Hebrews 3:11

11 I was angry and made a solemn promise: "They will never enter the land where I would have given them rest!' "

Hebrews 3:11 Meaning and Commentary

Hebrews 3:11

So I sware in my wrath
Swearing is ascribed to God, to show the certainty of the thing spoken of; as of mercies, when he swears in love, and by his holiness; so here, of punishment, when he swears in wrath, in indignation, in sore displeasure, and the threatened evil is irrevocable and inevitable:

they shall not enter into my rest;
into the land of Canaan, called God's rest, because he promised it, and gave it to the Israelites as their rest; and where he himself had a place of rest; and where he gave the Messiah, the author of peace and rest; and which was a type of heaven, that rest from toil and labour, which remains for the people of God; and into which it is said this generation did not enter; for the Jews say ^F6,

``the generation of the wilderness have no part in the world to come:''

but this seems too harsh, for doubtless there were many who died in the wilderness, that went safe to heaven, notwithstanding all their sins and provocations.

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FOOTNOTES:

F6 Tzeror Hammor, fol. 118. 1.

Hebrews 3:11 In-Context

9 There they put me to the test and tried me, says God, although they had seen what I did for forty years.

10 And so I was angry with those people and said, "They are always disloyal and refuse to obey my commands.'

11 I was angry and made a solemn promise: "They will never enter the land where I would have given them rest!' "

12 My friends, be careful that none of you have a heart so evil and unbelieving that you will turn away from the living God.

13 Instead, in order that none of you be deceived by sin and become stubborn, you must help one another every day, as long as the word "Today" in the scripture applies to us.