The nature of angels (ayyéAwv). The nature is not in the Greek, and does not need to be supplied if érAapBav- erat is properly translated. Rend. not of angels doth he take hold. It is not angels who receive his help.
The seed of Abraham. The one family of God, consist- ing of believers of both dispensations, but called by its O. T. name. See Ps. cv. 6; Isa. xli. 8, and comp. Gal. iii. 29. The O. T. name is selected because the writer is addressing Jews. The entire statement in vv. 16, 17 is not a mere repe- tition of vv. 14,15. It carries out the line of thought and adds to it, while at the same time it presents a parallel argu- ment to that in vv. 14,15. Thus: vv. 14, 15, Christ took part of flesh and blood that he might deliver the children of God from the fear of death and the accusations of Satan: vv. 16, 17, Christ takes hold of the seed of Abraham, the church of God, and is made like unto his brethren, tempted as they are, in order that he may be a faithful high priest, making reconciliation for sin, thus doing away with the fear
Cx. II] THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 407
of death, and enabling his people to draw near to God with boldness. Comp. ch. iv. 15,16. Christ gives that peculiar help the necessity of which was exhibited in the O. T. econ- omy under which the original seed of Abraham lived. The fear of death, arising from the consciousness of sin, could be relieved only by the intervention of the priest who stood between God and the sinner, and made reconciliation for sin. Jesus steps into the place of the high priest, and perfectly fulfils the priestly office. By his actual participation in the sorrows and temptations of humanity he is fitted to be a true sympathiser with human infirmity and temptation (ch. v. 2), a merciful and faithful high priest, making reconciliation for sin, and thus abolishing the fear of death.
17. Wherefore (d@ev). °P. Often in Hebrews.
In all things to be made like unto his brethren (xara mavta Tois adeAdois ouowwHvar). Comp. Philip. ii. 7, év omolmpate avOparrav yevouevos having become in the likeness of men. Likeness is asserted without qualification. There was a complete and real likeness to humanity, a likeness which was closest just where the traces of the curse of sin were most apparent—in poverty, temptation, and violent and unmerited death.
It behooved (a¢etrev). Indicating an obligation growing out of the position which Christ assumed: something which he owed to his position as the helper of his people.
That he might be a merciful and faithful high priest (Wa édenpov yérntat Kal motos apxtepers). Rend. that he might be compassionate, and so (in consequence of being com- passionate), a faithful high priest. The keynote of the Epistle, the high-priesthood of Christ, which is intimated in ch. i. 3, is here for the first time distinctly struck. Having shown that Christ delivers from the fear of death by nullify- ing the accusing power of sin, he now shows that he does this in his capacity of high priest, for which office it was
408 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. Cx. Il.
necessary that he should be made like unto his human breth- ren. In the O. T. economy, the fear of death was especially connected with the approach to God of an impure worshipper (see Num. xviii. 8,5). This fear was mitigated or removed by the intervention of the Levitical priest, since it was the special charge of the priest so to discharge the service of the tabernacle that there might be no outbreak of divine wrath on the children of Israel (Num. xviii. 5). Dévynrae might show himself to be, or prove to be. The idea of compassion as an attribute of priests is not found in the O. T. On the contrary, the fault of the priests was their frequent lack of sympathy with the people (see Hos. iv.4-9). In the later Jewish history, and in N. T. times, the priestly aristocracy of the Sadducees was notoriously unfeeling and cruel. The idea of a compassionate and faithful high priest would appeal powerfully to Jewish readers, who knew the deficiency of the Aaronic priesthood in that particular. Iuords faithful, as an attribute of a priest, appears in 1 Sam. ii. 35. The idea there is fidelity. He will do all that is in God’s mind. Comp. Heb. ii. 2. This implies trustworthiness. The idea here is, faithful in filling out the true ideal of the priesthood (ch. v. 1, 2), by being not a mere ceremonialist but a compas- sionate man.