be forgotten. The words recur Heb. 8:3.
ejx ajnq. lamb. uJpe;r ajnqr. kaq.
...]
being taken from among men
...The
human origin of the High-priest is marked as a ground of the fitness of his appointment. A High-priest being himself man can act for men: comp. Ex. 28:1 (
from among the children of Israel
). He is of men and on behalf of men (for their service), and in the original these two phrases correspond emphatically.
Ka]n tw'/ novmw/ oujk a[ggelo" uJpe;r ajnqrwvpwn iJerateuvein ejtavcqh ajllj a[nqrwpo" uJpe;r ajnqrwvpwn
(Theod.). Chrysostom (followed by later Fathers) remarks:
tou'to koino;n tw'/ Cristw'/
. The present participle
(
lambanovmeno"
, Vulg.
assumptus
, inadequately) suggests the continuity of the relation (Heb. 5:4
kalouvmeno"
, Vulg. [
oJ kal
.]
qui vocatur
).
It is unnatural and injurious to the argument to take
ejx ajnqr. lambanovmeno"
as part of the subject (Syr.
every high-priest that is from men
).
kaqivstatai
]
is appointed
, Vulg.
constituitur.
Kaqivstasqai
is the ordinary word for authoritative appointment to an office: Heb. 7:28; 8:3; (Tit. 1:5); Luke 12:14; Philo,
de vit. Mos.
2.11 (2.151 M.).
ta; pro;" to;n qeovn
] Heb. 2:17 note; Deut. 31:27 (LXX.).
i{na prosf.
] Comp. Heb. 8:3
eij" to; prosfevrein
. In a considerable number of passages
i{na
and
eij" tov
occur in close connexion: Heb. 2:17 note; 1 Thess. 2:16; 2 Thess. 2:11 f.; 3:9; 1 Cor. 9:18; 2 Cor. 8:6; Rom. 1:11; 4:16; 7:4; 11:11; 15:16; Phil. 1:10; Eph. 1:17 f.
{Ina
appears to mark in each case the direct and immediate end, while
eij" tov
indicates the more remote result aimed at or reached.
prosfevrh/
] The word
prosfevrein
is commonly used in the LXX. for the offering of sacrifices and gifts, and it is so used very frequently in this Epistle (19 times). It never occurs in the Epistles of St Paul, and rarely in the other books of N. T. Matt. 5:23 f. (comp. Heb. 2:11); 8:4 and parallels; John 16:2; Acts 7:42; 21:26. Compare
ajnafevrein
Heb. 7:27 note.
This usage of prosfevrein appears to be Hellenistic and not Classical. dw'rav te kai; qusiva" ] O. L. munera et hostias , Vulg. dona et sacrificia. Dw'ron can be used comprehensively to describe offerings of all kinds, bloody and unbloody: 8:4 (comp. 11:4). The same offering indeed could be called, under different aspects, a gift and a sacrifice. But when gifts and
sacrifices are distinguished the former mark the meal-offering ( hj;nmi ,
H4966) and the latter the bloody offerings. Comp. 8:3; 9:9.
In this narrower sense the sacrifice naturally precedes the offering (comp. Ps. 40:6, Heb. 10:5). It is possible that the transposition is made in order to emphasise the thought that man needs an appointed Mediator even to bring his gifts to God. The particular reference is to the offerings of the High-priest on the Day of Atonement, the Day ( Joma ) as it is called in the Talmud, which concentrated all the ideas of sacrifice and worship, as the High-priest concentrated all the ideas of personal service (Lev. 16; Num. 29).
The clause uJpe;r aJmartiw'n is to be joined with qusiva" ( sacrifices for sins ) and not with prosfevrh/ as referring to both nouns. The two ideas of eucharistic and expiatory offerings are distinctly marked.
For uJpevr see Heb. 7:27; 10:12; (9:7); 1 Cor. 15:3 (Gal. 1:4). More commonly periv is used: v. 3; Heb. 10:6, 8, 18; 13:11; 1 Pet. 3:18; 1 John 2:2; 4:10; Rom. 8:3.
Heb. 5:2-4. From the office of the High-priest the writer passes on to