Ver. 35. μὴ ἀποβάλητε οὖν τὴν παρ- ρησίαν . . . “Cast not away, then, your
33—39-
μεγάλην.
ΔΝ 9 a ρὸν ὅσον ὅσον, ““ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἥξει, καὶ οὐ χρονιεῖ. 38. ὁ δὲ δίκαιος ιά Lal ἐκ πίστεως] ζήσεται - καὶ ἐὰν ὑποστείληται, οὐκ εὐδοκεῖ ἡ ψυχή
351
36. “ὑπομονῆς γὰρ ἔχετε χρείαν, iva τὸ θέλημα τοῦ v Luc. xxi. Θεοῦ ποιήσαντες, κομίσησθε τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν.
ee 19. 37. “ Ett γὰρ μικ- w Hab. ii. 3, 4; Age. ii.6; Luc. ΧΙ. 8; Rom. i. 17; Gal. iii, 11; 1 Peter i.6, et y. 10; 2 Peter iii. 8.
1In B of LXX pov follows πιστεως, in A it follows δικαιος. B gives the more probable reading. In the text of Hebrews Τ.Ε. omits µου with DEH**KLP. μου
is inserted after δικαιος in iii. 11.
confidence, for it has great recompense of reward”. The exhortation begun in ver. Ig is resumed, with now the added force springing from their remembrance of what they have already endured and from their consciousness of a great pos- session in heaven. A reason for holding fast their confidence is now found in the result of so doing. It has great reward. μισθαποδοσία used in ii. 2 of requital of sin, here and in xi. 26 of reward. Cf. Clem. ad Cor. 6, γέρας γενναῖον, and Wisdom iii. 5. Therefore, μὴ ἀπο- βάλητε, do not throw it away as a worth- less thing you have no further need of. Retain it, ὑπομονῆς yap ἔχετε χρείαν, “for ye have need of endurance,” of main- taining your hopeful confidence to the end under all circumstances, Without endurance the promise which secures to them the enduring possession cannot be enjoyed, for before entering upon its en- joyment, the whole will of God concern- ing them must be done and borne. ἵνα τὸ θέλημα τ. θεοῦ ποιήσαντες κομίσησθε τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν, Davidson and Weiss agree in thinking that “the will of God is His will that they should hold fast their confidence”. Rather, that accepting all privation, as they once did (ver. 32) and recognising all they were called to en- dure as God’s will concerning them, they should thus endure to the end (cf. iii. 6) and so receive the promised good (ἐπαγ- γελία = the thing promised as in vi. 12, 15). κομίσησϑε, the verb properly means to carry off or to recover what is one’s own. See Mat. xxv. 27; 2 Cor. v. 10; Heb. xi, 13, 19, 39. And their entrance on the reward of their endurance will not long be delayed ἔτι yap μικρὸν ὅσον ὅσον.. . . “For yet a little— a very little—while and He that cometh will have come and will not delay.” [Es ist noch ein Kleines, wie sehr, wie sehr Klein ” (Weiss), “noch eine kleine Zeit, ganz Klein” (Weizsacker). ‘ Ad- huc enim modicum aliquantulum” (Vulg.). - “For yet a little—ever so little —wnile” (Hayman)}, The phrase µικ-
SAH", f, vg., Arm., Clem., Thdrt. Cp. Rom. i. 17, Gal.
ρὸν ὅσον ὅσον is found in Isa. xxvi. 20, “6ο, my people . . . hide thyself for a very ltttle, till the indignation be over- past”. The double ὅσον is found in Aristoph. Wasps, 213, where however Rogers thinks the duplication due to the drowsiness of the speaker. Literally it means ‘‘a little, how very, how very”. The following words from 6 ἐρχόμενος to ἐν αὐτῷ are from Heb. ii. 3-4, with some slight alterations, the article being inserted before ἐρχόμενος, οὐ μὴ χρονίσῃ instead of the less forcible words in Hebrews, and the two clauses of ver. 4 being transposed. In Habakkuk the con- ditions are similar. God’s people are crushed under overwhelming odds. And the question with which Habakkuk opens his prophecy is ἕως τίνος κεκράξομαι καὶ οὐ μὴ εἰσακούσεις; The Lord as- sures him that deliverance will come and will not delay. By inserting the article, the writer of Hebrews identifies the de- liverer as the Messiah, ‘the coming One”. Cf. Mat. xi. 3; Luke vii. 19; Jo. vi. 14. ὁ δὲ δίκαιος. . . . “And the just shall live by faith,” z.e., shall survive these troublous times by believing that the Lord is at hand. Cf. Jas. v. 7-9. καὶ ἐὰν ὑποστείληται, “andifhe withdraw himself” or “shrink”. The verb, as Kypke shows, means to shrink in fear, and it is thus used in Gal. ii. 12. It is the very opposite of παρρησία. Accordingly it is thoroughly displeasing to God, whose purpose it is to bring men to Himself in confident hope. But the idea that any of the ‘“‘ Hebrews” can be in so ignominious and dangerous a posi- tion is at once repudiated. ἡμεῖς δὲ.... “But as for us we are not of those who shrink (literally of shrinking) to perdition but of faith to the gaining of the soul”, That is, we are not characterised by a timid abandonment of our confession (ver. 23) and confidence. Cf. 1 Thess. v. 5. What such timidity leads to (eis ἀπώλειαν, cf. Acts viii. 20; Rom. ix. 22) is hopeless perdition. Cf. M. Aurelius on the δραπέτης, x. 25. ὁ φοβούμενος