Hebrews 3:9

ἐν δοκιμασίᾳ אABCDEM.

9. οὗ, not “when” as in the A. V. but “where,” i.e. at Massah, or in the wilderness. The rendering “wherewith” (R. V.) or “with which temptation,” would have been more naturally expressed in other ways. It is true that οὗ for ὅπου is not found elsewhere in this Ep., but it is common in the LXX. and N. T.

ἐν δοκιμασίᾳ, “by proving me”; or possibly “in your probation by me.” Comp. Psalms 81[80]:7 ἐδοκίμασά σε.

τεσσεράκοντα ἔτη. The “forty years” is purposely transferred from the next verse of the Psalm. The scene at Massah took place in the 40th and that at Meribah in the 1st year of the wanderings. Deuteronomy 9:7; Deuteronomy 33:8. They indicate the spirit of the Jews through the whole period. The number 40 is in the Bible constantly connected with judgement or trial, and it would have sounded more impressive in this passage if the date of the Epistle was shortly before the Fall of Jerusalem, i.e. about 40 years after the Ascension. The Rabbis had a saying “The days of the Messiah are 40 years.”