way of eminency, the third person in the Trinity, who in an especial manner spake in the penmen of the Scripture. Those holy men of God spake úò ПIvɛúμaros ȧyíov Qepóμɛvo, “moved," "acted," " inspired by the Holy Ghost," 2 Pet. i. 21.

Kadas eye," as he saith." This may intend either his first immediate speaking in his inspiration of the psalmist, as it is expressed, chap. iv. 7, èv Axid Aéywv, "saying in David," where these words are again repeated; or his continuing still to speak these words to us all in the Scripture. Being given out by inspiration from him, and his authority always accompanying them, he still speaketh them.

The words reported by the apostle are taken from Ps. xcv. 7-11. He mentions not the especial place, as speaking unto them who either were, or whom he would have to be exercised in the word, 2 Tim. iii. 15. Besides, though such particular citations of places may be needful for us, for a present help unto them that hear or read, it was not so to the holy penmen of the New Testament, whose writings are continually to be searched and meditated upon all our lives, John v. 39. Whereas ours are transient and for the present occasion, every thing in their writings (which makes us attentive and industrious in our search) is to our advantage. The leaving, therefore, of an uncertainty whence particular quotations are taken is useful to make us more sedulous in our inquiries.

This psalm the apostle makes use of both in this chapter and the next. In this, he manifests it to contain a useful and instructive example, in what happened unto the people of God of old. In the next, he shows that not only a moral example may be taken from what so fell out, but also that there was a type in the things mentioned in it (and that according unto God's appointment) of our state and condition; and moreover, a prophecy of the gospel state of the church under the Messiah, and the blessed rest therein to be obtained. Here we have the consideration of it as historical and exemplary; in the next we shall treat of it as prophetical.

The Jews had a tradition that this psalm belonged unto the Messiah. Hence the Targum renders these words of the first verse, ?, "to the rock of our salvation," Nopið "po dop, "before the mighty one of our redemption;" with respect unto the redemption to be wrought by the Messiah, whom they looked for as the Redeemer, Luke xxiv. 21. So ver. 7, 77 No2", "in that day,” seems to refer unto the same season. And the ancient Jews do frequently apply these words, "To-day, if ye will hear his voice," unto the Messiah. For from these words they have framed a principle, that if all Israel would repent but one day the Messiah would come, because it is said, “To-day, if ye will hear his voice." So in the Talmud. Tract. Taanith., distinc. Mamarai Maskirin. And the same words they used in Midrash Shirhashirim, cap. v. ver. 2. And this is no small witness against them as to the person of the Messiah; for he is God undoubtedly concerning whom the psalmist speaks, as is evident from verses 2-7. He whose voice they are to hear, whom they acknowledge to be the Messiah, is "Jehovah, the great God," verse 3; "who made the sea, and formed the dry land," verse 5; "the LORD our maker," verse 6. And indeed this psalm, with those that follow unto the 104th, is evidently of those new songs which belong unto the kingdom of the Messiah. And this is among the Jews the, or principal "new song," expressing that renovation of all things which under it they expect. The next psalm expresseth it: "Sing unto the LORD," "a new song.", saith Rashi, "This psalm is for the time to come;" that is, the days of the Messiah. Enμepov,,"hodie," "to-day," "this day." A certain day or space of time is limited or determined, as the apostle speaks in the next chapter. And the psalm being in part, as was showed, prophetical, it must have a various application; for it both expresseth what was then done and spoken in the type, with regard to what was before as the foundation of all, and

intimateth what should afterwards be accomplished in the time prefigured, in what the words have respect unto as past.

The general foundation of all lies in this, that a certain limited present space of time is expressed in the words. This is the moral sense of them :-limited, because a day; present, because to-day. And this space may denote in general the continuance of men's lives in this world. ; that is, saith Rashi, by, "in this world," in this life: afterwards there will be neither time nor place for this duty. But yet the measure of such a day is not merely our continuance in a capacity to enjoy it, but the will of God to continue it. It is God's day that is intended, and not ours, which we may outlive, and lose the benefit of it, as will afterwards appear.

Again, the general sense of the word is limited to a special season, both then present when the words were spoken, and intimated in prophecy to come afterwards. For the present, or David's time, that refers, saith Aben Ezra, to Na

,"come, let us fall down and worship," verse 6; as if he had said, 'If you will hear his voice, come and worship before him this day.' And in this sense, it is probable that some especial feast of Moses' institution, when the people assembled themselves unto the solemn worship of God, was intended. Many think that this psalm was peculiarly appointed to be sung at the feast of tabernacles. Neither is it unlikely, that feast being a great type and representation of the Son of God coming to pitch his tabernacle amongst us, John i. 14. Let this, then, pass for David's typical day. But that a farther day is intended herein the apostle declares in the next chapter. Here the proper time and season of any duty, of the great duty exhorted unto, is firstly intended, as is evident from the application that the apostle makes of this instance, verse 13, "Exhort one another daily, while it is called," σnμɛpov, “to-day;" that is, 'whilst the season of the duty is continued unto you.' So was it also originally used by the psalmist, and applied unto the duties of the feast of tabernacles, or some other season of the performance of God's solemn worship.

'Eάv, "si," "if;" a mere conditional, as commonly used. But it is otherwise applied in the New Testament, as Matt. viii. 19, "I will follow thee orov av ȧpx?,"—"whithersoever thou goest." And chap. xii. 36, "Every idle word ô làv nanńoworv oi äveρwπoi,”—“ which men shall speak." There is no condition or supposition included in these places, but the signification is indefinite, "whosoever," ," "whatsoever," "whensoever." Such may be the sense of it in this place; which would, as some suppose, remove a difficulty which is cast on the text; for make it to be merely a conditional, and this and the following clause seem to be coincident, "If ye will hear," that is, obey his voice, "harden not your hearts;" for to hear the voice of God, and the not hardening of our hearts, are the same. But there is no necessity, as we shall see, to betake ourselves unto this unusual sense of the word.

Tñs Qwvñs avtoỡ dxovonre,—“ Ye will hear his voice:". Whereever this construction of the words doth occur in the Hebrew, that is joined with bip, whether it be spoken of God in reference unto the voice of man, or of man in reference unto the voice of God,—the effectual doing and accomplishment of the thing spoken of is intended. So Num. xiv. 22, "They have tempted ""and have not heard my voice;" that is, 'have not yielded obedience to my command.' So of God with reference unto men: Josh. x. 14, "There was no day like that, before nor after it, p

, וְלֹא שָׁמְעוּ בְּקוֹלִי ,me these ten times

:

>," that "the LORD should hearken to the voice of a man;" that is, effectually to do so great a thing as to cause the sun and moon to stand still in heaven. So between man and man, Deut. xxi. 18, 19. See Matt. xviii. 15-17, It is frequently observed, that to "hear," to "hearken," in the Scripture, signifies to "obey," or to "yield obedience to the things heard;" as to "see" doth to "understand" or

"believe," and to " taste" denotes " spiritual experience;" words of outward sense being used to express the inward spiritual acts of the mind. Sometimes I say it is so, but this phrase is always so used. The Holy Ghost, therefore, herein lays down the duty which we owe to the word, to the voice of God, when we hear it in the way of his appointment,—that is, to yield sincere obedience unto it; and the hinderance thereof is expressed in the next words. Now, as this command is translated over into the gospel, as it is by our apostle in the next chapter, it hath respect unto the great precept of hearing and obeying the voice of Christ, as the great prophet of the church; given originally, Deut. xviii. 19, "Whosoever will not hearken unto my words, which he shall speak in my name" (for the Father speaketh in the Son, Heb. i. 1, 2). "I will require it of him," Acts iii. 22, 23; which was again solemnly renewed upon his actual exhibition: Matt. xvii. 5, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him." See 2 Pet. i. 17. And he is thereon, as we have seen, compared with Moses in his prophetical office, and preferred above him, John i. 17, 18.

¿bpó̟, tñs Qwvñs aitou.ip, "the voice of the LORD," is sometimes taken for his power, inasmuch as by his word, as an intimation and signification of the power which he puts forth therein, he created and disposeth of all things. See Ps. xxix. 3-5, 7-9, where the mighty works of God's power and providence are assigned unto his voice. See also Mic. vi. 9. Sometimes it is used for the revelation of his will in his commands and promises. This is the λoyos po@opinós of God, the word of his will and pleasure. But it is withal certain that and Own are used principally, if not solely, for a sudden, transient voice or speaking. For the word of God as delivered in the Scripture is and hoyos, sometimes põua, not ip or own. So the lifting up of the voice amongst men, is to make some sudden outcry; as, "They lifted up their voice and wept." These words, then, do ordinarily signify a sudden, marvellous speaking of God from heaven, testifying unto any thing. So doth φωνή, Mark i. 11, Καὶ φωνὴ ἐγένετο ἐκ τῶν oùρavv,-"And there was a voice from heaven." So Matt. xvii. 5; Luke iii. 22; John xii. 28,*Hadev ovv Qwvù in тov oúpavoŭ,—“ There came therefore a voice from heaven:" which when the multitude heard, they said Sporty yeyovéval, "that it thundered;" for thunder was called p," the voice of God." So the np, "the voices," Exod. xix. 16, that accompanied the Dor "lightnings," that is, the thunders that were at the giving of the law, are rendered by our apostle Own inμáτwy, Heb. xii. 19; that is, the thunders from heaven which accompanied the words that were spoken. So is Qavý used Acts x. 13, 15, xxvi. 14. Hence came the bra, "Bath Kol" among the ancient Jews: or, as in the Chaldee, *p, Gen. xxxviii. 26. "There came filia vocis" ("the daughter of the voice") "from heaven." And so the Syriac version in this place: p na 78 "if you will hear the daughter of the voice." They called it so, as being an effect or product of the power of God, to cause his mind and will to be heard and understood by it. They thought it was not the voice of God himself immediately, but as it were the echo of it,-a secondary voice, the offspring of another. And whereas they acknowledge, that after the building of the second

, תשמעון

66

",the * Spirit of prophecy and of inspiration רוח הקדוש or,רוח נבואה temple the

ceased in their church, they contend that revelations were made by the pa, or immediate voice from heaven, though they can instance in none but those which concerned our Saviour, which the apostles declared and made famous, 2 Pet. i. 17. But it may be there is that in this tradition which they understand not.

בעלי הקבלה אומרים שהוא קול של מדה אחת הנקראת קול אולי,Elias in his Tishbi tells us

"The Cabbalists say that it is the voice of a property in God which is called Kol; and it may be it is so." They have no other way to express a person in the divine nature but by , a special property. And one of these, they say, is called "Kol,” that is, "the Word," the eternal Word or Son of God. His especial

speaking is intended in this expression; which is true. So his speaking is called his "speaking from heaven," Heb. xii. 25; although I deny not but that the immediate speaking of the Father in reference unto the Son is sometimes so expressed, Matt. xvii. 5, 2 Pet. i. 17. But an especial, extraordinary word is usually so intended. So our Saviour tells the Pharisees, that they had not heard tùy Qavy, the voice of God at any time, nor seen his eldos, his shape, John v. 37. They had heard the voice of God in the reading and preaching of the word, but that was ó óyos, "his word." His Own they had not heard. Notwithstanding all their pretences and boastings, they had not at any time extraordinary revelations of God made unto them. For there is an allusion to the revelation of the will of God at Horeb, when his bip, or own, or "voice," was heard, and his 2 or eldos, his "shape," appeared, or a miraculous appearance of his presence was made; both now being accomplished in himself in a more eminent manner, as the apostle declares, John i. 16-18. It is true the Lord Christ calls his ordinary preaching, as we say, "viva voce," Tv Qwvny, his "voice," John x. 3, 16; but this he doth because it was extraordinary, his person, work, and call being so. Wherefore the psalmist in these words, as to the historic and typical intendment of them, recalls the people unto the remembrance and consideration of God's speaking unto them in the giving of the law at Horeb, and exhorts them unto obedience unto it formally upon that consideration,—namely, that the will of God was uttered unto them in a marvellous and extraordinary manner. And as to the prophetical intendment of it, he intimates another extraordinary revelation of it, to be made by the Messiah, the Son of God.

Mà oxλnpúvnte tàs xapdías iμv, ;-"Harden not your hearts." This expression is sacred; it occurs not in other authors. To harden the heart, is a thing peculiarly regarding the obedience that God requireth of us. ΣκληρόT5, "hardness," is indeed sometimes used in heathen writers for stubbornness of mind and manners. So Aristotle says of some that they are ὀνομαστότατοι ἐπὶ oxλnρórnτ, "famous for stubbornness." Such as Homer describes Achilles to have been, who had weρioxeñeis Opévas, “a hard, stubborn, inflexible mind." So is σxλпρоτράxnλos sometimes used, "duricervicus," "hard-necked" or "stiff-necked," ‚” “curvicervicum pecus," "a crook-necked, perverse beast." But oxλnpúvw, 66 to harden," is scarcely used unless it be in the New Testament and in the translation of the Old by the LXX. Three times it occurs in the New Testament,Acts xix. 9, Rom. ix. 18, and in this chapter; everywhere by Paul, so that it is a word peculiar unto him. Examply so tình xa phau, therefore, "to harden the heart," in a moral sense, is peculiar to holy writ; and it is ascribed both to God and man, but in different senses, as we shall see afterwards. By this word the apostle expresseth out of the original; that is, " to be hard, heavy, and also difficult." In Hiphil it is "to harden and make obdurate," and is used only in a moral sense. The LXX. render it constantly by oxλnpúvw, “induro;" or ßapúva, "gravo," 1 Kings xii. 4; to "harden," or to "burden." Sometimes it is used absolutely: Job ix. 4, ", "hardened against him," that is, himself;— "hardened himself against him." Ofttimes it hath, the "neck,” added unto it:, Prov. xxix. 1, that "stiffeneth," or "hardeneth his neck;" as one that goes on resolvedly, as will not so much as turn aside or look back towards any one that calls him. Sometimes it hath ", the "spirit" joined to it: Deut. ii. 30,, "he hardened his spirit.' But most commonly it hath ? the "heart," as here. And it still in man denotes a voluntary perverseness of mind, in not taking notice of, or not applying the soul unto the will of God as revealed, to do and observe it.

'Ns iv tỹ πapañıxpaou, "as in the provocation;"". The LXX. render this word, where it is first used, by hordópnois, "convitium," 99.66 a reproach," Exod, xvii. 7; afterwards constantly by duriñoyía, "contradiction," or conten

VER. 7-11.]

EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS.

tion by words, as Num. xx. 13, xxvii. 14, Deut. xxxiii. 8; and nowhere by apaTixpaσuós, as in this place of the psalm. Hence some suppose it is evident that the present Greek translation is not the work or endeavour of the same persons, but a cento of many essays. I rather think that we have hence a new evidence of the insertion of the apostle's words into that version; for, as I will not deny but that the writers of the New Testament might make use of that Greek version of the Old which was then extant, so that many words and expressions are taken from them, and inserted in that which we now enjoy, is too evident for any man of modesty or sobriety to deny. And this word, as here compounded, is scarce used in any other author. Izpós is "bitter," in opposition to yλuxus, “sweet,” "pleasant;" that is the proper, natural sense of the word. So also of wixpów and Tixpaiva, "to make bitter to the taste" or sense. But the metaphorical use of these words in a moral sense is frequent for "exacerbo," "provoco." The Hebrew ", is "to stir up to anger," "to vex," "imbitter," "provoke," as 1 Sam. i. 6. 'Sо паражxpaσμós must be "exacerbatio," "provocatio," an imbittering, a provocation to anger by contention:, which here is so rendered, is "jurgium," a strife agitated in words. We render it "chiding." The story which this principally refers unto is recorded, Exod. xvii. 1-7, "And they pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink. ` Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and And Moses said unto them, Why chide said, Give us water that we may drink. ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD? And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children, and our cattle, with thirst? And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do And the LORD said unto unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me. Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?" Another story to the like purpose we have of what befell the people in the wilderness of Zin nearly forty years afterwards, when, in their murmuring for water, another rock was smitten to bring it forth, whereon it is added, "This is the water of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the LORD," Num. xx. 13. It is also said on the same occasion that they "chode with Moses," verse 3..

66

Κατὰ τὴν ἡμέραν τοῦ πειρασμοῦ, που Diy; as in the day of Massah,” or "temptation;", from 3, "to tempt;" the other name given to the place before mentioned in Exodus: for thence it is that the apostle takes his example, where both the names are mentioned, and where the place is said to be called Massah and Meribah; whereas in that of Numbers it is only said, "This is the water of Meribah," or strife. And yet it may be not without respect to the latter The first instance was at the beginning, the latter at the close of their also. As they began so they ended. This was a remarkable passage provocations. between God and that people; for, first, a double name is given to the place where "He called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah,” Exod. xvii. it fell out: 7. Meribah, which the apostle renders Tapaжixpaσμós, seems principally or firstly to respect Moses as the object of it: verse 2, 1, "and the people chode with Moses." Thence had the place the name of Chiding, "Meribah," from And God was the immediate object of their temptation. So in the text "jareb." there is made a distribution of these things distinctly, whence these several names

TT

, מַה־תְּרִיבוּן עִמָּדִי מַה־תְּנָסוּן אֶת־יְהוָה ,And Moses said unto the people *

arose.

“Why do ye chide with me" (Meribah)?" and wherefore do ye tempt the LORD