SEV Biblia, Chapter 3:8
no endurezcis vuestros corazones como en la provocacin, en el día de la tentacin en el desierto,
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Hebrew 3:8
Verse 8. Harden not your hearts] Which ye will infallibly do, if ye will not hear his voice. Provocation] parapikrasmov? From para, signifying intensity, and pikrainw, to make bitter; the exasperation, or bitter provocation. "The Israelites provoked God first in the wilderness of Sin, (Pelusium,) when they murmured for want of bread, and had the manna given them, Exod. xvi. 4. From the wilderness of Sin they journeyed to Rephidim, where they provoked God a second time for want of water, and insolently saying, Is the Lord God among us or not? Exod. xvii. 2-9, on which account the place was called Massah and Meribah. See 1 Cor. x. 4, note 1. From Rephidim they went into the wilderness of Sinai, where they received the law, in the beginning of the third year from their coming out of Egypt.
Here they provoked God again, by making the golden calf, Exod. xxxii. 10.
After the law was given they were commanded to go directly to Canaan, and take possession of the promised land, Deuteronomy i. 6, 7: God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount: turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vales, and in the south, and by the seaside, to the land if the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, and unto the great river, the river Euphrates. The Israelites, having received this order, departed from Horeb, and went forward three days' journey, Num. x. 33, till they came to Taberah, Num. xi. 3, where they provoked God the fourth time, by murmuring for want of flesh to eat; and for that sin were smitten with a very great plague, Num. xi. 33; this place was called Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who lusted. From Kibroth-hattaavah they went to Hazeroth, Numbers xi. 35, and from thence into the wilderness of Paran, Numbers xii. 16, to a place called Kadesh, Num. xiii. 26. Their journey from Horeb to Kadesh is thus described by Moses, Deuteronomy i. 19-21: And when we departed from Horeb, we went through all that great and terrible wilderness, which you saw by the way of the mountain of the Amorites, as the Lord our God commanded us; and, we came to Kadesh-barnea. And I said unto you, Ye are come unto the mountain of the Amorites, which the Lord our God doth give unto us. Behold, the Lord thy God hath set the land before thee; go up and possess it. But the people proposed to Moses to send spies, to bring them an account of the land, and of its inhabitants, Deut. i. 22. These after forty days returned to Kadesh; and, except Caleb and Joshua, they all agreed in bringing an evil report of the land, Num. xiii. 25-32; whereby the people were so discouraged that they refused to go up, and proposed to make a captain, and return into Egypt, Num. xiv. 4. Wherefore, having thus shown an absolute disbelief of God's promises, and an utter distrust of his power, he sware that not one of that generation should enter Canaan, except Caleb and Joshua, but should all die in the wilderness, Num. xiv. 20; Deut. i. 34, 35; and ordered them to turn, and get into the wilderness, by the way of the Red Sea. In that wilderness the Israelites, as Moses informs us, sojourned thirty-eight years, Deut. ii. 14: And the space in which we came from Kadesh-barnea, until we were come over the brook Zereb, was thirty and eight years; until all the generation of the men of war were wasted out from among the host, as the Lord sware unto them. Wherefore, although the Israelites provoked God to wrath in the wilderness, from the day they came out of the land of Egypt until their arrival in Canaan, as Moses told them, Deuteronomy ix. 7, their greatest provocation, the provocation in which they showed the greatest degree of evil disposition, undoubtedly was their refusing to go into Canaan from Kadesh. It was therefore very properly termed the bitter provocation and the day of temptation, by way of eminence; and justly brought on them the oath of God, excluding them from his rest in Canaan. To distinguish this from the provocation at Rephidim, it is called Meribah-Kadesh," Deut. xxxii. 51. See Dr. Macknight.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 8. Harden not you hearts , etc..] There is a natural hardness of the heart; the heart of man is like a stone, destitute of spiritual life, motion, and activity; it is senseless, stupid, impenitent, stubborn, and inflexible, on which no impressions can be made, but by powerful grace: and there is an acquired, habitual, and voluntary hardness of heart, to which men arrive by various steps; as entertaining pleasing thoughts of sin; an actual commission of it, with frequency, till it becomes customary, and so habitual; an extenuation or justification of it, and so they become hardened against all reproofs and sermons, and to all afflictions and judgments; are insensible and past feeling, and openly declare for sin, and glory in it: and there is a hardness which God's people are liable to, and should guard against; and which is brought on by a neglect of private and public worship, and by keeping bad company, and through the ill examples of others, and by giving way to lesser sins; for all sin is of an hardening nature: as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness ; the Jews provoked God in the wilderness by their unbelief, murmurings, ingratitude, and idolatry; and they tempted him there by distrusting his power and goodness; hence one of the places in which they murmured against him was called Massah and Meribah, ( Exodus 17:7) and it is an aggravation of their sin, that it was in the wilderness, after they had been just brought out of bondage into liberty, and had lately had such an instance of the power and goodness of God, in bringing them through the Red sea; and where they could have no human supplies, and therefore should have been entirely dependent on God, and trust in him.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 7-13 - Days of temptation are often days of provocation. But to provoke God when he is letting us see that we entirely depend and live upon him, in a provocation indeed. The hardening of the heart is the spring of all other sins. The sins of others, especially of our relations, should be warnings to us. All sin, especially sin committed by God's professing privileged people, not only provokes God, but it grieves him. God is loth to destroy any in, or for their sin; he waits long to be graciou to them. But sin, long persisted in, will make God's wrath discove itself in destroying the impenitent; there is no resting under the wrath of God. "Take heed:" all who would get safe to heaven must loo about them; if once we allow ourselves to distrust God, we may soo desert him. Let those that think they stand, take heed lest they fall Since to-morrow is not ours, we must make the best improvement of thi day. And there are none, even the strongest of the flock, who do no need help of other Christians. Neither are there any so low an despised, but the care of their standing in the faith, and of their safety, belongs to all. Sin has so many ways and colours, that we nee more eyes than ours own. Sin appears fair, but is vile; it appear pleasant, but is destructive; it promises much, but performs nothing The deceitfulness of sin hardens the soul; one sin allowed makes wa for another; and every act of sin confirms the habit. Let every on beware of sin.
Greek Textus Receptus
μη 3361 σκληρυνητε 4645 5725 τας 3588 καρδιας 2588 υμων 5216 ως 5613 εν 1722 τω 3588 παραπικρασμω 3894 κατα 2596 την 3588 ημεραν 2250 του 3588 πειρασμου 3986 εν 1722 τη 3588 ερημω 2048
Vincent's NT Word Studies
8. Harden not (mh sklhrunhte). In N.T. mostly in this epistle. Comp. Acts xix. 9; Rom. ix. 18, see note. The group of kindred words consists of sklhrov hard (see on Matthew 25;24; Jude 14); sklyrothv hardness (Rom. ii. 5); sklhrunein to harden (Acts xix. 9; Rom. ix. 18); and the compounds sklhrokardia hardness of heart (Matt. xix. 8; Mark x. 5), and sklhrotrachlov stiff-necked (Acts 7;5). All occur in LXX, with the addition of sklhrwv hardly, painfully (not in N.T.). In the provocation (en tw parapikrasmw). Only here and ver. 15. In LXX only Psalm xciv. 8. The verb parapikraineinto provoke, only in ver. 16. Often in LXX. The simple verb pikrainein to make bitter, Col. iii. 19; Apoc. viii. 11; x. 9, 10. From pikrov bitter, pungent: hence to stir up to bitterness, to irritate. Comp. LXX Ezek. ii. 4. In the day (kata thn hJmeran). Kata in a temporal sense, as Acts xii. 1; xix. 23; xxvii. 27. Comp. kat' ajrcav in the beginning, ch. i. 10. Of temptation (tou peirasmou). Rend. "of the temptation," referring to a definite event, the murmuring against Moses at Rephidim on account of the lack of water, Exod. xvii. 1-7. In that passage the LXX gives for the two proper names Massah and Meribah, peirasmov temptation, which is correct, and loidorhsiv railing or reviling, which is loose, since Meribah signifies strife. 181 In Psalm 94, LXX renders Meribah parapikrasmov provocation, which is inexact, and Massah peirasmov temptation, which is correct.
