Paul means to say that he is quoting scripture. The Holy Spirit moved the writers of both the Old and the New Covenants to record what they did (Mark 12:36; Acts 1:16; 1Peter 1:21). They may have put the scripture in their own words, but those words expressed the heart of God. Therefore, it can be said: the Holy Spirit says (Hebrews 3:7). Paul was probably quoting from the Septuagint, as is usually the case in the New Covenant. He quoted Psalm 95:7-11 (some versions of the Septuagint have Psalm 95 8-11; cf. Hebrews 3:7-11):
Today, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, according to the day of irritation in the wilderness: where your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works. Forty years was I grieved with this generation, and said, They do always err in their heart, and they have not known my ways. So I swore in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest. (Psalms 95:8-11 – emphasis mine)
The Hebrew word rendered if in the Septuagint is ‘im (H518) in the Hebrew and should be rendered “Oh that (H518 …you would hear” – Psalm 95:7). The feeling behind the word is expressed properly in the prayer of Jabez: “O that (H518 …you would bless me indeed” – 1Chronicles 4:10). “Oh that, today, you would hear his voice…” (Psalm 95:7 ) etc.
How long did Today last for ancient Israel (Hebrews 3:7)? In other words how long did they tempt the Lord (Hebrews 3:9)? Most scholars, if not all, will tell us that today both in Psalm 95:7 and Hebrews 3:7 refers to now. We must obey the Lord in the present moment. While I wouldn’t deny that we need to be always ready to obey and follow the Lord, I don’t think such an idea fits into Paul’s argument. The Greek word for today is semeron (G4594). While it may indicate a 24 hour period of time (cf. Matthew 11:23), it also may refer to a season of time, longer than a single day (cf. Matthew 6:30). Paul’s argument in Hebrews 3 is that today in Psalm 95:7 lasted for forty years (Hebrews 3:9), which the Lord called an evil generation (Deuteronomy 1:35), and this corresponded to the present generation living in Paul’s day (cf. Matthew 23:33-36; Luke 11:29). It didn’t have a specific time in which it would end. This is why Paul encouraged his Jewish brethren to “exhort one another daily, while it (i.e. the present season) is called today!” (Hebrews 3:13). One cannot “exhort one another daily,” if Paul has in mind a single twenty-four hour period of time.
It seems to me that, if today actually referred to a wicked generation of people, whose season of provoking the Lord lasted forty years (Hebrews 9:13), then one cannot point to a single day during that period of time and conclude that it, that is that single twenty-four hour period of time, was the day of temptation. The time in which ancient Israel tried the Lord’s patience wasn’t a single day, but they tried him throughout that forty year period of time. They tried him in the Wilderness of Sin (Exodus 16:2-4) by demanding bread, then at Meribah (Numbers 20:2-5, 13), when they demanded water. They tried him at Sinai, when they erected the golden calf (Exodus 32:19-20), and at Taberah, when they lusted after meat (Numbers 11:4-6). Finally, when they refused to go up to possess the Promised Land, but, rather, wished to return to Egypt, at which time the Lord swore that not one of the rebels would enter into his rest (Numbers 14:1-4, 27-34).
In order to understand Scripture or the word of the Lord, one needs to open his heart to God. Once a person hardens his heart, he will never discover the meaning of God’s word, unless he repents. Ancient Israel didn’t try to understand God. What they tried to do was have God act according to their understanding. They wanted food, and provoked the Lord to give them food. They wanted water, and provoked the Lord to give them water. After all, is the Lord among us or not (Exodus 17:7).
It seems that Paul was implying that the generation of Jewish believers living in the land of the Jews during the first century AD were acting very similarly to ancient Israel in the wilderness. No doubt, they simply couldn’t understand why they would be treated so poorly within their own country, and why they were accused of being unpatriotic for embracing Jesus as the Messiah. The problem probably assumed the simplistic logic of Israel in the wilderness: “Is the Messiah among us or not? If Jesus is the Messiah, surely he would stand by us and keep our persecutors away” etc. (cf. Hebrews 3:8; Exodus 17:7). It seems that at least some Jewish believers had adopted a reasoning similar to this. Otherwise, why would Paul even mention the danger of adopting an attitude like that of ancient Israel in the wilderness? After all, if the danger wasn’t there, why say it was?
Smoodock's Blog 