Hebrews 4:5

Καὶ ἐν τούτῳ πάλιν· Εἰ εἰσελεύσονται εἰς τὴν κατάπαυσίν μου.

Καὶ ἐν τούτῳ, “and in this,” or “here,” ἐν τούτῳ/ τῷ ψαλμῷ, “in this psalm:” or τόπῳ, “in this place;” that is, in the place of Scripture under consideration and exposition, namely the 95th Psalm, or the words of the Holy Ghost by David therein. The expression is elliptical, and the sense is to be supplied from the beginning of the fourth verse: “For he spake in a certain place; and again he speaks in this place.”

Πάλιν, “again;” that is, after he had said before that upon the finishing of his works God rested the seventh day, and blessed it for a day of rest unto his creatures, he (that is, the same Holy Ghost) says yet again, upon another occasion, “If they shall enter into my rest.”

Hebrews 4:5. And in this again, If they shall enter into my rest.

“If they shall enter into my rest.” We have showed before that from these words, not absolutely considered, but as used and applied in the discourse of the psalmist, he proveth that there is yet a promise of entering into rest remaining to the people of God. This is included in them, as they are taken from the historical record in Moses and prophetically applied in David. And this he takes here for granted, namely, that an entrance into the rest of God for some is intended in those very words whereby others were excluded. His present argument is from the time and place when and where these words were spoken, which include a rest of God to be entered into. Now this was in the time of Moses, and in the wilderness; so that they cannot intend the sabbatical rest from the foundation of the world. ‘For the works,'saith he, ‘were finished in six days, and the seventh day was blessed and sanctified for a day of rest,'as Moses testifieth, Genesis 2:1-3. This rest was tendered unto and entered into by some from the foundation of the world. It must, therefore, of necessity, be “another rest” that is spoken of by the psalmist, and which the people were afresh invited to enter into, as afterwards he more clearly asserts and proves. And they who deny a sabbatical rest from the beginning, do leave no foundation for nor occasion unto the apostle's arguments and discourse; for if there were no such rest from the foundation of the world, what need he prove that this in David was not that which, on this supposition, was not at all? This, therefore, is his purpose in the repetition of this testimony, namely, to show that the rest mentioned therein was not that which was appointed from the beginning of the world, but another, whose proposal yet remained. So then there was another rest of God besides that upon the creation of all, as is evident from this place, which he further confirms in the next verse. And we may hence learn, that,

Obs . Many important truths are not clearly delivered in any one singular testimony or proposition in the Scripture, but the mind of God concerning them is to be gathered and learned by comparing of several scriptures, their order and respect unto one another.

Considering, as the apostle here doth, what is said τοὺ, and what again ἐν τούτῳ, what in one place, and what in another, then comparing them together with their mutual respect, with the due use of other means, we shall, under the conduct of God's Spirit and grace, come to an acquaintance with his mind and will. The heathens saw and acknowledged that all truth lies deep. And the wise man adviseth us to dig and search after it as after gold and silver and precious atones. Now, the deep mine of all spiritual truth is in the word of God: here must we search for it if we intend to find it. And one principal way and means of our search is, the comparing together of divers places treating concerning the same matter or truth. This by some is despised, by the most neglected; which causeth them to know little and mistake much in the holy things of God.