The Pulpit Commentary — Hebrews — Section 143

~~ere it_ was, a _real ac~nowledgment, quite enough out of which t.o make a striking 1l,ustra.t1on of him who 1s the real great High Prlest~esus, the Son of God. He also has passed through and gone behind a veil, the veil that separates the seen from the unseen, What a thought of tbe unseen, that It is God's true holy of holies I· Doubtless there ii a special reference here t.o the day of ascension, when Jesus rose from the midst of his disciples, and a cloud received him out of their sight. II. How WE ARE TO PROFIT BY THIS OOMPARISON. The comparison-"-the parallel- wa.s easy enough t.o these Hebrew Christians. It referred them t.o traditions and a ritual with which they were familiar from childhood. They saw high priests con- t lnually. But we know nothing of a priest, an altar, a sacrifice. We do not hear the lowing of oxen and the bleating of sheep whose lives are to be taken away in the acceptable worship of God. We could not bring ourselves to think that such things conld be of any use. Not at all doubting that they once served a purpose we know that ~he purpose exists no longer.. I3elie~ing that th~y were once somehow'necessary, that 1s all we can say. Our experience gives us nothing whereby we may understand the necessity. Thus the question comes-How 11,re we, who have never he.d' anythina !o do with such a priest as Aaron, or any of his posterity, to get good out of this exhor~ tation? Vi7hat sort of notion are we to represent to our minds when we are told to hold fast our profession in a great High Priest passed into the heavens, when, as a matter of experience, we have never had anything to do with priests at all? It would be a great mistake to say that we are to trouble ourselves no more about the priestly idea. Though we cannot make the forms of the old Jewish priesthood a living thing to us, still we can surely do something to get at the idea which lies behind all priest- hood. We are often misled by con/oifnding priesthood with priestcraft. The indignn- tion of every honest heart cannot be too strong against the abomination, priestcraft. Ilut why an abomination? Just because it is the degradation of a good thing. Prie■ t­ hood is simply the office and function of the man who is 11et apart to act on behalf of his fellow-men in their relations to God. And looking at what is to be found in the Old Testament with respect to the priestly office, we_ find there was no chance for priestcraft. The true priest had to be an honest, patient· man, faithful in little things, exact in minute observances, full of self-denial, and constantly attenti'Ve to the requests of all the people. The very Scriptures which _exalt priesthood denounce priestcraft. Priesthood is the means whereby men are governed and blessed spiritually; priestcraft the means whereby they are spiritually crushed, and their consciences made slaves to another man's will. Priestcraft is only to be got rid of by giving the true priesthood its full force. Allowing ourselves to drift into the idea that priesthood is obsolete, we shall never get rid of priestcraft; since ·error· only dies out as truth is planted by its side, drawing away from tne roots {)f error all that nourished them. The priesthood lb. ancient Israel, with all its mere outward rites, with· all its defects and lapses, did a great service. It prepared the way for the great High Priest of our acknowlcdgment. And, after all, priesthood is only the name; it is the thing we have to look at. Jesus is he who answers the questions no one on earth can answer; renders the services no one on earth can render; we therefore call him great High Priest. Pretenders may come in, and by their doings make the name of priest hateful; but the work of the true Priest is none the less real. And the exhortation is that we should avail ourselves of that work to the very fullest extent. Then all the good things coming to us by nature will be crowned by this best thing coming through grace. Men have helped us according to their opportunity-loving, self-denying pa.rents, skilful instructors, watchful and'wise-hearted friends, great men who have revealed themselves in books, making us feel what a noble thing it is to be partakers of human nature; and then .Jesus of Nazareth comes in at last, Priest of the most high God, abiding for ever, and undertaking to satisfy our deepest wants out of the immeasurable fulness of God.-Y. Vers.16, 16.-The helpful nearness to man ef the true Higli Priest. I. TIIE IMPLICA· TION WITII REGARD TO OTHER PRIESTS. Other priests are lacking in proper sympathy with human weakness. They arc lacking in a sense of the almost omnipotence of tempting influence. They themselve8, in all important respects, are no better than those for \\'horn they act. Not that they arc to blame for this; <ither things were not ..:111ected from them, ']'hey were only to bo part of an instructive and impressive CB. V.1-14.] THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 13,,