OCT 3C 1968 
 
 . V . 
 
Westminster Commentaries 
 Edited by Walter Lock D.D. 
 
 IRELAND PROFESSOR OF THE EXEORBIS 
 OF HOLY SCRIPTURE 
 
 THE EPISTLE 
 
 TO 
 
 THE HEBREWS 
 
THE EPISTLE ( OCT 19 
 
 TO ^<2i2£[nAr 
 
 THE HEBREWS 
 
 WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES 
 
 BY 
 
 E. C. WICKHAM D.D. 
 
 DEAN OF LINCOLN 
 HON. FELLOW OF NEW COLLECiE, OXFORD 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 EDWIN S. GORHAM 
 
 LONDON: METHUEN & CO., LTD. 
 
PREFATORY NOTE BY THE GENERAL EDITOR 
 
 nnHE primary object of these Commentaries is to be 
 exegetical, to interpret the meaning of each book of 
 the Bible in the light of modern knowledge to English 
 readers. The Editors will not deal, except subordinately, 
 with questions of textual criticism or philology ; but taking 
 the English text in the Revised Version as their basis, they 
 will aim at combining a hearty acceptance of critical principles 
 with loyalty to the Catholic Faith. 
 
 The series will be less elementary than the Cambridge 
 Bible for Schools, less critical than the International Critical 
 Commentary, less didactic than the Expositor's Bible ; and it 
 is hoped that it may be of use both to theological students 
 and to the clergy, as well as to the growing number of 
 educated laymen and laywomen who wish to read the Bible 
 intelligently and reverently. 
 
 Each commentary will therefore have 
 
 (i) An Introduction stating the bearing of modern 
 criticism and research upon the historical character of the 
 book, and drawing out the contribution which the book, as a 
 whole, makes to the body of religious truth. 
 
 (ii) A careful paraphrase of the text with notes on the 
 more difficult passages and, if need be, excursuses on any 
 
 a3 
 
vi PREFATORY NOTE 
 
 points of special importance either for doctrine, or ecclesi- 
 astical organization, or spiritual life. 
 
 But the books of the Bible are so varied in character that 
 considerable latitude is needed, as to the proportion which the 
 various parts should hold to each other. The General Editor 
 will therefore only endeavour to secure a general uniformity 
 in scope and character : but the exact method adopted in 
 each case and the final responsibility for the statements made 
 will rest with the individual contributors. 
 
 By permission of the Delegates of the Oxford University 
 Press and of the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press 
 the Text used in this Series of Commentaries is the Revised 
 Version of the Holy Scriptures. 
 
 WALTER LOCK 
 
PREFACE 
 
 rpHE general purpose of this addition to the numerous 
 -^ Commentaries on the Epistle to the Hebrews is stated 
 by the General Editor. But the particular Editor may be 
 allowed to say one word as to his own view of what the 
 purpose included. 
 
 His main desire in these pages has been to make the 
 general argument of the Epistle clear and to exhibit it as a 
 whole. The Epistle seems to him to be one that demands 
 this more than other Epistles of the New Testament. Though 
 in the form of a letter, and with the personal purpose of a 
 letter, it is also a complete and artistic composition. There 
 are no digressions properly so called. Even in what reads 
 like a postscript the thoughts are put out in this form not by 
 accident, but because the writer felt that in that way and at 
 that moment they would most effectively answer his design. 
 
 It is in view of this character of the Epistle that the 
 Editor has prefixed to the Commentary, besides the Summary 
 of Contents, a full Paraphrase of the Epistle. A paraphrase 
 is not a loose translation. It deliberately forfeits the power 
 of reproducing in any way the literary form ; but it aims 
 at preserving, and in some degree making clearer than a 
 translation can make it, the complete articulation of the 
 thought. It is meant to be read with the Commentary, and 
 as a chief part of it. 
 
 The Epistle has been to the Editor a special object of 
 interest and study for many years, and if he has referred by 
 
yiii PREFACE 
 
 name to only a few and those the more recent of English 
 commentators, this does not mean that he has not endeavoured 
 to read at some time or other whatever seemed likely to 
 throw light upon it. Three editions by English scholars he 
 has frequently mentioned, as likely to be at hand to his 
 readers and as raising questions which should be answered 
 or as enabling him by such reference to express more clearly 
 the view which he desired to set before them^. It would be 
 ungrateful if he did not name here, as he has not done 
 otherwise, a book to which any English student of the 
 Epistle must owe very much, Prof A. B. Bruce's "Epistle 
 to Hebrews : the first Apology for Christianity " (T. and 
 T. Clark, 1899). The only other word that the Editor would 
 say is one of hearty thanks to Prof Lock for very much 
 valuable advice and assistance. 
 
 1 These are 
 
 (i) The great and exhaustive commentary of Bp Westcott (Macmillan 
 & Co.). 
 
 (ii) The scholarly edition of Dean Vaughan (Macmillan & Co.), 
 invaluable both for the method and for the results of its careful study of 
 the Writer's words and phrases. 
 
 (iii) The slighter but fresh and ingenious edition of the Rev. F. 
 Kendall (Macmillan & Co.). 
 
 E. C. WICKHAM 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGB 
 
 Introduction : 
 
 I xi 
 
 II. The wi-iter xi 
 
 III. Circumstances and purpose of the Epistle ... xv 
 
 IV. The method of the Epistle xx 
 
 V. General summary of the contents xxii 
 
 Paraphrase op the Epistle xxix 
 
 Text and Commentary 1 
 
 Appendix I. The Gospel tradition in the Epistle . . . 135 
 
 Appendix II. The two Sacraments in the Epistle . . . 137 
 
 Appendix III. Use of the Epistle in the Prayer-Book . . 138 
 
 Index 141 
 
"The old things are passed away: behold they are become new." 
 
 2 Cor. v. 17 KV. 
 
 "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and to-day, yea and for ever." 
 
 Heb. xiii. 8 R.V. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 I 
 
 In one point of the first importance few writings of the New 
 Testament present more satisfactory evidence than the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews. It was known and held in esteem before the end of the 
 first century. Clement of Eome in his Epistle to the Corinthian 
 Church, which by general consent is dated between 95 and 97 a.d., 
 transcribes passages from it, treats it (though, as his way is with 
 Scripture, without naming it) as a document of authority, echoes 
 its ideas and its phraseology. When we pass to the further questions 
 which are naturally asked — who wrote the Epistle, and to whom, 
 and from whence, and more precisely at what time in the first 
 century — the case is changed. No answers can be given that are 
 not conditional and conjectural. Unless its concluding paragraph 
 is interpolated (which is hardly suggested) there can have been no 
 original concealment or mystification. The writer speaks unmis- 
 takeably in tones of affection and concern, and as though he had 
 claims on the attention of those whom he addresses. There are 
 references, personal, local, and temporal, which he assumes will be 
 understood : but the clue to their understanding seems to have been 
 early lost and cannot be recovered. 
 
 11. The writer. 
 
 It may be convenient to deal first with the question of the 
 writer though it is not the most important. It was the question on 
 which in the early centuries discussion was concentrated ; for on it 
 the further question of the canonicity of the Epistle was held to 
 depend. 
 
 There were in the third century two positive traditions with 
 respect to the authorship of the Epistle. 
 
xii INTRODUCTION 
 
 1. The first Latin Father who names it (TertuUian, in the 
 De Pudidtia, ch. xx., a.d. 220-230?) attributes it without question 
 (and therefore apparently from a tradition generally current in 
 N. Africa) to Barnabas. Of all the suggestions made this is perhaps 
 still the most tempting. It does not indeed throw any fresh light 
 on the Epistle, but it suits and completes his character so well that 
 we like to believe it — the "Levite of the country of Cyprus," a 
 Hellenist (that is) by birthplace, but Hebrew by race, with hereditary 
 interest in the Jewish sacrificial system — the close companion of 
 St Paul, yet with standing and an outlook of his own — the " son of 
 consolation (or, exhortation)" — the mediator and peacemaker 
 between old and new\ 
 
 2. The second tradition, which becomes known to us as early 
 as the first, connects the Epistle with St Paul. This was the view 
 which obtained the more general support, and held possession in the 
 Church until the revival of learning; but its foundations are 
 insecure. It can hardly have been known to Clement of Rome, 
 who, as has been said, at the end of the first century possessed and 
 used the Epistle; for the Church of Rome, though so closely 
 connected with St Paul, was the particular Church which, on account 
 of disbelief in the Pauline authorship, refused for three centuries to 
 receive the Epistle as canonical. The tradition belonged to the 
 Church at Alexandria ; but the great Alexandrine scholars, Clement 
 and Origen, who are our first authorities for its currency, shew that 
 they felt serious difficulty in the way of whole-hearted acceptance 
 of it. Clement^, according to Eusebius, spoke of the Epistle as having 
 been written by St Paul in Aramaic and translated by St Luke into 
 Greek, which accounts (he says) for the resemblance of the style 
 to that of the Acts. He adds that St Paul did not give his own 
 name lest it should raise prejudice against the Epistle. Neither 
 statement can be correct. Whatever else is true of the Epistle, we 
 can confidently say that it is an original Greek composition, not a 
 translation ; and (as has been said) a purposed concealment of name 
 is inconceivable in view of ch. xiii. 22-25. Origen^ Clement's 
 pupil, summed up the state of the question in words to which 
 
 1 It should be said that if this identificatioa is right, it follows that the 
 composition which goes under the name of the "Epistle of Barnabas" belongs 
 (as is probable on other grounds) to another Barnabas or is falsely titled. The 
 views taken of the Mosaic Law in the two Epistles are so entirely at variance 
 that the two Epistles cannot proceed from the same person. 
 
 2 Euseb. H. E. vi. 14. ' Euseb. H. E. vi. 25. 
 
INTRODUCTION xiii 
 
 later study has hardly enabled us substantially to add: "The 
 diction of the Epistle to the Hebrews has not the character which 
 St Paul describes when he calls himself [that is, in 2 Cor. xi. 6] 
 'rude [literally an amateur or untrained person] in speech.' Any 
 one who has the least capacity for distinguishing style would 
 pronounce it to be more thoroughly Greek: on the other hand 
 the thoughts of the Epistle are marvellous, not second to those 
 of any writing confessedly Apostolic [or, of the Apostle, i.e. St Paul], 
 as again any one familiar with the writings of the Apostles [or, 
 Apostle] would allow,... If I were setting forth my own judgement 
 I should say that the thoughts are the Apostle's [i.e. St Paul's] but 
 the diction and composition are due to some one who had taken 
 notes of the master's teaching. If then any Church holds this 
 Epistle as Paul's, it may be left happily in its belief : for it was not 
 at random that ancient tradition attributed it to him : but who it 
 was who wrote it [i.e. who supplied the "diction and composition" 
 spoken of above] God knows. The stories that have come to us 
 vary. Some say that Clement, Bishop of Rome, wrote it, some 
 Luke, who wrote the Gospel and the Acts." 
 
 Origen makes it clear that even in Alexandria, where the theory 
 of Pauline authorship seems to have started, the best scholarship of 
 the first half of the third century looked upon the theory as a 
 guess, one among several, not without some basis in fact, but as in 
 its full and literal sense an impossible one. As we should say of a 
 picture, he allows that it may be "of the school of Paul," from the 
 pen of one united with him in purpose, familiar with his thoughts 
 and turns of expression : but he finds the style utterly different, and 
 different in a respect in which, whatever we think of our own 
 judgement, his would seem to be without appeal. It is, he says, 
 "more Greek." 
 
 The more the Epistle has been studied the more impossible it 
 has been felt to attribute it to St Paul. The style i& not his. The 
 mode of composition is not his. The position assumed by the 
 writer is not his. When every allowance is made for difference of 
 occasion and purpose, it does not seem possible that St Paul, who 
 claims so constantly (unless indeed 1 Cor. xv. 3 be an exception, 
 but see below, note on ch. ii. 3, 4) to have received the Gospel not 
 from human teaching, but "through revelation of Jesus Christ" 
 (Gal. i. 12), could put himself, as the writer of this Epistle does 
 (ii. 3, 4), by the side of those to whom he writes, as having learnt 
 
 H. h 
 
xiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 it, as they had done, from those who themselves had heard the 
 Lord, and to whom it had been confirmed by miracle. The writer 
 comes at times (as in ch. x. 37, 38) apparently on common ground 
 with St Paul. There are what sound like echoes of familiar phrases 
 and quotations, but when they are examined (see the additional 
 note on x, 37) it seems that both phrases and quotations, if they be 
 due to verbal memory, have yet really a different meaning and 
 purpose in the two writers: it is not quite the same "righteousness" 
 nor the same "faith" that they speak of. 
 
 3. When we go beyond the names of Barnabas and Paul we 
 are embarking plainly on mere conjecture, even if the scholars of 
 Alexandria have preceded us. They mentioned two names : Clement 
 OF Rome and St Luke. The first suggestion was based, no doubt, 
 on the fact that ideas, phrases, and even passages of this Epistle 
 appear in the Epistle which bears Clement's own name : but no one 
 can read them there without seeing that they are borrowed from a 
 document to which he attached authority, not originally due to 
 himself. Those who made the second conjecture found much in 
 the style and temper of the Epistle to explain and commend it to 
 them : but it fails in a critical point. We cannot believe that the 
 writer was a Gentile, and we can hardly doubt that St Luke was 
 one. 
 
 Other names have been suggested since the question was raised 
 again after the Reformation. Luther made the guess, happy in 
 itself, that the writer was Apollos— the "Jew, Alexandrian by race, 
 eloquent (or, learned) and mighty in the Scriptures" — the friend 
 and scholar of St Paul, yet evidently with a history of his own, who 
 would be acquainted with Timothy, " who helped them much which 
 had believed through grace... she wing by the Scriptures that Jesus 
 was Christ" (Acts xviii. 24 and 28). Every characteristic by itself 
 suits admirably. But in default of proof it remains a possible 
 conjecture, and no more ; it carries us no further than the undeniable 
 proposition that Apollos as he is described to us must have been 
 capable of writing such a letter: it throws no light on the occasion 
 or recipients of the Epistle : and no reason is suggested why the 
 name should not have occurred to those who handled the question 
 in the third century. No more can be said, perhaps no less, of 
 other suggestions which have been made, such as Silas, Aquila, 
 Priscilla. 
 
 One name which has been suggested lately, that of Philip the 
 
INTRODUCTION xv 
 
 Deacon, stands on different grounds, in that it belongs to a serious 
 attempt to conceive the circumstances of the Epistle as a whole. 
 Sir W. Ramsay (following up a suggestion of the Rev. W. M. Lewis, 
 and supported in turn in an interesting paper in the Interpreter of 
 April 1909 by Canon E. L. Hicks) places the Epistle during the 
 detention of St Paul at Caesarea. He thinks that Philip (who 
 was living at the time at Caesarea, Acts xxi. 8) wrote, after inter- 
 course with St Paul and as the mouthpiece of the Caesarean Church, 
 to the Church of Jerusalem with the view of helping to the ultimate 
 reconcilement of the Pauline and Judaic parties in it. The situation 
 is realized in detail and the possibility established: but a good 
 many assumptions are necessary ; and it may be doubted whether 
 the severity of tone in parts of the Epistle and the sense of 
 imminent catastrophe are sufficiently explained. 
 
 HI. Circumstances and purpose of the Epistle. 
 
 Questions of the date and of the destination of the Epistle 
 cannot be treated apart from consideration of the internal evidence 
 which it affords of its purpose and of the situation which it 
 presupposes. 
 
 1. The title "to Hebrews," though we cannot suppose it to 
 have been part of the original text, is of early origin and describes 
 what was taken to be the character of those to whom the Epistle 
 was addressed. They were "Hebrews," that is, not only of Hebrew 
 blood, but of those who made the most of their nationality. It is 
 not a local but a descriptive name. In the three places in which 
 it occurs in the New Testament (Acts vi. 1, 2 Cor. xi. 22, Phil. iii. 5) 
 it is on the one side distinguished from the race name "Israelite," 
 and on the other contrasted with "Hellenist" ("Grecian Jew" R.V., 
 "Grecian" A.V.), i.e. a Jew who in language and mode of life was 
 assimilated to the Greek world round him. That it was difficult to 
 draw a line precisely between the two classes is illustrated by the 
 fact that the writer of this Epistle takes it for granted that these 
 "Hebrews" read the Greek version of the Scriptures. All his 
 quotations are taken from it and he builds arguments upon its 
 words even where they differ from the Hebrew text. But the 
 Epistle is evidently addressed throughout to Jewish Christians. 
 The whole argument both in what it contains and in what it 
 omits bears witness to its purpose. The great surrounding Gentile 
 
 62 
 
xvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 world is out of sight; and with it all the questions which arose 
 from the union in one Church of Jews and Gentiles. It is significant 
 that we never hear of circumcision. There is no question raised 
 of the obligation of the Law. On the other hand the argument is 
 based almost wholly on the Old Testament Scriptures. The 
 writer's aim is to shew that everything in the Christian scheme 
 that would cause difficulty to Jewish feeling was indeed part of the 
 picture given by Psalmists and Prophets. The unique dignity of 
 the Messiah and yet His association with sufiering and death : the 
 supersession of the Levitical priesthood by one of a higher order : 
 the substitution of a spiritual for a material sanctuary and offering: 
 the new and more effectual Covenant — are all put into Old Testament 
 language, and traced to the authority of David, Moses, and 
 Jeremiah. There is a turn of phrase in ii. 16 which marks a 
 reference to Jewish feeling so habitual to the waiter as to be 
 scarcely conscious. He has been insisting on the comfort brought 
 by the truth of the Incarnation to men as men, and naturally the 
 sentence would have run "It was not angels that He came to help, 
 but men," but for "men" he substitutes, to the apparent damaging 
 of the argument, "the seed of Abraham," as though the Incarnation 
 were to be represented as a crowning instance of the "stretched out 
 Arm" which had so often intervened to succour the chosen people. 
 
 2. One more point is clear. The Epistle is addressed to a 
 definite set of persons. It is not, as has been sometimes suggested, 
 a general or circular letter for the "Hebrew" members of the Church 
 at large or of the Churches scattered over a wide area. The 
 community in view has a history of its own, has personal lies 
 to the writer, common interests with him, he is hoping to visit it. 
 It may be a small community or party within a community, and the 
 letter, though opening up the largest questions, may have arisen 
 from some incident which in itself would not have attracted general 
 attention. In respect of the greatest works of literature what the 
 Greek observer said of wars holds true, that though the causes 
 be great the occasion may be small. It is a community not 
 at one with itself. We notice that the "leaders" (xiii. 17) are 
 distinguished from the persons for whom the letter is intended. 
 Obedience to them is enjoined. It is assumed that in the issues 
 raised they are on the writer's side. 
 
 3. The Church then, or rather perhaps the section of a Church, 
 which is addressed, may be safely assumed to consist of Christians 
 
rN^TRODUCTION xvii 
 
 Jewish at once by race and by habit and feeling. The Epistle has 
 towards them two strands of purpose. Like the Apostolic Epistles 
 generally it contains both argument and exhortation ; but the two 
 are interwoven more closely than is usual. Argument passes into 
 exhortation : exhortation completes, as well as points, the argument. 
 The end always in view in the argument is to shew that in the 
 Person of the Christ, the Incarnate Son of God, as anticipated in 
 Prophecy and realized in the historical JESUS, the Revelation of 
 the Old Testament was perfected and its shadowy and typical 
 atonements were explained and superseded. The end aimed at 
 in the exhortation is to stir the readers to a fuller appreciation and 
 use of the grace brought to them (iv. 14-16, x. 19-22). But there 
 is evidence throughout the Epistle of something beyond this, of a 
 state of distress and danger which has called forth the appeal and 
 which gives to it its tone both of earnestness and of tenderness. 
 They are expecting and in a modified degree already suffering 
 persecution (xii. 4). They have encountered that before and have 
 met it with constancy (x. 32 f.), but at present there are conditions 
 which lessen their power of resistance. There is disorganization 
 with its natural consequences : the loss of corporate feeling, leading 
 to the neglect of the weekly assembly (x. 25) and to the ignoring of 
 the claims of Christian wayfarers (xiii. 2). There is division (see 
 note on xiii. 20), separation between leaders and people (xiii. 17). 
 There are suggestions of moral danger (xii. 16, xiii. 4). The central 
 mischief is indicated as despondency, the loss of proper self-confidence 
 and hope. It seems to be traced to the reaction which comes to 
 men who have taken a great step without sufficiently facing its 
 intellectual grounds. Misgivings arise, old difficulties recur. They 
 have nothing wherewith to meet them but the childish teaching 
 which they received as catechumens (v. 11-vi, 3). The results 
 fill the writer with alarm. They are in risk of "drifting away" 
 (ii. 1) from their Christian position— of repeating the backsliding 
 and rebellion of Israel in the wilderness (iii. 7 f.), of falling back 
 into the attitude of those who crucified the Messiah (vi. 6, x. 29), 
 of incurring the penalties denounced in the Law against apostasy 
 (ii. 2, X. 28, xii. 29). There are three things to be added to this 
 picture of the condition of the Church addressed so far as it appears 
 in the Epistle. 
 
 (a) These Jewish Christians are what we call in St Paul's 
 Epistles "Judaizers." They are adding to the Gospel "a patchwork 
 of alien teachings" (xiii. 9). 
 
xviii INTRODUCTION 
 
 (b) We seem to hear as the Epistle closes — in what reads 
 like a postscript — (as though the writer found courage to put into 
 words what had been in his heart all through) a call to choose once 
 for all between Judaism and Christianity, to come "outside the 
 camp" (xiii. 13) and range themselves by the side of their 
 excommunicated Messiah. 
 
 (c) There is one further note to be recognized in the Epistle, 
 the sense of a crisis at hand. There is a "day approaching" 
 (x. 25), a definitive ending of "these days" (i. 2), an ending of the 
 "to-day" of invitation and opportunity (iii. 13); a coming earth- 
 quake in which all that can be removed will be shaken, in order 
 that "what cannot be shaken may remain" (xii. 27). We seem to 
 be, as it were, at the moment of the passing of a dispensation. 
 
 4. If this is a fair picture of the Epistle it is clear that, 
 in default of external evidence, we have internal indications 
 which go some way to determine the most probable time and 
 purpose of its writing. It must have been addressed to persons 
 to whom the Levitical system was in some appreciable sense a rival 
 and obstacle to the fuU acceptance of Christianity. There is, no 
 doubt, room for difference of opinion on the question, what constitutes 
 such an appreciable sense. The simplest and most natural explana- 
 tion of the facts is that the Epistle belongs to a time when the 
 Temple services were still performed. On the face of it the Epistle 
 seems to assert that this was actually the case. The writer uses 
 always the present tense in speaking of the Levitical ritual' (as in 
 ix. 6, "the priests go continually into the first Tabernacle"). It 
 must be noticed however also that he speaks always not of the 
 Temple but of the Tabernacle : in other words his eye is on the text 
 of Exodus, not on what was happening at Jerusalem. The present 
 tense need mean no more than that "such and such is the ritual 
 prescribed in the Mosaic Law." At the same time the cessation of 
 the sacrifices was such an overwhelming event to a Jew, and was 
 such a manifest confirmation of the argument of the Epistle, that it 
 is hard to believe that, if it had happened, the writer would have 
 
 1 The case is not quite the same as that of Clement {Ep. ad Cor. xli.) who uses 
 the present tense in speaking of the Levitical services though he wrote 25 years 
 after the destruction of Jerusalem. He is not writing to Jews ; and his statements 
 are made only to point an analogy: "a distinction of persons and places," he 
 is saying, "is a vital part of the Levitical ritual; you may expect therefore some 
 distinction of an analogous kind in the Christian services." It does not 
 matter to his argument whether Mosaic ritual had been actually disused or 
 not. 
 
INTRODUCTION xix 
 
 discussed the Levitical services at such length without betraying 
 by a single word that the whole system had come to an end. We 
 cannot but add to this that the tone of the Epistle, if it does not 
 require the hypothesis, is more intelligible if we suppose that it was 
 written in the deepening gloom before the great catastrophe rather 
 than after it. The great appeal in ch. xi. for faith, after the example 
 of their great ancestors, in the untried and unseen, has more point 
 if we imagine that there was still in existence a visible system of 
 historic ordinances to which they would have had " the opportunity 
 to return" (ch. xi. 15), than if the sacrificial system itself had been 
 reduced to a memory and an idea. The situation gains greatly in 
 tragic significance if on the one side we may hear in the last 
 chapter a call to come out as from a City of Destruction, an echo 
 of the warnings of which we read in Mark xiii. 14 f.; and if on the 
 other hand in the tenderness of the appeals, in the space given to 
 the proofs that in holding their Christian ground they were really 
 acting as the greatest and most patriotic of their race had acted, we 
 may recognize a sense that their trial arose in part from a generous 
 motive, that it was a moment when to a patriotic Jew it was hardest 
 to stand aside from the agony of his nation. 
 
 5. The alternative to placing the Epistle before the destruction 
 of Jerusalem seems to be to place it as late as possible; i.e. in accor- 
 dance with what has been already said, shortly before 95^ a.d. Some 
 little time must be allowed for the subsidence of the feelings which 
 would be aroused by that great calamity before we can imagine a 
 writer with the tact and tenderness of the author of this Epistle 
 addressing a community of Jewish Christians on such subjects 
 without a hint of what had happened. With the later date will go 
 probably a destination at some distance from Jerusalem, whether it 
 be, according to the many guesses that have been hazarded, Rome 
 or Alexandria, or some Eastern Church. There will also go some 
 re-reading of the purpose of the Epistle and of the emphasis to be 
 heard on one and another of its topics. The hints of moral dangers 
 (xii. 16, xiii. 4) will assume more meaning. (It has indeed been 
 argued that the mention of them imphes necessarily a centre of 
 population where the mass was heathen: but this cannot be 
 concluded in face of the warnings of the Sermon on the Mount 
 
 1 This is fixed as the latest possible date by the date of the Epistle of 
 Clement (see above, p. xi.), which cannot itself be later than 96 a.d. if the 
 persecution, mentioned in ch. i. of it, is that of Domitian, who died in that year. 
 
XX INTRODUCTION 
 
 (Matt. V. 27 f.) which was addressed to Jews.) The suggestion also 
 of "divers and strange teachings" (xiii. 9) will acquire a larger scope. 
 What is feared and deprecated will appear in the light not so much 
 of a simple reversion to Judaism as of a corruption of Christianity, 
 such as we see in progress in the Pastoral Epistles (see 1 Tim. iv. 1-7, 
 Tit. i. 14 and iii. 9) and earlier still in the Epistle to the Colossians 
 (ii. 16-23), and which meets us in a more developed condition in 
 the Ignatian Epistles to Asiatic Churches (Lightfoot's Apostolic 
 Fathers, vol. i. p. 359 f.), a mixture of Christianity, Judaism, and 
 Gnosticism, which tampered with the reality of the Incarnation 
 and grafted on the simplicity of the Gospel ascetic doctrines and 
 practices such as rules about "meats and drinks," and disparagement 
 of marriage, and invented fanciful cults, as the "worshipping of 
 angels" (see additional note on p. 5 and notes on ch. ix. 10, xiii. 4, 9). 
 6. In deciding between the earlier and the later date we have no 
 clear help from the internal references to places and persons. The 
 salutation (xiii. 24) from them "of Italy" is capable of several 
 interpretations and will suit any theory. The reference to Timothy 
 (xiii. 23) is beyond our explanation. It points to one of the 
 Pauline circle as the writer of the Epistle ; and it is more likely that 
 it refers to a date near the time when Timothy was going and coming 
 to and from the Apostle than (if that is the alternative) to a time 
 some 35 years later. Harnack, supporting the theory that Rome was 
 the destination of the Epistle, finds evidence of it in the fact that 
 the Epistle was known to Clement ' : but that argument is lessened 
 in weight if, when Clement quoted it, the Epistle had been in 
 existence for some 30 years. Harnack is thinking of it as having 
 been written more nearly to the time of Clement's own Epistle. 
 
 IV. The method of the Epistle. 
 
 1. It has been said already that the style and mode of 
 composition are different from those of St Paul's Epistles. Origen 
 summed up the difi"erence in the saying that this Epistle is "more 
 Greek." It is "more Greek" especially in what cannot be reproduced 
 in a translation, the choice and balanced ordering of words with a 
 view to sound as well as sense which reminds us constantly of Greek 
 rhetoric, that is of the appeals to the ear which their Greek nature 
 
 ^ Die Chronologie der altchristlichen Litteratur, i. 477. 
 
INTRODUCTION xxi 
 
 taught to the great orators, and which were tabulated and imitated 
 in the rhetorical schools. But there is one illustration of the 
 difference which an English reader can follow easily. The Epistle 
 is, in a sense beyond any other Epistle in the New Testament, an 
 artistic whole. It is a letter, but at the same time it is an impassioned 
 treatise or piece of oratory \ having a single purpose, ardently felt, 
 clearly conceived, never lost to sight. The whole argument is in 
 view from the beginning. Whether in the purely argumentative 
 passages or in those which are in form hortatory, we are constantly 
 meeting phrases which are to be taken up again and to have their 
 fuU meaning given to them later on. The plan itself develops. 
 While the figures to some extent change and take fresh colour, 
 there is growing through aU, in trait on trait, the picture which the 
 writer designs to leave before his readers' minds. This artistic 
 character of the composition has to be remembered in interpretation 
 of the Epistle, and even in questions of text. It is not only a 
 question whether a given interpretation makes the writer say what 
 is true, nor even what is in harmony with what he says elsewhere. 
 The question will be whether it is what he is likely to have said in 
 this particular place, whether he has reached the point in his 
 argument at which it would help his purpose. The writer, it 
 cannot be said too often, writes to persuade. The meaning in the 
 first instance of any particular passage is the meaning which its 
 first readers would put upon it, and which would to them and at that 
 stage in the argument conduce to persuasion. 
 
 2. The ultimate purpose of the Epistle, as we read it, is to bring 
 its readers (Jews at once and Christians, but hesitating, looking 
 back, "babes" at present in the deeper meaning of their new faith) 
 to the full Christian position, to preach as fully as St Paul that 
 "Christ is the end of the Law," and with the corollary, which 
 cannot but follow, that in Him "there is neither Jew nor Gentile." 
 But though the end will be the same, the road is different. This 
 Epistle is addressed to Jewish Christians and appeals to them from 
 the point of view of their own Scriptures. But it vivifies those 
 Scriptures. It exhibits them as witnessing continuously to some- 
 thing greater, to a spiritual reality of which the Tabernacle and its 
 rites were only a copy and shadow. It takes the readers back 
 behind the Levitical ordinances to the needs of human nature 
 
 1 In the writer's own phrase it is "a word of exhortation" (xiii. 22), i.e. a 
 Benuon or speech: cf. Acts xiii. 15. 
 
xxii INTRODUCTION 
 
 to which they were meant to minister. The fear of death 
 (ii. 15), the craving for sympathy (ii. 17, 18, iv. 15), the stings 
 of conscience (ix. 14, x. 22), are experiences which put all 
 mankind on a level. The great addition which the Epistle 
 makes to the Pauline presentment of the Christian scheme is in 
 the concentration of the scattered images, by which the relation 
 of the life and death of Christ to human sin is represented, in the 
 fully realized figure of the Great High Priest offering the sacrifices 
 as of the Day of Atonement and entering for His people within the 
 veil. That went home directly to the conscience of the pious Jew : 
 but in applying it, the Epistle shews that what Prophecy bade him 
 look for was a High Priest who while He fulfilled, as the antitype, 
 the typical functions of the Aaronic priesthood, was of a personality 
 indefinitely greater than Aaron's. The Priesthood "after the order 
 of Melchizedek" was not only outside of the Levitical Law but 
 outside of the sacred race ; representative not of a local but of a 
 world-wide religion. This conclusion is not pressed in words ; but 
 it is behind much of the language used of the singleness, the 
 perfection, the spiritual nature of the work of the Ideal High Priest. 
 In the same way although the comparison sets out only to shew the 
 Christian dispensation as superior to the Mosaic, superior in the 
 dignity of the Intermediary and in the completeness of the 
 Reconciliation, as the argument unfolds, as the writer explains Who 
 the Intermediary is, as he dwells on the completeness and 
 universality of the Atonement, it is clear — it must have been 
 clear to the readers — that what has been asserted is not merely 
 the superiority of Christianity to Judaism, but its superiority to all 
 religions, its position as the One religion, the final and sufficient 
 Revelation of God to man. 
 
 V. General summary of the contents. 
 
 i. 1-3. The Epistle opens with a comparison, rhetorical in form, 
 
 of the two Dispensations. Both are Revelations from God, 
 but they are contrasted in respect of (1) character — the 
 one through many mouths, occasional, fragmentary : the 
 other through One, complete and final. (2) the dignity 
 of the Intermediaries : (a) the prophets, God's mouthpieces : 
 (6) a Son : His transcendent dignity (i) in His essence^ 
 
INTRODUCTION xxiii 
 
 as the perfect Revelation of the Father's Glory, (ii) in His 
 office, as the Redeemer, the Messiah, of prophecy. 
 
 N.B. that in v. 3 ("when he had made purification of 
 sins, sat down &c.") we are introduced (1) to the truth 
 that both Dispensations are not Revelations only, but 
 schemes of atonement for sin, (2) to the great Messianic 
 prophecy of Ps. ex. ; both of which will occupy so much 
 space in the Epistle. 
 
 4. "In both these respects He stands far above any angel." 
 
 [The point is made clearer in ch. ii. 2, "The word spoken 
 by angels." The Law was given to Moses through "the 
 angel which spake to him in the Mount Sinai," Acts vii. 
 38, 53; Gal. iii. 19.] 
 
 5-14. This needed no proof to any one who accepted the 
 statement of what He was in essence : but the writer 
 proves it in respect of His office by recalling the terms in 
 which Psalmists and Prophets had admittedly spoken 
 
 (1) of the Messiah as a Son, as Himself Divine, 
 
 (2) of angels as servants, created beings. 
 
 ii. 1-4. A hortatory passage: "If the Law given through 
 
 angels was enforced as it was, what of those who fall 
 away from so much more august a Dispensation?" 
 
 5-18. The writer goes back to prophecy (Psalms viii. and xxii. 
 
 and Isaiah viii.) to shew that glorification through humilia- 
 tion and real brotherhood with the human race ("He did 
 not come to help angels," v. 16) were essential parts of the 
 historic conception of the Messiah. 
 
 Incidentally (vv. 14-18) two reasons are set out for the 
 real incarnation of the Son of God ; viz. to meet the needs 
 of humanity (1) by setting men free from the fear of death, 
 (2) by assuring them that they have a High Priest who 
 can at once feel with them and reconcile them to God. 
 
 This last point opens the subject which will take so 
 much of the Epistle, the character of an effectual Priest- 
 hood. 
 
 iii. 1. ' Our thoughts then are to be concentrated on "Jesus," 
 as (the subject is divided by the two titles which are 
 applied to Him) at once "the Apostle" (i.e. the Envoy — 
 
xxiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 the title coining from the verb used in Exodus of the 
 "mission" of Moses) "and the High Priest whom we 
 confess." 
 
 2-6. Jesus is the Moses of the new Dispensation. But we 
 
 are bidden to contrast the terms used of the two : Moses 
 has high praise, but as a servant in God's house: the 
 Messiah is the Son, over His own house. 
 
 7-19. Here the writer pauses again to press a lesson from 
 this second contrast. He does this in the words of Psalm 
 xcv. That Psalm had a double force: (1) It reminded 
 them how their forefathers fell away from Moses and so 
 forfeited the promised rest. 
 
 iv. 1-13. (2) It was a standing witness that in the counsels of 
 God there had always been a rest looked forward to, more 
 complete and abiding than the rest which Joshua gave them 
 in Canaan. Let them beware of repeating their forefathers' 
 sin ; for God's revelation was not to be trifled with. 
 
 14-16. Then he turns to the other title. Christ is not the 
 Moses only, but the Aaron also of the new Dispensation. 
 In this case the practical exhortation comes first: "Seeing 
 that we have such a high priest, let us hold fast our 
 profession (not fall away, as they were inclined to do) and 
 come boldly to the throne of grace." [Notice that this 
 exhortation is taken up again in ch. x. 19 when the 
 Priesthood of Christ has been fully set forth.] 
 
 V. 1-10. Here begins the exposition of the statement that the 
 Christ is the true High Priest. "What are the necessary 
 conditions of a human High Priest?" (1) That he 
 should be a partaker of human infirmities, in order that 
 he may have a fellow-feeling : (2) that His office should 
 not be self-assumed, but assigned to him by God, as Aaron's 
 was. 
 
 See then how the Messiah fulfils both requirements : 
 for (1) as man He passed through the discipline of suffering 
 to the power of atoning for men, (2) the same Voice which 
 in Ps. ii. hailed Him as the Royal Son names Him in 
 Ps. ex. the Eternal Priest after the order of Melchizedek. 
 
INTRODUCTION xxv 
 
 ^' A Priest after the order of Melchizedek." This 
 is the phrase from Ps. ex. in which the writer seems to 
 find what he was feeling after, a way of explaining without 
 offence to Jewish susceptibilities the relation between the 
 11-14. Priesthood of Christ and the Priesthood of the Law. It 
 will be the key to much of the remaining part of the 
 Epistle : but before entering on its explanation he pauses 
 to ask for special attention and to meet the objection that 
 he is offering his readers something novel and hard. "It 
 is hard," he answers in effect, "and novel, in the sense that 
 all new lessons are. But you must face such difficulties, 
 or you cannot advance. You cannot be children always." 
 
 vi. 1-12. Let us leave then (here begins ch. vi.) the elementary 
 teaching that befits catechumens and go on to fuller Christian 
 truth. There is one thing thatwe will not suppose, mz.falllng 
 hack. We have no teaching still in store that can cure that. 
 Your fault lies in want of hopefulness. Imitate the faith 
 and patience of Abraham. Your security in the promise is 
 the same as his and yet greater. It is in heaven whither 
 Jesus has entered [interpreting the symbolism of the Great 
 Day of Atonement] through the veil, both to make atone- 
 ment and as a pledge that you also may enter. 
 
 vii. 1-10. The explanation of the phrase "a priest for ever after 
 the order of Melchizedek" falls into two parts. 
 
 1. A recalling of the wording in Gen. xiv. in order 
 to shew what material the Psalmist had in the story 
 for his conception — the import of the names — the silence 
 of Scripture as to predecessor or successor [the suggestion 
 being that the Psalmist implied that a priesthood "after 
 his order" would be an eternal and superhuman one] — 
 the relation of superiority which Melchizedek assumes 
 to Abraham. 
 11-28. 2. The conclusions to be drawn by way of comment 
 
 on the prophecy in Ps. ex. Is it not clear that it implied 
 that the Levitical priesthood, and therefore the Levitieal 
 Law, was incomplete and temporary ? All the phrases 
 "the Lord sware," "for ever" are meant to convey the 
 sense of greater solemnity, higher dignity. The Priest of 
 the Law was a man, full of infirmities. The Priest of the 
 
XXVI 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 Oath (the priest for whom human nature craved) is God's 
 own Son, with every qualification perfected eternally. 
 
 viii. 1-4. So much for the personality of the ideal High Priest — 
 but now for His functions. He must (this is part of the 
 definition of a High Priest) have "something to offer." 
 But where and what? Not on earth, for the place is 
 occupied by the Levitical priests. 
 
 Before proceeding to exhibit the failure of the Levitical 
 system of sacrifices and to contrast them with the One 
 perfect and all-sufficient Sacrifice, the writer falls back 
 again on two passages in the Old Testament which prepare 
 the way for his exposition. 
 
 5, 6. 1. (The answer to "where?") He reminds his readers 
 that the Tabernacle and all its appurtenances were 
 confessedly in their beginning only copies of eternal 
 realities shewn to Moses in the mount. 
 
 7-13. 2. (The answer to "what?") He recalls at length 
 the prophecy of Jer. xxxi. which speaks of a new and more 
 effectual Covenant which was to supersede the Mosaic 
 Covenant. 
 
 ix, 1-10. He then proceeds to recall in detail the elaborate 
 arrangements of the Levitical sanctuary and provisions 
 for service ; but to point out that the very division of the 
 Holy place from the Holy of Holies and the restricted 
 access allowed to the latter were a confession that a 
 meeting-place of God and man was not yet found. It was 
 the same with the ordinances of service, all was imperfect, 
 material, typical. 
 
 11-14. The better system had now come — the better, heavenly, 
 sanctuary — the eternal redemption — the spiritual sacrifice. 
 
 15. This was the sacrifice waited for to give efficacy to the 
 atonements of the Old Covenant. 
 
 16-28. The following section is apologetic, answering (but 
 without fully stating the difficulty which it answers) the 
 objection felt by a Jew to associating the Messiah with 
 death. He answers it by three analogies. 
 
 1. The necessary association of a testament with the 
 death of the testator. 
 
INTRODUCTION xxvii 
 
 2. The inauguration by sacrifice of the Old Covenant. 
 
 3. The principle which ran through the Levitical Law 
 that sacrifice was necessary to atonement — typical shedding 
 of blood for ceremonial atonement, but something more 
 august for the cleansing of the "heavenly things" — the 
 One Sacrifice that crowns the ages and, once and for all, 
 puts away sin. 
 
 X. 1-18. Summing up of the argument. The Law was an 
 outline of good things to come, not the real presentation 
 of the things. The "blood of bulls and goats could not 
 take away sin." Once more the finality of the Christian 
 Sacrifice is put on the authority of Scripture, Ps. xl., Ps. ex., 
 Jer. xxxi. 
 
 19-25. Here the argument proper is ended, and the exhorta- 
 tion recommences. First the writer recalls what they 
 had gained in Christianity as it was stated in ch. iv. 14. 
 All that was said there of the duty of using the 
 privileges won by the "great High Priest" can be said 
 again now with fuller understanding. One thing that is 
 added here is the call to an unselfish religion and to 
 standing together in the days of trial at hand {vv. 24, 25). 
 
 26-31. The appeal for steadfastness and unity is then put on 
 three grounds. 
 
 1. The terrible danger of apostasy. 
 
 32-39. 2. The memory of their own Christian courage and 
 charity in time past. 
 
 xi. and 3. The historic glory of faith in the unseen, with its 
 
 xii. 1, 2. climax in Jesus Himself and its lessons for themselves. 
 
 The rest of ch. xii. falls into three parts. 
 3-11. 1. An exhortation to view suffering as God's loving 
 discipline. 
 12-17. 2. Warnings against moral inconsistencies. 
 18-29. 3. A peroration consisting of a fervidly worded 
 contrast between the two Covenants. 
 
 xiii. The last chapter reads as a postscript. It emphasizes 
 
 the moral warnings ; but it also reveals several fresh 
 features in the supposed situation. The persons addressed 
 
ixviii INTRODUCTION 
 
 are Judaizers, adding to the Gospel a "patchwork of alien 
 doctrines" and practices. They are at issue with the 
 "leaders" of their Church. They need to be summoned 
 to choose once for all between Judaism and Christianity, 
 to come " outside the camp " and take their place by the 
 crucified Christ. 
 
 The Epistle ends with a blessing which recalls some of 
 its topics, with a last word of apology, and some short 
 greetings. 
 
PARAPHRASE OF THE EPISTLE 
 
 The two Revelations (i. 1, 2). 
 
 There have been two Revelations, both from God. There was the one 
 which we know so well, which was given to our forefathers through the 
 long succession of the Prophets. The Revelation which has been given to 
 us is what that was not. It has come to close the era which the other 
 began and went along with. It is complete and final where that was 
 occasional and fragmentary. It is single in form (in One Person and Life) 
 where that was manifold. It is given to us not through human mouthpieces 
 but through One Who is Himself God's own Son, the predestined Heir for 
 Whom, as well as the Agent by Whom, everything, past, present and to 
 come, has been created. 
 
 The Son as the Revealbr (3, 4). 
 
 He is — that is His essential Being — the Supreme Revealer, in that He 
 is Himself the perfect image of God, the sustainer, by His creative word, of 
 all life. But He is supreme not only in His eternal relation to God and to 
 everything that is or can be, but also, since He entered the world of 
 becoming, in His Incarnation and Exaltation, He wrought the complete 
 atonement for human sin; and then He fulfilled the prophecy of Ps. ex. and 
 " sat down at God's right hand," the eternal Priest- King, supreme in His 
 human nature over the highest created beings, as the Scriptures have 
 witnessed by the Name which, according to them. He was to claim as His 
 birthright. 
 
 Comparison of the Messiah with the angels (5-14). 
 
 He was to be (that is to say) God's own Son (Pss. ii. and Ixxxix., 
 2 Sam. vii.), the object in His Incarnation of worship to the angels 
 (Deut. xxxii.). The angels themselves were spoken of as God's agents in 
 the material sphere, as "becoming" winds and fire (Ps. civ.); the Christ 
 of prophecy was spoken of as God's Vicegerent in the moral sphere, as the 
 eternal, righteous King (Ps. xlv.). 
 
 To the material world He was to be the Creator, Who is for ever, whereas 
 all created things pass (Ps. cii.). 
 
 To sum up in the quotation made already from Ps. ex.. He was to be the 
 Co-sessor on God's throne : they are (as we read often in the Psalms) the 
 messengers despatched to do Him service by ministering to His people. 
 
 H, C 
 
XXX PARAPHRASE 
 
 The attention thus bespoken for the Revelation itself (il 1-4). 
 
 Stop now for a moment to reflect what earnest attention all this bespeaks 
 for the Revelation itself. If the old Revelation, given through the media- 
 tion of angels, had such sanctions ; what can we expect if we treat lightly a 
 message of deliverance so much more wonderful — a message brought by the 
 Lord Himself, and resting, for us, not only on the testimony of those who 
 heard Him with their own ears, but also on the testimony to their credi- 
 bility borne by God in miracles and supernatural gifts ? 
 
 The Son as the Reconciler. The reason here, in the nature 
 
 OF THE case, for A REAL INCARNATION (5-18). 
 
 We have spoken of the infinite superiority of the Son to any angel. But 
 in truth the Scripture says of man what it says of no angel. There is no 
 prophecy of the sovereignty of angels over the world as it is to be: but 
 there is a prophecy (in Ps. viii.) which speaks of the universal dominion 
 meant for man, though he starts from a place below the angels. To the 
 human race as a whole that prophecy is not yet fulfilled; but we see it 
 fulfilled in Jesus, " made a little lower than the angels," humiliated even to 
 the suflFering of death ; yet for that death "crowned with glory and honour" ; 
 and all in the loving purpose of God that He should taste the bitterness of 
 death for all mankind. Do we cavil or wonder ? It was surely in perfect 
 accordance with God's Nature (and what more can be asked?), when He 
 brought many sons to glory, to let their Leader win His perfect qualifica- 
 tion through suffering. 
 
 The Cousecrator of the holy nation and the holy nation itself are of one 
 Pather. This is why in the prophetic Scriptures the Messiah is pictured as 
 calling the members of the Church His " brethren " (Ps. xxii.), as leading 
 their worship (ibid.), as putting Himself by their side in His attitude 
 towards God (Is. viii.), as claiming them as children given to Him by God 
 (ibid.). " Children," " brethren " ! Then there must be some community of 
 conditions between them. They are of flesh and blood. They are subject 
 to death. So He took flesh and blood, and subjected Himself to death, 
 that so He might make death itself the instrument in reducing to impotence 
 him who wields the power of death, the accusing spirit, and might set free, 
 as from an Egyptian bondage, those whom the fear of death kept in slavery. 
 He came not to lend a hand of rescue to angels, but (as Moses did) to sons 
 of Abraham. So from all sides it was of the essence of His purpose that 
 He should be made really like to His brethren, that in the High-Priestly 
 work of reconciliation, through which the rescue was to be accomplished, 
 He might be able to represent men as towards God, and to make them 
 trust Him as feeling with them. They are tempted and they suflFer ; and 
 therefore He must have been tempted and have suflered. 
 
 Christ at once the Moses and Aaron of the New Dispensation 
 (in. 1). 
 
 Thinking then of this holy brotherhood which you share, of the call from 
 heaven which you have heard as much as your forefathers heard it, set your 
 whole thoughts on Him whom you have acknowledged to be to you at once 
 all that Moses and all that Aaron was to them. 
 
PARAPHRASE xxxi 
 
 All that Moses was — but how much greater than Moses! (2-6). 
 
 It was said of Moses [l Sam. xii. 6; Numb. xii. 7] that he was "faithful to 
 God who appointed him," "faithful in all God's house." The same may 
 be said of the Second Moses. But do not forget the difference. He who 
 builds and furnishes a house is of more account than the house: and 
 God is the Builder of the house, as of all things. Moses was the faithful 
 "servant" in the house. His part was to bear witness to a greater 
 Revelation yet to come. The Christ is the "Son" of the Owner of the 
 house ; over the house, not in it. We are the house ; if only we maintain 
 the high tone of proud and confident hope. 
 
 Ps. XCV. HOLDS UP (1) A WARNING AGALNST REPEATING IsRAEL's SIN 
 IN REBELLING AGAINST THEIR MoSES (7-19). 
 
 Remember then the warning of Ps. xcv. Take heed lest what happened 
 to your forefathers happen to you ; lest there be found presently in some of 
 you that opposite of the "honest and good heart," a heart that will not 
 listen, that "errs" (as the Psalm says), falls away from God as your fathers 
 knew Him, the True, the Terrible. Exhort, encourage one another day by 
 day, while the time for hearing God's voice lasts; lest any of you be 
 hardened through one of the many delusions by which sin closes the ears. 
 For those words addressed to you, 
 
 "To-day if ye shall hear his voice, 
 Harden not your hearts as in the provocation," 
 imply that you, like your forefathers, have i-eceived a great privilege, but 
 subject to a great risk. You are partners with the Messiah, in His enter- 
 prise. His salvation. His glory, if only you keep to the end that courage 
 and pride in His cause vdth which you began. 
 
 For what does that "provocation" mean? Who provoked? Was 
 it not the mass of those who had been rescued from Egypt by Moses? 
 With whom was He "displeased forty years"? Was it not the whole 
 nation that sinned and so left their bones in the wilderness ? To whom did 
 He " swear that they should not enter into His rest " ? Was it not to those 
 who were disobedient? And we see that the threat was fulfilled. They 
 could not enter in because they did not listen. 
 
 (2) An ASSURANCE THAT THERE IS STILL AN OFFER OF God's REST, 
 TO BE ACCEPTED OR FORFEITED (iV. 1-13). 
 
 Seeing then what on that occasion befel God's redeemed people, and 
 seeing that there is a promise still unfulfilled, and still holding, of entering 
 into God's rest, we may well fear lest some of you (we hardly like to say it) 
 should fail of it. For indeed we are like them in that we have had good 
 tidings brought to us, as they had. But the message, though it reached 
 them, did them no good, because those who heard it lacked the faith which 
 was necessary to give it effect [see note on difficulty of text and therefore 
 of exact interpretation]. We, I say, have had good tidings brought to us ; 
 for we are on our way, we that have accepted the Christian offer, to that 
 perfect rest of which Ps. xcv. spoke in the words " into my rest." It was 
 
 c2 
 
xxxii PARAPHRASE 
 
 not speaking of God Himself as entering into rest : for His work was done 
 at the Creation, as Gen. ii. 2 testifies. But put together Gen. ii. 2 and 
 Ps. xcv. and it follows that there were some still for whom that rest 
 "remained." It was not attained by Israel in the wilderness to whom 
 the good tidings first came, for they failed from lack of obedience ; and so 
 the promise is repeated in Ps. xcv., a long time afterwards; for neither 
 was the rest given by Joshua the perfect rest. There is therefore still in 
 store for God's people a real "sabbath-keeping," a rest (in other words) like 
 the rest of God's seventh day; for "God's rest" must mean a real cessation, 
 like that of God, from work. 
 
 Let us then make every eflfort to enter into that rest, and avoid the 
 example of those who forfeited it by disobedience. For the warnings of 
 God's Word are serious: it is not a dead thing, but living, as He is; 
 piercing to the depths of soul and spirit, as the sharpest sword might 
 penetrate to the joint, to the marrow within the bone. It judges the 
 thoughts and purposes. No creature in all the world can avoid the All- 
 seeing Eye. 
 
 The Greater Aaron {see iii. 1). The High Priest at once human 
 
 AND superhuman (14-16). 
 
 Let us hold fast then to the truth as we have acknowledged it. As was 
 said before, we have a High Priest, one so great, one who has passed not 
 through the veil of an earthly tabernacle but through the heavens, Jesus, 
 our human Saviour, but the Son of God. In spite of His greatness He is 
 not beyond our sphere. He can feel with us ; for He has been tried even 
 as we are in all points, save that He did not yield to sin. Let us avail 
 ourselves of the access opened by our High Priest and draw near boldly to 
 the Mercy Seat to receive pardon and grace. 
 
 Two requirements to a High Priest's office (v. 1-4). 
 
 "We have a high priest." Think then of the two conditions required in 
 a human high priest. He is to stand between God and man : therefore 
 
 1. As from the side of the people, he must be one of those whom he 
 represents, in order that from his own consciousness of weakness, which 
 obliges him to ofi'er sacrifices for his own sins as well as those of the people, 
 he may learn to be tolerant of infirmity. 
 
 2. As from the side of God, he must be not self-appointed but "called" 
 as was Aaron. 
 
 Both requirements fulfilled in the Christ (5-10). 
 
 The Christ fulfils both conditions. He " glorified not Himself to be an 
 High Priest." The same Voice of God in prophecy which hailed Him as 
 the " Son " hailed Him also as the " Priest for ever after the order of 
 Melchizedek." But yet. Son though He was, He submitted to the same 
 discipline as men, and learned obedience, as they learn it, by suffering, and 
 then when this qualification was fuUy attained became, to all who wiU learn 
 the same lesson, the " author of an everlasting salvation " ; for (as we have 
 
PARAPHRASE xxxiii 
 
 seen) God Himself had named Him the " High Priest after the order of 
 Melchizedek." 
 
 [In this twice repeated phrase the writer has found the expression by 
 which to expound to Jewish Christians the truth that the Christ is, and 
 according to prophecy was to be, the Second Aaron, but as in the com- 
 parison with Moses, a greater than Aaron. But be/ore doing so he 
 pauses to appeal for a fair hearing for what he evidently treats as a 
 novel argument.'] 
 
 Apology for the difficulty and (in a sense) novelty of the 
 argument (11-14). 
 
 In using this phrase (" the high priest after the order of Melchizedek ") 
 we are opening a matter on which there is much to say and in which you 
 will find difficulties; but this is because a torpor has settled on your 
 spiritual intelligence. You have been Christians long enough to be now 
 teachers of Christian truth: but you have fallen back to the position of 
 those who need to learn the alphabet of the Christian reading of Holy 
 Scripture. You have come to want again the milk for babes. That means 
 that you have not yet that exercised moral sense which wiU enable you to 
 discern for yourselves, in a matter where conscience is concerned, what is 
 to be chosen and what is to be refused. 
 
 The duty of advance, and the risk of falling back (vl 1-9). 
 
 Come then, let us leave behind us the first lessons of Christian teaching, 
 of repentance and faith, of the meaning of washings and laying on of hands, 
 of resurrection and judgement. They are the necessary foundations for 
 a Catechumen : but it is time to go forward. That is what I desire and 
 purpose for you. For indeed the thought of going back is terrible — of 
 having seen the light, tasted the gift, shared in the outpouring of the 
 Holy Spirit, learnt the value of God's Revelation and the powers of the 
 New Dispensation, and then of falling away from it all. There is no 
 teaching kept in store to give a fresh start and change of view to those 
 who put themselves back into the place of those who crucified our Lord 
 and who in this way put Him to shame in the eyes of the world. They 
 are like land for which the skies and the tiller have done all that can 
 be done : it must now earn, if not the blessing of fertility, the curse of 
 barrenness. 
 
 The need of hopefulness (9-12). 
 
 But, beloved, we know well that this is not your case. You have 
 something better than the spiritual gifts I have named. You have shewn 
 — God will not forget it — the great grace of love, for His Name and for all 
 who bear it. What we eagerly desire is to see an equally earnest setting of 
 your minds in the direction of hopefulness — hopefulness in spite of dis- 
 couragements — that you may wake up from your torpor and imitate those 
 of all time who have trusted and been patient and have come into possession 
 of what was promised to them. 
 
xxxiv PARAPHRASE 
 
 God's sworn promises — to Abraham and to us (13-20). 
 
 Remember Abraham's story. We read that God had promised to bless 
 and multiply his seed, and that He confirmed this promise by an oath " by 
 Himself"; that Abraham believed and was patient, and that the promise 
 was fulfilled. 
 
 It is a condescension to human weakness. An oath is an appeal to one 
 who is gi-eater than he that swears : and that appeal in human affairs is felt 
 to give security. God has none greater than Himself ; but in His desire to 
 give even superfluous security to those who should stand in Abraham's 
 place and look forward to the fulfilment to themselves of the promise made 
 to him, He has again [in Ps. ex.] interposed with an oath ; that they might 
 have every encouragement to hold fast to the hope offered them as an 
 anchor in a harbour of refuge — the hope in Him who has entered within 
 the veil, not as their representative only, but as their forerunner; their 
 High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, their High Priest for ever. 
 
 The meaning of the prophecy of a High Priest after the order 
 
 OF MliLCHIZEDEK. 
 
 1. Materials for an explanation (vn. 1-10). 
 
 For what is the meaning which the Psalmist put on the words " after 
 the order of Melchizedek" ? The Melchizedek of whom he spoke was the 
 Melchizedek of Gen. xiv. He thought of his names and titles and of the 
 actions attributed to him — the " king of righteousness," " king of peace," 
 " priest of the most high God." He thought of the way in which he appears 
 and disappears in the story — with no human pedigree, no visible beginning 
 and ending — of his fitness in these respects to be a type of the Divine Son. 
 All this meant to him a Priesthood which suffered no breach of continuity. 
 
 Think again of the dignity of this supposed figure. Compare him with 
 Abraham. We find the father of our race giving to him the best of the 
 spoil. The Levitical priests, no doubt, are bidden by the Law to take 
 tithes of their brethren, the sons, like themselves, of Abraham. But here 
 we have one who is not in pedigree of their race taking tithes of Abraham, 
 and assuming, by blessing him, the position of the superior. Compare him 
 with the Levitical priests. They take tithes, but it is as men, that come and 
 go. He takes tithes ; but [in the picture given to us in Scripture] he does 
 not die. Is it too much to say that Levi himself, as Abraham's unborn 
 descendant, paid tithes in Abraham to Melchizedek ? 
 
 2. The explanation (11-28). The supersession of the Levitical 
 Priesthood, and, if so, of the Levitical Law. 
 
 What are the conclusions from this sm*vey ? 
 
 Does not the existence of such a prophecy of a " Priest after the order 
 of Melchizedek " necessarily imply that the Law itself (of which the Priest- 
 hood is the foundation) was imperfect and temporary? The Priesthood 
 could not be changed without changing the Law. And the Law was 
 changed — changed in the matter of Tribe : for oui* Lord was of the tribe 
 
PARAPHRASE xxxv 
 
 of Judah, the kingly, not the priestly tribe— changed in mode of appoint- 
 ment. The Levitical priests were appointed "after the law of a carnal 
 commandment," i.e. on conditions which belong to this life in the flesh 
 —the priest "after the order of Melchizedek" in virtue of a spiritual and 
 indestructible life. The prophecy implies the supersession of that "carnal 
 commandment," for its impotence and uselessness, and the introduction of 
 a better hope, giving true access to God. 
 
 We learn the same thing again from the words in the Psalm, " the Lord 
 sware." There is no such phrase used of the institution of the Levitical 
 Priesthood. It spoke of the greater solemnity of the new and better 
 Covenant. 
 
 And once more, "for ever." Contrast the priests, many, because none 
 continues, with the One Continuous and Eternal Priest, who can " save to 
 the uttermost" because He lives for ever and lives to intercede. 
 
 To sum up, such was the High Priest that human nature needed— One 
 really, not in figure only, blameless in every relation, toward God, toward 
 man, toward Himself— really separated from sinners and raised above the 
 heavens— who has not constantly fresh need, like the Levitical high priest, 
 to offer up sacrifice for his own sins as well as for those of the people; for 
 all that was needed has been done once for all in the sacrifice of Himself. 
 In fine, the Priest of the Law was a man full of infirmities : the Priest of 
 the oath is God's own Son, with every qualification perfected eternally. 
 
 What then are the functions of this greater High Priest; and 
 where are they exercised? not on earth (viii. 1-4). 
 
 And now, to crown our argument, such is our High Priest who fulfilled 
 the prophecy of Ps. ex. and is seated at God's right hand, a minister of the 
 true, ideal. Holy of Holies. What then are His functions? They must be 
 to offer "gifts and sacrifices"; otherwise He were not a High Priest. But 
 ichere and what ? Not on earth— for the place is occupied by the Levitical 
 priests. 
 
 (1) But THERE IS A HEAVENLY TABERNACLE AS WELL AS AN EARTHLY 
 (5, 6). 
 
 But remember two things : 
 
 The Levitical priests serve in a sanctuary which is confessedly a " copy 
 and shadow " of a more august sanctuary. That was the pattern shewn to 
 Moses in the mount. Our High Priest has a ministry more excellent than 
 theirs, 
 
 (2) The Scriptures bear witness to a New Covenant which was 
 
 TO bring a more REAL ATONEMENT (7-13). 
 
 just as the Covenant which He brings is more excellent and the 
 promises on which it rests. This again is vouched for in the very heart 
 of the ancient Scriptures. Recall at length the great prophecy of the New 
 Covenant in Jer. xxxi. What can it mean but that the Old Covenant was 
 faulty and a New Covenant required? The very term "a new covenant" 
 implies that the first was already obsolescent. 
 
xxxvi PARAPHRASE 
 
 The ritual of the Old Covenant was orderly and beautiful: 
 
 BUT IT was limited IN EFFECT (iX. 1-10). 
 
 We do not deny that the first Covenant had its orderly and beautiful 
 arrangement of ritual and sanctuary [see note on the difficulties of transla- 
 tion, p. 62]. It had its Tabernacle divided into two chambers, the outer 
 one, holding the seven-branched candlestick and the table of shewbread, 
 which is called in Scripture the Holy Place, and within it, behind a second 
 veil, the Holy of Holies, with all its precious and sacred appanage, the altar 
 of incense (before the veil), the ark (behind it) with its historic contents, with 
 the Cherabim and the Mercy Seat. 
 
 But when we pass from sanctuary to ordinances of service, how narrow 
 the limitations ! After all this elaborate provision, it is only to the outer 
 chamber that even the priests have access. Into the inner one penetrates 
 one person only, the High Priest, once a year, with awful precautions, with 
 the blood of sacrifice offered for himself as well as for the people. What 
 was the meaning which by such restrictions the Holy Spirit designed to 
 impress ? Surely that, while there was room for that abrupt division of the 
 Tabernacle, a real meeting-place of God with man had not been found. 
 The division itself was a parable — a parable to last as long as the dispensa- 
 tion lasted. It was part and parcel of a system of imperfect typical 
 atonements, such as could never cleanse the conscience, — bound up with 
 ceremonial rules as to things to eat and to drink and times to wash — 
 carnal ordinances which were as a burden on men's shoulders till the time 
 should come for putting things on a better footing. 
 
 Superiority of the Christian Atonement (11-14). 
 
 That time has now come. The new High Priest is to win better 
 blessings. The tabernacle in which He ministers is a greater and more 
 perfect one — in the heavenly, not the material sphere. The blood with 
 which He atones is not the blood of dumb cattle but His own Blood. He 
 has entered into the Holy of Holies not, like the Levitical High Priests, 
 from year to year, but once for all ; and so the redemption won for us is an 
 eternal Redemption. Ceremonial offerings can remove ceremonial impurity 
 and restore the separated to outward communion with the consecrated 
 nation — such sacrifices for instance as those of the Day of Atonement, or 
 the sprinkled ashes of a burnt heifer in the case of those who have touched 
 a dead body and so contracted uncleanness. So far you feel no difiiculty. 
 But how much more intelligible is the effect of the spiritual sacrifice in the 
 spiritual sphere — the power of the Blood of Christ, the Holy, Spotless 
 Victim, offering Himself willingly, offering Himself in the power of a Spirit 
 Eternal and Divine, to make clean your conscience, defiled by actions 
 contact with which is as the contact with a corpse, and to restore you 
 to the service of the Author of life ! 
 
 And therefore of the New Covenant which completes and renders 
 effective the Old (15). 
 
 And (to take another step) it is because of this fact — because Christ is 
 the Perfect High Priest, able to offer an eternally effectual sacrifice — that 
 
PARAPHRASE xxxvii 
 
 He is also the Mediator who can bring about that New Covenant to which 
 Jeremiah looked forward : so that, a Death having now at last taken place 
 of suflBcient value to redeem the transgressions which the first Covenant 
 could neither prevent nor atone for, those who have shared Abraham's call, 
 in the past as well as in the present and future, may receive what they have 
 not received, the promised eternal inheritance. 
 
 The New Covenant rests on a Death. This has raised diffi- 
 culties; BUT the readers ARE REFERRED TO THREE ANALOGIES. 
 
 1. In the EXPERIENCE OF COMMON LIFE (16, 17). 
 
 I say a Death having taken place : and this is where some find difficulty; 
 but let them think of three analogies. 
 
 (1) In their experience of worldly business. A testament is a covenant — 
 one of the most important and typical of covenants: but it gains all its 
 validity from the death of the Testator. 
 
 [See note on the difficulties of the argument. It seems to be implied 
 that the Christian Covenant is, on one side, such a testament, made effiective 
 to us by the death of the Testator.] 
 
 2. From the history of the Old Covenant (18-20). 
 
 (2) From the history of the Old Covenant. That was inaugurated, as we 
 read in Exodus, with sacrifices and the sprinkling of blood — " the blood of 
 the Covenant," as Moses expressly called it. 
 
 3. From the principle of atonement as imaged in the wholb 
 Mosaic ritual (21-23). 
 
 (3) But this is the central principle of atonement as imaged in the 
 Levitical ritual. " Without shedding of blood is no remission." It was a 
 typical "shedding of blood"; as the Tabernacle and all that appertained to 
 it were types, " copies." The cleansing of those things of which they were 
 copies must need a Sacrifice not less, but infinitely more august — must 
 need, and has found one: for the Sacrifice of Christ is indeed in the 
 spiritual sphere : the Holy Place which He entered is one " not made with 
 hands": it is the original, not the copy: it is God's own unveiled Presence. 
 And it is in the timeless sphere : it is not a repeated offering, as that of the 
 Levitical priests: that would have required an often repeated sacrifice in 
 times past and times future. It is the One Sacrifice which crowns the ages 
 and once for all puts away sin. As surely as men die once, and once only, 
 and then the life is summed for judgement, so the off"ering of Christ for 
 human sin was an oflFering once for all : when He appears again the relation 
 to sin will be altered : it will not bo as the Victim for the expiation of sin 
 but as the trimuphant Deliverer of those who are looking for Him. 
 
 Summing up of argument (x. 1-18). 
 
 See then fully what is behind all this that we have been saying. The 
 Law was an "outline of good things to come, not the true presentation 
 of the things themselves." That very recuiTcnce of the sacrifices was a 
 confession of their inefficacy. They were a "remembrance made of sins 
 
xxxviii PARAPHRASE 
 
 year by year," not a removal of the sins. "The blood of bulls and goats 
 could not take away sin." Here is the meaning of the great words in Ps. xL 
 The sacrifice of the will was to supersede the sacrifice of burnt oflFerings. It 
 is in Christ's perfect obedience, the oflfering of His Body once for all, that 
 we Christians have been consecrated to God's service. Here again is the 
 meaning of some words not yet commented on in the prophecy of Ps. ex., 
 "Sit down at my right hand." The Levitical priests still stand, oflfering 
 again and again the same ineffectual sacrifices. But His work is done. He has 
 sat down, to wait till "His enemies are made the footstool of His feet." By 
 one oflfering He has done once and for all what is needed for those in eveiy 
 generation who oflfer themselves to be consecrated. And once more here is 
 the great promise in Jer. xxxi. of the New Covenant: "their sins and 
 iniquities will I remember no more." The Law is written in the heart; the 
 sins are forgiven. No more sacrifice is needed. 
 
 The practical conclusion (19-25). 
 
 So then, dear brothers (to go back now to the exhortation with which I 
 began [i.e. in ch. iv. 14], but keeping in mind all that has been said in the 
 meantime), since we may be bold not merely (as we said then) to draw near 
 to the Sanctuary, but, in virtue of the "Blood of Jesus," to enter into it by 
 that way, the new and living way which He has opened to us, through the 
 rent Veil, that is to say, His own human nature ; and seeing that the Lord 
 of that world beyond the veil is the Divine Priest who has made atonement 
 for us, let us hesitate no longer : let us draw near with full purpose of heart 
 and with perfect confidence, remembering that [as our Baptism reminds us] 
 we have both in inward meaning and outward form received each of us the 
 consecration as of a High Priest. We have confessed publicly oui- hope: 
 let us cling to that confession and hold it firmly : for God, on His side, may 
 be trusted to keep His promise. Let us set our whole thoughts not on our- 
 selves but on one another, that so we may give a fresh edge to our mutual 
 love and generous action. Above all do not, as some have done, withdraw 
 from the meetings of the Christian body. We need to stand together more 
 closely and to encourage one another more persistently as the great day of 
 trial and of triumph seems to be coming nearer. 
 
 Ground of his appeal. (1) The dangers of apostasy (26-30). 
 
 I plead with you thus because the danger is great. If, after fully appre- 
 hending the Truth, we are found when that day comes wilfully and 
 persistently apostatizing from it, what is held in reserve for us is not 
 some greater and finally eflfective Sacrifice for sin ; but the terrible 
 anticipation of judgement, the "jealousy of fire to devour adversaries," 
 of which the prophets spoke. Remember the punishment of apostasy 
 under the Mosaic Law — "death without mercy," if it were suflSciently 
 proved. Must not the punishment of apostasy be still sorer for one who 
 treats with ingratitude and contumely the Father's gift of His own Son, the 
 Blood of the Son of God which sealed the consecrating Covenant, the free 
 and gracious gift of the Holy Spirit ? We know what Scripture tells us of 
 
PARAPHRASE xxxix 
 
 the God "to whom vengeance belongs" ; and how to be God's people means 
 to be subject to His judgement. I used just now the word "terrible." Is 
 it too strong to describe the danger of falling as an enemy into His hands ? 
 
 (2) Memory of formee steadfastness (26-30). 
 
 To turn to thoughts of encouragement: remember how in early days, 
 after you became Christians, you boi-e yourselves in the face of the world, 
 when you had to meet insult and persecution ; how on one special occasion 
 you ranged yourselves on the side of the persecuted, proclaimed your 
 sympathy for the prisoners, joyfully exposed your own property to pillage, 
 knowing that your souls were a better and more lasting possession to make 
 your own than anything external. Do not now, in a moment of impulse, 
 throw away that outspoken boldness, to which such great reward is 
 promised. All you need is patience. Do God's will, and the promise stands 
 sure, the very promise of Habakkuk, "yet a little while and He that is to 
 come will come." God's "righteous ones" shall "live by faith." To "flinch 
 from the trial" is to forfeit all His favour. We range ourselves, surely, not 
 with those who "flinch" and incur niin, but with those who have "faith," and 
 so in patience win their souls. 
 
 The historic glory of faith (xi. and xii. to v. 4). 
 
 The meaning op faith (xi. 1). 
 
 Faith ! That is what is needed : and when the prophet speaks, or when 
 we speak, of faith, let us remember fully what that means. Faith assures, 
 it offers proof: but it is of things hoped for, things beyond sight. It is 
 faith in this sense, faith beyond sight, which is the historic glory of our great 
 forefathers. 
 
 Faith as the foundation of religion (3-6). 
 
 It is what the first words of Scripture call for. To believe in a Creator 
 means that behind what is seen is what is not seen. It is what made Abel's 
 sacrifice acceptable, which caused him, even in death, to be recognized as an 
 undying witness for righteousness. It was in Enoch the secret of that 
 special favour of God which was expressed in his translation. He believed 
 in two things which are beyond sight: God's existence, and His moral 
 government. 
 
 Faith in God's threatenings and promises (7-12). 
 (Noah — A braham — Sarah. ) 
 
 It is what Noah shewed when he reverently accepted God's warning, and 
 though the flood was still in the unseen future set to building an ark for 
 himself and his family. In so doing he passed sentence on the unbelieving 
 world and ranged himself in the succession of those who do right because 
 they follow faith. 
 
 It is what Abraham shewed when he obeyed God's call and left his home 
 without knowing whither he was going, when he made his only home in tents, 
 he and two generations after him, in the land promised to him, but with no 
 
xl PARAPHRASE 
 
 sign of its belonging to him. He was looking forward to the building of a 
 City of God. 
 
 So with Sarah, too. She believed God's promise to Abraham and herself, 
 in spite of all the improbability, and her faith was justified by their becoming 
 the progenitors of a race like the stars or sand for multitude. 
 
 Patience of the patriarchs (13-16). 
 
 Faith was the secret of the hfe of all these. They did not receive the 
 promised good things, but saw them as sailors sight land in the oflBng and 
 greet it afar. "Strangers and pilgrims" — those are the titles which they 
 gave themselves. That is the language of men who are on their way to 
 some other country. "What was that country ? Not the one from which they 
 came : for they might have gone back to it. It was a "better land," that is, 
 it was not an earthly but a heavenly land. And this is why God suffered 
 Himself to be identified throughout our history as their God [i.e. as "the 
 God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob"] : for their faith was justified. That 
 "City of God" of their dreams was a real one. 
 
 Faith that faces sacrifice (Abraham. 17-19). 
 It was through faith, again, that Abraham faced his great trial and was 
 ready with his own hands to sacrifice the son of promise. His faith went 
 beyond the visible world. He believed that God could give him back his 
 son, even after death : and that was, in a parable, what he was taught. 
 
 Faith that looks far forward (Isaac — Jacob — Joseph. 20-22). 
 
 There was the same characteristic of reliance on the unseen future in 
 Isaac's faith when he gave the blessing to his two sons ; in Jacob's when he 
 blessed Bphraim and Manasseh and charged Joseph about his burial; in 
 Joseph's when he looked forward to the Exodus and desired to have his 
 bones laid in the Promised Land. 
 
 Faith in the history of Moses and the Exodus (23-31). 
 
 Take again the history of Moses and the Exodus. The parents of Moses 
 shewed their faith when they ignored the king's commandment and saved his 
 life at his birth. So he did himself afterwards when he refused to be adopted 
 by Pharaoh's daughter. The visible choice was between the pleasures and 
 riches to be won by apostasy and the hardships and reproaches which were 
 the portion of God's people and those who shared the Messianic hope. But 
 he looked past these visible things to the invisible reward beyond. It was 
 in the sight of Him who is invisible that he found courage to defy the king 
 and turn his back on Egypt. 
 
 It was in reliance on unseen forces — a reliance which was justified by the 
 event — that they kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood on the door- 
 posts, and so escaped the destroying angel ; that they passed safely through 
 the Red Sea^ though the Egyptians, trying to do the same, were drowned. 
 
 It was an unseen touch that brought down the walls of Jericho after the 
 people had patiently marched round them for seven days. It was to unseen 
 power that Rahab trusted when she sided with the defenceless spies. 
 
PARAPHRASE xli 
 
 Faith in all Jewish history (32-46). 
 
 And so it has been all through the sacred history, from the Judges to the 
 Maccabees. Judges, Kings, and Prophets — the Judges who overthrew kings, 
 the Kings who did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, the Prophets 
 who saw visions that canie true — all rested on faith in the unseen. That 
 was the secret of the gi'eat deliverances of the Captivity, of the Feast of 
 Puriin, of the Maccabees. Faithful women received their dead raised to 
 life again. But faith was illustrated yet more gloriously in the heroic 
 mother [of 2 Mace, vii.] who encouraged her sons to suffer martyrdom in 
 the hope of a "better resurrection," of a more distant and invisible, but 
 yet a greater, reward. 
 
 So it was with all the Martyrs and Confessors of our history : it was faith, 
 to the end, in the unseen. They suffered every extremity and indignity, 
 though they were worth all the world besides. And yet in spite of the 
 witness borne in Scripture to their sufferings and their faith, they had to 
 wait still ; because God had in view something better in which we were 
 to be concerned, and meant them to share with us the full and final reward 
 of their faith. 
 
 Faith in our own lives and in that op the Lord Jesus (xil 1, 2). 
 
 What has been the purpose of this long catalogue ? Is not the imperative 
 conclusion from it that, seeing that wherever we turn our eyes the horizon 
 is closed in with a company of those who testify to the greatness and the 
 reward of faith, we too should get rid of every encumbrance, strip 
 ourselves of sin's entanglements, and, like them, vdth patience run the 
 race proposed to us, fixing our eyes on one sight, on Jesus, the great 
 Leader, the perfect example of Faith, who, for the joy which was 
 proposed to Him, endured the Cross, meeting shame with contempt, and 
 took and holds the supreme place by the right hand of God's throne ? 
 
 Suffering, as discipline (3-11). 
 
 Yes — that you lose not patience and courage in the struggle, compare 
 what you have to bear with what He had to bear [as a second Moses] from 
 the opposition of men who were their own worst enemies. Compare the 
 way in which you bear it with the way in which He bore it. You were not 
 called [as He was] to resist unto blood in your battle with the temptation 
 to apostasy. And you had forgotten [as He did not] the words of fatherly 
 exhortation in which the writer of the Book of Proverbs argues with such 
 as you. He calls you "sons." He bids you not ignore God's chastening 
 or be put out of heart by His discipline. Chastening is a proof of love 
 — even painful discipline— an evidence that you are recognized as sons 
 What you bear patiently you are bearing as discipline. You are being 
 treated as sons. To be free from chastening would argue that you were 
 no true sons. We took chastening from an earthly father's hands and gave 
 him reverence. Shall we not submit to the Father of our spirits, who 
 would fit us for eternal life ? The human chastisement was limited in its 
 scope by the few days of mortal life and in its effect by the weakness 
 
xlii PARAPHRASE 
 
 of human judgement. God's chastisement is for our certain profit, 
 that we may become partakers of His holiness. I do not say that 
 chastening at the time is pleasant. All chastening is painful. But its 
 issue to those who have let themselves be trained by it is peace of soul 
 and perfected character. 
 
 Warnings against moral inconsistencies (12-17). 
 
 Wherefore [seeing that your present distress is only a sign of God's 
 Fatherly love and has happy purposes] let me take up the voices of your 
 own Scripture, of Prophet and Sage (Isaiah xxxv. 3 ; Prov. iv. 26, 27) which 
 call you to hearten one another for your journey to the Holy Land, and bid 
 you clear one another's path from obstacles and stumblingblocks. Set 
 before yourselves as an aim peace with all men, and growth in that holiness 
 which is necessary to those who would "see God." Beware lest there be 
 even one among you who lags behind in the progi-ess which God's Grace is 
 meant to ensure ; lest [as your forefathers were warned in Deut. xxix. 18] 
 there be any poisonous root left in the soil which may spring up and give 
 you trouble and infect the whole Church — (to drop figures) lest there 
 be among you an immoral person, or an irreligious, like Esau, who for a 
 mess of pottage sold his rights as firstborn with all their sacred associa- 
 tions. You know his story ; how when, afterwards, he would have had the 
 firstborn's blessing, though he begged for it earnestly with tears, he found 
 it too late then to change his choice. 
 
 Contrast between the Old Covenant and the New (18-29). 
 
 Remember once more the contrast between the circumstances of the 
 New Covenant, which you would be throwing away, and those of the Old 
 Covenant which was ofiered to our forefathers. It is the contrast between 
 Mt Sinai and Mt Zion: in the one case, below, a groping in darkness — 
 above, the fire, the pealing trumpet, the terrible voice of warning which the 
 people shrank from hearing, by which even Moses was awestruck. In the 
 other case, heaven brought to earth, earth raised to heaven, the meeting-place 
 of angels and of the heirs of God, the happy City where God is Judge, where 
 good men are perfected, above all, where Jesus is, whose Blood has conse- 
 crated the Covenant, the Blood of a martyi', the last of the series as Abel 
 was the first, but the Blood which cries not for vengeance but for peace. 
 Take care not to repeat your forefathers' act in shrinking from listening to 
 the Voice that is speaking to you. For if they escaped not the consequences 
 of refusing to hear God's warnings when given on earth, how shall we escape 
 if we persist, who are turning our backs on Him Who warns us from heaven ? 
 It is He whose Voice then made the earth quake. But what is happening 
 now is what was promised by Haggai, that He would "shake yet once not 
 earth only but heaven." Those words "yet once" imply finahty, an end of 
 things that can be shaken, that is, of things which belong to the material 
 creation, in order that things of the spiritual order may remain. That is 
 the new Spiritual Dispensation [Daniel's Fifth, the Messianic, Kingdom] 
 which no shock can affect and which God has given to us. 
 
PARAPHRASE xliii 
 
 Let us then have the thankful hearts >vith which we may be able to offer 
 to God the service which is pleasing in His sight, with a godly and even an 
 awful fear, for God is, even to us [as was said to our ancestors in Deut. iv. 
 24] a "consuming fire," a jealous God. 
 
 POSTSCKIPT (xiii.). 
 Moral exhortations (1-6). 
 
 Suffer no cooling of your present good affections, your sense of Christian 
 brotherhood, your loving hospitality to strangers (our history tells us how 
 men have sometimes found that in a wayfarer they had entertained an 
 angel). Shew fellow-feeling, real and human, to those who are in bonds or 
 who are otherwise suffering ill-treatment. 
 
 Hold in all honour faithful wedlock : all breaches of the law of chastity, 
 whatever men think of them, God will punish. Keep your life free from the 
 passion for money: the remedy for it is contentment: for we have God's 
 o?vn word, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Deut. xxxi. 6). So 
 that we repeat \vith confidence the Psalmist's words (Ps. cxviii. 6), "the Lord 
 is my helper: I will not fear what man can do unto me." 
 
 Consistency of doctrine (7-9). 
 
 Call to mind your old leaders to whom you owe your conversion. Study 
 attentively the issue to which their mode of life brought them, and imitate 
 their faith. The Christian Faith centres in Jesus Christ, and He changes 
 not. Do not be carried out of your straight course by a variety of incon- 
 sistent teachings. Consistency and constancy — these are what your leaders 
 shewed and what you need. And they are the result of God's grace, not of 
 rules about things to eat — a system which has been tried and has proved so 
 profitless. 
 
 "We have an altar" (10-14). 
 
 Do not be frightened by the taunt that we "have no altar." We have 
 one — one all oxir ovm — in which the priests of the Old Dispensation have no 
 part or lot. This was foreshadowed in the typical sacrifice of the Day of 
 Atonement, of which the Christian sacrifice is the fulfilment. The sin- 
 offering was not to be eaten by the priests, but carried outside the camp 
 and burnt. Even so Jesus, in the gi-eat Atoning Sacrifice, suffered "without 
 the gate," as an outcast from priest and people. Let us have the heart to 
 face what He faced, and take our place by His side. 
 
 Do you say that this is a call to expatriate yourselves? It is just the call 
 that [as was said just now, ch. xi. 13 f ] our great forefathers, the patriarchs, 
 heard and answered, to forgo a present "city" for one to come. 
 
 The sacrifices of Christians (15-17). 
 
 In virtue then of the Great Sacrifice let us offer now a sacrifice of our 
 own ; not the produce of land or flock, but the continual offering of grateful 
 hearts and of lips that acknowledge thankfully His Revelation of Himself. 
 There is another sacrifice which God values, namely that of kind actions and 
 
xliv PARAPHRASE 
 
 the unselfish use of possessions. Obey your spiritual leaders, submitting 
 your own wills : for they are like faithful watchmen keeping guard over 
 your souls, as those who have to account for them to God. See that 
 they may be able to render that account with joy and not with lamentation ; 
 for that would be no better for you than for them. 
 
 "Pray for us" (18, 19). 
 
 Pray for me and for those who join in this letter. We would fain believe 
 that (whatever you hear or judge of us) we have a clear conscience and a 
 hearty desire to do what is right in your eyes as well as our own. I ask your 
 special prayers for myself that I may be restored to you. ^s^ 
 
 The writer's prayer (20, 21). 
 
 And as you pray for me, so will I pray for you ; that God — the God Who 
 loves peace and makes peace — the God Who has done for you what He did 
 for your forefathers. Who has brought again your Greater Moses from waters 
 deeper than the Red Sea, brought Him back from death in the power of 
 the Blood which consecrates an Eternal Covenant — even Jesus our Lord, 
 Human at once and Divine — that He will perfect you in all that is good, to 
 the end that you may work His will, while He works in you that which is 
 pleasing in His sight. That gi-ace I look for, and that prayer I offer, through 
 Jesus Christ the ever glorious. Amen. 
 
 Second postscript. Last words and salutations (22-end). 
 
 Let me finish my exhortation by exhorting you to have patience with it. 
 It is not much to read on such a subject. 
 
 You should know that our dear brother Timothy has been set at liberty. 
 If he comes here at all speedily, I shall accompany him to you. 
 
 Greet for me those in authority in your Church and all its members. 
 "They of Italy" send you their greeting. 
 
 "The Grace" be with you all. Amen. 
 
HEBREWS 
 
 I. 1-4. The two Revelations. 
 
 I. 1 God, having of old time spoken unto the fathers in the 
 
 2 prophets by divers portions and in divers manners, hath 
 at the end of these days spoken unto us in ^his Son, whom 
 he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he 
 made the ^worlds: 
 
 ^ Gr. a son. ' Gr. ages. 
 
 The Son as the Revealer. 
 
 3 who being the eflFiilgence of his glory and the very image 
 of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of 
 his power, when he had made purification of sins, sat down 
 
 4 on the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become 
 by so much better than the angels, as he hath inherited a 
 more excellent name than they. 
 
 General Note on I. 1-4. 
 
 The Epistle begins abruptly, not with the personal address usual in a 
 letter, but rather as a treatise or piece of oratory, with a statement of the 
 subject, thrown into the rhetorical form which arrests attention, embodying 
 the main theses which are to be maintained, indicating the nature and 
 illustrating the spirit of the argument, anticipating the phrases which are 
 to be in our ears throughout it. 
 
 The subject of argument in the Epistle is to be a comparison of the Old 
 and the New Dispensations with the purpose of shewing that, while the New is 
 the natural development and completion of the Old, it surpasses it, as the 
 substance is more than the shadow. In each case the Dispensation is to be 
 viewed both as a Revelation of truth and as a scheme for meeting man's 
 desire for reconcihation with God. The prefatory sentence touches all these 
 points. 
 
 In both aspects the relation of the two Dispensations is one at once of 
 continuity and of contrast. 
 
 H. 1 
 
2 HEBREWS [i. 1-4 
 
 1. Of continuity. This sense is conveyed in the form as well as the 
 substance of the sentence. We are to notice the identity mm. 1, 2 of the 
 subject and of the verb ("God... having spoken... hath spoken"). The point 
 is that both Revelations are utterances of God : their diflFerence is primaiily 
 of order and time ; one introducing and going along with, the other ending, 
 the same era. We are to notice that (as it is stated of the second, and 
 assumed of the first) they are both concerned vdth the "purification of 
 sins." We are to notice the appeal to common ground between the writer 
 and his readers— "unto the [or, our\ fathers in the prophets" (cp. the use 
 of the phrase "the God of our fathers" in Acts iii. 13, v. 30, xxii. 14 — all of 
 them cases where it was desired to emphasize the continuity of the old and 
 new). Even the description "by divers portions and in divers manners," 
 although its primary purpose (as will be pointed out) is to indicate a con- 
 trast, carried also in itself a suggestion of continuity, as though the 
 Christian Revelation illustrated a character already impressed upon God's 
 utterances, being only one more " portion " and in one more " manner." 
 
 2. Of contrast. This, in its detail, will be the substance of the Epistle : 
 but the difierence is indicated at once, and in two points. 
 
 (a) Tlie general character of the Revelation. The older Revelation is 
 described as " by divers portions and in divers manners." The two balanced 
 and sonorous adverbs {■n-oXvfj.epios koL TroXvTporras) which are so translated, 
 standing as they do as the first words in the sentence and in the Epistle, 
 have an emphasis which translation cannot reproduce. They have no 
 directly correspondent clause in the description of the new Revelation : 
 but this is a usual method of Greek rhetoric, which expresses contrast by 
 order and emphasis and significant omission as much as by definite state- 
 ment. The insistence upon the " fragmentary and multiform " character of 
 the one Revelation implies, without words, that the other is complete and 
 single. 
 
 (6) 77ie dignity and competence of the Intermediaries. In this case 
 the contrasting description is appended only to the words which characterize 
 the second Revelation. "The prophets" stands without qualification to 
 designate the Intermediaries of the first, while phrases are accumulated to 
 indicate the surpassing greatness of the Intermediary of the second, no 
 "mouthpiece" or "messenger," but the very Image of Him Who is to be 
 revealed. 
 
 The whole balance of this opening sentence prepares us for a chief 
 feature of the Epistle, viz. the presentation of the Incarnate Son as 
 occupying the entire horizon of religious thought and aspiration, as in 
 His single Person perfecting all Revelation, fulfilling all tj'pes, satisfying 
 all craving of the human spirit for reconciliation with the Divine. 
 
 I. 1. by divers portions and in of the Old Testament, fragmentary, 
 
 divers manners. The bearing of occasional, progressive, "here a little 
 
 these words in their context has and there a little," delivered in many 
 
 been explained. It may be added forms, in narrative. Law, Psalm, 
 
 that their propriety is obvious as a Prophecy, typical institution and 
 
 general description of the Revelation ceremony. It is clear, by the way, 
 
I. 1-4] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 what large room a Revelation which 
 can be so described leaves for after- 
 criticism, to trace the order, to piece 
 together the portions, to make clear 
 the utterance. 
 
 2. the end of these days. " These 
 days" (this era) means the days of 
 the Old Dispensation, as opposed to 
 " the age to come " of ch. vi. 5, " the 
 days [that] come" of viii. 8, i.e. to the 
 new Messianic Dispensation. The 
 phrase has special appropriateness 
 if we are right in supposing the 
 Epistle to have been written at the 
 moment when in the downfall, close 
 at hand, of the Jewish polity, the 
 ancient world was visibly passing 
 away. But, as has been suggested, 
 the designation of the time has a 
 special purpose, (1) as linking to- 
 gether the two Revelations, (2) as 
 indicating that the second is the 
 completion of the first. 
 
 his Son. As the italics and the 
 marginal note in R.V. indicate, there 
 is no possessive pronoun nor de- 
 finite article in the Greek, and 
 the literal translation therefore is 
 *' a Son." (" A son " in English would 
 no more necessarily imply that there 
 was more than one son, than "a 
 Shakespeare" would imply that there 
 were two Shakespeares.) In other 
 words, it is not, like " the prophets," 
 a merely personal designation, but a 
 description, " such an One as a Son." 
 It not only names the Person, but 
 suggests the ground of His tran- 
 scendent dignity and power of re- 
 vealing. See ch. vii. 28, where R.V. 
 has rightly " a Son." Cp. also note 
 on ix. 14, "the [an] eternal Spirit." 
 
 he appointed heir. When ? Ap- 
 parently, in the scheme of Creation. 
 As St Paul says (Col. i. 16), "all 
 things have been created through 
 him and unto him." It is possible, 
 as the writer has already in mind 
 
 Psalms ii. and ex., that the thought 
 of universal heirship is coloured by 
 a special reference to the world of 
 man: "Thou art my Son... I will 
 give thee the nations for thine in- 
 heritance and the uttermost parts of 
 the earth for thy possession," Ps. ii. 
 7, 8 ; " Until I make thine enemies 
 thy footstool," Ps. ex. 1. 
 
 the worlds. Gr. " ages." The only 
 parallel to this use is ch. xi. 3, where 
 again the word is used of Creation : 
 " that the worlds [ages] were framed." 
 It seems to mean the universe of 
 things in all its successive phases — 
 things past, present, and to come. 
 
 3. who being, &c. This clause 
 not only expresses His ineffable 
 dignity, but also amplifies what has 
 been said of Him as the Intermediary 
 of Revelation. He is the Supreme 
 Revealer, because He not merely 
 brings a message, but reflects and 
 makes visible the Person. 
 
 being. Contrast in v. 4, "having 
 become." There is the emphatic dis- 
 tinction drawTi, in accordance with 
 the usage of Greek philosophy, be- 
 tween the two verbs"to be"(eri/at)and 
 " to become " (yiypeadai) ; the first of 
 His essential, changeless being ; the 
 second of His entry into the world of 
 " becoming,"of existence that changes 
 and develops. God alone " is," Exod. 
 iii. 14, John viii. 58. 
 
 effulgence {anavyaa-yia). Literally 
 of the rays of light streaming from 
 something. 
 
 very image {xapaKTrjp). Literally 
 of the impression of a graven seal. 
 
 The two expressions belong to the 
 same order of phrases as " the image 
 (fiKCDi/ — likeness) of the Invisible 
 God" of Col. i. 15 (cp. 2 Cor. iv. 4, 
 and our Lord's o^vn words, John xiv. 
 9, "he that hath seen me hath seen the 
 Father") andindeed as"theWord"of 
 St John. They are phrases which are 
 
 1—2 
 
HEBREWS 
 
 [1. 1-4 
 
 used, though rather rhetorically, by 
 Philo, the Jewish philosopher, and by 
 the writer of the Book of Wisdom, 
 of the relation of the human spirit 
 to the Divine, or of abstract qualities 
 (as of Wisdom, Wisd. vii. 26, R.V., 
 " she is an eflfulgence from everlast- 
 lasting light"). The novelty in the 
 New Testament lies in their more 
 serious and definite purpose and in 
 their application to a Divine Person. 
 Each phrase, with its own figure, is 
 striving to convey the idea of a 
 Being in Whom the Invisible, Unin- 
 telligible, becomes to hvmian eyes 
 and mind intelligible, visible : but 
 each makes its own addition to the 
 thought : " efi'ulgence " speaks of the 
 illuminating power of the Revelation; 
 as the Church worded it, " Light of 
 Light" (cp. 1 John i. 5, "God is 
 light" ; John ix. 5, " I am the light of 
 the world ") : " [stamped] image," of 
 its completeness, exactness, as the 
 impress reproduces every line and 
 fold of the graven seal ; " very God 
 of very God." 
 
 substance, a literal rendering of 
 the Greek word, vnoa-Taa-n, "that 
 which stands beneath." It had ac- 
 quired the meaning of " real, essen- 
 tial nature " ; that which a thing is 
 at bottom, as opposed to superficial 
 appearance. 
 
 upholding. The Greek participle 
 conveys the idea of movement as 
 well as support ; " carrying " on their 
 way. It does not suggest the picture 
 of a dead weight, as on the shoulders 
 of an Atlas ; but of a universe de- 
 pendent on Him for its life and 
 movement. 
 
 the word of his power, i.e. the 
 
 manifestation of His almighty will. 
 Cp. ch. li. 3, "the worlds were framed 
 by the word of God." The reference 
 is to the phrase of Gen. i., " God said. 
 Let there be light, &c.," and to its 
 echo in the Psalms, as xxxiii. 9, 
 "He spake, and it was done, &c." 
 What is said in the O.T. of God is 
 affirmed here of the Divine Son. 
 
 when he had made. In these 
 words we pass from the view of what 
 Christ is in His Eternal Being, and 
 what He is in relation to the whole 
 universe of created things, to His 
 Incarnation, its purpose and its 
 issue. The words in A. V., " by him- 
 self," have little MS authority and 
 are omitted in R.V. Although, when 
 the doctrine of Christ's sacrifice has 
 been developed, they would be ap- 
 propriate, they would at present be 
 premature : see in ch. x., general 
 note on vv. 19-25, and cp. also the 
 note on "when he offered up him- 
 self," ch. vii. 27. 
 
 4. having become. This (see above, 
 note on v. 3) is in direct contrast with 
 the "being" of v. 3. We are speaking 
 now of the exaltation which followed 
 the Incarnation. 
 
 inherited. The "Name" is pri- 
 marily that of "Son"; but also, as 
 the quotations which follow shew, it 
 covers the language generally used 
 in Scripture of the coming Messiah. 
 He "has inherited" this Name, i.e. 
 in coming into the world He has re- 
 ceived it as His Name by birthright: 
 and (the writer would say) in that 
 Name, witnessed to by prophecy, we 
 have the measure of the superiority 
 of the Incarnate Christ to the angels 
 — the "Messengers." 
 
 Additional Note on the Comparison with the Angels. (I. 4.) 
 
 The general purpose was to express the surpassing dignity of the 
 ascended Saviour ; and this might have been done in general terms, as by 
 St Paul in Eph. i. 20, 21 (where the same words of Ps. ex. are in view) : 
 
I. 1-4] HEBREWS 5 
 
 "[God] made him sit at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all 
 riile and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named 
 not only in this world but also in that which is to come." The angels are 
 named here as representing the highest of created beings. But it would 
 seem that the special comparison has a definite purpose, for it is made the 
 text of a long passage of explanation and argument. Two questions may 
 be asked about it: (1) what is the point that is argued? (2) what is the 
 special purpose of insisting upon it ? 
 
 (1) It cannot be meant merely to prove that One Who has been already 
 spoken of as " the effulgence of [God's] glory " is in Himself " better than 
 the angels." That needs no proof : but the argument of vv. 5 f is appended 
 not to the statement that He is "better than the angels," but that He "has 
 inherited a more excellent name than they," i.e. it is to shew that the 
 Messiah of prophecy was to have a more excellent name — that He was to 
 be the Son of God. 
 
 (2) The immediate purpose of the comparison is made clear in ch. ii. 2, 
 " If the word spoken through angels proved stedfast." The writer is there 
 speaking of the giving of the Law. That was to a Jew the greatest moment 
 of Revelation : and in it, as we know from Josephus, Jewish tradition 
 pictured a two-fold agency, Moses who received the Revelation, and an 
 angel who delivered it. This tradition is recognized more than once in the 
 New Testament, as in Acts vii. 38, 53, Gal. iii. 19. There is a tendency in 
 all the O.T. (growing in the later Books) to treat some angelic visitant as a 
 necessary intermediary in any Revelation : cp. Acts xxiii. 9, where " if a 
 spirit hath spoken to him or an angel" is the way in which a Pharisee 
 expresses "if he has received a revelation." The "angels" then will be 
 correlative to the " prophets " of v. 1. Neither the earthly nor the heavenly 
 intermediaries of the older Revelations can come into comparison with the 
 single Intermediary of the new. 
 
 Another point, though less certain, with respect to the relevance of the 
 special comparison, should be mentioned. There are obvious similarities 
 between the dangers, both speculative and practical, which seem to be in 
 view in this Epistle (see on ix. 10, xiii. 4, 9) and in the Epistle to the 
 Golossians. In the latter Epistle (Col, i. 15, 16, ii. 10, 18) the expression of 
 the exaltation of the Christ far above all created existences is associated 
 with the particular condemnation of the worship of angels. It would be a 
 natural temptation to those who were losing hold of the full truth of Christ's 
 Person and Work to find shelter in the growing tendency to multiply 
 mediators. Whether any such tendency was in the writer's mind (there is 
 nothing in the text of the Epistle necessarily to imply it) is a question on 
 which the probability will vary (as is pointed out in the Introduction iii, 
 5) according to the view taken of the destination and date of the Epistle, 
 It was, so far as we know, in the Asiatic Churches that this tendency 
 developed. 
 
HEBREWS 
 
 [l. 5-END 
 
 I. 5-END. Comparison op the Son with the Angels. 
 
 (Ps. a.) 
 
 5 For unto which of the angels said he at any time, 
 Thou art my Son, 
 This day have I begotten thee? 
 and again, 
 
 I will be to him a Father, 
 And he shall be to me a Son? 
 
 Some general remarks on the quotations in the whole passage, from v. 5 
 to V. 14, will be found in the additional note below. 
 
 5. Thou art my Son. Ps. ii. 7. 
 In the second clause of the quotation 
 the English rendering fails to do 
 justice to the emphasis which, in the 
 Greek, is thrown upon "I"-="I, and 
 none else." The expressions of Ps. ii., 
 like those of Ps. Ixxxix., are, in the 
 first instance, a " lyric echo " of the 
 promises to David and his seed re- 
 corded in 2 Sam. vii. 12-16, part of 
 which passage is quoted in the fol- 
 lowing words, "I wiU be to him a 
 
 Father, &c." In the applications in 
 the N.T., here and in Acts xiii. 33, 
 the thought is not of the Eternal 
 Generation of the Divine Son, but 
 of His acceptance in His human 
 nature as the "anointed Son" of 
 prophecy. St Paul (Acts l.c. ; cp. 
 Rom. i. 4) fixes the moment of the 
 declaration of acceptance at the 
 Resurrection : but there is no in- 
 dication that this is in view here. 
 
 {Deut. xxxii. 4^.) 
 
 6 ^And when he again ^bringeth in the firstborn into ^the 
 world he saith. 
 And let all the angels of God worship him. 
 
 ^ Or, And again when he bringeth ^ Or, shall have brought in 
 
 ' Gr. the inhabited earth. 
 
 6. when he again. "Again" is 
 better taken, as in A.V. and in the 
 margin of R.V., not (as in the text) 
 as qualifying "bringeth," which gives 
 no satisfactory sense (in spite of 
 high authority, it seems inconceiv- 
 able that the writer is thinking of 
 the Second Advent), but with "he 
 saith," merely introducing the second 
 quotation. 
 
 tchen he... bringeth (or better, as 
 
 it is in the margin, "shall have 
 brought ")...he saith : i.e. "in speak- 
 ing of the time when he shall have 
 brought... he saith." The form is 
 exactly parallel to ch. x. 5, "when 
 he Cometh into the world (i.e. in 
 prophetic reference to the moment 
 of the Incarnation) he saith." 
 
 the firstborn. This seems as a 
 title of the Messiah to come origin- 
 ally from Ps. Ixxxix. 27 (a Psalm 
 
1. 5-END] HEBREWS 7 
 
 already in the writer's mind). This him. Words like these occur in 
 
 is the only place in which it is used Ps. xcvii. 7, "worship him, all ye 
 
 absolutely. The N.T. writers, apply- gods" ("angels," LXX), a Psalm in 
 
 ing it to the same Divine Person, whichtheestablishment of Jehovah's 
 
 read several, and various, meanings kingdom is foreseen. The words 
 
 into it : Rom. viii. 29, " the firstborn occur exactly in an addition made 
 
 among many brethren"; Col. i. 15, in the LXX to Deut. xxxii. 43, where 
 
 "the firstborn of all creation " ; ibid. again the return of Jehovah to right 
 
 18 (cp. Rev. i. 5), "the firstborn the wrongs of the world is prophe- 
 
 from the dead." sied. 
 let all the angels of God tcorship 
 
 (Pss. civ., xlv., ciL, ex.) 
 
 7 And of the angels he saith, 
 
 Who maketh his angels ^ winds, 
 And his ministers a flame of fire: 
 
 8 but of the Son he saith, 
 
 Thy throne, God, is for ever and ever; 
 And the sceptre of uprightness is the sceptre of ^thy 
 kingdom. 
 
 9 Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity: 
 Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee 
 With the oil of gladness above thy fellows. 
 
 10 And 
 
 Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation 
 
 of the earth, 
 And the heavens are the work of thy hands: 
 
 11 They shall perish; but thou continuest: 
 
 And they all shall wax old as doth a garment; 
 
 12 And as a mantle shalt thou roll them up, 
 As a garment, and they shall be changed: 
 But thou art the same, 
 
 And thy years shall not fail. 
 
 13 But of which of the angels hath he said at any time, 
 
 Sit thou on my right hand. 
 
 Till I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet? 
 
 14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to do service 
 for the sake of them that shall inherit salvation ? 
 
 ^ Or, spirits ^ The two oldest Greek manuscripts read his. 
 
8 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [l. 5-END 
 
 7. winds. Both in the original (Ps. 
 civ. 4) and in this quotation it is clear 
 that "winds" and not "spirits" is the 
 righttranslation. There is the further 
 question whether we should render 
 "who maketh his angels winds" or 
 "who maketh winds his angels." 
 The former is the translation which 
 suits the Greek version both here 
 and in the Psalm. The latter is 
 given in R.V. of the Psalm, and at 
 first sight suits the context best. 
 But to those who believed in the 
 agency of angels the two statements 
 meet in this, that the angels are 
 spoken of as agents of God's will in 
 the physical world : they are coordi- 
 nated with physical agencies, even 
 identified with them : the wind is a 
 messenger ; the messenger is said to 
 become a wind. The Son is above 
 nature. 
 
 8. O God. As will be seen in 
 any commentary on the Psalms, 
 doubt hangs over the original mean- 
 ing of these words. On its face the 
 subject of Ps. xlv., in its first inten- 
 tion, is the marriage of a king or 
 a king's son ; and it can hardly be 
 argued that such expressions as " I 
 have said ye are gods," Ps. Ixxxii. 6 
 (i.e. " you hold an office which raises 
 you above humanity"), render likely 
 such a personal address to a human 
 prince as "0 God!" 
 
 Nor is the rendering the most 
 suitable in this place. If it were 
 right, surely the quotation would be 
 the climax. We cannot get beyond 
 " O God ! " Anything further must 
 weaken rather than strengthen. And 
 again the rendering fails to recognize 
 the careful correspondence in each 
 case between the quotations which 
 characterize severally the Christ and 
 the angels. In vv. 5, 6, the Incar- 
 nate Christ is hailed as God's own 
 Son, while the angels are called to do 
 
 worship to Him. In w». 1 3, 1 4, the Son 
 is the Co-sessor on the throne, while 
 the angels are the messengers des- 
 patched to minister for the benefit 
 of God's people. There shoiild be a 
 similar correspondence between the 
 three quotations in vv. 7-12. The 
 relation between v. 7 and vv. 10-12 
 is fairly clear: the angels of whom 
 the Psalms speak as God's agents in 
 the material world are compared 
 with Him of Whom they speak as its 
 Creator. We still want a sense for 
 vv. 8, 9, which shall harmonize with 
 this comparison. Westcott seems to 
 guide us to one in sajdng that the 
 point is to be looked for, not in the 
 application to the Messiah of a 
 Divine title, but in the assertion of 
 "the unique character of His king- 
 dom, its eternal foundation and its 
 moral perfection." The human 
 prince in the lower sense, the 
 Messiah in the prophetic sense, of 
 the passage, is spoken of as God's 
 vicegerent in the Tnoral world. To 
 get this meaning we must take the 
 phrase rendered "0 God" as a 
 nominative instead of a vocative, 
 and render either (with Westcott) 
 "God is thy throne," i.e. God is the 
 support of thy throne ; or (with R.V. 
 in the Psalm) "thy throne is the 
 throne of God," i.e. thy throne is 
 (i.e. represents) God." It may be 
 noted that the Vulgate, followed by 
 our Prayer-Book Version, reads in 
 V. 12 of the Psalm, "thy Lord God" ; 
 but this is due to the Messianic in- 
 terpretation already put on the 
 Psalm. Both Hebrew text and LXX 
 have "thy Lord," and in the sense 
 evidently of Gen. xviii. 12, as com- 
 mented on in 1 Pet. iii. 6, "Sarah 
 obeyed Abraham, calling him lord." 
 9. oil of gladness. So the "oil 
 of joy," Is. Ixi. 3. Cp. Matt. vi. 17, 
 "Thou, when thou fastest, anoint 
 
I. 5-end] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 9 
 
 thine head... that thou appear not 
 unto men to fast." The reference 
 is not to tlie anointing of a king, 
 but to the use of unguents at feasts. 
 10-12. From Ps. cii. 25-27. It 
 is an address to God ; but to God at 
 once as the Deliverer of His people 
 (it is a Psalm of the Exile) and as the 
 Creator ; see additional note. 
 
 13. The quotation from Ps. ex. 
 takes us back to i\ 3, and so to the 
 subject of the Epistle, the Priest- 
 King: "Has He ever said to any 
 angel what He said (as we have seen) 
 to the Messiah of Prophecy ? " The 
 final comparison is between the Son 
 seated in kingly state by the Throne 
 and awaiting the assured triumph, 
 and the "messengers," the "thou- 
 sands," who " at His bidding speed 
 " And post o'er land and ocean with- 
 out rest" (Milton). 
 
 14. sent forth. The participle 
 in the Greek is present, i.e. it im- 
 plies "who are constantly being 
 sent forth," Milton's " without rest." 
 
 that shall inlierit salvation . Both 
 phrases have their roots in O.T. 
 usage. 
 
 (1) inherit is a more coloured 
 substitute for "receive," "obtain," 
 "attain to," and is used with the same 
 objects, as "eternal life" (Mark x. 17, 
 Luke xviii. 18; cp. ihid. v. 30), "the 
 kingdom of God" (1 Cor. vi. 9 ; cp. 
 Matt. xxv. 34, where'the later words 
 interpret "inherit," "inherit the 
 kingdom prepared for you from the 
 foundation of the world"), "promises" 
 (cp. in this Epistle, ch. vi. 12, with 
 ri. 15, xi. 39), "a blessing" (1 Pet. iii. 
 
 9). What is added is the suggestion 
 that in some way the receiving is 
 like in conditions to the receiving of 
 a possession in virtue of a will or of 
 some other external arrangement 
 which regulates the devolution of 
 property. There may be the idea of 
 sonship(Rom. viii. 17) or of promise — 
 it may be, by a further figure, coven- 
 anted promise. In any case it implies 
 
 (1) something of delay and waiting, 
 
 (2) an assured, even if conditional, 
 right : the " heir " will come sooner 
 or later into his own, unless indeed 
 by his own fault he is " disinherited" 
 (Numb. xiv. 12). Its first use is of 
 the Promised Land, as in Gen. xv. 8, 
 Deut. i. 38, but it is generalized as a 
 figure even in the O.T., as in Prov. iii. 
 15, "the wise shall inherit glory." 
 
 (2) salvation, with all the cog- 
 nate words, "to save," "Saviour," 
 &c., is used in the Bible, in the first 
 place, of the great temporal deliver- 
 ances of the chosen people, especially 
 the deliverance from Pharaoh and 
 from the Red Sea (see, for instance, 
 Exod. xiv. 13, and cp. 1 Sam. xiv. 45, 
 2 Chron. xx. 17). This figure is often 
 in the background consciously in the 
 N.T. uses, and especially in this 
 Epistle (see notes on ch. ii. 3, 10, 
 V. 9, vi. 9, ix. 28, xi. 7). An instruc- 
 tive instance of the transition from 
 the national point of view to the 
 personal and spiritual, with or with- 
 out conscious figure, may be seen in 
 the uses of the word " salvation " in 
 the hymn of Zacharias (Luke i. 68 
 foil.). 
 
 Additional Note on the quotations in I. 5-14. 
 
 It is scarcely part of the duty of a commentator on the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews to discuss in the abstract different views of Messianic Prophecy ; 
 but we must hold fast to the principle that a writer who is worth attention, 
 if he argues, argues to persuade. Argument is futile unless it is assumed 
 that those to whom it is addressed will admit its premisses. We may take 
 
10 HEBREWS [1. 5-END 
 
 it for granted then that these passages from the prophetic Scriptures, 
 whatever be their own literary history, would be held, by those for whom the 
 Epistle was intended, to relate to the Messiah. Starting from this, we may 
 make two remarks on the nature and choice of the passages here 
 appealed to. 
 
 (1) On the nature of the passages which are here treated as Messianic. 
 They are of two kinds : 
 
 {a) There are those which address, or speak of, some earthly prince, 
 present or to come, in terms too great for humanity ; the idea suggested 
 being that prophecy looked through him to the ideal king to be bom 
 presently of David's line. 
 
 (6) There are those which start confessedly by speaking of Jehovah, but 
 of Him as the agent in Creation, or as coming to save His people ; as doing, 
 in other words, things which the New Testament teaches us to view as actions 
 of God in the Person of the Divine Son. 
 
 (2) On the sources from which the passages are taken. 
 
 With two exceptions, if indeed they are exceptions, it will be noticed 
 that all the quotations, both with respect to the Messiah and to the angels, 
 are taken from the Psalter. This may be characteristic of the writer, or it 
 may mean that he could presume in his readers a special familiarity with 
 that part of the Scriptures. Westcott points out that throughout the 
 Epistle the quotations from the Psalms greatly outnumber those from any 
 other Book : if we limit our view to the quotations of primary importance in 
 the argument, the disproportion is still greater. What is true of other 
 prophetic writings is true especially of the Psalter, that in taking account of 
 its history we cannot leave out the meanings that were given to it, the hopes 
 that it fed, through the centuries during which it was used. Is it too much 
 to say that there may be an inspiration in the use, as well as in the 
 composition^ of such a Scripture? 
 
 The exceptions referred to above are : 
 
 1. The words in v. 5, " I will be to him a Father and he shall be to me 
 a Son," which, as they stand, are fomid only as put into Nathan's mouth in 
 2 Sam. vii. 14. But they belong to and are the basis of Ps. ii., and they, 
 and the promise of which they form part, would be familiar to a Jewish 
 writer or reader in the poetical and slightly amplified form in which they are 
 embodied in Ps. Ixxxix. 
 
 2. The words in v. 6, " And let all the angels of God worship him," as 
 has been said, may be a slightly altered form of Ps. xcvii. 7 ; but if, as is very 
 possible, they came to the writer's memory from the song of Moses in 
 Deut. xxxii., it is worth noticing that that song seems itself to have been 
 used for liturgical purposes, and is actually found in the Alexandrine MS 
 repeated as an appendix to the Psalter. 
 
 It may be added that the phrase in v. 14, " ministering spirits " {keirovp- 
 yiKb. 7rv€iifxaTa), and the words which follow, which are treated by commenta- 
 tors as a summary of the picture presented in Holy Scripture of angelic 
 existence, have their roots in the Psalter. The word Xeirovpyoi (" servants," 
 but never quite losing its proper sense of " public servants "), as used of the 
 angels, belongs to Pss. ciii. 21, "Praise the Lord, ye angels of his... ye servants 
 
II. 1-4] HEBREWS 11 
 
 of his that do his pleasure," and civ. 4 ; and the picture of them as helping 
 " them that shall inherit salvation " is well illustrated by such expressions as 
 Ps. xci. 11, 12, " He shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all 
 thy ways : they shall bear thee up in their hands that thou hurt not thy foot 
 against a stone," or Ps. xxxiv. 7, " the angel of the Lord encampeth round 
 about them that fear him and delivereth them." 
 
 II. 1-4. Attention bespoken for the Revelation. 
 
 II. 1 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to 
 the things that were heard, lest haply we drift away frotn 
 
 2 them. For if the word spoken through angels proved 
 stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received 
 
 3 a just recompense of reward ; how shall we escape, if we 
 neglect so great salvation ? which having at the first been 
 spoken through the Lord, was confirmed unto us by them 
 
 4 that heard ; God also bearing witness with them, both 
 by signs and wonders, and by manifold powers, and by 
 ^gifts of the ^Holy Ghost, according to his own will. 
 
 * Gr. distributions. ^ Or, Holy Spirit : and so throughout this Book. 
 
 In the first four verses of ch. ii. we have the first interruption of argument 
 for the purpose of exhortation ; but the paragraph serves (1) to make clearer 
 what has been already said in the preceding chapter ; (2) to complete the 
 prologue by disclosing the hortative purpose of the Epistle. 
 
 IL 1. 7%er^ore, that is, because of through angels" is the Law "ordained 
 
 the surpassing dignity of the Bearer through angels" of Gal. iii. 19. 
 
 of the new Revelation. proved stedfast. Its commands 
 
 drift away. The Greek verb is were enforced ; its promises and 
 
 used first of water, running from a threatenings came true, 
 
 leaky vessel or ebbing from under transgression and disobedience. 
 
 a stranded boat : then metaphori- It is a climax, " transgression and 
 
 cally of a person losing his moorings, even careless hearing." " Disobedi- 
 
 slipping from his senses, convictions, ence," here the rendering of irapa- 
 
 resolves. kotj (lit. "hearing amiss," "hearing 
 
 2. word spoken. It is more ob- with half an ear "), is the more 
 
 vious in the Greek that we are taken general word, covering " negli- 
 
 back to ch. i. 1, 2, "having spoken... gences" as well as wilful breaches 
 
 hath spoken." We are thinking of law. 
 
 again of the two Revelations. 3. how shall we escape ? The ar- 
 
 through angels. See additional gument recurs in ch. x. 28 and xii. 25. 
 
 note on i. 4. The "word spoken neglect so great salvation. Two 
 
12 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [ii. 1-4 
 
 lines of thought meet. The words 
 anticipate the lesson to be drawn in 
 ch. iii. from the failure of Israel in the 
 wilderness : They " neglected a great 
 salvation." They " thought scorn of 
 that pleasant land. They forgat 
 God their Saviour" (Ps. cvi.). But 
 they also suggest a comparison of 
 the two Dispensations. " So great " 
 is equivalent to " so much greater," 
 greater in the Person of the Inter- 
 mediary, in the credentials of the 
 Revelation ; greater also (to use the 
 language of 2 Cor. iii. 9) as a 
 ministry not "of condemnation" but 
 of salvation. For "salvation," see 
 on i 14. 
 
 4. Cp. Mark xvi. 20. The ac- 
 cumulated phrases ("signs," "won- 
 ders," " powers," " gifts ") express the 
 
 manifold character of the proofs of 
 some great spiritual force acting up- 
 on and through the first disciples, 
 and exhibiting itself in novel power 
 and heightened gifts, as well as in 
 what are commonly called "miracles." 
 Westcott remarks on the testimony 
 to the reality of the "spiritual gifts " 
 contained in this appeal to them, 
 addressed to those whose personal 
 experience could check any ex- 
 aggeration. 
 
 according to his own will : i.e. 
 the will of God. The point of the 
 words is to press the truth that it 
 was God Himself who vouched for 
 the witnesses, for, however various 
 were the signs and gifts, there was 
 His own wiU behind them. 
 
 Additional Note on w. 3, 4. 
 
 These verses have a bearing on the question of the authorship of the 
 Epistle. Could they be written by St Paul, who claims always to have 
 received the Gospel "neither of man nor by man" but from Christ Himself? 
 
 The question is not answered by quoting 1 Cor. xv. 3, "I delivered 
 unto you that which also I received," for as we see from id. xi. 23, that 
 form of expression is consistent with the addition "of the Lord," which 
 brings it into harmony vrith his usual attitude. Is he "transferring to 
 himself in a figure" the position of those to whom he writes? It is possible; 
 and it may be conceded that, if the writer be St Paul, he is not in this 
 Epistle concerned, as he is in the Epistle to the Galatians, to assert his 
 independent Apostleship. But the whole picture of a faith resting on the 
 testimony of the first hearers (the "eyewitnesses" of Luke i. 2), and on 
 the evidence of miraculous gifts, is not like St Paul. 
 
 The passage is also interesting as illustrating the evidence on which 
 Christianity in the first age made its appeal to a Jew — viz. (1) the intrinsic 
 attraction of the "great deliverance" offered, (2) vouched for as it was by 
 the words of Christ, (3) these words being reported by those who heard 
 them from His own lips, (4) and supported by the further evidence of 
 "signs and wonders." 
 
II. 5-18] HEBREWS 13 
 
 II. 5-18. Reasons for the true Incarnation of the Son. 
 {The destiny of man, vv. 5-8.) 
 
 5 For not unto angels did he subject ^the world to come, 
 
 6 whereof we speak. But one hath somewhere testified, 
 saying, 
 
 What is man that thou art mindful of him ? 
 Or the son of man, that thou visitest him ? 
 
 7 Thou madest him ^a little lower than the angels ; 
 Thou crownedst him with glory and honour, 
 ^And didst set him over the works of thy hands : 
 
 8 Thou didst put all things in subjection under his feet. 
 For in that he subjected all things unto him, he left nothing 
 that is not subject to him. But now we see not yet all things 
 subjected to him. 
 
 ^ Gr. the inhabited earth, ' Or, for a little while lower 
 
 * Many authorities omit And didst — hands. 
 
 General Note on vv. 5-8. 
 
 With V. 5 we return to the argument, the "For" depending not so much 
 on the immediately preceding exhortation as on the ground alleged for that 
 exhortation, viz. the infinite superiority of the Christ of prophecy to any 
 angel. 
 
 The nature of the argument which it adds should be noticed. It justifies 
 the previous conclusions by asserting something stronger, which, if true, 
 includes and renders more credible what has been asserted before. It has 
 been shewn that prophecy gave to the Messiah a place indefinitely higher 
 than that of angels. It is now to be shewn that it also gave to man a place 
 above them, a place not indeed as yet realized by man as he is, but which 
 has been realized in a Man, even in Jesus, Who (as will be shewn presently) 
 is man's representative, a true man and the " Captain of [man's] salvation." 
 
 The writer, in these verses and in those which follow as their comment, has 
 availed himself of a turn given in the LXX, " a little lower than the angels," 
 which emphasizes the condescension, where the Hebrew, "a little lower than 
 God " (evidently the original form, as suiting the words of Genesis which it 
 recalls, "in the image of God"), is meant to mark the dignity, not the 
 humility, of man's origin. But the change, if it helps the argument, is not 
 necessary to it. The whole Psalm speaks of the contrast between man's 
 apparent weakness and his imperial destiny. The Christ has realized the 
 destiny : but that carries with it the humiliation as well as the glorification. 
 Glorification through humiliation is the idea which the writer is seeking to 
 impress. 
 
14 HEBREWS [ii. 6-18 
 
 5. he : i.e. the true Author of the is found elsewhere in this Epistle 
 prophetic Scriptures ; cp. iv. 4, 7. A (and in other writers of the time, 
 frequent use in this Epistle ; as though not in the New Testament) ; 
 Vaughan happily calls it, "the uni- as ch. iv. 4, "he hath said some- 
 versal nominative to Providences where." Here at least it has a 
 and Scriptures." special force, as we might say " there . 
 
 the world to come, whereof we is no quotation to be found promis- 
 
 speak : " the world of man as it is ing sovereignty to angels, but there 
 
 to be in the new Messianic Dispensa- is a place where it is promised to 
 
 tion, which is the whole subject of man." The fact that there is such a 
 
 this Epistle." promise is more prominent at the 
 
 The writer seems to face the sug- moment than the place where it 
 
 gestion that so far he has spoken occurs. 
 
 only of what has been, and to ask testified. Rather " protested." The 
 whether any greater position is as- word and its cognates are used tech- 
 signed to angels in the prophetic nically of an appeal from a legal 
 picture of the coming Dispensation. decision, and generally of strong 
 
 6. one... somewhere. This inde- expression whether of i-emonstrance, 
 finite form of introducing a quotation or only (as here) of surprise. 
 
 (Realized in Jesus, vv. 9-18.) 
 
 9 But we behold him who hath been made ^a little lower than 
 the angels, even Jesus, because of the suffering of death 
 crowned with glory and honour, that by the grace of God he 
 
 10 should taste death for every man. For it became him, for 
 whom are all things, and through whom are all things, ^in 
 bringing many sons unto glory, to make the ^author of their 
 
 11 salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sancti- 
 fieth and they that are sanctified are all of one : for which 
 
 12 cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, 
 
 I will declare thy name unto my brethren, 
 
 In the midst of the ^congregation will I sing thy praise. 
 
 13 And again, 
 
 I will put my trust in him. 
 And again. 
 
 Behold, I and the children which God hath given me. 
 
 14 Since then the children are sharers in ^ flesh and blood, he 
 also himself in like manner partook of the same ; that 
 through death he ^might bring to nought him that ''had the 
 
 15 power of death, that is, the devil ; and ^ might deliver all 
 them who through fear of death were all their lifetime 
 
n. 5-18] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 15 
 
 16 subject to bondage. For verily not of angels doth he take 
 
 17 hold, but he taketh hold of the seed of Abraham. Where- 
 fore it behoved him in all things to be made like unto his 
 brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high 
 priest in things pertaining unto God, to make propitiation 
 
 18 for the sins of the people. ^For ^in that he himself hath 
 suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are 
 tempted. 
 
 ^ Or, for a little while lower * Or, having brought ^ Or, captain 
 
 * Or, church ^ Gr. blood andjlesh. ^ Or, may ^ Or, hath 
 
 8 Or, For having been himself tempted in that wherein he hath suffered 
 ^ Or, wherein. 
 
 9. a little lower than the angels ; 
 although, as we have seen, in His 
 Eternal Being He was so infinitely 
 above them. We are meant to go 
 back in thought for the moment to 
 ch. i. 
 
 that by the grace of God he should 
 taste. We might paraphrase "in 
 the loving purpose of God that he 
 should taste." "That" introduces 
 the purpose not of part, but of 
 the whole of the process ; not of the 
 crowning with glory and honour, 
 but of such crowning after^ and as 
 a consequence o/J suifering, of the 
 glorification through humiliation 
 and pain. Note also that the em- 
 phasis of the clause is on " for eveiy 
 man," i.e. as man's representative, 
 and for the comfort and salvation of 
 every man. It is this that justifies 
 the implication that the prophecy of 
 the glorification of mankind through 
 sufi"ering is in Him fulfilled. 
 
 taste ; as of a bitter cup : to learn 
 what it is like : cp. the figure of a 
 "cup" in our Lord's own words, as 
 John xviii. 11. 
 
 10. it became him. Cp. the repeti- 
 tion of the expression in ch. vii. 26, 
 " such a high priest became us." In 
 both cases the writer is justifying 
 
 what the Jewish prejudices of his 
 readers stumbled at : here a true In- 
 carnation : there the picture of Christ's 
 priestly work. The answer is in 
 both cases. It was in the fitness of 
 things: here, it was what God's 
 Nature demanded : there, it was 
 what our human nature demanded. 
 
 for whom are all things, and 
 through whom are all things. With 
 this expression of the supremacy of 
 God's will cp. Rom. xi. 36, 1 Cor. viii. 
 6, Col. i. 16, Rev. iv. 11. The pur- 
 pose here is not to explain why it 
 " became Him," but to indicate that, 
 if it became Him, no further reason 
 was needed for things being as they 
 are. The writer is supporting his 
 statement (». 9) that it was " by the 
 grace of God." Notice also that the 
 emphasis in this verse is on "through 
 sufferings." It is not the "making 
 perfect " that is in question, but the 
 m,ode of the perfecting. 
 
 to make perfect, in this place, is, 
 in the first instance, to give the 
 crowning fitness for His work and 
 oflice. And this crowning fitness 
 lies in suflfering, in the first place, 
 because only through suff"ering could 
 He be made one with His brethren, 
 whom He came to succour. But 
 
16 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [II. 5-18 
 
 there is a further sense in the words ; 
 for the likeness must lie not in the 
 suflFering only, but, deeper still, in 
 the purposes and effect of the suffer- 
 ing. Suffering in man is not pur- 
 poseless. It has a disciplinary end. 
 And so He stooped not only to suffer, 
 and so to feel with sufferers, but also 
 to " learn obedience " through suffer- 
 ing (ch. V. 8) and so to be an example 
 to them in the bearing and use of 
 suffering. 
 
 the author (marg. captain) of 
 their salcation. The word (apxT/os) 
 here translated "author" or "cap- 
 tain" occurs only four times in the 
 N.T., twice in this Epistle, the other 
 place being ch. xii. 2, " Jesus, the 
 Author [or Captain] and Perfecter 
 of our faith " ; twice in the Acts, 
 both times in speeches of St Peter's, 
 iii. 15, "the Prince [or Author] of 
 life," and v. 31, "a Prince and a 
 Saviour"(a combination which brings 
 it very close to the present passage). 
 It is a word of frequent use in 
 classical Greek, both for a " leader " 
 (whether literally or metaphorically) 
 and for an "originator." In the 
 present case the combination with 
 the words "bringing... to glory" and 
 "salvation" (or "deliverance," see 
 the next note) indicates that the 
 writer has already in view the figure, 
 which will have such a large place in 
 the Epistle, of the Christ as the 
 Leader, the Moses or Joshua, of the 
 new deliverance from bondage and 
 entrance on a land of promise. We 
 may remember the vision of the 
 " Captain " of the hosts of the Lord 
 (it is virtually the same word in the 
 LXX) whom Joshua saw by Jericho, 
 Josh. V. 13. 
 
 salvation. This word (see note on 
 L 14) and "sanctifieth" in «>. 11 both 
 belong originally to the great deliver- 
 ance of Israel and his consecration 
 
 to be God's people : op. Bxod. xiv. 
 13, " Stand still and see the salvation 
 of the Lord," xv. 2 (in Miriam's song), 
 " [the Lord] is become my salvation," 
 xxxi. 13, "I am the Lord that doth 
 sanctify you." 
 
 11. I'or. The argument is, 
 " Through sufferings, I say, because 
 the Christ of prophecy and those to 
 whom He comes have the closest tie 
 in a common Fatherhood. It is fit- 
 ting therefore (as was said) that He 
 should share their nature with its 
 pains." 
 
 he that sanctifieth... they that are 
 sanctified. The expression chosen 
 has reference (as has been said) to 
 the phrases used of the inauguration 
 of the Covenant in Exod. xix. and 
 elsewhere. It anticipates, by what 
 it implies, the phrase of ch. ix. 15, 
 "Mediator of a new Covenant." 
 
 of one : of a common origin : 
 if any substantive were to be supplied 
 it would be "father," i.e. "God." But 
 the writer purposely does not define. 
 Cp. John viii. 41. There it is said 
 of the Jewish race. St Paul extends 
 it to all humanity, Acts xvii. 26, 28. 
 It is here extended to include, in 
 His human nature, the Christ. 
 
 12, 13. The three quotations are 
 put together as expressing in pro- 
 phetic figures the closeness of rela- 
 tion conceived between the Messiah 
 and His Church : the first from 
 Ps. xxii. 22 (a Psalm treated by the 
 writer of this Epistle as Messianic ; 
 see general note on ch. v. 7-10) which 
 exhibits Him as calling the members 
 of the Church His "brethren" and 
 speaking of Himself as leading its 
 worship ; the second either from 
 2 Sam. xxii. 3 (Ps. xviii. 2), or more 
 probably from Isaiah viii. 17 (LXX), 
 in which the prophet, speaking (it is 
 presumed) in the name of Messiah, 
 puts Him in the same attitude as 
 
11. 5-18] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 17 
 
 His believing people towards God 
 (" their Father and His ") ; the third, 
 the words which immediately follow 
 the preceding quotation in Isaiah viii., 
 and in which (the figure being 
 changed) it is assumed that the 
 prophet with his children (Shear- 
 jashub and Mahershalalhashbaz) is 
 typical of the Messiah and his 
 people, the "children whom God 
 has given Him." Cp. John xviL 6. 
 
 14. tlie children. Notice how 
 the " children " in this verse takes up 
 the "children" of o. 13 ; and so also 
 the"brethren"of ». 17the "brethren" 
 of m 11, 12. 
 
 throtigh death (note that "death" 
 has in the Greek the definite article). 
 Not, in the first instance, " His death," 
 but " death as part of the burden of 
 himianity," the death which men 
 fear, v. 15. Death, the punishment, 
 the result of the devil's work, shall 
 be the instrument of destruction to 
 the devil's power ; because He (the 
 Saviour, the Son of God), if He has 
 taken our nature to the full, will die, 
 and in His death aU the terror and 
 power of death will vanish away. 
 The thought is in some way like that 
 of 1 Tim. ii. 15, "through the child- 
 bearing " ; what was the curse, the 
 punishment of the woman's sin, be- 
 comes, in that the Christ was bom 
 of woman, her salvation. 
 
 bring to nought. Rather "render 
 impotent." The vsTiter does not ex- 
 plain here how the death of Christ 
 has this efiect ; but the thought 
 probably is of cleansing of the con- 
 science by the effectual propitiation 
 (ch. ix. 14, X. 2, 22); so that the 
 Pauline parallel will be 1 Cor. xv. 56, 
 "the sting of death is sin... but 
 thanks be to God that giveth us the 
 victory," rather than 2 Tim. i 10, 
 although the latter has the same 
 verb which is used here, "who 
 
 abolished (rendered impotent) 
 death." 
 
 the devil; the impersonated power 
 of evil ; but the name indicates a 
 special manifestation of the evil 
 power. At one time it is "Satan," 
 the Adversary, the power that re- 
 sists and thwarts what is good ; at 
 another, the " Tempter" ; at another 
 (as here) the "Devil," that is the 
 " Slanderer " — "the malicious accuser 
 of God to man and of us to God, 
 and again of ourselves to one an- 
 other," Chrys. on 2 Cor. p. 438 D 
 quoted by Hort on James iv. 7; — 
 the spirit who finds his voice in an 
 accusing conscience. 
 
 15. deliver... bondage. The'phrases 
 still recall those of the Exodus. 
 Life in subjection to the fear of 
 death is viewed as the Egyptian 
 bondage from which Christ freed us. 
 That the fear of death was felt as a 
 serioiis burden at the time in the 
 Jewish world is nowhere stated in 
 the N.T. as definitely as here, though 
 it is assumed in such expressions as 
 those of 2 Tim. i. 10. It must be re- 
 membered that the writer's argument 
 is futile for his purpose unless his 
 readers' consciousness could gener- 
 ally go with him in his view of the 
 fact. Something of the same kind is 
 implied in respect of Roman society 
 by the explosion, as of pent-up feel- 
 ing, which we witness in the poem of 
 Lucretius. That is from end to end 
 a passionate argimient against the 
 fear of death and the superstition of 
 which it was the basis. The fear 
 which he combated was not the fear 
 of annihilation, but one with which 
 the writer of this Epistle could sym- 
 pathize, the fear of what might come 
 after death ; " aeternas quoniam poe- 
 nas in morte timendumst," L HI. 
 
 16. "For it is not angels, you will 
 admit (the particle rendered "verily" 
 
18 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [II. 5-18 
 
 has an ironical force, as though he 
 were apologizing for a truism), that 
 He is taking by the hand, but chil- 
 dren of Abraham." The word ren- 
 dered " is taking hold of" is the same 
 word that is used in the LXX, in the 
 passage from Jer. xxxi. quoted in 
 ch. viii. 9, of God's "taking [the 
 Israelites] by the hand " to lead thenl 
 out of Egypt. There is the same 
 sense here, of a purpose to rescue. 
 Cp. also (though the Greek verb is a 
 different one) the action of the angel 
 who " laid hold upon Lot's hand " to 
 lead him out of Sodom, Gen. xix. 16. 
 
 the seed of Abraham. He might 
 have said " human kind " ; and the 
 argument points to a conclusion no 
 less broad than that ; but the limita- 
 tion brings it home to his readers, 
 and helps the feeling (implicit in the 
 preceding words) that the Incarna- 
 tion, wonderful as it is, is of a piece 
 with the pasthistory of their favoured 
 race, one more intervention in its 
 behalf. It leads, as do the figures 
 of V. 15, to the identification of the 
 Christ in iii. 1 as the new and greater 
 Moses — the Dehverer. 
 
 17. that he might he a... high 
 priest. Notice how all through this 
 passage it is taken for granted that 
 the Christian " deliverance " is a de- 
 liverance from sin : the Leader there- 
 fore must be a High Priest to '• make 
 propitiation": the Moses "of our 
 confession " (as it is summed up in 
 ch. iii. 1) must be the Aaron also. 
 
 faithful : rather " trustworthy," 
 one that can be trusted, 
 
 in things pertaining unto God. The 
 expression recurs in ch. v. 1. Here, 
 as there, the purpose is to make 
 
 clear the two relations of the priest, 
 as towards God and towards men. 
 In order to represent men effectively 
 towards God, He must stand by their 
 side as one of themselves. 
 
 to make propitiation for. There 
 is a valuable note of Westcott's (addi- 
 tional note on 1 John ii. 2) on the 
 different use in classical and Biblical 
 Greek respectively of the verb which 
 is thus rendered here. The normal 
 construction in classical Greek is with 
 the object-accusative of the person 
 propitiated ; and this construction is 
 revived in the patristic writers. But 
 it is not the usage of the Bible. Just 
 as we read (Rom. v. 10, 2 Cor. v. 18 f ) 
 of man being "reconciled" to God, 
 of God "reconciling" man to Him- 
 self, but never of God being "recon- 
 ciled" to man, so such a phrase as 
 "propitiating God" is foreign to the 
 language of the N.T. "The Scriptural 
 conception of the verb is not of ap- 
 peasing one who is angry with a 
 personal feeling against the offender, 
 but of altering the character of that 
 which, from without, occasions a 
 necessary alienation and interposes 
 an incAatable obstacle to fellowship." 
 Westcott. 
 
 18. being tempted. For the ex- 
 pression, cp. Luke xxii. 28, "ye are 
 they which have continued with 
 me in my temptations." It is one 
 of the standing difficulties of trans- 
 lation in the N.T. that the Greeks 
 had, and we have not, one and the 
 same set of words for " temptation " 
 and " trial." We have to choose be- 
 tween the two aspects, the Greek 
 often (as here) combines them : cp. 
 James i. 2, 12, 13. 
 
 General Note on II. 5-18. 
 
 The writer has now fully brought us in sight of his purpose. In com- 
 paring the New Dispensation with the Old as a Revelation, it was necessary 
 only to dwell on the ineffable superiority of the Intermediary, whether in 
 His eternal being or in the position claimed for Him by Prophecy as the 
 
III. 1] HEBREWS 19 
 
 Incarnate Son. This part of the subject is summed up for the time in the 
 hortatory passage in ch. ii. 1-4, which enforces the importance of the message 
 and the adequacy of the evidence on which it rests. 
 
 But another view of the Dispensation was suggested from the first in 
 i. 3. It is not only a Revelation but also a scheme of salvation. Its 
 Intermediary is not a Teacher only, but also a Reconciler. This part of the 
 subject will have the larger place in the Epistle, and the verses 5-18 are 
 meant as an introduction to it. They deal not with external evidence, but 
 with more delicate ground, the inner appeal to the heart of man. They 
 meet at once the great difficulty which haunted the Jewish mind. A 
 Revealer might be of a higher race than those to whom he brought the 
 Revelation : but a Reconciler must stand by their side. In this aspect 
 therefore the new Revelation involved a true Incarnation — the assumption, 
 that is, of human nature with its liability to pain [and death. But a 
 Messiah at once Divine and who could suffer and die was to the Jews an 
 ever-recurring " stumblingblock " (see note on ix. 15). The writer meets 
 the difficulty not by apology ; still less by minimizing the truth. He claims 
 it boldly as the feature of the Revelation which most commends it to the 
 reason as well as to the feelings. Nothing else would have "become" 
 (beseemed) God ; for nothing else would have met the needs of humanity. 
 He discovers it as the latent truth behind the great recognition in Ps. viii. 
 of the imperial destiny of man : it is a destiny for man, and therefore for 
 man through his Representative ("even Jesus"), to be won through 
 humiliation : "a little lower than the angels" first; then "for the suffering 
 of death crovmed with glory." Two special reasons are suggested why the 
 "grace of God" has chosen this path: (1) that men might, through this 
 death of their Representative, be freed themselves from the paralyzing 
 " fear of death " : (2) that their Reconciling High Priest, sharing their con- 
 ditions, might be capable of sympathizing with them and therefore of being 
 trusted by them. 
 
 III. 1. Christ at once the Moses and the Aaron of 
 THE New Dispensation. 
 
 III. 1 Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly 
 calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our con- 
 fession, even Jesus ; 
 
 A great part of the Second Chapter, though (as we have seen) thoroughly 
 germane to the purpose of the Epistle, has left to some extent its formal 
 order, viz. the comparison of the two Dispensations. With the beginning of 
 ch. iii. we return to the main course. 
 
 The address ("holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling") gathers 
 up the ideas of the preceding passage. The persons addressed are "brethren," 
 brethren of the Christ (ii. 10, 12, 17); "holy," i.e. "sanctified" or consecrated 
 (ii. 11), a consecrated people Uke their Hebrew forefathers ; "called from 
 heaven," even as were they, only more directly and effectively than they. 
 
 2—2 
 
20 HEBREWS [in. 2-6 
 
 And so the appeal, too, looks both backwards and forwards : "consider," 
 i.e. " set all your thoughts upon." It is worth noting (in a writer so careful 
 of words and, even under apparent freedom, so intent on symmetry of form) 
 that the same word recurs in exhortation in ch. x. 24, where the practical 
 part of the Epistle is beginning. It seems chosen to give a framework to 
 the doctrinal part and to the practical: here "set all your thoughts on Him 
 "Who replaces completely the Law-giver and the High Priest of the Old 
 Testament": there "set all your thoughts upon one another," keep yoi\r 
 Christian faith pure and ahve by making it unselfish. 
 
 The words sum up the argument which is to come; and in so doing 
 they mark the double course which from this point onwards it is to take : 
 " the Apostle and High Priest of our Confession," i.e. at once the Envoy 
 and the High Priest, Whom we Christians (in contrast with the Jews) 
 acknowledge. The Christ has been set forth as the Medium of the new 
 Revelation, and compared in this respect with the Prophets and the 
 Angelic Messengers who conveyed God's word in the Old Dispensation. 
 But another aspect of this has come to the writer. In the Revelations of 
 the Old Covenant, if " God spake " through an angel, man heard through 
 the human intermediary. And once more, in the greatest moment of the 
 Revelation, the giving of the Law at Sinai, this human medium was re- 
 presented not by one person, but by two ; Moses, the Envoy or Ambassador 
 (this is clearly the meaning here of " Apostle " ; it recalls the frequent use 
 in the Old Testament of the verb ano(TTi\\(iv, " to send," of the " mission " 
 of Moses) and Aaron the High Priest. Christ, then, is in the Christian 
 confession the Bearer of the Message, the Law-giver, the Leader in the 
 great deliverance, the supreme Teacher and Ruler. And He is also the 
 High Priest Both aspects of the Messiah have been recognized already. 
 They are now set forth in words and to be worked out successively. 
 
 First, He is the Moses of the New Dispensation. This is the point of 
 the entire passage from iii. 2 to iv. 13; but it falls into two parts; the 
 first from iii 2 to 6. 
 
 III. 2-6. "The Moses" — but how much greater 
 THAN Moses! 
 
 2 who was faithful to him that ^appointed him, as also 
 
 3 was Moses in all ^his house. For he hath been counted 
 worthy of more glory than Moses, by so much as he 
 that ^ built the house hath more honour than the house. 
 
 4 For every house is builded by some one ; but he that 
 
 5 ^ built all things is God. And Moses indeed was faithful in 
 all ^his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things 
 
 6 which were afterwards to be spoken ; but Christ as a son, 
 over ^his house ; whose house are we, if we hold fast our 
 boldness and the glorying of our hope firm unto the end. 
 
 * Gr. made. ^ That is, God't house. See Numb. xii. 7. • Or, established 
 
III. 2-6] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 21 
 
 General Note on III. 2-6. 
 
 Moses is exalted in two respects. It is testified of him — the writer says 
 — that he was " faithful in all God's household" : he was faithful, that is, and 
 not (as, it is implied, might be the case with other prophets) in some 
 department, but in the whole organization of God's ancient church. But 
 the Christ has honour far higher. For 
 
 (1) Moses, high as his place is, was a servant "in the house" — part of 
 the household. A house or household implies some one who built or 
 equipped it. That can be found ultimately in God alone. Christ is " over 
 the house," not a servant, but Son of the Builder and Master. 
 
 (2) The work of Moses was provisional, prospective, tjrpical: "for a 
 testimony of those things which were afterwards to be spoken." The Law, 
 that is, looked forward to, and made place for, the fuller Revelation yet to 
 come. 
 
 2. The particular expressions are 
 due to things actually said of Moses 
 in 1 Sam. xii. 6 (R.V.), "It is the Lord 
 that appointed (it is the same verb 
 that is translated "appointed " here) 
 Moses and Aaron," and in Numb. xii. 
 7, " My servant Moses is not so : he 
 is faithful in all my house." But it 
 is one of the instances where it is 
 natural to imagine that there may 
 be also in the background some say- 
 ing of our Lord's about Himself 
 which was in the common conscious- 
 ness of writer and readers. A similar 
 instance occurs perhaps in ch. v. 4, 
 " He glorified not Himself," as com- 
 pared with John viii. 54, xvii. 1, &c. 
 The idea of His " faithfulness to Him 
 that appointed Him" is well illus- 
 trated by such passages as John v. 
 19, 20, 36, 43, vii. 16, viii. 28, xii. 
 49. 
 
 3. For, depends not on o. 2, but 
 on ». 1, "Consider — set your thoughts 
 on, the Envoy whom we confess, for 
 He is a greater Moses." 
 
 4. luilt. See on ch. ix. 2. The 
 
 word covers equipping or constitut- 
 ing, as well as building, and is suit- 
 able therefore here, where evidently 
 we are to think of the household as 
 much as of the house. 
 
 6. boldness. Cp. ch. iv. 16, x. 19, 
 35. The word properly means " out- 
 spokenness " : it was then genera- 
 lized to mean " freedom of manner," 
 "boldness"; but usually some sense 
 of " freedom of speech " is included : 
 see, for instance. Acts iv. 13. In 
 Eph. iii. 12, 1 John ii. 28, iii. 21, iv. 
 17, V. 14, and in three at least of the 
 four passages in which it occurs in 
 this Epistle (the present one and in 
 V. 16, x. 19), it is used of freedom of 
 attitude towards God : but here 
 again freedom of utterance, the free- 
 dom of one who can cry "Abba, 
 Father," is specially in view. 
 
 glorying of our hope ; hope, and 
 hope that as St Paul says (Rom. 
 V. 5) "putteth not to shame" — not 
 crossed by misgivings, but such as 
 expresses itself in utterances of joy 
 and confidence. 
 
 The second part of the passage iii 7-iv. 13 is, in form, hortative. It 
 presses home the lesson of the second great comparison, of Christ with 
 Moses, as ch. ii. 1-4 pressed that of the first, of Christ with the angels. 
 It does this in the words of Ps. xcv. 
 
22 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [ill. 7-19 
 
 III. 7-19. Psalm xcv. as a warning. 
 
 7 Wherefore, even as the Holy Ghost saith, 
 
 To-day if ye shall hear his voice, 
 
 8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. 
 
 Like as in the day of the temptation in the wilderness, 
 
 9 ^Wherewith your fathers tempted me by proving me. 
 And saw my works forty years. 
 
 10 Wherefore I was displeased with this generation, 
 And said. They do always err in their heart : 
 But they did not know my ways ; 
 
 11 As I sware in my wrath, 
 
 2 They shall not enter into my rest 
 
 J Or, Where 
 
 7. Wherefore. That is, because 
 of the if in ». 6 ; " seeing that our 
 position, great as it is, is conditional 
 on our constancy." 
 
 even as. Notice that the corre- 
 spondent clause to this "as" does 
 not come till v. 12, at the end of the 
 quotation, "Wherefore, even as 
 the Holy Ghost saith... take heed, 
 brethren." 
 
 the Holy Ghost saith. An habitual 
 way of speaking of the words of 
 Scripture; cp. ch. ix. 8, x. 15. In 
 quoting this same passage in ch. iv. 
 4, the writer uses the undefined 
 " He," which is commented on above, 
 ch. ii. 5. 
 
 To-day if ye shall hear. " Do not 
 repeat your forefathers' sin. If God's 
 voice comes to your ears in some 
 fresh Revelation to-day, listen to it." 
 A.V. has "if ye will hear." In that 
 case "hear" must be taken in the 
 sense of " hearken to," but the clause 
 is then open to two constructions : 
 it may mean either "if you desire 
 to hearken " or (as an exclamation) 
 "Oh, if you would hearken !" In the 
 Psalm itself, R.V. takes this latter 
 
 2 Gr. If they shall enter. 
 
 meaning, translating "To-day, oh 
 that ye would hear his voice ! " 
 
 8. provocation... temptation. The 
 translation severally, first in the 
 Greek and then in the English ver- 
 sions of Ps. xcv., of the Heb. Meribah, 
 and Massah (Bxod. xvii. 7, Numb. 
 XX. 13). 
 
 9. by proving me. A.V. "proved 
 me." The diff'erence between the 
 two versions is one of reading. The 
 Received Text, translated in A. v., has 
 a verb and a pronoun " proved me," 
 which is in accordance with the read- 
 ing of the Psalm, both in the Hebrew 
 and in the LXX. R.V., following 
 the best MSS of the New Testament, 
 is translating iv doKifxaa-ia, " in prov- 
 ing." If we accept this reading, the 
 sense is still open to question — " in 
 proving" whom? R.V. answers by 
 inserting, both after "tempted" and 
 after " proving," me (the italics shew 
 that in neither case is it in the Greek), 
 The sense then becomes substantially 
 the same as in A.V. But it is also 
 taken (as by Mr Rendall) to mean 
 " in their proving," i.e. when God was 
 proving them. This is in corre- 
 
III. 7-1 9J 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 23 
 
 spondence with the iisual meaning 
 of BoKinaa-ia, which was used of the 
 examination of a candidate's quahfi- 
 cation for oflBce, and it also suits 
 Ps. Ixxxi. 8, where God is represented 
 as saying "I proved thee (the cog- 
 nate verb) at the waters of strife." 
 It is a real difficulty. Neither inter- 
 pretation of fV boKipLaa-ia is wholly 
 satisfactory, and yet it is difficult to 
 understand how it got possession of 
 the text if it is not genuine. 
 
 10. But they did not. R.V. 
 rightly indicates that this is not a 
 continuation of the preceding clause, 
 but a statement of a further fact. 
 
 parallel not to " they do always err," 
 but to " I was displeased and said." 
 " They " is, in the Greek, an emphatic 
 pronoun, "They on their part" — 
 "though I was displeased, &c., they 
 on their part did not learn my 
 ways." 
 
 11. TTiep shall not enter. It is 
 pointed out in the margin that the 
 literal translation of the Greek is 
 " If they shall enter." It is an idio- 
 matic use for a strong negative found 
 in the LXX and in one case in New 
 Testament Greek, Mark viii. 12, 
 "There shall no sign be given," lit 
 " if a sign shall be given." 
 
 12 Take heed, brethren, lest haply there shall be in any one 
 of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the 
 
 13 living God : but exhort one another day by day, so long as 
 it is called To-day ; lest any one of you be hardened by the 
 
 14 deceitfulness of sin : for we are become partakers ^of 
 Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm 
 
 15 unto the end : while it is said. 
 
 To-day if ye shall hear his voice, 
 
 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. 
 
 16 For who, when they heard, did provoke ? Nay, did not all 
 
 17 they that came out of Egypt by Moses ? And with whom was 
 he displeased forty years ? Was it not with them that sinned, 
 
 18 whose -carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware 
 he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that 
 
 19 were disobedient ? And we see that they were not able to 
 enter in because of unbelief. 
 
 ^ Or, with 
 
 12. Take heed. Here, as has 
 been pointed out, we come to the 
 clause which answers to the " Even 
 as, &c." oivv. 7-11. 
 
 lest there shall be. On the one 
 side the Greek idiom implies that 
 the danger is a real one : on the 
 other it is put as a danger for the 
 
 ^ Gr, livibs. 
 
 future, not as a charge imputed at 
 present. 
 
 an evil heart of unhelief. Is it 
 possible that the "evil heart" is a 
 momentary recalling of the " honest 
 and good heart " of the Parable ? In 
 any case the conjunction of the 
 "evil heart" with the "falling away" 
 
24 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [ill. 7-19 
 
 reproduces the " they do err in their 
 heart " of the Psalm. 
 
 the living God. See the note on 
 ch. ix. 14. It seems here a reminis- 
 cence of the O.T. use (see e.g. Deut. v. 
 26, Josh. iii. 10). The sin contem- 
 plated is apostasy ; and so is parallel 
 to the sin of their ancestors, who de- 
 serted the living and true God for 
 dumb idols. 
 
 13. exhort one another. Cp. x. 
 25, which seems to recall this passage. 
 There is the same putting together 
 of the two thoughts of an approach- 
 ing crisis which tries faith, and of 
 the strength to be found in the 
 mutual influences of the Christian 
 society. 
 
 so long as it is called To-day ; im- 
 plying the thought that a time was 
 near when "To-day" would be no 
 longer applicable ; the day for hear- 
 ing God's voice would be past. 
 
 the deceitfubiess. More exactly 
 "a deceit," one of the many delusions 
 by which sin closes the ears of the 
 heart 
 
 1 4. partakers of {or, with) Christ. 
 Both the history of the Greek word 
 and the usage of the N.T. seem to be 
 consistent with either way of taking 
 it, whether as = " sharers in Christ," 
 or as = " partners with Christ." The 
 former would suit best with the 
 various Pauline figures which de- 
 scribe mystically the relation of the 
 believer to Christ : " ye are the body 
 of Christ and severally members 
 thereof" (1 Cor. xii. 27), "Christ in 
 you"(Col. i. 27). The latter is more like 
 the figures of this Epistle, in which 
 Christians are the "brethren " of the 
 Christ (ii. 11), the "house" over 
 which He presides as the Son (iii. 7. 
 The likeness of the reservation in 
 that place, "if we hold fast our 
 boldness, &c.," looks as if it was still 
 in the writer's mind). He is the 
 
 "Captain," the "Forerunner" (ii. 
 10, vi. 20). The writer is still domi- 
 nated by the general figure which 
 assimilates Christ saving His people 
 to the rescue of Israel by Moses, 
 Joshua, &c. 
 
 if. The Greek marks a strong 
 emphasis on the "if" {iavnep) ; "we 
 are become... on this one condition, 
 that, &c." 
 
 the beginning of our confidence, 
 i.e. the confidence which we had at 
 the beginning. The word rendered 
 " confidence " (xi. 1, " assurance," cp. 
 2 Cor. ix. 4, xi. 17) meant first 
 "foundation," so "security"; then 
 "sense of security," "firmness of 
 attitude." It is used of the firmness 
 of soldiers, or martyrs. 
 
 15. while it is said, &c. The 
 connexion and purpose of this clause 
 are not quite certain. It has been 
 taken with what follows : but in that 
 case the "For," which begins v. 16, 
 involves a broken construction which 
 is without parallel in this Epistle. 
 If we take it (as R.V.) with the pre- 
 ceding clause it is best explained by 
 a comparison with ch. viii. 13, "in 
 that he saith, A new covenant, he hath 
 made the first old," i.e. he implies 
 that the first has become old. So 
 here we have " While [or, better, " in 
 that"] it is said. . .we have become [or, 
 "have been made," i.e. "it is implied 
 that we are"] partners with the 
 Christ." The clause " if we hold fast, 
 &c.," is apparently parenthetical, but 
 it has its proper place, for the meaning 
 is that the terms of Ps. xcv., addressed 
 (as it is assumed they are) to Chris- 
 tians, imply both their place of privi- 
 lege and the risk expressed in the 
 words " if only they hold fast, &c." 
 
 16. who. . . ? did not all. . . ? The 
 A. V. has "some ". . . " howbeit not all," 
 and it has no notes of interrogation. 
 This involves a diflference in the 
 
IV. 1-10] HEBREWS 25 
 
 Greek, but only in the matter of an had heard, provoked," were not one 
 accent and of punctuation, both of or two, but the mass of God's re- 
 which are comparatively modern deemed people. The lesson is that 
 additions. The text, as the Greeks even the redeemed could fall away, 
 wrote it, had neither. We are free 17. carcases (literally "limbs," 
 therefore to choose the form which "bones") fell. A verbal reference 
 seems to suit the sense best. Objec- to Numb. xiv. 29. 
 tion has been taken to the form 18. sware he. This threat, in- 
 adopted by R.V. on the ground that corporated afterwards in Ps. xcv., 
 it ignores the steadfastness of Joshua comes also originally from Numb. xiv. 
 and Caleb: but this is to expect of a 30, even to the Greek idiom, "if 
 general statement an irrelevant ex- they shall," as an equivalent of "they 
 actness. The point is that those shall not." 
 who in the old story, "when they 
 
 Up to this point the writer has kept entirely to the purpose for which 
 he first quoted Ps. xcv. ; viz. to remind them that their forefathers had 
 fallen away from Moses and so forfeited the deliverance ; and to draw the 
 moral, " Do not treat your own greater Moses in the same way." But from 
 this point, though not dropping that thought, he is drawing towards a second 
 purpose, viz. to exhibit the Psalm as witnessing to the truth that it had 
 always been in the counsels and promises of God to give them a "rest" more 
 complete and permanent, more worthy of the title " My rest " (a rest, that 
 is, perfect and eternal as that of God Himself) than the rest which Joshua 
 gave them in Canaan. 
 
 IV. 1-10. Psalm xcv. as an assurance of a promise 
 
 WHICH STILL HOLDS. 
 
 IV. 1 Let us fear therefore, lest haply, a promise being 
 left of entering into his rest, any one of you should seem 
 
 2 to have come short of it. For indeed we have had ^good 
 tidings preached unto us, even as also they : but the word 
 of hearing did not profit them, because ^they were not 
 
 3 united by faith with them that heard. ^For we which 
 have believed do enter into that rest; even as he hath 
 said, 
 
 As I sware in my wrath, 
 ^They shall not enter into my rest : 
 although the works were finished from the foundation of 
 
 4 the world. For he hath said somewhere of the seventh 
 day on this wise, And God rested on the seventh day 
 
 5 from all his works ; and in this place again, 
 
 *They shall not enter into my rest. 
 
26 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [IV. 1-10 
 
 6 Seeing therefore it remaineth that some should enter 
 thereinto, and they to whom ^the good tidings were 
 before preached failed to enter in because of disobedience, 
 
 7 he again defineth a certain day, ^saying in David, after 
 so long a time. To-day, as it hath been before said, 
 
 To-day if ye shall hear his voice, 
 Harden not your hearts. 
 
 8 For if ''Joshua had given them rest, he would not have 
 
 9 spoken afterward of another day. There remaineth there- 
 10 fore a sabbath rest for the people of God. For he that is 
 
 entered into his rest hath himself also rested from his 
 works, as God did from his. 
 
 1 Or, a gospel ^ Some ancient authorities read it was. 
 
 3 Some ancient authorities read We therefore. 
 
 * Gr. If they shall enter. ^ Or, the gospel was 
 
 ® Or, To-day, saying in David, after so long a time, as it hath been, <&c. 
 
 ' Gr. Jesus. 
 
 IV. 1. therefore, seeing what 
 happened to our forefathers, to so 
 many of God's redeemed people. 
 
 being left, i.e. as yet unfulfilled, 
 but still holding. This is assumed, 
 but is to be explained in what 
 follows. The promise cannot have 
 failed in itself: but it failed alto- 
 gether to the first generation "be- 
 cause of their unbelief"; and it 
 failed, even when it seemed to be 
 fulfilled, because the rest which 
 Joshua gave them was inadequate 
 and only typical. Yet it has been 
 reaflSrmed in the Psalm. This is 
 the point of v. 14 although different 
 language is there employed. 
 
 should seem. It is difficult to 
 fix the meaning of "seem to have 
 come short" as distinguished from 
 "come short." Three suggestions 
 have been off'ered, the first perhaps 
 the most probable : (1) that, like 
 "haply," it is a mitigating expres- 
 sion; as we might say "anything 
 like failure" rather than use the 
 word "failure" bluntly: (2) that 
 
 the Greek verb translated is used 
 in a forensic sense and means "be 
 judged to have, &c.": (3) that it 
 means "seem to himself," despon- 
 dency being the source to which the 
 vkriter traces much of the back- 
 sliding. There is weight in the 
 criticism on this last explanation 
 that "Let us fear" is an awkward 
 beginning to a sentence the true 
 purpose of which is that they should 
 not fear. We seem shut up to (1) 
 or (2). 
 
 2. good tidings... even as also 
 they. What are the good "tidings" ? 
 Evidently from v. 6, the promise of 
 a coming rest, implied in the words 
 of Ps. xcv. : but this is identified 
 first with the promised entrance 
 into Canaan, and secondly with the 
 promises of the Gospel. The choice 
 of the phrase " good tidings " is due 
 to the feeling (so frequent in the 
 Epistle and which colours the whole 
 of this passage) of the analogy be- 
 tween the work of Christ and that of 
 Moses. It is illustrative of the length 
 
IV. 1-10] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 27 
 
 to which the writer goes in the 
 desire to put himself at the point 
 of view of those whom he would 
 persuade that, so far as words go, 
 he makes the Gospel deliverance 
 seem a repetition of the deliverance 
 from Egypt rather than the deliver- 
 ance from Egypt an anticipation of 
 the Gospel. See the note on ii. 16, 
 "seed of Abraham." 
 
 the tcord of hearing. Lit. " the 
 word of the hearing," i.e. the pur- 
 port of the message which they heard. 
 because they were not united. 
 This is a translation of the best 
 supported reading; but it involves 
 serious difficulties: (1) It would 
 follow from it that "them that 
 heard" means "them that heark- 
 ened," i.e. the faithful few who heard 
 and obeyed. This would almost 
 force us to give the same sense to 
 "hear" in the quotations from Ps. 
 xcv. ; and also to suppose a refer- 
 ence (which at the place seemed 
 irrelevant and unlikely) in iii. 16 to 
 Joshua and Caleb. If all this was 
 possible, it would still be difficult to 
 give the same sense to the two 
 words, evidently correspondent to 
 each other, in this verse, "hearing" 
 and "heard." (2) There is the still 
 graver difficulty in the word ren- 
 dered "united." It is evidently a 
 word chosen with a purpose : it 
 literally means "commingled"; and it 
 is hard to imagine in this connexion 
 any adequate sense which it could 
 have, whether literal or metaphorical. 
 The only alternative (unless we sup- 
 pose some more serious corruption 
 of the text) is to accept the reading, 
 of less MS authority, which is trans- 
 lated in A. v., and which makes the 
 participle singular instead of plural 
 and a nominative in agreement with 
 " word." It may then be rendered 
 either "because it was not assimi- 
 
 lated [as in digestion] by faith in 
 those that heard it " or " because it 
 was not commingled [as two ingre- 
 dients, both of which are necessary 
 to the eflfect, are mingled in a 
 potion] with faith in those that 
 heard it." 
 
 3. This verse is in intimate rela 
 tion to the statement in v. 2 that 
 they have had good tidings preached 
 to them even as their forefathers 
 had had. With the reading in the 
 text ("For") it is treated as a justifi- 
 cation of that statement : " We have 
 had good tidings preached to us, I 
 say ; for we are on our way, we that 
 have accepted the Christian belief, 
 to the special and perfect rest of 
 which Ps. xcv. spoke." With the 
 alternative reading mentioned in 
 the margin ("Therefore") it would 
 be treated merely as resumptive, 
 repeating the statement in other 
 words after an interruption. 
 
 we which have believed. We 
 lose in the English the correspon- 
 dence, marked in Greek, with "faith" 
 in V. 2 : "we which have had the 
 'faith' that they lacked." 
 
 although the works were finished. 
 Notice (1) that the threat that some 
 should not enter is taken as con- 
 structively a promise that some 
 should enter ; (2) that the clause 
 introduced by " although " is a com- 
 ment on the phrase "tw?/ rest": 
 "God's rest" it says, "although tfie 
 works spoken of in Gen. ii. 2 date 
 from the creation of the world" — 
 we have, therefore, to put together 
 Gen. ii. 2 and Ps. xcv., and from the 
 comparison of these it follows that a 
 rest worthy to be called "God's rest," 
 and therefore analogous to His rest, 
 was still promised to men. 
 
 4. somewhere, i.e. in Gen. ii. 2. 
 For this indefinite mode of quota- 
 tion see on ii. 6. 
 
28 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [IV. 11-13 
 
 6. it remaineth. See v. 9 and 
 ch. X. 26. It is a special word of 
 the Epistle : " it is reserved," said of 
 something purposed, but not yet 
 realized- 
 
 because of disobedience (dirfidfia). 
 Cp. iii. 19, "because of unbelief" 
 (dina-Tia). The two words are 
 treated as interchangeable: they 
 are two sides of the same mental 
 attitude. Cp. the similar inter- 
 change in Rom. xi. 20, 2.3, 30, 32. 
 
 7. in David, "in the person of 
 David," i.e. of the Psalmist. It is the 
 same preposition as in ch. i. 1, "in 
 [i.e. through, in the person of] the 
 prophets." Westcott warns us that 
 this use of a current method of re- 
 ference cannot be taken to decide 
 by itself the date and authorship of 
 a particular Psalm. 
 
 after so long a time, i.e. so many 
 years after. The point is the length 
 of time that had elapsed between the 
 Exodus and the warning voice of 
 the Psalmist. The later the Psalm 
 the stronger the argument 
 
 8. if Joshua had given them 
 rest. There is reference no doubt 
 to the frequent repetition in the 
 Book of Joshua of this phrase as 
 
 describing his work, and in the 
 Pentateuch as anticipating his work. 
 See e.g. Deut. xxv. 19, "when the 
 Lord thy God hath given thee rest"; 
 Josh. xxii. 4, "Now the Lord thy 
 God hath given rest unto your 
 brethren as he spake unto them." 
 It is the same phrase in the Greek 
 as here. 
 
 9. sabbath rest. The writer sub- 
 stitutes "keeping of sabbath" for the 
 simple " rest " (the word of the Psalm, 
 and the one which he had himself 
 used before), in order to emphasize 
 the point that the rest promised 
 ("/n?/ rest") is a rest like to that 
 spoken of in Gen. ii., of which the 
 sabbath rest was the commemora- 
 tion. But it also contributes to the 
 general thought of the Epistle. The 
 Sabbath as well as other institutions 
 of Judaism had its typical and pro- 
 phetic aspect. It helps to this that 
 the word for the "people of God" is 
 the word which belongs to the 
 Jewish people, the people of the Old 
 Covenant, and is transferred to God's 
 people of the New. 
 
 10. /m res^, i.e. God's rest — a rest 
 like God's " sabbath rest." 
 
 IV. 11-13. Warnings of Scripture not to be slighted. 
 
 11 Let us therefore give diligence to enter into that rest, 
 that no man fall ^ after the same example of disobedi- 
 
 12 ence. For the word of God is living, and active, and 
 sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to 
 the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, 
 and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the 
 
 13 heart. And there is no creature that is not manifest in 
 his sight: but all things are naked and laid open before 
 the eyes of him with whom we have to do. 
 
 1 Or, into Gr. in. 
 
IV. 11-13] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 29 
 
 11, that no man fall after 
 (marg. into) the same example. The 
 Greek admits of either rendering. 
 For the absolute iise of "to fall," 
 cp. Rom. xi. 22. It is opposed to 
 "to stand," 1 Cor. x. 12, "Let him 
 that thinketh he standeth take heed 
 lest he fall" 
 
 12. the icord of God is living : 
 the "word" of com^e not in the 
 theological sense of John i. 1, but 
 = the "utterance of God," i.e. the 
 warnings, promises, teaching of Holy 
 Scripture. For a similar personifi- 
 cation, cp. possibly 1 Pet. i. 23, " the 
 word of God which liveth and a- 
 bideth" (some commentators on that 
 passage, as Hort, take "which liveth, 
 &c." in construction with "God," 
 not with " the word of God ") : cp. 
 also the epithet in Acts vii. 38, 
 "living oracles." Notice also that 
 it is a transference of a standing 
 epithet of God Himself, " the living 
 God": His utterance shares His 
 attribute. It is pertinent to observe 
 that before the passage closes we 
 have returned from God's utter- 
 ance to God Himself, v. 13. With 
 the figure which follows, cp. Rev. 
 i. 16, "out of his mouth went a 
 sharp two-edged sword," and Eph. 
 vi. 17, "the sword of the Spirit, 
 which is the word of God." The 
 special power of God's word which 
 is in view here is its power on the 
 conscience, its power to "lay open 
 the innermost depths of human 
 nature" (Westcott). 
 
 A good comment on the whole 
 description may be found in the 
 familiar lines of the Christian 
 Year (St Bartholomew's Day): 
 Eye of God's word ! where'er we turn 
 
 Ever upon us ! thy keen gaze 
 Can all the depths of sin discern, 
 
 Unravel every bosom's maze. 
 Who that hath felt thy glance of 
 dread 
 
 Thrill through his heart's remotest 
 cells, 
 About his path, about his bed, 
 
 Can doubt what Spirit in thee 
 dwells ? 
 
 both joints and m,arrow. There 
 is a slight alteration introduced here 
 in the R.V. which may escape notice, 
 but which points the way to an im- 
 portant change of sense. It has sub- 
 stituted "of both joints and marrow" 
 for "and of the joints and marrow" 
 (A. v.): that is, it indicates that "of 
 both joints and marrow" is not of a 
 seijarate and added process, but is a 
 metaphorical expression carrying us 
 back to the figure of the sword ; and 
 throwing light on the preceding 
 phrase. The writer must speak not 
 of dividing soul from spirit, any 
 more than he speaks of dividing 
 (which would not be intelligible) 
 joints from marrow, but of dividing, 
 piercing soul and spirit, — soul, that 
 is, and the soul of the soul, the soul 
 to its inmost and most spiritual part, 
 as the sword might be said to find 
 its way through the joints even to 
 the very marrow within the bone. 
 
 13. his.. .him. We have passed 
 from God's word to God Himself 
 
 laid open. It is literally "gripped 
 by the neck." The verb {rpaxn- 
 \iC(iv, from Tpaxri\os, the neck or 
 throat) was certainly used in the 
 language of the wrestling-school, for 
 "to collar"; possibly also in that of 
 sacrifice, of seizing an animal in order 
 to expose its throat to the knife. 
 The translation here of A.V. "open" 
 and R.V. "laid open" is meant to 
 follow the latter use ; but it is safer 
 to take the first. It means then 
 (to drop or change the metaphor) 
 "mastered by," "at the mercy of." 
 
 with whom we have to do. Lit. 
 "to whom our account is [to be 
 rendered}" 
 
30 HEBREWS [iv. 14 
 
 The long hortatory passage which has intervened between iii. 6 and 
 iv. 14, ending as it does in this highly wrought and impressive description 
 of Holy Scripture as the Judge of the conscience, suggests in itself that we 
 are passing from one stage of the argument to another, and to one which 
 touches more closely the moral nature. The Epistle opened as though the 
 comparison of the Old and New Dispensations was to be a comparison of 
 them as Revelations. In dealing with that aspect of them the writer 
 dwelt on the form rather than the contents, on the personality of the 
 Messenger rather than the substance of the message. This part of the 
 subject reached its main expression in the early verses of ch. iii. in 
 which the Christ was set forth as " greater than Moses," Moses, the Law- 
 giver and supreme Teacher, the Leader in what to Old Testament 
 writers is "salvation," viz. the deliverance from Egypt. But it has been 
 indicated also from the beginning that a gi'eat part of the comparison was 
 to lie in the provision made in the two Revelations severally for that free 
 access of the soul of man to God which is the end of Revelation, and which 
 it is the idea of priesthood and sacrifice to restore. In i. 3 we read that the 
 Intermediary of the second Revelation " made purification " of human sin 
 before He "sat down on the right hand of God's Majesty." In ii. 17 it was 
 explained that the sufiicient cause for the real assumption by the Christ of 
 human flesh with all its liabilities of pain and death, which was the article 
 of the Christian Faith most diflBcult to Jewish thought, was " that He might 
 be a High Priest compassionate and trustworthy." This part of the subject 
 is to occupy the next six chapters. We turn to it in iv. 14. The key is the 
 second expression of iii. 1, "the High Priest of our confession." We are 
 to " hold fast our confession " in this respect, to recognize Him Who is our 
 greater Aaron as well as our greater Moses. The tone of exhortation is 
 continued from the preceding passage, though a new reason is now assigned 
 for the exhortation and (as is also usual) through the exhortation the 
 argument is carried further. 
 
 IV. 14. "The Greater Aaron" {see iii. 1). The High 
 Priest, human at once and superhuman. 
 
 14 Having then a great high priest who hath passed through 
 the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our 
 confession. 
 
 14. then. As has been said this "having a high priest": it belongs 
 
 is the moment of transition from the rather to the main verb of the 
 
 consideration of Christ as the Re- sentence, "let us hold fast." That 
 
 vealer, Law-giver, Leader, to the con- is represented as a conclusion from 
 
 sideration of Him as the High Priest, all that has been said, but especially 
 
 It is in accordance with the habit of from the last thought, viz. of the 
 
 the writer (cp. especially i. 4, iii. 2) soul-revealing, conscience-dominat- 
 
 to make the transition informally. ing force of Holy Scripture. The 
 
 The inferential particle "then" participle "having, &c." adds a 
 
 must not be taken too closely with fresh reason or condition of such 
 
IV. 15, 16] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 31 
 
 "holding fast" — one that is to 
 expand into an argument of six 
 chapters, for if the expressions of 
 this place carry us back to iii. 1, 2, 
 it is equally true that they are 
 taken up again, as though the period 
 was closed then, in x. 19-23, "having, 
 therefore, brethren, &c." 
 
 Having a great high priest : more 
 literally "having for high priest one 
 who is great, one who has passed 
 through the heavens" — one of pre- 
 eminent rank and functions (see on 
 ch. X. 21, "a great Priest"), as much 
 above Aaron as He has been shewn 
 to be above Moses. It is the first 
 suggestion of the idea, to be de- 
 veloped presently, of orders in the 
 High Priesthood. 
 
 who hath passed through the 
 Iieacens. These words link the 
 prophecy of Ps. ex. (already recalled 
 in i. 3) of the " sitting down at the 
 right hand of the Majesty in the 
 heavens " with the image, just 
 coming into view, and of which so 
 much is to be made, of the Levitical 
 High Priest passing "within the 
 veil" on the Day of Atonement. 
 
 through the heavens. Cp. the 
 expressions "made higher than the 
 heavens," ch. vii. 26, and Eph. iv. 10 
 (of the Ascension), "far above all 
 
 heavens." The idea of a series of 
 " heavens," usually seven, one beyond 
 the other, which belonged to Eastern 
 religions and was worked out in 
 fanciful detail in Apocalyptic and 
 Rabbinical literature, passing thence 
 into medieval beliefs, has a foothold 
 in the phraseology of Biblical writers, 
 as in these passages, in the common 
 plural form "heavens,"in the "heaven 
 of heavens" of 1 Kings viii. 27 (cp. 
 Ps. cxlviii. 7), and most definitely in 
 the "third heaven" of 2 Cor. xii. 2; 
 but it does not with them go beyond 
 the desire to give something like 
 perspective to unseen things, and to 
 indicate the remoteness and supreme 
 Majesty of God. 
 
 Jesus the Son of God. It is noted 
 that of our Lord's titles in the N.T. 
 the one which occurs most frequently 
 in this Epistle is the human name 
 "Jesus," and often, as here, with 
 emphasis, and in contrast, expressed 
 or implied, vnth the Divine dignity. 
 "The true human side of His nature," 
 the writer is in eflfect saying, "is as 
 essential to the purpose as the Divine 
 side." The superhuman dignity, by 
 itself, would only remove our High 
 Priest further from us; for it would 
 destroy the possibility of sympathy. 
 
 IV. 15, 16. The High Priest Who can sympathize. 
 
 15 For we have not a high priest that cannot be touched 
 with the feeling of our infirmities; but one that hath 
 been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without 
 
 16 sin. Let us therefore draw near with boldness to the 
 throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find 
 grace to help us in time of need. 
 
 15. For. This sentence reinforces knowledged, by urging that the High 
 
 the reason already given for holding Priest Whom it recognizes is not 
 
 firmly to their confession, i.e. to the only of surpassing dignity and power. 
 
 Christian truth which they had ac- but also able to sympathize. 
 
32 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [v. 1-4 
 
 tempted. See note on ii. 18. 
 
 [j/ef] without sin. As the italics 
 indicate, "yef'isan interpretative ad- 
 dition. The words are literally " apart 
 from sin" and this might mean 
 either (as both A.V. and R.V. render 
 it) "without sin," or perhaps better 
 " except in respect of sin." He was 
 tried or " tempted," and the trial or 
 temptation was like to ours in all 
 points except in its connexion with 
 sin. With us the temptation often 
 leads to sin, and also its strength often 
 comes from previous sin. Neither 
 is true of Him. In favour of the 
 second rendering it may be said 
 (1) that it is the most natural trans- 
 lation of the Greek, requiring 
 nothing to be supplied, and suiting 
 the order of the sentence, which 
 closely connects the phrase with the 
 words which express "likeness in all 
 points": (2) that in this way only we 
 can take the words in the same way 
 here and where they recur in ch. ix. 
 28. The context in that place is 
 wholly diflFerent, and the application 
 therefore of the words is different; 
 
 but the identity of other conditions 
 is there implied by the words "ap- 
 pear a second time" this identity 
 being limited by the words "except 
 in respect of sin." 
 
 16. Let us... draw near {npoa-- 
 fpxdfifda) : as Vaughan says, " a 
 great word in this Epistle: cp. vii. 
 25, X. 1, 2, xi. 6." This is the first 
 use of it, and as "the throne of 
 grace" shews, another step towards 
 the figure, to be fully developed 
 presently, of the Day of Atonement 
 with its typical representation of 
 the true answer to be made to the 
 question, "How shall man dare to 
 draw near to God?" 
 
 receive mercy... fiTid grace. There 
 is a contrast between "mercy" (to 
 be shewn in forgiveness) for the 
 past, and "grace" (to help) for the 
 future : possibly also between the 
 two verbs "receive" (or rather, 
 "take") of opening the hand to 
 receive what is offered, and "find" 
 which implies some further coopera- 
 tion of our own will ; for finding is 
 the correlative to seeking. 
 
 With ch. V. the writer begins the formal exposition of his statement that 
 the Christ was to be and was a true High Priest. "What," he asks 
 first, "are the essential conditions of human High Priesthood?" 
 
 V. 1-4. Two REQUIREMENTS TO A HiGH PrIEST. 
 
 {Thejirst, w. 1—3.) 
 
 V. 1 For every high priest, being taken from among men, 
 is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he 
 
 2 may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins : who can bear 
 gently with the ignorant and erring, for that he himself 
 
 3 also is compassed with infirmity ; and by reason thereof is 
 bound, as for the people, so also for himself to offer for 
 sins. 
 
V. 5-10] HEBREWS 33 
 
 General Note on V. 1-3. 
 
 The emphasis in the first sentence is on the words " being taken from 
 among men." As he is their representative, and in this supreme and 
 awful relation, he must be one of them. This is the first qualification of 
 a human High Priest. While he represents men before God, he is a man 
 himself—^ man, and therefore able to be tolerant of human weakness, 
 weakness which he shares so much that he is bound to offer sacrifice for 
 his o^vTi sins as well as for those of others. Notice that this is a definite 
 reference to the Day of Atonement on which there was a special provision 
 (Lev. xvi. 11) that the High Priest should off'er a bullock as a sin-ofi"ering 
 for his own sins. Notice also that we have here, in the writer's conscious- 
 ness of what must presently be said of the human High Priest, a reason 
 for the expressed reservation of iv. 15, "except in respect of sin." 
 
 V. 1. offer...gifts and sacrifices for gifts of homage, thank-oflferings and 
 
 sins. Cp. viii. 3, 4, ix. 9, and cp. xi. 4. the like, and sacrifices in atonement 
 
 All the phrases are habitual in the for sin. 
 LXX: the distinction is between 
 
 Then the second qualification. 
 
 {The second) 
 
 4 And no man taketh the honour unto himself, but when 
 he is called of God, even as was Aaron, 
 
 These two qualifications, the writer is going on to say, are found in the 
 Christ But he treats them in the reverse order, with a rhetorical purpose, 
 because the perfect humanity of the High Priest is the point on which he 
 needs specially to insist He deals first with the appointment. 
 
 V. 5-10. Both fulfilled in Christ. 
 {The second.) 
 
 5 So Christ also glorified not himself to be made an high 
 priest, but he that spake unto him. 
 
 Thou art my Son, 
 
 This day have I begotten thee : 
 
 6 as he saith also in another j9^ace, 
 
 Thou art a priest for ever 
 After the order of Melchizedek. 
 
 5. glorified not himself. The This day have I. It has been 
 
 gloryof being made a High Priest was already pointed out (on ch. i. 5) 
 
 not a self-assumed glory. See note that (as the Greek makes clear) the 
 
 on ch. iii.2, where the correspondence emphasis is at least as much upon 
 
 is pointed out between the expression "I" as upon "this day." The ideal 
 
 here and John viii. 54, xvii. 1. son of David is claimed from the 
 
 H. 3 
 
34 HEBREWS [v. 5-10 
 
 beginning as God's own Son. It chizedek." Then follows, introduced 
 
 should be noticed also that the (after the way of this Epistle) merely 
 
 point of the two quotations here is by the relative pronoun "who" (cp. 
 
 that the Speaker is the same in i. 3, iv. 2, and in this chapter v. 11), 
 
 Ps. ex. as in Ps. ii. ; i.e. that the the expression of what in the original 
 
 same Voice which had proclaimed statement {vv. 1-3) was set forth as 
 
 the Christ to be God's own Son the first qualification, viz. that the 
 
 proclaimed Him also to be a "priest High Priest should be, in the full 
 
 for ever after the order of Mel- sense of the term, a man. 
 
 (The first.) 
 
 7 Who, in the days of his flesh, having offered up 
 prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears 
 unto him that was able to save him ^from death, and 
 
 8 having been heard for his godly fear, though he was a 
 Son, yet learned obedience by the things which he suffered ; 
 
 9 and having been made perfect, he became unto all them 
 10 that obey him the ^author of eternal salvation ; named of 
 
 God an high priest after the order of Melchizedek. 
 
 ^ Or, out of 2 (jr, caiise. 
 
 General Note on V. 7-10. 
 
 What the writer is doing in these verses is to shew that Christ answers 
 to the requirement that a High Priest should be one of those whom he is to 
 represent. He establishes this by referring not only to Christ's sufferings 
 in His human nature, but also to the attitude of filial submission in which 
 they were accepted. He learned exactly the lesson which He was to teach. 
 It should be noticed therefore that there is a correspondence between the 
 "obedience" of v. 8 and the "obey him" of v. 9. His example must be fully 
 followed. 
 
 It is to be noticed also that, in the description of the sufferings, although 
 there is probably thought of the actual story of Gethsemane (see notes on v. 7) 
 and the Passion (it must be remembered that the "crying and tears" form 
 no part of the picture in the Gospels of the Agony in the Garden), the 
 verbal reference is rather to prophecy of what the Messiah was to bear and 
 to do, and especially to Ps. xxii., the Psalm already quoted (ii. 12), to 
 shew that He was to be the real Brother of men. Nearly all the phrases of 
 this passage are to be found, several of them repeatedly, in the LXX version 
 of that Psalm. 
 
 There is another point on which a word should be said somewhere, and 
 it is relevant here. The writer in these verses and elsewhere lays stress 
 upon our Lord's sufferings as constituting a qualification of His Priesthood, 
 on the ground that in virtue of them and of His attitude towards them, 
 men could coxmt upon His understanding and sympathy. We are not to 
 assume, what neither the written Law nor tradition gives us any reason to 
 
V. 5-10] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 35 
 
 believe, that in the Jewish Priesthood a moral relation, such as this would 
 imply, existed between priest and people. The priest dealt mainly with the 
 people in the mass. He was the mouthpiece of their collective devotion. 
 So far as he represented individuals in special acts of thanksgiving or 
 deprecation, the occasion and conditions were minutely prescribed by law. 
 His action was formal and impersonal. Any comfort to the individual 
 conscience came not from his personal sympathy, but from knowing that 
 the Law had been satisfied. But the writer is speaking not only to Jewish 
 experience, but to human feeling ; and he is assuming his readers to be 
 at the point of view (which in the O.T. was only in process of being 
 attained) from which the unit of life is not the community but the 
 individual. He is asking them to think of Mediation and Atonement 
 in their idea, of reconciliation as implying on the part of the Mediator 
 a true knowledge of and sympathy with both the two persons who are to 
 be reconciled. All that is said, and all that is true, of the typical atone- 
 ments of the Levitical law is that the mediator was one in blood and on the 
 same level with those whom he represented. This too was typical, and the 
 imity which it figured was a more perfect one. It was a real danger and 
 one to be met, that an untempered insistence on the superhuman side of 
 the true Mediator would make the Mediation seem less real, less satisfying, 
 than the mediations of the Law. 
 
 7. the days of his flesh, i.e. during 
 His bodily life on earth. So 1 Pet. 
 iv. 2, "your time in the flesh." It 
 is contrasted here on the one side 
 with His appearance in prophecy, 
 described in the preceding verses, 
 on the other with the moment, de- 
 scribed in V. 9, when His work on 
 earth was fully done. 
 
 offered up. The verb here used 
 (vrpoacpfpnv) occurs 19 times more 
 in the Epistle, 18 of them in the 
 clear sense of offering sacrifice ; and 
 we have had it in that sense twice 
 already in the present passage, v. 1, 
 "offer gifts and sacrifices," v. 3, "offer 
 for sins." It is hard to resist the 
 conclusion that it has a similar 
 sense here. The "prayers and sup- 
 plications with strong crying and 
 tears," coupled as they were with 
 "godly fear" and "obedience," are 
 viewed as part at least of the High 
 Priest's offering, as it is explained 
 in ch. X. 5-10. 
 from (marg. out of) death. The 
 
 literal rendering "out of death" 
 gives the meaning more clearly. 
 Cp. John xii. 27, "save me from 
 (out of) this hour," that is, as West- 
 cott interprets, "bring me safely out 
 of the conflict," not "keep me from 
 entering it." So we read in Jude 5, 
 "having saved a people (i.e. brought 
 them safely) out of the land of 
 Egypt." Our Lord, we are told here, 
 "was heard," i.e. His prayer was 
 granted- He was delivered from 
 death, but not from dying. The 
 phrase "Him that was able to save" 
 is possibly a reference to His re- 
 corded words, "Father, all things 
 are possible unto thee," Mark xiv. 
 36; cp. also Matt xxvi. 53. 
 
 godly fear. The (single) Greek 
 word which is so rendered occurs 
 again in ch. xii. 28 and is there 
 coupled with "awe" and rendered 
 (in R.V.) "reverence" (A.V. "godly 
 fear"). The adjective from which 
 it is formed, and which originally 
 meant "handling things cautiously," 
 
 3—2 
 
36 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [v. 5-10 
 
 is one employed by St Luke (Luke 
 ii. 25, Acts ii. 5, viii. 2, xxii. 12) and 
 always rendered in R.V. "devout." 
 The word as used here describes the 
 attitude of reverent submission to 
 the Father's will 
 
 8. learned... hy the things which 
 he suffered. A translation cannot 
 preserve the assonance and the pro- 
 verbial form of the Greek {tfiaOev 
 dcf) <Bv enadev). The easy use of 
 a Greek proverb [Herod, i. 207, 
 Aesch. Agam. 170, 241, Soph. O.C. 
 143, Plat. Symp. p. 272] in the 
 full sense in which we are familiar 
 with it in classical literature is 
 one proof among many that we 
 are dealing in the Epistle with an 
 original Greek writing, not (as 
 Clement of Alexandria surmised) a 
 translation from the Aramaic. It 
 is also an illustration of what Origen 
 meant when he said that the writer 
 was one who wrote "more really as 
 a Greek" than St Paul did 
 
 9. made perfect ; as in ch. ii. 10, 
 which is a parallel in thought as well 
 as expression. Notice that here, 
 as there, the apologetic purpose is 
 present, to meet the objections 
 taken to a suffering Messiah, The 
 suffering, the real humanity, is 
 claimed as a necessary condition 
 of the effective Priesthood. 
 
 author. Vaughan translates " per- 
 sonal cause." 
 
 eternal salvation. See on i. 14. 
 The phrase as a whole comes from 
 the O.T., as Isaiah xlv. 17. As used 
 here it anticipates the full explana- 
 tion of ch. ix. 12, "eternal redemp- 
 tion." 
 
 10. named of God. We might 
 paraphrase " For being thus a man 
 among His brethren. He had 
 also the other qualification. He 
 had been already recognized by God 
 Himself as a High Priest, and High 
 Priest after the order of Melchize- 
 dek." This last phrase is now to be 
 explained. It should be noted that 
 the words "a high priest after the 
 order" are not quoted exactly from 
 the Psalm. The words in it are 
 rightly given in v. 6, "a priest for 
 ever after the order." The explana- 
 tion no doubt is that the writer here 
 is taking the prophecy of Ps. ex. as 
 a whole ; v. 1 (already quoted several 
 times in the Epistle) as well as v. 4. 
 The "priest for ever after the order 
 of Melchizedek" of the one verse is 
 the same Person that has been bidden 
 in V. 1 to "sit at God's right hand"; 
 and the "passing through the hea- 
 vens" has been already (ch. iv. 14) 
 linked in our writer's interpretation 
 with that typical passing "within the 
 veil" which was the High Priest's 
 especial function. 
 
 General Note on the relation of V. 10 to V. Wfoll. 
 
 " A High Priest after the order of Melchizedek." Here then is the 
 thought which has been in the writer's mind since the first reference to 
 Ps. ex., and which interprets the expression of ch. iv. 14, " a great High 
 Priest." Postponing anything that is to be said of the way in which the 
 thought is to be worked out, we may note at once that in it he has foimd 
 just what he wanted, a way of explaining most persuasively to Hebrew 
 Christians what they have gained, without losing anything, in passing on 
 from Judaism to Christianity. It touches vitally both sides of the truth 
 which he is labouring to establish. It takes the aspect of the Jewish 
 religion which made the closest appeal to the religious consciousness — its 
 
V. 11-14] HEBREWS 37 
 
 aspect as a religion of sacrifice, of priestly access to God. It claims for the 
 Messiah such a priestly oflSce and function of transcendent dignity. On the 
 other hand it puts the superiority of the priesthood of Christ to the Levitical 
 priesthood on grounds which would least wound feeling and shock prejudice, 
 by tracing the larger conception back, through words believed to be words 
 of David, to the experience and confession of A hraham. 
 
 What then had the Psalmist meant when he saluted the Christ afar as 
 a " priest after the order of Melchizedek " ? This is the question which the 
 writer proposes to ask and answer. But before this is done we have in the 
 remaining verses of the chapter and in ch. vi. a long hortatory passage of 
 which the purpose (although before it ends it will, as usual, have added 
 something to the presentation of the argument) is in the first instance to 
 call special attention to this explanation of Christ's High Priesthood, and 
 to meet the supposed objection that he is offering his readers something 
 novel and hard "Novel and hard it is" he answers, "as all new lessons 
 must be : but you cannot be children always." 
 
 It is natural to compare the long exhortation in chs. iii. and Iv. with the 
 present one. Bach is suitable to its place. The general source of danger 
 in view in the two cases is the same, viz. despondency, the loss of faith and 
 patience. But the results traced differ. In chs. iii. and iv. the exhortation 
 follows the presentation of Christ as the greater Moses ; and the suitable 
 warning is that they should not treat their Law-giver and Leader as their 
 forefathers treated Moses "in the provocation." The danger looked to is 
 moral — waywardness and rebellion. In the present passage the defect 
 traced in the first instance is in intelligence and spirit — a torpor of mind 
 and paralysis of will (what Dante and the Middle Age called "accidia," 
 "accidie") which will prevent their ever getting to the heart of their religion. 
 
 V. 11-14. Milk and solid food. 
 
 11 Of ^whom we have many things to say, and hard of 
 interpretation, seeing ye are become dull of hearing. 
 
 12 For when by reason of the time ye ought to be teachers, 
 ye have need again ^that some one teach you the rudiments 
 of the ^ first principles of the oracles of God ; and are 
 become such as have need of milk, and not of solid food. 
 
 13 For every one that partaketh of milk is without experience 
 
 14 of the word of righteousness ; for he is a babe. But solid 
 food is for * full-grown men, even those who by reason of 
 use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil. 
 
 1 Or, which ^ Or, that one teach you which be the rudiments 
 
 * Gr. beginning. * Or, perfect 
 
38 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [v. 11-U 
 
 11. Of whom {or, which). "Of 
 which person" or "of which matter" : 
 more probably the latter. As has 
 been noticed it is a habit with the 
 writer to make even important 
 transitions informally by the use 
 of a relative pronoun; cp. ch. i. 3, 
 iii. 2, V. 7. 
 
 hard of interpretation. The 
 follovdng words shew that this is 
 to be taken in the limited sense 
 of "difficult to expound to you.'^ 
 
 dull. The Greek word is common 
 in Plato for a man of dull and torpid 
 intelligence. 
 
 12. the time, i.e. the time that 
 has elapsed since you became 
 Christians. 
 
 that some one teach you, or, that 
 one teach you which be. The diflFer- 
 ence is of the accent on the word 
 (rivd or Tiva). Either makes good 
 sense. 
 
 rudiments. The Greek word is 
 used of the " alphabet." 
 
 of the first principles (Gr. " of the 
 beginning"). The phrase is re- 
 peated in ch. vi. 1. The iteration 
 " rudiments of the beginning " gives 
 emphasis, "the very first and most 
 rudimentary principles." 
 
 the oracles of God: that is, as 
 always (see Acts vii. 38, Rom. iii. 2), 
 the older Scriptures, in which the 
 writers of the N.T. found all Chris- 
 tian truth implicit. The very purpose 
 of this Epistle is to shew to Hebrew 
 Christians the relation between the 
 two Revelations. 
 
 milk... solid food. The meaning 
 of the contrast is explained in ch. 
 vi. 1, 2. The figure is a natural one 
 in all literature. Both St Paul and 
 
 St Peter use it (1 Cor. iii. 1, 2; 1 Pet. 
 ii. 2). 
 
 13. For every one, &CC. The par- 
 ticle implies that the sentence so 
 introduced is meant to justify and 
 explain the metaphor: "I say that 
 you need milk and not solid food, 
 and by this 1 mean that you are 
 still as babes, unfit, as babes are, for 
 full moral teaching." "The [it should 
 be rather "a"] word of righteousness " 
 is a literal, but not an interpretative, 
 translation. "Word of" seems (as 
 in ch. vi. 1 ; see marg.) to mean 
 "teaching about." The negative 
 sentence is explained by the positive 
 one that follows : unfitness for the 
 " word of righteousness " is the 
 opposite of the power, which 
 comes with maturity, to "discern 
 good and evil." The "babe" has 
 the faculty, but like its "organs of 
 sense," it has not been "exercised." 
 It is implied, though not fully said, 
 that teaching of the priestly work 
 of Christ presupposes, for its recep- 
 tion, a more complete awakening 
 and exercise of the moral sense. 
 
 14. to discern good and evil. 
 The words as they stand (as is 
 shewn by their relation to the 
 "senses," or rather "organs of sense") 
 belong to the figure ; i.e. it is not, in 
 the first instance, moral good and 
 evil. The babe cannot choose be- 
 tween what is wholesome and the 
 contrary. Mr Rendall points out 
 that the phrases used belong to 
 the proverbial expression of the limi- 
 tations of childhood, its incapacity 
 to "refuse the evil and choose the 
 good," Is. vii. 16, Deut. L 39. 
 
VI. 1-3] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 39 
 
 VI. 1-3. Advance in Christian knowledge. 
 
 VI. 1 Wherefore let us ^ cease to speak of the first principles 
 of Christ, and press on unto ^perfection ; not laying again 
 a foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith 
 
 2 toward God, ^of the teaching of * baptisms and of laying 
 on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal 
 
 3 judgement. And this will we do, if God permit. 
 
 1 Gr. leave the word of the ieginning of Christ. 
 
 2 Or, full growth 
 
 ^ Some ancient authorities read, even the teaching of. 
 ■* Or, washings 
 
 VI. 1. FF%er<?/or« ; the conclusion 
 from the whole thought, viz. that it 
 is time for his readers to shake off 
 their sloth and advance in Christian 
 experience. 
 
 press on. The verb so rendered 
 is middle or passive, and possibly 
 means "let us be carried on" — let us 
 yield to the movement of the Spirit 
 which would carry us on. 
 
 perfection, marg. full growth. It 
 is the cognate word to the adjec- 
 tive used in ch. v. 14, and there 
 translated "full-grown." Both in 
 classical Greek and in the N.T. (cp. 
 1 Cor. xiv. 20 ; Eph. iv. 13, 14) the 
 words are used in both senses, the 
 two meeting in the idea of complete- 
 ness, the attainment of the final 
 stage. The only question can be 
 how far in any particular case the 
 figure of growth was consciously 
 present. Here the relation to the 
 figures of ch. v. 12 foil, makes it hard 
 to doubt that it was. 
 
 In vv. 1, 2 we have a picture (it is 
 clear) of the preparation of a Cate- 
 chumen. It is, as we might say, "let 
 us not do nothing beyond learning 
 the Catechism." The picture itself 
 is in accord with what we see of the 
 earliest Christian teaching in the 
 Acts of the Apostles — the Gospel 
 
 call to repentance and belief; the 
 initial rites, baptism and the laying 
 on of hands (Acts viiL 7) ; lastly the 
 twin doctrines, always in the front 
 of Apostolic teaching. Resurrection 
 and Judgement. It will be noticed 
 that the teaching which is described 
 thus as rudimentary is teaching 
 which did not require a Jew to give 
 up anything. It was different when 
 they were called upon to recognize 
 that the Atonements of the Law were 
 superseded. 
 
 dead works is a phrase peculiar 
 to the Epistle; see on ch. ix. 14, 
 " cleanse your conscience from dead 
 works." There the phrase is doubly 
 related to the context, as suggesting 
 at once a contrast with the " service 
 of the living God," and a comparison 
 between the moral defilement re- 
 sulting from sinful actions and the 
 ceremonial defilement caused by 
 touching a dead body. No such 
 particular thoughts are in view here, 
 so that the phrase seems to be an 
 habitual one and to be explained on 
 general considerations. It has a 
 likeness to such an expression as 
 Eph. V. 11, "unfruitful works"— 
 works, that is, without result, that 
 are as a dead bough that can pro- 
 duce no fruit ; and it belongs to 
 
40 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [VI. 4-8 
 
 the figure common in all the N.T., 
 which represents the diflference be- 
 tween the life of the senses and the 
 life of the spirit as a diflference be- 
 tween death and life: cp. Luke xv. 
 24 ; Bph. ii. 1 ; 1 John iii. 14. 
 
 2. baptisms (marg. washings). 
 The plural belongs, no doubt, to an 
 address to Jewish Christians who 
 had had ceremonial washings of their 
 own (see at ch. ix. 10) and who would 
 have needed (as we see from the 
 
 story in Acts xix. 1-5) instruction in 
 the diflference between Christian 
 Baptism and other " washings." Cp. 
 the "questioning" which at an 
 earlier date arose "on the part of 
 John's disciples with a Jew about 
 purifying," i.e. apparently, about the 
 principle and meaning of his baptism, 
 and that of the disciples of Jesus 
 (John iii. 25). 
 
 3. if= " if indeed " ; an emphatic 
 "if." 
 
 At this point the address takes another turn. The new thought is 
 perhaps at the back of this emphasis on the " if," as though he contemplated 
 a diflSculty in doing as he said. 
 
 VI. 4-8. Danger of falling back. 
 
 4 For as touching those that were once enlightened ^and 
 tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the 
 
 5 Holy Ghost, and ^tasted the good word of God, and the 
 
 6 powers of the age to come, and then fell away, it is impos- 
 sible to renew them again unto repentance ; ^seeing they 
 crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him 
 
 7 to an open shame. For the land which hath drunk the rain 
 that Cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for 
 them for whose sake it is also tilled, receiveth blessing from 
 
 8 God : but if it beareth thorns and thistles, it is rejected and 
 nigh unto a curse ; whose end is to be burned. 
 
 ^ Or, having both tasted of... and being made. ..and having tasted, d;c. 
 ^ Or, tasted the word of God that it is good 
 * Or, the while 
 
 4, 5. enlightened... tasted... made 
 partakers . . . tasted. A series of 
 phrases descriptive of the eflfect on 
 a convert of his first appreciation of 
 Christianity. We must not distin- 
 guish them too closely. The rhetori- 
 cal eflfect lies in the suggested con- 
 trast between the ample list of graces 
 and opportunities which are repre- 
 sented as having been lavished on 
 him and the return made by him, for 
 
 which a single curt phrase suflBces, 
 "fell away." Westcott calls atten- 
 tion to the fact that the graces 
 named are "gifts of power, of per- 
 sonal endowment : there is no gift 
 [named among them] of love." The 
 hope even for those whom this lavish 
 expenditure of gifts has failed to 
 keep straight may yet lie in the fact 
 that (see below, v. 10) they have that 
 "more excellent" gift (1 Cor. xii. 31). 
 
VI. 4-8] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 41 
 
 4. For; in sequence to "this 
 will we do," i.e. we will endeavour to 
 carry you forward, because the 
 thought of going back is so terrible. 
 
 were once enlightened. So in ch. x. 
 32, "after ye were enlightened." 
 Conversion to Christianity is looked 
 upon as the dawning of a new light. 
 In the next century the word had 
 become a technical term as an equi- 
 valent for being "baptized." It is 
 to be noticed (see the general note on 
 these verses) that the word rendered 
 " once " is emphatic, " once for all." 
 
 the heavenly gift ; not to be 
 separated too much from the fol- 
 lowing phrase : the two together are 
 nearly equivalent to "the heavenly 
 gift of the Holy Ghost," the first 
 phrase calling attention to the fact 
 that it is a gift (see Luke xL 13, 
 John iv. 10), the second, "made 
 partakers of," to its reception. 
 
 5. tasted the good word of God. 
 The alternative offered in the margin 
 is more correct, " tasted the word of 
 God that it is good," i.e. " tasted the 
 goodness of the word of God." It 
 may be noticed also that it is not 
 literally "the word of God," in the 
 sense of the collected Revelation ; 
 but " a word (or utterance) of God," 
 i.e. anything that God says ; cp. 
 Eph. vi. 17. But, of course, the 
 primary reference is to the Gospel. 
 
 good ; good to the taste and 
 wholesome : cp. the use of the word 
 in ch. V. 14, and in Matt. xii. 33. 
 
 powers. The supernatural energies 
 associated in prophecy (as in Joel ii. 
 28, 29) with the Messianic age (here 
 called "the age to come," see on 
 ch. ii. 5), and realized in the " gifts 
 of the Holy Ghost" of ch. ii. 4, 1 Cor. 
 xii., &c. 
 
 6. and then fell away. "Then"= 
 " after all that." It is not expressed 
 
 in the Greek, but the purpose of its 
 insertion is to represent the rhetori- 
 cal effect of the original, in which the 
 single and curt phrase "fell away" 
 (which sums up the return that 
 they make) is in contrast with the 
 long list of gifts and opportunities 
 which have been lavished on them, 
 " the heavenly gift, &c." 
 
 crucify to themselves', i.e. put 
 themselves (by their apostasy, where- 
 by they pronounce the Son of God to 
 be an impostor) into the position of 
 those who crucified Him. In con- 
 trast with this aspect of their action 
 as " to themselves," is put its further 
 effect on others, of holding Him up 
 to shame. 
 
 7. it is also tilled. " Also," i.e. in 
 addition to receiving the rain. It 
 answers to what is done for it both 
 by nature and by man's hands. 
 
 receiveth blessing. It is literally 
 "shareth in," and it seems well to 
 keep this. A special blessing is 
 referred to ; viz. that of Gen. i. 12. 
 So vrith the " curse " in v. 8, there is 
 a remembrance of the cursing of the 
 ground for man's sake after the Fall 
 in Gen. iii. 17. The leading words 
 in these verses come from one or 
 other of those passages. This also 
 explains the double expression "is 
 rejected" (fails, that is, to win the 
 approval as " good ") and " is nearer 
 to incurring the curse of barren- 
 ness." 
 
 8. whose end is to be burned. 
 Lit. "of which the end is for burning" ; 
 that is, all that its produce is good 
 for is to feed a bonfire. It has been 
 complained that the image of burn- 
 ing weeds lacks weight ; but it gains 
 that weight from the thought of the 
 thing imaged; cp. the end of the 
 Parable of the Tares. 
 
42 HEBREWS [vi. 4-8 
 
 Genercd Note on VI. 4-8. 
 
 These verses have had a long history in Christian controversy. " It is 
 impossible to renew them again unto repentance " : they are solemn words ; 
 a vision of the awfvil danger of apostasy, of turning back from a high calling. 
 The writer means to put that danger strongly before his readers' minds, 
 although he hastens in the following verses tenderly to assure them that the 
 vision does not reflect their own position. But like all such words they must 
 be read carefully and in their context. We cannot but be right, for instance, 
 in noticing what must be a purposed change in tenses in the Greek, hard to 
 keep in a translation : "enlightened," "tasted," "fell away," all in the Greek 
 aorist, which belongs to single, definite, completed action ; " renew," 
 "crucify," "put to shame," all in the present, which belongs to inchoate, 
 continuous, habitual action. This in itself limits the statement. Whether 
 we take the Greek participle " crucifying " to mean " seeing they crucify " 
 (as A.V. and R.V. in text) or "the while they crucify" (R.V. marg.) or "if 
 they crucify " (and all these meanings are possible), in any case it is of action 
 continued to the time that the attempt to " renew " is made. It is " they are 
 crucifying." Cessante causa, cessabit effectus. If the cause ceases to operate 
 the effect will cease to follow. But we are on still broader and safer ground 
 [We do not always realize how new in the history of interpretation, and 
 especially of Biblical interpretation, is the canon which seems to us so un- 
 questionable] in looking at the general tenor and purpose of the writer. 
 What he is speaking of is the graduation of Christian teaching. They must 
 not be content (he says) with the elements which answer to the milk that 
 is for babes. They must grow in interest and capacity for understanding 
 and judging what is offered to them as the fuller Christian Truth. This is 
 what he is hoping and purposing for them. One thing he will not contem- 
 plate — i\\e\T falling away, putting themselves back into their pre-Christian 
 state. For such a stage as that he has no teaching — no doctrine still in re- 
 serve, of greater power to move or convince. They have " seen the light," 
 " tasted the gift." It is like soil for which the skies and the husbandman 
 have done all that can be done. It would be a sad, even a hopeless case. 
 But the writer is putting the matter from the point of view of the teacher. 
 He has done all that he can do. What he is deprecating is the thought that 
 he has kept back something ; that there is still in his store the argument, 
 the explanation, the revelation, the motive which will succeed when the 
 others have failed. 
 
 Both in early days, and again in the controversies of the Reformation 
 age, this limited reference of the passage was overlooked. It was treated 
 as an absolute declaration of the impossibility of recovery to those who fell 
 away. It was the use of the passage by the Novatian schismatics to support 
 their exclusion of the " lapsed" from all return to Communion which was the 
 ground (apart from the question of authorship) for the long resistance 
 offered to the acceptance of the Epistle as Canonical And in the same way 
 in the discussion between Calvinists and Arminians on the possibility of 
 falling from grace this passage was treated on both sides as one that must 
 
vi. 9-12] HEBREWS 43 
 
 be forced into agreement with their several views. The truth is that it does 
 not touch such questions. 
 
 " Impossible " ! It is a final word. But the impossibility spoken of is an 
 impossibility to man, not to God. The Apostle has no more teaching. His 
 bolt is shot — his quiver is empty. That is in itself a solenm consideration, a 
 reason to be urged for listening to his teaching while it is possible. But it 
 does not Umit, or touch, the power of 
 
 "His high Hand 
 Who doth hearts as streams command." 
 See also the notes above on vv. 4, 5 and below on v. 10. 
 
 VI. 9-12. "Add to love faith and hope." 
 
 9 But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and 
 things that 'accompany salvation, though we thus speak : 
 
 10 for God is not unrighteous to forget your work and the love 
 which ye shewed towards his name, in that ye ministered 
 
 1 1 unto the saints and still do minister. And we desire that 
 each one of you may shew the same diligence unto the 
 
 12 ^fulness of hope even to the end : that ye be not sluggish, 
 but imitators of them who through faith and patience 
 inherit the promises. 
 
 ^ Or, are near to ^ Or, full assurance 
 
 9. better. It is in the Greek " the merit, nor of future reward, but of 
 better," i.e. the better of two possible present grace and advance : " to him 
 alternatives. that hath shall be given." It would 
 
 that accompany. Lit. " that hold be a wrong in God's world, a breach 
 
 to, belong to." The form of expres- of God's promise, if faithful effort, 
 
 sion seems to be chosen as corre- true self-forgetfulness, did not lead 
 
 spending to the preceding "nigh a man higher, not lower. As was 
 
 unto (the same Greek word) a curse." noticed before (note on vv. 4, 5) love 
 
 salvation. See on ch. i. 14. This was not named in the list of graces 
 
 is a case where no special figure is in a^nd powers from which the possi- 
 
 view. The word describes a "safe bility of faUing away was contem- 
 
 issue " as generally as possible. It is plated. It is the " more excellent 
 
 the opposite of condemnation, de- ^^j" which, as it ranks above all 
 
 struction, " a curse " {v. 8). other spiritual endowments, so gives 
 
 thus, i.e. as we have been speak- surer hope that a good work has 
 
 ing. It is an half apology for severity been begun which will not be allowed 
 
 of tone. to fall through. 
 
 10. God is not unrighteous. Cp. love. A.V. had "labour of love," 
 St John's assurance (1 John i. 9), but the better text omits the first sub- 
 " He is faithful and righteous to for- stantive, which came in from the re- 
 give us." The thought is not of membranceof 1 Thess.i.3. We notice 
 
44 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [VI. 13-20 
 
 that (as in that place) we have in rm. 
 10-12 (cp. ch. X. 22-24) the familiar 
 triad, love, hope, faith. So in I Pet i. 
 21,22. This does not mean that they 
 are realized in distinctness and 
 mutual relation, as by St Paul in 
 one supreme moment in 1 Cor. xiii. 
 13. 
 
 towards his name, ie. towards 
 Him and therefore towards those 
 who bore His name, towards their 
 fellow-Christians. Cp. Matt. x. 42, 
 "in the name of a disciple," and Mark 
 ix. 41 (R.V. marg.), "in name that ye 
 are Christ's." 
 
 11. desire. Lit. "set our heart 
 on." Vaughan translates " it is our 
 heart's desire." It is a strong word 
 for personal desire, the word trans- 
 lated in the xth Commandment 
 "covet" It is our Lord's word, 
 "with desire have I desired," Luke 
 xxii. 15, and "many prophets and 
 kings have desired," Matt xiii. 17. 
 
 shew. The verb is designedly re- 
 peated from V. 10. This is more 
 evident in the Greek, in which it is 
 a longer and less familiar word («V- 
 dfUvva-Bai). Their love was out of 
 the common, could not be overlooked. 
 He would wish that their hope and 
 faith might be equally conspicuous. 
 
 diligence unto, i.e. in the direc- 
 tion of 
 
 fulness (or, full assurance) qfhope. 
 The word translated "fulness," mean- 
 ing properly "full measure," acquired 
 (as our words " satisfy," &c.) the sense 
 of " full assurance " and is so used in 
 1 Thess. i. 5. It may be so here and 
 in ch. X. 22 ; but the sense of " ful- 
 ness " is all that is needed. We may 
 note that in this Epistle " hope " has 
 the prominent place which St Paul 
 rather gives to " faith " (cp. ch. iii. 6 
 and X. 23, with note). As the next 
 words indicate, what the writer is 
 dreading most is the despondency 
 which paralyzes effort. 
 
 to the end. Cp. ch. iii. 6 and 14, 
 One thinks of Mark xiii. 13, " he that 
 endureth to the end." 
 
 12. sluggish. It is the word trans- 
 lated " dull " in V. 11; see note there. 
 
 them who... inherit. The faith- 
 ful of all times (it is an antici- 
 pation of the great catalogue of 
 ch. xi.), though it is brought down 
 in V. 13 f to the single instance of 
 Abraham. 
 
 inherit. Not " are heirs to," but 
 (as we see in v. 15) " have entered on 
 the inheritance." 
 
 VI. 13-20. God's sworn promises. 
 
 13 For when God made promise to Abraham, since he could 
 
 14 swear by none greater, he sware by himself, saying, Surely 
 blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply 
 
 15 thee. And thus, having patiently endured, he obtained the 
 
 16 promise. For men swear by the greater ; and in every dis- 
 
 17 pute of theirs the oath is final for confirmation. Wherein 
 God, being minded to shew more abundantly unto the 
 heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, Hnter- 
 
 18 posed with an oath : that by two immutable things, in which 
 it is impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong en- 
 
VI. 13-20] HEBREWS 45 
 
 couragement, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the 
 
 19 hope set before us ; which we have as an anchor of the soul, 
 a hope both sure and stedfast and entering into that 
 
 20 which is within the veil ; whither as a forerunner Jesus 
 entered for us, having become a high priest after the order 
 of Melchizedek. 
 
 ^ Gr. mediated. 
 
 General Note on VI. 13-20. 
 
 These verses explain and enforce the exhortation just given (». 12) to 
 imitate their faithful forefathers, who had "trusted and not been confounded." 
 A single capital instance is taken in Abraham, and attention is fixed on the 
 terms in which the promise to him is described, especially in Gen. xxii., as 
 including the confirmation by an oath, " By myself have I sworn, saith the 
 Lord." (Notice that this is dwelt upon throughout the Bible; see Gen. xxvi. 
 3, Ps. cv. 9, Mic. vii. 20, Luke i. 73.) Two things are indicated, though 
 not put directly into words : (1 ) that they have the same security as Abraham. 
 He has in mind the solemn terms of Ps. ex., " The Lord sware and will not 
 repent," on which he will comment at length in ch. vii. 20 f. This is the refer- 
 ence here of the " immutability of his counsel " ; (2) that the promise of a 
 " Priest after the order of Melchizedek " is virtually a repetition of the 
 promise to Abraham. They are the " heirs of the promise " : the promise 
 made to him, in its higher and more spiritual import, still held, and had been 
 repeated to his faithful descendants. As they have the same promise and 
 the same security they should have the same hope and patience, " hope as 
 an anchor to hold by in a harbour of refuge"; for — here we have left 
 Abraham and come back to the promise of the Ideal High Priest — ^the 
 Person on Whom their hopes are fastened is in heaven, in the true Holy of 
 Holies — and there, not only as a Levitical High Priest, to represent them, 
 but to precede them — to open a way by which they might follow. 
 
 13. when God made promise. not the promise " (xi. 39), they " died 
 This is a possible translation, but it in faith not having received the 
 is better to take it according to the promises" (xi. 13). But they re- 
 more usual Greek idiom, " when God ceived instalments of them. Abra- 
 had made promise." The quotation ham had a son in his old age and 
 of the oath is from Gen. xxii. 16, and saw the promise on its way to fulfil- 
 this was a confirmation of the pro- ment. (Cp. the strong statement 
 mise which had been already narrated in John viii. 56.) And so in a 
 in Gen. xii. 2, 3, xiii. 16, xv. 5, 6, larger sense, the promises made to 
 xvil 5 f. him of being the father of a great 
 
 15. thus, i.e. in reliance on the people, of his seed possessing the 
 
 security — the security of God's oath. Holy Land, of the birth of the 
 
 obtained the promise. In what Messiah of his race, were literally 
 
 sense ? In one sense we read that fulfilled. History bore witness that 
 
 the faithful men of old "received the promises had not been futile. 
 
46 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [VL 13-20 
 
 Cp. the use of the same phrase in 
 ch. xi. 33. 
 
 16. For. The particle introduces 
 a justification (it is of the nature of 
 an apology) of the statements in 
 Genesis that God "sware" and 
 "sware by Himself" — these state- 
 ments themselves being appealed to 
 as a precedent (and so an explana- 
 tion) of the words in Ps. ex., "the 
 Lord sware and will not repent." 
 
 17. Wherein. "In which state 
 of things," i.e. things being so. 
 
 to shew more abundantly. The 
 Greek is properly a paradoxical 
 word, and expresses assurance made 
 even superfluously sure. 
 
 the heirs of the promise. For the 
 promise was to "Abraham and his 
 seed." In a sense (as we have seen) 
 Abi-aham " obtained the promise " ; 
 but the promise in a full spiritual 
 senselengthenedout to each succeed- 
 ing generation, and was renewed 
 (the writer would say) in the prophecy 
 of Ps. ex. 
 
 interposed. Lit " played the part 
 of a mediator." It has been recog- 
 nized already {v. 13) that the analogy 
 is imperfect between the human 
 oath, which is the appeal to a higher 
 power, and the oath of God, Who has 
 no superior. In the same way there 
 can be only a limited propriety in 
 saying that God "interposed" be- 
 tween Himself and man. 
 
 18. two immutable things. A 
 promise and an oath. There is 
 something like irony in the modera- 
 tion of the statement that "God 
 cannot lie." Westcott calls atten- 
 
 tion to the distinction in the Greek 
 between "God" in v. 17, which has 
 the definite article and is a personal 
 designation, and "God" in v. 18, 
 which has not, and is therefore de- 
 scriptive (see on ch. i. 2, on "his 
 Son"), "One who is God," " Onewhom 
 you recognize as God." 
 
 set before us. As something to 
 strive for, to move towards : so in 
 ch. xii. 1, 2. 
 
 19. an anchor. It is worth 
 noticing that this figure of an 
 anchor, which grows here naturally 
 out of the preceding idea of a 
 harbour of refuge, if it had to the 
 writer any roots also in literary 
 antecedents, must find them in 
 classical Greek, in which the anchor 
 is a common image of security. It 
 has no parallel in the Hebrew scrip- 
 tures. 
 
 a hope. . . entering. The repetition 
 of "hope" in RV. makes it clear 
 that it is hope, not the anchor (which 
 woiild be a needless mixture of meta- 
 phor), that enters " within the veil," 
 i.e. into the Holy of Holies. Hope 
 ventures into the very Presence of 
 God, for " Christ is our hope." 
 
 20. as a forerunner. (" I go to 
 prepare a place for you," John xiv. 
 2.) The word is used of the ad- 
 vanced guard of an approaching 
 army. See in the general note on 
 ch. X. 19-25 some remarks on the 
 effect of the phrase, slipped in thus 
 incidentally, in widening the sym- 
 bolism of the High Priest's entrance 
 into the Holy of Holies. 
 
 With ch. vii. we begin at last the explanatory comment, so long promised 
 and often deferred, on the title which has been given to the Christ, viz. the 
 " Priest (or High Priest) for ever after the order of Melchizedek." 
 
VII. 1-3] HEBREWS 47 
 
 VII. 1-3. Melchizedek in Gen. xiv. 
 
 VII. 1 For this " Melchizedek," " king of Salem," " priest of 
 God Most High," who " met Abraham returning from the 
 
 2 slaughter of the kings," and " blessed him," to whom also 
 Abraham divided " a tenth part of all " (being first, by 
 interpretation King of righteousness, and then also King 
 
 3 of Salem, which is King of peace ; without father, without 
 mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of 
 days nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God), 
 abideth a priest continually. 
 
 [I have pixt the phrases of vp. 1 and 2 into inverted commas to indicate 
 that they are verhatim quotations from Gen. xiv.] 
 
 The phrases of v. 3 mean that the picture of Melchizedek, as he appears 
 and disappears in the story of Genesis, shews us no pedigree, personal or 
 ofBcial, makes no mention of birth or death, predecessor or successor. In 
 this appearance we know not whence, and disappearance we know not 
 whither, he is " made like unto the Son of God " (cp. John vii. 27, " When 
 the Christ cometh no one knoweth whence he is "), i.e. he is fitted to be a 
 type of the " Son of God," the title used so often in this Epistle to denote, 
 from the Divine side, the Person of the Messiah. It is important to keep 
 clear what it is that the writer is doing. No doubt in the appeal to the 
 etymological meaning of names (Melchizedek — Salem), and in arguments 
 drawn from the silence of Scripture as well as from its utterance, he is 
 following the practice of Philo and the Alexandrine school of interpretation. 
 ' But he is not allegorizing for himself the story in Genesis. He is imagining 
 what the Psalmist is likely to have meant hy a '•'' Priest for ever after the 
 order of Melchizedek" The Psalmist, it was clear, took the title from the 
 short story in Gen. xiv. What did he find there to give meaning to the 
 title ? He found a Priest spoken of in lofty and mysterious terms, as King 
 at once and Priest, whose names and titles suggested prophetic and 
 Messianic meanings. " You hear," he says, " nothing of any earthly 
 ancestry. He comes into the narrative and vanishes again mysteriously, 
 as if not of this world. Abraham is represented as recognizing him for a 
 superior. That is the picture as it stands in Holy Writ." It will be seen 
 that the writer does not vouch even for all the particular points having 
 passed actually through the Psalmist's mind. He shews what the materials 
 were in the words of Genesis for the Psalmist's conception. Som.e allegorical, 
 metaphorical use of the story is evident (he would say) on the face of the 
 expression in Ps. ex. It is at least clear that the Psalmist meant to 
 describe the Messiah as one who should possess a Priesthood and one older, 
 and more venerable than that of the Levitical law. 
 
 VII. 1. For. The sentence thus for the third time it has been asserted 
 introduced is to justify the last clause in the words of Ps. ex. that Jesus is 
 of the preceding paragraph in which the High Priest " after the order of 
 
48 HEBREWS [vii. 4-10 
 
 Melchizedek," and especially to em- an archaic name for Jerusalem," 
 
 phasize its last words as they stand Driver. It occurs in Ps. Ixxvi. 2, 
 
 in the Greek, "for ever," "For this "In Salem also is his tabernacle," 
 
 Melchizedek (the ideal Melchizedek, where the LXX have "in peace" 
 
 that is, of whom the Psalm speaks) (eV flp-nvrj). 
 
 ...abideth a priest continually." 3. continually. It is a phrase 
 
 2. hy interpretation: i.e. that peculiar to this Epistle, occurring 
 
 was the etymological meaning of again in ch. x. 1, 12, 14. In the 
 
 the name. Driver on Gen. xiv. 18 last two places it is rendered in 
 
 throws doubts on the fact; but this R.V. by "for ever." It differs from 
 
 does not affect the truth of the the phrases more properly rendered 
 
 statement that this was the etymo- "for ever" in that it excludes not so 
 
 logical meaning as the Psalmist much a limit of duration as a breach 
 
 understood it. of continuity. 
 
 Salem. "Intended probably as 
 
 We have already in v. 3 touched a point, to be touched again in v. 8, 
 and which will be further elaborated in vv. 23-25, viz, the suggestion, 
 drawn from the story, of a priesthood outside the limitations of time. In 
 the rest of vv. 4-10 the writer presses the more obvious point of the 
 superiority of the priesthood as measured by the greatness of one to 
 whom Abraham offered tithes and from whom he accepted a blessing. 
 
 VII. 4-10. Comment on account in Genesis. 
 
 4 Now consider how great this man was, unto whom Abra- 
 ham, the patriarch, gave a tenth out of the chief spoils. 
 
 5 And they indeed of the sons of Levi that receive the 
 priest's office have commandment to take tithes of the 
 people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, 
 though these have come out of the loins of Abraham: 
 
 6 but he whose genealogy is not counted from them hath 
 taken tithes of Abraham, and hath blessed him that hath 
 
 7 the promises. But without any dispute the less is blessed 
 
 8 of the better. And here men that die receive tithes ; but 
 
 9 there one, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth. And, so 
 to say, through Abraham even Levi, who receiveth tithes, 
 
 10 hath paid tithes ; for he was yet in the loins of his father, 
 when Melchizedek met him. 
 
 4. how great this man teas, the pre-eminent dignity that this 
 
 greater than Abraham, greater than implies!" It is indicated in the 
 
 the Levitical priests. This is the characterizing of Abraham as "the 
 
 argument of vv. 4-10. "Melchize- patriarch" (in the Greek the word 
 
 dek took tithes of Abraham. See stands, with greater emphasis, almost 
 
VII. 4-10] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 49 
 
 as an exclamation, at the end of the 
 sentence), the "father of the race!" 
 the "father of all the tribes of Israel ! " 
 Then this suggests that tithe-taking 
 was not only allowed but enjoined in a 
 special "commandment" in the case 
 of the Levitical priests, tithe-taking 
 from their brethren, descendants 
 with them from Abraham. But 
 this again emphasizes the greatness 
 of Melchizedek, for he had no such 
 tie of race {v. 6), no such "com- 
 mandment," yet he took tithes of 
 the tithe-taker {m. 9, 10), took 
 tithes as by the law of a timeless 
 world (v. 8), took tithes of one 
 whom, by blessing him, he recog- 
 nized as inferior in rank to himself 
 {vv. 6, 7). 
 
 out of the chief spoils : not actually 
 stated in Gen. xiv., but inferred 
 apparently from the words " of all." 
 
 5. the sons of Levi. The suc- 
 cessive strata of legislation with 
 respect to tithes in the Jewish law 
 are hard to disentangle, but the 
 writer would go on such direct 
 statements as Numb, xviii. 21, 25. 
 It will be noticed that the exact 
 statement is that the Levites took 
 
 a tithe and the priests a tithe of 
 that tithe. 
 
 6. hath taken tithes; so "hath 
 blessed" and in v. 9 "hath paid." 
 It is an idiomatic use of the Greek 
 perfect tense (especially frequent in 
 this Epistle — see Westcott on this 
 verse) to characterize a past action 
 which endures in its effects. (An 
 instance easily grasped is in Pilate's 
 saying, John xix. 22, "what I have 
 wi-itten I have wi-itten," i.e. I cannot 
 unwrite it.) The meaning is ex- 
 panded in ». 8 ; the act of Mel- 
 chizedek which stamped his relation 
 to Abraham was done once for all. 
 It was not an accident of the gene- 
 rations. It was done and stands 
 recorded for all time in Scripture. 
 
 8. here... there; "in our own 
 experience ". . ." in the Scripture 
 story." 
 
 9. so to say ; an apologetic 
 phrase common in classical Greek, 
 but not found in the Bible save in 
 this place. It is opposed by Plato 
 to "in exact speech" (aKpi/Sei \6ya>). 
 It implies here that the saying to 
 which it is attached must not be 
 pressed logically. 
 
 Introductory Note to VII. 11-25. 
 
 Down to this point the writer has been interpreting the expressions of 
 the Psalmist by looking at the record in Genesis upon which they were 
 built. He goes on to examine a little more closely the actual expression 
 of the Psalm itself; and in three points, touched on severally (1) in w. 11-19, 
 (2) in vv. 20-22, (3) in vw. 23-25. 
 
 (1) vv. 11-19. We are to note that it is prophecy/. The Levitical priest- 
 hood was in possession: but there was to he a priesthood after another 
 order, of another tribe (vc. 13, 14), of another mode of appointment 
 {vv. 15-19). What can this mean, but that the Law (of which the Priest- 
 hood was a corner stone) was itself temporary and incomplete ? 
 
50 HEBREWS [vii. 1 1-28 
 
 VII. 11-28. Comment on prophecy in Ps. ex. 
 (1) " After the order of Melchizedek" (11-19.) 
 
 1 1 Now if there was perfection through the Levitical priest- 
 hood (for under it hath the people received the law), 
 what further need was there that another priest should 
 arise after the order of Melchizedek, and not be reckoned 
 
 12 after the order of Aaron ? For the priesthood being 
 changed, there is made of necessity a change also ^of the 
 
 13 law. For he of whom these things are said ^belongeth 
 to another tribe, fi-om which no man hath given attend- 
 
 14 ance at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord hath 
 sprung out of Judah; as to which tribe Moses spake 
 
 15 nothing concerning priests. And what we say is yet 
 more abundantly evident, if after the likeness of Mel- 
 
 16 chizedek there ariseth another priest, who hath been 
 made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but 
 
 17 after the power of an ^endless life: for it is witnessed 
 of him, 
 
 Thou art a priest for ever 
 After the order of Melchizedek. 
 
 18 For there is a disannulling of a foregoing commandment 
 
 19 because of its weakness and unprofitableness (for the law 
 made nothing perfect), and a bringing in thereupon of a 
 better hope, through which we draw nigh unto God. 
 
 ^ Or, of law ^ Gr. hath partaken of. See ch. ii. 14. 
 
 ^ Gr. indissoluble. 
 
 11. perfection. A special point either in the Bible or in other con- 
 in which it did not attain perfection temporary writings ; and suggests 
 is named in ch. ix. 9, viz. the cleans- that it was adopted by the writer 
 ing of the conscience: but the ex- here in preference to the more 
 pression here is larger, as in v. 19, natural "after the order of Aaron," 
 " the Law made nothing perfect " : in order to emphasize the difference 
 it brought to light defects, awoke of Tribe to which he is about to 
 desires, suggested adjustment; but call attention, 
 the fulfilments were typical, partial, under it. The Greek is more ex- 
 temporary, pressive, "upon it": the legislation 
 
 Levitical. Westcott notices that rests upon it as a building upon its 
 
 the adjective is not found elsewhere foundation. 
 
VII. 11-28] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 51 
 
 another. It should be noticed 
 that here, and again in v. 15, the 
 Greek word translated "another" 
 is the word which means not "a 
 second" but "a dififerent" one. 
 
 12, 13. For... For. There are 
 two steps in the argument. He 
 proves first that the words of the 
 Psalm imply a radical change in 
 the conditions of the priesthood; 
 and then that this carries with it 
 the conclusion that the Law, of 
 which the priesthood was a founda- 
 tion, was also sheAvn to be temporary. 
 The "For" of v. 12 justifies the re- 
 lation assumed in ». 11 between the 
 priesthood and the Law. The " For" 
 of p. 13 jui)tifies the statement that 
 the conditions of the priesthood have 
 been changed. "We notice that in 
 this argument the writer is speaking 
 as to convinced Christians and has 
 passed from the prophecy to the 
 fulfilment. He assumes that Jesus 
 is the promised "Priest after the 
 order of Melchizedek" and then 
 points out that He was of a Tribe 
 which had no priestly functions 
 under the Law. It is also implied 
 though not expressed in words, that 
 the words "of the order of Mel- 
 chizedek" had included the sense 
 of "not of the tribe of Levi." 
 
 14. fmth sprung. The verb in 
 the Greek has a sense of still 
 living metaphor which "to spring" 
 has lost in English ; and the figure 
 is probably of a growing plant — 
 after the prophetic image of " the 
 Branch," Zech. iii. 8, Isaiah xi. 1. 
 The verb is also used of the rising 
 of a star or the sun, and some have 
 preferred that figure her©. Cp. 
 Numb. xxiv. 17, Isaiah Ix. 1 and 
 the "dayspring" of Luke i. 78. 
 
 1 5. [;ujhat we say.'] As the italics 
 indicate, the subject of the sentence 
 is not expressed in the Greek. A.V. 
 
 inserts " it" It is the general truth 
 (which has been suggested, but is 
 not clearly stated till vv. 18, 19) that 
 this prophecy of Ps. ex. really im- 
 plies the supersession of the Law 
 by the Gospel. 
 
 after the likeness, i.e. in this 
 second point, viz. the mode of His 
 appointment. The argument is that 
 in the case of the Levitical priest 
 this turned upon conditions ("a 
 carnal commandment") which be- 
 long to this present life in the flesh, 
 conditions of relationship, succes- 
 sion, ceremonial purity, and the like. 
 The picture of the Melchizedek 
 priesthood belongs entirely to the 
 eternal world. 
 
 18, 19. It will be noticed that R. V. 
 has altered and improved the sense 
 by making " and a bringing in of a 
 better hope" dependent (together 
 with "a disannulling of a foregoing 
 commandment") on "there is" in 
 V. 18, and by throwing "for the 
 law, &c." into a parenthesis. A.V. 
 does violence to the Greek and 
 confuses the thought. 
 
 18. there is ; rather "there comes 
 about." The meaning is that this 
 happy revolution is implied in the 
 prophecy of Ps. ex. 
 
 commandment. It is the same 
 word as 'm.v. 16, "[carnal] command- 
 ment " ; and the special command- 
 ment spoken of is the same, viz. the 
 commandment which constituted the 
 Levitical priesthood : but it is treated 
 as the equivalent to the whole system 
 of sacrifice and propitiation. 
 
 because of its weakness. Rom. 
 viii. 3, "in that it was weak." It 
 is interesting to compare the two 
 passages, which agree in speaking 
 of the weakness or ineflScacy of the 
 Law, but differ characteristically in 
 point of view. St Paul is concerned 
 with the powerlessness of the Law to 
 
 4—2 
 
52 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [VII. 11-28 
 
 procure righteousness : the diflSculty 
 in the way is the weakness of the 
 flesh: the Law did not bring, as 
 grace did, new power to obey. The 
 present writer is concerned with its 
 powerlessness to provide an adequate 
 Atonement and so ease the con- 
 science : the difficulty in the way 
 is the impossibility that material 
 sacrifices should take away sin which 
 was concerned with the spiritual 
 sphere. 
 
 19. we draw nigh (eyyi^onep). 
 This is a different verb from that 
 translated "draw near"; see on 
 ch. iv. 16. It implies a special 
 closeness of access, being used in 
 Exodus distinctively of the priest- 
 hood. The writer is near to the 
 assertion which we shall meet in 
 ch. X. of the universal priesthood 
 of Christians. 
 
 (2) " The Lord sware." (20-22.) 
 
 20 And inasmuch as it is not without the taking of an 
 
 21 oath (for they indeed have been made priests without an 
 oath ; but he with an oath ^by him that saith ^of him, 
 
 The Lord sware and will not repent himself, 
 Thou art a priest for ever) ; 
 
 22 by so much also hath Jesus become the surety of a better 
 ^covenant. 
 
 1 Or, through 
 
 2 Or, to 
 
 ^ Or, testament 
 
 (2) vv. 20-22. The point is that the solemnity given by the oath 
 implies that it was a better and surer covenant that was to be introduced. 
 
 20. [i7/5.] Something, represented 
 in R.V. by "it is," has to be supplied, 
 and this (it is evident from what 
 follows) is " He has been made 
 priest." 
 
 22. by so much. These words 
 go in sense with "better": the 
 added solemnity of God's oath is 
 the measure of the greater perfec- 
 tion of the Covenant which it in- 
 troduced. 
 
 surety. The phrase is varied in 
 viii. 6, ix. 15, xii. 24 to "mediator." 
 
 A "mediator" of a covenant is one 
 who intervenes as a third party to 
 bring about the agreement. The 
 phrase "surety," or guarantor, adds 
 that he intervenes to the extent of 
 offering security to each for the 
 proper performance by the other. 
 
 a better covenant ; the "new cove- 
 nant" of Jer. xxxi. The writer is 
 feehng his way to that quotation, 
 just as the prophecy of Ps. ex. 
 coloured his language before it 
 appeared definitely in the argument. 
 
VII. 11-28] HEBREWS 53 
 
 (3) ''For ever." (23-25.) 
 
 23 And they indeed have been made priests many in 
 number, because that by death they are hindered from 
 
 24 continuing: but he, because he abideth for ever, ^hath his 
 
 25 priesthood ^ unchangeable. Wherefore also he is able to 
 save ^to the uttermost them that dravr near unto God 
 through him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession 
 for theuL 
 
 1 Or, hath a priesthood that doth not pass to another ^ Or, inviolable 
 
 ^ Gr. completely. 
 
 (3) vv. 23-25, "for ever." We are looking at these words again, not 
 now as referring to the conditions of appointment (with which we dealt 
 under (1)) but generally to the permanent character of the priesthood. 
 
 23. they, i.e. the Levitical priests. 25. save to the uttermost. There 
 
 24. for ever. The writer is are no limits (so Westcott) to the 
 quoting the Psalm. progi-essive (this is the force of the 
 
 uncJmngeahle. Marg. inviolable. present tense) salvation (the rescue 
 
 The word is a rare one. Btymo- from all evil, and so the leading to all 
 
 logically it might mean (and it perfection) of humanity, if men will 
 
 possibly may have meant here) address themselves through Him to 
 
 "that cannot pass over," i.e. in- the Father; for He is the "Priest 
 
 transmissible. Its usual meaning for ever," He lives for ever, and the 
 
 is the passive one, " that cannot be very purpose of His Life in Heaven 
 
 passed over," "beyond invasion," is to be pleading for them, 
 and so, metaphorically, " inviolable " 
 01-, more freely still, "unchangeable." 
 
 Summing up. (26-28.) 
 
 26 For such an high priest became us, holy, guileless, un- 
 defiled, separated fi'om sinners, and made higher than 
 
 27 the heavens ; who needeth not daily, like those high 
 priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins, and 
 then for the sins of the people : for this he did once for 
 
 28 all, when he offered up himself. For the law appointeth 
 men high priests, having infirmity; but the word of the 
 oath, which was after the law, appointeth a Son, perfected 
 for evermore. 
 
54 HEBREWS [vii. 11-28 
 
 General Note on VII. 26-28. 
 
 "A priest diflFerent from, and of a higher order than the Levitical 
 priests — able therefore to do what they could not do." So, starting from 
 the emphatic phrases of the last sentence, " save to the uttermost," " ever 
 living," the vrriter sums up the argument of the preceding paragraph — but 
 several things are added. 
 
 1. In the VFords "became us" which carry us back to ch. ii. 10. It is 
 the second time that this verb has been used in such a connexion. In both 
 cases he is turning from legal and typical aspects to the eternal relation 
 between God and man. In ii. 10 he was justifying a real Incarnation, the 
 true humanity of the Christ : it " became " God ; it was what God's Nature 
 demanded. And so here again he is justifying what, as before, the Jewish 
 prejudices of his readers found difficulty in accepting, the priestly work of 
 the Christ. It " became us." It was what our human nature demanded. 
 
 2. In the prominence given to the moral qualities of the ideal High 
 Priest. It is perhaps in his mind that the true High Priest (see note on 
 V. 26) possesses in substance the characteristics which in the Levitical High 
 Priest were typically represented. 
 
 3. In the words of v. 27, "when he offered up himself." It is the 
 custom of this Epistle by single phrases dropped, as it seems, incidentally 
 and not pursued, to give indication of the future course of the argument. 
 There is a striking instance here. "We are about to pass in ch. viii. from the 
 personality of the ideal High Priest to l^is functions; and the first question 
 will be, "What sacrifices has He to ofl"er?" That vdll be answered eventually 
 (see ch. ix. 12, 14, 25, 28, x. 10) by the full setting forth of the Sacrifice of 
 the Cross; but that answer is anticipated here in the words "when he 
 oflFered up himself" 
 
 4. In the contrast of v. 2%; where we seem to have an echo of ch. v. 5, 6, 
 i.e. to be setting side by side the prophecy of Ps. ex., which has just been 
 expounded, and the prophecy of Ps. ii., " Thou art my Son." It is the final 
 justification of the supreme place assigned to the " Priest after the order of 
 Melchizedek." 
 
 26. For. The writer is summing interest that the three Greek words 
 up the whole argument. That "such chosen are words which may gene- 
 a High Priest became us" is the rally be said to belong specially to 
 final justification of the whole pic- the three Books for which the writer 
 ture which he has presented of the of this Epistle shews particular fond- 
 Greater High Priest. ness, the Psalter, the Pi-overbs, and 
 
 holy, guileless, undefiled. The the Book of Wisdom, 
 
 three words indicate His perfection separated from, sinners. There is 
 
 severally as towards God (it is the perhaps a tacit comparison between 
 
 word [ocrtoy] which means holy in the Levitical High Priests, who in 
 
 character, as contrasted with ayio^, figure were set apart from the 
 
 holy in the sense of consecration to general order of sinful men and 
 
 holy use), towards men, towards raised to a level above them, yet 
 
 Himself It has been noted as of who were still reaUy "compassed 
 
VII. 11-28] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 55 
 
 with infirmity" (ch. v. 2), and the Son 
 who was "perfected," i.e. completely 
 fitted, not in figure only, for His 
 office. DuBose {High Priesthood 
 and Sacrifice, p. 79) comments on the 
 expression, noting that the word is 
 in the perfect passive participle, 
 and "signifies, not separate by nature, 
 but separated," "self-separated and 
 God-separated" ; "the whole stress of 
 the Epistle is not so much on what 
 our Lord is, as upon the distinctly 
 human — and yet not at all on that 
 account the less divine — act and 
 process by which He became what 
 He is." 
 
 made higher than the heavens. 
 See note on iv. 14. 
 
 27. daily. It is asked, why 
 "daily," seeing that the typical 
 sacrifice offered by the High Priest 
 for his own sins was only "once in 
 the year" (ix. 7)? It is answered 
 
 (1) that the words, in the Greek 
 even more evidently than in the 
 English, are ordered so that "daily" 
 is made to belong t» "needeth" 
 rather than to "offer sacrifices"; 
 
 (2) that the sacrifice is needed as 
 a condition of effective intercession, 
 and that it has been expressly said 
 that the ideal High Priest offers 
 His intercession (not once a year, 
 which was part of the typical ordi- 
 nance, but) perpetually. The need 
 therefore, if it existed at all, would 
 be a perpetual need. 
 
 At the same time, when we re- 
 member that the image of the High 
 Priest, though the part which it 
 plays is so important, passes (as 
 the Epistle goes on) into the more 
 general figures of the whole sacri- 
 ficial system (see ch. x. 11, "every 
 priest standeth day by day minis- 
 tering, &c."), it is difficult to deny 
 that the expression may be coloured 
 unconsciously by the thought of the 
 
 daily sacrifice, even though that was 
 not offered by the High Priest and 
 contained no special recognition of 
 the sins of the priest who offered it. 
 this he did. Grammatically " this " 
 should cover the sacrifice "for his 
 own sins" as well as that "for the 
 sins of the people." Is there any valid 
 reason why we should do violence 
 to the grammar, and make it apply 
 only to the second clause ? The 
 ^vriter is careful in any case to make 
 it clear beyond misconception that 
 in the case of the ideal High Priest 
 there is not in fact any personal sin 
 to be atoned for (iv. 15, vii. 26). On 
 the other hand the natural conclu- 
 sion from the unqualified statement 
 of ch. V. 3 is that there is something 
 in the case of the perfect High 
 Priest which answers, as antitype 
 answers to type, to the requirement 
 of the human and typical High Priest 
 that he should "as for the people, 
 so also for himself offer for sins." 
 The reconciliation is not worked out 
 in the Epistle. We are dealing with 
 figiu'es, and figures of eternal things- 
 But the direction which any solution 
 would take seems to be indicated in 
 the quotation from Ps. xl. (in ch. x.), 
 which is intended to be the last 
 word in the whole matter, and which 
 throws so much light on the sacri- 
 ficial language of the Epistle. There 
 was no sacrifice for "his own sins," 
 in the literal, human sense ; for there 
 could be no such sin to atone for. 
 But there had been real temptation, 
 a real mutual confronting of the 
 human and divine will ("not my 
 will but thine be done"); and so, 
 though there was no sin, there was 
 what answered to the typical sacri- 
 fice of the Levitical High Priest 
 for "his own sins" in the eternal 
 sacrifice by the Divine Son of His 
 own will: "Lo I come to do thy 
 
56 HEBREWS [vii. 11-28 
 
 will..." "He taketh away the first, human priests who "have iiifir- 
 
 that he may establish the second." mity," but it is the word which 
 
 28. a Son. See on ch. i. 2. sums up the contrast upon which 
 
 perfected. Cp. ii. 10, v. 9. A.V. we have been dwelling. In every 
 
 translates here "consecrated," and point of personality, of character, 
 
 the verb admits that sense, derived of position, His quahfications were 
 
 from the simpler meaning of " fully perfect, while they were "compassed 
 
 qualified for the purpose." But with infirmity," His quahfications 
 
 here it is more general. It is in were the substance, theirs only the 
 
 particular comparison with the types and shadows. 
 
 Introductory Note to ch. VIII. 
 
 In ch. viii. (as usually in the Epistle, without formal transition) we open 
 a new section of the argument. We are dealing still with the comparison, 
 begun in iv. 14, of the Christ to Aaron. He is the " High Priest of our 
 confession" (iii. 1), and the "gi-eat High Priest (iv. 14), of an "order" 
 indefinitely higher than that of the Levitical high priests. Up to this 
 point the comparison which was to make good those assertions has turned 
 on the mode and conditions of appointment, the relation to God and to 
 men, the moral characteristics really inherent or typically represented in 
 the High Priest. We are now to pass fi-om his personality to his functions. 
 These have been in general terms assumed from the beginning of the 
 Epistle, as in i. 3, "when he had made purification of sins," ii. 17, "to make 
 propitiation for the sins of the people." There has been throughout a 
 reference (it is at the bottom of the tacit substitution [see on v. 10] 
 of "High Priest" for "Priest" in the quotation from Ps. ex.) to the special 
 function of the Levitical High Priest on the Day of Atonement. But 
 there have been also from time to time expressions which have pointed to 
 the writer's fuU purpose to exhibit the Person and Work of Christ as 
 fulfilling in the spiritual sphere, and therefore as replacing, the whole 
 priestly and sacrificial system of the Law. This is what is now to be made 
 good. The writer approaches it therefore in two stages. Before proceeding 
 in ch. ix. to deal with it in detail, he seeks to put in a form which would 
 least shock and pei-plex liis readers two principles, which are evidently 
 involved in his teaching, and which in themselves would rouse the strongest 
 opposition. His method is the same as in the preceding section. Just as 
 there he had throvm his argument on the Personality of the divine High 
 Priest into the form of a comment or a pi-ophecy traced to the mouth 
 of David, and dravring its figure from the story of Abraham, so now he 
 commends what he has to say of the Heavenly Tabernacle and the Better 
 Covenant by putting them in the words and under the authority of a 
 passage from the history of Moses, and a central prophecy of Jeremiah. 
 
viii. 1-6] HEBREWS 67 
 
 VIII. 1-6. Functions of the Greater High Priest. 
 
 VIII. 1 ^Now ^iii the things which we are saying the chief 
 point is this : We have such a high priest, who sat down 
 on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the 
 
 2 heavens, a minister of the ^sanctuary, and of the true 
 
 3 tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man. For every 
 high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices : 
 wherefore it is necessary that this high priest also have 
 
 4 someAvhat to offer. Now if he were on earth, he would 
 not be a priest at all, seeing there are those who offer the 
 
 5 gifts according to the law ; who serve that which is a 
 copy and shadow of the heavenly things, even as Moses 
 is warned of God when he is about to ^make the tabernacle : 
 for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to 
 
 6 the pattern that was shewed thee in the mount. But now 
 hath he obtained a ministry the more excellent, by how 
 much also he is the mediator of a better ^covenant, which 
 hath been enacted upon better promises. 
 
 ^ Or, Now to sum up what we are saying : we have, d'c. " Gr. upon. 
 
 ^ Or, holy things ^ Or, complete ® Or, testament 
 
 VIII. 1. Now... [is this]. More viz. to the question of the functions 
 
 literally and better ("is this" is not in of the ideal Priest. 
 
 theGreek), "Butasacrown(i.e.toput tcho sat down, <&c. The expres- 
 
 a crown) upon what we are saying — ." sion "on the right hand of the... 
 
 The translation "sum" (A.V. and Majesty in the heavens " is intended 
 
 margin of II.V.) would require a (as Westcott suggests) to take us 
 
 genitive case, " of the things, &c." back to ch. i. 3. " The writer is at 
 
 instead of the preposition and dative length able to repeat, after gaining 
 
 case, " upon the things, &c." The a full view of the significance of the 
 
 sense also requires a phrase which statement, what he said at the be- 
 
 looks forward instead of back. The ginning." 
 
 writer starts, no doubt, from the the sanctuary, lit. "the Holy 
 
 point which he has attained, " such [Place]." It is used (as in ch. ix. 8, 
 
 a high priest," i.e. such as he has 12, 24, x. 19, xiii. 11) for what is 
 
 described; but the weight of the called in ix. 3 "the Holy of Holies," 
 
 sentence is in its last clause, "a in Exod. xxvi. 34 "the most holy 
 
 minister, &c." He is not going to place." The epithet " true " belongs 
 
 sum up again what has been already to the sanctuary, which is part of 
 
 said but is passing to a new depart- the tabernacle, as well as to the 
 
 ment of the argument, which he tabernacle as a whole, 
 
 feels to be of capital importance, true; as opposed to "copies and 
 
58 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [viii. 1-6 
 
 shadows " (v. 5 and see ix. 24). It is 
 a word characteristic of, though not 
 confined to, St John's Gospel, "the 
 true light," i. 9, "the true vine," xv. 1. 
 which the Lord pitched. As it is 
 put in ix. 11, the "tabernacle not 
 made with hands." " Pitched" is the 
 word used (as in Exod. xxxiii. 7) 
 of the erection by Moses of the 
 Tabernacle in the wilderness. "The 
 Lord" is used in the O.T. sense of 
 the phrase. 
 
 3. somewhat to offer. What is 
 He to oflFer? The Epistle itself 
 (ch. ix. 25) answers " Himself." It 
 should be noted (as a point which 
 translation cannot reproduce) that 
 the verb in the Greek is not in the 
 present tense, but in the aorist; 
 i.e. it represents a single and com- 
 plete, not a continuing or recurrent 
 act. The bearing of this is made 
 clear in ix. 25, 26, where it is argued 
 that this offering of Christ is not to 
 be viewed as something repeated; 
 otherwise His suflFering must have 
 been repeated. 
 
 4, 5. The argument is "He is a 
 High Priest: but if so. He must 
 have some function of sacrifice. You 
 say. Where ? Not on earth, even if 
 He were here : for the place is occu- 
 pied. The Levitical priests ofi"er 
 in the earthly tabernacle. But the 
 earthly tabernacle is not the only 
 one. It is (so the history of Moses 
 himself told us) itself only a copy — a 
 copy of something heavenly, spiritual. 
 It is in that heavenly sanctuary that 
 our High Priest serves; and His 
 
 ministry therefore is not a less but 
 a more excellent one." 
 
 5. Moses is warned. Exod. xxv. 
 40, xxvi. 30, xxvii. 8, Numb. viii. 4. 
 It is a point of the tradition which 
 is recalled in St Stephen's speech, 
 Acts vii. 44. It will be noticed that 
 the words "of God" are printed in 
 italics (as in xi. 7) as being an 
 addition to the original. The truth 
 is that, though they are not actually 
 present in the Greek, the verb is 
 used by itself of supernatural com- 
 munications, as by oracles, dreams, 
 &c. See Matt. ii. 12, &c. 
 
 is warned. The tense in the Greek 
 is perfect, "hath been warned," i.e. 
 "we read in Scripture of his being 
 warned " : see on ch. vii. 6. 
 
 6. This verse, in putting the "new 
 covenant" by the side of the heavenly 
 "ministry," takes us back to the 
 double aspect of the Christ as set 
 forth ch. iii. 1, "the Apostle and 
 High Priest," the Moses as well as 
 the Aaron "of our confession." 
 Moses is not actually named, but 
 the "Mediator" (that is, of the 
 Covenant) was a recognized Jewish 
 title for him (see Lightfoot on Gal. 
 iii. 19), and there is an implied 
 reference to him also here as the 
 Law-giver. 
 
 enacted. The verb (used before 
 in vii. 11) means "to legislate." The 
 word here implies that the new 
 Covenant, like the old one, is em- 
 bodied in a scheme of law. In 
 other words, Christ is the Law-giver 
 as well as the Mediator. 
 
VIII. 7-13] HEBREWS 59 
 
 VIII. 7-13. The New Covenant. 
 
 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then would 
 
 8 no place have been sought for a second. For, finding 
 fault with them, he saith. 
 
 Behold the days come, saith the Lord, 
 That I will ^make a new ^covenant with the house 
 of Israel and with the house of Judah ; 
 
 9 Not according to the ^covenant that I made with their 
 
 fathers 
 In the day when I took them by the hand to lead 
 
 them forth out of the land of Egypt; 
 For they continued not in my covenant. 
 And I regarded them not, saith the Lord. 
 
 10 For this is the ^covenant that ^I wiU make with the 
 
 house of Israel 
 After those days, saith the Lord; 
 I will put my laws into their mind. 
 And on their heart also will I write them; 
 And I will be to them a God, 
 And they shall be my people: 
 
 11 And they shall not teach every man his fellow-citizen, 
 And every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord : 
 For all shall know me. 
 
 From the least to the gi-eatest of them. 
 
 12 For I will be merciful to their iniquities, 
 And their sins will I remember no more. 
 
 13 In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first 
 old. But that which is becoming old and waxeth aged is 
 nigh unto vanishing away. 
 
 ^ Gr. accomplish. ^ Or, testament. ^ Gr. I will covenant. 
 
 General Note on VIII. 7-13. 
 
 The value of the prophecy for the ■vvriter's purpose lies not only in the 
 promise but also in the picture given of the new Covenant. It spoke of a 
 more effectual reconciliation, of a law WTitten on the heart, of sin forgiven 
 and forgotten. Since, then, this was what the older Revelation had led 
 men to look for, the way was open to explain that the new Revelation ful- 
 filled those anticipations. 
 
60 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [viii. 7-13 
 
 The name of Jeremiah is not mentioned : but this is the writer's practice 
 with quotation. On the other hand, to those who were familiar with the words 
 there was a special appropriateness both in the prophet and in the prophecy. 
 They were the words of the sad seer and patriot whose personal misfortunes 
 were recognized as giving liim a peculiar power of sympathy; to whom in 
 days of trouble the thoughts of his nation went back, as they had done in the 
 time of the Maccabees (2 Mace. xv. 14, "this is the lover of the brethren, 
 who prayeth much for the people and for the holy city, to wit, Jeremias the 
 prophet of God." Cp. Matt. xvi. 14). The prophecy is the great, con- 
 fessedly Messianic, prophecy of Jer. xxx.-xxxiii. given as the comfort of 
 the people in a time of distress and dissolution very like to that through 
 which the Hebrew Christians were passing. 
 
 7. would no place have teen 
 sought, i.e. words would not have 
 been used in Holy Scripture pointing 
 out the room for a new Covenant. 
 
 8. finding fault. The phrase is 
 chosen to coirespond vrith the 
 preceding "faultless." It is more 
 emphatic in the Greek, being placed 
 first in the sentence: "for fault he 
 is finding... when he says." The cor- 
 respondence is not verbally exact, 
 for "mth them" must mean "with 
 the people," whereas it was the 
 Covenant which, it was said, should 
 have been faultless. But the two 
 faults cannot be separated. If the 
 Covenant had been effectual there 
 would not have been the defects in 
 the people which caused the need 
 of a new Covenant. 
 
 he. See note on ch. ii. 5 : but 
 here the Person is evident from the 
 following verse, "saith the Lord." 
 The prophecy is from Jer. xxxi. 31 f 
 
 / will make. As is noticed in the 
 margin the literal translation is "I 
 will accomplish." It is not the word 
 in the LXX, which has here the 
 simpler word used in v. 10 ; but it 
 is a word used elsewhere by the 
 prophet in such a connexion, and 
 
 the sense that he was speaking of a 
 final and effective covenant brought 
 it to the writer's mind here. 
 
 a new covenant. There are two 
 words in Greek which are trans- 
 lated by "new" — one that means 
 " new in kind," the other that means 
 only "new in time," "recent." The 
 first is the one used here. Cp. 
 V. 13 and ch. ix. 15. The second, 
 which is equally applicable but does 
 not convey as full a sense, occurs in 
 this connexion in xii. 24. 
 
 9. took thetn by the hand. See 
 on ch. ii. 16. 
 
 And I regarded them not. These 
 words follow the LXX. The Hebrew 
 text had " although I was a husband 
 unto them." 
 
 13. is hecom,ing old and waxeth 
 aged. Tlie two phrases describe 
 severally the process of (1) becoming, 
 in fashion and estimation, a thing of 
 the past, (2) feeling internally (as 
 the human frame feels) the touch 
 of old age. The writer claims 
 Jeremiah not only as a prophet of 
 the future supersession of the Mosaic 
 Covenant, but as a witness that it 
 was already in his own time shewing 
 signs of decay and dissolution. 
 
IX. 1-10] HEBREWS 61 
 
 Introductory Note to ch. IX. and X. 1-18. 
 
 The way has now been prepared by the two appeals to accepted 
 principles of the Old Testament Scriptures, to the record of Moses that 
 the Tabernacle and its ordinances were never meant to be more than 
 " copies and shadows " of far more august things in the heavenly sphere ; 
 and to the prophecy of Jeremiah which spoke of a new and better covenant 
 which should lead to a real redemption from sin. The time has come 
 therefore when the writer feels himself ready to Advance to the assertion, 
 to which everything has been leading, of the entire supersession of the 
 Levitical system. He begins by allowing to the full the beauty and historic 
 dignity of the Mosaic ritual, the apparently rich provision made in it for 
 reconciliation and access to God. But he points out also that in its very 
 structure the Tabeniacle had taught from the beginning the imperfect 
 nature of that access : it was periodical, representative, typical. And so the 
 sacrifices are painted as bearing on their face, in their constant repetition, 
 proof of their ineffectiveness : for if they were effective, " would they not 
 have ceased to be off"ered ? " We notice that though the symbolism of the 
 Day of Atonement still colours much of the phraseology, it is made clear 
 (see ix. 9, 10, 13, 22, x. 11) that it is not a single point in the ritual, but the 
 whole sacrificial scheme that is in issue. We notice also that there comes 
 at times into the language a tone almost of bitterness : " things to eat and 
 to drink and difi"erent kinds of washing... ordinances of the flesh" (ix. 10), 
 " impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin " 
 (x. 4, 11). We notice also that as the argimient ends the writer falls back 
 on his old method, and rests the justification of his strongest assertions on 
 principles drawn from the older Scriptures, from Ps. xl., Ps. ex., and 
 Jer. xxxi. 
 
 IX. 1-10. Ritual of the Old Covenant — 
 
 ITS CONFESSED IMPERFECTIONS. 
 
 IX. 1 Now even the first covenant had ordinances of divine 
 
 2 service, and its sanctuary, a sanctuary of this world. For 
 there was a tabernacle prepared, the first, wherein ^luere 
 the candlestick, and the table, and ^the shewbread ; which 
 
 3 is called the Holy place. And after the second veil, the 
 
 4 tabernacle which is called the Holy of holies ; having a 
 golden ^censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round 
 about with gold, wherein *ivas a golden pot holding the 
 manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of 
 
 5 the covenant ; and above it cherubim of glory over- 
 shadowing ^the mercy-seat ; of which things we cannot 
 
 6 now speak severally. Now these things having been thus 
 
62 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [IX. 1-10 
 
 prepared, the priests go in continually into the first 
 
 7 tabernacle, accomplishing the services ; but into the 
 second the high priest alone, once in the year, not 
 without blood, which he offereth for himself, and for 
 
 8 the ^errors of the people ; the Holy Ghost this signifying, 
 that the way into the holy place hath not yet been made 
 manifest, while as the first tabernacle is yet standing ; 
 
 9 which is a parable for the time noiv present ; according 
 to which are offered both gifts and sacrifices that cannot, 
 as touching the conscience, make the worshipper perfect, 
 
 10 being only (with meats and drinks and divers washings) 
 carnal ordinances imposed until a time of reformation. 
 
 ^ Or, are 
 
 3 Or, altar of incense 
 
 ^ Gr, the propitiatory. 
 
 2 Gr. the setting forth of the loaves. 
 
 * Or, is 
 
 ® Gr. ignorances. 
 
 IX. 1. even the first covenant. 
 "I allow that even under the first 
 covenant there was ritual provision 
 of a kind, but — ." The answering 
 " but" which, in the Greek, the par- 
 ticles and the order of the words 
 presuppose, is to be found in sub- 
 stance in V. 6, which is equivalent to 
 " the provision was inadequate and 
 only typical." We may notice the 
 increase in boldness in the writer's 
 expressions since ch. iv. 2. There it 
 is, " We have good tidings brought to 
 us, as well as they." Here it is, 
 "Even under the old dispensation 
 there was provision for atonement." 
 As wiU be seen by the italics, the 
 substantive to " first " has to be sup- 
 plied. There is no doubt that our 
 Versions rightly supply it by 
 "covenant"; but some early editors 
 inserted in the text " tabernacle." 
 
 its sanctuary, its holy place, no 
 distinction being drawn in the ex- 
 pression between the so-called Holy 
 Place and the Holy of Holies. 
 
 a sanctuary of this world. The 
 translation of the words represented 
 
 by this phrase is encompassed with 
 difficulties. 
 
 (1) Supposing the word {ko(thik6p) 
 which is rendered "of this world" to 
 be an adjective and an epithet of 
 "sanctuary," its sense is doubtful. It 
 is usually taken, as in the text, to be 
 the adjective from xoV/iios, in the sense 
 of " the world " (that is, in this place, 
 the physical creation). It is then a 
 depreciatoiry word : " there was the 
 sanctuary, but it was a material 
 one," i.e. as opposed to the spiritual 
 Tabernacle, " not of this creation," of 
 V. 1 1. But it must be confessed that 
 this is not the kind of epithet which 
 at the moment we expect. The 
 writer's aim in the first instance is 
 to grant all that can be granted of 
 the first Tabernacle. He dwells on 
 its manifold arrangements, its pre- 
 cious and costly contents. That this 
 character should be summed up in a 
 single epithet seems natural And 
 there is a sense of the word Koa-fn- 
 Kos which suits the purpose well. 
 It is a rare word, but amongst its 
 few appearances it is found in 
 
IX. 1-10] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 63 
 
 Josephus {Bell. Jud. iv. § 5. 2) as an 
 epithet of the Temple worship, and 
 there it is evidently the adjective of 
 Koa^oi, in its sense of "order" or 
 " beauty " : the worship was "beauti- 
 fully ordered." 
 
 (2) This is just the sense needed 
 here, but meanwhile a serious diffi- 
 culty lies in the construction of the 
 words, a difficulty which cannot be 
 said as yet to be solved. As was 
 pointed out 100 years ago by Bp 
 Middleton {On the Greek Article, 
 p. 413), any rendering which makes 
 Koa-fjuKov an epithet and dyiov a 
 substantive, standing in the order 
 in which they do in the sentence, 
 is in apparent violation of a well- 
 established rule of Greek syntax. 
 
 The choice seems to lie between 
 two com-ses. 
 
 (1) To face this difficulty and sup- 
 pose (though the parallels quoted 
 are insufficient to establish clearly 
 the construction) that the Avriter 
 meant to make the double statement, 
 that the First Covenant had a 
 sanctuary, and that the sanctuary 
 which it had was beautifully ordered. 
 (Notice that if this is right he meant 
 no doubt to attach the description 
 "beautifully ordered" in sense to 
 the "ordinances of divine service" 
 as well as to the sanctuary.) 
 
 (2) To suppose some error of 
 copying which cannot be fully re- 
 stored, or some imknown sense of 
 Koa-fxiKov which would make it the 
 substantive and ayiov the adjective, 
 "the holy — ." It has been sug- 
 gested that the original reading 
 may have been rov ayiov Koa-fiov — 
 "the holy beauty" or "the beauty 
 of hohness " — or that koo-^iikov itself 
 may have acquired this sense : but 
 there is no evidence to support this. 
 
 2. a tabernacle. It is to be 
 noticed that the writer speaks 
 
 throughout of the Tabernacle, not 
 of the Temple. He is appealing to 
 his readers' knowledge of Scripture, 
 not to their personal experience (see 
 Introd.). His argument is that by 
 the construction and arrangement 
 of the Tabernacle, as contemplated 
 and ordered in the Mosaic Law it- 
 self, the principle was recognized 
 that the ritual to which it belonged 
 was provisional and typical. That 
 it is the Sacred Tent of the wilder- 
 ness that is in view is evident from 
 the description of its contents. The 
 " ark of the covenant," according to 
 Jewish tradition, was lost at the 
 Captivity ; but even in Solomon's 
 Temple it is said definitely (1 Kings 
 vlii. 9) to have contained nothing 
 but the Tables of the Law. The 
 "pot of manna" and "Aaron's rod 
 that budded " belong to the wilder- 
 ness. It is said of them (Bxod. xvi. 
 33 and Numb. xvii. 10) that they 
 were laid up " before the testimony." 
 That this meant "within the ark" 
 was a matter of later tradition. 
 
 prepared. See on ch. iii. 3. The 
 word covers both construction and 
 furniture. 
 
 the first (cp. vv. 6 and 8). The 
 tabernacle, divided by a veil into 
 two chambei-s, is spoken of as two 
 tabernacles, a "first" or outer, and 
 a " second " or inner. 
 
 tJie candlestick. Exod. xxv. 30 f. 
 The seven-branched candlestick or 
 lampstand of the shape famihar to 
 us from its representation on the 
 Arch of Titus. In Solomon's 
 Temple there were ten (1 Kings 
 vii. 49). In the Herodian Temple 
 there was again only one. 
 
 the table and the shewbread. 
 Exod. xxvi. 35, xl. 22, 23 ; Lev. xxiv. 
 5f. 
 
 Holy place . . . Holy of holies. For 
 the distinction see Exod. xxvi. 33. 
 
64 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [IX. 1-10 
 
 3. the second veil. The veil 
 spoken of in Exod. xxvi. 31-33 ; in 
 contrast with the outer veil at the 
 entrance of the Holy place, which is 
 referred to in v. 6, and is that of v. 36 
 of the same chapter. 
 
 4. censer (or, altar of incense). 
 The Greek word has both senses. 
 In classical Greek it means censer ; 
 and this usage is found in the O.T. 
 in the only two places (2 Chron. 
 xxvi. 19, Ezek. viii. 11) where the 
 word is used, the common word for 
 " censer " being a different one. In 
 writers contemporary with this 
 Epistle (Philo and Josephus) it is 
 the title for the altar of incense. 
 Neither rendering in this place is 
 free from considerable difficulty. If 
 we take it to mean censer, i.e. the 
 censer in which incense was to be 
 carried into the Holy of Holies on 
 the Day of Atonement (Lev. xvi. 
 12, there is no mention there nor 
 elsewhere of this having been of 
 gold), it is hard to understand why, 
 in this otherwise full account of the 
 furniture of the two holy places, the 
 altar of incense, familiar in the use 
 of the later Temple (see Luke i. 8 f.) 
 and prominent in the descriptions of 
 Exodus, is silently omitted. If we 
 take it for the altar of incense., we 
 are met with what is at first sight 
 the greater difficulty, that the writer 
 seems to place it \vithin the Holy of 
 Holies, whereas the direct state- 
 ments of Exod. XXX. 6, confirmed 
 by the use made of the altar in 
 the daily service, assign its place 
 unmistakeably outside the "second 
 veil." A mistake in such a matter is 
 incredible. And it is scarcely more 
 satisfactory to suppose (Hastings' 
 Diet. s.v. Tabernacle) that the writer 
 is following an independent tradi- 
 tion. He evidently keeps close to 
 the text of Exodus. It seems how- 
 
 ever possible (and it is open to the 
 fewest objections) to explain "hav- 
 ing" not of local inclusion, but of 
 close connexion in idea and use. 
 This is indeed the only way in which 
 the censer itself was related to the 
 Holy of Holies. It cannot have 
 been kept within it. There is a 
 very similar expression used of the 
 altar of incense in 1 Kings vi. 22 
 (R.V.), "the altar that belonged to 
 the oracle," the " oracle " (as is made 
 clear in the following verse) meaning 
 the Holy of Holies. The altar of 
 incense is spoken of as " before the 
 mercy-seat," Exod. xxx. 6, xl. 6. It 
 was intimately connected both in its 
 daily use with the general symbolism 
 of the Holy of Holies, and specially 
 with the ceremonies of the Day of 
 Atonement {ibid. v. 10). 
 
 the ark of the covenant. The 
 common title in the O.T. It was 
 the equivalent of the "ark of the 
 testimony," and both titles referred 
 to the fact that traditionally and in 
 idea it contained the Tables of the 
 Law. 
 
 5. cherubim cf glory. See Exod- 
 XXV. 18-22. "Cherubim which ex- 
 press, localize, God's manifested 
 glory." The nearest parallel for the 
 phrase is " the throne of his glory," 
 Matt. XXV. 31. God's Presence was 
 thought of as localized above the 
 mercy-seat, "between the Cheru- 
 bim," Exod. XXV. 22 ; Ps. Ixxx. 1. 
 
 the mercy-seat (Gr. propitiatory, 
 marg. ) : the plate or lid of gold which 
 lay over the Ark of the Covenant, 
 and which was sprinkled with the 
 blood on the Day of Atonement. Its 
 Hebrew name was " Capporeth," and 
 this was rendered by the LXX in 
 Exod. XXV. 17 by two words {IXaa-TT}- 
 piov fnidefxa), the substantive mean- 
 ing "a cover," and the adjective 
 "belonging to propitiation." It is 
 
IX. 1-10] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 65 
 
 a disputed question whether the 
 idea of propitiation belonged pro- 
 perly to the Hebrew name as " some- 
 thing that covers or puts out of 
 sight," or was added by the Greek 
 translators as indicating the use of 
 the "cover." In practice, in the 
 Greek, the substantive was generally 
 dropped, and the adjective stood 
 alone for "the instrument (or, the 
 place) of propitiation." Our trans- 
 lation, "mercy-seat," comes from 
 Luther's rendering " Gnadenstuhl," 
 which, again, is an interpretation 
 rather than a literal translation, and 
 had in view such expressions as 
 "the throne of gi-ace" in this Epistle 
 (iv. 16). 
 
 of which things tee cannot now 
 speak severally. The words suggest 
 that more might be said, in the 
 direction which he has indicated, of 
 the preciousness of the contents of 
 the Holy of Holies (all that was costly 
 — this is the point of the repeated 
 " of gold " — all that was august and 
 sacred). " But," he continues, " rich 
 as all this was in promise, how small 
 was the access allowed to it ! " 
 
 6. prepared. The word takes 
 us back to v. 2. We pass from the 
 arrangements of the "sanctuary," 
 there named, to the " ordinances of 
 divine service," i.e. to the use made 
 of the sanctuary. 
 
 go. The present tense in this and 
 the following verses is not of what 
 happens at the moment of writing, 
 but of what happens according to 
 Scripture : the priests " are to go." 
 These tenses therefore do not by 
 themselves prove that the Temple 
 worship was still going on (see 
 Introd. III. § 4). 
 
 the services ; i.e. the services or- 
 dained according to v. 1 and belong- 
 ing to the Holy Place — the dressing 
 of the lamps (Exod. xxvii. 21), the 
 
 offering of incense (Exod. xxx. 7), 
 the changing of the shewbread (Lev. 
 xxiv. 8). 
 
 7. errors. Gr. ignorances (marg.). 
 The literal rendering should be 
 kept as in ch. v. 2, "the ignorant 
 (the word used here), and erring" 
 (another word). So in our Litany, 
 " sins, negligences and ignorances." 
 
 8. the Holy Ghost. " There is a 
 divine meaning" (Westcott) in the 
 ritual as well as in the words of the 
 O.T. 
 
 way into the holy place. This is the 
 word translated in ch. viii. 2 " sanc- 
 tuary," i.e. the Holy of Holies ; and 
 the whole expression is equivalent 
 to that of X. 19, 20, "to enter into 
 the holy place... the way which he 
 dedicated for us, &c." 
 
 Jirsi tabernacle. The words must 
 have the same sense as in vi\ 2 and 
 6, viz. the first, or outer, chamber of 
 the Tabernacle. 
 
 is yet standing. The Greek is 
 more emphatic, " has yet standing," 
 i.e. standing room, place and purpose. 
 
 9. which \is'\ a parable. The 
 question is raised whether the ante- 
 cedent to " which " is to be found in 
 " the first tabernacle," or in " stand- 
 ing," or in the whole clause, " which 
 thing," i.e. the fact that the first 
 tabernacle was yet standing. The 
 last is the simplest, and the Greek, 
 though not requiring, amply admits 
 it. The existence of the outer 
 tabernacle, so fenced and differenced 
 from the inner one in which God's 
 Presence was localized, was a 
 parable. 
 
 [/«... wotr.] As will be seen from 
 the italics in the text, these words do 
 not stand in the Greek. In A.V. the 
 words supplied are "was" and "then." 
 This made no difference in the sense. 
 The Revisers desired only to mark 
 more clearly the uniformity of tense 
 
66 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [IX. 11-14 
 
 throughout (see on v. 6, " go "). "The 
 time present" in either case is the 
 time of the Jewish Dispensation 
 ("these days" of eh. i. 2) as con- 
 trasted with the "time of reforma- 
 tion" of the following verse (the 
 "age to come" of ch. vi. 5, the 
 " days that come " of viii. 8), that is, 
 with the Messianic Dispensation. 
 
 according to which. The ante- 
 cedent is " parable." The parable of 
 the divided Tabernacle, with its veil 
 still hanging, is worked out in an 
 analogous system of imperfect, typi- 
 cal, " gifts and sacrifices." 
 
 10. with meats, &c. "With" 
 here means "resting upon," "con- 
 ditioned by." For the " meats and 
 drinks" see Col. ii. 16 ; Rom. xiv. 17. 
 The rules of the Law had been ex- 
 tended in Jewish tradition : see 
 Lightfoot on Col. I.e. See also 
 Introd. III. § 5. 
 
 divers washings. See Mark vii. 4. 
 
 carnal ordinances. We are taken 
 back by the word "ordinances" to 
 
 V. 1. As vv. 6-8 had shewn how the 
 "tabernacle" of the Old Covenant 
 by its construction proclaimed its 
 own failure as a real meeting-place 
 of God and man, so vv. 9, 10 pro- 
 claim the failure of the "ordinances 
 of divine service." There is in the 
 Greek a further verbal correspond- 
 ence which is not reproduced in our 
 translation between the "divine 
 service " {to^ XarpeLas) of V. 6 and the 
 "worshipper" {jhv XarpfvovTa) of v. 9. 
 The failure is stamped in the word 
 " carnal." They were material. To 
 " make the worshipper perfect," i.e. 
 to do for him all that his conscience 
 required to be done (see on ch. vii. 
 11, "perfection"), they must be 
 spiritual. 
 
 imposed. There is in the word 
 some feeling of the "burden" of 
 such rule : cp. Matt, xxiii. 4 ; Acts 
 XV. 10, 28. 
 
 a time of r^ormation, i.e. of put- 
 ting things on a better footing. 
 
 IX. 11-14 Superiority of the Christian Atonement. 
 
 11 But Christ, having come a high priest of Hhe good 
 things to come, through the greater and more perfect 
 tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this 
 
 12 creation, nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, 
 but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the 
 
 13 holy place, having obtained eternal redemption. For if 
 the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of an heifer 
 sprinkling them that have been defiled, sanctify unto the 
 
 14 cleanness of the flesh ; how much more shall the blood of 
 Christ, who through the eternal Spirit ofiered himself 
 without blemish unto God, cleanse ^your conscience from 
 dead works to serve the living God ? 
 
 1 Some ancient authorities read the good things that are come. 
 
 2 Many ancient authorities read our. 
 
IX. 11-14] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 67 
 
 General Note on w. 11-14. 
 
 As w. 1-10 have set forth the provision for priestly access and for atone- 
 ment made under the Old Covenant, and its weakness, so vv. 11-14 set forth, 
 in contrast with it, the provision made by the " more excellent ministry " 
 of the New. Its superiority lies in the fact that it is immaterial. The 
 Tabernacle which offers access, the Sacrifice which makes atonement, are 
 spiritual ; and therefore the access and the atonement are eternal. 
 
 1 1. having come, i.e. come on the 
 scene, come as a new Presence and 
 Power. So the verb is used of the 
 appearance of John the Baptist, " In 
 those days came John the Baptist," 
 Matt. iii. 1. It suggests a turning- 
 point in a history. 
 
 tJte good things to come. The 
 phrase is repeated in ch. x. 1. The 
 good things of the new era which 
 He came to open are contrasted 
 with the " time present " of v. 9 
 which had to be content with 
 " parables," figures. A " high priest 
 of the good things" is a High 
 Priest whose ministrations win for 
 the people these blessings. As the 
 margin notices, there is an early 
 variant for " things to come," "things 
 that are come" {yevofitvav). It 
 stands in the Vatican MS, and in 
 several early versions, and was read 
 by Chrysostom. If it were adopted, 
 it would mean "good things which 
 are already realized... not promised 
 only and future," Westcott. 
 
 through. Hee v. 12, "through the 
 blood." It is difficult to give two 
 diff'erent senses to the preposition 
 in the two consecutive clauses, as 
 though the first were local, " passing 
 through," and the second causal, 
 " in virtue of," or " with the accom- 
 paniment of" ; and the second sense 
 is the only one which suits both 
 clauses. It is however questionable 
 whether "through the... tabernacle" 
 should be taken directly with "en- 
 tered in" rather than with the words 
 "high priest of the good things to 
 
 come " ; His service and the blessing 
 which it wins have as their sphere 
 the greater Tabernacle. For the use 
 of the preposition itself, " through " 
 {8id), in both cases Westcott com- 
 pares 1 John V. 6, "this is he that 
 came by {8ia.) water and blood." He 
 might have added that the preposi- 
 tion is varied there (and so inter- 
 preted) in the'following clause (see 
 margin of R.V.) by " in," just as here 
 "through the blood" becomes in 
 V. 25 "with (Gr. "in," eV) the 
 blood." 
 
 the greater and more perfect 
 tabernacle. The same as the " true 
 tabernacle" of ch. viii. 2, the "pat- 
 tern " of viii. 5. It is asked what this 
 greater Tabernacle is. An answer 
 must involve the larger question of 
 the use of typical language in this 
 Epistle. On the one hand it is clear 
 that the correspondence between 
 material type and spiritual reality 
 must be general, not particular ; a cor- 
 respondence of the ideas embodied, 
 not of the form of their embodi- 
 ment. All types are the shadowing 
 forth of something that cannot be 
 grasped. The true "Tabernacle" 
 must be, as the true place of worship 
 (John iv. 21), "neither in this moun- 
 tain nor in Jerusalem." The teach- 
 ing of the Epistle is that all types of 
 approach to God's Presence, and of 
 atonement, are fulfilled once and 
 for all in the Person of the Incarnate 
 Son. On the other hand the fulfil- 
 ment is expressed itself in figurative 
 language borrowed from the typical 
 5—2 
 
68 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [IX. 11-14 
 
 system: and these figures change. 
 The language which describes 
 Christ's atoning action is coloured 
 with the phraseology of the Jewish 
 Day of Atonement. Christ is the 
 High Priest. He offers His own 
 Blood. He passes "into" or 
 "through the Tabernacle," "through 
 the veil" He passes "through the 
 heavens" (ch. iv. 14). But the 
 "heavens," if taken locally, are, as 
 much as the Temple, "of this crea- 
 tion." And again the figures are not 
 constant. If the true Tabernacle 
 is in any literal sense the " pattern " 
 of the earthly one, it should have 
 something to correspond to the divi- 
 sion, to the 'Veil." The Holy of Holies 
 in V. 24 of this chapter is the figure 
 of Heaven itself. In iv. 14, as we 
 saw, the veil seems to be the 
 "heavens." In ch. x. 20 it is "his 
 flesh." In X. 15-22 the Christian 
 himself receives the consecration and 
 has the right of access which belongs 
 to the High Priest " by the Blood of 
 Jesus." If then we are asked "what 
 is the greater and more perfect 
 Tabernacle " we can only answer that 
 it is a figure, and a figure which ad- 
 mits of interpretation only as part of 
 a larger figure. As a whole the 
 types of sanctuary, priest, and ofl"er- 
 ing shadowed forth the power of 
 access to God's Presence opened to 
 sin-stained man by God Himself in 
 the Person of His Incarnate Son. 
 The earthly Tabernacle and its ritual 
 typified these things in the imper- 
 fection of an inchoate Revelation. 
 The heavenly Tabernacle figures 
 them as perfectly realized. The 
 heavenly Tabernacle is not the anti- 
 type, but a figure, borrowing its 
 imagery from the type : and neither 
 type nor figure will bear breaking 
 up into portions as though each por- 
 tion must have a distinct fact or 
 existence to answer to it. 
 
 not made with hands. See v. 24. 
 It is diflBcult to say whether the 
 imagery has its roots in sayings 
 traditionally attributed to our Lord 
 Himself, as in John iv. 21 and id. ii. 
 19. His special image of the temple 
 built without hands we know to have 
 caught the attention both of friends 
 {ibid. V. 22) and of enemies (Mark xiv, 
 58). 
 
 not of this creation. Not belong- 
 ing to this visible frame of things — 
 not material. "This," as in "this 
 life," 1 Cor. xv. 19; "creation" as in 
 Col. i. 15. The words have also been 
 translated (as A.V.) "not of this 
 building," and taken as strictly 
 parallel to " which the Lord pitched 
 and not man" (ch. viii. 2). 
 
 12. goats and calves. The usual 
 combination to designate sacrifices 
 generally is that of ch. x. 4, "bulls 
 and goats." The pi'eference here and 
 in V. 13 for "goats and calves (bul- 
 locks)" means probably that the 
 gokts of the Day of Atonement are 
 specially in the writer's mind. 
 
 13. Fori/.... Vb. 13, 14 dwell 
 on and emphasize the phrase 
 "eternal redemption," a redemp- 
 tion without limit of time, a re- 
 demption of spirit and life. "If — 
 you allow so much — the sacrifices of 
 the old Law, the blood of the goats 
 and calves, as on the Day of Atone- 
 ment, or the sprinkling of the ashes 
 of a burnt heifer in the case of cere- 
 monial defilement, were accepted as 
 giving ceremonial cleansing and as 
 restoring to visible communion, do 
 you not see the infinitely greater 
 power of such a sacrifice as that of 
 Christ to cleanse the moral defile- 
 ment and restore the pardoned to 
 the possibility of acceptable service 
 to God?" 
 
 and the ashes of an heifer. The 
 reference is to the ritual described 
 in Numb. xix. for the purification of 
 
IX. 11-14] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 69 
 
 those who, by touching a dead body, 
 or otherwise, had contracted cere- 
 monial iincleanness. The sentence 
 began as if the comparison were to 
 be, as before, between the Eternal 
 Sacrifice and the typical sacrifices of 
 the Day of Atonement, but with one 
 of those turns which belong to a 
 piece of oratory rather than a 
 treatise, the writer passes to a 
 second and more limited class of 
 pm-ificatory sacrifices. This is due 
 in part to his purpose of shewing 
 that it is not one rite, but the whole 
 sacrificial system that is in question, 
 in part to the contrast, which is al- 
 ready coming into his mind, between 
 the imaginary and ceremonial defile- 
 ment for touching a dead body, and 
 the real and moral defilement of 
 " dead works." 
 
 sanctify unto (rather, " in respect 
 of"). To sanctify, or as we should 
 rather say, to "consecrate," is to set 
 apart for God's service. The verb is 
 applied to a priestly order, or to the 
 whole people, or to places and things 
 dedicated to sacred uses. Here it 
 means to re-consecrate— to restore, 
 as by an absolution, the consecrated 
 status of a member of the holy 
 nation. 
 
 cleanness of the flesh ;' an external, 
 ceremonial purity. "Flesh" is op- 
 posed to " spirit." It is a reference 
 back to the "carnal ordinances," 
 ordinances of the flesh, of v. 10. Cp. 
 Mark vii. 18-23. 
 
 14. through the eternal Spirit. 
 The words seem to take us into un- 
 fathomable depths of the Divine 
 Nature; but so far as we can define 
 their meaning, it is defined by the 
 context It is to be noticed that in 
 tlie Greek phrase there is no definite 
 article. It is better therefore to 
 translate "an eternal Spirit." This 
 does not mean that the writer does 
 
 not speak of the Spirit of God : but 
 (just as with " a Son," in ch. i. 2) the 
 omission of the article makes the 
 phrase descriptive rather than a 
 mere designation. This is essential 
 to the purpose : for (1) there in an 
 intended contrast running through 
 the sentence between the 'material 
 sacrifices of dumb animals oS"ered 
 imder the Law and the "spiritual, vo- 
 luntary, moral " Sacrifice of Calvary. 
 Swete {The Holy Spirit in the New 
 Testament, p. 252) follows out still 
 further in beautiful language the 
 meaning of the words from this point 
 of view : " The Spirit which impelled 
 our Lord to oflfer the Great Sacrifice 
 was not the spirit of this world, 
 narrow, time-bound, but a larger, 
 longer outlook upon the whole of life, 
 the Spirit that views all things 
 sub specie aeternitatis, that takes 
 its standpoint in the invisible and 
 eternal, not in this short existence": 
 (2) there is reference back to the 
 "eternal redemption" oi v. 12: the 
 redemption is "eternal," because 
 the Spirit through Wliom it was 
 eflFected is the Spirit of the Eternal. 
 The redemption belongs to the 
 timeless sphere. The exact phrase 
 " through the Spirit " does not occur 
 in this connexion elsewhere : but the 
 actions of the Incarnate Son are con- 
 stantly spoken of as proceeding from 
 His union with the Father through 
 the Spirit. He "speaketh the words 
 of God. ..for He giveth not the Spirit 
 by measure" (John iii. 34) ; He was 
 " anointed with the Holy Ghost and 
 went about doing good, for God was 
 with Him" (Acts x. 38). St Paul 
 associates the indwelling of the 
 Spirit with the fact of Resurrec- 
 tion ; in the first place our Resur- 
 rection, but constructively also the 
 Resurrection of Christ (Rom. viii. 11). 
 without blemish: the require- 
 
70 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [IX. 15 
 
 ment in the case of all victims 
 offered under the Law, and especi- 
 ally named in the case under view, 
 Numb. xix. 2. St Peter makes the 
 same application, 1 Pet. i. 19. 
 
 dead works. See on ch. vi. 1, 
 "repentance from dead works." The 
 phrase would seem to be habitual, 
 but here it is brought into con- 
 nexion with the context, (1) as con- 
 trasting with the service of the 
 "living God," (2) as answering anti- 
 typically to the effect of touching a 
 dead body. 
 
 to serve (Xarpcvfiv) : a ritual word, 
 being the same which is used in v. 9, 
 where the participle is translated 
 "the worshipper." The t)'pical lan- 
 guage is continued with a moral 
 meaning. The effect of the ceremonial 
 cleansing was to restore to the man 
 his place in the congregation. So the 
 effect of the cleansed conscience is 
 to enable him to offer what St Paul 
 
 calls (Rom. xii. 1) "reasonable ser- 
 vice": cp. our Collect for 21st S. 
 after Trinity, "that we may be 
 cleansed from all our sins and serve 
 thee with a quiet mind." 
 
 the living God: a title frequent in 
 the O.T. (see inter al. Deut. v. 26; 
 Josh. iii. 10) and in tacit comparison 
 with the lifeless idols. It is adopted 
 in the N.T. and sometimes with the 
 same contrast, as in Acts xiv. 15, 
 "to turn from these vain things 
 unto the living God " (so in 1 Thess. 
 i. 9 and cp. in this Epistle iii. 12) ; 
 sometimes with other thoughts 
 which the attribute of life sug- 
 gests, as eternity, or power, the 
 power to reward and to punish, the 
 impossibility of eluding or escap- 
 ing Him (as ch. x. 31). Here the 
 contrast is between "dead works" 
 and the service of the Source of life, 
 order, progress. 
 
 IX. 15. Need of a Death in the New Covenant. 
 
 15 And for this cause he is the mediator of a new ^covenant, 
 that a death having taken place for the redemption of the 
 transgressions that were under the first ^covenant, they 
 that have been called may receive the promise of the 
 eternal inheritance. 
 
 ^ The Greek word here used signifies both covenant and testament. 
 
 General Note on v. 15. 
 
 This sentence at once completes the preceding subject, by shewing the 
 link between the "more excellent ministry" and the "New Covenant"; and 
 also, after the writer's manner, opens the further point of the necessity to 
 this New Covenant of " a death." We may paraphrase " And because of 
 this (i.e. because of the power of His sacrifice to effect an "eternal re- 
 demption ") He has been able to bring about that New Covenant of which 
 the prophet Jeremiah spoke, a New Covenant completing and rendering 
 effective the Old." For the Old had failed. Its sacrifices had not taken 
 away sin and therefore the promised " inheritance " had not been realized. 
 
 There seems to be a suggestion, which would mean much to a Jewish 
 Christian, that the sacrifice of Christ was retrospective in effect — the one 
 thing waited for to give validity to all the sacrifices that had been offered 
 
IX. 16, 17] HEBREWS 71 
 
 through the centuries, and to put the elect people in possession of the 
 " eternal inheritance " promised to their forefathers, but never given save in 
 type and shadow. 
 
 The parallel is not to be looked for in 1 Pet. iii. 19, which refers to 
 another class of persons (those spoken of here are the faithful sons of the 
 Old Covenant, who, as we read in ch. xi. 13 and 39, "received not the 
 promise"), but rather in 1 Pet. i. 19, 20, and possibly Rev. xiii. 8 (but see 
 Swete's note there). The objects of redemption are united in one category, 
 for the One and Only Sacrifice is not of the sphere of time. None were bom 
 too soon to feel its effects, and none will be born too late. See note on 
 ix. 26. 
 
 The next paragraph mil take up the words "a death having taken place"; 
 "a death — I say — for a covenant requires a death." Notice also that this 
 dwelling on the necessity foi* a death is part of the vFritei*'s purpose to meet 
 the Jewish shrinking from the idea of death as associated with the Messiah. 
 See general note on ii. 5-18. 
 
 15. they that have been called. sharers, as all Israelites were, in 
 Cp. the expression in ch. iii. 1, "par- the call of Abraham, 
 takers of a heavenly calling" — 
 
 IX. 16, 17. Analogy from daily life. 
 
 16 For where a Hestament is, there must of necessity ^be 
 
 17 the death of him that made it. For a testament is of force 
 ^ where there hath been a death : *for doth it ever avail 
 while he that made it liveth? 
 
 ^ The Greek word here used signifies both covenant and testament. 
 ^ Gr. he brought. ^ Gr. over the dead. 
 
 * Or, for it doth never... liveth. 
 
 General Note on vv. 16, 17. 
 
 The writer justifies the association of "a death" with the "New 
 Covenant" by three arguments or, rather, illustrations : (\) vv. 16, 17, from 
 law and common experience ; (2) vc. 18-20, from the precedent of the Old 
 Covenant ; (3) vv. 21-23, from the general analogy of the Levitical ritual. 
 
 The first illustration {vv. 16, 17), if we may keep the translation which 
 stands in the text ("where a testament is"), is perfectly clear and straight- 
 forward. The writer is seeking (as he seeks throughout the Epistle) to meet 
 the feelings of readers who shrink from associating the Messiah, Who comes 
 to renew and perfect the Covenant between God and His people, with the 
 death of the Cross. He says, in effect. Think of the Covenant as, what 
 it is indeed, a Testament rather than a Covenant proper — as an arrange- 
 ment made in advance for securing to God's children a desired in- 
 heritance. Such a "testament" does not take effect unless the testator 
 himself die. The writer speaks (as St Paul says of himself in a very similar 
 connexion, in Gal. iii. 15) " after the manner of men." The figure of a testa- 
 ment, just as the figures, whether of a covenant or of a sacrifice, can only 
 
72 HEBREWS [ix. 16, 17 
 
 hold to a certain point, can only touch one side of what it illustrates : but 
 so far as it goes it is unambiguous. It is the same figure that St Luke puts 
 into our Lord's own mouth on the night of the Passion, " I appoint unto you 
 a kingdom " (Luke xxii. 29), where the verb is the cognate verb to the sub- 
 stantive used here {BiaTidefxai) and speaks of testamentary appointment. : 
 
 On the whole this has been the usual way of explaining the passage, but 
 it has been criticized by eminent commentators. It is therefore well to see 
 some of the reasons for defending it. 
 
 1. It has been said that the universal use of the word diadtjKr] in the 
 LXX is for "covenant" and that this is followed in the N.T., the only 
 doubtful case besides the present one being Gal. iii. 15, where R.V. reads 
 "covenant," but puts "or, testament" in the margin; Lightfoot defends 
 " covenant," but see the valuable note in Ramsay's Galatians, § xxxiv. The 
 etymological meaning of diad^Krf is a " disposition," or arrangement ; and its 
 use in secular Greek, both of the classical era and under the Empire, 
 covered the two senses of " covenant," or arrangement by agreement, and 
 " testament," or airangement by will. The latter of the two is the commoner 
 in extant literature : but there is the reason that there was an alternative 
 word {(ruv6vKr)) for a " covenant." It is true that in Biblical Greek the word 
 is very frequently used, and in the O.T. always for a "covenant" : but it must 
 be added that no other word is found meaning a " will," and that there is no 
 proof therefore that, if the sacred writers had wished to speak of a will, they 
 would not have used the word as the classical writers used it. The use of 
 the verb, already referred to, in Luke xxii. 29, looks as if they would have 
 done so. So far then as the general use of the word is concerned, there seems 
 to be no reason against giving it the sense of "testament," if that sense suits 
 the context. 
 
 2. Is it then forbidden by the fact that the word is undoubtedly used 
 for " covenant " in other parts of this Epistle and in the general argument 
 of this chapter ? In the first place it should be said that the variation in 
 meaning is not as great as at first sight appears. It is made more easy 
 (a) by the consciousness, wliich would be present to any Greek writer, of the 
 neutral meaning in the first instance of bia6r)Krj as an " appointment " or ar- 
 rangement : {h) by the consciousness, evident throughout the Epistle, that 
 "covenant," in the strict sense of an arrangement in which there is a 
 reciprocity of benefits and engagements, was not an accurate word to de- 
 scribe on both sides God's promises and commands (see note on ch. viii. 8) : 
 (c) by the presence (in v. 15), immediately before this narrowing of the sense of 
 btaQrjKr] seems to occur, of words which give to the "arrangement" the 
 colour of a " testament," viz. " promise " and " inheritance." 
 
 3. But the strongest reason for retaining the usual interpretation is the 
 diflBculty of making really satisfactory sense out of the rendering "covenant." 
 With that rendering, the statements of ^5. 16 have to do not with the actual 
 death of the covenanting person but with an imagined and represented 
 death. It could not be said literally that a covenant involved for its 
 vaUdity the death of the parties to it. It is true (and this is what, in this 
 view of the meaning, is referred to) that in the ancient world generally a 
 covenant was made (see Psalm 1. 5) " with sacrifice." The custom was so well 
 
IX. 18-20] HEBREWS 73 
 
 understood that it passed into the language of Greeks, Latins, and Hebrews 
 (see Driver on Gen. xv.) alike, and a verb signifying to " cut " or to " strike " 
 (" icere foedus " in Latin) was used in speaking of making a covenant. The 
 current explanation of the custom was that the covenanting parties thus re- 
 presented the fate which they invoked on themselves if they should violate 
 the covenant. It has been indeed suggested (as by Mr Kendall) that this is 
 what is meant in these verses. He renders "where a covenant is made, 
 death of him that makes it must be the forfeit offered. For a covenant is 
 ratified upon dead victims : for is it strong at a time when he that makes it 
 lives after breaking it ? " But this is to put great force upon the words. 
 In the intei-pretation to which Westcott lends his gi-eat authority another 
 explanation of the custom is given, viz. that the dead victims represented 
 the death of the contracting parties, in the sense that they put themselves, 
 as though they were dead, beyond the power of revoking their engagement. 
 Even in this view it is evident that a good deal has to be read into what seem 
 plain words. And it will be seen that the illustration which the writer is 
 giving turns, according to this view, not on facts or habits within the 
 cognizance of his readers, but on an interpretation, not the current or most 
 obvious interpretation, nor one explicitly stated, of an immemorial custom. 
 If this were his intention, would he not have made it more clear to his 
 readers? And is not the point of view more analytical and modem than 
 that of a writer in the N.T. ? 
 
 IX. 18-20. Analogy from the Old Covenajstt. 
 
 18 Wherefore even the first covenant hath not been dedicated 
 
 19 without blood. For when every commandment had been 
 spoken by Moses unto all the people according to the law, 
 he took the blood of the calves and goats, with water and 
 scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself, 
 
 20 and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the ^covenant 
 which God commanded to you-ward. 
 
 ^ The Greek word here used signifies both covenant aud testament. 
 
 General Note on vv. 18-20. 
 
 These verses give the second argument or illustration. The Mosaic 
 Covenant was dedicated with the blood of sacrifice. The general reference 
 is to the description of the sacrifices at the ratification of the Covenant in 
 Exod. xxiv. ; but the detail goes in several points beyond what is contained 
 in that description. The "calves and goats" (see on v. 12) is possibly a 
 general phrase for animal sacrifice : on this occasion Exodus names only 
 bullocks. The method of sprinkling — the mixture of water, and the use of 
 the bunch of hyssop tied round a stick with scarlet wool — though not men 
 tioned in that place is described on another occasion, when blood was 
 to be sprinkled, in Lev. xiv. 5 f. The sprinkling of the " book," though not 
 named in Exodus, is a natural addition. 
 
74 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [IX. 21-23 
 
 20. This is the blood. The words 
 attributed to Moses in Exodus are 
 "Behold the blood." It has been 
 suggested that the change is due to 
 familiarity of the wiiter with the 
 traditional form ("This is" — My 
 Blood of the Covenant — or, the 
 Blood of the New Covenant) of 
 
 the words used in the institution 
 of the Lord's Supper. In any case 
 we can hardly doubt that both to 
 wi-iter and to readers there would be 
 present the thought of the way in 
 which He had linked the commemo- 
 ration of His death to the sacrifices 
 which inaugurated the Old Covenant 
 
 IX. 21-23. Analogy from the whole Mosaic ritual. 
 
 21 Moreover the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry 
 
 22 he sprinkled in like manner with the blood. And according 
 to the law, I may almost say, all things are cleansed with 
 blood, and apart from shedding of blood there is no remis- 
 
 23 sion. It was necessary therefore that the copies of the 
 things in the heavens should be cleansed with these ; but 
 the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than 
 these. 
 
 2L with the blood. This is be- 
 yond the record in Exod. xl. 9f, 
 which only mentions the sprinkling 
 of the "tabernacle and all that is 
 therein " with oil. But Josephus, in 
 describing the same ceremony, adds 
 the blood. 
 
 22. no remission, lit. no release 
 (as from debt, slavery, &c.). It is 
 usually accompanied by a genitive 
 of that from which the release is 
 effected. Here it covers the guilt 
 of sin and all disabling conditions of 
 ceremonial uncleanness, &c. 
 
 23. It may be asked in what 
 sense the "heavenly things" can need 
 cleansing. It is a question perhaps 
 of which we feel the pressure more 
 than the first readers of the Epistle 
 would have felt it. We do not take 
 figures for granted as they would. 
 The expression starts from the 
 
 earthly counterparts. The cleans- 
 ing was in idea, for the conscience 
 of the worshipper. Without the 
 blood of piu-ification his presence, 
 his offerings, would have been an 
 offence, a stain. When it is trans- 
 ferred to the heavenly realities the 
 truth of feeling remains. It is still 
 a truth for the human spirit. Heaven 
 without the sense of atonement 
 would not be heaven — would be no 
 place of untroubled memory. It 
 could not welcome the sin-stained. 
 The phrase suggests no new require- 
 ment, no more effectual ceremony. 
 It is itself only a metaphor from the 
 old typical language, and its meaning 
 is the same truth which is behind all 
 such language. See on the whole 
 matter note on the "greater and 
 more perfect tabernacle," ix. 11. 
 
 Introductory Note to vv. 24-28. 
 
 In the five following verses (24-28) two reasons are recalled why the 
 offering of Christ is (as was said in v. 23) such a " better," i.e. more effectual, 
 sacrifice than the Levitical offerings, viz. : 
 
IX. 24-28] HEBREWS 76 
 
 (1) that it was presented not in a sanctuary made with hands but' in the 
 true Presence of God ; 
 
 (2) that it was not and could not be repeated, like those of the Aaronic 
 priesthood. It was a single and perfect sacrifice. 
 
 IX. 24-28. Sacrifice in the spiritual and timeless 
 
 SPHERE. 
 
 24 For Christ entered not into a holy place made with hands, 
 like in pattern to the true ; but into heaven itself, now to 
 
 25 appear in the presence of God for us : nor yet that he 
 should oifer himself often ; as the high priest entereth into 
 
 26 the holy place year by year with blood not his own ; else 
 must he often have suffered since the foundation of the 
 world : but now once at the ^end of the ages hath he been 
 manifested to put away sin ^by the sacrifice of himself. 
 
 27 And inasmuch as it is ^appointed unto men once to die and 
 
 28 after this cometh judgement ; so Christ also, having been 
 once offered to bear the sins of many, shall appear a 
 second time, apart from sin, to them that wait for him, 
 unto salvation. 
 
 ^ Or, coyisummation 2 Qj.^ j^ j^ig sacrifice 
 
 ' Gr. laid up for. 
 
 24. made with hands: see p. 11 25. that he should : He entered 
 
 of this chapter. not in such a sense as tJiat He should, 
 
 not.. .like in pattern, i.e. not like &c. 
 in pattern only, in reference to ch. offer himself : of the Sacrifice of 
 viii. 5. It is the reality, not (as the the Cross. If there were to be a re- 
 Mosaic Tabernacle) a " copy and peated entrance of the Holy Place, 
 shadow." there must be also, as there was in 
 
 to appear in the presence : lit. the typical system, a repeated sacri- 
 
 " to shew himself visibly to the face." fice. See on this the note at ch. viii. 
 
 Thewordsin ourVersionsdo not give, 3. 
 
 with the emphasis of the Greek, the 26. since the foundation of the 
 fulness of mutual Self-manifestation, world. Notice the point of view, 
 "face to face," as it is meant to The Sacrifice "once ofi"ered" is re- 
 contrast with anything that could trospective, as well as prospective, 
 be said of the High Priest in the Its timelessness justifies the long 
 sanctuary, in the dim light before postponement as well as the non- 
 the invisible Presence, and screened repetition. It covers all sin. See 
 even then by the cloud of incense note on v. 15. 
 "lest he die," Lev. xvi. 13. now. not temporal, but, as often, 
 
76 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [IX. 24-28 
 
 = "as things actually are." See 
 amongst other places 1 Cor. xiii. 13, 
 XV. 20. 
 
 the end (or, consummation) of the 
 ages. The nearest parallel is 1 Cor. 
 X. 11, "the ends of the ages." It 
 diflFers from St Matthew's (xiii. 39, 
 40, 49, xxiv. 3, xxviii. 20), " the con- 
 summation of the age," in that, while 
 that speaks of the completion of a 
 single age or dispensation, this 
 speaks of Christ's coming in the 
 flesh as having been the crown of 
 a series of dispensations. Cp. Eph. 
 i. 10. 
 
 to put away sin, lit. "for the dis- 
 annulling (it is the same word that 
 is used in vii. 18) of sin." The verb 
 from which it comes is used in Gal. 
 ii. 21, iii. 15 of "making void." Sin 
 is viewed as, in idea, made as though 
 it had not been. 
 
 27. inasmuch as. The certainty 
 of the one truth is a measure of the 
 certainty of the other. As surely as 
 for each one of us there are two things 
 in store and no more, to die once, and 
 then not to be born and die again, 
 but to be judged as though the 
 mortal life was complete, so surely 
 Christ also died once and dies no 
 more, but is to return in glory. It 
 is one of the many forms in which 
 
 the writer puts the view that the 
 Sacrifice of Christ was the last act in 
 the drama. Sacrifice in all its forms 
 and meanings was consummated and 
 ended. 
 
 28. to bear the sins of many. 
 The combination of words, seeing 
 that the word for " to bear " is an 
 unusual one, must be taken to shew 
 that the writer has in mind Isaiah liii. 
 12. Cp. 1 Pet. ii. 24. St Peter, by 
 adding the words " up to the tree " 
 (R.V. marg.), gives to "bear" the 
 sense of "carry, as on to an altar." 
 And this may be the case here also. 
 
 apart from sin. See on ch. iv. 15. 
 The words here seem to qualify " a 
 second time." They are part of the 
 contrast between the first and second 
 Comings. His second will bo a re- 
 petition of His first, save in its rela- 
 tion to sin. The first appearance 
 was "to put away sin." That pur- 
 pose was fully accomplished and has 
 not to be accomplished again. 
 
 unto salvation. See on i. 14. It 
 is one of the instances (like Rom. xiii. 
 11) in which the N.T. writers take up 
 the O.T. language with respect to 
 salvation (deliverance, final righting 
 of wrongs) as something to be waited 
 for and surely looked to : cp. Isaiah 
 XXV. 9, Ivi. 1, &c. 
 
 Introductory Note to X. 1-18. 
 
 The argument is nearly ended; but the writer lingers over it to 
 emphasize one or two points in the exposition and to give more poignant 
 expression to one or two of the principles on which he builds. It is made 
 clear that it is not one group of ceremonies but the whole sacrificial system 
 (" the law," X. 1) that was a shadow of something better to come. The year- 
 long cycle of observances carried in itself the proof of its own ineflFectiveness. 
 In the vivid phrases of v. 3 such a cycle of sacrifices was a continually re- 
 peated calling to mind (" remembrance ") of sins, not their " putting away " 
 (ix. 25). It was " impossible " that the blood of bulls and goats should " take 
 away " sin. All ends with the clear statement of the abolition of the old 
 Levitical system as useless to effect its purpose. And here once more he 
 finds support in the old Scripture — first {vv. 6-10) in Ps. xl., a new quotation, 
 
X. 1-4] HEBREWS 11 
 
 to shew that it was part of the prophetic conception of the Messiah that He 
 should set a.side " sacrifice and offering " and substitute for them the sur- 
 render of will ; then in two passages of which he has already made much use ; 
 (1) w. 11-14, a final quotation from Ps. ex., dwelling now on the phrase 
 "sit thou," as the welcome to One Whose work was done; (2) rt?. 15-18, 
 in Jer. xxxi. with its final words " their sins and iniquities will I remember 
 no more " and his own comment, which sums up the teaching of the 
 Epistle, " where remission of these is there is no more offering for sin." 
 
 X. 1-4. Summing up of whole argument. 
 
 X. 1 For the law having a shadow of the good things to 
 come, not the very image of the things, ^they can never with 
 the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continu- 
 
 2 ally, make perfect them that draw nigh. Else would they 
 not have ceased to be offered, because the worshippers, 
 having been once cleansed, would have had no more con- 
 
 3 science of sins ? But in those sacrifices there is a remem- 
 
 4 brance made of sins year by year. For it is impossible that 
 the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. 
 
 ^ Some ancient authorities read it can. 
 
 X. 1. For. The writer is giving the the good things to come, recalls, 
 
 foundation principles, at last reached, and is meant to recall, ch. ix. 1 1. See 
 
 which are the grounds and justifica- note there, 
 
 tion of all that he has been saying. thfycan never. With this reading 
 
 shadow... very image. There is a " they " must be the same subject as 
 
 similar antithesis in Col. ii. 17, with the following verb " they offer," 
 
 "8hadow...body," but the figures are i.e. the Levitical priests; and "the 
 
 not identical. The contrast there is law having, &c.," although it is in the 
 
 of substantiality ; there is some re- nom. case, must be taken as in abso- 
 
 semblance to the eye between the lute construction. A. V. omits "they," 
 
 two things, but one is fugitive, un- making "the law" the subject of 
 
 substantial, the other solid, that can " can never." The difference is one 
 
 be touched. Here the contrast is in of text, R. V. translating a plural 
 
 respect of completeness of presenta- verb (8v'i/ai/rat), which has the best 
 
 tion. Both things are spoken of as MS authority ; A.V. the singular 
 
 appealing to the eye ; but one is as (Suvarat). The broken construction 
 
 an outline, the other as the visible is alien to the style of the Epistle ; 
 
 form of the thing itself. The word and most editors hold that ^wavrai 
 
 translated " image " is the one used is an error which arose from its 
 
 in Col. i. 15 to denote the relation of neighbourhood to the plural "they 
 
 the Divine Son to the Godhead : He offer." 
 
 is the " image of the invisible God," continually. See on ch. vii. 3. 
 
 God become visible. The stress is on the arrangement 
 
78 HEBREWS [x. 5-10 
 
 of sacrifices in an unbroken yearly 3. a remembrance. Whether the 
 cycle. As it is pointed out in the thought was in the writer's mind we 
 introductory note to these verses, the cannot say, but, as commentators 
 reference is not to the rites of the point out, there is a suggestive con- 
 Day of Atonement, which were per- trast in the word between this sen- 
 formed once a year (ch. ix. 7), but to tence on the sacrifices of the Old 
 the whole arrangement of services Covenant, a " remembrance of sins," 
 in a yearly cycle. and the words of institution in the 
 
 m,ake perfect. See v. 14 and ch. commemorative sacrifice of the New 
 
 ix. 9. Covenant, " in remembrance of Me," 
 
 that draw nigh. See onch. iv. 16. i.e. of the sacrifice which has put 
 
 It is here " that are drawing nigh," away sin. 
 who are seeking access to God. 
 
 X. 5-10. The meaning of Psalm xl. 
 
 5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, 
 
 Sacrifice and ofiering thou wouldest not, 
 But a body didst thou prepare for me ; 
 
 6 In whole burnt ofierings and sacrifices for sin thou hadst 
 
 no pleasure. 
 
 7 Then said I, Lo, I am come 
 
 (In the roll of the book it is written of me) 
 To do thy will, God. 
 
 8 Saying above, Sacrifices and ofiferings and whole burnt 
 offerings and sacrifices for sin thou wouldest not, neither 
 hadst pleasure therein (the which are offered according to 
 
 9 the law), then hath he said, Lo, I am come to do thy will. 
 He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. 
 
 10 ^By which will we have been sanctified through the offering 
 of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 
 
 1 Or, In 
 
 General Note on vv. 5-10. 
 
 The words of Ps. xl. might have been quoted simply as one of the most 
 pointed expressions of the sense, which colours so much of the prophetic 
 Books of the O.T., that " to obey is better than sacrifice." But the writer 
 treats the Psalm as though it would be recognized by his readers as having 
 a special Messianic reference, and puts the words " Lo, I come (not to ofi"er 
 the sacrifices of the Law, but) to do thy vriU" into the mouth of the Messiah 
 Himself as He " cometh into the world." 
 
 We can hardly be wrong in assigning to the quotation a special purpose 
 in respect to the argument of the Epistle. It is the last of the three great 
 prophetic sayings on which that argument is rested. Ps. ex. was quoted to 
 shew that the Priesthood of the Law was confessedly to give way to a Priest- 
 
X. 5-10] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 79 
 
 hood of a higher order. Jer. xxxi. was quoted to shew that the Covenant 
 of Sinai was to be superseded by a better Covenant. 
 
 Of what nature were the new Priesthood and tlie New Covenant ? They 
 have been described necessarily to a great extent in figurative language 
 drawn from the Levitical system. Was there danger of misunderstanding, 
 of materialistic intei-pretation ? The third quotation is to shew that at the 
 heart of the prophetic teaching was the sense tha,t Sacrifice itself was a figure, 
 and in any material form was to pass away ; that its whole meaning and pur- 
 pose was attained in the surrender of the will : " He taketh away the first 
 that He may establish the second." We cannot but think of the words with 
 which, after the long discourse upon the Bread of Life, St John represents 
 our Lord as warning His disciples against materialistic interpretation or de- 
 duction : "It is the spirit that quickeneth," John vi. 63. 
 
 The quotation is taken, yf\t\\ only unimportant exceptions literally, from 
 the LXX and reproduces the curious variation found in that Version of " a 
 body didst thou prepare [i.e. make fit in all its organs] for me," where the 
 Hebrew has "mine ears hast thou opened." It has been explained as a 
 textual corruption in an early copy of the LXX, which seems just possible, 
 but the prevailing view is that it was an inteiT^retative gloss, a purposed 
 enlargement of the statement to meet the sense : the original spoke of 
 " opening the ear " ; the translator added " not one avenue only by which 
 mind can reach mind, but all — a human nature perfect in aU its 
 sensibilities." 
 
 5. when he cometh. See note 
 on ch. i. 6. 
 
 7. Lo, I am come. The phrase 
 expresses the ready and instanta- 
 neous obedience. 
 
 roll. The word means literally 
 "a little head," and is supposed to 
 have been applied to the knob at the 
 end of the roller on which a roll of 
 parchment was woimd. This suits 
 its use in Bzek. ii. 9, iii. 1, and in 
 this place. It has been suggested 
 by modern critics that Ps. xl. is of 
 the date of Josiah and that the "roll 
 of the Book" is the "Book of the 
 Law" which Hilkiah the High Priest 
 found in the Temple, 2 Chron. xxxiv. 
 14 f. 
 
 leritten of me. R.V. in the Psalm 
 oflFers the alternative " prescribed to 
 me," as though it meant "my duty, 
 my part, is prescribed in the Law." 
 This gives more relevance to the 
 clause than to take it of prophecy. 
 
 8. Saying above... then hath he 
 said.... There is no contrast be- 
 tween "above" and "then." If there 
 were, it should be "having said." 
 "Then" means "at the same time," 
 "while he says in the earlier part of 
 the sentence... at the same time he 
 says...." The writer would make it 
 clear that the two utterances are 
 intimately related to one another. 
 The "coming to do the will" is the 
 other side of the disallowance of 
 material sacrifice. 
 
 10. By {marg. In) which will. The 
 literal rendering is "in," and it is less 
 open to misunderstanding. It is not 
 meant merely that it was God's Will 
 that Christians should be sanctified 
 (or, consecrated) by the ofiering of 
 Christ's sacrifice; but that in the 
 perfect doing of God's Will by Christ 
 there was a virtue which consecrated 
 His people. 
 
80 HEBREWS [x. 11-14 
 
 Additional Note on v. 10. 
 
 Though we are at the point at which our thoughts are fully directed to 
 the real, spiritual facts, to the antitype, we yet do not get whoUy free from 
 metaphors drawn from the type : " sanctified " or " consecrated " belongs to 
 the language of the Covenant, meaning "set apart as God's people," and 
 the consecration needed the "oflFering" of sacrifice. But again the words 
 " the Body of Jesus Christ " must be meant to take us back to the words 
 quoted from Ps. xl., " a body didst thou prepare for me." The Sacrifice of 
 which we are speaking (we are reminded again) is that ofi"ering of the 
 Body — the sacrifice of "Will, which was rendered possible by the Incarnation, 
 and which is expressly contrasted with " sacrifices and ofi'erings and whole 
 burnt ofierings and sacrifices for sin," i.e. with what the world had hitherto 
 understood by sacrifice. 
 
 It is difficult, throughout, to say how far the imagery of the Christian 
 Sacraments, familiar to writer and readers, was consciously influencing 
 expressions or turns of thought ; but it is tempting to think that, as iu 
 "this is the Blood of the Covenant" in ix. 20, and in the "remembrance" of 
 X. 3, so here, in the "offering of the Body of Jesus Christ," there is present 
 a shadow of the other words of consecration, " This is my Body which is for 
 you." 
 
 X. 11-14. Meaning of "sat down" in Ps. ex. 
 
 11 And every Spriest indeed standeth day by day ministering 
 and offering many times the same sacrifices, the which can 
 
 12 never take away sins : but he, Avhen he had offered one 
 sacrifice for ^ sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of 
 
 13 God : from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made 
 
 14 the footstool of his feet. For by one offering he hath 
 perfected for ever them that are sanctified. 
 
 ^ Some ancient authorities read high priest. 
 ^ Or, sins, for ever sat down, c&c. 
 
 General Note on w. 11-14. 
 
 The writer brings to bear upon the point of the singleness and eternal 
 results of the Sacrifice of the true High Priest some words in the much quoted 
 prophecy of Ps. ex. which have not yet received separate emphasis. The 
 Priest after the order of Melchizedek was bidden to " sit " at God's right 
 hand, and to sit until His enemies were made His footstool. This meant 
 that His Priestly Ministration was viewed as completed. It is contrasted 
 here not with the yearly service of the High Priest on the Day of Atone- 
 ment, but with the daily service of the Priests who stand (in the attitude 
 of readiness for further service) offering the daily sacrifice. 
 
X. 15-18] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 81 
 
 11. take away. It is in the 
 Greek a different word from that 
 used in r. 4, and means literally to 
 "strip off," as of a clinging garment. 
 It is the word used in 2 Cor. iii. 16 of 
 stripping off a veil. See note on ch. 
 xii. 1, "the sin which doth so easily 
 beset us." 
 
 12. for ever (it is a more coloured 
 and emphatic phrase than our "for 
 ever"; rather, "for a perpetuity," 
 "without break or limit"). The re- 
 petition of the phrase after "hath 
 perfected" in ». 14 shews that the Re- 
 visers are right in their punctuation 
 in the text. The effect of the offering 
 was as complete and continuous as it 
 was purposed to be. 
 
 14. them tJiat are sanctified. 
 This is not the Greek perfect par- 
 
 ticiple, as in V. 10 (which is there 
 rendered by "[have beenjsanctified"), 
 but the present. It illustrates at 
 once the elasticity and the precision 
 of the writer's language. To sanctify 
 (or, to consecrate), as we have seen, 
 is to admit men, or to restore them, 
 to the full position as members of 
 the consecrated people. The phrase 
 here "hath perfected... them that are 
 sanctified" corresponds as a whole 
 to the tense of "we have been sancti- 
 fied" in ». 10 ; but it gives a further 
 aspect. It is on GocCs side that the 
 work is complete ; no more is needed. 
 That is stated in both phrases. But 
 in the latter one we see also the 
 man individually seeking and ac- 
 cepting the " sanctification " pro- 
 vided. 
 
 X. 15-18. The New Covenant means that sacrifice 
 
 IS ENDED. 
 
 15 And the Holy Ghost also beareth witness to us : for after 
 he hath said, 
 
 16 This is the ^covenant that ^I will make with them 
 After those days, saith the Lord ; 
 
 I will put my laws on their heart, 
 And upon their mind also will I write them ; 
 the7i saith he, 
 
 17 And their sins and their iniquities will I remember no 
 
 more, 
 
 18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more oflfering 
 for sin. 
 
 1 Or, testament ^ Qj-, j y;iii covenant. 
 
 15. the Holy Ghost also : i.e. we 
 have a witness in the definite state- 
 ments of Holy Scripture. It illus- 
 trates well the freedom of quotation 
 in N.T. writers if we notice that, 
 while iu this second quotation of 
 Jeremiah's prophecy the writer 
 quotes from memory and departs 
 
 H. 
 
 more widely from exact verbal ac- 
 curacy, this is the occasion on which 
 he definitely speaks of the words as 
 the words of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 16. [then saith he.^ As the italics 
 indicate, these words are an interpre- 
 tative insertion of R.V. (A. V. has not 
 them) ; and it seems more likely that 
 
 6 
 
82 HEBREWS [x. 19-25 
 
 the division between the dating dering unnecessary any further in- 
 
 clause ("After he hath said, &c.") sertion. 
 
 and the substantive statement is at 18. "By promising to forget He 
 
 " saith the Lord," these words, al- has forgiven, and therefore no more 
 
 though they belong to the quotation, sacrifice in plea for forgiveness is 
 
 serving also to introduce it as from necessary." 
 
 the writer of the Epistle, and ren- 
 
 Here the strictly argumentative portion of the Epistle ends. The argu- 
 ment has been coloured by the purpose of exhortation ; and so the hortatory 
 portion which follows will add points (as the hortatory passages hitherto 
 have done) to the argument. But the tone will become at once more urgent 
 and more tender, and the practical risks and duties which went along with 
 the spiritual conditions which we have been considering will come more 
 fully into view. 
 
 X. 19-25. The practical conclusion. 
 
 19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holy 
 
 20 place by the blood of Jesus, by the way which he dedicated 
 for us, a new and living way, through the veil, that is to 
 
 21 say, his flesh ; and having a great priest over the house of 
 
 22 God ; let us draw near with a true heart in ^ fulness of 
 faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil ^conscience, 
 
 23 and our bodies washed with pure water : let us hold fast 
 the confession of our hope that it waver not ; for he is 
 
 24 faithful that promised : and let us consider one another 
 
 25 to provoke unto love and good works ; not forsaking the 
 assembling of ourselves together, as the custom of some is, 
 but exhorting one another ; and so much the more as ye 
 see the day drawing nigh. 
 
 ^ Or, full assurance 
 
 ' Or, conscience : and having our bodies washed with pure water let us hold 
 fast, <&c. 
 
 General Note on vv. 19-25. 
 
 In this passage the writer gathers into a sentence both the conclusions 
 to which he has brought his readers, and the exhortation which he will base 
 upon them. 
 
 Vv. 19-21 sum up again the advantages secured to those who are included 
 in the New Covenant, viz. real access to God and real atonement for sin. 
 The framework of the paragraph is the same as that of ch. iv. 14-16, 
 to which it carries us back by its repetition of many of the phrases 
 ("having therefore" [then] "a great [high] priest," "boldness," "draw 
 
X. 19-25] HEBREWS 83 
 
 near," "our confession"). The resemblance is too great to be accidental. 
 But the differences, which are equally striking, indicate how much ground 
 has been gained in the interval. The expressions are fuller and more 
 explicit. To take two of the phrases : (1) the Great Priest. It is the 
 "great High Priest" of iv. 14, but a good deal is added : {a) The change 
 from High Priest to Priest may be accidental — either expression is appro- 
 priate — but it suits the new point of view, when it has been made clear that 
 it is not merely the ceremonies peculiar to the High Priest, but the whole 
 system of sacrificial atonement that is in question : (h) the " Blood of Jesus" 
 is a phrase intelligible now, but which would have been premature in ch. iv. 
 (see on the wrong insertion of the words "by himself" in ch. i. 3). We are now 
 summing up the discussion of ch. ix., in which we have asked the question 
 what the true High Priest " has to offer " ; and have passed in review the 
 typical expiations by "blood" under the Law, the inaugui-ation of the 
 Covenant, the consecration of the Tabernacle and of the High Priest him- 
 self: (c) the addition of the words "over the house of God" (». 21) reminds 
 us that the High Priest of our confession is "great" not only (which was 
 the point to be made good in iv. 14 f.) as the greater than Aaron, but also as 
 the greater than Moses. They take us back to the words in ch. iii. 1-6, and 
 we are to put into them the new meaning which has been given to them by 
 the picture in the later chapters of the " Mediator of the New Covenant." 
 (2) the entrance into the holy place. We notice, again, how the thought of 
 the power of perpetual access to God, as typified in the yearly entrance of 
 the High Priest into the Holiest, has grown in fulness during the argument. 
 It was already before us on both sides in ch. iv. But nothing in the expres- 
 sion went necessarily beyond the literal interpretation of the typical 
 ceremony. The High Priest, though of more august Personality and in 
 a higher sphere, might still be, as the Levitical High Priest was, the 
 representative of the people, presenting their submission and vrinning a 
 hearing for their i^rayers. In ch. vi. 20 a notable step was taken, 
 though (after the vsriter's manner) in a single phrase, unemphasized at 
 the moment and not followed up; "within the veil, whither as our fore- 
 runner Jesus entered for us " : that was a further interpretation of the 
 figure ; but again it could be satisfied with the explanation that the veil is 
 to be lifted, for the followers, in another life. In the present passage the 
 believer is not conceived as entering only by a representative, nor only in 
 another life, but himself., now and always. The power of access to God, 
 typified in the Levitical ceremony, is already, " in the Blood of Jesus," fully 
 his. This is put beyond doubt by the further expressions, new (in their 
 definiteness at least) in the Epistle, which imply that the believer has him- 
 self received the High-priestly consecration. That is the meaning of the 
 "sprinkling" (i.e. with blood) and "washing with pure water" of v. 22, 
 ceremonies which belonged to the consecration of a High Priest. 
 
 What has been said illustrates the fi-eedom with which the wi-iter treats 
 the typical relation between the Levitical ceremonies and the spiritual 
 realities which he sees behind them. The con-espondence which he insists 
 on permanently is in general idea, not of detail with detail. The truths 
 imaged are themselves described in figures, figures boiTOwed generally 
 
 6—2 
 
84 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [X. 19-25 
 
 from the typical " copies " ; and the figures change. It is here that we 
 must look for the explanation of a turn in the passage which has raised 
 much question : "Through the veil, that is to say, his flesh." Westcott felt 
 the difficulty of the explanatory clause so much that he would attach it, 
 against the natural order of the words, not to "veil," but to "new and living 
 way." Yet although the interpretation of the veil as "his flesh" is 
 unexpected, it is one that we can understand, and one which suits the 
 context. It suits it, however, because of the particular turn which has 
 been given to the main thought. It would have been out of place earlier in 
 the Epistle. The " veil," in the general figure, is what separates (and yet, in 
 a sense, unites) the outer and inner Tabernacle — this world and another — 
 the aspiring soul of man and the realized Presence of God. It hangs 
 between them. One side of it faces one order of things, and the other 
 another order. It is the thin, the only, barrier. And it can be lifted, can 
 become a passage instead of a barrier. "Such a veil," says the writer in this 
 place, " was Christ's human nature in its physical, mortal aspect." In it He 
 came near to man : and then He rent it, passed through it into heaven. 
 And His people's hearts could go with Him, could from thenceforth have in 
 Him perpetual access to the Father. It is difficult to think that the writer 
 had not in mind the rending of the Temple veil " from the top to the bot- 
 tom " at the moment of our Lord's Death upon the Cross (Matt, xxvii. 51). 
 
 19. Having therefore boldness. 
 The relation to ch. iv. 14 seems to 
 shew that "having" means here 
 "seeing that we have," and there- 
 fore " having boldness " means " hav- 
 ing ground for boldness." " There- 
 fore" sums up the whole preceding 
 argument. 
 
 brethren. It is worth while to 
 notice the other places in the 
 Epistle in which the address is 
 used, viz. ch. iii. 1 and 12, xiii. 22. 
 It is an appeal of tenderness, " My 
 brothers." Cp. also St Paul's use 
 of the address, as in 2 Cor. xiii. 1 1, 
 Gal. vi. 18. 
 
 by. It is the same preposition 
 (literally "in") which is rendered 
 in ch. ix. 25, "with [blood not his 
 own]." It expresses that in virtue 
 of which the priest enters. 
 
 20. dedicated. It is the same 
 verb as in ch. ix. 18. It meant to 
 "make new" or to "use newly," and 
 so, as we say, to "open" or "in- 
 augurate," as of a building (cp. the 
 Feast of "Dedication " — in Greek the 
 
 cognate word — John x. 22) or an 
 undertaking. He inaugurated it by 
 treading it first Himself, as the "fore- 
 runner," ch. vi. 20. 
 
 a... living way. The epithet is 
 meant to remind us that even the 
 " way " is a figure : it is a way for 
 spirit, a way " not made with hands." 
 Christ " dedicated the way " ; but 
 yet it is equally true that He "is 
 the way," John xiv. 6. 
 
 that is to say, his flesh. For this 
 difficult phrase see what has been 
 said in the general note above. 
 
 22. a true heart. The "heart" 
 in the N.T., as in ancient literature 
 generally, is the centre of the physical 
 life and, by transference, the centre 
 and seat of the moral life, the affec- 
 tions, will, intelligence, conscience. 
 A " true " heart follows the analogy 
 of the use of "true" in ch. viii. 2, 
 true or real as opposed to shams and 
 copies. It is therefore the equiva- 
 lent of the O.T. phrases, " the whole 
 heart," "all the heart," "a perfect 
 heart." 
 
X. 19-25] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 85 
 
 fulness,or "full assurance" (marg.). 
 See on eh. vi. 11. 
 
 our hearts sprinkled. For the 
 figure op. St Paul's "circumcision 
 of the heart," Rom. ii. 29. 
 
 The primary reference is to the 
 ceremonies prescribed in Exod. xxix. 
 for the consecration of a High Priest. 
 All God's people under the New 
 Covenant are to have the consecra- 
 tion and the privileges of a High 
 Priest (cp. 1 Pet. ii. 9; Rev. i. 6). 
 The sprinkling therefore is with 
 the blood of sacrifice : but whereas 
 the words in Exod. speak only of the 
 "garments," the writer substitutes 
 the more effectual sprinkling of the 
 heart. But two other thoughts seem 
 to be in view : (1) Of the prophecy of 
 Ezekiel xxxvi. 25 f., "I will sprinkle 
 clean water upon you and ye shall be 
 clean... A new heart will I give you." 
 (This seems to be the source of the 
 "pure" water.) (2) Of Christian 
 Baptism. Cp. 1 Pet. iii. 21, R.V., 
 "baptism, not the putting away of 
 the filth of the flesh, but the in- 
 teiTOgation of a good conscience." 
 This reference is made more clear 
 by the association of the washing 
 with the " confession of our hope." 
 
 The "sprinkling" and "washing" do 
 not imply two ceremonies or processes. 
 They are two symbolical expressions 
 which mutually explain each other : 
 "our hearts sprinkled from (i.e. so as 
 to free us from) an evil conscience, 
 even as our body is washed with 
 pure (i.e. cleansing — it is Ezekiel's 
 word and to be read with St Peter's 
 commentary on it) water." 
 
 sprinkled from, the constioiction 
 as in " washed from." Sprinkled [so 
 as to be cleansed] from. 
 
 anevil conscience = a consciousness 
 of gnilt. It is opposed to a "good 
 conscience," ch. xiii. 18. Cp. "cleanse 
 our conscience," ix. 14. 
 
 23. hold fast the confession. 
 "Confession" (cp. ch. iii. 1, iv. 14), 
 as always in the N.T. (cp. 2 Cor. 
 ix. 13 ; 1 Tim. vi. 12), has the sense 
 of a public profession of Chris- 
 tian belief The word came in 
 ecclesiastical Greek to be used for 
 the profession of faith in Holy 
 Baptism ; and that sense may be 
 growing in the N.T. as appears 
 especially in this place and in 
 1 Tim. vi. 12. If so, the word 
 links itself with the preceding 
 words, which recall Baptism. In 
 any case it leads directly to the 
 exhortation to maintain their social 
 Christian life. With the " confession 
 of our hope," cp. ch. iii. 6, "the 
 glorying of our hope," and see on 
 vi. 11. 
 
 that it wave? not. As is clear in 
 the Greek, "it" is not the "hope," 
 as we should be apt to take it in the 
 English, but the "confession." The 
 phrase is used properly of a support 
 that does not give or sway. 
 
 he is faithful. Cp. ch. xi. 11. 
 
 24. let us consider one another. 
 See on ch. iii. 1, "consider." As 
 was said there, it is probably not 
 an accident that the same verb 
 should be used in the two places, 
 at the opening severally of the 
 doctrinal and of the practical parts 
 of the Epistle: "Set all your 
 thoughts on the Apostle and High 
 Priest," " Set all your thoughts on 
 one another." The practical sugges- 
 tion, thought worthy of a place in 
 this summary beforehand of their 
 duty, is that they must not foster 
 their sense of weakness and misgiv- 
 ing by letting their religion become 
 selfish, by losing the strength of 
 common action and mutual encour- 
 agement. Notice that the thought 
 is repeated from iii. 13, 14, "exhort 
 one another, &c." The reason is 
 
86 HEBREWS [x. 26-31 
 
 there given in the words " while it is the day : the day of the Lord's 
 
 calledTo-day," "To-day," there, being coming, 1 Cor. iii. 13. It is spoken 
 
 equivalent to the time before the ar- of generally in the N.T. as near at 
 
 rival of what is here called "the day." hand, as James v. 8, "The coming of 
 
 to provoke unto love: lit. "to the the Lord is at hand"; 1 Pet. iv. 7, 
 
 end of sharpening the edge of love." " the end of all things is at hand," 
 
 To have others much in mind is the &c. : but the expression here is more 
 
 way to warm the heart towards them. definite, " see the day approaching." 
 
 For the sequence in vv. 22, 23, 24 of The words gain in impressiveness if 
 
 faith, hope, love, see on ch. vi. 10.- we think of them as describing the 
 
 25. the assembling of ourselves feeling of those who, with sinking 
 
 together. The writer does not say, hearts, witnessed the near approach 
 
 but it is natural to think that it would of the destruction of Jerusalem, and 
 
 be in his mind, that when they so as- with it of the system of worship of 
 
 sembled themselves together it would which it was the centre. They then 
 
 be to "break bread," and so to re- shew us the temporal background 
 
 mind themselves of the truth of the to that picture of a dispirited and 
 
 great Offering of Avhich he has been despondentChurchwhich the Epistle 
 
 speaking and of its relation to them- generally presents, 
 selves and to the Christian body. 
 
 Introductory Note to ch. X. 26-XII. 4. 
 The passage from x. 26 to xii. 4 divides itself into three portions alleging 
 three grounds for his exhortation, viz. : 
 
 (1) X. 26-31, the dangers of apostasy. 
 
 (2) X. 32-end, the memory of their own former steadfastness. 
 
 (3) xi. and xii. 1-4, the historical glory of faith. 
 
 X. 26-31. The daggers of apostasy. 
 
 26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the 
 knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more a sacrifice 
 
 27 for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgement, 
 and a ^fierceness of fire which shall devour the adversaries. 
 
 28 A man that hath set at nought Moses' law dieth without 
 
 29 compassion on the word q/two or three witnesses : of how 
 much sorer punishment, think ye, shall he be judged worthy, 
 who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath 
 counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was 
 sanctified, ^an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto 
 
 30 the Spirit of grace ? For we know him that hath said, 
 Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense. And 
 
 31 again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing 
 to faU into the hands of the living God. 
 
 ^ Or, jealousy 2 Qj.. a common thing. 
 
X. 26-31] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 87 
 
 26, 27. These verses must be 
 read as in sequence to v. 25. This 
 is what will happen if "the day" 
 comes upon them, as St Paxil would 
 say, " as a thief." The English ver- 
 sions fail to give the force of the 
 present tenses, "if we are found 
 sinning," " there is not still remain- 
 ing any sacrifice." Two things should 
 be noticed : (1) that it is of persist- 
 ent sin that the writer is speaking ; 
 (2) that the special sin in question is 
 the sin of apostasy : cp. ch. iii. 12, 13, 
 where "sin" and the "falling away 
 from the living God" are equivalents ; 
 also 2 Pet. ii. 4, where " when they 
 sinned " is the expression for the fall 
 of the apostate angels. 
 
 there remaineth no more a sacri- 
 fice. Just as in respect of teaching 
 in ch. vi., so here of atoning sacrifice, 
 no one must think (as conceivably 
 he might have done under the Levi- 
 tical system) of a further, a fresh 
 and more effectual sin-oflFering. For 
 the use of " remaineth " see on ch. iv. 
 6. It is to be noticed however that 
 as its proper meaning is of something 
 " held in reserve," as a further boon 
 or opportunity, its use here in the 
 second case, of the expectation of 
 judgement, has a shade of irony. 
 
 27. fierceness (marg. jealousy) of 
 fire. The reading of the margin is 
 the literal and the right rendering. 
 A "jealousy of fire" is a jealousy 
 which burns like fire. Very pro- 
 bably the word (C^Xor, zeal) by ety- 
 mology meant "fervom-," and so 
 " emotion at boiling-point " ; but in 
 all Greek iLsagc it had acquired a 
 moral meaning, viz. jealousy. The 
 phrases here grow directly out of 
 the thought of " the day," with which 
 they are frequently connected in the 
 prophetic writings, as in Zeph. i. 18, 
 " the day of God's wrath : the whole 
 land shall be devoured by the fire of 
 
 his jealousy." But cp. also Is. xxvi. 
 11, "They shall see thy zeal for this 
 people... the fire shall devour thine 
 adversaries." It is to be remembered 
 that the first description of God as 
 "a jealous God" occurs in the 2d 
 Commandment, of which the subject 
 is idolatry, i.e., in the language of this 
 Epistle, " apostasy." Jealousy, in its 
 human sense, is the other side of a 
 love which cannot bear a rival. 
 
 28. dieth. The tenses are the 
 same as in the references to the 
 ceremonial law ; see on ch. ix. 6, 
 "go." " Dieth " = is by the Law to 
 die. The reference is to Deut. xvii. 
 2-7, from which the words come 
 verbally. (This seems to be the 
 point of adding "under two or 
 three witnesses.") It is to be noticed 
 that that passage also refers not to 
 ordinary ofl'ences, but to idolatry. 
 The case is the same with the two 
 quotations which follow (in vv. 30, 31) 
 from Deut. xxxii. 35, 36. 
 
 29. A triple characterizing of the 
 oflFences, bringing out their impiety, 
 suicidal folly, ingmtitude. But when 
 in an Apostolic writer such expres- 
 sions run into a triple form we 
 always expect the more or less con- 
 scious reference to the threefold 
 Christian Revelation ; and in this 
 case we can hardly fail to find it — 
 the ^vi-ong done to the Father in the 
 rejection of His Son, to the Son in 
 the scorn poured on the Covenant 
 sealed in His own Blood, to the 
 Spirit in the meeting of grace with 
 despite. 
 
 trodden under foot. It is the 
 word used in Matt v. 13 of the 
 " salt which has lost its savour," and 
 still more pointedly, id. vii. 6, of the 
 " pearls cast before swine." 
 
 Juilh done de.spite unto, i.e. "treated 
 with contempt," "insulted." "De- 
 spite " (shortened in modern speech 
 
88 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [X. 32-39 
 
 to "spite") comes etymologically 
 from Lat. despectus. Fr. depit. 
 
 Spirit of grace. " This title is 
 ■unique in the N.T. but it is used by 
 the prophet Zechariah in a promise 
 (xii. 10) which looks forward to 
 Messianic times." Swete, The Holy 
 Spirit ill the New Testament, p. 251. 
 
 30. Vengeance is mine. As has 
 been said above, the quotation is 
 from Deut. xxxii. 35, but it is not 
 verbally accurate. The words are 
 quoted in Rom. xii. 19, in the same 
 form as here : but it is interesting to 
 notice that, as with the quotation in 
 V. 38, the sense and purpose of the 
 quotation are different. In both cases 
 the writer of this Epistle keeps more 
 nearly to the original intention of 
 the words. St Paul quotes them as 
 a reason why we should not revenge 
 ourselves : here, as in the original, 
 the stress is on the positive statement 
 that God will avenge. 
 
 the Lord shall judge his people. 
 This comes from the next verse in 
 
 Deut. (xxxii. 36). What it adds is 
 that the special privilege carries 
 with it the corresponding responsi- 
 bility ; as Amos put it (iii. 2), " You 
 only have I known of all the families 
 of the earth; therefore I will visit 
 upon you all your iniquities." 
 
 31. to fall into the hands of the 
 living God. David uses the phrase 
 2 Sam. xxiv. 14, "Let us now fall 
 into the hand of the Lord... not into 
 the hand of man," where the figure 
 of the first clause is ruled by that of 
 the second. That God's " vengeance " 
 and "judgement" are to be preferred 
 in any case to those of one less just 
 and merciful is the point there, but is 
 not in view here. Notice that " fear- 
 ful" is repeated from v. 26. The 
 writer is justifying here his use of 
 the adjective in that place. 
 
 the living God. See note on ch. ix. 
 1 4. The epithet here speaks of God's 
 power, of the impossibility of eluding 
 or escaping Him. 
 
 X. 32-39. Their former steadfastness. 
 
 32 But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after 
 ye were enlightened, ye endured a great conflict of suifer- 
 
 33 ings ; partly, being made a gazingstock both by reproaches 
 and afflictions ; and partly, becoming partakers with them 
 
 34 that were so used. For ye both had compassion on them 
 that were in bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your 
 possessions, knowing ^that -ye yourselves have a better 
 
 35 possession and an abiding one. Cast not away therefore 
 your boldness, which hath great recompense of reward. 
 
 36 For ye have need of patience, that, having done the will of 
 God, ye may receive the promise. 
 
 37 For yet a very little while. 
 
 He that cometh shall come, and shall not tarry. 
 
 38 But ^my righteous one shall live by faith : 
 
 And if he shrink back, my soul hath no pleasure in him. 
 
X. 32-39] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 89 
 
 39 But we are not *of them that shrink back unto perdition, 
 but of them that have faith unto the ^saving of the soul. 
 
 ^ Or, that ye hai'e your own selves for a better possession 
 
 2 Some ancient authorities read ye have for yourselves a better possession. 
 
 ^ Some ancient authorities read the righteous one. 
 
 * Gr. of shrinking hack. ..but of faith. 5 Qj.^ gaining 
 
 General Note Ofi vv. 32-39. 
 
 This section relieves the sternness of the preceding paragraph with 
 the same instinctive art which dictated the change of tone in ch. vi. 9. 
 We notice the similarity of the topics in the two places, both in praise and 
 in exhortation. What is asked for is boldness, continued patience, faith. 
 What is praised is kindness and sympathy. 
 
 32. enlightened. See on ch. vi. 4. 
 
 33. a gazingstock; a "spectacle," 
 the figure being taken from the 
 spectacles of the arena : cp. 1 Cor. iv. 
 9. It is completed here by the word 
 "conflict," which in the original 
 means a combat of athletes. 
 
 becoming partakers, by avowing 
 sympathy, and sharing their risks 
 and losses. It is pointed out that 
 the participle here is in a tense (the 
 aorist) which expresses a single past 
 experience and refers therefore to 
 some particular occasion, while the 
 preceding one, " being made, &c.," is 
 in the present tense, describing their 
 continuous position. 
 
 34. the77i that were in bonds. Cp. 
 ch. xiii. 3. It seems that at some 
 recent time this commmiity of He- 
 brew Christians had suffered, and 
 was still liable to suffer persecution, 
 involving imprisonment and the 
 " spoiling of goods " at the hands of 
 their countrymen (cp. Acts viii. 3, ix. 
 1, 2; 1 Thess. ii. 14 ; James ii. 6). The 
 A. v., following the Received Text, 
 which here has the support of the 
 Sinaitic MS, has, in the place of 
 "those that were in bonds" (8f cr/iioir), 
 the words "my bonds" {Bfa-noU jjlov). 
 It is a case where the theory held as 
 to the authorship of the Epistle seems 
 
 to have influenced the text. It is 
 difficult to dissociate the variation 
 of reading from the belief prevalent 
 in the Eastern Churches that the 
 Epistle proceeded from Paul "the 
 prisoner." 
 
 knowing. It is the verb which 
 means not " to know," but " to per- 
 ceive," " recognize," "learn." It was 
 a knowledge that gi'ew with their 
 experience. 
 
 ye yourselms. As will be seen 
 from the margin, neither reading 
 nor exact meaning is free from doubt. 
 The words in A. V., " in heaven," are 
 an interpretative gloss of the trans- 
 lator, not a part of the true text: 
 but the relation of the word " your- 
 selves " to the sentence is uncertain. 
 Some MSS (as the second marginal 
 note tells us) have the dative, "for 
 yourselves," a reading which avoids 
 the difficulty, but which adds nothing 
 to the sense. R.V. (text and first 
 marginal note) renders the accusa- 
 tive. The rendering in the text, 
 " that ye yourselves," breaks a usual 
 rule of Greek grammar and the em- 
 phatic pronoun is hard to explain. 
 The thought in the marginal render- 
 ing, "have your own selves for a 
 better possession," is not as clearly 
 or simply expressed as we should ex- 
 
90 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [x. 32-39 
 
 pect; but it is possible, and is in 
 accordance with such sayings as 
 Luke xxi. 19, R.V., " In your patience 
 ye shall win your souls," and id. ix. 
 25, R.V., " What is a man profited if 
 he gain the whole world and lose or 
 forfeit his own self ?" Vaughan sug- 
 gests also that there is a connexion 
 of thought between the expression 
 here and v. 39, "unto the gaining 
 (marg. and see note) of the soul." 
 
 35. Cast not away. Westcott 
 compares Mark x. 50 (the only 
 other place in N.T. where the verb 
 occurs), "he casting away his gar- 
 ments sprang up," of an impulsive 
 act : as if it were " do not hastily 
 fling away." 
 
 boldness. See on ch. iii. 6. The 
 meaning of "outspokenness" is more 
 prominent here. It is of the cour- 
 ageous avowal of sympathy and be- 
 lief before God and man. 
 
 which hath; more fully, "seeing 
 that it has." 
 
 recompense of reward: perh. in 
 reference to such sayings of Matt. xix. 
 29. See also ch. xi. 26, where " the 
 recompense of reward " looks like a 
 definite recalling of the phrase as 
 used here. 
 
 36. receive the promise. See on 
 ch. XL 39. 
 
 37. yet a very little while. These 
 words do not form part of the pro- 
 phecy of Habakkuk which follows; 
 but they are found in Isaiah (exactly 
 in xxvi. 20 and partially in xxix. 17). 
 They are recalled as a prophetic 
 formula, used in such exhortations to 
 patience — "yet a very little while, 
 and the position which Habakkuk 
 described will be realized." 
 
 37, 38. The quotation is from 
 Habakkuk ii. 3, 4, and follows almost 
 verbally the LXX, with the excep- 
 tion that the two clauses of v. 4 are 
 inverted in order. It wiU be noticed, 
 
 if the quotation is compared with 
 the passage in Habakkuk (R. V.), that 
 the LXX differs from the Hebrew 
 text in two points : (1) It has made 
 the subject of " shall come " personal, 
 "he that cometh," where the Heb. 
 makes it " the vision." This has no 
 serious effect on the meaning; for 
 the vision is the vision of rescue, and 
 "he that cometh" is the Rescuer. 
 (2) For the words rendered "his 
 soul that is lifted up is not upright 
 in him," the LXX substituted, on 
 grounds not known to us, "if he 
 shrink back my soul has no pleasure 
 in him." This alteration, by making 
 the two clauses refer not to the in- 
 vaders and defenders (severally) of 
 Zion, but to two classes among the 
 defenders, made the prophet's call 
 appropriate on both sides to the 
 present veriter's purpose ; for it sug- 
 gested the second alternative, that 
 oi flinching., as well as the first, that 
 of standing firm, in the faith. But 
 the quotation, even if it were made 
 from the Hebrew text, is directly in 
 point and in the very sense of the 
 Prophet. The trial of these Hebrew 
 Christians was (that is the argument 
 of the whole of the following chapter) 
 the very trial which all the heroes 
 and martyrs of their race had gone 
 through. He takes them back to 
 the exhortation of Habakkuk in the 
 moment of the Chaldean invasion. 
 The Prophet took his stand as a 
 watcher on the tower to see if there 
 appeared on the horizon any glimmer 
 of reassurance. And the answer was 
 that help was to come, but not yet. 
 Patience and faith were what men 
 must live by : the vision was for an 
 appointed time : though it tarried, 
 they must wait for it. The Hebrew 
 Christians, the writer tells them, 
 must do as their forefathers had 
 been bidden to do, rest their souls. 
 
X 32-39] HEBREWS 91 
 
 in spite of visible discouragements, is rendered " obtaining." Though 
 
 on the invisible. the word is a different one, the 
 
 39. unto perdition, i.e. with per- thought is here exactly the same 
 
 dition (ruin) as the result. as in our Lord's saying, already 
 
 saeing (marg. gaining). The quoted, in Luke xxi. ly, R.V., "in 
 
 Greek word admits either sense. your patience ye shall win your 
 
 It is used in 1 Thess. v. 9 and soiils." See also above on v. 34. 
 2 Thess. ii. 14, and in both places 
 
 Additional Note on the quotation from Hahakkuk (X. 27, 28). 
 
 The quotation, or rather the sentence which is its core, has been used in 
 the argiinieut for the Pauline authorship of the Epistle : but its bearing has 
 not always been fairly estimated. We must take into account not only the 
 fact of quotation but the manner and purpose. It is beyond dispute that 
 the words of Habakkuk, " the just shall live by [his] faith," which are as 
 a text to St Paul in setting forth to the Romans (Rom. i. 17) and to the 
 Galatians (Gal. iii. 11) the doctrine of righteousness by faith, are quoted 
 here as leading to a passage not only on the subject of faith, but in 
 which faith will be markedly associated with righteousness. If however 
 this fact is to be used to establish a connexion between St Paul 
 and this Epistle, it harmonizes best not with the theory of direct PauUne 
 authorship but Avith the suggestion made by Origen that the Epistle was 
 written by one of St Paul's circle, conveying his thoughts, but at second- 
 hand. The words were evidently a watchword of St Paul's teaching. They 
 would be familiar to any one who read his writings or associated with 
 him. But it is equally evident that they are used in this Epistle in a 
 wholly different way from that in which he used them. To him they 
 are without context — words from a sacred source which he adopts as 
 putting in an epigrammatic form a relation which has established itself to 
 him on other grounds. The writer of this Epistle recalls them in their 
 context and because of it, and they are used in the exact sense which 
 the Prophet himself put upon them. To St Paul the attraction, so to say, 
 of the Prophet's words is that they bring together the two ideas of " faith " 
 and "righteousness." The righteousness, as he interprets them, is based 
 upon the faith. In the present Epistle we are thinking not of the source of 
 righteousness, but of the source of life. " The just (or, My righteous one) 
 shall live by faith." We are contrasting his case, not as St Paul would, with 
 that of one who should base his righteousness on works, but with that of one 
 who should flinch in the time of trial for lack of patience and faith. The 
 whole point of view is changed. I have noticed above, on v. 30 of this 
 chapter, a similar instance of the same quotation being made by the two 
 writers with an entirely different intention. Such a combination of similarity 
 and difference is an argument, as far as it goes, for diversity, not for identity 
 of authorship. 
 
92 HEBREWS [xi. and xii. 1-4 
 
 XI. AND XII. 1-4. The historic glory of Faith. 
 
 Introductory Note. 
 
 The idea of this passage is one which would appeal with special force to 
 its first readers. It is one of the rapid summaries of their sacred, heaven- 
 ordered history, which was the form into which, both in Old and New 
 Testament times, a Jew, writing or speaking for his countrymen, seemed to 
 throw naturally prayer or praise, appeal or argument : not only Psalmists 
 calling for reformation (Ps. Ixxviii.) or leading the voice of thanksgiving 
 (Pss. cv. and cvi.), but Joshua or Samuel (Josh. xxiv. ; 1 Sam. xii.) pleading 
 with the people, the Levites at Nehemiah's fast (Neh.ix.), Mattathias charging 
 his sons on his deathbed (1 Mace, ii.), St Stephen before the Sanhedrim 
 (Acts vii.), St Paul in the synagogue at Antioch (Acts xiii.). Cp. especially 
 the familiar roll-call of "famous men" in Bcclus. xliv.f. : diflFerent though the 
 two passages are in aim, there are many points of contact between them. 
 Each such catalogue has its special purpose and therefore its own point of 
 view. The present one is obviously much more than a catalogue : it is 
 grouped with artistic aim and made at every point to teach principles. It 
 begins with Faith as a necessary basis of religion. It goes on to exhibit it 
 as the strength of all high purpose, noble living, national progress. We are 
 to feel the continuity, the long, unbroken succession : to feel the great 
 variety in the persons and occasions, — patriarclis, judges, kings, prophets, 
 patriots. It has been pointed out that the last-named instance is the most 
 paradoxical, a woman, a stranger, an outcast (Rahab the harlot), v. 31. 
 There is the faith of action, that " subdues kingdoms, woi-ks righteousness," 
 and the faith of endurance, that waits, believes, suffers. Three, more special, 
 thoughts seem to colour the list : 
 
 (a) Stress is laid'in many cases on the way in which faith, in accordance 
 with what is promised in ch. x. 39, has issued in the " saving of the soul " 
 or the life. See for instance v. 5, Enoch " translated so that he should not 
 see death" (it possibly accounts for the expression with respect to Abel, 
 " being dead he yet speaketh " — his faith even though he died gave him life 
 in another sense), Noah "saving his house" from the flood. A similar 
 thought can be traced in vv. 19, 23, 28, 29, 31. 
 
 (&) The instances in many cases suggest points of resemblance to 
 the actual call and trial of the Hebrew Christian : such as Noah seeking 
 refuge from a world going to rxiin around him ; Abi-aham leaving kin and 
 home ; the Patriarchs looking for the building of a " city of God." 
 
 (c) All in the long succession are represented as "dying in faith, not 
 having received the promises," as only having " seen and greeted them from 
 afar." It is partly an example, to encourage the Christian Jew to have equal 
 patience and confidence ; partly it heljjs the thought that all that 
 faith of past time is now to be justified : the Christian is the heir of 
 the ages. 
 
XI. AND XII. 1-4] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 93 
 
 The meaning of Faith (xi. 1, 2). 
 
 XI. 1 Now faith is the ^assurance of things hoped for, 
 2 the -proving of things not seen. For therein the elders 
 had witness borne to them. 
 
 ' Or, the giving substance to 
 
 XI. 1. Now faith is^kc. Not a fresh 
 beginning as though he turned to a 
 new subject, but in strict sequence to 
 the last words of ch. x. " Now faith, 
 of which the prophet spoke, the faith 
 in which we (x. 39) claim a portion 
 is, &c." 
 
 This verse is often called a "defini- 
 tion " of faith. It is not that. What 
 faith is, is taken for granted, or is 
 to be gathered from the instances to 
 be given of it. The purpose of the 
 sentence is not to give a logical de- 
 finition nor a complete description, 
 but to fix attention upon one 
 necessary characteristic of faith. 
 The emphasis in each clause is (as 
 the order of the words in the Greek 
 plainly marks) on what are, in the 
 English, the last words, viz. "things 
 hoped for," "things not seen." "This 
 (the writer is saying) is always the 
 character, the very meaning of faith. 
 It is not faith unless it is so. It is 
 faith that the prophet spoke of It 
 is faith that you need — the great 
 grace of the long heroic line of your 
 ancestors. Remember in each case 
 what faith carried with it. You 
 complain that you are asked to go 
 beyond what you can see, to wait, to 
 be patient, to leave visible and tan- 
 gible supports of religion on which you 
 have been accustomed to lean, and 
 take instead what seem to you visions, 
 ideas, unrealized promises. See then 
 that this is just what every one whose 
 name you reverence, in your own 
 great history, has done. Faith oflFers 
 
 2 Or, test 
 
 assurance, but it is the assurance of 
 hope, not of possession : it ofi"ers 
 evidence, but it is not the evidence 
 of the senses, it is the evidence of 
 things not seen." 
 
 assurance. It is the same Greek 
 word as that translated (in ch. iii. 14, 
 where see note) " confidence." 
 
 hoped for. . .not seen. The second 
 designation covers the first ; for 
 hope and sight are proverbially 
 contradictories ("hope that is seen 
 is not hope," Rom. viii. 24), but it 
 goes further ; for " hope " is of the 
 future ; " not seen " includes things 
 present and past, and so prepares us 
 for V. 3, and takes in the spiritual 
 world generally. 
 
 2. For therein the elders ; rather 
 "For it is therein that the elders," 
 &c. " Therein " is emphatic. " It is 
 faith in this sense, faith that involves 
 a venture on the unseen, that has 
 made your history so memorable." 
 This truth is meant to be recognized 
 in all the instances given, though it 
 is brought out more evidently in 
 some. Noah did not wait to see the 
 rising flood before he built the ark. 
 Abraham followed the Voice which 
 called him without seeing whither it 
 led. He acted on a promise, when 
 its fulfilment seemed imjwssible, and 
 so on. Notice also that throughout 
 the writer is urging not merely 
 that such faith is something that we 
 honour, but that it is something that 
 met with a response — something to 
 the greatness of which the Scripture 
 
94 HEBREWS [xi. Am) xii. 1-4 
 
 " bore witness " (see, for instance, of past generations, but with a 
 
 in vv. 4 and 5 and compare note on sense of honour, the great men of 
 
 V. 16). tlie past. The nearest use is that in 
 
 elders, a parallel expression to Matt. xv. 2, "the tradition of the 
 
 "the fathers" in ch. i. 1, the men elders." 
 
 Faith as the foundation of religion (3-6). 
 
 3 By faith we understand that the ^worlds have been framed 
 by the word of God, so that what is seen hath not been 
 
 4 made out of things which do appear. By faith Abel oflered 
 unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through 
 which he had witness borne to him that he was righteous, 
 ^God bearing witness ^in respect of his gifts : and through 
 
 5 it he being dead yet speaketh. By faith Enoch was trans- 
 lated that he should not see death, and he was not found, 
 because God translated him : for before his translation he 
 hath had witness borne to him that he had been well- 
 
 6 pleasing unto God : and without faith it is impossible to 
 be well -pleasing unto him : for he that cometh to God must 
 believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that 
 seek after him. 
 
 ^ Gr. ages. 
 
 * The Greek text in this clause is somewhat uncertain. 
 
 ' Or, over his gifts 
 
 General Note on XI. 3-6. 
 
 The general purpose of the chapter, as has been said, is to shew what has 
 been the vivifying faculty from end to end of the sacred history, from Genesis 
 to Maccabees. But there is another point gained in the first three instances. 
 In a sense they touch the case of the Hebrew Christians even more closely 
 than those which illustrate Faith as the spring of heroic deeds. Their 
 special trial was to find that they had to make a new and uncalculated 
 departure in religion. These instances take them back to the earliest 
 ages to illustrate three fundamental ideas of religion, and to ask what 
 they were but the gi-eatest ventures of Faith : — a Creator — that is the 
 first postulate of religion ; yet what gi-eater venture on the unseen can 
 there be than is demanded by that thought ? And so with the two natm*al 
 and necessary modes in which religion expresses itself — the sacrifice of Abel 
 — the piety of Enoch : worship and himible walking with God. They in- 
 volved not only the belief that an Unseen Creator existed, but that men 
 could enter into relations with Him, could give Him what He valued, could 
 please Him by doing well. 
 
XL AND XII. 1-4] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 95 
 
 3. understand. It is the same 
 word which in Rom. i. 20 (a complete 
 parallel in thought to this verse) 
 is rendered (R.V.) by "perceive." 
 In both places it is of a mental 
 process and is definitely opposed to 
 sight. 
 
 worlds (marg. ages). See on ch. i. 2. 
 have been framed ("fitted per- 
 fectly" ; see note on xiii. 21). The 
 perfect tense in Greek implies that 
 the framing is not merely an act in 
 the past but that its efl'ects endure 
 to the present. 
 
 by the word of God. See on ch. i. 
 3, "the word of his power." The 
 special reference is to the formula 
 of Gen. i., " God said," of the Divine 
 fiat. 
 
 so that: this clause sums up the 
 principle involved in the belief in 
 a Creator, viz. that behind what is 
 seen there is necessarily something 
 that is not seen. 
 
 4. "It was faith which made 
 Abel's sacrifice more acceptable than 
 Cain's, and gained him the testimony 
 that he was righteous." This is an 
 interpretation of the story in Genesis, 
 which only states that God " had re- 
 spect unto" Abel's ofi"ering and not 
 to Cain's : but it is in the light ap- 
 parently of a tradition that Abel had 
 received the title of " righteous." It 
 seems in Matt, xxiii. 35 ("the blood 
 of righteous Abel ") to be given as a 
 matter of usage ; and cp. 1 John iii. 
 12. The word rendered "better" is 
 literally "larger," "fuller," and it has 
 been intei-preted to refer to the 
 statement that Abel ofl'ered of his 
 flock, Cain of the fruits of the 
 ground. But this is to read things 
 into the story. On the face of it, 
 each is represented as off'ering of his 
 own, Abel the shepherd, Cain the 
 husbandman. Our thoughts are con- 
 centrated on the moral diflference. 
 
 "Larger" must be taken therefore 
 in a moral, not in a material sense : 
 " a sacrifice of more value." 
 
 through ichich, i.e. faith ; just as 
 "through it" in the next clause 
 means through his faith ; cp. also 
 V. 7. 
 
 had witness borne to him, in the 
 story, by the acceptance of his offer- 
 ing, and by God's concernment with 
 the wrong done to him by Cain. 
 
 God bearing witness. The mar- 
 ginal note calls attention to the fact 
 that there is some question as to the 
 text. Of the three oldest MSS, the 
 Vatican is defective in this Epistle 
 after ch. ix. 14, and the other two 
 have here "God" in the dative case, 
 so that it would mean "while he him- 
 self bears witness to God in respect 
 of his gifts." It should be said that 
 the text is quoted as we have it by 
 Clement of Alexandria. 
 
 being dead yet speaketh; i.e. by 
 the example of his faith and its re- 
 ward, though they caused his death, 
 he still has a voice to exhort and 
 encourage. The difficult expression 
 seems to be suggested (1) by the 
 words of Gen. iv. 10, "the voice of 
 thy brother's blood crieth unto me 
 from the gi-ound," which are recalled 
 again in this Epistle in ch. xii. 24 ; 
 notice that the word "speaketh" 
 is repeated there of the Blood : see 
 also note on id. 25 : (2) by the fiict 
 that Abel is treated as the first 
 Martyr. Cp. Matt, xxiii. 35. 
 
 5. By faith Enoch inas trans- 
 lated: "It was by faith that Enoch 
 was translated ; for look at the re- 
 cord in Gen. v. 24 (they are the actual 
 words of the LXX), 'he was not 
 found, for God translated him,' but 
 before that (in r. 22 and in the first 
 half of 24) we have read ' Enoch was 
 well-pleasing to God,' and this neces- 
 sarily implies that he had faith in 
 
96 HEBREWS [xi. and xii. 1-4 
 
 God's existence and in His care for writer in xlix. 14 has "Enoch... was 
 
 goodness." The words "was well- taken up from the earth." Cp. Wis- 
 
 pleasing to God " are the LXX para- dom iv. 10, "while living among 
 
 phrase of the Hebrew " walked with sinners he was translated ; he was 
 
 God." It should be noticed that in caught away, &c." This evidently 
 
 the following words, "that he should refers to Enoch, though it does not 
 
 not see death," the writer is ap- name him ; and it is doubtful whether 
 
 parently adopting a traditional in- it necessarily implies anything be- 
 
 terpretation of the words as they yond a premature death ; cp. the 
 
 stand in Genesis, "he was not, for wording of Isaiah Ivii. 1. 
 God took him." The word "trans- hath had icitness borne, i.e. in the 
 
 lated" {nfTfTedrj) is used of Enoch preceding words of the passage 
 
 first in Ecclus. xliv. 16. The same which speaks of his translation. 
 
 Faith in God's threatenings and promises (7-12). 
 
 7 By faith Noah, being warned of God concerning things not 
 seen as yet, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark to the 
 saving of his house ; through which he condemned the 
 world, and became heir of righteousness which is according 
 
 8 to faith. By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed 
 to go out unto a place which he was to receive for an in- 
 heritance ; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. 
 
 9 By faith he became a sojourner in the land of promise, as 
 in a land not his own, ^dwelling in tents, with Isaac and 
 
 10 Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise : for he 
 looked for the city which hath foundations, whose ^builder 
 
 1 1 and maker is God. By faith even Sarah herself received 
 power to conceive seed when she was past age, since she 
 
 12 counted him faithful who had promised : wherefore also 
 there sprang of one, and him as good as dead, as Tnany as 
 the stars of heaven in multitude, and as the sand, which is 
 by the seashore, innumerable. 
 
 ^ Or, having taken up his abode in tents ^ Or, architect 
 
 7-12. The section is bound together by the fact that it gives instances 
 of faith as shevra by trust in God's threatenings and promises. 
 
 7. being warned \of God^ See still, even when he was warned of 
 
 on ch. viii. 5. them, out of sight. Vaughan points 
 
 things not seen as yet ; more ex- out that as v. 3 dealt with faith in 
 
 actly "the things (i.e. the coming respect of things past and vv. 4-6 
 
 judgement) not even yet seen," i.e. with faith in respect of the present, 
 
XI. AND XII. 1-4] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 97 
 
 so V. 7 f. deals with it in respect of 
 the future — Noah in respect of what 
 was to be feared, Abraham and 
 Sarah in respect of what was to 
 be hoped. 
 
 moved with godly fear. The four 
 words represent a single participle 
 in the Greek, cognate to the sub- 
 stantive used in ch. v. 7 and xii. 8. 
 It expresses here a " wise fear," but 
 with suggestion of awe, of a sense of 
 the unseen. 
 
 through which, i.e. (as in v. 4) 
 "through which faith." 
 
 condemned the world : i.e. by the 
 contrast of his conduct and theirs ; 
 in the sense of Matt. xii. 41, "the 
 men of Nineveh shall stand up in the 
 judgement with this generation and 
 shall condemn it." Possibly there is 
 reference to the traditional addition 
 that Noah preached to his contem- 
 poraries ; 2 Pet. ii. 5, " a preacher of 
 righteousness." The same is implied 
 in 1 Pet. iii. 20. 
 
 heir of righteousness .. .according 
 to faith ; i.e. he was one who in his 
 generation carried on the tradition 
 of right-doing based upon and 
 crowned with faith in the unseen. 
 (The association of Noah with 
 "righteousness" dates from the O.T. 
 See Ezek. xiv. 14 and Ecclus. xliv. 
 17.) This is the exjjression in which 
 the writer comes nearest in appear- 
 ance to Pauline language ; and we 
 can hardly doubt that the close con- 
 nexion between faith and righteous- 
 ness as set forth by St Paul was in 
 some way in the writer's conscious- 
 ness; but it should be noted (1) that 
 the exact phrase for this connexion, 
 "according to" (Kara), belongs to 
 this Epistle (see on c. 13) but is not 
 found in St Paul's writings : (2) that 
 there is no sign in the case either 
 of " faith " or of " righteousness " of 
 the special colour which St Paul's 
 
 theology puts upon them. " Faith " 
 is, as always in this Epistle, a sense 
 of the unseen ; "righteousness" is 
 right-doing. 
 
 It is of interest, as illustrating the 
 freedom with which the same phrases 
 could be used with slightly varying 
 points of view, to compare Clem. 
 Rom. ad Cor. x. which follows closely 
 the passage in this Epistle with its 
 three instances of Enoch, Noah, and 
 Abraham, but "faith" has a more 
 practical aspect, being connected 
 more nearly with " obedience " and, 
 in Abraham's case, put side by side 
 with his "hospitality." 
 
 8. By faith Abraham. Abraham, 
 " the father of all them that believe " 
 (Rom. iv. 11), naturally occupies a 
 large place in the catalogue of the 
 triumphs of faith. What is said of 
 him is in two portions : (1) in «^». 8- 
 16, of his acceptance of the call and 
 promises, and of the life of unfulfilled 
 expectation to which these led. In 
 this he is associated, though the 
 primary part is his, with Sarah, 
 Isaac and Jacob. (2) in vv. 17-19, 
 of his signal act of trust even with- 
 out a promise. 
 
 when fie was called; exactly "while 
 he was being called." The tenses of 
 the participle and of the verb respec- 
 tively express the instantaneousness 
 of his response to the call. 
 
 9. became a sojourner., .dwelling. 
 Two verbs are used which differ only 
 in the preposition with which they 
 are compounded ; the first being 
 used of temporary, the second of 
 permanent residence. There is 
 therefore something like a play in 
 the use of the words ; " he made his 
 home in tents." The shifting tent 
 was the nearest approach that he 
 found to a home. 
 
 as in a \land'\ not his owti. It was 
 the land of promise ; but he sojourned 
 
98 HEBREWS [xi. and xii. 1-4 
 
 in it as though he had no part or lot people a " thought beyond their 
 
 in it. thought." As the Tabernacle of 
 
 with Isaac andJacob. The patient Moses is the shadow of the "taber- 
 
 waiting for the fulfilment was not for nacle not made with hands," so the 
 
 one generation only. polity of Abraham's vision is the 
 
 10. The reason of his patient shadow of the city " whose Designer 
 
 waiting — " he was looking forward and Builder is God." 
 to the building of the city of God." 11. even Sarah herself. Faith 
 
 This assertion rests (1) in substance, was needed for the mother as well as 
 
 on the nature of the promises which the father. No reference is made to 
 
 he had in mind, the "seed as the Sarah's initial incredulity, 
 stars of heaven" and "the blessing counted Mm faithful. See ch. 
 
 for all nations " ; (2) in /orm, on pro- x. 2.3. "Faithful" implies also 
 
 phetic sayings of the visible Jerusa- " trustworthy." 
 lem and of the new Jerusalem to be, 12. wherefore. It answers to the 
 
 as Ps. Ixxxvii. 1, "His fomidation is "through which" of »». 4 and 7, and 
 
 intheholy mountain. . .glorious things therefore = " on account of her faith." 
 
 are spoken of thee, O city of God," Sarah's faith met response, 
 and Isaiah liv. 12, "I will... lay thy \as many\ as... seashore. They are 
 
 foundations with sapphires, &c." the words of the promise in the LXX 
 
 But the writer sees in the anticipa- version of Gen. xxii. 17. 
 tions, as in the institutions, of his 
 
 Patience of the, patriarchs (13-16), 
 
 13 These all died Mn faith, not having received the promises, 
 but having seen them, and greeted them from afar, and 
 having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on 
 
 14 the earth. For they that say such things make it manifest 
 
 15 that they are seeking after a country of their own. And if 
 indeed they had been mindful of that country from which 
 they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. 
 
 16 But now they desire a better country, that is an heavenly : 
 wherefore God is not ashamed of them to be called their 
 God : for he hath prepared for them a city. 
 
 ^ Gr. according to. 
 
 General Note on w. 13-16. 
 
 A comparison with v. 39, which sums up the lesson of the whole 
 catalogue, wiU shew that this paragi-aph also marks the end of a stage, 
 although Abraham figures again in the second stage as he has done in 
 the first. It is questioned whether "These all" includes Abel, Enoch, 
 Noah or only Abraham and his descendants. There can be no distinct 
 thought of the earUer names; for "died in faith" is inappropriate to the 
 
XI. AND XII. 1-4] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 99 
 
 picture given of Enoch, and the words of vc. 15 and 16 definitely refer 
 to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. At the same time it is, uo doubt, a 
 general characterizing of the faith of the patriarchs, though the special 
 terms suit the later ones only. It was in all a forward-looking life, spent 
 for an ideal, and for one not to be realized in this world. 
 
 13. in faith. The literal render- 
 ing (see marg.) is "according to 
 faith." Westcott paraphrases "in- 
 spired, sustained, guided, by faith." 
 The words must be taken not so 
 much with " died " as with the whole 
 sentence. It was in the spirit of 
 faith that, though they died without 
 receiving the promises, they did not 
 die till they had seen them and 
 greeted them afar. It is difficult to 
 separate the picture altogether from 
 the words attributed to our Lord in 
 John viii. 56, " Abraham rejoiced to 
 see my day, and he saw it and was 
 glad." 
 
 hacing see^i them and greeted 
 them, as sailors see land over the 
 water and send hearts as well as 
 eyes to it before they reach it. 
 
 strangers and pilgrims. The 
 words are meant to recall sayings 
 of Abraham (Gen. xxiii. 4) and Jacob 
 (Gen. xlvii. 9). Cp. Ps. xxxix. 12 ; 
 1 Pet. ii. 11. The argument is 
 ^^ Strangers and pilgrims means in 
 a land not their own ; and there is 
 a wistful tone in the words, which 
 means that they are longing for a 
 tnie fatherland. What land is this ? 
 Not the land from which they came : 
 for they might have gone back to it. 
 Not the land in which they are : for 
 they desire a better. What can it be 
 but a heavenly one?" Notice that 
 "heavenly" is the epithet of the ideal, 
 spiritual, antitypes in ch. viii. 5, ix. 
 23. 
 
 1 6. wher^ore. This is the clause 
 which answers to the "wherefore" 
 of V. 12 and the "through which" of 
 »p. 4 and 7 — on account of this ex- 
 hibition of faith, this power of hold- 
 ing to an ideal purpose. 
 
 to he called their God, i.e. to 
 accept the title so often given to 
 Him in the Old Testament, "the 
 God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of 
 Jacob," Gen. xxvi. 24, xxviii. 13 ; 
 Exod. iii. 6. Note that in "not 
 ashamed to be called their God," 
 we have the thought expressed in 
 V. 2 : they had witness borne to them 
 that their faith was recognized. 
 
 hath prepared ; better, as well 
 as more exactly, prepared. The 
 time intended is anterior to the pre- 
 viously named action. This clause 
 explains and justifies the preceding 
 one. God allowed Himself to be 
 called in all time their God, for their 
 confidence was not misplaced ; He 
 had made ready for them the city of 
 which they dreamed. It is in effect 
 the same argument as that based by 
 our Lord Himself (Matt. xxii. 32) on 
 this Divine title : "God is not the 
 God of the dead but of the living." 
 
 a city : v. 10 and ch. xii. 22, xiii. 
 14. Not only a country of their own 
 {r>. 14) but (a higher and fuller con- 
 ception) a settled and organized 
 community, a "city of God" — i.e. 
 in the first place the polity of Israel, 
 but in the true perfection, the polity 
 of redeemed humanity. 
 
 7—2 
 
100 HEBREWS [xi. and xii. 1-4 
 
 Faith that faces sacrifice (17-19). 
 
 17 By faith Abraham, being tried, ^offered up Isaac : yea, he 
 that had gladly received the promises was offering up his 
 
 18 only begotten son : even he ^to whom it was said. In Isaac 
 
 19 shall thy seed be called : accounting that God is able to 
 raise up, even from the dead ; from whence he did also in 
 a parable receive him back. 
 
 1 Gr. liath offered up. ^ Or, of 
 
 General Note on vr>. 17-19. 
 
 The second proof of Abraham's faith — not now in accepting and acting 
 upon the promises but in facing a call, as it seemed, to surrender what 
 appeared to be the tangible pledge of the promise. There is, no doubt, 
 a sense in the backgi-ouud that there was an analogy between this and 
 the trial of the present generation of Jewish Christians, who were called 
 to part with so much which they had thought vital to God's promises 
 to them. 
 
 It may be noticed that in the argument on the faith of Abraham 
 St Paul, confining himself to the exhibition and acceptance of his faith 
 "while he was still in uncircumcision," does not give as an instance his 
 readiness to sacrifice the son of promise : but there is some reason to think 
 that the passage (Rom. iv. 10-20) may have been present to our writer. 
 See below, note on v. 29. 
 
 17. offered up. As the marginal In Isaac. The quotation is from 
 note reminds us it is a perfect tense. Gen. xxi. 12. The race which was to 
 " hath offered up." It is the tense bear his name should be his descend- 
 of events which stand recorded in ants through Isaac, not Ishmael. It 
 Scripture. See on ch. vii. 6, "hath is another instance of a quotation 
 taken." On the other hand the im- common to this Epistle and St Paul, 
 perfect tense in the next clause " was but made with entirely difi"erent 
 oflFering " (i.e. "was ready to offer"), purposes: Rom. ix. 7. 
 
 belongs to the storj'. The offering 19. God..J'rvm the dead. A 
 
 was made in will but not in deed. venture, surely (he would say), on 
 
 18. \ecen he^ to whom. The Greek, the unseen. The words seem, though 
 as the italics aud the marginal note they apply to a different occasion 
 indicate, admits equally of the ren- (see above, general note on 17-19), 
 dering "even him to whom," i.e. to be an echo of St Paul's words 
 Isaac. Either is possible ; but there (Rom. iv. 17), "him whom he be- 
 is more force in the rendering in the lieved, even God, who quickeneth 
 text. The point which the writer is the dead and calleth the things that 
 emphasizing is the full consciousness are not as though they were." 
 
 of the surrender. Abraham was whence he did also in a parable. 
 called not only to bear loss but with "In a parable" = "in a figure." It was 
 his own hands to bring it about. an acted parable. He had faith to 
 
XL AND XII. 1-4] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 101 
 
 believe that if the boy were dead 
 God could give him back — and so 
 also it was from the dead, as it were, 
 that he actually received him back. 
 
 Westcott takes it less probably of 
 his original birth from one " as good 
 as dead," v. 12. 
 
 Faith that looks to the future (20-22). 
 
 20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even concerning 
 
 21 things to come. By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed 
 each of the sons of Joseph : and worshipped leaning upon 
 
 22 the top of his staff. By faith Joseph, when his end was 
 nigh, made mention of the departure of the children of 
 Israel ; and gave commandment concerning his bones. 
 
 . General Note on vv. 20-22. 
 
 These instances span the interval between Abraham and the Exodus, 
 between the Promise and the first steps towards its fulfilment. All turns on 
 the steady looking forward in spite of delay aud discouragement. 
 
 20. tlessed Jacob and Esau. The 
 words are meant to recall the circum- 
 stances as well as the fact of the 
 blessing. Faith was shewn in the 
 importance attached to the birth- 
 right at a time when the inheritance 
 was in the clouds — perhaps also 
 shewn in the acquiescence in God's 
 will that the father's purpose should 
 be frustrated and the younger pre- 
 ferred to the elder. 
 
 21. The expression combines, 
 consciously or unconsciously, a re- 
 ference to the two distinct stories of 
 Gen. xlviii. and xlvii. 29 foil. The 
 earlier words describe Jacob's bless- 
 ing of Ephraim and Manasseh in 
 Gen. xlviii., when he put his right 
 hand on the head of the younger: 
 but the later words, "he worshipped, 
 &c.," come myhatim from the LXX 
 in Gen. xlvii. 31, where they close 
 the story of his charge to Joseph not 
 to bury him in Egypt, but to carry 
 liim to the cave of Machpelah. It is 
 hard not to think that the writer is 
 meaning to refer to this and to point 
 out that Jacob, as well as Joseph 
 after him, shewed in his last request 
 
 how firmly he rested on the promise 
 that Abraham's seed should possess 
 the Holy Land. 
 
 on the top of his staff; i.e. prop- 
 ping himself on his staff and bending 
 over it — the LXX reading where the 
 Hebrew has, as in our versions, "up- 
 on the bed's head." Cp. the descrip- 
 tion of David, when bedridden, 
 praying : 1 Kings i. 47, " the king 
 bowed himself upon his bed." 
 
 22. The reference is to Gen. 1. 
 There are two jwints corresponding 
 severally to vv. 24 and 25 of that 
 chapter: (1) He "made mention of 
 (the word possibly only means "he 
 had in mind") the departure (the 
 word used is the Exodus) of the 
 children of Israel (possibly rather, 
 the sons of Israel, i.e. of Jacob, his 
 brothers)." They were thinking of 
 their arrival in Egypt and their 
 gathering interests there. His 
 thoughts were in the land of pro- 
 mise, to which they or their children 
 were surely to come. (2) He asso- 
 ciated himself with their future and 
 wished his bones to lie in the Holy 
 Land. 
 
102 HEBREWS [xi. and xii. 1-4 
 
 Faith in history of Moses and the Exodus (23-31). 
 
 23 By faith Moses, when he was bom, was hid three months by 
 his parents, because they saw he was a goodly child ; and 
 
 24 they were not afraid of the king's commandment. By faith 
 Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son 
 
 25 of Pharaoh's daughter ; choosing rather to be evil entreated 
 with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin 
 
 26 for a season ; accounting the reproach of ^Christ greater 
 riches than the treasures of Egypt : for he looked unto the 
 
 27 recompense of reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not 
 fearing the wrath of the king : for he endured, as seeing 
 
 28 him who is invisible. By faith he "^kept the passover, and 
 the sprinkling of the blood, that the destroyer of the first- 
 
 29 born should not touch them. By faith they passed through 
 the Red Sea as by dry land : which the Egyptians assaying 
 
 30 to do were swallowed up. By faith the walls of Jericho fell 
 down, after they had been compassed about for seven days. 
 
 31 By faith Rahab the harlot perished not with them that were 
 disobedient, having received the spies with peace. 
 
 ^ Or, the Christ ^ Or, instituted Gr. hath made. 
 
 General Note on vv. 23-31. 
 
 We pass to another epoch, that of the Exodus ; and to another class of 
 calls upon Faith ; no longer for patience and maintenance of the hope, 
 now for active resistance, choice, enterprise. 
 
 As Abraham before, so now naturally Moses has the central and largest 
 place, the other instances admitted being, as in the former case, contribuent 
 and complementary to those which directly concern himself. The hortatory 
 purpose of the recital is kept before us in the choice of phrases as well as 
 incidents : " not afraid," " not fearing," " evil entreated with the people of 
 God," "the reproach of Christ." 
 
 23. The name of Moses occupies It is a word of colloquial Greek), and 
 
 the prominent place in the verse : it in attributing the concealment to 
 
 is an instance which belongs to his both parents. In the Hebrew text 
 
 story and fitly begins it ; but the faith the mother only is credited with it. 
 
 is that of his parents. The writer 24. when he was grown up. 
 
 follows closely the story as it stands Here again the Greek phrase used is 
 
 in the LXX (Exod. ii. 2), e.g. in the that of the LXX (Exod. ii. 11). That 
 
 word translated "goodly" (cp. Acts Moses refused an actual oflfer of 
 
 vii. 20, where it is rendered "fair." adoption is not explicitly stated in 
 
XI. AND XII. 1-4] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 103 
 
 the text of Exodus, though it is a 
 natural inference and became part 
 of the tradition. 
 
 25. pleasures of «z« = the plea- 
 sures to be had at the price of apos- 
 tasy. For this special meaning of 
 " sin " see on ch. x. 26, 27. 
 
 26. accounting: the participle 
 probably (as Westcott takes it) in 
 the sense of "because he accounted." 
 
 the reproach of Christ (cp. ch. xiii. 
 13, "bearing his reproach," i.e. the 
 reproach that fell upon Him). An 
 unexpected use in relation to Moses 
 of a phrase natural in relation to 
 Christians. It is a synonym or ex- 
 pansion of the words in v. 25, "to be 
 evil entreated with the people of 
 God " : the reproach (that is, the 
 contempt and evil speaking) which, 
 then, as in all time and as most 
 especially in the Gospel story, has 
 been the portion of God's "anointed." 
 The language is the language of the 
 Psalms : see especially Ps. Ixix. 7, 9 
 (quoted by St Paul in Rom. xv. 3 as 
 Messianic) and Ixxxix. 50, 51, "the 
 reproach of thy servants. . .wherewith 
 they [the enemies] have reproached 
 the footsteps of thine Anointed (Gr. 
 thy Christ)." A special purpose here, 
 as in the use of " good tidings " (or, 
 gospel) of Israel in the wilderness in 
 ch. iv. 2, is to put the experience of 
 the Hebrew Christians on the same 
 plane as that of their ancestors in 
 the faith. It is in this way some- 
 what similar to the adaptation of 
 Christian language to the history of 
 Israel in 1 Cor. x. 2-5. The juxta- 
 position of the phrases "reproach" 
 and " reward " in this place suggests 
 the possibility that the writer had in 
 mind the Beatitude (Matt. v. 11), 
 " Blessed are ye when men shall re- 
 proach you... for gi-eat is your re- 
 ward.^' See on ch. xii. 14, where 
 there seems to be a reminiscence of 
 
 two more of the Beatitudes. On the 
 use of the phrase "the Christ" or "the 
 Anointed " in such a place as tliis it 
 will be well to consult Dr Hort's full 
 comment on 1 Pet. i. 11. 
 
 looked unto^ lit. " looked away to," 
 i.e. looked on to, past everything 
 else. 
 
 27. forsook Egypt. To what 
 incident do these words refer? 
 Westcott argues that they describe 
 the Exodus. This is evidently not 
 the view of our translators either in 
 A.V. or R.V., or they would not 
 have chosen the word "forsook." 
 And there is much against the view : 
 (1) the unnatural order, which would 
 seem to put the Passover after the 
 Exodus ; (2) the verb in the singular 
 number, as though Moses went alone ; 
 (3) the tameness of the verb itself to 
 describe the leading out of the people 
 "by their annies"; (4) the irrele- 
 vance, at this point, of the words 
 " not fearing the wrath," for at the 
 moment of their departure the king 
 wished them to go. Is it then, as 
 other editors say, the removal into 
 Midian of Exod. ii. 15? We can 
 hardly accept that answer absolute- 
 ly : for " not fearing the wTath of the 
 king" is too paradoxically in contra- 
 diction to the statement in Exodus 
 that he "feared" and that he "lied 
 from the face of Pharaoh." It seems 
 best to take it (as the rendering 
 "forsook " suggests) of what is related 
 in Exod. ii. 11, the same verse which 
 has been used already in v. 24. It 
 is said there that he " went out unto 
 his brethren and looked on their 
 burdens." There is no need to 
 prove that this would rouse Pha- 
 i-aoh's ill will, and require courage : 
 but can this be described as " forsak- 
 ing Egypt " ? It is pointed out that 
 Goshen was on the borders of 
 Egyi>t: the Israelites were placed 
 
104 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [XI. AND XIL 1-4 
 
 there in order to separate them 
 from the Egyptians. In Gen. xlv. 
 10 (the first place where Goshen is 
 named) the LXX describe it as " of 
 Arabia." Thus, one who went from 
 the king's palace to his brethren 
 might fairly be described as "leaving 
 Egypt behind him." If this is not 
 satisfactory, it may still be argued 
 that, as the result of his going to 
 his brethren was the flight into 
 Midian, the total event might be 
 foreshortened into the phrase "for- 
 sook Egypt," although the courage 
 spoken of apphes to the beginning, 
 not to the end, of the transaction, to 
 his " forsaking " the palace, his giv- 
 ing up his career in Egypt, not to his 
 "flight" into Midian. 
 
 28. kept (or, instituted). The 
 verb is the common one in the 
 LXX (as Exod. xii. 48) of "keeping" 
 (not of instituting) the Passover. 
 Vaughan remarks that there are 
 three verbs employed according to 
 the point of view from which the Pass- 
 over is regarded; to "kill" (Hterally 
 sacrifice) of the lamb, as Exod. xii. 
 21 ; to "eat" of the supper, ib. 11 ; 
 and to " keep " (lit. make, or, perhaps, 
 perform) of the whole rite. For the 
 tense see on v. 17. The Passover 
 might stand for the whole system of 
 ritual, which was to be subsequently 
 ordained, and of which the efficacy 
 was to be matter of faith. If so, it is 
 
 chosen because, in the case of it, faith 
 had its immediate justification by 
 the sparing of the firstborn wherever 
 the blood was sprinkled. 
 
 29. which the Egyptians. The 
 force of this clause is to point out 
 that the passage by Israel of the Red 
 Sea was not the discovery of a path 
 by which any one could pass it, but 
 the eflPect of faith, accomplishing the 
 impossible. They had courage to do 
 what the next experience found dan- 
 gerous and fatal. 
 
 30. after they had been com- 
 passed. Josh. vi. 14, 15. An in- 
 stance of patience as well as faith, 
 of faith which led to refraining, as 
 V. 29 had spoken of faith which led 
 to forward action. 
 
 31. Rahab. She was remembered 
 as one who, though an alien, had 
 done a supreme service to the holy 
 nation. Josh. ii. 1, vi. 17, 25. St 
 James (ii. 25) quotes her as one 
 whose faith was shewn not by words 
 only (Josh. ii. 11, "the Lord your 
 God he is God in heaven above and 
 on the earth beneath, &c."), but by 
 action. She is quoted here as an 
 instance of faith in the unseen. Her 
 belief, however acquired, in God led 
 her to choose the side of the nation 
 then represented only by the two de- 
 fenceless spies, and so to " save her- 
 self from an untoward generation." 
 
 Faith in all Israelitish history (32-40). 
 
 32 And what shall I more say ? for the time will fail me if 
 I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah ; of David 
 
 33 and Samuel and the prophets ; who through faith subdued 
 kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, 
 
 34 stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, 
 escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made 
 strong, waxed mighty in war, turned to flight armies of 
 
XI. AifD xii. 1-4] HEBREWS 105 
 
 35 aliens. Women received their dead by a resurrection : and 
 others were ^ tortured, not accepting ^ their deliverance ; 
 
 36 that they might obtain a better resurrection : and others 
 had trial of mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of 
 
 37 bonds and imprisonment : they were stoned, they were 
 sawn asunder, they were tempted, they were slain with 
 the sword : they went about in sheepskins, in goat- 
 
 38 skins ; being destitute, afflicted, evil entreated (of whom 
 the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and 
 
 39 mountains and caves and the holes of the earth. And 
 these all having had witness borne to them through their 
 
 40 faith, received not the promise, God having ^provided some 
 better thing concerning us, that apart from us they should 
 not be made perfect. 
 
 ^ Or, beaten to death ^ Gr. the redemption. 
 
 ^ Or, foreseen 
 
 General Note on vv. 32-40. 
 
 The order is still generally chronological : the Judges, David, the 
 Prophets : although the particular Judges are in an order of importance 
 rather than of date. Samuel is put after David in order to bring him into 
 closer connexion with the Prophets, of whom he was looked upon as the first 
 (Acts iii. 24). The remainder of the passage aims at gathering under heads 
 different exhibitions of faith throughout the whole period. The arrangement 
 in triplets {vv. 32-34) is a common rhetorical artifice, and it is difficult to say 
 how far we are intended to see exact correspondences ; but perhaps the 
 triplet of V. 33, "subdued kingdoms, &c.," con-esponds roughly with the 
 categories of v. 32, as though it meant that Faith was the secret of the 
 victories of the Judges (cp. Judg. v. 19) ; of the virtues of kings who, in the 
 frequently repeated phiase, "did that which was right in the sight of 
 the Lord " ; and of the realization by the prophets of their visions. In any 
 case there seems to be a sense of historical order in v. 34 if the deliverances 
 of that verse are those of the Cai)tivity ; " escaped the edge of the sword," 
 if it suits earlier events, has its most notable explanation in the Book 
 of Esther; the three following instances have theirs in the history of the 
 Maccabees. 
 
 32. time will fail me. In gather- Dan. vi., as the following instance is 
 ing traits of style, it is worth noticing that of Dan. iii. 
 
 that this is a formula common in 34. from weakness. This might 
 
 classical literature. be explained of the revival of the 
 
 if I tell — it means a little more, "if nation after the Captivity: but, as 
 
 I go on to tell in detail." has been said, the three phrases 
 
 33. stopped the mouths of lions. point most definitely to the recovery 
 
106 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [XI. AND XII. 1-4 
 
 in the days of the Maccabees. It is 
 noticed that the word rendered 
 " armies " has that sense in the 
 Books of Maccabees, but in the O.T. 
 generally it means " camps." 
 
 35. Women received their dead. 
 The widow of Zarephath, 1 Kings xvii. 
 17 f., and the Shuuamite, 2 Kings iv. 
 32 f. The writer implies that the 
 result was due to the faith of the 
 mothers as well as to that of Elijah 
 and Elisha. The raising of the dead 
 is put as a climax to the victories of 
 Faith : but it leads at once to the 
 thought of the martyrdoms of Faith : 
 and the link is apparently in the 
 stories told in 2 Mace. vi. and vii. of 
 the martyrdom of Eleazar and the 
 seven brethren ; especially in the 
 picture given of the mother of the 
 seven, who is contrasted with the 
 two mothers just named, who re- 
 ceived again their dead sons by " a 
 raising from the dead." He was 
 thinking of the mother's words to 
 her seventh son (2 Mace. vii. 28, 29), 
 "I beseech thee, my child, to lift 
 thine eyes unto the heaven and the 
 earth and to see all things that are 
 therein, and thus to recognize that 
 God made them not of things that 
 were.... Fear not this butcher, but 
 proving thyself worthy of thy bre- 
 thren, accept thy death, that in the 
 mercy of God I may receive thee 
 again with thy brethren." The word 
 in this verse rendered "tortured" 
 means (see marg.) " beaten to death," 
 and the corresponding substantive is 
 used in 2 Mace. vi. of the instrument 
 of Eleazar's death. A marked feature 
 of his story is his refusal to " accept 
 deliverance," although modes of 
 evasion short of compliance were 
 pressed \ipon him. 
 
 a better resurrection : i.e. not a 
 mere return to a mortal life, as in the 
 cases of Zarephath and Shunem. 
 
 There is definite reference to the 
 words of the heroic mother quoted 
 in the last note. 
 
 36. mockings and scourgings. 
 Both words are used in the descrip- 
 tion of the sufierings of the seven 
 brothers. 
 
 37. stoned ; as Zechariah, 2 Chron. 
 xxiv. 20 f. 
 
 sawn asunder. The traditional 
 death of Isaiah. 
 
 tempted : if the text is sound, it 
 must be meant to set the pain of 
 moral trials (as that suggested in 
 V. 35, "not accepting their deliver- 
 ance") by the side of that of the 
 physical: but the word is doubtful. 
 
 sheepskins. It is the word in the 
 LXX (more definite than that in the 
 Heb.) for the "mantle" of Elijah. 
 It is the opposite of the "soft 
 raiment" of Matt. xi. 8. 
 
 38. of whom the world was not 
 wo rthy : a parenthesis, not definitely 
 coordinated with what follows any 
 more than with what precedes. It 
 is the reflection, which cannot be 
 repressed, on the contrast between 
 what they were and what their 
 treatment was. Cp. with the pic- 
 ture 1 Cor. iv. 11, "we both hunger 
 and thirst and are naked and have 
 no certain dwellingplace...We are 
 made as the filth of the world, the 
 oflscouring of all things." If we 
 press for more definite explanation 
 of the thought it may be either that 
 they were the flower of mankind 
 worth all the rest of the world, as in 
 Ecclus. xliv. 7, "righteous Noah" is 
 said to be " taken in exchange " for 
 the world (it is possibly one of the 
 phrases in which the influence of that 
 passage can be felt); or, that all 
 which the world had to give would 
 be below their deserts. An epi- 
 gi-ammatic saying seldom escapes 
 possible ambiguity; but perhaps 
 
XL AND XII. 1-4] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 107 
 
 the two thoughts do not lie so far 
 apart as to be necessarily distin- 
 guished in the utterance. 
 
 the holes of the earth. The defi- 
 nite article "<A« holes," seems to 
 imply reference to a well known 
 feature or to some particular in- 
 stances. For the "caves" or "holes" 
 (1 Sam. xiv. 11), fissures in the lime- 
 stone of Palestine, and their relation 
 to history, see Stanley's Sinai and 
 Palestine, ch. ii. 
 
 39. havi?ig hacl witness borne to 
 them. See above, v. 2. 
 
 received not the promise. Cp. ch. 
 X. 36. The verb, in contrast with 
 those used in vi. 12, 15, xi. 33, means 
 " to receive back," " to receive in full 
 payment of what is due." The pro- 
 mise, in the singular number, is not 
 a particular promise but the " thing 
 promised," the true promise which 
 was behind all promises, the "pro- 
 mise of the eternal inheritance" of 
 ch. ix. 15. 
 
 40. provided; better, as in the 
 margin, "foreseen." Providere, to 
 foresee, was in Latin used in the sense 
 of "to provide" ; but there is no proof 
 
 that the Greek word here used ever 
 had that sense. It is of God's fore- 
 knowledge as explaining His order- 
 ing. He " foresaw " (looked forward 
 to) the more perfect settlement, in 
 which we were to be concerned and in 
 which they were to share with us the 
 full and final reward of their faith. 
 
 made perfect. The verb used 
 means " to put into their final, com 
 plete condition": in what respect, 
 depends on the context. Here it is 
 by the satisfoction of their hopes, the 
 fulfilment of the promises to which 
 they look. The expressions clearly 
 helped to give material for the 
 medieval pictures, based on 1 Pet. 
 iii. 19, of the "harrowing of hell"; 
 but they do not necessarily touch 
 the question. The saints of old time 
 are described all through this chapter 
 as, to the end of their lives on earth, 
 looking forward, " desiring " (ace. to 
 Matt. xiii. 17) "to see" what, save in 
 the prevision of faith, they did not 
 see : it is assumed that their faith 
 was to have its reward ; but the 
 when and the how are not revealed. 
 
 Faith, in our own lives, and in that of the Lord Jesus 
 
 (xii. 1, 2). 
 
 XII. 1 Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about 
 with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside ^ every weight, 
 and the sin which ^doth so easily beset us, and let us run 
 2 with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto 
 Jesus, the ^author and perfecter of our faith, who for the 
 joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising 
 shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the 
 throne of God. 
 
 ^ Or, all encumbrance 
 
 2 Or, doth closely cling to us Or, is admired of many 
 
 ' Or, captain 
 
108 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [XI. AND XII. 1-4 
 
 General Note on XII. 1, 2. 
 
 These verses at once draw the lesson from the great catalogue, and add 
 to it the Supreme Instance of Faith and its reward. 
 
 XII. 1. Therefore. It is in the 
 Greek the most emphatic particle for 
 drawing a conclusion — the personal 
 conclusion from the long catalogue. 
 
 compassed. The figure in the 
 original word belongs to the meta- 
 phor of the "cloud." The "wit- 
 nesses " are hke " a bank of clouds 
 around us," they close the horizon. 
 
 witnesses. The Greek word does 
 not mean "spectators," but "those 
 who have given witness" — so many 
 to testify to the reality of the life for 
 which they lived and died. 
 
 every weight. The exact figure is 
 uncertain. The word is used in Greek 
 medical writers for bulk of body, the 
 superfluous flesh which training is 
 directed to reduce ; and this may be 
 the sense here. But the word was 
 used metaphorically of any trouble 
 or encumbrance. In any case there 
 is the general figure of an athlete 
 preparing for a contest, as in 1 Cor. 
 ix. 24 f. 
 
 doth so easily beset us. The alter- 
 natives offered in the margin indicate 
 that the meaning of the word is 
 doubtful. It is a word not found 
 elsewhere. By etymology it shoidd 
 mean literally either "well stood 
 about" or " well standing about." The 
 simple adjective (without the "well") 
 is found in both senses in classical 
 Greek. In the first sense it would 
 mean " crowded round," and so "ad- 
 mired " ; and this meaning (marg. 2) 
 has been given to it here, as though 
 the meaning were " popular " sins. 
 This is not impossible, but it is not 
 the sense which the context leads us 
 to expect. If we take the second, 
 the figure may be either of the 
 
 spectators who encumber the course 
 (but the phrase "laying aside" or 
 "putting off" is not very appro- 
 priate) ; or of entangling garments, 
 "closely clinging" (see note on ch. x. 
 11," take away "). This on the whole 
 seems the preferable. It should be 
 noticed that it is not a question (as 
 our common use of the phrase seems 
 to assume) of any specially "beset- 
 ting" sin. The epithet and the 
 thought are of sin, generally. 
 
 with patience : lit. " through 
 patience," i.e. in a continuing atti- 
 tude of patience. 
 
 2. looking unto. See on ch. xi. 
 26, " looked unto." It is not the same 
 verb, but it is compounded with the 
 same preposition and with the same 
 sense ; " looking away unto," looking 
 away from our own troubles, past 
 anything that would attract or 
 frighten, fastening all our attention 
 on the supreme Example. 
 
 Jesus. See on ch. iv. 14. 
 
 author [or captain^ and per- 
 Jecter of [our^ faith. " Our " is not 
 wanted. The Greek article with 
 " faith " means " the faith " of which 
 we have been speaking, of which so 
 many instances have been given. 
 He is not only one more in the cata- 
 logue. He is the Leader in the great 
 army, the Perfect Exemplar of the 
 virtue which, " in many portions and 
 in many modes," they have illus- 
 trated. For the word translated 
 "author" (or, "captain"), see on ch.iL 
 10. 
 
 tJie joy, i.e. of winning the objects 
 of His suff'ering. Is. liii. 11, "he 
 shall see of the travail of his soul 
 and shall be satisfied." 
 
XII. 5-11] HEBREWS 109 
 
 set before him. The word is meant others despise them, is what men 
 
 to recall the figure of the " race which most dread. He met it with its own 
 
 is set before us." It may be noticed weapon. He despised it. 
 
 also that in the Greek the word trans- hath sat down. The tense implies 
 
 lated " endured " (im-e/ieii'f , i.e. en- that He sits there. This is the last 
 
 dured patiently, see below on v. 7) reference to the prophecy which has 
 
 is chosen to recall "with patience" been so much before us in the 
 
 {bC vTTOfiovfjs) in V. 1. Jesus is to be Epistle. It serves to recall the past 
 
 our pattern in all respects. argument. We are meeting most 
 
 despising shatne. The R.V. has directly and in a tone as of defiance 
 
 done well to omit the interpolated the lingering Jewish misgiving at the 
 
 "the" of A.V. It is a larger, and idea of a crucified Messiah: "the 
 
 therefore a more pointed expression cross," "despising shame," " the right 
 
 than " the shame," i.e. the shame of hand of the throne of God." 
 the Cross. Shame, the sense that 
 
 Introductory Note on XII. 3-end. 
 
 The rest of chapter xii. is occupied 
 
 (1) Vv. 3-1 1, with the suggestion of another aspect of the present state 
 of distress, put chiefly in the tender and parental language of the Book of 
 Proverbs ; the aspect of suff'ering as discipline, intended to perfect the 
 character. 
 
 (2) Fv. 12-17, with the warning against allowing their courage to be 
 undermined from within. There must be no lurking taint of immorality, no 
 Esau-like betraying of their birthright. 
 
 (3) Vc. 18-end, with the contrasted picture of the circumstances of 
 the two Revelations ; that of Sinai, and that of the heavenly Jerusalem ; 
 with the same conclusion as that of ch. ii. 3, "how shall we escape if we 
 neglect so great salvation ? " 
 
 XII. 3-11. Suffering as discipline. 
 
 3 For consider him that hath endured such gainsaying of 
 sinners against ^themselves, that ye wax not weary, fainting 
 
 4 in your souls. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving 
 
 5 against sin : and ye have forgotten the exhortation, which 
 reasoneth with you as with sons, 
 
 My son, regard not lightly the chastening of the Lord, 
 Nor faint when thou art reproved of him : 
 
 6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth 
 And scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 
 
 7 ^ It is for chastening that ye endure ; God dealeth with you 
 as with sons ; for what son is there whom his father chas- 
 
 8 teneth not ? But if ye are without chastening, whereof all 
 
110 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [xii. 5-11 
 
 have been made partakers, then are ye bastards and not 
 
 9 sons. Furthermore we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten 
 
 us, and we gave them reverence : shall we not much rather 
 
 10 be in subjection unto the Father of ^spirits and live? For 
 they verily for a few days chastened us as seemed good to 
 them ; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers 
 
 11 of his holiness. All chastening seemeth for the present to 
 be not joyous, but grievous ; yet afterward it yieldeth 
 peaceable fruit unto them that have been exercised there- 
 by, even the fruit of righteousness. 
 
 1 Many authorities, some ancient, read himself. 
 
 2 Or, Endure unto chastening ^ Or, our spirits 
 
 3. consider. The Greek word is 
 not the emphatic "consider" ("set 
 all your thoughts on ") of iii. 1 and x. 
 24, but means rather "compare," 
 " strike the balance between " what 
 He endured and what you endure. 
 
 sinners against themselves. This 
 is a translation of the best supported 
 reading, and is explained by the 
 words which are used in Numb. xvi. 
 38 of Korah and his company, 
 "these sinners against [lit. in the 
 matter of] their own souls (or, lives)," 
 and which passed into a proverbial 
 phrase (so in Prov. xx. 2 ; cp. also 
 Hab. ii. 10; 1 Kings ii. 23). For the 
 full meaning of "themselves" in this 
 rendering cp. note on ch. x. 34, 
 "yourselves." It may be noticed 
 that the " gainsaying (the same word 
 as here) of Korah" is a phrase 
 which occurs in Jude 11. They 
 were their own worst enemies. 
 They "knew not what they did," 
 The phrase seems to have point 
 
 (1) as reminding the readers that 
 persecution was worse for the perse- 
 cutors than for the persecuted : they 
 may view it as their Lord viewed it, 
 with pity for those who inflicted it ; 
 
 (2) as suggesting another point of 
 comparison between Christ and 
 
 Moses. A.V. follows the alternative 
 reading "against himself," which 
 must then be taken (though the Greek 
 is more diflicult) with "gainsaying," 
 the thought then being as in 1 Pet. 
 ii. 23, "follow his steps who... when 
 he was reviled, reviled not again." 
 "Gainsaying," like the Greek word 
 which it renders, meant literally only 
 "speaking in opposition to," but it 
 implies a certain tone and temper in 
 the speech. Vaughan illustrates it 
 well by John xix. 12, where "speaketh 
 against Caesar" (the cognate verb) 
 implies "as a rebel." 
 
 4f Two reasons are suggested 
 why the " looking away " from their 
 own troubles to those which Jesus 
 endured should fortify their resolu- 
 tion. The first {v. 4) is stated in 
 terms : they will feel that their own 
 trials do not yet reach the measure 
 of the Cross. The second {v. 5) is 
 expressed more reticently ; but it 
 can hardly but be that, in represent- 
 ing their siifibrings as the natural 
 discipline of sons, the wi'iter is 
 recalling the temper of the Son who 
 "learned obedience by the things 
 which he suffered." 
 
 4, 5. Better, " your resistance was 
 not yet unto blood,... and you had 
 
XII. 5-11] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 111 
 
 forgotten, &c." The first verb is 
 a simple piist (aorist) tense, not a 
 perfect, as our versions give it : and 
 the second, though it may be a per- 
 fect, can also be taken, and is better 
 taken, as a pluperfect. The first 
 refers to some definite moment of 
 persecution in the recent past: the 
 second to the state of mind which 
 had preceded it. Mr Kendall argues 
 withforcethat(apartfrom the greater 
 accuracy) this rendering softens the 
 harshness of the charge. Other 
 editors (as Westcott), with the same 
 purpose, have made the second clause 
 interrogative, "Have you forgotten ?"; 
 but the clauses then do not hang to- 
 gether so well. 
 
 sin ; here, as so often in the 
 Epistle, with the special sense of 
 the temptation to apostatize. 
 
 5. exhortation ; a word which in 
 its N.T. use is translated in the R.V. 
 19 times out of 25 by " comfort " or 
 "consolation," seven times (as here 
 and in xiii. 22, where it describes 
 the purpose of this Epistle) by "ex- 
 hortation," once (2 Cor. viii. 4) by 
 " entreaty," once (in this Epistle, vi. 
 18) by "encouragement." The last 
 two renderings indicate the link be- 
 tween the first two. Its literal 
 meaning is "calling from [one set 
 of thoughts to another]." When it 
 is rendered "exhortation" there is 
 still a suggestion of tenderness in 
 the tone and purpose. It is applied 
 here fitly to the fatherly tone of the 
 Book of Proverbs. With the personi- 
 fication, "the exhortation which 
 reasoneth," we may compare Luke 
 xi. 49, " Therefore also said the wis- 
 dom of God, I wiU send, &c." The 
 quotation is from Prov. iii. 11, 12. 
 Similar words are put into the mouth 
 of Ehphaz in Job v. 17. 
 
 reasoneth, or, " converseth." The 
 word is chosen to indicate the tone 
 
 of one who puts himself on the level 
 of the person to whom he speaks, 
 content to argue and hear reply. 
 
 regard not lightly. Two attitudes 
 in the face of Divine chastisement 
 are deprecated ; stolid indifi"erence, 
 that does not trace the Hand or learn 
 the lesson ; and desjiair, the de- 
 spondency of which we hear so much 
 in the Epistle. 
 
 reproved. " Chasten " (the Greek 
 word means properly to "treat as chil- 
 dren ") is the more general word to 
 describe the purposes of adversity ; 
 it is "educational," disciphnary. 
 "Reprove" describes one part of 
 such discipline, namely the revela- 
 tion to a man of his o\vn faults : cp. 
 Prov. ix. 8, " Reprove (it is the same 
 word) a wise man, and he will love 
 thee." 
 
 6. receiveth : i.e. recognizes as a 
 son. The contrast is made plain in 
 the explanation in ». 8. 
 
 7. It is for chastening that ye 
 endure. The verb rendered "en- 
 dure " must have the same meaning 
 here as in ch. x. 32, xii. 2, 3, and 
 in the N.T. generally, viz. "bear 
 patiently," not merely " bear." But 
 this does not oblige us (as marg.) to 
 translate the verb as imperative, 
 " endure with a view to chastening." 
 The Greek puts " for chastening " in 
 the place of emphasis : it is there- 
 fore rightly rendered "It is for chas- 
 tening that, &c." The wi-iter might 
 have said " ye sufler," but he substi- 
 tutes "ye bear patiently," i.e. "In 
 bearing patiently (he tenderly as- 
 sumes that they do so) you are 
 treating the suff'ering as chastening." 
 It is the practical application of the 
 quotation from the Proverbs. Then 
 follow some arguments in supi)ort of 
 the advice ; ®w. 7, 8, "it is a proof of 
 sonship"; vv. 9, 10, "the heavenly 
 discipline has higher ends than that 
 
112 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [xii. 12-17 
 
 of earthly parents"; ». 11, "though 
 painful at the moment, it leads to 
 peace and righteousness." It should 
 be noticed that R.V. is translating a 
 different text from A.V., viz. "for," 
 i.e. "with a view to " {els\ instead of 
 "if" (ei). The change so made is in 
 accordance with all ancient MSS and 
 other evidence. 
 
 9. Father of spirits ; possibly a 
 reminiscence of the expression which 
 occurs twice in Numb. xvi. 22, xxvii. 
 16, "the God of the spirits of all 
 flesh." 
 
 and live, i.e. in the highest sense 
 of life. The meaning is indicated in 
 the following sentence: the earthly 
 discipline is with a view to "a few 
 
 days," i.e. to a life itself short ; the 
 heavenly with a view to a life of 
 holiness, i.e. in union with God and 
 therefore eternal. 
 
 10. as seemed good to them ; a 
 second difference between the human 
 and the Divine chastening. The 
 former will be wise or unwise, ac- 
 cording to the judgement of the 
 chastener. The latter goes unerr- 
 ingly to the good of the chastened. 
 
 11. peaceable fruit... [fruit] of 
 righteousness. The "fruit," or re- 
 sult, of the discipline has two 
 qualifications. It is peace after 
 storms, peace of soul ; and it is 
 righteousness, perfected character. 
 
 XII. 12-17. Warning against moral inconsistencies. 
 
 12 Wherefore ^lift up the hands that hang down, and the 
 
 13 palsied knees ; and make straight paths for your feet, that 
 that which is lame be not ^ turned out of the way, but rather 
 
 14 be healed. Follow after peace with all men, and the sancti- 
 
 15 fication without which no man shall see the Lord : looking 
 carefully ^lest there be any man that *falleth short of the 
 grace of God ; lest any root of bitterness springing up 
 
 16 trouble you, and thereby the many be defiled ; ^lest there 
 be any fornicator or profane person, as Esau, who for one 
 
 17 mess of meat sold his own birthright. For ye know that 
 even when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing, he 
 was rejected (for he found no place of repentance) though 
 he sought it diligently with tears. 
 
 1 Gr. make straight. 
 ^ Or, whether 
 
 12, 13. The two verses may be 
 paraphrased : Wherefore (i.e. seeing 
 that the present distress is a sign of 
 God's love and has happy pui-poses) 
 listen to the voices of your own 
 Scriptures, of Prophet and Sage, 
 which call you to hearten one 
 
 * Or, put out of joint 
 
 * Or, falleth back from 
 
 another for your journey to the 
 Holy Land, and bid you clear one 
 another's path from obstacles and 
 stumblingblocks. The passages used 
 are Isaiah xxxv. 3 and Prov. iv. 26, 
 27. 
 
 13. straight paths. The question 
 
XII. 12-17] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 113 
 
 has been raised why a straight path 
 is especially in the interest of the 
 lame. The Heb. text of Pro v. iv. 
 26 (as represented in R.V.) has 
 " level," which explains itself. 
 "Straight" seems to be not so 
 much part of a continuous meta- 
 phor as a moral interpretation: see 
 ?'. 11 of the same chapter, where the 
 Greek has again "straight paths" 
 and the Heb. "paths of uprightness." 
 The admonition is to take a clear 
 and straightforward line. There is 
 something of the same figure in ch. 
 xiii. 9, "be not carried away (or, 
 aside) by divers and strange teach- 
 ings." They are to think in this 
 matter of the effect of their example 
 on the weaker brethren. 
 
 be not turned out of the way. It 
 has been proposed (as in the margin 
 of R.V.) to translate iKxpaivfj, instead 
 of " turned out of the way," "put out 
 of joint," which is a recognized medi- 
 cal use of the word. This makes a 
 continuous figure with the accom- 
 panying word " be healed " ; but it 
 gives an unexpected prominence 
 and emphasis to the metaphor and 
 increases the awkwardness, already 
 spoken of, in the epithet "straight 
 [paths]." 
 
 14. Folloic after peace. Like St 
 Peter (1 Pet. iii. II ; cp.also Rom.xiv. 
 19) the writer falls into the language 
 of Ps. xxxiv. 14. "Follow after (or, 
 pursue) peace" is equivalent to St 
 Paul's "If it be possible, as much as 
 in you lieth, be at peace with all 
 men" (Rom. xii. 18). It is a natural 
 exhortation as addressed to the 
 Hebrew Christians at the time, not 
 to provoke persecution or mix in 
 political movements ; but there is 
 probably in view also the danger of 
 internal dissension. See on ch. xiii. 
 20. 
 
 the sanctification ; not exactly 
 
 "hohness" (as A.V. and as in v. 10, i.e. 
 the character of one who is holy) but 
 "growth in holiness," "the process of 
 making the character such as befits 
 the consecrated." Strictness in the 
 personal life is to be the complement 
 of the attitude of peace towards the 
 world outside. It is suggested that 
 the words "without which, «Scc.," 
 shew that the wiiter had in mind 
 the two Beatitudes which stand to- 
 gether in Matt. v. 8, 9. See on ch. xi. 
 26. 
 
 15. The framework of the sentence 
 and much of its phraseology come 
 directly from Deut. xxix. 18 ; and 
 the general purport is the same, 
 viz. the danger lest among the 
 Covenant-people there may be re- 
 creants to corrupt the rest. 
 
 falleth short of; more literally "is 
 (continuously) falling behind from." 
 It implies separation further and 
 further from that Divine Grace 
 with which he fails to keep pace. 
 The words in Deut., which it re- 
 places, are "whose heart turneth 
 away from the Lord." 
 
 lest any root of bitterness spring- 
 ing up trouble [you} The words in 
 Deut., which this clause represents, 
 are in the Heb. (R.V.) "lest there 
 should be among you a root that 
 beareth gall (LXX that shooteth 
 forth in gall) and wormwood." One 
 MS (the Alexandrine) of the LXX 
 has the words in Deut. as they 
 stand in this Epistle, "root of bit- 
 terness... trouble [you]." Now the 
 two words rendered from the LXX 
 " in gall " are, with the transposition 
 of two letters (eV x°^.V — ^^^X^^\ 
 identical with the single word ren- 
 dered "trouble you." It is clear 
 therefore that there has been a con- 
 fusion at some time between the two 
 readings. Few will doubt that "in 
 gall " was the original reading in the 
 
114 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [xii. 12-17 
 
 LXX. It may also have been the 
 original reading in this place ; but 
 on the whole the evidence points to 
 the confusion having arisen in the 
 text of the LXX and to the writer 
 of this Epistle having found in it 
 "trouble [you]." 
 
 the many ; the general, body of 
 the Church. 
 
 16. fornicator or profane per- 
 son. The " root of bitterness " (i .e. a 
 root of some poisonous or mischievous 
 weed which may spread in the soil) 
 is a metaphorical description taken 
 from the words of Deut. Two forms 
 are then suggested which this evil 
 influence may take : (1) personal evil 
 living, (2) disregard of religious posi- 
 tion and privilege. The first is the 
 temptation always at hand (cp. xiii. 
 4) and most fatal to the " sanctifica- 
 tion" of V. 14. St Paul has another 
 metaphor for its tainting eff"ect on 
 the Christian society, 1 Cor. v. 7 f. 
 
 profane person. The common use 
 of the word rendered "profane" is 
 of places or things "unconsecrated," 
 " open to the common tread." But 
 it is also found of persons, and with 
 a moral meaning, as in Ezek. xxi. 25 
 (LXX and A.V.), "profane, wicked 
 prince." It would mean here "with- 
 out the religious sense." Esau in 
 the story shewed this lack in treat- 
 ing so lightly his birthright with its 
 religious import, the priesthood of 
 the family and the mysterious pro- 
 mises. His levity and insensibihty 
 (Weatcott) are strongly marked in 
 the narrative in Gen. xxv. 34, "he 
 did eat and drink and rose up and 
 went his way : so Esau despised his 
 birthright." 
 
 17. afterward: i.e. in the story 
 of Gen. xxvii. In that case Esau is 
 depicted as desiring to receive the 
 firstborn's blessing. 
 
 was reflected. It is the technical 
 
 Greek term for the rejection of a 
 candidate for oflBce on scrutiny as 
 disqualified. Esau was "disquali- 
 fied," by the course of events, by the 
 ordering of God's Providence. 
 
 place of repentance, i.e. an oppor- 
 tunity of an eff"ective change of pur- 
 pose. It was a phrase of Latin law, 
 locus poenitentiae ; but it is found 
 in Greek in Wisdom xii. 10 as well 
 as here, and in a passage of Clement 
 of Rome (c. vii., "The Lord gave a 
 place of repentance to those who were 
 willing to turn to him "), a passage, 
 it should be said, which is full of 
 reminiscences of this Epistle. 
 
 though he sought it. R.V., by 
 putting "for he... repentance" into 
 brackets as a parenthesis, indicates 
 that " it " means " the blessing," not 
 "repentance." The reference is 
 clear to Gen. xxvii. 38, " Hast thou 
 but one blessing, my father ? 
 Bless me, even me also, my father. 
 And Esau lifted up his voice and 
 wept." It would be possible also 
 (removing the bracket) to take "i7" 
 to be " repentance " (the Greek for- 
 bids us to take it, as English readers 
 are apt to take it, as "room for 
 repentance"). The sense is not 
 materially altered. In any case 
 " repentance " means here only 
 "change of purpose." He had de- 
 spised the blessing: now he desired 
 it. He might be said either to seek 
 the blessing or to seek an (eflfective) 
 change of purpose. 
 
 The instance of Esau has a closer 
 relation to the Hebrew Christians 
 than to ordinary cases of forfeited 
 opportunity. They are, in respect 
 of the Gospel, as the natural heir of 
 the firstborn's blessing who is in 
 danger of letting it pass to others. 
 See Acts xiii. 46. 
 
 As the " for " in the next verse 
 indicates, the thought of this instance 
 
XII. 18-24] HEBREWS 115 
 
 of the irrecoverable loss of a blessing final comparison between the two 
 is the link by which the writer passes Covenants in respect of dignity and 
 to the next passage {pp. 18-29), his blessedness. 
 
 XII. 18-24. The Old Covenant contrasted with 
 
 THE New. 
 
 18 For ye are not come unto '^amount that might be touched, 
 and that burned with fire, and unto blackness, and darkness, 
 
 19 and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of 
 words ; which voice they that heard intreated that no word 
 
 20 more should be spoken unto them : for they could not en- 
 dure that which was enjoined. If even a beast touch the 
 
 21 mountain, it shall be stoned ; and so fearful was the 
 appearance, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake : 
 
 22 but ye are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of 
 the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, ^and to ^innumer- 
 
 23 able hosts of angels, to the general assembly and church of 
 the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the 
 Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, 
 
 24 and to Jesus the mediator of a new ^covenant, and to 
 the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better ^than that of 
 Abel. 
 
 1 Or, a palpable and kindled fire 
 
 2 Or, and to innumerable hosts, the general assembly of angels, and the 
 church of, (£c. 
 
 ' Gr. myriads of angels. * Or, testament ^ Or, than Abel 
 
 18,19. Asin». 15 the framework and was not read by Chrysostom, 
 
 and much of the phraseology come who takes (as the margin of R.V.) 
 
 from a passage of Deuteronomy (iv. " that might be touched " as an 
 
 11, supplemented in this case from epithet of "fire," "palpable fire." 
 
 Bxod. xix.). "Ye came near... the This, though it is accepted by 
 
 mountain burned with fire... black- Westcott, is strange and unlikely, 
 
 ness and darkness and tempest. . .the for 
 
 voice of words " are all phrases that (1) "palpable" is an English 
 
 occur in the passage of Deut. phrase which has nearly lost its 
 
 18. ye are not come, i.e. as your special meaning, and stands merely 
 
 ancestors came, at the time of the for "sensible"; but there is no proof 
 
 First Covenant, to Mt Sinai. that the Greek word had in the same 
 
 [a mount.] A.V. reads " the way lost its literal sense. Whenever 
 
 mount " as part of the text. But the verb from which it comes is used 
 
 it is not fomid in the older MSS in the LXX or N.T. it has a very 
 
 8—2 
 
116 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [xii. 18-24 
 
 definite sense of "handling," "feel- 
 ing," "groping about." 
 
 (2) This rendering involves the 
 further step of translating the fol- 
 lowing vpords " a kindled fire " (see 
 margin), a phrase to which it is difli- 
 cult to give any point, and which 
 loses the connexion with Deut., which 
 has the word in another sense, " the 
 mountain burned with fire." 
 
 If then "a mount" in the later 
 MSS is only an interpretative gloss, 
 it would still seem (as R.V. indicates 
 by retaining it, but in italics) to give 
 the true interpretation. It is evident 
 that " a mount " was in the writer's 
 mind when he began the sentence. 
 The gist of it is a contrast between 
 the two Covenants, as represented 
 by Mt Sinai on the one side, with its 
 lurid accessories, and on the other 
 the idealized Mt Zion : cp. the con- 
 trast in Gal. iv. 25, 26, " Mt Sinai in 
 Arabia... Jerusalem that is above." 
 As the sentence starts, it seems 
 natural for the moment that the 
 substantive in agreement with the 
 participles rendered "that might be 
 touched" and "that burned" should 
 be omitted, because it was to come 
 in the corresponding clause ; but as 
 the description recalled from Deut. 
 iv. lengthens and draws other details, 
 the contrasted "Mount Zion" does 
 not come tiU v. 22. The writer shews 
 that he is conscious that the paren- 
 thesis has been long, by repeating 
 there the key- word "ye are come." 
 The omission of "a mount" in ». 18 
 is, in other words, to be explained as 
 one of the incidents (of which there 
 are many) in which the Epistle ex- 
 hibits the characteristics of spoken 
 rather than written composition. 
 To this explanation we may add a 
 point noticed by Vaughan. He calls 
 attention (in a note on v. 22) to the 
 order of the words in that verse, 
 
 which in Greek is 2iaiv Spei, "Zion 
 mountain," whereas in all the 23 
 cases where this combination oc- 
 curs in the O.T. the two words are 
 placed in the LXX in the order 
 "Mount Zion." An alteration of 
 the usual order of words in Greek 
 is always for the purpose of emphasis. 
 The emphasis then is on " Zion," and 
 this, he suggests, is because it is the 
 word of contrast ; "Zion mountain" is 
 set ofl" against the mountain previous- 
 ly described. In other words "moun- 
 tain" is constructively indicated as 
 the word common in thought to the 
 two sentences. Thus the omission of 
 the word in ». 18 is virtually supplied. 
 that might be touched, lit. "that was 
 (or, is) touched." The verb of which 
 these words represent the participle 
 is used, as has been said, properly, not 
 of merely "touching," but of hand- 
 ling, sometimes of handling fre- 
 quently, familiarly, as in 1 John i. 1, 
 more often of handling without sight, 
 " groping about," as of blind Samson 
 "feeling the pillars," Judg. xvi. 26, 
 or of the human spirit blindly "feel- 
 ing after " God, Acts xvii. 27. What 
 is its force and purpose here ? It is 
 not one of the words used in the pas- 
 sage of Deut. or Exod. ; yet it is so 
 imbedded in the quoted words that 
 it should have some relation to the 
 picture presupposed. That picture 
 is, if we put the two passages to- 
 gether, of the mountain as on fire 
 above, where God "descended upon" 
 it, and as wrapt in darkness below. 
 The people are summoned to stand 
 " at the nether part of the mountain," 
 but are warned not to come beyond 
 a certain point lest they should 
 "break through unto the Lord to 
 gaze," and perish. In a sense there- 
 fore they are forbidden to "touch 
 the mountain " {v. 20 ; Exod. xix. 12). 
 But they might also be spoken of as 
 
XII. 18-24] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 117 
 
 "groping about the mountain." What 
 the writer is doing is to bring out the 
 repellent aspect of the Old Cove- 
 nant, the way (that is) in which 
 those who were invited to come near 
 were yet kept at a distance, denied 
 real knowledge, real communion. Its 
 features were darkness to hide, fire 
 to terrify. The phrase "groped 
 about" is taken up and explained 
 in the following "blackness and 
 darkness and tempest," as the 
 aspect of more active terror is ex- 
 panded in the following verses. 
 
 19. sound of a trumpet. Exod. 
 xix. 16, 19. 
 
 intreated. Deut. v. 25f. ; Exod.xx. 
 19. 
 
 20. //■ even a beast. Exod. xix. 
 13. The additional words in A.V., 
 " or thrust through with a dart," be- 
 long to the passage in Exodus and 
 were added to the text here. They 
 are not found in the best MSS. 
 
 21. [that] Moses said. The words 
 rendered "I exceedingly fear" occur 
 in Deut. ix. 19, where Moses is de- 
 scribing his sense of God's wrath at 
 the time of the Golden Calf. The 
 word rendered "I quake" does not 
 occur in the Pentateuch at all, but it 
 is used of Moses in relation to the 
 Burning Bush in St Stephen's speech 
 in Acts vii. 32. On the other hand, 
 in Exod. xix. 16, we read that "all 
 the people trembled"; but the word 
 in the LXX is not the one employed 
 here. It would seem that the writer 
 is following the detail of some tradi- 
 tional account not known to us. The 
 point is that even the leader, the 
 "captain of their salvation," the 
 "mediator of the Covenant," felt 
 the terror as well as the people. 
 It is the climax before he begins 
 the picture of the New Covenant 
 of mercy and grace. 
 
 22-24. With Mt Sinai, as the 
 
 scene of the Old Covenant, charac- 
 terizing by its accessories of gloom 
 and terror the Covenant itself, is put 
 in contrast the "Mt Zion" of the 
 New Covenant, that is, the Christian 
 Church in its idea. It is viewed as 
 the successor of the "Church- in the 
 wilderness," and as the fulfilment 
 of its types and promises. It is de- 
 scribed therefore chiefly in language 
 borrowed fi-om the O.T., but altered 
 to indicate the superiority of anti- 
 type to type. The points to be em- 
 phasized are the dignity, vastness, 
 variety of the great sui)erhuman 
 society, its security, its perfection. 
 It is the compensation to the Hebrew 
 Christian for what he loses. It forti- 
 fies him against the contempt of those 
 whom he leaves. The general feeling 
 is of the union in it of earth with 
 heaven, heaven brought to earth, 
 earth lifted to heaven. But there 
 is a progress between the first three 
 categories and the last three : the first 
 three containing what, on one side 
 of it, belongs to earth — for he would 
 have said with St John that he had 
 seen the "new Jei-usalem descending 
 out of heaven"; the angels are 
 viewed (i. 14) as "ministering 
 spirits," the "firstborn" are still on 
 earth, though their "title-deeds are 
 in heaven": the last three containing 
 what belongs wholly to the heavenly 
 sphere — God the Judge; the dis- 
 embodied spirits of those who in 
 Him have attained their consumma- 
 tion ; the Saviour at once as Moses 
 on the Mount, and as the High 
 Priest with the Blood within the veil. 
 22. the city ; not as something 
 different from "Zion mount." The 
 "city of God" is the city on Mt Zion 
 ("great is the Lord and highly to 
 be praised in the city of our God in 
 His holy mountain," Ps. xlviii. 1). 
 But, as the next words make clear, 
 
118 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [XII. 18-24 
 
 he does not mean the literal, material 
 Zion, or the city on it, but the arche- 
 typal, spiritual community, the "city 
 which hath foundations" of ch. xi. 
 10, the "Jerusalem that is above, 
 which is our mother " of Gal. iv. 26, 
 the "new Jerusalem which cometh 
 down from heaven" of Rev. iii. 12, 
 xxi. 2, 10. And this again is spoken 
 of in this Epistle, as throughout the 
 N.T., sometimes (that is, in some 
 senses) as something that is among 
 us, which men have come to or may 
 come to, sometimes as something 
 still in the future, the object of 
 hopes and dreams, the "city which 
 is to come," ch. xiii. 14. 
 
 22, 23. to innumerable hosts of 
 angels, to the general assembly, &c. 
 There has been doubt as to the 
 punctuation of these clauses: the 
 simplest arrangement is that given 
 in the margin of R. V., " and to in- 
 numerable hosts, the general as- 
 sembly of angels, and the church, &c." 
 " Innumerable hosts," literally " tens 
 of thousands," is the general descrip- 
 tion of the multitude of sympathizing 
 companions whom the Christian 
 finds. It is the answer in one word to 
 the feeling, which is pressing on these 
 Hebrew Christians, of isolation ; cp. 
 Mark x. 30, 31. It is then broken up, 
 "the happy throng of angels, and the 
 church on earth yni\\ all its heritage." 
 
 angels. "Tens of thousands of 
 angels" are part of the picture of 
 Sinai, Deut. xsxiii. 2. They are to 
 be found, the writer says, no less in 
 the Church of the New Covenant. 
 
 general assembly. The word so 
 translated (7rai'7;'yi;p«r), although 
 meaning by etymology no more 
 than this, had acquired a special 
 force from its appropriation in 
 classical Greek to the great national 
 gatherings at Olympia and elsewhere 
 for worship and athletic contests. It 
 
 church of the firstborn : 
 "an assembly of firstborn 
 
 was used in the LXX in the same 
 way for the national feasts of the 
 Levitical Law. Its use here seems 
 intended to indicate the attitude of 
 the angelic host. They are present 
 not (as in Jude 14) as ministers of 
 judgement, nor as in Deut. xxxiii. as 
 part of the awestriking surroundings 
 of the Old Covenant, but as a gather- 
 ing for joy and worship. Westcott 
 compares the thought in Job xxxviii 
 7 of the angels at the Creation when 
 "the morning stars sang together 
 and all the sons of God shouted for 
 joy." 
 
 [the] 
 rather 
 
 sons." There is no definite article 
 in either case. The word rendered 
 " church " {fKKk-qcria) is, again, a word 
 of the Old Covenant, and signifies 
 the people assembled for collective 
 action, whether of worship or con- 
 sultation. The Christian assembly 
 is called an assembly of "firstborn 
 sons." It is possible that in the 
 antecedents of the title as used here 
 there are some links unknown to lis, 
 but some points are clear: (1) The 
 designation of Christians as "first- 
 born sons" has been helped, perhaps 
 even suggested, by the contrasted 
 case of Esau {v. 16), who sold his 
 "birthright" (it is the cognate word 
 — n-pwroTo/cia —literally, "what per- 
 tains to the firstborn"). (2) It is 
 nearly akin to the figure common in 
 the N.T., which represents Christians 
 as " heirs of God," "joint heirs with 
 Christ," heirs to a kingdom, Rom. viii. 
 17 ; Gal. iii. 29 ; Eph. iii. 6 ; Jam. ii. 5 ; 
 1 Pet. i. 4. (3) Like the other ex- 
 pressions in this description of the 
 privileges of the Christian covenant, 
 it has its roots in the language of the 
 O.T. Israel collectively is God's 
 "firstborn." This is made the ex- 
 planation of the Passover deliver- 
 
XII. 18-24] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 119 
 
 ance, Bxod. iv. 22, 23. Individually, 
 the firstborn sons of Israel belong 
 specially to God ("on the day that I 
 smote all the firstborn in the land of 
 Egypt I hallowed unto me all the 
 firstborn in Israel," Numb. iii. 11), 
 i.e. they were in idea priests, the 
 priestly service of the tribe of Levi 
 being represented as in substitution 
 for the service of the firstborn 
 (Numb. iii. 11-13, 40-42; cp. Luke 
 ii. 22, 23). In the spiritual Israel all 
 are firstborn sons, all are hallowed, 
 all are priests. 
 
 who are enrolled in heaven. The 
 word is the same as that used of the 
 "taxing" (R.V. "enrolment," or cen- 
 sus, in Luke ii. 1). Similar figures 
 are common, as Exod. xxxii. 32 ; 
 Ps. Ixix. 28; MaL iii. 16; Luke x. 
 20. It is possible that there is a 
 reference to the "numbering" of 
 the firstborn in Numb. iii. 40 f In 
 any case the words add the thought 
 that this dignity and privilege are 
 theirs beyond the power of man to 
 take away or question. The name of 
 each is "written in heaven." 
 
 God the Judge of all, or possibly, 
 as Westcott, "the God of all as 
 Judge." It is an O.T. phrase, as 
 Gen. xviii. 25, "the Judge of all the 
 earth." The thought is not so much 
 of future judgement as of God's 
 righteous government as a refuge 
 for the oppressed, of God who will 
 recognize and right them. 
 
 the spirits ; not the living only, 
 but the righteous of all time, the 
 "souls of the righteous [which] are 
 in the hands of God," Wisd. iii. 1. 
 
 "Spirits" in the same sense as 1 Pet. 
 iii. 19. 
 
 just men made perfect, not only 
 as they are on earth, in imperfection, 
 but who have attained their full 
 growth. There is possibly a refer- 
 ence back to xi. 40. That consum- 
 mation which, under the Old Cove- 
 nant, was necessarily delayed, has 
 now for all become possible. 
 
 24. to Jesus... and the blood of 
 sprinkling. These stand last be- 
 cause they gather up the threads of 
 the Epistle, bring us back to its 
 text. 
 
 the blood of sprinkling. The 
 sprinkling of the blood of sacrifice 
 was a part of several rites of the 
 Law, as the consecration of the High 
 Priest (see ch. x. 22), the purification 
 of ceremonial uncleanness (ch. ix. 
 13) and of a leper (Lev. xiv. 7) ; but 
 the occasion thought of here is clearly 
 that of the inauguration of the Cove- 
 nant (see ch. ix. 19). 
 
 that speaketh better than [that of] 
 Abel; another reference (see on ch. 
 xi. 4) to the words of Gen. iv. 10, 
 "thy brother's blood crieth unto me 
 from the groiiud." The words seem 
 a substitution for such an epithet as 
 "atoning" or "covenant sealing." Is 
 it not a train of thought which would 
 naturally occur to a Jew speaking to 
 his countrymen of the Blood of 
 Calvary? It was "innocent blood," 
 the blood of the last and greatest of 
 Martyrs : but it was not as the blood 
 of the first martyr (Matt, xxiii. 35; 
 cp. xxvii. 25) which cried for venge- 
 ance on his murderer. 
 
120 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [xil. 25-29 
 
 XII. 25-29. The end of things. 
 
 25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they 
 escaped not, when they refused him that warned them on 
 earth, much more shall not we escape, who turn away from 
 
 26 him ^that warneth from heaven : whose voice then shook 
 the earth : but now he hath promised, saying. Yet once 
 more will I make to tremble not the earth only, but also 
 
 27 the heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signijfieth the 
 removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that 
 have been made, that those things which are not shaken 
 
 28 may remain. Wherefore, receiving a kingdom that cannot 
 be shaken, let us have ^ grace, whereby we may offer service 
 
 29 well-pleasing to God, with ^reverence and awe : for our God 
 is a consuming fire. 
 
 ^ Or, that is from, heaven 
 
 2 Or, thankfulness 
 
 * Or, godly fear 
 
 25. See that ye refuse not him 
 that speaketh. "Speaketh" is used of 
 Revelation, as in ch.i. 1. We miss the 
 link between the warning and ». 19, 
 "they that heard intreated that no 
 word more should be spoken to 
 them," because we translate one 
 and the same verb in the one case 
 "intreated that no, &c.," and in 
 the other "refuse." The word means 
 literally "to deprecate," "to beg oflF," 
 and so, more generally, "to decline." 
 "Your ancestors," he is saying, "de- 
 clined to hear and learn the lesson of 
 Sinai. Do not you decline to learn 
 the gentler lesson of Calvary." 
 
 if they escaped not. This word 
 also, after the writer's manner, is a 
 link to an earlier warning, viz. that in 
 ch. ii. 3, where, as here, he is con- 
 trasting the Old and the New Reve- 
 lation, "How shall we escape?" 
 
 warned. See on ch. viii. 5. 
 
 we... tcho turn away. Comparing 
 the expression with ii. 3, we notice 
 that the mere hypothesis "if we 
 
 neglect," or "after neglecting," has 
 become a definite charge, ^^ we... who 
 turn away" (or perhaps rather "who 
 are turning away," which leaves the 
 doubt still open, "if we persist in 
 turning away"). On the other hand 
 we notice the retention still of we, 
 in which the writer puts himself by 
 the side of those whom he arraigns, 
 and so softens the charge. 
 
 from heaven. Cp. ch. iii. 1, "a 
 heavenly calling," and St Peter's 
 words, 1 Pet. i. 12, "that preached 
 the Gospel irnto you by the Holy 
 Ghost sent down from heaven." 
 
 26. shook the earth. Two Greek 
 verbs are used in this passage and 
 translated by the same English verb 
 "to shake." Both are used of an 
 earthquake, and in particular of the 
 earthquake as part of the terrors of 
 Sinai. See Judg. v. 5 ; Ps. Ixviii. 9, 
 &c. 
 
 hut now he hath promised. The 
 words are from Haggai ii. 6. The 
 writer follows the LXX in reading 
 
XIL 25-29] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 121 
 
 "Yet once more I will shake," in- 
 stead of the fuller clause of the Heb. 
 text, "Yet once more it is a little 
 while and I wiU shake." The change 
 makes it more prominently the point 
 of the prophecy that there is to 
 come yet one and only one more 
 shaking. The first "shaking" re- 
 ferred to seems, from the preced- 
 ing verse in Haggai, to have been 
 the eai'thquake of Sinai. Jewish, 
 as well as Christian, interpreters 
 made the prophecy as a whole refer 
 ultimately to the Messianic age. 
 "That which escapes the final shak- 
 ing," the writer says, "is permanent, 
 eternal. The Messianic kingdom, 
 which we Christians are accepting, 
 is that which in this WTeck of an old 
 world is to stand unshaken." The 
 picture of dissolution, and of 
 failing hearts on the part of those 
 who were witnessing the break-up 
 of the Jewish polity, is to be com- 
 pared, both in substance and in the 
 figures used, wth the anticipation of 
 that event in our Lord's discourses, 
 especially in Luke xxi. lOf. 
 
 27. as of things that have been 
 made; i.e. of things belonging to the 
 material creation. The material is 
 to be dissolved, the spiritual alone 
 to remain. As in the Gospel picture, 
 we may say that the difi"erence be- 
 tween the end of the Jewish Dis- 
 pensation and the end of the world 
 is lost in the foreshortened perspec- 
 tive, or more truly that the spiritual 
 character of the Christian Dispensa- 
 tion so occupies the mind that the 
 " new heavens and the new earth " of 
 prophecy seem already to have 
 come. 
 
 28. receiving a kingdom. There 
 is a resemblance in the Greek, too 
 great to be accidental, to the words 
 of Dan. vii. 18, where of the 
 fifth, the Messianic, kingdom it is 
 
 said that "the saints of the Most 
 High shall receive the kingdom and 
 possess the kingdom for ever." 
 
 let us have grace. If this render- 
 ing is right we may compare (with 
 Westcott) Rom. v. 1, R.V., "let us 
 have peace" — let us realize, use, 
 God's grace. But the balance of ar- 
 gument is for the translation of the 
 margin, "thankfulness." Chrysostom 
 and other Greek Fathers so take it. 
 " To thank " is the translation of the 
 two words {('xfiv xa'pt") in combina- 
 tion in all places where they certainly 
 occur in the N.T. (in 3 John 4, 
 which is quoted on the other side, 
 neither reading nor meaning is with- 
 out doubt), as it is the meaning of 
 the phrase in classical Greek. Thank- 
 fulness is specially in point here. A 
 thankful recognition of their high 
 privileges is the remedy suggested 
 for their despondency and repining. 
 It is here the condition of " service 
 well-pleasing to God," just as in xiii. 
 15, 16 the sacrifice with which "God 
 is well-pleased" (the same word) is 
 declared to be "praise" as well as 
 "doing good." 
 
 offer service, i.e. as always in the 
 Epistle, priestly service : for Chris- 
 tians are "priests" as well as 
 "kings." 
 
 reverence (or godly /ear). See on 
 ch. V. 7 and xi. 7. The temper 
 which has been ascribed to the 
 heroes of faith, and to the Christ 
 Himself, is now commended to them. 
 
 awe. It should probably be 
 stronger, "fear." The Greek word 
 is used generally, though not always, 
 of physical fear, its common epithet 
 in Homer being " pale." It is a word 
 not found elsewhere in the N.T., and 
 this fact, and possibly the desii-e to 
 soften the expression, caused the 
 later MSS to read, instead of 8(ovs, 
 aldoi/i, i.e. " shamefastness " : see 
 
122 HEBREWS [xiii. 1-6 
 
 1 Tim. ii. 9. No single phrase the thankfulness and well-pleasing 
 
 comprehends all aspects of the service, an element of fear, to keep 
 
 Christian life ; and there is a place you from backsliding ; for to us, as 
 
 in the most filial religion for fear. was said to our ancestors (Deut. iv. 
 
 The writer is pressing once more the 24), God is a consuming fire, a jealous 
 
 example of Israel under the Old God." 
 Covenant: "there must be, in all 
 
 Introductory Note to ch. XIII. 
 
 The Epistle, as an ordered rhetorical composition, comes to its appro- 
 priate end with the peroration of ch. xii. The 13th chapter is more 
 informal in style, and of the nature of a postscript. But it makes some 
 notable additions to the genei-al purport of the Epistle. The practical pre- 
 cepts which it contains are particular enough to make it certain that we see 
 in them some characteristics of the commimity to which it is addressed. 
 Some of the tendencies suggested in the "patchwork of strange teachings" 
 {v. 9), i.e. the grafting on to Christianity of Rabbinical traditions about meats 
 and the like, belong to the same cycle of ideas and practices as the angel wor- 
 ship possibly hinted at in the earlier chapters. This idea of halting between 
 two irreconcileable views, of eking out the new faith with heterogeneous 
 additions, dictates the fonn and substance of the chapter. It is the key to 
 the appeal for that stability which would come from thinking of the un- 
 changing Centre of their religion, "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and 
 to-day, yea and for ever" (». 8); on a lower level, from thinking of their first 
 teachers and predecessors in the faith, who had sealed their adherence by 
 their death (t-. 7); from thinking of their present leaders, of the value of 
 obedience, of the claims of the community, of the strength which comes from 
 sympathy, common worship, mutual charity (w. 1-3, 15-17). It is this also 
 that leads the writer to take a step beyond the position to which in the body 
 of the Epistle he has limited himself Hitherto he has been content to 
 urge them not to fall away from their new beUefs, to insist that in the 
 Christian Dispensation they had all and more than all that the Law had 
 professed to give them. Now for the first time we hear the clear call to 
 come out and be separate, to choose once for all between Judaism and 
 Christianity (p». 10-14). 
 
 XIII. 1-6. Postscript. MoRAii exhortations. 
 
 XIII. 1, 2 Let love of the brethren continue. Forget not 
 to shew love unto strangers : for thereby some have enter- 
 
 3 tained angels unawares. Remember them that are in bonds, 
 as bound with them ; them that are evil entreated, as being 
 
 4 yourselves in the body. Let marriage he had in honour 
 among all, and let the bed he undefiled : for fornicators 
 
 5 and adulterers God will judge. ^Be ye free from the love 
 
XIII. 1-6] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 123 
 
 of money ; content with such things as ye have : for himself 
 hath said, I will in no wise fail thee, neither will I in any 
 6 wise forsake thee. So that with good courage we say, 
 The Lord is my helper ; I will not fear : 
 What shall man do unto me ? 
 
 ^ Gr. Let your turn of mind be free. 
 
 XIII. 1. love of the brethren. It 
 is in Greek a single word, (/)tXa8fX0ta, 
 and in the next clause there is the 
 corresponding word, ^iKo^fvia^ and 
 each has the definite article, the mean- 
 ing of this being probably "your love, 
 &c.," i.e. the love which has been re- 
 cognized and praised before (vi. 10, 
 X. 34). He does not say "let it be 
 acquired " or " learn it," but " let it 
 continue," "do not forget it." At 
 the same time the form implies that 
 in the present circumstances, in the 
 pressure of their own troubles, there 
 was risk of selfishness growing upon 
 them. " Love of the brethren " (cp. 
 Rom. xii. 10 ; 1 Thess. iv. 9 ; 1 Pet. 
 i. 22), i.e. love of fellow-Christians, as 
 brothers in one household, was to be 
 a bridge between the affection of 
 the family and universal love or 
 charity, 2 Pet. i. 7. It is expanded 
 in the follovring clause in two practi- 
 cal directions, viz. : to include readi- 
 ness to entertain travellers, and sym- 
 pathy with those who are imprisoned. 
 In both cases it seems to be im- 
 plied that they are fellow-Christians. 
 Both are duties which were traced 
 to the Master^s express commands 
 (Matt. XXV. 35, 36, cp. id. x. 41, 42). 
 For the former see Rom. xii. 13 ; 
 1 Pet. iv. 9 and cp. 1 Tim, v. 10; 
 3 John 5, 6. It was especially looked 
 for in "bishops," 1 Tim. iii. 2; Tit. i. 
 8. It must be remembered that to 
 Christians the need of such enter- 
 tainment was greater in that the 
 natural ties of kinship and friend- 
 ship had been to a great extent 
 
 broken ; and that without it mission- 
 ary work would have been impossible 
 (Acts xxi. 16 ; Rom. xvi. 23). St John 
 (2 John 10, 11) suggests a limit to the 
 claims on such hospitality. A com- 
 parison of Clement {ad Cor. i. and 
 XXXV.) shews that the duty, even when 
 welcomed at first, was apt, as feeling 
 cooled, to grow irksome. 
 
 2. some have entertained angels ; 
 with special reference, no doubt, to 
 Abraham as the type of hospitality 
 and of its reward; see Gen. xviii. 
 Philo {de Abrahamo, c. xxii.) dwells 
 on this feature of the story, and 
 speaks of his "seeing three way- 
 farers who looked like men, but who, 
 though he knew it not, were of a 
 more Divine nature." The same 
 idea is found in Greek legend, as 
 in the story of Baucis and Philemon 
 (Ovid, Met. viii. 626 f. ; cp. Acts xiv. 
 11). Cp. the argument of the un- 
 named suitor who is shocked at the 
 violence of Antinous towards the 
 wanderer, Hom. Odyss. xvii. 483 
 (transl. Worsley) : 
 
 "Gods in the garb of strangers to 
 
 and fro 
 Wander the cities and men's ways 
 
 discern, &c." 
 
 3. them that are in bonds. See 
 on ch. X. 34. 
 
 as bound with them... as being 
 yourselves in the body. " As bound " 
 = not "as if you were bound," but 
 "with the feeling that you are 
 bound," just as the following words 
 mean " with the feeling that you are 
 yourselves in the body." The two ex- 
 
124 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [xiii. 1-6 
 
 pressions, though distributed in form 
 between the two clauses, belong in 
 meaning (with the necessary adapta- 
 tion) both to each clause. The first 
 is of the completeness of the fellow- 
 feeling : the bonds of the one are to 
 be felt as bonds of the other : it is like 
 St Paul's "weep with them that 
 weep," Rom. xii. 15, "if one member 
 suffereth all the members suffer with 
 it," 1 Cor. xii. 26, cp. the use of 
 "suffer hardship with" {o-vyKaKoira- 
 6ri(Tov\ 2 Tim. i. 8, ii. 3. The second 
 is of the natural ground of sympathy, 
 the common conditions, viz. the com- 
 mon humanity and the common ex- 
 posure to persecution. 
 
 m the body. For the phrase cp. 
 2 Cor. V. 6. 
 
 4. [Let] marriage [be had] in 
 honour. There is no verb in the 
 Greek, and A. V. supplied"is" instead 
 of "let. . .be" ; but the latter is shewn 
 to be right by v. 5, where no one takes 
 the words as stating facts. A similar 
 omission of "let... be" occurs in Rom. 
 xii. 9. It is possible that the precept 
 looks not merely to the violation of 
 the marriage tie, as suggested in the 
 following words, but also (as included 
 in the "strange doctrines" of v. 9) to 
 some ascetic disparagement of it, 
 such as that named in similar con- 
 nexion in 1 Tim. iv. 3, "forbidding to 
 marry and commanding to abstain 
 from meats." In any case it is better 
 probably to translate the second 
 clause, as A.V., "and the bed [pro- 
 vided it be] undefiJed." With the 
 command to hold marriage and all 
 that belongs to it "in honour," cp. 
 
 1 Thess. iv. 4, "in sanctification and 
 honour," and the tone of Eph. v. 25 f., 
 especially ». 32. 
 
 amo?ig all, literally "in all," the 
 substantive being, in Greek fashion, 
 omitted. It is difficiUt to decide 
 what the substantive supplied should 
 be, whether persons, as in our ver- 
 sions, "among all," i.e. both in the 
 judgement of the wedded, that they 
 observe its conditions sacredly, and 
 in the judgement of others who 
 think and speak of it, that none 
 disparage it or treat it lightly; or 
 things (as Westcott), i.e. "in all re- 
 spects." See V. 18, where the same 
 phrase is rendered "in all things." 
 
 5. love of money, which, St Paul 
 tells us, "is a root of all kinds of 
 evil," 1 Tim. vi. 10. There, as here, 
 the remedy prescribed for it is 
 "contentment" 
 
 himself hath said. The words 
 occur most nearly (they are there 
 in the third person, Moses nan-ating 
 God's promise to Israel when they 
 are about to cross the Jordan) in 
 Deut. xxxi. 6. It is an appropriate 
 promise to recall, and it is quite 
 natural in recalling it to turn it back 
 into the first person. But it is to be 
 noticed that Philo quotes the words 
 in this same fonn, which has sug- 
 gested that they may have been 
 preserved so in some hturgical use. 
 
 6. we say (more exact than 
 A. v., "we may say"); "we repeat 
 with good courage the confident 
 words of the familiar Psalm," Ps. 
 cxviii. 6. 
 
XIII. 7-9] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 125 
 
 XIII. 7-9. Consistency of doctrine. 
 
 7 Remember them that had the rule over you, which spake 
 unto you the word of God ; and considering the issue of 
 
 8 their ^life, imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same 
 
 9 yesterday and to-day, yea and ^for ever. Be not carried 
 away by divers and strange teachings : for it is good that 
 the heart be established by grace ; not by meats, wherein 
 they that ^occupied themselves were not profited. 
 
 1 Gr. manner of life. 
 
 - Gr. unto the ages. 
 
 ' Gr. tvalked. 
 
 7. them that had tlie rule over 
 you. A.V. reads "them which have, 
 &c." The change made in R.V. alters 
 the reference of the sentence. In 
 A.V. it is an injunction to give heed 
 to their existing rulers as those who 
 had been also their original instruc- 
 tors in Christian truth. In R.V. it 
 is to keep in memory leaders and 
 teachers who have passed away. 
 The later part shews that the 
 second is the true meaning. The 
 single word rendered "that had (or, 
 have) the rule" is a present participle, 
 which takes its definite time ("who 
 are [or, who were] ruling") from the 
 general piu-port of the sentence. In 
 this case the time is defined by the 
 relative clause, "who spoke [A.V. 
 wrongly, 'have spoken'] the word of 
 truth." But in tnith the participle 
 in such a case is used i-ather as a 
 substantive, "your leaders." Cp. Acts 
 XV. 22, "It seemed good to the 
 Apostles... to send Judas and Silas, 
 chief men ('leading men,' it is the 
 same word) among the brethren." 
 The phrase reciu-s in vv. 17, 24. In 
 those places it means "your present 
 leaders," and designates, no doubt, 
 those who held a definite position as 
 oflBcers in the Christian body, but 
 not as though it were an oflScial 
 
 title. The same general term is 
 used by Clement of Rome {ad 
 Cor. i.), although the distinction of 
 orders is in his writings clearly de- 
 veloped. Westcott draws attention 
 to the absence from the present 
 Epistle of all technical terms of 
 Church organization. 
 
 issue. The Greek word is not a 
 common one, but it occurs in Wisd. 
 ii. 17, "let us try what shall befall 
 in the ending of his life," a passage 
 which is probably in the writer's 
 mind, dealing, as it does, with the 
 same subject, viz. the lessons to be 
 learnt from the bearing of a righteous 
 man in the face of persecution and 
 death. 
 
 their faith : " their " represents 
 the Greek def. article and possibly 
 the meaning is "the issue [as you 
 have seen it in their case] of the 
 faith which we have just been de- 
 scribing." 
 
 8. R.V. has made the construc- 
 tion easy by inserting the verb "is," 
 which is certainly implied in the 
 Greek. A.V. seems to have taken 
 the words as an exclamation. 
 
 yesterday and to-day, "in the 
 past and in the present age, and to 
 the most distant future." Cp. 2 Cor. 
 i. 19. The thought is a link between 
 
126 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [xiil. 10-14 
 
 what precedes and what follows. 
 Consistency and constancy are the 
 subject of the whole passage, vv. 7- 
 10, and they are connected with the 
 unchangeableness of Him Who is the 
 author and object of the religion. 
 The unchangeableness of Christ is 
 the ground of the consistency of the 
 martyrs' lives, which are held up as 
 an example, and it leads the way to 
 the thought that there must be the 
 same consistency and the same 
 ground for it in the teaching. 
 
 9. carried away, literally "aside," 
 as by a current, out of the right 
 course. 
 
 divers. The word loses the figure 
 of the original "many-coloured." 
 Vaughan points out that it is the 
 word used of Joseph's "coat of 
 many colours." The thought is of 
 a "patchwork," the mingling of Rab- 
 binical, perhaps Essene, practices 
 and teaching with those of Christ. 
 
 strange, "alien," not matching 
 their Christian teaching and com- 
 ing from a diflferent source. 
 
 that the heart be established, i.e. 
 
 "made firm." The phrase carries 
 us back to the case of their prede- 
 cessors in the faith (v. 7) : that con- 
 sistency and firmness in trial was 
 due in them (and will be due in you) 
 to "grace" (the writer would not 
 distinguish the gracious Will of God 
 without them from the gracious In- 
 fluence acting as a power within 
 them), not to "things to be eaten" 
 (he sums up in one contemptuous 
 word the rival system of seeking 
 moral strength through carnal ordi- 
 nances). It is the same contrast 
 that is worked out more fully in 
 oh. ix. 9f. 
 
 were not profited. The system has 
 been tried and has failed. 
 
 they that occupied themselves : 
 literally (as margin) "they that 
 walked," It is the verb so fre- 
 quent in St Paul, but which only 
 occurs in this Epistle here. For the 
 special use, cp. Acts xxi. 21, "to walk 
 after the customs" — of ruling their 
 life and habits by special customs or 
 laws. 
 
 XIII. 10-14. "We have an altar." 
 
 10 We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which 
 
 11 serve the tabernacle. For the bodies of those beasts, whose 
 blood is brought into the holy place ^by the high priest as 
 
 12 an offering for sin, are burned without the camp. Where- 
 fore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people through 
 
 13 his own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us therefore 
 go forth unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. 
 
 14 For we have not here an abiding city, but we seek after 
 the city which is to come. 
 
 Gr. through. 
 
XIII. 10-14] HEBREWS 127 
 
 General Note on pp. 10-14. 
 
 From the protest in v. 9 against Judaistic teaching as a weakening of 
 their Christian position and a betrayal of the One Unchangeable Centre of 
 their religion, the >\Titer is led to put, with a clearness which he has not 
 reached before, the truth that Judaism and Christianity are incompatible. 
 Their opponents are right in their sense of that. They must choose between 
 the two. " You feel excluded," he says, "from the sacrifices of your country- 
 men. Yes — but you have a sacrifice from which they are excluded." He 
 goes back to the statement of their privileges as Christians as they were set 
 forth in chs. ix. and x. " We have an altar." " We have — let no one say that 
 we have not — all, more than all, the comfort and strength for the spiritual 
 life which our forefathei-s found in their sacrificial system. It is all we need, 
 and it is all our o^vn." This is all that v. 10 can mean distinctly to .say. No 
 special typical sacrifice is at the moment in view. Many of the sacrifices 
 imder the Law were eaten by the Priests. It was generally part of the 
 symbolism of reconciliation and commimion. St Paul, in 1 Cor. x., applies 
 the figure to the Christian Feast upon the Sacrifice. It is probable that a 
 similar apphcation is in the backgi-ound here. But in any case the figure is 
 a natural one by which to say that the comfort and coranmnion of the 
 Christian Sacrifice were not for those who busied themselves still with the 
 typical and superseded sacrifices of the earthly Tabernacle. 
 
 But meantime another figure strikes the writer. Certain sin-oflFeriugs, 
 and amongst them the sacrifice offered on the Day of Atonement, were 
 excluded from the list of offerings of which the Priest was to eat. They 
 were to be wholly burnt (Lev. vi. 30, x^i. 27), and for this pm-pose they were 
 to be carried " outside the camp." And the Christian Sacrifice was such a 
 sin-offering. And so Christ had fulfilled the type in suffering (Uterally and 
 metaphorically) "without the gate," as though He was cast out from the sacred 
 city, excommunicated by Priests and people. His followers must have the 
 spirit to take their place by His side. 
 
 10. We have an altar. The em- side the camp and burnt." It seems 
 
 phasis in the Greek is on the verb, to us natural, almost inevitable, to 
 
 "we have an altar," i.e. we are not, complete the figured contrast by 
 
 as non-Christian Jews assert of us, adding that, as Christians, we have 
 
 without an altar, and all that it in Sacramental symbol that power 
 
 means to the conscience — "an altar," to eat of the sin-offering, which was 
 
 he goes on, " in respect of which, by denied to the Jew ; but though this 
 
 the very tenns of their own typical can hardly but have been in the 
 
 Law, those who still worship in the writer's mind, he does not cairy his 
 
 Tabernacle cannot claim the full sign readers so far. The earlier part of 
 
 of acceptance and communion, for the the typical figure psisses out of sight, 
 
 Sacrifice is just one of those sin- and he dwells only on the resem- 
 
 offerings which were specifically ex- blance between the burning of the 
 
 cepted from the general rule that sin-offering "without the camp" and 
 
 the priest should eat the flesh of the suffering of Jesus "without the 
 
 the victim ; it was to be carried out- gate." 
 
128 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [XIII. 15-17 
 
 II. those beasts whose blood is 
 brought. This is the definition in 
 Lev. vi. 30, "No sin-oflFering, whereof 
 any of the blood is brought into the 
 tent of meeting to make atonement 
 in the holy place, shall be eaten : it 
 shall be burnt with fire." Cp. ibid. iv. 
 7, 12, 18, 21, of sin-oflFerings on behalf 
 of the priest himself or of the con- 
 gregation, and xvi. 27, where the 
 same is prescribed for the sin-oflFer- 
 ings on the Day of Atonement. 
 
 by. ^'^Gr. through." "The use of 
 the preposition (8ia) 'through,' 
 where we might have expected 
 (vTTo) 'by,' is of interest. The 
 High Priest is the agent through 
 whom the act of the people is ac- 
 complished " — Westcott. 
 
 without the camp. They are the 
 words of Leviticus, but they remind 
 us of what has been noticed before, 
 that the language throughout is of 
 the Tabernacle in the wilderness, not 
 of the contemporary Temple services. 
 Harnack, who is concerned to press 
 the hortative as against the doctrinal 
 bearing of the Epistle, interprets 
 "camp" as meaning not Judaism but 
 
 the world: but this can hardly be 
 right. 
 
 12. Where/ore, i.e. so as to fulfil 
 the type. 
 
 sanctify: i.e. as a sin-ofi'ering re- 
 stored the person for whom it was 
 made to his place as one of the con- 
 secrated people. 
 
 13. his reproach, i.e. the reproach 
 that He bore. See on xi. 26, "The 
 reproach of Christ." The writer 
 calls his readers to take their place 
 manfully as Christians, facing the 
 obloquy which it involves, and the 
 excommunication from the Church 
 of Judaism. 
 
 14. The verse in both its clauses 
 takes us back to ch. xi. 10 and 16. 
 The reason why they should face 
 vdth readiness what seems like ex- 
 patriation is that, like their faithful 
 forefathers, they sit loose to earthly 
 ties; they are looking not to any 
 visible city as though it were a per- 
 manent home, but to "the one which 
 is to be," the "city which hath 
 foundations." They are at present 
 "sojourners and pilgrims," 1 Pet. ii. 
 11. 
 
 XIII. 15-17. The sacrifices of the Christian 
 Dispensation. 
 
 15 Through him Hhen let us offer up a sacrifice of praise to 
 God continually, that is, the fruit of lips which make con- 
 
 16 fession unto his name. But to do good and to communicate 
 forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. 
 
 17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit to them : 
 for they watch in behalf of your souls, as they that shall 
 give account ; that they may do this with joy, and not with 
 ^grief ; for this were unprofitable for you. 
 
 ^ Some ancient authorities omit then, ^ Gr. groaning. 
 
 15. Through him then. It takes 
 us back to ». 12: "we have an altar, 
 a sacrificial system, all our own, of 
 
 which Jesus is the High Priest 
 Through Him (for the meaning of 
 "through" see note on v. 11, "by"). 
 
XIII. 15-17] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 129 
 
 then (that is, since we have parted 
 once for all from the inefifectual 
 Levitical system), let us offer our 
 sacrifices." The sacrifice chosen is 
 the thank-offering. It is implied 
 that the sacrifice of propitiation has 
 been already offered and accepted : 
 all that remains is the giving of 
 thanks, of which there is to be no 
 break or end ("continually"). 
 
 sacrifice of praise. The phrase 
 used is the technical one for the 
 thank-offering of the Levitical Law 
 (Lev. vii. 12, &c.). It had already 
 had a spiritual sense put upon it in 
 the Psalms, sis 1. 23, "the sacrifice of 
 thanksgiving" (R.V.), and cvii. 22. 
 The phrase is adopted and applied 
 in our Liturgy ("this our sacrifice of 
 praise and thanksgiving") to the 
 Holy Eucharist as a supreme oflice 
 of thanksgiving {(vxapi.(nia\ as "to 
 do good, &c." (p. 15), is made one of 
 the offertory sentences which call us 
 to giving "alms and oblations" as 
 part of the Bucharistic offering. 
 
 fruit of lips; "not the produce of 
 land or flock, but of thankful heart 
 and hps." It is a phrase of the O.T., 
 Isaiah Ivii. 19, Hos. xiv. 2, LXX (our 
 versions, directly from the Hebrew, 
 have " the calves of our lips," A.V. ; 
 "«* bullocks the offering oy' our lips," 
 R.V.). The origin of the figure is in 
 such passages as Ps. h. 15-17. 
 
 confession; in the sense of "ac- 
 knowledgement." To make "acknow- 
 ledgement to God's name" is to 
 acknowledge with thankfulness that 
 He is what He has revealed Himself 
 to be. 
 
 16. to communicate; more siva^Xy., 
 "to share," to share with others any 
 good things that we have ourselves. 
 
 forget not. The form, as in v. 2, 
 " Forget not," and in ». I, " Let love. . . 
 
 continue" (see note on v. 1), implies 
 that they have not to learn the virtue, 
 but to continue its practice (see ch. 
 vi. 10). 
 
 with such sacrifices ; more exactly, 
 "such are the sacrifices with which." 
 They include probably both the thank- 
 ful hearts of w. 15 and the kindly acts 
 of V. 16. Kind action and generous 
 giving are spoken of as a "sacrifice 
 acceptable, well-pleasing to God" in 
 Phil. iv. 18. 
 
 1 7. them that have the ride. Their 
 present, as in v. 7, their past, 
 leaders. For the meaning of the 
 phrase see note there. 
 
 obey... submit. The two words 
 together emphasize the precept of 
 deference and discipline, but their 
 exact distinction is not certain. The 
 second is the stronger, so that it 
 is perhaps "obey even if it involves 
 submission of your own will." 
 
 watch., literally "are sleepless." It 
 is the word used in Mark xiii. 33, 
 '■'■watch and pray," as in Ps. cxxvii. 1, 
 "Except the Lord keep the city the 
 watchman waketh but in vain " Note 
 also that the figure of a watchman in 
 spiritual matters is familiar in the 
 Old Testament, as Isaiah Ivi. 10, &c. 
 
 do this; i.e., probably, give ac- 
 count. But it has also been taken 
 of the watching. 
 
 with gri^. As the margin notices, 
 it is a strong word, "groaning," 
 "with lamentation" — a rhetorical 
 substitution in order to emphasize 
 the serious mischief of self-will and 
 indiscipline in the Church. 
 
 utipr(fitable; according to a fa- 
 miliar classical idiom, a milder word 
 is substituted by a kiud of irony for- 
 the stronger one intended, the true 
 meaning being "disastrous." 
 
130 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [xiii. 18, 19 
 
 XIII. 18, 19. "Pray for us." 
 
 18 Pray for us: for we are persuaded that we have a good 
 
 19 conscience, desiring to live honestly in all things. And 
 I exhort you the more exceedingly to do this, that I 
 may be restored to you the sooner. 
 
 18. Pray for us. It is literally 
 "about us," as in 1 Thess. v. 25 and in 
 other places ; and is analogous to St 
 Paul's expression (Rom. i. 9, &c.), 
 "make mention of [us] in prayers." 
 
 us... we. The question is raised 
 whether the "us" and "we" of v. 18, 
 as compared with the "I may be re- 
 stored" of V. 19, are an instance of 
 what has been called the "epistolary 
 plural," or whether they are intended 
 to associate other persons with the 
 writer. It is a familiar question in 
 respect of St Paul's Epistles. See, 
 for instance, Col. iv. 3, 4, "praying 
 for us that God may open imto us a 
 door for the word, to speak the 
 mystery of Christ, for which also I 
 am in bonds, that I may make it 
 manifest, &c." Lightfoot, on that 
 passage, denies that there is any 
 reason to suppose that St Paul ever 
 uses the "epistolary plural,'' and 
 takes it and all plurals like it of 
 himself and his companions in the 
 preaching of the Gospel. 
 
 we are persuaded., A.V. "we trust." 
 The alteration is made because of an 
 alteration in the reading in the Greek, 
 a present tense, middle or passive, in- 
 stead of an intransitive perfect. It 
 would perhaps be better translated 
 
 "we persuade ourselves," i.e. "we 
 would fain believe." It is a more 
 measured and hesitating statement 
 than "we trust." There is in it a 
 tone of appeal, as though he said 
 "Think the best of us." See the 
 next note. 
 
 a good conscience. . .to live honestly. 
 We lose something from the diflBculty 
 of indicating in the translation that 
 "good" and "honestly" are the cog- 
 nate adjective and adverb {koKtiv, 
 KoXaJf). In both cases (as Westcott 
 points out) there is the characteristic 
 sense of *caXoy, as describing "that 
 which commands the respect and 
 admiration of others." The writer 
 desires not only to satisfy his own 
 conscience but to carry the approval 
 of those to whom he writes. The 
 tone implies, what seems to be im- 
 phed in v. 19, that he has lived 
 among them or been well-known to 
 them. It seems to imply also that, ' 
 perhaps on accoimt of his attitude 
 towards the Jewish Law, he has been 
 criticized adversely and, as he thinks, 
 unfairly. 
 
 19. restored. He is kept from 
 them at the moment, but how it 
 cannot be guessed. 
 
xiii. 20, 21] HEBREWS 131 
 
 XIII. 20, 21. The writer's prayer. 
 
 20 Now the God of peace, who brought again ft-om the dead the 
 great shepherd of the sheep Mvith the blood of the eternal 
 
 21 covenant, even our Lord Jesus, make you perfect in every 
 good ^thing to do his wiW, working in ^us that which is well- 
 pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ ; to whom he the 
 glory for *ever and ever. Amen. 
 
 1 Or, by Gr. in. * Many ancient authorities read work. 
 
 ^ Many ancient authorities read you. * Gr. unto the age$ of the ages. 
 
 General Note on vv. 20, 21. 
 
 This benediction, the second ending of the Epistle, is meant to recall and 
 give final expression to many of the topics. It begins with peace^ after 
 the suggestions of dissension, despondency, and distress with which it has 
 abounded. The framework is given by two passages in the O.T., viz. Zech. ix. 
 11, "Because of the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy pnsoners 
 out of the pit wherein is no water," and Isaiah Ixiii. 11," Then he remembered 
 the days of old, Moses and his people, saying : Where is he that brought 
 them up out of the sea with the shepherds {v. I. shepherd) of his flock?" (the 
 LXX has " he that brought up out of the sea the shepherd of the sheep ? "). 
 There is the presentation of Jesus as the centre and source of all Christian 
 believing and living ; and so also as the fulfilment of all types, both in the 
 sacred history and in the rites of the Law. He is once more the greater 
 Moses, delivered with His people from death as Moses and Israel from "the 
 sea." (The Resurrection has not been mentioned before in word in the 
 Epistle: it is swallowed up generally in the Ascension: but it and the 
 deUverance which it wrought are latent in the argument of ch. ii. 14, 1 5.) And 
 there is once more the association of the deUverance with the High 
 Priestly work of atonement, the " blood of the Covenant," the better, the 
 eternal, Covenant. 
 
 There is perhaps one more thought, suggesting or suggested by the 
 passage of Isaiah, in the title for our Lord, " the Shepherd, the great one." 
 It is like the "Chief Shepherd" of 1 Pet. v. 4, and, like that phrase, may bo 
 meant to carry with it the thought of the under-shepherds— the "watch- 
 men" of V. 17, whose claims he has been pressing on their flock. In this 
 single title he reminds his readers on Whose behalf they advance the 
 claims. 
 
 20. the God of peace. Peace is force and emphasis when the pre- 
 commonly part of the concluding, as ceding Epistle has dealt in rebuke or 
 of the opening, words of an Apostolic has revealed dissension, as in 2 Cor. 
 Epistle (1 Pet. i. 2, v. 14; 2 John 3; xiii. 11, Gal. vi. 16, and inthispUice. 
 3 John 14). It comes with special The phrase, "the God of peace," 
 
 9—2 
 
132 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [xiii. 20, 21 
 
 is found frequently in St Paul's 
 Epistles (Rom. xv. 33, xvi. 20; 
 2 Cor. I.e.; Phil. iv. 9; 1 Thess. v. 
 23, "the Lord of peace himself give 
 you peace"; 2 Thess. iii. 11) asso- 
 ciating "peace" with the Name of 
 God as belonging to His Nature, or 
 as that which He loves, or as His 
 special gift. 
 
 the great shepherd. It is more 
 emphatic in the Greek, "the shep- 
 herd . . . the great one." With the use 
 of "great" cp. the "great high priest" 
 of ch. iv. 14, and "great priest" of x. 
 21. He is a second Moses, but "of 
 more glory than Moses," iii. 3. 
 
 with the blood. The Greek is "in," 
 i.e. "in virtue of"; cp. ix. 25, x. 19. 
 Vaughan translates "with the pass- 
 port of" He points out that the 
 Blood of the availing Sacrifice has 
 already been spoken of as giving ad- 
 mission to the Divine Presence : what 
 is new here is that it is spoken of as 
 also giving egress from death. 
 
 the eternal covenant, rather "an 
 eternal covenant." It recalls the 
 whole argument of ch. ix. 1 1 foU. 
 
 21. make you perfect; not the 
 verb used in iii. 10, x. 1, 14, xii. 23, 
 but the one used in 1 Pet. v. 10 
 ("perfect"), Luke vi. 40 ("perfected"), 
 1 Cor. i. 10, 2 Cor. xiii. 11, Gal. vi. 1 
 ("restore"), and in this Epistle x. 5 
 ("prepare"), xi. 3 ("framed"). It 
 "includes the thoughts of the har- 
 monious combination of different 
 powers (Eph. iv. 12), of the supply 
 of what is defective (1 Thess. iii. 10), 
 and of the amendment of that which 
 is faulty" (Westcott). 
 
 to do... working. The Greek has 
 the same verb in the two clauses, 
 which draws attention to the double 
 view of such actions as at once our 
 own, and not our own, but God's. 
 Cp. Phil. ii. 12, 13, "work out your 
 own salvation... for it is God that 
 worketh in you both to will and to 
 work": in that place R.V. has kept 
 the same verb throughout. 
 
 in us. The Sinaitic MS has "in 
 us," the Alexandrian "in you." The 
 latter is the simpler, but the change 
 from the second person to the first 
 in such cases is common and natural. 
 
 through Jesus Christ. It may be 
 doubted whether these words are 
 best taken with "make you perfect," 
 or with "working in us," or with 
 "weU-pleasing in his sight." Per- 
 haps, as at the end of a prayer, they 
 qualify the whole process which has 
 been set forth. 
 
 to whom \be'\ the glory. Cp. Gal. iii. 
 5 (with Lightfoot's note) and 1 Pet. 
 iv. 1 1 (with Bigg's note). The result 
 will probably be to convince us 
 (1) that it is of the nature of 
 a formula as from an incipient 
 liturgy; the "Amen" indicates this. 
 Cp. the Doxology added to the Lord's 
 Prayer; "the glory " = "glory, as al- 
 ways"; (2) that the verb to be sup-, 
 plied is is, rather than he ; (3) that 
 in this place, as in 1 Pet. iv. 11, the 
 ascription is to the Divine Person 
 named last, the Son. There is a 
 special appropriateness in this final 
 tribute to Him whose Person and 
 work it has been the chief purpose 
 of the Epistle to set forth. 
 
XIIL 22-25] 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 133 
 
 XIII . 22-25. Last words and salutations. 
 
 22 But I exhort you, brethren, bear with the word of exhorta- 
 
 23 tion ; for I have written unto you in few words. Know ye 
 that our brother Timothy hath been set at liberty; with 
 
 24 whom, if he come shortly, I will see you. Salute all them 
 that have the rule over you, and all the saints. They of 
 Italy salute you. 
 
 25 Grace be with you all. Amen. 
 
 22. But. The particle breaks off 
 the previous train of thought in 
 order to meet a fear that occurs to 
 him. 
 
 brethren. See note on x. 19 as to 
 the places in which the writer uses 
 this address. 
 
 hear with. It is the same verb as 
 in 2 Tim. iv. 3, "will not endure 
 [wholesome teaching]." 
 
 word of exhortation. The phrase 
 occurs in Acts xiii. 15. For the 
 shade of meaning of "exhortation" 
 see note on ch. xii. 5. 
 
 for I have written. Is this a 
 reason for his apologizing, or the 
 apology itself? In the first case it 
 is, "I exhort you to bear... for I 
 have had to omit much which might 
 have put my case better." In the 
 second, "for I have tried not to 
 weary you," "I stop for your sake, 
 not because my arguments are ex- 
 hausted." In any case, the repeti- 
 tion of the word "exhort... exhorta- 
 tion," seems almost playful, "Let me 
 finish my exhortation by exhorting 
 you to be patient with it." 
 
 23. our brother Timothy. Two 
 uses of the word "brother" seem to 
 be distinguished: (1) simply as a 
 title, "the member of the Christian 
 brotherhood," much as in the French 
 
 Revolution "citizen" became a title. 
 This is frequent in St Paul's Epistles, 
 of Timothy, Sosthenes, Quartus, &c. ; 
 as 1 Cor. i. 1, "Paul called to be an 
 Apostle. ..and Sosthenes our (Gr. the) 
 brother." That it is not found in the 
 Epistles of other writers is due prob- 
 ably to the fact that they have not 
 the personal opening and ending 
 which his have ; (2) with the addi- 
 tion of a personal pronoun in the 
 genitive case, "my brother," "your 
 brother," &c.— often also with a 
 second descriptive designation, as 
 Phil. ii. 25, "Epaphroditus my {(lov) 
 brother and fellow-worker and fellow- 
 soldier." This is the use here, for in 
 the best text the pronoun "our," "of 
 us," is present. It expresses there- 
 fore some common interest of an 
 affectionate kind as between Timothy 
 and the writer and readers of the 
 Epistle. 
 
 set at liberty. The word is a 
 general one, covering release or 
 dismissal of any kind, and there is 
 nothing further to interpret it. 
 
 shortly; literally "at all speedily." 
 
 24. them that have the rule. See 
 on verses 7 and 17. 
 
 They of Italy. This, again, is an 
 ambiguous phrase. A person writ- 
 ing from Italy woiUd use it, meaning 
 
134 
 
 HEBREWS 
 
 [xiii. 22-25 
 
 "those who are here in Italy," a 
 person writing to Italy would use 
 it, meaning "those here who belong to 
 Italy," and, again, a person writing 
 from any place to any place might 
 say "our friends from Italy," mean- 
 ing thereby some persons who by 
 that title will be recognized by the 
 recipients of the letter. It therefore 
 gives no certain indication of the 
 
 position of the writer or the destina- 
 tion of the Epistle. 
 
 25. Grace. It is in the Greek "the 
 grace," as in Eph. vi. 24; Col. iv. 18; 
 1 Tim. vi. 21 ; 2 Tim. iv. 22; Tit. iii. 
 15. The article implies that the 
 phrase had become an habitual one. 
 It seems to be interpreted by St 
 Paul's earlier use " The Grace of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
APPENDIX 1. 
 
 THE GOSPEL TRADITION IN THE EPISTLE. 
 
 Addressed to those who were at once Jews and Christians, the Epistle 
 evidently assumes, as behind it in the minds of writer and readers, the 
 sacred history of the Old Testament^the outlines of its narrative its 
 estimates of persons and events, its prophecies. How far has it also behind 
 it the traditions which were, already or afterwards, embodied m any of the 
 four Gospels? 
 
 With respect to the Life of our Lord we find enough to assure us that 
 a knowledge of the general story, as we have it, was assumed between the 
 writer and those to whom he wrote. 
 The definite references are to : 
 
 Tlie Birth. "Our Lord hath sprung out of Judah," vii. U. The meeting 
 in Him of the Divine and Human Natures is of the essence of the argument 
 of the Epistle : "Jesus, the Son of God" (iv. 14). The reaUty of each Nature 
 is insisted upon (i. 1-3, ii. 13, 14). 
 
 Preaching (ii. 3). x r xv, + • i 
 
 Temptation (ii. 18, iv. 15); but probably rather m respect of the trial 
 
 through sufferings (Luke xxii. 28) than of the story of the Temptation in 
 
 Matt, iv., Luke iv. , , x i. + 
 
 Gethsemane (v. 7). The phrases generaUy carry us back not so ^^ch ^« 
 the Gospel narrative as to the prophetic picture of Ps. xxu., but him that 
 was able to save him from death" and "for his godly fear," though not 
 verbally reminiscent of the Gospels, can hanUy but have some reference to 
 the prayer, "all things are possible to Thee," "let this cup pass from Me, and 
 the saving clause, "not My will but Thine." 
 
 The Crucifixion. Besides the many references to the "Blood and the 
 
 "offering of the Body," there is definite mention of the Cross m ^n. 6, xn. 2, 
 
 and of the locality, "without the gate," xiii. 12. , , , , , _ . •„ 
 
 The rending of the Veil (x. 20). The reference is not absolutely certain, 
 
 but it explains the figure in that place as nothing else doe.s. 
 
 The Resurrection does not occupy as much place m this Epistle as m 
 many others, because it is thrown somewhat into the backgrouiul by the 
 prominence of the Ascension, but it is implied in v. 7, "to save him from (i.e. 
 out of) death, and was h^ard:' It is implied (as Westcott points out) more 
 
136 HEBREWS 
 
 largely in the assumption throughout the Epistle of the permanence of 
 Christ's perfect humanity through death. It is definitely spoken of only in 
 xiii. 20. 
 
 The Ascension (iv. 14). When the clue is given, that the writer sees in 
 the Ascension the antitype (wholly or in part) of the High Priest's entrance 
 into the Holy of Holies with the Blood of Atonement, we see the thought of 
 it as permeating much of the Epistle. 
 
 The gifts of the Spirit (ii. 4). 
 
 The expected Return to Judgement (ix. 28). 
 
 "We may add to these two possible references to the institution of the 
 Lords Supper : 
 
 (1) In the phrase "a remembrance of sins" (x. 3). 
 
 (2) In "this is the blood of the Covenant" (ix. 20). 
 See the notes on those two passages and also App. ii. 
 
 In addition to these references, more or less clear, to points in the 
 Gospel story, there are some less certain echoes of ideas, sayings, and phrases 
 which found place in one or more of the Gospels. Such are : 
 
 (a) The application, throughout the Epistle, to the Ceremonial Law of 
 the principle enunciated in Matt. v. 17, that Christ came "not to destroy 
 but to fulfil." 
 
 (b) Apparent reminiscences of three of the Beatitudes. See notes on 
 xi. 26, xii. 14. 
 
 (c) The aspect of the suflFerings of Christ as in themselves glorious and in 
 accordance with the fitness of things (ii. 10; cp. Luke xxiv. 16), and yet, as 
 is implied in much of the argument of the Epistle, and as is put into words 
 in John xii. 34, something that to the Jews required apology. 
 
 (d) The use of quotations which are represented in the Gospels as 
 having been frequently on our Lord's lips, as the words of Ps. ex., "Sit thou 
 on my right hand," which plays such a large part in the Epistle : cp. Matt. 
 xxii. 44; Luke xxii. 69; cp. also Mark xvi. 19. 
 
 (e) Such also perhaps is the phrase "to bear the sins of many" which 
 comes originally from Isaiah lui. 12. Cp. Heb. vii. 28 with Matt. xx. 28, 
 xxvi. 28. 
 
 (J) "God is not unrighteous to forget your work, &c.," vi. 10, seems to 
 rest on such assurances as Matt. x. 42. 
 
 It is to be noticed that there are some parallels in thought and expres- 
 sion between the Epistle and St John's Gospel, as 
 
 (a) Though there is no identity of phrase or appearance of borrowing by 
 one or the other, the Logos doctrine of i. 1-3. 
 
 The whole doctrine of Christ as the Revelation of the Father (i. 2), the 
 "very image," the "effulgence" (for "God is Light," 1 John i. 5), is antici- 
 pated or summed up in the words attributed to the Lord Himself (John 
 xiv. 9), "he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father." 
 
 (&) The description of the Incarnation, ii. 14; John i. 14. 
 
 (c) The presentation of Christ as the High Priest of humanity. Cp. John 
 xvii., esp. rp. 17-19. 
 
 (d) The comparison of the Son and the servant, iii. 5, 6 ; John viii. 35. 
 
 (e) "He glorified not himself," v. 5; cp. John viii. 54. 
 
APPENDIX 137 
 
 It is also of interest to observe, however it be explained, that there 
 occur two rather close parallelisms with the last, and disputed, verses of St 
 Mark. See Mark xvi. 19, "Sat down on the right hand of God," the phrase 
 being used, as in the Epistle, of the Ascension, and id. xvi. 20 as compared 
 with Heb. ii. 4. 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 THE TWO SACRAMENTS IN THE EPISTLE. 
 
 The position of the two Sacraments in the Epistle is noticeable and 
 points to a general characteristic of the writer's purpose. 
 
 On the one side, one cannot read the Epistle without perceiving 
 that they were within the writer's consciousness as part of the historical 
 tradition and part of the actual Christian life, and that their existence 
 would give point to what he said in the minds of his readers. On the 
 other hand they are not appealed to nor enforced nor definitely explained 
 even at places in the argument where it might have seemed natural. 
 "Baptisms" (that is, evidently from the context. Christian Baptism as 
 compared with other ceremonial washings with which as Jews they 
 would have been familiar) are named in passing, in vi. 2, among the 
 rudiments of a Catechumen's instiniction. In x. 22, 23 the juxtaposition 
 of the figure, "our bodies washed with pure water," and the exhortation to 
 "hold fast the confession" (cp. 1 Pet. iii. 21), and the whole context which 
 makes this an introduction to the enforcement of the obligations of a 
 Christian to the Christian society, make it hard to doubt that the writer 
 had in mind, and that his readers would have in mind. Holy Baptism. But 
 yet the "sprinkling" and "washing" in this passage belonged in the first 
 place not to a Christian Sacrament, but to the consecration of a High Priest 
 under the Jewish Law. They have, in the Epistle, a spiritual explanation 
 and there is no need for the introduction, at the moment, of a further 
 symbolic interpretation. Directly we try to put such a definite symbolical 
 interpretation on the words we are in difficulties. What is meant by the 
 "sprinkling of blood" that is not meant by the "washing with pure water"? 
 Yet is one to be interpreted of Baptism and the other left without the 
 secondaiy interpretation? Some have tried, with even less support and 
 probability, to take the two parts of the figure severally of the two 
 Sacraments. 
 
 Similarly there are phrases which, when put together, leave little doubt 
 in our minds that the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was to writer and 
 readers a familiar part of Christian practice. There is some reason to think 
 (as has been said in App. i.) that the words of Institution were in the 
 writer's mind in x. 3 and ix. 20. The "assembling of themselves together," 
 which some are charged (x. 25) with "forsaking," though the purpose men- 
 tioned at the moment is the general one of strengthening their corporate 
 
138 HEBREWS 
 
 feeling, of "exhorting one another," was yet connected, too closely for the 
 fact to be altogether forgotten, through the "breaking of bread" with the 
 whole cycle of ideas — the Atonement, the "oflFering of the Body," the 
 "drawing near" — with which the writer is dealing. In the same way 
 the language used in xiii. 10, the "Altar of which they have no right to 
 eat who serve the Tabernacle," followed as it is by the sacrificial figures of 
 verses 15 and 16, must indicate that somewhere in the writer's mind were 
 the thoughts of the Christian Feast upon a Sacrifice, of the Christian 
 Eucharist with its thanksgiving and its call to give ; but yet these are 
 in the background, not the direct object on which his eyes are set. 
 
 The reason why he stops just where he does is obvious. His purpose 
 was to shew to Jewish Christians how everything in the old Law was meant 
 to lead to and end in Christ — to lift his readers from type to antitype — to 
 shew them the personal and spiritual meaning of that sacrificial system to 
 which they looked back. It was a system of "shadows," and the "body was 
 of Christ" 
 
 This was the lesson for the moment. It would have hindered, not 
 helped, his pui-pose if he had said anything which could be taken by 
 men of the mental attitude of his first readers to mean "as Christians 
 we also have a system of typical ordinances, retrospective as those of the 
 Old Covenant were prospective." If he had meant to say anything of the 
 kind, if he had meant to explain at all the relation of the Christian Sacraments 
 to Jewish types, he would assuredly have said what he wished to say more 
 fully and definitely and with more provision against misconception. This is 
 not to say that there is not in this Epistle, as there is in all Holy Scripture, 
 a sense of a purpose somewhere, larger than the intention at the moment of 
 the writer, nor that it is not legitimate for us to draw conclusions from the 
 writer's arguments which yet would have been beyond his immediate 
 purpose. 
 
 APPENDIX III. 
 
 USE OF THE EPISTLE IN THE PRAYER-BOOK. 
 
 The present and practical value of the Epistle cannot be better illustrated 
 than by the use made of it in our Liturgy. 
 
 I. On its doctrinal side, as the witness to the full significance 
 
 (1) of the Incarnation — we read ch. i. 1-12 as the Epistle for Christmas 
 Day, to match the Gospel from John i. 1-14 ; 
 
 (2) of the Atonement — we read the whole passage from ch. ix. 11 to x. 23, 
 dividing it between the Epistles for Passion Sunday, Wednesday before 
 Easter and Good Friday; 
 
 (3) of the Ascension — we read ch. iv. as the Evening Lesson for Ascensioa 
 Day. 
 
APPENDIX 139 
 
 We may add 
 
 (1) The influence of the Epistle which is to be felt in the wording of the 
 Nicene Creed, "Light of Light, Very God of very God"; cp. "theeff"ulgence 
 of his glory, and the very image of his substance." 
 
 (2) The large part which the teaching of the Epistle occupies in the 
 Communion Service— especially in the Prayer of Consecration : "the oblation 
 of Himself once offered," the "full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice"; cp. ch. 1. 
 3 ix. 10, 12, 14, 25, 26. We owe to the same source some of the most 
 famiUar phrases 'of the Service, such as "Draw near," a great word in the 
 Epistle (iv. 16, vii. 25, x. 1, 22), and "sacrifice of praise" (ch. xiii. 15). 
 
 IL On its jorac/ica/ side. 
 
 Its tone of tenderness and sympathy which has given it the name of "the 
 Epistle for sufferers," is illustrated in the use made of ch. xii. 6-9 in the 
 Exhortation in the Visitation of the Sick, in the selection of the little morsel 
 of Scripture as the Epistle in the Communion of the Sick {ibid. 5, 6) and of 
 the Lesson— the peaceful note at the close of a stern day— for the evening 
 of Ash Wednesday {ibid. 3-17). 
 
 The animating catalogue of the heroes of faith (ch. xi. 33-xii. 7) is 
 naturally a Lesson for All Saints' Day. 
 
 Two of the offertory sentences are taken from the Epistle (ch. vi. 10, "God 
 is not unrighteous, &c." and xiii. 16, "To do good and to distribute, &c."). 
 We owe probably to the use made of Psalm xcv. in ch. iii. 7-iv. 11 the place 
 which that Psalm holds in the Morning Service as the reminder, when we 
 begin the service of praise, of the double aspect of all Revelation and 
 Religion ; as the voice at once of invitation—"' come, let us sing"— and of 
 «rar raws'— "To-day, ^^y® ^^ hear." 
 
INDEX A. 
 
 QUOTATIONS FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT OR DIRECT 
 REFERENCES TO IT IN THE TEXT OF THE EPISTLE. 
 
 Genesis 
 ii. 2 
 
 V. 22-24 
 xiv. 18-20 
 xxi. 12 
 xxii. 16 
 xlvii. 31 
 1. 24, 25 
 Exodns 
 ii. 2 
 xxiv. 8 
 XXV. 40 
 Leviticus 
 
 vi. 30 
 Numbers 
 
 xii. 7 
 
 xiv. 29 
 
 xix. 2, 17, 18 
 Deuteronomy 
 
 iv. 11 
 
 iv. 24 
 
 ix. 19 
 
 xvii. 2-6 
 
 xxix. 18 
 
 ixxi. 6 
 
 xxxii. 35, 36 
 
 xxxii. 43 (LXX) 
 
 1 Sam. 
 xii. 6 
 
 2 Sam. 
 vii. 12 f. 
 
 Heb. 
 iv. 4 
 xi. 5 
 vii. 1-3 
 xi. 18 
 vi. 13, 14 
 xi. 21 
 xi. 22 
 
 xi. 23 
 
 ix. 19, 20 
 viii. 5 
 
 xiii. 11 
 
 iii. 
 
 2,5 
 
 iii. 
 
 17, 18 
 
 ix. 
 
 13 
 
 xii 
 
 .18 
 
 xii 
 
 .29 
 
 xii 
 
 .21 
 
 X. 
 
 28 
 
 xii 
 
 . 15 
 
 xiii. 5 
 
 X. 
 
 30, 31 
 
 i. 
 
 6 
 
 iii. 2 
 i. 5 
 
 Psalms 
 
 Heb. 
 
 
 ii. 7 
 
 i. 5, V. 5 
 
 
 viii. 4f. 
 
 ii. 6-8 
 
 
 xxii. 22 
 
 ii. 12 
 
 
 xl. 6 f . 
 
 X. 5-7 
 
 
 xiv. 6, 7 
 
 i. 8, 9 
 
 
 Ixxxix. 27 
 
 i. 6 
 
 
 xcv. 8 f . 
 
 iii. 7 f. 
 
 
 cii. 25 f . 
 
 i. 10-12 
 
 
 civ. 4 
 
 i. 7 
 
 
 ex. 1 
 
 i. 3, 13, viii. 1, 
 12, xii. 2 
 
 1 X. 
 
 ox. 4 
 
 V. 6, 10, vi. 20, 
 17,21 
 
 vii. 
 
 cxviii. 6 
 
 xiii. 6 
 
 
 Proverbs 
 
 
 
 iii. 11, 12 
 
 xii. 5, 6 
 
 
 iv. 26, 27 
 
 xii. 13 
 
 
 Isaiah 
 
 
 
 viii. 17, 18 
 
 ii. 13 
 
 
 xxvi. 20 
 
 X. 37 
 
 
 XXXV. 3 
 
 xii. 12 
 
 
 Ixiii. 17 
 
 xiii. 20 
 
 
 Jeremiah 
 
 
 
 xxxi. 31 f. 
 
 viii. 8-12, X. 16, 
 
 17 
 
 Habakkuk 
 
 
 
 ii. 3, 4 
 
 X. 37, 38 
 
 
 Haggai 
 
 
 
 ii. 6 
 
 xii. 26 
 
 
 Zechariah 
 
 
 
 ix. 11 
 
 xiii. 20 
 
 
Apollos xiv 
 Aquila xiv 
 Arminians 42 
 
 Barnabas xii 
 
 Calvinists 42 
 Clement of Alexandria xii, 
 Clement of Rome xi, xiii, 
 xixn., 97, 114, 125 
 
 Dante 37 
 Domitian xix n. 
 Driver 48, 73 
 Du Bose 35 
 
 Harnack xx, 128 
 Hicks xiv 
 Homer 123 
 Hort 29, 103 
 
 Ignatian Epistles xx 
 
 Josephus 5, 64, 74 
 
 Lewis XV 
 
 Lightfoot 66, 72, 130 
 Lucretius 17 
 Luke xii, xiii, xiv 
 Luther xiv, 65 
 
 INDEX B. 
 
 NAMES. 
 
 Middleton 65 
 Milton 9 
 
 Novatians 42 
 
 Origen xLi, xiii, 36, 91 
 
 25, 36, 95 Paul xiif., 12, 58, 89, 91, 97, 100 
 xiv, xviii, Philip xiv 
 
 Philo 4, 47, 64, 123, 124 
 
 Priscilla xiv 
 
 Eamsay xv, 72 
 Eendall 22, 38, 73, 111 
 
 Salem 48 
 Silas xiv 
 Swete 69, 71, 88 
 
 TertuUian xii 
 Timothy xx, 133 
 
 Vaughan 14, 32, 36, 44, 90, 96, 104, 
 110, 116, 126, 132 
 
 Westcott 10, 18, 28, 29, 35, 40, 49, 
 50, 53, 57, 65, 67, 73, 84, 90, 101, 
 103, 111, 115, 118, 119, 121, 124, 
 128, 132 
 
 INDEX C. 
 
 "Accidia" 37 
 
 Angels XX, 4, 5, 10, 11 
 
 Atonement (great day of) xxii, 32, 33, 
 
 56, 61, 64, 68, 83, 127 
 Authorship of Epistle xif., 12, 89, 91 
 
 Catechumens (creed of) 39 
 Christianity (evidences of) 12 
 Consecration of High Priest 83, 85 
 
 Date of Epistle xi, xviii, xix, xx 
 Destination of Epistle xvif. 
 
 Fear of death 17 
 
 Gethsemane 34 
 
 " Harrowing of Hell " 107 
 Heavens (plur.) 31 
 Hebrews and Hellenists xv 
 
 Incarnation (reasons for) 19 
 
 Jeremiah 60 
 
 Judaizers xvii, xx, 66, 126, 127 
 
 Marriage (disparagement of) 124 
 
 Messiah (a suffering) 15, 19, 71 
 Messianic prophecy 9 
 
 Plural (Epistolary) 130 
 Proverb (a Greek) 36 
 Psalter (use of) 10 
 
 Quotation, Freedom in 81 
 
 Indefinite form of 14, 24, 27 
 
 from LXX where it differs from 
 
 Hebrew xv, 13, 79, 90, 96, 113, 
 120, 131 
 
 Eetrospective effect of the Great 
 
 Sacrifice 70, 75 
 Revised Version, clauses due to change 
 
 of reading 4, 22, 27, 43, 77, 89, 
 
 112, 130 
 
 Tabernacle (not Temple) xviii, 63 
 
 Contents of 62 f. 
 
 Tenses (Greek) 
 
 Present 9, 42, 53, 65, 81, 87 
 
 Aorist 42, 58, 89, 111 
 
 Perfect 49, 58, 81, 95, 100, 109 
 
 Pluperfect 111 
 
INDEX 
 
 143 
 
 II. WORDS AND PHRASES DISCUSSED IN THE NOTES. 
 
 age to come 43 
 
 altar (we have an) 127 
 
 anchor (of the soul) 46 
 
 Apostle 20 
 
 ark of the Covenant 63, 64 
 
 baptisms 40 
 
 became ( = beseemed) 15, 54 
 being, becoming 3, 4 
 blood of sprinkhng 119 
 brethren 84 
 
 censer (or, altar of incense) 64 
 cherubim of glory 64 
 confession 85 
 conscience (evil) 85 
 conscience (good) 130 
 consider 20, 85, 110 
 continually 48, 77 
 
 dead works 39, 70 
 dedicate 84 
 despite 87 
 devil 17 
 draw near 32 
 draw nigh 52 
 
 effulgence 3 
 enlightened 41, 89 
 eternal spirit 69 
 exhortation 111 
 
 faith, hope, love 44, 86 
 
 fathers (the, or, our) 2 
 
 Firstborn 6 
 
 firstborn (church of the) 118 
 
 forerunner 46 
 
 fruit of lips 129 
 
 general assembly 118 
 godly fear 35, 97, 121 
 great High Priest 31 
 
 heart 84 
 
 heavens 31 
 
 heir of all things 3 
 
 inherit 4, 9, 44 
 
 jealousy of fire 87 
 
 living God 24, 29, 70, 88 
 living way 89 
 
 mediator 52 
 mercy-seat 64 
 
 new 60 
 
 oil of gladness 8 
 oracles of God 38 
 
 partakers of (or, with) Christ 24 
 perfect, perfection 15, 39, 50, 56, 66, 
 
 107, 119, 132 
 place of repentance 114 
 profane 114 
 propitiation 18 
 
 remembrance of sins 78, 80 
 reproach of Christ 103 
 righteousness according to faith 97 
 roll of the book 79 
 
 sabbath rest 28 
 sacrifice of praise 129 
 salvation 9, 11, 16, 36, 43. 76 
 sanctify 16, 69, 81, 128 
 sanctuary 57, 62, 65 
 seem 26 
 
 shadow (of good things) 77 
 sin (without) 32 
 
 (apart from) 76 
 
 sinners against themselves 110 
 BO to say 49 
 spirit of grace 88 
 substance 4 
 surety 52 
 
 testament 71 
 the day 86 
 these days 3 
 
 very image 3 
 
 warned (of God) 58 
 weakness of the Law 51 
 winds (or, spirits) 8 
 word of righteousness 38 
 worlds 3, 95 
 
INDEX D. 
 
 GREEK WORDS AND PHRASES IN THE NOTES. 
 
 dira&yacriJLa 3 
 dweideia, aTriffTia 28 
 dirocrTiXKeiv, diroffToKos 20 
 dpxvy^^ 16 
 
 yevS/xeva (yivd/ieva) 67 
 yLyvecdai, elyai 3 
 
 S^iTfiioi 89 
 
 Sid 67 
 
 Sia6r]K7], dLarldefJiai 72 
 
 SoKifxaffia 23 
 
 SiJj'arat, Si/i-ovTat 77 
 
 idvirep 24 
 
 iyyi^eiv 52 
 
 ei/cu))' 3 
 
 eZs, eZ 112 
 
 iKKXtjala 118 
 
 iKTpairy 113 
 
 (fiaOev d<t> wi' ^TraOev 36 
 
 <2v 67 
 
 ivSeiKvvffdai 44 
 
 ^f elprjvri 48 
 
 evxapicTTia 129 
 
 f^Xos 87 
 
 iXao-Ti^ptoj' (£7r/^e/ita) 64 
 
 KaX6s 130 
 
 /card 97 
 
 KOfffxiKhv dyiov 62, 63 
 
 Xarpefa, Xarpei^etJ' 66, 70 
 Xeirou/ryi/ca Trvei^/iara 10 
 
 \€LTOVpiyol 10 
 
 fjiereT^dri 96 
 
 octos, a7toj 54 
 
 iracTjYuptj 118 
 
 irapaKorj 11 
 
 TToXi'/iepuJs (cai 7roXur/)6?rwj 2 
 
 TTpoaipx^^GO''' 32 
 
 irpO(j(pipeip 35 
 
 irpti)T0T6Kia 118 
 
 2(u)c opet 116 
 triry/caKOTra^ei'j' 124 
 
 Ttvd, Wi'a 38 
 rpaxv^l'^eiv 29 
 
 vironovl], vtro/Jiiveiv 109 
 inrbaracm 4 
 
 4>i\aSe\<l>La 123 
 ^(Xolep/a 123 
 
 XapaKT-^p 3 
 
 CAMBRIDGE : PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M.A. AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. 
 
DATE DUE 
 
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 ^nHtiryrff- 
 
 PRINTED IN U.S.A.