Drawing heavily on the witness of Old Testament revelation, the writer demonstrated the uniqueness of the Son. The title of Son, and the prerogatives it entails, elevate Him above all comparison with the angels. Those who see in Hebrews ties with sectarian Judaism point to the highly developed angelology of the Dead Sea sect. These verses offer an effective rebuttal against any tendency to give excessive prominence to angels.
Hebrews 1:4-14 is comprised of seven quotations from the Old Testament, all of which prove the superiority of Christ to the angels. Scholars tell us that the writer quoted from the Greek version of the Hebrew Old Testament, known as the Septuagint. The word Septuagint is a Greek word that means “seventy.” Tradition claims that seventy men translated the Hebrew Old Testament into the Greek. The abbreviation for Septuagint is LXX, Roman numerals for seventy. However, the same Holy Spirit who inspired the Scriptures has the right to quote and restate the truth as He sees fit.
5 For to which of the angels did He ever say,
“You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You”?
And again,
“I will be a Father to Him
And He shall be a Son to Me”?
6 And when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says,
“And let all the angels of God worship Him.”
7 And of the angels He says,
“Who makes His angels winds,
And His ministers a flame of fire.”
8 But of the Son He says,
“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
And the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom.
9 “You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;
Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You
With the oil of gladness above Your companions.” (NASB)
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Jesus is the fulfillment of the promised Davidic kingship (v. 5)
- Christ is viewed as the ultimate aim and goal of all the Old Testament quotations used.
- The superiority of Jesus to the angels is clearly shown. The angels are commanded to worship Jesus (v. 6). He has a throne and is a ruler. His throne will last forever and ever. He loves righteousness (vv. 8-9)
CLOSER LOOK:
Verse 5: To prove the exalted superiority of the Son, the first of seven Old Testament quotations is used. Christ is viewed as the ultimate aim and goal of all the author’s Old Testament quotations.The two questions in this verse show that the name “Son” belongs to the Messiah in a sense in which it never belonged to the angels. Obviously “Son” is the superior name which Jesus “has inherited” (v. 4). But it is clear that the special sense of this name, in its kingly ramifications, is what basically concerns the writer.[1]
The quotation in verse 5a is drawn from Psalm 2:7, while the quotation in Hebrews 1:5b comes from either 2 Samuel 7:14 or 1 Chronicles 17:13. The psalm describes the coronation of an Israelite king. Paul referred to this verse in Acts 13:33 to explain Jesus’ resurrection. Hebrews uses it to proclaim Jesus’ royal dignity in His resurrection and ascension. Psalm 2 is an enthronement psalm in which God “adopts” the Davidic King as His “Son.” That this is what the writer to the Hebrews understood is confirmed in Hebrews 1:5a by the quotation from the Davidic Covenant. Many scholars believe that the “today” in the expression “today I have become Your Father” was understood by the author of Hebrews to refer to Messiah’s sitting at the right hand of God (i.e. His exaltation and enthronement; cf. v. 3).
Of course, the Lord Jesus Christ has always been the eternal Son of God. In a collective sense, the angels are called “sons of God” in the Old Testament (Job 38:7), but the writer was thinking of the title “Son” in the sense of the Davidic Heir who is entitled to ask God for dominion over the whole earth (cf. Ps. 2:8). In this sense the title belongs uniquely to Jesus and not to the angels.
The second quotation came from 2 Samuel 7:14. The prophet Nathan passed these words from God to David. They contained a promise that Solomon would build a house for God after David’s death. God promised that He would be David’s father forever and that David would be his son. God did not exhaust these promises in Solomon. Later prophets looked for David to have a greater Son, the Messiah (Mic. 5:2). New Testament writers proclaimed Jesus as the descendant of David who fulfilled this verse (Rom. 1:3). No angel ever had a position as exalted as Jesus.
Verse 6: The prerogatives of the One who bears this superlative title are set forth beginning with this verse. Instead of the NIV‘s “And again, when God brings His Firstborn into the world,” (italics mine) it would be preferable to translate, “and when He again brings the Firstborn into the world.”[2] The reference is to the Second Advent when the kingly prerogatives of the Son will be recognized with open angelic worship (“let all the angels of God worship Him,” cf. Ps. 97:7).[3]
The Old Testament does not contain the exact words of this quotation. The idea appears in Psalm 97:7 and in the Greek Old Testament version of Deuteronomy 32:43. In the Old Testament the command involved the worship of God the Father. In Hebrews the Son is linked with the Father by receiving the worship due Him. This provided powerful evidence for Jesus’ deity. God commanded the angels to worship Jesus, which proves that Jesus Christ is God; for none of God’s angels would worship a mere creature.
This could be a reference to the angels worshiping Jesus at His birth (Luke 2:8–15). Such angelic worship showed that the Son is superior to angels. He has greater dignity than they.
We saw this when we studied Colossians 1, but the term “firstborn” in the Bible does not always mean “born first.” God made Solomon the firstborn (Ps. 89:27) even though Solomon is listed tenth in the official genealogy (1 Chron. 3:1–5). The title is one of rank and honor, for the firstborn receives the inheritance and the special blessing. Christ is the “Firstborn of all creation” (Col. 1:15, NASB) because He created all things; and He is the highest of all who came back from the dead (Col. 1:18).
Verses 7–9: In a pair of contrasting quotations, the author compared the servanthood of the angels (v. 7) and the eternal dominion of the Son (vv. 8–9).
Psalm 104:4 is quoted in verse 7 to spotlight the angels subordinate role. Angels are compared to the natural elements of wind and fire. They did God’s bidding and became His messengers. Angels fulfilled an important but inferior role. Verse 14 will provide more information about their actions as we will see next time. It is possible that, in line with one strand of Jewish thought about angels (cf. 2 Esdras 8:21–22), the writer understood the statement of Psalm 104:4 as suggesting that angels often blended their mutable natures with winds or fire as they performed the tasks God gave them.[4] But in contrast with this mutability, the Son’s throne is eternal and immutable (v. 8).
The quotation found in verses 8–9 is derived from Psalm 45:6–7 which describes the final triumph of God’s messianic King. The psalm originally celebrated a royal wedding. The words are so glorious that only God’s messianic king can satisfy their meaning. The writer extended this citation further than the previous ones, no doubt because the statements of the psalmist served well to highlight truths on which the author of Hebrews desired to elaborate. These words tell us three facts about the role of the Son. Each fact proclaimed His superiority to angels. First, the Son has a throne and is a ruler. No one could say this of an angel. Second, this throne will last “forever and ever.” It is eternal. Angels are not eternal, for God created them at a point in time (Ps. 148:2, 5). Third, the Son loves righteousness. Nothing delights God more than for someone to love His righteousness (Ps. 1:1–6; Matt. 5:6). The King the psalmist described had “loved righteousness and hated lawlessness.” This points to the holiness and obedience of Christ while He was on earth, to which reference will be repeatedly made later (cf. Heb. 3:1–2; 5:7–8; 7:26; 9:14). And though this King so deservedly enjoys a superlative gladness (or joy), still He has “companions” in that joy. The reference to “companions” is likewise a significant theme for the writer. The same word metochoi (“companions or sharers”) is employed in 3:1, 14 of Christians (it is also used in 12:8).[5] Since the King has attained His gladness and dominion through a life of steadfast righteousness, it might be concluded that His companions will share His experience by that same means.[6] This inference will later become quite clear (cf. 12:28).
[1] Zane C. Hodges, “Hebrews,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, eds. John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1985), 781.
[2] Zane C. Hodges, “Hebrews,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, eds. John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1985), 782.
[3] Cf. Psalm 97:7 where the LXX rendering “angels” correctly renders the text. It translates the word “gods” as “angels.” Ps 97:7 from the ESV reads, “All worshipers of images are put to shame, who make their boast in worthless idols; worship him, all you gods!).
[4] Zane C. Hodges, “Hebrews,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, eds. John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1985), 782.
[5] In this case it means business partner or companion. Whereas in 3:1, 14 and 12:8 it seems to mean sharing or participating in. From the BDAG.
[6] Zane C. Hodges, “Hebrews,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, eds. John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1985), 782.