Ver. 6. The writer now, in vv. 6-9, gathers up the argument, and reaches his conclusion that a Sabbatism remains for God's people. The argument briefly is, God has provided a rest for men and has promised it tothem. This promise was
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ciii.7,15; 7. "πάλιν τινὰ ὁρίζει ἡμέραν, “Σήμερον,᾽᾿ ἐν Δαβὶδ λέγων, μετὰ τοσ-
Ps. xcv. 7.
οὔτον χρόνον: καθὼς εἴρηται,! ““ Σήμερον ἐὰν τῆς φωνῆς αὐτοῦ ἀκού-
σητε, μὴ σκληρύνητε τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν ’”. 8. Εἰ γὰρ αὐτοὺς ᾿Ιησοῦς
κατέπαυσεν, οὐκ ἂν περὶ ἄλλης ἐλάλει μετὰ ταῦτα ἡμέρας - ο.
ἄρα ἀπολείπεται σαββατισμὸς τῷ λαῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ.
1ο. ὁ γὰρ εἰσ-
λθὰ 3 Ἁ LA 3 A ‘ ΕΕ / 3 x ~ ελνων εἰς THY κατάπαυσιν αυτου, και αὔτος κατέπαυσεν ATO των
ἱ προειρηται in ΝΑΟΡ"Ε3Ρ, d, e, f, vg., Copt., Arm.; ειρηται in DcE**KL.
not believed by those who formerly heard it, neither was it exhausted in the bring- ing in of the people to Canaan. For had it been so, it could not have been renewed long after, as it was. It remains, there- fore, tobe now enjoyed. ‘‘ Since, there- fore, it remains that some enter into it and those who formerly heard the good news of the promise did not enter, owing to disobedience.” ἀπολείπεται, there remains over as not yet fulfilled. Inv. ο. waBBat. is the nominative, here τινας εἰσελθεῖν might be considered a nomina- tive but it is better, with Viteau (256), to construe it as an impersonal verb fol- lowed by an infinitive. From the fact that the offer of the rest had been made, or the promise given, ‘it remains ” that some (must) enter in. But a second fact also forms a premiss in the argument. viz.: that those to whom the promise had formerly been made did not enter in; therefore, over and above and long after (μετὰ τοσ. χρόνον) the original procla- mation of this gospel of rest, even in David’s time, again (πάλιν), God ap- points or specifies a certain day (τινὰ ὁρίζει ἡμέραν) saying “To-day”. This proves that the offer is yet open, that the promise holds good in David’s time. The words already quoted (καθὼς προείρηται) from the 95th Psalm prove this, for they run, “ To-day, if ye hear His voice,” etc. They prove at any rate that the gospel of rest was not ex- hausted by the entrance into Canaan under Joshua, “ for if Joshua had given them rest, God would not after this speak of another day”. The writer takes for granted that the ‘‘ To-day” of the Psalm extends to Christian times, whether be cause of the life (ver. 12) that is in the word of promise, or because the refer- ence in the Psalm is Messianic. ‘ This ‘voice’ of Ged which is ‘ heard’ is His voice speaking to us in His Son (i. 1) and this ‘To-day’ is ‘the end of these days’ in which He has spoken to us in Him, on to the time when He shall come again (iii. 13). In etfect God has been
‘heard’ speaking only twice, to Israel and to us, and what He has spoken to both has been the same,—the promise of entering into His rest. Israel came short of it through unbelief; we do enter into the rest who believe (iv. 3) (Davidson). At ail events, the conclusion unhesita- tingly follows: ‘‘ Therefore there remains a Sabbath-Rest for the people of God”. ἄρα though often standing first in a sen- tence in N.T. cannot in classical Greek occupy that place. Σαββατισμός, though found here only in Biblical Greek, occurs in Plutarch (De Superstit, c. 3). The verb σαββατίζειν occurs in Exod. xvi. 30 and other places. The word is here em- ployed in preference to κατάπαυσις in order to identify the rest promised to God’s people with the rest enjoyed by God Himself on the Sabbath or Seventh Day. [So Theophylact, ἑρμηνεύει πῶς σαββατ. ὠνόμασε τὴν τοιαύτην κατά- παυσιν" διότι, φησὶ, καταπαύομεν καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀπὸ τῶν ἔργων τῶν ἡμετέρων, ὥσπερ καὶ ὁ θεός, καταπαύσας ἀπὸ τῶν ἔργων τῶν εἰς σύστασιν τοῦ κόσμου, σάββατον τὴν ἡμέραν ὠνόμασεν.] Το explain and justify the introduction of this word, the writer adds ὁ yap εἰσελθὼν . . 88 1 he said, I call it a Sabbatism, because it is not an ordinary rest, but one which finds its ideal and actual ful- filment in.God’s own rest on the Seventh Day. It is a Sabbatism because in it God’s people reach a definite stage of attainment, of satisfactorily accomplished purpose, as God Himself did when crea- tion was finished. 6 γὰρ εἰσελθὼν, who- ever has entered, not to be restricted to Jesus, as by Alford, εἰς τ. κατάπαυσιν αὐτοῦ, into God’s rest, καὶ αὐτὸς κ.τ.λ. himself also rested from his (the man’s) works as God from His.”