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Hebrews 3:1. Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus Christ. Hebrews 3:2. Who is faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses was in all His house. “The same, holy brethren, the title of heavenly partaker, understand the Messenger and Holy Hierarch of our confession Jesus Christ,” “he is faithful to Him who created Him, just as Moses was in all His house.” Again, as a man, the Apostle called Him Saint and Messenger. For if He is a Saint and like God, then He would have been one even before His incarnation. And that he became the Messenger of our confession after becoming man, this was taught by the Apostle in the Epistle to the Galatians. For he says; “When the end of the year had come, God sent His Son... begotten of a woman” (Gal. 4:4). He did not say: “His ambassador shall be born of a woman”; but: “the ambassador born of a wife”; from which it is clear that the word “message” corresponds to incarnation. “Our confession” he called faith and “creation” he called not creation, but ordination. For he says: “being is faithful to Him who created Him,” that is, the Messenger and the Holy One. The Apostle, recalling what God said about Moses (the saying of God is: “He is faithful in all My house” (Num. 12:7), subsequently shows the difference. Hebrews 3:3. For He is worthy of greater glory before Moses, in proportion as he who built it has greater honor than the house. “You have been granted greater glory than Moses, and greater honor than the house that created it.” What a difference, says the Apostle, there is between the creature and the Creator, the same between Moses and Christ. For this is taught more clearly by what follows: Hebrews 3:4. For every house is built by someone; and the one who arranged everything is God. “Every house is created from someone, and he who created everything is God.” It is necessary to know that the Apostle proved his superiority by divine nature, and that “he was worthy of the greatest glory,” he said about this by human nature. Since the Lord Christ is both God and man, but both are revealed to us in one person, the Apostle is forced by the necessity of showing two natures to say both humiliating and lofty things about Him. Hebrews 3:5. And Moses was faithful in all His house, as a minister, to testify to what was to be declared. Hebrews 3:6. And Christ is like a Son in His house; But we are His house, if only we hold fast the boldness and hope in which we boast. And “Moses was faithful throughout His house, like a servant, as a testimony to those who had it”: “Christ is like the Son in His house: whose house we are, even if we hold on to the boldness and praise of hope even to the end.” The apostle used names from the Old Testament Scripture. For God called Moses a servant. “My servant Moses,” He says, “passed away” (Joshua 1:2); and again: “not as my servant Moses is” (Numbers 12:7). And the Old Testament Scripture calls the Lord Christ Himself the Son. “What is His name? or what name is His Son?” (Proverbs 30:4), and: “Thou art My Son, I have given birth to Thee this day” (Ps. 2:7); and: “from the womb before the morning star I gave birth to Thee” (Ps. 109:3). From this, says the Apostle, the difference between one and the other is known. One is a servant, and the other is the Son, one is called faithful as proof that he is a trustworthy lawgiver, as the Apostle says: “for the testimony of those who had it,” and Christ is called faithful, like the Son. If the heretics believe that this designation “faithful” means humiliation, then let them hear what the Apostle says about God and the Father: “God is faithful, by whom He quickly called His Son into fellowship” (1 Cor. 1:9), and the prophet David: “The Lord is faithful in all His words” (Ps. 144:13); and also: “the witness in heaven is faithful” (Ps. 88:38). So the divine Moses says: “God is faithful, and there is no unrighteousness in Him” (Deut. 32:4). Scripture called the believers the house of God according to the prophecy that says: “I will dwell in them and walk around” (2 Cor. 6:16, Lev. 26:12). Let us be worthy of this honor, says the Apostle, if by progressing in virtue we maintain the boldness that we have acquired and the longed-for hope. And since he mentioned hope, “the visible hope is not the hope: for whoever sees what he hopes?” (Rom. 8:24)), and the Lord Christ promised us the Kingdom of Heaven, then the Apostle again makes a comparison between what was given to the Jews and what was promised to us. Hebrews 3:7. Why, as the Holy Spirit says, now, when you hear His voice. Hebrews 3:8. Do not harden your hearts as in the time of murmuring, in the day of temptation in the wilderness. Hebrews 3:9. Where your fathers tempted Me, tested Me, and saw My works for forty years. Hebrews 3:10. Therefore I was indignant at this generation and said: they continually err in heart, they have not known My ways. Hebrews 3:11. therefore I have sworn in My wrath that they should not enter My rest. “In the same way, as the Holy Spirit says, today, if you hear His voice,” “do not harden your hearts, as in anger, in the days of temptation in the wilderness,” “where your fathers tempted Me, and saw My works forty years.” “For this reason, for the sake of that indignant generation, I said: They always err in heart, but they do not know My ways”: “For they swore in My wrath, if they entered into My rest.” The apostle brought evidence, frightening, of course, the Jews so that they would more carefully guard the hope given to them; however, he had something else in mind, again directing the speech so as not to arouse suspicion; continues the exhortation. Hebrews 3:12. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil and unfaithful heart, lest you depart from the living God. “Take heed, brethren, lest in any heart of you there be any deceitful heart of unbelief, in which you live to depart from God.” You must have a lot of care and diligence in order to maintain faith and not accept the death of unbelief, because it separates you from living God. Hebrews 3:13. But instruct one another every day, as long as you can say, “Today,” lest any of you become hardened by being deceived by sin. “But console yourself every day, until today you are reproached, lest anyone be hardened by you through sinful flattery.” While we are alive, every day we must take every care of ourselves, so that sin, having taken possession of us, does not make our heart stubborn. The Apostle used the word “today” to describe real life. Hebrews 3:14. For we have become partakers of Christ, if only we firmly preserve the life we have begun to the end. “We will keep the partakers of Christ, even if the beginning of the composition is known to the end.” For we entered into communion with the Lord Christ through the death of all-holy baptism and, having been buried in Him, we have on us the image of the resurrection, if only we maintain firm faith. The Apostle called it “the firstfruits of the composition,” because by it we are renewed, and we enter into unity with the Lord Christ, and we partake of the grace of the All-Holy Spirit. Then the Apostle again turns to the prophetic word. Hebrews 3:15. As long as it is said: “Today, when you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the time of murmuring. “He always says: Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as in anger.” He also mentions those who fell into this bitterness. Hebrews 3:16. For some of those who heard began to murmur; but not all who came out of Egypt were with Moses. “Whoa, did you hear your anger? But not all those who came out of Egypt." The first part should be read as a question, and the second – not in the affirmative, but as an answer. This is how the subsequent words make us understand. For besides Caleb the son of Jephuniah and Joshua the son of Nun, six hundred thousand perished. The Apostle called them “those who came out of Egypt.” Hebrews 3:17. With whom was He indignant for forty years? Is it not on those who sinned, whose bones fell in the wilderness? Hebrews 3:18. Against whom did he swear that they would not enter His rest, if not against the disobedient? Hebrews 3:19. So we see that they could not enter because of unbelief. “Who is angry about fourty years? Haven’t they sinned, and their bones fell in the desert?” “Whom did he swear not to bring into His chamber? Ya, as if we resisted." “And we see that we are not able to account for unbelief.” When God commanded them to go to the Promised Land, they protested, using fear and the strength of their enemies as an excuse. For this reason, the God of all kinds gave them all up to death one by one in the desert and brought in their children in their place. The Apostle, having outlined this important thought in order to frighten the Jews and force them to wait for the hopes given, finally begins to speak about peace, teaching that the prophet David foretold it from ancient times. You might be interested in: