Who these were was declared before in the exposition of the words, and it is plain from the story who are intended. It was the people that came up out of Egypt with Moses; all of whom that were above twenty years of age at their coming into the wilderness, because of their manifold sins and provocations, died there, Caleb and Joshua only excepted. So the Lord threatened, Num. xiv. 26-30, “ And the LorpD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me. Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the Lorp, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you; your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness, and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me, doubtless ye shall not come into the land concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, saye Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.” And so it came to pass; for when the people were num- bered again in the plains of Moab, it is said, “ Among these there was
48 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. III.
not a man of them whom Moses and Aaron the priest numbered, when they numbered the children of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai;” that is, besides those two who were excepted by name, Num. xxvi. 64, 65. These were the fathers of the present Hebrews; that is, as it is expressed, Jer. xi. 10, DYN DNAX —their “forefathers,” as we render the words; rather their “first fathers,” those whom God first took into the express covenant with himself, for the place hath respect unto that very sin which-is here reported: “ They are turned back to the iniquity of their first fathers, which refused to hear my words,” who hearkened not unto the voice of God. And this limits the term unto those in the wilderness, seeing the former patriarchs did not refuse to hear the word of God. But they are generally called Mi38 indefinitely, rarépec, the “fathers,” as others also that. followed in succeeding generations; once by our apostle they are termed zpéyover,— progenitors,” 2 Tim.i.3. Now the psalmist men- tioning (and our apostle from him) the sin of the people in the wil- derness, and proposing it with its consequents unto the present Hebrews, calls them their “ fathers,’—
(1.) Because that people were exceedingly apt to boast of their fathers, and to raise a confidence in themselves that they must needs receive mercy from God on their account. And they had, indeed, no small privilege in being the posterity of some of those fathers. Our apostle reckons it as one of their chief advantages, Rom. ix. 4, 5: “Who are Israelites, to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came.” It hath a place in the great series of the privileges of that church. And when the church-state is made over to the Gentiles, it is promised her, that instead of these fathers she should have her children, Ps. xlv. 16,— those that should succeed unto them in holiness and the favour of God. But this people ran into a woful mistake, which their pos- terity are hardened in at this day. Their only privilege in this matter was because God had freely and graciously given his pro- mises unto their fathers, and taken them into covenant with him- self; and the due consideration hereof tended only to the exaltation oi the rich and free grace of God. So Moses expressly declares, Deut. vii. 7, 8, and elsewhere. But forgetting or despising this, they rested on the honour and righteousness of their fathers, and expected I know not what as due unto them on that account. This vain confidence our Saviour frequently rebuked in them, and so did the apostle. And for this reason the psalmist and the apostle, having occasion to mention the sins of the people of old, calls them their “fathers ;” minding them that many of them in whom they gloried were sinful provokers of God.
VER. 7-11.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 49
(2.) It is done to mind them of their near concernment in the ex- ample proposed untothem. It is not taken from amongst strangers, but it is what fell out amongst their own progenitors.
(8.) To warn them of their danger. There is a propensity in children to follow the sins of their fathers. Hence some sins prove eminently national in some countries for many generations. The example of parents is apt to infect their children. The Holy Ghost, then, here intimates unto them their proneness to fall into disobedience, by minding them of the miscarriage of their fathers in the same kind. This intimates unto them both their duty and their danger. Again, these fathers are further described by their number. They were a whole “generation;” that is, all the people of that age wherein they were in the wilderness. And this contains a secret aggravation of the sin mentioned, because there was in it a joint conspiracy as it were of all the persons of that age. These are they who were guilty of the sin here reported. And we may observe from this expression and remembrance of them,—