Commentaries:
Adam Clarke
Such a high priest became us - Such a high priest was in every respect suitable to us, every way qualified to accomplish the end for which he came into the world. There is probably here an allusion to the qualifications of the Jewish high priest: -
1.He was required to be holy, ̔ , answering to the Hebrew chasid , merciful. Holiness was his calling; and, as he was the representative of his brethren, he was required to be merciful and compassionate.
2.He was to be harmless, , without evil - holy without, and holy within; injuring none, but rather living for the benefit of others.
3.He was undefiled, answering to the Hebrew baal mum , without blemish - having no bodily imperfection. Nothing low, mean, base, or unbecoming in his conduct.
4.He was separate from sinners, ̔ . By his office he was separated from all men and worldly occupations, and entirely devoted to the service of God. And as to sinners, or heathens, he was never to be found in their society.
5.Higher than the heavens. There may be some reference here to the exceeding dignity of the high priesthood; it was the highest office that could be sustained by man, the high priest himself being the immediate representative of God.
But these things suit our Lord in a sense in which they cannot be applied to the high priest of the Jews.
1.He was holy, infinitely so; and merciful, witness his shedding his blood for the sins of mankind.
2.Harmless - perfectly without sin in his humanity, as well as his divinity.
3.Undefiled - contracted no sinful infirmity in consequence of his dwelling among men.
4.Separate from sinners - absolutely unblamable in the whole of his conduct, so that he could challenge the most inveterate of his enemies with, Which of you convicteth me of sin? Who of you can show in my conduct the slightest deviation from truth and righteousness!
5.Higher than the heavens - more exalted than all the angels of God, than all created beings, whether thrones, dominions, principalities, or powers, because all these were created by him and for him, and derive their continued subsistence from his infinite energy.
But how was a person of such infinite dignity suitable to us! His greatness is put in opposition to our meanness. He was holy; We, unholy. He was harmless; We, harmful, injuring both ourselves and others. He was undefiled; We, defiled, most sinfully spotted and impure. He was separate from sinners; We were joined to sinners, companions of the vile, the worthless, the profane, and the wicked. He was higher than the heavens; We, baser and lower than the earth, totally unworthy to be called the creatures of God. And had we not had such a Savior, and had we not been redeemed at an infinite price, we should, to use the nervous language of Milton on another occasion, "after a shameful life and end in this world, have been thrown down eternally into the darkest and deepest gulf of hell, where, under the despiteful control, the trample and spurn, of all the other damned, and in the anguish of their torture should have no other ease than to exercise a raving and bestial tyranny over us as their slaves, we must have remained in that plight for ever, the basest, the lower-most, the most dejected, most under-foot and down-trodden vassals of perdition." Milton on Reformation, in fine.
Other Adam Clarke entries containing Hebrews 7:26:
Matthew 9:10
John 6:27
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