ness, 4 God himself bearing joint witto the salvation preached of the Lord and his apostles, both by signs and wonders and miracles of divers kinds, which he enabled these preachers to perform, and by distributions of the gifts of the Holy Ghost, which they bestowed, not according to their will, but according to his own pleasure? 5 For although the angel (Exod. xxiii. 20.) who conducted the Israelites, had Canaan subjected to him, to the angels God hath not subjected the world which is to come, the possession of which is the salvation, of which we speak. 6 Now, that the Son of God was to be made flesh, and in the flesh was to be appointed King universal, David in a certain place, Ps. viii. 4. plainly testified, Saying, What is the first man that thou shouldst remember him; or the posterity of the first man, that thou shouldst take such care of them! faith, the discernment of spirits, tongues, and the interpretation of tongues. These are called, distributions of the Holy Ghost, because he divided them to every one as he pleased, 1 Cor. xii. 11. Ver. 5.-1. Hath not subjected the world which is to come. Οικεμένην την μέλλεσαν. The gospel dispensation is called αιώνος μέλλοντος, the age to come, Heb. vi. 5. but never rμerny persσav, the habitable world to come. That phrase, if I mistake not, signifies the heavenly country promised to Abraham and to his spiritual seed. Wherefore, as oixxporn the world, Luke ii. 1. and elsewhere, by an usual figure of speech, signifies the inhabitants of the world, the phrase μery μλv, may very well signify, the inhabi tants of the world to come, called, Heb. i. 14. Them who shall inherit salvation. If so, the apostle's meaning will be, that God hath not put the heirs of salvation, who are to inhabit the world to come the heavenly Canaan, in subjection to angels, to be by them conducted into that world, as the Israelites were conducted into the earthly Canaan by an angel, Exod. xxiii. 20. They are only ministring spirits, sent forth by the Son to minister for the heirs of salvation, but not to conduct them. The heirs who are to inhabit the world to come, God hath put in subjection to the Son alone. Hence he 7 Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands. 7 Ηλαττώσας αυτον βραχυ τι παρ' αγγελους δοξη και τιμῇ εςεφανωσας αυτόν, και κατέςησας αυτον επι τα εργα των χειρών σου. is called, the Captain of their salvation, Heb. ii. 10. And, having introduced them into the heavenly country, he will deliver up the kingdom to God the Father, as we are told, 1 Cor. xv. 24. Ver. 6.-1. Now one in a certain place. The place here referred to is Psal. viii. which hath been generally understood of that manifestation of the being and perfections of God, which is made by the ordination of the heavenly bodies; and by the creation of man in the next degree to angels; and by giving him dominion over the creatures.—But this interpretation cannot be admitted, because at the time the Psalmist wrote, God's name was not rendered excellent in all the earth by the works of creation, as is affirmed in the first verse of the Psalm. The true God was then known, only among the Israelites in the narrow country of Canaan. Neither had God displayed his glory, above the manifestation thereof made by the heavens. Wherefore the first verse of the Psalm, must be understood as a prediction of that greater manifestation of the name and glory of God, which was to be made in after times, by the coming of the Son of God in the flesh, and by the preaching of his gospel.-Next, our Lord, Matth. xxii. 15, 16. hath expressly declared, that the second verse of this Psalm, foretells the impression which the miracles wrought by God's Son in the flesh, would make on the minds of the multitude, called babes and sucklings, on account of their openness to conviction, as well as on account of their want of literature. Struck with the number and greatness of Messiah's miracles, the multitude would salute him with hosannas, as the son of David. And, thus his praise as Messiah, would be perfected out of their mouth.-Farther, it is declared in the Psalm, that this strong proof of his Son's mission, was to be ordained by God, for the confutation of infidels his enemies, and that he might still, or restrain the devil the great enemy of mankind, called in the Psalm, the avenger, because he endeavours to destroy mankind, as the avenger of blood endeavoured to destroy the man-slayer, before he fled into the city of refuge. With respect to the 6th and following verses of this Psalm, they are not to be interpreted of the manifestation, which God hath made of his glory by the creation of man, in regard, St. Paul hath assured us, that these verses are a prediction of the incarnation, and death, and resurrection, of the Son of God, and of his exaltation to the government of the world. For, having quoted these verses, he thus explains and applies them; Heb. ii. 8. By subjecting all things to him, he hath left nothing unsubjected. But now, we do not yet see all things subjected to him. 9. But we see Jesus, who for a little while was made less than angels—for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honour. Wherefore, according to the apostle, the person, who, in the Psalm, is said to be made for a little while less than angels, and whom God 7 Thou hast made1 him2 for a little while less than angels, thou hast crowned him with glory and honour, , and hast set him over the works of thy hands. 7 For, to save them from perishing, Thou wilt make him, who is thy Son, for a little while less than angels, by clothing him with flesh, and subjecting him to death. After that, Thou wilt crown him with glory and honour, by raising him from the dead, and wilt set him over the works of thy hands, as Ruler and Lord of all. crowned with glory and honour, and set over the works of his hands, and put all things under his feet, is not Adam, but Jesus.-And whereas in the Psalm, the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, and the fish of the sea, are mentioned as subjected, they were with great propriety subjected to Jesus, that he might support and govern them for the benefit of man, his chief subject on earth; seeing the happiness of man, in his present state, depends, in part, on the sustentation and government of the brute creation.— Here it is proper to remark, that if, ra avra, the expression in the Psalm, includes all things without exception, as the apostle affirms, Heb. ii. 8. 1 Cor. xv. 27. angels as well as men, being subjected to the person spoken of in the Psalm, Adam cannot be that person, since no one supposes that the angels were subjected, in any manner, to him. The foregoing view of the meaning of Psalm viii. founded on the interpretation given of it by our Lord and his apostles, will still more clearly appear to be just, if the import of the several expressions and phrases used in it, is attended to, as explained in the following notes. 2. Plainly testified, Saying, &c. The 5th and 6th verses of Psalm viii. quoted in this passage, were produced by the apostle in confutation of the Jewish doctors who affirmed, that in regard Jesus of Nazareth was a man, and instead of possessing kingly power, had been put to death for calling himself Christ the Son of the blessed God, he can neither be the Son of God, nor the Messiah whom God promised to set on his holy hill of Zion Psal. ii. 6. to rule his people. For in these verses of Psal. viii. according to their true meaning, it was foretold, that the Son of God was to be made, for a little while, less than the angels, by becoming a man; and, that after suffering death in the flesh, he was to be crowned with the glory of universal dominion.-Nor can these verses be otherwise understood. For if they were interpreted of the creation of man, they would have no relation to the apostle's design in this passage of his epistle, which was to establish the claim of Jesus of Nazareth, to be the Son of God and King of Israel.—Because David, who wrote the viiith Psalm, mentions his looking to the heavens, and to the moon and stars, and particularizes sheep and oxen, as subjected to the person who was for a little while made less than the angels, Estius conjectures, more ingeniously, perhaps, than truly, that he wrote it, while he watched his fathers flocks, in the fields, by night. Ver. 7.-1. Thou hast made. Here, and in what follows, the preterite tense is put for the future; as is often done in the prophetic writings, to 8 Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things δρωμεν αυτῷ τα παντα ὑπο put under him : 9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God, should taste death for every man. τεταγμένα. 9 Τον δε βραχυ τι παρ' αγγελους ηλαττωμενον βλε πομεν Ιησουν, δια το παθη μα του θανατου, δοξη και τιμη εξεφανωμένον, όπως χαριτι Θεου ὑπερ παντος γευ σηται θανατου. shew the certainty of the events foretold.-Thou wilt make him : Thou wilt crown him. 2. Him. The pronoun lim, in this place, doth not refer to the immediate antecedent, man, or the son of man, but to a person not mentioned in the psalm, of whom the Psalmist was thinking : namely, the Son of God. Of this use of the relative pronoun, see examples, Ess. iv. 64. 3. For a little while. So, βραχυ τι, properly signifies, and is translated in our Bible, Luke xxii. 58. Και μετά βραχυ, and after a little while. Acts v. 34. And commanded to put the apostles forth, βραχυ τι, a little space, or while-That ηλάττωσας αυτον βραχυ τι παρ' αγγέλες, in the psalm, doth not signify, thou hast made him a little less than angels, but, hast made him for a little while less; and, that it is to be understood, not of the creation of man, but of the humiliation of the Son of God, is plain, because man, both in his nature, and in his rank among the creatures, is greatly inferior to the angels. 4. Thou bist crowned him with glory and honour. This, no doubt, might be said of Adam, to whom God gave dominion over the creatures. Nevertheless, as St. Paul hath expressly affirmed, ver. 9. that the person who is said in the Psalm to have been made for a little while less than angels, &c. is Jesus, we must understand the glory and honour with which he was crowned, of the things which happened to him after he was made less than angels. See ver. 9. note 4.Jesus was covered with the greatest ignominy, when he was crucified by the Jews as a deceiver, for calling himself Christ the Son of God. But, by his resurrection and subsequent exaltation, that ignor miny was entirely removed; and his fame, and name, and honour, as the Son of God, were in the most illustrious manner restored to him. See Philip. ii. 9.-11. Ver. 8.-1. He hath left nothing unsubjected. Though the apostle's argument requires us to attend only to the subjection of angels and men to Je 8 Thou hast subjected all things under his feet. (Tag, 93.) Wherefore, by subjecting all things to him, he hath left nothing unsubjected.1 (Nv de) But now, we do not yet see all things subjected to him. 1 9 But we see Jesus, who for a little while was made less than angels, that, by the grace of God he might taste of death,2 (iep) on account of every one, (dia) for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour. 3 8 Thou wilt put all things under his feet. See Ephes. i. 22. note. Wherefore, by subjecting all things to him, God will leave nothing unsubjected; consequently, there is nothing over which his power will not at length finally prevail. But, at fresent, we do not yet see all things subjected to him: for evil angels and wicked men, are still unsubdued by him. 9 But we see Jesus, who for a little while was made less than angels by appearing in the flesh, that, through the gracious appointment of God he might die, not for the Jews only, but on account of every one: Him we see, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour, by his resurrection and ascension. And these are sufficient proofs, that all his enemies shall finally be subdued by him. sus, the universality of the expression sheweth, that the material fabric of the world, together with the brute creation, are put under his government. Accordingly, in the Psalm, the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, and the fiab of the sea, are mentioned as subjected to the Son, for the reason mentioned in note 1. on ver. 6. of this chapter, at the end. Ver. 9.-1. We see Jesus, who for a little while was made less than angels. Here the apostle informs us, who the bim or person is, of whom the Psalmist spake, Psal. viii. 5, 6. He is not the first man, nor the Son, that is the posterity, of the first man. But the person, whom God made for a little while less than angels, is Jesus. 2. That by the grace of God he might taste of death. The Syriac translation of this clause, is, Ipse enim, excepto Deo, per benevolentiam suam, pro quovis bomine gustavit mortem. It seems the copy, from which this translation was made, instead of, xapiri Dex, read xapis Des; which is the reading also of some MSS. mentioned by Mill; who says, the sound sense of that reading is, that Christ died, not as to his divine, but as to his human nature-Tasting of death, and seeing death, are Hebrew forms of expression, signifying, dying, without regard to the time one continues dead, or to the pain he suffers in dying. See Matth. xvi. 28. John viii. 52. Chrysostom, however, and others of the ancients, were of opinion, that the phrase imports, our Lord's continuing only a short time in the state of the dead. 3. On account of every one. As this discourse is, concerning God's bringing many sons into glory through the death of Christ, the phrase, me |