priesthood from the new house, or church of God, which he built, he was as faithful to God who appointed him his apostle or lawgiver in his church, as Moses was, when he established the law and the priesthood in God's ancient house the Jewish church. The proof of this affirmation the apostle did not produce on the present occasion, because the Hebrews were well acquainted with it. By voices from heaven, uttered more than once in the hearing of many of them, God had declared Jesus, his beloved Son in whom he was well pleased, and had commanded the Hebrews to hear him. This God would not have done, if Jesus had acted unfaithfully in excluding the law and the priesthood from the house of God which he built, ver. 2.-Farther, the apostle told the Hebrews, that although the faithfulness of Jesus was not greater than the faithfulness of Moses, in building their respective churches, God counted him worthy of more glory than Moses; he bestowed on him more power in the Christian church than Moses possessed in the Jewish; in as much as he who hath builded the house or church of God, not for his own salvation but for the salvation of others, hath more honour than the house; is a more excellent person than all the members of the church which he built. These things cannot be said of Moses. He built the Jewish church for his own sanctification, as well as for the sanctification of his brethren; and so being a member of his own church, he was obliged to have recourse to its services, especially its atonements, equally with the rest of the Israelites, whereby he was shewed to be a sinner like them, consequently he had not, like Christ, more honour than the house, ver. 3.-This however is not all. To make the Hebrews sensible of the great power of Jesus as the heir or Lord of all things, the apostle observed, that although every society civil and religious is formed by the ministry of some person or other, the original of all just power, and the governor of all righteous societies is God, who by constituting his Son the heir or Lord of all things, hath delegated his authority to him and empowered him to model and govern these societies as he pleaseth, ver. 4.-More particularly, to shew that Jesus, as a lawgiver, is superior to Moses, the apostle observed, that the faithfulness of Moses in building the Jewish church, was not that of a legislator who himself framed the laws which he established, but it was the faithfulness of a servant who established the laws which were dictated to him by his master, without adding to or diminishing aught from them; and who formed the tabernacles and appointed their services, not according to any plan of his own, but according to a pattern which God shewed to him in the mount, without presuming to deviate from it in the least, Heb. viii. 5. This faithfulness in building all the parts of the ancient house or church of God, was required of Moses in order that the things afterwards to be spoken by Jesus and his apostles, might be confirmed by the attestation given to them in the figures, and ceremonies, and services of the law, ver. 5.-But the faithfulness of Jesus in building the new house of God, the Christian church, was that of a Son in his Father's house, who being the heir or Lord of all, was entitled to remove the Jewish church, after it had answered the end for which it was established, and to erect the Christian church on a more enlarged plan, so as to comprehend believers of all nations.Wherefore Jesus, in the exercise of that authority which belonged to him as the Lord or Governor of all things, having actually abolished the Mosaic œconomy and established the gospel dispensation, the apostle, to confirm the Hebrews in the profession of the gospel, assured them, that all who believe in Jesus are as really members of the house or church of God, and as fully entitled to the privileges of the house of God, as the Israelites were who believed in Moses during the subsistence of the Jewish church, provided they firmly held and boldly professed to the end of their lives, that hope of pardon and resurrection to eternal life through Christ, which they professed at their baptism, ver. 6. Thus it appears, that the authority of Jesus as a lawgiver, is greater than the authority of Moses. He was a lawgiver in his own right; whereas in establishing the law, Moses acted only ministerially. His institutions therefore might be abolished by God's Son, who being the heir of all things, hath all power in heaven and earth committed to him, Matth. xxviii. 18. If so, the Jewish doctors fell into a grievous error, when from some ambiguous expressions in the law, they inferred that it was never to be abolished, and rejected Jesus as a false Christ, because his disciples affirmed that he had put an end to the law and to the priesthood. The writer of this epistle having thus displayed the greatness of Jesus, as the heir or ruler of all things, addressed the unbelieving Hebrews, as an apostle of Jesus, in the words which the Holy Ghost spake to their fathers by David; Wherefore, as saith the Holy Ghost, To-day when ye shall hear his voice; the voice of God by his Son Jesus, commanding you to believe on his Son, and to enter into his church, Harden not your hearts as in the bitter firovocation, &c. ver. 7.-11, This exhortation of the Holy Ghost to the Israelites in David's days, the apostle with great propriety applied to the Hebrews of his own time; because, if rejecting Jesus they refused to enter into the Christian church, God would as certainly exclude them from the rest of heaven, as he excluded their fathers from the rest in Canaan for their unbelief and disobedience. He therefore requested them to take heed that none of them shewed an evil unbelieving heart, either by refusing to obey Jesus, or by apostatizing from him after having believed on him. This, he assured them, would be a real departing from the living God, ver. 12.—Then ordered them to exhort one another daily to believe and obey Christ, ver. 13.-assuring them that they should be partakers of his rest in heaven, only if they held fast their begun confidence in him to the end, ver. 14.-and told them, that they might know this by its being said to the Israelites in David's time, To day when ye shall hear his voice, harden not your hearts: For such an exhortation evidently shews, that faith and obedience are necessary at all times to secure the favour of God, ver. 15.-Withal, to make the Hebrews sensible that unbelief and rebellion are extremely offensive to God, he put them in mind that by these OLD TRANSLATION. CHAP. III. 1 Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly call ing, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; 2 Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. GREEK TEXT. 1 Όθεν, αδελφοι ἅγιοι, κλήσεως επουρανιου μετοχοι, κατανοήσατε τον αποςολον και αρχιερέα της ὁμολογίας ἡμων Χριςον Ιησουν 2 Πιζον οντα τῷ ποιησαντι αυτον, ὡς και Μωσης εν όλῳ τῷ οικῳ αυτου, Ver. 1.-1. Holy brethren. That the apostle addressed the unbelieving Jews more especially, in this and the following chapter, I think probable, 1. Because the idea of abrogating the law by Christ was peculiarly offensive to them. 2. Because, if the believing Hebrews had been addressed, the apostle would have said, Consider the High Priest of your confession.-The unbelieving Jews are called boly, in the same sense that the whole nation anciently were called saints. 2. Heavenly calling. This may signify, as in the commentary. Also it may signify, a call given from heaven. See chap. xii. 25. 3. The apostle. Jesus as a prophet like to Moses, that is, as a lawgiver, is called the apostle of our confession, agreeably to the meaning of the word apostle, which denotes one sent forth to execute any affair of importance. sins, their fathers provoked God, ver. 16.-to such a degree, that he destroyed the whole congregation of the disobedient in the wilderness, ver. 17.—after swearing, that they should not enter into his rest, ver. 18. Thus, says the apostle, we see that they could not enter in, because of unbelief, ver. 19.—and by making the observation, he hath shewed in the clearest light the contagious fatal nature of unbelief; that it is the cause of the disobedience and punishment of sinners in all ages; and so he hath put us on our guard against such an evil disposition. I have only to add, That the apostle by exhorting the Hebrews to obey Christ, after describing his supreme authority in the church as its lawgiver, and by setting before them the punishment of the Israelites in the wilderness, hath insinuated that Christ is judge, as well as lawgiver, consequently he hath both authority and power to render to all men according to their works; as will appear likewise from the things set forth, chap. iv. 11.-13. NEW TRANSLATION. CHAP. III. 1 Wherefore, holy brethren,1 partakers of the heavenly2 calling, consider attentively the Apostle3 and High Priest of our confesssion, Christ Jesus; 2 Who was faithful to him who appointed him, even as Moses also was (ev) in all his house.2 COMMENTARY. CHAP. III. 1 Since the author of the gospel is the Son of God, I exhort you holy brethren, who by the preaching of the gospel (chap. ii. 3.) are partakers of the calling to enter into the heavenly country, (Ephes. i. 18.) to consider attentively the dignity and authority of the lawgiver and High priest of our religion, Christ Jesus: 2 Who in forming the gospel church, was faithful to God who appointed him his apostle or lawgiver, even as Moses also was faithful in forming all the parts of the Jewish church, God's house at that time. Perhaps also in this name there is an allusion to Christ's own saying, John xvii. 18. As thou asuras, bast sent me into the world, I also awesund, have sent them. Jesus, therefore, was his Father's apostle, in the same manner that the twelve were his apostles. He was sent forth by his Father to deliver to mankind the new law, and thereon to build the church of the first born which is to continue through all eternity. Hence he often spake of himself as sent of his Father, John v. 38. vi. 29. 39. viii. 42. 3. For this man was counted worthy of more he that built all things is 3 Πλειονος γαρ δοξης ὗτος παρα Μωσην ηξίωται, καθ' ὅσον πλείονα τιμην έχει του οικου ὁ κατασκευασας αυτον. 4 Πας γαρ οικος κατασκευάζεται ὑπό τινος· ὁ δε τα υπο ταντα κατασκευασας, Θεος. 4. Of our confession. As confession is sometimes put for the thing confes. sed, our confession may mean our religion, of which Jesus is called the Apostle, because he was sent by God to reveal it: and the High-priest, because we receive its blessings through his mediation. See chap. xiii. 15. Ver. 2.-1. To him who appointed him. Te rogavr. In other passages also, the word, signifies to appoint, 1 Sam. xii. 6. The Lord that (Heb. made) appointed Moses and Aaron, namely to be leaders.—Mark iii. 14. emoinσ 2, Sadena, He ordained, or appointed, twelve. See also Acts ii. 36. 2. Even as Moses also was in all his house. This is an allusion to the testimony which God bare to Moses, Numb. xii. 7. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. The Jewish church, which Moses was employed to form, being called by God himself His house, because he was present with it, and was worshipped in it, the apostle Paul was well authorized to call the Christian church, which Jesus was appointed to form, The bouse of God, 1 Tim. iii. 15. See ver. 6. of this chap. note 1. The faithfulness of Moses in forming the Jewish church consisted in this, that he did not conceal any of the divine laws on account of their disagreeableness to the Israelites; nor did he alter them in the least to make them acceptable; but delivered the whole law as it was spoken to himself, and formed the tabernacles and the ritual of the worship, exactly according to the pattern shewed to him. In like manner, Christ's faithfulness consisted in his teaching the doctrines, appointing the laws, and establishing the worship, which his Father had ordained for the church. Ver. 3.-1. But he. The demonstrative pronoun ros, which I have translated, He, is sometimes used for aut, and is so rendered in our Bible, Acts x. 36. 'Ovr, He is Lord of all. If it were necessary in this passage to supply any substantive agreeing with dur, awoson, and not avg, should be the noun supplied; this apostle, or lawgiver, was counted, &c. The verb xata 2. He who hath formed the house, 'O xaraσnivATAS. oxtva, signifies to set things in order, Heb. ix. 6. It signifies likewise to form a thing as an artificer doth; in which sense it is applied to Noah's forming the ark, Heb. xi. 7.—In this passage, it signifies the forming a church or religious society, by bestowing on it privileges, and by giving it laws for the direction of its members.-The relative auroy, in this clause being put forozov, it is properly enough translated, the house. |