PROVOCATION. In the Heb. of the OT, the word appears most frequently as some form of כָּעַס, H4087, (cf. Deut 4:25; 9:18; 1 Kings 14:9, 15) and in the NT Gr. as παραζηλόω, G4143, to make angry, or παραπικραίνω, G4176, to embitter. Etymologically, the word means literally “to call forth” or “to excite” or “to stir up.” In some sense one is “aroused” in provocation. A positive use of this word is: “Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works” (Heb 10:24; RSV “stir up one another”).

Specific interest in the term arises in Hebrews 3:8, 15. The writer quoted from Psalm 95:8, 9, warning his readers against that “provocation” (RSV “rebellion”) where the Israelites had suffered the judgment of God. These events of Psalm 95, used as an illustration in Hebrews 3:7, 8, refer to that event in Exodus 17:1-7 where at Meribah (place of contention) and Massah (place of testing) the Israelites tested God by their rebellion against Moses. Thus provoked, God condemned them to the forty years of wanderings. As recorded in Numbers 20:8-14, the provocation seems to be against Moses for reasons that are not clear. The writer to the Hebrews implies from the judgment of God in the wilderness a similar judgment against the contemporary Hebrew people: “Today, when you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion” (KJV, provocation); (Heb 3:7, 8 and 15).