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Heb_1:5. Τίνι γὰρ εἶπέν ποτε τῶν ἀγγέλων ] For to which of the angels has He ever said, i.e. to none of the angels has He ever said.
The position of the words serves to put a strong accentuation at the same time upon τίνι and upon τῶν ἀγγέλων .
The subject in εἶπεν is ὁ θεός , as is evident alike from the passage itself which is cited, and from our context; inasmuch as both in that which precedes (Heb_1:1-4) ὁ θεός was expressly mentioned as the subject of the main proposition, and in that which follows (Heb_1:6) the subject of εἰσαγάγῃ τὸν πρωτότοκον can only be God.
ποτέ ] is particle of time, at any time, unquam. Wrongly taken by Ch. F. Schmid, Kuinoel, and others as a mere strengthening particle, in the sense of the German doch or the Latin tandem. For then ποτέ must have been placed immediately after τίνι .
The citation υἱὸς … σε is from Psa_2:7, in verbal accordance with the LXX. In its historic sense the psalm relates to an Israelite king (probably Solomon), who, just now solemnly anointed in Zion as theocratic king, in the lofty feeling of his unity with Jehovah, warns the subjugated nations, who are meditating revolt and defection, of the fruitlessness of their undertaking. The author, however, sees Christ in the person addressed, even as a referring of this psalm to the Messiah was quite usual among the Jews of that period, and in the N. T. the Messianic interpretation thereof is further met with, besides Heb_1:5, in Act_13:33.
υἱός μου ] my Son, i.e. in the sense of the psalm, the king of my theocracy, my representative, the object of my fatherly love and protection The author, on the other hand, takes υἱός in the sense unfolded, Heb_1:2-3.
ἐγὼ σήμερον γεγέννηκά σε ] I have this day begotten thee, i.e. in the historic sense of the original: I have, by the anointing accomplished this day, installed thee as the theocratic prince. In the sense of the author, γεγέννηκα denotes the fact of having become the Son. The question is now, how he conceived of the σήμερον . It is referred either to the moment in which Christ was manifested to be the Son of God, i.e. to the moment of the Resurrection or the Ascension (Hilary, in Psalmum; Ambrose, de Sacram. 3. 1; Calvin, Cameron, Grotius, Schlichting, Limborch, Jac. Cappellus, Owen, Calmet, Peirce, Storr, Bloomfield, Bisping, Maier; comp. Delitzsch, who would have the words interpreted of “the entrance of the Son into the kingly life of supra-terrestrial glory in God, of which the resurrection is the initial point”), or to the moment of the Incarnation (Chrysostom, Theodoret, Eusebius, in Psalmum, alii; Piscator, Böhme, Kuinoel, Hofmann, Schriftbew. I. p. 123 f. of the 2d ed.; Woerner), or, finally, to the period before the creation of the world, thus to eternity (Origen in Joh., t. i. c. 32; Athanasius, de decret. Nicen. Synod. § 13; Basil, contra Eunom. 2. 24; Augustine, in Psalmum [Arnobius of Gaul, in Psalmum]; Primasius, Theophylact, Thomas Aquinas, Cornelius a Lapide, Estius, Calov, Wittich, Braun, Carpzov, Bleek [but with wavering; more decidedly in the lectures edited by Windrath[34]], Stein, Alford, Kurtz, and the majority). That the author, as Bleek I., de Wette, and Riehm (Lehrbegr. des Hebräerbr. p. 287 f.) deem possible, attached no definite notion to the σήμερον , as being without significance for his demonstration, is an unexegetical supposition. Exclusively correct, because alone in harmony with the context, is the referring of the σήμερον to eternity; since, according to Heb_1:2, God created the world by Christ as the Son, thus Christ must already have existed as Son before the foundation of the world. With Philo, too, occurs the same interpretation of σήμερον , as signifying eternity. Comp. De Profugis, p. 458 E (with Mangey, I. p. 554): σήμερον δʼ ἐστὶν ὁ ἀπέρατος καὶ ἀδιεξίτητος αἰών · μηνῶν γὰρ καὶ ἐνιαυτῶν καὶ συνόλως χρόνων περίοδοι δόγματα ἀνθρώπων εἰσὶν ἀριθμὸν ἐκτετιμηκότων , τὸ δʼ ἀψευδὲς ὄνομα αἰῶνος ἡ σήμερον .
καὶ πάλιν ] and further, serves, as frequently (e.g. Heb_2:13, Heb_10:30; Rom_15:11-12; 1Co_3:20; Philo, ed. Mangey, I. p. 88, 490, al.), for the introduction of a new passage of Scripture. The καὶ πάλιν κ . τ . λ . is not, however, to be taken as an assertory declaration, so that merely εἶπεν would have to be supplied (in accordance with which Lachmann punctuates); but the question is continued in such wise that the proposition is to be completed by καὶ ( τίνι εἶπέν ποτε τῶν ἀγγέλων ) πάλιν .
This second citation is derived from 2Sa_7:14, in verbal accordance with the LXX. Comp. also 1 Chronicles 17(18):13. αὐτῷ and αὐτός refer in the historic sense to Solomon. To David, who designs building a temple to Jehovah, the divine direction comes by Nathan to desist from his purpose. Not David, but his seed, who shall ascend the throne after him, is to build a temple to Jehovah; to him will Jehovah for ever establish the throne of his kingdom; to him will Jehovah be a father, and he shall be to Him a son, and, if he transgress, Jehovah will chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the children of men. Even this latter addition (which, for the rest, is not found in the parallel passage, 1Ch_17:13 (1Ch_18:13) makes it impossible to refer the words to the Messiah, as, moreover, the reference to Solomon is rendered certain even from the O. T. itself by the following passages: 1 Kings 5:19 (5), 1Ki_8:17 ff.; 2Ch_6:9-10; as also 1Ch_22:9 (1Ch_23:9 ff)., 1Ch_28:2 (1Ch_29:2) ff.
εἶναι εἰς ] Formed after the Hebrew äÈéÈä ìÀ Comp. Heb_8:10, al.
[34] Der Hebräerbr., erklärt von Dr. Fr. Bleek, Elberf. 1868.