The Pulpit Commentary — Hebrews — Section 279

expressed by the common cry " Chrietia.nos also 2 Oor. v. 10; Eph. vi. 8; Ool. iii. 25" ad leones I " The phrase, ...~v 011.-... s .lv«- and I Pet. i. 9) means the actual reception o\ trrp•,Poµlv...v (tm.nela.ted "them tha.t were what is denoted, equivalent to sibi acqut l!O ul!ed "), might be more correctly ren- rere; the latter (oco. oh. vi. 15; xi. 83; o.16\ dered (as .lv«irr~•t/>•<rlla, is elsewhere), "them Rom. xi. 7; Je.s. iv. 2) menus only "to tha.t_eo had their converea.tion," i.e. ma.nner attain to," without involving full possession. of life. For the word is not used in 11. It is not so.id of Ahra.ho.m (eh. vi. 15) th11t he pa.ssive seuee, bnt RS equivalent to vermi·i; i1toµlua.-o, only that he l,rfrvxe, So also of cf. M~~t. xvii. 22; 2 Cor. i. 12; Eph. ii. :i; all the faithful of old described in the follow- eh. x:111. 18; e.leo Gal. i. 13; Eph. iv. 22, etc. ing chapter (xi. 39). And even to believing (ava<T.-po<1»)). The Vulgate has talit.er con- Christiane, ne this verse shows, the 1toµl(,u8a1 '1ersafttivm; Wickliffe, "men living so;" is still future and contingent. Tyndale e.nd Cranmer," them who so passed Vers. 37, 38.-l'or yet a little (rather, 'f16r!J their time." But the A.V. may give the little) while, and he that oometh will oome, meaning wiU1. 1mfficient correctness, tl1e and will not tarry. :But the just shall live main thought being probably tl,e experience by faith: and if he draw baok, my soul hath of the penons referred to rather than their no pleuure in him. In these verses, e.fter demee.nour under it. the manner of the Epistle, what is being Ver. 34.-For ye had oompusion on those urged is supported by an Old Testament who were in bonds, and took joyfully the quotation (Hab. ii. 3, 4), its drift being (1) 11p0iling of your goods, knowing th&t ye have the certninty, notwithstanding delay, of the for younelves a better po88ession, and an fulfilment of the Divine promise; (2) the abiding one. For .-ois 'li,uµlois, the Receptus necessity meanwhile of continuance in faith has .-oi's 'li«rµois µov, which the A. V., so a.s and perseverance. The quotation serves to avoid the impropriety of expressing svm- also a.s a step of transition (this, too, after pathy with the bonds themselves, renders the Epistle's manner) to the disquisition on "me in my bonds.'' Even ape.rt from faith, which forms the subject of the follow- manuscript authority, 'li•uµlois is evidently ing chapter. For the prophet speaks of to be preferred, both w; suiting the verb faith as what the righteous one is to live <Tvve1rae-,/ua.-, and llfl being more likely to by until the Lord come. It was faith-a have been altered to the com.aon Pauline fuller faith-that the Hebrew Christie.us expre~sion, lieuµois µov, than ROil 'IJersa, wanted to preserve them from the faltering especially on the supposition of the writer of which they showed some signs; and the being St. Paul himself. Thus no evidence requirement of faith was no new thing-it as to the authorship of the Epistle is hence had been the essential principle of all true deducible. The allusion is to persecutions religious life from the beginning, and thus of Christians, under which the Hebrews is led up to the review which follows of the addressed had been plundered, and had Old Testament history, showing that this succoured others who were prisoners for the he.d always been so. The quotation, as faith, as is intime.ted also in eh. vL 10. usual, is from the LXX., which, in this case More than one sueh persecution might be as in some others, differs from the Hebrew. in the writer's view, including, perhaps, But here, as in ver. 29, BUpra, the LXX. is that after tlte stoning of Stephen (.Acts viii. not exactly followed. . The writer cites 1; xi. 19); that instituted by Herod.Agrippa, freely, so as to apply the essential meaning under which Jamee the elder suffered (.Acts of the passage to his purpose. The Prophet xii.); the.t which led to the martyrdom of He.be.kkuk (writing probably during the Je.m<cs the Just (Josephus,' .Ant.,' xx. 9. 1) long evil days of Manasseh) had in his and otl,ers. immediate view the trio.ls of faith peculiar Vera. 35, 36. - Cast not away therefore to his own time-violence and iniquity in your conftdenoe, which bath great recom- Israel, and imminence of judgment o.t the pense of rewa.rd. For ye have need of hands of Chaldean conqueror,, under which patience (or, endurance), that, having done he had cried, "0 Lord, how long?" But the will of God, ye may receive the promise; Le stands upon his watch end sits upon his or, doi,,g the will of God, ye may receive, etc. tower, to look out what the LoRD will say Tlle uorist participle ,ro111<raVTES does not of to him iu answer to his difficulties. And necessity express priority to the receiving the LORD answered him, and so.id," Write (cf. eh. vi. 15, µa.Kpo6vµi/f1'as eirfrvx•). The the vision, and make it plain upon the rueaniug is that by endurance in doing the tables, that he may run tbat ree.deth it. will tl,ey would receive. The full and final For the vision is yet for an appointed time, eIJjoywtut of what is promised is still future hut e.t the end it shall speak, and not lie e.ud cc,IJditionerl by perse\·erance. Observe [rather, 'but it ha.steth to the end, aud doth the differo11ct: betwoen the words 1wµl(,o-6a,, not lie']: though it tarry, we.it for it; Lim, usod, e.nd ,1r,.-v-yxcf.v«v, used in eh. vi. because it will surely come, and uot tarry 15. The former (occ. eh. xL 19, 39; [ or, • be behindhe.ud ']. Behold, his soul OH, X, 1-39,] THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 271