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Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hebrews 1:7

Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hebrews 1:7

And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.

7. And of the angels he saith ] Rather, “And, with reference to the Angels, He saith.” He has shewn that the title of “Son” is too special and too super-eminent to be ever addressed to Angels; he proceeds to shew that the Angels are but subordinate ministers, and that often God clothes them with “the changing garment of natural phenomena” transforming them, as it were, into winds and flames.

Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire ] Rather, “who maketh His Angels winds,” for the Angels are already “spirits” (Heb 1:14). This must be the meaning here, though the words might also be rendered “Who maketh winds His messengers, and fiery flame His ministers.” This latter rendering, though grammatically difficult, accords best with the context of Psa 104:4 where, however, the Targum has “Who maketh His messengers swift as winds, His ministers strong as flaming fire.” The Rabbis often refer to the fact that God makes His Angels assume any form He pleases, whether men (Gen 18:2) or women (Zec 5:9) or wind or flame (Exo 3:2; 2Ki 6:17). Thus Milton says:

“For spirits as they please

Can either sex assume, or both; so soft

And uncompounded is their essence pure;

Not tied or manacled with joint or limb

Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones,

Like cumbrous flesh; but in what shape they choose

Dilated or condensed, bright or obscure,

Can execute their aery purposes.”

But that mutable and fleeting form of existence which is the glory of the Angels would be an inferiority in the Son. He could not be clothed, as they are at God’s will, in the fleeting robes of varying material phenomena. Calvin, therefore, is much too rash and hasty when he says that the writer here draws his citation into a sense which does not belong to it, and that nothing is more certain than that the original passage has nothing to do with angels. With a wider knowledge of the views of Philo, and other Rabbis, he would have paused before pronouncing a conclusion so sweepingly dogmatic. The “Hebrew” readers of the Epistle, like the writer, were evidently familiar with Alexandrian conceptions. Now in Philo there is no sharp distinction between the Logos (who is a sort of non-incarnate Messiah) and the Logoi who are sometimes regarded as Angels just as the Logos Himself is sometimes regarded as an Archangel (see Siegfried’s Philo, p. 22). The Rabbis too explained the “us” of Gen 1:26 (“Let us make man”) as shewing that the Angels had a share in creation, see Sanhedrin, p. 38, 2. Such a passage as Rev 19:10 may help to shew the reader that the proof of Christ’s exaltation above the Angels was necessary.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits – He gives to them an inferior name, and assigns to them a more humble office. They are mere ministers, and have not ascribed to them the name of Son. They have a name which implies a more humble rank and office – the name spirit, and the appellation of a flame of fire. They obey his will as the winds and the lightnings do. The object of the apostle in this passage is to show that the angels serve God in a ministerial capacity – as the winds do; while the Son is Lord of all. The one serves him passively, as being wholly under his control; the other acts as a Sovereign, as Lord over all, and is addressed and regarded as the equal with God. This quotation is made from Psa 104:4. The passage might be translated, Who maketh his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire; that is, who makes his angels like the winds, or as swift as the winds, and his ministers as rapid, as terrible, and as resistless as the lightning.

So Doddridge renders it; and so did the late Dr. John P. Wilson (manuscript notes). The passage in the Psalm is susceptible, I think, of another interpretation, and might be regarded as meaning, who makes the winds his messengers, and the flaming fire his ministers; and perhaps this is the sense which would most naturally occur to a reader of the Hebrew. The Hebrew, however, will admit of the construction here put upon it, and it cannot be proved that it was the original intention of the passage to show that the angels were the mere servants of God, rapid, quick, and prompt to do his will – like the winds. The Chaldee Paraphrase renders this passage in the Psalm, Who makes his messengers swift as the wind; his ministers strong like a flame of fire. Prof. Stuart maintains that the passage in the Psalms cannot mean who makes the winds his messengers, but that the intention of the Psalmist is to describe the invisible as well as the visible majesty of God, and that he refers to the angels as a part of the retinue which goes to make up His glory.

This does not seem to me to be perfectly certain; but still it cannot be demonstrated that Paul has made an improper use of the passage. It is to be presumed that he, who had been trained in the knowledge of the Hebrew language, would have had a better opportunity of knowing its fair construction than we can; and it is morally certain that he would employ the passage in an argument as it was commonly understood by those to whom he wrote – that is, to those who were familiar with the Hebrew language and literature. If he has so used the passage; if he has – as no one can disprove – put the fair construction on it, then it is just in point. It proves that the angels are the attendant servants of God; employed to grace his train, to do his will, to accompany him as the clouds and winds and lightnings do, and to occupy a subordinate rank in his creation. Flame of fire. This probably refers to lightning – which is often the meaning of the phrase. The word ministers here, means the same as angels, and the sense of the whole is, that the attending retinue of God, when he manifests himself with great power and glory, is like the winds and the lightning. His angels are like them. They are prompt to do his will – rapid, quick, obedient in his service; they are in all respects subordinate to him, and occupy, as the winds and the lightnings do, the place of servants. They are not addressed in language like what is applied to the Son of God, and they must all be far inferior to him.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 7. Who maketh his angels spirits] They are so far from being superior to Christ, that they are not called God’s sons in any peculiar sense, but his servants, as tempests and lightnings are. In many respects they may have been made inferior even to man as he came out of the hands of his Maker, for he was made in the image and likeness of God; but of the angels, even the highest order of them, this is never spoken. It is very likely that the apostle refers here to the opinions of the Jews relative to the angels. In Pirkey R. Elieser, c. 4, it is said: “The angels which were created the second day, when they minister before God, become fire.” In Shemoth Rabba, s. 25, fol. 123, it is said: “God is named the Lord of hosts, because with his angels he doth whatsoever he wills: when he pleases, he makes them sit down; Jdg 6:11: And the angel of the Lord came, and sat under a tree. When he pleases, he causes them to stand; Isa 6:2: The seraphim stood. Sometimes he makes them like women; Zec 5:9: Behold there came two women, and the wind was in their wings. Sometimes he makes them like men; Ge 18:2: And, lo, three men stood by him. Sometimes he makes them spirits; Ps 104:4: Who maketh his angels spirits. Sometimes he makes them fire; ibid. His ministers a flame of fire.”

In Yalcut Simeoni, par. 2, fol. 11, it is said: “The angel answered Manoah, I know not in whose image I am made, for God changeth us every hour: sometimes he makes us fire, sometimes spirit, sometimes men, and at other times angels.” It is very probable that those who are termed angels are not confined to any specific form or shape, but assume various forms and appearances according to the nature of the work on which they are employed and the will of their sovereign employer. This seems to have been the ancient Jewish doctrine on this subject.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

He adds another demonstration of the gospel Ministers exceeding angels, because he hath the name of God, and angels are called only Gods ministers: for the Creator of angles, who best understandeth their nature and office, by his Spirit testifieth what they are, Psa 104:4.

Who maketh his angels spirits; he created them such as they are, spiritual, intellectual, and immortal substances, the highest in this sort and kind of creatures. do not here signify winds, as if the Spirit compared angels to them for their swiftness and power, but spiritual, intellectual beings, as the Son of man is; and in this it is the attribute, and not the subject, that which is predicated or spoken of angels.

And his ministers a flame of fire; they are but ministers and servants, who reveal or perform his will to those to whom God sends them; honourable officers of the great King, fulfilling his pleasure, Heb 1:14, executing all his commands, and going and coming at his beck, Psa 103:20,21. Though they are seraphims, bright, glorious, and excellent creatures, they are but the grand officers of state in heaven, encompassing Gods throne, waiting for his commands, which they obey and fulfil as swiftly as the winds or flashes of lightning could despatch them. Though they are styled by the Spirit cherubims, Gen 3:24; compare Eze 1:5; 10:1-15; and seraphims, Isa 6:6; for their light, glory, and excellency; yet still are they creatures, and below the Son, because his servants.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

7. ofThe Greek israther, “In reference TO the angels.”

spiritsor “winds”:Who employeth His angels as the winds, His ministers as thelightnings; or, He maketh His angelic ministers the directing powersof winds and flames, when these latter are required to perform Hiswill. “Commissions them to assume the agency or form of flamesfor His purposes” [ALFORD].English Version, “maketh His angels spirits,“means, He maketh them of a subtle, incorporeal nature, swift as thewind. So Ps 18:10, “acherub . . . the wings of the wind.Heb1:14, “ministering spirits,” favors EnglishVersion here. As “spirits” implies the wind-likevelocity and subtle nature of the cherubim, so “flame offire” expresses the burning devotion and intense all-consumingzeal of the adoring seraphim (meaning “burning), Isa6:1. The translation, “maketh winds His messengers, and aflame of fire His ministers (!),” is plainly wrong. Inthe Psa 104:3; Psa 104:4,the subject in each clause comes first, and the attribute predicatedof it second; so the Greek article here marks “angels”and “ministers” as the subjects, and “winds”and “flame of fire,” predicates, Schemoth Rabbasays, “God is called God of Zebaoth (the heavenly hosts),because He does what He pleases with His angels. When He pleases, Hemakes them to sit (Jud 6:11); atother times to stand (Isa 6:2);at times to resemble women (Zec5:9); at other times to resemble men (Ge18:2); at times He makes them ‘spirits’; at times, fire.””Maketh” implies that, however exalted, they are butcreatures, whereas the Son is the Creator (Heb1:10): not begotten from everlasting, nor to beworshipped, as the Son (Rev 14:7;Rev 22:8; Rev 22:9).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Ver. 7 And of the angels he saith,…. Or “to the angels”, as in the following verse, “to the Son”, which stands opposed to this; and the words said to them, or of them, are found in Ps 104:4

who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire: this cannot be understood of the wind and lightning, and of God’s making these his messengers and ministers to do his will; for such a sense is not suitable to the scope of the psalm, from whence they are taken, nor to the order of the words in which they stand; for it is not said he makes spirits, or winds, his angels, and flaming fire his ministers, but the reverse; and is contrary to the design of the apostle in citing them, which is to show the superiority of Christ to angels, of whom it is said, that they are made spirits: they are “spirits”, created ones, and so differ from God the Creator: they are incorporeal ones, and so differ from men; they are immaterial, and so die not; they are spiritual substances subsisting in themselves: and they are “made” such by God the Father, and by the Son the Lord Jesus Christ, within the six days of the creation, and all at once; for it is not to be supposed that the Lord is daily making them; and this proves the Son to be God, as well as more excellent than the angels; unless this is to be understood of the daily disposal of them in providence, in causing winds, thunder, lightning, and the like. Some choose to supply the word with “as”, and read, who maketh his angels as winds; for invisibility, velocity, power, and penetration: “and his ministers as a flame of fire”; and these are the same with the angels, for they are ministers to God; they attend his presence; are ready to perform any service for him; they sing his praise, and are his chariots in which he rides: and they are ministers to Christ; they attended at his incarnation: were solicitous for his preservation, ministered to him in distress, assisted at his resurrection, and accompanied him in his ascension, and will be with him at his second coming: and they are as a flame of fire, so called from their great power, force, and swiftness; and from their burning love, and flaming zeal, hence named seraphim; and because they are sometimes the executioners of God’s wrath, and will descend in flaming fire, when Christ shall be revealed from heaven: angels sometimes appear in fiery forms; the chariots and horses of fire, by which Elijah was carried up to heaven, were no other than angels, in such forms: so the Jews x say of the angels,

“all the angels, their horses are horses of fire, and their chariots fire, and their bows fire, and their spears fire, and all their instruments of war fire.”

And they have a notion, that an angel is half water, and half fire y.

x Sepher Jetzirah, p. 16. Ed. Rittangel. y T. Hieros. Roshhashana, fol. 58. 1.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Of the angels ( ). “With reference to” () as in Lu 20:9. So “of the Son” in verse 8. Note here and in verse 8 in carefully balanced contrast. The quotation is from Ps 104:4.

Winds (). “Spirits” the word also means. The meaning (note article with , not with ) apparently is one that can reduce angels to the elemental forces of wind and fire (Moffatt).

A flame of fire ( ). Predicate accusative of , old word, in N.T. only here and Lu 16:24. Lunemann holds that the Hebrew here is wrongly rendered and means that God makes the wind his messengers (not angels) and flaming fire his servants. That is all true, but that is not the point of this passage. Preachers also are sometimes like a wind-storm or a fire.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Fourth quotation, Psa 103:4, varies slightly from LXX in substituting a flame of fire for flaming fire.

Who maketh his angels spirits [ ] . For spirits rend. winds 169 This meaning is supported by the context of the Psalm, and by Joh 3:8. Pneuma often in this sense in Class. In LXX, 1Ki 18:45; 1Ki 19:11; 2Ki 3:17; Job 1:19. Of breath in N. T., 2Th 2:8; Rev 11:11. In Hebrew, spirit and wind are synonymous. The thought is according to the rabbinical idea of the variableness of the angelic nature. Angels were supposed to live only as they ministered. Thus it was said : “God does with his angels whatever he will. When he wishes he makes them sitting : sometimes he makes them standing : sometimes he makes them winds, sometimes fire.” ” The subjection of the angels is such that they must submit even to be changed into elements. “” The angel said to Manoah, ‘I know not to the image of what I am made; for God changes us each hour : wherefore then dost thou ask my name? Sometimes he makes us fire, sometimes wind.” ‘ The emphasis, therefore, is not on the fact that the angels are merely servants, but that their being is such that they are only what God makes them according to the needs of their service, and are, therefore, changeable, in contrast with the Son, who is ruler and unchangeable. There would be no pertinency in the statement that God makes his angels spirits, which goes without saying. The Rabbis conceived the angels as perishable. One of them is cited as saying, “Day by day the angels of service are created out of the fire. stream, and sing a song, and disappear, as is said in Lam 3:23, ‘they are new every morning. ‘” For leitourgouv ministers, see on ministration, Luk 1:23, and ministered, Act 13:2.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “And of the angels he saith,” (kai pros men tous angelous legei) “And with regard to the angels he says; he discloses, informs, or makes known the following information:

2) “Who maketh his angels spirits,” (ho poion tous angelous autou pneumata) “The one making his angels spirits; forming them as spiritual beings, invisible beings, not as physical creatures, having physical bodies; they have not flesh and bones, Luk 24:39.

3) “And his ministers a flame of fire,” (kai tous leitourgous autou puros phloga) “And the service ministers of him, (his service) ministers, a flame of fire; to move like fire or like the wind through space. They are often mentioned as flying, having near omnipresent powers of movement, to do service to God and to men, Dan 9:21; Luk 2:13; Heb 1:14. These ministering servants, as guardian or sentry angels, watch over and protect God’s people through life, and in death bear their souls to the presence of the Lord, Psa 34:7; Luk 16:22.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

7. And to the angels, etc. To the angels means of the angels. But the passage quoted seems to have been turned to another meaning from what it appears to have; for as David is there describing the manner in which we see the world to be governed, nothing is more certain than the winds are mentioned, which he says are made messengers by the Lord, for he employs them as his runners; so also, when he purifies the air by lightnings, he shows what quick and swift ministers he has to obey his orders. But this has nothing to do with angels. Some have had recourse to an allegory, as though the Apostle explained the plain, and as they say, the literal sense allegorically of angels. But it seems preferable to me to consider this testimony is brought forward for this purpose, that it might by a similitude be applied to angels, and in this way David compares winds to angels, because they perform offices in this world similar to what the angels do in heaven; for the winds are, as it were, visible spirits. And, doubtless, as Moses, describing the creation of the world, mentioned only those things which are subject to our senses, and yet intended that higher things should be understood; so David in describing the world and nature, represented to us on a tablet what ought to be understood respecting the celestial orders. Hence I think that the argument is one of likeness or similarity, when the Apostle transfers to angels what properly applies to the winds. (22)

(22) Many have been the explanations of this sentence; but this is the most suitable to the passage as it occurs in Psa 104:4, and to the design of the Apostle; it is the one adopted by Doddridge, Stuart, and Bloomfield.

The meaning would be thus more apparent, — “Who maketh like his angels the winds, and like his ministers the flaming fire,” that is, the winds are subject to him as the angels are, and also the flaming fire as his ministers or attendants. The particle ב is sometimes omitted in Hebrew. — Ed.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(7) Spirits.Better, winds. It is very difficult to assign any clear meaning to the ordinary rendering,unless, indeed, we were to adopt the very strange opinion of many of the earlier commentators, that the stress is laid on maketh in the sense of createth. The parallelism in these two lines of Hebrew poetry is complete, angels answering to ministers, winds to a flame of fire. The meaning appears to be that God, employing His messengers for His varied purposes, sends them forth in what manner He may please, clothing them with the appearance of the resistless wind or the devouring fire. (We may contrast 1Ki. 19:11-12.) The force of the passage lies in the vividness with which it presents the thought of the Most High served by angels who at His bidding speed, untiring as the wind, subtle as the fire. We feel much more distinctly than we can put into words the infinite contrast between such ministers and the Son seated at the right hand of God. The quotation is taken from Psa. 104:4, without any variation in the Greek. Whether this translation faithfully represents the original is a question that has been warmly discussed. Not that there is any doubt that such a rendering of the Hebrew is in itself natural; but it is often alleged that the context requires an inversion of the words, Who maketh winds His messengers, flaming fire His ministers. The point cannot be examined here; we will only express a decided opinion that the translation defended above not only expresses the meaning of the Hebrew, but perfectly accords with the context of the Psalm.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

7. And We have here (Heb 1:7-9) another contrast between angels and the Son. The former are but natural instruments, the latter is God, ruling in righteousness, forever.

Spirits Rather, winds; and thus we have the parallelism, maketh his angels winds, and his servants a flame of fire. Angels are so made that they may transform themselves into, and serve the work of, winds, and of lightning flashes or atmospheric blazes. Our author’s exact words are found in the Alexandrian Septuagint. The Hebrew at first seems to have a slightly different sense. Psa 104:4. In that psalm, Heb 1:3 says, “who maketh the clouds his chariot,” and hence some infer that this cited verse should read, he maketh the winds his messengers, which would exclude any reference to literal angels. But, in fact, in the verse cited, the Hebrew reverses the order of the words of Heb 1:3, and reads, maketh his angels winds, which is the true rendering. Alford gives quotations from Schottgen and Wetstein showing that our author gives the meaning as held by the Jewish Church. Schemoth Rabba, 25, fol. 123, 3, says, “God is called God of hosts, because he does with his angels whatsoever he wills. Whensoever he wills he makes them sitting; (Jdg 6:11😉 sometimes he makes them standing; (Isa 6:2😉 sometimes he makes them similar to women; (Zec 5:9😉 sometimes to men; (Gen 18:2😉 sometimes he makes them winds, (Psa 104:4,) the citation of the present verse. Sometimes fire, ibidem.”

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘And of the angels he says,

“Who makes his angels winds,

And his ministers a flame of fire,” ’

Firstly he takes a quotation to demonstrate what the angels are. They are powerful. They are made winds and a flame of fire (Psa 104:4 compare Psa 148:8), but they do not represent God directly.

We note first of all that they are said to be ‘made’ not ‘begotten’. Then that they have specifically allocated functions and do God’s will. ‘Winds’ refers to invisible but powerful activity, ‘a flame of fire’ to glory and judgment.

It may also be that we are to see them as carrying on their ministry through natural forces which are transitory and not lasting, affecting the world but not permanently transforming it. (The movement between spiritual activity and physical activity is not always made plain. The two were seen as going closely together). Certainly when connected with their attendance on Yahweh these descriptions are often connected with storm phenomena. Thus they are described in terms of created things, not as creating.

Their tasks, however, are many and varied as required, but like wind and fire they reveal no permanence. Like winds and fiery flames they arise and then disappear. They are here today and gone tomorrow. They are servants who do God’s will.

And yet that does not indicate that they must be looked on lightly. While invisible they are effective, and even devastating. They can make an impact in the world. We must not underestimate or dismiss them as unimportant. Their activity is, for example, indicated in Daniel 10. And we can indeed compare all the Psalms where such phenomena signal the approach of God Himself accompanied by His attendants. But in the end, however great, that is all they are, servants of Yahweh. Compare in Jewish literature 2Es 8:21-22 , ‘before whom the hosts of angels stand with trembling, at whose bidding they are changed to wind and fire’ (probably also based on the Psalm). Then he moves on to show what the Son is, the One to Whom God has in contrast given a permanent and everlasting purpose over all universes.

We should note therefore that this verse does not stand by itself but is specifically contrasted with the idea of the Son’s permanent rule. They are set individual but temporary tasks as servants. He rules on an everlasting and permanent throne. Their tasks are physical. His go to the root of morality. They are many, but He is the Anointed one, anointed as over all. Thus he now makes this contrast.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Heb 1:7 . ] with regard to , as Luk 20:19 ; Act 12:21 ; Rom 10:21 , and frequently. Comp. Matthiae, p. 1181; Winer, Gramm. , 7 Aufl. p. 378.

] corresponds to the of Heb 1:8 , thus places Heb 1:7 in express opposition to Heb 1:8 .

] namely, God, in the Scripture.

The citation is from Psa 104:4 , according to the LXX. (Cod. Alex., whereas Cod. Vatican, has instead of ). The psalm praises Jehovah as the Creator and Sustainer of all nature. In the Hebrew the words cited read: , and, having respect to their connection with what precedes and that which follows, no doubt can obtain on the point that they are to be rendered, what is objected thereto by Hofmann (Schriftbew. I. p. 325 f., 2 Aufl.), Delitzsch, and Alford is untenable, “God makes winds His messengers, and flames of fire (lightnings) His servants,” in such wise that the thought is expressed: as the whole of nature, so are also winds and lightnings servants of God the Lord. [37] Otherwise have the LXX. apprehended the sense of the words, as is shown by the addition of the article before and , and they are followed by our author. [So the Targum also.] They have taken and as the objects, and , on the other hand, as the predicates to , thus have found the meaning of the words: “He makes His angels winds, and His servants a flame of fire.” If we now observe the scope of the thought of those declarations of Scripture concerning the Son which follow, Heb 1:8-12 , placed as they are in antithetical relation to the one before us, it is evident that the author must have discovered the inferiority of the angels compared with the Son, as attested in Scripture, in a twofold respect (1) that the angels are servants, whereas the Son is ruler; (2) that the angels are mutable and perishable, whereas the Son abides the same for ever.

The conception of such a subjection on the part of the angels, that they must submit even to be changed into elements, is, moreover, not uncommon among the Rabbins. Comp. e.g. Shemoth rabba , sec. 25, fol. 123. 3 : “aliquando ipsos (angelos) facit ventos, q. d. qui facis angelos tuos ventos, aliquando ignem, q. d. ministros tuos flammam ignis.” Jalkut Simeoni , part II. fol. 11. 3 : “Angelus dixit ad Manoah: nescio ad cujus imaginem ego factus sim; nam Deus singulis horis nos immutat; cur ergo nomen meum interrogas? Nonnunquam facit nosi ignem, alias ventum, interdum viros, alias denique angelos.” See in general, Schttgen and Wetstein ad loc .

] not: spirits (Luther, Erasmus, Paraphrase ; Clarius, Piscator, Owen, Seb. Schmidt, Brochmann, Bengel, Bhme), but: winds .

] only another name for .

[37] Comp., as to the thought, Xenophon, Memorabilia , iv. 3. 14, where quite similarly lightning and winds ( and ) are called .

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

Heb 1:7-12 . Contrastful comparison of a declaration of Scripture characterizing the angels, and two declarations characterizing the Son.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

7 And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.

Ver. 7. A flame of fire ] Hence they are called seraphims, because they flame, like heavenly salamanders, in the fire of pure and perfect love to God and his people; and cherubims, from their winged swiftness; swift they are as the wind; which may seem to be the sense of this text, compared withPsa 104:4-5Psa 104:4-5 .

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

7 .] And ( with reference ) indeed to ( as in reff.: but not exactly correspondent in the two cases . and . : the fact being, as Bl., that with a person, after and similar verbs, implies direction of the saying towards the person, usually by direct address, but sometimes by indirect reference. So Bengel here: “Ad angelos indirecto sermone, ad filium directo sermone:” , corresponding to below) the angels He (God) saith, Who maketh his angels winds (see below) and his ministers a flame of fire (the citation is after the LXX according to the Alexandrine MS., which indeed commonly agrees with the citations in this Epistle. And as the words stand in the Greek, the arrangement and rendering of them is unquestionably as above (see this argued below). But here comes in no small difficulty as to the sense of the original Hebrew. It stands thus: after stating, Heb 1:2-3 , that God takes light for His raiment, and the heavens for a tent, and the clouds for a chariot, we read, , Heb 1:4 . And it is usually contended that these words can only mean, from the context, “who maketh the winds his messengers, and flames of fire his servants.” But, granting that this is so, the argument from the context can only be brought in as subsidiary to that from the construction of the passage. And it will be observed that in this verse the order of the Hebrew words is not the same as that in the former verses, where we have , “who maketh clouds his chariots.” For this transposition those who insist as above have given no reason: and I cannot doubt that the LXX have taken the right view of the construction: that is the object, and the predicate, and so in the other clause: and that the sense is, “who maketh his messengers winds, his servants flames of fire,” whatever these words may be intended to import. And this latter enquiry will I imagine be not very difficult to answer. He makes his messengers winds, i. e. He causes his messengers to act in or by means of the winds; his servants flames of fire, i. e. commissions them to assume the agency or form of flames for His purposes. It seems to me that this, the plain sense of the Hebrew as it stands, is quite as agreeable to the context as the other. And thus the Rabbis took it, as we see by the citations in Schttgen and Wetstein. So Schemoth Rabba, 25, fol. 123. 3: “Deus dicitur Deus Zebaoth, quia cum angelis suis facit qucumque vult. Quando vult, facit ipsos sedentes, Jud 1:6 ; Jud 1:11 . Aliquando facit ipsos stantes, Isa 6:2 . Aliquando facit similes mulieribus, Zec 5:9 . Aliquando viris, Gen 18:2 . Aliquando facit ipsos spiritus, Psa 104:4 . Aliquando ignem, ib.:” and many other Rabbinical testimonies. The construction maintained above is also defended by Hofmann, Schriftbeweis, i. p. 283, and proved to be the only admissible one by Delitzsch, whose commentary has been published since this note was written. The only accommodation of the original passage made by the Writer, is the very slight one of applying the general terms “His messengers” and “His servants” to the angels, which indeed can be their only meaning. And this I should be bold to maintain, even though it be against Calvin (“Locus quem citat, videtur in alienum sensum trahi nihil certius est quam hic fieri mentionem ventorum quos dicit a Domino fieri nuntios nihil hoc ad angelos pertinet”), Kuinoel (“Verum enimvero Psalmi l. l., de angelis, tanquam personis, sermo esse non potest”), De Wette (on the Psalm: Sinn: er bedient sich der Winde u. Feuerflammen als seine Wertzeuge: von Engeln als himmlischen Wesen ist hier gar nicht die Rede ), Bleek, Ebrard, Lnemann, al. See the whole literature of the passage in the three last. Singularly enough, the ancient Commentators confine their attention to the part. , and seem simply to have taken the accusatives as epithets in apposition: e. g. Chrys.: , , . , , , ; Similarly Thl. and Thdrt. (on the Psalm also). The sense of the words I have endeavoured to give in some measure above. It is evident that must be rendered winds , not “ spirits :” from both the context in the Psalm and the correspondence of the two clauses, and also from the nature of the subject. , as asserted below, Heb 1:14 ; therefore it could not with any meaning be said, that He maketh them spirits): but to (that this is used of direct address, and not, as Delitzsch, al., of indirect reference, is manifest by following: see also above. The difficulty mentioned by Ebrard, that thus we shall have the Writer implying that Psa 45 is a direct address to the Son of God, is not obviated by the indirect understanding of , but is inherent in the citation itself, however the preposition is rendered) the Son, Thy throne, O God ( is probably vocative: both here and in the Hebrew: and is so taken even by modern Unitarians (see Yates, Vindication of Unitarianism, p. 183, and notes), who seek their refuge by explaining away . To suppose the words a parenthetical exclamation to God, or the meaning “Thy God-like Throne,” or “Thy throne of God” (see De W. in Psal.), i. e. ‘the throne of Thy God,’ seems forcing them from their ordinary construction. The rendering of Grot., adopted by some modern Socinians, “Thy throne is God for ever and ever,” is not touched by any of the principal Commentators on the Psalm, and seems repugnant to the decorum (for Ps. 72:26, , is no case in point, the idea being wholly different) and spirit of the passage. I need hardly adduce instances of with a nom. as a form of the vocative: they will be found in the reff.) ( is ) for ever and ever (see Psa 103:5 ; Psa 110:3 , 8, 10; and fuller still Heb 9:5 , . ); and (see var. readd.

Hofmann, Schriftbeweis i. 148, maintains that this , splitting as it does the citation into two, is intended by the Writer to mark off the former portion as addressed to Jehovah, and the latter only to the King, as indicated by . But, as Delitzsch well replies, he would thus be cutting asunder the thread of his own argument, which depends on the address to the Son as , as exalting Him above the angels) the rod (i. e. sceptre: see especially Est 4:11 ; Jdg 5:14 (see Bertheau in loc.): Amo 1:5 (this latter in Heb. and E. V., not in LXX), where the same Heb. word occurs) of thy kingdom is the rod of straightness (i. e. righteousness, justice: see reff. to LXX. Notice that the position of in all probability, according to usage, points it out as the predicate ; and the other, . . . , is the subject). Thou lovedst (the Writer refers the words to the whole life of our Lord on earth, as a past period) righteousness, and hatedst lawlessness (in [7] [8] &c. (see var. readd.) and in LXX-A, iniquity: which is therefore very probably the right reading, but is hardly strongly enough attested): for this cause (as , Phi 2:9 ; because of His love of righteousness and hatred of lawlessness, shewn by his blameless life and perfect obedience on earth. Some take here, and in the Psalm, as introducing not the consequence, but the reason of what has preceded: so Aug [9] Enarr. in Psa 44 . 19, vol. iv. pt. i., “Propterea unxitte, ut diligeres justitiam, et odires iniquitatem:” Thos. Aq., Schttgen, al. In Heb 1:2 of the same Ps. the same ambiguity occurs: and there Bl. pronounces the sense to be decidedly “ because ” and not “ therefore ,” which latter however the E. V. has, and De W. without remark: and so also Aug [10] But the sense in both places seems decidedly ‘ therefore ,’ and not ‘ because :’ the eternal blessing of Heb 1:2 , and the anointing with the oil of gladness here, being much more naturally results of the inherent beauty and merit of the high Person addressed, than means whereby these are conferred) God, thy God (many Commentators of eminence, both ancient and modern, maintain that the first here is as before, vocative. Some of them use the strongest language on the point: e. g. Aug [11] on the Psalm, with regard to the Greek : “O tu Deus, unxit te Deus tuus. Deus unguitur a Deo. Etenim in Latino putatur idem casus nominis repetitus: in Grco autem evidentissima distinctio est, quia unum nomen est quod compellatur et alterum ab eo qui compellat, unxit te Deus. O tu Deus, unxit te Deus tuus: quomodo si diceret, Propterea unxit te o tu Deus, Deus tuus. Sic accipite, sic intelligite, sic in Grco evidentissimum est.” And it is also assumed by Thl. ( , , , , , ), Ps-Anselm (“Sicut et in Hebro et Grco patet, primum nomen Dei vocativo casu intelligendum est, sequens nominativo”), Wolf, Bengel, Kuinoel, De Wette, Bleek, Lnemann, Stier, Ebrard, &c. The last goes so far as to say that the Heb. will not bear the construction of the two nominatives in apposition: “It is impossible that can be in apposition with : even in a vocative address, such a juxtaposition would be foreign to the spirit of Hebrew idiom: certainly here in a nominative sentence, or connexion of subjects , such a redundance would be the more out of place, that an emphasis of this kind would be entirely aimless and uncalled for.” But against such a dictum I may set the simple fact that, in a vocative sentence, the apposition does occur in Psa 43:4 (42. LXX), both in the Heb. and in the Gr. , , , “O God, my God:” and in a nominative sentence again, with the very same words as here, in Psa 50:7 ( Psa 49:7 ), , , , “I am God, (even) thy God.” See also Psa 57:7 ( Psa 56:7 ), , , “God, (even) our God.” So that I confess I am unable to see the necessity of interpreting either the Hebrew or the Greek in the way proposed. I take both as giving two nominatives in apposition, ‘God, thy God.’ And so Origen appears to have taken it, Contra Cels. vi. 79, vol. i. 692, , , (Chrys. and Thdrt. do not touch it), Grot., Estius (Calvin does not touch it), Owen, al. Delitzsch leaves it undecided, conceding that the vocative acceptation is inconsistent with the usage of the “Elohimpsalmen,” but balancing this by the consideration that the sense would be consistent with the usage of references to the Messiah, as Isa 9:5 ; Isa 11:2 ) anointed thee ( how? and when? We must distinguish this anointing from the . of Act 10:38 , and the of Isa 61:1 . For it is a consequent upon the righteous course of the Son of God in his Humanity, and therefore belongs to his triumph, in which He is exalted above his (see below). Again the ‘ oil of gladness ’ below seems rather to point to a festive and triumphant, than to an inaugurative unction. We should therefore rather take the allusion to be, as in Psa 23:5 ; Psa 92:10 , to the custom of anointing guests at feasts: so that, as the King in the Psalm is anointed with the oil of rejoicing above his fellows, because of his having loved righteousness and hated iniquity, so Christ, in the jubilant celebration of His finished course at his exaltation in heaven, is anointed with the festive oil (see below). There is of course an allusion also in to the honoured and triumphant Name ) with ( is found with a double accus. in the N. T. and LXX (reff.); usually elsewhere with a dative. But, as Bl. remarks, the construction is in accordance with Greek idiomatic usage. He compares Aristoph. Acharn. 114, : Pind. Isthm. vi. 18, ) oil of rejoicing (see above: oil indicative of joy, as it is of superabundance: cf. Isa 61:3 ) beyond thy fellows (i. e. in the Psalm, “other kings,” as De W., Ebrard, al.: hardly “brothers by kin” (other sons of David), as Grot., al. But to whom does the Writer apply the words? Chrys. says, , ; , : Thdrt., , : and so Bengel, citing , Heb 1:2 (3) of this Psalm. Thdrt. on the Psalm (Bl.), Calvin (“Nos sibi adoptavit consortes”), Beza, al., think of believers, the adopted into God’s family: Wittich, Braun, Cramer (in Bl.), of the high-priests, prophets, and kings, in the O. T., anointed as types of Christ: Klee, of all creatures : Kuinoel and Ebrard, as in the Psalm, of other kings . Camero says, “ in officio nullos, in natura humana omnes homines, in gratia omnes fideles habet Christus.” Still we may answer to all these, that they do not in any way satisfy the requirements of the context. Were it the intent of the Writer to shew Christ’s superiority over his human brethren of every kind , we might accept one or other of these meanings: but as this is not his design, but to shew His superiority to the angels, we must I think take as representing other heavenly beings, partakers in the same glorious and sinless state with Himself, though not in the strict sense, His ‘fellows.’ De Wette objects to this sense, that the Writer places the angels far beneath Christ: Delitzsch, that the angels are not anointed , whereas there is no necessity in the text for understanding that the are also anointed: the may consist in the very fact of the anointing itself: and Ebrard, speaking as usual strongly, says that “neither the Psalmist, nor our author if in his senses, could have applied the word to the angels.” But this need not frighten us: and we may well answer with Lnemann, “1. that the general comparison here being that of Christ with the angels, the fresh introduction of this point of comparison in Heb 1:9 cannot of itself appear inappropriate. 2. Granted, that just before, in Heb 1:7 , the angels are placed far beneath Christ, we have this very inferiority here marked distinctly by . 3. The angels are next to Christ in rank, by the whole course of this argument: to whom then would the Writer more naturally apply the term , than to them?” I may add, 4. that the comparison here is but analogous to that in Heb 1:4 , of which indeed it is an expansion: and, 5. that thus only can the figure of anointing at a triumphant festival be carried out consistently: that triumph having taken place on the exaltation of the Redeemer to the Father’s right hand and throne ( Heb 1:8 ), when, the whole of the heavenly company, His in glory and joy, being anointed with the oil of gladness, His share and dignity was so much greater than theirs. This meaning is held by Peirce, Olshausen, Bleek, Lnemann. Some, as Grot., Limborch, Bhme, Owen, join the interpretations “angels and men.” Certainly, if the former, then the latter; but these are not present in the figure here used). It remains that we should consider the general import, and application here, of Psa 45 . From what is elsewhere found in this commentary, it will not be for a moment supposed that I can give in to the view of such writers as De Wette and Hupfeld, who maintain that it was simply an ode to some king, uncertain whom, and has no further reference whatever. Granting that in its first meaning it was addressed to Solomon (for to him the circumstances introduced seem best to apply, e. g. the palace of ivory, Heb 1:9 , cf. 1Ki 10:18 ; the gold from Ophir, Heb 1:10 , cf. 1Ki 9:28 ; the daughter of Tyre with her gift, Heb 1:13 , cf. 2Ch 2:3-16 ), or even, with Delitzsch, to Joram, on his marriage with the Tyrian Athaliah, we must yet apply to it that manifest principle, without which every Hebrew ode is both unintelligible and preposterous, that the theocratic idea filled the mind of the Writer and prompted his pen: and that the Spirit of God used him as the means of testifying to that King, who stood veritably at the head of the theocracy in the divine counsels. Thus considered, such applications as this lose all their difficulty; and we cease to feel ourselves obliged in every case to enquire to whom and on what occasion the Psalm was probably first addressed. And even descending to the low and mere rationalistic ground taken by De Wette and Hupfeld, we are at least safer than they are, holding as we do a meaning in which both Jews and Christians have so long concurred, as against the infinite diversity of occasion and reference which divides their opinions of the Psalm.

[7] The MS. referred to by this symbol is that commonly called the Alexandrine, or CODEX ALEXANDRINUS. It once belonged to Cyrillus Lucaris, patriarch of Alexandria and then of Constantinople, who in the year 1628 presented it to our King Charles I. It is now in the British Museum. It is on parchment in four volumes, of which three contain the Old, and one the New Testament, with the Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians. This fourth volume is exhibited open in a glass case. It will be seen by the letters in the inner margin of this edition, that the first 24 chapters of Matthew are wanting in it, its first leaf commencing , ch. Mat 25:6 : as also the leaves containing , Joh 6:50 , to , Joh 8:52 . It is generally agreed that it was written at Alexandria; it does not, however, in the Gospels , represent that commonly known as the Alexandrine text, but approaches much more nearly to the Constantinopolitan, or generally received text. The New Testament, according to its text, was edited, in uncial types cast to imitate those of the MS., by Woide, London, 1786, the Old Testament by Baber, London, 1819: and its N.T. text has now been edited in common type by Mr. B. H. Cowper, London, 1861. The date of this MS. has been variously assigned, but it is now pretty generally agreed to be the fifth century .

[8] The CODEX SINAITICUS. Procured by Tischendorf, in 1859, from the Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai. The Codex Frederico-Augustanus (now at Leipsic), obtained in 1844 from the same monastery, is a portion of the same copy of the Greek Bible, the 148 leaves of which, containing the entire New Testament, the Ep. of Barnabas, parts of Hermas, and 199 more leaves of the Septuagint, have now been edited by the discoverer. A magnificent edition prepared at the expense of the Emperor of Russia appeared in January, 1863, and a smaller edition containing the N.T. &c., has been published by Dr. Tischendorf. The MS. has four columns on a page, and has been altered by several different correctors, one or more of whom Tischendorf considers to have lived in the sixth century. The work of the original scribe has been examined, not only by Tischendorf, but by Tregelles and other competent judges, and is by them assigned to the fourth century . The internal character of the text agrees with the external, as the student may judge for himself from the readings given in the digest. The principal correctors as distinguished by Tischendorf are: A, of the same age with the MS. itself, probably the corrector who revised the book, before it left the hands of the scribe, denoted therefore by us -corr 1 ; B (cited as 2 ), who in the first page of Matt. began inserting breathings, accents, &c., but did not carry out his design, and touched only a few later passages; C a (cited as 3a ) has corrected very largely throughout the book. Wherever in our digest a reading is cited as found in 1 , it is to be understood, if no further statement is given, that C a altered it to that which is found in our text; C b (cited as 3b ) lived about the same time as C a , i.e. some centuries later than the original scribe. These are all that we need notice here 6 .

[9] Augustine, Bp. of Hippo , 395 430

[10] Augustine, Bp. of Hippo , 395 430

[11] Augustine, Bp. of Hippo , 395 430

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Heb 1:7 . . The of this verse is balanced by in Heb 1:8 ; and in both is to be rendered “with reference to,” or “of” as in Luk 20:19 ; Rom 10:21 ; Xen., Mem. , iv. 2 15. Cf. Winer, p. 505: and our own expression “speak to such and such a point”. . . . cited from Psa 104:4 , Lnemann and others hold that the Hebrew is wrongly rendered and means “who maketh winds his messengers” not “who maketh His angels winds”. Calvin, too, finds no reference to angels in the words. He believes that in this Hymn of Creation the Psalmist, to illustrate how God is in all nature, says “who maketh the winds his messengers,” i.e. , uses for his purposes the apparently wildest of natural forces, and “flaming fire his ministers,” the most rapid, resistless and devouring of agents controlled by the Divine hand. Cf. Shakespeare, “thought-executing fires”. The writer accepts the LXX translation and it serves his purpose of exhibiting that the characteristic function of angels is service, and that their form and appearance depend upon the will of God. This was the current Jewish view. Many of the sayings quoted by Schoettgen and Weber suggest that with some of the Rabbis the belief in angels was little more than a way of expressing their faith in a spiritual, personal power behind the forces of nature. “When they are sent on a mission to earth, they are wind: when they stand before God they are fire.” The angel said to Manoah, “I know not after what image I am made, for God changes us every hour; why, then, dost thou ask after my name? Sometimes He makes us fire, at others wind; sometimes men, at other times angels.” Sometimes they appear to have no individual existence at all, but are merely the light-radiance or halo of God’s glory. “No choir of angels sings God’s praises twice, for each day God creates new hosts which sing His praises and then vanish into the stream of fire from under the throne of His glory whence they came.” Cf. also the Book of Jubilees, ii. 2. “On the first day He created the heavens which are above and the earth and the waters and all the spirits which serve before Him the angels of the presence, and the angels of sanctification, and the angels of the spirit of the winds, and the angels of the spirit of the clouds, and of darkness, and of snow and of hail, and of hoar frost, and the angels of the voices of the thunder and of the lightning, and the angels of the spirits of cold and of heat, and of winter and of spring, and of autumn and of summer, and of all the spirits of His creatures which are in the heavens and on the earth, the abysses and the darkness, eventide and the light, dawn and day which He hath prepared in the knowledge of His heart.” One thing all these citations serve to bring out is that the angels were merely servants; like the physical forces of nature they were dependent and perishable. In contrast to these qualities are those ascribed to the Son.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

of = with reference to. Greek. pros. App-104.

spirits. App-101.

ministers. Greek. leitourgos. App-190.:4. This verse is from the Septuagint of Psa 104:4.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

7.] And (with reference) indeed to ( as in reff.: but not exactly correspondent in the two cases . and . : the fact being, as Bl., that with a person, after and similar verbs, implies direction of the saying towards the person, usually by direct address, but sometimes by indirect reference. So Bengel here: Ad angelos indirecto sermone, ad filium directo sermone: , corresponding to below) the angels He (God) saith, Who maketh his angels winds (see below) and his ministers a flame of fire (the citation is after the LXX according to the Alexandrine MS., which indeed commonly agrees with the citations in this Epistle. And as the words stand in the Greek, the arrangement and rendering of them is unquestionably as above (see this argued below). But here comes in no small difficulty as to the sense of the original Hebrew. It stands thus: after stating, Heb 1:2-3, that God takes light for His raiment, and the heavens for a tent, and the clouds for a chariot, we read, , Heb 1:4. And it is usually contended that these words can only mean, from the context, who maketh the winds his messengers, and flames of fire his servants. But, granting that this is so, the argument from the context can only be brought in as subsidiary to that from the construction of the passage. And it will be observed that in this verse the order of the Hebrew words is not the same as that in the former verses, where we have , who maketh clouds his chariots. For this transposition those who insist as above have given no reason: and I cannot doubt that the LXX have taken the right view of the construction: that is the object, and the predicate, and so in the other clause: and that the sense is, who maketh his messengers winds, his servants flames of fire, whatever these words may be intended to import. And this latter enquiry will I imagine be not very difficult to answer. He makes his messengers winds, i. e. He causes his messengers to act in or by means of the winds; his servants flames of fire, i. e. commissions them to assume the agency or form of flames for His purposes. It seems to me that this, the plain sense of the Hebrew as it stands, is quite as agreeable to the context as the other. And thus the Rabbis took it, as we see by the citations in Schttgen and Wetstein. So Schemoth Rabba, 25, fol. 123. 3: Deus dicitur Deus Zebaoth, quia cum angelis suis facit qucumque vult. Quando vult, facit ipsos sedentes, Jud 1:6; Jud 1:11. Aliquando facit ipsos stantes, Isa 6:2. Aliquando facit similes mulieribus, Zec 5:9. Aliquando viris, Gen 18:2. Aliquando facit ipsos spiritus, Psa 104:4. Aliquando ignem, ib.: and many other Rabbinical testimonies. The construction maintained above is also defended by Hofmann, Schriftbeweis, i. p. 283, and proved to be the only admissible one by Delitzsch, whose commentary has been published since this note was written. The only accommodation of the original passage made by the Writer, is the very slight one of applying the general terms His messengers and His servants to the angels, which indeed can be their only meaning. And this I should be bold to maintain, even though it be against Calvin (Locus quem citat, videtur in alienum sensum trahi nihil certius est quam hic fieri mentionem ventorum quos dicit a Domino fieri nuntios nihil hoc ad angelos pertinet), Kuinoel (Verum enimvero Psalmi l. l., de angelis, tanquam personis, sermo esse non potest), De Wette (on the Psalm: Sinn: er bedient sich der Winde u. Feuerflammen als seine Wertzeuge: von Engeln als himmlischen Wesen ist hier gar nicht die Rede), Bleek, Ebrard, Lnemann, al. See the whole literature of the passage in the three last. Singularly enough, the ancient Commentators confine their attention to the part. , and seem simply to have taken the accusatives as epithets in apposition: e. g. Chrys.: , , . , , , ; Similarly Thl. and Thdrt. (on the Psalm also). The sense of the words I have endeavoured to give in some measure above. It is evident that must be rendered winds, not spirits: from both the context in the Psalm and the correspondence of the two clauses, and also from the nature of the subject. , as asserted below, Heb 1:14; therefore it could not with any meaning be said, that He maketh them spirits): but to (that this is used of direct address, and not, as Delitzsch, al., of indirect reference, is manifest by following: see also above. The difficulty mentioned by Ebrard, that thus we shall have the Writer implying that Psalms 45 is a direct address to the Son of God, is not obviated by the indirect understanding of , but is inherent in the citation itself, however the preposition is rendered) the Son,-Thy throne, O God ( is probably vocative: both here and in the Hebrew: and is so taken even by modern Unitarians (see Yates, Vindication of Unitarianism, p. 183, and notes), who seek their refuge by explaining away . To suppose the words a parenthetical exclamation to God, or the meaning Thy God-like Throne, or Thy throne of God (see De W. in Psal.), i. e. the throne of Thy God, seems forcing them from their ordinary construction. The rendering of Grot., adopted by some modern Socinians, Thy throne is God for ever and ever, is not touched by any of the principal Commentators on the Psalm, and seems repugnant to the decorum (for Ps. 72:26, , is no case in point, the idea being wholly different) and spirit of the passage. I need hardly adduce instances of with a nom. as a form of the vocative: they will be found in the reff.) (is) for ever and ever (see Ps. 103:5; 110:3, 8, 10; and fuller still Heb 9:5, . ); and (see var. readd.

Hofmann, Schriftbeweis i. 148, maintains that this , splitting as it does the citation into two, is intended by the Writer to mark off the former portion as addressed to Jehovah, and the latter only to the King, as indicated by . But, as Delitzsch well replies, he would thus be cutting asunder the thread of his own argument, which depends on the address to the Son as , as exalting Him above the angels) the rod (i. e. sceptre: see especially Est 4:11; Jdg 5:14 (see Bertheau in loc.): Amo 1:5 (this latter in Heb. and E. V., not in LXX), where the same Heb. word occurs) of thy kingdom is the rod of straightness (i. e. righteousness, justice: see reff. to LXX. Notice that the position of in all probability, according to usage, points it out as the predicate; and the other, . . . , is the subject). Thou lovedst (the Writer refers the words to the whole life of our Lord on earth, as a past period) righteousness, and hatedst lawlessness (in [7] [8] &c. (see var. readd.) and in LXX-A, iniquity: which is therefore very probably the right reading, but is hardly strongly enough attested): for this cause (as , Php 2:9; because of His love of righteousness and hatred of lawlessness, shewn by his blameless life and perfect obedience on earth. Some take here, and in the Psalm, as introducing not the consequence, but the reason of what has preceded: so Aug[9] Enarr. in Psalms 44. 19, vol. iv. pt. i., Propterea unxitte, ut diligeres justitiam, et odires iniquitatem: Thos. Aq., Schttgen, al. In Heb 1:2 of the same Ps. the same ambiguity occurs: and there Bl. pronounces the sense to be decidedly because and not therefore, which latter however the E. V. has, and De W. without remark: and so also Aug[10] But the sense in both places seems decidedly therefore, and not because: the eternal blessing of Heb 1:2, and the anointing with the oil of gladness here, being much more naturally results of the inherent beauty and merit of the high Person addressed, than means whereby these are conferred) God, thy God (many Commentators of eminence, both ancient and modern, maintain that the first here is as before, vocative. Some of them use the strongest language on the point: e. g. Aug[11] on the Psalm,-with regard to the Greek: O tu Deus, unxit te Deus tuus. Deus unguitur a Deo. Etenim in Latino putatur idem casus nominis repetitus: in Grco autem evidentissima distinctio est, quia unum nomen est quod compellatur et alterum ab eo qui compellat, unxit te Deus. O tu Deus, unxit te Deus tuus: quomodo si diceret, Propterea unxit te o tu Deus, Deus tuus. Sic accipite, sic intelligite, sic in Grco evidentissimum est. And it is also assumed by Thl. ( , , , , , ), Ps-Anselm (Sicut et in Hebro et Grco patet, primum nomen Dei vocativo casu intelligendum est, sequens nominativo), Wolf, Bengel, Kuinoel, De Wette, Bleek, Lnemann, Stier, Ebrard, &c. The last goes so far as to say that the Heb. will not bear the construction of the two nominatives in apposition: It is impossible that can be in apposition with : even in a vocative address, such a juxtaposition would be foreign to the spirit of Hebrew idiom: certainly here in a nominative sentence, or connexion of subjects, such a redundance would be the more out of place, that an emphasis of this kind would be entirely aimless and uncalled for. But against such a dictum I may set the simple fact that, in a vocative sentence, the apposition does occur in Psa 43:4 (42. LXX), both in the Heb. and in the Gr.- , , , O God, my God: and in a nominative sentence again, with the very same words as here, in Psa 50:7 (Psa 49:7), , , , I am God, (even) thy God. See also Psa 57:7 (Psa 56:7), , , God, (even) our God. So that I confess I am unable to see the necessity of interpreting either the Hebrew or the Greek in the way proposed. I take both as giving two nominatives in apposition, God, thy God. And so Origen appears to have taken it, Contra Cels. vi. 79, vol. i. 692, , , (Chrys. and Thdrt. do not touch it), Grot., Estius (Calvin does not touch it), Owen, al. Delitzsch leaves it undecided, conceding that the vocative acceptation is inconsistent with the usage of the Elohimpsalmen, but balancing this by the consideration that the sense would be consistent with the usage of references to the Messiah, as Isa 9:5; Isa 11:2) anointed thee (how? and when? We must distinguish this anointing from the . of Act 10:38, and the of Isa 61:1. For it is a consequent upon the righteous course of the Son of God in his Humanity, and therefore belongs to his triumph, in which He is exalted above his (see below). Again the oil of gladness below seems rather to point to a festive and triumphant, than to an inaugurative unction. We should therefore rather take the allusion to be, as in Psa 23:5; Psa 92:10, to the custom of anointing guests at feasts: so that, as the King in the Psalm is anointed with the oil of rejoicing above his fellows, because of his having loved righteousness and hated iniquity, so Christ, in the jubilant celebration of His finished course at his exaltation in heaven, is anointed with the festive oil (see below). There is of course an allusion also in to the honoured and triumphant Name ) with ( is found with a double accus. in the N. T. and LXX (reff.); usually elsewhere with a dative. But, as Bl. remarks, the construction is in accordance with Greek idiomatic usage. He compares Aristoph. Acharn. 114, : Pind. Isthm. vi. 18, ) oil of rejoicing (see above: oil indicative of joy, as it is of superabundance: cf. Isa 61:3) beyond thy fellows (i. e. in the Psalm, other kings, as De W., Ebrard, al.: hardly brothers by kin (other sons of David), as Grot., al. But to whom does the Writer apply the words? Chrys. says, , ; , : Thdrt., , : and so Bengel, citing , Heb 1:2 (3) of this Psalm. Thdrt. on the Psalm (Bl.), Calvin (Nos sibi adoptavit consortes), Beza, al., think of believers, the adopted into Gods family: Wittich, Braun, Cramer (in Bl.), of the high-priests, prophets, and kings, in the O. T., anointed as types of Christ: Klee, of all creatures: Kuinoel and Ebrard, as in the Psalm, of other kings. Camero says, in officio nullos, in natura humana omnes homines, in gratia omnes fideles habet Christus. Still we may answer to all these, that they do not in any way satisfy the requirements of the context. Were it the intent of the Writer to shew Christs superiority over his human brethren of every kind, we might accept one or other of these meanings: but as this is not his design, but to shew His superiority to the angels, we must I think take as representing other heavenly beings, partakers in the same glorious and sinless state with Himself, though not in the strict sense, His fellows. De Wette objects to this sense, that the Writer places the angels far beneath Christ: Delitzsch, that the angels are not anointed, whereas there is no necessity in the text for understanding that the are also anointed: the may consist in the very fact of the anointing itself:-and Ebrard, speaking as usual strongly, says that neither the Psalmist, nor our author if in his senses, could have applied the word to the angels. But this need not frighten us: and we may well answer with Lnemann, 1. that the general comparison here being that of Christ with the angels, the fresh introduction of this point of comparison in Heb 1:9 cannot of itself appear inappropriate. 2. Granted, that just before, in Heb 1:7, the angels are placed far beneath Christ,-we have this very inferiority here marked distinctly by . 3. The angels are next to Christ in rank, by the whole course of this argument: to whom then would the Writer more naturally apply the term , than to them? I may add, 4. that the comparison here is but analogous to that in Heb 1:4, of which indeed it is an expansion: and, 5. that thus only can the figure of anointing at a triumphant festival be carried out consistently: that triumph having taken place on the exaltation of the Redeemer to the Fathers right hand and throne (Heb 1:8), when, the whole of the heavenly company, His in glory and joy, being anointed with the oil of gladness, His share and dignity was so much greater than theirs. This meaning is held by Peirce, Olshausen, Bleek, Lnemann. Some, as Grot., Limborch, Bhme, Owen, join the interpretations-angels and men. Certainly, if the former, then the latter; but these are not present in the figure here used). It remains that we should consider the general import, and application here, of Psalms 45. From what is elsewhere found in this commentary, it will not be for a moment supposed that I can give in to the view of such writers as De Wette and Hupfeld, who maintain that it was simply an ode to some king, uncertain whom, and has no further reference whatever. Granting that in its first meaning it was addressed to Solomon (for to him the circumstances introduced seem best to apply, e. g. the palace of ivory, Heb 1:9, cf. 1Ki 10:18; the gold from Ophir, Heb 1:10, cf. 1Ki 9:28; the daughter of Tyre with her gift, Heb 1:13, cf. 2Ch 2:3-16),-or even, with Delitzsch, to Joram, on his marriage with the Tyrian Athaliah,-we must yet apply to it that manifest principle, without which every Hebrew ode is both unintelligible and preposterous, that the theocratic idea filled the mind of the Writer and prompted his pen: and that the Spirit of God used him as the means of testifying to that King, who stood veritably at the head of the theocracy in the divine counsels. Thus considered, such applications as this lose all their difficulty; and we cease to feel ourselves obliged in every case to enquire to whom and on what occasion the Psalm was probably first addressed. And even descending to the low and mere rationalistic ground taken by De Wette and Hupfeld, we are at least safer than they are, holding as we do a meaning in which both Jews and Christians have so long concurred, as against the infinite diversity of occasion and reference which divides their opinions of the Psalm.

[7] The MS. referred to by this symbol is that commonly called the Alexandrine, or CODEX ALEXANDRINUS. It once belonged to Cyrillus Lucaris, patriarch of Alexandria and then of Constantinople, who in the year 1628 presented it to our King Charles I. It is now in the British Museum. It is on parchment in four volumes, of which three contain the Old, and one the New Testament, with the Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians. This fourth volume is exhibited open in a glass case. It will be seen by the letters in the inner margin of this edition, that the first 24 chapters of Matthew are wanting in it, its first leaf commencing , ch. Mat 25:6 :-as also the leaves containing , Joh 6:50,-to , Joh 8:52. It is generally agreed that it was written at Alexandria;-it does not, however, in the Gospels, represent that commonly known as the Alexandrine text, but approaches much more nearly to the Constantinopolitan, or generally received text. The New Testament, according to its text, was edited, in uncial types cast to imitate those of the MS., by Woide, London, 1786, the Old Testament by Baber, London, 1819: and its N.T. text has now been edited in common type by Mr. B. H. Cowper, London, 1861. The date of this MS. has been variously assigned, but it is now pretty generally agreed to be the fifth century.

[8] The CODEX SINAITICUS. Procured by Tischendorf, in 1859, from the Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai. The Codex Frederico-Augustanus (now at Leipsic), obtained in 1844 from the same monastery, is a portion of the same copy of the Greek Bible, the 148 leaves of which, containing the entire New Testament, the Ep. of Barnabas, parts of Hermas, and 199 more leaves of the Septuagint, have now been edited by the discoverer. A magnificent edition prepared at the expense of the Emperor of Russia appeared in January, 1863, and a smaller edition containing the N.T. &c., has been published by Dr. Tischendorf. The MS. has four columns on a page, and has been altered by several different correctors, one or more of whom Tischendorf considers to have lived in the sixth century. The work of the original scribe has been examined, not only by Tischendorf, but by Tregelles and other competent judges, and is by them assigned to the fourth century. The internal character of the text agrees with the external, as the student may judge for himself from the readings given in the digest. The principal correctors as distinguished by Tischendorf are:-A, of the same age with the MS. itself, probably the corrector who revised the book, before it left the hands of the scribe, denoted therefore by us -corr1; B (cited as 2), who in the first page of Matt. began inserting breathings, accents, &c., but did not carry out his design, and touched only a few later passages; Ca (cited as 3a) has corrected very largely throughout the book. Wherever in our digest a reading is cited as found in 1, it is to be understood, if no further statement is given, that Ca altered it to that which is found in our text; Cb (cited as 3b) lived about the same time as Ca, i.e. some centuries later than the original scribe. These are all that we need notice here6.

[9] Augustine, Bp. of Hippo, 395-430

[10] Augustine, Bp. of Hippo, 395-430

[11] Augustine, Bp. of Hippo, 395-430

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Heb 1:7. , unto) [Engl. Vers. of, i.e. in reference to] He saith to the angels, by an indirect speech; comp , to, Heb 11:18, note, [In reference to whom it was said, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.] The apostle seems also to have had in his mind Psalm 130:20, which immediately precedes the passage, Psa 104:4.-, He saith) viz. God, by the prophet.- -) LXX., in exactly as many letters, Psa 104:4. , spirits, and , a flame of fire, signify not only the office of angels, but their very nature, which is no doubt of surpassing excellence, as the metaphor is taken from things the most efficacious and the most subtile, but yet very far inferior to the majesty of the Son. Therefore the expression, , who maketh, intimates that the angels are creatures, made by His command; but the Son is eternal, Heb 1:8, and the Creator, Heb 1:10. The subject, viz. , angels, and , ministers, as is proved by their being put with the article,[8] has its antithesis in Heb 1:8-9. Moreover, the antithesis of Who makes, intimating the creation of the angels, is found in Heb 1:10-11. I consider it to be the predicate of the Father; comp. Heb 1:8.

[8] The article always distinguishes the subject from the predicate: therefore we cannot translate, Who maketh winds His angels, or messengers, and a flame of fire His ministers.-ED.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Having in one testimony from the Scripture, expressing the subjection of angels unto the Lord Christ, signally proved his main design, the apostle proceedeth to the further confirmation of it in the same way, and that by balancing single testimonies concerning the nature and offices of the angels with some others concerning the same things in the Lord Christ, of whom he treats. And the first of these, relating unto angels, he lays down in the next verse:

Heb 1:7. , .

There is not much of difficulty in the words. , unto the angels. Syr., , of (or concerning) the angels. is often used for , and on the contrary, and for ; so that , to the angels, is as much as , of (or concerning) the angels: But as concerning the angels, (or, and of the angels,) he saith; for these words are not spoken unto the angels, as the following words are directly spoken unto the Son. He is the person as well spoken to as spoken of; but so are not the angels in the place from whence this testimony is taken, wherein the Holy Ghost only declareth the providence of God concerning them. , he saith; that is, God the Father saith, or the Holy Ghost in the Scripture saith, as was before observe.

. is minister publicus, a public minister, or agent; from , which is the same with , as Hesychius renders it, public. He that is employed in any great and public work is . Hence, of old, magistrates were termed , they are by Paul, , Rom 13:4, the ministers of God. And Heb 8:2 of this epistle, he calls the Lord Jesus, in respect of his priestly office, , the public minister of holy things; and himself, in respect of his apostleship, , Rom 15:16, a minister of Jesus Christ. So the name is on this account equipollent unto that of angels; for as that denoteth the mission of those spirits unto their work, so doth this their employment therein.

This testimony is taken from Psa 104:4, where the words are to the same purpose: . The translation now in the Greek is the same with that of the apostle, only for , a flame of fire, some copies have it , a flaming fire, more express to the original; and the change probably was made in the copies from this place of the apostle. Symmachus, , a devouring fire. [8]

[8] EXPOSITION. . . . . Who maketh his angels that serve him the ministers of his will, as the winds and the lightning are. The angels are employed simply in a ministerial capacity, while the Son is lord of all. Stuart. Angels are ministering elements of nature; the Son is everlasting king. , like , turned towards; i.e., in respect of. Tholuck. is to be rendered, not to, but respecting. The angels are regarded as of God, through whom God works wonders in the kingdom of nature. Ebrard. Gods angels are employed by him in the same way as the more ordinary agents of nature, winds and lightnings. Turner. Calvin, Beza, Bucer, Grotius, Limborch, Lowth, Campbell, Michaelis, Knapp, and others, translate the Greek words as equivalent to the Hebrew. Luther, Calov, Storr, Tholuck, and others, interpret the Hebrew according to the Greek. The Hebrew, it is alleged, must from the context be rendered, He makes thewinds his messengers, etc. To the former view it is justly objected, that the Greek rendering would have been, . To the latter, that the analogy of the context requires us in the Hebrew psalm to understand winds as the messengers of God, even as light is his garment, the heaven his tent, and the clouds his chariot. Tholuck, Stuart, and Turner hold that the Hebrew psalm leads to the opposite conclusion, from the natural order of the words, from the connection of angels with natural causes, and from the real scope of the context, Who maketh the clouds his chariot. The former, says Storr, like angels and ministers, must be understood literally, and the latter (chariot), like winds and lightnings, figuratively for agents of his will The translation adopted by the New Testament from the Septuagint has the sanction also of the Chaldee and Syriac versions. TRANSLATIONS. , . . . Who maketh his angels winds. Stuart, Craik, Ebrard. Who maketh winds his messengers, and flaming fire his ministers. Campbell on Gospels, Dissert. 8 part 3 sect. 10.

Heb 1:7. But unto [of] the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire, [or, flaming fire.]

The apostle here entereth upon his third argument to prove the pre- eminence of the Lord Christ above angels, and that by comparing them together, either as to their natures or as to their employments, according as the one or the other is set forth, declared, and testified unto in the Scriptures of the Old Testament. And this first place which he refers unto angels we shall now explain and vindicate; and in so doing inquire both who they are of whom the psalmist speaks, and what it is that he affirmeth of them.

There is a threefold sense given of the words of the psalmist, as they lie in the Hebrew text :

1. The first is that of the modern Jews, who deny that there is any mention made of angels, affirming the subject that the psalmist treats of to be the winds, with thunder and lightning, which God employs as his messengers and ministers to accomplish his will and pleasure. So he made the winds his messengers when he sent them to raise a storm on Jonah when he fled from his presence; and a flaming fire his minister, when by it he consumed Sodom and Gomorrah. And this opinion makes , which it interprets winds, and , a flaming fire, to be the subjects of the proposition, of which it is affirmed that God employs them as his messengers and ministers.

That this opinion, which is directly contradictory to the authority of the apostle, is so also to the design of the psalmist, sense of the words, consent of the ancient Jews, and so no way to be admitted, shall afterwards be made to appear.

2. Some aver that the winds and meteors are principally intended, but yet so as that God, affirming that he makes the winds his messengers, doth also intimate that it is the work and employment of his angels above to be his messengers also; and that because he maketh use of their ministry to cause those winds and fires whereby he accomplisheth his will. And this they illustrate by the fire and winds caused by them on mount Sinai at the giving of the law.

But this interpretation, whatever is pretended to the contrary, doth not really differ from the former, denying angels to be intentionally spoken of, only hooking in a respect unto them, not to seem to contradict the apostle, and therefore will be disproved together with that which went before.

3. Others grant that it is the angels of whom the apostle treats; but as to the interpretation of the words they are of two opinions.

Some make spirits to be the subject of what is affirmed, and angels to be the predicate. In this sense God is said to make those spiritual substances, inhabitants of heaven, his messengers, employing them in his service; and them whose nature is a flaming fire, that is the seraphim, to be his ministers, and to accomplish his pleasure. And this way, after Austin, go many expositors, making the term angels here merely to denote an employment, and not the persons employed. But as this interpretation also takes off from the efficacy and evidence of the apostles argument, so we shall see that there is nothing in the words themselves leading to the embracement of it.

It remains, therefore, that it is the angels that are here spoken of; as also that they are intended and designed by that name, which denotes their persons, and not their employment.

That angels are primarily intended by the psalmist, contrary to the first opinion, of the modern Jews, and the second mentioned, leaning thereunto, appears,

1. From the scope and design of the psalmist. For designing to set out the glory of God in his works of creation and providence, after he had declared the framing of all things by his power which come under the name of heavens, Psa 110:2-3, before he proceeds to the creation of the earth, passing over, with Moses, the creation of angels, or couching it with him under the production of light or of the heavens, as they are called in Job, he declareth his providence and sovereignty in employing his angels between heaven and earth, as his servants for the accomplishment of his pleasure. Neither doth it at all suit his method or design, in his enumeration of the works of God, to make mention of the winds and tempests, and their use in the earth, before he had mentioned the creation of the earth itself, which follows in the next verse unto this. So that these senses are excluded by the context of the psalm.

2. The consent of the ancient Jews lies against the sentiment of the modern. Both the old translations either made or embraced by them expressly refer the words unto angels. So doth that of the LXX., as is evident from the words; and so doth the Targum, thus rendering the place, ; Who maketh his messengers (or angels) swift as spirits, and his ministers strong (or powerful) as a flaming fire. The supply of the note of similitude makes it evident that they understood the text of angels, and not winds, and of making angels as spirits, and not of making winds to be angels or messengers, which is inconsistent with their words.

3. The word doth usually denote the angels themselves, and no reason can be given why it should not do so in this place.

Moreover, it appears that that term is the subject of the proposition: for,

1. The apostle and the LXX. fixing the articles before and , angels and ministers, do plainly determine the subject spoken of: for although, it may be, some variety may be observed in the use of articles in other places, so that they do not always determine the subject of the proposition, as sometimes confessedly they do, as Joh 1:1; Joh 4:24; yet in this place, where in the original all the words are left indefinitely, without any prefix to direct the emphasis unto any one of them, the fixing of them in the translation of the apostle and LXX. must necessarily design the subject of them, or else by the addition of the article they leave the sense much more ambiguous than before, and give occasion to a great mistake in the interpretation of the words.

2. The apostle speaks of angels: Unto the angels he saith. And in all other testimonies produced by him, that whereof he treats hath the place of the subject spoken of, and not of that which is attributed unto any thing else. Neither can the words be freed from equivocation, if angels in the first place denote the persons of the angels, and in the latter their employment only.

3. The design and scope of the apostle requires this construction of the words; for his intention is, to prove by this testimony that the angels are employed in such works and services, and in such a manner, as that they are no way to be compared to the Son of God, in respect of that office which as mediator he hath undertaken: which the sense and construction contended for alone doth prove.

4. The original text requires this sense; for, according to the common use of that language, among words indefinitely used, the first denotes the subject spoken of, which is angels here: , making his angels spirits. And in such propositions ofttimes some note of similitude is to be understood, without which the sense is not complete, and which, as I have showed, the Targum supplieth in this place.

From what hath been said, I suppose it is made evident both that the psalmist expressly treats of angels, and that the subject spoken of by the apostle is expressed in that word, and that following, of ministers.

Our next inquiry is after what is affirmed concerning these angels and ministers spoken of; and that is, that God makes them spirits, and a flame of fire. And concerning the meaning of these words there are two opinions:

1. That the creation of angels is intended in the words; and the nature whereof they were made is expressed in them. He made them spirits, that is, of a spiritual substance; and his heavenly ministers, quick, powerful, agile, as a flaming fire. Some carry this sense farther, and affirm that two sorts of angels are intimated, one of an aerial substance like the wind, and the other igneal or fiery, denying all pure intelligences, without mixture of matter, as the product of the school of Aristotle.

But this seems not to be the intention of the words; nor is the creation of the angels or the substance whereof they consist here expressed: for,

(1.) The analysis of the psalm, formerly touched on, requires the referring of these words to the providence of God in employing the angels, and not to his power in making them.

(2.) The apostle in this place hath nothing to do with the essence and nature of the angels, but with their dignity, honor, and employment; on which accounts he preferreth the Lord Christ before them. Wherefore,

2. The providence of God in disposing and employing of angels in his service is intended in these words; and so they may have a double sense:

(1.) That God employeth his angels and heavenly ministers in the production of those winds, , and fire, , thunder and lightning, whereby he executeth many judgments in the world.

(2.) A note of similitude may be understood, to complete the sense, which is expressed in the Targum on the psalm: He maketh (or sendeth) his angels like the winds, or like a flaming fire, maketh them speedy, spiritual, agile, powerful, quickly and effectually accomplishing the work that is appointed unto them.

Either way this is the plain intendment of the psalm, that God useth and employeth his angels in effecting the works of his providence here below, and that they were made to serve the providence of God in that way and manner. This,saith the apostle, is the testimony which the Holy Ghost gives concerning them, their nature, duty, and work, wherein they serve the providence of God. But now,saith he, consider what the Scripture saith concerning the Son, how it calls him God, how it ascribes a throne and a kingdom unto him(testimonies whereof he produceth in the next verses), and you will easily discern his pre-eminence above them.

But before we proceed to the consideration of the ensuing testimonies, we may make some observations on that which we have already passed through; as,

I. Our conceptions of the angels, their nature, office, and work, is to be regulated by the Scripture.

The Jews of old had many curious speculations about angels, wherein they greatly pleased and greatly deceived themselves. Wherefore the apostle, in his dealing with them, calls them off from all their foolish imaginations, to attend unto those things which God hath revealed in his word concerning them. This the Holy Ghost saith of them, and therefore this we are to receive and believe, and this alone: for,

1. This will keep us unto that becoming sobriety in things above us which both the Scripture greatly commends and is exceedingly suited unto right reason. The Scripture minds us , Rom 12:3, to keep ourselves within the bounds of modesty, and to be wise to sobriety. And the rule of that sobriety is given us for ever, Deu 29:28, ; Secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but revealed things unto us and to our children. Divine revelation is the rule and measure of our knowledge in these things, and that bounds and determines our sobriety. And hence the apostle, condemning the curiosity of men on this very subject about angels, makes the nature of their sin to consist in exceeding these bounds by an inquiry into things unrevealed; and the rise of that evil to lie in pride, vanity, and fleshliness; and the tendency of it to be unto false worship, superstition, and idolatry, Col 2:18. Neither is there any thing more averse from right reason, nor more condemned by wise men of former times, than a curious humour of prying into those things wherein we are not concerned, and for whose investigation we have no certain, honest, lawful rule or medium. And this evil is increased where God himself hath given bounds to our inquiries, as in this case he hath.

2. This alone will bring us unto any certainty and truth. Whilst men indulge to their own imaginations and fancies, as too many in this matter have been apt to do, it is sad to consider how they have wandered up and down, and with what fond conceits they have deceived themselves and others. The world hath been filled with monstrous opinions and doctrines about angels, their nature, offices, and employments. Some have worshipped them, others pretended I know not what communion and intercourse with them; in all which conceits there hath been little of truth, and nothing at all of certainty. Whereas if men, according to the example of the apostle, would keep themselves to the word of God, as they would know enough in this matter for the discharging of their own duty, so they would have assurance and evidence of truth in their conceptions; without which pretended high and raised notions are but a shadow of a dream, worse than professed ignorance.

II. We may hence observe, that the glory, honor, and exaltation of angels lies in their subserviency to the providence of God. It lies not so much in their nature as in their work and service. The intention of the apostle is to show the glory of angels and their exaltation; which he doth by the induction of this testimony, reporting their serviceableness in the works wherein of God they are employed. God hath endowed the angels with a very excellent nature, furnished them with many eminenent properties, of wisdom, power, agility, perpetuity: but yet what is glorious and honorable herein consists not merely in their nature itself and its essential properties, all which abide in the horridest and most- to-be-detested part of the whole creation, namely, the devils; but in their conformity and answerableness unto the mind and will of God, that is, in their moral, not merely natural endowments. These make them amiable, glorious, excellent. Unto this their readiness for and compliance with the will of God, that God having made them for his service, and employing them in his work, their discharge of their duty therein with cheerfulness, alacrity, readiness, and ability, is that which renders them truly honorable and glorious. Their readiness and ability to serve the providence of God is their glory; for,

1. The greatest glory that any creature can be made partaker of, is to serve the will and set forth the praise of its Creator. That is its order and tendency towards its principal end; in which two all true honor consists. It is glorious even in the angels to serve the God of glory. What is there above this for a creature to aspire unto? what that its nature is capable of? Those among the angels who, as it seems, attempted somewhat further, somewhat higher, attained nothing but an endless ruin in shame and misery. Men are ready to fancy strange things about the glory of angels, and do little consider that all the difference in glory that is in any parts of Gods creation lies merely in willingness, ability, and readiness to serve God their Creator.

2. The works wherein God employs them, in a subservience unto his providence, are in an especial manner glorious works. As for the service of angels, as it is intimated unto us in the Scripture, it may be reduced unto two heads; for they are employed either in the communication of protection and blessings to the church, or in the execution of the vengeance and judgments of God against his enemies. Instances to both these purposes may be multiplied, but they are commonly known. Now these are glorious works. God in them eminently exalts his mercy and justice, the two properties of his nature in the execution whereof he is most eminently exalted: and from these works ariseth all that revenue of glory and praise which God is pleased to reserve to himself from the world: so that it must needs be very honorable to be employed in these works.

3. They perform their duty in their service in a very glorious manner, with great power, wisdom, and uncontrollable efficacy. Thus, one of them slew one hundred and eighty-five thousand of the enemies of God in a night; another set fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from heaven. Of the like power and expedition are they in all their services, in all things to the utmost capacity of creatures answering the will of God. God himself, it is true, sees that in them and their works which keeps them short of absolute purity and perfection, which are his own properties; but as to the capacity of mere creatures, and for their state and condition, there is a perfection in their obedience, and that is their glory.

Now, if this be the great glory of angels, and we poor worms of the earth are invited, as we are, unto a participation with them therein, what unspeakable folly will it be in us if we be found negligent in laboring to attain thereunto! Our future glory consists in this, that we shall be made like unto angels; and our way towards it is, to do the will of our Father on earth as it is done by them in heaven. Oh, in how many vanities doth vain man place his glory! Nothing so shameful that one or other hath not gloried in; whilst the true and only glory, of doing the will of God, is neglected by almost all! But we must treat again of these things upon the last verse of this chapter.

Fuente: An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews

Unto The Son He Saith

Ministering Spirits

Gods angels are created spirits, sent forth into all the world to serve him (Heb 1:7). God is the uncreated Spirit. They are his created spirits. They often appeared in the Old Testament and in the gospels in the form of a man; but the angels do not have material, physical bodies. These created spirits are made the ministers (servants) of God. They do his bidding; they attend his presence, and are ready to do as he commands.

They are called a flame of fire, because of their power and swiftness, because of their burning love and zeal, and because they are the executioners of God’s wrath. The chariot of fire which bore Elijah away were probably angels. Certainly, those chariots of fire surrounding Elisha and his servant were the angels of God (2Ki 6:17-18).

Enthroned Son

Christ is Gods risen, exalted, enthroned Son (Heb 1:8). Our Saviors excellence, glory, and superiority are set before us in ever-increasing tones in Hebrews 1. If we were reading scales of music, this passage reads like a great cantata rising rapidly to the crescendo. To the Son, Jesus Christ, the Father says, Thy throne, O God, is for ever. Again, we are here told that the man Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and Savior, is himself God (Joh 1:1; Joh 1:14; Joh 10:30; Mat 1:23; Act 20:28; 2Co 5:19). His throne is an everlasting throne. The sceptre of his kingdom is the sceptre of righteousness (Psa 45:6-7).

Obedience Rewarded

Our Saviors exaltation and enthronement as a man is the reward of his obedience to the Father as our Mediator (Heb 1:9). Thou has loved righteousness and hated iniquity. He showed this in casting Adam from the garden, in the flood, in Sodom, in all his dealing with Israel, and most fully and perfectly in working out a perfect righteousness for us as our Substitute. In the last day, at the bar of God, he will display to all the universe and make every creature see and acknowledge that he loves righteousness and hates iniquity. In that day, every creature shall confess that the sceptre by which he rules is a right sceptre.

The words, Thy God, refer to both the triune God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), and to God the Father, for the Father is the God of Christ as man (Eph 1:3). Because of what Christ has accomplished as the God-man, our Mediator, he has been anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows (Col 1:14-18).

Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible

of: Gr. unto

Who: Heb 1:14, 2Ki 2:11, 2Ki 6:17, Psa 104:4, Isa 6:2,*Heb: Eze 1:13, Eze 1:14, Dan 7:10, Zec 6:5

Reciprocal: Gen 3:24 – Cherubims 1Ki 22:19 – all the host Job 4:15 – a spirit Psa 103:21 – ministers Isa 6:6 – flew Dan 9:21 – to fly Amo 7:4 – called Mat 13:41 – The son

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Heb 1:7. But even this contrast with angels would not mean so much, unless the angels themselves were important beings. Accordingly, Paul says God makes his angels ministering spirits, thus being very important personages in the great scheme of grace.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Heb 1:7. As to angels, moreover, they were made by Him (not begotten). They are spirits, not sons; and His servants or ministers, a flame of fire. Some render spirits by winds, and read, He maketh His angels as winds, passive, swift, and untiring. They do His will, as do the tempest and the lightning. In the Hebrew of the Psalm (Psa 104:4) either meaning is possible, He maketh the winds or spirits His messengers, or His messengers spirits or winds. In the Septuagint, and so here, on the other hand, the only allowable meaning is, His angels or messengers winds or spirits. The rendering of the Greek by winds is very rare in the New Testament, and is indeed found only here, and possibly in Joh 3:8. In Heb 1:14, the angels are expressly called ministering spiritsa name that recalls both the names given in Heb 1:7, spirits and ministers. They are His workmanship, not His sons; and they are all either spirits or material elements, or as material elements; a flame of fire, an allusion perhaps to a Jewish interpretation of seraphimthe burning ones. On the whole, therefore, the A.V. seems preferable to the marginal rendering.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Still our apostle goes on, comparing Christ and the angels together, and giving a transcendent preference to their one before the other. The angels are ministering servants, but Christ a Son; the angels are the prime instruments of the Father’s providence, most zealous and active to accomplish his pleasure, by the Son is God: Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever.

God, not by analogy and deputation, as princes are, not with a limitation and diminution, as Moses was made a god to Pharaoh, but absolutely and really, as subsisting in the divine nature; to the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever.

Learn hence, That is the divine nature of Jesus Christ that gives stability and fixedness, yea, immutability and unchangeableness, to his throne and kingdom: Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever. And whereas the sceptres of earthly kings are often unrighteously managed, and their thrones do ruinously fall, the sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Christ’s kingdom; that is, all the laws, and the whole administration of his kingdom by his word and Spirit, are all just and equal, righteous and holy: A sceptre for righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.

And farther, the apostle declares, that the righteous administration of Christ in he kingdom, proceeds from his own habitual righteousness and love thereunto: Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity, and for that reason was dignified and exalted by God over and above all his fellows.

Learn hence, That Jesus Christ as Mediator, because of his love to righteousness, and hatred to sin, is dignified and advanced by God, not only above all men, byt likewise above all angels. Therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee above thy fellows.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

God Made Jesus a King

God causes His angelic messengers to be changed into whatever form suits His purpose ( Heb 1:7 ; Psa 104:4 ). They are simply servants to do God’s bidding. Jesus’ greatness is seen in His kingship ( Heb 1:8 ; Heb 1:3 ; Heb 7:1-2 ; Psa 45:6-7 ; Zec 6:12-13 ). It should be noted the Son is here called God, whereas the angels were just called messengers.

Because of Christ’s righteous character, God anointed Him with “oil of gladness.” In other words, He honored Him above all others. That such anointing was an honor can be seen in Psa 23:5-6 and Luk 7:46 . Jesus is also said to be Lord, creator, eternal and all-powerful. He will roll up the heavens and is unchangeable ( Heb 1:10-12 ; Psa 102:25-27 ). All of these are characteristics of God and give proof of Jesus’ divinity.

His authority as king can be seen in the quotation from Psa 110:1 , which is quoted in Heb 1:13 . Jesus and Peter also said this was a reference to Christ, the Messiah ( Mat 22:41-46 ; Act 2:34-36 ). He will sit at God’s right hand, a place of authority, until all His enemies are put under His feet (compare Jos 10:24-25 ). The angels are all ministering spirits. They are not sovereign. Jesus is made sovereign by sitting at God’s right hand. Notice the angels serve the King and for the benefit of all His followers ( Heb 1:14 ).

Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books

Heb 1:7-9. Of the angels Speaking of them; he David; saith, Who maketh Or rather, who made; his angels spirits, &c. That is, the greatest thing said of angels is, that they are beings not clogged with flesh, and who are zealous and active in the service of God like flames of fire. The expressions intimate not only their office, but also their nature, which is very excellent; the metaphor being taken from the most swift, subtle, and efficacious things on earth; but, nevertheless, infinitely below the majesty of the Son. For unto the Son he saith Of him the psalmist speaks in more exalted language, expressive of his sovereign, universal, and everlasting dominion, saying, Thy throne That is, thy reign, which the word throne implies; O God, is for ever and ever These words are quoted from the 45th Psalm, which, in the opinion of some commentators, was composed concerning Solomons marriage with Pharaohs daughter. But could Solomon, with any propriety, be addressed by the title of God? Or could it be said of him that his kingdom, which lasted only forty years, was eternal? It was not even eternal in his posterity; and with respect to his loving righteousness, and hating wickedness, it but ill applies to one who, in his old age, became an encourager of idolatry, through the influence of women. This Psalm, therefore, is applicable only to Christ. Further, Solomons marriage with Pharaohs daughter being expressly condemned as contrary to the law, (1Ki 11:2,) to suppose that this Psalm was composed in honour of that event, is certainly an ill-founded imagination. The rabbins, in their commentaries, affirm that it was written wholly concerning the Messiah. Accordingly, they translate the title of the Psalm as we do, A Song of Loves: the LXX., , a song concerning the Beloved: a title justly given to the Messiah, whom God, by voices from heaven, declared his beloved Son. Macknight. Pierce says, They who imagine this Psalm is an epithalamium upon Solomons marrying Pharaohs daughter, must suppose that it is here foretold that Solomon was to have a numerous progeny by her, whom he should set up for princes up and down the world, by one of whom he should be succeeded, 1Ki 11:16, Instead of thy father shall be thy children, when thou mayest make princes in all the earth. But this cannot be true; for besides that we read not of any children Solomon had by Pharaohs daughter, it is certain that Rehoboam, who succeeded him, was the son of Naamah, an Ammonitess, 2Ch 12:13. And so far was he from being able to set his sons to rule over other countries, that it was with great difficulty his successors kept two tribes of the twelve steadfast to them. The whole tenor of the Psalm directs us plainly to understand it of some excellent prince, who was highly favoured of God, and not of such a degenerate one as Solomon became, God also having testified his displeasure against him. Further, how unlikely is it that Heb 1:2 should be understood of Solomon? Nothing could be more suitably said of Christ than what we there meet with: Grace is poured into thy lips, therefore God hath blessed thee for ever: but was such language fit to be used concerning a man who became a most notorious idolater? Was not the promise conditional that was made to Solomon of blessedness, and had he not forfeited it by breaking the condition? The last verse of the Psalm seems also very unlikely to belong to Solomon: I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations; therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever. Certainly a greater than Solomon is here: and the primitive Christians were much in the right, who universally agreed in applying the Psalm to Christ, and him only. See notes on Psalms 45.

A sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom That is, thy reign, of which the sceptre is the ensign, is full of justice and equity. Or, thy government is exercised for maintaining truth and righteousness in the world. Thou hast loved righteousness, &c. Thou art infinitely pure and holy; therefore God Who, as thou art Mediator, is thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness With the Holy Ghost, the fountain of joy; above thy fellows Above all the children of men. For God gave not the Spirit by measure unto him, Joh 3:34. In other words, God bestowed on him, as a prophet, priest, and king, endowments, whereby he excelled all his associates (as signifies) in those offices. Anciently, kings, priests, and prophets were consecrated to their several offices by the ceremony of solemn unction with perfumed oil, called in the Psalm the oil of gladness, because it occasioned great joy, both to the person anointed, and to those who were present at the ceremony. Wherefore the Son, being appointed of God to the high offices of universal King, Priest, and Prophet among men, he is called, by way of eminence, the Lords Messiah, Christ, or Anointed One. But the oil with which God anointed or consecrated him to these offices was not any material oil, nor was the unction external, but internal, with the Holy Ghost. We may therefore understand the Psalm as a prediction of the descent of the Holy Ghost on Jesus at his baptism, whereby was signified Gods giving him the Spirit without measure.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

7. He maketh the winds his messengers and the flames of fire His ministers. The Holy Ghost fills the material world, going wherever the atmosphere interpenetrates, offering life to all human spirits, whether in heathendom or Christendom. The wind is the symbol of regeneration (Joh 3:8), while fire everywhere emblematizes sanctification. The wind is the breath of life, and the fire consumes all impurity. Hence, the Holy Ghost administers regeneration to all sinners, and sanctification to all Christians who will receive Him. We here have Gods definition of His ministers, a flame of fire. Remember, this is the only definition God gives of His ministers in all the Bible. So, if you would be a minister of God, you must get filled with the fire of the Holy Ghost. Then you will be a moving cyclone of sin-consuming flame whithersoever you go. Reader, do you not want to be a minister of God? You need but one qualification, and that is the baptism with the Holy Ghost and fire.

Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

1:7 {8} And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels {m} spirits, and his ministers a {n} flame of fire.

(8) He proves and confirms the dignity of Christ revealed in the flesh, by these six evident testimonies by which it appears that he far surpasses all angels, so much so that he is called both Son, and God in Heb 1:5-8; Heb 1:10; Heb 1:13 .

(m) Cherub, Psa 18:11 .

(n) Seraph, Isa 6:2 .

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

Instead of being sovereign, the angels are servants. The fourth quotation is from Psa 104:4. By describing the angels as "winds" the psalmist was drawing attention to their spirit nature, invisibility, power, and role as servants of a higher Power. As flames of fire they are God’s agents of judgment and illumination. Wind and fire were also symbols of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. They were appropriate designations of both the Holy Spirit and angels because both served the Father in similar ways as His servants. Even though the angels are as swift as wind and as powerful as fire, they are inferior to the Son.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)