Hebrews 2:2

Hebrews 2:2. The word spoken by (rather, through or in the midst of) angels. If the attendance of angels at the giving of the Law added force and dignity to the precepts of that economy, how much greater is the honour and the authority of the Gospel which was given by Him whom angels worship and serve (chap. Hebrews 1:6-14)! The ministration of angels in giving the Law is mentioned elsewhere in Scripture (see parallel passages in the margin of the text), though not at great length. Josephus speaks of it more distinctly (Antiq. xv. 5, § 3), and Wetstein quotes Jewish authorities which speak of ‘the angels of service' whom Moses saw. In Galatians 3:19 this ministration is referred to as a mark of the inferiority of the law. In Acts 7:53 the contrast seems to be between a law given by man and one having higher authority. Such allusions, however, must be carefully distinguished from passages that speak of the ‘angel of His presence' in whom was God's name ‘the messenger of the covenant' passages that refer, though dimly, to the Son of God Himself (see Pye Smith and Dorner).

Was stedfast, rather, became or proved to be stedfast, i.e the command was confirmed in authority and obligation by the punishment of transgressors.

Transgression and disobedience. Every violation of the command is here included: all actual transgression of the law in the first, and all neglect or contempt of divine precepts in the second. Ethically the two mental states involve each the other. Commissions and omissions are both transgressions and disobedience. The first are things done in violation of law; the second are things left undone in violation of law also the neglect, for example, spoken of in the following verse.

Recompence of reward is a happy tautology. What is given back to a man in return for what he has done, whether good or bad, is the meaning of the Greek, as it is the meaning of both expressions in old English, though both are now used in a good sense only. (See Psalms 94:2.)