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If the seed of Abraham, and flesh and blood, were laid hold of by the fear of death and
thereby brought into bondage, Christ's becoming flesh and delivering them from that
bondage is a fitting sequel.
"Wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren that He
might be a merciful and faithful High Priest" (verse 17).
We have already seen that the Lord Jesus "tasted death" and in the garden of
Gethsemane His soul was exceeding sorrowful even unto death. Three times He prayed
with reference to that awful cup. Heb. 5: 7 tells us that He was heard for His piety.
There is a direct connection between Gethsemane and the Melchisedec priesthood of
Christ in Heb. 5: It is an expansion of Heb. 2: 16-18. Since Christ has come and died
and risen again, such words as II Tim. 1: 10 can be written:--
"Our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath on the one hand rendered death powerless (same
word Heb. 2: 14) and on the other hand illuminated life and incorruptibility through the
gospel."
Those who once were subject to bondage can now look death in the face and say, "O
death, where is thy sting?" We submit this interpretation to the judgment of our readers
and shall be glad to hear from any who may search out the matter more thoroughly.
#21.
Propitiation and the Pilgrim (2: 17, 18).
pp. 148 - 152
"For which reason it behoved Him to be made like to His brethren n all things
(kata panta), in order that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God, with a view to making a propitiation for the sins of the people.
For in that He Himself has suffered being tempted, He is able to succour them that
are tempted" (Heb. 2: 17, 18).
"All things" here is panta, a word liable to much abuse, for although it may seem a
very forceful argument to emphatically say, "God say All things, and that does not admit
of exception", we find that this very epistle interprets its own language for us, and
definitely teaches that "all" does not necessarily mean "all" in our sense of the word.
Heb. 4: 15 returns to the theme of Heb. 2: 17, 18:--
"For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities, but one having been tempted in all points (kata panta) like (see 2: 17) as we
are, SIN EXCEPTED."
This is important. The temptations referred to in the epistle to the Hebrews in which
Christ so fully shared, like the temptations of Abraham (Gen. 22:), and the children of