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9.But we see Jesus, etc. As the meaning of the words , βραχύ τι “ little” is ambiguous, (36) he looks to the thing itself, as exhibited in the person of Christ, rather then to the exact meaning of the words, as I have already said; and he presents to our meditation the glory after the resurrection, which David extends to all the gifts by which man is adorned by God’ bounty; but in this embellishment, which leaves the literal sense entire, there is nothing unsuitable or improper.
For the suffering of death, etc. It is the same as though it was said that Christ, having passed through death, was exalted into the glory which he has obtained, according to what Paul teaches us in Phi_2:8; not that Christ obtained anything for himself individually, as sophists say, who have devised the notion that he first earned eternal life for himself and then for us; for the way or means, so to speak, of obtaining glory, is only indicated here. Besides, Christ is crowned with glory for this end, that every knee should bow to him. (Phi_2:10.) We may therefore reason from the final cause that all things are delivered into his hand.
That he by the grace of God, (37) etc. He refers to the cause and the fruit of Christ’ death, lest he should be thought to detract anything from his dignity. For when we hear that so much good has been obtained for us, there is no place left for contempt, for admiration of the divine goodness fills the whole mind. By saying for every man, he means not only that he might be ample to others, as Chrysostom says, who brings the example of a physician tasting first a bitter draught, that the patient might not refuse to drink it; but he means that Christ died for us, and that by taking upon him what was due to us, he redeemed us from the curse of death. And it is added, that this was done through the grace of God, for the cause of redemption was the infinite love of God towards us, through which it was that he spared not even his own Son. What Chrysostom says of tasting of death, as though he touched it with his lips, because Christ emerged from death a conqueror, I will not refute nor condemn, though I know not whether the Apostle meant to speak in a manner so refined. (38)
(36) There is no doubt but that the expression is capable of being understood as “” in degree, or as “” in time; but in the Psalm the former is evidently the meaning, and there is no reason for a different meaning here: Christ, in becoming man, assumed a nature inferior to that of angels. Many of the fathers, indeed, and some moderns, have thought that time is what is intended “ a little while;” but this is not true, for Christ continues in the nature which has assumed, though it be now refined and perfected. The inferiority of nature is admitted, but that inferiority is as it were compensated by a superiority of honor and glory. Our version is the Vulgate, which Doddridge has also adopted, and also Stuart and Bloomfield. — Ed.
(37) See Appendix H.
(38) There is no doubt but that is a fanciful refinement. To taste food, according to the language of Scripture, is to eat it. See Act_10:11. To taste death is to die, to undergo death, and nothing else. See Mat_16:28; Luk_9:27. Stuart observes that the word for taste in Hebrew is taken in the same sense, and also in classic Greek authors. “ every man ,” ὑπὲρ πάντος that is “” mentioned in verse 6; and the “” there means all the faithful, to whom God in Noah restored the dominion lost in Adam; but this dominion was not renewed to man as a fallen being, but as made righteous by faith. — Ed.