3dly. The end of this his tasting of death,—it was for others; 'Yztp wavrés. Of the extent of this end of his death, expressed in that word savrés, We Shall speak afterwards; for the present we consider how he died iép, “for” them, for whom he died. ‘rap, is either “pro,” or “super,”or “supra,”—“for,” or “above,” or “over.” The latter signifi- cation belongs not unto this place. As it signifies zpé, “for,” it is used
360 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. II.
sometimes as dé, “ propter,” and with respect unto persons is as much as “alicujus causa,”-“for his sake,” or “in alicujus gratiam,” or “bonum,” “for his good and advantage ;’ sometimes as dri, in the stead of another. “And this is the constant and inviolable sense of ixép in Greek, “ pro” in Latin, where the suffering of one for another is expressed by it. And that also is the constant sense of the Hebrew nnn, when used in that case. Some instances on each word will illustrate our intention. Thus David expresseth his desire to have died in the stead of Absalom, that he might have been preserved alive: 2 Sam. xix. 1, T7D ‘38 "1 jh) ),—“ Who will grant me to die, I for thee, my son Absalom?” that is, “in thy stead,” or “so that thou mightest be alive.” So Isa. xlii. 4. And by that word is still expressed the succeeding of one to another in government, or reigning in the stead of him that deceased, 1 Kings 11. 7, xix. 16; 2 Sam. x. 1; and in general, children succeeding in the place and room of their fathers, Num. iii. 12. So that to die NOA, “for another,” is to die in his stead the death he should have died, that he might live, or in general to be substituted in the room and place of another. So when Jehu commanded his officers to slay the priests and worshippers of Baal, he tells them that if any one should let any one of them escape, 15] NOA iw52, “his life should go for his life,” or he should die in his stead, 2 Kings x. 24. So is ixép used, Rom. v. 7, expressing the act of an dyripuyos, one that lays down his life instead of another; as Damon for Pythias, and Nisus for Euryalus, “Me, me, adsum qui feci.” See 1 Pet. i. 20, 21. And it is explained by ayri, perpetually denoting a substitution, where opposition can have no place. See Matt. xx. 28; Mark x. 45; 1 Tim. i. 6, *Avridurpop inte révrwv. “ Pro,” also, as irép in this case is to be rendered, hath no other signification. So often in the poet :— “ Hane tibi Eryx meliorem animam pro morte Daretis Persolyo” ..... Ain. v. 483.
He slew the ox and sacrificed it to Eryx instead of Dares, who was taken from him. And Mezentius upon the death of Lausus his son, who undertook the fight with /Mneas, upon the wounding of his father, being slain himself,—
“Tantane me tenuit vivendi, nate, voluptas, Ut pro me hostili paterer succedere dextraa, Quem genui? tuane hee genitor per vulnera servor, Morte tua vivens?”’ Zin. x. 846, “Pro me,” “in my stead.” And of Palinurus, by whose death the rest of his companions escaped, Aun. v. 815,—
“Unum pro multis dabitur caput.’’
So the Comedian, Ter. And. I. ii. 28,—
“ Verberibus caesum te in pistrinum, Dave, dedam usque ad necem; Ea lege atque omine, ut, si inde te exemerim, ego pro te molam ;”
VER. 5-9.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 361
“grind in thy stead.” And Juvenal to the same purpose of the Decii, Sat. viii. 254,— “ Plebeize Deciorum anime, plebeia fuerunt Nomina. Pro totis legionibus hi tamen, et pro Omnibus au xiliis atque omni plebe Latina, Sufficiunt diis infernis,” They were accepted in sacrifice for or instead of all the rest. So did they express their doing or suffering who cast themselves into danger in the stead of others, that they might go free, as those who sacrificed themselves, like Menceceus, for the safety of their country; as Papinius expresses his design, Thebaid. lib. x. 762,— « Armorum superi, tuque 6 qui funere tanto Indulges mihi, Phoebe, mori, date gaudia Thebis, Que pepigi, et toto quee sanguine prodigus emi;” of which afterwards.
In the common constant use of these words, then, to die for another, signifies to die in his room and stead. And this the Jews understood in the use of their sacrifices, where the life of the beast was accepted in the stead of the life of the sinner. Thus Christ “tasted of death ta:p ruvrés.” He was, by the grace and wisdom of God, substituted as a mediator, surety, dyriLuxos, “ in their stead,” to undergo the death which they should have undergone, that they - might go free, as we shall see in the following verses.
4thly. This dying of Christ is said to be trip ravrés. The word is either of the masculine or neuter gender; and in the latter it seems to have been taken by them who for yapirs cot, read ywpls Ocod, as some Syriac copies do still, and Ambrose ad Gradianum, with some other of the ancients, intimating that Christ died for every thing, God only excepted,—alluding it may be unto Eph. i. 10, of which place we have spoken before. For we may not suppose it a corrup- tion of the Nestorians, when some read so before their days; nor will the words so read give any countenance to their error, none affirm- ing that Christ died any otherwise than in his human nature, though he who is God died therein. But this conjecture is groundless and inconsistent with the signification of the preposition iép insisted on, which will not allow that he be said to die for any but those in whose stead he died, and which, therefore, in themselves were obnox- jous to death, as he declares, verses 14, 15. Mavréc, then, is put for gévrwy by an enallage of number, the singular for the plural, for all men ;—that is, all those many sons which God by his death intended to bring unto glory, verse 10; those sanctified by him, whom he calls his brethren, verses 11, 12, and children given him by God, verse 13; whom by death he delivers from the fear of death, verses 14, 15; even al] the seed of Abraham, verse 16.