Hebrews 2:13. Second and third proofs, taken from Isaiah 8:17-18. The design of the author in dividing into two different citations, by means of καὶ πάλιν, the words which stand together in the Hebrew and the LXX., is not to present the relation of community between Christ and the Christians on two different sides, in that, namely, it is indicated in his first passage how the incarnate Son of God descended to the standpoint of man; in the second, on the other hand, how redeemed men are raised by God to the standpoint of Christ (Kurtz),—all of which is subtle and far-fetched; but only to pile up the Scripture testimonies, inasmuch as the end of Hebrews 2:17, as well as the beginning of Hebrews 2:18, seemed to him to contain each in itself an independent means of evidence for that which he would make good. The words of the first proof passage: πεποιθὼς ἔσομαι ἐπʼ αὐτῷ, are likewise found in the LXX. at 2 Samuel 22:3 and Isaiah 12:2. But that the author was not thinking of one of these passages (according to Ebrard, of the first), but of Isaiah 8:17, is the more natural supposition, because with the LXX. and in the original the words, which here, too, are first adduced (only in partially inverted order, and augmented by ἐγώ): καὶ πεποιθὼς ἔσομαι ἐπʼ αὐτῷ, immediately precede the directly following passage, taken from Isaiah 8:18. In their historic sense the words cited refer to the prophet and his sons, and, indeed, with the LXX., the ἰδοὺ … θεός is a further unfolding of the subject in ἔσομαι. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, however, regards the words as an utterance of Christ, led thereto, as Bleek rightly conjectures, by the καὶ ἐρεῖ, interpolated by the LXX. before Hebrews 2:17, which seemed to indicate another subject than the prophet, since he spoke throughout the whole section in the first person; and other than God, since He is spoken of, by virtue of ἐπʼ αὐτῷ, as the one in whom the speaker trusts. The demonstrative force of the words cited is found by our author in the fact that the person speaking, i.e. Christ, places Himself, by means of the testifying of His confidence in God, upon the same level with other men;[49] as also in that the author understands by the παιδία, not the children of the speaker, but the children of God, the children whom God the Father has given to Christ.

[49] Theophylact: καὶ διὰ τούτον δείκνυσιν, ὅτι ἄνθρωπος καὶ ἀδελφὸς ἡμῶν γέγονεν. ὥσπερ γὰρ ἕκαστος τῶν ἀνθρώπων, οὕτω καὶ αὐτὸς πέποιθεν ἐπʼ αὐτῷ, τουτέστι τῷ πατρί.

Hebrews 2:13. The two quotations cited in the thirteenth verse are from Isaiah 8:17-18. There they are continuous, here they are separately introduced, each by the usual καὶ πάλιν, because they serve to bring out two distinct points. In the first, the Messiah utters his trust in God, and thereby illustrates His sonship and brotherhood with man. Like all men He is dependent on God. As Calvin says: “since He depends on the aid of God His condition has community with ours”. In the second part, ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ not only calls attention to Himself as closely associated with the παιδία; but also, as Weiss thinks, intimates His readiness to obey, as if “Here am I”. This obedience He shares with those whom God has committed to His care, God’s παιδία and His brothers. Cf. John 6:37; John 6:39; John 17:11.

13. And again, I will put my trust in him] The quotation is probably from Isaiah 8:17, but nearly the same words are found in Psalm 18:2 and 2 Samuel 22:3 (LXX.). The necessity of putting His trust in God is a proof of Christ’s humanity, and therefore of His brotherhood with us. When He was on the Cross His enemies said by way of taunt, “He trusted in God” (Matthew 27:43).

Behold, I, and the children which God hath given me] This verse furnishes a marked instance of the principles of Biblical interpretation, of which we have already seen many specimens. Isaiah by the prophetess has a son to whom he is bidden to give the name Maher-shalal-hash-baz, or “Speed-plunder-haste-spoil;” to his elder son he has been bidden to give the name Shear-Jashub, “a remnant shall remain;” and as the names of both sons are connected with prophecies concerning Israel he says “Lo! I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts.” The words are here entirely dissociated from their context and from their primary historical meaning to indicate the relation between Christ and His redeemed children. The LXX. in Isaiah 8:17 insert the words “And He will say,” and some have supposed that the author (who, like most Alexandrians, was evidently unacquainted with the original Hebrew) understood these words to imply that it was no longer the Prophet but the Messiah who was the speaker. It is however more probable that he took for granted the legitimacy of his application. In this he merely followed the school of interpretation in which he had been trained, in accordance with principles which were at that period universally accepted among Jews and Christians. We must ourselves regard it as a somewhat extreme instance of applying the words of Scripture in a Messianic sense. But we see the bearing of the illustration upon the immediate point in view, when we recall the typical character and position of Isaiah, and therefore the mystic significance which was naturally attached to his words. Our Lord Himself uses, with no reference to Isaiah, a similar expression, “those that thou gavest me,” in John 17:12.

Hebrews 2:13. Ἐγὼ ἔσομαι πεποιθὼς ἐπʼ αὐτῷ, I will put my trust in Him) LXX. καὶ πεποιθὼς ἔσομαι ἐπʼ αὐτῷ, in Isaiah immediately before the place from ch. 8, which will be afterwards quoted: πεποιθὼς ἔσομαι ἐπʼ αὐτῷ, 2 Samuel 22:3, which the Church imitates, Isaiah 12:2. The filial confidence of the Messiah is indicated, fleeing from His sufferings to the Father [and by no means disappointed: comp. Hebrews 2:10, at the end.—V. g.], ch. Hebrews 5:7 : comp. 2 Samuel 22:4, etc. A small portion is quoted; the whole passage is intended by the apostle. Our Theologians rightly blame the Schoolmen, who are of opinion, that the atonement of Christ was not simply and in itself condign or meritorious. See Calov. Matæol. pass. in Dedic. But yet the most fragrant part of this atonement is the exceedingly pure confidence by which solely He was supported in His approach to the Father; Psalm 22:10; Matthew 27:43. For He did not show His merits, but rather confessed the sins that were laid upon Him, Psalm 69:6. As He therefore by Himself confidently (by faith) trusted in the Father, so we confidently (by faith) put our trust in Christ, and through Christ in the Father. The argument is very important against the merit of men’s works. But Christ exhibited this confidence not for Himself, for He and the Father are one, but for His own people, Hebrews 2:16. Every instance of present assistance gave assurance of assistance for the future (comp. Php 1:6), until He obtained a complete victory over death and the devil.—ἰδοὺ—ὁ Θεός) Isaiah 8:18, LXX., in the same words. He calls them παιδία ילדים, children, sons, using an expression well becoming the First-begotten, who intimates that the same are both His brethren and His inferiors (juniors); and He presents all these, to be glorified alike with Himself, before God, who has given them to Him to be saved.

Verse 13. - And again, I will put my trust in him. There are two passages of the Old Testament from which this may be a citation 2 Samuel 22:3 and Isaiah 8:17. In either case the original is slightly altered in the citation, probably with a purpose; the emphatic ἐγὼ being prefixed, and ἔσομαι being (suitably after this addition) placed before instead of after πεποιθὼς. The purpose of this change may be to bring into prominence the thought that the Messiah himself, in his humanity, puts his trust in God as well as the "brethren" with whom he associates himself. The passage in 2 Samuel 22:3 is from the psalm of David, written "in the day when the Loan had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul." It is given also in the Book of Psalms as Psalm 18, where the LXX. reads ἐλπιῶ ἐπ αὐτόν instead of πεποίθως ἔσομαι ἐπ αὐτῷ: so that, if the quotation is from the psalm, it is taken from the historical book. But is the quotation from the psalm or from Isaiah? If from the former, it serves (if Psalm 22. is also David's) to complete the type of the same royal sufferer, showing him reliant on God along with his brethren in the day of success, as well as during previous trial. Most commentators, however, suppose the quotation to be from Isaiah, inasmuch as the following one is from him, not only coming immediately after the first in the original, but also dependent on it for its meaning. Nor is the introduction of the second quotation by καὶ πάλιν conclusive against its being the continuation of the same original passage, since it introduces a new idea, to which attention may be thus drawn. Possibly the writer, familiar as he was with the Old Testament, had both passages in his view, the phrase common to both serving as a connecting link between David and Isaiah. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me. The applicability of the whole passage in Isaiah (Isaiah 8:17, 18) to the writer's argument is not at first sight obvious. It occurs in connection with the memorable message to Ahaz, on the occasion of the confederacy of Rezin and Pekah against Judah, in the course of which the prophet foretells (Isaiah 7:14) the birth of Immanuel. In Hebrews 8. and Hebrews 9. he expands this message, rising into a vein of undoubted Messianic prophecy (see especially Isaiah 9:1-8). In the midst of general dismay and disbelief the prophet stands firm and undaunted, presenting himself as a sign as well as a messenger of the salvation which he foretells: "Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts." The "children" thus associated with himself as signs appear to have been his two sons, with their symbolical names, Shear-jashub and Maher-shalal-hash-baz, the first of whom he had been commanded to take with him (Isaiah 7:3) on his first visit to Ahaz, and the second of whom (Isaiah 8:3) had been borne to him by the "prophetess," and named under a Divine command. His own name also may be regarded in the "sign" as symbolical, meaning "Jehovah's salvation." If then, the words of vers. 17, 18 are quoted as those of the prophet himself (and they are certainly his own in our Hebrew text), he is viewed as himself a sign, in the sense of type, of the Immanuel to come. And the point of the quotation is that, to complete such typical sign, it was required that "the children God had given him" should be combined with him in the representation. They represent the ἀδελφοί, the ἀγιαζομένοι, as Isaiah does the υἱὸς, the ἀγιάζων, all being together ἐξ ἑνός. If it be objected that the children given to Isaiah were his own offspring, and not "brethren," as in the antitype, it may be replied that it is net the human paternity of the "children," but their having been given by God to the prophet to be "signs" along with him, that is the prominent; idea in the original passage, and that, thus viewed, the words of Isaiah have their close counterpart in those of our Lord; "The men which thou gavest me out of the world; thine they were, and thou gavest them me" (John 17:6, 9, 11, 12). Such, then, may be the ground for assigning the utterance to Christ, justified by the Messianic character of Old Testament prophecy in general, according to which "the historic sense of the utterance does not exclude the purpose of prophecy; but leaves typical references open which declare themselves historically by some corresponding Messianic fact, and hence are recognized afterwards from the point of view of historic fulfillment" (Meyer). But when we refer to the LXX. (which in the passage before us varies greatly from the Hebrew) we find a further reason. The LXX. has (Isaiah 8:16, 17, 18) "Then shall be manifest these that seal the Law that one should not learn it. And he will say (καὶ ἐρεῖ), I will wait upon God, who has turned away his hoe from the house of Israel, and I will put my trust in him. Lo I and the children which God hath given me." Here, in the absence of any preceding nominative in the singular to be the subject of ἐρεῖ, the writer of the Epistle may have understood the Messiah to be the speaker; and the Seventy also may have so intended the expression. The general drift of the passage, as interpreted in the Epistle, remains the same, though the LXX. more distinctly suggests and justifies its application to Christ. The only difference is that, according to the Hebrew, the prophet speaks and is regarded as a type; according to the LXX., the Antitype himself is introduced as speaking, and declaring the type of Isaiah to be fulfilled in himself. Hebrews 2:13I will put my trust, etc.

Isaiah 8:17, Isaiah 8:18. The passage occurs in an invective against the people's folly in trusting to any help but God's during the Syro-Israelitish war under Ahaz. The prophet is commanded to denounce those who trusted to soothsayers and not to God, and to bind and seal God's testimony to the righteous party who maintained their confidence in him - a party comprising the disciples of Isaiah, and in whom lies the prophet's hope for the future of Israel. Isaiah declares his own faith in God, and announces that he and his children have been appointed as living symbols of the divine will, so that there is no need of applying to necromancers. The names of the children are Shear-jashub a remnant shall return, and Maher-shalal-hash-baz haste-spoil-hurry-prey. These names will teach Israel that Assyria will spoil Damascus and Samaria; and that, in the midst of foreign invasion, God will still be with Judah, and will make a nation of the remnant which the war shall leave. The prophet and his children are thus omens of the nation's fortunes. The children were babes at this time, and "the only unity which existed among them was that which exists between every father and his children, and that which resulted from their belonging to the same prophetic household and all bearing symbolic names (without knowledge of the fact on the part of the children)." Our writer ignores the historical sense of the words, takes a part of a sentence and puts a messianic meaning into it, inferring from it the oneness of Jesus and his people, and the necessity of his assuming their nature in order to be one with them. He treats the two parts of the passage separately, emphasizing in the first part Messiah's trust in God in common with his human brethren, and inserting ἐγὼ I into the lxx text in order to call special attention to the speaker as Messiah. In the second part, he expresses the readiness of himself and his children to carry out God's will.

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