serve the epithet, eternal salvation, which is opposed to the shortness of the days of Jesus' flesh, and flows (is derived) from ver. 6, for ever. Concerning this salvation, look back to ch. ii. 10, 14, etc. The eternity of salvation is mentioned, Is. xlv. 17. 'iffpafa tfw^sra/ b^b Kupiw ffurrtpfav a/wv/ov, Israel is saved by the Lord unth an eternal salvation.
10. HpotrcvyopevQtls) called. His name was the Son of God; His surname, His appellation was Priest : ffpotviyopia, His being called a priest, not only followed the perfecting of Jesus, but also preceded His passion at the period mentioned in Ps. ex. 4. The same word occurs 2 Mace. xiv. 37, where it is said that Razis was called (ffpoffayopsuoftsvos) the father of the Jews.
1 But Christ joined botli prayers and obedience : and this is the Father's will.— ED.
2 Equivalent to hearkened to, so as to obey, obedio, Th. ob audio. — ED.
11. llepi ou, of whom) ou, masc., comp. og, Wto, ver. 7. He now enters upon that very long anticipatory or precautionary1 preface or preparation, which consists of rebuke, admonition, exhortation, and consolation. The Rhetoricians call it the securing (Captatio) of the kindly feeling of the reader or hearer. The preparation of the heart [of the hearer by the teacher], to which the doctrine is committed, often requires greater exertion than the teaching of the doctrine itself. — croXuc) 11, much, i.e. too much:2 comp. ch. xiii. 22. — -/j/^Tv, to us) Paul includes, as usual, Timothy or others : comp. ch. vi. 1, 3, 9, 11, ii. 5, xiii. 18. — dvgeppqvevros, hard to interpret) not from any fault in the writer, but in yourselves. — Xeyg/v) a correlative to cbcoa/g. Mytiv is not redundant, speaking is opposed to writing, as ch. xiii. 22. Hard to be uttered, harder to be written, and yet the more necessary to be written on that account. — vudpoi) ch. vi. 12. The root implies ffrspqav rov fafy the negation of running 3) verlegen u to loiter" on the road. — ygyovare, ye have become) The state of the Jews needed to be noticed, as well in so far as it was good, as also in so far as it was bad, v. 12, vi. 10, x. 25, 32, 33, xii. 4, 5, 12.
12. A/datrxaXo/, teachers) A term not of office, but of ability in this passage. The antithesis is ro\j diddtxtiv fy*as, that one should teach you. — bib, rov yspowv) by reason of the length of time. So Arist. 1. 7, Polit. c. 9, uses this phrase. The antithesis is dia rfo s%iv, by reason of the matured faculty [habitual use], ver. 14. Time or age is used here either in the abstract for years ; or in the concrete for strength. Age either brings vigour with time, or is impeded by it. — -raX/v %pg/av ep^ere, ye again have need) reyovars %ps/'av gp^omg, ye have need, follows. The former has respect to the doctrinal articles of the Old Testament, the latter to those of New Testament. — r/va) You must not only be taught the very elements, but also (r/i/a) what they are. They are therefore enumerated, ch. vi. 1, 2. — oro/p^g/fr) elements. A word used by Paul, Gal. iv. 9. And this passage to the end of the chapter plainly abounds in expressions peculiar to Paul. Letters, Buclistaben, elements, first (primary), simple. The
1 See Append, on irpoOepavretei. — ED.
2 More than it would be expedient now to say. — ED.
3 An improbable derivation. Rather akin to vu6q$ and 11660$. — ED.
8t)2 HEBREWS V. 13, 14.
articles of the Old Testament are to the perfection of the doc trines of the New Testament, as letters are to further learning. But yet letters, Buchstalen, denote by a trope the principles of learning, which are called rudiments. So every kind of learning has its own elements, and the title elements is often given to a system by no means subtle. Comp. the end of the note on 2 Pet. iii. 10. — Tjjg apx/t*? of the beginning} first principles, ch. iii. 14, where the one phrase illustrates the other : although the one refers to theory, the other to practice. The antithesis, by the introduction of a resemblance from meats, is explained at the beginning of ch. vi., where the same word again occurs. — rw Xoyiuv rov QsoZ, of the oracles of God) Rom. iii. 2. — yaXccxr&r, of milk] Milk is here the doctrine brought from the Old Testament ; 1 Cor. iii. 2. — xa/) and so. To this refer yap, for, in the follow ing verse.