--- title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible" author: "Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown" languages: [en] shelf: "Commentaries" section: 829 of 927 url: https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/829/ cite: "Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, section 829. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/829/" --- # Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible *Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown* The Victorian standard commentary, critical and practical, from Genesis to Revelation. ## 829. Hebrews · 4 of 27 Source: https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/829/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/829/#p-N [¶0] took part of--participated in. The forfeited inheritance (according to Jewish law) was ransomed by the nearest of kin; so Jesus became our nearest of kin by His assumed humanity, in order to be our Redeemer. [¶1] that through death--which He could not have undergone as God but only by becoming man. Not by Almighty power but by His death (so the Greek) He overcame death. "Jesus suffering death overcame; Satan wielding death succumbed" [Bengel]. As David cut off the head of Goliath with the giant's own sword wherewith the latter was wont to win his victories. Coming to redeem mankind, Christ made Himself a sort of hook to destroy the devil; for in Him there was His humanity to attract the devourer to Him, His divinity to pierce him, apparent weakness to provoke, hidden power to transfix the hungry ravisher. The Latin epigram says, Mors mortis morti mortem nisi morte tu lisset, Æternæ vitæ janua clausa foret. "Had not death by death borne to death the death of Death, the gate of eternal life would have been closed". [¶2] destroy--literally, "render powerless"; deprive of all power to hurt His people. "That thou mightest still the enemy and avenger" ([Psa 8:2]). The same Greek verb is used in [2Ti 1:10], "abolished death." There is no more death for believers. Christ plants in them an undying seed, the germ of heavenly immortality, though believers have to pass through natural death. [¶3] power--Satan is "strong" ([Mt 12:29]). [¶4] of death--implying that death itself is a power which, though originally foreign to human nature, now reigns over it ([Ro 5:12]; ). The power which death has Satan wields. The author of sin is the author of its consequences. Compare "power of the enemy" ([Lu 10:19]). Satan has acquired over man (by God's law, [Ge 2:17]; [Ro 6:23]) the power of death by man's sin, death being the executioner of sin, and man being Satan's "lawful captive." Jesus, by dying, has made the dying His own ([Ro 14:9]), and has taken the prey from the mighty. Death's power was manifest; he who wielded that power, lurking beneath it, is here expressed, namely, Satan. Wisdom 2:24, "By the envy of the devil, death entered into the world." [¶5] 15. fear of death--even before they had experienced its actual power. [¶6] all their lifetime--Such a life can hardly be called life. [¶7] subject to bondage--literally, "subjects of bondage"; not merely liable to it, but enthralled in it (compare [Ro 8:15]; [Ga 5:1]). Contrast with this bondage, the glory of the "sons" ([He 2:10]). "Bondage" is defined by Aristotle, "The living not as one chooses"; "liberty," "the living as one chooses." Christ by delivering us from the curse of God against our sin, has taken from death all that made it formidable. Death, viewed apart from Christ, can only fill with horror, if the sinner dares to think. [¶8] 16. For verily--Greek, "For as we all know"; "For as you will doubtless grant." Paul probably alludes to [Is 41:8]; [Jr 31:32], Septuagint, from which all Jews would know well that the fact here stated as to Messiah was what the prophets had led them to expect. [¶9] took not on him, &c.--rather, "It is not angels that He is helping (the present tense implies duration); but it is the seed of Abraham that He is helping." The verb is literally, to help by taking one by the hand, as in [He 8:9], "When I took them by the hand," &c. Thus it answers to "succor," [He 2:18], and "deliver," [He 2:15]. "Not angels," who have no flesh and blood, but "the children," who have "flesh and blood," He takes hold of to help by "Himself taking part of the same" ([He 2:14]). Whatever effect Christ's work may have on angels, He is not taking hold to help them by suffering in their nature to deliver them from death, as in our case. [¶10] the seed of Abraham--He views Christ's redemption (in compliment to the Hebrews whom he is addressing, and as enough for his present purpose) with reference to Abraham's seed, the Jewish nation, primarily; not that he excludes the Gentiles ([He 2:9], "for every man"), who, when believers, are the seed of Abraham spiritually (compare [He 2:12]; [Psa 22:22], 25, 27), but direct reference to them (such as is in [Ro 4:11], [12, 16]; [Ga 3:7], 14, 28, 29) would be out of place in his present argument. It is the same argument for Jesus being the Christ which Matthew, writing his Gospel for the Hebrews, uses, tracing the genealogy of Jesus from Abraham, the father of the Jews, and the one to whom the promises were given, on which the Jews especially prided themselves (compare [Ro 9:4], ). [¶11] 17. Wherefore--Greek, "Whence." Found in Paul's speech, [Ac 26:19]. [¶12] in all things--which are incidental to manhood, the being born, nourished, growing up, suffering. Sin is not, in the original constitution of man, a necessary attendant of manhood, so He had no sin. [¶13] it behooved him--by moral necessity, considering what the justice and love of God required of Him as Mediator (compare [He 5:3]), the office which He had voluntarily undertaken in order to "help" man ([He 2:16]). [¶14] his brethren--([He 2:11]); "the seed of Abraham" ([He 2:16]), and so also the spiritual seed, His elect out of all mankind. [¶15] be, &c.--rather as Greek, "that He might become High Priest"; He was called so, when He was "made perfect by the things which He suffered" ([He 2:10]; [He 5:8-10]). He was actually made so, when He entered within the veil, from which last flows His ever continuing intercession as Priest for us. The death, as man, must first be, in order that the bringing in of the blood into the heavenly Holy Place might follow, in which consisted the expiation as High Priest. [¶16] merciful--to "the people" deserving wrath by "sins." Mercy is a prime requisite in a priest, since his office is to help the wretched and raise the fallen: such mercy is most likely to be found in one who has a fellow-feeling with the afflicted, having been so once Himself ([He 4:15]); not that the Son of God needed to be taught by suffering to be merciful, but that in order to save us He needed to take our manhood with all its sorrows, thereby qualifying Himself, by experimental suffering with us, to be our sympathizing High Priest, and assuring us of His entire fellow-feeling with us in every sorrow. So in the main Calvin remarks here. [¶17] faithful--true to God ([He 3:5], ) and to man ([He 10:23]) in the mediatorial office which He has undertaken. [¶18] high priest--which Moses was not, though "faithful" ([He 2:1-18]). Nowhere, except in [Psa 110:4]; [Zec 6:13], and in this Epistle, is Christ expressly called a priest. In this Epistle alone His priesthood is professedly discussed; whence it is evident how necessary is this book of the New Testament. In [Psa 110:1-7], and [Zec 6:13], there is added mention of the kingdom of Christ, which elsewhere is spoken of without the priesthood, and that frequently. On the cross, whereon as Priest He offered the sacrifice, He had the title "King" inscribed over Him [Bengel]. [¶19] to make reconciliation for the sins--rather as Greek, "to propitiate (in respect to) the sins"; "to expiate the sins." Strictly divine justice is "propitiated"; but God's love is as much from everlasting as His justice; therefore, lest Christ's sacrifice, or its typical forerunners, the legal sacrifices, should be thought to be antecedent to God's grace and love, neither are said in the Old or New Testament to have propitiated God; otherwise Christ's sacrifices might have been thought to have first induced God to love and pity man, instead of (as the fact really is) His love having originated Christ's sacrifice, whereby divine justice and divine love are harmonized. The sinner is brought by that sacrifice into God's favor, which by sin he had forfeited; hence his right prayer is, "God be propitiated (so the Greek) to me who am a sinner" ([Lu 18:13]). Sins bring death and "the fear of death" ([He 2:15]). He had no sin Himself, and "made reconciliation for the iniquity" of all others ([Da 9:24]). [¶20] of the people--"the seed of Abraham" ([He 2:16]); the literal Israel first, and then (in the design of God), through Israel, the believing Gentiles, the spiritual Israel ([1Pe 2:10]). [¶21] 18. For--explanation of how His being made like His brethren in all things has made Him a merciful and faithful High Priest for us ([He 2:17]). [¶22] in that--rather as Greek, "wherein He suffered Himself; having been tempted, He is able to succor them that are being tempted" in the same temptation; and as "He was tempted (tried and afflicted) in all points," He is able (by the power of sympathy) to succor us in all possible temptations and trials incidental to man ([He 4:16]; ). He is the antitypical Solomon, having for every grain of Abraham's seed (which were to be as the sand for number), "largeness of heart even as the sand that is on the seashore" ([1Ki 4:29]). "Not only as God He knows our trials, but also as man He knows them by experimental feeling." ### Chapter 3 ### He 3:1-19. The Son of God Greater than Moses, Wherefore Unbelief towards Him Will Incur a Heavier Punishment than Befell Unbelieving Israel in the Wilderness [¶25] As Moses especially was the prophet by whom "God in times past spake to the fathers," being the mediator of the law, Paul deems it necessary now to show that, great as was Moses, the Son of God is greater. Ebrard in Alford remarks, The angel of the covenant came in the name of God before Israel; Moses in the name of Israel before God; whereas the high priest came both in the name of God (bearing the name Jehovah on his forehead) before Israel, and in the name of Israel (bearing the names of the twelve tribes on his breast) before God ([Ex 28:9-29, 36], ). Now Christ is above the angels, according to the first and second chapters because (1) as Son of God He is higher; and (2) because manhood, though originally lower than angels, is in Him exalted above them to the lordship of "the world to come," inasmuch as He is at once Messenger of God to men, and also atoning Priest-Representative of men before God ([He 2:17], 18). Parallel with this line of argument as to His superiority to angels ([He 1:4]) runs that which here follows as to His superiority to Moses ([He 3:3]): () because as Son over the house; He is above the servant in the house ([He 3:5], ), just as the angels were shown to be but ministering (serving) spirits ([He 1:14]), whereas He is the Son ([He 3:7], ); () because the bringing of Israel into the promised rest, which was not finished by Moses, is accomplished by Him ([He 4:1-11]), through His being not merely a leader and lawgiver as Moses, but also a propitiatory High Priest ([He 4:14]; ). [¶26] 1. Wherefore--Greek, "Whence," that is, seeing we have such a sympathizing Helper you ought to "consider attentively," "contemplate"; fix your eyes and mind on Him with a view to profiting by the contemplation ([He 12:2]). The Greek word is often used by Luke, Paul's companion ([Lu 12:24], ). [¶27] brethren--in Christ, the common bond of union. [¶28] partakers--"of the Holy Ghost." [¶29] heavenly calling--coming to us from heaven, and leading us to heaven whence it comes. [Php 3:14], "the high calling"; Greek "the calling above," that is, heavenly. [¶30] the Apostle and High Priest of our profession--There is but one Greek article to both nouns, "Him who is at once Apostle and High Priest"--Apostle, as Ambassador (a higher designation than "angel"-messenger) sent by the Father ([Joh 20:21]), pleading the cause of God with us; High Priest, as pleading our cause with God. Both His Apostleship and High Priesthood are comprehended in the one title, Mediator [Bengel]. Though the title "Apostle" is nowhere else applied to Christ, it is appropriate here in addressing Hebrews, who used the term of the delegates sent by the high priest to collect the temple tribute from Jews resident in foreign countries, even as Christ was Delegate of the Father to this world far off from Him ([Mt 21:37]). Hence as what applies to Him, applies also to His people, the Twelve are designated His apostles, even as He is the Father's ([Joh 20:21]). It was desirable to avoid designating Him here "angel," in order to distinguish His nature from that of angels mentioned before, though he is "the Angel of the Covenant." The "legate of the Church" (Sheliach Tsibbur) offered up the prayers in the synagogue in the name of all, and for all. So Jesus, "the Apostle of our profession," is delegated to intercede for the Church before the Father. The words "of our profession," mark that it is not of the legal ritual, but of our Christian faith, that He is the High Priest. Paul compares Him as an Apostle to Moses; as High Priest to Aaron. He alone holds both offices combined, and in a more eminent degree than either, which those two brothers held apart. [¶31] profession--"confession," corresponds to God having spoken to us by His Son, sent as Apostle and High Priest. What God proclaims we confess. [¶32] 2. He first notes the feature of resemblance between Moses and Christ, in order to conciliate the Hebrew Christians whom He addressed, and who still entertained a very high opinion of Moses; he afterwards brings forward Christ's superiority to Moses. [¶33] Who was faithful--The Greek implies also that He still is faithful, namely, as our mediating High Priest, faithful to the trust God has assigned Him ([He 2:17]). So Moses in God's house ([Nu 12:7]). [¶34] appointed him--"made Him" High Priest; to be supplied from the preceding context. Greek, "made"; so in [He 5:5]; [1Sa 12:6], Margin; [Ac 2:36]; so the Greek fathers. Not as Alford, with Ambrose and the Latins, "created Him," that is, as man, in His incarnation. The likeness of Moses to Messiah was foretold by Moses himself ([De 18:15]). Other prophets only explained Moses, who was in this respect superior to them; but Christ was like Moses, yet superior. [¶35] 3. For--assigning the reason why they should "consider" attentively "Christ" ([He 3:1]), highly as they regard Moses who resembled Him in faithfulness ([He 3:2]). [¶36] was--Greek, "has been." [¶37] counted worthy of more glory--by God, when He exalted Him to His own right hand. The Hebrew Christians admitted the fact ([He 1:13]). [¶38] builded the house--Greek, "inasmuch as He hath more honor than the house, who prepared it," or "established it" [Alford]. The Greek verb is used purposely instead of "builded," in order to mark that the building meant is not a literal, but a spiritual house: the Church both of the Old Testament and New Testament; and that the building of such a house includes all the preparations of providence and grace needed to furnish it with "living stones" and fitting "servants." Thus, as Christ the Founder and Establisher (in Old Testament as well as the New Testament) is greater than the house so established, including the servants, He is greater also than Moses, who was but a "servant." Moses, as a servant, is a portion of the house, and less than the house; Christ, as the Instrumental Creator of all things, must be God, and so greater than the house of which Moses was but a part. Glory is the result of honor. [¶39] 4. Someone must be the establisher of every house; Moses was not the establisher of the house, but a portion of it (but He who established all things, and therefore the spiritual house in question, is God). Christ, as being instrumentally the Establisher of all things, must be the Establisher of the house, and so greater than Moses. [¶40] 5. faithful in all his house--that is in all God's house ([He 3:4]). [¶41] servant--not here the Greek for "slave," but "a ministering attendant"; marking the high office of Moses towards God, though inferior to Christ, a kind of steward. [¶42] for a testimony of, &c.--in order that he might in his typical institutions give "testimony" to Israel "of the things" of the Gospel "which were to be spoken afterwards" by Christ ([He 8:5]; , ; ). [¶43] 6. But Christ--was and is faithful ([He 3:2]). [¶44] as a son over his own house--rather, "over His (God's, [He 3:4]) house"; and therefore, as the inference from His being one with God, over His own house. So [He 10:21], "having an High Priest over the house of God." Christ enters His Father's house as the Master [OVER it], but Moses as a servant [IN it, [He 3:2], 5] [Chrysostom]. An ambassador in the absence of the king is very distinguished--in the presence of the king he falls back into the multitude [Bengel].