`For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet'.

The Companion Bible at Psalm 110:1 has this note:

`Make Thine enemies Thy footstool - set Thine enemies (as) a footstool for Thy feet. In New Testament Gr. -

tithemi (2 aor. subj.) - `shall have placed'. 1 Cor. 15:25 is the exception, where it is not `set as a footstool', but

put `under', because Christ's session on His own throne (Matt. 25:31; Rev. 3:21) is there referred to, instead of

His session on His Father's throne, as in all the other quotations'.

These considerations are by no means exhaustive, they are rather but indications of what lines of study are

necessary to begin to appreciate the apostle's line of argument in Hebrews chapter 1. We can only leave it with the

reader, and pray that each may be so desirous of attaining to the `knowledge of the Son of God' (Eph. 4:13), that no

weariness of the flesh shall be permitted to prevent the exercise of the Berean spirit that it is the purpose of this

study to encourage.

We pass now to the conclusion of this section of Hebrews 1, namely verse 9:

`Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the

oil of gladness above Thy fellows'.

Knowing the nature of our hearts when bereft of grace, we are somewhat timid in the use of `hate', leaning rather

and exclusively to the emphasis on `love'. We should remember that unholy love may be as harmful as unholy hate,

and that true hate and true love go together:

`He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal' (John

`Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated' (Rom. 9:13).

Some things are stated to be the objects of true hatred without the alternative that is loved being stated, `Hating

even the garment spotted by the flesh' (Jude 23); `Thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate';

`which thing I hate' (Rev. 2:6,15). In the Old Testament we read of `men of truth, hating covetousness', and the

Psalmist says `Ye that love the Lord, hate evil', so others `hate every false way'; `hate and abhor lying', the climax

being reached in Psalm 139, `Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate Thee? ... I hate them with perfect hatred' (Psa.

139:21,22). Perfect hate can only be achieved where there is also perfect love. In the Son of God there is perfect

harmony, and because He had loved righteousness and hated iniquity, the good pleasure of the Lord was manifestly

expressed. The anointing here is not the anointing of the Saviour at the commencement of His ministry (Luke 4:18),

for that anointing but led along the path of sorrows to the shame of the Cross. This is an anointing with the `oil of

gladness', it is the `exceeding joy,' of the presentation of the believer faultless before the throne (Jude 24). This

`exceeding joy' is reserved for the believer until the moment `When His glory shall be revealed' (1 Pet. 4:13).

`That the elaion agalliaseos here does not mean the oil of consecration to office, is plain from the consideration

that the administration of the kingly office is described in the preceding context as having already existed'

(Moses Strut).

`We must distinguish this anointing from that of Acts 10:38 and Isaiah 61:1. For it is consequent upon the

righteous course of the Son of God in His humanity, and therefore belongs to His triumph' (Alford).

Two further terms used here show that Christ as the Mediator, and not as He was before the world began, is

intended. These terms are `Thy God' and `Thy fellows'. As the Lord, He is God, and God can have no fellows, but

one of His most important yet most misunderstood relationships is expressed in the words `The God of our Lord

Jesus Christ' (Eph. 1:17). Who is at the selfsame time `The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ' (Eph. 3:14); indeed

`The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ' (Eph. 1:3). This relation to His office as `The Son' also relates to His

Mediation and His Headship. Throughout the Old Testament from the call of Abraham and on unto the speech of

Stephen in Acts 7, the Lord has borne the name of `The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob', the covenant-keeping

God of Israel. Those who are addressed in the epistle of the Mystery, Ephesians, had no such God. They were

aliens, strangers, Christless, hopeless and Godless. By the very nature of their natural condition, and by the very

nature of the new revelation made known in Ephesians, the believing Gentile could no more approach the Lord as

the God of Abraham than the Syro-phoenician woman could approach Him as the Son of David (Matt. 15). But