It remaineth, then, in the second place, that we consider the ex- pressions severally, with the reasons why the apostle thus expresseth the divine glory of Jesus Christ: “O¢ dy dratyacua rig d0&ng-—“ Who being the brightness” (“light, lustre, majesty”) “of glory.” The apostle, in my judgment (which is humbly submitted unto consideration), alludes unto and intends something that the people were instructed by typically under the old testament, in this great mystery of the manifestation of the glory of God unto them in and by the Son, the second person in the Trinity. The ark, which was the most signal representation of the presence of God amongst them, was called “his glory.” So the wife of Phinehas, upon the taking of the ark, affirmed that the glory was departed: 1 Sam. iv. 22, “The glory is departed from Israel, for the ark of God is taken.” And the psalmist, mentioning the same thing, calls it “his glory” absolutely: Ps. Ixxviii. 61, “ He delivered his glory into the enemy’s hand;” that is, the ark. Now, on the filling of the tabernacle with the signs of God’s presence in cloud and fire, the Jews affirm that there was a constant drabyacwa, a MNDN, or “majestic shining glory,” resting on the ark; which was the dralyaoum rijg dEns, “ the splen- dour of the glory of God,” in that typical representation of his presence. And this was to instruct them in the way and manner whereby God would dwell amongst them. ‘The apostle, therefore, calling them from the types, by which in much darkness they had been instructed in these mysteries, unto the things themselves re- presented obscurely by them, acquaints them with what that typical glory and splendour of it signified, namely, the eternal glory of God, with the essential beaming and brightness of it in the Son, in and by whom the glory of the Father shineth forth unto us, So that
94 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. I.
the words seem to relate unto that way of instruction which was of old granted unto them.
Besides, they were wont to express their faith in this mystery with words unto this purpose: 7123, “ glory,” is sometimes put for God himself: Ps. lxxxy. 9, anya 33 1Dvh, —“That glory may dwell in our land;” that is, the God of glory, or glorious God. This glory the Targum calls snp’; and the majesty of that glory,
maw. See Hag. i. ‘8. Hence Ps. ‘liv: 24, they render these words, TADN pp “Why -hidest thou thy face?” pdpn Jap naw mish, “ Why takest thou away the majesty of thy glory?” as both the Vene- tian and Basle Bibles read the place: for the Regia have only n22v, omitting 7p’. And in the vision of Isaiah, chap. vi. 1, they say it was 297, so Kimchi; nv, so Rashi; 5 sp’, so the Targum. And they affirm that it was the same which came down and ap- peared on mount Sinai, Exod. xix. 20; where these words, mm 14 ND TN-by ¥, “ And the Lorp descended on mount Sinai,” are rendered by Onkelos, "7 snp ‘ins, “The majesty of God was revealed;” which words, from Ps. Levi 18, are applied by our apostle unto the Son, Eph. iv. 8. *Arabyacua ris d6Ens, then, is nothing else but nx” Np’, or T1297 NY, “the essential presence or majesty of the glorious God.” This, saith he, is Christ the Son. And thus of old they ex- pressed their faith concerning him.
The words, as was showed before, denote the divine nature of Christ, yet not absolutely, but as God the Father in him doth mani- fest himself unto us. Hence he is called 73v, or NNW, or NIDY. The word is from !2¥, “he dwelt.” Elias in Tishbi gives us some- what another account of the application of that name, in the root: pyran Sy jaw sn ow Sy aoe wtp nnd S14 wap,—*The rabbins of blessed memory called the Holy Ghost Shechinah, because he dwelt upon the prophets.” But that this is not so may be observed throughout the Targum, wherein the Holy Ghost is always expressly called wapn nn; and the Shechinah is spoken of in such places as cannot be applied unto him. But as the fulness of the Godhead is said to dwell in the Lord Christ swarms, Col. ii. 9, and he, as the only-begotten Son of God, to dwell amongst us, John 1. 14; so is he said in the same sense to be 11297 ADDY, or drabyaowa ric ddEns, “the majesty, presence, splendour of the glory,” or “the glo- rious God.”
This, then, is that whereof the apostle minds the Jews: God having promised to dwell amongst them by his glorious presence,— from whence the very name of Jerusalem was called, “The Lorp is there,” Ezek. xlviii. 835,—he who in and under that name was with them, as sent by Jehovah, Zech. i. 8, was the Son, in whom he had now spoken unto them in these latter days. And this must needs be of weight with them, being instructed that he who had revealed
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VER. 3.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 95
the will of God unto them was none other but he who had dwelt among them from the beginning, representing in all things the person of the Father, being typically revealed unto them as the “brightness of his glory.”