The Pulpit Commentary — Hebrews — Section 216

breauee there ~11s nothing as yet to 11Ct as a substitute. Then the quest.ion may be 11Hked-"Why give a commandment which was we11k aud useless? 'l'ho answer lies in th11t word "foregoing." That which goes before implies something coming aftor. 'l'be Law was weak and useless for certain things, but not, therefore, Wllllk and useless f~r 11U things. 'l'he Law came like light shining on human spiritual darkness, revealing d1l11J?1dat1on and corruption, and there it stopped; it showed the thing needing to be done, and m the very showing indicated how some agency would come in due time to do it. II. 'l'HE Th"TR0DUCTI0N OF THE BETTER HOPE. One notices a change of term here as in ver. 16. 'l'here we read of the former priest according to the law of a fleshly com- mandment, and the new abiding Priest according to the power of an indissoluble life. So here, that which is put away is a commandment; that which is brou.!!ht in is a hope. The old commandment, weak and useless, left men in despair as far as their natural faculties were concerned. The new Priest steps upon the scene, needing no commandment. His functions are the appropriate outcome of the fulncss of his life. And, coming among men, be comes as the visible immediate stimulator of hope. :Manifestly he has relations with God, channels of connection with the Infinite Purity, such as not all the sum of Aaronic priests taken together had. As men drew near to so rue of the old priests, steeped in selfi8hness, pride, arrogance, they veritably drew nearer to the devil from whom it behoved them to flee ; but drawing near to Jesus it was not pos- sible that they should do aoything else tha.n in the same movement draw near to God.-Y. Ver. 26.-The Prie,st made separate from sinner,. I. THE DIFFERENCB m THIS BESPECT BETWEEN THE PRIESTHOOD OF JESUS AND THE PRIESTHOOD OF AARON. 'l'ho Aaronic priest was also made separate from sinners ; but he was only separated officially. The separation lay in nothing more than natural descent and the wearing of priestly vestments. 'l'he Aaronic priest indicated in a feeble symbolic way what a true priest ought to be. In course of time, indeed, he might become separated from sinners in a way not to be desired, fenced round by an artificial sanctity, and superstitiously regarded as if he had in him nothing less than the Power of heaven and hell. But Jesus comes separated by nature, character, and by many outward mani- festations of these things. The nearness of Jesus to men has already been insisted on; how he is a partaker of flesh and blood ; how he is in all points tempted as men are. Aod what is then stated, in a collateral way, so that it may not be forgotten, is now, at the proper place, brought out and put to the front. Jesus is nearer to the universal man than any priest could be ; but while so near there is a separation that goes to the very depths of being. 'l'his is what gives him his unique power. Moving among meo, he hears their cries and prayers, sees their need ; but he receives no infection from their narrowness, selfishness, degrading thoughts. Evil passes before him, but ooly to stir up into brreatest activity his sympathy with those who suffer from the evil; that evil prevails not in the least over his own affections. Il. 'l'HE PRAC1l'IOAL RESULTS TO us OF THIS DIFFEBENOE. 1. His power to keep us is always manifest. It is impossible to read about Jesus, to contemplate him in any attribute whatever, without being struck with the two united aspects of his person: first, association with us; and secondly, difference from us. We are drawn clo~e to him because of the manifold fulness of his humanity; and then being drawn, we are made to feel how strong Lis hand is, and what a perennial Fountaio of assistaoce and blessedness he becomes. 2. We have always some one to loole at, to lift us above cynical O,oughts of mankind. How easy it is to get into a way of sayinf; that human nature is a very poor thing at its best! We cannot get the flaws and meannesses of even good men out of our recollection. Now here is the separated Man, the great High Priest, to show what a glorious thing human nature is when we can see it in its full purity. Jesus is not only pure him6elf, but he can purify the medium through which he is beheld. Those who cowe to see Jesus as he is, leam to think better and more hope- fully both of themselves and others. 3. 1.'he ideal is given which we are to seek and to re,ach. 'l'he great High Priest stands in the midijt of sinful men to whom he ministers, for the most practical purpose of making them like himself. He is separated from sinners in order that sinners, being transformed and perfected, may not be separated from him. When the ideal and real meet in ooe person, then the better hope is indeed brought in.-Y. cu. vm. 1-13.J 'l'Irn EPISTLE 'l'O THE HEBHEWH. 20!)