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so long a time as hath been said before ,

Today, if ye shall hear His voice, Harden not your hearts.
3. eijsercovmeqa gavr ...] The apostle assumes that actual experience establishes the reality of the promise and the condition of its fulfilment. ‘I speak without hesitation’ he seems to say ‘of a promise left to us, for we enter , we are entering now, into the rest of God, we that believed ...’ The verb eijsercovmeqa is not to be taken as a future (Vulg. ingrediemur ), but as the expression of a present fact: John 14:3, 18; Matt. 17:11; 1 Cor. 3:13; Col. 3:6. Moreover the efficacy of faith is regarded in its critical action ( pisteuvsante" ) and not, as might have been expected, in its continuous exercise
(
pisteuvonte" ). Comp. Acts 4:32; 2 Thess. 1:10; 1 Cor. 15:2. At the same time he does not say simply ‘we enter in having believed’ ( pisteuvsante" ); but he regards ‘believers’ as a definite class who embraced the divine revelation when it was offered ( oiJ pisteuvsante" ). Comp. Heb. 6:18 oiJ katafugovnte" .
eij" th;n katavpausin ] not simply ‘into rest’ but into the rest of which the Psalmist spoke, ‘into the rest of God.’
kaqw;" ei[rhken, JW" w[mosa ...] The words of the Psalm, as used here, prove that there is a rest and that it has not been attained. It follows therefore, this the writer assumes, that Christ has brought the rest within the reach of His people, as indeed Christians know. This interpretation of the quotation seems to be more natural than to suppose that the reference is designed to contrast the faith of Christians with the want of faith which caused the rejection of the Jews of the Exodus.
ei[rhken ] Comp. 4:4; 1:13; 10:9 note; 13:5; Acts 13:34. The subject is simply, ‘God,’ or ‘the Spirit,’ and not ‘the Scripture.’
kaivtoi tw'n e[rgwn ...] although the works (of God) were finished (done) from the foundation of the world. Vulg. et quidem operibus ab institutione mundi perfectis; Syr. although the works of God ... There was therefore no failure on the part of God. The divine rest was prepared. God Himself had entered into it, though it still remained that His people should share it according to His purpose. Thus the rest was at once in the past and in the future.
kaivtoi ] In the N.T. Acts 14:17 only; kaivtoige John 4:2. The word is used with a participle in all periods of Greek literature: Simon. ap. Plat. Protag. 26 p. 339 C kaivtoi eijrhmevnon . Epict. Diss. 1.8, 5.
ajpo; katabolh'" k. ] Heb. 9:26. See Matt. 13:35 [Ps. 77:2 (73:2) ajpj ajrch'" LXX.]; 25:34; Lk. 11:50; Apoc. 13:8; 17:8. The phrase is not found in the LXX. Compare pro; katabolh'" k . John 17:24; Eph. 1:4.

The writer of the Epistle by this reference completes the conception of the promised rest. ‘The rest of God,’ the rest which He had provided for His people, is no other in its last form than the rest which He Himself enjoyed. Of this the earthly inheritance was only a symbol.

4, 5. The quotations in these verses establish in detail the two conclusions found in the words quoted in 4:3, that there is a rest already prepared (v. 4); and that Israel did not enter into it (v. 5).

Heb. 4:4. ei[rhken ] Comp. 5:3 note. pou ] Comp. 2:6 note. This indefinite form of quotation is found nowhere else in the N.T. It occurs in other writers: Philo, Quod Deus immut. § 16, i. p. 284 M.; De prof. § 36, 1.575; De congr. er. gr. § 31, 1.544; Clem. R. ad Cor.


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