VER, 7-11.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 67
his ways,—Matt. iv. 7, he answers him by that saying of Deut. vi. 16, “Thou shalt not tempt the Lorp thy God.” To venture, therefore, on any thing, unwarrantably trusting unto God for protection, is to tempt him. And this is usually and generally allowed as the nature of this sin and sense of this expression.
But yet I must needs say, that upon the consideration of all the places where mention is made of tempting the Lord, I am forced to embrace another sense of the meaning of this expression, which if it be not utterly exclusive of that already mentioned, yet it is doubt- less more frequently intended, and doth more directly express the sin here condemned. Now, this isa distrust of God whilst we are in any of his ways, after we have received sufficient experiences and instances of his power and goodness to confirm us in the sta- bility and certainty of his promises. Thus to do is to tempt God. And when this frame is found in any, they are said to tempt him; that is, to provoke him by their unbelief. It is not barely and nakedly to disbelieve the promises, it is not unbelief in general, but it is to disbelieve them under some peculiar attestation and experience obtained of the power and goodness of God in their pur- suit and towards their accomplishment. When, therefore, men are engaged into any way of God according to their duty, and meeting with opposition and difficulty therein, if they give way to despondency and unbelief, if they have received any signal pledges of his faithfulness, in former effects of his wisdom, care, power, and goodness, they tempt God, and are guilty of the sin here branded and condemned. The most eminent instances of tempting God in the Scripture, and which are most frequently mentioned, are these of the Israelites in the wilderness. As they are here represented in the story, so they are called over again both in the Old Testa- ment and the New: Ps. Ixxviii. 41, “ Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel;” and 1 Cor. x. 9, they “tempted Christ.” And wherein did this temptation consist? It was in this, and no other,—they would not believe or trust God when they were in his way, after they had received many experiences of his power and presence amongst them. And this is directly expressed, Exod. xvii. 7, “ They tempted the Lor, saying, Is the Lorp among us, or not?” They doubted of and questioned his presence, and also all the pledges and tokens which he had given them of it. And this sin of theirs the psalmist at large pursues, showing wherein it did consist, Ps. xxviii. 22, 23, “ They believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation, though he had com- manded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven.” Verse 32, “ For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works.” Verses 41, 42, “They turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. They remembered not
68 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. III.
his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy.” Thus plain doth he make the nature of their sin in tempting of God. It was their distrust and disobeying of him, after they had received so many encouraging evidences of his power, goodness, and wisdom amongst them. This, and this alone, is in the Scripture called tempting of God. For that of our Saviour, Matt. iv. 7, “ Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God,” it was taken, as was observed, from Deut. vi 16, where the following words are, “as ye tempted him in Massah.” Now this tempting of God at Massah was that which we have declared, namely, the disbelieving of him after many evi- dences of his power and faithfulness, And this directly answers the end for which our Saviour made use of these words; which was to show that he was so far satisfied of God’s presence with him, and of his being the Son of God, that he would not tempt him by desiring other experience of it, as though what he had already were not sufficient. And the reason why Ahaz said he would not tempt the Lord in asking a sign, was no other but because he believed not either that he would give him a sign or that he would deliver: and therefore he resolved to trust to himself, and with his money to hire the Assyrians to help him; which he did accordingly, 2 Kings xvi. 7-9.
And this sin is called tempting of God, from its effect, and not from its formal nature. They “tempted God;” that is, by their un- belief they provoked him and stirred him up to anger and indigna- tion. And from the discovery of the nature of this sin we may observe, that,—
Obs. XVIII. To distrust God, to disbelieve his promises, whilst a way of duty lies before us, after we have had experiences of his goodness, power, and wisdom, in his dealing with us, is a tempting of God, and a greatly provoking sin.
And a truth this is that hath »p2 3’y, “ meat in his mouth,” or instruction ready for us, that we may know how to charge this aggra- vation of our unbelief upon our souls and consciences, Distrust of God is a sin that we are apt, upon sundry perverse reasonings, to indulge ourselves in, and yet is there nothing wherewith God is more provoked. Now, it appears in the proposition laid down, that sundry things are required that a person, a church, a people, may render themselves formally guilty of this sin; as,—