Hebrews 3:9
where your fathers tested and tried Me, and for forty years saw My works.
BSB
ASV
Where your fathers tried me by proving me, And saw my works forty years.
KJV
When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.
"On the day of testing." And what is this rebellion that occurred on that day? When, distrusting God, they tested Him. "Will He be able," he says, "to give bread, or prepare a table for His people?" (Ps. 77:19)
So little cause had their descendants to glory in them. Tempted me - Whether I could and would help them. Proved me - Put my patience to the proof, even while they saw my glorious works both of judgment and mercy, and that for forty years.
Proved me - “As if they would have made an experiment how much it was possible for me to bear.” - Doddridge. The meaning is: “they put my patience to a thorough trial.” And saw my works - That is, my miracles, or my interpositions in their behalf. They saw the wonders at the Red Sea, the descent on Mount Sinai, the supply of manna, etc., and yet while seeing those works they rebelled.
The lesson intended to be hinted to the Hebrew Christians is, their "to-day" is to last only between the first preaching of the Gospel and Jerusalem's impending overthrow, namely, FORTY YEARS; exactly the number of years of Israel's sojourn in the wilderness, until the full measure of their guilt having been filled up all the rebels were overthrown.
The Psalm, each fresh time when used in public worship, by "to-day," will mean the particular day when it was, or is, used. hear--obediently. his voice--of grace.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
The walk8
Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.
Through
Deuteronomy 4:9Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as…
leads to
And you shall teach them diligently to your children and speak of them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
Teach them to your children, speaking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
that we have heard and known and our fathers have relayed to us.
For I have chosen him, so that he will command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, in order that…
he said to them, “Take to heart all these words I testify among you today, so that you may command your children to carefully follow all the words of this law.
Through
Exodus 19:4‘You have seen for yourselves what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.
leads to
In all their distress, He too was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them. In His love and compassion He redeemed them; He lifted them up and carried them all the days…
As an eagle stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, He spread His wings to catch them and carried them on His pinions.
Through
Deuteronomy 8:4Your clothing did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.
leads to
For forty years I led you in the wilderness, yet your clothes and sandals did not wear out.
