7707- forsake thee : so also ver. 8 ; Josh. i. 5, / ivill not forsake thee nor overlook (wnf6»l*pou) tnee > 1 Chron. xxviii. 20, He will not fail thee nor forsake thee. It is therefore like a Divine adage. He will neither withdraw His assistance nor His pre sence.
6. Kvpiog spot, K.T.X.) So the LXX., Ps. cxviii. 6, and so for the most part Ps. Ivi. 5, 12.
7. 'ttyov/Asvuv) them who have the rule, ver. 17, 24. The use of this word is very extensive ; it is applied to a prince, to a teacher, etc. ; it is presently explained in this passage, who have spoken to you the ivord of GOD. He therefore intends teachers, who were among the first witnesses and apostles of Christ, or their disciples and companions, who had died a little be-fore, or were now almost at the point of death. — avadeupo'jvreg, looking to, consider ing) i.e. when you look to with remembrance. The same grand expression occurs at Acts xvii. 23. " Magnam avaQsupqffiv res habet," Cic. ep. to Atticus, lib. xiv. ep. 15 ; and again, " Quanta est avaQsupyffi;" ep. xvi. — rr,v sxfSativ, the end) blessed, wished for. — rrig avatfrpopyc, of their conversation) in the faith, consistent. — fMpsTffde, imitate) The imperative. We more easily contemplate and admire the happy death of godly men, than imitate the faith by which they have attained to it. — rqv nignv, the faith) chiefly shown at the end.
8. 'iTjtfoDs Xptffrbg, Jesus Christ) A solemn appellation : The sum of the Gospel, which is to be held by faith. Not only the doctrine concerning Christ is intended, but Jesus Christ Him self, of whom the doctrine of faith treats. Those who have gone before us in the path of salvation died in that faith, which is supported by the word of GOD. — •%&?<; %ai 6J]/j,spov, yesterday and to-day) yfic, nat ffqftspov, yesterday and to-day, occur in their proper (strict) signification, without a figure, in 1 Sam. xx. 27 : but the apostle speaks in a larger (nobler) sense. Jesus Christ, who was yesterday, is the same to-day ; yesterday, before His sufferings and death ; to-day, in glory ; comp. ch. i. 3 ; Rev. i. 18. As night comes between yesterday and to-day, and yet night itself is swallowed up by yesterday and to-day, so the suffering did not so interrupt the glory of Jesus Christ which was of yesterday, so to speak, and that glory which is of to-day, that it did not continue to be the same. These expressions have