2. It is a pledge of the recovery of this rest for us, and that it is not absolutely the same rest in God whereunto we were made, but another rest, a better and more sure. And therefore it is “another day” that is given unto us, and not the same day as of old. God kept the people under the law in an intermediate estate, between the duties of the old covenant and the promises of the new. This kept them to the precise day of the old covenant; for although vir- tually they were made partakers of that rest®of God which is in Jesus Christ, yet the foundation and cause of it being not as yet laid and wrought, they were to content themselves with pledges of it as a thing to come, such as were their sacrifices and ordinances of wor- ship, with the old day typically renewed. But to have another day, which could not be established but with respect to the works of Christ already wrought, and so to be a pledge of what was done be- fore, this they could not have. This God hath reserved for us; and the day we now have being another day, is a pledge of rest already wrought out, and actually ‘prepared.
3. It i is given us as a means of entering into the rest of God. For hereon hath God ordained that the solemn declaration of his mind
VER. 9.] ~ EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS, 325
and will concerning his rest, and our entrance into it, should be made unto us. Hereon do we celebrate all that solemn worship of God whereby we express our faith concerning our rest in him, and by which, as means appointed for that end, we are admitted into that rest, and carried on gradually towards its full and eternal en- joyment. And these things the apostle further confirms.
VERSE 9.
Having passed through his testimonies and arguments, the apostle in this and the following verse lays down both what he hath evinced in his whole disputation, as also the general foundation of it, in answer to the principles of his preceding discourse.
Ver. 9.—"Apa dmorsixeras catCariouds rh Auw roo Ozod.
“Apa, “itaque,” “igitur;” the common note of inferring a conclusion from any argument, whether inartificial or artificial, of both which sorts the apostle makes use in this place. Hereby, therefore, he would mind the Hebrews to at- tend both to what he was about to assert, and to the dependence of it on the for- mer testimonies and arguments that he had pleaded and vindicated.
*Arorcizxerai, “relinquitur,” “ superest,—* it is left,” “it remains,” “it is evinced.” For this word may refer unto zpx, “ therefore,” and bea part of the induction of the conclusion following. So the verb is to be taken impersonally, “it remaineth therefore,” or ‘ this is that which we have proved.’ In this sense adroneireras is the modification of the conclusion, and is not of the substance of it, or one of the terms of the proposition. And this exposition the Syriac ver- sion follows, reading the whole words, 87287 7229 shawn? 4m Dp pT; —“ Where- fore it is certain that the people of God ought to sabbatine,” or “keep a sab- bath,”—*‘ This is certain, a truth that is proved and vindicated ; so that the people of God may know their privilege and their duty.” The Ethiopic version renders the words somewhat strangely: “Is the priesthood of the people of God abro- gated?” that is, it is not; so that standing still in the same peculiar relation to God as they did of old, when they were a royal priesthood, they ought still to attend unto his worship, and celebrate his ordinances, the great work of the day of their rest. Or dvorcixeras may refer unto cx6Caricuds following, and be of a neutral signification: “A sabbatism” or “rest remaineth,”—‘ There is yet another rest remaining and abiding for the people of God to enter into, besides those be- fore mentioned and discoursed of.’ “It remaineth;” that is, God hath prepared it, promised it, and invites us to enter into it.
DaeCurioucs. This word is framed by our apostle from a Hebrew original, by the addition of a Greek termination; and so becomes comprehensive of the whole sense to be expressed, which no other single word in either would do. The original of it is the Hebrew 3B, which signifies “ to rest ;” and it is first used to express the rest of God after his works of the creation: Gen. ii. 2, pra meus "2°320 ;—“ And he rested” (or “ sabbatized”) “on the seventh day.” And this being so of old, the word is used by our apostle to show that the rest which he now asserts for the people of God is founded in the rest of God himself. If this it had not been, it might have been dvaravais, “a rest” in general; it could not haye been caSCariaucs, “a sabbatism,” a “ sabbatizing rest,” for there is no foun- dation for any such name or thing but in the rest of God. From the rest of God, this word came to give name unto the day of rest appointed for men, Exod, xx. 10-12. Because God "2%, “shabbath,” rested from his works, he blessed "227 5°, “iom hashshabbath,” “ the day of rest,” the sabbath; which he