Obs. V. All the works of God are perfect.
He “finished” them, and said that they were “good.” “ He is the Rock, and his work is perfect,’ Deut. xxxii. 4. His infinite wis- dom and power require that it should be so, and make it impossible that it should be otherwise. The conception of them is perfect, in the infinite counsel of his will; and the operation of them is perfect, through his infinite power. Nothing can proceed from him but what is so in its own kind and measure, and the whole of his works is so absolutely. See Isa. xl 28. As when he undertook the work of creation, he finished it, or perfected it, so that it was in his own eyes “exceeding good;” so the works of grace and providence, which are yet upon the wheels, shall in like manner be accomplished. And this may teach us at all times to trust him with his own works, and all our concerns in them, whether they be the works of his grace in our hearts, or the works of his providence in the world. He will “perfect that which concerneth us,” because “his mercy endureth for ever,” and will “not forsake the work of his own hands,” Ps. exxxviil. 8.
Obs. VI. All the works of God in the creation were wrought and ordered in a subserviency unto his worship and glory thereby. This we have cleared in our passage.
VERSE 4.
The next verse gives the reason of the preceding mention of the works of God and the finishing of them. Now this was not for their own sakes, but because of a rest that ensued thereon,—the rest of
282 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. Iv.
God, and a day of rest as a token of it, and a pledge of our interest therein, or entrance into it. That such a rest did ensue he proves by a testimony taken from Gen. ii. 2, 8, “ And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” The rest of God himself is intended solely neither in this place of Genesis nor by our apostle, although he repeats only these words, “And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.” But the blessing and sanctifying of the seventh day, that is, the institution of it to be a day of rest unto man, and a pledge or means of his entering into the rest of God, is that which is also aimed at in both places. For this is that wherein the apostle is at present concerned,
Ver. 4.—Eipnus yép rov wepl rig eCOcuns orm Kal xuremavoey 6 Osds ev rH nuipy rH ECOlun dod wdvraV TaY Epyav wrod.
Eipnxs, “ dixit,” “said;” the nominative case is not expressed: ‘The Scrip- ture hath said.’ This is a usual form of speech in the New Testament; John vii. 38, Kaas sixev 4 ypuy, verse 42. But most frequently the speaking of the Scripture is expressed by Ayes, John xix. 37, Rom. iv. 3, ix. 17, x. 11, xi. 2, Gal. iv. 3, James iv. 5: sometimes by Awagi, Rom. iii. 19; here by sépnxe: all the words used in the New Testament to express speaking by. For it is not dead and mute, but living and vocal, even the voice of God to them who have ears to hear. And speaking is applied unto it both in the preterperfect tense, “hath said,” “hath spoken,” as John vii. 38, 42, to denote its original record ; and in the present tense, to signify its continuing authority. Or, it may be that zis should be here supplied, “ A certain man said ;” for our apostle hath already used that form of speech in his quotation, chap. ii. 6, Aruwcpruparo d¢ rou tic, —* One testifieth in a certain place.” Or, “He hath said;” that is, God himself, the Holy Ghost, whose authority in the Scripture in all this discourse and debate we rely upon. Or it is taken impersonally, for “ dicitur,” “It is said.” Tov, * alicubi,” “in quondam loco,’—‘ somewhere,” “in a certain place.” The Syriac omits this wov. Arab., “in a certain section.” Teo! ris Cdoens. Trans- lators generally, “ de die septimo,’—“ of the seventh day.” The Syriac, 872 5B, —*concerning the Sabbath.” Ovrw or of ra¢,—* so,” “after this manner.” But there is little of difficulty in or difference about the translation of these words.
Ver, 4.—For he spake in a certain place | somewhere] of the seventh day on this manner, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.
The verse hath two parts: the one expressing the manner of the introduction of an intended testimony; the other containing the testimony itself. The first is in these words: “ For he spake in a certain place concerning the seventh day.”
ré, “ for,” a note of illation, showing that in the en- suing words the apostle designed the proof of what he had elliptically expressed in the verse foregoing ; the importance where-
Tép.
VER. 4.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 283
of we have before declared. The sum is, that there was a rest of God and his people, and a day of rest, from the foundation of the world; which was not the rest here mentioned by the psalmist. “Tor he saith.”