316 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Saying, surely blessing I will bless thee,.... Which is expressive of the certainty of the blessings; the reality and substantiality of them; the abundance of them, and the continuance of the same: and of this nature are all spiritual blessings; as to be chosen of God; to have God to be a covenant God and Father; to be justified, pardoned,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And so, after he had patiently endured,.... He waited long for a son, from whom the Messiah was to spring, after he had had the promise of one; and he endured many afflictions with patience, in his journeys from place to place, throughout his life to the end: he obtained the promise; he was greatly blessed in temporal things; he lived to see the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For men verily swear by the greater,.... These words contain a reason why God swore by himself, and why his promises, having an oath annexed to them, ought to be believed. Men when they swear, they swear by the greater; not by themselves, as God does, because there is one greater than they; not by any of the creatures on earth, nor by the angels...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Wherein God, willing,.... Or "wherefore", as the Syriac and Ethiopic versions render it; that is, whereas an oath is used among men to confirm anything that might be doubted; therefore God, in condescension to the weakness of men, made use of one; being very desirous and determined, more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
That by two immutable things,.... God's counsel and oath, which never change and alter, and from which he never varies: in which it was impossible for God to lie; fail or deceive, nor, indeed, in anything else, besides his counsels, promises, and oath, see Titus 1:2 we might have a strong consolation; the saints often stand in need of consolation,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Which [hope] we have as an anchor of the soul,.... This world is as a sea; the church in it, and so every believer, is as a ship; the port that is bound unto is heaven; Christ is the pilot, and hope is the anchor: an anchor is cast on a bottom, out of sight; and when the ship is in a calm, or in danger of a rock, or near the shore; but is of no...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus,.... Christ was a runner; he had a race to run, which lay in going about to heal diseases, in preaching the Gospel, in obeying the law, and in suffering death for his people; which race was run by him with great swiftness, strength, and courage, with patience, cheerfulness, and joy, and is now...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Hebrews 7 The apostle having made mention of Melchizedek in the latter part of the preceding chapter, proceeds in this to give some account of him, and of the excellency of his priesthood, and to show that Christ is a priest of his order, and is superior to Aaron and his sons. He first declares what Melchizedek was, that he was...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For this Melchisedec, king of Salem,.... Various have been the opinions of writers concerning Melchizedek; some have thought him to be more than a man; some, that he was an angel; others, that he was the Holy Ghost; and others, that he was a divine person superior to Christ, which needs no refutation; others have supposed that he was the Son of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all,.... Or tithes, as in Genesis 14:20. Philo the Jew (b) renders the Hebrew phrase, מעשר מכל, just as the apostle does δεκατηναποπαντων, "a tenth part of all", or "out of all"; not of all that he brought back, as Lot's goods, or the king of Sodom's, or any others; only of the spoils of the enemy, as in...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Without father, without mother, without descent,.... Which is to be understood not of his person, but of his priesthood; that his father was not a priest, nor did his mother descend from any in that office; nor had he either a predecessor or a successor in it, as appears from any authentic accounts: or this is to be interpreted, not of his...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now consider how great this man was,.... Melchizedek, of whom so many great and wonderful things are said in the preceding verses: and as follows, unto whom the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils; of Abraham's giving tithes to him, [See comments on Hebrews 7:2] and Melchizedek's greatness is aggravated, not only from this act of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And verily they that are of the sons of Levi,.... Or Levites; who are of the tribe of Levi, whose descent is from him: who receive the office of the priesthood; as some of them were priests, though not all; and the Levites therefore are sometimes called priests. R. Joshua ben Levi says, that in twenty four places the priests are called Levites;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But he whose descent is not counted from them, c] That is, Melchizedek, whose genealogy or pedigree is not reckoned from the Levites, nor from any from whom they descend his lineal descent is not the same with theirs; and so did not receive tithes by any law, as they did, but by virtue of his superiority: received tithes of Abraham; not from the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the greater. This is a self-evident truth, and is undeniable; it admits of no controversy, and cannot be gainsaid, that he that blesseth is greater in that respect than he that is blessed by him; as the priests were greater in their office than the people who were blessed by them; and so...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And here men that die receive tithes, c,] The priests and Levites were not only men, and mortal men, subject to death, but they did die, and so did not continue, by reason of death, Hebrews 7:24 but there he receiveth them, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth which is to be understood of Melchizedek; who is not opposed to men, as if he was not...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And as l may so say,.... With truth, and with great propriety and pertinence: Levi also who receiveth tithes; or the Levites, who receive tithes according to the law of Moses from the people of Israel: paid tithes in Abraham; that is, to Melchizedek; and therefore Melchizedek must be greater than they, and his priesthood a more excellent one than...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For he was yet in the loins of his father,.... Abraham; namely, Levi and his whole posterity; which is to be understood seminally, just as all mankind were in the loins of Adam, when he sinned and fell, and so they sinned and fell in him; and so Levi was in Abraham's loins, when Melchisedec met him; which, as it proves Melchizedek to be greater...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood,.... The priesthood which was established in the tribe of Levi; so called, to distinguish it from that which was before this institution, from the times of Adam, as well as from the priesthood of Melchizedek, and from the priesthood of Christ, and from that of his people under the Gospel,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For the priesthood being changed,.... Not translated from one tribe, family, or order, to another, but utterly abolished; for though it is called an everlasting priesthood, yet that is to be understood with a limitation, as the word "everlasting" often is, as relating to things under that dispensation; for nothing is more certain than that it is...