Hebrews 3
DODDHebrews 3:1-13
The apostle farther takes occasion to manifest Christ, as superior to Moses, the great legislator of the Jews; and begins to caution them from the sentence passed on the rebels against the authority of Moses, of the danger of despising the gospel promises. Heb. III. 1—13.
HEBREWS III. 1.
WHEREFORE, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;
HEBREWS III. 1.
I HAVE just pointed out to you the Son of God, under the endearing character of a compassionate and faithful High Priest. And therefore suffer me to address you my dear and holy brethren, whom he hath brought near to God, and graciously made partakers of the heavenly calling,ᵃ by which he animates his people to aspire to the noblest views and pursuits; and let me entreat you frequently to direct your eyes and hearts to him: attentively regard this gracious Saviour, who hath condescended to become the apostle of God to us, that he might bring us the messages of his will, and who is also constituted the High Priest of our profession,ᵇ by whom our guilt is expiated, and our happiness secured even Christ Jesus,
ᵃ Holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling] Mr. Peirce thinks, when they are called holy brethren by the apostle, it is in allusion to what was said of their being sanctified, chap. ii. 11, that when he speaks of their calling, he means their being called his brethren; and that when he stiles them partakers of this calling, it is to intimate that they do not ingross it. But all these interpretations seem to me more refined than solid. The calling generally signifies the call that is given us by
the gospel to pursue immortality and glory. ᵇ Apostle and High Priest.] Both are properly mentioned, as the author was to show, that as an apostle, Christ was superior to Moses; and as an High Priest, to Aaron. He is called an Apostle as sent from God with full commission for the important affair he came to transact. That apostle signifies messenger, see many places in the New Testament, cited Vol. I. sect. 162, noteᶜ.
Who was counted worthy of more honour than Moses.
so well known to us under this great and honiii. ourable character. Let that illustrious Person
Who was faith.
be daily familiar to your minds, even he who was faithful to him that appointed him to his office, as Moses [was] also faithful for all his house; according to that testimony with which God himself was pleased to honour him. (Numb. xii. 7.) But I design not by applying these words, to insinuate, that there is room for a complete comparison between them. On the contrary, it is very apparent, that as for him of whom I now speak, he was esteemed worthy of far more honour than Moses, in proportion to the degree in which the builder of a house d hath more honour than the house itself. For Christ laid the plan of the Mosaic dispensation, and Moses who was himself his creature, evidently acted as his delegate in the revelation which he made to the people of Israel; so that whatever excellencies that dispensation can boast, they reflect an honour ultimately on the Divine Person from whom he received it. For every house has some builder, by whom its several parts were modelled, raised and disposed, and every thing well adjusted in it displays the skill of its Architect and Disposer, now he who built and adjusted all things [is] God, whose works of creation and providence are worthy their great Author, and proclaim that power, wisdom, and goodness, which set
c More honour than Moses] As it was their attachment to the Mosaic law, and the writings of the Old Testament, that hindered so many Jews from embracing Christianity, it is with the utmost propriety of address that the apostle here undertakes to shew that Christ was superior to Moses; and by a necessary consequence, to the rest of the prophets and sacred authors, whom they acknowledged to be inferior to this great Prophet.
d Builder of a house] Both Mr. Pyle and Dr. Whitby would render xxlxxwxlw not to build, but to order or govern, as the word house signifies not a building, but a family.
e Hath some builder] So I think the words xxlxxwxlwxlw lwr wlwr may be rendered, the word man not being in the original, nor here being properly inserted.
Dr. Calamy has argued from hence the supreme Deity of Christ, in consequence of his being the Creator of all things. (Calamy on Trin. p 44.) But Mr. Peirce pleads, that if it had been the intent of the apostle here to assert, that Christ was the Creator of all things, it would have been sufficient to have stopped here, and that what follows would sink the argument lower; therefore he would translat it as the vulgar Latin does, The builder of the house, that is, the head and founder of the family, has the greatest honour of any person in the house; and by consequence they must have the next honour who are most nearly related to him. So Christ who is his Son must have greater honour than Moses, who was no more than a servant.
To day therefore they should hear his voice,
im infinitely above the most excellent of sect. creatures. iii.
And that Christ is incomparably more to be honoured than Moses, appears even from this consideration, though inferior to the former, that Moses [was] indeed faithful in all his house, as a servant, who was appointed to act in an inferior economy, for a testimony of things afterwards to be mentioned; the evangelical design of which we shall in some measure discuss in the following parts of this epistle, according to their relation and connection. But 6 Christ was faithful in a far superior character, even as a Son in his own house,ᶠ that is, over the church, in which as Heir of all things he hath not only a trust and office, but also a property, and which is appointed for him to inhabit and preside over; whose house, his chosen and delightful habitation, we Christians now are, if we strenuously maintain [our] freedom of profession,ᵍ and boasting of hope, steadfast unto the end; if having so glorious an hope set before us, in which we may justly boast as our greatest honour and happiness, we resolutely adhere to it, and permit nothing to wrest it out of our hands.
And to this I am labouring to animate you, 7 by the representation I have given of the dignity and glory of our blessed Saviour. Therefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, in a psalm which he dictated to David, (Psal. xcv. 7,) To day if ye will ever hear his voice at all, Harden not 8 your hearts any longer; lest you bring destruction upon yourselves, as your predecessors did, in the bitter provocation which they presumed to offer me in the day of temptation in the wilderness; When your unbelieving fathers tempted me, and proved me, as if they would have made an experiment how much it was possible for me to bear; and this, though they saw my works in such a variety of wonders, as passed
ᶠ In his own house.] Mr. Peirce brings many arguments to prove it should be in his house, that is, God’s, in which sense the very words are used and translated before; but as Christ is appointed the Heir of all things, the paraphrase cannot I think be contested. Compare Heb. x. 21.
ᵍ Our freedom of profession.] Some would render it, if we hold fast the confidence, even the rejoicing of our hope firm unto the end, supposing it to refer to that confession which they made at their baptism with solemnity and joy.
And not be hardened through the deceit ulnes
in the wilderness in the course of forty succeeding years, Therefore I was angry with that perverse generation, and said they always do and will err in [their] hearts, through their own obstinacy and folly, and they have not known my ways, nor paid any regard to the clearest discoveries of my will and design; So that after repeated abuses of my patience and long suffering, I sware in my wrath, and solemnly declared by my own holy and majestic name, that they should never enter into my rest;^h but that the carcasses of all that came adult out of Egypt, shall fall in the wilderness, and that generation of men be totally consumed. How awful a determination, after all the hopes which such signal deliverances had concurred to inspire! See to it therefore, brethren, lest there ever be in any of you a wicked heart of unbelief, in apostatizing from him who still wears the same omnipotent terrors, and continues, and will ever continue, the living and true God, to whom you profess so great a regard, and from whom you will indeed revolt, if you give up the religion of Christ Jesus his Son. You are surrounded with many temptations to do this; but exhort one another daily, while you are under this dispensation of grace, whilst it is called to day,^i and the deserved judgments of God are suspended, that no one of you may by insensible degrees and artful insinuations, be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, and its fallacious advances on the mind; whereby if you are not resolutely on your guard, you may be seduced finally to forfeit the invaluable blessings, which are so freely offered, and which have so long been set before you.
IMPROVEMENT.
We are partakers of this heavenly calling, and to us are the messages of mercy addressed: let us therefore hear with reverence and obedience, the admonitions of the word of God.
^h My rest.] Canaan is so called, as they there reposed themselves after the labours of a long war, as well as the fatigues of a sedious march; and perhaps as entering upon a course of stated worship, it might appear as a kind of sabbath keeping.
^i Whilst it is called to day.] L’Enfant thinks this refers to that patience which God still exercises towards a nation soon to be overwhelmed with his judgments.
Reflections on the superiority of Christ to Moses.
Let us behold with veneration and delight, the Son of God becoming the Messenger of his Father’s love, and the High Priest of our Christian profession. He is the great prophet too, whom God hath raised up unto us like Moses, in many respects; but O how far superior to him! More completely faithful to him, who hath appointed him; faithful as a Son in his own house.
The world is an edifice raised by Christ: the church is the house in which he delights to reside. Let both be considered in this important view. The Divine perfections of the great Architect are indeed illustriously displayed in the construction and constitution of this visible world. Does the meanest house or cottage declare itself to be the work of some intelligent agent? And does it not much more evidently appear, that this commodious and magnificent structure must have been planned and reared by proportionable wisdom, grandeur and power?
It is the work of Christ; and let it often be devoutly surveyed and contemplated in this view; and from thence let us infer his Divine glories, and read in them his matchless condescensions. Let us learn with how much security and delight we may commit our immortal souls to him who stretched out the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth, and shall endure the same when they shall be dissolved and perish. Let us view him also as the Lord of the church; and consider the fabric of grace as raised to his honour; that in that as his temple, every one might speak of his glory; and let all the churches, and every member of each, make it their faithful care to honour him more and more.
In this view may we hold fast the confidence, and rejoicing of our hope, steadfast unto the end, and never suffer any one to take our crown, or terrify, or allure us, from that faithful subjection of soul to Christ, which his perfections and our obligations to him concur to demand. Who of us can say, he is beyond all danger of being ensnared by an evil heart of unbelief, of being hardened through the deceitfulness of sin? Let us then, in compliance with so salutary and necessary an exhortation, redouble our guard; let us watch over ourselves and each other; exhorting one another daily, while it is called to day, and charging our souls by the awful authority of the living God, that after having approached so near him, that after having so solemnly professed to devote ourselves to him, nothing may ever prevail upon us deliberately and wickedly to depart from him.
They should hold their confidence steadfast unto the end :
Hebrews 3:14
The apostle goes on to repeat the caution he had given against unbelief, as what would prevent their entering into rest : an expression which he shows to refer to something much nobler than that rest which the Jews enjoyed in Canaan, even on their most sacred days, and in their most prosperous ages. Heb. III. 14. IV. 11.
HEBREWS III. 14.
IV. I GIVE you such cautions to guard against the deceitfulness of sin, and an evil heart of unbelief, because I know your highest interests are concerned ; for we are made partakers of the grace and mercy of Christ, and admitted by him into the family of God, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence in him as our great Saviour, steadfast unto the end of our lives, whatever difficulties and oppositions may arise.
HEBREWS III. 14. FOR we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end.
Let us therefore be strenuous and incessant in this care ; forasmuch as it is said, in the passage I have quoted above, To day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as they did in the provocation which was offered to God
While it is said, To day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
in the wilderness. For some of them who heard so many Divine messages solemnly declared, and the law spoken by the very mouth of God himself from mount Sinai, provoked [him] to indignation ; but not all they who came out of Egypt by Moses : there was a remnant then,
For some, when they had heard, did provoke : howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses :
a Forasmuch, as it is said.] The words in the 1500s are something ambiguous, and may either signify, forasmuch as it is said, or while it is said ; and if the latter version be preferred, perhaps this 15th verse may be connected with the 13th. Exhort one another daily while it is called to day, while it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice : as if he had said, The matter is of so much importance, that it is not to be neglected so much as for a single day, lest the proper season should be slipt. But as a year, a different phrase, was used for while in the 13th verse, I judge the rendering I have given most probable, and ventured it, in order to avoid an inconvenient length, by dividing the section as I have here done.
b But not all they who came out of Egypt.] Mr. Pyle gives it a different and remarkable interpretation, making the former part of the verse an interrogation, Who were they that when they heard, that is, heard the report of the spies, (Numb. xiv) did provoke him ? Were they not all that came out of Egypt ? And this he supposes is a distinct argument for perseverance, taken from the infectious nature, as well as pernicious consequences of infidelity and apostasy. But had this been the sense, I think we would have been used instead of our, especially as by this means the correspondence with the 17th verse would have been more evident.
c There was a remnant.] Joshua, Caleb, the women and children, and some
elief would prevent their entering into rest.
as there now is, of believing and obedient souls, to whom the promise of God shall be accomplished. And by whom was he provoked by a long succession of infidelity and folly for forty years? [was it] not with those who well deserved that displeasure? With those who sinned against him by suspecting his presence with them, after so many amazing and unparalleled demonstrations of it; whose carcasses, according to his awful prediction, fell in the wilderness during those years of wandering to which they were justly doomed? And was there any thing in this that looks like a breach of promise on the part of the blessed God? Far from it. To whom did he swear that they should not enter into his rest, but unto those who were so obstinate and disobedient, as entirely to forfeit all claim to his promise and favour? And when we come to consider the cause of that disobedience, we see that it was owing to a secret infidelity with regard to the Divine power and goodness, either to preserve them in the wilderness, or conduct them into Canaan. So that I may say they could not possibly enter into the promised rest, because of unbelief: that was upon the whole the evil that destroyed them. *Let us therefore improve so awful a dispensation of Providence to our own instruction, and fear,*ᵈ lest a promise being now left [unto us] of entering into his most happy and glorious rest, any of usᵉ should even at any time, so much as seem like to come short [of it.] For we are made partakers of the good tidingsᶠ of the promised rest, as
think, some of the Levites, were not included in the sentence. Bishop Fell mentions this as an intimation, that all shall not apostatize in the worst times.
ᵈ Let us therefore fear.] This example, as has often been observed, is most suitable, being taken from their own ancestors, the evil being the same, namely, unbelief, the time resembling it just after the establishment of a new constitution, and the consequence the same, the exclusion from rest. The superior dignity of Christ above Moses, and the superior excellence of Heaven above Canaan, greatly confirm the force of the argument. Peirce on Heb. iii. 12, noteⁿ.
ᵉ Any of us.] Some copies read ἡμαι, us, instead of ὑμαι, you; and their authority is evidently confirmed by the connection. See Dr. Mills in loc.
ᶠ Partakers of the good tidings.] So I choose to render the word ὑπῆγεν, ἑπῆγεν. For, that we have the gospel (taking it for the message by Christ) at least as well as these people had in the wilderness, and indeed a great deal more plainly, is so evident, that it may seem but a very low sense of the words, and not worthy the wisdom and gravity of the apostle to insert it.
OL.
he ews entered not in because of unbelie .
they also were. But the word of promise which they heard, did not profit them, as it might otherwise have done, in matters of the highest importance, not being duly mixed and attempered with faith in them that heard [it.] For we cordially believing the gospel, and faithfully retaining it, are so secure of final happiness, that it may with some propriety be said, we have already entered into rest; as he said in the forecited text, So I sware in my wrath they should not enter into my rest. And this may lead us farther to reflect on what is elsewhere said concerning his works; as they were finished from the foundation of the world. For after Moses had given us an account of the creation, he somewhere saith concerning the seventh [day] thus, (Gen. ii. 2; Exod. xxxi. 17,) And God rested the seventh day from all his works. And in this [place] which we have quoted, again he saith [I have sworn] they shall not enter into my rest. Now this certainly implies, that when these words were written, there was a rest of God, from which these sinners should be excluded, though they actually dwelt in the land of Canaan, secure under the protection of David, their victorious Monarch, and enjoyed the repose of God’s sabbath there.
Seeing then it remaineth that some must enter into it, which is spoken of in this scripture as a certain thing, and they to whom the good tidings of rest were at first declared, did not enter because of their unbelief, which you know was threatened with such punishment; He again determineth a certain day, marked out within certain limits and boundaries, in reference to which he urges their immediate attention and obedience to the manifestation of the Divine will, saying in that well known composition of
We believing have entered, &c.] Mr. Peirce would render it, We believing enter into rest, that is, Faith is the way by which men must expect to enter into whatever rest God promises in one age or another; and so it appears necessary that the word should be mixed with it. This, it must be acknowledged, is a very probable and weighty sense.
His works finished from the foundation, &c.] Mr. Peirce thinks the apostle intends to lay in an answer to an objection which might arise against the caution given, from there being entered into rest already, that is, into the land of Canaan, where they celebrated the sabbath. He therefore shews that the words could neither extend to the one or the other of his rests.
ld labour therefore not to fall in like manner.
David, of which we have just been speaking. This day, and that after so long a time as had passed after the rest of God at the creation mentioned above, as it is said, This day, if ye will hear his voice at all, harden not your hearts. Now it is certain, as I hinted above, the rest here referred to is not, and cannot be, interpreted of the land of Canaan; for if Joshua,¹ who introduced them thither, and settled them there, had given them the great and peaceful rest referred to, he would not so long after that settlement have spoken, as you see in the days of David he does, concerning another day of trial, and another day of rest into which it was a supposable case that they might not enter. Therefore it is very evident, that there remaineth a rest for the people of God; which, when we consider it in reference to that sabbatical rest of which we have been speaking, may properly be called the celebration of a sabbath, which, blessed be God, will be eternal. It may be thus called with happy propriety, for he who hath entered into this, his final and complete rest, of which we now speak, hath also himself, entirely ceased from all the labours and fatigues of his works, as God rested from his own on that first seventh day, which, in commemoration of it, was appointed sacred to future ages. Let us therefore labour with all possible diligence and constancy, to enter into that important and eternal rest, that no one may finally fall into ruin by the same example of disobedience, which hath undone so many thousands already, and proved so fatal to Israel, in the instance I have been handling at large.
IMPROVEMENT.
WHAT can be so desirable as to partake of Christ, and all the chap: saving benefits, which believers receive in and by him, by virtue iii. 14 of that relation to which he condescends to admit them? Let us seek this happiness by persevering faith, and holding fast the
¹ If Joshua.] So this proper name should be rendered; for Iesus, Jesus, is only the Greek manner of expressing Joshua.
² Remaineth a rest.] He here changes the word κελατανοις for σαββαίμους, to signify its being entire and perfect, and like a sabbath.
Reflections on the case of the unbelieving Israelites
beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end; bearing still in iv. our minds the melancholy example of the children of Israel, who verse though by such wonderful interpositions led out of Egypt, were 16 doomed by the Divine vengeance to die in the wilderness for their unbelief. That obstructed their entrance into Canaan; 19 nor can we ever hope to partake of the land of promise above, if we resign that faith, which is the spring of every other grace that is necessary to prepare us for it.
Let us take the alarm, and exercise that pious fear which so well consists with a cheerful hope in God, and committing our souls chap. to his fatherly care. We hear the word of salvation; let us pray iv. 1 that it may profit us; and for that purpose, let us be often realizing to our minds its Divine authority, and those invisible objects which it opens upon us. It speaks of a rest remaining for the people of God; and O! how much nobler a rest, than that of Canaan. Our true Joshua leads us on, as the Captain of our salvation. He conquers all our spiritual enemies by his invincible word, and will divide us an inheritance, an everlasting inheritance there, if we are faithful to the death. To day, after so long a time, are we still called to pursue it: let us therefore give diligence, that we may enter: and let those sabbaths, which are instituted in kind commemoration of God’s having rested on the seventh day from his labours, and which are intended in some degree to anticipate the heavenly rest, be improved for this valuable purpose. So shall we ere long rest from our works, as God did from his, and after the labours of these few mortal days, shall enjoy immortal tranquillity and repose: we shall pass a perpetual sabbath in those elevations of pure devotion, which the sublimest moments of our most sacred and happy days here can teach us but imperfectly to conceive.