Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadLange Commentary - Hebrews 13:1 - 13:6
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
A
Moral exhortations of a more general character
Heb_13:1-6
[Heb_13:2.— ôῆí öéëïîåíßáí , hospitality.— äéὰ ôáýôçò , by means of this.— ἔëáèïí îåíßó ., escaped notice entertaining=entertained unawares; the Aor. pointing back historically to the time of the event.
Heb_13:3.—Is more forcible with the asyndeton of the original; the and is unnecessary and enfeebling.— ôῶí êáêïõ÷ïõìÝíùí , those in distress.
Heb_13:4.—The Imperat. is (with Moll, Del., Alf., etc.) much better than the Ind. construction of the Eng. ver. We might hesitate to supply the Imperat. rather than the Indic., but we must do so in Heb_13:5, and there is no difficulty here, because the imperative idea which belongs to all the preceding clauses, would naturally be transferred to this, in the absence of the verb.— Ἐí ðᾶóéí in all things; with persons ðáñὰ ðᾶóéí , would be more natural (Moll, Alf.).
Heb_13:5.— ὁ ôñüðïò , habit, disposition; Moll: Sinnesart; Alf.: mode of life.— ἀñêïýìåíïé ôïῖò ðáñïῦóéí , being contented, with what ye have.— áὑôïò ãÜñ , for he himself.— ïὐ ìÞ óå ἀíῶ , ïὐä ’ ïὐ ìÞ óå , etc., much more emphatic than the construction of the Eng. ver., “I will by no means leave thee, nor will I by any means abandon thee.”
Heb_13:6.— èáññïῦíôáò , with confidence.— êáὶ ïὐ öïâçèÞóïìáé : Sin. follows Vulg., etc., in omitting êáß ; Alf., Del., Moll etc., retain it. But all agree in reading the following clause, as an independent question, ôß ðïéÞó ., etc., what will a man do unto me?
Heb_13:2. Forget not.— ËáíèÜíù , with the participle, is a familiar Greek construction. The reference is to the experiences of Abraham and Lot (Gen_18:19). Perhaps also to Mat_25:44-45. Substantially parallel are Rom_12:13; 1Ti_3:2; Tit_1:8; 1Pe_4:9. Whether ëἔáèïí forms a paronomasia with ἔðéëáíèÜíåóèå (Lun.) is doubtful.
Heb_13:3. As bound with them—as being yourselves also in the body.—It is neither necessary nor admissible, in order to give to ὡò the same signification in both clauses, to understand, with Böhme, and others, the bound with them, of life and sufferings in the ecclesia pressa, [“travelling too far from the context.”—Alf.], or, with Calvin, and others, to understand the “body” of the church as the body of Christ. We may, with Œc., give ὡò in the first clause, also the causal significance, which it unquestionably has in the second; but his translation, “inasmuch as we are closely connected with them,” merely involves the idea that, by virtue of our membership and communion with our imprisoned brethren, we should feel ourselves under obligation to remember them in loving sympathy. It is more advisable, therefore, to take the first ὡò as a particle of comparison. [“As being your selves also in the body,” i.e., as being yourselves in a body which exposes you to like suffering with them, and might therefore be expected to secure your sympathy for the sufferer.—K.].
Heb_13:4. Marriage in all.—In the New Testament ãÜìïò means, elsewhere, the wedding and its celebration; here, as in classical Greek, wedlock. [Alf. takes it here as “wedding,” and renders it “your marriage”]. Ἐí ðᾶóéí means not with all nations (Pesh., Beza, Grot., and others, who, with ôßìéïò , erroneously supply ὅôé ); but, “in every respect, in all respects.” Were the injunction intended to be that marriage should be held honorable with all persons. (Luth., etc.), or that no unmarried person should regard it with contempt (Böhme, Schultz, etc.), or that it should be forbidden to no man, the form would probably be ðáñὰ ðᾶóéí .
Heb_13:5. He himself has said.—Not Christ (Bez., Böhm., Klee), but God, in the Scripture. These words are found in full, Deu_31:6; Deu_31:8, and repeated, 1Ch_28:20. But God is there spoken of in the third person. Individual elements of this consolatory address, representing God as speaking in the first person, are found, Gen_28:15; Jos_1:5; Isa_41:17. It is found, in precisely the same terms as here, in Philo, Ed. Mang., I. 430. That the author has drawn immediately from Philo, (Bl., De W.), is scarcely to be supposed. We may rather conjecture that the saying had in this form already become a proverb (Beng.), or that it originated in the liturgical and homiletical usage of the Hellenistic Synagogue from the confounding of kindred expressions with the original passage, Deu_31:6 (Del.). The double negation in the first, and the triple negation in the second member, serve for emphasis. The mention of the persecutions of the church, suggests the trustful declaration cited from Psa_118:6.
2. The practice of hospitality may very easily prove disagreeable; one may exercise it unwillingly, sullenly, and enviously; may limit it by caprice and selfishness; may regard and treat it as a burden and a plague. We must therefore be kindly reminded of this duty, as a duty of love, and learn to give heed to the blessing it brings with it, in order that the offerings which we are required to bring, and the privations which we impose upon ourselves, may not fall too heavily or incite us to self-glorification. And this blessing transcends our knowledge and conception. We may receive into our house messengers of God; nay, may receive Christ Himself, in His humblest servants (Mat_25:35 ff.).
3. The connection, which, in a two-fold way, we have with sufferers, viz., by spiritual and by natural ties of friendship, must make itself be recognized by compassionate and effective sympathy, in every individual case; and inasmuch as this is deficient, and often inconvenient, we are reminded, on the one hand, of the law in accordance with which, if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it (1Co_12:26); and on the other, of our own liability to suffer, a liability inseparable from our bodily life.
4. The character belonging to marriage, as an ordinance instituted and blessed of God, and the purity which, according to the will of God, befits the marriage bed, and the rites of matrimony, need special attention and care. “The terrible sentence pronounced on fornicators and adulterers is one which pays no heed to the false reasonings and cavilling interpretations, which will plead in excuse for such impurities the fierce lusts of man, the course of the world, and the difficulties of ordinary wedlock. At the judgment of God it will also be made manifest how much power and light the knowledge of God and of our Lord, Jesus Christ, have imparted to each one, by which to escape from this corruption of the world; nay, it will also become manifest that the majority have fallen, not from an irresistible power of their nature, but from lusts wilfully indulged, and nurtured and heightened by the reading of mischievous books, and by profligate intercourse; nay, that frequently they have themselves inflamed, and urged on anew the nature which had been wearied out in the service of sin, and had withdrawn from it with loathing. Then, too, it will become evident what evasions men have resorted to, in order to escape the judgments of men, and why many have so aided others, and how many a one has chosen rather to carry his lusts with him to the bar of God, than to free himself from them upon the dying-bed” (Rieger).
5. Pleasure and licentiousness lead not only to extravagance, but also to discontentment, thence to covetousness, and finally, not unfrequently to miserly niggardliness. Yet even apart from this, an insatiable and covetous habit of feeling and action stands in direct antagonism to the Christian temper and conduct (Mat_6:19-34; Col_3:5; Php_4:11-12; 1Ti_6:6), and plunges one into severe temptations and great dangers (1Ti_6:9 ff). An effective weapon against this, as against the fear of human wickedness and violence, is the use of the word of God, by which confidence in the living God, who has promised that He will withdraw from us neither His presence, nor His help, is awakened and nourished.
Starke:—Love is a cardinal virtue, which embraces in itself all others (Rom_13:10), and is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, in which faith becomes active (Gal_5:6).—Brotherly love must not be love in words, but must evince itself in act, especially toward those who are, for the sake of the Gospel, imprisoned, or otherwise suffering persecution, so that we may extend to them counsel, aid and refreshment (1Jn_3:18).—It is a gracious provision of God that although the ungodly would gladly see all the righteous destroyed at once, or at least oppressed, still sufferings pass but gradually from one to another, in order that those who as yet have been spared, may be able to receive and succor the oppressed (Rev_12:12).—He who is prudent will let the consideration of the righteous judgment of God hold him back from sin (Ecc_12:13-14).—Sin, the sin of fornication and adultery, cannot be too sharply rebuked before the world. Hence God has pledged Himself to punish them.—The little which a righteous man hath, is better than the great possessions of the ungodly.—A Christian must faithfully apply to himself what he reads in the Holy Scriptures, according to the, exigencies of the case.—Human weakness fears before men, as if they could disturb its pleasant repose and satisfaction. But comfort! who shall be able to harm those whom God has taken into His protection? (Rom_8:31; 1Pe_3:14).
Rieger:—It belongs to the nature and power of faith to receive promptly and interpret for itself every word of God, but along with this to set to its seal, that God is true. He who makes God alone his goal, has in God a rich consolation.—This is the holiest feature of the book of the Psalms that in it the Divine promises are placed before us, transformed already into pure nourishment for faith, and into living power.
Hahn:—A guest has frequently an invisible companion, and thus the cost of his entertainment is richly repaid.—Worldlings leave one another in the lurch; but believers all stand firm for a man.—Brotherly love has two hinderances, the unchaste flesh, and avarice.—God makes a marvellous distribution of suffering; one suffers early, another late. Thus what has no yet arrived, may still come. Hence, both in prayer and in benefactions remember the miserable.—Man is always anxious lest his supplies may fail; but God is good for all our deficiencies.
Schleiermacher:—On Christian hospitality. (Sermons on the Christian household).
Heubner:—The dearer to us is our faith, the dearer to us are our kinsmen in the faith.—In Christianity purity has a religious ground.—Confidence in God is the best preservative against anxious care for food, and makes us free from the fear of men.
Hedinger:—Love has extraordinary impulses; the best love gladly entertains guests. Whom? Those who are unable to render any temporal recompense.
Footnotes:
Heb_13:4.—The particle äÝ is found in C. D***. J. K.; on the contrary, ãÜñ in Sin. A. D*. M. The Pesh. follows the former reading; the It. and Vulg. the latter. [Tisch., Del., Moll retain äÝ . Alf. substitutes ãÜñ .—K.].