15-17.
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γέλων ἐπιλαμβάνεται, ἀλλὰ σπέρματος ᾿Αβραὰμ ἐπιλαμβάνεται. 17. οὅθεν ὤφειλε κατὰ πάντα τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς ὁμοιωθῆναι, ἵνα ἐλεήμων o iv. 15, εἴ
γένηται καὶ πιστὸς ἀρχιερεὺς τὰ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν,
Sir.,iv. 11. ἡ σοφία .. + ἐπιλαμβάνεται τῶν ζητούντων αὐτήν, and the Scholiast on Aesch., Pers., 742, ὅταν σπεύδῃ τις εἰς καλὰ ἢ εἰς κακά, ὁ θεὸς αὐτοῦ ἐπιλαμβάνεται. Castellio was the first to propose the meaning “ help” in place of “assume the nature of,’ and Beza having urged the latter rendering as being that of the Greek fathers, goes on to say, ‘“‘quo magis est execranda Castellionis audacia qui ἔπιλαμ. con- wertit ‘opitulatur,’ non modo falsa, sed etiam inepta interpretatione, EtG) Le has been suggested that θάνατος might be the nominative which would give quite a good sense, but as Christ is the subject both of the foregoing and of the suc- ceeding clause it is more likely that this affirmation also is made of Him. It is certainly remarkable that instead of say- ing ‘‘ He lays hold of man to help him,” the writer should give the restricted σπέρματος ᾿Αβ. Von Soden, who sup- poses the Epistle is addressed to Gentiles, thinks the writer intends to prepare the way for his introducing the priesthood of Christ, and to exhibit the claim ot Chris- tians to the fulfilment of the prophecies made to Abraham (cf. Robertson Smith), but this Weiss brands as ‘‘eine leere Ausflucht”. Perhaps we cannot get further than Estius (cited by Bleek): “‘sentium vocationem tota hac epistola prudenter dissimulat, sive quod _illius mentio Hebraeis parum grata esset, sive quod instituto suo non necessaria”’. Or, as Bleek says, ‘es erklart sich aus dem Zwecke des Briefes”’.
Ver.17. ὅθεν [51Χ times in this Epistle; not used by Paul, but cf. Acts xxvi. 19] ‘ wherefore,” because He makes the seed of Abraham the object of His saving work, ὤφειλεν, “He was under obliga- tion”. ὀφείλω is “used of a necessity imposed either by law and duty, or by reason, or by the times, or by the nature of the matter under considera- tion” (Thayer). Here it was the nature of the case which imposed the obli- gation κατὰ πάντα τοῖς ἀδελ- φοῖς ὁμοιωθῆναι “to be made like His brothers in all respects,” and there- fore, as Chrysostom says, ἐτέχθη, ἐτράφη, ηὐξήθη, ἔπαθε πάντα ἅπερ ἐχρῆν, τέλος ἀπέθανη. He must be a real man, and not merely have the appearance of one. He must enter into
εἰς TO ἱλάσκεσθαι Mg a the necessary human experiences, look at things from the human point of view, take His place in the crowd amidst the ordinary elements of life. ἵνα introduces one purpose which this thorough incar- nation was to serve. It would put Christ in a position to sympathise with the tempted and thus incline Him to make propitiation for the sins of the people. [τοῦ λαοῦ, also a restricted Jewish desig- παεῖοπ.] The High-Priesthood is here first mentioned, and it is mentioned as an office with which the readers were familiar. The writer does not now enlarge upon the office or work of the Priest, but merely points to one radical necessity imposed by priesthood, ‘“mak- ing propitiation for the sins of the people”; and he affirms that in order to do this (εἰς τὸ) he must be merciful and faithful. ἐλεήμων as well as πιστὸς iS naturally construed with ἀρχιερεὺς, and has its root in Exod. xxii. 27, ἐλεήμων γάρ εἰμι, the priest must represent the Divine mercy ; he must also be πιστὸς, primarily to God, as in ili. 2, but thereby faithful to men and to be trusted by them in the region in which he exercises his function, τὰ πρὸς τὸν θεόν, the whole Godward relations of men. The ex- pression is directly connected with ἀρχιερεὺς, by implication with πιστὸς, and it is found in Exod. xviii. το, γίνου σὺ τῷ λαῷ τὰ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν. For neat analogies cf. Wetstein. εἰς τὸ ἱλάσ- κεσθαι, “ for the purpose of making pro- pitiation,” εἰς indicating the special purpose to be served by Christ’s becoming Priest. ἱλάσκομαι (ἱλάσκω is not met with), from ἵλαος, Attic ἵλεως ‘“ pro- pitious,”’ “‘ merciful,” means ΓΤ render propitious to myself”. In the classics it is followed by the accusative of the person propitiated, sometimes of the anger felt. In the LXX it occurs twelve times, thrice