---
title: "Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 2: Lamentations to Revelation"
author: "Adam Clarke"
languages: [en]
shelf: "Commentaries"
section: 653 of 769
url: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/653/
cite: "Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 2: Lamentations to Revelation, section 653. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/653/"
---

# Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 2: Lamentations to Revelation

*Adam Clarke*

Clarke's learned notes on the Hebrew and Greek, verse by verse, from Genesis to Revelation: volume 2 of 2.

## 653. Hebrews · 6 of 35

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/653/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/653/#p-N

[¶0] Must give us pause: - There's the respect

[¶1] That makes calamity of so long life:

[¶2] For who could bear the whips and scorns of time,

[¶3] The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,

[¶4] The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,

[¶5] The insolence of office, and the spurns

[¶6] That patient merit of the unworthy takes,

[¶7] When he himself might his quietus make

[¶8] With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear

[¶9] To grunt and sweat under a weary life;

[¶10] But that the dread of something after death, -

[¶11] The undiscovered country from whose bourn

[¶12] No traveler returns, - puzzles the will;

[¶13] And makes us rather bear those ills we have,

[¶14] Than fly to others that we know not of?

[¶15] Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;

[¶16] And thus the native hue of resolution

[¶17] Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought;

[¶18] And enterprises of great pith and moment,

[¶19] With this regard, their currents turn awry

[¶20] And lose the name of action."

[¶21] I give this long quotation from a poet who was well acquainted with all the workings of the human heart; and one who could not have described scenes of distress and anguish of mind so well, had he not passed through them.

### Verse 16

[¶23] For verily he took not on him the nature of angels - Ου γαρ δηπου αγγελων επιλαμβανεται, αλλα σπερματος Αβρααμ επιλαμβανεται· Moreover, he doth not at all take hold of angels; but of the seed of Abraham he taketh hold. This is the marginal reading, and is greatly to be preferred to that in the text Jesus Christ, intending not to redeem angels, but to redeem man, did not assume the angelic nature, but was made man, coming directly by the seed or posterity of Abraham, with whom the original covenant was made, that in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed; and it is on this account that the apostle mentioned the seed of Abraham, and not the seed of Adam; and it is strange that to many commentators should have missed so obvious a sense. The word itself signifies not only to take hold of, but to help, succor, save from sinking, etc. The rebel angels, who sinned and fell from God, were permitted to fall down, alle downe, as one of our old writers expresses it, till they fell into perdition: man sinned and fell, and was falling downe, alle downe, but Jesus laid hold on him and prevented him from falling into endless perdition. Thus he seized on the falling human creature, and prevented him from falling into the bottomless pit; but he did not seize on the falling angels, and they fell down into outer darkness. By assuming the nature of man, he prevented this final and irrecoverable fall of man; and by making an atonement in human nature, he made a provision for its restoration to its forfeited blessedness. This is a fine thought of the apostle, and is beautifully expressed. Man was falling from heaven, and Jesus caught hold of the falling creature, and prevented its endless ruin. In this respect he prefers men to angels, and probably for this simple reason, that the human nature was more excellent than the angelic; and it is suitable to the wisdom of the Divine Being to regard all the works of his hands in proportion to the dignity or excellence with which he has endowed them.

### Verse 17

[¶25] Wherefore in all things - Because he thus laid hold on man in order to redeem him, it was necessary that he should in all things become like to man, that he might suffer in his stead, and make an atonement in his nature.

[¶26] That he might be a merciful and faithful high priest - Ἱνα ελεημων γενηται· That he might be merciful - that he might be affected with a feeling of our infirmities, that, partaking of our nature with all its innocent infirmities and afflictions, he might know how to compassionate poor, afflicted, suffering man. And that he might be a faithful high priest in those things which relate to God, whose justice requires the punishment of the transgressors, or a suitable expiation to be made for the sins of the people. The proper meaning of ἱλασκεσθαι τας ἁμαρτιας is to make propitiation or atonement for sins by sacrifice. See the note on [Luk 18:13], where it [this word] is particularly explained. Christ is the great High Priest of mankind;

[¶27] 1. He exercises himself in the things pertaining to God, taking heed that God's honor be properly secured, his worship properly regulated, his laws properly enforced, and both his justice and mercy magnified. Again,

[¶28] 2. He exercises himself in things pertaining to Men, that he may make an atonement for them, apply this atonement to them, and liberate them thereby from the curse of a broken law, from the guilt and power of sin, from its inbeing and nature, and from all the evils to which they were exposed through it, and lastly that he might open their way into the holiest by his own blood; and he has mercifully and faithfully accomplished all that he has undertaken.

### Verse 18

[¶30] For in that he himself hath suffered - The maxim on which this verse is founded is the following: A state of suffering disposes persons to be compassionate, and those who endure most afflictions are they who feel most for others. The apostle argues that, among other causes, it was necessary that Jesus Christ should partake of human nature, exposed to trials, persecutions, and various sufferings, that he might the better feel for and be led to succor those who are afflicted and sorely tried. This sentiment is well expressed by a Roman poet: -

[¶31] Me quoque per multas similis fortuna labores

[¶32] Jactatam hac demum voluit consistere terra:

[¶33] Non ignara mali, miseris succurere disco.

[¶34] Virg. Aen. i., v. 632. "For I myself like you, have been distress'd,

[¶35] Till heaven afforded me this place of rest;

[¶36] Like you, an alien in a land unknown,

[¶37] I learn to pity woes so like my own."

[¶38] Dryden. "There are three things," says Dr. Owen, "of which tempted believers do stand in need:

[¶39] 1. Strength to withstand their temptations;

[¶40] 2. Consolations to support their spirits under them;

[¶41] 3. Seasonable deliverance from them.

[¶42] Unto these is the succor afforded by our High Priest suited; and it is variously administered to them:

[¶43] 1. By his word or promises;

[¶44] 2. By his Spirit; (and, that