God, which used formerly several steps or degrees, and likewise several ways and means of revealing to men the things to come, delivering them out in portions, not all together, and that sometimes by visions or by dreams, sometimes by the oracle, sometimes by the coming of his Spirit upon the prophets, and sometimes by voice from heaven, In this latter age of the world hath sent his Son out of his bosom, the eternal Son of God, to exercise this office, to take our human nature upon him, Who being the means of reflecting to us the sight of him who is otherwise invisible, John i. 18, and having perfect dominion over all, and accordingly administering all by his divine power, having by his death and resurrection done his part toward the justifying and sanctifying us, pardoning our sins, and reforming our wicked lives, he ascended to the right hand of his Father in heaven, there to sit, as having finished that part of his priestly office which consisted in sacrificing, to which they that were separated were appointed to stand before the Lord, Deut. x. 8, and there to reign, and as a king to defend his faithful servants and punish his enemies; [a] upholding] The Hebrew אשי signifies two things, fero, "to bear," and rego, "to rule;" and from the latter of them it is that נשאי is the ordinary word for a prince. Agreeably to this, φίρων, which is sometimes the rendering of the Hebrew אשי, as Num. xi. 14, Deut. i. 9, may accordingly signify to rule, to govern, διοικῶν, to administer, as a e In Epist. p. 879. [b] wearied] Κάμνειν is also an agonistical word, literally signifying to be tired, belonging to them that are worsted in any of those exercises (Νικῶντων γὰρ οὐκ ἔστι κάμνειν, saith Plutarch, it cannot be affirmed of the victors) to go out of the field like a wounded, or wearied, or worsted person. So when Coriolanus being wounded was admonished by his friends to retire, and cure his wounds, he answered, οὐ δεῖ νικῶντα κάμνειν, A conqueror ought not to retire, or subduce himself out of the field. And thus generally it signifies to give over fighting, ἀπείπειν and ἀπαγορεύειν in Phavorinus, to give over, to despair, and again ὀκνήσαι, to play the coward or runaway. [c] faint in your minds] Ψυχαῖς ἐκλύεσθαι, and ἐκλύεσθαι simply, ver. 4, signifies in the same sense that κάμνειν, to turn coward or pusillanimous, such as whose souls within them fall away like water, dissolve; and it is spoken of those who give over the attempt as hopeless, fly disheartened, crest-fallen, out of the field, (ἀναπίπτοντες and ἀθυμούντες in Thucydides,) expressed again, ver. 12, by παρειμένας χεῖρας, the hands that hang down, which note the prælii detractatio, giving over the business, yielding, flying out of the field, confessing themselves conquered. So Ecclus. ii. 12, after the woe against them that trust not in the Lord, δειλαὶ καρδίαι, cowardly hearts, and χεῖρες παρειμέναι, the hands And so is advanced to a superiority even over the angels themselves, which you may discern by the compellations that are bestowed on him, far higher than any that are bestowed on the angels: As that of Son, in the second psalm, which though in some sense it belong to David, yet is by the Jews themselves acknowledged in a more sublime sense to belong to the Messias; so likewise that And again, when the scripture, psalm xcvii, speaks of the Lord, that is, the Messias's reigning, ver. 1, and in the process of the psalm describes his entering on his kingdom, that which commenced at his ascending into the superior world, (the heavens here, ver. 3. and ch. ii. 5.) the express words of the psalmist are, ver. 7, And let all— Whereas the titles which he gives the angels are no higher than of winds and flames, psalm civ. 4. But he gives far higher titles to the Messias, calling him the eternal King and God, mentioning Wherefore, Christ being a prophet so much superior to all before him, ch. i. 2, and now elevated above angels to his regal office in heaven, whereby he is certainly able to perform what he foretold, we ought in all reason to heed his predictions, which have been delivered to us from him, (see ver. 3,) and to make use of them as means to fortify us, that we [a] should let them slip] Παραρρυώμεν is a phrase used from the water, which, when it is not kept within limits, falls away, runs about. WHEREFORE, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High ¹. Upon these grounds I may most reasonably exhort you, my Christian brethren, who are called and admitted to the same common faith, disciples of this crucified Saviour, to consider and imitate Jesus Christ, who was sent with commission by his Father to preach ¹³ evacuate, frustrate. ¹⁴ For he doth not any where lay hold on angels, but he layeth hold on the seed of Abraham. ¹³ to expiate, I do not see. For if the law were given only by the mediation or ministry of angels, and yet the threats on the breaking of that did come to pass, (see note [d] 2 Pet. i,) and all the sins committed by the Israelites against that were severely punished in the wilder- ness, and they that had provoked were not permitted to enter into the promised land of Canaan; 3, 4. How shall we avoid that punishment, or the like, being involved with the crucifiers in their de- struction, if we do not now by constancy and perse- verance make ourselves capable of that deliverance, which Christ first at his being on earth, and the apostles that heard it from him, have assured us of, and which God himself hath testified, both by many prodigies and ominous presages of it, and by giving them that have foretold this, power to do miracles, and other extraordinary abilities of his Spirit, as he hath thought fit to dispense them, to one man one ability, to another another, by this means giving authority to their predictions? [b] salvation] It may here be matter of some question, what is the meaning of the word σωτηρία, salvation or deliverance. Three notions of the verb σώζεσθαι have been oft mentioned: one for escaping out of the vicious customs of the world, repentance and conversion to Christ, receiving the faith, (see note [b] on Luke xiii.) the other for deliverance out of calamities, (from whence comes a third notion, for eternal bliss in heaven, as an eternal deliverance from all evil, whether of sin or punishment:) and accordingly σωτηρία is oft taken for that eminent deliverance from persecutions which was to befall the faithful at the time of the utter destruction of the Jews, (see note [c] on Rom. xiii.) If the word be here used in the first notion, then it must signify the preaching of the gospel, the means of converting and bringing men to good life. And so it may possibly be, comparing the gospel here delivered by Christ with the law delivered by angels. The second notion also having two parts, one to signify a signal deliverance here, another to signify eternal salvation, it is not impossible that both here and ch. i. 14, it should belong to the latter of these, expecially there where there is mention of inheriting it. But yet the former of these two latter notions, that for the signal deliverance of the faithful, long promised, and at the writing of this now approaching, and 1 Pet. i. 5, called the deliverance ready to be revealed in the last season, may very probably be it that is here meant in both places. In the former, ch. i. 14, where the angels are said to be sent εἰς διακονίαν, for ministry, διὰ τοὺς μέλλοντας, for them that are ready to inherit this deliverance, that is very agreeable to the manner of expressing it elsewhere, by his coming with his angels or holy myriads to punish the Jews and rescue the faithful Christians: and accordingly in the seventh of the Revelation the angel is sent to seal the faithful, when the rest are to be destroyed by the four angels. And this deliverance being a fatherly act of mercy in God, made over by promise to all that should persevere, may well be said to be inherited by such; and the nearness of it at that time, every where spoken of, may be denoted by the μέλλοντας, their readiness to receive it, as in Peter it was ready to be revealed. And so for the τηλικαύτη σωτηρία here, if we will judge by the context, it must most probably signify this. For first, this will by the consequents appear to be the design of the whole Epistle, (see note [a] on the title,) to fortify the believing Jews by the approach of this deliverance: 2dly, the Epistle beginning with God's speaking in these last times by Christ, as he had formerly by ordinary prophets, ch. i. 1, and the rest of that chapter being spent in the setting out the dignity of this Prophet above all, even angels themselves, he applies it to this very matter, ch. ii. 1, that they give heed to what hath been thus foretold by Christ, lest they should fall away, and this enforced by the danger of so falling, vv. 2, 3, and by the greatness of this deliverance, such as was thought fit [b] better than the angels] When we read, Isa. lii. 13, Behold, my servant shall prosper, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high, the Chaldee reads, my servant the Messiah. And Abrabanel a Jew confesses, that the ancient wise men of the Jews did interpret that place of the Messiah after this manner, that the Messiah should be exalted above Abraham, above Moses, and that he should be higher than the angels themselves. And agreeably to this known doctrine of theirs it is that the apostle here writing to them thus speaks, signifying Christ to be indeed the Messiah, and so superior to the angels themselves. And that ye may know that what Christ hath thus foretold he is able to perform, ye are to know that all power is given to him in heaven and earth, which is a dignity far above that of the angels; for God gave not them any regal power to exercise now under the gospel: (see note [a] ch. vi.) But this was given to Christ only. And accord- ingly of him are those words to be understood in the diviner sense, which the author of psalm viii. hath, that he is a mean and vile man in outward appear- ance, not worthy to be considered or regarded by God; Who for the space of thirty-three years was subjected to a condition inferior to that of angels, but then after his suffering in our flesh, he was by God most honourably advanced to the highest dignities; made the supreme ruler and king of heaven and earth, [c] a little lower] The Hebrew מעט hath a double notion, in respect of quantity or of time, psalm viii. 5, whence this verse is taken, as the comparison is set betwixt Enoch or Ben Adam, the lowest man on earth, and the heaven and angels; so the words will bear the first sense, that man is little lower than the angels: but as those words were a prophecy, and the application of them here an enunciation concerning Christ, so מעט is an adverb of time, and signifies a little while. And all his enemies and the persecutors of his church subjected to him, and he advanced above all created beings. This prophecy of the Messias cannot All thy doctrine and practice, thy words and thy example, have been designed for the advancing of all kind of virtue; and by way of reward for that God hath entertained or treated thee more liberally than any other, (see note [c] Matt. xxvi. and note [c] Acts x.) preferred and dignified thee before all angels and men. Only this we see already, that the Messias that was humbled for a while, even to the death of the cross, for the benefit of all mankind and every man in the world, is now, after and for that humiliation of his, rewarded and crowned with glory and honour, and a throne erected for him in heaven; of which this is but consequent, that his enemies shall be made his footstool. Another place, psalm cii. 25, applies that which is said of God Gen. i. 1, about the creation of the world, to the Messias, calling him Lord and Creator of heaven and earth, (which is a proof of what is added in the end of ver. 2,) and adding, 11, 12. They shall at last be destroyed, and in the meantime decay daily, be put off like clothes, and worn no more. But the Messias shall continue immutable and immortal. For God, the universal designer of all, in his wisdom foreseeing the oppositions and sufferings that would befall his people, believers, in this world, thought it fit that Christ his own Son, the author of their deliverance, should through sufferings come to his reward and crown, (see note on Phil. iii. 13,) that so he might after his own example deliver those that suffer constantly and patiently. For as among the Jews both the first-fruits and the whole harvest are of the same nature; and as the priest that wrought expiation and the people for whom it was wrought were of one beginning; so are Christ and all mankind of one making, and Christ and the Jews from one original, (to wit, of Abraham, ver. 16, who is called one, Matt. ii. 15;) and therefore we must expect in our way to exaltation or deliverance, to pass through the like condition of afflictions: in which respects Christ and we are brethren, and we so owned by him, According to that of the psalmist, saying, I will declare— [c] fold them up] That this whole text is cited out of psalm cii. 25-27, it is evident. In that place of the Psalmist, the Septuagint, or Greek translation in the ordinary copies, read, ἰλίξεις, thou shalt fold; and from that it is still continued here, at least our copies read it so. But there is little doubt but that the reading of the Greek there was not ἰλίξεις, thou shalt fold, but ἀλλάξεις, thou shalt change; for so the καὶ ἀλλαγήσονται, and they shall be changed, that follows, doth manifest; and so also the Hebrew תחליפם clearly signifies: for חֶלֶף, mutavit, is thus ordinarily applied to changing of garments, 2 Sam. xii. 20, ויחלף, שמלח, and he changed his clothes; and Gen. xxxv. 2, change your garments, the same word is again used. By which it is clear, that either the copy here is by transcribers corrupted, (as it is easy to suppose, when we remember that the copies of the Greek Psaltery reading ἰλίξεις might very easily occasion their conforming that which here they found to what was before them in the place from whence it was manifestly cited,) or else that the author himself, following the Septuagint, transcribed this testimony verbatim as the words then lay in the copies of the Greek Bible, and did not reform it by the original, the sense indeed, though a little changed, being not much disturbed by this other reading; it being the manner, when a man shifts or changes his suits, to fold and lay up that which is put off. If in the time of writing this Epistle the Septuagint were thus corrupted in the copies, then this is likely to be the truth of it, it being ordinary for the apostles to cite scriptures as they were found then in the Greek Bibles, though they varied from the Hebrew, because those Greek Bibles, and not the Hebrew, were in use among those to whom they wrote. But if the corruption in the psalms were of a later date, then it is probable that the transcriber of the Epistle corrupted it from ἀλλάξεις to ἰλίξεις. That one of these is the truth, there will be little ground of doubting, though which it is, it be not certain. Meanwhile the meaning of the place is clear, that the heavens shall be changed, after the manner of men's changing their clothes, putting off the old and putting on new, that is, that there shall be new heavens, a new sort of world. The heavens having no more service to do to the earth, by enlightening and shining on it, shall be changed into a form which shall be most agreeable to the present employment or use of them. And accordingly those words spoken of him psalm cx. 1. to this plain sense, that he should reign till all his enemies were subdued and brought to the acknowledgment of him, that he should act a signal revenge upon his crucifiers, were never delivered or applied unto any the most dignified archangel, but only to this eternal Son of God. Another proof also of the same (viz. that both Christ and we are brethren in this, both to pass by sufferings, ver. 10) is that of Isa. viii. 17, 18, where first he speaks of waiting on the Lord that hideth his face, and withal trusting in him, being confident of his uncovering his face, giving deliverance, in whatsoever adversity relying and depending on him; thereby noting that he is to pass through such, and after specifying and instancing in himself and his children, given him by God, that is, (in the antitype ⁸ a little while lessened below, ver. 7. ⁹ were all things, τὰ πάντα. ¹⁰ were. ¹¹ to consummate, τελειώσω. ¹² from, &. The highest dignity that is bestowed on them is, that they are servants under God for the use of men or Christians, those especially who are now under persecution, and shall shortly be rescued out of it by a signal deliverance, and upon their constancy and perseverance secured of eternal salvation: (see note Seeing therefore that Christians or believers, those that are to be brought to heaven by Christ, are here in human flesh and sufferings; and seeing that brethren or fellow-children are of like natures; Christ, therefore, who is called our brother, is to be supposed to have part with us in flesh and sufferings, and so to suffer also: and by so doing he was to frustrate and make void the devil's design, (which was to keep men for ever under the power of death,) to rob death of its sting, and to rescue men from the bands or power of death, by a resurrection from death to life; [d] destroy] That καταργεῖν signifies to frustrate, evacuate, invalidate, take away all force or power from any, hath been formerly said, note [a] on Rom. vii. And so it must be taken here: and καταργεῖν διόβολον will be to evacuate or frustrate the devil's design, and cancel that deed by which, upon sins coming into the world, men were bound over to death. For by Christ, though death temporal be not quite taken away, yet it is robbed of the sting and victory, or reigning power over man, who by Christ is rescued from death, that is, from the κράτος or power of it here, (as of Christ it is said, Acts ii. 24, that it was not possible κρατεισθαι αὐτόν ὑπὸ θανάτου, for him to be held under death,) and raised to eternal life; and meanwhile, while the body lies in the grave, it is but as in a still quiet sleep, a freedom from the pressures of this life, and so hath nothing of evil or formidable in it. This notion of the phrase doth fitly belong to it here, where it is laid as the founda- And so take away all that fear of persecutions and death itself, which makes men so cowardly, and keeps them in such awe; that is, in a most unchristian and servile condition, whilst they see no hope of deliverance. For it is not said any where that he catches hold of angels as they are falling, or running, or carried captive from him, to save or rescue them from ruin, or to bring them out of captivity; but only to men doth he this favour peculiarly. And therefore he was not to come in an angelical glorious guise, but in a humble suffering condition; whereby he is the better qualified to have compassion on those that are in any sad estate, and we thereby secured that he will discharge his priestly office faithfully, and negotiate for us in all affairs between God and us, (see note [i] Acts xiii;) but especially, by suffering, obtain pardon for us. For by the sorrows which himself suffered, it is very proper and agreeable that he should become compassionate, and willing to relieve those that fall into the same or the like evils, that are under the sharpest persecutions in this life. And hath with all fidelity discharged his office, to which he was designed by God in every particular, in like manner as is affirmed of the fidelity of Moses, who governed and administered not any one part, but all the house of Israel. Nay, Christ's condition is much more honourable than that of Moses, as far as that of the master of the family above any the most eminent servant in the house. [a] builded the house] Κατασκευάζειν οἶκον, to build a house, is here an Hebrew form of speech, in which language, as οἶκος, house, signifies not only the material house, but those that inhabit it, the household or family, so κατασκευάζειν, to prepare or build, is answerable to בנה, which as it signifies to build, so it is vulgarly used for begetting, so far that Ben בן, which is the ordinary word for a son, comes from thence; and so to build a house is to beget or raise a family, and κατασκευάσας οἶκον here is but a periphrasis of a paterfamilias, "the father or master of a family." For every family or kingdom hath some original or founder; but God is the founder of all, both of the church of the Jews and now of the Christians: and such is our Christ of whom now we speak. And indeed Moses's fidelity was only as that of a servant or officer in giving or promulgating those commands which God commanded him to promulgate; But Christ was as the eldest son, who is the master and ruler of the family; and that family of his are we, if we continue our Christian profession courageously, in despite of all fear, (see note [a] John vii,) and our cheerfulness in all that befalls us here be founded on our hope of deliverance and relief from Christ, on those terms on which he hath promised it. 7, 8. Which is an obligation to us to adhere to Christ, and persevere, whatsoever difficulties we meet with, and not to apostatize or fall off from him, as the Israelites did when the scripture saith of and to them, psalm xcv. 8, To day if ye &c. that is, Take heed that ye bring not destruction on yourselves by revolting from and rebelling against God, as your forefathers did, ten times after their coming from Egypt, Num. xiv. 22. [b] rejoicing] That glorying and rejoicing are one in the New Testament is sufficiently known, and that there is no difference unless of degrees, the glorying being the higher of the two. And so again that hope signifies the hope in God, reliance on him in expectation of the performance of his promise in the most improbable season, even when all things in respect of this world are most improsperous and adverse. And therefore that hope being the foundation of all a Christian's rejoicing, especially of that which is in time of affliction, (and accordingly the phrase used Rom. xii. 12, rejoice in hope,) this will clearly be the meaning of this phrase; the rejoicing in all that befalls us here, founded in a sure hope of receiving abundantly from God both here and in another world. And this is here joined with παρρησίαν, free confession of Christ in time of persecution. Thus Rom. v. 2, κονχώμεθα, we glory or rejoice in hope of the glory of God; which is there attended with οὐ μόνον δέ, and not only so, but we glory in afflictions, ver. 3, which the apostle really doth. 2 Cor. xi. 23, boasting distinctly of his toils and stripes and imprisonments, and 2 Cor. xii. 9, most gladly will I glory in my weaknesses, that is, the afflictions that have befallen me. Contrary to which is sorrowing as they that have no hope, 1 Thess. iv, and for-saking or falling off through persecution. While they tempted and provoked God, and would not believe his power, though they had testimonies enough of it by the miracles which they saw done for the space of so many years together. Which was a grieving and wearying of my patience, they never doing what they ought to do, but always the contrary to that. Upon which, my irreversible oath went out against them, Num. xiv. 23. and 28—30, that they should never come into Canaan, but leave (every one of them but Caleb and Joshua) their carcasses in the wilderness. [c] my rest] What is meant by κατάπαυσις μου, God's rest, in this place is evident, both as it respects Moses's time and David's: one rest there was expected in Moses's time, the coming into Canaan, another in David's, the bringing the ark (to which the public service of God was consequent) to Jerusalem. So saith R. Solomon on psalm xev, "The land of Israel, and also Jerusalem, which is called a rest, as it is said, This is my rest for ever, here will I dwell." According to which there must be in that psalm a double rest literally understood: first, that peaceable prosperous possession of the promised land of Canaan, which after all their expectation and endurance they should at last enjoy, (all that obeyed God,) whereas God's oath is gone out against the disobedient murmurers, (that revolted from God, and in their hearts returned to Egypt again,) that they should never enter into that rest. Secondly, the enjoyment of the privileges of God's presence in the ark, and afterwards in the temple, God's public and solemn worship. That the phrase doth certainly belong to both of these may appear by the original of it, which we have Deut. xii. 9. Ye are not as yet come into the rest, and to the inheritance which the Lord your God giveth you: where the rest is the quiet possession of that inheritance so long promised them by God, (as Ruth iii. 1, seeking her rest is getting her a quiet prosperous condition, and belongs there to getting her an husband which was childless, that it may be well with thee, as there it followeth,) and it is more fully explained, vv. 10, 11. When ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which the Lord your God giveth you to inherit, and when he giveth you rest from all your enemies round about, so that you dwell in safety; then there shall be a place which the Lord your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there; thither shall ye bring your burnt offerings, &c. Where, first, the reason is manifest why it is called God's rest here, because God giveth it them; it is an eminent act of his power and mercy that they ever come to it: zily, it is clear that the rest consists in the expulsion of their enemies, their quiet and safety, an immediate consequent of which is their peaceable public assembling to the service of God at Jerusalem. Now as it is the judgment of the learned Jews, David Kimchi, &c., that the state under the Messias is foretypified by that rest of God's, הַצִּילִים חֲבֹא שְׁכוּלוֹ שְׁכֶת, the age to come which shall be all Sabbath, saith Solomon Jarchi on psalm xcii, so here it appears by this author's application of it. And accordingly we may discern what is the meaning of God's rest, which ch. iv. 1 is said to be promised the Christians, even that which is most literally expressed by that description of that rest in Deuteronomy, viz. a quiet and safety from the persecutors, prosperous, peaceable days for the public worship and service of God, which should now shortly befall the Christians by the destruction of their persecutors, the unbelieving Jews, who, as the Canaanites, when they had filled up the measure of their iniquities, should shortly be rooted out. The only thing further to be observed (and wherein the parallel was to hold most remarkably, and which is the special thing that is pressed in this place) is the fate of the disobedient murmuring Israelites, which were so impatient of the hardships that befall them in their passage toward this rest, that they frequently and foully fell off from God, and returned to the sins and idolatries and villanies of heathen Egypt, from whence they were rescued by God; all these were excluded from this rest of God's giving, their carcasses And therefore let the terrors of that scripture move you, and from the example of those murmurers and complainers (that were perpetually mutinying against God when any hardship approached them, ready to turn back into Egypt upon every slight fear and discouragement, and for so doing were excluded from the promised land and rest) do you take heed, lest the present discouragement and pressures, meeting with covetous or fearful hearts, make you fall off from the Christian profession or practice. But daily cheer up one another with incitations and exhortations to persevere, that none of the baits that are now abroad in the world, those of the Gnostic heresy, which undertake to secure your fears and gratify your lusts, be able to gain in upon you. For all our Christian profession hitherto will stand us in no stead, unless we persevere constant unto the end in the courage and patience which himself hath exemplified to us: (see note [a] ch. xi.) And thus the words in the psalmist lie, To day &c. Whence it appears, that some that were first obedient, that heard and received the law from heaven, did after rebel and fall off, and murmur against God; but Caleb and Joshua did not so, and consequently not all that by the conduct of Moses came out of Egypt: which may be matter of admonition to you, that you imitate those few that adhered to, and not the many that fell off from God. [e] took not on him] The notion of ἐπιλαμβάνεται is best expressed by Chrysostom in these words, φεύγουσαν ἀπ' αὐτοῦ καὶ πόρρω φεύγουσαν ἀνθρώπινην φύσιν Χριστὸς καταδιώξας κατέλαβεν, "when mankind fled, fled far from him, Christ pursued and caught hold of it." The word is interpreted by Cicero cont. Pison. by retinere ad salutem, i. e. manu, aut lacinia, prehendere ac retinere eum qui se it perditum, "to hold one back, by that means to save him, to catch by the hand or garment, and hold him that is about to destroy himself." And this Christ did by fastening on our nature in his incarnation, wherein the angels were not concerned; for he did not so to them, but only to us, according to that of the ancients, that that which was not assumed was not ransomed by him, that the nature of man being only assumed by Christ, and not the nature of angels, man only had the benefit of it; all his coming and preaching designed to bring sinful man to repentance, but not to recall or recover the lapsed angels. And so when it is said that he was provoked and wearied with them forty years, it is apparent it was with those disobedient murmurers that would have gone back to Egypt, and never a man of them came to Canaan, but died every one of them in the wilderness: and that may be a warning for us. Lastly, when it is said that he sware they should not come into Canaan, it is apparent who they are that do not come, the contumacious murmurers, ver. 10; which gives us this matter of observation, ⁶ Therefore, 'ns. ⁷ If they shall, El εἰσελεύσονται. ⁸ Or, his confidence: for the King's MS. reads ὑποστάσεως αὐτοῦ. ⁹ were disobedient, ἀνειθῆσαι. Upon those words of God ch. iii. 15. (an ominous admonition if it be not heeded) we have great reason to fear, lest that promise of coming to God's rest (as for those others, to Canaan) being made to us, a promise of deliverance from our persecutors, and peaceable days of professing the gospel attending it, (see note [c] ch. iii.) we may yet (see note [f] Matt. iii.) by our disobedience miss of attaining to it. For as they had the law of God, the Decalogue, delivered unto them, so we have the gospel, the new law of God, preached by Christ on that other mountain, Matt. v. vi. vii. But as then, so here, this word of God being only heard, and not digested by faith, will not be profitable, or stand them in any stead that have heard it, it being the practice of the gospel precepts, patience and constancy, &c. which will advantage any. Or, we must to our hearing God's word add both obedience and communion with all orthodox Christians, or else the word will benefit us nothing. [a] not being mixed] If συγκεκριμένος be the right reading, then questionless that being joined with λόγος, the English rendering is proper, being not mixed with faith—. But it is certain that St. Chrysostom read it συγκεκριμένους in the accusative case plural, so as to be joined with ἐκείνους, them, who are said not to have been profited. This is clear by that passage in him, ἐκ γὰρ τοῦ μὴ συγκρασθῆναι οὐκ ὠφελήθησαν, "for by not being mixed they were not profited," which supposes the not mixing and not profiting to belong to the same persons. And so Theophylact expressly reads it, μὴ συγκεκριμένους, and upon that reading proceeds all his interpretation. If therefore this be the right reading, as not improbably it is, then the rendering is evidently this; "But the word that was heard did not profit those who were not by faith joined or united to them which heard." Thus Theophylact interprets μὴ συγκεκριμένους, τουτέστι μὴ ἑνωθέντας μηδὲ συμφρονήσαντας διὰ τῆς πίστεως τοῖς ἀκούσασιν, ἀλλ' ὑπορραγέντας αὐτῶν, "not mixed, that is, not united or agreeing by faith with them that heard," (that is, saith he, "that believed," οὗτοι γὰρ τῷ ὄντι ἀκούσαντες ἂν λέγουτο, "for these are said to be hearers indeed,) but breaking off from them." To this St. Chrysostom accords in these words, Ὁ δὲ λέγει τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν—. "This is that which he saith, They heard," saith he, "as we hear, but they received no profit: do not you therefore think that by the hearing the word preached ye shall be profited, seeing they also heard but were profited nothing, because they believed not." What there follows in St. Chrysostom of those that were with Caleb and Joshua, that ἐπειδὴ μὴ συνεκράσθησαν τοῖς ἀπιστήσασι, διέφυγον τὴν κατ' ἐκείνων ἐξενεχθεῖσαν τιμωρίαν, "seeing they were not joined with the unbelievers, that is, agreed not with them, they escaped the punishment which went out against them." Theophylact professeth not to understand; "This," saith he, "Chrysostom saith according to his great and deep wisdom," ἐμοὶ γοῦν τῷ ἀναξίῳ οὐκ ἔδωκε νοῆσαι πῶς αὐτό εἶπεν, "but he hath not given me, unworthy man, to understand how he said it." Where yet I suppose the riddle not so inextricable, viz. that that passage of St. Chrysostom was rather delivered ex abundanti, "over and above" what was necessary to the interpreting of the words, than designed to set down who were the συγκεκριμένοι. That he had set down clearly before, viz. that the disobedient or unbelieving Jews were they: which being said, he further adds, on the other side, that Caleb and Joshua, and those that were with them, associated not with the unbelievers, &c., which certainly was true also; for as the unbelievers joined not with them, so neither they with the unbelievers. Having thus expatiated, he retires again, and observes somewhat from the critical notation of the word; he saith not (saith he) οὐ συνεφώνησαν, they consented not, but οὐ συνεκράσθησαν, they mixed not, joined not with them; in which words he speaks not of Caleb and Joshua, as in the last period he had For as there is such a thing as a rest yet future for us to hope for, so it is most certain, that this is only for constant persevering believers to enter into; and such must we be, if we mean to enter into God's rest. By God's rest I mean not that which is so oft called by that name, the sabbath of the seventh day after the creating of the world in six days; there are more rests of God beside and after that. That mentioned in the psalmist, psalm xcv. 8, is called God's rest, though it were many years after the creation of the world: and so there is now a yet future rest for For one place of scripture speaks of that first sabbath immediately after the creation thus, And God &c. And another in the psalmist, long after, mentions this other rest as still future: which, as it cannot refer to that after the creation, so neither can it to that of the Israelites in Canaan, being written after them both; but in the first sense, to David's time, being a promise to them of that age, that if they would then come in and hearken to the voice of God, after all their former rebellions, their land should be truly what it was promised to be, a rest to them; no Midianite, Philistine, or Canaanite should disturb them; their ark should be no more captive, but rest with them for ever in Jerusalem: and in a second, mystical sense, to these times of the gospel, to which the Jews acknowledge that psalm to belong, and wherein God by Christ was present among them, (the highest completion of what was obumbrated by the ark or temple,) but should be taken away from them if they did not timely believe on him. Seeing then there is such a thing as a rest for some to enter into, and the Israelites that came out of Egypt, through their disobedience, failed of entering into it; And again, seeing the psalmist, so long after the Israelites' entering into Canaan, speaks of a set time of entering into his rest, and that at that time still future, and yet further typical of somewhat under the gospel; (For if Joshua, which is in the Syriac dialect called Jesus, (see Acts vii. 45,) had completed that prophecy by leading them into it whom Moses had [b] the word of God] That ὁ λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ, the word of God, should signify Christ, the eternal Word, is not impossible, it being among the Jews the known title of the Messias, (see note [b] on Luke i.) and to that the mention of eyes, ver. 13, doth somewhat incline it. But this phrase being not elsewhere found in this sense in the New Testament, save only in St. John's writings, who is therefore called θεολόγος, it is more reasonable here to take it for the word of God, that is, that which had been delivered by Christ, and particularly that severe sanction and denunciation of judgment against all that hold not fast to him in time of temptation, those that openly or clancularly deny him by their words or actions. For it must be observed, that this Epistle being accommodated to the present condition of the Christians in Judæa, who were now daily solicited by the Gnostics, and drawn off from their constancy and purity, doth labour by all arguments to fortify them. And in this chapter doth it by two arguments, one depending on the other: first, from the advantages which they shall reap by a constant adhering to Christ; not only eternal rest in heaven, an ample reward for all their persecutions whatever they are, but even in this life more peaceable days of professing and worshipping Christ, when the unbelieving Jews the persecutors should be destroyed, and that time was now at hand, ch. x. 37. And this hath formerly been explained to be meant by the ἀνάπαυσις, rest, that is here spoken of, a rest from the labours, that is, wearisome persecutions and pressures that lay upon them. This he resembles to the Israelites' Canaan, as in the refreshment that it yielded the people of God after a sad travail in the wilderness, so in the propriety that the faithful servants of God had in it, none but they admitted to it; when they that had been brought out of Egypt, and received the law from God's mouth at Sinai, and so were highly favoured and dignified by him, yet upon their murmuring and falling back toward Egypt in their hearts, through impatience of hardships and the like, (herein directly parallel to the Gnostics, and those that were seduced by them, who either secretly or openly forsook Christ in time of persecutions,) were cut off [c] opened] The notion of τραχηλίξασθαι here hath been much doubted of. I conceive it is most clearly that which Phavorinus thus expresses, Τραχηλίξειν, διχοτομείν λέγεται, ἤγουν τὰ διὰ τῆς ῥάχεως σχίζειν, it signifies "to cut in two, to divide down the spina dorsi," (τράχηλος signifying, saith he, τοὺς σπονδύλους τῶν κογχυλίων, "the spondyls of the back-bones;") and so it belongs clearly to the custom of the priests in examining the sacrifices whether they were entire and without blemish or no. This is called δοκιμάζειν and ἐξετάζειν ἱερεῖα, "to try and search the sacrifices," (as in Lucian Περὶ Θυσ. Οἱ δύοντες στεφανώσαντες τὸ ζῶον, καὶ πολὺ γε πρότερον ἐξετάσαντες εἰ ἐντελὲς εἴη, &c. προσάγουσι τῷ βωμῷ, "The priests put a crown on the beast's head, and having first searched it a great while, if it be perfect they bring it to the altar,") and among the fathers μωμοσκοπεῖν, to look as a momus or censor, and consider whether there were in the sacrifice any מום or blemish, whether all were ἄμωρα καὶ ἀσινῆ, immaculate and unhurt. They that did this were the μωμοσκόποι, who to that end used to flay the body first, and then cut it down the neck or back-bone called τράχηλος, and being so cut to lay it upon the altar, that the priest might search and look into the inwards, and, as Philo saith, ὅσα ἐπὶ γαστρὶ καὶ μηροῖς ἀνακίκρυπται, "whatsoever is hid in the belly," &c. To which refers that of Solomon, Prov. xx. 27. The spirit of the man is the candle of the Lord, searching the hidden parts of the belly. As therefore the entrails of the sacrifice and the most secret parts are conspicuous to the priest by the help of the μωμοσκόπος, and by cutting the sacrifice thus down the τράχηλος, neck or back-bone, so are all before the word of God, the most secret things, discerned and seen into: and that is the meaning of γυμνὰ and τετραχηλισμένα, naked, in reference to flaying, taking off the skin with which the flesh was clothed and covered, and cut down the back also. Thus saith Isidore Pelusiote, Ep. 1. 1. 94, that the phrase here used is ἐκ μεταφυρᾶς τῶν ἱερείων τῶν εἰς θυσίαν προσαγομένων, "by a HAMMOND ANNOTT. VOL. II. Z