CHAPTER III. _Jesus is the High Priest of our profession_, 1. _And is counted worthy of more honour than Moses, as the Son_ _Israelites did, and were excluded from the earthly rest in_ _Canaan_, 7-11. _We should be on our guard against unbelief_, 12. _And exhort each other, lest we be hardened... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hebrews 3:2. _WHO WAS FAITHFUL TO HIM_] In Numbers 12:7, God gives this testimony to Moses: _My servant Moses - is faithful in all my house_; and to this testimony the apostle alludes. _House_ not only means the _place_ where a _family dwells_, but also the _family_ itself. The whole congrega... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hebrews 3:3. _FOR THIS_ man _was counted_] As Jesus Christ, in the character of _apostle_ and _high priest_, is here intended, the word _apostle_, or this _person_ or _personage_, should have been supplied, if any, instead of _man_. Indeed, the pronoun ουτος should have been translated _this p... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hebrews 3:4. _FOR EVERY HOUSE IS BUILDED BY SOME_ MAN] The literal sense is plain enough: "Every structure plainly implies an, _architect_, and an _end_ for which it was formed. The architect may be employed by him for whose use the house is intended; but the _efficient_ cause of the erection... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hebrews 3:5. _AS A SERVANT_] The _fidelity_ of Moses was the fidelity of a _servant_; he was not the framer of that Church or house; he was employed, under God, to arrange and order it: he was _steward_ to the Builder and Owner. _FOR A TESTIMONY OF THOSE THINGS_] Every ordinance under the la... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hebrews 3:6. _BUT CHRIST AS A SON OVER HIS OWN HOUSE_] Moses was faithful as a _servant_ IN the house; Jesus was faithful, as the _first-born Son_, OVER the house of which he is the Heir and Governor. Here, then, is the conclusion of the argument in reference to Christ's superiority over Moses... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hebrews 3:7. _WHEREFORE_ (_AS THE HOLY GHOST SAITH, TODAY_] These words are quoted from Psalms 95:7; and as they were written by David, and attributed here to the Holy Ghost, it proves that David wrote, by the inspiration of God's Holy Spirit. As these words were originally a warning to the I... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hebrews 3:8. _HARDEN NOT YOUR HEARTS_] Which ye will infallibly do, if ye _will not_ hear his voice. _PROVOCATION_] παραπικρασμος. From παρα, signifying _intensity,_ and πικραινω, to _make bitter_; the _exasperation_, or _bitter_ _provocation_. "The Israelites provoked God _first_ in the wil... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hebrews 3:9. _WHEN YOUR FATHERS TEMPTED ME_] It would be better to translate ου _where_ than _when_, as the Vulgate has done in its _ubi_; and this translation has been followed by _Wiclif, Coverdale_, _Tindal_, and our first translators in general. In my old MS. Bible the 7th, 8th, and 9th ve... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hebrews 3:10. _WHEREFORE I WAS GRIEVED_] God represents himself as the _Father_ of this great Jewish _family_, for whose comfort and support he had made every necessary provision, and to whom he had given every proof of _tenderness_ and _fatherly affection_; and because, they disobeyed him, an... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hebrews 3:11. _SO I SWARE IN MY WRATH_] God's _grief_ at their continued disobedience became _wrath_ at their final impenitence, and therefore he excluded them from the promised rest.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hebrews 3:12. _TAKE HEED, BRETHREN, LEST THERE BE IN ANY OF YOU_] Take warning by those disobedient Israelites; they were brought out of the house of bondage, and had the fullest promise of a land of prosperity and rest. By their disobedience they came short of it, and fell in the wilderness.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hebrews 3:13. _BUT EXHORT ONE ANOTHER DAILY_] This supposes a state of chose Church fellowship, without which they could not have had access to each other. _WHILE IT IS CALLED TO-DAY_] Use time while you have: it, for by and by there will be no more present time; all will be future; all will... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 14. _FOR WE ARE MADE PARTAKERS OF CHRIST_] Having believed in Christ as the promised Messiah, and embraced the whole Christian system, they were consequently made partakers of all its _benefits_ in this life, and entitled to the fulfilment of all its exceeding great and precious promises relat... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 15. _WHILE IT IS SAID, TO-DAY_] You may see the necessity of perseverance from the saying, "_Today, if ye will hear his_ _voice_," therefore _harden not your hearts_-do not neglect so great a salvation; hold fast what ye have obtained, and let no man take your crown. See on Hebrews 3:7, and He... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 16. _FOR SOME, WHEN THEY HAD HEARD, DID PROVOKE_] There is a various reading here, which consists merely in the different placing of an _accent_, and yet gives the whole passage a different turn: - τινες, from τις, _who_, if read with the accent on the _epsilon_, τινες, is the plural indefini... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 17. _BUT WITH WHOM WAS HE GRIEVED FORTY YEARS?_] I believe it was _Surenhusius_ who first observed that "the apostle, in using the term forty years, elegantly alludes to the space of time which had elapsed since the ascension of our Lord till the time in which this epistle was written, which w... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 18. _TO WHOM SWARE HE_] God never acts by any kind of caprice; whenever he pours out his judgments, there are the most positive reasons to vindicate his conduct. Those whose carcasses fell in the wilderness were they who had sinned. And those who did not enter into his rest were those who _be... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Hebrews 3:19. _SO WE SEE THAT THEY COULD NOT ENTER IN_] It was no _decree_ of God that prevented them, it was no want of necessary _strength_ to enable them, it was through no deficiency of _Divine_ _counsel_ to instruct them; all these they had in abundance: but they chose to sin, and would n... [ Continue Reading ]