volume 4

VEK. 1, 2.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 225
a severe admonition. But, 3. The apostle rather intends to warn
:them against all appearance of any such failing or falling as he cau-
jtioneth them against. He desires them to take heed that none of
them do, by foregoing their former zeal and diligence, give any um
brage or appearance of a declension from or desertion of their pro
fession. This is his intention : Let there be no semblance or
appearance of any such thing found amongst you/
"
Tgrsptix svcu," To come To be short;"
left behind;"
been left behind ;" that
is, in the work of first
receiving
the promise when proposed. If men fail in the be
" To
have
ginning, probably they will quite give over in their progress. Ycrtpsu
is
"posterior sum/ "to be behind," in time, in
place, in
progress.
"to Vulg. Lat., be which "deesse,"
wanting;" renders not the word,
nor gives any direct sense. Syr., W$&\,
"
qui cesset,"
"
qui frustretur,"
"
qui deficeret," so is it variously rendered, any one that
should
"
cease,"
"
fail,"
"
be frustrated,"
"
it
L L
adds, Jtt?f!J ft?, "ab ingressu,"
"
give over :" whereunto
from entering in;"
that is, into the
rest contained in the promise ; making that, and not the promise it
self, to be intended ; and so the dehortation to be taken from the
punishment of unbelief, and not the nature of the sin itself. Tsripiia
"
also
signifies frustrari,"
"
non assequi,"
"
to be disappointed," and
not to attain the thing aimed at. So Thucydid. lib. iii., EveiBJi rrjs
M/nA^Tjj uffTfpfati,
"
After that he missed of Mitylene," or was dis
appointed in his design of putting in there. And in Isocrates, Isrt-
ptTv ruv xaipuv, xai Kpuyfiaruv, is
"
to be disappointed," or to fail of
occasions for the management of affairs. The word also
signifies
1 Cor.
want," or "to be wanting." Tp vGnpwvn vipiffaoripav 8ov$ TI/J.W,
"
to
"
xii. 24, Giving honour to that which "
wanteth," is
wanting."
Yffrtpr,gavro$ o/ "
vou, John ii. 3, When wine "was
failed,"
wanting,"
"when they lacked wine." So also to be "inferior," Tarspqx svui
ruv virsp X!av avoero kuv, 2 Cor. xi. 5,
"
To come behind the chiefest
apostles;" that is, be inferior unto them in any thing.
Generally, expositors think there is an allusion unto them who
run in a race. Those who are not speedy therein, who stir not up
themselves, and put out their utmost ability and diligence, do fail,
come behind, and so fall short of the prize. So iigrtptTv is
"
ultimus
esse," "deficere in cursu," "&, tergo remanere," "to be cast," "to faint
or fail in the race," "to be cast behind the backs of others." And this
is a thing which our apostle more than once alludes unto, and ex
plains, 1 Cor. ix. 24, 25.
But the allusion is taken from the people in the wilderness, and
their passing into the land of Canaan. Most of them were heavy
through unbelief, lagged in their progress, and were, as it were,
left behind in the wilderness, where they perished and came short
"
of entering into the promised land. These words, therefore, Lest
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