Num. 12:7

1

glory than Moses, by so much as he that 1 built the 4. house hath more honour than the house. For every house is builded by some one; but he that 1built 5. all things is God. And Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were afterward to be spoken; 6. but Christ as a son, over 2 his house; whose house are we, if we hold fast our boldness and the glorying of our hope firm unto the end.

1 Or, established

That is, God's house. See Num. xii. 7

Hath been counted worthy. And hence enjoys. The emphasis is upon his state of dignity, not upon the attainment of it. Built. I.e., built and equipped. The house. In the sense of house and household, including the servants of it. Than the house. Moses, as created, is part of God's house, his world, or church. The Son is of more glory than the whole house, much more than a member of it. Thus the Son, as creator, stands far above Moses in glory and honor.

4. For every house. A general remark, suggested by the expression built the house used above. Every house has an immediate builder, just as the church had in Christ. But he that built. Back of all builders is God, the ultimate creator of all, who through Christ made the worlds, 1: 2, and the church, 3:3.

5. Moses, with all his faithfulness, was but a servant in the house in which Christ is the Son. It was as a servant that Moses was faithful; cf. Num. 12:7. For a testimony. To bear witness to the things that were to be said, that is, later, by Christ himself. The witnessing of Moses subordinates him, and the revelation of which he was the representative, to the loftier revelation to which he as a servant pointed.

6. But Christ. Sc. was faithful. Christ was faithful in a loftier and more responsible relation than Moses, presiding as Son and heir over God's house. Whose house. Or, and we are his house. Christian believers are preeminently the house of God. In this the writer's thought of the transient and provisional nature of Judaism and the superiority of Christianity is again reflected. If we hold fast. His readers are in danger of loosening their hold upon the boldness and boasting of their hope. He reminds them that they must hold their Christian hope steadfast unto the end.

2. Warning against apostasy and unbelief, and consequent failure to attain the Rest of God, 3:7-4:13

7. °Wherefore, even as the Holy Ghost saith, "To-day, if ye shall hear his voice,

8.

9.

IO.

°Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation,
Like as in the day of the o1 temptation in the wilder-

ness,

01

02 Wherewith your fathers tempted me by proving me,
And saw my works forty years.

"Wherefore I was displeased with this generation,
And said, They do 3 alway °err in their heart:

The moral failure of the Hebrews due to unbelief, 3:7-19.

7. Wherefore. I.e., in view of the promise of v. 6. The Holy Ghost saith. The words of the Old Testament are appropriated by the writer, as a warning needed by his readers. The LXX form of it, which is here in general followed, departs from the Hebrew in some points. To-day. In contrast with the day of temptation in the wandering long before. If ye shall hear. Hearing God's voice carries with it the responsibility of heeding it. In the Hebrew, this clause is a wish: Oh that ye would hear.

8. Harden not your hearts. I.e., into unbelief and indifference. "Provocation and temptation are translations of the Hebrew Meribah and Massah, proper names in the Psalm, though having this meaning” (Davidson). For the incidents referred to, see Ex. 17: 1-7; Num. 20: 1-13; Deut. 33:8. As. Sc., your fathers did. Provocation. I.e., of God. Temptation. I.e., the trying of God. These events fell the one near the beginning, the other toward the close of the wilderness wandering.

9. Wherewith. Better, where. By proving. I.e., by putting to the proof. As here quoted, the passage means, Where your fathers for forty years tried my works by putting them to the proof, and saw them. Forty years suggests the unreasonable prolongation of this incredulous testing; although the fathers saw the works, they continued to test them. Forty years in both Hebrew and LXX limits I was displeased, as in vs. 17.

IO. Wherefore. Because of this prolonged incredulity. This.

Ps. 95:7-11

II.

But they did not know my ways;
01 As I sware in my wrath,

2 They shall not enter into my rest.

12. Take heed, brethren, lest haply there shall be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling 13. away from the living God: but exhort one another day by day so long as it is called To-day; lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin: 14. for we are become partakers of Christ, if we hold

I SVm So

3

LXX reads that; the generation in the wilderness is meant. Err. I.e., wander, suggestive of spiritual wanderings akin to their wanderings in the wilderness. Know. That is, either understand, or learn. My ways. Ignorance or dislike of which caused their wandering in heart. That thought is here repeated in negative form.

II. As connects the oath with the anger reflected in it; I was angered with this generation. even as I sware in my wrath. The psalmist's reference is to Num. 14:21-23, 28-35. Rest. Used as in Deut. 12:9: The rest and inheritance which Jehovah thy God giveth thee; i.e., the promised land, and the security anticipated there. This quotation, 3:7-11, serves as a text for the warnings and admonitions that follow, 3: 12-4: 13.

12. Take heed. The writer applies the warning of the psalm to his readers. Many scholars connect this with the Wherefore of vs. 7, making 7b-11 parenthetical. Of unbelief. I.e., an evil, unbelieving heart. In falling away. Indicative of the content of the previous expression, i.e., the unbelieving heart will manifest itself in apostasy from God. The living God. A favorite designation with the writer (cf. 9:14; 10:31; 12: 22), as with Paul, and strongly suggesting that it is a lapse not into Judaism, but paganism, that threatens the readers.

13. But. In contrast with neglect or indifference. So long as it is called To-day. I.e., while it is still possible to speak of To-day the interval of opportunity. The writer gives the To-day of the psalmist a Christian sense, viz., the fleeting present age preceding the Messianic era. Lest any one of you. The clause gives either the purpose or the content of the exhortation which the writer enjoins. Hardened. Echoes the Harden not of the psalmist, vs. 8. Deceitfulness of sin. The sin of unbelief threatens them in disguise. 14. Partakers of Christ. I.e., either sharers in the Christ or

fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the 15. end: while it is said,

To-day, if ye shall hear his voice,

Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. 16. For who, when they heard, °did provoke? nay, did not all they that came out of Egypt by Moses?

partners of the Christ; the latter meaning is the more probable, in view of the writer's representation of Christ as leader and brother. Participation in this partnership is conditioned on steadfast adherence to the faith they have professed. The beginning of our confidence. The conviction and assurance which we felt at the beginning of our experience. Unto the end. The readers of the epistle are in grave danger of growing cold and weary amid their trials and disappointments.

15. The first couplet of the quotation is here repeated, with direct application to the readers addressed. The warning of the psalmist is now applied directly to them. While it is said. The verse may be connected with the preceding, We are partners . if we hold fast; as it is said, If ye shall hear his voice to-day, etc.; or it may be regarded as independent; While it is called to-day, i.e., while the interval of opportunity still continues, harden not your hearts. The latter is the more probable, and the verse thus resumes the exhortation of vs. 13, leaving vs. 14 a parenthesis. The exhortation that no one be hardened which the readers are told to give each other, vs. 13, is here made directly to them in the very words of the psalm.

16. This and the following verses in a series of questions point the lessons of the Israelites' moral failure, and find a parallel between their condition and that of the readers. For. The writer defends his bold application of this sinister warning to the believers addressed; they are not so unlike those Israelites of old who fell victims to unbelief and apostasy. They doubtless thought themselves in no such dire peril. Who. Just who were these provokers of God, whose sin and fate have become proverbial? When they heard; better, although they heard. The readers, too, have heard God's voice. Did provoke. Referring to the provocation mentioned in the psalm. Nay, did not all. They were not a few, but a multitude, a whole generation. The conduct of one's fellows may be no sound criterion of the will of God. That came out of Egypt. All these apostates had started for the Promised Land with Moses, just as the readers have set out for the better country; a suggestion that the Christian profession once made is no guarantee against subsequent moral

Ps. 95:7, 8

Num. 14:29

17. And with whom was he

1

displeased forty years? sinned, whose carcases And to whom sware he that

was it not with them that 18. fell in the wilderness?

they should not enter into his rest, but to them that 19. were disobedient? And we see that they were not able to enter in because of unbelief.

4.

"Let us fear therefore, lest haply, a promise being left

Gr. limbs; SV bodies

failure. By Moses. These men had at first been believers in Moses, and had followed him forth from Egypt. A striking parallel is thus instituted between the Israelites and the readers of the epistle, yet so skilfully and tactfully as to make offence impossible.

17. The next step in the moral failure of the Israelites; their provocation incensed God through forty years. The writer is tracing the steps through which Israel came to be excluded from the Promised Rest. Displeased. Better, incensed, wroth. Forty years. Here connected, not as in vs. with saw my works, but as in the Hebrew and LXX, with I was displeased. Sinned. Herein lay the occasion of God's wrath and the key to the fate of the Israelites. It was against them as sinners that his wrath was directed. Whose carcases fell. Their fate, declared in Num. 14: 29, is mentioned here in dreadful proximity to the fault which caused it. Dying in misery and disappointment, their bodies had been left behind unburied in the desert, all through their sin, which had incensed God against them.

18. The final step in the history that is being traced; God in his anger swore that they, as disobedient, should never enter into his Rest. To whom. The question, like the others, fixes attention on the persons who incurred God's curse; they were no others than those who disobeyed. His rest. As above, the inheritance, the

Promised Land of security and ease.

19. From this survey the writer concludes that the moral failure of Israel was due to unbelief. They were not able. Their failure to reach the promised rest in Canaan was at bottom owing simply to unbelief, which manifested itself in disobedience and the provoking of God by continually putting him and his works to the proof.

The rest unattained by the Hebrews awaits believers, who have need of redoubled diligence to secure it, 4: 1-13.

1. The lesson and warning are drawn from the fate of Israel. Let us fear. We dare not be too sure of our inheritance, because