Ver. 12. In proof that He is not ashamed to take his place among men as a brother three passages are adduced from the O.T. in which this relationship: is implied. These passages are so con- fidently assumed to be Messianic that they are quoted as spoken by Christ Himself, λέγων, The fact that words. of Jesus spoken while He lived on earth are not quoted can scarcely be accepted as proof that the Gospels were not in existence when this Epistle was written, for even after the middle of the second century, the O.T. was still the “ Scripture’’ of the Christian Church. The first quotation is from the twenty- second Psalm applied to Himself by our Lord on the cross. The LXX διηγήσομαι is altered to ἀπαγγελῶ, The significant words in the first clause are τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς μου ; and the significance of the second clause consists in the representation of the Messiah as taking part in the worship of God in the con- gregation. This is one particular form: in which His brotherhood manifests itself. For the passages cited not merely affirm the brotherhood, but also exhibit its. reality in the participation by the Messiah of human conditions.
Ver. 13. The two quotations cited in the thirteenth verse are from Isa. viii. 17, 18. There they are continuous, here they are separately introduced, each by the
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αὐτῷ”. 13. Καὶ πάλιν, ““᾿Ιδοὺ ἐγὼ καὶ τὰ παιδία ἅ μοι ἔδωκεν 1 Esa. viii.
6 Θεός”,
[7 ἢ ὦ MS ΒΤ ον λ , / > A o 9 αἵματος, καὶ αὐτὸς παραπλησίως μετέσχε τῶν αὐτῶν, ἵνα διὰ
, 14. τ Ἐπεὶ οὖν τὰ παιδία κεκοινώνηκε σαρκὸς καὶ
. 18; Joan. x. 29, et XVii. 6, 9, 11, 12.
m Esa. xxv.
τοῦ θανάτου καταργήσῃ τὸν τὸ κράτος ἔχοντα τοῦ θανάτου, τουτ- 8; Ose.
ΧΕΙ, 14; i Joan. i. 14; 1 Cor. xv. 54,55; Phil.ii.7; 2 Tim. i. το..
1T.R.in KL, f, vgcle; αιµατ. κ. σαρκος in ΝΒΟΡΕΜΕ, 17, 37, 47, 137.
usual καὶ πάλιν, because they serve to bring out two distinct points. In the first, the Messiah utters his trust in God, and thereby illustrates His sonship and brotherhood with man. Like all men He is dependent on God. As Calvin says: ‘‘since He depends on the aid of God His condition has community with ours”. In the second part, ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ not only calls attention to Himself as closely associated with the παιδία; but also, as Weiss thinks, intimates His readiness to obey, as if “Here am I”. This obedience He shares with those whom God has committed to His care, God’s
παιδία and His brothers. Cf. Jo. vi. 37, 39, XVii. 11. Vv. 14-16. This saving brotherhood
involved incarnation and death. For, as it has ever been the common lot of the παιδία to live under the conditions imposed by flesh and blood, subject to inevitable dissolution and the shrinkings and weaknesses consequent, He also, this Son of God, Himself (καὶ αὐτὸς) shared with them in their identical nature, thus making Himself liable to death; His intention being that by dying He might render harmless him that used death as a terror, and thus deliver from slavery those who had suffered death to rule their life and lived in perpetual dread. κεκοινώνηκεν + + « μετέσχεν perf. and aor.; the one pointing to the common lot which the παιδία have always shared, αἵματος καὶ σαρκός, usually (but not always, Eph. vi. 12) inverted and denoting human nature in its weakness and liability to decay (Gal. i. 16, etc., and especially 1 Cor. xv. 50); the other, expressing the one act of Christ by which He became a sharer with men in this weak condition. He partook, but does not now partake. [Wetstein quotes from Polyaenus that Chabrias enjoined upon his soldiers when about to engage in battle to think of the enemy aS ἀνθρώποις αἷμα καὶ σάρκα ἔχουσιν καὶ τῆς αὐτῆς φύσεως ἡμῖν κεκοινωνηκόσι.] This human nature Christ assumed παραπλησίως, which