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Hebrews

  1. Lesson One
    Overview of Hebrews
    15 Activities
    |
    1 Assessment
  2. LESSON TWO
    Hebrews' Christology (Hebrews 1–3, 5, 8–9)
    18 Activities
    |
    1 Assessment
  3. LESSON THREE
    The Old Testament in Hebrews (Hebrews 4, 7, 11)
    20 Activities
  4. LESSON FOUR
    Exhortations in Hebrews
    17 Activities
  5. LESSON FIVE
    Persecution
    14 Activities
  6. Course Wrap-Up
    Course Completion
    1 Activity
    |
    1 Assessment

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Hebrews The Old Testament in Hebrews (Hebrews 4, 7, 11) In | Psalm 95 and Hebrews 3–4
Lesson 3, Activity 12

In | Psalm 95 and Hebrews 3–4

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Hebrews’ message on unbelief and rest in chapters 3 and 4 is laced with Old Testament quotations and allusions. One example, which you can see below, compares Hebrews 3:7-11 and Psalm 95:7-11. This will show you how contemporary or “simultaneous” all Scripture was understood to be, with references to the Exodus sojourn—retold in the Psalms—becoming pertinent to understanding the meaning of rest (established in Genesis 2:2) as written in Hebrews.

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
on the day of testing in the wilderness,
where your fathers put me to the test
and saw my works for forty years.
Therefore I was provoked with that generation,
and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart;
they have not known my ways.’
As I swore in my wrath,
‘They shall not enter my rest.’”
Hebrews 3:7-11 ESV

Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
when your fathers put me to the test
and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
For forty years I loathed that generation
and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart,
and they have not known my ways.”
Therefore I swore in my wrath,
“They shall not enter my rest.”
Psalm 95:7-11 ESV

See the table below for more examples:

Psalm 95 ESV Hebrews 3–4 ESV
For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, (Psalms 95:7-8 ESV)As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” (Hebrews 3:15 ESV)
Therefore I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter my rest.” (Psalms 95:11 ESV)For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest,’” although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. (Hebrews 4:3 ESV)
They shall not enter my rest. (Psalms 95:11 ESV)And again in this passage he said, “They shall not enter my rest.” (Hebrews 4:5 ESV)
Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah. (Psalms 95:7-8 ESV)Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. (Hebrews 4:7 ESV)

Source of the verse numbers: Donald Hagner, Encountering the Book of Hebrews, 2002, p. 66.