1Christ is shewed to be more worthy than Moses: 7we must be careful therefore not to follow the example of the obstinate and unbelieving Israelites in the wilderness.
1WHEREFORE,1 holy brethren, 2partakers of the heavenly calling, 3consider the 4Apostle and 5High Priesta of 6our profession, Christ Jesus;
1 Namely, seeing we have understood that Christ is true God, and is made partaker of one nature with us, as is proved in the two previous chapters.
2 That is, which is from heaven, Philip. 3:14, and exhorts us unto heavenly things, 2 Thes. 2:14. And so he distinguishes the believing Jews from the unbelieving and stubborn ones.
3 Namely, so that you continue obedience unto Him. The Greek word signifies a consideration with great attention.
4 That is, Ambassador of the Father, to reveal unto us the counsel of God concerning our salvation. See John 20:21.
5 Namely, to reconcile us unto God; of which office he will treat in detail in the 5th and the following chapter.
a Heb. 4:14; 6:20; 8:1; 9:11.
6 That is, of the evangelical doctrine, of which we make profession.
2Who was faithful to him 7that appointed him, asb also Moses was faithful in all 8his house.
7 Gr. that made him; namely, an Apostle, Prophet and High Priest. See 1 Sam. 12:6; Acts 2:36.
b Num. 12:7.
8 That is, His congregation, which is called the house of God, because He dwells in the same by His Word, grace and Spirit. See Mat. 18:20; 1 Tim. 3:15.
3For 9this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath 10builded the house hath more honour 11than the house.
9 Namely, Christ, the Apostle and High Priest of our profession.
10 Or, furnished, prepared.
11 Namely, that is built by him, namely, His congregation, whereof Moses was a member.
4For every house is builded by some man; butc12he that built all things is 13God.
c 2 Cor. 5:17, 18; Eph. 2:10.
12 That is, accomplished what belongs to the wellbeing of His congregation.
13 From which than necessarily follows that Christ is also this true God, Who built all this, as he had testified in the verse 3.
5And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, 14ford a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after;
14 Or, for testifying. This the apostle says of the predictions and ceremonies of the Old Testament, which were propounded by Moses and the prophets, and would be further and more extensively expounded afterwards by Christ and the apostles, as Moses himself testifies, Deut. 18:15.
d Deut. 18:15, 18.
6But Christ 15as a son over his own house; whosee16house are we, iff we hold fast 17the confidence and 18the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
15 That is, as the proper Son and Heir, for otherwise Moses was also a son of God by faith.
e 1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19; 2 Cor. 6:16; 1 Peter 2:5.
16 That is, congregation, or members of the house, as verse 2.
f Rom. 5:2.
17 That is, faith or confidence in Christ, whereby we have a bold access unto God, as unto our Father. See Heb. 10:22 and Rom. 8:15, etc.
18 That is, hope, whereby we dare to boast of God’s favor and our future glory, Rom. 5:2, 3.
7Wherefore (as 19the Holy Ghost saith, To dayg if ye 20will hear 21his voice,
19 Namely, by the mouth of the prophet David, as is added in Acts 1:16. See also 2 Sam. 23:2 and 2 Peter 1:21.
g Psalm 95:7; Heb. 4:7.
20 Or, hear, whereby the prophet shows that he does not only understand this of his voice who spoke then, but of yet another voice, namely, of the Messiah, who afterward would yet speak unto them.
21 Namely, God’s or the Messiah’s voice, whereby God would also speak unto them, Heb. 1:1.
822Harden not your hearts, ash23in the provocation,i24in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
22 Men are said to harden their hearts when they take not the Lord’s voice to heart or let it not enter into their hearts, to believe and to obey it. See Zech. 7:11, etc.
h Exod. 17:2.
23 That is, in the time of the provocation, when the Israelites by their rebellion incensed or provoked God, which was done many times in the wilderness in the time of forty years, but especially Exod. 17:7; Num. 20:13.
i defiance*
24 That is, in the time of the temptation when they tempted Me in the wilderness. The apostle propounds this example unto them, because they always boasted of their forefathers.
9When your fathers 25tempted me, 26proved me, and saw my works forty years.
25 Man is said to tempt God, when he willfully calls God’s promises or power into question, or despises the ordinary means of God’s government, and desires extraordinary, as the Israelites did here, and the Pharisees tempt Christ, Mat. 16:1.
26 Some take this for an explication of the previous word tempt, but is by others as suitably taken in good part, for having sufficient proof or experience of God’s power and good will in delivering them, and feeding them all this preceding time, as the following words also carries the sense.
10Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway 27err in their heart; and they have 28not known 29my ways.
27 That is, turn away from Me as erring men, and from the obedience which they owe Me.
28 That is, not laid to heart; or, sought not to hold them in their knowledge, duly to acknowledge and observe them.
29 That is, My commandments which I have given them, and My benefits which I have granted them.
11Soj I sware in my wrath, 30They shall not enter 31into my rest.)
j Num. 14:21; Deut. 1:34.
30 A form of taking an oath, usual with the Hebrews. See Mark 8:12. Gr. If they shall enter.
31 Here the land of Canaan is called as such, because it was an end of the wanderings of the Israelites in the wilderness; it is here immediately propounded as a type of the rest to come after this life, in eternal life, as Paul shall further declare in the following chapter.
12Take heed, 32brethren, lest there be in any of you an 33evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
32 Such he here calls the Hebrews who made profession of Christ, and exhorts them now each in particular to take heed that they would not follow the greater part of the stiff-necked Jews, as many of their fathers had done in the wilderness, and therefore were excluded from the rest of the land of Canaan.
33 Gr. a wicked heart of unbelief, that is, that under a pretext of being a Christian, nevertheless is unbelieving, and consequently to be brought easily from his profession to apostasy. See Mat. 13:20, 21.
13But exhort 34one another daily, 35while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
34 Namely, to steadfastness and increase in faith. It may also be translated exhort yourselves, but the following words, lest any of you, seem to require the first translation, as this Greek word heautous is also taken in Eph. 4:32; Col. 3:16; 1 Thes. 5:13.
35 That is, while the Lord gives you time and opportunity for it, and calls you thereunto, to which calling we must take heed. For, otherwise the Lord, by His justice, oftentimes sends a power of error upon men who obey not the Gospel for a punishment of their unthankfulness. See 2 Thes. 2:11, 12.
14For we are made partakers of 36Christ, if we hold the beginning of 37our confidence stedfast unto the end;
36 Or, Christ’s partners; namely, in His heavenly inheritance, Rom. 8:17; 1 Peter 1:3, 4.
37 Gr. hypostaseos, that is, of substance; thus he calls faith and firm confidence in Christ, because the same confirms God’s promises to us, and causes them to subsist in us. A similar signification of this word, see 2 Cor. 9:4; 11:17, and hereafter Heb. 11:1, although the same word in Heb. 1:3 is taken in another sense.
1538While it is said, To dayk if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.l
38 Or, so long. Namely, unto you it also was said by the Spirit of Christ and His messengers, as in former time by Moses to your fathers.
k verse 7.
l defiance*
16For some, when they had heard, did provoke: 39howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.
39 Namely, as Joshua, Caleb, many Levites and others; which the apostle adds to show also that God always kept His remnant among the people, and therefore will also preserve the like among them, notwithstanding the hardening of many.
17But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them 40that had sinned, whosem41carcases fell in the wilderness?
40 That is, had murmured against God, and were become apostate to Him.
m Num. 14:36; Psalm 106:26; 1 Cor. 10:10; Jude verse 5.
41 Gr. members. Not that all who died in the wilderness were thereupon necessarily excluded out of heaven; for Aaron and Moses died there also; but they who died therein without sorrow and amendments, after they had tempted God, of which the exclusion out of the promised land was but a type.
18Andn to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?
n Deut. 1:34.
19So we see that they could not enter in 42because of unbelief.
42 That is, because they trusted not in God’s promises, but murmured against Him without repentance.