V. 5.— For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son? For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee?— Here the Apostle proceeds to prove his assertion, that Christ possesses by inheritance a more excellent name than the angels. This he demonstrates by a quotation from the second Psalm, which not only gives Jesus the title of Son, but describes Him as begotten. The Apostle elsewhere applies this prediction to the resurrection of Christ, Acts 13:33, because He was thus declared to be the Son of God with power. Romans 1:4. In various ways had He been declared to be the Son of God, by His doctrine and miracles, the perfection of His character, and repeated testimonies by a voice from heaven; but His resurrection was the demonstration of His being the Son of God, the promised seed of the woman, the Judge of the world. Acts 17:31. Hence, the sign which He gave in token of the dignity of His person was the sign of the prophet Jonas. Jesus was to be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The temple of His body, in which dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, was to be destroyed, and in three days He would raise it up. He appeared in our nature, that He might lay down His life. He came in the character of the Father’ s servant to accomplish the salvation of the children given to Him. He is the seed of the woman, the Head of God’ s elect; and having identified Himself with them, that He might raise them to life and glory, He in their nature endured the curse which they had incurred that they might inherit a blessing, and might all through union with Him be acknowledged to be the sons of God. He subjected Himself to suffering and death that they might partake of eternal life with Him. It was an easy service imposed on Adam to abstain from the fruit of one tree, but the service required of the second Adam included not only sorrow, shame, and grief in this world, but the pains of death. To all this He cheerfully submitted, knowing that His Father’ s commandment was life everlasting, not only to Himself, but to a countless multitude. As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself, and hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man. John 5:26-27. The reason of all judgment being committed to the Son is very remarkable, "that all men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father.” The Apostle adds another testimony to the Sonship of Christ. And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son.— It is evident that this passage refers primarily to Solomon, 2 Samuel 7:14; 1 Chronicles 17:12, who was a remarkable type of Christ, but we learn from the Apostle that a greater than Solomon is here. Indeed, this is evident from the passage quoted, for God promises to establish His kingdom for ever. The Lord Jesus is frequently described both as David and the Son of David. David was a man after God’ s own heart, which denotes his zeal for the worship of God; but it has its full accomplishment in Christ, who is in all respects a man after God’ s own heart, for He always did those things which pleased His Father. He now sits on the throne of His father David, and is indeed the King of Israel. John 1:49. We repeatedly find a double type in consequence of the different aspects in which Christ is presented to our view. He was in the form of a servant, engaged in a work committed to Him by His Father, which required Him to be a man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs, a stranger and pilgrim, a houseless wanderer in this world, and finally to be made a curse by hanging on a tree, thus becoming obedient to the death of the cross. Again, we behold Him a resistless conqueror triumphing over death, His foot on the neck of Satan, and invested with all power in heaven and on earth. Hence a double type was necessary to denote His sufferings and glory. The former was typified by "David and all his afflictions,” the latter, by Solomon, who enjoyed a long, glorious, and peaceful reign; a remarkable type of Him of the increase of whose government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David and of his kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice, from henceforth and for ever. Hence the Apostle applies to Jesus what was primarily said of Solomon,— I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son. Besides David and Solomon prefiguring Christ in His humiliation and exaltation, we find other instances of a double type. Thus, on the great day of atonement there were two goats, one of which, when the sins of Israel were laid upon it, was slain, while the other was set free, denoting Christ dying for the sins of His people and raised for their justification. Again, in cleansing the leper, there were two birds, the one of which was slain, the other, after being dipped in its blood, was set free. This represented the great Shepherd of the sheep brought again from the dead through the blood of the everlasting covenant. Hebrews 13:10. Moses, the Mediator of the old covenant, was a remarkable type of our great Mediator, and in correspondence with the antitype, Israel could not enter Canaan till after his death. When the people sinned in the matter of the golden calf, and Moses had broken the tables in token of the covenant being broken, he said to the people, “ Ye have sinned a great sin, and now I will go up unto the Lord, peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin.” Exodus 32:30. He accordingly returned to the Lord, and said, “ Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin— ; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of the book which thou hast written.” Exodus 32:31-32. Thus he offered his life to atone for the sin of Israel. We know that God spoke to Moses mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches. Num. xii. 8. There is therefore reason to suppose that Moses communicated to Israel in parables what he had heard plainly in the mount. Israel was a carnal, stiff-necked people, and could not have home the truth of the Son of God dying, and reviving, and rising. The doctrine of Christ was a stumbling-block to their children, after they had received all the additional instructions contained in the Scriptures of the prophets, had seen His own mighty works, and heard Him declared to be the Son of God by a voice from heaven,— notwithstanding all this, they crucified Him as a blasphemer. Hence, it is not improbable that Moses concealed in parables what he had been taught in the mount, and that this was intimated by the veil which he put upon his face while speaking to the people, and which he took off when he went in before the Lord. Exodus 34:33-34. If this were the case, Moses knew that Christ was to die for His people, and as the mediator of the old covenant he offered to expiate by death the sin of which Israel had been guilty. But Moses, however eminent, was but a sinful man, and a sin-offering must be perfect to be accepted— "There shall be no blemish therein.” Leviticus 22:21. But, although the death of Moses could not be accepted as an expiation for the sin of Israel, it was necessary for the correspondence of the type and the antitype, that the mediator should die before Israel could enter Canaan. Hence it is written, “Moses, my servant, is dead; now, therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, thou and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.” Joshua 1:2. Thus Moses and Joshua were each a type of Christ, who, having by His death expiated the sins of His people, rose from the dead as the Captain of their salvation, and puts them in possession of the eternal inheritance.