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The example of Abraham shows that perseverance in faith leads to the attainment of the promised blessing, which is pledged by the oath of God
Heb_6:13-15
[Heb_6:13.— ἘðáããåéëÜìåíïò Moll renders “after making promise,” thus making the promise precede the oath in time, the promise being given at various times, as Gen_12:7; Gen_17:5; Gen_18:18, while it is not until Gen_22:16-18 that the oath is given. So, previously, De Wette and Lünemann. Delitzsch and Alford, however, more correctly, I think, make the ἐðáããåéë . express an act contemporaneous with the ὤìïóåí , viz., God, when He promised, swore, and refer both to Genesis 22. The Eng. ver. is, I think, correct.
Heb_6:15.— Êáὶ ïὕôùò , and thus, i. e. under these conditions,— ìáêñïèõìÞóáò ἐðÝôõ÷åí , by patiently enduring he obtained=he patiently endured and obtained; not having patiently endured, he obtained.—K.].
God in making promise, etc.—Lünem. rightly follows De Wette in taking ἐðáããåéëÜìåíïò , as in time preceding the ὤìïóåí , and refers it to the promises which had been already given to Abraham, Gen_12:7; Gen_17:5; Gen_18:18, which finally, at Gen_22:16-18, were not merely repeated and confirmed by an oath, but at the same time had an incipient fulfilment. Del. refers the language only to the last named passage, in which, after the offering of Isaac, promise and oath are united. The Aor. Part, would then express an act contemporaneous with the finite verb. [God promising swore=he promised and swore.] But Abraham had previously nothing upon which he could rely but the promise. This was now, after he had long waited for the promised Son, and had then consented to the sacrifice of Him, been not merely renewed to him, but by the Divine oath attested as thoroughly to be relied on; yet at the same time alike by the oath itself, and by its own intrinsic nature, the promise was marked as one which could have only a gradual realization, and that completely only in the distant future. For this reason Abraham was even to the last remitted to the ìáêñïèõìßá , which was conditioned upon his faith, and in this relation stands as an individual and concrete example of the general truth uttered in the preceding verse, and as an instructive and stimulating pattern for his readers; precisely as also at Heb_11:13; Heb_11:29, they are reminded that the Patriarchs did not live to see the fulfilment of the promise, but only saluted it from afar.
Heb_6:15. And thus patiently enduring, he obtained the promise.—The ïὔôùò , thus, is to be constructed with ἐðÝôõ÷åí (Bl., De W., Lün., Alf.), not with ìáêñïèõìÞóáò (Stein, Thol., Bisp., Hofm.), nor to the two combined (Del.); but points back to the just previously mentioned pledge of the Divine oath confirming the Divine promise. It thus presents the objective historical condition under which Abraham obtained the promise, while ìáêñïèõìÞóáò indicates his subjective condition; i.e, he, under the condition of having waited long and patiently since the promise of God was first made (Genesis 15), now (Genesis 22) received the oath which guaranteed the fulfilment of the promise. The added clause thus involves a slight progress in the discourse (even if we make ôῆò ἑðáããåëßáò , refer only to the word of promise), inasmuch as at all events it holds up to the view of the readers, as strongly brought out in the typical history of Abraham, that ìáêñïèõìßá which is so essentially involved in the preceding exhortation. If we seek a still further advance, we shall scarcely find it in the verb (as does Otto, who, p. 103, interprets the ἐðÝôõ÷å as an actual taking possession, or as an attainment—no longer dependent on the tried and approved fidelity of the subject—of the irrevocably pledged promise); nor in the fact that ἐðáããåëßá is to be interpreted specially of the Messianic salvation (Bleek); but only by explaining the ἐðáããåëßá of the subject matter of the promise, whose attainment ( ἐðÝôõ÷å ) commences with the receiving back of Isaac (Heb_11:17; Heb_11:19), yet is not to be restricted (as by De W., Lün.) to that which Abraham even on earth lived to see of the multiplication of his posterity. The promise (which here substitutes the abbreviated and concentrated form ðëçèõíῶ óÝ , for the fuller expression of the LXX., ðëçèõíῶ ôὸ óðÝñìá óïõ ) embraces in its fulfilment a blessing bestowed on Abraham, extending down through time and onward into eternity.
[The precise relations and import of the passage just explained, are matter of some difficulty, and of a good deal of diversity of opinion. Grammatically the difficulty lies in determining whether the Aor. Participles ἐðáããåéëÜìåíïò (Heb_6:13) and ìáêñïèõìÞóáò (Heb_6:15) are, either or both of them, to be construed as expressing an action anterior to, or contemporaneous with the principal verb—either of which construction is equally consistent with the use of the Aorist. In the former case we should render: “after giving promise to Abraham, God swore,” etc.; and “and thus, after having waited patiently, he obtained,” etc. In the latter case we should render thus: “upon giving promise or when he gave promise—God swore;” and “suffering long he obtained” = “he waited patiently and obtained,” or, “by waiting patiently he obtained.” In the former case the giving of the promise precedes the swearing of the oath, and the promise ( ἐðáããåéëÜì . must be supposed to refer to Gen_12:7; Gen_15:4-5, etc.; Gen_17:5; Gen_18:18, as preceding the oath given Genesis 22, at the time of the offering of Isaac. In this case also the ìáêñïèõìÞóáò , having waited patiently, will refer to Abraham’s patient waiting during the time which elapsed between the promise of the birth of his son, and its fulfilment, and also perhaps to his cheerful submission to the command to offer up his son in sacrifice. So the passage is taken substantially by De Wette, Lönemann, and Moll; and in this case the “obtaining the promise” after his long waiting, took place in part in his receiving his son back from the grave, while in part this only prefigures and commences its fulfilment, which runs on into the indefinite and endless future. In the other construction—which makes the action of the Participles contemporaneous with that of the principal verbs,—the whole action would naturally refer to the one event in which the promise and oath were both given, viz., Genesis 22, and we should render thus: “For in giving, or when He gave promise to Abraham, God, because, etc., sware by Himself, saying, Surely blessing, etc.; and so (under these conditions of promise and blessing) Abraham waited patiently and obtained (=by patiently waiting obtained) the promise.” So substantially Delitzsch. The objection to the former is that it makes an unnatural separation between the giving of the promise and the giving of the oath, (which the author seems to link closely together), and that it seems to attach a special significance to the period of the giving of the oath, which does not really belong to it, for although the promise was then repeated with a special fulness and emphasis, yet it was substantially but a repetition of the earlier promises, while Abraham’s receiving his son from threatened death, which then occurred, took place before the utterance of the oath, and could be conceived to stand in no consecutive relation to it. The objection to the second construction would seem to be, that if the reference is only to the promise and oath of Genesis 22, then all the earlier promises are apparently ignored, and therefore all Abraham’s patient waiting since they were given, could scarcely come into the account. But to this we may reply, I think, that it is not a matter of importance to the writer to distinguish the separate times and forms of the promise which was made to Abraham; but he naturally, in referring to the promise, takes that occasion in which the promise was finally, and with the greatest fulness and emphasis repeated, and ratified by an oath; while the ìáêñïèõìÞóáò refers to Abraham’s entire, patient waiting for the fulfilment of the Divine promise, and the ἐðÝôõ÷åí , as it seems to me, refers mainly not to that which Abraham experienced in his life-time, but to the reward of his faith and patience, which, commencing in his life-time, continued on into eternity. I would thus regard ἐðáããåéëÜìåíïò as referring specially indeed to the promise of Genesis 22, where it stands connected with the oath, but to this in reality as the representative of God’s whole collective promise to Abraham; and the êáὶ ïὔôùò ìáêñ . ἐðÝô . and thus waiting patiently he obtained, etc., as virtually covering Abraham’s bearing during the entire period after God had made to him His promises. I prefer, therefore, substantially Delitzsch’s construction. To make, as Alford does, ἐðáããåéëÜìåíïò , refer to the time of the oath (when he promised, he swore) and yet refer ìáêñïè . ἐðÝôõ÷åí back to Abraham’s having obtained the promise in the birth of a son in consequence of his long and patient waiting, seems specially inconsistent, and totally confuses the passage.—K.].
2. Inasmuch as an oath is a form of ratifying a declaration, in which the attributes just mentioned appear not perchance as concomitant merely, but as constitutive, and since for this reason an oath forms for men the highest form of solemn assurance, and sacred affirmation, it becomes clear why precisely this sort of pledge is the most appropriate to the condescension of God, and the simplest and surest for the attainment of the proposed end.
3. From the nature and form of the oath as a solemn appeal to the omniscient Holy God for confirmation of the truth and credibility of a definite utterance, it follows that God can swear only by Himself (=so truly as I live), but that all appeal to this example of God in justification of the use of such a form of swearing among men, cannot be admissible.
4. The promises of God enter with determining power into the course of history. They are not mere words, but are germs of blessing and salvation implanted in the souls of believers, with which he who receives and awaits them grows into an increasingly vital union, and attains to the richness of the promise.
Starke:—O happy people, for whose sake God swears an oath! and miserable they who will not trust to His oath.—Material blessing is a benefit, but spiritual blessing is a far greater. If thou hast the latter, cheerfully resign the former; but if God gives thee both, thou art doubly blessed.—To throw forward is not to throw aside; deferral is not reversal; God does every thing at its right time; wait in hope; what He has promised to thee, will be done for thee.
Rieger:—God’s entire way from the beginning, has been in the path of waiting. God gave promises; to these faith had to attach itself, and make its way through all difficulties.
Footnotes:
Heb_6:14.—Instead of ἦ ìÞí we should read, with Cod. Sin., A. B. D. E., 17, 23, åἰ ìÞí . This is the customary form with the LXX., springing from the blending of the classical ἦ ìÞí with the Hellenistic åἰ ìÞ , which C. and J**, read here, and which imitates the Hebrew àִí ìֹà .