The Letters · New Testament

Hebrews 3

Hebrews 3: Moses in the house and the warning from the wilderness

General context

The hearers are addressed as holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, and told to consider the Apostle and High Priest of their profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to the one that appointed him as Moses was faithful in all his house. He is counted worthy of more glory than Moses, on the ground that the builder of a house has more honour than the house, and that the builder of all things is God. Moses was faithful in the house as a servant, for a testimony of things to be spoken afterward; Christ is over the house as a son, and the hearers are that house if they hold fast their confidence and hope to the end. A long quotation follows, introduced as the words of the Holy Ghost: a call to hear the voice today and not harden the heart as in the provocation, a complaint about forty years of tempting and erring, and an oath that they should not enter into his rest. The writer applies it. Take heed against an evil heart of unbelief; exhort one another daily while it is called today; hold the beginning of confidence stedfast. Some who heard did provoke, though not all who came out of Egypt by Moses, and two questions ask with whom God was grieved forty years and to whom he swore, both answered from the generation whose carcases fell in the wilderness. The chapter concludes that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

Cited passages: Hebrews 3:1, Hebrews 3:2, Hebrews 3:3, Hebrews 3:4, Hebrews 3:5, Hebrews 3:6, Hebrews 3:7, Hebrews 3:8, Hebrews 3:9, Hebrews 3:10, Hebrews 3:11, Hebrews 3:12, Hebrews 3:13, Hebrews 3:14, Hebrews 3:16, Hebrews 3:17, Hebrews 3:18, Hebrews 3:19

Hebrews 3 (KJV)

¹Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;

²Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house.

³For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house.

⁴For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God.

⁵And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after;

⁶But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.

⁷Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,

⁸Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

⁹When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.

¹⁰Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.

¹¹So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)

¹²Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

¹³But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

¹⁴For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;

¹⁵While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.

¹⁶For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.

¹⁷But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?

¹⁸And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?

¹⁹So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

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Historical context

The quotation is attributed to a speaker rather than to a book: "as the Holy Ghost saith". Its wording differs from Psalm 95 as printed here at several points. Hebrews 3:9 reads "and saw my works forty years" where Psalm 95:9 reads "and saw my work" and puts the forty years in the next line, "Forty years long was I grieved with this generation". Hebrews 3:10 reads "They do alway err in their heart" where Psalm 95:10 reads "It is a people that do err in their heart". Hebrews 3:8 reads "Harden not your hearts" where Psalm 95:8 reads "Harden not your heart". The letter's own question at verse 17, "But with whom was he grieved forty years", follows the psalm's attachment of the forty years rather than its own. The recipients are called "holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling" and nothing more: no city, no names, no occasion. Moses is named as a servant in the house; the wilderness generation is identified as those who "came out of Egypt by Moses", and the letter says that not all of them provoked.

Cited passages: Hebrews 3:7, Hebrews 3:9, Psalms 95:9, Psalms 95:10, Hebrews 3:10, Hebrews 3:8, Psalms 95:8, Hebrews 3:17, Hebrews 3:1, Hebrews 3:5, Hebrews 3:16

Literary context

The chapter turns on one image and one word. The image is the house: Moses is faithful in it, Christ is over it, and the hearers are told "whose house are we, if we hold fast". The comparison is made by degree rather than by denial, since Moses is twice called faithful before the greater honour is claimed. The word is To day, which enters inside the quotation and is then lifted out and used as an address to the hearers, "while it is called To day". The quotation itself moves from invitation to complaint to oath, ending on exclusion from rest, and the writer's application runs the same way in reverse, from a present warning back to the generation that fell. The last verses work by question and answer, two questions put and answered without a new speaker, closing on the single word unbelief, which the next chapter picks up.

Cited passages: Hebrews 3:2, Hebrews 3:3, Hebrews 3:6, Hebrews 3:7, Hebrews 3:11, Hebrews 3:13, Hebrews 3:15, Hebrews 3:17, Hebrews 3:19

Key moments

Consider Christ Jesus (Hebrews 3:1). The hearers are told to consider the Apostle and High Priest of their profession.
More glory than Moses (Hebrews 3:3). The builder of a house is said to have more honour than the house.
Servant and son (Hebrews 3:5). Moses is faithful as a servant, Christ is over the house as a son.
The Holy Ghost quoted (Hebrews 3:7). A long quotation is introduced as the speech of the Holy Ghost.
The oath about rest (Hebrews 3:11). The quotation ends with a sworn exclusion from God's rest.
Exhort one another daily (Hebrews 3:13). The quoted word today becomes an instruction to the hearers.
They could not enter in (Hebrews 3:19). The chapter names unbelief as the reason for the exclusion.

For reflection

The letter treats a psalm's word for today as spoken to its own hearers rather than only to an earlier generation. What is gained, and what is risked, when an old text is read as addressed to the person holding it now?