Especially when that part of the covenant is considered, promise and assurance of pardon for all forsaken sins, as also for frailties and weaknesses daily [d] unchangeable] That ἀποράβατος here signifies that which doth not pass from father to son, from one successor to another, is from the nature of the word παραβαίνειν, transire, to pass; and so they are the words of Athanasius concerning Christ, ἀπαράβατον καὶ ἀδιάδεκτον ἔχων τὴν ἀρχιερωσύνην, "He hath a pontificate, or priesthood, that passeth not away, or doth not go by succession to others." For the Levitical law makes such men priests, and none else, which are subject to mortality; but the oath of God, psalm ex, concerning the immutable priesthood, makes Christ the chief priest, whose life, and so whose priesthood, was never to determine; whose offering for himself, that is, for the putting off his infirm mortal body, was complete at that once, and needed never to be offered again by him any more than the same offering of his as it was for the sins of the world: (see ch. x. 11, 12.) NOW of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; That first covenant indeed had ceremonial laws, peculiar ways of worshipping God, and a tabernacle. And first for the latter of them, (see note [b] Matt. vii,) the tabernacle, (that was a type of the whole world, of earth and heaven, this made by Moses, but that by God, ch. viii. 2,) this consisted of two parts. [a] first covenant] That it must be read ἡ πρώτη, the first, without σκηνή, tabernacle, will appear by the authority of ancient MSS. (as, besides others taken notice of by other men, in an ancient one in Magd. Coll. library in Oxon) and of the Syriac and old Latin translation, and of St. Chrysostom, and the Greek fathers, who read it not: and then there is little doubt but the substantive to it must be διαθήκη covenant, mentioned in the former chapter, and called τὴν πρώτην, the first, in the verse immediately preceding this, ch. viii. 15, which anciently was conjoined with this, before the division into chapters. Besides, the addition of σκηνή, tabernacle, will not be very congruous; for then the tabernacle must be said to have in it τὸ ἅγιον κοσμικὸν, the worldly holy, that is, the tabernacle, as appears, ver. 3, where σκηνή, tabernacle, is called ἅγια ἁγίων, the holy of holies. As for δικαιώματα, ordinances, see note [d] on Rom. viii., and λατρείας is in any reason to be taken, not in the genitive, but the accusative plural, and so will note sacrifices and other institutions for God's worship, which belonged to that Mosaical covenant. For as this world consists of two parts, this lower world, and the highest heavens, so also the tabernacle had two regions in it; the first was called the holies, (or the sanctuary,) wherein was the candlestick (with six branches, and one in the midst, to signify the planets) and the bread, or twelve loaves set upon the table, (to signify the fruits of the earth, brought forth by that enlivening influence of the heavens, saith Philo;) And the second was a place of more sanctity than the former, which was beyond the former, answerable to the place where the oracle was in the former temple, and is the image of the highest heaven, Having a golden censer belonging to it, not always kept in it, but carried in when the priest went in, who was not to go without incense, and the ark covered round about with gold; and in this the pot of manna, and Aaron's rod, and the tables of the commandments, in respect of which it is called the ark of the covenant; [b] golden pot] It is a matter of some difficulty to determine, whether it were the ark, in which the pot of manna and the rod are here said to be kept, or more generally the holy of holies, wherein, as in a common place, both they and the ark were. For first, the phrase ἐν ᾖ, in which, may equally refer to σκηνὴ λεγομένη τὸ ἅγια τῶν ἁγίων, the tabernacle called the holy of holies, and to κιβωτὸς, the ark: and secondly, it is positively affirmed, 1 Kings viii. 9, that there was nothing in the ark but the tables of stone. But then on the other side it is apparent that those tables of the law were in the ark, and therefore the mention of those being immediately subjoined to the mention of the pot and the rod, and connected distinctly with a καὶ, the pot and the rod and the tables, in all reason they must be thought affirmed to be in the ark, where it is certain the tables were; and, 2, it is as manifest that the ὑπεράνω αὐτῆς, over it, ver. 5, denotes the ark, on the covering of which, and not of the holy of holies, the cherubim were. To this difficulty that which Theophylact hath affirmed is most satisfactory, that though at that time which is referred to 1 Kings viii. 9, that is, in Solomon's time, there was nothing in the ark but the tables, yet in after-times the pot and the rod were put there, viz., in Jeremiah's time, when the ark was to be hid by him: and all this, saith he, St. Paul may be supposed And over it the images of the cherubim, by which God is wont to appear and shew himself, Exod. xxv. 22; and these shadowing the covering of the ark from whence God was wont to speak with Moses, to [c] glory] Δόξα, glory, is here set to signify the Schechina, or appearing of God, which was wont to be by angels, of which these cherubims were the representations. See note [n] on Matt. xvi., and [a] on Mark i. [d] mercyseat] The word Ἰλαστήριον is answerable to the Hebrew כפרת. Now the word כפר signifies two things, first, to cover, (and indeed the English word cover seems to come from it,) and that either simply to cover, or to cover with pitch, &c.; and, secondly, in Piel, to cleanse, expiate, and to be propitious. Hence it is rendered sometimes ἀσφαλτῶσαι, to plaster, or cover, with bitumen or pitch, and sometimes, most ordinarily, Ἰλάσκομαι, ἑξιλάσκομαι, καθαρίζω, to propitiate or cleanse. And accordingly כפרת is rendered sometimes καταπέτασμα, a covering, Exod. xxvi. 36, sometimes Ἰλαστήριον, propitiatory; and Ἰλαστήριον, propitiatory, when the sense is καταπέτασμα, covering. See note [h] on Rom. iii. And so in this place, where it notes a part of the ark, it must be taken in the notion of the Hebrew, and rendered in that sense of καταπέτασμα, covering, as it is Exod. xxvi. 34, and xxx. 6, or as the Hebrew, כפרת, if it had been here retained, would have imported. And this being thus described, we may ascend to the former things mentioned ver. 1, the priests' officiating, and the statutes about that: and that service of the priests was of two sorts; the daily service, and that was in the former outward part of the tabernacle; But into the inner part of the tabernacle, or the holy of holies, none entered but the high priest, and he only one day in the year, on the fast, or great day of expiation; and then always he carried with him blood of calves and of goats; of calves, to offer for himself; and of goats, to offer for the people. (By which it appears, that the offering of Christ, which is answerable to this, is, after his passion, performed at his going into heaven, which was signified by the holy of holies;) [e] errors] The word ἀγνοῖν, though it signifies peculiarly ignorance, yet is taken among the Greek writers in the Old Testament for sinning indifferently. So Tob. iii. 3, Judith v. 20, Ecclus. li. 26, 1 Macc. xiii. 39, 2 Macc. xiii. 37, Ecclus. xxiii. 2, and 3 Macc. σύστημα μηδέν ἡγνοηκός, a company that had not sinned against the king, according to the notion of the Hebrew שָׁבָה, which as it signifies ignoravit, erravit, ignorance, error, so also it signifies defecit, recessit, falling off, failing; and so here it signifies all those sins for which there was allowed expiation and sacrifice under the law, that is, all sins but those of presumption, or will. By which the Holy Ghost typically signified, that no man by the power of that first covenant could go to heaven, or that the way to heaven was not there revealed, none being then admitted thither but the high priest once a year, who was a type of Christ; but now that that holy of holies is destroyed, and therewithal the Judaical law, there is now admission for all true Christians or worshippers of God, who now have promises and right to heaven, though till after death they are not admitted to their possessions. And the parabolical, typical meaning of this will be applicable to those of this time, that still observe and contend for the observation of the Judaical forms of worship, and think it is still in force; for all these performances will not be able to give any man confidence to pray to God, to bring any man to heaven, or to obtain for him the pardon of any wilful or presumptuous sin in the sight of God, to free him from any sin that hath wasted his conscience, or give him grace to purge himself from such sin: (see note [c] 1 John iii.) But only to purge him from legal uncleannesses or pollutions, as having eaten any unclean meat, drinking wine at any unlawful time, (Lev. x. 9.) ³ ignorances. ⁴ which parable belongs to the time approaching, ἦτις παραβολή εἰς τὸν καιρὸν τὸν ἐκστηκότα. ⁵ according to which (parable:) for the King's MS. reads καθ' ἦν. ⁶ are offered, προσφέρονται. ⁷ being not able to perfect the worshipper, μὴ δυνάμειναι τελειώσαι τὸν λατρεύοντα ⁸ being only imposed for meats, μόνον ἐπὶ βρώμασι ἐπικείμενα. And this form of speech, A new covenant, is an argument that the former was old, and an evidence, that so indeed that legal covenant or Mosaical law was; and being now perfectly old and decayed, it is not likely to live long, but, with the Jewish church and commonweal, within few years (within ten after the writing of this epistle) it is sure enough to be destroyed. ### CHAP. IX. For if the legal pollutions, the eating or touching of unclean things, &c. be expiated by blood and ashes, so far as to keep them that are polluted so from being turned out of the congregation, and from any legal punishment; [f] sanctifieth] Ἁγιάζειν, to sanctify, in this place signifies to purify, in the notion that belongs to the Hebrew שָׁהָר, which is sometimes rendered καθαρὸς, pure, sometimes ἅγιος, holy; and accordingly ἀκάθαρτα and ἅγια, impure and holy, are set opposite 1 Cor. vii. 14. So also the Hebrew קָרָשׁ, which is vulgarly ἁγιάζειν, to sanctify, is used for washing among the Jews. See note [d] on 1 Cor. vii. Thus it appears to be used here, not only by the κεκοινωμένους, unclean, or polluted, immediately precedent, and the καθαρότητα, cleansing, or purity, following; but by the evidence of the matter here spoken of. For that was the design of the legal sacrifice, blood and ashes, to cleanse them that were legally polluted, which is the meaning of πρὸς τὴν τῆς σαρκὸς καθαρότητα, for the cleansing of the flesh, that is, to make them legally clean, such as might come into the congregation again. But this still in a metaphorical signification, as cleansing signifies expiation, or obtaining pardon of sin, freeing from the inconveniences or censures that belonged to it. In this same sense the word is used ch. x. 10. Through which will we are sanctified, ἡγιασμένοι ἑσμίν, that is, our sins are expiated, through the offering of the body of Christ once for all, which, ver. 26, is expressed by another phrase, that he hath now once appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. How much more shall Christ's death, the shedding of his blood for you; and after that, his presenting himself to his Father in heaven in a body And for this end was Christ made use of to intercede between God and us, and establish and seal a new covenant with us, that by the intervention of his death for the expiation of all sins and transgressions, even such as could not be expiated under the old covenant, they which are effectually called, the truly penitent reformed believers, may have heaven and eternal bliss made over to, and possessed and instated on them, by way of inheritance. He shed his blood, I say; because, that a testament be valid, or that any man enjoy any thing by the death of another, the death of the testator is required necessarily, and must be avouched or produced by him; There being no stability in a will as long as the testator liveth, because he may change it if he will; and besides, it is to be supposed of him, that he meant not the benefit of it to his heir till after his own death. And therefore agreeably to this nature of covenants, which are among the eastern nations still signed with blood, and of testaments which are not in force till the testator's death, we read in the law, that the ceremony of blood was used in the sanction of the first covenant, that under the law. For when the commandments Exod. xx—xxiii. were by Moses recited to all the people according to God's appointment, then, as it follows, Exod. xxiv. 6, he took, &c. and sprinkled, &c. (which noted this sanction of covenants (as of testaments by death) by the ceremony of blood, and foresignified the shedding of the blood of Christ for the making of a new covenant with us,) Saying, This blood is the ceremony of establishing the covenant which God hath made with you. And so likewise he sprinkled the tabernacle, and all the utensils that were used in the worship of God, with blood. And generally under the law the course was, that all things that were purified should be purified by that ceremony of shedding blood, and so in like manner, that when any sin was committed a beast should be slain for a sacrifice, by way of confession that that sin deserved death. And therefore the law commanding that the tabernacle, which (in respect of the two parts of it, but especially the inmost part) is an image of the highest heavens, should thus be purified with the blood of bullocks or goats; that is, that the priest should never enter in thither without such bloodshedding, it is most agreeable and proportionable to these types that Christ should die, shed his own blood, and so enter into heaven to be our high priest, (and in like manner that we through many sufferings should enter into the kingdom of God.) For Christ was not so an high priest as to enter into any holy place built by men, the image or representation to signify heaven, (see Wisd. ix. 8,) but into heaven itself, there to appear before God, as the priest was said to do in the holy of holies, and to recommend our wants and affairs to him, and negotiate for us, and so to relieve us when we stand in need of him; Nor was the similitude betwixt him and an high priest to hold in this, that as the priest enters into the holy place every year with the bood of bullocks and goats, so Christ should enter every year into that which was signified by the holy of holies; (For then he should from time to time ever since the beginning of the world have died many times,) but in this, his presenting himself in the sight of God, his going to heaven to intercede for us, differs from the priest's going into the holy of holies, that Christ doth shed none but his own blood, and that but once for all, and that now in this last age, (see note [c] Matt. xxiv,) this close or shutting up of the Jewish state, on purpose to obtain pardon for whatsoever sins repented of, and to work reformation among us. For in this is the condition of Christ like to the condition of other men, that as they must die but once, and then be judged to all eternity: For the Mosaical law, which contained no more than an imperfect shadow or rude first draught of those mercies made over to us by the gospel, eternal life, &c. and not the lively representation or effigies of them, such as the gospel now affords us, is no way able by sacrificing every year, as long as the temple lasts, bullocks and goats, that is, by repeating often those same kinds of sacrifices, to work that great benefit for the worshippers which the gospel is designed to do, viz. to give men full pardon of sin, and purify their consciences. For then they would not need to be offered again continually, when the work for which they were offered was once wrought; as, if the cure were wrought, the medicine need not be any more applied. Whereas now being only a commemoration of sins, not a purging them away, they are offered every year anew on the day of expiation, thereby commemorating not only the sins committed that year, since the last day of expiation, but their former sins again, for which they had formerly sacrificed at the time of committing of them, and to typify that one true sacrifice of Christ, that alone is able to do the work for all our sins. For the truth is, it is not in the power of any sacrifice of any beast to take away the guilt of sin or purify the conscience. And therefore in the prophetic psalm concerning Christ's coming into the world, God's despising of those legal sacrifices is mentioned, and all that is ²² for their deliverance, εἰς σωτηρίαν: see note [b] ch. ii. ²³ The King's MS. adds here διὰ πίστεως, by fa th. ¹ the good, τῶν ἀγαθῶν. ² by the same sacrifices every year, κατ' ἀνιαντὸν ταῖς αὐταῖς θυσίαις. ³ sure they would have ceased: for many other copies read ἐπὶ ἂν ἐπαύσαντο, leaving out οὐκ; others read the οὐκ not, but by way of interrogation: so Theophylact. ⁴ a commemoration, ἀνάμνησις. And then he adds in the name of Christ speaking to God his Father, The offerings of legal sacrifices, I know, are not acceptable in thy sight, or able to reconcile thee to sinners. Therefore I, that is, Christ, come (according to what he had undertaken and bound himself by bond to his Father, in order to that great work of our redemption) to perform whatsoever thou, my God, shalt require of me. 8, 9. By which place of the psalmist, psalm xl, it is clear, that the sacrifices appointed by Moses's law are not of any force with God, but only the sufferings and death of Christ, the first being in that place wholly renounced and disclaimed, and only the second set up. And by this gracious will of God, (which Christ came to perform in the body which God prepared for him, ver. 5,) by offering that body once for all, and not by those legal sacrifices, which were oft repeated, all our sins are expiated, (see note [e] ch. ix,) and we received into God's favour, as many of us as by performing the condition of sincere obedience, still required of us, are rendered capable of that great benefit purchased for us by the sufferings of Christ. Again, under the law, the high priest was wont every year once, (see ch. vii. 27,) on the great day of expiation, to officiate and offer up yearly the same kinds of sacrifices, bullocks, &c., none of which have power to free the conscience from the guilt, or the offender from the punishment of sin. But Christ having by his own death made one complete sacrifice, which will suffice for the sins of all Exercising his regal office in men's hearts, and meaning to exercise it also over sin and death itself, in abolishing or subduing them both in the resurrection. For that one offering of his in his death hath done the whole work, once for all completely, for all obedient Christians, all sanctified disciples of his, (that having the intercession of Christ in heaven, the sending the Spirit, &c. adjoined with it, which are the grounds of furnishing us with all grace, &c.) 15—17. And of this the scriptures of the Old Testament do testify; for after he had premised, as the first thing promised in his covenant, the writing his laws in their hearts and on their minds, and revealing his will, and giving them his sanctifying grace for the reforming of their wicked lives, he then adds, as a second part of his covenant, the free pardon of all the sins and transgressions of their former life, whatsoever they have been. [g] be the death—] What the word φίρεσθαι signifies here, will be best guessed by the context, which looks to the validity of wills and testaments, and to the pleading of them in law, to receive benefit from them. This is expressed, ver. 17, by βεβαίa and ἰσχύει, and of this it is sufficiently known in all laws, what is here said, that as long as the testator lives there is no validity in his will, no pleading any thing from it, because voluntas est ambulatoria, say the lawyers, a man as long as he lives may change his will. In this sense may this sixteenth verse be thus interpreted, Ὅπου διαθήκη, Where there is a testament, that is, where a testament is produced or pleaded, or, where a testament is a testament, or, to the confirming of a testament to the proving of a will, ἀνάγκη, it is necessary, φίρεσθαι θάνατον τοῦ διατιθεμένου, that the death of the testator be brought, produced, alleged, brought into the court, testimony brought of it; for otherwise the will will not be βεβαίa, firm, nor ἰσχύειν, of force, ὅτε ζῆ, &c., as long as the testator is alive, or as long as there is no constat of his death. Thus is the word φίρειν and φίρεσθαι used sometimes in the New Testament in a forensical sense, as κατηγορίων φίρειν, to bring an accusation, 1 John xviii. 29, αἰτιάματα φίρειν, Acts xxv. 7, to bring accusations or charges against any, and φίρειν κρίσιν, to bring or enter a suit against one. And this being done once for all, there is no need of any further sacrifices or Judaical observances, for which some of you do so zealously contend. The doctrine then of the superlative excellence of Christ's priesthood above the Mosaical being thus evidenced, and the benefit of it being to us so great, even to give us liberty (see note [a] John vii.) to approach unto God in prayer, and apprehension of his promises, to have title to heaven itself, through what Christ hath purchased for us; (Which confidence and liberty to enter he hath helped us to by a way never known before, and that a clear or living way, in opposition to the dead shadows and rudiments under the law; which, I say, he hath helped us to, by passing himself from the outer to the inner tabernacle, from this life to another, breaking through the veil or partition between them, that is, through his flesh, being fain to die before he entered heaven;) And having one that intercedes for us at the right hand of God, and that hath taken upon him the whole care of his church, and of every faithful servant of his that shall adhere and keep close to him; Let us serve and worship him unfeignedly, being filled with faith, (see notes [a] [h] Luke i,) and having reformed our wicked lives in sincere resolution of heart, (without which there is no more reception to be hoped for at God's hands, Isaiah i. 15, than under the law there was liberty to come into the congregation for them that had touched any impure thing, till they were sprinkled with water by the priest,) and having our actions washed and pure also. Let not all the afflictions and dangers that can approach us move us so much as to waver in our Christian profession, which, having the hope of eternal life joined with it, is fortification enough against all the terrors of this world, having God's fidelity engaged to make good the promise to us. And let us weigh and consider all advantages that we can have upon one another, to provoke and excite one another to charity and all actions of piety, (such as are joining in the public service, ver. 25,) whensoever we see any thing of fainting or growing cold in any; And not suffer ourselves to proceed so far toward defection, as to give over the public assemblies, (the forsaking of which is not only deserting of the public profession of Christ, but also of the means of growth in grace,) but stir up one another to the performance of this and such other duties of confession toward Christ, by this argument among others, that now their deliverance from the persecutions which so discouraged them is near at hand, (by reason of the destruction of the enemies of the cross, the Jews and Gnostics, that have caused all these persecutions,) which therefore would make it unreasonable for them now to give over their constancy, and lose all, when they are so near the end of their voyage: (see Rom. xiii. 11, and James v. 7, 8.) ²² let us come to him—in fulness of faith, προσερχώματα—ἐν πληροφορία— ²³ hope, ἐλπίδος. [a] day approaching] The notion of ἡμέρα Χριστοῦ, the day of Christ, and ἡμέρα, day, and παρουσία Χριστοῦ, coming of Christ, and βασιλεία Θεοῦ, kingdom of God, and many the like, signifying that famous destruction of the Jews, hath been often mentioned. The other phrases have been gathered together from their dispersions through this book, note [c] on Matt. iii., and notes [b] [c] on Matt. xxiv., &c. Now for this of ἡμέρα, day, or ἡμέρα Χριστοῦ, day of Christ, although somewhat hath been said, note [d] on Rom. xiii., yet now more fully it must be explained. The force of the phrase may appear Zach. xiv. 1. Behold the day of the Lord cometh, and I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken, &c., and so in many places of the Old Testament: and accordingly in the New, Luke xvii. 24, the Son of man, ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ αὐτοῦ, in his day, that is, when he comes to destroy Jerusalem; so Matt. xxiv. 36, περὶ δὲ ἡμέρας ταύτης, of that day and hour, that is, the punctual time of this destruction (not of the day of the last judgment, but of somewhat that was to come in that age, ver. 34,) knows no man. So Luke xvii. 30, ἡμέρα, the day wherein the Son of man shall be revealed; and ver. 31, ἐν ἐκείνῃ ἡμέρᾳ, in that day; and ch. xix. 40, ἡμέραι, the days shall come in which thy enemies shall cast a trench. So Acts ii. 20, ἡμέρα Κυρίου μεγάλη καὶ ἐπιφανής, the great and conspicuous day of the Lord, from which none of the Jews should escape, but only the believers: in which place, as it is cited out of Joel, HAMMOND ANNOTT. VOL. II. A a [h] to put away] Ἀθετεῖν properly signifies to frustrate, as ἀθετεῖν βουλὴν Θεοῦ, to frustrate God's counsel, that is, deprive it of (evacuate) the end of it; and so here Christ's death is ἀθέτησις ἁμαρτίας, depriving sin of its end or design, which was first to get us into its power, to reign in our mortal bodies, and then maliciously to bind us over to punishment eternal; from both which Christ's death was designed to redeem us, from living in sin, and from being punished for it, according to the two benefits of Christ's death, signified in the sacraments, grace and pardon. [b] For if we sin wilfully—] What is meant by this phrase, Ἐκουσίως ἁμαρτάνοντες μετὰ τὸ λαβεῖν τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν τῆς ἀληθείας, sinning wilfully after receiving the acknowledgment of the truth, must be collected by a brief survey of every part of the phrase. First, ἁμαρτάνειν, to sin, as it signifies in general any kind or sort of sin, not only deliberate, but of ignorance, or passion, or surprise, and again, not only an act, but habit or course of sin, (and is to be determined to either by the context So Christ having yielded up himself for a sacrifice for us, and so borne our sins up to the cross with him, (died as our surety or proxy,) shall do this but once; when he comes again, it shall be in another manner: he shall not come to this earth to die again, but shall come in glory and power, (quite unlike that state wherein he was when he bare our sins,) to the relieving and bestowing deliverance on those who expect and wait for him, and constantly adhere to his commands. FOR the law having a shadow of ¹good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never ²with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. He that offended wilfully, and so capitally, under Moses's law, was not capable there of any mercy; but the thing being proved against him by competent testimony, he was to be put to death: How much sadder then will his condition be judged to be, who, against all light and conviction received and formerly assented to, shall thus fall off, and by doing so, join with those antichristian Gnostics and Jews, the crucifiers of Christ and enemies of Christians, which have despised Christ as vile and nothing worth, yea, as one that died as a malefactor, and so his blood no better than unclean, profane blood, not such as will bring any benefit to us, (as it was designed to do,) and scorn and reject the gospel itself, revealed to us by the apostles, authorized thereto by the descent of the Spirit on them, and other mercies in it so graciously bestowed on us? For we know it is the Lord that said, Vengeance &c.; and again, psalm cxxxv. 14, that God will avenge his people, (his church,) and consequently will avenge the cause of those which now suffer among you, against their persecutors, in his time, if you can patiently wait for it. To which purpose you may be armed with this consideration, that it is not near so formidable a thing to be persecuted and punished by mortal men as by him that lives for ever: (see Matt. x. 20.) Now that the being persecuted for Christianity should bring you to this defection, there is no reason, considering how, when you did first receive the faith, (see Rom. xiii. 11,) ye endured afflictions courageously, (and therefore ought not now at last to fail in any reason, lest you lose the fruit of all that;) Suffering most courageously and notoriously yourselves, and shewing your fellow-feeling and common concernment with them that were thus afflicted. For (first to the latter of them, see note [a] Matt. vii.) you expressed your sense of my sufferings (and perhaps of many others that were in like manner imprisoned) in mourning for me and relieving me; and (for the former) ye parted with your worldly wealth, which was violently torn from you, with perfect patience, nay, rejoicing that you were thought worthy to suffer for Christ's sake, and considering and assuring yourselves that such sufferings as these yield you (and will bring you by way of reward) a more valuable and durable kind of wealth—eternal bliss in heaven. Having therefore endured so much upon these grounds of the certain retribution that all your sufferings bring with them, be not beaten out of your fearlessness (see note [a] John vii.) and patience and Christianity at last. For Christianity being a life of faith and hope, fastened on future promises, both those of this life, release from persecutions, and those of another life, eternal bliss, which will not be had till we have done what God appoints us in the interim to do or suffer, it is clear that patience is necessary for all Christians at all times, and particularly for you at this. For the time is now very near at hand, that Christ (see note [a] Matt. xi.) shall come as a judge to destroy the enemies, and as a reliever to rescue all faithful disciples, (see note [a]); and though you may think he hath stayed something long, yet now he will come very speedily to that work. Meanwhile the true, constant Christian shall by the strength of his faith live, and hold out against all these terrors, sustain himself by his faith (see Rom. i. 17); and he that doth not so, but is affrighted and driven by afflictions out of his hold and profession, (as now ye are like to be,) God will certainly reject and hate such a man, never accept of such temporary obedience. [c] draw back] What is here meant by ὑποστέλλεσθαι we have two ways of discerning; first, by considering the word in the few other places of the New Testament: Acts xx. 20, οὐδὲν ὑπεστειλάμην τῶν συμφερόντων τοῦ μὴ ἀναγγεῖλαι ὑμῖν, I did not withdraw, or hold back, from declaring to you any of those things that were profitable for you, and almost in the same words and sense, ver. 27, οὐ γὰρ ὑπεστειλάμην τοῦ μὴ ἀναγγεῖλαι, &c. I did not withdraw, or withhold, myself from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. So in Phavorinus, ὑποστειλάμενος, ὑποκρυψάμενος, hiding himself, getting out of the way, and ὑπεστειλάμην, παρ- But as Christ told his disciples, that in times of persecution he that would save his life should be the most likely to lose it, and he that would venture the utmost for Christ's sake should be most likely to thrive, and secure himself even in this world; so it And that you may know to what your being Christians, and your professing the faith of Christ, obligeth you in this matter, you may consider what faith is, a confident dependence on God for the performance of his promise, a being convinced of the truth of those things of which we have no ocular or sensible demonstration. [a] substance] The use of this word ὑπόστασις, both here and in the other places of the New Testament, will appear by observing the Greek rendering of the Hebrew יחל and תוחלת from it. The word signifies to hope, and in Piel to expect with some confidence, and so to stay and wait for any thing, generally rendered by the Targum ואירך, and he expected, Gen. viii. 10 and 12, but sometimes by מחצפין, ausi sunt, Ezek. xiii. 6, they took confidence. Now this word, Mic. v. 7, is by the Greek translators rendered ὑποστῇ, where the Hebrew יחל לבני אדם, he shall hope in the sons of men, is by the Targum rendered מכתר, he shall expect, we render it, wait for them. The sense beareth depending on them for aid, and so subsisting in them, and that is the literal notation of the ὑποστῇ. Thus likewise the noun תוחלת, ἐλπίς, hope, Lam. iii. 18, expectation, waiting, is rendered ὑπόστασις, ps. xxxix. 8, and so in the books of Esdras, 2 Esdr. viii. They who have not ὑπόστασιν καλῶν ἔργων, the hope, or confidence, of good works (that μέγας And that you may not look on this faith as a new and a strange thing, ye may through all times see the examples of it among pious men, which may excite you to the practice and exercise of it at this time, now you have so much need of it, ch. x. 36. For indeed ye may observe that this was it by which the ancients or fathers of the Old Testament received a testimony of God's approbation of and respect unto them. One act of faith it is by which we rightly apprehend the omnipotent power of God in creating the whole world, heaven and earth, merely by a word, saying, Let there be light, &c. and there was light; and so by the same act of faith we see God can and doth produce effects quite distant from the ordinary course of nature, for so all this visible world was framed, not out of things conspicuous to our eyes, as now a man of a man, a tree from a kernel, &c. but by the mere command of God out of nothing, or out of the earth, which is described as an invisible chaos of confusion, Gen. i. 2. (And then why may we not believe God's promise in the like manner at this time, that he is able to bring you deliverance out of your present persecutions, upon your continuing constant unto him, by those ways that are least discernible to you, merely by acts of his own power and wisdom?) [b] not made of things which do appear] Μὴ φαινόμενα, things that appear not seems to denote the earth, Gen. i. 2, in that state when it is said to be tohu vabohu, without form and void, or, as the Septuagint render it, ἀόρατος, invisible, not to be seen. Another act of faith it was (appliable also to your present purpose) which was discernible in Abel, By faith Enoch did that which was acceptable in the sight of God, and was rewarded by God by being translated to heaven, instead of dying. (And that signifies that they that walk and persevere in the ways of God, when they go out of this world, they are never the worse for it, they are removed to a place of endless bliss.) And this acceptance of God was a proof that he had faith, for otherwise his actions could not have been acceptable to God; for without believing the power and wisdom and justice of God, it is impossible to do any thing that can please God, or be rewarded by him: for he that undertakes the service or worship of God in any kind must believe that he is God, and that he rewards all his faithful servants that do what they are enabled to do toward the search and performance of his will. And he that doth believe this, what should ever tempt him to forsake or disobey him, when his sincere, faithful performances, how dear soever they cost him here, are sure to be abundantly rewarded by God, and his forsaking and falling off to bring judgments and ruin upon him? A like example of faith we have in Noah, who believing the threats, and heeding the warning of God that foretold the drowning of the world, and assuring himself that God would destroy and drown A like act of faith was Abraham's obedience to God's command of leaving his country, and going whithersoever God should direct him, not knowing whither it was, only receiving a promise from God, that his posterity should be the possessors of that place whither he was appointed to go, but no way assured that himself should ever be owner of any part of it. And accordingly a like act of faith it was in him, that though he sojourned in that land which was promised him, in the same manner as he should if he and his seed had had nothing to do with it, (he and his sons and his sons' sons dwelling in it in tabernacles, erected for a transitory passage through it, and not in houses, as in a place of possession, and thus they lived all their lives long till Jacob was removed into Egypt,) yet he firmly believed that his seed should possess that land, and was himself very well satisfied without it; Upon this ground of Christian faith, that God had for him an abiding firm building, which after a pilgrim's life expected him in another world, (see By the like belief and relying on God's power And as the reward of their faith of this, they became so fruitful, that from one Abraham, (called by that title of one, Mal. ii. 15,) and that at a time when he was past power of getting children, there yet came a most numerous progeny, according to the promise of God made to him, and laid hold on and depended on by his faith. And this his numerous posterity did not till the time of Joshua come to enjoy this promised land of Canaan: only as Abraham went on cheerfully, as believing that four hundred years after, the promises should be performed to his seed, so did they comfort themselves with the assurance that their posterity should enjoy them if they did not, and meanwhile calling themselves guests and strangers in that promised land, Gen. xxiii. 4, and xlvii. 9, and not possessors of it: (which is an enforcement of that constancy which is now called for of Christians in persecution, upon strength of that promise of the approaching coming of Christ to rescue them, which in case it should not come in their days, yet being so sure to come to their posterity so much sooner than the Canaan came to Abraham's posterity, this may be matter of faith and encouragement to Christians as reasonably as the assured expectation of those promises was to Abraham and his posterity.) [c] and were persuaded] The words καὶ πεισθέντες, and being persuaded, which are added in some copies between ἰδόντες seeing, and καὶ ἀσπασάμενοι, and embracing, are wanting in the ancient MSS. of the greatest reputation, and, besides others mentioned by other men, in a very ancient one of Magd. Coll. in Oxford. L. 16. De Bell, Jud. I. 2, c. 12. And this language of theirs, calling themselves sojourners in Canaan, and not possessors of it, signifies that they did not think themselves at home, but that they were in pursuit of a country. And that not their own country, Chaldæa, from whence Abraham first went out upon God's command, for he and his posterity had many seasons to have gone back thither, if that had been the country they looked after. ⁸ even, καὶ. ⁹ dead in these respects, ταῦτα νεοκρωμῖνον. ¹⁰ By, or, According to faith all these died, Κατὰ πίστιν ἀπέθανον— ¹¹ sojourners on the land, παρεπίσθομαι ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. ¹² if they had mentioned, εἰ—ἐμνημόνεον. ¹³ they had, εἶχον. But now it is clear that the country which they professed to expect was that promised to their posterity, which being not come till after this life of theirs, was a type of heaven; and in having made this provision for them, God is most justly said to be the God of Abraham, &c. for whom he made so rich a preparation, destining the land of Canaan, and in that a famous city, Jerusalem, (though it was not yet imaginable how it should be built,) for their posterity, and in that mystically foreshewing an eternal city and kingdom, the Canaan and Jerusalem above, which they should have which continued constant to Christ, and obtained not the promises in this life. 17, 18. Another eminent act of faith it was in Abraham, that upon God's command to sacrifice his only son Isaac, he presently and readily obeyed, took him and carried him to the mountain, and was ready to have offered him up if God had not stopped him; and having entertained and embraced and firmly believed the promises of a numerous seed and people that should spring from him, and having no other son but this from whom they should spring, nor possibility in nature, nor promise above nature, that he should have any more children, but a plain affirmation that this people, which should be counted his seed, to whom the promises belonged, should come from Isaac, he did yet absolutely obey that command of God's, in resolving to kill that son on whom all those promises depended, and yet never doubted of the performance of the promises; Resolving with himself, that rather than the promise should not be performed which was made to him of a numerous posterity, to spring particularly from Isaac, God, who was able to raise from the dead, would so raise Isaac when he should have killed him; having withal a kind of pledge to assure him that he would do that, because when he was conceived and born to him, it was a kind of coming from the dead, viz. from Sarah's womb, when she was past age of childbearing, and from himself, who in this respect of getting children was mortified and dead also, vv. 11, 12. (And this again is an example to encourage and confirm the faith of Christians, that in obedience to Christ they continue constant to death itself, or the ¹⁴ having admitted, or, entertained the promises he— τὰς ἐπαγγελίας ἀναδεξάμενος. ¹⁵shall the seed be called to thee, κληθήσεται σοι σπέρμα. ¹⁶in a figure he had also received him, αὐτὸν καὶ ἐν παραβολῇ ἰκομίσαστο. An act of faith also it was in Isaac, that, after that manner that is storied of him, he blessed his two sons, Jacob and Esau, that is, prayed for blessings on them, nay, as a prophet, foretold from God what should befall the posterity of each of them; first, assuring himself that the promise made to Abraham should be fulfilled in Jacob, Gen. xxviii. 4, 5; and so that what he had done, though through error, mistaking Jacob for Esau, would yet certainly be performed to him by God, Gen. xxvii. 33. 37. And for Esau, he foretold also of his posterity, that at length they should be freed from their subjection to the Jews, ver. 39, which was a kind of blessing of him also, although it were not performed to him personally, but to his posterity many years after. (And the like faith will it be now in the Christians, that shall assure themselves that God will now bless and preserve the faithful, constant believers, give them deliverances from their pressures, although they be not yet present but future.) [d] By faith Isaac blessed Jacob] Some difficulty here is, where it is said of Isaac that by faith concerning things to come he blessed Jacob and Esau, to what part of the story in Genesis it shall belong. In ch. xxvii. he blesseth Jacob, ver. 28, 29. God give thee of the dew of heaven—Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee—But it will, first, be hard to affirm, that he here blessed Jacob by faith, when it is evident he knew not that it was Jacob whom he thus blessed; and secondly, Isaac thinking verily that it was Esau whom he thus blessed, it could not be an act of faith in him, or reconcilable with that which God had revealed to Rebecca, ch. xxv. 23, (that the elder should serve the younger,) thus to pronounce or foretell of Esau, that he should be lord over his brethren. For these two reasons it will not be fit to refer this of the apostle to that part of the story wherein blind Isaac, contrary to his intention, thus blessed Jacob. The next passage in the story will, I suppose, be much more commodious for the turn, when upon Esau's coming with his venison Isaac finds himself to have been abused, and trembling very exceedingly, tells him that Jacob had brought him venison already, and he had eaten and blessed him, yea and he shall be blessed, ver. 33, and again, ver. 37, that he had made Jacob his lord, and given him all his brethren for his servants. Where Isaac discerning what he had done, though by mistake, remembers the oracle that God had delivered before their birth, and considering how punctually the blessing thus given to Jacob by him did agree to that, he doth now by faith resolve, that so it should certainly be, that what his affection had designed to Esau, was by God promised to Jacob, and consequently should irreversibly belong to him, and thereupon he confirms it anew to Jacob, Yea and he shall be blessed, and I have made him thy lord. And so this was the blessing wherewith by faith Isaac blessed Jacob. Then for his blessing of Esau, that visibly follows, ver. 39, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth—(and in the body of it again inserted a farther confirmation of Jacob's blessing, by telling Esau, thou shalt serve thy brother, ver. 40,) and it shall come to pass that when thou shalt have the dominion, thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck. Where it must farther be supposed, that Isaac, beyond that prediction before their birth, that the elder should serve the younger, had received from God another oracle concerning his two sons, that as the posterity of Jacob, the Jews, should have the preeminence and dominion for some time over the Idumæans, the posterity of Esau, so in process of time the Jews should be brought down, and so the Idumæans be quitted of that yoke; and accordingly Isaac foretelling this is here as truly said to have by faith blessed Esau. And this perhaps was it upon which Isaac before had pronounced that blessing upon him which he took to be Esau, be lord over thy brethren—which though in respect of the times next ensuing it were true of Jacob, (and accordingly was in God's providence thus directed to him,) yet in respect of the latter times, when the Jews should be brought low, was to be truly applicable to Esau, and so might by faith be designed by Isaac to him. Thus Jacob, a little before his death, rose and set himself up upon his bed, and leaning upon his staff, (which was an emblem of faith,) depending and relying firmly upon God's promise, he prayed and worshipped God, and blessed prophetically Manasseh and Ephraim, foretold how God should deal with them and the tribes that sprang from them after his and their death. [e] top of his staff] The Hebrew מטה signifies both a bed and a staff, perhaps anciently the very same word for both, though now grammarians have pointed it diversely, and made a difference of sound also betwixt them. The Jerusalem Targum reads it, Laudes Dei cecinit By the same faith and assurance that God would make good this promise of giving Canaan to Abraham's seed, though it were not yet given, Joseph, before his death a little, mentioned the Israelites' going out of Egypt, and commanded that when they went his bones should be carried with them: which argued his assurance, without all doubt, that they should possess that promised land, and be delivered out of the Egyptian thraldom that they were for some years to lie under. Another act of faith it was in Moses's parents to break through all fear, to hide the child, and endeavour to save him in spite of the king's bloody ¹⁷ By faith concerning things to come, Πίστει περὶ μελλόντων. προσεκύνησεν ἐπὶ. ¹⁸ worshipped upon, An act of faith it was in Moses, that when he came to age he would not accept the honour of being adopted by Pharaoh's daughter; Choosing rather to endure any affliction that should fall on the Israelites than to enjoy all the pleasures and advantages of a palace, with the guilt of that cruel sin of persecuting the children of God, which he could not escape doing if he lived in that court when he came to be of age; And counting that reproach which Christ and Christians endure now, and which the children of Israel, the anointed of the Lord, psalm cv. 15, then endured in Egypt, (being most reproachfully afflicted and oppressed,) a far more desirable thing than all the wealth and power in Egypt; looking upon the great difference of rewards between those two states in another world, wealth and greatness and persecuting God's children being attended, as Dives, with flames, and affliction and reproach with heaven and bliss, like Lazarus. (And the like faith will it be in the Christian, to renounce all those secular advantages that the Gnostics now promise men that will forsake the pure faith and join with them in compliance with and assisting the persecutors; and rather to suffer any the sharpest persecutions from the Jews than thus join and concur with them in persecuting the Christians.) So after it was also an act of his faith and obedience to the word of God delivered him in the bush, that, being threatened by the king, if he should ever any more mention the going out of the people of Israel, Exod. x. 28, he went out from the king courageously, and having told Pharaoh that he would never treat with him more about it, he conducted the Israelites out of Egypt, depending constantly on God, and as firmly as if he had seen him present to secure and defend him. (And the like faith it is to confess ¹⁹ comely, ἀστεῖον. ²⁰ being grown big, μέγας γενόμενος. ²¹ to have the temporary enjoyment, or, delight of sin, πρόσκαιρον ἔχειν ἁμαρτίας ἀπόλαυσιν. ²² was constant, ἐκατρέπασε. Another act of faith it was and obedience to God in Moses, that he did that which he did about the passover, and sprinkling the side-posts of the door, to deliver by that means all the firstborn of the Israelites; (by which was also typified the redemption wrought by Christ, and that which is now approaching foretold and promised by him, that he that endureth to the end shall escape, that the believers shall be sealed and secured before the destruction come out against this people: see Rev. iv. 7, &c.) And an act of faith it was in the people of Israel, that they ventured into the Erythraean sea, and went through part of it as if it had been firm ground; whereas the Egyptians, persecuting and trying to follow them, were drowned. (And the like faith will now secure the constant sufferers, whilst their persecutors are overwhelmed and destroyed by the same means that gives them deliverance.) [f] passed through] Διαβαίνειν doth not here signify to go from one side to the other, quite through, or across the sea, (for the Israelites' journeying makes it appear that they did not so,) but to go in into part of the channel, Exod. xiv. 22, and pass on there a good way in the midst, v. 29, and then to come out again on the same side; for so the Israelites did, as appears by the story. This is expressed psalm cxxxvi. 14, by God's dividing the Red sea, and leading them בְּהוֹכּוּ, διὰ μέσου αὐτῆς, by, or through, the midst of it, agreeably to what is now said. [g] the Red sea] That sea through part of which the Israelites passed (and in which the Ægyptians were drowned) is in the Hebrew styled וּמִ-סוֹף, mare algosum, the sea that was so full of weeds, &c. (See ps. cvi. 7, and cxxxvi. 13.) By the side or shore of this sea did the posterity of Esau or Edom dwell. Now Edom is by the Septuagint called Ἐρυθρὸς, red, because as that comes from the Hebrew אדם, red, with a very little change of one letter inserted אֱדוֹם, so from ἐρυθρὸς, red, doth the word Ἐρυθρὸς also vary as little. From hence also (and not from Erythræus, a king drowned there, as Diodorus Siculus saith) it is that this sea is by them rendered ἐρυθρὰ θάλασσα, in those places of the psalmist (and elsewhere) where the Hebrew only have וּמִ-סוֹף, the weedy sea, and accordingly it is here retained ἐρυθρὰ θάλασσα, meaning that Edumean sea which by analogy would rather be styled Ἐρυθραία than Ἐρυθρὰ, the Erythræan or Edumæan, than the Red sea. An act of faith it was in Joshua, and the people in obedience to him, to go about Jericho seven days together with the ark before them, upon which followed the falling of the walls of it. (And the like in the Christians now, to trust confidently in God's deliverance, although they use no artifices, or secular policies, or means of their own to work it for them.) An act of faith it was in Rahab, who had formerly been an idolatress and an harlot, (and now kept an inn or victualling-house,) to entertain the spies sent by the Israelites safely, believing that God whom they worshipped to be the true God, whereupon she was saved alive, when the rest of the incredulous idolatrous people of that land were destroyed. (And the like faith will it be in them now that shall use all kindness and fidelity to the persecuted Christians, and the doing thus will be much a more probable way to secure them that do it than all the Gnostic treacheries and compliances with the persecutors.) Others were so favoured by God, that the fire did them no hurt when they (that is, the three children) were cast into it; others escaped present danger of being killed by the sword, as David from Saul, Eliah and Michaiah from Ahab, the Jews in Esther from Haman; others were recovered from desperate diseases, as Job and Hezekiah; others became wonderfully courageous in fighting, as Jonathan, &c. and routed the armies of the heathen Canaanites, &c. very often. Some women (as the widow of Sarepta, 1 Kings xvii. 21, and the Shunamitish woman, 2 Kings iv.) had their children restored from death to life, upon their entertaining the prophets of God, cherishing and relieving God's servants, Elias and Elisha; others when racked and tormented for the acknowledgment of the truth had no desire to be spared, but refused to be delivered when they might, merely by the strength of faith believing a resurrection to life eternal after death, and looked upon that as much more desirable than a present remission of torments. Thus the mother and seven children, 2 Mac. vi. 19. 30, and ch. vii. 9. [h] tortured] What is here meant by τυμπανίζεσθαι, I shall propose by way of conjecture, by these steps and degrees. That this punishment was that inflicted by Antiochus on the Maccabees there is little question, the many circumstances here agreeing with those there do make it manifest: as, first, the word τυμπανίζεσθαι here and there; secondly, their not accepting deliverance here, set down there distinctly, 2 Macc. vi. 30; then, thirdly, the mention of a better resurrection here, compared with that their comfort there, ch. vii. 9; and, fourthly, the ἱμπαιγμοί, contumelious usages here, ver. 36, and there 2 Macc. vii. 7, such as are mentioned 1 Sam. xxxi. 4, and are defined by Sophocles in Antigona, Τὸν θανῶν' ἐκικτανεῖν, καὶ ἐναλλεσθαι τῷ κειμένῳ καὶ ἐφυβρίζειν, "to kill and insult on the dead, and use him contumeliously;" so, fifthly, μάστιγες, stripes, here and there, ver. 30, &c.; sixthly, the πείρα ἱμπαιγμῶν, trial of contumelies, here, and there the narration how those ἱμπαιγμοί were to try whether they would persist or no; seventhly, the word, whether ἐπειράσθησαν, tried, or ἐπυράσθησαν, scorched, here ver. 37. If it be the former, then it refers to πείρα, trial, forementioned; if the latter, then to the burning them alive, and frying them in a pan, τηγανισμὸς, 2 Macc. vii. 5. This being premised for the general explication of this word and those that follow, it is in the next place observable that Aristophanes hath this passage, Ὦ τύμπακα καὶ κύφωνες, Others, as Michaiah and Jeremiah and the Maccabees, had patience tried by whipping, very re- [i] were tempted] Some copies read ἐπυρώθησαν, others have ἐπυράσθησαν. The truth is, ἐπειράσθησαν, which is the ordinary reading, seems not to be agreeable, after πείραν ἔλαβον, they received trial, &c., and neither the Syriac nor Chrysostom (and they that follow him) have this word, or any thing for it; so that it is likely it came out of the margin into the text, and then it will be doubtful, but not much material, which reading is to be preferred. [d] saving of the soul] The word περιποίησις signifies acquiring, purchasing, getting, possessing. So περιποίησις δόξης, purchasing of glory, 2 Thess. ii. 14, περιποίησις σωτηρίας, purchasing, or acquiring, of salvation, 1 Thess. v. 9. But Phavorinus, who hath that notion of it, gives us also περιποιήσαντες ἀντὶ διασώσαντες, saving, delivering; and so being here set opposite to ἀπώλεια, destruction, and joined with ψυχῆς, of the soul, or life, it seems most probably to signify as κτῶσθαι ψυχὴν, to possess the soul, Luke xxi. 19, (which is the same with περιποίησις ψυχῆς, saving the soul here; so saith Phavorinus, Κτῆσις, περιποίησις, possessing is purchasing) is σώζειν ψυχὴν, to save, or preserve the life, Mark viii. 35, Luke ix. 24. See note [d] on Eph. ii., and note [c] on 1 Pet. ii. [k] made perfect] What is the meaning of this κρεῖττόν τι, somewhat better, which this author saith was by God foreseen, and reserved for the faithful, constant Christians, will best be understood by the former verse 39. These all μαρτυρηθέντες διὰ πίστεως, being commended, or having received testimony, or perhaps being martyred, by their faith, οὐκ ἐκομίσαντο τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν, received not the promise. Where first it must be observed who οὗτοι πάντες, all these, were: most distinctly the Maccabees, mentioned immediately before, ver. 36—38; but not so as to exclude, or not to comprehend those others which were set down as examples of faith before them, for they also must be contained in the οὗτοι πάντες, all these. For the Maccabees, next before mentioned, these are in the Jews' stories commended for their constancy in adhering to God's commands, or the Jewish laws, in spite of the cruelest persecutors and tormentors, and were really martyred, or put to death, lost their lives, διὰ πίστεως, by their faith or constancy; and of these it is said, they received not the promise, God having foreseen, or reserved, somewhat better for us, that is, God having reserved for the Christian church some performance of promise which he had not afforded those former. By this it is already apparent that eternal bliss in another world was not the matter of this promise, both because this was not it that they could be evidenced to have missed by their being tormented and put to death, but that which it was more sure they received, because they were so ill-used here; and, secondly, because if it were supposed to be true (as some vainly conceive), that those that died before Christ did not attain their bliss till after Christ's resurrection, yet it will be acknowledged by all that they then received it, and then it will follow that the ἡμεῖς, the Christians, had not κρεῖττόν τι, any advantage of them that lived before, in that respect, those obtaining the bliss as soon or sooner than they, and no torment or temporary pains being supposable for such martyrs between the day of their sufferings and their attaining to bliss, wherein these latter can by any be thought to exceed them. It follows then, that as the promise which they by suffering received not, was some promise of this life, so the κρεῖττόν τι, the somewhat better, was somewhat which the Christians should enjoy in this life. In the next place, then, we may have another way of finding out what this promise was wherein the Christians were to have the advantage of the former, by looking on ver. 13, where of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, it is said in like manner that they died receiving not the promise. That promise was clearly the promised land, that Canaan, the type of the Christians' rest, or deliverance from their enemies, (see note [c] on Heb. iii.) which they received not in their lifetime; and though their posterity afterward did receive it, yet some promises there were made unto Abraham and his seed, which even they that attained the promised land did not receive. And what were they? Among the promises made to Abraham (not personally to him, but to his seed) this is one, Gen. xxii. 17, that his seed should possess the gates of his enemies. This it seems was looked upon by all the Jews as a special part of the promise to Abraham, repeated by all the prophets, Luke i. 70, that they should be saved from their enemies, and from the hands of all that hate them, ver. 71, and this distinctly there mentioned by Zechariah, as a special part of the covenant and oath made to Abraham, ver. 72, 73, that he would grant them, that being delivered without fear from the hands of their enemies, they might serve God in holiness, &c., ver. 74, 75. Wherefore we having such a multitude of examples of faith and constancy in the ancients, which may serve as so many encouragements and obligations to hearten and incite us to our course, let us lay aside all worldly love and fear, that may hinder and encumber us in our way, and how fair pretences soever we may have to forsake Christ, yet let us not fall off from our constancy, but proceed cheerfully, and per- ²⁷ were burnt with hot irons. ²⁸ in want, distressed, ill handled, ὑστεροῦμενοι, θλιβόμενοι, κακουχούμενοι. ²⁹ received testimony, μαρτυρηθέντες. ³⁰ God foreseeing somewhat better concerning us, that they might not be perfected without us, τοῦ Θεοῦ περὶ ἡμῶν κρεῖττόν τι προβλεψαμένοι. ¹ that hath such fair pretences. ² perseverance, ὑπομονῆς. [a] lay aside every —] This verse is wholly agonistical, (as appears by the ἀγῶνα, combat or race, mentioned in the close of it,) and must be explained in every part by proportion with the ἀγῶνες, or games, among the Grecians. These agones were sacred and solemnly kept, and in them there was a kind of assizes or court of judicature. He that proposed the combat (to which refers προκείμενος ἀγών, the proposed race in the end of the verse) that set the laws of the agones, and adjudged the crown to the conqueror, was called βραβεντής or κριτής, the judge; and to him Christ is here compared, who as he is the ἀρχηγός, leader, that goes foremost, and shews us the way in our Christian race, so he is τελειωτής, ver. 2, the rewarder and crowner of them that conquer. So again, he that proclaimed the laws of the combat was called κήρυξ, the praco or cryer, 1 Cor. ix. 27, and they that were set at the goal to discern and pronounce who came first thither (and so was conqueror) were μάρτυρες, witnesses, and as they brought in evidence, so the crown was awarded by the judge; and not only they, but all that stood about as spectators, to behold and commend the courage and constancy of the athletæ, were μάρτυρες, witnesses, also. And of them there was always good store, a great concourse of people, from whence they were called πανηγύριες, frequentia, populous meetings, to behold the games, to see who were conquerors in them. To these last are here compared those great examples of faith and patience, which had been mentioned in the former chapter, who being now at their journey's end, their goal, their rest, are supposed to look on the present Christian racers, both to give evidence whether they run well or no, and with their commendations to hearten and encourage them in their combats, that they faint not or give over. And there being so many here mentioned in the former chapter, they are fitly called νέφος, a cloud, as any great number or troop of men is rhetorically called a cloud, and that very frequently among authors. And because the spectators in those games stood on either side of the race or stadium, or otherwise round about, at the other games of wrestling, &c., or at a theatre; it is therefore styled περικείμενον νέφος, an encompassing cloud of witnesses, or such as is placed round about us, to look and testify how men behave themselves in their race. It is farther sufficiently known, that they that were to perform any of those exercises, used all care to fit and prepare themselves for it by diet before, so as it might fit them to perform their course, and at the time, by having nothing on that might hinder or foreslow them. To this purpose they did carefully rid themselves of all weight, made themselves as light as they could, and lest their very garments might hang in their way, incumber them in their course, they generally put them off, and ran naked, γυμνοὶ καὶ ἀχίτωνες, saith mPorphyry, naked and without their garments, from whence they were also called γυμνασταί, referring to their naked running. To this way of preparing themselves to the race the author περὶ ἄποχ. 1. 1. And for our encouragement let us look on our Saviour Jesus Christ, who in himself hath given an example of the enduring of the highest afflictions, and will be sure to crown all those that follow after him, hath led us as a captain in this march of faith, having in his eye that reward of his sufferings, a numerous seed, Isaiah liii, a church of pious livers, and an exaltation expected from God for himself, Phil. ii. 9; and in intuition of these, going before us courageously through all assaults; and being now in the possession of all power in heaven, hath undertaken to reward whatsoever we do or suffer for him. For consider his patience and perseverance, how heavy pressures he suffered from his enemies, and by considering of him you will be engaged to persevere also, never to leave the field or turn cowards. [d] resisted unto blood] Of the umbratilis pugna, or σκιαμαχία, beating the air, or προπυγμή, we have formerly spoken, on 1 Cor. ix. 26, the first lighter skirmishes before the stata pugna, or set combat, the beginning of the bloody fight. To this the apostle here refers, when he saith, ye have not yet resisted μέχρις αἵματος, as far as blood, that is, as far as the old athletæ were wont, who after the προπυγμή, or brandishing of their arms or weapons, at last fell to downright blows with their cæstus in their hands, which ordinarily brought the blood with them. This the apostle applies to their spiritual agones, (τὰ τῆς ψυχῆς Ὀλύμπια ἀγωνισάμενοι, the Olympics of the soul, in Porphyry's style, and here, πρὸς τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἀνταγωνισάμενοι, combating against sin,) that they had no reason to be disheartened with Christ's permitting them to be afflicted and persecuted, as they were; for there are far greater and bloodier combats against sin, such as bring blood and death; and against those they must be provided, in comparison of which theirs yet are but σκιαμαχίαι or skirmishes. For it is an effect in God of paternal love, that on his beloved children and servants he inflicts punishments for their further amendment; and it is an argument of his approving and acknowledging them for his own that he dealeth thus sharply with them, permitting them to be persecuted. And therefore in that ye are afflicted or punished ye are to reckon yourselves dealt with as children by their parents; for among men ye shall seldom ever hear of a child that hath not sometimes been chastened by his parent. It were a sadder condition on the other side, and an argument, that though ye are in God's family ye are not owned and acknowledged by him, (and so [e] peaceable fruit] Agreeably to the former agonistical expressions in the beginning of the chapter is here added γεγυμνασμένοι, exercised in these gymnasia of afflictions, and the receiving of their βραβείον, or reward, styled here καρπὸς δικαιοσύνης, the fruit of righteousness, that fruit which belongs to all righteous men now under the gospel, (or else according to a singular notion of δικαιοσύνη, righteousness, for felicity, mentioned in the note on 2 Tim. iv. [a],) and emphatically εἰρηνικὸς καρπὸς, referring, as the learned P. Faber hath conceived, to the corona oleagina, "the olive crown," (that tree being an emblem and symbolum of peace,) of which the Olympian crowns for their victors were ordinarily made. But of that see more, James iii. note [g]. Taking all care that ye walk like Christians, that ye do not fall off from the gospel state, (see note Lest any of their unclean infusions come in among you, or lest there be any so profane, that, like Esau, through hunger or any such pressure, he part with the priesthood and primogeniture, that is, to avoid the afflictions of this life here, he forsake Christianity itself, and for the present, to get a little ease from persecution, he forsake the public meetings for God's service, Heb. x. 25, and all other privileges attending it. [f] profane person, as Esau] Why Esau, in selling his birthright, is here called profane, will appear by that known observation among the Jews, that as long as God was served within private walls, before the erecting of the tabernacle and temple, and institution of priesthood, the right of priesthood in every family was annexed to the primogeniture; the firstborn was still the priest. Thus, Exod. xxiv. 5, when it is said that Moses sent the young men of the children of Israel to offer burnt offerings and peace offerings unto the Lord, the Chaldee paraphrase renders them בוכרי, the firstborn; and Uzielides adds this scholion, "because as yet the Aaronical priests were not instituted." This, say the Jews, (and it is reasonable to believe them,) was it that made Jacob so ambitious of the πρωτοτόκια, or privileges of the primogeniture: and if Baal Haturim, on Gen. xxviii. out of Beresith Rabba, may be heeded, this was it which Jacob desired to have confirmed to him by God in those words, Gen. xxviii. 20, If God will be Which profaneness of Esau's in selling at so small a rate the privileges of the firstborn, (to which the priesthood was annexed,) was so provoking a sin in God's sight, that after, when he would have gotten the blessing from Isaac, and besought him to reverse his act, to do otherwise than he had done, to give him the blessing, that is, the promise of Canaan for his seed, (when he had with error, but withal by the ordering of Divine Providence, given it to Jacob,) and thereupon cried with an exceeding bitter cry, Gen. xxvii. 34, he was not able to prevail with him with all this importunity; which signifies how impossible it is for them who have been thus profane as to forsake Christ, or that which is most sacred, the public assemblies of his service, (resembled by Esau's selling his birthright,) for the removing a little pressure, to get the reward of a Christian, happiness here and heaven hereafter, (resembled by the blessing,) though they would never so fain get it, and express vehement sorrow that they cannot. This is enough to enforce the great admonition of this epistle, of holding fast the faith, and not falling off for persecutions, to Judaism and heresy: for ¹⁶ lest there be any root of bitterness springing up with poison, and thereby many be infect- ed: see note [b] Acts viii. ¹⁷ dish of meat, Βρώσαις. ¹⁸ desired to inherit, θίλων κληρονομῆσαι. ¹⁹ earnestly, ἐκζητῆσαι. HAMMOND, VOL. II. C C A trumpet to summon all to appear before God, and the voice of God heard in a dreadful manner, so dreadful that the people desired they might hear no more of it. 20, 21. A token of the great unsupportableness of the Mosaical law, which was further signified by the severity threatened to any beast that should touch that mount whence the law was given, and the so formidable aspect of those things that appeared there, that Moses himself could not choose but tremble, (as is received by tradition of the Jews, (as many other things, see note [a] 2 Tim. iii,) though not mentioned in Exodus:) which sure may take off any man among you from falling in love with Judaism. But ye are admitted to the Christian church, and by that to the liberty of approaching heaven, of claiming right to it, that substance of which the mount Sion and Jerusalem (called the city of the living God) was but an image or type, where there are so many troops of angels, ten thousand in a troop, with whom all Christians have communion in the church; To the dignity of being members of that congregation of Jews and Gentiles, where angels and men join together, and make up the assembly of the church, made up of apostles, the firstfruits of the faith, Rom. viii. 23, and all those eminent, faithful persons whose names are honoured and recorded in the book of God, nay, to the presence of God himself, and all the saints that are now in bliss; [g] general assembly] The word πανήγυρις signifies properly θεάτρον, συνάθροισις, a theatre, a multitude of people come together, as in the Grecian games, to behold their agones and their sacra. Hence doth it signify also any frequentia populi, but especially a promiscuous mixed multitude from all parts, and, in a sacred sense, an assembly of worshippers of all sorts and countries; which is a particular notation of the Christian church, the net which gathers up good and bad, (that is, Jews, which were called the only people of God before, and Gentiles, which were proverbially called ἁμαρτωλοί, sinners,) is made up of a company of all nations, nay takes in the angels themselves named immediately before, and who are said to sing, and join with us in our public assemblies. [h] firstborn] The firstborn had not only the privilege of the priesthood before the law, but always since, the פישנים, the double portion, διπλή τιμή, the portion not only of possessions but of dignity and honour above the rest of the brethren. And proportionably the apostles, which were either simply the first converted to the faith of Christ, or else preferred before others, as Judah to the primogeniture of dignity, and Levi in respect of the priesthood, are called here the firstborn; and the church first founded in them, and planted by them, is here called ἐκκλησία πρωτοτόκων, the church of the firstborn, the apostolical church. [i] written in heaven] Ἀπογράφισθαι signifies to be enrolled, (see note [i] on Luke ii.) and this belonged either to all the congregation of Israel, Num. i. 18, or in a special manner to the firstborn of every family who had that dignity before others, and in time came (as families grew into tribes) to be princes of the tribes of their fathers, Num. i. 16, or to some choice renowned men, who were to be captains or heads of thousands in Israel, or finally to all soldiers listed or enrolled. And to this manner of enrolling doth this phrase ἀπογεγραμμένοι ἐν οὐρανοῖς, written, or enrolled, in heaven, refer, to denote those that are registered by God, matriculated in heaven, that is, beside the apostles, all other holy men, renowned in the book of God: and so this phrase is fit to be joined to the πρωτότοκοι foregoing in the forementioned notion. [k] made perfect] Τετελειωμένοι are those that have received their crown, their reward, in the agonistical notion so often mentioned, that is, that have attained the end of their race, are triumphant in heaven. Yea, unto Jesus Christ, who, as a mediator between God and us, hath established a second covenant, and assured us that it is indeed the covenant of God, and consequently that we may be confident that God will perform his part of it, and now requires of us and gives us grace to perform ours; and to his blood, with which we must be sprinkled before we can be admitted into heaven, (as the priest was to sprinkle himself before he went into the holy of holies,) which is quite contrary to Abel's blood, as it is mentioned in Genesis, that called for vengeance [l] that of Abel] The meaning of this passage, παρὰ τὸν Ἀβίλ, or, as Theophylact and others read, παρὰ τὸ Ἀβίλ, is not easily resolved on. If it be τὸν, it may then agree with Abel as the accusative case, and then it must be rendered then Abel, meaning, then Abel spake; or else referring the τὸν to ῥαντισμὸν going before, and reading Ἀβίλ in the genitive case, it will then be rendered, then that (sprinkling) of Abel, noting the sprinkling of blood which in that sacrificing of his firstlings, Gen. iv. 4, he is supposable to have used. If it be τὸ, then as it is certain it must refer to αἷμα, blood, precedent, and so denote the blood of Abel, so it is uncertain what blood is meant, whether the blood of Abel shed by Cain, or the blood of Abel's firstlings in his sacrifice. So that all these four possible notions of the words are in effect but two: the first and the third referring to that of Abel and his own blood shed by Cain, and the second and fourth to the blood of the cattle in his sacrifice. And which of these is now to be preferred is the only difficulty. That the first should be it, the authority of the Greek commentators and others would incline, and the manner of the scripture style in many places (using words and phrases which must be supposed to signify much more than their natural importance affords, see note [e] on Matt. xii.) may help to persuade it. For thus it may then be explicated very commodiously, that whereas the blood of Abel, the first that ever suffered, called for nothing but vengeance on the murderer, the blood of Christ, quite contrariwise, called for mercy on his very crucifiers, and on all the world of men besides, and so spake as good things as Abel's did ill, cried as loud for pardon as his is said to do for vengeance. But if we consider the design of the whole context, which is the comparing the state and economy under the law and before Christ with that now after or since his coming, and the preferring the latter infinitely beyond the former, we shall then have great reason to incline us to accept the second sense, that the sprinkling of the blood of Christ, that sacrifice of his upon the cross, had infinitely more efficacy in it (and that devolved to us) to obtain God's acceptance, than that sacrifice of Abel's, the first great type of that shedding the blood of Christ, this Lamb of God, is affirmed in the scripture to have had. That this sacrifice of beasts offered by Abel should here be mentioned with Christ's sacrifice of his own body on the cross, the reason is evident, because all the sacrifices of beasts, not only under the law, but before it, among the patriarchs, before and after the deluge, were all types of Christ's one perfect sacrifice. And Abel's being the first of these recorded in scripture, and attested to have had much of God's acceptance, particularly more than Cain's, (see Heb. xi. 4.) is therefore the fittest to be insisted on in this place. And that Christ's blood is said to speak better things than that, and so than any other blood in sacrifice, is agreeable to Heb. ix. 13, 14, For if the blood of bulls—how much more the blood of Christ; and, ver. 22, 23, And almost all things are purged by blood—It was necessary therefore that the heavenly things themselves should be purged by better sacrifices than these. And accordingly in the ancient liturgies, and in the canon of the mass now in use, when the bread and wine is consecrated into the sacrament a b 2 And therefore be sure ye despise not Christ, who is come to deliver God's will unto you; for if they were destroyed that contemned Moses that delivered the law from mount Sinai, then much severer destruction is to be expected for them that despise the commandments of Christ, that delivers them immediately from heaven. In giving the law, there was an earthquake when God spake, and that was somewhat terrible; but now is the time of fulfilling that prophecy, Hag. ii. 7, where God professes to make great changes, greater than ever were among them before, even to the destroying the whole state of the Jews: (see note [a] Matt. xxiv.) For that is the notation of the phrase which is rendered Yet once, which signifies some final ruin, and that very remarkable, as here the total subversion of the Jews, of all their law and policy, as of things that were made on purpose to be destroyed, designed by God only for a time, for that imperfect state, as a forerunner and preparative to the gospel, which therefore is a state of which there is no mention of the shaking it, nor consequently of any other future state that shall succeed it, which signifies that that is most certainly to endure for ever, till the end of the world. We therefore that are vouchsafed our part in this immutable kingdom or state under Christ, a condition that no persecutions, nor even the gates of hell, shall prevail against, but it shall be sure finally to overcome and survive all opposition; let us take care to hold fast and not forsake the gospel, (see note [d] ch. xiii.) through which we may serve God so as he will now accept of, with reverence of so glorious a master, and with fear of his wrath, if we do provoke him by abusing his mercies: (see note [c] Phil. ii.)