Explanatory Notes upon the Old and New Testaments

1. The sum of this chapter is, Christ, as appears from his type, Melchisedec, who was greater than Abraham himself, from whom Levi descended, has a priesthood altogether excellent, new, firm, perpetual. Gen. xiv, 18, &c.

2. Being first - According to the meaning of his own name. King of righteousness, then - According to the name of his city. King of peace - So in him, as in Christ, righteousness and peace were joined. And so they are in all that believe in him.

3. Without father, without mother, without pedigree - Recorded, without any account of his descent from any ancestors of the priestly order. Having neither beginning of days, nor end of life - Mentioned by Moses. But being - In all these respects. Made like the Son of God - Who is really without father, as to his human nature; without mother, as to his divine; and in this also, without pedigree - Neither descended from any ancestors of the priestly order. Remaineth a priest continually - Nothing is recorded of the death or successor of Melchisedec. But Christ alone does really remain without death, and without successor.

4. The greatness of Melchisedec is described in all the preceding and following particulars. But the most manifest proof of it was, that Abraham gave him tithes as to a priest of God and a superior; though he was himself a patriarch, greater than a king, and a progenitor of many kings.

5. The sons of Levi take tithes of their brethren — sprung from Abraham as well as themselves. The Levites therefore are greater than they; but the priests are greater than the Levites, the patriarch Abraham than the priests, and Melchisedec than him.

6. He who is not from them - The Levites Blessed - Another proof of his superiority. Even him that had the promises - That was so highly favoured of God. When St. Paul speaks of Christ, he says, "the promise;" promises refer to other blessings also.

7. The less is blessed - Authoritatively, of the greater.

8. And here - In the Levitical priesthood. But there - In the case of Melchisedec. He of whom it is testified that he liveth - Who is not spoken of as one that died for another to succeed him; but is represented only as living, no mention being made either of his birth or death.

9. And even Levi, who received tithes - Not in person, but in his successors, as it were, paid tithes - In the person of Abraham.

11. The apostle now demonstrates that the Levitical priesthood must yield to the priesthood of Christ, because Melchisedec, after whose order he is a priest,

1. Is opposed to Aaron, ver. 11-14.

2. Hath no end of life, ver. 15-19, but "remaineth a priest continually." If now perfection were by the Levitical priesthood - If this perfectly answered all God's designs and man's wants For under it the people received the law - Whence some might infer, that perfection was by that priesthood. What farther need was there, that another priest - Of a new order, should be set up? From this single consideration it is plain, that both the priesthood and the law, which were inseparably connected, were now to give way to a better priesthood and more excellent dispensation.

12. For - One of these cannot be changed without the other.

13. But the priesthood is manifestly changed from one order to another, and from one tribe to another. For he of whom these things are spoken - Namely, Jesus. Pertaineth to another tribe - That of Judah. Of which no man was suffered by the law to attend on, or minister at, the altar.

14. For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah - Whatever difficulties have arisen since, during so long a tract of time, it was then clear beyond dispute.

15. And it is still far more evident, that - Both the priesthood and the law are changed, because the priest now raised up is not only of another tribe, but of a quite different order.

16. Who is made - A priest. Not after the law of a carnal commandment - Not according to the Mosaic law, which consisted chiefly of commandments that were carnal, compared to the spirituality of the gospel. But after the power of an endless life - Which he has in himself, as the eternal Son of God.

18. For there is implied in this new and everlasting priesthood, and in the new dispensation connected therewith, a disannulling of the preceding commandment - An abrogation of the Mosaic law. For the weakness and unprofitableness thereof - For its insufficiency either to justify or to sanctify.

19. For the law - Taken by itself, separate from the gospel. Made nothing perfect - Could not perfect its votaries, either in faith or love, in happiness or holiness. But the bringing in of a better hope - Of the gospel dispensation, which gives us a better ground of confidence, does. By which we draw nigh to God - Yea, so nigh as to be one spirit with him. And this is true perfection.

20. And - The greater solemnity wherewith he was made priest, farther proves the superior excellency of his priesthood.

21. The Lord swear and will not repent - Hence also it appears, that his is an unchangeable priesthood.

22. Of so much better a covenant - Unchangeable, eternal. Was Jesus made a surety - Or mediator. The word covenant frequently occurs in the remaining part of this epistle. The original word means either a covenant or a last will and testament. St. Paul takes it sometimes in the former, sometimes in the latter, sense; sometimes he includes both.

23. They were many priests - One after another.

24. He continueth forever - In life and in his priesthood. That passeth not away - To any successor.

25. Wherefore he is able to save to the uttermost - From all the guilt, power, root, and consequence of sin. Them who come - By faith. To God through him - As their priest. Seeing he ever liveth to make intercession - That is, he ever lives and intercedes. He died once; he intercedes perpetually.

26. For such an high priest suited us - Unholy, mischievous, defiled sinners: a blessed paradox! Holy - With respect to God. Harmless - With respect to men. Undefiled - With any sin in himself. Separated from sinners - As well as free from sin. And so he was when he left the world. And made - Even in his human nature. Higher than the heavens - And all their inhabitants.

27. Who needeth not to offer up sacrifices daily - That is, on every yearly day of expiation; for he offered once for all: not for his own sins, for he then offered up himself "without spot to God."

28. The law maketh men high priests that have infirmity - That are both weak, mortal, and sinful. But the oath which was since the law - Namely, in the time of David. Maketh the son, who is consecrated forever - Who being now free, both from sin and death, from natural and moral infirmity, remaineth a priest forever.

1. We have such an high priest - Having finished his description of the type in Melchisedec, the apostle begins to treat directly of the excellency of Christ's priesthood, beyond the Levitical. Who is set down - Having finished his oblation. At the right hand of the Majesty - Of God.

2. A minister - Who represents his own sacrifice, as the high priest did the blood of those sacrifices once a year. Of the sanctuary - Heaven, typified by the holy of holies. And of the true tabernacle - Perhaps his human nature, of which the old tabernacle was a type. Which the Lord hath fixed - Forever. Not man - As Moses fixed the tabernacle.

4. But if he were on earth - If his priesthood terminated here. He could not be a priest - At all, consistently with the Jewish institutions. There being other priests - To whom alone this office is allotted.

5. Who serve - The temple, which was not yet destroyed. After the pattern and shadow of heavenly things - Of spiritual, evangelical worship, and of everlasting glory. The pattern - Somewhat like the strokes pencilled out upon a piece of fine linen, which exhibit the figures of leaves and flowers, but have not yet received their splendid colours and curious shades. And shadow - Or shadowy representation, which gives you some dim and imperfect idea of the body, but not the fine features, not the distinguishing air; none of those living graces which adorn the real person. Yet both the pattern and shadow lead our minds to something nobler than themselves: the pattern, to that holiness and glory which complete it; the shadow, to that which occasions it. Exod. xxv, 40.

6. And now he hath obtained a more excellent ministry - His priesthood as much excels theirs, as the promises of the gospel (whereof he is a surety) excels those of the law. These better promises are specified, ver. 10, xi, those in the law were mostly temporal promises.

7. For if the first had been faultless - If that dispensation had answered all God's designs and man's wants, if it had not been weak and unprofitable unable to make anything perfect, no place would have been for a second.

8. But there is; for finding fault with them - Who were under the old covenant he saith, I make a new covenant with the house of Israel - With all the Israel of God, in all ages and nations. It is new in many respects, though not as to the substance of it:

1. Being ratified by the death of Christ.

2. Freed from those burdensome rites and ceremonies.

3. Containing a more full and clear account of spiritual religion.

4. Attended with larger influences of the Spirit

5. Extended to all men. And,

6. Never to be abolished. Jer. xxxi, 31, &c.

9. When I took them by the hand - With the care and tenderness of a parent. And just while this was fresh in their memory, they obeyed; but presently after they shook off the yoke. They continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not - So that covenant was soon broken in pieces.

10. This is the covenant I will make after those days - After the Mosaic dispensation is abolished. I will put my laws in their minds - I will open their eyes, and enlighten their understanding, to see the true, full, spiritual meaning thereof. And write them on their hearts - So that they shall inwardly experience whatever I have commanded. And I will be to them a God - Their all- sufficient portion, and exceeding great reward. And they shall be to me a people - My treasure, my beloved, loving, and obedient children.

11. And they who are under this covenant (though in other respects they will have need to teach each other to their lives' end, yet) shall not need to teach every one his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for they shall all know me - All real Christians. From the least to the greatest - In this order the saving knowledge of God ever did and ever will proceed; not first to the greatest, and then to the least. But "the Lord shall save the tents," the poorest, "of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David," the royal seed, "and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem," the nobles and the rich citizens, "do not magnify themselves," Zech. xii, 7.

12. For I will justify them, which is the root of all true knowledge of God. This, therefore, is God's method. First, a sinner is pardoned: then he knows God, as gracious and merciful then God's laws are written on his heart: he is God's, and God is his.

13. In saying, A new covenant, he hath antiquated the first - Hath shown that it is disannulled, and out of date. Now that which is antiquated is ready to vanish away - As it did quickly after, when the temple was destroyed.

1. The first covenant had ordinances of outward worship, and a worldly - a visible, material sanctuary, or tabernacle. Of this sanctuary he treats, ver. 2-5. Of those ordinances, ver. 6-10.

2. The first - The outward tabernacle. In which was the candlestick, and the table - The shewbread, shown continually before God and all the people, consisting of twelve loaves, according to the number of the tribes, was placed on this table in two rows, six upon one another in each row. This candlestick and bread seem to have typified the light and life which are more largely dispensed under the gospel by Him who is the Light of the world, and the Bread of life.

3. The second veil divided the holy place from the most holy, as the first veil did the holy place from the courts.

4. Having the golden censer - Used by the high priest only, on the great day of atonement. And the ark, or chest, of the covenant - So called from the tables of the covenant contained therein. Wherein was the manna - The monument of God's care over Israel. And Aaron's rod - The monument of the regular priesthood. And the tables of the covenant - The two tables of stone, on which the ten commandments were written by the finger of God the most venerable monument of all.

5. And over it were the cherubim of glory - Over which the glory of God used to appear. Some suppose each of these had four faces, and so represented the Three-One God, with the manhood assumed by the Second Person. With out-spread wings shadowing the mercy-seat - Which was a lid or plate of gold, covering the ark.

6. Always - Every day. Accomplishing their services - Lighting the lamps, changing the shewbread, burning incense, and sprinkling the blood of the sin offerings.

7. Errors - That is, sins of ignorance, to which only those atonements extended.

8. The Holy Ghost evidently showing - By this token. That the way into the holiest - Into heaven. Was not made manifest - Not so clearly revealed. While the first tabernacle, and its service, were still subsisting - And remaining in force.

9. Which - Tabernacle, with all its furniture and services. Is a figure - Or type, of good things to come Which cannot perfect the worshipper - Neither the priest nor him who brought the offering. As to his conscience - So that he should be no longer conscious of the guilt or power of sin. Observe, the temple was as yet standing.

10. They could not so perfect him, with all their train of precepts relating to meats and drinks, and carnal, gross, external ordinances; and were therefore imposed only till the time of reformation - Till Christ came.

11. An high priest of good things to come - Described, ver. 15. Entered through a greater, that is, a more noble, and perfect tabernacle - Namely, his own body. Not of this creation - Not framed by man, as that tabernacle was.

12. The holy place - Heaven. For us - All that believe.

13. If the ashes of an heifer - Consumed by fire as a sin-offering, being sprinkled on them who were legally unclean. Purified the flesh - Removed that legal uncleanness, and re-admitted them to the temple and the congregation. Num. xix, 17, 18, 19.

14. How much more shall the blood of Christ. - The merit of all his sufferings. Who through the eternal Spirit - The work of redemption being the work of the whole Trinity. Neither is the Second Person alone concerned even in the amazing condescension that was needful to complete it. The Father delivers up the kingdom to the Son; and the Holy Ghost becomes the gift of the Messiah, being, as it were, sent according to his good pleasure. Offered himself - Infinitely more precious than any created victim, and that without spot to God. Purge our conscience - Our inmost soul. From dead works - From all the inward and outward works of the devil, which spring from spiritual death in the soul, and lead to death everlasting. To serve the living God - In the life of faith, in perfect love and spotless holiness.

15. And for this end he is the Mediator of a new covenant, that they who are called - To the engagements and benefits thereof. Might receive the eternal inheritance promised to Abraham: not by means of legal sacrifices, but of his meritorious death. For the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant - That is, for the redemption of transgressors from the guilt and punishment of those sins which were committed in the time of the old covenant. The article of his death properly divides the old covenant from the new.

16. I say by means of death; for where such a covenant is, there must be the death of him by whom it is confirmed - Seeing it is by his death that the benefits of it are purchased. It seems beneath the dignity of the apostle to play upon the ambiguity of the Greek word, as the common translation supposes him to do.

17. After he is dead - Neither this, nor after men are dead is a literal translation of the words. It is a very perplexed passage.

18. Whence neither was the first - The Jewish covenant, originally transacted without the blood of an appointed sacrifice.

19. He took the blood of calves - Or heifers. And of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop - All these circumstances are not particularly mentioned in that chapter of Exodus, but are supposed to be already known from other passages of Moses. And the book itself - Which contained all he had said. And sprinkled all the people - Who were near him. The blood was mixed with water to prevent its growing too stiff for sprinkling; perhaps also to typify that blood and water, John xix, 34. Exod. xxiv, 7, 8

20. Saying, This is the blood of the covenant which God hath enjoined me to deliver unto you - By this it is established. Exod. xxiv, 8.

21. And in like manner he ordered the tabernacle - When it was made, and all its vessels, to be sprinkled with blood once a year.

22. And almost all things - For some were purified by water or fire. Are according to the law purified with blood - Offered or sprinkled. And according to the law, there is no forgiveness of sins without shedding of blood - All this pointed to the blood of Christ effectually cleansing from all sin, and intimated, there can be no purification from it by any other means.

23. Therefore - That is, it plainly appears from what has been said. It was necessary - According to the appointment of God. That the tabernacle and all its utensils, which were patterns, shadowy representations, of things in heaven, should be purified by these - Sacrifices and sprinklings. But the heavenly things themselves - Our heaven-born spirits: what more this may mean we know not yet. By better sacrifices than these - That is, by a better sacrifice, which is here opposed to all the legal sacrifices, and is expressed plurally, because it includes the signification of them all, and is of so much more eminent virtue.

24. For Christ did not enter into the holy place made with hands - He never went into the holy of holies at Jerusalem, the figure of the true tabernacle in heaven, chap. viii, 2. But into heaven itself, to appear in the presence of God for us - As our glorious high priest and powerful intercessor.

26. For then he must often have suffered from the foundation of the world - This supposes,

1. That by suffering once he atoned for all the sins which had been committed from the foundation of the world.

2. That he could not have atoned for them without suffering. At the consummation of the ages - The sacrifice of Christ divides the whole age or duration of the world into two parts, and extends its virtue backward and forward, from this middle point wherein they meet to abolish both the guilt and power of sin.

27. After this, the judgment - Of the great day. At the moment of death every man's final state is determined. But there is not a word in scripture of a particular judgment immediately after death.

28. Christ having once died to bear the sins - The punishment due to them. Of many - Even as many as are born into the world. Will appear the second time - When he comes to judgment. Without sin - Not as he did before, bearing on himself the sins of many, but to bestow everlasting salvation.

1. From all that has been said it appears, that the law, the Mosaic dispensation, being a bare, unsubstantial shadow of good things to come, of the gospel blessings, and not the substantial, solid image of them, can never with the same kind of sacrifices, though continually repeated, make the comers thereunto perfect, either as to justification or sanctification. How is it possible, that any who consider this should suppose the attainments of David, or any who were under that dispensation, to be the proper measure of gospel holiness; and that Christian experience is to rise no higher than Jewish?

2. They who had been once perfectly purged, would have been no longer conscious either of the guilt or power of their sins.

3. There is a public commemoration of the sins both of the last and of all the preceding years; a clear proof that the guilt thereof is not perfectly purged away.

4. It is impossible the blood of goats should take away sins - Either the guilt or the power of them.

5. When he cometh into the world - In the fortieth Psalm the Messiah's coming into the world is represented. It is said, into the world, not into the tabernacle, chap. ix, 1; because all the world is interested in his sacrifice. A body hast thou prepared for me - That I may offer up myself. Psalm xl, 6, &c.

7. In the volume of the book - In this very psalm it is written of me. Accordingly I come to do thy will - By the sacrifice of myself.

8. Above when he said, Sacrifice thou hast not chosen - That is, when the Psalmist pronounced those words in his name.

9. Then said he - in that very instant he subjoined. Lo, I come to do Thy will - To offer a more acceptable sacrifice; and by this very act he taketh away the legal, that he may establish the evangelical, dispensation.

10. By which will - Of God, done and suffered by Christ. We are sanctified - Cleansed from guilt, and consecrated to God.

11. Every priest standeth - As a servant in an humble posture.

12. But he - The virtue of whose one sacrifice remains for ever. Sat down - As a son, in majesty and honour.

13. Psalm cx, 1.

14. He hath perfected them forever - That is, has done all that was needful in order to their full reconciliation with God.

15. In this and the three following verses, the apostle winds up his argument concerning the excellency and perfection of the priesthood and sacrifice of Christ. He had proved this before by a quotation from Jeremiah; which he here repeats, describing the new covenant as now completely ratified, and all the blessings of it secured to us by the one offering of Christ, which renders all other expiatory sacrifices, and any repetition of his own, utterly needless.

16. Jer. xxxi, 33, &c.

19. Having finished the doctrinal part of his epistle, the apostle now proceeds to exhortation deduced from what has been treated of chap. v, 4, which he begins by a brief recapitulation. Having therefore liberty to enter,

20. By a living way - The way of faith, whereby we live indeed. Which he hath consecrated - Prepared, dedicated, and established for us. Through the veil, that is, his flesh - As by rending the veil in the temple, the holy of holies became visible and accessible; so by wounding the body of Christ, the God of heaven was manifested, and the way to heaven opened.

22. Let us draw near - To God. With a true heart - In godly sincerity. Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience - So as to condemn us no longer And our bodies washed with pure water - All our conversation spotless and holy, which is far more acceptable to God than all the legal sprinklings and washings.

23. The profession of our hope - The hope which we professed at our baptism.

25. Not forsaking the assembling ourselves - In public or private worship. As the manner of some is - Either through fear of persecution, or from a vain imagination that they were above external ordinances. But exhorting one another - To faith, love, and good works. And so much the more, as ye see the day approaching - The great day is ever in your eye.

26. For when we - Any of us Christians. Sin wilfully - By total apostasy from God, termed "drawing back," ver. 38. After having received the experimental knowledge of the gospel truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins - None but that which we obstinately reject.

28. He that, in capital cases, despised (presumptuously transgressed) the law of Moses died without mercy - Without any delay or mitigation of his punishment.

29. Of how much sorer punishment is he worthy, who - By wilful, total apostasy. It does not appear that this passage refers to any other sin. Hath, as it were, trodden underfoot the Son of God - A lawgiver far more honourable than Moses. And counted the blood wherewith the better covenant was established, an unholy, a common, worthless thing. By which he hath been sanctified - Therefore Christ died for him also, and he was at least justified once. And done despite to the Spirit of grace - By rejecting all his motions.

30. The Lord will judge his people - Yea, far more rigorously than the heathens, if they rebel against him. Deut. xxxii, 35, &c.

31. To fall into the hands - Of his avenging justice.

32. Enlightened - With the knowledge of God and of his truth.

34. For ye sympathized with all your suffering brethren, and with me in particular; and received joyfully the loss of your own goods.

35. Cast not away therefore this your confidence - Your faith and hope; which none can deprive you of but yourselves.

36. The promise - Perfect love; eternal life.

37. He that cometh - To reward every man according to his works.

38. Now the just - The justified person. Shall live - In God's favour, a spiritual and holy life. By faith - As long as he retains that gift of God. But if he draw back - If he make shipwreck of his faith My soul hath no pleasure in him - That is, I abhor him; I cast him off. Hab. ii, 3, &c.

39. We are not of them who draw back to perdition - Like him mentioned ver. 38. But of them that believe - To the end, so as to attain eternal life.

1. The definition of faith given in this verse, and exemplified in the various instances following, undoubtedly includes justifying faith, but not directly as justifying. For faith justifies only as it refers to, and depends on, Christ. But here is no mention of him as the object of faith; and in several of the instances that follow, no notice is taken of him or his salvation, but only of temporal blessings obtained by faith. And yet they may all be considered as evidences of the power of justifying faith in Christ, and of its extensive exercise in a course of steady obedience amidst difficulties and dangers of every kind. Now faith is the subsistence of things hoped for, the evidence or conviction of things not seen - Things hoped for are not so extensive as things not seen. The former are only things future and joyful to us; the latter are either future, past, or present, and those either good or evil, whether to us or others. The subsistence of things hoped for - Giving a kind of present subsistence to the good things which God has promised: the divine supernatural evidence exhibited to, the conviction hereby produced in, a believer of things not seen, whether past, future, or spiritual; particularly of God and the things of God.

2. By it the elders - Our forefathers. This chapter is a kind of summary of the Old Testament, in which the apostle comprises the designs, labours, sojournings, expectations, temptations, martyrdoms of the ancients. The former of them had a long exercise of their patience; the latter suffered shorter but sharper trials. Obtained a good testimony - A most comprehensive word. God gave a testimony, not only of them but to them: and they received his testimony as if it had been the things themselves of which he testified, ver. 4, 5, 39. Hence they also gave testimony to others, and others testified of them.

3. By faith we understand that the worlds - Heaven and earth and all things in them, visible and invisible. Where made - Formed, fashioned, and finished. By the word - The sole command of God, without any instrument or preceding matter. And as creation is the foundation and specimen of the whole divine economy, so faith in the creation is the foundation and specimen of all faith. So that things which are seen - As the sun, earth, stars. Were made of things which do not appear - Out of the dark, unapparent chaos, Gen. i, 2. And this very chaos was created by the divine power; for before it was thus created it had no existence in nature.

4. By faith - In the future Redeemer. Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice - The firstlings of his flock, implying both a confession of what his own sins deserved, and a desire of sharing in the great atonement. Than Cain - Whose offering testified no such faith, but a bare acknowledgment of God the Creator. By which faith he obtained both righteousness and a testimony of it: God testifying - Visibly that his gifts were accepted; probably by sending fire from heaven to consume his sacrifice, a token that justice seized on the sacrifice instead of the sinner who offered it. And by it - By this faith. Being dead, he yet speaketh - That a sinner is accepted only through faith in the great sacrifice.

5. Enoch was not any longer found among men, though perhaps they sought for him as they did for Elijah, 2 Kings ii, 17. He had this testimony - From God in his own conscience.

6. But without faith - Even some divine faith in God, it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God - in prayer, or another act of worship, must believe that he is.

7. Noah being warned of things not seen as yet - Of the future deluge. Moved with fear, prepared an ark, by which open testimony he condemned the world - Who neither believed nor feared.

9. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise - The promise was made before, Gen. xii, 7. Dwelling in tents - As a sojourner With Isaac and Jacob - Who by the same manner of living showed the same faith Jacob was born fifteen years before the death of Abraham. The joint heirs of the same promise - Having all the same interest therein. Isaac did not receive this inheritance from Abraham, nor Jacob from Isaac, but all of them from God. Gen. xvii, 8

10. He looked for a city which hath foundations - Whereas a tent has none. Whose builder and former is God - Of which God is the sole contriver, former, and finisher.

11. Sarah also herself - Though at first she laughed at the promise, Gen. xviii, 12. Gen. xxi, 2.

12. As it were dead - Till his strength was supernaturally restored, which continued for many years after.

13. All these - Mentioned ver. 7-11. Died in faith - In death faith acts most vigourously. Not having received the promises - The promised blessings. Embraced - As one does a dear friend when he meets him.

14. They who speak thus show plainly that they seek their own country - That they keep in view, and long for, their native home.

15. If they had been mindful of - Their earthly country, Ur of the Chaldeans, they might have easily returned.

16. But they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly - This is a full convincing proof that the patriarchs had a Revelation and a promise of eternal glory in heaven. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: seeing he hath prepared for them a city - Worthy of God to give.

17. By faith Abraham - When God made that glorious trial of him. Offered up Isaac - The will being accepted as if he had actually done it. Yea, he that had received the promises - Particularly that grand promise, "In Isaac shall thy seed be called." Offered up - This very son; the only one he had by Sarah. Gen. xxii, 1,&c.

18. In Isaac shall thy seed be called - From him shall the blessed seed spring. Gen. xxi, 12.

19. Accounting that God was able even to raise him from the dead - Though there had not been any instance of this in the world. From whence also - To speak in a figurative way. He did receive him - Afterwards, snatched from the jaws of death.

20. Blessed - Gen. xxvii, 27, 39; prophetically foretold the particular blessings they should partake of. Jacob and Esau - Preferring the elder before the younger.

21. Jacob when dying - That is, when near death. Bowing down on the top of his staff - As he sat on the side of his bed. Gen. xlviii, 16; Gen. xlvii, 31

22. Concerning his bones - To be carried into the land of promise.

23. They saw - Doubtless with a divine presage of things to come.

24. Refused to be called - Any longer.

26. The reproach of Christ - That which he bore for believing in the Messiah to come, and acting accordingly. For he looked off - From all those perishing treasures, and beyond all those temporal hardships Unto the recompence of reward - Not to an inheritance in Canaan; he had no warrant from God to look for this, nor did he ever attain it; but what his believing ancestors looked for, - a future state of happiness in heaven.

27. By faith he left Egypt - Taking all the Israelites with him. Not then fearing the wrath of the king - As he did many years before, Exod. ii, 14. Exod. xiv, 15, &c.

28. The pouring out of the blood - Of the paschal lamb, which was sprinkled on the door-posts, lest the destroying angel should touch the Israelites. Exod. xii, 12-18.

29. They - Moses, Aaron, and the Israelites. Passed the Red Sea - It washed the borders of Edom, which signifies red. Thus far the examples are cited from Genesis and Exodus; those that follow are from the former and the latter Prophets.

30. By the faith of Joshua.

31. Rahab - Though formerly one not of the fairest character.

32. After Samuel, the prophets are properly mentioned. David also was a prophet; but he was a king too. The prophets - Elijah, Elisha, &c., including likewise the believers who lived with them.

33, 34. David, in particular, subdued kingdoms. Samuel (not excluding the rest) wrought righteousness. The prophets, in general, obtained promises, both for themselves, and to deliver to others. Prophets also stopped the mouths of lions, as Daniel; and quenched the violence of fire, as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. To these examples, whence the nature of faith clearly appears, those more ancient ones are subjoined, (by a transposition, and in an inverted order,) which receive light from these. Jephthah escaped the edge of the sword; Samson out of weakness was made strong; Barak became valiant in fight; Gideon put to flight armies of the aliens. Faith animates to the most heroic enterprises, both civil and military. Faith overcomes all impediments effects the greatest things; attains to the very best; and inverts, by its miraculous power the very course of nature. 2 Sam. viii, 1,&c.; 1 Sam. viii, 9,&c.; 1 Sam. xiii, 3,&c.; Dan. vi, 22; Dan. iii, 27; Jude xii, 3; Jude xv, 19,&c.; Jude xvi, 28,&c.; Jude iv, 14,&c.; Jude vii, 21.

35. Women - Naturally weak. Received their dead - Children. Others were tortured - From those who acted great things the apostle rises higher, to those who showed the power of faith by suffering. Not accepting deliverance - On sinful terms. That they might obtain a better resurrection - An higher reward, seeing the greater their sufferings the greater would be their glory. 1 Kings xvii, 22; 2 Kings iv, 35

36. And others - The apostle seems here to pass on to recent examples.

37. They were sawn asunder - As, according to the tradition of the Jews, Isaiah was by Manasseh. Were tempted - Torments and death are mentioned alternately. Every way; by threatenings, reproaches, tortures, the variety of which cannot be expressed; and again by promises and allurements.

38. Of whom the world was not worthy - It did not deserve so great a blessing. They wandered - Being driven out from men.

39. And all these - Though they obtained a good testimony, ver. 2, yet did not receive the great promise, the heavenly inheritance.

40. God having provided some better thing for us - Namely, everlasting glory. That they might not be perfected without us - That is, that we might all be perfected together in heaven.