The Pulpit Commentary — Hebrews — Section 273

knowledged to be, in their own nature, ceding word, ;i,e,:>..71tro.r, to the following word, valueless. That the psalmist did not re&lly ,.,T,a., and that the TI of COTIA was then oontemplate the fulfilment of this ideal in ohanged into the M of C.OMA, so as to mo.ke himself is evident from the penitential con- sense of the word thus formed. Dut this fessions of the latter verses of the psalm. is only conjecture. That some copies of the It is bnt the yearning of inspired hnmanity LXX. had 61Tla. appears from the fact tho.t for what wa.s really needed for reconciliation the Vulgate, translated from t.he LXX., with God, llllch yearning being in itself a reads aures perfecisti mihi, and tho.t some prophecy. Hence what was thus spoken in manuscripls of the LXX. still hCLve .:,Tla., the Spirit is adduced a.s expressing the or l>Tq. Thus there oan be little doubt mind and work of him who fulfilled all that tr~µ.a. was e. wrong rendering of the those prophetic yearnings, and effected, as Hebrew, howevtir originating, which the Mo.n and for man, what the holy men of old writer of the Epistle found in the copies longed to do but could not. The expres• of the LXX. which he used. For that 11ion, "when he r,0meth into the world," re- he himself altered the word to suit his minds us of eh. i. 6. The word ,ltr•pxoµ.,.,or, purpose, and that the alteration got into here used, is connected in thought with the copies of the LXX. from the Epistle, is -fi,ca, (" I am come") in the quotation. Idle highly improbable, considering the general ere the inquiries of some commentators as to aoouracy of his quotations, o.nd his purp&se the precise time, either before or after the of proving his positions from the sacred Incarnation, at which our Lord is to be con- documents to which his readers could refer. ceived a.s so speaking. Enough to say that As to the unimportance of any such vari- his purpose in coming into the world is in ations from the original Hebrew in the quo- thet!e significant words expressed. It is tations of the Epistle from the LXX., as noteworthy, in rege.rd to the attribution of long e.s the argument is not affected, see this utterance to him, how freqnently he is what is said under eh. i. 7 with respect to recorded to have spoken of having come the quotation from Ps. civ. In this case into the world for the accomplishment of a the variation certainly does not affect the purpose. " Yenio, vel potius, t1eni, symbo- argument. For though the word trwµ.a. is Jnm qua.si Domini Jesn fuit" (Bengel). certainly taken up ago.in in ver. 10 asap- (See Matt. v. 17 ; x. 34, 35; xviii. 11; x.x. 28; plicable to Christ, yet the argument of the Mark i 38 ; Luke ix. 56 ; John iL 39 ; passage by no means rests on this word, but x. 10 ; and especially for close agreement on 8,:>..71µ.a.. This is indeed a passage (as with the langne.ge of the passage before us, was observed under eh. ix. 14) notable for John vi. 38, "I came down from heaven, the very fact that the essence of the atone- not to do mine own will, but the will of him ment is in it represented as consisting, not that eent me;" and John xii 46, "I am so much in its physical accompaniments as come a light into the =W.") The psalm is in its being a spiritue.l aot of perfect self. quoted from the LXX., with slight vari- oblation. (2) The more probable meaning ation, not worth considering, as it does not of the phrase translated in the LXX. and affect the se:ise of the passage. But the the quotation, "it is written of me (-yE-ypa.1r- variation of the LXX. from the Hebrew -ra., ,r•pl lµ.oi,) " is in the Hebrew," it is pre- text requires notice. (1) Instead of" a body scribed unto me," i.e. " laid on me as a didst thou prepare for me ( trwµ.a. 1ea.T71pTltru, duty·" this being also the sense in which p.o,)" of the LXX. and the quotation from the ;11me words occur in 2 Kings xxii. IS, it, the Hebrew has "mine ears hast thou " Great is the wrath of the Lord . , . because opened ; " literally, " ea.re hast thou dug for our fathers have not hearkened unto the me," meaning probably, "formed the cavity words of this book, to do according unto all of my ears through which thy Word may that which is prellcribed tow;" where the penetrute," equivalent to" given me l;&~B to LXX. translates, T« -y•-ypa.µ.µ.El'a. 1ea.e' f,µ;;,.,, hear," with reference, of course, to spi.r1tual The most obvious reference of the Hebrew aUBcultation. If to the Hebrew verb i1i.:l psalm is to the Book of the Law generally, be assigned here the sense of pierci;,,g: in which the duty of fulfilling the Divine rather than hollowing out, implying an will is enjoined, rather than to any pro• entrance affected through the ears already phecy, applied by the writer to himself in- formed, the general sense rema~ the same. dividually. If so, it is not necessCLry to In eithar cese the word 1<a.T71pntr,., may be inquire what prophecy about himsi,lf David aooonn!.ed for, e.s being a free rendering, might have had in view; whether e.g. Gen. inteuded to give the meaning of the figure. xlix. 10; Numb. xxiv. 17; or Deut. xvii. 14, But the substitution of "body" for" ears" et seq. But the phrase, w,pl iµ.oi,, does cer• is not so easily accounted for. One conjec- tainly rather suggest a prophecy, and such ture is that some transcriber of the Alex- suggestion is peculiarly appropriate in the andrian translation of the Hebrew had application to Christ. Well, then, if here inadvertently joined the la.st letter of the pre- aga.ill there is some variation from the cm. s:. 1-89.J THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 265