Hebrews 3:7

Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith (διὸ καθὼς λέγει τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον) See on Hebrews 1:6. The formula the Spirit the holy (Spirit) is common in the N.T. with the exception of the Catholic Epistles, where it does not occur. The construction of the passage is as follows: Διὸ wherefore is connected with βλέπετε take heed, Hebrews 3:12. The point is the writer's warning, not the warning of the citation. The whole citation including the introductory formula, down to rest, Hebrews 3:11, is parenthetical. Today if ye will hear his voice (σήμερον ἐάν τῆς φωνῆς αὐτοῦ ἀκούσητε) The Hebrew reads, O that you would hear his voice today. Today is prophetically interpreted by the writer as referring to the Christian present, the time of salvation inaugurated by the appearance of Christ.

Hebrews 3:7-9 . Having demonstrated the pre-eminence of Christ above Moses in their respective ministries, the apostle, according to his design and usual method, now proceeds to the application of the truth he had evinced, in an exhortation to stability and constancy in faith and obedience. And this he does in a way that adds double force to his exhortation, in that he both reminds them of, and urges upon them the words, testimonies, and examples recorded in the Old Testament, to which they professed a special deference and subjection; and also in that the nature of the example, which he insists upon, is such as supplies him with a new argument for his purpose. Now this is taken from God’s conduct toward them, who were disobedient under the ministry of Moses, which he further explains, Hebrews 3:15-19 . For if God dealt in severity with them who were unbelieving and disobedient, with respect to him who was but a servant in the house, they might easily learn from this what his displeasure would be toward those who should behave so with respect to the Son, who is Lord over the whole house, and whose property all the members of it are. Wherefore — This word shows that what follows is an inference from what precedes; as the Holy Ghost saith — The expression is emphatical, το πνευμα το αγιον , that Spirit, that Holy Spirit, so called by way of eminence; who in an especial manner spake in and by the penmen of the sacred Scriptures, 2 Peter 1:21 .

The words here quoted are taken from Psalm 95:7 , which the apostle tells us ( Hebrews 4:7 ) was written by David. Hence we learn that David wrote his Psalms by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, as our Lord likewise testifies, Matthew 22:43 . “The judgments of God executed on sinners in ages past, being designed for the reproof and instruction of those who come after, the Holy Ghost, by David, very properly founded his exhortation to the people of that age upon the sin and punishment of their fathers in the wilderness. And the apostle, for the same reason, fitly applied the words, which the Holy Ghost spake to the people by David, to the Hebrews in his day, to prevent them from hardening their hearts when they heard God’s voice speaking to them in the gospel of his Son.” To-day — Now, at the present time, while the season of grace lasts, and you are favoured with the means thereof; if ye will hear his voice — If ye ever intend, or will consent to do it; harden not your hearts — By inattention, by thoughtlessness, by unbelief, and disobedience.

Διὸ , “wherefore,” since it is only by holding fast our confidence to the end, that we continue to be the house of Christ and enjoy His faithful oversight, cf. Hebrews 3:14 . Διὸ was probably intended to be immediately followed by βλέπετε ( Hebrews 3:12 ) “wherefore take heed,” but a quotation is introduced from Psalms 95 which powerfully enforces the βλέπετε . Or it may be that διὸ connects with μὴ σκληρύνητε , but the judicious bracketing of the quotation by the A.V. is to be preferred. The quotation is introduced by words which lend weight to it, καθὼς λέγει τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον , a form of citation not found elsewhere in exactly the same terms, but in Hebrews 10:15 we find the similar form μαρτυρεῖ δὲ ἡμῖν τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγ . Cf. also Hebrews 9:8 . Agabus uses it of his own words ( Acts 21:11 ). In 1 Timothy 4:1 we have τὸ δὲ Πνεῦμα ῥητῶς λέγει cf. Revelation 2-3. “It is a characteristic of the Epistle that the words of Holy Scripture are referred to the Divine Author, not to the human instrument” (Westcott). The Psalm (95) is ascribed to David in Hebrews 4:7 as in the LXX it is called αἶνος ᾠδῆς τῷ Δαυίδ , although in the Hebrew it is not so ascribed. The quotation contains Hebrews 3:7-11 . Σήμερον , “to-day” is in the first instance, the “to-day” present to the writer of the psalm, and expresses the thought that God’s offers had not been withdrawn although rejected by those to whom they had long ago been made.

But Delitzsch adduces passages which show that σήμερον in this psalm was understood by the synagogue to refer to the second great day of redemption. “The history of redemption knows but of two great turning points, that of the first covenant and that of the new” (Davidson). And what the writer to the Hebrews fears is that the second announcement of promise may be disregarded as the first. Force is lent to his fears by the fact that the forty years of the Messiah’s waiting from 30–70 A.D., when Jerusalem was to be destroyed, were fast running out. The fate of the exasperating Israelites in the wilderness received an ominous significance in presence of the obduracy of the generation which had heard the voice of Christ Himself. ἐὰν τῆς φωνῆς αὐτοῦ ἀκούσητε , “if ye shall hear His voice” (R.V., Vaughan); not “if ye will hearken to His voice.” The sense is, “If God should be pleased, after so much inattention on our part, to speak again, see that ye give heed to Him”.

Hebrews 3:7 . Διὸ , wherefore ) A choice inference, and the strength of this whole passage. Jesus is πιστὸς , faithful: be not ye ἄπιστοι , unfaithful , Hebrews 3:2 ; Hebrews 3:12 —[24] λέγει τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ Ἅγιον , the Holy Ghost saith ) So ch. Hebrews 9:8 , Hebrews 10:15 .— σήμερον — ΤΕΣΣΑΡΆΚΟΝΤΑ ἜΤΗ· ΔΙῸ ΠΡΟΣΏΧΘΙΣΑ — ΚΑῚ ΕἾΠΑ , ἈΕῚ ) Psalm 95:7 , at the end; LXX., ΣΉΜΕΡΟΝ — ΤΕΣΣΡΆΚΟΝΤΑ ἜΤΗ ΠΡΟΣΏΧΘΙΣΑ . The word ΣΉΜΕΡΟΝ , to-day , is an expression of David’s, and is opposed to that day , which was in the time of Moses, Hebrews 3:8 .— ἐὰν , if ) If you will obediently hear His voice . Under this hearing, there is included any sort of hearing whatever, Hebrews 3:16 , ch. Hebrews 4:2 . The force of this clause (hemistich) is joined in the Hebrew with what goes before, and thence it redounds upon what follows.— φωνῆς , voice ) which is full of grace, in these words of the prophet, to be heard on that very account. [24] Καθὼς , even as ) The Apodosis is at Hebrews 3:12 .— Not. Crit .

7 . Wherefore ] The verb which depends on this conjunction is delayed by the quotation, but is practically found in Hebrews 3:12 , “Take heed.” Christ was faithful: therefore take heed that ye be not unfaithful. as the Holy Ghost saith ] For this form of quotation see Mark 12:36 ; Acts 1:16 ; 2 Peter 1:21 . To day if ye will hear his voice ] Rather, “if ye hear ,” or “shall have heard.” The quotation is from Psalm 95:7-11 , and the word means “Oh that ye would hear His voice!”; but the LXX. often renders the Hebrew im by “if.” The “to-day” is always the Scripture day of salvation, which is now , 2 Corinthians 6:2 ; Isaiah 55:6 . “If any man hear my voice … I will come in to him,” Revelation 3:20 . The sense of the Imminent Presence of God which reigns throughout the prophecies of the O. T. as well as in the N. T. ( Hebrews 10:37 ; Hebrews 1:2 . Thess.; 1 Peter 1:5 , &c.) is beautifully illustrated in the Talmudic story of the Rabbi ( Sanhedrin 98. 1) who went to the Messiah by direction of Elijah, and asked him when he would come; and He answered “to-day.” But before the Rabbi could return to Elijah the sun had set, and he asked “Has Messiah then deceived me?” “No,” answered Elijah; “he meant ‘Today if ye hear His voice.’ ” 7–19 . A solemn warning against hardening the heart [This constant interweaving of warning and exhortation with argument is characteristic of this Epistle.

These passages ( Hebrews 2:1-4 , Hebrews 3:7-19 , Hebrews 4:1-14 , Hebrews 6:1-9 , Hebrews 10:19-39 ) cannot, however, be called digressions, because they belong to the object which the writer had most distinctly in view—namely, to check a tendency to relapse from the Gospel into Judaism].

(7) Wherefore. —Since without steadfastness all will be lost. With the words introducing the quotation compare Hebrews 9:8 ; Hebrews 10:15 . Whether the marks of parenthesis here introduced in our ordinary Bibles (not inserted by the translators of 1611) express the true connection of the verses is a question very hard to decide, and one that does not admit of full discussion here. It is very possible that the writer (like St. Paul in Romans 15:3; Romans 15:21; 1Corinthians 1:31) may have merged his own exhortation in that which the quotation supplies (Hebrews 3:8); and the objection that Hebrews 3:12 would naturally in that case have been introduced by some connective word is shown to be groundless by such passages as Hebrews 8:13; Hebrews 10:23; Hebrews 12:7; Hebrews 12:25. On the other hand, if we connect “Wherefore,” in this verse, with “Take heed” in Hebrews 3:12, we have greater regularity of structure—a strong argument in this Epistle. It seems unlikely, moreover, that the writer (whose tenderness of tone and sympathy are so manifest in his words of warning) would at this stage adopt as his own the stringent and general exhortation, “harden not your hearts:” the spirit of Hebrews 3:12 (“lest haply there shall be in any one of you”) is altogether different. On the whole, therefore, it seems best to consider Hebrews 3:7 (“To-day . . .”) to Hebrews 3:11 (“. . . my rest”) as a pure quotation, enforcing the warning that follows.