Provocation - Hebrews 3

We have to remember going into chapter 3 that Paul’s main audience with this letter is to a group of Christians who converted out of Judaism and were considering going back to their original religion for various reasons. The IM says, “For the Jews, Moses was the most highly revered prophet, the one who received God’s law at Sinai. The Jewish Christians being addressed in Hebrews were contemplating abandoning their faith in Christ and returning to Judaism in an attempt to remain loyal to the law of Moses. They did not understand (or believe deeply enough) that Christ was preeminent to Moses. Having shown in Hebrews 1-2 that Jesus Christ is greater than the angels, Paul next explained that as ‘the Apostle and High Priest of our profession,” Jesus is greater than Moses.” It’s really easy for us to look at the first Jewish Christian converts and judge their actions from our high horses 2,000 years in the future, but really, if we think about it, it’s a miracle that any of them believed in Jesus at all. First off, everyone expected the Messiah to come in a pillar of fire from the sky and hastily defeat the Roman empire. The people expected blood in the street, but Roman blood not the Messiah’s blood. The fact that they expected one person and got such a polar opposite shows me that, knowing myself, I wouldn’t have believed that Jesus was the Messiah either. Listening to this most recent book about Paul helped me gain some perspective about just how shameful crucifixion was to the ancient world. The Jews expected a conquering hero, he would vanquish his enemies, not appear to be vanquished BY them. All I’m saying is that it’s a very complex scenario with so much more than just the scriptures effecting outcome here. There’s so much that has to do with culture that we just don’t understand 2 millennia later. So not only did Paul have to convince the people that what they’ve believed for generations was incorrect, but this seemingly random guy was who they were waiting for to save them AND they needed to stay loyal to him despite all the intense persecution. It’s just a big ask is all I’m saying and I can understand how people were confused and perhaps just not as “faithful” as they were supposed to be. 3:1-6 - This is the point where I have to go out of the KJV and into the NIV to understand what Paul is trying to say. Paul says that Jesus was faithful “to the one who appointed him” which I assume is referring to His Father, just like “Moses was faithful in all God’s house.” Judaism held Moses to be the greatest prophet because he communed with God, but here’s the kicker, Jesus was the God that Moses was communing with. Paul uses the metaphor of a house builder, which I think probably meant something different back then because now we have contractors and stuff so most of us aren’t involved in the process of construction, but I would imagine that the term “house builder” here is in reference to the “master of the house” or the “householder” who either built the house himself with his own hands or commissioned the building of the house, paid for, and over saw the building process. The metaphor is that when someone builds a house, the house might be nice and all that, but the honor goes to the person who built it. Just like people build houses, but God supplies the materials. Within the house built by God, Moses was just a very good servant there, but Jesus is the ruler of the household. The IM comments, “Hebrews 3:3-6 teaches further about Jesus Christ’s superiority to Moses, stating that Moses was a servant in God’s house, but Christ built and rules over the house as God’s Son.” Moses didn’t build the gospel, he didn’t invent it, he didn’t provide the means by which it can be effective, God did that, it’s just that God is a little different than they expected him. 3:7-11 - Paul now quotes Psalm 95:7-11 which apparently warns against unbelief. The Psalm teaches that “he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture” or of his house like the current example. The people are warned “harden not your hearts,” and I think that this is where it’s important to make a distinction between not completely buying into a concept that you don’t fully understand and choosing to not understand something because you don’t want to be bound by the responsibilities that come once you do understand it. This is where the biggest difference comes in a lot of times. The Psalm goes on to remind the people of the “provocation” when “that generation” wandered in the wilderness for 40 years because they were allowed to enter the Promised Land. So here we have two seemingly similar groups of people, the ancient Israelites fresh out of slavery in Egypt, and the Jewish Christian converts who are wavering in the gospel. I don’t think for a second that Paul is telling the people that they have to be slaves to the gospel, that they have to disregard their questions. What I do think Paul is trying to say here is that in their journey to find the truth and understanding, be very careful not to choose to believe certain things because they are easier or more fun or less responsibility. I think that Paul reminded the people of the ancient Israelites because he wanted them to see what the potential hazards of making decision not based on truth but on convenience or a desire to live a life inconsistent with the gospel. 3:12-19 - Paul uses the phrase “evil heart of unbelief” not to describe someone who has reservation because they don’t understand but to describe someone who does not WANT to understand because they don’t want to live the gospel anymore. I think it’s important to note here that we are all on our own path, some of us leave the gospel and there are a lot of reasons for that. There is so much that goes into our lives and decisions that it’s usually not about being “evil” but it’s usually about self-preservation or ego or insecurities, etc. It’s hard enough to live life when we have all these subconscious factors pulling us away from the gospel, but when we purposefully choose to turn away from it then it’s at the next level. To help us learn based on a desire for the truth, Paul advises “exhort one another daily, while it is called to day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end; While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.” Paul’s telling the people that they can be personally taught by God the truth of what they are looking for as long as they “harden not your hearts” which to me means to desire to know the truth and be committed to living that truth once you know it. He’s not saying that those who have questions or who don’t understand have hardened hearts but that they can be taught by “his voice” if they don’t “provoke” God. Paul’s explaining why the law of Moses is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, but he’s also saying, “if you don’t get it, that’s ok, just keep trying to figure it out and as long as you are sincere in your quest for truth, you can hear his voice.”