RSV ~ Hebrews 5 Notes

Heb 5:1-4 | ISB Notes

Priests are mediators between man and God. As such, they must be united with men and called by God. The priests of Israel, who traced their lineage to Aaron and his sons, were united with men in the weakness of human sin and were called by God to an earthly priesthood (Ex 28:1-4; 40:12-15). Jesus, too, was united with men in his human nature (Heb 2:14); however, unlike the Aaronic priests, he was free from sin (4:15) and was called by God to a heavenly priesthood (5:5-6; 8:14). Priestly ministry is a vocation from God, not volunteer work that men can take upon themselves (CCC 1539, 1578).

Heb 5:2 | ISB Notes

ignorant and wayward: May refer to two classes of sin distinguished in the Torah: those committed unwittingly (Num 15:27-29) and those committed willfully (Num 15:30-31).

Heb 5:3 | ISB Notes

his own sins: The author has in mind the Day of Atonement, the annual feast when the high priest of Israel carried sacrificial blood into the presence of God to expiate his own personal sins (Lev 16:11), as well as those of the people (Lev 16:15).

Heb 5:5-6 | ISB Notes

Two enthronement psalms concerning the Davidic Messiah.

• In the first, Yahweh declares the anointed king to be his own Son (Ps 2:7). In the second, Yahweh swears an oath to ordain the anointed king as a priest in the order of Melchizedek (Ps 110:4). For the implied link between sonship and priesthood, see essay: The Order of Melchizedek at Heb 7:1-28.

Heb 5:7 | ISB Notes

days of his flesh: Recalls the agony of Jesus in Gethsemane (Mk 14:32-42) and possibly his suffering and prayers on the Cross (Mk 15:34; Lk 23:34, 46).

offered up: The Greek term is closely linked with priestly sacrifices in Hebrews (5:1, 3; 8:3-4; 9:7, 9; etc.).

able to save him: Jesus acknowledged that the Father, had he willed it, could have delivered him from torment and death (Mt 26:53; Mk 14:36).

he was heard: The Father heeded the prayers of the Son, not by sparing him the experience of death, but by rescuing him from death in the Resurrection (13:20).

godly fear: The reverential fear of God that proved stronger in Jesus than his human fear of death. His reverence was manifest as heroic obedience to the will of the Father (Mt 26:39; Phil 2:8) (CCC 612, 2606).

Heb 5:8 | ISB Notes

learned obedience: Not by trial and error, but from the experience of passing through the human trials and ordeals that test our commitment to God.

• Christ, being eternally divine, possessed the fullness of knowledge from the first instant of his conception as a man. He was ignorant of nothing, so he could not learn anything new by simple recognition. But there is also knowledge acquired by experience, and in this sense he learned obedience through what he suffered. Having accepted our weakness, he learned how difficult it is to obey, for he obeyed in the most difficult of circumstances, even unto death on a cross (St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Hebrews 5, 2).

Heb 5:11-14 | ISB Notes

Readers are reprimanded for culpable immaturity. In terms of Christian formation, they are more like infants than the mature believers they should be (1 Cor 3:2). The author exhorts them with words of warning (Heb 6:1-8) and encouragement (6:9-20).

Heb 5:14 | ISB Notes

good from evil: Points to a childish and underdeveloped moral sense (Deut 1:39).