V. 9.— There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. There remaineth... Here is the conclusion drawn from the premises laid down, which are that neither the Sabbath, on which God rested from all his works, nor the land of Canaan, where Israel ceased from their wanderings, was the rest spoken of by the Psalmist, for that was still future after Israel had possessed the land for so long a period. We must observe that the Apostle here changes the word he had hitherto used and substitutes the word Sabbatism. The reason is, that God having rested on the seventh day and blessed and sanctified it, admitted man to a participation with him in his rest. This privilege he lost by his rebellion. There is no reason to doubt that the Sabbath- day was observed by those who feared God from Adam to Moses, although this is not recorded until God separated for himself a peculiar people, and visibly placed a middle wall of partition between them and all other nations. He gave them his Sabbaths to be a sign between him and them. The rest of mankind were toiling through the whole week for their daily food, but the return of the Sabbath on which Israel were commanded to abstain from all servile work, reminded them of the restoration of fellowship between God and his people. The same instruction was given them in the rest from their journeying in the wilderness and possession of the land of Canaan, the rest into which they then entered was a shadow for the time then present; but there still remains a rest for the people of God, as is evident from the language of David, who, after so long a period, cautions the men of his generation against coming short of God’ s rest, which is prepared for his people.