By 15

have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. But to do good and to communicate forget not: for 16 with such sacrifices God is well pleased. Obey them that 17 name of Christ, happy are ye" (comp. xi. 26). As He was excommunicated and insulted and made to bear His Cross of shame, so will you be, and you must follow Him out of the doomed city (Matt. xxiv. 2). It must be remembered that the Cross, an object of execration and disgust even to Gentiles, was viewed by the Jews with religious horror, since they regarded every crucified person as "accursed of God" (Deut. xxi. 22, 23; Gal. iii. 13; see my Life of St Paul, 11. 17, 148). Christians shared this reproach to the fullest extent. The most polished heathen writers, men like Tacitus, Pliny, Suetonius, spoke of their faith as an "execrable," "deadly," and "malefic" superstition; Lucian alluded to Christ as "the impaled sophist;" and to many Greeks and Romans no language of scorn seemed too intense, no calumny too infamous, to describe them and their mode of worship. The Jews spoke of them as "Nazarenes," "Epicureans," "heretics," "followers of the thing," and especially "apostates," "traitors," and "renegades.' The notion that there is any allusion to the ceremonial uncleanness of those who burnt the bodies of the offerings of the Day of Atonement "outside the camp' is far-fetched.

14. one to come] Rather, "the city which is to be" (xi. 10, 16). Our earthly city here may be destroyed, and we may be driven from it, or leave it of our own accord; this is nothing,-for our real citizenship is in heaven (Phil. iii. 20).

15. the sacrifice of praise] A thanksgiving (Jer. xvii. 26; Lev. vii. 12), not in the form of an offering, but something which shall "please the Lord better than a bullock which hath horns and hoofs" (Ps. lxix. 31). continually] Even the Rabbis held that the sacrifice of praise would outlast animal sacrifices and would never cease.

the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name] Rather, "the fruit of lips which confess to His name.' The phrase "the fruit of the lips" is borrowed by the LXX. from Is. lvii. 19. In Hos. xiv. 2 we have "so will we render the calves of our lips," literally, "our lips as bullocks," i.e. "as thank-offerings." Dr Kay notices that (besides the perhaps accidental resemblance between ", peri, "fruit" and D, parim, "calves") karpoma and similar words were used of burnt-offerings.

16. to communicate] To share your goods with others (Rom. xv. 26). The substantive from this verb is rendered "distribution" in 2 Cor. ix. 13.

with such sacrifices] The verse is meant to remind them that sacrifices of well-doing and the free sharing of their goods are even more necessary than_verbal gratitude unaccompanied by sincerity of action (Is. xxix. 13; Ezek. xxxiii. 31).

17. them that have the rule over you] See ver. 7. The repetition or the injunction perhaps indicates a tendency to self-assertion and

have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is un18 profitable for you. Pray for us: for we trust we have a good 19 conscience, in all things willing to live honestly. But I beseech you the rather to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner.

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Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through

spurious independence among them. "Bishops" in the modern sense did not as yet exist, but in the importance here attached to due subordination to ecclesiastical authority we see the gradual growth of episcopal powers. See I Thess. v. 12, 13; 1 Tim. v. 17.

they watch] Lit. "are sleepless."

that must give account] See Acts xx. 26, 28.

with joy] See 1 Thess. ii.

19; 20.

with grief] Lit. "groaning.'

unprofitable] A litotes-i.e. a mild expression purposely used that the reader may correct it by a stronger one-for "disadvantageous."

18. Pray for us] A frequent and natural request in Christian correspondence (1 Thess. v. 25; 2 Thess. iii. 1; Rom. xv. 30; Eph. vi. 18; Col. iv. 3). The "us" probably means "me and those with me," shewing that the name of the writer was well known to those addressed. we trust] Rather, "we are persuaded."

we have a good conscience] The writer, being one of the Paulinists, whose freedom was so bitterly misinterpreted, finds it as necessary as St Paul had done, to add this profession of conscientious sincerity (Acts xxiii. 1, xxiv. 16; 1 Cor. iv. 4; 2 Cor. i. 12). These resemblances to St Paul's method of concluding his letters are only of a general character, and we have reason to suppose that to a certain extent the beginnings and endings of Christian letters had assumed a recognised form.

willing] i.e. "desiring," "determining."

honestly] Honourably.

19. that I may be restored to you the sooner] So St Paul in Philem. 22. We are unable to conjecture the circumstances which for the present prevented the writer from visiting them. It is clear from the word "restored" that he must once have lived among them.

20. the God of peace. The phrase is frequent in St Paul (1 Thess. v. 23: 2 Thess. iii. 16; Rom. xv. 33, xvi. 20; Phil. iv. 9).

that brought again from the dead] Among many allusions to the Ascension and Glorification of Christ this is the only direct allusion in the Epistle to His Resurrection (but comp. vi. 2, xi. 35). The verb άvýyayev may be "raised again" rather than "brought up," though there may be a reminiscence of "the shepherd" (Moses) who "brought up" his people from the sea in Is. lxiii. Îr.

the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in 21 every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. And I beseech you, 22 brethren, suffer the word of exhortation: for I have written a letter unto you in few words. Know ye that our brother 23 Timothy is set at liberty; with whom, if he come shortly, I

through the blood of the everlasting covenant] Rather, "by virtue of (lit. "in") the blood of an eternal covenant." The expression finds its full explanation in ix. 15—18. Others connect it with "the Great Shepherd.' He became the Great Shepherd by means of His blood. So in Acts xx. 28 we have "to shepherd the Church of God, which He purchased for Himself by means of His own blood." A similar phrase occurs in Zech. ix. 11, “By (or "because of") the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit."

21. make you perfeet] Not the verb so often used to express "perfecting" but another verb-“may He fit" or "stablish” ́or “equip

you.

to do his will, working in you...] In the Greek there is a play on the words "to do His will, doing in you." There is a similar play on words in Phil. ii. 13.

to whom be glory for ever and ever] Lit. "to whom be the glory (which is His of right) unto the ages of the ages.". The same formula occurs in Gal. i. 5; 2 Tim. iv. 18. The doxology may be addressed to Christ as in 2 Pet. iii. 18.

22. suffer the word of exhortation] "Bear with the word of my exhortation." Comp. Acts xiii. 15. This is a courteous apology for the tone of severity and authority which he has assumed.

for] "for indeed," as in xii. 29.

I have written a letter] This is the only place in the N. T. (except Acts xv. 20, xxi. 25) where epistello has this sense. Usually it means "I enjoin."

in few words] "briefly," considering the breadth and dignity of the subject, which has left him no room for lengthened apologies, and for anything but a direct and compressed appeal. Or the force of the words may be "bear with my exhortation, for I have not troubled you at any great length" (comp. di' ollywv, 1 Pet. v. 12). Could more meaning have been compressed into a letter which could be read aloud in less than an hour, but which was to have a very deep influence on many centuries?

Or perhaps " Ye know," or "know."

23. Know ye] is set at liberty] The word probably means (as in Acts iii. 13, iv. 21) "has been set free from prison.' It is intrinsically likely that Timothy at once obeyed the earnest and repeated entreaty of St Paul, shortly before his martyrdom, to come to him at Rome (2 Tim. iv. 9, 21), and that, arriving before the Neronian persecution had spent its force, he had been thrown into prison. His comparative youth, and the unoffend

HEBREWS

13

Salute all them that have the rule over you,

24

25

will see you.
and all the saints. They of Italy salute you.
with you all. Amen.

Grace be

Written to the Hebrews from Italy by Timothy.

ing gentleness of his character, together with the absence of any definite charge against him, may have led to his liberation. All this however is nothing more than reasonable conjecture. The word apolelumenos may mean no more than official, or even ordinary, “sending forth" on some mission or otherwise, as in Acts xiii. 3, xv. 30, xix. 41, xxiii.

22.

if he come shortly, I will see you] Lit. "if he come sooner," i. e. earlier than I now expect (comp. κάλov, Acts xxv. 10; BÉλTLOV, 2 Tim. i. 18).

24. Salute all them that have the rule over you] This salutation to all their spiritual leaders implies the condition of Churches, which was normal at that period—namely, little communities, sometimes composed separately of Jews and Gentiles, who in default of one large central building, met for worship in each other's houses.

They of Italy] This merely means "the Italians in the place from which I write," just as "they of Asia" means Asiatic Jews (Acts xxi. 27. Comp. xvii. 13, vi. 9, &c.). The phrase therefore gives no clue whatever to the place from which, or the persons to whom, the Epistle was written. It merely shews that some Christians from Italy-perhaps Christians who had fled from Italy during the Neronian persecution-formed a part of the writer's community; but it suggests a not unnatural inference that it was written to some Italian community from some other town out of Italy. Had he been writing from Italy he would perhaps have been more likely to write "those in Italy" (comp. 1 Pet. v. 13).

25.

Grace be with you all. Amen] This is one of the shorter forms of final conclusion found in Col. iv. 18; 1 Tim. vi. 21; 2 Tim. iv. 22; Tit. iii. 15.

The superscription "Written to the Hebrews from Italy by Timothy" is wholly without authority, though found in K and some versions. It contradicts the obvious inference suggested by xiii. 23, 24. We have no clue to the bearer of the Epistle, or the local community for which it was primarily intended, or the effect which it produced. But it would

scarcely be possible to suppose that such a composition did not have a powerful influence in checking all tendency to retrograde into Judaism from the deeper and far more inestimable blessings of the New Covenant. The Manuscripts N and C have only "To the Hebrews." A has "It was written to the Hebrews from Rome."