Commentaries:
Barclay comments: "He came as a man; he came seeing things with men's eyes, feeling things with men's feelings, thinking things with men's minds. God knows what life is like, because God came right inside life" (p. 104). Jesus Christ is not remote, detached, and disinterested, nor insulated and isolated from our lives. He knows our frame; He knows that we are but dust. He can see in us a reflection of what He experienced as a man. He can thus extend mercy to us, completely understanding what we are going through.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Beatitudes, Part 5: Blessed Are the Merciful
Hilaskomai (Strong's #2433) is a verb translated as “be merciful” in Luke 18:13 and “to make propitiation for” in Hebrews 2:17. A gracious and merciful judge must, by definition, be willing to be gracious or to be made gracious. From before the foundation of the world, God the Father and the Word, who would become Jesus Christ, painstakingly prepared and executed a perfect plan that allows for both the demands of the law and the Father's holiness to be satisfied. Jesus Christ's propitiatory sacrifice became the payment for all of mankind's sins. This perfect plan allows God the Father to display His grace (Psalm 86:15; 145:8-9) and to be mercifully reconciled (hilaskomai) to His repentant creation (Ephesians 2:4-5)—but only through the blood of His only begotten Son (John 3:16).
Martin G. Collins
What Is Propitiation? (Part Two)
Other Forerunner Commentary entries containing Hebrews 2:17:
Isaiah 53:3
Luke 1:77-79
John 1:14
John 5:22
Acts 10:42
Acts 17:31
Romans 2:16
Romans 3:25
Galatians 4:4
Hebrews 2:17
Hebrews 10:4
1 Peter 3:18-20