Bible Commentaries

In these last days; in these days of the last dispensation.--Appointed; constituted.--The worlds; the visible universe.

The brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person; the visible manifestation by which his glory is revealed personally to mankind.--Purged our sins; purged them away, by making atonement for them.

So much better than; so much superior to.--The angels. The writer brings Jesus into comparison with the angels, because the Jews regarded the Mosaic law as given by the ministration of angels, (Acts 7:53;) and he accordingly adopts this as one of the points of comparison between the two dispensations.--A more excellent name, that is, the name of Son, as specified in the Hebrews 1:5.

These quotations are from Hebrews 1:5; Psalms 2:7; 2 Samuel 7:14, and are here considered as applicable to the Messiah. The meaning is, that Jesus was the Son of God, and that, too, in a sense altogether distinctive and peculiar.

The language here quoted is supposed to be taken from Hebrews 1:6; Psalms 97:7.

Hebrews 1:7; Psalms 104:4. The word spirits in this passage means winds. In the original psalm, where the writer is representing the power of God, as shown in the visible creation, the meaning has been supposed to be, Who maketh angels or messengers of the winds, and ministers, that is, servants of the lightning; which involves the idea that his angels, like the winds, are employed in subordinate stations to do his will. It is in this view of the meaning that the language is pertinent here.

Hebrews 1:8,9. Hebrews 1:8,9; Psalms 45:6,7. The meaning is that, while, in the passage quoted above, it is implied that angels are only subordinate agents, to execute, like the winds, the commands of Jehovah, the Son is addressed as clothed with independent majesty and power.--Anointed thee. Anointing was the ancient ceremony of induction to the royal office. (1 Samuel 16:13.) The meaning therefore is, Thy God hath crowned thee, with rejoicings, as the monarch of the mediatorial kingdom.

Hebrews 1:10-12; Psalms 102:25-27.

A vesture; a garment.

Hebrews 1:13; Psalms 110:1.

Ministering spirits; that is, are not they (the angels) instead of being like the Son, at the head of the kingdom, only ministering spirits, employed altogether in executing a superior's commands?