The Pulpit Commentary — Hebrews — Section 122

that of" joints" is its proper and more usulll qne et dist.inctissimns visui pntent." Me.ny one), regards these and the "me.rrow" as (Elsner, Wolf, Baumgarten, Kuinoel Bret- C'orresponding respectively to the ,i,u;,c¾, e.nd schneider, Bleek, De Wette, etc., foliowing the v,,rvµa: the "1ux¾, being understood e.s Perizonius, on 1Elie.n, 'Var. Hist.,' xii. 58) "something lying deep in man the ,rv,v1u, see an allusion to the Roman custom of ex• lying still deeper." Thus as a ~cry trencb- posing criminals "reducto ce.pite " "retortis nnt sword cuts through, not only the limbs, cervicibus," so thl\t nil might see' their faces hut also the marrow wit.bin them so the (see Suet.onius, 'Vitel.,' 17; Pliny, •Pnnegyr.,' Word of God penetrates, not o~ly that :14- 3). There is, however, no other known part of human consciousness which is ex- rnstance of the Greek verb being used with pressed by ,i,ux¾i, but also that deeper and this reference, which there seems to be no more inward part which is expressed by necessity for assuming. The idea may be "'v•vµa.. But the general sense of the pas- simply the general one thus expressed by ~nge is plain enough without our supposing Delitzsch, "that whatever shamefaced cree.- this strict analogy to hnYc been intended. ture bows its head, and would fa.in with• Expositors, in their analysis of the meaning dra'! and cloak itself from the eyes of God, of passages, may often detect more than the he.s indeed the throat, as it were, bent be.ck :mthor thought of. On 1ep,.,-,,ch lv8u_u1j1T•"'" before those eyes, with no possibility of (translated" a discerner of"), cf. I Cor. xiv. escape, exposed and naked to their view." 24, 25, where the effects of the Wor<l of Many of the ancients (Chrysostom, Thoo- God, brought to bear through the gift of doret, CEc~menius, Theopbylact) se.w in T<• prophecy on one without the gift entering Tpax117'.1r1µ.,va o. reference to the treatment of into a congregation of prophesying Chris- sacrificial victims, as being smitten on the tians, are thus described: "be is convinced of neck or hung by the neck for the purpose nll, he is judged [rather, 'examined,' 'scru- of being fle.yed from the neck downwards, or tinized,' ava,cp/v,.,-a,] of all; the secrets of cut open thence, so as to expose the entrails his heart e.re m:1de manifest; end so falling to view. But no instance is known of such rlown on his face he will worship God, an<l use of the word Tpax11'A.(("', the idea of which report that God is in you [or, 'among you'] me.y have been suggested to commente.tors of a truth." So searching anrl judicial is by the fi~re of the sword in the verse pre- the power of the Word of God, the.t it ceding; which figure, however, there is no reaches and discloses the inmost depths reason to suppose continued iu ver. 13, the of a man's consciousness-discloses them idea of which is simply complete exposure, to himself. anrl, though be should resist, introrluced by o~,c citpaY¾,s. The ancients learns him without esce.pe, exposed and take the concluding expression, wpbs &v ~µ.;,, judged. l, 'A.o-yos, as meaning "to whom our accouut Ver. 13.-l!l'either is there any creature must be given," i.e. '' to whom we are re- that is not manifest in his sight ; but all sponsii.Jle as our judge "-in the sense of things e.re naked and laid open unto the 'A.o-yov 6,6ova,. The A.V. seems better to eyes of him with whom we have to do. The give the general idea of relation by the me.in difficulty in this verse is as to the apt phre.se, "with whom we have to do." meaning of the word Te.,.oax11'A.,,,.µ.lva (trans- Of course, 'A.o-yos here has no reference to the lated "laid open"). The verb .,-pa;,c11'A.!("' Word of God, the recurrence of the word, in (which occurs nowhere else in the New Tes- a an bordinate sense, being merely e.ccidento.l. tament or LXX., but is, with its compound Vfh. 14. - To the interposed minatory •=pax111\.i("', not uncommon in Philo and warning of the three preceding verses now J oseplrns) has in classical Greek the sense eucceP.ds en~oure.gement, based on the view, of " seizing by the throat," or "bending which he.a been now o second time led up to, back the neck,'' e.s in wrestling. And this, of Christ being our great High Priest, who with the further idea of "overthrowing" or can both sympathize o.nd succour. The "le.ying prostrate,'' is the prevailing sense passage ans1vi,re closely in thought to the in Philo, from whom Wetstein quotes many conclusion of eh. ii., o.nJ might natur111ly passages iu illustration. Te.king, then, with have followed there; but that, before ta.king most modem commentators, the sense of up the subject of Christ's priesthood, the bending hack the neck as the primary one, writer harl another line of thought to pursue, we have only to consider what secondary lee.ding up (e.s has been oxple.ined) to the ruee.ning is here to be attached to it. Some same conclusion. The o3v at the beginning to.ke the idea to be the.t of being thrown on of ver. 14 either connects 1epaTwµ..v (" let us the ground supine, so as to be thoroughly hold fast") with the verses immediately pre- exposed to view. So Bengel: "Tpax11'A.i(w, ceding-in the sense, "The Word of God reeupino, Grrece et Latine dicitur pro being so seo.rching and :reeistlees, Jet us patefacio. Corpora. qum prona jacent vix therefore hold fast," etc.,-in which case the nuda ceneentur; nam se ipsa tegunt: resu- pe.rticipio.l clause lxovns, etc., is o. confirmo.- til<ata, secundum part.ea nobilissime.s quas- tion of this exhortation (so Delitzsch); or  THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 113