CHAPTER XIII. _Exhortations to hospitality to Strangers_, 1, 2. _Kindness to those in bonds_, 3. _Concerning marriage_, 4. _Against covetousness_, 5, 6. _How they should imitate their teachers_, 7, 8. _To avoid strange doctrines_, 9. _Of the Jewish sin-offerings_, 10, 11. _Jesus suffered wit... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hebrews 13:2. _TO ENTERTAIN STRANGERS_] In those early times, when there were scarcely any public inns or houses of entertainment, it was an office of charity and mercy to receive, lodge, and entertain travellers; and this is what the apostle particularly recommends. _ENTERTAINED ANGELS_] Abr... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hebrews 13:3. _REMEMBER THEM THAT ARE IN BONDS_] He appears to refer to those Christian's who were suffering imprisonment for the testimony of Jesus. _AS BOUND WITH THEM_] Feel for them as you would wish others to feel for you were you in their circumstances, knowing that, being in the body,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hebrews 13:4. _MARRIAGE_ IS _HONOURABLE IN ALL_] Let this state be highly esteemed as one of God's own instituting, and as highly calculated to produce the best interests of mankind. This may have been said against the opinions of the _Essenes_, called _Therapeutae_, who held marriage in littl... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hebrews 13:5. _LET YOUR CONVERSATION_] That is, the whole tenor of your conduct, τροπος, the _manner of your life_, or rather the _disposition_ of your hearts in reference to all your secular transactions; for in this sense the original is used by the best Greek writers. Be _WITHOUT COVETOUSN... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hebrews 13:6. _SO THAT WE MAY BOLDLY SAY_] We, in such circumstances, while cleaving to the Lord, may confidently apply to ourselves what God spake to Joshua and to Solomon; and what he spake to David, "The Lord is my helper, I will not fear what man can do." God is omnipotent, man's power is... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hebrews 13:7. _REMEMBER THEM WHICH HAVE THE RULE OVER YOU_] This clause should be translated, _Remember your guides_, των ηγουμενων, _who have spoken unto you the doctrine of God_. Theodoret's note on this verse is very judicious: "He intends the saints who were dead, Stephen the first martyr,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hebrews 13:8. _JESUS CHRIST THE SAME YESTERDAY_] In all past times there was no way to the holiest but through the blood of Jesus, either actually shed, or significantly typified. _To-day _- he is the lamb newly slain, and continues to appear in the presence of God for us. _For ever_-to the co... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hebrews 13:9. _BE NOT CARRIED ABOUT_] μη περιφερεσθε. _Be not whirled_ _about_. But ABCD, and almost every other MS. of importance, with the _Syriac, Coptic, Arabic, Vulgate_, and several of the Greek fathers, have μη παραφερεσθε, _be not carried away_, which is undoubtedly the true reading, a... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hebrews 13:10. _WE HAVE AN ALTAR_] The altar is here put for the sacrifice on the altar; the Christian altar is the Christian sacrifice, which is Christ Jesus, with all the benefits of his passion and death. To these privileges they had no right who continued to offer the Levitical sacrifices,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hebrews 13:11. _FOR THE BODIES OF THOSE BEASTS_] Though in making covenants, and in some victims offered according to the law, the flesh of the sacrifice was eaten by the offerers; yet the flesh of the _sin-offering_ might no man eat: when the blood was sprinkled before the holy place to make... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hebrews 13:12. _THAT HE MIGHT SANCTIFY THE PEOPLE_] That he might consecrate them to God, and make an atonement for their sins, he _suffered without the gate_ at Jerusalem, as the sin-offering was consumed _without the camp_ when the tabernacle abode in the wilderness. Perhaps all this was typ... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hebrews 13:13. _LET US GO FORTH THEREFORE UNTO HIM_] Let us leave this city and system, devoted to destruction, and take refuge in Jesus alone, bearing his reproach-being willing to be accounted the refuse of all things, and the worst of men, for his sake who bore the contradiction of sinners... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 14. _FOR HERE HAVE WE NO CONTINUING CITY_] Here is an elegant and forcible allusion to the approaching destruction of Jerusalem. The Jerusalem that was _below_ was about to be burnt with fire, and erased to the ground; the Jerusalem that was _from_ _above_ was that alone which could be conside... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 15. _BY HIM THEREFORE LET US OFFER THE SACRIFICE OF_ _PRAISE_] He has now fulfilled all vision and prophecy, has offered the last bloody sacrifice which God will ever accept; and as he is the gift of God's love to the world, let us through him offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 16. _BUT TO DO GOOD AND TO COMMUNICATE_] These are continual sacrifices which God requires, and which will spring from a sense of God's love in Christ Jesus. Praise to God for his unspeakable gift, and acts of kindness to men for God's sake. No reliance, even on the infinitely meritorious sacr... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 17. _OBEY THEM THAT HAVE THE RULE OVER YOU_] Obey your _leaders_, τοις ηγουμενοις. He is not fit to _rule_ who is not capable of _guiding_. Hebrews 13:7. In the former verse the apostle exhorts them to remember those who had been their leaders, and to imitate their faith; in this he exhorts t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 18. _PRAY FOR US_] Even the success of apostles depended, in a certain way, on the prayers of the Church. Few Christian congregations feel, as they ought, that it is their bounden duty to pray for the success of the Gospel, both among themselves and in the world. The Church is weak, dark, poor... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 19. _THE RATHER TO DO THIS_] That is, pray for us, that, being enabled to complete the work which God has given us _here_ to do, we may be the sooner enabled to visit _you_. It is evident, from this, that the people to whom this epistle was written knew well who was the author of it; nor does... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 20. _NOW THE GOD OF PEACE_] We have often seen that _peace_ among the Hebrews signifies _prosperity_ of every kind. _The God of_ _peace_ is the same as the God of all blessedness, who has at his disposal all temporal and eternal good; who loves mankind, and has provided them a complete salvati... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 21. _MAKE YOU PERFECT_] καταρτισια υμας. Put you completely _in joint_. 2 Corinthians 13:9, where the meaning of the original word is largely considered. From the following terms we see what the apostle meant by the _perfection_ for which he prays. They were to do the will of God in every good... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 22. _SUFFER THE WORD OF EXHORTATION_] Bear the word or doctrine of this exhortation. This seems to be an epithet of this whole epistle: and as the apostle had in it shown the insufficiency of the Levitical system to atone for sin and save the soul; and had proved that it was the design of God... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 23. _KNOW YE THAT_ OUR _BROTHER TIMOTHY_] The word ημων, _our_, which is _supplied_ by our translators, is very probably genuine, as it is found in ACD*, ten others, the _Syriac_, Erpen's _Arabic_, the _Coptic, Armenian, Slavonic_, and _Vulgate_. _IS SET AT LIBERTY_] απολελυμενον. _Is sent a... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 24. _SALUTE ALL THEM THAT HAVE THE RULE OVER YOU_] _Salute_ _all your leaders or guides_, τους ἡγουμενους ὑμων. See Clarke on Heb 13:7 and _"_Hebrews 13:17_"_. _AND ALL THE SAINTS._] All the _Christians_; for this is the general meaning of the term in most parts of St. Paul's writings. But... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hebrews 13:24. _GRACE BE WITH YOU ALL._] May the Divine favour ever rest upon you and among you; and may you receive, from that source of all good, whatsoever is calculated to make you wise, holy, useful, and happy! And may you be enabled to _persevere_ in the truth to the end of your lives! _... [ Continue Reading ]