The literal Commentary includes comment on verse 10. The following was translated by Qwen.
Father Noel Alexandre's Commentary on Hebrews 4:14-16, 5:7-9
From the works of Noel Alexandre, O.P. (1639–1724), French Dominican theologian
LITERAL COMMENTARY
Hebrews 4:14
"Having therefore a great High Priest who has penetrated the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession."
Commentary: Having therefore a High Priest far greater than Aaron and his successors—Jesus, the Son of God—who did not enter the typical Holy of Holies as they did, but penetrated the very heavens which those earthly sanctuaries prefigured, and who has given us hope of following Him there ourselves: let us persevere in the faith which we have professed.
Hebrews 4:15
"For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who was tempted in all things according to our likeness, yet without sin."
Commentary: Lest the Majesty of so great a High Priest deter us from approaching Him: for He is most inclined to come to the aid of our miseries, the languors and wounds of our souls, inasmuch as He has experienced all the miseries that generally follow mortal nature, just as we have—excepting, however, sin, and those things which are repugnant to the grace of the hypostatic union and the dignity of the Head, such as ignorance, concupiscence, and the difficulty of doing good (which are wounds of corrupted nature). Thus He has experienced our evils in Himself, so that nothing of those things which He suffered, and by which He was tempted, could lead Him into sin.
Hebrews 4:16
"Let us therefore approach with confidence the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace in timely aid."
Commentary: Let us therefore approach Christ, sitting at the right hand of the Father and interceding for us, insofar as He is our Mediator and Advocate—of whom nevertheless it is said: "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever." Let us approach, I say, Him who is prepared to show grace to us, with sincere freedom to ask and with confidence to obtain through Him and from Him any good necessary and useful for our salvation, that we may obtain mercy and the grace which we most need.
Hebrews 5:7
"Who in the days of His flesh, offering prayers and supplications to Him who was able to save Him from death, with a loud cry and tears, was heard for His reverence."
Commentary: Who, when He was living a mortal life among men, offering most humble prayers and supplications with a loud cry and tears to God the Father—who was able to snatch Him quickly from death and raise Him to immortal and glorious life—was heard for His reverence and piety toward God. (Cf. Psalm 21:8–10)
Hebrews 5:8
"And indeed, although He was the Son of God, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered."
Commentary: And although He was the Son of God, through the things which He suffered according to the Father's will, He showed and exercised obedience, as it were, a disciple of obedience.
Hebrews 5:9
"And being made perfect, He became to all who obey Him the cause of eternal salvation."
Commentary: And with the Mystery of His Passion completed and the economy of our salvation perfected, having obtained the glory of the body and the exaltation of the Name, He became to all who obey Him and His Gospel the author of eternal salvation.
Hebrews 5:10
"Called by God a High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek."
Commentary: Declared by God the Father a High Priest not according to the order of Aaron and the Legal rites, but according to the rite of Melchizedek. In this we see the Sacrament of the Lord's sacrifice prefigured, according as divine Scripture testifies and says: "And Melchizedek, King of Salem, brought forth bread and wine; and he was Priest of the Most High God, and blessed Abraham" (Genesis 14:18).
That Melchizedek bore the type of Christ, the Holy Spirit declares in the Psalms, from the person of the Father to the Son, saying: "Before the morning star I begot You; You are a Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek" (Psalm 109:4).
This order indeed derives from and descends from that sacrifice which Melchizedek, Priest of the Most High God, offered—bread and wine—and by which he blessed Abraham. For who is more a Priest of the Most High God than our Lord Jesus Christ, who offered sacrifice to God the Father, and offered the very same thing which Melchizedek had offered: that is, bread and wine—namely, His own Body and Blood. And concerning Abraham, that preceding blessing pertained to our people.
MORAL COMMENTARY
On Hebrews 4:14–15
Although we ought to fear the judgment of God, far be it that we should despair, since we have a Great High Priest who can and will help us—the very One whom our religion adores. Our religion [proclaims] Jesus, the Son of God, incomparably more excellent and powerful than Moses: Moses did not enter the Promised Land nor lead others into it; but Jesus has penetrated heaven, sits at the Father's right hand, and is able and prepared to lead us into heaven and make us heirs of the promised rest—if we remain constant in faith and live according to it.
Not everything is attributed to the High Priest; our part is also required. He can [save us], but He will not admit us to rest unless we are worthy, offering faith and good works. No offering could be made to God in the Temple in the Old Testament except through priests; nothing is accepted in heaven unless it is offered through Jesus Christ, His Son. No prayers, no sacrifices, no good works can be acceptable to Him unless consecrated by Him.
It is our greatest consolation that our [High Priest] not only knows the weakness of our nature as God, but also as man has taken upon Himself our infirmities and has made trial of our sufferings. Hence He is more inclined to bring us aid, and judging us with consideration of our weakness, He pronounces sentence upon us.
"For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who was tempted in all things, yet without sin."
Let this divine exemplar be regarded by pastors of souls: being not ignorant of human weaknesses both of soul and body, let them be affected with a sense of compassion toward the sheep committed to them, and hasten to help them with consolation, counsel, exhortation, patronage, and the aid of alms. Let them penetrate the heavens through prayer and contemplation, that they may converse with our High Priest Jesus Christ, and from Him draw salutary doctrine and truth to be handed on and preached to the peoples. Let them humble themselves to sinners and condescend to them with an affection of compassionate charity, like physicians to the sick, guarding themselves against the contagion of sin with spiritual antidotes while they devote themselves to healing the sins of others.
"Tempted in all things, yet without sin." The good shepherd transcends heaven by contemplation, yet does not abandon the state of caring for carnal things, because joined by the bond of charity to both the highest and the lowest, he is both powerfully caught up to high things in himself by the virtue of the Spirit, and in others is equally weakened by piety.
Hence Jacob saw angels ascending and descending, with the Lord leaning from above and the stone anointed below: because upright preachers not only desire to contemplate the holy Head of the Church above, namely the Lord, but also descend in compassion to His members below. Hence Moses frequently enters and exits the Tabernacle: he who is caught up within in contemplation is pressed by the affairs of the infirm without. Within he confidently considers the secrets of God; without he bears the burdens of the carnal. He who also in doubtful matters always has recourse to the Tabernacle, consults the Lord before the Ark of the Covenant—giving an example to rulers that when they are uncertain outside about what to arrange, they should always return to the mind as if to the Tabernacle, and consult the Lord as if before the Ark of the Covenant, searching within themselves the pages of sacred Scripture concerning those things about which they doubt.
Hence the very Truth, shown to us through the assumption of our humanity, clings to prayer on the mountain, works miracles in the cities—laying down the path of imitation for good rulers: that although they now desire the highest things by contemplating, nevertheless they should mingle with the necessities of the infirm by compassion, because then charity wonderfully rises to high things when it mercifully draws itself to the lowly needs of neighbors, and when it benignly descends to the lowest things, it valently returns to the highest.
On Hebrews 4:16
"Let us therefore approach with confidence the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace in timely aid."
Let us now approach with confidence to the throne of grace, that with security and exultation we may stand before the throne of Judgment. Let us approach the Savior and our most loving High Priest while it is the time of grace and the day of salvation. Let us approach not doubting, with pure conscience; let us offer faith and good will, and He will give all things.
Now is the time of royal munificence; let no one despair. Then there will no longer be time for hope when the King arises to judge the world. But now is the time of hoping because it is the time of mercy. Still the contest presses on, still the prize hangs in the balance. Let us therefore hasten, let us run, not as uncertainly. There is need of a course, and a vigorous one. Whoever runs in the stadium or fights does not look back; he intends nothing except victory and the prize. Whoever runs never stands still. For if he hesitates even a little or slackens his course, he will lose everything.
Christ Jesus will supply strength to us for running and hastening if we approach with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may obtain:
Mercy: for the remission of sins and of the eternal punishment due to them;
Grace: for avoiding sins henceforth, for victory over temptations, for all and each good act, and for persevering to the end.
These are the fruits of the sacrifice of Christ Jesus and of His eternal Priesthood.
On Hebrews 5:7
"Who in the days of His flesh, offering prayers and supplications to Him who was able to save Him from death, with a loud cry and tears, was heard for His reverence."
Since it was necessary that Christ Himself should offer Himself to us as leader and teacher for every good work, with a loud cry and supplication, as one of us, He approached God, by whom He was also heard, as the true and natural Son who could not suffer rejection. "For I knew," He says, "that You always hear me" (John 11:42). So that He might make our prayers acceptable to God, He Himself first began the matter, in this way opening and expanding, as it were, the paternal ears to human nature, and making them easy and prompt for the vows of those who would at some time be in peril for His sake.
We therefore, in Him as in another beginning of our race, were earnestly entreating both that the dominion of death might be abolished in us, and especially that the life once given to our nature might be firmly established again. That Christ prayed is an indication, aid, and example of our weakness. Let us imitate our High Priest praying for us, and conform and unite our prayers to His prayer, that they may be heard by God.
Five Conditions for Prayer:
Pray for deliverance from the death of sin—which Christ, the holy, spotless High Priest separated from sinners, did not pray for Himself, but for us, as our surety, bearing the iniquities of us all, and crying out from the person of His members: "My God, my God, look upon me; why have You forsaken me? Far from my salvation are the words of my sins."
Pray with profound humility, as beggars, as invalids, as the weak and afflicted with wounds which only God can heal. We have nothing from ourselves except misery and sin; we can do nothing good from ourselves. We are beggars of God. Our only refuge remaining is in prayer. Let us therefore fall suppliant at the feet of Christ our Mediator, that through Him we may be freed from the death of sin and from eternal damnation.
Pray with most ardent charity, whose cry reaches to God. "The coldness of charity is the silence of the heart; the fervor of charity is the cry of the heart," says St. Augustine. "With a loud cry."
Pray with tears, which the love of God elicits like the blood of a repentant heart. Perhaps your conscience burns with the guilt of sin; quench the flame of sin with tears. You are just above the rivers of Babylon; pour forth tears, mindful of the heavenly homeland. Let your tears be your bread day and night—that is, whether in the prosperity or adversity of this age, while it is said to you: "Where is your God?" Mix your tears with the tears of Christ, that from them they may draw the power of cleansing your soul from iniquity. "And with tears."
Pray with interior and exterior reverence, with chaste and religious fear of the divine Majesty, with an intimate affection of piety, in a spirit of adoration, of which the Son of God clothed in our flesh has given us an example. "With reverence."
On Hebrews 5:8–9
"And indeed, although He was the Son of God, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And being made perfect, He became to all who obey Him the cause of eternal salvation."
Let us also learn obedience in the School of Christ, who gave His life lest He should lose obedience. "Made obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:8).
The good of obedience is difficult for the inexperienced. Those who have not learned it in difficult matters think it easy to obey. But so that you may know what obedience is, it is necessary that you learn to obey in difficult matters. And "Whoever does not learn to be subject by obeying, never knows well how to command by ruling."
Christ Jesus, suffering and dying, teaches us obedience in most difficult matters. "He learned obedience from the things which He suffered." And through His obedience He became for us the author of justice and salvation, which we shall not obtain otherwise than by obeying His commands and perfecting our life in His service.
"And being made perfect, He became to all who obey Him the cause of eternal salvation." The virtue of obedience is necessary for all Christians. All are bound to obey:
Children owe obedience to parents, servants to masters, subjects to Superiors. Let them therefore learn this in the School of Christ, who deigned to become a disciple of obedience that He might be teacher.
"Although He was the Son of God, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered." He learned obedience in His body from the things which He suffered in the Head. For that death, that cross, the opprobriums, spittings, scourgings—all of which Christ our Head endured—what else were they but most excellent lessons of obedience for His body, that is, for us?
"Christ suffered for us, leaving you an example, that you should follow His steps" (1 Peter 2:21)—that is, that you should imitate His obedience. From these things therefore which He suffered, we learn how much we, who are mere men, ought to endure for obedience, for which He who was also God did not hesitate to die.
CONTINUE
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