Israel in the wilderness were trials of faith, not temptations to sin; thus the "all points"

are by no means universal.

The word homoioõ, "to be made like", gives us homoiotes. This comes in the parallel

verse (4: 15), where we read that Christ as the high priest was "in all points tempted like

as we are". The actual wording is pepeirasmenon de KATA panta KATH homoiotēta,

"having been tempted according to all things according to a likeness". Heb. 7: 15

contains the only other occurrence of the word in the N.T. The fact that the Saviour

stooped not only to our humanity, but to endure its trials and its sorrows, is emphasized

as one of the chief of His high qualifications as the true, merciful and faithful high priest.

His work here is twofold. In the things pertaining to God--expiation for sins of the

people; in the things pertaining to His people--succour for those who are tempted. The

hilaskomai ("reconciliation" in A.V.) gives us the hilasterion of Heb. 9: 5, "the mercy

seat" of which Paul said he could not then speak particularly. If we remember that he

makes a similar statement regarding the Melchisedec priesthood of Christ (5: 11), we

shall perceive that the subject before us is fuller and deeper than we at first might

In the doctrine of Romans the mercy seat figures in 3: 25, "Whom God hath set

forth to be a propitiation", but the subject is not exhausted by justification. The mercy

seat bore the cherubim of GLORY, and was the very visible throne of God in the

tabernacle. There, the Lord said, He would meet with Moses and commune with him.

The epistle to the Romans, with its emphasis upon justification, sees the blood-sprinkled

mercy seat resting upon the ark which contained the unbroken tables of the law. The

epistle to the Hebrews sees the same blood-sprinkled mercy seat, but while it recognizes

the teaching of the preservation of the tables of the law, it finds the necessity of "finding

fault" with the old covenant in a way which is parallel, though different from the setting

aside of the law in Romans. Moreover, Hebrews takes account of the other articles which

were covered by that mercy seat and indeed speaks of them before mentioning the tables

of the covenant, viz., "the golden pot that had the manna, and Aaron's rod that budded".

The manna speaks of wilderness provision. In Christ as high priest the believer finds

all that the golden pot of manna means. The epistle to the Hebrews is essentially the

book of the wilderness and the pilgrim, and in pressing on to perfection the wilderness

experience is repeated. The believer learns that man does not live by bread alone, but by

every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.  Faith, not sight, is his

characteristic. The rod that budded speaks of a living priesthood. This too is emphasized

in Hebrews:--

Manna from heaven for all our needs, an ever-living high priest to save to the

uttermost, this is vitally connected with the thought of the propitiatory and the

propitiation of Heb. 2: 17. The LXX commonly rendered the Hebrew word kopher.