<p>3:17 <i>And with whom was He displeased for forty years? Was it not with those that sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?</i>- The sustained series of rhetorical questions is appropriate to a verbal address- see on 13:22. The displeasure for forty years could suggest that the incident of Meribah, &quot;rebellion&quot; / &quot;provocation&quot;, was the one at the start of the forty years; see on :15. Heb. 3:17 RVmg speaks of their &ldquo;limbs which fell in the wilderness&rdquo;- the picture is of condemned men staggering on through the desert, discarded limbs wasted by some terrible and progressive disease. This is the picture of the condemned. Israel wandering in the wilderness until their carcasses lay strewn over the scrubland of Sinai connects with Cain also being a wanderer after his rejection. He was made a &quot;fugitive&quot;, from a Hebrew root meaning to shake, to totter, to reel. He was to wander, shaking with fear, reeling. The word is also rendered 'to bemoan'. It's an awful scene: bemoaning his lot, shaking, wandering, reeling, nowhere. The same image is found in Prov. 14:32: &ldquo;The wicked is driven away Heb. to totter, be chased in his wickedness&rdquo;.</p><p>God grieved over the carcasses of those wretched men whom He slew in the wilderness for their thankless rebellions against Him their saviour. The apostle makes the point: &ldquo;With <i>whom</i> was He grieved?&quot;. Answer: with the wicked whom He slew A human God or a proud God would never grieve over His victory over His enemies. Even in the fickleness of Israel's repentance, knowing their future, knowing what they would subject His Son to, &quot;His soul was grieved for the misery of Israel&quot; (Jud. 10:16). He delays the second coming because He waits and hopes for repentance and spiritual growth from us. But He praises the faithful for patiently waiting for Him (Is. 30:18; Ps. 37:7). Here we see the humility of God's grace.</p>