Hebrews 3:11-19

11 And being angry I made an oath, saying, They may not come into my rest.

12 My brothers, take care that there is not by chance in any one of you an evil heart without belief, turning away from the living God:

13 But give comfort to one another every day as long as it is still Today; so that no one among you may be made hard by the deceit of sin:

14 For if we keep the substance of the faith which we had at the start, even till the end, we have a part with Christ;

15 As it is said, Today if you will let his voice come to your ears, be not hard of heart, as when you made him angry.

16 Who made him angry when his voice came to them? was it not all those who came out of Egypt with Moses?

17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? was it not with those who did evil, who came to their deaths in the waste land?

18 And to whom did he make an oath that they might not come into his rest? was it not to those who went against his orders?

19 So we see that they were not able to go in because they had no belief.

Hebrews 3:11-19 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO HEBREWS 3

The apostle having discoursed, in the preceding chapters, concerning the dignity of Christ's person, and his wondrous grace in the assumption of human nature, and suffering in the room and stead of his people, exhorts the Hebrews in this to a serious consideration of him, attention to him, and faith in him, and constancy in it; the arguments he uses to engage them to these things are taken from the grace and benefit they themselves were partakers of through him, from the office in which he was, and his faithfulness to his Father in the discharge of it, Heb 3:1,2 which is illustrated in the case of Moses, who was faithful in the house of God, and whom Christ excelled, and therefore was worthy of more honour; partly, because he is the builder of the house; and partly, because he is a Son in it, when Moses was only a servant; which house is Christ's own, and consists of true and steadfast believers in him, Heb 3:2-6, wherefore the exhortation to regard him is renewed, enforced, and expressed in the words of the Holy Ghost, Heb 3:7-11 which are taken out of Ps 95:7-11 and applied to the present case: hence the apostle cautions against unbelief, as being a great evil in itself, and bad in its consequence, causing persons to depart from the living God, Heb 3:12, in order to prevent which he advises to a daily exhortation of each other to their duty, that so they might not be hardened in sin through the deceitfulness of it, Heb 3:13 and the rather it became them to be concerned to hold fast their faith in Christ to the end, since this is the grand evidence of being a partaker of him, Heb 3:14. And then the exhortation in the above passage of Scripture is recited, Heb 3:15 to show, that though not all the persons spoken of, yet some did provoke the Lord by their unbelief, and unbecoming carriage, Heb 3:16 wherefore, by the example of punishment being inflicted on such, of which instances are given in the forefathers of these people, such as their carcasses falling in the wilderness, and their not entering into the land of Canaan, which they could not, because God swore they should not, being grieved and provoked by them, and because of their unbelief, they are dissuaded from the same evils, lest they should be punished in like manner, Heb 3:17-19.