What ancient Israel did in the wilderness wasn’t simply an error in judgment, or in other words, looking to do right, they simply made the wrong choice (Hebrews 3:10; (cp. Hebrews 3:7-8). Rather their error was a flaw in their hearts. They wished to control their own circumstances, like they witnessed in the religious worship in Egypt. In pagan thought the world and the people in it are but shadows of the reality of the invisible world of the gods. In other words, like shadows react to the reality that casts them, what occurs in our world is the result of what the gods are doing in their world. If our world is a real shadow of the invisible world of the gods, then what man does in worship also affects the world of the gods. After all, a shadow cannot act independently from the reality that casts it.
The shadow of a man cannot be still, while the man walks or moves about. It must walk or move with him. Assuming this logic, paganism tried to control their circumstances by acting out in worship what they wished the gods to do in their world, and thereby causing our world to behave in response like a shadow but in a sense control the effect. It was this type of logic that caused Israel to construct the golden calf. They wished to do to the idol what they wished the god in their imagination to do for them. Each time the heads of the tribes chided Moses, they told him how much better it was for them to live in Egypt, even though they were in bondage there (Exodus 32:19-20; Numbers 11:4-6; 20:2-5, 13). Assuming that the **god** who took them out of Egypt intended to bless them (Numbers 6:22-27), these statements were intended to embarrass that god into doing what the rebels demanded: give us food, give us water, give us meat etc. How is the lack of food, the lack of water and the lack of meat a blessing? In other words, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was nothing more to this present generation of descendants from Abraham than the pagan gods of Egypt were to that generation of Egyptians. Assuming this logic is true, Israel erred in their hearts. They weren’t simply making honest mistakes, while trying to do what was right. They knew what was right, but they also expected the **god** who took them out of Egypt to obey their demands.[1]
By asking “Is the Lord among us or not?” they were provoking God to act as they demanded. They didn’t trust him to care for them, but, rather, demanded him to care for them as they, themselves desired. Their hearts were hardened against a willingness to listen to another point of view (Exodus 17:7). Their religious worldview was the same as that of the Egyptians, and they had no room in their hearts for another. Egypt was a world power, an empire, and Pharaoh was its king. Ancient Israel believed the gods of Egypt were responsible for Egypt’s position in their world. Therefore, they didn’t want to hear about a different kind of god than what they witnessed in Egypt. They desired a powerful god, who would listen to and heed their demands.
In Hebrews 3:11 Paul was pointing to Numbers 14:20-23. Evidently, some of the Jews of Palestine were forsaking Jesus as their Messiah, because he didn’t act according to their expectations (cf. Hebrews 6:4-6). This reasoning would have been very similar to that of ancient Israel in the wilderness who mimicked the worldview of the ancient Egyptians. This was also the worldview of unbelieving Jews during the first century AD who sought a sign from Jesus during his public ministry. They weren’t merely seeking any miracle, because Jesus did many miracles, and they were keenly aware of that reality (cf. John 11:47; 12:37). The point of fact is: they sought Jesus to do a specific miracle of their choosing, similar to changing stones into bread (Matthew 4:3) and leaping from a high precipice and landing unharmed (Matthew 4:6) only then, if he worshiped them would they receive him as their Messiah (Matthew 4:8-9). In other words, “If you are the Messiah, prove it by giving us what we desire!” Such was the logic of the Jewish authorities of the first century AD, and such might have been what many Jewish believers in Palestine were tempted to adopt.
[1] See my earlier study: Monotheism v/s Polytheism.
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