Hebrews 5:5

οὕτω καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς.… “So even the Christ glorified not himself to be made a high priest.” [“So hat auch der Christus nicht sich selbst die Herrlichkeit des Hohenpriestertums zugeeignet,” Weizsäcker.] The designation, “the Christ,” is introduced, because it might not have seemed so significant a statement if made of “Jesus”. It was not personal ambition that moved Christ. He did not come in His own name, nor did He seek to glorify Himself. See John 8:54; John 5:31; John 5:43; John 17:5, and passim. ἀλλʼ ὁ λαλήσας … Μελχισεδέκ. “but He [glorified Him to be made a priest] who said, Thou art My Son, I this day have begotten Thee; as also in another place He says, Thou art a priest for ever after the order Melchizedek”. The question here is: Why does the writer introduce the quotation from the 2nd Psalm at all? Why does he not directly prove his point by the quotation from the Messianic 110th Psalm? Does he mean that He who said, Thou art my Son, glorified Christ as priest in saying this? Apparently he does, otherwise the καὶ in καθὼς καὶ ἐν ἐτέρῳ would be unwarranted. By introducing the former of the two quotations and designating God as He that called Christ Son, or nominated him to the Messianic dignity, which involved the priesthood, he shows that the greater and more comprehensive office of Messiahship was not assumed by Christ at His own instance and therefore that the priesthood included in this was not of His own seeking, but of God's ordaining; cf. Weiss. Bleek says the reference to Psalms 2 is made to lessen the marvel that God should glorify Christ as priest. Similarly Riehm “dass Christus in einem so unvergleichlich innigen Verhältnisse zu Gott steht, dass seine Berufung zum Hohepriesteramt nicht befreundlich sein kann;” and Davidson, “It is by no means meant that the priesthood of Christ was involved in His Sonship (Alford), an a priori method of conception wholly foreign to the Epistle, but merely that it was suitable in one who was Son, being indeed possible to none other (see on Hebrews 1:3).” Bruce thinks the writer wishes to teach that Christ's priesthood is coeval with His Sonship and inherent in it. κατὰ τὴν τάξιν “after the order;” among its other meanings τάξις denotes a class or rank, “ordo quâ dicitur quispiam senatorii ordinis, vel equestris ordinis”. Thus in Demosthenes, οἰκέτου τάξιν οὐκ ἐλευθέρου παιδὸς ἔχων, in Diod. Sic., iii. 6, οἱ περὶ τὰς τῶν θεῶν θεραπείας διατρίβοντες ἱερεῖς, μεγίστην καὶ κυριωτάτην τάξιν ἔχοντες. In the subsequent exposition of the Melch. priesthood it is chiefly on εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα that emphasis is laid.

Hebrews 5:7. ὃς … ἔμαθεν … καὶ ἐγένετο. In these verses the writer shows how much there was in the call to the priesthood repugnant to flesh and blood; how it was through painful obedience, not by arrogant ambition he became Priest. The main statement is, He learned obedience and became perfect as Saviour. ὃς ἐν τ. ἡμέραις τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ “who in the days of His flesh,” and when therefore He was like His brethren in capacity for temptation and suffering; cf. Hebrews 2:14. δεήσεις … προσενέγκας “having offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death”. προσενέγκας has sometimes been supposed to refer to the προσφἐρειν of Hebrews 5:3, and to have a sacrificial sense. It was such an offering as became His innocent ἀσθένεια. As the ordinary high priest prepared himself for offering for the people by offering for himself, so, it is thought, Christ was prepared for the strictly sacrificial or priestly work by the feeling of His own weakness. There is truth in this. Weiss' reason for excluding this reference is “dass ein Opfern mit starkem Geschrei und Thranen eine unvollziehbare Vorstellung ist”. Cf. Davidson, p. 113, note. προσφ. is used with δέησιν in later Greek writers: instances in Bleek. δεήσεις τε καὶ ἱκετηρίας, these words are elsewhere combined as in Isocrates, De Pace, 46; Polybius, iii. 112, 8; cf. Job 40:22. The relation of the two words is well brought out in a passage from Philo quoted by Carpzov: γραφὴ δὲ μηνύσει μου τὴν δέησιν ἣν ἀνθʼ ἱκετηρίας προτείνω. Cf. Eurip., Iph. Aul., 1216. ἱκετηρία [from ἵκω I come, ἱκέτης one who comes as a suppliant] is originally an adjective = fit for suppliants, then an olive branch [sc. ἐλαία, or ῥάβδος] bound with wool which the suppliant carried as a symbol of his prayer. The conjunction of words in this verse is for emphasis. These supplications were accompanied μετὰ κραυγῆς ἰσχυρᾶς καὶ δακρύων “with strong crying and tears,” expressing the intensity of the prayers and so the keenness of the suffering. The “strong crying” is striking. Schöttgen quotes: “There are three kinds of prayers, each loftier than the preceding: prayer, crying, and tears. Prayer is silent, crying with raised voice, tears overcome all things.” It is to the scene in Gethsemane reference is made, and although “tears” are not mentioned by the evangelists in relating that scene, they are implied, and this writer might naturally thus represent the emotion of our Lord. The prayer was addressed πρὸς τὸν δυνάμενον σώζειν αὐτὸν ἐκ θανάτου “to Him that was able to save Him from death,” which implies that the prayer was that Christ might be saved from death [“Father if it be possible, let this cup pass from me”] but also suggests that the prayer was not formally answered else why emphasise that God had power to answer it? σώζειν ἐκ θανάτου. The prayer recorded in Mark 14:36, and the anticipation of Gethsemane alluded to in John 12:27 [Πάτερ σῶσόν με ἐκ τῆς ὥρας ταύτης] are sufficient to show that it is deliverance from dying that is meant. Milligan, however, says: “Christ is thus represented as praying not that death may be averted, but that He may be saved ‘out of it,' when it comes.” Westcott thinks the word covers both ideas and that in the first sense the prayer was not granted, that it might be granted in the second. It is preferable to abide by the simple statement that the passion of Christ's prayer to escape death was intensified by the fact that He knew God could deliver Him by twelve legions of angels or otherwise. His absolute faith in the Father's almighty power and infinite resource was the very soul of his trial. καὶ εἰσακουσθεὶς ἀπὸ τῆς εὐλαβείας “and having been heard on account of His godly reverence”. εὐλάβεια [from εὖ λαβεῖν to take good hold, or careful hold] denotes the cautious regard which a wise man pays to all the circumstances of an action. Thus Fabius Cunctator was termed εὐλαβὴς. And in regard to God εὐλάβεια means that reverent submission to His will which caution or prudence dictates. [See Proverbs 28:14 and the definitions by Philo. Quis. Rer. Div. Haer., 6.] That ἀπό following εἰσακουσθεὶς means in Biblical Greek “on account of” we have proof in Job 35:12 and Luke 19:3, as well as from the frequent use of ἀπό in N.T. to denote cause, John 21:6; Acts 12:14, etc. In classical Greek also ἀπό is used for propter, see Aristoph., Knights, 1. 767 ὡς ἀπὸ μικρῶν εὔνους αὐτῷ θωπευματίων γεγένησαι. See also the Birds, 1. 150. The cautious reverence, or reverent caution the fear lest He should oppose God or seem to overpersuade Him which was heard and answered was expressed in the second petition of the prayer in Gethsemane, “Not my will but thine be done”. And ἀπό is used in preference to διά, apparently because the source of the particular petition is meant to be indicated, that we may understand that the truest answer to this reverent submission was to give Him the cup to drink and thus to accomplish through Him the faultless will of God. To have removed the cup and saved Him from death would not have answered the εὐλάβεια of the prayer. The meaning of the clause is further determined by what follows.