Hebrews 12:1

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 that is set before us, WE ALSO - as well as those, Hebrews 12:11. ARE COMPASSED ABOUT - `have so great a cloud (a numberless multitude above us, like a cloud, "holy and pellucid," Clemens Alexandrinus) of witnesses surrounding us:' an image from a 'race,' well understood even in Palestine from its contact with the Graeco-Macedonian empire and its national games. The "witnesses" answer to the spectators pressing round to see the competitors for the prize (Philippians 3:14). Those 'witnessed of' ...

1._Wherefore, seeing we also, etc. _This conclusion is, as it were, an epilogue to the former chapter, by which he shows the end for which he gave a catalogue of the saints who excelled in faith under the Law, even that every one should be prepared to imitate them; and he calls a large multitude metaphorically a _cloud, _for he sets what is dense in opposition to what is thinly scattered. (242) Had they been a few in number, yet they ought to have roused us by their example; but as they were a vast throng, they ought more powerfully to stimulate us. He says that we are so surrounded by this dense throng, that wherever we turn our eyes many examples of faith immediately meet us. The word _witnesses _I do not take in a general sense, as though he called them the martyrs of God, and I apply it to the case before us, as though he had said that faith is sufficiently proved by their testimony,...

1-11 The persevering obedience of faith in Christ, was the race set before the Hebrews, wherein they must either win the crown of glory, or have everlasting misery for their portion; and it is set before us. By the sin that does so easily beset us, understand that sin to which we are most prone, or to which we are most exposed, from habit, age, or circumstances. This is a most important exhortation; for while a man's darling sin, be it what it will, remains unsubdued, it will hinder him from running the Christian race, as it takes from him every motive for running, and gives power to every discouragement. When weary and faint in their minds, let them recollect that the holy Jesus suffered, to save them from eternal misery. By stedfastly looking to Jesus, their thoughts would strengthen holy affections, and keep under their carnal desires. Let us then frequently consider him. What are ou...

CHAPTER XII. _Having so many incitements to holiness, patience, and_ _perseverance, we should lay aside every hinderance, and run_ _with patience the race that is set before us, taking our_ _blessed Lord for our example_, 1-4. _These sufferings are to be considered as fatherly chastisements_ _from God, and to be patiently submitted to on account of the_ _benefits to be derived from them_, 5-11. _They should take courage and go forward_, 12, 13. _Directions to follow peace with all men, and to take heed that_ they fall not from

WHEREFORE - In view of what has been said in the previous chapter. SEEING WE ALSO ARE ENCOMPASSED ABOUT WITH SO GREAT A CLOUD OF WITNESSES - The apostle represents those to whom he had referred in the previous chapter, as looking on to witness the efforts which Christians make, and the manner in which they live. There is allusion here, doubtless, to the ancient games. A great multitude of spectators usually occupied the circular seats in the amphitheater, from which they could easily behold the combatants; see the notes on 1 Corinthians 9:24. In like manner, the apostle represents Christians as encompassed with the multitude of worthies to whom he had referred in the previous chapter. It cannot be fairly inferred from this that he means to say that all those ancient worthies were actually looking at the c

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 adduced to support it. Observable in the Greek is the fine roll of the majestic and well-ordered phrases with which this chapter begins, as if the writer had felt the dignity of his subject, and the commanding power with which he can now approach it. Even the initiatory word τοιγαροῦν,_ _rather than the usual ὅθεν,_ _or οὖν, or διό,_ adds _to the effect. HEBREWS 12:1 WHEREFORE LET US TOO ("we also," in the A.V.,_ is _wrongly placed

WHEREFORE, SEEING WE ALSO ARE COMPASSED ABOUT,...., As the Israelites were encompassed with the pillar of cloud, or with the clouds of glory in the wilderness, as the Jews say; 1 Corinthians 10:1, to which there may be an allusion, here, since it follows, WITH SO GREAT A CLOUD OF WITNESSES; or "martyrs", as the Old Testament saints, the instances of whose faith and patience are produced in the preceding chapter: these, some of them, were martyrs in the sense in which that word is commonly used; they suffered in the cause, and for the sake of true religion; and they all bore a noble testimony of God, and for him; and they received a testimony from him; and will be hereafter witnesses for, or against us, to whom they are examples of the above graces: and these may be compared to a "cloud", for the comfortable and reviving doctrines which they dropped; and for the

Hebrews 12:1. _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,_ Or «entangle us.» Hebrews 12:1. _And let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds._ The Lord does not wish his people's hands to hang down, and their knees to become weak, so in this passage, as in many others, he administers gracious remedies. Among the rest, he bids us consider

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HEBREWS 12:1 euvperi,staton {A} The reading euvperi,spaston (“easily distracting”), which occurs in î46 and 1739 (and perhaps lies behind itd, z), is either a palaeographical error or a deliberate modification of euvperi,staton, which is supported by all the other known witnesses....