2. Tliffrbv ovra, who is faithful) Num. xii. 7, at the end,
Kin flow TP3 ^33 n^o, LXX., o fapavuv pov (comp. presently after wards, ver. 5) MwD<r5j£ sv oXw rw o/xw /AOU -r/<rro£ lor/. He calls him faithful, who is both himself so, and is acknowledged to be so by GOD, and is praised on that account. From this flows faithfulness in office, and the faith of the hearers without ex ception, for this very reason that Moses is jDfcU ; comp. Num. same chap., ver. 8, likewise at the end. — r& -ro/^avr/ avrbv, to Him that appointed Him) His heavenly Father made or appointed Jesus Christ to be both His Apostle and High Priest, ch. v. 5 ; where rb ysvytyvai, to be made, viz. by the word of the Lord, corresponds to r£ qeoifawri. Add Acts ii. 36. And this rouses us to the exercise of faith. There is an expression which very much resembles this in 1 Sam. xii. 6, 8 : " It is the Lord who made [Engl. Vers., advanced] (LXX., 6 iroifoag) and sent Moses and Aaron" — uc, %at Mu'Ja^g, as also Moses) So Deut. xviii. 15. He praises Moses, and thus conciliates the Jews, before that he prefers Christ to him ; although he has prepared their minds for hearing it, by his preferring the same Jesus even to angels. in His house) A rare appellation in the time of Moses. — , His, of Him) of GOD, ver. 6, note.
3. nXg/o!/o£, of more) Christ, a prophet as Moses, Acts iii. 22, note (whereas the other prophets only explained Moses) ; and yet He was different from Moses, ch. viii. 9 ; John i. 17. He is greater than Moses according to this passage. — yap, for) The reason assigned (^Etiology) has relation to
consider. — do^g, glory) Presently afterwards, n/^v, honour : here rather denotes something internal ; floj-a follows it. — roD o/xou) The genitive is governed by -rXs/o^a, the comparative ; for it is an Enthymeme [a covert syllogism, wherein one or other premiss needs to be supplied], as follows : Christ is greater than the house (for the house is being prepared [' built,' xara- tfittvdfyrai] ; Christ hath prepared p built'] the house and all things, and so Christ is God) : therefore Christ is greater than Moses. The reason is : for Moses is less than the house, as a minister and as in some measure a portion of the house ; comp. Matt. xii. 6, note.
4. fo d?, but He) Christ. The article points out the subject, and also possesses in this passage a relative meaning, as in ch.
372 HEBREWS III. f>, G.
vii. 6. &tbc, GOD, is the predicate. — 0s 0$, GOD) absolutely. Moses was a < god' to Aaron, but he was not GOD absolutely.
5. Ka/, and) Another reason for the superiority of Christ to Moses. — Oepdvuv, servant) So the LXX., Num. xii. 7. This intimates the excellence of Moses in comparison with all other prophets ; but again it speaks of Moses as inferior to Christ the Lord. — g/£, for) He was a servant, in order that testimony should be given by him. — rw \a%.7idvieof&6vwvy of those things which were to be spoken) which Moses was to speak (ch. ix. 19), chiefly of Christ ; arid subsequently Christ Himself was about to speak. In ch. ix. 19, there is a verbal parallelism, which however at the same time infers a like reason, viz. what Moses, in accord ance with the time, Num. xii., both had spoken and was about to speak. Miriam did not assail the authority of Moses respect ing the past ; but she wished to claim just as much for herself for the future, on account of certain past specimens (of God speaking by her and Aaron).
6. Xpiffrbg de, but Christ) Moses yields to Him. An am bassador, in the absence of the king, is very highly distinguished — in the presence of the king, he falls back among the multi tude. Here also supply T/OTO'S sffn, is faithful. The Son shows His faithfulness in all that belongs to His Father and in all that is His own. — SKI, over) This J-r/, fe, over, shows His surpassing power : ev, in, is applied to Moses, ver. 5. — ai/roD, His, of Him) of GOD, ch. x. 21. — o$) This reading is very old.1 Some read ou, from its alliteration with auroD. In this case Paul should have written oS o ohoc, as Erasmus showed at the beginning. For we Say, ou rb CTT-UOV, rj$ o adeXtpoc, £>v rb ffTo/j,a, uv ra ovopara, ou 7) crXjjyfy uv ra. /cwXa, ou y] pcwy, ou ^ o/'/c/a. The question here is not, Whose house is it ? for that very point is just now denoted by the auroD, His ; but, What is the house ? as distin guished from that of which Moses was a portion. — lav, if) The same sentiment is found at ver. 14. An abbreviated expression : the house are we, since we have confidence : the house we shall be,