Hebrews 3
Hebrews 3:1
Therefore, holy brothers, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Emissary and High Priest of our confession, Yeshua;
Hebrews 3:2
who was faithful to him who appointed him, as also was Moses in all his house.
The Torah says of Moshe,
“He is faithful in all my house.”
Numbers 12:7
This verse is applied to Mashiach,
“The soul of Mashiach preceded the world. . . All the acts of devotion of all the world, all the incarnations, refinements and tests, and the revelation of faith – all are through him, as it is written: “He is faithful in all My house” (Numbers 12:7).”
The Seven Pillars of Faith, R’ Yitzhak Breiter, Breslov.org
Hebrews 3:3
For he has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who built the house has more honor than the house.
The Midrash Tanchuma says,
“What does it mean, Who are you O great mountain? This is King Messiah. And why does he call him great mountain? Because he is greater than the Fathers…loftier than Abraham…more elevated than Moses…and higher than the ministering angels…and from whom will he issue? From Zerubbabel…”
Midrash Tanchuma, Toledot 14, ed. Buber 1:139, cited in the Messiah Texts by Raphael Patai, pg. 41
Hebrews 3:4
For every house is built by someone; but he who built all things is God.
Hebrews 3:5
Moshe indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were afterward to be spoken,
Hebrews 3:6
but Messiah is faithful as a Son over his house; whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the glorying of our hope firm to the end.
“The true Tzaddik is the pride and glory and delight of the whole world. He is, as it were, the `Master of the House’ over the whole world, and the `Master of the House’ over the House of God, which is the Holy Temple. The Tzaddik sends light into the Holy Temple and the whole world, because he is the light and splendor and glory of the world. When the Tzaddik becomes revealed and magnified throughout the world, the Name of God is thereby glorified. The greater the name of the Tzaddik the greater the glory of God. Whoever is truly merged with this name, which is the glory and splendor and true delight of the whole world — whoever draws close to the Tzaddik and is subsumed under his name — through this, his eyes are opened and he can begin to examine himself and see where he stands in the various facets of his character. Then he can return to God and cleanse himself of all his evil characteristics. He will be worthy of perceiving the greatness of the Creator and of looking at the whole world with clear vision , because his eyes and his mind are opened by the true Tzaddik, who sends light to the whole world.”
Likutey Etzot, R’ Nachman, Tzaddik 106, Breslov Research Institute
Hebrews 3:7
Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit says, Today if you will hear his voice,
Hebrews 3:8
don’t harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, like as in the day of the trial in the wilderness,
Hebrews 3:9
where your fathers tested me by proving me, and saw my works for forty years.
Hebrews 3:10
Therefore I was displeased with that generation, and said, They always err in their heart, but they didn’t know my ways;
Hebrews 3:11
as I swore in my wrath, ‘They will not enter into my rest.’
Hebrews 3:12
Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God;
Hebrews 3:13
but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called today; lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
Hebrews 3:14
For we have become partakers of Messiah, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm to the end:
Hebrews 3:15
while it is said, Today if you will hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts, as in the rebellion.
The Talmud says,
“R’ Yehoshua ben Levi met Elijah standing by the entrance of R. Shimon bar Yochai’s tomb…and he asked him,
”When will the Messiah come?”
“Go and ask him himself,” Elijah replied.
”Where is he sitting?”
“At the entrance.” (Vilna Gaon: at the gate of Rome)
“And by what sign may I recognize him?”
“He is sitting among the poor lepers…”
R’ Joshua ben Levi found the Mashiach, and asked him, “When will you come Master?”
“Today,” answered the Mashiach.
On his returning to Elijah, he asked, “What did he say to you?’
“He lied to me”, R’ Yehoshua said, “he said that he would come today, but he has not.”
Elijah answered him, “This is what he said to you, ‘Today, if you will hear his voice.”
Sanhedrin 98a, Soncino Press Edition
