Commentary on Hebrews and the Catholic Epistles John Calvin
CHAPTER 3
11. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) 11. Sicut juravi in ira mea, Si ingressuri sint in requiem meam.) 12. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
12. Videte fratres, ne quando sit in ullo vestrum cor pravum incredulitatis (vel, pravum et incredulum,) deficiendo a Deo vivente:
13. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
13. Sed exhortamini vos ipsos quotidie, quandiu vocatur dies hodiernus; nequis ex vobis induretur deceptione peccati.
He proceeds in his exhortation, that they were to obey Christ speaking to them; and that he might add more weight to it, he confirms it by the testimony of David; for since they were to be sharply goaded, it was better, for the sake of avoiding offense, to bring forward another person. Had he simply reproached them for the unbelief of the fathers, they would have less favorably attended to him; but when he brought forward David, it was less offensive. Now, the import of the whole is, --- As God from the beginning would his voice obeyed, and could not endure perverseness without punishing it severely, so at this day he will not lightly punish our stubbornness, unless we become teachable. But the discourse is suspended until we come to the words, ``Take heed, brethren, lest there be at any time in any of you,'' etc. That the passage, then, may flow better, it would be proper to include the rest in a parenthesis. 62 Let us now consider the words in order.
7. As the Holy Ghost saith, etc. This availed much more to touch their hearts than if he had quoted David by name. And it is useful for us to familiarize ourselves with such expressions, so that we may remember that the words adduced from the books of the prophets are those of God and not of men.
But as this sentence, Today, if ye will hear his voice, is a part of a former verse, some have not unsuitably rendered it thus, ``Would to God you would this day hear his voice.'' It is indeed certain that when David called the Jews God's people, he immediately drew this conclusion, that the voice of God ought to have been heard by them; for as to those whom he there invited to sing praises to God and to celebrate his goodness, he reminded them at the same time that obedience was the chief worship which he required, and that it was better than all sacrifices. The chief thing, then, was to obey the word of God.
8. Then follows, Harden not your hearts By which words is intimated that our rebellion against God flows from no other fountain than willful wickedness, by which we obstruct the entrance of his grace, We have indeed by nature a heart of stone, and there is in all an innate hardness from the womb, which God alone can mollify and amend. That we, however, reject the voice of God, it happens through a spontaneous obstinacy, not through an external impulse, a fact of which every one is a witness to himself. Rightly, then, does the Spirit
62There is the same parenthesis in our version; but Beza, Doddridge, Macknight, and Stuart, do not use it, but connect "therefore" or wherefore with "harden not," which seems more suitable. — Ed.