8. But it might be said that under Joshua the people did enter into the promised rest. He therefore shows that Isra- el’s rest in Canaan did not fulfil the divine ideal of the rest.
Jesus (‘Incods). Rend. Joshua, and see on Matt. i. 21.
After this (wera tadra). After the entrance into Canaan under Joshua.
9. There remaineth therefore a rest (dpa amodelrerat caBBaticpos). Remaineth, since in the days of neither Moses, Joshua, or David was the rest appropriated. He passes over the fact that the rest had not been entered into at any later period of Israel’s history. Man’s portion in the divine rest inaugurated at creation has never been really appropriated : but 7 still remaineth. ‘This statement is justified by the new word for “rest” which enters at this point, caSBaticpos instead of xatdravows. LaPRatiopos, N. T.°, °LXX, °Class., signifies a keeping Sabbath. ‘The Sabbath rest points back to God’s original rest, and marks the ¢deal rest —the rest of per- fect adjustment of all things to God, such as ensued upon the completion of his creative work, when he pronounced all things good. ‘This falls in with the ground-thought of the Epistle, the restoration of all things to God’s archetype. The sin and unbelief of Israel were incompatible with that rest. It must remain unappropriated until harmony with God is restored. The Sabbath-rest is the consummation of the new creation in Christ, through whose priestly mediation recon- ciliation with God will come to pass.
For the people of God (7 Aa@ Tod Oeod). For the phrase see Rom. ix. 25; xi. 1; 1 Pet. ii. 10, and comp. Israel of
Cx. IV.) THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 425
God, Gal. vi. 16. The true Israel, who inherit the promise by faith in Christ.
10. Only in such a Sabbath-rest is found the counterpart of God’s rest on the seventh day.
For he that is entered into his rest (6 yap eiceAOwv eis THY KaTaTavow avTod). Whoever has once entered.* His, God’s. The aorist marks the completeness of the appropria- tion — once and for all.
He also hath ceased from his own works («al avros Katéravoey ard TAY épywv avTov). Omitown. The statement is a general proposition: any one who has entered into God’s rest has ceased from his works.
As God did from his (@o7ep aro trav idiwv 6 Beds). Rend. as God (did) from his own. ’Idtov own signifies more than mere possession. Rather, works peculiarly his own, thus hint- ing at the perfect nature of the original works of creation as corresponding with God’s nature and bearing his impress. The blessing of the Sabbath-rest is thus put as a cessation from labours. The basis of the conception is Jewish, the rest of the Sabbath being conceived as mere abstinence from labour, and not according to Christ’s conception of the Sab- bath, as a season of refreshment and beneficent activity, Mk. ii. 27; J. v. 17. Our writer’s conception is not the rabbinical conception of cessation of work, but rather of the cessation of the weariness and pain which accompany human ‘ labor. Comp. Apoc. xiy. 13; xxi. 4; L. xi. 7; xviii. 5; Gali 7.
11. This promise of rest carries with it a special responsi- bility for the people of God.
Let us labour therefore (c7rovddcwpev odv). For the verb, see on Eph. iv. 8. Give diligence, not hasten, which is the
primary meaning.
* Not as Ebrard and Alford, he that entered, referring to Christ, and con- trasted with Joshua. Jesus isnot mentioned in the entire passage, iii. 7-iv. 9.
426 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. (Cu. IV.
That rest (éxelvny tHv katamavow). The Sabbath-rest of God, instituted at creation, promised to the fathers, forfeited by their unbelief, remaining to us on the condition of faith.
Lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief (iva ph év TO abtT@ TIS UTOdelypatt Téon THS aeHelas). Iléon fall is to be taken absolutely ; not, fall into the same example. ‘Trrddevypa example, mostly in Hebrews. Rejected as unclass- ical by the Attic rhetoricians. Originally a sign which suggests something: a partial suggestion as distinct from a complete expression. See ch. vill. 5; ix. 23. Thus Christ’s washing of the disciples’ feet (J. xiii. 15), was a typical suggestion of the whole field and duty of ministry. See on 1 Pet. ii. 6. It is not easy to give the exact force of év in. Strictly speaking, the “example of disobedience” is con- ceived as that in which the falling takes place. The fall is viewed in the sphere of example. Comp. 2 Macc. iv. 30; 1 Cor. ii. 7. Rend. that no man fall in the same example of disobedience: the same as that in which they fell.