Kal réaw, “and again.” That is, in another place, or “again,” it is said to the Son what is nowhere spoken unto the angels. “Eya eooes,—l?-T7IN US yB2 “bom N17) 38>, Theprefixed > doth not denote a substitution or compari- son, but the truth of the thing itself. So it is said of Rebekah, TN? 7m, “ she was unto him,” not “for,” or “instead of,” or “in the place of,” but “his wife,” Gen. xxiv. 67. And in the words of the covenant, Jer. xxxi. 33, “I will be to them "78? and they shall be to me ¥2?: not, “I will be unto them instead of God, and they shall be unto me instead of a people;” but, “I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” And the same is the signification of these words, “I will be his father, and he shall be my son.”*
1 The quotation is from 2 Sam. vii. 14. The eis is Hebraistic, equivalent to >. Efforts have been made to explain this passage exclusively either of Solomon or of Christ; but in vain. The:context will not allow such a limitation, The “ seed
redicted is a royal progeny,—not merely an individual son, but # succession of
ings; and as the Messiah is the most distinguished and glorious, whatever of dignity and of honour is asserted or implied in the context is properly attributable to bim.—Zurner.—Ep,
138 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. I.
Ver. 5.—And again, I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son ?
This is the second testimony produced by the apostle to prove the pre-eminence of the Lord Christ above the angels, from the excel- lency of the name given unto him. One word, one witness, the testimony being that of God, and not of man, had been sufficient to have evinced the truth of his assertion; but the apostle adds a second here, partly to manifest the importance of the matter he treated of, and partly to stir them up unto a diligent search of the Scripture, where the same truths, especially those that are of most concernment unto us, are scattered up and down in sundry places, as the Holy Ghost had occasion to make mention of them. This is that mine of precious gold which we are continually to dig for and search after, if we intend to grow and to be rich in the knowledge of God in Christ, Prov. ii. 3, 4. Expositors do generally perplex themselves and their readers about the application of these words unto the Lord Christ. Cajetan, for this cause, that this testimony is not rightly produced nor applied as it ought, rejects the whole epistle as not written by the apostle, nor of canonical authority. Such instances do even wise and learned men give of their folly and self-fulness every day. The conclusion that he makes must needs be built on these two suppositions:—First, That whatever any man might or could apprehend concerning the right application of this testimony, he himself might and could so do; for other- wise he might have acknowledged his own insufficiency, and have left the solution of the difficulty unto them to whom God should be pleased to reveal it. Secondly, That when men of any generation cannot understand the force and efficacy of the reasonings of the penmen of the Holy Ghost, nor discern the suitableness of the tes- timonies thay make use of unto the things they produce them in the confirmation of, they may lawfully reject any portion of Scrip- ture thereon. The folly and iniquity of which principles or suppo- sitions are manifest.
The application of testimonies out of the Old Testament in the New depends, as to their authority, on the veracity of him that maketh use of them; and as to their cogency in argument, on the acknowledgment of them on whom they are pressed. Where we find these concurring, as in this place, there remains nothing for us but to endeavour a right understanding of what is in itself infallibly true, and unquestionably cogent unto the ends for which it is used.
Indeed, the main difficulty which in this place expositors gene- rally trouble themselves withal ariseth purely from their own mis- take. They cannot understand how these words should prove the
VER. 5.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 139
natural sonship of Jesus Christ, which they suppose they are pro- duced to confirm, seeing it is from thence that he is exalted above the angels. But the truth is, the words are not designed by the apostle unto any such end. His aim is only to prove that the Lord Christ hath a name assigned unto him more excellent, either in itself or in the manner of its attribution, than any that is given unto the angels, which is the medium of this first argument to prove him, not as the eternal Son of God, nor in respect of his human nature, but as the revealer of the will of God in the gospel, to be preferred above all the angels in heaven, and consequently, in par- ticular, above those whose ministry was used in the giving of the law.
Two things, then, are necessary to render this testimony effectual to the purpose for which it is cited by the apostle ;—first, That it was originally intended of him to whom he doth apply it; secondly, That there is a name in it assigned unto him more excellent than any ascribed unto the angels.