being used of objects swept out of their right course by the violence of a current. Comp. Heb. 2:1 ( pararruw'men ).
The tense ( mh; parafevresqe ) marks the danger as actually present. Compare 13:2, 16, mh; ejpilanqavnesqe , and contrast Heb. 10:35 mh; ajpobavlhte .
These doctrines are characterised as manifold (Heb. 2:4) in contrast with the unity of Christian teaching (Eph. 4:5), and strange (1 Pet. 4:12) in contrast with its permanence (comp. Col. 2:8 and Bp Lightfoot's note).
There is indeed a sense in which the wisdom of God is most manifold ( polupoivkilo" Eph. 3:10).
For
didacai; xevnai
compare Herm.
Sim.
8.5.
kalo;n ga;r
...
brwvmasin
]
for it is good that by grace the heart
(Heb. 3:8 note)
be stablished
(
bebaiou'sqai
1 Cor. 1:8; 2 Cor. 1:21; Col. 2:7). Vulg.
optimum enim
.... The attractiveness of the novel views which endangered the
faith of the Hebrews lay in their promise of security and progress; but such promises in the case before the Apostle were obviously vain. For no true stability can be gained by outward observances to which Judaizing and Jewish teachings lead. This must come from a spiritual, divine influence. The position of
cavriti
throws a strong emphasis upon the idea of grace. Our strength must come from without. And grace is the free outflow of divine love for the quickening and support of man (Heb. 2:9), though, in one sense, man finds it (Heb. 4:16).
The opposition cavriti ... ouj brwvmasin ..., shews that here the brwvmata represent something to be enjoyed; and therefore that the reference is not, at least in the first instance, to any ascetical abstention from meats. And again the next verse suggests the contrast of some sacrificial meal, so that the term meats does not simply point to such as were pure according to the provisions of the Levitical Law. It appears to point primarily to meats consecrated by sacrifice, and then used for food; though other senses of the word are not necessarily excluded. No doubt the Passover was present to the writer's mind, but with it would be included all the sacrificial feasts, which were the chief element in the social life of the Jews.
The context seems to justify and to require this sense of brwvmata , which is used in the Gospels for food generally (Matt. 14:15; Luke 3:11). Elsewhere in the Epistles the word is used with reference to ritual or ascetic distinctions of meats (Rom. 14:15 ff.; 1 Cor. 6:13; 8:8; 1 Tim. 4:3). But this usage does not supersede the wider one, and it is natural that the Apostle should describe the privileges which were over-valued by a term which set them in a truer light as simply outward things. Comp. Ign. ad Trall. 2 ouj ga;r brwmavtwn kai; potw'n eijsin diakonoi ajllj ejkklhsiva" qeou' uJphrevtai .
It is said of bread literally that kardivan ajnqrwvpou sthrivzei (Ps. 103:15 [104:15]). So Judg. 19:5.
There is a somewhat similar contrast of the material and spiritual in Eph. 5:18.
Compare also the notes of the kingdom of heaven Rom. 14:17. The remarks of Herveius, which are interesting in themselves, leave out of account the circumstances of the Hebrews: Datur intelligi quosdam inter eos fuisse qui dogmatizarent non esse peccatum escis vacare. Nam quia per gratiam licitum est omnibus cibis uti, praedicabant non esse culpam cibis affluere sed bonum esse. So also Chrysostom appears to miss the