divine wrath was spent. So it was when the Chaldaeans threatened Israel with utter destruction. In old times the faithful had to wait for the manifestation of the salvation of God. It must be so always; and past experience furnishes a sufficient support for hope.
10:37. e[ti ga;r ... o{son ] For, yet a very little while... (modicum [ali] quantulum , V.). These words with which the quotation from Habakkuk is prefaced by the writer of the Epistle occur in Is. 26:20 (LXX.) where the prophet charges the people to hide themselves for a little moment until the indignation should be overpast. The thought of the purposes of God wrought through the discipline of Israel thus serves as a preparation for the understanding of His counsel for the Church.
For e[ti mikrovn compare John 14:19; 16:16 ff. ( mikrovn ).
{Oson o{son , which appears to be a colloquial form, occurs in Arist. Vesp. 213 and Leon. Tarent. LXX. 4 ( Anthol. 1.238).
Heb. 10:37 b, 38.
oJ ejrcovmeno"
...
ejn aujtw'/
] These words are taken with modifications and transpositions from the LXX. version of Hab. 2:3 f. (see Additional Note). In the original context that which is expected is the fulfilment of the prophetic vision of the destruction of the Chaldaeans, the enemies of God's people, to be followed by the revelation of His glory. The judgment was executed and the promise was accomplished in due time, but not as men had hoped. The lesson had a significant application to the condition of the early Church.
h{xei
] Heb. 10:7 note; 2 Pet. 3:10; Apoc. 3:3, 9; 15:4; 18:8. He will make His coming felt as a present fact.
Heb. 10:38. The original text gives the sense: His soul is puffed up with pride: it is not right within him; but the righteous shall live by his faithfulness, where the reference is to the vain confidence of the Chaldaean invader as contrasted with the trust of the people upon God. The LXX. represents a different text in the first clause; and the author of the Epistle has transposed the two clauses of the LXX. in order to bring out more clearly the idea which he wishes to enforce, the necessity of endurance in the righteous.
38.
oJde; divk.
...
zhvsetai
]
but my righteous one shall live by faith
... Vulg.
justus autem meus ex fide vivit
(sic). The argument requires that the words
ejk pivstew" zhvsetai
should be taken together. The justthe true believerrequires faith, trust in the unseen, for life. Such faith is the support of endurance (
uJpomonhv
) and the seal of confidence (
parrhsiva
).
It is said that the phrase was held in Rabbinic teaching to declare the essence of the Law: Delitzsch, Ro1merbrief s. 75. Compare Gal. 3:11; Rom. 1:17.
kai; eja;n uJpost. ] and if he , who has been spoken of as the just, draw (shrink) back , Vulg. quod si subtraxerit se. The insertion of any man, so as to avoid the thought of the falling away of the just one, is wholly unwarranted, and it is precisely this contingency which gives the point to the words (comp. Heb. 10:32 fwtisqevnte" ). Thus Theophylact says expressly eja;n uJposteivlhtai oJ divkaio" .
The word uJpostevllesqai implies a shrinking away from fear of or regard for another. Compare Wisd. 6:8 ouj ga;r uJpostelei'tai provswpon oJ
pavntwn despovth" . Job 13:8 ( : ynIP; ac;y: ); Deut. 1:17; Ex. 23:21; Gal. 2:12
( uJpevstellen kai; ajfwvrizen eJautovn ); Acts 20:27, (20).