Christ came as the new Moses
1 Therefore, holy brothers, part ners in a heavenly calling, consider Je sus, the apostle and High Priest of our faith.
2 He is faithful to God who ap pointed him, just as Moses was a faithful steward over God’s household
3 but Jesus deserves much greater honor than Moses, since he who builds the house is greater than the house.
4 As every house has a builder, God is the builder of all.
5 It is said that Moses was found faithful as a servant of God over all his household, and as witness of a former revelation from God.
6 Christ came as the Son, to whom the house belongs; and we are his household, provided that we stand firm in hope and courage.
7 Listen to what the Holy Spirit says: If only you would hear God’s voice today!
8 Do not be stubborn, as they were in the place called Re bellion,
9 when your ancestors challenged me in the desert, although they had seen my deeds
10 for forty years. That is why I was angry with those people and said: Their hearts are always going astray and they do not understand my ways.
11 I was angry and made a solemn vow: They will never enter my rest.
12 So, brothers, be careful lest some of you come to have an evil and unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.
13 Encourage one another, day by day, as long as it is called to day. Let no one become hardened in the deceitful way of sin.
14 We are associated with Christ provided we hold steadfastly to our initial hope until the end.
15 Scripture says: If you hear God’s voice, do not be stubborn as they were in the place called Re bellion.
16 Who are those who having heard still rebelled? They were all those who came out of Egypt with Moses.
17 With whom was God angry for forty years? With those who sinned and whose bodies fell in the desert.
18 To whom did God swear that they would not enter into his rest? To those who had disobeyed.
19 We see then that unbelief prevented them from reaching their rest.
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Comments , Chapter 3
• 3.1 It was normal to compare Jesus with Moses; there was no one greater than he in the Old Testament, but in fact the author only mentions the experience of the people under Moses: the Hebrews wandered through the desert searching for the land that God had promised them.
Through Moses, God was inviting them to enter a new world. They were unable to see that they should raise themselves to a higher life. Once their difficulties were less acute they no longer wanted the Promised Land.
Now believers have to begin anew the search for the Promised Land, that is, the Rest that God offers. The first time, it was Moses, the servant of God, who guided his people and was responsible for his household. Now it is the Son: they thought they would find rest in a specific place, in Palestine. The true Rest is intimate life with God that we reach through faith and entrance into the Christian community.
Several times this letter will recall the warning given the Hebrew pilgrims in the desert: If only you would hear God’s voice today! The road is long and the believer grows tired when difficult times come, after the enthusiasm of the first days. Supported by Christ’s words, we must con tinue to hope for that which God promised, but which is invisible to our eyes.
The creation poem spoke of God’s Rest after creating the world: this meant that the universe must come to a point of entering into the fullness of the mystery of God. Human sorrow and work on this earth bring a person to her true end, which is “to rest” in the hap piness of God.