(13) The connection seems to be this: "You, like them, have promises--promises to which God has given all possible certainty; you, like them, can attain the fulfilment only through faith and patient waiting."
For when God made promise.--It is better to follow the words literally, For when to Abraham God had made promise. Abraham is chosen for special mention as the most illustrious example of those who "inherit the promises" (comp. John 8:58); also because (1) the assurance given to him was confirmed by oath; and (2) in it lay included the promise of the Christ. The promises made to Abraham were essentially one, with various parts progressively fulfilled. It seems likely that, though the next verse is quoted from Genesis 22:17, the writer also has in mind ("had promised") Genesis 12:3, and especially Genesis 15.
Verses 13-15. - For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, having patiently endured, he obtained the promise. Abraham - the ancestor of the Hebrews, the first recipient of the promises, the father of the faithful - is now appropriately adduced as an example. He (Genesis 22:16), as is the case with you (Psalm 110.), was assured of his inheritance by the Divine oath; and so he obtained it, but only through "faith and patience." You have the like assurance, but attended with the like conditions. And then this Divine oath, the significance of which is set forth in vers. 16-18, is made a link of connection between the hortatory section (Hebrews 5:11-6:20) and the coming argument about Melchizedek. This is one instance of the artistic way in which, throughout the Epistle, the interposed hortatory passages are so turned as to connect the divided sections of the argument. But what is said about Abraham (vers. 13, 14, 15) has been variously understood. It is connected with ver. 12 thus: "Be ye followers of them who inherit the promises through faith and patience: for God, in his promise to Abraham, swore by himself in confirmation of it; and so (καὶ ὀὔτω) through patience he obtained the promise. Be it here observed that μακροθυμήσας in ver. 15 ("having patiently endured," A.V.) corresponds with διὰ μακροθυμίας in ver. 12, and expresses essentially the same idea. The aorist participle μακροθυμήσας does not in itself imply that the patience was previous to the obtaining; it expresses only that by patiently enduring he obtained. Observe also that καὶ οὔτω (cf. Acts 7:8; Acts 27:44; Acts 28:14) denotes the consequence from what has been previously stated; i.e. that μακροθυμήσας ἐπέτυχε followed from the Divine oath ensuring the fulfillment of the promise. Both his eventually obtaining and his patience in awaiting fulfillment were in consequence of the assuring oath. But then how and when did Abraham himself obtain the promise? Not even the temporal fulfillment in the multiplication of his seed and the inheritance of the Promised Land, much less the spiritual fulfillment in Christ, was during his own life. Both he could but see "afar off." In respect to the latter it is expressly said (Hebrews 11:13, 39) that the patriarchs did not receive the promises - μὴ λαβόντες τὰς ἐπογγελίας: οὐκ ἐκομίσαντοτὴν ἐπαγγελίαν. What, then, is meant by μακροθυμήσας ἐπέτυχε? Bleek understands the time of the oath (Genesis 22.), when the promise was irrevocably assured, to have been the time of obtaining. But more than this is suggested by the phrase, ἐπέτυχε τῆςἐπαγγελίας (cf. Hebrews 11:33), as well as by καὶοὔτω, viz. the actual attainment of the blessing assured to him by oath. There are two other ways of explaining:
(1) to identify Abraham with his seed, in whom, though not in his own person, he may be conceived to have obtained, - of which view it may be significant that πληθυνῶ τὸ σπέρμασου of the LXX. (Genesis 22:17) is changed in the Epistle to πληθννῶ σε:
(2) to regard Abraham, still alive in the unseen world, as himself enjoying the fulfillment of the ancient promise. So Delitzsch, who, dwelling on the thought that nothing less than the blessing of Abraham extended to the whole world (cf. κληρονόμος τοῦ κόσμου, Romans 4:13) can be regarded as complete fulfill-merit, says, "God's oath-sealed word of promise is now fulfilled in Christ, and Abraham, while living on in the unseen world, is conscious of and enjoys that fulfillment, and so may be said to have "obtained the promise." This view derives some support from Hebrews 11:13-16, where the longings of the pilgrim patriarchs is so beautifully represented as reaching to a heavenly fulfillment. On the other hand, the aorist ἐπέτυχε is against it, and hence view
(1) may be accepted as a sufficient explanation of the expression (see below, or Hebrews 11:39). With regard to the general drift, it is obvious how μακροθυμία, as well as πίστις, in respect to the promise first made to him "in Charran," is strikingly displayed in Abraham's recorded life.
6:11-20 The hope here meant, is a sure looking for good things promised, through those promises, with love, desire, and valuing of them. Hope has its degrees, as faith also. The promise of blessedness God has made to believers, is from God's eternal purpose, settled between the eternal Father, Son, and Spirit. These promises of God may safely be depended upon; for here we have two things which cannot change, the counsel and the oath of God, in which it is not possible for God to lie; it would be contrary to his nature as well as to his will. And as He cannot lie; the destruction of the unbeliever, and the salvation of the believer, are alike certain. Here observe, those to whom God has given full security of happiness, have a title to the promises by inheritance. The consolations of God are strong enough to support his people under their heaviest trials. Here is a refuge for all sinners who flee to the mercy of God, through the redemption of Christ, according to the covenant of grace, laying aside all other confidences. We are in this world as a ship at sea, tossed up and down, and in danger of being cast away. We need an anchor to keep us sure and steady. Gospel hope is our anchor in the storms of this world. It is sure and stedfast, or it could not keep us so. The free grace of God, the merits and mediation of Christ, and the powerful influences of his Spirit, are the grounds of this hope, and so it is a stedfast hope. Christ is the object and ground of the believer's hope. Let us therefore set our affections on things above, and wait patiently for his appearance, when we shall certainly appear with him in glory.
For when God made promise to Abraham,.... The apostle proposes Abraham as a pattern, because he was the father of these Hebrews, and of all believers; and because they were interested in the promise made to him, and had a right to the same blessing with him; and because he was remarkable for his faith and patience: the promise made to him is not that in Genesis 12:1 nor that in Genesis 15:1 but that in Genesis 22:16 for that only had an oath annexed to it: and this was made by Jesus Christ, there called the Angel of the Lord, and here God; and who is truly and properly so; and than whom there is none greater; and who elsewhere, as here, is said to swear by himself, Isaiah 45:23 as follows:
because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself; swearing is ascribed to a divine person after the manner of men, and in condescension to them; and who is never introduced swearing, but in matters of moment and of great importance; the note of Philo the Jew (n) on the passage in Genesis 22:16 from whence the following words are cited, is worthy of observation, being very near the apostle's words;
"well does he (God) confirm the promise with an oath, and with an oath that becomes God; for you see that God does not swear by another, for nothing is better than himself, but by himself, who is the best of all; but some have suggested as if it was inconvenient to swear, for an oath is taken for the sake of faith; but God alone is faithful, &c.''
For when God made promise.--It is better to follow the words literally, For when to Abraham God had made promise. Abraham is chosen for special mention as the most illustrious example of those who "inherit the promises" (comp. John 8:58); also because (1) the assurance given to him was confirmed by oath; and (2) in it lay included the promise of the Christ. The promises made to Abraham were essentially one, with various parts progressively fulfilled. It seems likely that, though the next verse is quoted from Genesis 22:17, the writer also has in mind ("had promised") Genesis 12:3, and especially Genesis 15.
(1) to identify Abraham with his seed, in whom, though not in his own person, he may be conceived to have obtained, - of which view it may be significant that πληθυνῶ τὸ σπέρμα σου of the LXX. (Genesis 22:17) is changed in the Epistle to πληθννῶ σε:
(2) to regard Abraham, still alive in the unseen world, as himself enjoying the fulfillment of the ancient promise. So Delitzsch, who, dwelling on the thought that nothing less than the blessing of Abraham extended to the whole world (cf. κληρονόμος τοῦ κόσμου, Romans 4:13) can be regarded as complete fulfill-merit, says, "God's oath-sealed word of promise is now fulfilled in Christ, and Abraham, while living on in the unseen world, is conscious of and enjoys that fulfillment, and so may be said to have "obtained the promise." This view derives some support from Hebrews 11:13-16, where the longings of the pilgrim patriarchs is so beautifully represented as reaching to a heavenly fulfillment. On the other hand, the aorist ἐπέτυχε is against it, and hence view
(1) may be accepted as a sufficient explanation of the expression (see below, or Hebrews 11:39). With regard to the general drift, it is obvious how μακροθυμία, as well as πίστις, in respect to the promise first made to him "in Charran," is strikingly displayed in Abraham's recorded life.
because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself; swearing is ascribed to a divine person after the manner of men, and in condescension to them; and who is never introduced swearing, but in matters of moment and of great importance; the note of Philo the Jew (n) on the passage in Genesis 22:16 from whence the following words are cited, is worthy of observation, being very near the apostle's words;
"well does he (God) confirm the promise with an oath, and with an oath that becomes God; for you see that God does not swear by another, for nothing is better than himself, but by himself, who is the best of all; but some have suggested as if it was inconvenient to swear, for an oath is taken for the sake of faith; but God alone is faithful, &c.''
(n) Leg. Allegor. l. 2. p. 98.