◄ Hebrews 3:8 ►
do not harden your hearts, as you did in the rebellion, in the day of testing in the wilderness,
Study Bible
do not harden your hearts,

This phrase is a direct exhortation to the readers, warning them against the spiritual stubbornness that characterized the Israelites. The heart, in biblical terms, often represents the center of one's being, including mind, will, and emotions. Hardening of the heart implies a deliberate resistance to God's voice and commands. This concept is echoed throughout Scripture, such as in Exodus 8:15, where Pharaoh hardens his heart against God's commands. The New Testament also warns against this in Romans 2:5, where a hardened heart leads to judgment. The call is to remain open and responsive to God's guidance.

Psa 95:8 do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,…
Pro 28:14 Blessed is the man who is always reverent, …
Rom 2:5 But because of your hard and unrepentant heart,…

as you did in the rebellion,

This refers to a specific historical event involving the Israelites' rebellion against God during their journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. The rebellion is detailed in Numbers 14, where the Israelites, despite witnessing God's miracles, refused to trust Him and enter Canaan. This act of defiance resulted in severe consequences, including wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. The rebellion serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of unbelief and disobedience. It highlights the importance of faith and trust in God's promises, as seen in Hebrews 11:6, which states that without faith, it is impossible to please God.

Deu 1:26-27 But you were unwilling to go up; you rebelled…
Num 14:9 Only do not rebel against the LORD, and do not be afraid…
Deu 9:24 You have been rebelling against the LORD…

in the day of testing in the wilderness,

The "day of testing" refers to the period when the Israelites were tested by God in the wilderness, as described in Exodus 17:1-7 and Deuteronomy 8:2. This testing was meant to reveal their faith and dependence on God. The wilderness itself is a significant biblical motif, representing a place of trial, purification, and reliance on God. Jesus' own testing in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11) parallels this, where He overcame temptation by relying on Scripture and His relationship with the Father. The wilderness experience is a reminder of the need for perseverance and faithfulness in the face of trials.

Psa 95:9 where your fathers tested and tried Me, though…
Exo 17:7 He named the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites…
Deu 8:2 Remember that these forty years the LORD your God led you…

Persons / Places / Events
1. The Israelites
The original audience of the warning, who hardened their hearts during their journey in the wilderness after the Exodus from Egypt.

2. Moses
The leader of the Israelites during the Exodus, who witnessed their rebellion and interceded for them.

3. The Wilderness
The setting for the Israelites' testing and rebellion, specifically referring to the period of wandering after leaving Egypt.

4. Rebellion (Meribah and Massah)
Specific events where the Israelites tested God by complaining and doubting His provision (Exodus 17:1-7; Numbers 20:1-13).

5. The Author of Hebrews
Traditionally attributed to Paul or another early Christian leader, addressing Jewish Christians to remain faithful.
Teaching Points
Guard Against Hardness of Heart
The heart can become hardened through unbelief and disobedience. Regular self-examination and repentance are crucial.

Learn from Past Mistakes
The Israelites' rebellion serves as a cautionary tale. Reflect on personal areas of rebellion and seek God's guidance to overcome them.

Trust in God's Provision
Just as the Israelites doubted God's provision, believers today must trust in God's faithfulness and provision in all circumstances.

The Importance of Community
Encourage one another daily to prevent the deceitfulness of sin from hardening hearts. Community accountability is vital.

Persevere in Faith
The call to not harden hearts is a call to persevere in faith, holding firmly to the confidence we had at first.
Bible Study Questions
1. What are some modern-day "wilderness" experiences where you might be tempted to harden your heart?

2. How can the account of the Israelites' rebellion serve as a warning for your own spiritual journey?

3. In what ways can you actively encourage others in your community to prevent the hardening of their hearts?

4. Reflect on a time when you doubted God's provision. How can you apply the lessons from Hebrews 3:8 to trust Him more fully?

5. How does the promise of a new heart in Ezekiel 36:26 relate to the warning in Hebrews 3:8, and how can this promise be a source of hope for you?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Psalm 95:7-11
This passage is directly quoted in Hebrews 3:7-11, providing a historical context for the warning against hardening hearts.

Exodus 17:1-7 and Numbers 20:1-13
These passages describe the events at Meribah and Massah, where the Israelites quarreled and tested God.

1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Paul warns the Corinthians by recounting the Israelites' failures in the wilderness, urging them to learn from these examples.

Ezekiel 36:26
God promises to give His people a new heart and spirit, contrasting the hardened hearts of the Israelites.
Sermons
A Dissuasive from ProcrastinationS. Lowell.Hebrews 3:7-8
An Admonitory AddressJames Kidd, D. D.Hebrews 3:7-8
Come While the Lamp BurnsHebrews 3:7-8
Harden not Your HeartsT. Chalmers, D. D.Hebrews 3:7-8
Harden not Your HeartsChristian World PulpitHebrews 3:7-8
Hardening the HeartN. W. Taylor, D. D.Hebrews 3:7-8
Hardening the HeartHebrews 3:7-8
Hardening the HeartR. M. McCheyne.Hebrews 3:7-8
Hardness of HeartS. RutherfordHebrews 3:7-8
Hardness of the HeartJ. Palsford.Hebrews 3:7-8
Instant Consideration of Religion RecommendedAlex. Shanks.Hebrews 3:7-8
Obduracy of HeartHebrews 3:7-8
Of the Causes of Bawdiness of HeartW. Gouge.Hebrews 3:7-8
On Hearing God's VoiceW. Jones Hebrews 3:7, 8
Only To-Day is YoursW. Hay Aitken, M. A.Hebrews 3:7-8
Peril of Delaying RepentanceE. B. Pusey, D. D.Hebrews 3:7-8
Religion To-DayT. Raffles, D. D.Hebrews 3:7-8
Remedies for Preventing or Redressing Hardness of HeartW. Gouge.Hebrews 3:7-8
ScriptureD. Dickson, M. A.Hebrews 3:7-8
Sin Hardens the HeartG. Neil, M. AHebrews 3:7-8
Sinners Entreated to Hear God's VoiceE. Payson, D. D.Hebrews 3:7-8
Soul InsensibilityU. R. Thomas.Hebrews 3:7-8
Taking the First Opportunity of GraceW. George.Hebrews 3:7-8
The Entreaty of the Holy GhostC. H. Spurgeon.Hebrews 3:7-8
The Folly of Increasing the Burden of Sin by DelayHebrews 3:7-8
The Folly of ProcrastinationS. Lowell.Hebrews 3:7-8
The Hardening of the HeartJ. P. Lange.Hebrews 3:7-8
The Holy Ghost Saith To-DayJ. H. Wilson, D. D.Hebrews 3:7-8
The Importance of the Present MomentHebrews 3:7-8
The Offer of SalvationD. Dickson, M. A.Hebrews 3:7-8
The Response of the HeartA. Saphir.Hebrews 3:7-8
The Right TimeT. Christlieb, D. D.Hebrews 3:7-8
The Solemn CautionJ. Burns, D. D.Hebrews 3:7-8
The Voice of JesusR. Kingshott.Hebrews 3:7-8
To-DayW. Hay Aitken, M. A.Hebrews 3:7-8
To-Day -- a Voice for the Opening YearHomilistHebrews 3:7-8
Resources and Adaptation of Old Testament Scripture to New Testament ConditionsJ.S. Bright Hebrews 3:7-11
The Comparison of Christ and Moses Suggests the Possibility of Apostasy from ChristC. New Hebrews 3:7-19
People
Hebrews
Places
Egypt, Jerusalem
Topics
Angry, Desert, During, Forefathers, Harden, Heart, Hearts, Provocation, Provoked, Rebellion, Temptation, Testing, Trial, Waste, Wilderness
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Hebrews 3:8

     5020   human nature
     6663   freedom, of will

Hebrews 3:7-8

     5196   voice

Hebrews 3:7-9

     5889   ingratitude

Hebrews 3:7-10

     7223   exodus, significance

Hebrews 3:7-11

     3120   Holy Spirit, descriptions
     5473   proof, through testing
     6185   imagination, desires
     8126   guidance, need for

Hebrews 3:7-12

     5790   anger, divine
     8743   faithlessness, nature of

Hebrews 3:7-13

     8438   giving, of time

Hebrews 3:7-19

     6195   impenitence, results

Hebrews 3:8-9

     8832   testing

Library
March 22. "Hold Fast the Confidence and the Rejoicing of the Hope Firm unto the End" (Heb. Iii. 6).
"Hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end" (Heb. iii. 6). The attitude of faith is simple trust. It is Elijah saying to Ahab, "There is a sound of abundance of rain." But then there comes usually a deeper experience in which the prayer is inwrought; it is Elijah on the mount, with his face between his knees, travailing, as it were, in birth for the promised blessing. He has believed for it--and now he must take. The first is Joash shooting the arrow out of the windows, …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

April 10. "Hold Fast the Confidence" (Heb. Iii. 6).
"Hold fast the confidence" (Heb. iii. 6). Seldom have we seen a sadder wreck of even the highest, noblest Christian character than when the enemy has succeeded in undermining the simple trust of a child of God, and got him into self-accusing and condemnation. It is a fearful place when the soul allows Satan to take the throne and act as God, sitting in judgment on its every thought and act; and keeping it in the darkness of ceaseless condemnation. Well indeed has the apostle told us to hold firmly …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

A Persuasive to Steadfastness
We shall have to show the value of faith while we try to open up the text before us, in which I see, first, a high privilege: "we are made partakers of Christ;" and secondly, by implication, a serious question--the question whether or no we have been made partakers of Christ and, then, in the third place, an unerring test. "We are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end." I. First, then, here is A VERY HIGH PRIVILEGE. "We are made partakers of Christ." …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 18: 1872

The Mind of Jesus.
THE MIND OF JESUS! What a study is this! To attain a dim reflection of it, is the ambition of angels--higher they can not soar. "To be conformed to the image of His Son!"--it is the end of God in the predestination of His Church from all eternity. "We shall be like Him!"--it is the Bible picture of heaven! In a former little volume, we pondered some of the gracious Words which proceeded out of the mouth of Jesus. In the present, we have a few faint lineaments of that holy Character which constituted …
John R. Macduff—The Mind of Jesus

Discourse II.
Chapter XIV.--Texts explained; Fourthly, Hebrews iii. 2 Introduction; the Regula Fidei counter to an Arian sense of the text; which is not supported by the word servant,' nor by made' which occurs in it; (how can the Judge be among the works' which God will bring into judgment?') nor by faithful;' and is confuted by the immediate context, which is about Priesthood; and by the foregoing passage, which explains the word faithful' as meaning trustworthy, as do 1 Pet. iv. fin. and other texts. On the …
Athanasius—Select Works and Letters or Athanasius

The Exercise of Mercy Optional with God.
ROMANS ix. 15.--"For He saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." This is a part of the description which God himself gave to Moses, of His own nature and attributes. The Hebrew legislator had said to Jehovah: "I beseech thee show me thy glory." He desired a clear understanding of the character of that Great Being, under whose guidance he was commissioned to lead the people of Israel into the promised land. God said to …
William G.T. Shedd—Sermons to the Natural Man

Of the Creation 0F Man
Gen. i. 26, 27.--"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him, male and female created he them."--With Eph. iv. 24.--"And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."--And Heb. …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Weighed, and Found Wanting
'And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. 2. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron; and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! 3. And wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt? 4. And they said one …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

"And if any Man Sin, we have an Advocate with the Father,",
1 John ii. 1.--"And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father,", &c. There is here a sad supposition, but too certain, that any man may sin, yea, that all men will sin, even those who have most communion with God, and interest in the blood of Christ. Yet they are not altogether exempted from this fatal lot of mankind. It is incident even to them to sin, and too frequently incident, but yet we have a happy and sweet provision, for indemnity from the hazard of sin,--"we have an advocate …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Saints' Privilege and Profit;
OR, THE THRONE OF GRACE ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. The churches of Christ are very much indebted to the Rev. Charles Doe, for the preservation and publishing of this treatise. It formed one of the ten excellent manuscripts left by Bunyan at his decease, prepared for the press. Having treated on the nature of prayer in his searching work on 'praying with the spirit and with the understanding also,' in which he proves from the sacred scriptures that prayer cannot be merely read or said, but must …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Jesus Angry with Hard Hearts
But I must not let imagination mislead me: they did nothing of the kind. Instead of this, they sat watching the Lord Jesus, not to be delighted by an act of his power, but to find somewhat of which they might accuse him. When all came to all, the utmost that they would be able to allege would be that he had healed a withered hand on the Sabbath. Overlooking the commendation due for the miracle of healing, they laid the emphasis upon its being done on the Sabbath; and held up their hands with horror …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 32: 1886

The Work of the Holy Spirit in Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ Himself is the one perfect manifestation in history of the complete work of the Holy Spirit in man. 1. Jesus Christ was begotten of the Holy Spirit. We read in Luke i. 35, R. V., "And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee; and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee: wherefore also that which is to be born shall be called holy, the Son of God." As we have already seen, in regeneration the believer is begotten of God, but Jesus Christ was …
R. A. Torrey—The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit

Apostles To-Day?
"Am I not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are ye not my work in the Lord?"--1 Cor. ix. 1. We may not take leave of the apostolate without a last look at the circle of its members. It is a closed circle; and every effort to reopen it tends to efface a characteristic of the New Covenant. And yet the effort is being made again and again. We see it in Rome's apostolic succession; in the Ethical view gradually effacing the boundary-line between the apostles and believers; …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

Introduction to Four Discourses against the Arians.
Written Between 356 And 360. There is no absolutely conclusive evidence as to the date of these Discourses, in fact they would appear from the language of ii. 1 to have been issued at intervals. The best judges, however, are agreed in assigning them to the fruitful period of the third exile.' The Discourses cannot indeed be identified with the lost account of the Arian heresy addressed to certain Egyptian monks (see Introd. to Arian Hist. supra); but the demand for such a treatise may have set Athanasius …
Athanasius—Select Works and Letters or Athanasius

Humility is the Root of Charity, and Meekness the Fruit of Both. ...
Humility is the root of charity, and meekness the fruit of both. There is no solid and pure ground of love to others, except the rubbish of self-love be first cast out of the soul; and when that superfluity of naughtiness is cast out, then charity hath a solid and deep foundation: "The end of the command is charity out of a pure heart," 1 Tim. i. 5. It is only such a purified heart, cleansed from that poison and contagion of pride and self-estimation, that can send out such a sweet and wholesome …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Predestination and Calling
Eternal Father, who shall look Into thy secret will? None but the Lamb shall take the book, And open every seal. None but he shall ever unroll that sacred record and read it to the assembled world. How then am I to know whether I am predestinated by God unto eternal life or not? It is a question in which my eternal interests are involved; am I among that unhappy number who shall be left to live in sin and reap the due reward of their iniquity; or do I belong to that goodly company, who albeit that …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 5: 1859

How Shall the Soul Make Use of Christ, as the Life, which is under the Prevailing Power of Unbelief and Infidelity.
That we may help to give some clearing to a poor soul in this case, we shall, 1. See what are the several steps and degrees of this distemper. 2. Consider what the causes hereof are. 3. Shew how Christ is life to a soul in such a case; and, 4. Give some directions how a soul in that case should make use of Christ as the Life, to the end it may be delivered therefrom. And, first, There are many several steps to, and degrees of this distemper. We shall mention a few; as, 1. When they cannot come …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

The Coming of the Called.
"That the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him that calleth."--Rom. ix. 11. The question is, whether the elect cooperate in the call. We say, Yes; for the call is no call, in the fullest sense of the word, unless the called one can hear and hears so distinctly that it impresses him, causes him to rise and to obey God. For this reason our fathers, for the sake of clearness, used to distinguish between the ordinary call and the effectual call. God's call does not …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

The Shepherd and the Fold
... Thou hast guided them in Thy strength unto Thy holy habitation.' EXODUS XV. 13. What a grand triumphal ode! The picture of Moses and the children of Israel singing, and Miriam and the women answering: a gush of national pride and of worship! We belong to a better time, but still we can feel its grandeur. The deliverance has made the singer look forward to the end, and his confidence in the issue is confirmed. I. The guiding God: or the picture of the leading. The original is 'lead gently.' Cf. …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Second Commandment
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am o jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of then that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.' Exod 20: 4-6. I. Thou shalt not …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

After Prayer Jesus Selects Twelve Apostles.
(Near Capernaum.) ^A Matt. X. 2-4; ^B Mark III. 13-19; ^C Luke VI. 12-16. ^c 12 And it came to pass in these days, that he went out into the mountain ^b 13 And he goeth up into the mountain, ^c to pray; and he continued all night in prayer to God. [It was a momentous occasion. He was about to choose those to whom he was to entrust the planting, organizing, and training of that church which was to be the purchase of his own blood. Jesus used such important crises, not as occasions for anxiety and …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

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