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Heb_3:3.[56] Continued alleging of reasons for the καταΝΟΉΣΑΤΕ , Heb_3:1, in bringing into more distinct relief the exaltedness of Christ above Moses. Heb_3:3 is not, as de Wette supposes, explication or analysis of Heb_3:2. For a placing upon a parallel cannot be explained or analysed by a placing superior.
ΑὟΤΟς ] sc. Ἰησοῦς .
On ΠΑΡΆ after a comparative, see at Heb_1:4.
ἨΞΊΩΤΑΙ ] has been counted worthy, sc. by God. The verb stands, as ordinarily (comp. 2Th_1:5; 2Th_1:11; 1Ti_5:17; Heb_10:29), in the real sense, so that it includes the notion of the possession obtained.
The figure in the proposition of comparison, καθʼ ὅσον πλείονα τιμὴν ἔχει τοῦ οἴκου κ . τ . λ ., is occasioned by the preceding ἘΝ ὍΛῼ Τῷ ΟἼΚῼ ΑὐΤΟῦ added in Heb_3:2. The words contain a truth of universal validity, the application of which, for the rest, to Christ and Moses, follows of itself. Greater honour than the house (in the wider sense [of household], the family and servants included therein) has he who has prepared it. Thus, also, Christ stands higher in honour and glory than Moses. For founder and establisher of the house of God, or the divine kingdom,—which in its first formations reaches back to the time of the Old Covenant, but by the New Covenant comes to full realization,—is Christ; while Moses is only a part of the οἶκος itself, only a (ministering, cf. Heb_3:5) member of this house, or an ΟἸΚΈΤΗς in the same. Confusing and full of caprice is the indication of the connection of thought of Heb_3:3-6 as given by Delitzsch. See, in opposition to him, Riehm, Lehrbegr. des Hebräerbr. p. 309.
τοῦ οἴκου ] is governed by the comparative ΠΛΕΊΟΝΑ : more (greater) honour than the house. Mistakenly do Homberg, Wolf, Peirce, Michaelis, Heumann, Semler, Morus, Ernesti, Heinrichs, Paulus, Stengel, and others make it depend upon τιμήν : greater honour of the house, or in the house.
κατασκευάζειν ] implies more than ΟἸΚΟΔΟΜΕῖΝ . Not only the erection of the house, but also the arrangement thereof, the providing of it with the necessary furniture and servants, is thereby expressed.
[56] Comp. Gabler, Dissert. exeg. in illustrem locum Heb_3:3-6, Jena 1778. (Reprinted in the Opuscc. acad. vol. II. Ulm 1831, 8.)