The Pulpit Commentary — Hebrews — Section 24

.,.,1.,,.,. .. lt•y-y•~o, 0•oii: W'pOt1IWVflt14'f'fll/TO.II a.~'l'tp ver. 3 the verb is o•,\!! (o ,,.,e,!r in the LXX.), the very words, including tho introductory the primary meaning of which is" to set," Ka.I, which o.re quoted. Hence, the qnotB- "to place,"anct, when followed by two aocu- tione in this Epistle being mo.inly from the sati vcs as object and predicate denotes" to LXX., we mo.yconclude that this is the text constitute or render a person ;r thing what referred to. It occurs towarcle the end of the predicate expresses." In ver. 4 the verb the Song of Moses, in connection with its is i"li?J! (o wo,wv in the LXX.), the primary concluding picture of the Lo1m's final meaning or which, when used actively, is triumph, in which the nations are called "to form," '' to fabricate." It is used of upon to rejoice with his people, when he God making the heaven and the earth (Gen. would avenge the blood of his servants, and i. 7, 16; ii. 2, etc.). When elsewhere, as render vengeance to hie adversaries, and here, it is followed by two accusatives, one make atonement for (Greek, l,a,a.Bapi,i) his of them (which may come either first or land and for hie people. Viewed in the second in order) is found to denote the light of later prophecy, this triumph is material out of which anything is formed. identified with that of the Messiah'e king- Thus Exod. xxxviii. 3, '' He ma<le all the dom, and is therefore that of the time of vessels (of) brass" (cf. Exod. xxx. 25; bringing" the Firstborn into the world." Cf. mvi. 14 ; xxxvii. 15, 23). Hence an Rom. xv. 10, where i; Rejoice, ye Gentiles," obvious meaning of ver. 4, so far as the etc., from the same passage, is applied to mere language is concerned, would be, " He the time of Christ. It is no objection to the maketh [or, • formeth '] his messengers [ or, quotation that, a.s it sto.nde in the Epistle, 'angels'] of winds, and his ministers nf a "the Firstborn," though not mentioned in flaming fire." (Winds certainly, not 1piril•, the original, seems to be regarded as the because of the context. But here the Greek object of the angels' worship. The passage .,.,,d,µ11-rr:1. is, in itself, as ambiguous as the is simply cited a.s it stands, the reader being Hebrew n\mi, and was a.s probably meant to left to draw his own inference; and the main denote winds.) According to this rendering, point of it is that the angels in "that day" the meaning of the verse would seem to ho are not, like the Son, sharers of the throne, that, out of the natural elements of wind but only worshippers. and fire, some special agencies are called Ver. 7.-And of the angels he aaith, Who into being or operation; not simply thnt maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers winds and fire generally are used for God's a flame of fire. A further intimation of the purposes. The change of phraseology be- position assigned in the 01<1 Testament to tween vers. 3 and 4 certainly suggests angels, contrasted by means of µ,v and 3i, some change in the idea of the psalmist. with further quotations with reference to What, thou, are these agencies? What is the SoN. A difficulty has been felt with meant by the " messengers " and " minis- regard to this passage (cited, a.s usual, from ters" connected with the elements of win,! the LXX.) on the ground of the original and fire? The cmthor of the Epistle (and Hebrew being supposed not to bear the probably the LXX. too, though the words meaning nssigncd to it. Hence the writer a.n,Ao, and Afl-rounol are, in themselves, of the i<;pistle is suid to hnve made use of as ambiguous as the Hebrew) saw in these an erroneous rendering for the purpose of words a reference to the angels, who am his argument. Certniuly the context of the denoted by the same two words in Ps. ciii. psalm, in whi!:h God is represented a.s array- 20, 21, and who are undoubtedly spoken of ing himself in the glories and operating elsewhere in the Old Testament o.s operating- through the powers of nature, suggests no in the forces of nature (as in the death of other meaning than that he uses the winds the Egyptian fi.rstborn, the pestilence iu the ns his messengers, etc., in the same poetical time of David, and the destruction of Sen- sense in which he was said in the preceding nacherib's army), and seem, in some sense, verse to make the clouds his chariot; cf. to be identified with the winds themselves Ps. oxlviii. 8, "Fire and hail, snow and in Ps. xviii. 10, " He rode upon a. cherub, vnpours, stormy wind fulfilling his word." and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings If so, there is no neoessary reference in the of the wind;" and in Ps. x.x.xv. 5, " Let original psalm to angels. But it is to be them be as chaff before the wind; and let observed, on the other hand, that the struc- the angel of the Loao chase them.'' Wo ture of ver. 4 is not in the Hebrew identical say that the LXX., as well as the author of with thnt of "he maketh the clouds his the Epistle, probably intended to expreu chariot" in ver. 3, and hence, in itself, this meaning. It is, indeed, more than pro- suggests some difference of meaning. For bable ; for, ambiguous as may be the worda (1) a different 11erb is used; and (2) the d-y-yb.o, and AE<-roup-yol in themsel1'es, the order of the acoueatives following the verb structure of the Greek sentenctl (in which is reversed; in both which respects the "his angels" and "his ministers" are LXX, correctly follows the Hebrew. 1n the objects, and '' winds" aud " tlame~ of  14 THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. [oH, I, 1-14-.