Albert Barnes Commentary Hebrews 3:11

"As I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest." — Hebrews 3:11 (ASV)

So I swore in my wrath. God is often represented in the Scriptures as swearing—and usually as swearing by Himself, or by His own existence. Of course, this is figurative and denotes a strong affirmation or a settled and determined purpose. An oath, for us, implies the strongest affirmation or the expression of the most settled and determined purpose of mind. The meaning here is that so refractory and perverse had they shown themselves, that He solemnly resolved that they should never enter into the land of Canaan.

They shall not enter into my rest. The marginal note indicates that the original Hebrew literally reads, if they shall enter. This means they shall not enter. The Hebrew word if has this negative meaning, which is also transferred to the Greek word if. (Compare 1 Samuel 3:17; 2 Samuel 3:35; 2 Kings 6:31).

It is called "my rest" here, meaning that it was such rest as God had provided, or such as He enjoyed. The particular rest referred to here was that of the land of Canaan, which was undoubtedly regarded as emblematic of the rest in heaven. Into that rest, God solemnly said they should never enter.

They had been rebellious. All the means of reclaiming them had failed. God had warned and entreated them; He had caused His mercies to pass before them and had visited them with judgments in vain; and He now declares that for all their rebellion, they should be excluded from the promised land.

God speaks here in the manner of humans. People are affected by feelings of indignation in such circumstances, and God uses such language as expresses such feelings. But we are to understand it in a manner consistent with His character, and we are not to suppose that He is affected with the same emotions that agitate human hearts.

The meaning is that He formed and expressed a deliberate and solemn purpose that they should never enter into the promised land. Whether this rest refers here to heaven, and whether the meaning is that God would exclude them from that blessed world, will be more appropriately considered in the next chapter. The particular idea is that they were to be excluded from the promised land and that they should fall in the wilderness. No one can doubt, also, that their conduct had been such as to show that the great majority of them were unfit to enter heaven.