6 For the Lord sends punishment on his loved ones; everyone whom he takes as his son has experience of his rod.
<Of David. Maschil.> Happy is he who has forgiveness for his wrongdoing, and whose sin is covered. Happy is the man in whom the Lord sees no evil, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. When I kept my mouth shut, my bones were wasted, because of my crying all through the day. For the weight of your hand was on me day and night; my body became dry like the earth in summer. (Selah.) I made my wrongdoing clear to you, and did not keep back my sin. I said, I will put it all before the Lord; and you took away my wrongdoing and my sin. (Selah.)
For I have been troubled all the day; every morning have I undergone punishment. If I would make clear what it is like, I would say, You are false to the generation of your children.
If his children give up my law, and are not ruled by my decisions; If my rules are broken, and my orders are not kept; Then I will send punishment on them for their sin; my rod will be the reward of their evil-doing. But I will not take away my mercy from him, and will not be false to my faith. I will be true to my agreement; the things which have gone out of my lips will not be changed.
It is for your training that you undergo these things; God is acting to you as a father does to his sons; for what son does not have punishment from his father? But if you have not that punishment of which we all have our part, then you are not true sons, but children of shame.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Hebrews 12
Commentary on Hebrews 12 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 12
The apostle, in this chapter, applies what he has collected in the chapter foregoing, and makes use of it as a great motive to patience and perseverance in the Christian faith and state, pressing home the argument,
Hbr 12:1-3
Here observe what is the great duty which the apostle urges upon the Hebrews, and which he so much desires they would comply with, and that is, to lay aside every weight, and the sin that did so easily beset them, and run with patience the race set before them. The duty consists of two parts, the one preparatory, the other perfective.
Hbr 12:4-17
Here the apostle presses the exhortation to patience and perseverance by an argument taken from the gentle measure and gracious nature of those sufferings which the believing Hebrews endured in their Christian course.
Hbr 12:18-29
Here the apostle goes on to engage the professing Hebrews to perseverance in their Christian course and conflict, and not to relapse again into Judaism. This he does by showing them how much the state of the gospel church differs from that of the Jewish church, and how much it resembles the state of the church in heaven, and on both accounts demands and deserves our diligence, patience, and perseverance in Christianity.