Kretzmann's Popular Commentary
Hebrews 12:20
(for they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart;
(for they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart;
FOR THEY COULD NOT ENDURE THAT WHICH WAS COMMANDED - They could not sustain the awe produced by the fact that God uttered his commands himself. The meaning is not that the commands themselves were int...
CHAPTER 12 _ 1. Looking away unto Jesus (Hebrews 12:1)_ 2. The Contradiction of sinners (Hebrews 12:3) 3. Chastened as sons (Hebrews 12:5) 4. Exhortations ...
The theme of the epistle has been the contrast of the old and the new covenants, and this contrast is now summed up in a splendid closing passage. The first covenant was established on a mount that mi...
THE RACE AND THE GOAL (Hebrews 12:1-2)...
It is not to something that can be touched that you have come, to a flaming fire, to mist and gloom and stormblast, and to the blare of a trumpet, and to a voice which spoke such words that those who...
IF. Greek. _ean_. App-118. BEAST. Greek. _therion,_ not _zoon._ TOUCH. See Hebrews 11:28. OR THRUST THROUGH, &C. All the texts omit. No doubt this is because of the complex Ellipsis. In Exodus 19:13...
_they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast …_ Rather, "they endured not the injunction, If even a beast …" (Exodus 19:12-13). This injunction seemed to them to indicate...
20. [ἢ βολίδι κατατοξευθήσεται]. An ill-supported gloss from Exodus 19:13. 20. ΟΥ̓Κ ἜΦΕΡΟΝ ΓᾺΡ Κ.Τ.Λ. “_For they endured not the injunction, If even a beast …_” (Exodus 19:12-13). This injunction seem...
THE MERCY AND SUBLIMITY OF THE NEW COVENANT AS CONTRASTED WITH THE OLD (18–24) ENHANCE THE GUILT AND PERIL OF THE BACKSLIDER (25–29)...
CH. 12. An exhortation to faithful endurance (1–3) and a reminder that our earthly sufferings are due to the fatherly chastisement of God (4–13). The need of earnest watchfulness (14–17). Magnificent...
_ RUN TO THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM -- HEBREWS 12:18-22:_ The goal of the Christian is not Mount Sinai. That mountain is not our goal, even though at that mountain there was an awesome demonstration of Go...
ΈΦΕΡΟΝ _impf. ind. act. от_ ΦΈΡΩ (G5342) нести, выносить, сносить, ΔΙΑΣΤΕΛΛΌΜΕVOV _praes. act. part. от_ ΔΙΑΣΤΈΛΛΩ (G450) повелевать, приказывать. _Praes._ обозначает приказ, который постоянно звучит...
DISCOURSE: 2339 THE TRANSCENDENT EXCELLENCE OF THE CHRISTIAN DISPENSATION Hebrews 12:18. Ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkne...
C. _The nature of the old covenant in contrast with that of the new. Hebrews 12:18-24_. 1. The terror of the old. Hebrews 12:18-21. _TEXT_ Hebrews 12:18-21...
THE INFERIORITY OF JUDAISM (Hebrews 12:20, Hebrews 12:21) The Divine law was, for the substance of it, originally written in the hearts of mankind by God Himself, when their federal head and father w...
(For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: THAT WHICH WAS COMMANDED, [ to (G3588) diastel...
1 This cloud of "witnesses" consists of those just enumerated, who witness to the life of faith. It has no reference to any who are watching the Hebrews. A witness is one who testifies, and it is the...
12:20 enjoined. (s-10) See Exodus 19:13 ....
THE CONTEST. ENDURANCE, HOLINESS, AND DIVINE COMMUNION PROPOSED TO THE SONS OF GOD Inspired by the example of those victorious heroes of faith who now encompass us, we ought to run our race patiently,...
HOW CAN I GET TO HEAVEN? HEBREWS _IAN MACKERVOY_ CHAPTER 12 THE RIGHT WAY TO LIVE 12:1-29 JESUS IS OUR EXAMPLE 12:1-3 V1 Like a great cloud, there are a lot of *witnesses round us. Let us then...
(18-29) The exhortation to faithfulness is most impressively enforced by means of a comparison between the earlier revelation and that which is given in Christ. THE MOUNT THAT MIGHT BE TOUCHED. — It a...
There is no sufficient reason for enclosing this verse and the next in a parenthesis. AND IF SO MUCH AS. — Better, _If even a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned_ (Exodus 19:12). The next cla...
CHAPTER XV. MOUNT ZION. "For ye are not come unto a mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of...
In this paragraph we have the climax of the Epistle. Its doctrine and its exhortation alike culminate here. The great aim of the writer has been to persuade the Hebrews to hearken to the word spoken b...
HEARKEN TO GOD'S LATEST WORD Hebrews 12:18 Sinai rocked with earthquake and burned with fire. None might touch it without incurring the death penalty. How much better our Christian heritage! Not a lo...
After this rapid survey of the past, the writer makes his great appeal. It is that we "consider Him" who is "the Author and Perfecter of faith." The final appeals of the Epistle fall into four sectio...
BETTER ACCESS TO GOD THAN WAS AT SINAI So, a careful watch should be kept to avoid the kind of attitude that would cause one to give up his birthright. This is especially true since we labor under a n...
(18) For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, (19) And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which...
The apostle now resumes his great theme, Christ called a Priest of God for ever after the order of Melchisedec. He alludes, in the beginning of our chapter, to the historical facts of Genesis. We must...
The epistle now enters on the practical exhortations that flow from its doctrinal instruction, with reference to the dangers peculiar to the Hebrew Christians - instruction suited throughout to inspir...
FOR THEY COULD NOT ENDURE THAT WHICH WAS COMMANDED,.... In the law; not that they disliked and despised the law, as unregenerate men do; but they could not endure it, or bear it, as a yoke, it being a...
The discourse from hence unto the end of the chapter is of great weight, and accompanied with sundry difficulties, of which expositors do scarcely so much as take notice. Hence many different interpre...
(For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: Ver. 20. _For they could not endure_] This shows...
Heb. 12:19-20 HEBREWS 12:19-20. AND THE SOUND OF A TRUMPET, AND THE VOICE OF WORDS; WHICH (VOICE) THEY THAT HEARD ENTREATED THAT THE WORD SHOULD NOT BE SPOKEN TO THEM ANY MORE: (FOR THEY COULD NOT EN...
_For they could not endure that which was commanded_ That is, either, 1st, The law itself, so strict and holy, and promulged amidst such terrors seen and heard: or, 2d, The sense is, they could not be...
Now follows an exhortation which contains, first, and encouragement drawn from the gracious character of the Christian dispensation, as contrasted with the severity of the Mosaic law; secondly, a warn...
IF SO MUCH AS A BEAST TOUCH THE MOUNTAIN; much more a man. Exodus 19:12-13; Exodus 19:21-24. This prohibition shadowed forth the distance from himself at which the holy God, under the Mosaic economy,...
How rightly now Chapter 12 admonishes the saints of God to act by faith; for where faith is in godly exer\-cise, every honorable and true responsibility will be willingly assumed, with the confidence...
18-29 Mount Sinai, on which the Jewish church state was formed, was a mount such as might be touched, though forbidden to be so, a place that could be felt; so the Mosaic dispensation was much in out...
The reason of the foregoing deprecation, and which adds to the terribleness of this covenant dispensation; _for_ the voice surpassed their strength and capacity, that they must die if they heard it an...
Hebrews 12:20 For G1063 could G5342 not G3756 endure G5342 (G5707) commanded G1291 (G5746) much G2579 beast...
Hebrews 12:18-29. All these warnings become the more impressive from the fact that our economy is one of much greater privilege than the previous, and that it is the last revelation which God will giv...
FOR THEY COULD NOT ENDURE (ουκ εφερον γαρ). Imperfect active of φερω, "for they were not enduring (bearing)."THAT WHICH WAS ENJOINED (το διαστελλομενον). Present passive articular participle of δι...
Hebrews 12:18 Mount Sinai and Mount Zion. In this passage are mentioned seven great and solemn heavenly realities. I. Mount Zion. Mount Sinai represents the law. It manifests the majesty of God abov...
Hebrews 12:18 The Blessedness of the Christian Life. A Christian Jew is writing to Christian Jews, who stand in some danger of falling back to the religion they had abandoned. This writer is here, as...
The apostle, having deserted the heroes of the faith, represents them as witnesses of the great race which Christians in all ages have to run. All through the chapter he keeps up the idea of the great...
L, 2. _Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race...
After giving a long list of the heroes of faith, the apostle adds: Hebrews 12:1. Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and th...
CONTENTS: The Father's chastening of believers and its purpose. The difference between living under law and under grace. CHARACTERS: God, Christ, Esau, Moses, Abel. CONCLUSION: Christians have a race...
Hebrews 12:1. _Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses._ Confessors and martyrs of the ancient church are here supposed to be the spectators of our course, and...
BECAUSE. This command added to their terror!...
HEBREWS—NOTE ON HEBREWS 12:18 Israel’s experience at Mount Sinai (especially Exodus 19:12; Exodus 20:18;...
_CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES_ Hebrews 12:18. MIGHT BE TOUCHED.—A figure of speech for a “material” thing. “A palpable and enkindled fire.” For the terrors accompanying the giving of the law on Sina...
EXPOSITION The exhortation, begun at Hebrews 10:19, but interrupted at Hebrews 11:1. I by the chapter on faith, is now taken up again with increased force from the array of examples that have been add...
Shall we turn now to Hebrews, chapter 12. Wherefore, seeing we are also compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1), What this does not mean is that the Old Testament saints, wh...
Deuteronomy 33:2; Exodus 19:13; Exodus 19:16; Galatians 2:19;...
That which was commanded [τ ο δ ι α σ τ ε λ λ ο μ ε ν ο ν]. See on Mark 7:36; Acts 14:24. Touch [θ ι γ η]. Elsewhere in N. T. only ch. 11 28 and Colossians 2:21. LXX only...
For they could not bear — The terror which seized them, when they heard those words proclaimed, If even a beast, &c. Exodus 19:12, &c....