Thomas Aquinas Commentary Hebrews 3:7-11

"Wherefore, even as the Holy Spirit saith, To-day if ye shall hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, Like as in the day of the trial in the wilderness, Where your fathers tried [me] by proving [me,] And saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was displeased with this generation, And said, They do always err in their heart: But they did not know my ways; As I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest." — Hebrews 3:7-11 (ASV)

Having proved that Christ is greater than Moses, the Apostle now concludes that Christ is more deserving of our obedience. He does this by the authority of David the prophet in Psalm 94. In this section, he does three things:

1. He proposes the authority, which contains an exhortation.
2. He explains it (Hebrews 3:12).
3. He argues from the authority and the explanation (Hebrews 4).

Regarding the first point, he again does three things:

1. He hints at the authority of the following words.
2. He makes the exhortation which is the authority (Hebrews 3:7b).
3. He presents a comparison (Hebrews 3:8b).

The authority of these words rests on the fact that they were not uttered by human lips, but by the Holy Spirit. For this reason, he says, Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says. It is as if to say: Christ has more grace than Moses. Therefore, if we listen to Moses, we should not harden our hearts against hearing Christ. He cites words from the Old Testament for the New so that no one might suppose they refer only to the Old Testament; for they should also be applied to the New Testament and to another time.

They are the words of the Holy Spirit, because, as it says in 2 Peter 1:21, Prophecy came not by the will of man at any time, but the holy men of God spoke, inspired by the Holy Spirit. For David himself says, The spirit of the Lord spoke through me (2 Samuel 23:2). In this, therefore, he shows that the authority is true because it is from the Holy Spirit—an argument against the Manicheans.

Then, in verse 7b, he gives the admonition, in which he does three things:

1. He describes the time.
2. He mentions the benefit (Hebrews 3:7b).
3. He gives the admonition (Hebrews 3:8).

The time is today, that is, daytime. The time of the Old Law was called "night" because it was a time of shadows, as stated in Hebrews 10:1: For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come. But the time of the New Testament, which dispels the shadow of the Law's night, is called "day": The night is passed, the day is at hand (Romans 13:12). This time is called "day" because it witnessed the rising of the sun of justice: But unto you that fear my name, the Sun of justice shall arise (Malachi 4:2). This day is not followed by night, but by a clearer day—that is, when we will see the Sun of justice with His face revealed, when we will see Him in His essence.

And on this day, a benefit is given to us. For he continues, when you hear his voice. We hear His voice directly, which was not the case in the Old Testament, where the words of the prophets were heard. As Hebrews 1:1 says, In times past God spoke to the Son; and Isaiah 52:6 says, Therefore, my people shall know my name in that day, because it was I myself that spoke, behold, I am here. Also, Let your voice sound in my ears (Song of Solomon 2:14). In this, the benefit so long desired is shown to us: If you had known... in this your day, the things that are for your peace! (Luke 19:42).

Therefore, if this is the benefit, here is the admonition: harden not your hearts. For a hard heart is a sign of evil. Something is hard when it does not yield, but resists and does not receive an impression. Therefore, a person's heart is hard when it does not yield to God’s command or easily receive divine impressions. As Sirach 3:27 says, A hard heart shall fare evil at the last, and Romans 2:5 says, But according to your hardness and impenitent heart, you treasure up to yourself wrath against the day of wrath.

This hardening is caused by two things:

1. By God not offering grace: He has mercy on whom he will, and whom he wills, he hardens (Romans 9:18).
2. By the sinner hardening himself by not obeying God and by not opening his heart to grace: And they made their heart as the adamant stone, lest they should hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts sent in his spirit by the hand of the former prophets (Zechariah 7:12).

Therefore, harden not your hearts means do not close your hearts to the Holy Spirit, as it is written, You always resist the Holy Spirit (Acts 7:51).

Next, he presents a comparison when he says, as in the rebellion. This comparison is based on a past event, for the faithful are instructed about what to do in the New Testament by things that occurred in the past, as Romans 15:4 testifies: What things soever were written, were written for our learning. He first gives a general example by citing their guilt, and then gives specific examples (Hebrews 3:9).

If we are to follow the Apostle’s explanation, we must interpret the words in a way that fits his meaning. We read that among others, the Jews committed two sins that were severely punished. One was the disobedience of the spies mentioned in Numbers 13 and 14, for which the Lord intended to wipe out the people. For this reason, He swore that no one but Caleb and Joshua would enter the promised land. He calls this a "rebellion" because, although they had offended God in other ways, this sin was particularly bitter. Just as unripe, bitter fruit is not fit for eating, so God’s anger was inflexible: How often did they provoke him in the desert, and move him to wrath in the place without water? (Psalms 77:40); You have provoked him who made you .

The other sin was that of testing God. They frequently tested Him—sometimes for water, sometimes for meat, and sometimes for bread—so that they tested Him ten times: They have tempted me now ten times (Numbers 14:22); Behold, these ten times you confound me (Job 19:3). For this reason, he says, in the day of testing. Someone might suppose that "rebellion" and "testing" are the same, and that the Apostle should have said, "Harden not your hearts as in the rebellion, which occurred in the day of testing." But this does not agree with the Apostle’s explanation. Therefore, we should understand it as, "Harden not your hearts as in the rebellion, and as in the day of testing," indicating two separate sins. Thus,Psalms 77:41 says: And they turned back and tempted God; and grieved the Holy One of Israel.

Then, in verse 9, he considers their specific sins. He mentions the sin of testing, shows its gravity (Hebrews 3:9b), and describes the punishment (Hebrews 3:10).

He says, therefore, that they were guilty of testing God in the desert: because your fathers tempted me there. Here, the author speaks in the person of the Lord. It should be noted that temptation is an act of testing something one does not know. Therefore, a person tests God out of unbelief. For example, someone who uses his own horse to flee a danger is testing its limits out of necessity, not for the sake of the test itself. But if the action is useless, then he is merely testing. Likewise, if someone, compelled by necessity, exposes himself to danger while hoping for divine help, he is not testing God. But if he does so without necessity, he is testing God. This is why the Lord says in Matthew 4:7, You shall not tempt the Lord, your God, because there was no need for Him to cast Himself down.

So, they tested the Lord because they doubted His power, complaining against Moses as if the Lord could not give them food, even though they had witnessed His power in greater matters. Therefore, they were guilty of the sin of unbelief, which is the greatest sin.

Next, he mentions the gravity of their sin when he says, they proved and saw my works. For the more benefits one receives from God and the more certainty one has of God’s power, the more gravely one sins by later doubting. They had seen signs and wonders in Egypt, the parting of the sea, and other miracles, and yet they did not believe. Thus, it is stated in Numbers 14:22: Yet all the men that have seen my majesty and the signs that I have done in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now ten times, have not obeyed my voice. Therefore, he said, proved—that is, they wished to test—and saw—that is, they experienced—my works, which are effects that could not have occurred unless performed by one with infinite power. This happened not just for one day, but for forty years while they remained in the desert, for they always had manna and the pillar of fire and cloud. Alternatively, they proved and saw me means that He never failed them.

Then, in verse 10, he describes the punishment for their sin: For which cause—that is, for which sin—I was provoked, meaning outraged. This is not to say there is anger in God, except metaphorically, because He punishes as one who is angry does. This punishment is frequently mentioned in Exodus and Numbers, for they were often struck down. In 1 Corinthians 10:5, the Apostle speaks of the punishment for that sin. Alternatively, the phrase could be translated as "I was near," meaning near to them in punishment. For when the Lord helps the good and punishes the wicked, He is near them. But when He overlooks the sins of the repentant or hides the affliction of the just so that their merit may increase, He seems to be far away: The clouds are his covert, and he does not consider our things, and he walks about the poles of heaven (Job 22:14). A third interpretation is that "near" refers to divine mercy, because the fact that God punishes them in this life is a sign of great mercy, as Augustine prayed, "Here burn, here cut, but spare me in eternity."

Next, in verse 10c, he describes the sin of provocation in detail, mentioning their persistence in evil and their departure from the good. He says, therefore, "I was always near them" (meaning, by punishing them), and "I said" (that is, in the eternal plan): They always go astray in heart. As it is written, You have always been rebellious against the Lord (Deuteronomy 31:27), and, If the Ethiopian can change his skin, or the leopard his spots: you also may do well, when you have learned evil (Jeremiah 13:23).

A person, therefore, provokes God in one way by obstinately clinging to evil, and in another way by scorning the good. For this reason, he says, They have not known my ways. This is not simple ignorance, but a willful ignorance. The sin, therefore, is that they have not known because they refused to know: We desire not the knowledge of your ways (Job 21:14); He would not understand that he might do well (Psalms 36:3). Alternatively, they have not known means they have not approved, as the Apostle says, The Lord knows who are his (2 Timothy 2:19).

Finally, he shows the punishment when he says, As I have sworn in my wrath: they shall never enter my rest. These words suggest immutability, for when God or an angel swears, it is a sign of the unchangeable nature of the matter: The Lord has sworn and he will not repent (Psalms 110:4). Yet at times God swears only conditionally, meaning that if the people did not repent, these evils would come upon them. Next, he suggests that this punishment is not given merely as a threat but is aimed at their destruction, because he says, in his wrath. This is why the psalmist prays, Lord, rebuke me not in your anger (Psalms 6:1). Therefore, He swore in His wrath, they shall never enter my rest.

Now, there is a threefold rest:

1. Temporal rest: You have much goods laid up for many years: take your rest; eat, drink, make good cheer (Luke 12:19).
2. The rest of conscience: I have labored a little and have found much rest to myself .
3. The rest of eternal glory: In peace in the self-same I will sleep and I will rest (Psalms 4:9).

Therefore, what is stated here can be explained in each of these ways: they have not entered the rest of the promised land, the rest of conscience, or the rest of eternal happiness.