Hebrews 3:2. The discourse takes a turn, by virtue of a further alleging of reasons for the κατανοήσατε, to the comparison of Jesus with Moses, in that first of all the relation of parity between the two is brought prominently forward. The O. T. passage which the author here has under consideration is Numbers 12:7, where Moses is designated by God as faithful in all His house.

ὄντα] characterizes the being faithful as an inherent property; the sense of a strict present is not to be asserted for the participle (with Seb. Schmidt and Bleek), according to which we should have to think only of an exalted Christ; rather does πιστὸν ὄντα attach itself as well to the notion Ἰησοῦν τὸν ἀπόστολον τῆς ὁμολογίας ἡμῶν as to the notion Ἰησοῦν τὸν ἀρχιερέα τῆς ὁμολογίας ἡμῶν; ὄντα embraces, therefore, equally the time from which Christ, as the incarnate Son of God, had appeared upon earth, and the time from which He, invested with the high-priestly dignity, has returned to the Father, and now continues to fulfil in heaven His high-priestly office.

τῷ ποιήσαντι αὐτόν] Periphrasis of God: Him who created Him. Only this sense of the calling forth into existence can the word ποιεῖν have when placed absolutely; comp. LXX. Isaiah 17:7; Isaiah 43:1; Isaiah 51:13; Hosea 8:14; Job 35:10; Psalm 95:6; Psalm 149:2; Sir 7:30, al. Rightly is this accepted by the early Latin translation of the codd. D E (fidelem esse creatori suo), Ambrose (de fide, 3. 11), Vigilius Tapsensis (contra Varimadum, p. 729), Primasius, Schulz, Bleek, Alford, Kurtz, and Hofmann. Contrary to linguistic usage—for an appeal cannot be made to 1 Samuel 12:6 (where ποιεῖν (עָשָׂה) has its ordinary signification), and still less to Mark 3:14 (where a nearer defining is given to the verb by means of ἵνα κ.τ.λ.), or to Acts 2:36 (where a double accusative is found)—do Chrysostom, Theodoret, Oecumenius, Theophylact, Vatablus, Clarius [Calvin], Cameron, Piscator, Grotius, Owen, Wolf, Bengel, Böhme, Kuinoel, de Wette, Stengel, Tholuck, Stuart, Ebrard, Bisping, Delitzsch, Riehm (Lehrbegr. des Hebräerbr. p. 286 f.), Reuss, Maier, Kluge, Moll, M‘Caul, Woerner, and the majority, interpret τῷ ποιήσαντι either by: who appointed Him thereto (sc. Apostle and High Priest), or ordained Him thereto; or—what amounts to the same thing—explaining the supplementing of a second accusative to ποιήσαντι as unnecessary, by: who set Him forth upon the stage of history. Whether, for the rest, the author referred the notion of having created to the incarnation of Christ, as the above-mentioned early ecclesiastical writers suppose, or to His premundane generation as the First-born (cf. Hebrews 1:5-6), which Bleek rightly regards as at least possible, cannot be determined.[55]

Ὡς ΚΑῚ ΜΩΫΣῆς] sc. πιστὸς ἦν τῷ ποιήσαντι αὐτόν.

ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦ] does not belong to ΠΙΣΤῸΝ ὌΝΤΑ Τῷ ΠΟΙΉΣΑΝΤΙ ΑὐΤΌΝ, in such wise that we have, with Calvin, Paulus, Bleek, Ebrard, and Hofmann, to enclose Ὡς ΚΑῚ ΜΩΫΣῆς within commas, but is to be comprehended with Ὡς ΚΑῚ ΜΩΫΣῆς (de Wette, Kurtz, and the majority). For not only, Numbers 12:7, do the words appended: ἘΝ ὍΛῼ Τῷ ΟἼΚῼ ΑὐΤΟῦ, stand in special relation to Moses,—so that the author might very well derive from that place the same addition with the same special reference to Moses,—but also the equal reference of ἘΝ ὍΛῼ Τῷ ΟἼΚῼ ΑὐΤΟῦ to Christ, as to Moses, would be unsuitable to the connection with that which follows, since the author, Hebrews 3:5 and Hebrews 3:6, definitely distinguishes the place occupied by Moses, as the position of a servant ἘΝ ὍΛῼ Τῷ ΟἼΚῼ, from the place occupied by Christ, as a position of ruler ἘΠῚ ΤῸΝ ΟἾΚΟΝ; and in harmony with this distinction, already Hebrews 3:3 characterizes Moses as merely a member of the ΟἾΚΟς itself; Christ, on the other hand, as the founder of the ΟἾΚΟς.

ΑὐΤΟῦ] refers neither to Christ (Bleek) nor to Moses (Oecumenius and others), but, as is also determined by the form of the expression with the LXX. (ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ οἴκῳ μου), to God.

But the house of God is the people of God, or the kingdom of God; and ἐν denotes the province, in the administration of which the πιστὸν εἶναι was made manifest.

[55] That which Delitzsch urges against either possibility, namely, that “although the man Jesus as such, so far as that which is essential in the notion of creation is the state of beginning in time, must be regarded as a creature, there could be no more unsuitable expression—because one almost unmeaningly colourless, or even indecorous—for the matchless and unique act of the formation of the humanity of the Son in the womb of Mary, than the term ποιεῖν, for the use of which, in this sense, no instances can on that very account be adduced;” and that “after the author has, Hebrews 1:2, employed ποιεῖν as expression of the pure idea of creation, he could surely not now have employed it of the sublimer genesis of the Mediator of the world’s creation,” falls to pieces, because it rests upon mere subjectivity. For it is nothing more than a pronouncing upon the mind of the writer from the standpoint of the critic’s own ready-formed dogmatics.

Hebrews 3:2. The characteristic, or particular, qualification of Jesus which is to hold their attention is His trustworthiness or fidelity. πιστὸν ὄντα might be rendered “as being faithful”. The fidelity here in view, though indirectly to men and encouraging them to trust, is directly to Him who made Him, sc., Apostle and High Priest. τῷ ποιήσαντι αὐτόν. The objection urged by Bleek, Lünemann and Alford that ποιεῖν can mean “appoint” only when followed by two accusatives is not valid. The second accusative may be understood; and in 1 Samuel 12:6 we find Κύριος ὁ ποιήσας τὸν Μωυσῆν καὶ τὸν Ἀαρών, words which may have been in the writer’s mind. The Arian translation, “to Him that created Him,” is out of place. Appointment to office finds its correlative in faithfulness, creation scarcely suggests that idea. The fidelity of Jesus is illustrated not by incidents from His life nor by the crowning proof given in His death, nor is it argued from the admitted perfections of His character, but in accordance with the plan of the Epistle it is merely compared to that of Moses, and its superiority is implied in the superiority of the Son to the servant. He was faithful “as also Moses in all His house,” this being the crowning instance of fidelity testified to by God Himself, ὁ θεράπων μου Μωυσῆς ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ οἴκῳ μου πιστός εστι (Numbers 12:7), where the context throws the emphasis on ὅλῳ. “The ‘house of God’ is the organised society in which He dwells” (Westcott), cf. 1 Timothy 3:15. Weiss says that the words ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦ “necessarily belong” to πιστὸν ὄντα. This is questionable, because the writer’s point is that Jesus is faithful not “in” but “over” the house of God (Hebrews 3:6).

Hebrews 3:3. The reason is now assigned why Jesus and His fidelity should eclipse in their consideration that of Moses. The reason is that “this man” (οὗτος, “the person who is the subject of our consideration”) “has been and is deemed worthy of greater glory (‘amplioris gloriae,’ Vulg. πλείονος, qualitative as in Hebrews 11:4) than Moses, in proportion as he that built the house has more honour than the house.” The genitive follows the comparative πλείονα. The “greater glory” is seen in the more important place occupied by Him in the fulfilment of God’s purpose of salvation. This glory of Jesus is as much greater than that of Moses, as the cause is greater than the effect, the builder than the house. [The principle is stated by Philo (De Plant., c. 16. In Wendland’s ed., ii. 147) ὁ κτησάμενος τὸ κτῆμα τοῦ κτήματος ἀμείνων καὶ τὸ πεποιηκὸς τοῦ γεγονότος, and by Menander and other comic poets as quoted by Justin (Apol., i. 20) μείζονα τὸν δημιουργὸν τοῦ σκευαζομένου. Weiss, however, is of opinion that it is not a general principle that is being stated, but that τοῦ οἴκου refers directly to the house of God.] ὁ κατασκευάσας includes all that belongs to the completion of a house, from its inception and plan in the mind of the architect to its building and furnishing and filling with a household. Originally the word means to equip or furnish, κατασκευάζειν τὴν οἰκίαν τοῖς σκεύεσιν, Diog. L. Hebrews 3:14. So συμπόσιον κατασ. Plato, Rep., 363 C. σκεύεσιν ἰδίοις τὴν ναῦν κατεσκεύασα, Demosth., Polyc., 1208. Thence, like our word “furnish” or “prepare,” it took the wider meaning of “making” or “building” or “providing”. Thus the shipbuilder κατασκ. the ship; the mason κατασ. the tower. So in Hebrews 11:7 κατεσκεύασε κιβωτόν, cf. 1 Peter 3:20. (Further, see Stephanus and Bleek). In the present verse it has its most comprehensive meaning, and includes the planning, building, and filling of the house with furniture and with a household. The household is more directly in view than the house. The argument involves that Jesus is identified with the builder of the house, while Moses is considered a part of the house. It is the Son (who in those last Days has spoken God’s word to men through the lips of Jesus), who in former times also fulfilled God’s purpose by building His house and creating for Him a people. And lest the readers of the epistle should object that Moses was as much the builder of the old as Jesus of the new, the writer lifts their mind from the management of the system or Church to the creation of it.

2. who was faithful] Lit., “Being faithful,” i.e. as Cranmer excellently rendered it, “how that he is faithful.” The word is suggested by the following contrast between Christ and Moses, of whom it had been said “My servant Moses is not so, who was faithful in all mine house,” Numbers 12:7.

to him that appointed him] Lit., “to Him that made Him.” There can be little doubt that the expression means, as in the A.V. “to Him that made Him such,” i.e. made Him an Apostle and High Priest. For the phrase is doubtless suggested by 1 Samuel 12:6, where the LXX. has “He that made Moses and Aaron” (A.V. “advanced”); comp. Mark 3:14, “And He made (ἐποίησε) Twelve, that they should be with Him.” Acts 2:36, “God made Him Lord and Christ.” The rendering “appointed” is therefore a perfectly faithful one. Still the peculiarity of the phrase was eagerly seized upon by Arians to prove that Christ was a created Being, and this was one of the causes which retarded the general acceptance of the Epistle. Yet even if “made” was not here used in the sense of “appointed” the Arians would have had no vantage ground; for the word might have been applied to the Incarnation (so Athanasius, and Primasius), though not (as Bleek and Lünemann take it) to the Eternal Generation of the Son. Theodoret and Chrysostom understood it as our Version does.

as also Moses … in all his house] Rather, “in all His (God’s) house,” Numbers 12:7. The house is God’s house or household, i.e. the theocratic family of which the Tabernacle was a symbol—“the house of God which is the Church of the living God,” 1 Timothy 3:15. The “faithfulness” of Moses consisted in teaching the Israelites all that God had commanded him (Deuteronomy 4:5) and himself “doing according to all that the Lord commanded him” (Exodus 40:16).

Hebrews 3:2. Πιστὸν ὄντα, who is faithful) Numbers 12:7, at the end, עבדי משה בכל ביתי נאמן הוא, LXX., ὁ θεράπων μου (comp. presently afterwards, Hebrews 3:5) Μωϋσῆς ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ οἴκῳ μου πιστός ἐστι. He calls him faithful, who is both himself so, and is acknowledged to be so by GOD, and is praised on that account. From this flows faithfulness in office, and the faith of the hearers without exception, for this very reason that Moses is נאכון; comp. Num. same chap., Hebrews 3:8, likewise at the end.—τῷ ποιήσαντι αὐτὸν, to Him that appointed Him) His heavenly Father made or appointed Jesus Christ to be both His Apostle and High Priest, ch. Hebrews 5:5; where τὸ γενηθῆναι, to be made, viz. by the word of the Lord, corresponds to τῷ ποιήσαντι. Add Acts 2:36. And this rouses us to the exercise of faith. There is an expression which very much resembles this in 1 Samuel 12:6; 1 Samuel 12:8 : “It is the Lord who made [Engl. Vers., advanced] (LXX., ὁ ποιήσας) and sent Moses and Aaron.”—ὡς καὶ Μωϋσῆς, as also Moses) So Deuteronomy 18:15. He praises Moses, and thus conciliates the Jews, before that he prefers Christ to him; although he has prepared their minds for hearing it, by his preferring the same Jesus even to angels.—οἴκῳ, in His house) A rare appellation in the time of Moses.—αὐτοῦ, His, of Him) of GOD, Hebrews 3:6, note.

Verse 2. - Who was faithful (or, as being faithful) to him that appointed (literally, made) him, as also Moses was in all his house. The reference is to what was said of Moses (Numbers 12:7), "My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house," and serves aptly to introduce the intended comparison of Christ with him. In respect of faithfulness to him who constituted him in his office, Christ resembles Moses; in respect to his office itself, it is to be shown that he is far above him. Observe

(1) that "his house" means God's house, as' is plain from the text cited, i.e. the house of him who appointed him;

(2) that "in all his house" has reference to Moses only, not to Christ; for the main point of what follows is that Christ is over God's house, not in it, as Moses was. As to the verb ποιήσαντα (translated in A.V. "appointed "), it may have been suggested by 1 Samuel 12:6, where the LXX. reads Κύριος ὁ ποίησας τὸν Μωυσῆν καὶ τὸν Ἀαρὼν, the Hebrew verb being עַשׂה, which seems to mean in this case "constitute," not "create" (so Gesenius). The preceding words, ἀπόστολον καὶ ἀρχιερέα, though it is not necessary to supply them as understood, may be taken here to rule the meaning of ποιήσαντι (cf. for a similar use of the verb without a second accusative following, Mark 3:14, καὶ ἐποίησε δώδεκα. Thus the Arian inference from the word, that Christ is represented as a creature, is groundless. Nor need reference be supposed to his human birth or conception, the temporalis generatio of the man Jesus (Athanasius, Ambrose, and other Fathers). Certainly not to his eternal generation (as Bleek and Lunemann); such reference is foreign to the idea of the passage; nor could the word ποιεῖν with any propriety be so used. Hebrews 3:2Who was faithful (πιστὸν ὄντα)

Rend. "is faithful." A general designation of inherent character. He is faithful as he ever was.

To him that appointed him (τῷ ποιήσαντι αὐτὸν)

Constituted him apostle and high priest. Some render created, referring to Christ's humanity or to his eternal generation. So the Old Latin, creatori suo; but this does not suit the context. Ποιεῖν often in Class. in the sense of institute, as sacrifices, funerals, assemblies, etc., and in the middle voice of adoption as a son. See 1 Samuel 12:6; Mark 3:14; Acts 2:36.

As also Moses (ὡς καὶ Μωυσῆς)

The highest example of human fidelity known to the readers.

In all his house (ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦ)

Const. with was faithful. Jesus was faithful even as Moses was faithful.

The subject of the high-priesthood of Christ, introduced in this verse, is not carried out in detail by showing the superiority of Jesus to earthly high priests. This is reserved for chs. 5-7. Instead, the writer proceeds to show that Christ is superior to Moses, as he has already shown his superiority to angels. He will thus have shown Christ's superiority to both the agencies by which the old covenant was mediated. The subject is a delicate one to treat for Jewish readers to whom Moses was the object of the deepest veneration; but the treatment displays tact by placing Moses in the foreground beside Christ as an example of fidelity to his commission. Justice is thus done to the familiar historical record, and to God's own testimony, Numbers 12:7. The general sense of the comparison is that Moses was as faithful as any servant in a house can be, while Christ was not a servant in the house, but a son, and displayed his fidelity in that capacity.

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