Moses was God’s special ‘apostle’ to Israel, the chosen representative he sent to his people. Aaron was God’s appointed high priest, the person who approached God on the people’s behalf. Christ is greater than both (3:1). Christ was faithful in his work as Moses was in his. But Christ is far superior. Moses was but a servant in the house of God (i.e. the people of God), whereas Christ built the house and is head over it. That house (i.e. the people of God) is now the Christian church. It consists of all who hold firmly to Jesus Christ (2-6).
Warning against unbelief (3:7-4:13)
The writer warns his disheartened Jewish readers with some reminders from Israel’s experiences in the wilderness (see Exo 17:1-7; Num 20:1-13; Psa 95:7-11). Those experiences show that people who appear to be God’s people may be so unbelieving, bitter and complaining, that they cannot enjoy the inheritance God has promised (7-11). They should resist the tendency to unbelief and stubbornness, by encouraging one another to maintain their faith with confidence to the end (12-15). They should bear in mind that many who shared in the deliverance from Egypt were refused entrance into the promised land because of their unbelief (16-19).
God’s will was that the people of Israel, having been freed from bondage in Egypt, should find rest in Canaan, the land God promised them. In the same way God wants people everywhere to be freed from the bondage of sin and find rest in Jesus Christ. But, as with Israel, unbelief will exclude them from this promised rest (4:1-2). God’s rest has been available from the time he created the world as a human dwelling place, but because of sin, people have not found this rest. It becomes theirs only through faith (3-5).
The Israelites who were disobedient under Moses did not reach the land or find the rest that God promised them. The Israelites who entered Canaan under Joshua were those of the generation that followed. However, long after the time of Joshua, David repeated God’s promise of rest. This indicates that occupation of Canaan was not the complete fulfilment of God’s promise (6-8; see Psa 95:7-8). The real rest that God promises is salvation through faith. Just as God rested after his work of creation, so people will find true rest when they stop working to try to earn salvation and trust in what Christ has done for them (9-10; cf. Mat 11:28).
People must make every effort to remove unbelief and all other hindrances to the enjoyment of God’s rest. To help them in this, God has given them the Scriptures. His living Word penetrates into the heart, separates the merely natural from the truly spiritual, and exposes people as they really are before God (11-13).
Heb 3:1. Wherefore, holy brethren, &c.- Holy brethren may refer to what he said of those who were sanctified in Christ, ch. Heb 2:11. Partakers of the heavenly calling signifies,"Partakersof the call given us in the gospel to pursue immortality and glory." See Heb 3:14. The word apostle is, by way of eminence, put for "one sent of God;" and our Saviour has frequently, in St. John's Gospel, spoken of himself as sent by the Father. St. Paul therefore exhorts the Hebrews to consider Christ, who was infinitely higher than the angels;-who was, for our sakes, made in the flesh lower than they for a short time, but has obtained a more excellent name than they: who was sent by God the Father into the world, and so sent, as to taste death. "Consider him in these capacities, and add to them, that he was our High-priest, and entered into the holy of holies for us, removing all obstacles to the eternal happiness of his faithful people, and then judge if he be not superior to Moses. Moses was sent into Egypt, to redeem the children of Israel; Jesus was sent from heaven to redeem mankind: but then he was not only thus the Apostle, but he was likewise the High-Priest of our profession; and in consequence, not only infinitely superior to Moses, but to Aaron too; as will soon appear."
Heb 3:2. That appointed him,- Heylin reads, who constituted him [in that office]. The next words are taken from Num 12:7. The word house is used, not only for a building, but for such as dwell in it;-a family, a people: And as God is said to dwell among the children of Israel, hence they are called his house; that is, his servants, his people. When the apostle says his house, he does not mean Moses's, but his house who appointed Moses; that is, God's house.
Heb 3:3-4. For this man was counted worthy, &c.- For this [Jesus]. The word man is inserted by our translators in both these verses. It is not in the original. The word κατασκευασας, according to some, should be rendered, not built, but ordered, or governed, as the word house signifies not a building, but a family: and as the word man is not in the original (Heb 3:4.) they would render the clause, For every house or family hath some orderer or governor, referring the whole to Christ, as planning out and directing the Mosaic dispensation. Dr. Calamy has very forcibly inferred from hence the Supreme Deity of Christ, in consequence of his being the Creator of all things: and indeed it does not seem easy to make out the apostle's conclusion, or to find any trueforce in his argument, if we do not understand the last clause of the fourth verse as spoken of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Heb 3:5. And Moses verily was faithful, &c.- Moses did nothing but under the direction and government of a superior, and acted merely as a servant under a master in the house, or church, or family of God. He was faithful even to his declaration of those things, which were afterwards more particularly spoken of. He declared that one should arise like himself, to whom they were to hearken. By testimony is meant a truth published or declared: Moses therefore did not speak of himself, as if he were the person in whom the promise made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, was to be fulfilled; but he was faithful as a servant, to testify what he was told of his Master; namely, that Christ was to come, and to be obeyed, when it should please the Father to send him. He faithfully delivered the will of his Master, so far as God was pleased to convey the knowledge of such a Person to him; but a much greater information was granted to them that came after, who described the manner, the times, and circumstances of his appearance. See Act 26:22. Luk 24:44. Joh 5:46-47.
Heb 3:6. But Christ as a Son over his own house, &c.- Over the church; in which, as Heir or Lord of all things, he has not only a trust and office, but also a property. See Heb 3:4. Instead of the confidence, some read, our freedom of profession; and others, the liberty, that is, of access to God. See ch. Heb 4:16 ch. Heb 10:19; Heb 10:35. In all which places the word παρρησιαν, says Sykes, should be rendered liberty. The Jews were all absolutely prohibited from entering into theholy of holies,which represented the throne of God (the high-priest onlyexcepted; andhe having this restraint laid upon him, that he could enter it but once a year). But now the true holy of holies was opened to all, through Christ, and all Christians might have free access to the throne of God, in the highest sense in which we are capable of approaching it here below. And this freedom, without any restraint, was the παρρησια, the liberty which they might use without any fear of death or harm for entering within the veil. In this place then of this Epistle the word παρρησια is the liberty of access to the throne of God;-an advantage which no Christian is to give up. It is an access to the Lord and Master of the house; not by any others, as mediators in the family, but by and through the Son alone. The rejoicing of the hope, means the open avowal of the hope which we have of a future reward. This is the thing openly to be professed, and steadily to be adhered to, even to the end. See ch. Heb 10:23; Heb 10:26-27; Heb 10:31.
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.
Heb 3:11. My rest.- Canaan is so called, as they reposed there, after the labours of a long war, as well as the fatigues of a tedious march; and perhaps, as entering upon a course of stated worship, it might appear as a kind of sabbath-keeping. The word my is here added, both because God was the cause of this rest, and because the ark, which was supposed to be the place of his residence, ceased to be carried about. Under these images David Kimchi supposed that the signs of the Messiah were adumbrated.
Heb 3:12. From the living God.- Whose house they are said to be, Heb 3:6. He is called living, as being ever one and the same; and therefore he must be always equally offended with the same sins.
Heb 3:13. While it is called To-day;- That is, "As long as you can use this expression;-every day.-Exhort and encourage one another every day, to a steady perseverance in duty; and do this as often as the day comes, lest any of you grow careless, &c." Dr. Doddridge explains it, "While you are under this dispensation of grace." Perhaps the meaning only may be, "While you have it in your power; while your life is spared;-for the night cometh, when no man can work."
Heb 3:14. For we are made partakers, &c.- "For the benefits which we have from Christ, and that eternal salvation, even our rest, which he hath promised to us, are only to be had upon the condition, that we hold firm and unshaken our dependance, hope, and confidence, quite through our lives." To be partakers of Christ, is to be made sharers, with others, of the doctrines taught by Christ in the gospel, and of the benefits and advantages which are promised by, and to be obtained through him. See Hebrews 3 :1Ch 6:4. Col 1:12. Eph 3:6. Upon comparing the latter part of this verse with the last clause of Heb 3:6 the sense seems to be the same. So that here is expressed the condition of our being made partakers of Christ: as if he had said, "It is with good reason I urge you to use such care every day; for the exhortation in the psalm, in effect, does the same: there being no day, in which it is not to be understood as speaking to men in this manner, To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. It will not suffice us, that at our first conversion we made a good profession of our confidence in Christ; but this confidence must be maintained every day, to the end of our lives.The neglect of it any day may have a sad consequence, beginning such a hardness of heart, as through the deceitfulness of sin may so increase, that we may lose our part in Christ." What the apostle just mentions here, he prosecutes at large, ch. Heb 10:23-39 and Hebrews 11 throughout.
Heb 3:15. While it is said, To-day- The 14th verse seems to be a parenthesis, and the 15th is thus to be joined to the 13th: Exhort one another daily, while it is called To-day, lest any of you should be hardened, &c.-"Exhort one another, I advise, by or from its being said, To-day if ye will hear, &c." Thus, as in Heb 3:13 he had expressed the time when this mutual exhortation should be used,-while it is called To-day; and the end of it,-lest any should be hardened, &c. so in this verse he declares the ground upon which their mutual exhortation was to be built; namely, its being said, To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. Thus understood, the present verse agrees with the 13th: for, as there he cautions them against being hardened, so here he sets down the words of the text, which shews the danger there was of it; by which consideration they were to excite and stir up each other. See Psa 42:3. Eze 36:20 in the LXX.
Heb 3:16. For some, when they had heard, did provoke:- The reasoning is thus: "Do you every day exhort one another to steadfastness in the faith; omit no opportunity of doing so: do not delay, or put it off; for you see in fact, that some when they had heard, yet obstinately provoked: take care that you be not like them, either in sinning, or in suffering." The inspired writer speaks of this transaction with tenderness, saying only, that some of them did provoke, but not all; although among the adults there were only two exceptions, Caleb and Joshua; who, in such a vast multitude, were next to none at all. Nor was it necessary for the apostle to set forth a case so well known in the harshest manner: their own reflection would supply what might seem wanting, and bring the matter home upon them; who might learn by this example, that the vastness of the multitude of unbelievers would be no excuse for thosewho now believed not in Christ; nor would the smallness of the number of those who now believed in him, cause them to be overlooked, or to fail of obtaining the promised rest.
Heb 3:18. That believed not?- That is, were so obstinate and disobedient as entirely to forfeit all claim to his promise and favour.
Heb 3:19. So we see, &c.- "And thus we see, and it is as clear as possible, that the reason why they could not enter into the place designed for their rest, after their wandering in the wilderness, was because of their unbelief and disobedience."
Inferences.-With what incomparable dignity does our Lord Jesus Christ transcend Moses, in his person and office! Moses was merely a man, and a servant! and the best that can be said of him is, that he was a part of God's house, and faithful in his ministry: but Christ is more than a mere man or servant; he is the God that governs the church, and orders all its affairs; and is the Lord Proprietor and Ruler of it! and in all his administrations is faithful to his Father that appointed him to his office, as a divine Mediator and Saviour. How worthy is he of our highest regard! All, that profess to be partakers of the heavenly calling, should think frequently and honourably of him, as the great Apostle and High-priest of their profession, and hold fast the beginning of their confidence, and their rejoicing therein, to the end, as ever they would prove themselves to be faithful members of his family, in which he dwells. How watchful should we be against the first workings of unbelief, and much more against the prevalence of it! This is a mother-sin, which leads the way to all others: it proceeds from the corruption of the heart, and is in itself exceeding sinful: it is no less than a departure from the living God and Saviour, in whom is all our help, hope, and happiness. And, ah, how dreadful are the effects of apostacy! It is the highest provocation to God, and hardening of the heart against him. It is a shameful distrust of him; a grief to his good Spirit; and a contemptuous neglect of all his dispensations of mercy and judgment; and brings the heaviest vengeance upon apostates themselves. How should the examples of the unbelief of others, and of their rebellion against God, and of their punishment, be a solemn warning to us, that we may not tread in their steps; but may be excited to an obedient faith without delay, while the door of mercy is opened in the gospel! It is our greater interest and duty to attend, and yield ourselves up to what the Holy Ghost says in his word, and in secret suggestions to our souls; and not harden our hearts against it, lest God should, ere we are aware, swear in his wrath, that we shall never enter into the rest, which he has provided for his faithful people. But how great is the deceitfulness of sin to stupify the conscience! And what need have believers themselves to be daily cautioned, and to caution one another against it! No outward privileges or professions of religion will secure us from divine wrath, if our hearts are not right with God: but, blessed be his name, there are many of a more excellent spirit, like Caleb and Joshua. They are already partakers of Christ, and of the benefits of his purchase, and shall for ever enjoy him in the glorious state of heavenly rest, if faithful unto death.
REFLECTIONS.-1st, We have, in this chapter, the application of the foregoing considerations. The excellency of our great High-priest should draw up our hearts in all holy affection and humble adoration to him.
Wherefore, holy brethren, renewed in the spirit of your minds, partakers of the heavenly calling, admitted to all the blessings and privileges of the gospel, consider the Apostle and High-priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, sent of God, appointed to his office on purpose to make reconciliation, and whom we profess to believe in as the author of all blessedness; consider his transcendent dignity, and the characters that he bears toward us.
1. With what fidelity he discharged his trust as a prophet. Who was faithful to him that appointed him, revealing to us all his Father's will; as also Moses, who was his eminent type, was faithful in all his house; communicating to the church in the wilderness, among whom Christ in the divine Shechinah dwelt as in his own house, all the statutes and ordinances delivered unto him.
2. How far superior he is to Moses, as the builder of his own church. For this man (ουτος ), this incarnate Jesus, was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house, hath more honour than the house. The master, owner, and builder of the house must needs be far above any member of the family which inhabits it; and Moses, though so distinguished, was but one of the many faithful in the church, of which the Lord Jesus is the maker and builder, therefore must be far inferior to him. For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things, and regulated, furnished, and set in order every thing pertaining to his church, whether under the Jewish or evangelical dispensation, is God, even that Jesus who shares all the incommunicable attributes of Deity, and is very God, as well as very man.
3. Moses was but a servant; Christ is the Son over his own house. And Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a servant, principally, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; to foretel and prefigure in the rites enjoined by him, according to divine command, the great things that under the gospel should be more fully and clearly revealed. But Christ is infinitely his superior, as a Son over his own house, the church erected by him, and purchased with his blood; whose house are we that believe, the happy members of his family, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope, which the gospel inspires, unto the end of life, which alone will eternally insure to us all the blessings of his holy family. Note; (1.) Christ is the glorious object, who should ever be in our eye: the more we consider him, the more shall we honour, love, and serve him. (2.) Those who are brethren in Christ, and truly partakers of the heavenly calling, will prove it by the holiness of their walk and conversation.
2nd, As it is not nominal profession, but persevering fidelity, which can secure to us the eternal rest of heaven, the apostle proceeds to caution and warn them by former examples.
Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, (Psa 95:7.) To-day, if ye will hear his voice, without delay, or trifling with God's patience any longer, harden not your hearts, against all the calls and warnings of God, as your fathers did in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness, when by their murmurings, unbelief, and disobedience, your fathers tempted me, proved me, how mindful I am of my promise, and how long-suffering; and saw my works forty years; receiving the strongest evidences of my power and grace. Wherefore, wearied out with their perverseness, and incorrigible ingratitude and infidelity, I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart, stubborn, and wilfully rebellious; and they have not known my ways; they delight not in them, and choose their own delusions: so I sware in my wrath, justly offended by their continued impenitence, they shall not enter into my rest, the land of promise, the type of that eternal rest which remaineth for the faithful above. Note; (1.) While the day of life and hope is prolonged, we are called to seize and improve the precious moments on which eternity depends. (2.) Continued hardness of heart against the calls of grace, and the warnings of Providence, must infallibly issue in everlasting ruin. (3.) God bears long, but he will not bear always. He will swear in his wrath, that the incorrigible shall not enter into his rest.
3rdly, The example which he had quoted, the apostle applies,
1. For their caution. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you, as was in them, an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. Note; (1.) Unbelief is the great damning sin. (2.) There may be much heart-unbelief under the most specious professions of faith. (3.) Where unbelief prevails, departure from God our Saviour necessarily follows.
(4.) It calls for all our watchfulness and prayer, that our souls do not suffer shipwreck on this fatal rock.
2. He suggests the means of preventing the so-much-to-be- dreaded evil. But exhort and encourage one another daily, while it is called To-day; improve every opportunity during this fleeting moment of life, to excite each other to watchfulness and holy diligence; lest any of you, who have made profession of the gospel, or experienced its power, be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin; your consciences lulled asleep, and your souls perverted and seduced from the simplicity of the gospel. Note; (1.) Christian brethren should maintain a holy jealousy over each other. (2.) Since the time is so short, we need be earnest to redeem it for the best purposes. (3.) Sin comes with a most alluring aspect, and lurks often under the most specious appearances. (4.) Wherever sin gains possession of the heart, hardness and insensibility naturally follow; so that they who are in the most fatal danger, are the least apprized of it.
3. He encourages them to end well, as they had begun. For we are made partakers of Christ, or, we have been admitted to all the blessings and privileges which spring from vital union with him, if we hold the beginning of our confidence (αποστασεως ), or subsistence in him, steadfast unto the end, and perseveringly abide in this holy fellowship, without which our former experience will avail us nothing. Note; Every believer is a partaker of Christ, and all things are ours if we are his; his merit, grace, and Spirit.
4. He returns to the subject that he began with, to fortify them against apostacy. Improve the present moment while it is said, To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation; to-morrow you may be launched into eternity, and time be to you no more. For some, when they had heard, notwithstanding every warning, did provoke God to abandon them: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses; Caleb and Joshua, and those under twenty years of age, still survived. But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, who bore the righteous vengeance due to their iniquities, and whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, nor possess the promised Canaan, but to them that believed not, and rejected their own mercies? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Note; (1.) Unbelief of God's promises is among the most common and highly provoking iniquities. (2.) They who wilfully reject the counsel of God against their own souls, have only themselves to blame for their ruin. (3.) Such fearful instances should awaken in us a holy jealousy to make our calling and election sure.
