Hebrews 3:7–19 is a literary unit with two major sections. The first section (Heb 3:7–11) is a quotation of Ps 95:7b–11, and the second section (Heb 3:12–19) is a commentary on Ps 95:7b–11. The two units are tightly framed, the first being demarcated as a quotation and the second using inclusio by the lexical repetition of “take care” (blepō) and “unbelief” (apistia) in v. 12 and v. 19. Verse 12 contains an overt warning signaled by an imperative, and v. 19 contains a covert warning expressed semantically by the indicative mood that parallels the warning of v. 12. The quotation of Ps 95:8a (which is Heb 3:8) with the overt imperative “do not harden your hearts” is positively answered in the second unit by v. 14: “We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.” The two warnings in 3:12 and 3:19 that bracket the unit serve as a linguistic and theological frame for the covert command to have faith, which is expressed semantically in a conditional clause in v. 14.
7 Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you hear His voice,
8 Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me,
As on the day of trial in the wilderness,
9 Where your fathers put Me to the test,
And saw My works for forty years.
10 Therefore I was angry with this generation,
And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,
And they did not know My ways’;
11 As I swore in My anger,
‘They certainly shall not enter My rest.’” (NASB)
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Much as Israel was delivered from Egypt by the blood of lambs and the power of God, so a sinner who believes on Christ is delivered from the bondage of sin. Jesus Christ is “the Lamb of God” whose death and resurrection have made our deliverance from sin a reality.
- Let us not harden our hearts and lives to God. May we be open and responsive to what He is calling us to do
- Remember what God has done. Never forget those things or ways He has provided. Thank Him and remind yourselves of them in tough and difficult times
- God offers us rest that this world cannot understand. Let us be good at resting in God.
CLOSER LOOK:
Verses 7–11 (section look): To drive home the call to fidelity and to warn of the consequences of unbelieving infidelity, the author referred to the classic failure of Israel at Kadesh Barnea which led to their 40-year detour in the wilderness. Far from being an ideal period of Israel’s history, as some sectarians seem to have held, it was an era marked by tragic loss and defeat. The readers were not to repeat such an experience in their own lives.
The text chosen by the writer to enforce the lesson they had in mind was taken from Psalm 95 (there is some discussion on why the author used Psalm 95 to quote from instead of Numbers 14, which is the historical account, but that is for another time and place). Verses 7–11 of that psalm are quoted here. The choice of this psalm is highly appropriate in a context that is concerned with worship and priestly activity. For Psalm 95 is, in fact, essentially a call to worship (cf. Ps. 95:1–7). The psalmists’ invitation, “Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.” (Ps. 95:6–7), ideally reflects the author’s perspective with regard to their readers. The material quoted in Hebrews immediately follows these words and, most naturally, must be understood against this background.
This quotation is a warning to the Jewish Christians about hardening their hearts to God and the salvation He offers. Moses’ generation had refused to trust God to provide for their needs in the wilderness (Ex 17:1-7), and the readers of this letter were in danger of not trusting in the salvation offered through God’s Son. If they were to hold fast to the end (Heb 3:6), they could not harden their hearts to God now (vv. 8, 13, 15). Instead they had to renew their belief in God’s Word (vv. 12, 19). “Rest” is a key concept in Hebrews. In the OT, the conquest of the Promised Land and the cessation of fighting in the land was viewed as a form of rest (Deut 3:20; 12:9; 25:19; Josh 11:23; 21:44; 22:4; 23:1). In the NT, rest generally speaks of the believer’s eternal home and the joy that he or she will experience in Jesus’ presence (Heb 4:1).[1]
Verse 7: These believers faced a serious danger, and they needed to avoid repeating Israel’s failures and experiencing Israel’s fate. Psalm 95 begins with praise (vv. 1–7a) and concludes with a warning (vv. 7b–11), based on the story recorded in Exodus 17:1–7. The judgment mentioned occurred in Numbers 14:20–38. The writer of Hebrews followed the psalmist in urging the readers not to imitate the folly of the generation of Jews who died in the wilderness under God’s judgment.
Two words in verse 7 cause us to pause and think a little bit more about what is being said. First, though a human author penned the words, the writer of Hebrews knew that the Holy Spirit was speaking. The author recognized these words as a strong warning based on divine authority. Second, the author used the psalmist’s reference to “Today” to apply the words to the readers. The author went back into the Old Testament history, but their mind was on their readers. The writer wanted them to hear the present voice of God in the ancient message.
Verses 8–9: Hardening the heart takes place whenever someone rejects God’s call or instructions. Sin causes hearts to grow hard, especially continual and unrepentant sin. The Bible considers the heart to be the hub of human personality, producing the things we would ordinarily ascribe to the “mind.”[2] For example, Scripture informs us that grief (John 14:1); desires (Matthew 5:28); joy (Ephesians 5:19); understanding (Isaiah 6:10; Matthew 13:15); thoughts and reasoning (Genesis 6:5; Hebrews 4:12; Mark 2:8); and, most importantly, faith and belief (Hebrews 3:12; Romans 10:10; Mark 11:23) are all products of the heart. Also, Jesus tells us that the heart is a repository for good and evil and that what comes out of our mouth – good or bad – begins in the heart (Luke 6:43–45). Hardening is an action which we develop in ourselves by our own choice to disobey God. A hardened heart can dull a person’s ability to perceive and understand. Anyone’s heart can harden, even faithful Christians’. A constant response of resistance leads to a habit of disobedience and to a judicial sentence from God. The wilderness generation hardened their own hearts, and it was possible that the readers of Hebrews might do the same thing.
So, what then is the antidote for a heart condition such as this? First and foremost, we have to recognize the effect that this spiritual disease has on us. After repenting of our sins, hard hearts begin to be cured when we study God’s Word. Hearts can also become hardened when we suffer setbacks and disappointments in life. No one is immune to trials here on earth. Yet, just as steel is forged by a blacksmith’s hammer, so, too, can our faith be strengthened by the trials we encounter in the valleys of life.
The term “rebellion” (ESV) or “provoked” (NASB) in Hebrews 3:8 is translated as “Meribah” in Psalm 95:8. The term “testing” or “trial” in Hebrews 3:8 is translated as “Massah” in Psalm 95:8. The terms describe the attitudes of the Jewish people mentioned in Exodus 17:1–7 and above all in Numbers 14:20–38.[3] Throughout the entire period from Exodus 17 to Numbers 14, the Jewish people had rebelled against the Lord. For forty years they resisted God’s demands. They had hardened their hearts.
God was slow to anger, but their continued hardened hearts required discipline. Their rebellion developed into a settled habit of mind and led God to pronounce judgment. Hebrews warns against a repetition of rebellion against God.
The reference to “forty years” would have special significance if forty years had passed since the ministry of Jesus. Many scholars believe that the author penned Hebrews just before a.d. 70 (see overview for date of 68-69). God could have been warning the Christian readers that just as He had dealt with Israel for a probationary period of forty years, so now they, too, had arrived at the end of the same period of probation.[4] They had a special reason to avoid the deceitfulness of sin (3:13).
Verses 10–11: Does God really become angry? We can answer “yes” to that question, but God’s anger does not resemble human anger and we must not equate His anger with our own human experiences of that emotion. We become angry when a sales clerk takes too long or when a slow car forces us to wait at a red light. God’s anger always has a just cause, and it does not show a peevish nature in God but a consistent opposition to sin.
We often use human analogies to understand God. Whenever we attribute a human emotion such as anger to God, we produce many questions in understanding what happened and trying to understand a little bit more about a God that is infinite and beyond understanding. God does become angry, but He tempers His anger with justice and love. As God cannot sin, we know that His anger is righteous, unlike the common experience of anger in ourselves. The context of the verses of God getting angry reveals why He gets angry. God gets angry when there is a violation of His character. God is righteous, just, and holy, and none of these attributes can be compromised (Exodus 20:4–6; Isaiah 42:8).
Two actions of the Jews in the wilderness contributed to divine anger. First, the Jews habitually strayed from God. Second, they did not know God’s ways. One sin reinforced the other.[5]
This persistent practice of sin led God to deliver His verdict with an oath or a swear. The reference to an oath seems to reflect Numbers 14:21, where God supported His word with an oath. God used this oath when the spies returned to bring an unfavorable report of the prospects for entering the Promised Land. The people of Israel rebelled against trusting God and accused Moses of bringing them to the wilderness to die. God swore that such rebels would never experience His rest.
So God gets angry at the wickedness in people, and He opposes that wickedness in an effort to turn them from evil, that they may find true life and freedom in Him. Even in His anger, God’s motivation is love for people; to restore the relationship that sin destroyed. While God must bring justice and retribution for sin, those who have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior are no longer under God’s wrath for sin. Why? Because Jesus experienced the full measure of the wrath of God on the cross so that we wouldn’t have to. This is what is meant by Jesus’ death being a “propitiation,” or satisfaction.
All of us can learn from observing what has happened in the past. We can apply past experiences to the present. When we find hints of the past recurring in the present, we call that pattern typology. In this instance a typological interpretation of the Exodus is used to warn the readers of Hebrews not to imitate the actions of the wilderness generation.[6] The present generation could also fall into the same pattern of unbelief. The warning message of the writer of Hebrews was quite clear. Readers could see what happened to those who fell in the wilderness. They could realize that they faced the same dangers. They must turn from their foolish disobedience before it was too late!
[1] Earl D. Radmacher, Ronald B. Allen, H. Wayne House, eds., Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Commentary (Nashville: Nelson, 1999), 1639.
[2] “What are the causes and solutions for a hardened heart?” GotQuestions.org, https://www.gotquestions.org/hardened-heart.html
[3] Thomas Lea, “Hebrews” in Holman New Testament Commentary – Hebrews & James, vol 10, edited by Max Anders (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), np.
[4] Thomas Lea, “Hebrews” in Holman New Testament Commentary – Hebrews & James, vol 10, edited by Max Anders (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), np.
[5] Thomas Lea, “Hebrews” in Holman New Testament Commentary – Hebrews & James, vol 10, edited by Max Anders (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), np.
[6] Thomas Lea, “Hebrews” in Holman New Testament Commentary – Hebrews & James, vol 10, edited by Max Anders (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), np.