inheritance which the prophets cherished and deepened.
The writer of the Epistle afterwards identifies the true rest with the rest of God after Creation (Heb. 4:4). The rest which God had proposed for His people was no other than that into which He Himself had entered.
Primasius (translating Chrysostom) distinguishes these three rests: Notandum tres requies ab apostolo in hac epistola commemorari, unam sabbati, quo requievit Deus ab operibus suis; secundam Palaestinae, in quam ingressi Israelitae requieturi erant a miseria et laboribus multis; tertiam quoque, quae vera est requies, regnum videlicet caelorum, ad quam quos pervenire contigerit planissime requiescent a laboribus et aerumnis hujus saeculi.
katavpausi"
] In classical Greek the word means a stopping, a causing to cease, literally or figuratively: in the LXX. a rest or rest. Comp. Deut. 12:9; Is. 66:1 (Acts 7:49); 2 Macc. 15:1. It is found in the N. T. only in this context besides the quotation in the Acts.
(
b
) The general application of the lesson of the wilderness (Heb. 3:12-
15).
The words of the Psalm which have been quoted at length are now applied generally to Christians. The reality of the blessings which they have received depends upon the faith with which they receive the present voice of God while it is still addressed to them.
[Wherefore, I repeat,] 12 take heed, brethren, lest haply there shall be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from Him who is a living God; 13 but exhort your own selves day by day so long as it is called Today, that no one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin 14 for we are become partakers of Christ, if at least we hold the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end 15 while it is said
Today, if ye shall hear His voice
,
Harden not your hearts, as in the Provocation.
Heb. 3:12.
blevpete, ajdelfoiv, mhv
...] The words take up the
diov
of v. 7, enforced and illustrated by the teachings of the Psalm. This use of
blevpein mhv
(for
oJra'n mhv
) is unclassical. It is not unfrequent in the N. T.: Heb. 12:25; Matt. 24:4; Acts 13:40, & c. For
ajdelfoiv
see v. 1. The argument which the title includes is written out in 3:14.
mhv pote e[stai
] The construction, as distinguished from
mh; gevnhtai
, marks the reality and the urgency of the danger. Comp. Mark 14:2; Col. 2:8; Gal. 4:11 (
mhv pw" kekopivaka
).
e[n tini uJm.
]
in any one of you.
A single unbelieving soul might corrupt the whole body.
kard. p. ajpistiva"
] The phrase is remarkable.
Kardiva ponhrav
go closely together, and
ajpistiva"
characterises the evil-heart; as
sw'ma th'" aJmartiva"
Rom. 6:6;
sw'ma th'" sarkov"
Col. 1:22. Comp. Clem. 1
Cor.
3.4.
This thought of unbelief, unfaithfulness, stands in contrast with the faithfulness which was the glory of Moses and of Christ (Heb. 3:2 pisto;" ejn o{lw/ tw'/ oi[kw/ ).
Unbelief ( ajpistiva ) finds its practical issue in disobedience ( ajpeivqeia ). Comp. 3:19 ( dij ajpistivan ); Heb. 4:6 ( dij ajpeivqeian ). See 3:19 note.
ejn tw'/ ajposth'nai
]
in falling away from
...shewn in this apostasy (Acts