The form eij mhvn both here and in the text of the LXX. is attested by overwhelming authority against the common form h\ mhvn . The form eij is recognised in Etymol. Magn. as an alternative form for h\ as ejpivrrhma oJrkikovn with a reference to this passage. It may be a dialectic peculiarity.
6:15. kai; ou{tw" ...] and thus , confident in a promise solemnly ratified, having patiently endured ...The ou{tw" is to be taken separately and not in close connexion with makr. (having thus patiently endured). Comp. Acts 7:8; 28:14; 1 Cor. 14:25.
According to the history twenty-five years elapsed from the call of Abraham to the birth of Isaac (Gen. 12:4; 21:5).
For makroqumhvsa" see Heb. 6:12 note. ejpevtucen th'" ejpagg. ] obtained the promise , Vulg. adeptus est repromissionem. The phrase following after ejpaggeilavmeno" and separated from it by makroqumhvsa" cannot mean simply obtained from God the assurance of a future blessing. It affirms that in some sense Abraham gained that for which he looked. And in fact Abraham obtained the fulfilment of the promise in its beginning in Isaac, born past hope and given to him, as it were a second time, and also afterwards in Isaac's sons. In part however the promise necessarily remained to be fulfilled in after time ( plhquvnwn plhqunw' ... kai; ejn soi; ...), so that through Christ Christians inherit it. Compare Heb. 11:33; Rom. 11:7; James 4:2; and Heb. 10:36; 11:15, 39 ( komivsasqai ). In Heb. 11:39 it is said of the faithful fathers oujk ejkomivsanto th;n ejpaggelivan (comp. 11:15). Chrysostom calls attention to the apparent contradiction and solves it: ouj peri; tw'n aujtw'n ejntau'qav fhsi kajkei', ajlla; kai; diplh'n poiei'tai th;n paravklhsin . ejphggeivlato tw'/ jAbraavm, kai; ta; me;n ejntau'qa meta; makro;n crovnon e[dwke, ta; de; ejkei' oujdevpw .
( b ) The fulfilment of the promise is doubly assured to us (6:16-18). 6:16-18. The promise which Abraham received still awaits its complete accomplishment, and it is our inheritance, doubly confirmed to us as to him, being a promise, and a promise confirmed by an oath.
In this respect the character and purpose of a human oath illustrate the divine oath. An oath is a decisive appeal to the highest power to close all controversy. Therefore in condescension God interposed an oath to give to His promise this additional pledge of immutability for our encouragement.
The argument assumes the religious propriety of oaths. 6:16. a[nqrwpoi gavr ...] For men , being men, as men, not oiJ a[nqr. (Heb. 9:27) swear by the greater ...Here the main thought is the fact of the oath. The character of the oath ( kata; t. m. ) follows from the nature of man. There can be no doubt from the context that tou' meivzono" is masculine (Vulg. per majorem sui ), and not, as it might be (Matt. 12:6 mei'zon ) neuter.
For the use of a[nqrwpoi , marking the nature and not the class, see John 5:41 compared with 2 Tim. 3:2; Tit. 3:8.
Compare Philo,
de sacr. Ab. et Cain
§ 28 (1.181 M.)
tou' pisteuqh'nai cavrin ajpistouvmenoi katafeuvgousin ejfj o{rkon a[nqrwpoi
. Cic.
de Offic.
3.31,
111.
pavsh" ... ajntil. pevra" eij" beb. ] Vulg. omnis controversioe eorum finis ad confirmationem. The oath has two results, negative and positive: it finally stops all contradiction; and it establishes that which it attests. It is on the one side an end to all gainsaying in the relation of man to man ( aujtoi'" ). By an