John Calvin Commentary Hebrews 3:17

"And with whom was he displeased forty years? was it not with them that sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?" — Hebrews 3:17 (ASV)

But with whom was He grieved, or angry, etc. He means that God had never been angry with His people except for just causes, as Paul also reminds us in 1 Corinthians 10:5, 6. Therefore, as many chastisements of God as we read were inflicted on the ancient people, so many grievous sins we will find which provoked God’s vengeance.

At the same time, we must come to this conclusion: unbelief was the chief of all their evils. For though he mentions this last, he still means that it was the primary cause of their curse.

Indeed, from the time they became unbelievers, they never ceased to add one sin to another, and thus they continually brought new scourges upon themselves. Hence, those very persons who through unbelief rejected the possession of the land offered to them pursued their own obstinacy: now lusting, then murmuring, now committing adultery, then polluting themselves with heathen superstitions, so that their depravity became more fully manifested.

The unbelief, then, which they showed from the beginning, prevented them from enjoying the kindness of God; for the contempt of His word always led them to sin. And as at first they deserved through their unbelief that God should deprive them of the promised rest, so whatever sin they committed afterwards flowed from the same fountain.

It may also be asked whether Moses, and Aaron, and those like them, were included in this number. To this I answer that the Apostle speaks of the whole community rather than of individuals. It is certain that there were many godly men who were either not entangled in the general impiety or soon repented. Moses’ faith was once shaken and only once, and that for a moment. The Apostle’s words, therefore, contain a statement about the whole group rather than about individuals, a way of speaking often used when a multitude or body of people is spoken of.