Hebrews 3:5

5 1Now Moses was faithful in all God's house 2as a servant, 3to testify to the things that were to be spoken later,

Hebrews 3:5 Meaning and Commentary

Hebrews 3:5

And Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a servant,
&c.] Moses was not only a servant to the Israelites, but he was also the Lord's servant, a servant of his choosing, sending, and approving; he was a servant in holy things, and served the Lord heartily, sincerely, and ingenuously, with all becoming fear and reverence, respect, and honour, and with all ready and cheerful obedience; the house in which he was a servant, was not his own, but belonged to God, even the Son of God, as appears from the following verse; he was not a servant in the world, and with respect to civil things, and the affairs of Providence, but in the church of God, and in divine things; and he was faithful here, and that in all things; he did all things exactly according to the pattern showed him in the Mount; and the apostle strongly affirms all this, as well he might, since there was full proof of it, and God himself had bore a testimony to it: and the end of his being a servant here was,

for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after;
these words may regard his faithful testification of God's will to the people of Israel, after he was fixed as a servant in God's house; or what he said afterwards concerning the Messiah, of whom he spake and wrote, and of whom he bore an honourable testimony, ( Deuteronomy 18:1 Deuteronomy 18:5 ) or they may have respect to the things spoken after Moses's time, by the prophets, Christ, and his apostles, which agreed with the testimony of Moses; or to the things afterwards spoken of in this epistle; to which may be added, that Moses in his office was typical of things to be spoken and done by the Messiah, when he came; as his deliverance of the children of Israel out of Egypt; his leading them through the Red sea and wilderness, to Canaan's land; his giving them the law from Mount Sinai; the erection of the tabernacle, with all its furniture, and the institution of sacrifices and the like.

Hebrews 3:5 In-Context

3 For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses--as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself.
4 (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.)
5 Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later,
6 but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.
7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, "Today, if you hear his voice,

Cross References 3

  • 1. ver. 2; Cited from Numbers 12:7
  • 2. Exodus 14:31; Deuteronomy 34:5; Joshua 1:2; Joshua 8:31; Psalms 105:26; Revelation 15:3
  • 3. Deut. 18:15, 18, 19
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.