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Hebrews 12 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
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(In so difficult a verse as this we need an exactness of translation which might not otherwise be desirable.) It is plain that the chief thought is, “Let us run our race with patient endurance, looking unto Jesus the Author . . . of our faith;” so that here again we have the thought which the writer is never weary of enforcing, the need of faith and patience for all who would inherit the promises. The connection is chiefly with the last verses of Hebrews 11, which are, indeed, a summary of the whole chapter. The purpose of God has been that those who throughout the past ages obtained witness of Him through their faith should not reach their consummation apart from us. To that consummation, then, let us press forward. Present to us in the view of Christ’s accomplished sacrifice, it is all future in regard of personal attainment. As those who have preceded us reached the goal, each one for himself, by faith and patient endurance, so must we. The thought of persevering effort crowned by a recompence of reward (<a href="/hebrews/6-12.htm" title="That you be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.">Hebrews 6:12</a>; <a href="/hebrews/6-18.htm" title="That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us:">Hebrews 6:18</a>; <a href="/context/hebrews/10-35.htm" title="Cast not away therefore your confidence, which has great recompense of reward.">Hebrews 10:35-39</a>) very naturally suggested the imagery of the public games (by this time familiar even to Jews), to which St. Paul in his Epistles so frequently alludes. (See <a href="/1_corinthians/4-9.htm" title="For I think that God has set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle to the world, and to angels, and to men.">1Corinthians 4:9</a>; <a href="/context/1_corinthians/9-24.htm" title="Know you not that they which run in a race run all, but one receives the prize? So run, that you may obtain.">1Corinthians 9:24-27</a>; <a href="/context/philippians/3-12.htm" title="Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.">Philippians 3:12-14</a>; <a href="/1_timothy/6-12.htm" title="Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto you are also called, and have professed a good profession before many witnesses.">1Timothy 6:12</a>; <a href="/context/2_timothy/4-7.htm" title="I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:">2Timothy 4:7-8</a>; comp. <a href="/context/hebrews/10-32.htm" title="But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great fight of afflictions;">Hebrews 10:32-33</a>.) In these passages are called up the various associations of the great national festivals of Greece—the severe discipline of the competitors, the intenseness of the struggle, the rewards, “the righteous judge,” the crowd of spectators. Most of these thoughts are present here (<a href="/context/hebrews/12-1.htm" title="Why seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,">Hebrews 12:1-2</a>; <a href="/hebrews/12-4.htm" title="You have not yet resisted to blood, striving against sin.">Hebrews 12:4</a>), and new joints of comparison are added, so that the scene is brought vividly before our eyes. It has been often supposed that the word “witnesses” is used in the sense of <span class= "ital">spectators</span> of the race. To an English reader this idea is very natural (as “witnesses” may simply mean <span class= "ital">beholders</span>)<span class= "ital">, </span>but there is no such ambiguity in the Greek word (<span class= "ital">martyres</span>)<span class= "ital">.</span> The Greek fathers rightly understood it to signify those who bear witness, and the chief point of doubt seems to have been whether the sense is general, or whether the word bears its later meaning—<span class= "ital">martyrs, </span>who have borne testimony with their blood. Those who thus encompass us, a countless “host (a “cloud” of witnesses), have had witness borne to them through their faith, and in turn stand forth <span class= "ital">as</span> witnesses to faith, bearing testimony to its power and works. One and all ‘they offer encouragement to us in our own contest of faith, and for this reason they are mentioned here. That the idea of the presence of spectators may be contained in the other words, “compassed about with so great a cloud,” is very possible; but no interpretation must be allowed to interfere with the chief thought—that the runner’s steadfast gaze is fixed on Him who has Himself traversed the course before us, and is now the Judge and Rewarder.<p><span class= "bld">Every weight.</span>—The Greek word was sometimes used by Greek writers to denote the excessive size and weight of body which the athlete sought to reduce by means of training; but may also signify the encumbrance of any burden, unnecessary clothing, and the like. It is here best taken in a general sense, as denoting anything that encumbers, and thus renders the athlete less fitted for the race. In the interpretation we might perhaps, think of the pressure of earthly cares, were it not that the writer seems to have in mind the special dangers of the Hebrew Christians. The “divers and strange teachings” spoken of in <a href="/hebrews/13-9.htm" title="Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.">Hebrews 13:9</a>, in which would be included the Judaising practices which they were tempted to observe (such as St. Peter described as a “yoke” too heavy to be borne), will probably suit the figure best.<p><span class= "bld">And the sin which doth so easily beset us.</span>—The last six words are the translation of a single adjective, which does not occur elsewhere. The Greek commentators, from whom we might expect some light <span class= "ital">cm.</span> the phrase, seem to be entirely reduced to conjecture. Chrysostom, for example, adopts in various places two altogether different meanings, “sin which easily (or, <span class= "ital">completely</span>) surrounds us,” “sin which is easily overcome.” To these Theophylact adds a third, “sin through which man is easily brought into danger.” The prevailing opinion amongst modern writers appears to be that the word signifies <span class= "ital">well</span> (or, <span class= "ital">easily</span>)<span class= "ital"> surrounding;</span> and that the writer is comparing sin with a garment—either a <span class= "ital">loosely</span> fitting garment by which the runner becomes entangled and tripped up, or one that clings <span class= "ital">closely</span> to him and thus impedes his ease of movement. This view of the meaning is taken in our earlier English versions, which either follow the Latin (Wiclif, “that standeth about us;” Rhemish, “that compasseth us”), or render the words, <span class= "ital">the sin that hangeth on, </span>or, <span class= "ital">that hangeth so fast on.</span> The sense is excellent, but it is very doubtful whether the Greek will admit of such a rendering. Though the exact word is not found elsewhere, there are words closely allied as to the meaning of which there is no doubt Analogy clearly points to the signification <span class= "ital">much admired</span> (literally, <span class= "ital">well surrounded</span> by an admiring crowd). It is not impossible that even with this meaning the words “lay aside” or <span class= "ital">put away</span> (often applied to putting off clothing) might still suggest a garment; if so, the allusion might be to a runner who refused to put off a garment which the crowd admired, though such an encumbrance must cause him to fail of the prize. It is more likely that the writer speaks of sin generally as an obstacle to the race, which must be put aside if the runner is to contend at all. If we look at the later exhortations of the Epistle, we shall find repeated mention of the reproach which the followers of Christ must bear. Even in the history of Moses (<a href="/hebrews/11-26.htm" title="Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect to the recompense of the reward.">Hebrews 11:26</a>) there are words which suggest the thought. (See also <a href="/hebrews/10-33.htm" title="Partly, whilst you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst you became companions of them that were so used.">Hebrews 10:33</a>; <a href="/hebrews/13-13.htm" title="Let us go forth therefore to him without the camp, bearing his reproach.">Hebrews 13:13</a>). So in the next verse we read of the cross of Jesus and the shame which He despised. Over against this “reproach” is set the sin which is sure to win man’s favour and applause—the sin of which we have read in <a href="/hebrews/10-26.htm" title="For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins,">Hebrews 10:26</a> (comp. <a href="/hebrews/11-25.htm" title="Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;">Hebrews 11:25</a>), which, seemingly harmless in its first approaches, will end in a “falling away from the living God.” The rendering with which the Authorised version has made us familiar is full of interest, but cannot (at all events as it is commonly understood) be an expression of the sense intended. Whatever view be taken of the one peculiar word, it does not seem possible that the phrase can point to what is known as a “besetting sin,” the sin which in the case of any one of us is proved to possess especial power.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/12-2.htm">Hebrews 12:2</a></div><div class="verse">Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of <i>our</i> faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.</div>(2) <span class= "bld">Looking unto Jesus.</span>—As in <a href="/hebrews/2-9.htm" title="But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.">Hebrews 2:9</a>, the description precedes the mention of the name, “Looking unto the Author and Perfecter of (our) faith, Jesus.” The first word is very similar to that of <a href="/hebrews/11-26.htm" title="Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect to the recompense of the reward.">Hebrews 11:26</a>; the runner looks away from all other objects and fixes his gaze on One. Jesus is not directly spoken of as the Judge (<a href="/2_timothy/4-8.htm" title="From now on there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but to all them also that love his appearing.">2Timothy 4:8</a>); but, as the next words show, He has Himself reached the goal, and His presence marks the point at which the race will close. As the last verse spoke of our “patient endurance,” this speaks of our faith, and of this Jesus is the Author and the Perfecter. The former word has occurred before, in <a href="/hebrews/2-10.htm" title="For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.">Hebrews 2:10</a>; and here, as there, <span class= "ital">origination</span> is the principal thought. There the idea of leading the way was also present; but here “Author” stands in contrast with “Perfecter,” and the example of our Lord is the subject of the clause which follows. Because it is He who begins and brings to perfection our faith, we must run the race with our eye fixed upon Him: in Him is the beginning, in Him the completion of the promises (<a href="/2_corinthians/1-20.htm" title="For all the promises of God in him are yes, and in him Amen, to the glory of God by us.">2Corinthians 1:20</a>); and in the steady and trustful dependence upon Him which this figure describes consists our faith.<p><span class= "bld">Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.</span>—The literal meaning is very forcible, <span class= "ital">endured a cross, despising shame;</span> the shame of such a death being set over against the joy that lay before Him. Here again we have the thought of <a href="/hebrews/2-9.htm" title="But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.">Hebrews 2:9</a> (<a href="/context/philippians/2-9.htm" title="Why God also has highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:">Philippians 2:9-10</a>); the joy of His accomplished purpose (<a href="/isaiah/53-11.htm" title="He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.">Isaiah 53:11</a>; <a href="/matthew/25-21.htm" title="His lord said to him, Well done, you good and faithful servant: you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things: enter you into the joy of your lord.">Matthew 25:21</a>; <a href="/context/luke/10-21.htm" title="In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hid these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them to babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in your sight.">Luke 10:21-22</a>) and the glory with which He was crowned (<a href="/john/17-1.htm" title="These words spoke Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify your Son, that your Son also may glorify you:">John 17:1</a>; <a href="/1_peter/1-11.htm" title="Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.">1Peter 1:11</a>) being the reward for His “obedience even unto death.” The whole form of the expression (comp. especially <a href="/hebrews/6-18.htm" title="That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us:">Hebrews 6:18</a>, “the hope set before us”) shows that Jesus is presented to us as an example not of endurance only, but also of faith (<a href="/hebrews/2-12.htm" title="Saying, I will declare your name to my brothers, in the middle of the church will I sing praise to you.">Hebrews 2:12</a>). On the last words of the verse see <a href="/hebrews/1-3.htm" title="Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:">Hebrews 1:3</a>; <a href="/hebrews/1-13.htm" title="But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool?">Hebrews 1:13</a>; <a href="/hebrews/8-1.htm" title="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;">Hebrews 8:1</a>; <a href="/context/hebrews/10-12.htm" title="But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;">Hebrews 10:12-13</a>; there is here a slight change in the Greek, which requires the rendering, <span class= "ital">and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/12-3.htm">Hebrews 12:3</a></div><div class="verse">For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.</div>(3) The figure of the race is still continued, “For unless ye thus look unto Jesus ye will grow weary.”<p><span class= "bld">Consider.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">compare;</span> place your sufferings by the side of His.<p><span class= "bld">Him that endured such contradiction.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">Him that hath endured such gainsaying from sinners against themselves.</span> The word “gainsaying,” (<a href="/hebrews/6-16.htm" title="For men truly swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.">Hebrews 6:16</a>; <a href="/hebrews/7-7.htm" title="And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better.">Hebrews 7:7</a>) is so frequently used in the LXX. for the rebelliousness of the people of Israel, that we need not here limit it to contradiction in words. The change of “Himself” into “themselves” (the reading of the oldest MSS.) is important, but it is not easy to say with what the last two words should be joined; for the meaning may be either “sinners against themselves” (comp. <a href="/numbers/16-38.htm" title="The censers of these sinners against their own souls, let them make them broad plates for a covering of the altar: for they offered them before the LORD, therefore they are hallowed: and they shall be a sign to the children of Israel.">Numbers 16:38</a>), or “gainsaying against themselves,” In either case the force of the words will be that the sin or the opposition manifested against Him was really against themselves, since it was for their salvation that He came upon earth. To all His other sorrows were added the pain of their ingratitude and His grief over their aggravated guilt.<p><span class= "bld">And faint.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">fainting in your souls.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/12-4.htm">Hebrews 12:4</a></div><div class="verse">Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.</div>(4) <span class= "bld">Ye have not yet resisted unto blood.</span>—Still the general figure is retained, but for the footrace is substituted the contest of the pugilists. In <a href="/hebrews/12-1.htm" title="Why seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,">Hebrews 12:1</a> sin was the hindrance which must be put aside; here it is the antagonist who must be subdued. It is interesting to note exactly the same transition in <a href="/1_corinthians/9-26.htm" title="I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beats the air:">1Corinthians 9:26</a>. (See Note.) The contest has been maintained but feebly, for no blood has flowed in their struggle with temptation and sin; they have not deserted the arena, but have shrunk from the suffering which a determined struggle would have caused. It is possible that the writer goes beyond the figure in these words, and that the price of their resistance might indeed have been their “blood.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/12-5.htm">Hebrews 12:5</a></div><div class="verse">And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:</div>(5) In this cowardly avoidance of trouble and persecution they have been shrinking from that chastening which every son receives from the Lord.<p><span class= "bld">Which speaketh unto you.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">which holds converse</span> (or, <span class= "ital">reasoneth</span>)<span class= "ital"> with you as with sons.</span> The words which follow are taken from <a href="/context/proverbs/3-11.htm" title="My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction:">Proverbs 3:11-12</a>, and agree with the text of the LXX., except that for “son” we have “my son,” and for “reproveth” (<a href="/hebrews/12-6.htm" title="For whom the Lord loves he chastens, and whips every son whom he receives.">Hebrews 12:6</a>) “chasteneth.” In the original passage Solomon is the speaker, and it is the second verse only that speaks of God’s fatherly love. It may be so here also, but the exhortation of the Scripture seems to be quoted as if spoken directly by God Himself to His sons.<p><span class= "bld">Despise.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">think not lightly of.</span> In the next clause the Hebrew (“and loathe not His correction”) denotes rather a spirit that rejects and chafes under divine discipline. As the words are found here, they point to losing heart and hope.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/12-6.htm">Hebrews 12:6</a></div><div class="verse">For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.</div>(6) <span class= "bld">And scourgeth.</span>—As the words stand in our Hebrew text, the meaning is “even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.” A very slight change in one word, however, will yield the sense in which the clause was understood by the Greek translators, and which is here retained. For the purpose of this quotation the difference between the two renderings is not material.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/12-7.htm">Hebrews 12:7</a></div><div class="verse">If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?</div>(7) <span class= "bld">If ye endure chastening.</span>—The whole weight of ancient evidence is in favour of a change in the first Greek word. Two translations are then possible: (1) “It is for chastening that ye endure:” the troubles that come upon you are for discipline—are not sent in anger, but in fatherly love. (2) “Endure for chastening:” bear the trial, instead of seeking to avoid it by unworthy and dangerous concession; endure it, that it may effect its merciful purpose.<p><span class= "bld">What son is he.</span>—Or, <span class= "ital">what son is there whom his</span> father chasteneth <span class= "ital">not?</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/12-8.htm">Hebrews 12:8</a></div><div class="verse">But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.</div>(8) <span class= "bld">Whereof all are partakers.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">whereof all</span> (God’s children) <span class= "ital">have been made partakers.</span> Were it possible that they have never known this fatherly “chastening,” it must be that they are not sons whom a father acknowledges, and for whose training he has care.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/12-9.htm">Hebrews 12:9</a></div><div class="verse">Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected <i>us</i>, and we gave <i>them</i> reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?</div>(9) <span class= "bld">Furthermore we have had fathers.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">Furthermore we had the fathers of our flesh as chasteners </span>(<span class= "ital">i.e., </span>to chasten us). The thought of the former verses has been, “He chastens as a lather.” From likeness we here pass to contrast. The contrast drawn is between our natural parents and “the Father of spirits” (comp. <a href="/numbers/16-22.htm" title="And they fell on their faces, and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and will you be wroth with all the congregation?">Numbers 16:22</a>; <a href="/numbers/27-16.htm" title="Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation,">Numbers 27:16</a>; <a href="/zechariah/12-1.htm" title="The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, said the LORD, which stretches forth the heavens, and lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him.">Zechariah 12:1</a>)—the Creator of all spirits, who is the Giver of life to all, who knows the spirit which He has made (see <a href="/context/psalms/94-9.htm" title="He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?">Psalm 94:9-10</a>) and can discipline it by His chastening.<p><span class= "bld">And live.</span>—Since the life of the spirit subsists only in union with Him.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/12-10.htm">Hebrews 12:10</a></div><div class="verse">For they verily for a few days chastened <i>us</i> after their own pleasure; but he for <i>our</i> profit, that <i>we</i> might be partakers of his holiness.</div>(10) <span class= "bld">After their own pleasure.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">as seemed good unto them.</span> The contrast is continued here between human liability to mistake and the perfect knowledge of our heavenly Father, who seeks our profit, and cannot err in the means which He employs. There is a general resemblance between this verse and the last, the “few days” corresponding to the “fathers of our flesh;” and the last clause here, “that we may be partakers of His holiness,” to the words which close <a href="/hebrews/12-9.htm" title="Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live?">Hebrews 12:9</a>, “and live.” To the “few days” no contrast is directly expressed in the second member of the verse; none was needed, because the last words so clearly imply the <span class= "ital">permanence</span> of the result.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/12-11.htm">Hebrews 12:11</a></div><div class="verse">Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.</div>(11) <span class= "bld">Now no chastening . . .</span>—Better (the reading being slightly changed), <span class= "ital">All chastening seemeth for the present time to be not joyous, but grievous.</span> The language, so far, would seem to be perfectly general, relating to all chastening, whether human or divine. The following clause may seem to confine our thought to the latter; but, with a lower sense of “righteousness,” the maxim is true of the wise discipline of earthly parents.<p><span class= "bld">The peaceable fruit of righteousness.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">peaceful fruit, </span>(<span class= "ital">fruit</span>)<span class= "ital"> of righteousness, to them that have been trained thereby.</span> The “peaceful” fruit stands in contrast with the unrest and trouble which have preceded during the time of “chastening.” But there is more than rest after conflict, for the object of the conflict is attained; the fruit consists in righteousness. (Comp. <a href="/isaiah/32-17.htm" title="And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.">Isaiah 32:17</a>; <a href="/proverbs/11-30.htm" title="The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that wins souls is wise.">Proverbs 11:30</a>; <a href="/james/3-17.htm" title="But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.">James 3:17</a>; <a href="/philippians/1-11.htm" title="Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.">Philippians 1:11</a>.) It has been sometimes supposed that in the word “trained” the writer returns to the figure of <a href="/hebrews/12-4.htm" title="You have not yet resisted to blood, striving against sin.">Hebrews 12:4</a>; but this is not probable.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/12-12.htm">Hebrews 12:12</a></div><div class="verse">Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;</div>(12) <span class= "bld">Wherefore.</span>—As in <a href="/hebrews/10-24.htm" title="And let us consider one another to provoke to love and to good works:">Hebrews 10:24</a>, the writer passes from the thought of personal risk and duty, to speak (in <a href="/context/hebrews/12-12.htm" title="Why lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;">Hebrews 12:12-17</a>) of that which is binding on all members of a community. “Wherefore”—since the trouble which has brought discouragement should rather call forth thankfulness—“strengthen (literally, <span class= "ital">make straight again, </span>restore to a right state) the weakened hands and the palsied knees.” The words are almost a reproduction of <a href="/isaiah/35-3.htm" title="Strengthen you the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.">Isaiah 35:3</a>, where those who have lost heart and hope (compared to men whose limbs are palsy-stricken) are encouraged by the promise of the coming of their God bringing recompense and salvation. (See <a href="/context/hebrews/10-36.htm" title="For you have need of patience, that, after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise.">Hebrews 10:36-37</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/12-13.htm">Hebrews 12:13</a></div><div class="verse">And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.</div>(13) <span class= "bld">And make straight paths.</span>—Quoted with some slight changes from the Greek translation of <a href="/proverbs/4-26.htm" title="Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established.">Proverbs 4:26</a>, “ponder” (or, more probably, <span class= "ital">make even</span>)<span class= "ital"> “</span>the path of thy feet.”<p><span class= "bld">Be turned out of the way.</span>—The difficulty in these words is concealed to some extent when they are separated from the following clause, as in the Authorised version; this separation, however, the Greek will not allow. If the words be rendered, “that what is lame may not be turned out of the way, but may rather be healed,” we cannot but feel that the two members are somewhat incongruous. It is probable, therefore, that the first verb here bears the meaning which it not unfrequently has in medical writers, <span class= "ital">be put out of joint.</span> Let the paths (or tracks) which you follow be straight, for crooked and uneven paths will make the limbs which are lame more helpless still; should nothing aggravate the hurt that has been received, it may soon be healed. In the application, the words are a warning against the shifting courses of men who are ready to turn aside from strict duty when persecution threatens, and seek to avert the danger by compliance with what they do not in heart approve. Whatever may be the result in the case of “the strong” (<a href="/romans/14-1.htm" title="Him that is weak in the faith receive you, but not to doubtful disputations.">Romans 14:1</a>; 1 Corinthians 8), the example brings destruction on “the weak.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/12-14.htm">Hebrews 12:14</a></div><div class="verse">Follow peace with all <i>men</i>, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:</div>(14) <span class= "bld">Follow peace.</span>—More clearly (as our word “follow” is somewhat ambiguous), <span class= "ital">follow after peace.</span> There is a manifest allusion to <a href="/psalms/34-14.htm" title="Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.">Psalm 34:14</a> (quoted also in <a href="/1_peter/3-11.htm" title="Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.">1Peter 3:11</a>). This charge is general (<a href="/romans/12-18.htm" title="If it be possible, as much as lies in you, live peaceably with all men.">Romans 12:18</a>), and must not be limited to peace with fellow Christians (<a href="/romans/14-19.htm" title="Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things with which one may edify another.">Romans 14:19</a>). The two admonitions of this verse were admirably suited to a period of persecution. Let all make peace their aim, yet not so as to sacrifice purity. (Comp. <a href="/james/3-17.htm" title="But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.">James 3:17</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">And holiness.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">and the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord.</span> In <a href="/hebrews/9-28.htm" title="So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and to them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin to salvation.">Hebrews 9:28</a> we have the promise that “Christ . . . shall be seen” by them that wait for Him: hence it might be supposed (especially as in the next verse we read of “the grace <span class= "ital">of God”</span>) that “the Lord” is here, as in <a href="/hebrews/2-3.htm" title="How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by them that heard him;">Hebrews 2:3</a>, a designation of our Saviour. As, however, this Epistle especially brings Him before us as the Sanctifier (<a href="/hebrews/2-11.htm" title="For both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brothers,">Hebrews 2:11</a>; <a href="/hebrews/13-12.htm" title="Why Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.">Hebrews 13:12</a>), who leads us into the presence of God (<a href="/hebrews/10-19.htm" title="Having therefore, brothers, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,">Hebrews 10:19</a>), we must rather look on these words as akin to <a href="/matthew/5-8.htm" title="Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.">Matthew 5:8</a>, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (<a href="/revelation/22-4.htm" title="And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.">Revelation 22:4</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/12-15.htm">Hebrews 12:15</a></div><div class="verse">Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble <i>you</i>, and thereby many be defiled;</div>(15) <span class= "bld">Lest any man fail.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">whether any one be falling back from the grace of God.</span> The defection of one member of the community brings loss and danger to the whole body. The last words of <a href="/hebrews/10-26.htm" title="For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins,">Hebrews 10:26</a> will show what is implied in this “falling back from the grace of God.”<p><span class= "bld">Any root of bitterness.</span>—It is clear that <a href="/deuteronomy/29-18.htm" title="Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turns away this day from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that bears gall and wormwood;">Deuteronomy 29:18</a>, though not formally quoted, is before the writer’s mind. In that chapter Moses had again brought before the people the covenant which, nearly forty years before, had been made and ratified “in Horeb” (see <a href="/context/hebrews/9-18.htm" title="Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.">Hebrews 9:18-20</a>). With especial solemnity he sets before them the sin and terrible punishment of idolatry, “Lest there should be among you man or woman . . . whose heart turneth away this day from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood.” The marginal note on the last words (“poisonful herb”) explains their true meaning—that which springs from the root is not merely bitter, it is also poisonous. Again, therefore (see <a href="/context/hebrews/10-27.htm" title="But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.">Hebrews 10:27-28</a>; <a href="/hebrews/10-30.htm" title="For we know him that has said, Vengeance belongs to me, I will recompense, said the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.">Hebrews 10:30</a>), the apostasy to which the Hebrew Christians were tempted is compared with the sin committed by those who by idolatry fell away from God’s ancient covenant; and as one idol-worshipper in a community might bring into it a root of bitter poison, so one apostate from the Christian faith would bring trouble and defilement on the Church. In <a href="/acts/8-23.htm" title="For I perceive that you are in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.">Acts 8:23</a> St. Peter makes reference to the same chapter of Deuteronomy as he speaks to Simon Magus, who, above all other men, proved a root of bitter poison in the early Church.<p><span class= "bld">Many</span>.—Rather, <span class= "ital">the many</span> (according to the best reading)—<span class= "ital">i.e., </span>the whole community.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/12-16.htm">Hebrews 12:16</a></div><div class="verse">Lest there <i>be</i> any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.</div>(16) <span class= "bld">Lest there be</span>.—Better (as in the last verse), <span class= "ital">whether there be.</span> Though Jewish tradition (see, for example, the Targum of Palestine on <a href="/genesis/25-29.htm" title="And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint:">Genesis 25:29</a>) affirms that Esau was a man of impure life, it is not probable that he is so represented in this verse. Here he is mentioned as a type of “the profane,” who care not for divine things, but only for the gains and pleasures of this world.<p><span class= "bld">Who for one morsel of meat.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">who for one meal sold his own birthright</span> (<a href="/context/genesis/25-29.htm" title="And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint:">Genesis 25:29-34</a>). We cannot suppose that the writer has in thought the material rights of the firstborn, such as his claim on pre-eminence and, possibly (see <a href="/deuteronomy/21-17.htm" title="But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he has: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.">Deuteronomy 21:17</a>), on a larger share of his father’s possessions. Tradition relates that, up to the time of Aaron, priestly functions were discharged by each firstborn son (comp. <a href="/context/numbers/3-5.htm" title="And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,">Numbers 3:5-12</a>); and to the line of the firstborn would seem to belong that “blessing of Abraham” (<a href="/genesis/28-4.htm" title="And give you the blessing of Abraham, to you, and to your seed with you; that you may inherit the land wherein you are a stranger, which God gave to Abraham.">Genesis 28:4</a>) which every one who shared Abraham’s faith would earnestly desire to possess.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/12-17.htm">Hebrews 12:17</a></div><div class="verse">For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.</div>(17) <span class= "bld">For ye know how that afterward . . .</span>—The meaning of the verse will be seen more clearly if one clause be placed in a parenthesis: “For ye know that even when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing he was rejected (for he found no place of repentance), though he sought it earnestly with tears.” The blessing of Jacob related in Genesis 27 is here viewed (apart from all attendant circumstances) as a necessary consequence of Esau’s “profane” scorn of his birthright. Notwithstanding Esau’s piteous entreaty, Isaac cannot but ratify (<a href="/genesis/27-33.htm" title="And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said, Who? where is he that has taken venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before you came, and have blessed him? yes, and he shall be blessed.">Genesis 27:33</a>) the blessing which he has pronounced; though his son sought the blessing earnestly with tears (<a href="/genesis/27-38.htm" title="And Esau said to his father, Have you but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.">Genesis 27:38</a>), he was rejected. He “found no place of repentance;” that first act (<a href="/genesis/25-33.htm" title="And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he swore to him: and he sold his birthright to Jacob.">Genesis 25:33</a>) could not be recalled, but brought with it a loss which nothing could retrieve.<p>(It is right to add that other interpretations of the verse have been given, which seem, however, much less probable. Thus, the last clause has been understood to mean that Esau earnestly sought repentance; and the preceding words, which we have placed in a parenthesis, that he could not bring his father to a change of purpose.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/12-18.htm">Hebrews 12:18</a></div><div class="verse">For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,</div>(18-29) The exhortation to faithfulness is most impressively enforced by means of a comparison between the earlier revelation and that which is given in Christ.<p><span class= "bld">The mount that might be touched.</span>—It appears certain that the word “mount” has no place in the true Greek text. Had this word been in the sentence as originally written, its absence from all our more ancient authorities would be inexplicable; whilst, on the other hand, the contrast with <a href="/hebrews/12-22.htm" title="But you are come to mount Sion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,">Hebrews 12:22</a>, and the recollection of <a href="/deuteronomy/4-11.htm" title="And you came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire to the middle of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness.">Deuteronomy 4:11</a>, from which the last words in this verse are taken, would very naturally lead a transcriber to supply this word, which he might suppose to have accidentally dropped out of the text. If, however, the writer did not make use of the word here, though the contrast of <a href="/hebrews/12-22.htm" title="But you are come to mount Sion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,">Hebrews 12:22</a> was already before his mind, it seems certain that the word was not in his thought; and hence we have no right to introduce it in the explanation of the verse. The true translation, in all probability, is as follows: <span class= "ital">For ye are not come unto a material</span> (literally, <span class= "ital">a palpable</span>)<span class= "ital"> and kindled fire, and unto gloom and darkness and tempest.</span> The object of the writer is to set forth the terrors which accompanied the giving of the Law,—that which the awe-stricken people saw and heard. Not the mount, but the terrible fire was that which met their gaze. Thus again and again in Deuteronomy we find reference to the voice and the fire alone (<a href="/deuteronomy/4-33.htm" title="Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the middle of the fire, as you have heard, and live?">Deuteronomy 4:33</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/4-36.htm" title="Out of heaven he made you to hear his voice, that he might instruct you: and on earth he showed you his great fire; and you heard his words out of the middle of the fire.">Deuteronomy 4:36</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/5-4.htm" title="The LORD talked with you face to face in the mount out of the middle of the fire,">Deuteronomy 5:4</a>; <a href="/context/deuteronomy/5-25.htm" title="Now therefore why should we die? for this great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any more, then we shall die.">Deuteronomy 5:25-26</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/18-16.htm" title="According to all that you desired of the LORD your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.">Deuteronomy 18:16</a>). Shortly before “the day of the assembly” in Horeb Israel had been led by “a pillar of fire” (<a href="/exodus/13-21.htm" title="And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night:">Exodus 13:21</a>); in <a href="/hebrews/12-29.htm" title="For our God is a consuming fire.">Hebrews 12:29</a> of this chapter the figure of “a consuming fire” is applied to God Himself. To avoid such associations as these, and vividly to represent what then was shown to the Israelites, he speaks of “a material and kindled fire.” The metaphor in “palpable” as applied to fire is hardly more remarkable than that involved in “a darkness which may be felt” (<a href="/exodus/10-21.htm" title="And the LORD said to Moses, Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.">Exodus 10:21</a>, where the word used in the LXX. is almost the same as that which we have here).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/12-19.htm">Hebrews 12:19</a></div><div class="verse">And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which <i>voice</i> they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more:</div>(19) See <a href="/exodus/19-19.htm" title="And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice.">Exodus 19:19</a> (“the voice of the trumpet”), <a href="/deuteronomy/4-12.htm" title="And the LORD spoke to you out of the middle of the fire: you heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only you heard a voice.">Deuteronomy 4:12</a> (“the voice of the words”).<p><span class= "bld">Intreated.</span>—“If we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, then we shall die” (<a href="/deuteronomy/5-25.htm" title="Now therefore why should we die? for this great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any more, then we shall die.">Deuteronomy 5:25</a>; <a href="/exodus/20-19.htm" title="And they said to Moses, Speak you with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.">Exodus 20:19</a>). Though God drew near to Israel, to reveal Himself, so terrible was His voice to them, so awful the penalties which fenced round their approach to Him, that they shrank back from hearing His words.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/12-20.htm">Hebrews 12:20</a></div><div class="verse">(For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart:</div>(20) There is no sufficient reason for enclosing this verse and the next in a parenthesis.<p><span class= "bld">And if so much as</span>.—Better, <span class= "ital">If even a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned</span> (<a href="/context/exodus/19-12.htm" title="And you shall set bounds to the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that you go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whoever touches the mount shall be surely put to death:">Exodus 19:12-13</a>). The next clause, “or thrust through with a dart,” is absent from our best authorities; and has accidentally found its way into the text from <a href="/exodus/19-13.htm" title="There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet sounds long, they shall come up to the mount.">Exodus 19:13</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/12-21.htm">Hebrews 12:21</a></div><div class="verse">And so terrible was the sight, <i>that</i> Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)</div>(21) <span class= "bld">And so terrible was the sight that. . . .</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">And </span>(<span class= "ital">so fearful was the appearance</span>)<span class= "ital"> Moses said, I exceedingly fear and tremble.</span> <a href="/deuteronomy/9-19.htm" title="For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, with which the LORD was wroth against you to destroy you. But the LORD listened to me at that time also.">Deuteronomy 9:19</a>, as it stands in the Greek translation, contains these words in part (“I exceedingly fear”); there, however, they belong to a later time, when Moses was “afraid of the anger and hot displeasure” of the Lord against the worshippers of the golden calf (Exodus 32). Various Jewish traditions speak of the terror of Moses as upon Mount Sinai he beheld the wonders of the heavenly world (see <a href="/hebrews/2-2.htm" title="For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward;">Hebrews 2:2</a>); but no saying that has been preserved throws additional light on the words before us.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/12-22.htm">Hebrews 12:22</a></div><div class="verse">But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,</div>(22-24) “What it was to which Israel in the time of the Old Covenant drew nigh, we have now heard. Their drawing nigh was at the same time a standing afar off; the mount of the revelation might not be approached by them; the voice of God was too terrible to be borne; and yet it was only tangible material nature in which God at once manifested and concealed Himself. The true and inner communion with God had not yet been revealed: first must the Law lead to the painful consciousness that sin prevents such communion, and intensify the longing that sin may be taken out of the way. Under the New Covenant, no longer is a tangible mountain the place of a divine revelation made from afar; but heaven is thrown open, and a new super-sensuous world in which God is enthroned is opened to admit us, opened through the Mediator of the New Covenant, accessible in virtue of His atoning blood” (Delitzsch).<p>(22) <span class= "bld">Unto mount Sion.</span>—Literally (and in these difficult verses it is unusually important to follow the literal rendering of the Greek), <span class= "ital">Ye are come unto Zion</span> (<span class= "ital">the</span>)<span class= "ital"> mountain and city of a Living God, a heavenly Jerusalem.</span> The thought of a celestial city which should be the exact counterpart of the earthly Jerusalem is often dwelt upon in Jewish writings: hence the writer is using familiar words, but with a new and spiritual meaning. The same imagery has been employed in <a href="/hebrews/11-10.htm" title="For he looked for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.">Hebrews 11:10</a>; <a href="/context/hebrews/11-13.htm" title="These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.">Hebrews 11:13-16</a>, for this is the city “that hath the foundations, whose Architect and Maker is God.” (See also <a href="/revelation/21-2.htm" title="And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.">Revelation 21:2</a>, <span class= "ital">et seq.</span>; <a href="/galatians/4-26.htm" title="But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.">Galatians 4:26</a>.) This “heavenly Jerusalem” is “Zion, mountain and city of a Living God.” Mount Zion is mentioned first, because the contrast with Mount Sinai is throughout present in thought. The name recalls many passages of the Old Testament, especially of the Psalter, as far back as the time when David chose the place for the Ark of the Covenant. Here God desired to dwell (<a href="/psalms/68-16.htm" title="Why leap you, you high hills? this is the hill which God desires to dwell in; yes, the LORD will dwell in it for ever.">Psalm 68:16</a>); in this holy hill He set His anointed King (<a href="/psalms/2-6.htm" title="Yet have I set my king on my holy hill of Zion.">Psalm 2:6</a>). (See also <a href="/psalms/48-2.htm" title="Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.">Psalm 48:2</a>; <a href="/psalms/48-11.htm" title="Let mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of your judgments.">Psalm 48:11</a>; <a href="/psalms/78-68.htm" title="But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved.">Psalm 78:68</a>; <a href="/psalms/110-2.htm" title="The LORD shall send the rod of your strength out of Zion: rule you in the middle of your enemies.">Psalm 110:2</a>; <a href="/psalms/132-13.htm" title="For the LORD has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his habitation.">Psalm 132:13</a>.) Zion is not only the mount of God, His dwelling place; it is also “the city of God,” whose gates the Lord loveth (<a href="/psalms/87-2.htm" title="The LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.">Psalm 87:2</a>). (See <a href="/context/psalms/48-12.htm" title="Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof.">Psalm 48:12-13</a>, <span class= "ital">et al.</span>) In <a href="/hebrews/8-2.htm" title="A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.">Hebrews 8:2</a> we find associated the place of the special manifestation of the glory of God and the resort of His worshipping people; so here the heavenly sanctuary and the city inhabited by “the ransomed of the Lord” (<a href="/isaiah/35-10.htm" title="And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy on their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.">Isaiah 35:10</a>). In Horeb Israel intreated that they might not hear the voice of “the living God” (<a href="/deuteronomy/5-26.htm" title="For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the middle of the fire, as we have, and lived?">Deuteronomy 5:26</a>). In this spiritual commonwealth we all “have drawn nigh” to Him.<p>In the first member of these three verses (<a href="/context/hebrews/12-22.htm" title="But you are come to mount Sion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,">Hebrews 12:22-24</a>), therefore, there is very little that is open to question; the difficulties lie in the words which follow, “and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn which are written in heaven.” Four or five different arrangements of these words are allowed by the Greek, and every one of these has been adopted and defended by writers of eminence. Here the discussion must be very brief. On a careful examination of the whole passage, it seems in the highest degree probable that the writer introduces by” and” each successive member of the sentence, and that groups of words not so introduced serve as appositions, explaining what precedes them. If this be so, the arrangement of the Authorised version is not tenable. We believe that the choice must lie between two renderings: (1) “And to myriads of angels, a festal assembly and congregation of the firstborn enrolled in heaven.” (2) “And to myriads, a festal assembly of angels and a congregation of the firstborn enrolled in heaven.” In the first of these renderings angels are the subject throughout; in the second, “the myriads” to whom we have come nigh are divided into two companies—the festal host of angels, the church of the firstborn. Let us look at the latter interpretation first. By it the “firstborn” are sought amongst. men; either those who are already inhabitants of the heavenly world, or men still living upon earth, though enrolled as citizens of heaven (<a href="/luke/10-20.htm" title="Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject to you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.">Luke 10:20</a>). Some have understood the words to relate to those who hold precedency, either in rank or in time, among men to whom God has given the name of sons; as, saints of preeminent piety, “the noble army of martyrs,” the faithful under the Old Covenant, Enoch and Elijah, the Apostles, the first generations of Christians, or the believers of the later as distinguished from those of the earlier dispensation. A far more probable explanation is that which makes the word here “equivalent to <span class= "ital">heirs of the kingdom, </span>all faithful Christians being <span class= "ital">ipso facto</span> ‘firstborn,’ because all are kings” (Dr. Lightfoot on <a href="/colossians/1-15.htm" title=" Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:">Colossians 1:15</a>). See <a href="/hebrews/1-6.htm" title="And again, when he brings in the first-begotten into the world, he said, And let all the angels of God worship him.">Hebrews 1:6</a>; also, “as instances of the figurative use of <span class= "ital">firstborn</span> in the Old Testament, where the idea of priority of birth is overshadowed by and lost in the idea of pre-eminence,” <a href="/job/18-13.htm" title="It shall devour the strength of his skin: even the firstborn of death shall devour his strength.">Job 18:13</a>; <a href="/isaiah/14-30.htm" title="And the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety: and I will kill your root with famine, and he shall slay your remnant.">Isaiah 14:30</a>. If this be the true interpretation, <a href="/1_peter/2-9.htm" title="But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that you should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light;">1Peter 2:9</a> unites the two thoughts which this figure suggests, “Ye are . . . a royal priesthood” (see above, <a href="/hebrews/12-16.htm" title="Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.">Hebrews 12:16</a>); and the whole of that verse. especially as compared with <a href="/exodus/4-22.htm" title="And you shall say to Pharaoh, Thus said the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:">Exodus 4:22</a>, well illustrates the position here assigned to the company of the faithful upon earth. The word which we have here rendered <span class= "ital">congregation, </span>moreover, is that which is regularly applied to the Church of Christ. There is, therefore, very much to be said on behalf of this interpretation, which is in every way attractive. And yet, full of interest as is such an explanation of the special words, it seems certainly unsuitable to the passage as a whole. It is not easy to believe that the words “and to myriads” are to be taken by themselves. It is still more difficult to explain the introduction of the living Church on earth in this position—between angels and the “God of all,” whilst “the spirits of just men made perfect” are mentioned later, in an association from which the Church on earth cannot be severed—with “Jesus the Mediator of a new covenant and the blood of sprinkling.” For these reasons especially it seems necessary to adopt the first-mentioned arrangement of the words: “ye have come near . . . to myriads of angels, a festal assembly and congregation of the firstborn enrolled in heaven.” Two passages of the Old Testament seem to have been chiefly in the writer’s mind (<a href="/deuteronomy/33-2.htm" title="And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir to them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them.">Deuteronomy 33:2</a>, and <a href="/daniel/7-10.htm" title="A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.">Daniel 7:10</a>); in each of these the Lord appears attended by “myriads of angels,” who stand before Him and minister to Him (<a href="/psalms/103-20.htm" title="Bless the LORD, you his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening to the voice of his word.">Psalm 103:20</a>). We who by means of the “better hope draw near to God” (<a href="/hebrews/7-19.htm" title="For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw near to God.">Hebrews 7:19</a>) are led to this “holy hill” and city, and through the hosts of “ministering spirits” into the very presence of the “God of all.” The descriptive words which follow are borrowed from the history of Israel. The first (<a href="/ezekiel/46-11.htm" title="And in the feasts and in the solemnities the meat offering shall be an ephah to a bullock, and an ephah to a ram, and to the lambs as he is able to give, and an hin of oil to an ephah.">Ezekiel 46:11</a>; <a href="/hosea/2-11.htm" title="I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.">Hosea 2:11</a>; <a href="/hosea/9-5.htm" title="What will you do in the solemn day, and in the day of the feast of the LORD?">Hosea 9:5</a>; <a href="/amos/5-21.htm" title="I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.">Amos 5:21</a>; <a href="/isaiah/66-10.htm" title="Rejoice you with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all you that mourn for her:">Isaiah 66:10</a>) is the general and joyous gathering for the feasts of the Lord; the second is the word used throughout for the “church in the wilderness,” the “congregation” of Israel. The latter points to the united body of the servants of God, the former to the joyful gathering for His service. The second word is so commonly used of Israel and of the Christian Church that it has been denied that any other application is ever made; but there is certainly an exception in <a href="/psalms/89-7.htm" title="God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.">Psalm 89:7</a> (a Psalm which, as we have seen, was much in the writer’s thoughts), “God is greatly to be feared in the congregation of the saints.” How fitly angels—who in <a href="/job/1-6.htm" title="Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.">Job 1:6</a>; <a href="/job/2-1.htm" title="Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD.">Job 2:1</a>; <a href="/job/38-7.htm" title="When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?">Job 38:7</a> (comp. <a href="/psalms/29-1.htm" title="Give to the LORD, O you mighty, give to the LORD glory and strength.">Psalm 29:1</a>, <span class= "ital">et al.</span>)<span class= "ital">, </span>are called “sons of God,” are here spoken of as “firstborn,” needs no explanation; they are the enrolled citizens of heaven, whose assembly we are permitted to join (<a href="/revelation/5-11.htm" title="And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;">Revelation 5:11</a>; comp. <a href="/luke/20-36.htm" title="Neither can they die any more: for they are equal to the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.">Luke 20:36</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/12-23.htm">Hebrews 12:23</a></div><div class="verse">To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,</div>(23) <span class= "bld">And to God the Judge of all.</span>—The order of the Greek seems to require the rendering, <span class= "ital">and to a Judge </span>(<span class= "ital">who is</span>)<span class= "ital"> God of all.</span> Up to this point our thought has rested on the heavenly world and those who from the time of their creation have been its inhabitants. Men who have passed through this earthly life have no essential right to citizenship in the “heavenly Jerusalem.” They come before a Judge (comp. <a href="/hebrews/9-27.htm" title="And as it is appointed to men once to die, but after this the judgment:">Hebrews 9:27</a>). “The Lord shall judge His people” (<a href="/hebrews/10-30.htm" title="For we know him that has said, Vengeance belongs to me, I will recompense, said the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.">Hebrews 10:30</a>), severing between His servants and His foes (<a href="/malachi/3-18.htm" title="Then shall you return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serves God and him that serves him not.">Malachi 3:18</a>; <a href="/malachi/4-1.htm" title="For, behold, the day comes, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yes, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that comes shall burn them up, said the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.">Malachi 4:1</a>), condemning the wicked, and receiving the righteous to His own dwelling-place. This Judge is “God of all”—of angels and of righteous souls (<a href="//apocrypha.org/wisdom_of_solomon/3-1.htm" title="But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them.">Wisdom Of Solomon 3:1</a>), and of Christian men who “draw nigh” to the celestial city. How characteristic of the writer and his theme is the introduction of these solemn words into the midst of this description of Christian privilege and blessing.<p><span class= "bld">And to the spirits of just men made perfect.</span>—The last verses of Hebrews 11 are at once called before the mind by these words. The “righteous” men have “by faith” run their course (<a href="/hebrews/10-38.htm" title="Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.">Hebrews 10:38</a>; <a href="/hebrews/11-4.htm" title="By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaks.">Hebrews 11:4</a>; <a href="/hebrews/11-7.htm" title="By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.">Hebrews 11:7</a>; <a href="/philippians/3-12.htm" title="Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.">Philippians 3:12</a>); they have obtained the promises (<a href="/hebrews/6-15.htm" title="And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.">Hebrews 6:15</a>; <a href="/hebrews/11-1.htm" title="Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.">Hebrews 11:1</a>). The analogy of Scripture forbids us to consider their present state as the full consummation; for that, these “spirits” and we who are yet “in the body” await the day of the resurrection. These words, however, do not refer to the period of the Old Covenant only; indeed they do not in strictness belong to that period at all. The spirits of the righteous servants of Christ join the same fellowship; and only when Christ was manifested does the state to which the name “perfection” is thus given seem to have begun. What was received by those “spirits of the righteous” when they saw the day of Christ, we cannot tell; but. the teaching of Scripture seems to be that they were raised to some higher state of blessedness. These are the new inhabitants of the world above; they have come into the presence of God by means of the blood of sprinkling, through Jesus.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/12-24.htm">Hebrews 12:24</a></div><div class="verse">And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than <i>that of</i> Abel.</div>(24) <span class= "bld">And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">a new covenant.</span> There is another change in the Greek which it is not easy to-express. In all other places in which we read of the New Covenant (<a href="/hebrews/8-8.htm" title="For finding fault with them, he said, Behold, the days come, said the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:">Hebrews 8:8</a>; <a href="/hebrews/8-13.htm" title="In that he said, A new covenant, he has made the first old. Now that which decays and waxes old is ready to vanish away.">Hebrews 8:13</a>; <a href="/hebrews/9-15.htm" title="And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.">Hebrews 9:15</a>; <a href="/luke/22-20.htm" title="Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.">Luke 22:20</a>; <a href="/1_corinthians/11-25.htm" title="After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do you, as oft as you drink it, in remembrance of me.">1Corinthians 11:25</a>; <a href="/2_corinthians/3-6.htm" title="Who also has made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.">2Corinthians 3:6</a>) a word is used which implies newness of kind and quality; here it is a covenant which is newly made—literally “young,” having all the freshness of youth in comparison with that which long since was waxing old (<a href="/hebrews/8-13.htm" title="In that he said, A new covenant, he has made the first old. Now that which decays and waxes old is ready to vanish away.">Hebrews 8:13</a>). Here also if we follow the order of the original (see <a href="/hebrews/2-9.htm" title="But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.">Hebrews 2:9</a>; <a href="/hebrews/3-1.htm" title="Why, holy brothers, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;">Hebrews 3:1</a>; <a href="/hebrews/12-2.htm" title="Looking to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.">Hebrews 12:2</a>, <span class= "ital">et al.</span>)<span class= "ital">, </span>the description precedes, and the name “Jesus” follows, thus standing between the words which describe His covenant and those which speak of His blood.<p><span class= "bld">And to the blood of sprinkling.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">and to blood of sprinkling that speaketh better</span> (or, <span class= "ital">more powerfully</span>)<span class= "ital"> than Abel.</span> Jesus is Mediator of a new covenant (<a href="/hebrews/8-6.htm" title="But now has he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.">Hebrews 8:6</a>; <a href="/hebrews/9-15.htm" title="And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.">Hebrews 9:15</a>) through the shedding of His blood (<a href="/context/hebrews/9-15.htm" title="And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.">Hebrews 9:15-17</a>; <a href="/hebrews/10-29.htm" title="Of how much sorer punishment, suppose you, shall he be thought worthy, who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant, with which he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and has done despite to the Spirit of grace?">Hebrews 10:29</a>). This is “blood of sprinkling,” blood which cleanseth the conscience from dead works to serve a living God (<a href="/hebrews/9-14.htm" title="How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?">Hebrews 9:14</a>): it was typified by the blood of the covenant with which Moses sprinkled all the people (<a href="/context/hebrews/9-19.htm" title="For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people,">Hebrews 9:19-20</a>). Abel being dead yet speaketh (<a href="/hebrews/11-4.htm" title="By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaks.">Hebrews 11:4</a>), for his. blood crieth for vengeance. This blood speaks with greater power, and speaks not for wrath but for purification and atonement. <a href="/context/1_john/2-1.htm" title="My little children, these things write I to you, that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:">1John 2:1-2</a>, completes the contrast: God was the Avenger of “righteous Abel,” but Jesus Christ the righteous is our Advocate with the Father, and He is the propitiation for our sins.<p>It does not seem probable that the writer designs a detailed contrast between the several particulars of these verses and of <a href="/context/hebrews/12-18.htm" title="For you are not come to the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor to blackness, and darkness, and tempest,">Hebrews 12:18-21</a>. The number in each case is the same (<span class= "ital">six</span>)<span class= "ital">, </span>and in the case of the first and last some analogy may be traced; but this is all that can be said with safety. If our interpretation of these verses is correct, there is no mention of the Church on earth. But can we wonder at this? It is to that living Church that the words themselves are from age to age addressed. They describe the blessed heavenly fellowship to which each servant of Christ now toiling on earth is joined: when he has run the race set before him, he will, through the blood of sprinkling and through Jesus the Mediator, reach the company of the just made perfect, and stand before the “God of all.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/12-25.htm">Hebrews 12:25</a></div><div class="verse">See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more <i>shall not</i> we <i>escape</i>, if we turn away from him that <i>speaketh</i> from heaven:</div>(25) <span class= "bld">Refuse not</span>.—In <a href="/hebrews/12-19.htm" title="And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more:">Hebrews 12:19</a> we have read that the Israelites entreated that they might no more hear the voice of God (literally, <span class= "ital">deprecated</span> the speaking of more words). Twice in this verse the same word is used in the sense of declining to listen, with clear reference to the earlier verse.<p><span class= "bld">Him that speaketh.</span>—God speaking to us from heaven (<a href="/context/hebrews/1-1.htm" title="God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,">Hebrews 1:1-2</a>). See below.<p><span class= "bld">For if they escaped not who refused.</span>—Rather (according to the better reading of the Greek), <span class= "ital">For if they escaped not when they refused on earth Him that warned.</span> The terrors which accompanied the giving of the Law were designed to impress all hearts with the fearful peril of disobedience. In shrinking from* the voice of Him that warned they could not escape the declaration of the Law or the terrible penalties which awaited all transgressors.<p><span class= "bld">If we turn away.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">who turn away from Him that</span> (<span class= "ital">warneth</span>)<span class= "ital"> from heaven.</span> The argument is similar <span class= "ital">to</span> that of <a href="/context/hebrews/2-2.htm" title="For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward;">Hebrews 2:2-3</a>, where the same word “escape” is found. He from whom they turned aside on earth is He who now speaks to us; but then His voice was heard amidst earthly terrors, now His revelation comes through His Son who is exalted in heaven. If we do not hearken to the word of life and promise that is ever coming to us from God through His Son, it will be because we deliberately “turn away,” for the excuse of the panic-stricken Israelites cannot be ours. The voice that speaks on earth fell on the outward ear, but He who speaks from heaven makes His voice heard in the inner conscience; the one may fail to be heard and understood, the other will find us out, and is neglected only through stubbornness of will. Much less, then, shall we escape if we turn away from Him who warns from heaven.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/12-26.htm">Hebrews 12:26</a></div><div class="verse">Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.</div>(26) <span class= "bld">Shook the earth.</span>—<a href="/context/exodus/19-18.htm" title="And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.">Exodus 19:18-19</a>; <a href="/context/judges/5-4.htm" title="LORD, when you went out of Seir, when you marched out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped water.">Judges 5:4-5</a>. The terrors of Sinai were, moreover, a type of a more terrible revelation of judgment, when not only shall the earth tremble, but the earth and the heaven shall be moved, and all that is transitory and mutable shall pass away. The words of <a href="/haggai/2-6.htm" title="For thus said the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;">Haggai 2:6</a> are taken as a prophecy of this consummation. The reference of the prediction of which this forms part to the <span class= "ital">first</span> coming of the Messiah is passed over; it is only as bearing upon the last days that the words are quoted here.<p><span class= "bld">Now he hath promised.</span>—This whole time of waiting is included in the “now.” It is as if the words were: “now we have this promise, and are looking for its fulfilment.”<p><span class= "bld">I shake.</span>—Rather (according to the better reading), <span class= "ital">I will move</span> (or, <span class= "ital">make to tremble</span>)<span class= "ital">.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/12-27.htm">Hebrews 12:27</a></div><div class="verse">And this <i>word</i>, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.</div>(27) This word, “Yet once more,” is equivalent to <span class= "ital">once more only;</span> and the words “once more only will I move the heaven and the earth” must of necessity point to the final change, which issues in the removal of all that can pass away.<p><span class= "bld">Which cannot be shaken.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">which are not shaken.</span> The great difficulty of the verse is to ascertain on what word this clause depends. (1) If upon “removing,” the sense will be: This word . . . signifieth the removing of the things made (as being created things), that the things not shaken may remain. The next verse throws light on the writer’s meaning; there that which “cannot be shaken” is the kingdom which we receive: he is not speaking of that which belongs to a material creation. (2) The other view can only be briefly mentioned: This word . . . signifieth the removing of the things shaken, as of things that have been made in order that the things not shaken may remain. The idea is striking—that created things were made for the very purpose of giving place to what shall abide; but the other view seems to give the more probable meaning of the verse.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/12-28.htm">Hebrews 12:28</a></div><div class="verse">Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:</div>(28) <span class= "bld">Receiving a kingdom.</span>—These words clearly contain a reference to <a href="/daniel/7-18.htm" title="But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.">Daniel 7:18</a>, “The saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom.” Nor can it well be doubted that the closing verses of Haggai 2 are also before the writer’s mind; after <a href="/hebrews/12-21.htm" title="And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)">Hebrews 12:21</a>, which repeats the words of <a href="/hebrews/12-6.htm" title="For whom the Lord loves he chastens, and whips every son whom he receives.">Hebrews 12:6</a>, quoted above, the prophet declares the overthrow of earthly kingdoms, and continues to His servant Zerubbabel the Messianic promise. Christ has made His people kings; and when heaven and earth have passed away, they shall be found heirs of a kingdom that cannot be shaken (<a href="/context/hebrews/2-5.htm" title="For to the angels has he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.">Hebrews 2:5-9</a>).<p><span class= "bld">Let us have grace.</span>—Many render the last word <span class= "ital">thankfulness, </span>but the ordinary translation is preferable. There is for us a “throne of grace” to which we may draw near and “find grace” (<a href="/hebrews/4-16.htm" title="Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.">Hebrews 4:16</a>). The characteristic of our Christian state is that we “have grace,” and have not “fallen back from the grace of God” (<a href="/hebrews/12-15.htm" title="Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;">Hebrews 12:15</a>). Let us continue in this state and thus be enabled to offer our priestly service unto God (<a href="/hebrews/9-14.htm" title="How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?">Hebrews 9:14</a>; <a href="/hebrews/13-15.htm" title="By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.">Hebrews 13:15</a>).<p><span class= "bld">Acceptably.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">well-pleasing.</span> (See <a href="/hebrews/11-5.htm" title="By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.">Hebrews 11:5</a>; <a href="/hebrews/13-16.htm" title="But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.">Hebrews 13:16</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">With reverence and godly fear.</span>—According to the true reading of the Greek, the meaning is <span class= "ital">with reverent fear and awe.</span> The former word is that which occupies so important a place in <a href="/hebrews/5-7.htm" title="Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears to him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;">Hebrews 5:7</a>. (See Note.) The tone of the whole chapter—we might rather say, the whole Epistle—is presented in this combination of “grace” and acceptable service with awe and reverent fear. The last thought connects itself closely with the following verse.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/12-29.htm">Hebrews 12:29</a></div><div class="verse">For our God <i>is</i> a consuming fire.</div>(29) A quotation from <a href="/deuteronomy/4-24.htm" title="For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.">Deuteronomy 4:24</a>. There these words follow a solemn warning against idolatry. This passage then belongs to the same class as <a href="/context/hebrews/10-27.htm" title="But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.">Hebrews 10:27-28</a>; <a href="/hebrews/10-30.htm" title="For we know him that has said, Vengeance belongs to me, I will recompense, said the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.">Hebrews 10:30</a>. (See the Notes.)<p><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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