Commentaries:
Adam Clarke
Last days - The Gospel dispensation, called the last days and the last time, because not to be followed by any other dispensation; or the conclusion of the Jewish Church and state now at their termination.
By his Son - It is very remarkable that the pronoun ̔ , his, is not found in the text; nor is it found in any MS. or version. We should not therefore supply the pronoun as our translators have done; but simply read ̔ͅ , By a Son, or In a Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things. God has many sons and daughters, for he is the Father of the spirits of all flesh; and he has many heirs, for if sons, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ; but he has no Son who is heir of all things, none by whom he made the worlds, none in whom he speaks, and by whom he has delivered a complete revelation to mankind, but Jesus the Christ.
The apostle begins with the lowest state in which Christ has appeared:
1.His being a Son, born of a woman, and made under the law. He then ascends,
2.So his being an Heir, and an Heir of all things.
3.He then describes him as the Creator of all worlds.
4.As the Brightness of the Divine glory.
5.As the express Image of his person, or character of the Divine substance.
6.As sustaining the immense fabric of the universe; and this by the word of his power.
7.As having made an atonement for the sin of the world, which was the most stupendous of all his works.
"' Twas great to speak a world from nought;
' Twas greater to redeem."
8.As being on the right hand of God, infinitely exalted above all created beings; and the object of adoration to all the angelic host.
9.As having an eternal throne, neither his person nor his dignity ever changing or decaying.
10.As continuing to exercise dominion, when the earth and the heavens are no more! It is only in God manifested in the flesh that all these excellences can possibly appear, therefore the apostle begins this astonishing climax with the simple Sonship of Christ, or his incarnation; for, on this, all that he is to man, and all that he has done for man, is built.
Other Adam Clarke entries containing Hebrews 1:2:
Exodus 12:6
Numbers 7:89
Deuteronomy 32:2
1 Timothy 4:16
Hebrews 1:10
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