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Heb_12:13. Καὶ τροχιὰς ὀρθὰς ποιήσατε τοῖς ποσὶν ὑμῶν ] and make straight tracks with your feet, i.e. advance with straight course upon the Christian path of life you have once entered upon, without bending aside to the right or to the left; that is to say, without mingling up that which is Jewish with that which is Christian, or suffering yourselves to be enticed to a relapse into Judaism. Incorrectly do Ebrard, Delitzsch, Riehm (Lehrbegr. des Hebräerbr. p. 789), Alford, Kluge, Moll, Kurtz, Ewald, M‘Caul, Hofmann, and others explain τοῖς ποσὶν ὑμῶν : for your feet. For, apart from the fact that this interpretation destroys the harmony with the figure employed at Heb_12:12, that of the παρειμέναι χεῖρες and παραλελυμένα γόνατα , the author cannot possibly intend to say that the readers themselves have first to prepare the way for themselves. The way has already been prepared for them by Christ (Heb_10:20), and it is now only a question of their making advance upon the same in the right way.
For the expression, which accidentally forms a hexameter[118] (see Winer, Gramm., 7 Aufl. p. 595), comp. LXX. Pro_4:26 : ὀρθὰς τροχιὰς ποίει σοῖς ποσί .
ἵνα μὴ τὸ χωλὸν ἐκτρπῇ , ἰαθῇ δὲ μᾶλλον ] that not (even) that which is lame may turn aside from the way, but rather he healed. τὸ χωλόν denotes not the suffering member in an individual, but within the larger community, thus the member of the Christian communion who is lame or halting, i.e. who makes only a tottering progress in Christianity, and falls away from the same if he does not gain a support in the rest of the community advancing in a straight course [Gal_2:14]. On τὸ χωλόν , as figurative designation of the wavering between two different bents of belief, comp. LXX. 1Ki_18:21 : ἕως πότε ὑμεῖς χωλανεῖτε ἐπʼ ἀμφωτέραις ταῖς ἰγνύαις ; how long do ye halt upon both knee-joints (sides), i.e. do ye hesitate between the service of Jehovah and that of Baal?
To the verb ἐκτρέπεσθαι , Fr. Junius, Grotius, Wolf, Carpzov, Heinrichs, and many others, finally Bleek, de Wette, Ebrard, Kurtz, Ewald, on account of the opposition ἰαθῇ δὲ μᾶλλον , assign the passive signification: to be dislocated. But justified by the usage of the language (see Wetstein at 1Ti_1:6) is the middle signification alone: bend aside (from the way), turn aside. This signification is therefore to be maintained here also, and ἰαθῇ δὲ μᾶλλον continues in an abbreviated form the figure employed, in that its meaning is: but rather through the animating example given by the whole body, may he cured of his wavering, and briskly advance with the rest.
[118] Quite improbable is the supposition of Ewald (pp. 139, 172), that the words consist of a verse which “was derived from some one of the many Hellenistic poets (?), whose books were at that time greatly read even by Christians.”