th;n ejpagg.
...
th'" aij. Klhr.
] The position of the gen. dependent on
th;n
ejp.
is due to the fact that it is added as a further definition of the promise (comp. Heb. 12:11 note). The sentence stands essentially complete without it:
that they that have been called may receive the promise
(comp. Heb. 6:15). But the explanation is naturally suggested by the thought of the contrast of the Old and the New. Moses secured to the people an inheritance, which was however only a figure of that which was prepared (comp. Ex. 32:13).
Heb. 9:16, 17. The mention of a new covenant and of death in close connexion suggests a fresh thought. The Death of Christ fulfilled two distinct purposes. It provided an atonement for past sins; and, besides this, it provided an absolute ratification of the Covenant with which it was connected.
The Death set man free: the Covenant gave him the support which he required. The Death removed the burden of the past: the Covenant provided for the service of the future.
In any case a covenant is ratified by the death of a representative victim. But here Christ died in His own Person; and by thus dying He gave absolute validity to the covenant which He mediated: the preceding thought of the atonement shews how such a covenant was possible.
The Death of Christ was a chief difficulty of the Hebrews, and therefore the writer presents it under different aspects in order to shew its full significance in the Christian dispensation.
For a justification of the interpretation of the following verses see the Additional Note.
9:16. o{pou gavr ... diaqemevnou ] For where there is a covenant the death of him that made it must needs be presented. Vulg. Ubi enim testamentum mors necesse est intercedat testatoris. The circumstances under which the New Covenant was made, however unlooked for in man's anticipation of the Christ ( tou'to to; taravsson aujtou;" to; tou' qanavtou tou' Cristou' OEcum.), are to deeper thought most intelligible, for an unchangeable covenant implies death. It is not said that he who makes the covenant must die, but that his death must be brought forward, presented, introduced upon the scene, set in evidence, so to speak. This sense of fevresqai appears to be perfectly natural, and to be more simple than the sense commonly attributed to the word, either to be alleged as a fact, or to be pleaded in the course of an argument, or to be current as a matter of common notoriety.
He who makes the covenant ( oJ diaqevmeno" ) is, for the purposes of the covenant, identified with the victim by whose representative death the covenant is ordinarily ratified. In the death of the victim his death is presented symbolically.
In the case of the New Covenant Christ in His Divine-human Person represented God who reveals through and in Him the unfailing greatness of the divine love, and at the same time He represented the complete self- surrender of humanity. A covenant so made could not fail. The weakness and instability of men had no longer any place. The thought expressed by the representative victim had become an eternal fact.
9:17. diaqhvkh gavr ... diaqevmeno" ] For a covenant is sure where there hath been death, since it doth not ever have force when he that made it liveth. Vulg. Testamentum enim in mortuis confirmatum est; alioquin nondum valet dum vivit qui testatus est. The statement which has been made is supported by an explanation which is borrowed from ancient usage and language. A