Hebrews 3:11

Wrath. Gr. orge (see on Rom. 1:18; 2:8). For comment on the “wrath,” or “anger,” of God see on 2 Kings 13:3.

They shall not enter. God had promised Abraham that his descendants would return to Canaan “in the fourth generation” (Gen. 15:16). His only purpose in bringing the Hebrew people out of Egypt had been to lead them into the land He had promised them. But when, in utter perversity, they refused to learn the lessons they must learn before He could take them into Canaan, God eventually had no alternative but to abandon them to their own ways. It would have been futile for Him to give them possession of the Promised Land, for, on the basis of their performance in the wilderness, they would have frustrated the very purpose He had in giving them that land. God had borne long with the people, and there was nothing more He could do for them. Compare God’s promise to give them “rest” (Ex. 33:14) with His “breach of promise” at Kadesh (Num. 14:34).

Rest. Gr. katapausis, “[settled] rest,” “[place of] rest.” The fundamental concept of katapausis is cessation from labor or other activity, together with the state of inactivity that follows cessation. Katapausis appears altogether eight times in chs. 3 and 4 (chs. 3:11, 18; 4:1, 3 [twice], 5, 10, 11), and the related verb katapaud three times (Heb. 4:4, 8, 10 [“hath ceased”]). In each instance katapausis is definite, specifying a particular “rest,” God’s “rest.” Where katapausis appears in the LXX it is usually the translation of the Heb. menuchah, “resting place,” “rest,” from nuach, “to settle down,” “to remain [in a place],” “to rest,” that is, after previous activity. In the LXX katapausis is used of the permanent abode of the ark in Canaan, after the wilderness wanderings (Num. 10:36), and of the inheritance of Israel in Canaan, after the 430 years of sojourn (Deut. 12:9). The related verb katapaud is commonly the translation of the Heb. nuach or shabath, both of which mean “to rest.” In Gen. 2:2, 3; Ex. 34:21; 31:17, katapaud is used five times of the Sabbath “rest.” Like katapausis, katapaud represents cessation from any kind of activity and may also include the “rest” that follows cessation. See on Heb. 4:9.

Careful attention to the four different applications of the words katapausis and katapaud is essential to an understanding of the argument set forth in chs. 3 and 4:

1. In chs. 3:11, 18; 4:3, 5, reference is to the promised literal occupation of the land of Canaan by the generation of Israelites that had been delivered from Egypt. The promise was not fulfilled because of the rebellion at Kadesh-barnea (see on ch. 3:7-11).

2. It is evident, however, that the entrance of Israel into literal Canaan is only one aspect of the “rest” God had in store for His people. Once they were established in the Promised Land, He purposed to qualify them, as a nation, to be His chosen messengers of salvation to the world (see Vol. IV, pp. 26-30). But centuries later, in the time of David, they had not entered into this aspect of God’s “rest” (Heb. 4:7, 8); in fact, they never entered into it (see Vol. IV, pp. 30-34). Throughout its history Israel repeatedly made essentially the same mistake as that made by the generation whose probation, as a group, closed at Kadesh. Thus God finally barred them, as a nation, from ever entering into His spiritual “rest,” as He had formerly barred the generation at Kadesh from entering literal Canaan (Vol. IV, p. 33). They forfeited their role as the chosen people (see on Matt. 21:43).

God’s renewed invitation in the time of David to enter into this spiritual aspect of His “rest” is evidence that Israel’s failure to do so in Joshua’s time and after, had not — in David’s time — yet canceled His purpose for Israel as a nation. Furthermore, the renewal of the invitation in David’s time is evidence that Joshua had not given Israel the spiritual “rest” (Heb. 4:8).

3. In Heb. 4:4 (see comment there) God’s resting on the seventh day of creation week is used, in an illustrative sense, of the “rest” into which God would have Christians enter.

4. In ch. 4:1, 3, 10, 11 katapaud and katapausis refer to the Christian’s rest from the works of sin and from attempts to earn salvation by his own merits. Compare Christ’s personal invitation, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (see on Matt. 11:28).

The line of reasoning in chs. 3 and 4, which centers in the word “rest,” is essentially as follows:

1. God originally intended that Moses should lead Israel into the Canaan “rest,” but neither Moses nor the generation that left Egypt entered Canaan.

2. Joshua, however, did lead the next generation into Canaan but because of their unbelief he could not lead them into God’s spiritual “rest.”

3. In the days of David, God renewed the invitation to enter into His spiritual “rest” (see Vol. IV, p. 31). But it was obvious, by NT times, that Israel as a nation had not entered into God’s “rest.”

4. Nevertheless, God’s invitation and promise had not lapsed by default, for when God determines upon a certain objective He will, ultimately, achieve it despite human failures (see on ch. 4:3, 4).

5. Accordingly, since God’s people have not as yet entered into His “rest,” it is certain that “there remaineth ... a rest to the people of God” (ch. 4:9).

6. If Christians will “come boldly unto the throne of grace” (ch. 4:16), where Christ ministers as “the Apostle and High Priest of our profession” (ch. 3:1; cf. ch. 4:14, 15), they will find One who can “be touched with the feeling of’ their “infirmities” (ch. 4:15), and will “obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (v. 16). In so doing they will enter into God’s spiritual “rest,” the “rest” of soul He has provided for repentant sinners. Thus, explains the writer, the experience into which Israel had failed to enter in centuries gone by becomes the privilege of the sincere Christian today (ch. 3:13, 15).

7. “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. ... Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief” (ch. 4:1, 11). Faith is the key to entering into God’s “rest” (ch. 4:2; cf. chs. 3:18, 19; 4:6; 11), and we should “take heed” lest there be in us “an evil heart of unbelief” (ch. 3:12).

Under the Levitical priesthood men were to perform certain “works” designed to help them understand and appreciate the plan of salvation in Christ Jesus. But under the ministration of Christ as high priest men are to go directly to Christ without the mediation of a human priest. They are to find “rest” in Christ, without the “works” required by the ceremonial system, or any other system. In chs. 3 and 4 the writer pleads with his Jewish Christian brethren to cease from these profitless “works” and to enter into the “rest” of simple faith in the atoning merits and ministry of our great High Priest in heaven. Compare Isa. 30:15; Jer. 6:16; Matt. 11:29.