Hebrews Chapter Three, Rebellious Israel

 

Hebrews 3:7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you will hear His voice, [8] Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness, [9] Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, and saw My works forty years.

 

The quote the writer uses beginning with verse 7 comes from Psalm 95:7b-11. It would benefit us to look back on this Psalm, entitled in my NKJV as “an exhortation to worship,” to learn why it was written. Verses 1 and 2 commend singing as a method of worship. Above that, in both verses the word “shout, NKJV” is used twice, denoting lively and loud singing at that. The word “shout” is followed by the adverb “joyfully,” connoting the inner nature of the worshiper singing to God. 

Verse 3 briefly defines the God to whom the psalmist refers. Mind you, Israel was surrounded by nations that often worshiped many gods. These gods were personified in idols and were often patrons over specific things such as Baal, god of the storm, harvest and fertility. That was why worshipers of Baal lanced themselves during rituals of communing with him; they cut themselves like a field being furrowed, see 1 Kings 18:28.

 

But the psalmist says, “For the Lord is the great God, and the great King above all gods,” Psalm 95:3. The word “great,” can also mean, “boundless, limitless, abundant.” This adjective describes the Lord as both deity and ruler. Yahweh (Israel’s God) is the great (unlimited, boundless) God, and He is the great (unlimited, boundless) King over all other claimants to the title of god. He is above other gods in superiority, and the psalmist is not remiss to explain why.

 

Verses 4 and 5 cite a few profoundly simple reasons why Yahweh is superior to opposing claimants. He holds the deep places of the earth, which may refer to Sheol, the abode of the dead. If nothing else, it can also encompass precious ores and stones, and the molten heart of the earth’s core, as well. The heights of the hills are His and all that is on them. If this is a contest, then, the psalmist is stating that Yahweh rules the depths where the dead go; He also rules the heights where the high places are often made to worship contender gods. There is not an inch of earth given to His would-be opponents that doesn’t genuinely belongs to them. He owns all. The hidden depths of the ocean are His because He created them. He formed the dry land with His hands; which is why the deep places and high hills belong to Him.

 

The psalmist makes an appeal to his listeners to bow down and kneel before God and worship. People bow before royalty to honor the king or queen because of the title they possess and the influence they command. A monarch governs his kingdom and owns or controls everything within the determined boundaries appointed for it. In the sphere of the divine, honor becomes worship, an adoration that submits not only to the title, but the One who bears it. God is who He is by virtue of His person. He rules because He is alone divine. With unmatched wisdom God created angels, the universe, our Earth, and humanity. Human potentates are shadows of the true King, to who belongs our fealty and love. The psalmist commends worship because God is our Maker, verse 6.

 

Verse 7a informs us that the Lord our Maker is also our God. The pronoun “our” makes this all-powerful, all wise Being personal. He is OUR God; He is not a distant, aloof entity. Israel was uniquely the people of God’s pasture and the sheep of His hand. They roamed in the pasture God allotted them from Dan to Beersheba.

 

Bearing all of this in mind, we come to verses 7b through 11. The call to worship, and the reasons to do so are cited. Now the call to submit to God’s rule is sent out. Today, this day, if we hear God’s voice, do not harden our hearts. Israel is in view again in their historical wilderness wanderings. God led them out of Egypt under Moses, killing the firstborn of Egypt and parting the Red Sea to give His people a clear avenue of deliverance from Pharaoh. Verse 8 employs the words “rebellion” and “trial.” It refers specifically to a “day of trial in the wilderness.” This incident then is not a generalized complaint about the unruly nature of Israel; rather, the words indicate the trial of Massah and Meribah, from Exodus chapter 17.

 

The people tested God in a selfish bid to get what they wanted from Him. Having already experienced miraculous deliverance from death with the parting of the Red Sea, the people became thirsty and complained against Moses. But ultimately the complaint was leveled at God, who, they claimed, led them into the wilderness to die. They demanded from Moses something he could not give them to the point that he felt that his life was imperiled, and Moses cried out to God. God provided for them what they wished, though this was not response to prayer. God stood before Moses on the rock from which the water came to satisfy the people, and the elders witnessed this miracle to further confirm to them that God was with Moses. Moses named the place Massah and Meribah, which mean “tempted” and “contention.” We read in Exodus 17:7, “because they tempted the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us, or not?””

 

That was the beginning of what the psalmist described: “Your fathers tested Me; they tried Me, though they saw My work. For forty years I was grieved with that generation,” Psalm 95:9, 10. Israel as a whole stubbornly chose to disbelieve God at every turn. Though He spoke and then did what He said, they did not listen or believe, save for a minority, the believing remnant. Israel could be seen here as a smaller template of the world by and large. Most of the world makes some overtures toward being religious somehow, believing in God (however they choose to define that) etc. But the remnant will be saved. Jesus called His church a little flock, and called the way to salvation the narrow way.

 

Specifically, Israel challenged God at every turn during their wanderings. Finally the spies gave a bad report, which prompted God to forbid them entrance into the Promised Land, save for Joshua and Caleb. Then they disobeyed once more and endeavored to take the Promised Land by force after being commanded to depart, resulting in abject failure when the Canaanites repelled them. Verse 10 cites the reason this continued to occur. “It is a people who go astray in their hearts, and they do not know My ways.” Essentially they are walking blind. They begin going astray within. Before outward appearance gives away their intentions, they have already forsaken God in their hearts. But this isn’t shocking, since the psalmist tells us that they never knew Him to begin with. The indictment was that these people did not know His ways. So one might say it was natural that the majority went astray, since the majority didn’t bother to learn who God truly was, or pay attention to what He was saying unless it benefited them somehow. King Josiah, the final godly king of Judah, is a good example of a man that heard God’s word and conformed his thinking and life to it. He strove to know God, and because he learned from Him, Josiah’s heart did not go astray, but rather found its course and clung to it.

 

We read that when Josiah read the book of the Law that had been hidden in the temple, “he tore his clothes,” 2 Kings 22:11. He was shocked, ashamed, and angry that his people had gone so far out of the way. Suddenly zealous for God’s glory, Josiah went about to do what he knew was right, because it was what God had said. 1 Kings 23:1-28 details numerous reforms Josiah put in place to demonstrate his fidelity to the Lord, contrasted sharply against wandering Israel, who went astray in their heart for forty years. In verse 11 God vowed that such rebels would not enter His rest: in this instance referring to the Promised Land that He had given to Abraham and his seed as a possession.