most of them to whom Christ himself preached, finally perished; they got nothing by hearing his doctrine, through their unbelief, but an aggravation of their sins, and hastening of their ruin.

Christ himself, in his whole ministry, was a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel. Let not his ministers then be discouraged at the smallness of their own success, knowing that they shall be a sweet savour unto God, as well in them that perish, as in them that are saved.

Note lastly, That although many, very many in the wildernss that heard the voice of God, provoked him, yet not all, Heb 3:16. Some when they heard, did provoke, howbeit, not all that came out of Egypt.

Learn hence, That in the most general and visible apostasy of the church, God evermore reserves a remnant to himself to bear witness for himself by their faith and obedience; They provoked, howbeit, not all. God always has, and ever will reserve a remnant of faithful and undefiled souls unto himself, to maintain and keep up his own kingdom in the world, and to have a revenue of special glory from them, and by them, so long as the world continues.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15. While it is said. The thought and connection are, “You are partakers of Christ, if you remain steadfast, and listen to the exhortation, To-day if ye will, etc.”

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.

15. ἐν τῷ λέγεσθαι. “While” or “since it is said.” It is better to give this sense to the phrase than to suppose a long parenthesis between this verse and the φοβηθῶμεν οὗν of Heb 4:1 (which is the view of the construction taken by Chrysostom and other Greek fathers); or to join it to the παρακαλεῖτε ἑαυτοὺς of Heb 3:13.

μὴ σκληρύνητε. Some editors mistakenly supposed that σκληρύνητε was a pres. subj., which would involve a solecism. It is an aor. subj. (ἐσκλήρυνα).

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.

15.] The whole connexion and construction of this verse is very difficult. I. α. Chrys., Œc., Thl., Erasm. (annot.), Grot., al. suppose a new sentence to begin, and a parenthetical passage to follow from the end of this verse to ch. 4:1, where the sense is taken up again by φοβηθῶμεν οὖν. Besides the contextual objections to this (which see in the connexion below) there are these: 1. that δέ or some such connecting particle would thus be wanted here; 2. that thus the οὖν of ch. 4:1 would be very unnatural. β. Semler, Morus, Storr, De W., Bleek, Tholuck, Lünem., Delitzsch, Winer (§ 63. I. 1, edn. 6), al. still regarding it as the beginning of a new sentence, believe the apodosis to follow at τίνες γάρ, the first question: and justify this use of γάρ at the beginning of a question. But here again the omission of δέ (ἐν δὲ τῷ λέγ.) would be unnatural, besides that such a γάρ in a question does not seem precedented, when that question is in an apodosis with an ellipsis of λέγω or the like. γ. J. Cappellus, Carpzov, Kuinoel, al. beginning also a sentence at ἐν τῷ λ., believe the apodosis to commence at μὴ σκληρύνητε, from which words they conceive that the Writer adopts the words of the Psalm as his own. But thus no good sense is given: ‘Harden not your hearts, because (or while) it is said “To-day &c.” ’ And we should hardly find, in this case, ἐν τῷ παραπικρασμῷ thus standing without further explanation. II. The second class of interpreters are those who join ἐν τῷ λέγ. with the foregoing. And of these, δ. Bengel, Michaelis, al. regard ver. 14 as a parenthesis, and join ἐν τῷ λέγ. with ver. 13; “exhort one another,” “as it is said,”—or “while it is said,” or even, “by saying.” This must be confessed to be very flat and feeble. ε. The Peschito (“sicuti dictum est”), Primasius, Erasm. (par.), Luther, Calvin, Beza, Estius, Corn. a-Lap., Calov., Seb. Schmidt, Hammond, Wolf, Paulus, Lachmann (in his punctuation), Ebrard, take ἐν τῷ λέγ. as immediately connected with what preceded. Of these some, as e. g. Thl., Primasius, Luther, Calvin, Estius, al., connect it with ἕως τέλους—“till the end, while or as long as it is said,” &c. Others connect it with the whole of the preceding sentence—“if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence, seeing that it is said,” or “exhorted by what is said,” or “observing what is said.” Ebrard takes the words as a proof that we must hold fast &c. in order to be μέτοχοι χριστοῦ. And I own that this seems to me by far the most natural way, and open to none of the objections which beset the others. I would render then ‘since it is said,’ or in more idiomatic English, for it is said, To-day, if ye hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. Thus the context goes on smoothly, and the purpose of the whole is to shew, as is summed up in ver. 12, that it is the καρδία πονηρὰ ἀπιστίας which they have above all things to avoid. This argument is now carried forward by taking up the word παραπικρασμῷ, and asking, in a double question, who they were that provoked, and with whom it was that He was offended. But here we are met by a curious phænomenon in Scripture exegesis. It is remarkable that, while all expositors ancient and modern are agreed to take the second τίσιν interrogatively, as indeed the form of the sentence renders necessary, the whole stream of interpreters down to Bengel, and many since, have taken τινες demonstratively, not interrogatively. The sense thus obtained would be as follows: indeed, as in E. V., “For some, when they had heard, did provoke; howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses:”—the exceptions being, Caleb and Joshua, and all under twenty years old, and the women and Levites. But if we come to examine, 1. what contextual sense such a sentence can bear, or even, 2. how our Writer would probably have expressed such a meaning, we shall find reason at once to reject the interpretation. For, 1. the purpose here is clearly not to bring out the exceptions to those who were included in this saying, a process which would have quite defeated the purpose of the exhortation, seeing that the rebellious would be designated merely by τινές, and the exceptions would appear to be by far the greater number: and so every reader might shelter himself under the reflection that he was one of the faithful many, not one of the rebellious τινές. Nor again, 2. would this, as mere matter of fact, have been thus expressed by the Writer. For it obviously was not so. The τινές were the faithful few, not the rebellious many: ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἐν τοῖς πλείοσιν αὺτῶν ηὐδόκησεν ὁ θεός, 1Co 10:5. As regards the context, the course of thought is in fact just contrary to what this construction would require. The faithful exceptions are overlooked, and the whole of Israel is included in the παραπικρασμός, to make the exhortation fall more forcibly on the readers.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

While it is said [εν τω λεγεσθαι] . The formula by which the writer reverts to the previous citation. Connect with if we hold fast. The exhortation of ver. 12 answered to Psalm 95; so the condition of fulfillment in ver. 14 is declared to rest on the same Scripture. Only on the ground of what is said in that Psalm does the holding fast come to pass. Rend. therefore, "We are fellows of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end, seeing it is said," etc.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

15. ἐν τῷ λέγεσθαι) Tho connexion of the quotation is uncertain. It has been taken closely with o. 16. But the question τίνες γάρ, which marks a beginning, is fatal to this view.

Again it has been taken with δ. 14, or, more particularly, with the conditional clause of it ἐάνπερ... This connexion gives a good sense, and brings the necessity of effort into close relation with ubedience to every voice of God.

Chrysostom, followed by the later Greek commentators, supposed that the whole passage ov. 15—19 is an irregulur parouthouis, und that tho sequel of Ὁ, 14 is inc. iv. 1. But the abrupt ἐν τῷ λέγεσθαι without uny particle, followed by rives ydp...;, is strongly against this view, and also against the view that a new paragraph is begun in ὁ. 15, which is not formally completed.

It is on the whole most natural to ‘connect the quotation with ». 13. Ao-

cording to this view v. 14 is parenthetical, and brings out the real nature of the Christian privilege—a participation in tho Messiah—aud the coudition ou which it is kopt.

If this connexion be adopted the sense is: ‘exhort one another so long as it is culled today...while the voice of God is still addressed to you, and still claims loyal obedience.’

(c) Detailed interpretation of the leason of the Paalan (16—19).

Tho general application of the warning of the Psalm to Christians is confirmod by a closer lutorprotation of the circumstances. Thuse who incurred the displeasure of God and who were oxcludod from the promised rest, were tho poople who had boon dolivored from Kyypt. Unbeliof aud disobedience finally cut off from thoir geal mou who hud enterod on tho way. So it may be with those who have been joined to Christ.

6 Fur who when they heard did provoke? Nay, did not all they that came out of Egypt by Moses? " And with whom wus He displeased forty years? Was it not with them that sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He swear that they should not enter into Hie rest, but to them that were disubedient? And we sce thutl they could not enter in because of unbelief.

16—19. ‘Tho succossion of thought is significant. The vory people whom God had rescued provuked Him (9. 16). They sinued aud met with tho futal consequences of sin (0. 17). They disubeyed und received the sentence of rejection (2. 18) Unbeliof (comp. Ὁ. 12) made them incapablo of that

yest towards which they had started

by faith (συ. 19).

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.