Continuing the theme of the Savior's high priesthood, the author of the epistle compares Him with Moses, which, of course...
Continuing the theme of the Savior's high priesthood, the author of the epistle compares Him with Moses (vv. 1-6), which of course is not accidental. Indeed, it was with Moses that the Sinai theophany and the making of that covenant-union were connected, the covenant that made the Jewish people the Old Testament Church. Moses himself, as is well known, was a prophet, a man of God, a charismatic leader who headed his people in very difficult times and, with God's help, was able to lead them out of Egypt. More than that, he brought the people to the very threshold of the land promised by God to Abraham, the land that already in the days of Joshua and the early prophets was associated in the eyes of the Yahwists with the Kingdom that it was one day to become. The later prophets said more than once that the transformation of the promised land into the Kingdom would take place under the leadership of the Messiah sent by God, who would come in His time and complete what Moses had begun. In this context, the comparison of Christ with Moses looks entirely logical. This comparison also evokes allusions to the Savior's words at the Last Supper, when He said that He no longer called His disciples slaves but friends, as well as to the many parables about the good and bad steward. The author of the epistle connects Moses precisely with the good steward of the Gospel parable, while also pointing to the fact that the prophet himself nevertheless remains only a servant in the house entrusted to him, whereas Christ governs it not as a servant but as a Son and lawful heir (vv. 3-6).
It is in this sense that the author of the epistle calls Him an apostle ("messenger") and high priest, apparently wishing to say that Jesus Himself bears within Himself that fullness of God's presence which now sanctifies His people. Such a statement was evidently especially relevant in an age when the Temple had already been destroyed and the temple sacrifices, with which the Yahwists associated God's presence that had sanctified the people for centuries, had ceased. The author of the epistle emphasizes that this is not yet the end, that the fullness of Christ surpasses the fullness of Yahwism and includes it within itself, so that even in the absence of the Temple Christians can still preserve normal, full spiritual life, receiving everything necessary for it through direct communion with the Risen One in the breaking of bread. The way into the Kingdom was not closed by the destruction of the Temple, for the fullness of the Kingdom was brought into the world by the Savior, who does not change promises once given or a covenant-union once made.
3
3:1 The heavenly calling - God calls from heaven, and to heaven, by the gospel. Consider the Apostle - The messenger of God, who pleads the cause of God with us. And High Priest - Who pleads our cause with God. Both are contained in the one word Mediator. He compares Christ, as an Apostle, with Moses; as a Priest, with Aaron. Both these offices, which Moses and Aaron severally bore, he bears together, and far more eminently. Of our profession - The religion we profess.
3:2 His house - The church of Israel, then the peculiar family of God. Num 12:7.
3:3 He that hath builded it hath more glory than the house - Than the family itself, or any member of it.
3:4 Now Christ, he that built not only this house, but all things, is God - And so infinitely greater than Moses or any creature.
3:5 And Moses verily - Another proof of the pre - eminence of Christ above Moses. Was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of the things which were afterwards to be spoken - That is, which was a full confirmation of the things which he afterward spake concerning Christ.
3:6 But Christ was faithful as a Son; whose house we are, while we hold fast, and shall be unto the end, if we hold fast our confidence in God, and glorying in his promises; our faith and hope.