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He possesses moreover this character by His being called of God to this office, and that as antitype of Melchisedec.
Heb_5:4-10.
[Heb_5:4.— êáὶ ïὐ÷ ἑáõôῷ , and not for himself, ἑáõôῷ , emphatic in position.— ἀëëὰ êáëïýìåíïò (omitting ὁ ), but being called=‘as being called,’ or, “on the ground that he is called.”— êáèþóðåñ .: ὡò , as êáèþò according as; êáèþóðåñ , precisely, or, just according as.
Heb_5:5.— ὁ ëáëÞóáò scil. ἐäüîáóåí áὐôüí .
Heb_5:7.— äåÞóåéò ôå êáὶ ἱêåôçñßáò , both entreaties and supplications.— ðñïóåíÝãêáò , offering up, or, by offering up; not, “when he had offered up,” nor, “having offered up”— åἰóáêïõóèåßò , being hearkened to.— ἀðὸ ôῆò åὐëáâåßáò , from (=on account of) his reverent fear, filial fear: Moll, Frömmigkeit, piety: others, “aus der Gottesfurcht.”—K.].
Heb_5:5. Thus also Christ glorified not himself, etc.—Hofm. (Schriftb. II., 1, 282; 2 Ed. II., 1, 398) says: “It was no act of self-glorification by which the Royal Mediator of salvation became High-Priest; it was on the path of sorrow and suffering that He attained to that glory in which He is now a High-Priest after the order of Melchisedec.” But this contrast of äïîÜæåéí and ðáèåῖí anticipates the subsequent discussion. The same is true if we refer the passage to Christ’s royal dignity, whether we find the allusion to it in ὁ ÷ñéóôüò or in ἐäüîáóåí . The äüîá is but an equivalent to the ôéìÞ of Heb_5:4 (Bl., etc.), and the term ὁ ÷ñéóôüò is selected because Jesus Christ is regarded here not in His person, but in His character of Messiah, who, as Anointed One, is seated at the right hand of God.
But he who said to him, etc., as also in another passage.—The two citations do not express the same idea; nor is the former adduced to prove that Christ is also a High-Priest (Schlicht., Grot., Steng., Ebr., etc.), but simply to call to mind the relation previously unfolded, that, viz., which the God who has bestowed this priestly dignity on Christ, sustains as Father to this Anointed One. The second citation from Psa_110:4 proceeds to define the priestly position of Jesus, already repeatedly alluded to in a general way, by its special feature, alleging, viz., that its true type is to be found not in Aaron, but Melchisedec. The essential import of the statement is subsequently unfolded. ÔÜîéò signifies neither order of succession (Schultz), nor rank, but position, quality, mode, or kind, for which Heb_7:15 has êáôὰ ôὴí ὁìïéüôçôá . “Him whom God, in the words, ‘My Son art Thou,’ declares to be His world-ruling Anointed One, He also, in His words, ‘Thou art a Priest,’ declares to be an eternal Priest—two closely united and kindred utterances of God’s prophetic word in the Psalms” (Del.).
Heb_5:7. Who in the days of his flesh—suffered.—The ὅò refers back to the subject ὁ ÷ñéóôüò , to which the Aor. ἔìáèå belongs, and of which the contemporaneous circumstances, or the way and manner of learning, are denoted by the Aor. Part. ðñïóåíÝãêáò and åἰóáêïõóèåßò . The phrase, “in the days of His flesh,” i.e, of His human life on earth, is contrasted with His perfected state, mentioned Heb_5:9, and belongs to the main verb, ἔìáèåí . To ἔìáèåí answers ἐðáèåí , with an intended assonance. From that which (not in general: “by the fact that”) He suffered ( ἀðü with ìáíèÜíù , as Mat_11:29 : ðáñÜ , or ἐê , Mat_24:32 [Mat_24:32 has ἀðὸ ôῆò óõêῆò , which would be the more regular construction with things; ðáñÜ with persons, though the usage is by no means invariable—K.]) He learned His (the Art. ôÞí being specific) obedience. To put in parenthesis the clause, êáßðåñ — ὑðáêïÞí , and thus (with Abresch, Dind., Heinr., Steng., etc.) carry the ὄò over to ἐãÝíåôï as its first principal verb, is totally inadmissible. For êáßðåñ can never be constructed with a finite verb which here would be ἔìáèå [i.e, although, as being a Son, He learned, etc., which would require åἰ êáß , or some combination with åἰ ]. But neither is the clause, êáßðåñ ὢí õἱüò , to be connected, as by Chrys. and Theoph., with åἰóáêïõóèåßò . For the particle points to some apparent inconsistency between the clause in which it stands (although being a Son) and the main declaration with which it stands connected. Yet no such inconsistency can be found between the relation of Son and the fact of His being hearkened to (rather the reverse), but it does seem inconsistent with the leading thought of the period which points to Jesus Christ’s humiliation and to His possession as Man of the first requisite of a high-priest, mentioned Heb_5:1-3 (just as Heb_5:5-6, declare His possession of that second requisite mentioned Heb_5:4). The “learning of obedience” is a mark of humanity; and even in this fact of the actual development of Jesus, would the actual state and condition of the Son of God, have disclosed itself But here the question is not of that actual condition, viz., of Christ’s essential likeness to and equality with humanity, by virtue of the incarnation. That matter has been previously disposed of. The question is now of His fitness for being a High-Priest, and this by virtue of His sympathy with the weaknesses of men. The emphasis, therefore, rests not on ἔìáèåí , learned (Del.), but on the whole closely connected phrase, ἔìáèåí ἀö ’ ὦí ἔðáèåí .
Heb_5:7. Offering up supplications—and being hearkened to, etc.—With ἱêåôçñßá (which at Job_40:20 is also connected with äÝçóéò ) ἔëáéá or ῥÜâäïò [or êëÜäïò ], is originally to be supplied, the word thus properly denoting by ellipsis the olive branch, which was borne in the hands of a suppliant who was imploring help or protection [Soph., Œd. Tyr., l. 3]: whence arose then the signification of earnest entreaty= ἱêåóßá , ἱêåôåßá . It is uncertain whether (Theophil., Bl., De W., Bisp., etc.), we are to assume, in respect to the verbal coloring of these clauses, a reference to Psalms 22, 116. There certainly is none to the loud praying of the Jewish high-priest on the annual day of atonement (Braun, Böhme, etc.); most probably [I think certainly—K.] reference is here made to the prayer in Gethsemane, and reference in the plural nouns to its successive repetitions. The added clause, “with strong outcry” ( ìåôὰ êñáõãῆò ἰó÷õñἄò ), leads Calv., Schultz, Stein, etc., to regard the language as referring, along with these prayers, to the loud crying of Jesus on the cross; Cajetan, Este., Calov, and Strauss, refer the whole exclusively to this latter, and Klee confines it even to the loud outcry with which Jesus died. These applications of the passage are by no means (with De W.) to be regarded as unsuited to the context, they are rather very natural, inasmuch as the struggling of Jesus with that suffering of death which was inseparable from His Messianic office, and which had long been present to His thought, was not limited to His agonizing supplications in Gethsemane; and the two Aorist participles are not to be resolved by after that, viz., after that He had offered, etc., (De W., Hofm.), but in that (viz., in that He offered, or by offering). The words allude, however, preëminently, to the suffering in Gethsemane; and we have here, perhaps, given us, in close accordance with the account of Luk_22:39-46, a scene of evangelical history resting upon tradition, which has also found its way even into the text of some recensions of Luke himself. For according to Epiphanius (Ancor. 31), the mention of tears is found ἐí ôῷ êáôὰ Ëïõêᾶí åὐáããåëßῳ ἐí ôïῖò ἀäéïñèþôïéò ἀíôéãñÜöïéò . Moreover, Luk_19:41, and Joh_11:35, show the Lord weeping; while again, on the other hand, the ἀãùíßá of Jesus in the garden (Luk_22:44), is not without example in the record of His life, Joh_12:27. We may imagine that the picture here drawn sustains a relation to the Gospel narrative like that which Hos_12:5 sustains to the wrestling of Jacob at the Jabbok, Gen_32:26 (Böhme, Del.). Since elsewhere in our Epistle (Heb_9:14; Heb_11:4), as in the classics, ðñïóöÝñù is connected with the Dative, it is most natural not to make (with Lün.) ðñὸò ôὸí äõíÜìåíïí óþæåéí áὐôὸí ἐê èáíÜôïõ dependent on the verb, but on äåÞóåéò ôå êáὶ ἱêåôçñßáò . The mere expression óþæåéí ἐê èáíÜôïõ admits indifferently of being referred to deliverance from peril of death (Theod., Calv., Bengel, etc.) and to rescuing out of death itself (Œc., Calov, Este., etc.); for which reason Michael., Bl., and others, unite the two. [But most assuredly erroneously. For what our Saviour prayed for, was not to be snatched from death after He had experienced it, but rescued from its impending approach. It was to be saved from “that hour”—to be delivered from “drinking that cup”—to evade the terrible scene whose black shadow was now thrown over His soul, that He prayed, and this was denied Him. Still, as His prayer was made in entire resignation to His Father’s will, He was “hearkened to,” approved and accepted in it, even though a literal compliance with it could not be accorded to Him. He “was hearkened to,” in that an angel was sent to strengthen Him; in that His death was accepted in all its atoning import, and in that He received the full reward of His suffering; that agonizing prayer being only an additional and fuller proof of the depth of His temptations, and the completeness of His resignation.—K.]. We cannot from this decide in regard to the sense of the words Jesus was heard ἀðὸ ôῆò åὐëáâåßáò . We are hardly to interpret this of His being freed from fear, (Ambros., Grot., and many, following the Itala exauditus a metu), which Calvin and Schlichting understand, of the object of the fear, viz., death. This interpretation would be allowed, indeed, by the ἀðü , and, moreover, åὐëáâåßá has, in fact, the meaning of fear (Wis_17:8; 2Ma_8:16). It can, as appears from Sir_4:1; Sir_4:3, pass over into the signification of a fearful holding back, and of shuddering at the contact and infliction of the êñßìá èáíÜôïõ ; whence Hofm. understands it of Jesus’ recoiling from death; and Tholuck, after Aretius, explains it of shrinking, shuddering, detrectatio, and reminds us of the åἰ äõíáôüí , if it is possible, of the prayer in Gethsemane. But åὐëáâåßá means assuredly in general, only thoughtfulness, precaution, foresight, the right taking hold and grasping of a thing. Thus the fundamental idea points not to fear of danger, but to fear of injury, which, in the sphere of religion, is conscientiousness in dealing with our relation to God, and with the duties which spring from it. Thus this word stands at Luk_2:25; Act_2:5; Act_8:2; Act_22:12 (Lachm.); and so our author uses it Heb_11:7; Heb_12:28. For this reason we should also prefer the rendering of Luther after the Vulgate, pro sua reverentia; and so with all the Greek interpreters, Bl., Lün., Del., etc. The preposition ἀðü points not to the object, but to the ground of the hearing [i.e, not being hearkened to so as to be delivered from the thing feared: but hearkened to from=in consequence of His filial reverence]; and is used as at Luk_19:3; Luk_23:41; Act_12:14; Act_20:9; Act_22:11.
[I have explained above the force of åἰóáêïõóèåὶò ἀðü correctly interpreted by the author “being hearkened to from, i.e, in consequence of his pious reverence.” He was hearkened to none the less now than when as at John 11. He said, “I know that thou hearest me always.” His prayer was couched in such a perfect spirit of resignation, that He was heard in it none the less approvingly, notwithstanding that the specific thing prayed for was not, and could not be granted. And it was only the most dreadful suffering and temptation that could have wrung out, even from the human weakness of the Saviour (and even with this all important qualification), the prayer, the granting of which would of course have nullified the entire purpose of the Saviour’s incarnation.—K.].
Hofm. regards the offering of prayers and tears as a sacrificial act, and places it, as standing connected with human weakness, in express parallel with the ðñïóöÝñåéí ðåñὶ ἑáõôïῦ , which, in the case of the high-priest, must, of necessity, precede his bringing the offerings on behalf of the congregation (of course with the distinction which exists between the weakness of the sinful high-priest, and that of the sinless Saviour). But this idea, which Del. takes unnecessary pains to refute, is expressly contradicted by the passage Heb_7:27.
Heb_5:9. And being perfected, etc.—The ὑðáêïὴ ðßóôåùò , Act_6:7 : Rom_1:5, is the condition of the attainment of salvation, of which Christ, in His ὑðáêïÞ , is the author to them that obey Him. On both sides, alike in Saviour and saved, the moral character of the relation is strongly emphasized, and at the same time, the ðᾶóéí , to all, brings out the universality of the design of this salvation, as the term eternal ( áἱþíéïò ), designates its nature, Isa_45:17; while its realization among men demands, on the one side, the perfection of the life of Christ, and on the other, the imitation of His life. The connecting point of these ideas, lies in the fact that Christ has not otherwise been perfected, and elevated to the participation of Divine glory on the throne of the Heavenly Majesty, than by the voluntary offering of His life, morally perfected amidst temptations and sufferings. Thus He has become not merely a priestly king, but a high-priest after the order of Melchisedek, and as such He is not so much prophetically designated by God in Psa_110:4 (where we have barely ἱåñåýò ), but solemnly greeted on His arriving at perfection, as shown by the Aor. Part., ðñïóáãïñåõèåßò , which expresses an act contemporaneous with the ἐãÝíåôï . The author thus says that the prophecy has been fulfilled, and so fulfilled that yet a new feature, that of the High-Priesthood, is to be conceived as jointly included (Hofm.).
[The reader will notice some verbal allusions and contrasts in this passage, not unworthy of attention. Christ prayed to Him who was able to save ( óþæåéí ) Him from a momentary death,—for such a óùôçñßá ,—yet did not receive it, but passing through it, became the author of an eternal óùôçñßá to His people. Again He submitted to this death in ὑðáêïÞ , obedience, to His Father’s will, and thus became ðᾶóé ôïῖò ὑðáêïýïõóéí áὐôῷ , to all who obey Him, the author, etc. Thus the saving from physical death which He prayed for, is contrasted with the eternal saving which He bestows on His people; and the obedience which led Him to submit to that death, is paralleled with the obedience which enables them to reap its fruits in eternal salvation.—K.].
2. That, however, under all circumstances, we are to proceed in accordance with the Scripture, and that, even in unwonted cases, God, as a God of order, proceeds according to recognized laws, and in harmony with His holy revelation, is clear from the example of Jesus Christ, and the relation of His high-priesthood to that of Aaron and Melchisedek. All three are ordained of God for definite periods and circumstances; and the Holy Scripture discloses perfectly their mutual relations, so far as they are important to the history of redemption. The Aaronic priesthood, with its legal, hereditary succession and Levitical character, is expressly designated as simply an intervening and preparatory stage. The union of the priestly and kingly offices in Melchisedec, appearing as an insulated fact, and without the precincts of the covenant people, is stripped of its apparently purely accidental character, and elevated to a type of that which, within the sphere of the covenant people, was, in the person of the Messiah, to stand forth in closest connection with the history of salvation. But Jesus, although Son of God, has still, in no self-willed and arbitrary manner, taken this dignity to Himself, but in the way which had been previously announced, has been placed in it by the Father.
3. True preparation for an office which is to subserve the honor of God and the salvation of men, is acquired not by amplitude of knowledge and of skill, but by learning of obedience, by which the whole person is prepared to be a willing and capable instrument for the Divine counsels. In this way Jesus Himself has been perfected, and for this reason draws all who believe in Him into the fellowship of His conflicts and His victories, of His sufferings and His blessedness.
4. The hardest thing to conceive is that the sufferings of the pious, and among them again those of the Son of God, lie within the sphere of the Divine counsels, and possess a healing and saving power. And the hardest thing to render is obedience, which not only abides by and accomplishes the will of God amidst sufferings, but in the sufferings themselves, shall perceive and prove the Divine will as a will of love, and to evince and maintain the harmony of our personal will with the will of God, by a free reception of the destined and allotted suffering.
5. As principal auxiliaries in this conflict of faith and suffering, we have given to us the certainty of the hearing of prayer, the consoling assurance of our ultimate personal perfection, and the power of communion with Jesus Christ. For Christ is to us, not merely an example and pattern, but to them that obey Him, He is the author of eternal salvation, after having been Himself perfected. His perfection refers, on the one hand, to His office of high-priestly Mediator; for, after that He had become obedient unto the death of the cross (Php_2:8), He passed into His state of exaltation in which His merits should retain an everlasting efficacy. But this perfection of His career, dependent on the fulfilment of His calling, presupposes, on the other hand, that complete unfolding of His personal character, which was dependent upon His actual humanity. Faith in the concrete unity of the life of the God-man, requires the application of the idea of development to His entire personality, after the example of Luk_2:52. But faith in His sinlessness excludes every thought of moral deficiency, and of a gradual triumph over it by the process of development. His learning of obedience, denotes not a transition from disobedience to obedience, but the practical power and depth of His personal experience of that which is connected with human life.
Starke:—Observe how deeply Christ was humiliated, how zealously He prayed, how obedient He proved Himself. Do thou also learn from Him, this zeal in prayer, this obedience in suffering.—Our prayers and thanksgivings are also offerings, yet not propitiatory; but prayer and thank-offerings, that we may evince our faith and thankfulness of heart.—Jesus, since He was the Son of God, and still took upon Himself sufferings, to which he might undoubtedly have remained superior, proves thus that He suffered not from compulsion, but with the most perfect willingness.—Christ renders those blessed who are obedient to Him. No others become partakers of His salvation.—The offering of the Lord Jesus on the tree of the cross is the grand feature of the atonement made on our behalf, and of all the glory connected therewith.
Rieger:—If in our human hearts there can be wrought by the Spirit of God groanings which are not to be uttered, oh, then, what prayers must the Eternal Spirit, through whom our great High-priest offered Himself to His God, have called forth in Him: What sanctifying of God, of His name, counsel and will; what justifying of His judgments; what a piercing to the depths of His love; what appeal to His omnipotence; what subjection to His sovereign decree; what submission under all that was outwardly most painful and ignominious, and what a tenacious hold by hope on all that is most glorious, were united, together in this prayer!—For this reason was the suffering of Jesus so mighty to expiate the sins of the whole world, because, in His suffering He so justified, in the prayer of His willing spirit, the judgment of God upon sin, and yet was not to be drawn away from His trust in Him who had placed Him in this office.—Dread, fear, is the sharpest sting in suffering. This the Saviour was unable to escape particularly for the sake of needful sympathizing with us. There He experienced how weak one might be amidst entire willingness of spirit, so long as one is in the flesh; now He knows also what it is “to be heard.”—Jesus had already previously evinced so much willing, joyful obedience in His heroic course from the Father, through the world, to the Father; but now He learned what is the deepest element in all obedience, viz: that in suffering two separate wills come into conflict with each other, of which the one must be subjected to the other; the will of the flesh and the will of the spirit.—Christ now devotes just as much fidelity to the carrying out and perfecting of our salvation, as He did formerly to the obtaining of it.—Weakness of the flesh becomes sinful when it would subdue the willingness of the spirit; but if we cry to God in prayer, so that we are heard and delivered from it, it becomes the appropriate discipline under which we learn and practice obedience.
Hahn:—Christ knows from experience what belongs to a happy emerging from trial and suffering. Now He most sympathizingly pleads our cause with His Father.—The will and calling of the Father are clear from the fact; 1, that the Father Himself, as it were, schooled His Son thereto in the days of His flesh; 2, that the Father Himself perfected Him and made Him the pledge and surety of our salvation.
Heubner:—Tears are a sign of strong, fervent, earnest prayer, and prayer a sign of the holy nature of tears.—Christ must be to us a consolation and a source of quickening that we may not withdraw ourselves from the school of God.—Sufferings lead to perfection, and produce the most blessed fruits.—None, least of all the priest, should push himself forward into office.—He who arrogates to himself honor is not worthy of it.—The Divine call ensures an honorable office.—Because God calls, we must serve.—Christ is appointed of God; His dignity, His right, are founded upon God’s ordination.—The Divine Sonship of Christ was the first ground of His priestly dignity. To this God has borne witness in His word.
Stein:—Called long since by the Father to be High-priest, the Son proves in His human lowliness that he is able worthily to fulfil such a, calling.—He who pushes himself forward prematurely is led by empty honor; an office which is administered in a Christian manner and spirit brings with it true honor.
Hedinger:—Personally tried, ready to believe, willing to help; all these united thou hast in thy Saviour.