the second advent) a general one to the much as Joshua o.nd Caleb (nnd it might be cl?s~ of the period of grace during which some few others) remained faithful. But "1t ls co.lied 'l'o-day." to say this is unnooesso.ry and irrelevant Ver. 15.-While it is said, To-d11y, etc. to the argument, the drift of which is to Commentators have found unnecess11ry diffi- warn by "the example of unbelief;" and culty in determining the connection of 111 -r,p could -rwh ("some") possibly be used to 7',-y,u8a,. Many, takiu~ the words o.s the denote the whole congregation with the beginning of a "new sentence, have been nt exception of so few ? It is to be observed, pains to discover the apodosis to them. too, that the aM' o'1 at the beginning of the Chrysostom, Grotius, Roscnmiillcr, and second clause is e. proper Greek expression others find it in ,pof3T16wµ.,11 0311, eh. iv. I; (equivalent to "ne.y") in the case of one notwithstanding the 0311, which seems evi- question being- answered by another (of. dently to introduce a new sentence, and the Luke xvii. 7, 8). This verse, then (-yo.p long parenthesis which, on this supposition, retaining its usual sense of "for"), begins e. intervenes. Others find it in µ.'I, <T1<1'T/pt,IIT/,,.. proof, put in the form of a series of ques- (" harden not your hearts"), in the middle tions, of the preceding implied proposition, of the citation of vcr. 16, as if the writer of viz. that the retention of Christian privilege the Epistle adopted these words as his own. is dependent on persevere.nee, and that the Delitzsch finds it in ver. Hi, taken as an privilege may be forfeited. In order to interrogation (,-[ves, not nvh: see below); show thie fully, the history of Numb. xiv., thus: "When it is said, To-day . . . harden referred to in the warning of the psalm, is not your hearts as in the provocation, . . . examined in connection with the successive who did provoke? Nay, did not all?" expressions of the warning; a.nd it thus The -yap after •rlvu he accounts for by its appears that all who came out of Egypt by idiomatic use found in such passages as Moses (the small exception of the faithful Acts viii. 31 ; :tlx. 35, conveying the sense spies being disregarded) provoked God, o.nd of the English, " Why, who did provoke?" so forfeited their privilege, and that the But this use of -yiip, obvious in the texts ea.use of their failure wo.s sin, disobe,Iience, adduced as parallel, would be forced here; and, at the root of all, unbelief. The con- the structure of the sentence does not easily clusion is obvious that, as their example is lend itself to it. Still, this is the view taken held out in the psalm as a warning to us, by Tholuck, Bleek, De Wette, Lunemann, we may, a.ll or any of us, similarly forfeit and others, as well as Delitzsch. But, not- our higher calling. That the psalm is a withstanding such weighty support, diffi- warning to us, the rest it points to being culties a.re surely best a.voided by ta.king the rest won for us by Chl'ist, is more fully ,v -rrp 7'<-y«r8a,, not as commencing a new shown in the following chapter. We observe sentence, but in connection with ver. 14 how the lee.ding words in Ps. xcv. a.re taken preceding, as it seems most natural to take in succession in the three successive verses it in the absence of any counccting particle ---,,,apa1r11<pd.uµ,&s in ver. 16, 1rpouwx~1ua in to mark a new proposition. In thie co.ea ver. 17, t:,µ,oua in ver. 18-e.nd how answers the translation of the A.V. gives e. fully to the three questions suggested by these satisfactory sense: " If we bold fast the words a.re found in Numb. xiv.-to the ftrst, beginning of our confidence firm unto the in vers. 2, 10, eto., •• all the children of end, while it is still being said, To-day," Israel," "all tho congrego.tion;" to the second, etc.; i.e. (as in vn. 13) "so long as it is in vers. 29-34, with citation of the words called To-day." Ebra.rd, Alford, and others, used; to the third, in vers. 21-24. It is ta.king the ea.me view of the connection of to be observed, further, that it is not simply the words, prefer the transle.tion, "In that l,,,r,u-rla, but its exhibition in a.ctuo.l sin and it is said." But the other seems more in disobedience (-ro,s l,,µ,u.p-r~uau,, -ro,s l,,.,,.,e~- 11ccorda.nce with the thought pervading the uau, ), that is spoken of as calling forth the passage. Divine wrath and the Divine oath. 'l'he Vers. 16--19.-For who, when they heard, second of the above words implies more provoked t Nay, did not ell those who oame than "believed not" (as in the A.V.); out of Egypt by Moses t The.t both these 1,,,...,9,,,, differs from a.1r1u-r,i'v in implying clauses a.re interrogative, and not as taken disobedience or contumaoy. And this view in the A. V., is now the prevalent view. of the case of the Israelites agrees entirely The reasons for thus understanding them with the historical record, where an o.otua.l are (1) the analogy of the two following rebellion is spoken of-a. refusal to go' on verses, both of which a.re interrogative, and with the work they had been called to. in the first of which a question is simile.rly It suits also the application to the case of answered by putting another; and (2) the the Hebrew Christians, among whom (as sense required. If the clauses were asser- has been ea.id) it was not only wavering of tions, they could only be meant to exprese faith, but, o.s its consequence, remissness in Uiat the provocation was not uni versa.I, ina.s- moral duty and in the fooing of trial, of cu. tu. 1-19.] THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. !ll
which the writer of the Epistle bad per• was the cause, and again the growing result, ceived symptoms, and on the ground of of moral decadence. And so the argument which he warns them to take heed lest is summed up in the concluding verse, And growing indifference should be hardened we see that they could not enter in beoa.use into apostasy. But in both instances, as of unbelief, faith is the root of all virtue, so want of it