ΟΗΑρτεκ III. 7—IV. 13. The great instance in history of the disaster which attends failure of faith is adduced as a warning to the faltering Hebrews.
Διὸ, “wherefore,” since it is only by holding fast our confidence to the end,
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ἐὰν τῆς φωνῆς αὐτοῦ ἀκούσητε, 8. “ph σκληρύνητε τὰς καρδίας h Exod.
A Ἐν aA , A A ὑμῶν, ὡς ἐν TH παραπικρασμῷ, κατὰ THY ἡμέραν τοῦ πειρασμοῦ ἐν
Ad ΡΟ δ,» , , ε ς έ ε ὗ ὧν 33 , , 1 ‘ τη ερηµῳ, 9. ου επειρασαν μ οι πατ ρ ς Bo νε οκιµασαν με, και
XVI. 2; Num. xx. 13:
1 Τ.Ε.ΝΕΏΕΚΙ, αἱ pler, f, vg. ; εν δοκιµασια with R*ABCD*EMP, 17, 73, 137.
that we continue to be the house of Christ and enjoy His faithful oversight, cf. ver. 14. Διὸ was probably intended to be immediately followed by βλέπετε (ver. 12) ‘‘ wherefore take heed,” but a quotation is introduced from Ps. χον. 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 TO Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, a form of citation not found elsewhere in exactly the same terms, but in x. 15 we find the similar form μαρτυρεῖ δὲ ἡμῖν τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ Gy. Cf. also ix. 8. Agabus uses it of his own words (Acts xxi. 11). In τ Tim. iv. 1 we have τὸ δὲ Πνεῦμα ῥητῶς λέγει cf. Rev. ii.-iii, ‘It is 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 iv. 7 as in the LXX it is called αἶνος ᾠδῆς τῷ Δαυίδ, although in the Hebrewit is not soascribed. The quotation contains vy. 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instance, the “to-day’’ present to the writer of the psalm, and expresses the thought that God’s offers had not been withdrawn although rejected by those to whom they had long ago been made.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 dis- regarded 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 genera- tion which had heard the voice of Christ Himself.
ἐὰν τῆς φωνῆς αὐτοῦ ἀκούσ-
ητε, ‘if ye shall hear His voice”’ (R.V., Vaughan); not ‘‘if ye will hearken to His voice.” The sense is, “ΙΓ God should be pleased, after so much in- attention on our part, to speak again, see that ye give heed to Him”.
Ver. ὃ. μὴ σκληρύνητε, the pro- hibitory subjunctive, v. Burton, p. 162. “The figure is from the stiffening by cold or disease, of what ought to be supple and pliable” (Vaughan). [The verb occurs first in Hippocrates, cf. Anz. 342.] It is ascribed to τὸν τράχηλον (Deut. x. 16), τὸν νῶτον (2 Kings xvii. 14), τὴν καρδίαν (Exod. iv. 21), τὸ πνεῦμα (Deut. ii. 30). Sometimes the hardening is referred to the man, some- times it is God who inflicts the hardening as a punishment. Here the possible hardening is spoken of as if the human subject could prevent it. τὰς καρδίας, the whole inner man. ὡς ἐν τῷ .. ἐρήμῳ. This stands in the psalm as the translation of the Hebrew which might be rendered: ['' Harden not your hearts]as at Meribah, as on the day of Massah in the wilderness,” Meribah being representedby παραπικρασμός and Massah by πειρασ- pos. The tempting of God by Israel in the wilderness is recorded in Exod. xvii. 1-7, where the place is called ‘‘ Massah and Meribah”. This occurred in the first year of the wanderings. παραπικρασ- μός is found onlyin this psalm (although παραπικραίνειν is frequent) its place being taken by λοιδόρησις in Exod. xvii. 7 and by ἀντιλογία in Num. xx. 12. It means ‘‘ embitterment,” ‘‘ exacerbation,” “exasperation”. κατὰ τὴν ἡμέραν is rendered by the Vulgate “" secundum diem,” rightly. It means “after the manner of the day’, Westcott, however, prefers the temporal sense.