Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Hebrews 3:17

Eastern Fathers

John Chrysostom

But here he means not unbelief only, but also murmurings: "whose carcasses," he says, "fell in the wilderness." "They proved Me," He says, "and saw My works forty years." Seest thou that it is not right to call God to account, but whether He defend our cause or not, to trust Him? For against those of old he now brings this charge, that "they tempted God." For he that will have proof either of His power, or of His providence, or of His tender care, does not yet believe, either that He is powerful or kind to man. …

Homily on Hebrews 6 ↗

Theophylact of Ohrid

He concludes his speech with a question for greater clarity and less contradiction. Questions are posed to those who are confessing. He also proposes the punishment. Their bones fell in the wilderness, he says, that is, the large thighbones. Through a part he indicated the whole bodies.

Commentary on Hebrews ↗

Oecumenius

"To whom was he angry?" This is according to the question for clarity and to avoid contradiction; for things posed as questions are based on what is agreed upon. Against whom, he says, did he bear resentment? He also adds the punishment. For, he says, their limbs fell in the desert, those large and thigh-like parts; and by parts, he showed the whole bodies.

The Pseudo-Oecumenian Catena on Hebrews ↗

Western Saints

Thomas Aquinas

192. – Then (v. 17) he explains what he had said about the punishment. 193. – He says, therefore: With whom was he provoked forty years? Was it not with them that sinned? From this it is clear that forty years refers to the statement, I was provoked. Hence, he says that he was offended through those forty years. Here it should be noted that all who left Egypt died in the desert, as it is stated in Jos. (5:4), but not all were laid low, but only some: either by God, as when the earth opened and swallowed Dathan and Abiram (Ps. …

Commentary on Hebrews ↗