Hebrews 5:3

καὶ διʼ αὐτὴν … ἀμαρτιῶν “and because of it is bound as for the people, so also for himself to offer for sins”. Vaughan recommends the deletion of the stop at the end of Hebrews 5:2. The law which enjoined that the high priest should on the Day of Atonement sacrifice for himself and his house (ἐξιλάσεται περὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ τοῦ οἴκου αὐτοῦ) before he sacrificed περὶ τοῦ λαοῦ, is given in Leviticus 16:6; Leviticus 16:15.

Hebrews 5:4. καὶ οὐχ ἑαυτῷ τις λαμβάνει τὴν τιμήν “And no one taketh to himself this honourable office.” καί introduces a second qualification of the priest, implied in καθίσταται of Hebrews 5:1, but now emphasised. An additional reason for trusting in the priest is that he has not assumed the office to gratify his own ambition but to serve God's purpose of restoring men to His fellowship. All genuine priesthood is the carrying out of God's will. The priest must above all else be obedient, in sympathy with God as well as in sympathy with man. God's appointment also secures that the suitable qualifications will be found in the priest. The office is here called τιμή, best translated by the German “Ehrenamt” or “Ehrenstelle.” For τιμή meaning an office see Eurip., Helena, 15; Herodot., ii. 65, παῖς παρὰ πατρὸς ἐκδέκεται τὴν τιμήν; and especially Aristotle, Pol., iii. 10, τιμὰς γὰρ λέγομεν εἶναι τὰς ἀρχάς. Cf. Hor. i. 1, 8 “tergeminis honoribus”. Frequently in Josephus τιμή is used of the high priesthood, see Antiq., xii. 2 5, Hebrews 4:1, etc.; and the same writer should be consulted for the historical illustration of this verse (Antiq., iii. 8 1). In this remarkable passage he represents Moses as saying ἔγωγε … ἐμαυτὸν ἂν τῆς τιμῆς ἄξιον ἔκρινα … νῦν f1δʼ αὐτὸς ὁ Θεὸς Ἀαρῶνα τῆς τιμῆς ταύτης ἄξιον ἔκρινε. The nolo episcopari implied in the words is amply illustrated in the case of Augustine, of John Knox, and especially of Anselm who declared he would rather have been cast on a stack of blazing faggots than set on the archiepiscopal throne, and continued to head his letters “Brother Anselm monk of Bec by choice, Archbishop of Canterbury by violence”. On the other hand, see the account of the appointment by his own act (αὐτόχειρ) of the priest king in Aricia, in Strabo Hebrews 5:3-12 and elsewhere. ἀλλὰ καλούμενος … καθώσπερ καὶ Ἀαρών. “but when called by God as in point of fact even Aaron was”. If the article is retained before καλ. we must translate “but he that is called,” καλούμενος “in diesem amtlichen Sinne nur hier,” says Weiss, but see Matthew 4:21; Galatians 1:15. For Aaron's call, see Exodus 28:1 ff. Schöttgen and Wetstein appositely quote from the Bammidbar Rabbi “Moses said to Korah and his associates: If my brother Aaron took to himself the priesthood, then ye did well to rebel against him; but in truth God gave it to him, whose is the greatness and the power and the glory. Whosoever, then, rises against Aaron, does he not rise against God?” It is notorious that the contemporary priesthood did not fulfil the description here given.