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De 32:43 *Sept:

Verse 6. And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten] This is not a correct translation of the Greek, �otan de palin eisagagh ton prwtotokon eiv thn oikoumenhn? But when he bringeth again, or the second time, the first-born into the habitable world. This most manifestly refers to his resurrection, which might be properly considered a second incarnation; for as the human soul, as well as the fullness of the Godhead bodily, dwelt in the man, Christ Jesus on and during his incarnation, so when he expired upon the cross, both the Godhead and the human spirit left his dead body; and as on his resurrection these were reunited to his revivified manhood, therefore, with the strictest propriety, does the apostle say that the resurrection was a second bringing of him into the world.

I have translated oikoumenh the habitable world, and this is its proper meaning; and thus it is distinguished from kosmov, which signifies the terraqueous globe, independently of its inhabitants; though it often expresses both the inhabited and uninhabited parts. Our Lord's first coming into the world is expressed by this latter word, chap. x. 5: Wherefore when he cometh into the world, dio eisercomenov eiv ton kosmov, and this simply refers to his being incarnated, that he might be capable of suffering and dying for man. But the word is changed on this second coming, I mean his resurrection, and then oikoumenh is used; and why? (fancy apart) because he was now to dwell with man; to send his gospel everywhere to all the inhabitants of the earth, and to accompany that Gospel wherever he sent it, and to be wherever two or three should be gathered together in his name. Wherever the messengers of Jesus Christ go, preaching the kingdom of God, even to the farthest and most desolate parts of the earth where human beings exist, there they ever find Christ; he is not only in them, and with them, but he is in and among all who believe on him through their word.

Let all the angels of God worship him.] The apostle recurs here to his former assertion, that Jesus is higher than the angels, ver. 4, that he is none of those who can be called ordinary angels or messengers, but one of the most extraordinary kind, and the object of worship to all the angels of God. To worship any creature is idolatry, and God resents idolatry more than any other evil. Jesus Christ can be no creature, else the angels who worship him must be guilty of idolatry, and God the author of that idolatry, who commanded those angels to worship Christ.

There has been some difficulty in ascertaining the place from which the apostle quotes these words; some suppose Psa. xcvii. 7: Worship him, all ye gods; which the Septuagint translate thus: proskunhsate autw, pantev aggeloi autou? Worship him, all ye his angels; but it is not clear that the Messiah is intended in this psalm, nor are the words precisely those used here by the apostle. Our marginal references send us with great propriety to the Septuagint version of Deut. xxxii. 43, where the passage is found verbatim et literatim; but there is nothing answering to the words in the present Hebrew text. The apostle undoubtedly quoted the Septuagint, which had then been for more than 300 years a version of the highest repute among the Jews; and it is very probable that the copy from which the Seventy translated had the corresponding words. However this may be, they are now sanctioned by Divine authority; and as the verse contains some singular additions, I will set it down in a parallel column with that of our own version, which was taken immediately from the Hebrew text, premising simply this, that it is the last verse of the famous prophetic song of Moses, which seems to point out the advent of the Messiah to discomfit his enemies, purify the land, and redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Deut. xxxii. 43, from the Hebrew.

Rejoice, O ye nations, for he will avenge in him; for he will avenge the the blood of his servants; and will render vengeance to his adversaries and will be merciful to his land and to his people.Deut. xxxii. 43, from the Septuagint.

Rejoice, ye heaven, together with him; and let all the angels of God . .

.Rejoice, O ye nations, with | worship him. Rejoice, ye his people; Gentiles, with his people; and let the children of God be strengthened in him blood of his children; he will avenge, and will repay judgment to his vengeance: adversaries; and those who hate him . | will he recompense: and the Lord will purge the land of his people.

This is a very important verse; and to it, as it stands in the Septuagint, St. Paul has referred once before; see Rom. xv. 10. This very verse, as it stands now in the Septuagint, thus referred to by an inspired writer, shows the great importance of this ancient version; and proves the necessity of its being studied and well understood by every minister of Christ. In Rom. 3: there is a large quotation-from Psa. xiv. , where there are six whole verses in the apostle's quotation which are not found in the present Hebrew text, but are preserved in the Septuagint! How strange it is that this venerable and important version, so often quoted by our Lord and all his apostles, should be so generally neglected, and so little known! That the common people should be ignorant of it, is not to be wondered at, as it has never been put in an English dress; but that the ministers of the Gospel should be unacquainted with it may be spoken to their shame.

Ver. 6. And again, when he bringeth the first begotten into the world ; etc..] By �the first begotten� is meant Christ. This is a name given him in the Old Testament, and is what the Hebrews were acquainted with, and therefore the apostle uses it; it is in ( Psalm 89:27) from whence it seems to be taken here, and which the ancient Jews acknowledge is to be understood of the Messiah; who, as the Son of God, is the only begotten of the Father, and was begotten from eternity, as before declared, and before any creature had a being, and therefore called the firstborn of every creature, ( Colossians 1:15) and is sometimes styled the first begotten from the dead; he rose the first in time, and is the first in causality and dignity: and he may be called the firstborn, with respect to the saints, who are of the same nature with him, and are partakers of the divine nature, and are adopted into the family of God, though they are not in the same class of sonship with him; and the bringing of him into the world may refer to his second coming, for this seems agreeable from the natural order of the words, which may be rendered, �when he shall bring again�, etc.. that is, a second time, and from ( Psalm 97:1-12) from whence the following words are cited; and from the glory he shall then have from the angels, who will come with him, and minister to him; and not to his resurrection from the dead, when he was exalted above angels, principalities, and powers; though, as we read the words, they seem to regard his first coming in to this habitable world, at his incarnation and birth, when he was attended with angels, and worshipped by them, according to the order of God the Father, as follows: he saith, and let all the angels of God worship him ; these words are cited from ( Psalm 97:7) where the angels are called Elohim, gods. So Aben Ezra on the place observes, that there are some (meaning their doctors) who say, that �all the gods are the angels�; and Kimchi says, that the words are not imperative, but are in the past tense, instead of the future, all the angels have worshipped him ; that is, they shall worship him; as they have done, so they will do. According to our version, they are called upon to worship God's firstborn, his only begotten Son, with a religious worship and adoration, even all of them, not one excepted; which shows, that Christ, as the first begotten, is the Lord God, for he only is to be served and worshipped; and that if angels are to worship him, men ought; and that angels are not to be worshipped, and that Christ is preferable to them; and the whole sets forth the excellency and dignity of his person. Philo the Jew often calls the Logos, or Word of God, his first begotten.

Ver. 7 And of the angels he saith , etc..] Or �to the angels�, as in the following verse, �to the Son�, which stands opposed to this; and the words said to them, or of them, are found in ( <19A404> Psalm 104:4) who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire : this cannot be understood of the wind and lightning, and of God's making these his messengers and ministers to do his will; for such a sense is not suitable to the scope of the psalm, from whence they are taken, nor to the order of the words in which they stand; for it is not said he makes spirits, or winds, his angels, and flaming fire his ministers, but the reverse; and is contrary to the design of the apostle in citing them, which is to show the superiority of Christ to angels, of whom it is said, that they are made spirits: they are �spirits�, created ones, and so differ from God the Creator: they are incorporeal ones, and so differ from men; they are immaterial, and so die not; they are spiritual substances subsisting in themselves: and they are �made� such by God the Father, and by the Son the Lord Jesus Christ, within the six days of the creation, and all at once; for it is not to be supposed that the Lord is daily making them; and this proves the Son to be God, as well as more excellent than the angels; unless this is to be understood of the daily disposal of them in providence, in causing winds, thunder, lightning, and the like. Some choose to supply the word with �as�, and read, who maketh his angels as winds; for invisibility, velocity, power, and penetration: �and his ministers as a flame of fire�; and these are the same with the angels, for they are ministers to God; they attend his presence; are ready to perform any service for him; they sing his praise, and are his chariots in which he rides: and they are ministers to Christ; they attended at his incarnation: were solicitous for his preservation, ministered to him in distress, assisted at his resurrection, and accompanied him in his ascension, and will be with him at his second coming: and they are as a flame of fire, so called from their great power, force, and swiftness; and from their burning love, and flaming zeal, hence named seraphim; and because they are sometimes the executioners of God's wrath, and will descend in flaming fire, when Christ shall be revealed from heaven: angels sometimes appear in fiery forms; the chariots and horses of fire, by which Elijah was carried up to heaven, were no other than angels, in such forms: so the Jews say of the angels, �all the angels, their horses are horses of fire, and their chariots fire, and their bows fire, and their spears fire, and all their instruments of war fire.�

And they have a notion, that an angel is half water, and half fire f23 .

And let all the angels of God worship him (kai proskunhsatwsan autw pantev aggeloi qeou). Proskunein to worship mostly in the Gospels, Acts, and Apocrypha. In Paul only 1 Cor. xiv. 25. Very often in LXX. Originally, to kiss the hand to: thence, to do homage to. Not necessarily of an act of religious reverence (see Matt. ix. 18; xx. 20), but often in N.T. in that sense. Usually translated worship, whether a religious sense is intended or not: see on Acts x. 25. The quotation is not found in the Hebrew of the O.T., but is cited literally from LXX, Deuteronomy xxxii. 43. It appears substantially in Psalm xcvi. 7. For the writer of Hebrews the LXX was Scripture, and is quoted throughout without regard to its correspondence with the Hebrew.