TEXT [Commentary]

  II.   Jesus, Angels, and Humanity (1:5–2:18)

A.   Jesus, Superior to Angels (1:5-14)

5 For God never said to any angel what he said to Jesus:

“You are my Son.

Today I have become your Father.[*]”

God also said,

“I will be his Father,

and he will be my Son.”[*]

6 And when he brought his supreme[*] Son into the world, God said,[*]

“Let all of God’s angels worship him.”[*]

7 Regarding the angels, he says,

“He sends his angels like the winds,

his servants like flames of fire.”[*]

8 But to the Son he says,

“Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever.

You rule with a scepter of justice.

9 You love justice and hate evil.

Therefore, O God, your God has anointed you,

pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else.”[*]

10 He also says to the Son,

“In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundation of the earth

and made the heavens with your hands.

11 They will perish, but you remain forever.

They will wear out like old clothing.

12 You will fold them up like a cloak

and discard them like old clothing.

But you are always the same;

you will live forever.”[*]

13 And God never said to any of the angels,

“Sit in the place of honor at my right hand

until I humble your enemies,

making them a footstool under your feet.”[*]

14 Therefore, angels are only servants—spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation.

NOTES

1:5 what he said to Jesus. The name “Jesus” is not in the original text, although the author and readers alike are well aware that Jesus is the Son. For the sake of clarity, the NLT inserts the name “Jesus” here and in 2:3, but in the Greek text it is carefully withheld until 2:9, “What we do see is Jesus.” The rather belated use of the human name signals that then and only then is it time to discuss the Son’s humanity.

Today. The time called “today” (sēmeron [TG4594, ZG4958]) is not fixed. It is the time when God becomes Father to the Son, but it could be eternity past before the world was created, the time when Jesus was born, when he was baptized, when he rose from the dead, or even the moment as the author writes. It has no fixed reference point because it is eternally true. The NLT marginal note, “Or Today I reveal you as my Son,” assumes rather that “today” is a fixed point in time and tries (unnecessarily) to protect the notion that God was already Jesus’ Father before time began. But it is not what the text says. Later, the author of Hebrews will repeatedly play upon the word “today” in 3:7–4:11, in an extended meditation on Ps 95:7-11 (see 3:7, 13, 15; 4:7). There, too, the time is not fixed, shifting from Moses’s generation to David’s time, when the Psalm was written (4:7), to the open-ended present in which the author and his readers live (“You must warn each other every day, while it is still ‘today,’” 3:13).

1:6 And when he brought. More literally, “And when he again brings.” The NLT presupposes that “again” (palin [TG3825, ZG4099]) is used simply to introduce a new quotation (as in 1:5; NLT, “also”). But the Greek word order (hotan de palin) places the adverb within the introductory clause (“when he again brings—or when he brings back—his firstborn Son into the world”). Therefore the marginal reading of the NLT (“when he again brings”) is to be preferred. The verb is a subjunctive with a future meaning, “when he brings,” not “when he brought.” Moreover, the words “God said” are more literally, “God says.” The apparent reference, therefore, is not to Christ’s birth in Bethlehem but to something subsequent to that, either his exaltation or (far more likely) his Second Coming.

his supreme Son. The one Greek word behind this expression is prōtotokos [TG4416, ZG4758] (supreme, firstborn), a term that does not have to refer back to an actual birth or to priority in time. It may do that (as in Luke 2:7; Col 1:18; Rev 1:5), but it can also call attention to dignity or status (as in Rom 8:29; Col 1:15); hence the translation “supreme.” Within families it referred to the place of honor normally given to the oldest son, but in certain cases the honor was transferred to others (from Esau to Jacob, for example). In one important messianic psalm, God says of “my servant David” that “I will make him my firstborn (prōtotokos, LXX) son, the mightiest king on earth” (Ps 89:20, 27 [88:28, LXX]). In our passage a kind of “birth” or “begetting” has just been mentioned (1:5, “Today I have become your Father”), but the point is not that Jesus is “firstborn” and Christian believers the ordinary “sons” or “children” in the family. Rather, the author later describes an “assembly of God’s firstborn children, whose names are written in heaven” (12:23). Not only Jesus but all who trust in him are given the title of “firstborn” (prōtotokos), making it clear that honor, not priority in time, is the dominant idea here.

into the world. Not the common Greek word for “world” (kosmos [TG2889, ZG3180]) but “the inhabited world” (oikoumenē [TG3625, ZG3876]). Some interpret this as “the future world we are talking about” (2:5), making the verse a reference to Christ’s entrance into the “future world” at his exaltation to God’s right hand (see Ellingworth 1993:117-118; Lane 1991:27). But lacking the qualifying adjective “future,” we are on safer ground in assuming that it refers to the world in which we now live and therefore to Christ’s return to earth at his Second Coming.

Let all of God’s angels worship him. The quotation echoes Deut 32:43, LXX (the line is lacking in the Hebrew), except that the LXX has “let all the sons of God worship him.” The author of Hebrews has interpreted “sons of God” as angels, perhaps in light of Ps 96:7, LXX: “worship him, all you his angels.” Having just made the point that no angel was ever given the name “Son” (1:4-5), the author is not about to confuse the issue by letting the term “sons of God” stand as a designation for angels. Deuteronomy 32:43 concludes Moses’s final “song . . . to the assembly of Israel” (Deut 31:30), which the Jewish philosopher Philo called “his hymn of praise in the middle of them all, with every description of harmony and symphony which men and ministering angels hear” (Philo Virtues 73; Yonge 1993:647).

1:7 Regarding the angels. Lit., “to the angels,” just as the next quotation (1:8) is addressed “to the Son” (see also 1:13, “to any of the angels”). While the translation “regarding” is legitimate, the text implies that God “sends his angels like the winds” by commissioning them directly.

he says. This looks awkward in the NLT because God is speaking, and yet the text quoted refers to God in the third, not the first, person: “He sends his angels like the winds.” It looks as if the text should read, “it says” (that is, “the Scripture says”). Yet to this author, the voice of Scripture is the voice of God. Consequently, the translation “he says” is entirely appropriate (in keeping with the use of “he said” and “he says” in the context).

He sends his angels like the winds, his servants like flames of fire. Lit., “he who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire” (see Ps 104:4, “The winds are your messengers; flames of fire are your servants”; both in Hebrew and in Greek, the word for “spirit” is the same as the word for “wind”).

1:8 But to the Son he says. As in 1:5, the introductory formula applies the biblical text specifically to the Son of God. The psalm being quoted is “a lovely poem about the king” (Ps 45:1) written to celebrate a royal wedding. The psalmist addresses the king as “God,” assuring him that “God, your God, has anointed you” (Ps 45:6-7). In Hebrews, the speaker is not the psalmist but God, the same speaker as in the three previous verses (“he said,” 1:5a; “God also said,” 1:5b; “God said,” 1:6; “he says,” 1:7). Moreover, God is not speaking to a human king but to his own Son (as in 1:5a), addressing him this time not as “Son” but as “God” (1:8-9).

You rule with a scepter of justice. Some of the earliest and usually most reliable ancient mss (46 א B) shift to the third person here, “He rules with a scepter of justice,” contrary both to the text of the LXX as we know it and to the sense of the sentence, in which God is speaking to the Son. The effect of the third person is to turn the pronouncement into a confession that we might make about Jesus the Son. This reading could be original, the result of Hebrews following a slightly different LXX manuscript from those we know about today, even though its text did not fit perfectly with the rest of the quotation.

1:9 Therefore, O God, your God has anointed you. The first “God” is direct address. The Father now addresses the Son as God for a second time. Just as in 1:8, the use of “God” (theos [TG2316, ZG2536]) with the definite article (ho theos) signals direct address.

more than on anyone else. Lit., “more than on your companions” or “partners” (metochos [TG3353A, ZG3581]). The NLT rightly avoids deciding who these “companions” are. For example, are they angels? Angels would not be mentioned so vaguely in a section in which they are otherwise a major focus of attention. Are they Christian believers? Christians are “companions,” or those who “share” with Christ (metochos, 3:14; see also 3:1; 6:4; 12:8), yet they are clearly not with the Son in his preexistent state. More likely, the “companions” are simply part of the scenery of the biblical passage, the king’s entourage at the royal wedding described in Ps 45. Because they have no particular function in the text as cited in Hebrews, the NLT’s rendering is appropriate.

1:12 You will fold them up like a cloak and discard them like old clothing. Hebrews follows the LXX here, as in all seven quotations, except that where the LXX reads “you will change them like a cloak, and they shall be changed,” the earliest and best mss of Hebrews (46 114vid א A B 1739) read “you will fold them up like a cloak, like old clothing, and they shall be changed.” Hebrews seems to have followed slightly different LXX mss from the ones we possess. Some mss of Hebrews conformed the text more closely to the LXX as known in the church, but this was a later textual development.

you will live forever. Lit., “your years never end” (see Ps 102:27).

1:14 servants—spirits sent. Lit., “liturgical spirits,” or “ministering spirits.” If angels are God’s “servants” (1:7), they are servants also to the people of God. Although they are subordinate to the Son, their function is entirely positive. They are sent from God, and their purpose is “to care for people who will inherit salvation.”

COMMENTARY [Text]

Since this section of Hebrews is built around seven quotations of Old Testament Scripture, it is best to formulate the commentary within this structure. The practice of collecting texts of Scripture relevant to a particular subject, for example the expectation of the Messiah or the nature of the redeemed community, is well attested in early Judaism, above all in the writings of the Qumran community (see for example 4QFlor and 4QTest; see Vermes 1977:493-496).

The First Quotation: “You are my Son. Today I have become your Father” (1:5a). The notion that “Son” functions here as a name is confirmed by what follows (1:5), which is best understood as an act of naming, addressed first to the person named (“You are my Son. Today I have become your Father”), and then to the world at large (“I will be his Father, and he will be my Son”). What is not so easy to determine is the time frame. When or under what circumstances did this naming of the Son take place?

Another way of asking the question is, when exactly is “today” in the statement “You are my Son. Today I have become your Father”? Is it the day Jesus was born into the world? Is it the day of his baptism, in keeping with the voice from heaven, “You are my dearly loved Son” (Mark 1:11; also Luke 3:22, where some mss agree word for word with the quotation here)? Is it the day of Jesus’ resurrection, in keeping with Paul’s use of the same quote in Acts 13:33? Or is it all of these—or none? There are not many similarities between Hebrews and the Gospel of Mark, but one similarity is that near the beginning of each is a biblical quotation in which God speaks directly to his Son. In Mark it is, “Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, and he will prepare your way” (Mark 1:2, taken from Mal 3:1), and in Hebrews it is, “You are my Son. Today I have become your Father” (1:5, taken from Ps 2:7). Mark follows up the quotation with a contemporary voice from heaven, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy” (Mark 1:11). Hebrews follows up its first quotation with six more, the last three of which are again the Father’s words addressed to the Son (1:8-9, 10-12, 13).

Because these are biblical citations, their time frame is in the past from the standpoint of both Hebrews and the Gospel of Mark. The voices that speak in these citations are voices from the past, addressing the preexistent Son (explicitly so in Mark 1:2). The pronouncement, “You are my Son. Today I have become your Father,” is not a prediction. Its point is not that this will take place some time in the future when the Son becomes a human being but that (from the perspective of Hebrews) it took place “long ago” when the biblical prophet first delivered the words to “our ancestors” (see 1:1), or even longer ago, in eternity past, before the world was made. But beyond all that, the author of Hebrews hears “you are my Son” as a timeless pronouncement, and “today” as every day—past, present, and future. God is always embracing Jesus as his Son, always acting as Father, both to Jesus and to those who belong to Jesus.

Christian theology followed a sound instinct, and one quite in keeping with the theology of Hebrews, in concluding that there never was a time when the Son was not the Son and the Father was not the Father. We are probably on good ground in assuming that all the biblical citations in Hebrews are similarly timeless in their reference, unless something in the context links them to a specific time or event.

The Second Quotation: “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son” (1:5b). Second Samuel 7:14, with its parallel in 1 Chronicles 17:13, was part of an oracle by the prophet Nathan to David concerning the birth of David’s son Solomon. Along with its accompanying promise that “your house and your kingdom will continue before me for all time, and your throne will be secure forever” (2 Sam 7:16), it became in early Judaism and Christianity a messianic prophecy of a royal Messiah from David’s line.

Only here does the New Testament quote the text word for word and apply it to Jesus personally and individually. In two other places it loosely combines it with Leviticus 26:12 to accent God’s role as Father of all who believe (see 2 Cor 6:18, “And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters,” and Rev 21:7, “I will be their God, and they will be my children”). Here it serves to reinforce the preceding testimony, “You are my Son. Today I have become your Father.” The first quotation has God becoming Father; the second has God continuing to act as Father through eternity. In this text God is Father to Jesus, and to him alone, but later the author will reflect at some length on the father-son relationship between God and Christian believers generally (see 12:5-11).

The Third Quotation: “Let all of God’s angels worship him” (1:6). Unlike the first two texts, the third is not a messianic prophecy. The words from Deuteronomy 32:43, “Let all of God’s angels worship him,” were words of Moses referring to God, not to the Messiah or Son of God. Hebrews, however, reads them as words of the Father referring to his supreme Son. The quotation, unlike the first two, is not timeless but is linked to a specific occasion when God presents his Son to the world. The question is whether or not this presentation, or entry of God’s firstborn into the world, is what we commonly refer to as the first coming of Jesus. Because Jesus in his first coming was made “lower” than angels (2:9), this is not likely. Another option is that “the world” referred to here is “the future world” (2:5), into which Jesus entered at his exaltation (see note on 1:6) and where he came to have “authority over all things” (2:8), angels included. But the placement of the adverb palin [TG3825, ZG4099] (lit., “again”; see note on 1:6) suggests rather a reference to a future time when Christ will come “again” to this world at his second coming (see 9:28), or what Paul calls the Parousia (see Westcott 1903:22).

The Fourth Quotation: “He sends his angels like the winds, his servants like flames of fire” (1:7). Here the author reads the words of Scripture about God as words coming directly from God (see note on 1:7). The text in question (Ps 104:4 [103:4, LXX]) characterizes God as the one who makes “the winds his messengers, flames of fire his servants.” The point of the Old Testament passage was that the natural devastations of wind and fire are actually the work of God. Hebrews takes advantage of the fact that the Greek word for “messengers” is angeloi [TG32, ZG34] (lit., “angels”), the Greek word for “winds” is pneumata [TG4151, ZG4460] (lit., “spirits”), and the Greek word for “servants” is leitourgoi [TG3011, ZG3313] (related to the English word “liturgy”). This sets the stage for the conclusion at the end of the chapter that “angels are only servants—spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation” (1:14). The quotation in 1:7, the only one addressed to angels (see note), stands precisely in the middle of the series of seven, preceded by three testimonies of the Father to the Son, then followed by three more. Here, if anywhere, we may hope to find clues about the place of angels in the theology of Hebrews. They are in some ways like priests and in other ways like prophets. Like priests they are worshipers, not objects of worship (see 12:22). Angels are “servants” (1:7), or “ministering spirits sent to serve” (1:14, NIV). Their “service” (leitourgia [TG3009, ZG3311]) is a distinctly religious, even priestly service, a kind of shadow and perhaps an accompaniment of the priestly ministry of Jesus. The same word group is used of Moses (9:21), of the Jewish priesthood (10:11), and of Jesus himself ministering in heaven (8:2, 6). As we will see later, it has been seriously argued that the mysterious Melchizedek, introduced in chapter 7, was an angel.

At the same time, angels are like prophets in that they are sent from God and in some way represent God. They are “spirits,” and God is “the Father of spirits” (12:9, NRSV); they are “like flames of fire” (1:7), and God is “a devouring fire” (12:29). Stephen claimed that “an angel appeared to Moses in the flame of a burning bush” (Acts 7:30), and Paul warned that Jesus “will come with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, bringing judgment” (2 Thess 1:7-8). So far as we are concerned, however, the work of angels is not judgment but salvation. Angels exist for us; we do not exist for them. The chapter’s conclusion is that they are messengers from God sent “to care for people who will inherit salvation” (1:14). In a curious way, perhaps, Christian believers are both the objects and the true beneficiaries of the warning of Jesus not to “look down on any of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels are always in the presence of my heavenly Father” (Matt 18:10). Depending on the circumstances, Christian believers can be either the “little ones” not to be despised or careless onlookers in danger of doing the despising. The last reference to angels in Hebrews suggests that one of their ministries is to hold us accountable on God’s behalf for how we treat one another: “Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters. Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!” (13:1-2).

The Fifth Quotation: “Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever. You rule with a scepter of justice. You love justice and hate evil. Therefore, O God, your God has anointed you, pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else” (1:8-9). The author returns to his main subject: the Son. This time God addresses the Son without hesitation as “God,” not once but twice (see notes on 1:8-9). The fifth quotation is the longest so far and amply demonstrates that this author is not simply citing texts of Scripture and claiming that in Christ they have been “fulfilled.” Rather, he is taking the words of Scripture and making them his own, transplanting them as it were into a new, explicitly Christian, context. What God “said” at some undefined time in the past is precisely what God “says” now for the benefit of the author and the hearers of the letter to the Hebrews. The words of this quotation from Psalm 44:7-8 (LXX; numbered 45:6-7 in most English versions) should be read as if the author of Hebrews wrote them himself. They advance the Christology of Hebrews, confirming the previous claim that “the Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God” (1:3). As God, the Son is a righteous King whose throne “endures forever and ever” (1:8). He is, moreover, anointed as King: “Your God has anointed you, pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else” (1:9). The verb “anoint” (chriō [TG5548, ZG5987]) is the root of the designation “Christ” (christos [TG5547, ZG5986], “anointed one”), which the author begins to apply to Jesus two chapters later (3:6, “Christ, as the Son”). Although “Christ” is mentioned over 500 times in the New Testament, only Luke and the author of Hebrews refer explicitly to his anointing. Jesus in Luke’s Gospel and the book of Acts is anointed, presumably, at his baptism (Luke 4:18; Acts 4:27; 10:38) or in one instance perhaps at his resurrection (see Acts 2:36); but the anointing described here (like the birth or begetting described in 1:5) took place long before the Son came into the world. From all eternity the Son is “the Christ,” and Christ is the Son.

The Sixth Quotation: “In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundation of the earth and made the heavens with your hands. They will perish, but you remain forever. They will wear out like old clothing. You will fold them up like a cloak and discard them like old clothing. But you are always the same; you will live forever” (1:10-12). This quotation comes from Psalm 101:26-68 (LXX; numbered 102:25-27 in most English versions). God is still speaking to the Son (as in 1:8), this time addressing him as “Lord.” The psalmist is addressing God as “Lord,” but the writer of Hebrews hears the voice as God’s voice, confirming the author’s earlier assertion that God “through the Son . . . created the universe” (1:2). Another theme of the quotation is that just as the Son was present and active from the beginning of time, so he will be at the end. As to the material creation, the earth and the heavens, God affirms here that “they will perish, but you remain forever. They will wear out like old clothing. You [that is, the Son] will fold them up like a cloak and discard them like old clothing” (1:11-12). God tells the Son in conclusion, “you are always the same; you will live forever” (1:12; see note). From this we learn, first, that the created order is temporary and transitory, destined to pass away, and second, that the Son is eternal, a point which will become significant later in connection with Jesus’ priesthood (see 7:3, 24-25). The final confession of the whole book (“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever”; 13:8) draws together two insights introduced in the fifth and sixth quotations of this early series: first, that Jesus is the “Christ,” the one “anointed” (1:9, from Ps 45:7), and second, that he will indeed “remain forever . . . always the same” (1:11-12, from Ps 102:26-27). The implication is that Jesus is the eschatological Judge, to whom the whole world is accountable, but this is not yet spelled out.

The Seventh Quotation: “Sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet” (1:13). The introductory formula to this, the last of the seven quotations, “And God never said to any of the angels,” forms an inclusio with the formula introducing the first quotation in the series: “For God never said to any angel” (1:5; lit., “for when did he say to any of the angels?”). By beginning and ending in much the same way, the author defines 1:5-13 as a series intentionally designed to make a single point: “that the Son is far greater than the angels” (1:4). Moreover, the series comes back finally to the biblical text underlying the assertion that triggered the comparison between the Son and angels in the first place: “He sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God of heaven” (1:3). The text is Psalm 109:1 (LXX; 110:1 in English versions): “Sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet.”

If there is a single biblical text that pervades the argument of Hebrews, it is this text. As in the case of all the other texts, the author assumes that the Father is speaking to the Son. To anyone familiar with the citations of this text elsewhere in the New Testament, it may come as a surprise that the verse is not quoted in full. The complete text of Psalm 110:1 is, “The LORD said to my Lord, ‘Sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet.’” Hebrews has omitted the introductory words, “The LORD said to my Lord,” which identify the speaker and the one being addressed. This is surprising, for these are the very words in the quotation that attracted the attention of Jesus and the Gospel writers. According to three of the Gospels, Jesus used the psalm to question why “the teachers of religious law claim that the Messiah is the son of David.” Identifying the psalm’s author as “David . . . speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,” and then quoting the verse in full, Jesus asked, “Since David himself called the Messiah ‘my Lord,’ how can the Messiah be his son?” (Mark 12:35-37; also Matt 22:41-46; Luke 20:41-44; the text is also quoted in full in Acts 2:34-35). Moreover, the introductory words admirably support the argument made in Hebrews: “The LORD,” quite plausibly, is the Father, and the one David calls “my Lord” is the Son.

Why didn’t the author of Hebrews take advantage of this terminology? For two reasons. First, the writer was interested only in what “the LORD” (that is, God) said, not in what David said. For God to quote what one “LORD” said to another “Lord” would only confuse the issue. Second, as we have seen, the author had already made the same point by having God address the Son as “Lord” in the words of Psalm 102 (1:10), and twice as “God” in the words of Psalm 45: “Your throne, O God, endures forever” (1:8), and “Therefore, O God, your God has anointed you” (1:9; see note). The latter example in particular, with its two Gods, tends to make the words, “The LORD said to my Lord,” redundant. The author hastens directly, therefore, to what “the Lord” said.

Again, the question of timing comes up. When did this enthronement take place? As with all the other quotations, the first thing to be said is that it is timeless and eternal. The Son always has and always will “sit in the place of honor” at the right hand of God. Just as in the book of Revelation, it is the very nature of the new Jerusalem to “[come] down from heaven from my God” (Rev 3:12; 21:2, 10), so in Hebrews it is the very nature of the Son to “sit at God’s right hand.” Yet as we have seen, there is also a sense in which the Son’s enthronement is a direct result of the completion of his priestly work: “When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven” (1:3, my italics). In connection with the first of the seven quotations, we saw that “You are my Son. Today I have become your Father” is something eternally true and yet something that comes to expression historically at certain decisive moments in time, such as Jesus’ birth, his baptism, and his resurrection. The same has to be said of “Sit in the place of honor at my right hand.” To the author of Hebrews, there was never a time when the Son was not seated at God’s right hand, yet the Son’s enthronement came to expression historically only when the Son’s priestly work of “cleans[ing] us from our sins” (1:3) was accomplished.

This last quotation, more than any of the others, anticipates the mystery of Jesus’ high priesthood, which the author will unfold in subsequent chapters. In summing up the teaching of the first seven chapters, the author will say, “Here is the main point: We have a High Priest who sat down in the place of honor beside the throne of the majestic God in heaven” (8:1, my italics). Later, contrasting the old covenant and the new, he adds that “under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. There he waits until his enemies are humbled and made a footstool under his feet” (10:11-13, my italics). To the author of Hebrews, the terminology of sitting at God’s right hand points toward kingship and priesthood simultaneously, even though the latter is not yet explicit in chapter one.

Why did the author of Hebrews read the text in this way? The answer lies in the text itself. The author of Hebrews has read beyond the first verse of Psalm 110 and knows what the Lord says three verses later to the king being enthroned: “The LORD has taken an oath and will not break his vow: ‘You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek’” (Ps 110:4). When it comes time to introduce Melchizedek into the discussion, the author of Hebrews will draw on the same two psalms he used to frame the series of seven quotations in chapter 1 (i.e., Pss 2 and 110). First he will cite Psalm 2:7, “You are my Son. Today I have become your Father” (5:5), just as in chapter 1. Then he will go to Psalm 110, but instead of citing 110:1, as he does here, he will go directly to 110:4, “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek” (5:6). Because Jesus is God’s Son, he is also our great High Priest (see 4:14). From there on, Melchizedek moves to center stage (5:10; 6:20; and repeatedly in ch 7), but the subsequent references to Jesus sitting at God’s right hand (8:1; 10:11-13) serve to remind us that in Hebrews, Psalm 110:1 and 110:4 cannot be separated. Jesus is made king because he has accomplished the work of priesthood, and his priesthood is unique and eternal because he is God’s Son, who sits enthroned as king “at God’s right hand,” waiting “until his enemies are humbled and made a footstool under his feet” (10:12-13).

Who are the “enemies”? They are conspicuously in view both in Psalm 110 (Ps 110:1-2, 5-6) and in Psalm 2 (Ps 2:2-5, 8-12), but they are not the center of attention in Hebrews. Unlike Paul, who has Christ turning “the Kingdom over to God the Father, having destroyed every ruler and authority and power,” and reigning “until he humbles all his enemies beneath his feet” (1 Cor 15:24-25), Hebrews downplays the battle imagery. Instead, the accent is on the positive hope that “God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance” (1:2; see Ps 2:8). Instead of “an iron rod” smashing God’s enemies “like clay pots” (Ps 2:9; see Rev 2:26-27; 12:5), Hebrews envisions the Son ruling “with a scepter of justice” (1:8). Even Paul moves beyond the almost military language with which he tells of Christ’s victory over his enemies, to the simple but sweeping conclusion that “God has put all things under his authority” (1 Cor 15:27, drawing on Ps 8:6). As we will see, this is the conclusion reached in Hebrews as well (2:8). With rare exceptions (see 10:27), God’s “sacred violence” in Hebrews is directed not so much against specific enemies as against the whole created order: “You will fold them up like a cloak and discard them like old clothing” (1:12). Such language anticipates the end of the author’s whole argument, when God promises, “Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also,” and the author concludes that “our God is a devouring fire” (12:26-27, 29).

Conclusion. The chapter ends not with a summary of the seven quotations nor with an explicit conclusion drawn from them but simply with a final statement about angels (1:14) based largely on the fourth quotation (1:7, from Ps 104:4). It adds little to what that quotation asserted, telling us only whose servants the angels are. Their mission, we learn, is “to care for people who will inherit salvation.” For the first time the people of God come into the picture, and from this point on the language of Hebrews will take on a more personal and confessional character. Except for verse 2 (“And now. . . . he has spoken to us”), everything else has been in the third person. There has been no explicit “we” or “us” to benefit from the Son’s work or to be warned of the danger of failing to worship him. This will change markedly at the beginning of chapter 2, and the reference here to “salvation” and those who “inherit salvation” anticipates this change. The ministry of angels is to the people of God, and it is with them that the author of Hebrews is primarily concerned. The future tense of the promise that God’s people “will inherit salvation” (my italics) is expressed in Greek by a separate verb (mellō [TG3195, ZG3516], “are going to”). This strong accent on the futurity of the inheritance could suggest that the prime examples in mind are those who were faithful under the old covenant, before the coming of Christ (Abraham, for example: see 11:8, and compare 6:13-15). At the same time, “we” (that is, Christian believers) are also included, for the author will soon add that “this great salvation” has now been “delivered to us” (2:3).