2 Because if the word which came through the angels was fixed, and in the past every evil act against God's orders was given its full punishment;
You, to whom the law was given as it was ordered by angels, and who have not kept it.
So do not give up your hope which will be greatly rewarded.
What then is the law? It was an addition made because of sin, till the coming of the seed to whom the undertaking had been given; and it was ordered through angels by the hand of a go-between.
Cursed is he who does not take this law to heart to do it. And let all the people say, So be it.
And any man who, in his pride, will not give ear to the priest whose place is there before the Lord your God, or to the judge, is to be put to death: you are to put away the evil from Israel.
Now it is my purpose to put you in mind, though you once had knowledge of all these things, of how the Lord, having taken a people safely out of Egypt, later sent destruction on those who had no faith;
Then you are to take the man or woman who has done the evil to the public place of your town, and they are to be stoned with stones till they are dead.
If there is any man or woman among you, in any of the towns which the Lord your God gives you, who does evil in the eyes of the Lord your God, sinning against his agreement,
But the person who does wrong in the pride of his heart, if he is one of you or of another nation by birth, is acting without respect for the Lord, and will be cut off from his people. Because he had no respect for the word of the Lord, and did not keep his law, that man will be cut off without mercy and his sin will be on him. Now while the children of Israel were in the waste land, they saw a man who was getting sticks on the Sabbath day. And those who saw him getting sticks took him before Moses and Aaron and all the people. And they had him shut up, because they had no directions about what was to be done with him. Then the Lord said to Moses, Certainly the man is to be put to death: let him be stoned by all the people outside the tent-circle. So all the people took him outside the tent-circle and he was stoned to death there, as the Lord gave orders to Moses.
But with most of them God was not pleased: for they came to their end in the waste land. Now these things were for an example to us, so that our hearts might not go after evil things, as they did. Then do not go after false gods, as some of them did; as it is said in the holy Writings, After resting and feasting, the people got up to take their pleasure. Again, let us not give way to the desires of the flesh, as some of them did, of whom twenty-three thousand came to their end in one day. And let us not put the Lord to the test, as some of them did, and came to their death by snakes. And do not say evil things against the Lord, as some of them did, and destruction overtook them. Now these things were done as an example; and were put down in writing for our teaching, on whom the last days have come. So let him who seems to himself to be safe go in fear of a fall.
In times past the word of God came to our fathers through the prophets, in different parts and in different ways;
And he said to them, This is the word of the Lord, the God of Israel: Let every man take his sword at his side, and go from one end of the tents to the other, putting to death his brother and his friend and his neighbour. And the sons of Levi did as Moses said; and about three thousand of the people were put to death that day.
The war-carriage of God is among Israel's thousands; the Lord has come from Sinai to the holy place.
My teaching is dropping like rain, coming down like dew on the fields; like rain on the young grass and showers on the garden plants:
But twenty-four thousand of them had come to their death by the disease.
Then the Lord sent poison-snakes among the people; and their bites were a cause of death to numbers of the people of Israel.
And lifting up his hand, Moses gave the rock two blows with his rod: and water came streaming out, and the people and their cattle had drink enough. Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Because you had not enough faith in me to keep my name holy before the children of Israel, you will not take this people into the land which I have given them.
Now fourteen thousand, seven hundred deaths were caused by that disease, in addition to those who came to their end because of what Korah had done.
And while these words were on his lips, the earth under them was parted in two; And the earth, opening her mouth, took them in, with their families, and all the men who were joined to Korah, and their goods. So they and all theirs went down living into the underworld, and the earth was shut over them, and they were cut off from among the meeting of the people. And all Israel round about them went in flight at their cry, For fear, said they, that we go down into the heart of the earth. Then fire came out from the Lord, burning up the two hundred and fifty men who were offering the perfume.
Say to them, By my life, says the Lord, as certainly as your words have come to my ears, so certainly will I do this to you: Your dead bodies will be stretched out in this waste land; and of all your number, all those of twenty years old and over who have been crying out against me, Not one will come into the land which I gave my word you would have for your resting-place, but only Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, the son of Nun. And your little ones, whom you said would come into strange hands, I will take in, and they will see the land which you would not have. But as for you, your dead bodies will be stretched in this waste land. And your children will be wanderers in the waste land for forty years, undergoing punishment for your false ways, till your bodies become dust in the waste land. And as you went through the land viewing it for forty days, so for forty years, a year for every day, you will undergo punishment for your wrongdoing, and you will see that I am against you. I the Lord have said it, and this I will certainly do to all this evil people who have come together against me: in this waste land destruction will come on them, and death will be their fate. And the men whom Moses sent to see the land, and who, by the bad account they gave of the land, were the cause of the outcry the people made against Moses, Those same men who said evil of the land, came to their death by disease before the Lord.
But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was tasted, the wrath of the Lord was moved against the people and he sent a great outburst of disease on them.
Take the curser outside the tent-circle; and let all in whose hearing the words were said put their hands on his head, and let him be stoned by all the people. And say to the children of Israel, As for any man cursing God, his sin will be on his head. And he who says evil against the name of the Lord will certainly be put to death; he will be stoned by all the people; the man who is not of your nation and one who is an Israelite by birth, whoever says evil against the holy Name is to be put to death.
And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their vessels and put fire in them and perfume, burning strange fire before the Lord, which he had not given them orders to do. And fire came out from before the Lord, burning them up and causing their destruction before the Lord.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Hebrews 2
Commentary on Hebrews 2 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 2
In this chapter the apostle,
Hbr 2:1-4
The apostle proceeds in the plain profitable method of doctrine, reason, and use, through this epistle. Here we have the application of the truths before asserted and proved; this is brought in by the illative particle therefore, with which this chapter begins, and which shows its connection with the former, where the apostle having proved Christ to be superior to the angels by whose ministry the law was given, and therefore that the gospel dispensation must be more excellent than the legal, he now comes to apply this doctrine both by way of exhortation and argument.
Hbr 2:5-9
The apostle, having made this serious application of the doctrine of the personal excellency of Christ above the angels, now returns to that pleasant subject again, and pursues it further (v. 5): For to the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.
Hbr 2:10-13
Having mentioned the death of Christ, the apostle here proceeds to prevent and remove the scandal of the cross; and this he does by showing both how it became God that Christ should suffer and how much man should be benefited by those sufferings.
Hbr 2:14-18
Here the apostle proceeds to assert the incarnation of Christ, as taking upon him not the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham; and he shows the reason and design of his so doing.