Hebrews 3:2

Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(2) Who was.—Rather, as being; or that He was. Not merely, fix your thought on Jesus; but also (and especially), think of Him as faithful to God (Hebrews 2:17).

Appointed him.—Literally, made Him, an expression which some ancient (Ambrose and other Latin fathers,—apparently also Athanasius) and many modern writers have understood as relating to the creation of the human nature of our Lord. It is probable, however, that 1Samuel 12:6 is in the writer’s mind. “It is the Lord that made Moses and Aaron, and that brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt.” As there Samuel speaks of the raising up of Moses and Aaron, constituted by God deliverers of the people; so here our thought must rest on Him who constituted Jesus “Apostle and High Priest.”

As also Moses.—These words, which give the key to the following verses, are quoted from Numbers 12:7, where Moses is placed in contrast with prophets in Israel to whom the Lord will make Himself known by vision or dream. “My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth.” The “house” or household is God’s. people Israel. To others will God reveal Himself in various ways in regard to the many parts of the house, the many concerns of the household. Throughout the whole house Moses was the recipient of the divine commands, and was faithful—“faithful” (as one of the Targums paraphrases), “as chief of the chiefs of my court.”

Benson Commentary

Hebrews 3:2. Who was faithful to him that appointed him — The sacred penman, entering upon a comparison between Moses and Christ, as he was the apostle of God, or one sent by him to reveal his will, he recommends him to the faith of the Hebrews, under the principal qualification of a person in that office; he was faithful, which faithfulness he further describes by its respect to that act whereby he was appointed by God to the office. God’s apostle is the chief steward or dispenser of his mysteries; and it is principally required in stewards that a man be found faithful. Now the fidelity of a legate, ambassador, or apostle consists principally in the full declaration of the mind and will of him who sent him, as to those ends for which he is sent. Faithfulness respects trust. Our Lord, therefore, must have had a trust committed to him wherein he was faithful. Accordingly he sought not his own glory, but the glory of him that sent him; declaring that he came not in his own, but in his Father’s name, John 5:43. He moreover sealed that truth with his blood, which he came into the world to bear witness to, John 18:37; and greater faithfulness could not be expressed. As also Moses was faithful in all his house — The church of Israel, then the peculiar family of God. The words are an allusion to the testimony which God bare to Moses, Numbers 12:7, My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all my house. It is true, Moses failed personally in his faith, and was charged of God that he believed him not, Numbers 20:12; but this was no impeachment of his faithfulness in the special office intended. As he was to reveal Jehovah’s mind, and institute his worship, he was universally faithful; for according to all that God appointed him so did he, Exodus 40:16. He did not conceal any of the divine laws, on account of their disagreeableness to the Israelites; nor did he alter them in the least, to make them acceptable, but delivered the whole law as it was spoken to himself, and formed the tabernacle and the ritual of the worship exactly according to the pattern showed him. In like manner, Christ’s faithfulness consisted in his teaching the doctrines, appointing the laws, and establishing the worship which his Father had ordained for the church.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

3:1-6 Christ is to be considered as the Apostle of our profession, the Messenger sent by God to men, the great Revealer of that faith which we profess to hold, and of that hope which we profess to have. As Christ, the Messiah, anointed for the office both of Apostle and High Priest. As Jesus, our Saviour, our Healer, the great Physician of souls. Consider him thus. Consider what he is in himself, what he is to us, and what he will be to us hereafter and for ever. Close and serious thoughts of Christ bring us to know more of him. The Jews had a high opinion of the faithfulness of Moses, yet his faithfulness was but a type of Christ's. Christ was the Master of this house, of his church, his people, as well as their Maker. Moses was a faithful servant; Christ, as the eternal Son of God, is rightful Owner and Sovereign Ruler of the Church. There must not only be setting out well in the ways of Christ, but stedfastness and perseverance therein to the end. Every meditation on his person and his salvation, will suggest more wisdom, new motives to love, confidence, and obedience.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Who was faithful - see the note, Hebrews 2:17. He performed with fidelity all the functions entrusted to him.

To him that appointed him - Margin, "made." The word "made," however, is used in the sense of constituted, or appointed. The meaning is, that he was faithful to God. Perhaps Paul urges on them the necessity of considering "his fidelity" in order to keep "them" from the danger of apostasy. A leading object of this Epistle was to preserve those whom he had addressed from apostatizing from God amidst the temptations and trials to which they were exposed. In doing this, what could be a more powerful argument than to direct their attention to the unwavering constancy and fidelity of the Lord Jesus? The "importance" of such a virtue in the Saviour is manifest. It is seen everywhere; and all the great interests of the world depend on it. A husband should maintain inviolate fidelity toward a wife, and a wife toward her husband; a child should be faithful to a parent, a clerk and apprentice to his employer, a lawyer to his client, a physician to his patient, an ambassador to the government that commissions him.

No matter what may be the temptations in the way, in all these, and in all other relations, there should be inviolate fidelity. The welfare of the world depended on the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus. Had he failed in that, all would have been lost. His fidelity was worthy of the more attentive consideration from the numerous temptations which beset his path, and the attempts which were made to turn him aside from his devotedness to God. Amidst all the temptations of the adversary, and all the trials through which he passed, he never for a moment swerved from fidelity to the great trust which had been committed to his hands. What better example to preserve them from the temptations to apostasy could the apostle propose to the Christians whom he addressed? What, in these temptations and trials, could be more appropriate than for them to consider the example of the great apostle and high priest of their profession? What more proper for us now in the trials and temptations of our lives, than to keep that great and glorious example continually before our eyes?

As also Moses was faithful - Fidelity to God was remarkable in Moses. In all the provocations and rebellions of the Jews, he was firm and unwavering. This is affirmed of him in Numbers 12:7, to which place the apostle here alludes, "My servant, Moses, is not so, who is faithful in all his house." The word "house," as applied to Moses, is used probably in the sense of "family," as it often is, and refers to the "family" over which he presided - that is, the Jewish nation. The whole Jewish people were a "household," or the family of God, and Moses was appointed to preside over it, and was faithful in the functions of his office there.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2. He first notes the feature of resemblance between Moses and Christ, in order to conciliate the Hebrew Christians whom He addressed, and who still entertained a very high opinion of Moses; he afterwards brings forward Christ's superiority to Moses.

Who was faithful—The Greek implies also that He still is faithful, namely, as our mediating High Priest, faithful to the trust God has assigned Him (Heb 2:17). So Moses in God's house (Nu 12:7).

appointed him—"made Him" High Priest; to be supplied from the preceding context. Greek, "made"; so in Heb 5:5; 1Sa 12:6, Margin; Ac 2:36; so the Greek fathers. Not as Alford, with Ambrose and the Latins, "created Him," that is, as man, in His incarnation. The likeness of Moses to Messiah was foretold by Moses himself (De 18:15). Other prophets only explained Moses, who was in this respect superior to them; but Christ was like Moses, yet superior.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The Spirit enforceth the duty counselled on them from the fidelity of that grand gospel Minister in his offices; exemplified in a parallel with Moses, whom he did exceed.

Who was faithful to him that appointed him; he did most exactly perform all he was intrusted with, according to the intention and end of his commission. He did most faithfully reveal God, John 1:18, and his whole saving will, to whom God sent him, John 3:31-34 5:34 John 8:28,38; as his great Prophet, Acts 3:22. He as faithfully discharged the office of his priesthood in sacrificing himself to atone God for sinners, and as faithfully intercedes for all with him unto this day, and will do so for ever, with all truth and fidelity discharging his trust, Hebrews 7:24-28 9:11,12,14,24,26. He was faithful in fulfilling all his types, and in changing and finishing all the ceremonial constitutions, and filling them up with gospel ones, according to God’s will revealed to him about it. He was true to his Father, who appointed and constituted him to these offices, and solemnly invested him in them; poihsanti here not signifying the making of a creature, but the making of an officer, the person existing before; he puts him into this special charge and office by anointing him for it, Acts 2:36.

As also Moses was faithful in all his house: Moses was the Jewish mediator, and brought them the law moral, judicial, and ceremonial from God; as he was highly esteemed by them, so God testifieth of his fidelity. Christ was not only like to him in fidelity, but, as to both the truth and degree of it, exceeding him. Moses kept to his pattern shown him in the mount, and Christ fulfilled entirely his Father’s will, John 5:30 6:38, and is preferred to him. Moses was so in the whole church of Israel, set out by this metaphor of a house; but Christ ill all God’s house and family both in heaven and in earth; not the least thing that concerned the family, but Christ fulfilled; not the meanest person in it, but he careth for and saveth.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Who was faithful to him that appointed him,.... Or "made him"; Christ, as man, was made, but not as God; nor is the apostle speaking of the divine nature of Christ, but of his offices: wherefore this phrase designs the constitution and settlement of him in office; which may take in the eternal appointment of him as Mediator; the open promise of him in time; his mission, unction, and attestation from God; and his manifestation and declaration as such, at his ascension and session at God's right hand, when he was made Lord and Christ. Now, as Mediator, he had a trust reposed in him; as the persons of all God's elect, and a fulness of all grace for them; the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and eternal life and happiness; and also the glory of God in their salvation: which trust he has faithfully discharged as an apostle, and high priest; in a declaration of the whole will of God; in acknowledging it was his Father's doctrine he brought, and in seeking not his own, but his Father's glory; in redeeming and saving the persons committed to him; in distributing his grace to them; and in bringing them safe to glory; and in taking care of things pertaining to God:

as also Moses was faithful in all his house; the passage referred to is in Numbers 12:7 and which seems not so much to intend the fidelity of Moses in managing the affairs of God's house, as the largeness of the trust reposed in him, the dignity and honour conferred on him, and the power and authority he was invested with, in having the whole house of Israel committed to his care and charge, in which he exceeded all other prophets; and so the faithfulness of Christ is not so much to be understood of the discharge of his trust, as of the trust itself; and the sense is, that he was trusted much by God the Father, who constituted him Mediator, even as Moses was; and this sense best agrees with Hebrews 3:5. And De Dieu has observed, that the Hebrew word in Misnic writings (t), signifies, as it does, one that is trusted, or is fit to be trusted, as Christ and Moses were; though the former is much more worthy than the latter, as follows.

(t) Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 3. sect. 2.

Geneva Study Bible

{2} Who was faithful to him that {c} appointed him, {3} as also Moses was faithful in all his house.

(2) He confirms his exhortation with two reasons, first of all because Christ Jesus was appointed as such by God: secondly, because he thoroughly executed the offices that his Father commanded him.

(c) Apostle and High Priest.

(3) Now he comes to the comparison with Moses, and he makes them like one another other in this, that they were both appointed rulers over God's house, and executed faithfully their office: but he later shows that there is great dissimilarity in the same comparison.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Hebrews 3:2. The discourse takes a turn, by virtue of a further alleging of reasons for the κατανοήσατε, to the comparison of Jesus with Moses, in that first of all the relation of parity between the two is brought prominently forward. The O. T. passage which the author here has under consideration is Numbers 12:7, where Moses is designated by God as faithful in all His house.

ὄντα] characterizes the being faithful as an inherent property; the sense of a strict present is not to be asserted for the participle (with Seb. Schmidt and Bleek), according to which we should have to think only of an exalted Christ; rather does πιστὸν ὄντα attach itself as well to the notion Ἰησοῦν τὸν ἀπόστολον τῆς ὁμολογίας ἡμῶν as to the notion Ἰησοῦν τὸν ἀρχιερέα τῆς ὁμολογίας ἡμῶν; ὄντα embraces, therefore, equally the time from which Christ, as the incarnate Son of God, had appeared upon earth, and the time from which He, invested with the high-priestly dignity, has returned to the Father, and now continues to fulfil in heaven His high-priestly office.

τῷ ποιήσαντι αὐτόν] Periphrasis of God: Him who created Him. Only this sense of the calling forth into existence can the word ποιεῖν have when placed absolutely; comp. LXX. Isaiah 17:7; Isaiah 43:1; Isaiah 51:13; Hosea 8:14; Job 35:10; Psalm 95:6; Psalm 149:2; Sir 7:30, al. Rightly is this accepted by the early Latin translation of the codd. D E (fidelem esse creatori suo), Ambrose (de fide, 3. 11), Vigilius Tapsensis (contra Varimadum, p. 729), Primasius, Schulz, Bleek, Alford, Kurtz, and Hofmann. Contrary to linguistic usage—for an appeal cannot be made to 1 Samuel 12:6 (where ποιεῖν (עָשָׂה) has its ordinary signification), and still less to Mark 3:14 (where a nearer defining is given to the verb by means of ἵνα κ.τ.λ.), or to Acts 2:36 (where a double accusative is found)—do Chrysostom, Theodoret, Oecumenius, Theophylact, Vatablus, Clarius [Calvin], Cameron, Piscator, Grotius, Owen, Wolf, Bengel, Böhme, Kuinoel, de Wette, Stengel, Tholuck, Stuart, Ebrard, Bisping, Delitzsch, Riehm (Lehrbegr. des Hebräerbr. p. 286 f.), Reuss, Maier, Kluge, Moll, M‘Caul, Woerner, and the majority, interpret τῷ ποιήσαντι either by: who appointed Him thereto (sc. Apostle and High Priest), or ordained Him thereto; or—what amounts to the same thing—explaining the supplementing of a second accusative to ποιήσαντι as unnecessary, by: who set Him forth upon the stage of history. Whether, for the rest, the author referred the notion of having created to the incarnation of Christ, as the above-mentioned early ecclesiastical writers suppose, or to His premundane generation as the First-born (cf. Hebrews 1:5-6), which Bleek rightly regards as at least possible, cannot be determined.[55]

Ὡς ΚΑῚ ΜΩΫΣῆς] sc. πιστὸς ἦν τῷ ποιήσαντι αὐτόν.

ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦ] does not belong to ΠΙΣΤῸΝ ὌΝΤΑ Τῷ ΠΟΙΉΣΑΝΤΙ ΑὐΤΌΝ, in such wise that we have, with Calvin, Paulus, Bleek, Ebrard, and Hofmann, to enclose Ὡς ΚΑῚ ΜΩΫΣῆς within commas, but is to be comprehended with Ὡς ΚΑῚ ΜΩΫΣῆς (de Wette, Kurtz, and the majority). For not only, Numbers 12:7, do the words appended: ἘΝ ὍΛῼ Τῷ ΟἼΚῼ ΑὐΤΟῦ, stand in special relation to Moses,—so that the author might very well derive from that place the same addition with the same special reference to Moses,—but also the equal reference of ἘΝ ὍΛῼ Τῷ ΟἼΚῼ ΑὐΤΟῦ to Christ, as to Moses, would be unsuitable to the connection with that which follows, since the author, Hebrews 3:5 and Hebrews 3:6, definitely distinguishes the place occupied by Moses, as the position of a servant ἘΝ ὍΛῼ Τῷ ΟἼΚῼ, from the place occupied by Christ, as a position of ruler ἘΠῚ ΤῸΝ ΟἾΚΟΝ; and in harmony with this distinction, already Hebrews 3:3 characterizes Moses as merely a member of the ΟἾΚΟς itself; Christ, on the other hand, as the founder of the ΟἾΚΟς.

ΑὐΤΟῦ] refers neither to Christ (Bleek) nor to Moses (Oecumenius and others), but, as is also determined by the form of the expression with the LXX. (ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ οἴκῳ μου), to God.

But the house of God is the people of God, or the kingdom of God; and ἐν denotes the province, in the administration of which the πιστὸν εἶναι was made manifest.

[55] That which Delitzsch urges against either possibility, namely, that “although the man Jesus as such, so far as that which is essential in the notion of creation is the state of beginning in time, must be regarded as a creature, there could be no more unsuitable expression—because one almost unmeaningly colourless, or even indecorous—for the matchless and unique act of the formation of the humanity of the Son in the womb of Mary, than the term ποιεῖν, for the use of which, in this sense, no instances can on that very account be adduced;” and that “after the author has, Hebrews 1:2, employed ποιεῖν as expression of the pure idea of creation, he could surely not now have employed it of the sublimer genesis of the Mediator of the world’s creation,” falls to pieces, because it rests upon mere subjectivity. For it is nothing more than a pronouncing upon the mind of the writer from the standpoint of the critic’s own ready-formed dogmatics.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Hebrews 3:2. The characteristic, or particular, qualification of Jesus which is to hold their attention is His trustworthiness or fidelity. πιστὸν ὄντα might be rendered “as being faithful”. The fidelity here in view, though indirectly to men and encouraging them to trust, is directly to Him who made Him, sc., Apostle and High Priest. τῷ ποιήσαντι αὐτόν. The objection urged by Bleek, Lünemann and Alford that ποιεῖν can mean “appoint” only when followed by two accusatives is not valid. The second accusative may be understood; and in 1 Samuel 12:6 we find Κύριος ὁ ποιήσας τὸν Μωυσῆν καὶ τὸν Ἀαρών, words which may have been in the writer’s mind. The Arian translation, “to Him that created Him,” is out of place. Appointment to office finds its correlative in faithfulness, creation scarcely suggests that idea. The fidelity of Jesus is illustrated not by incidents from His life nor by the crowning proof given in His death, nor is it argued from the admitted perfections of His character, but in accordance with the plan of the Epistle it is merely compared to that of Moses, and its superiority is implied in the superiority of the Son to the servant. He was faithful “as also Moses in all His house,” this being the crowning instance of fidelity testified to by God Himself, ὁ θεράπων μου Μωυσῆς ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ οἴκῳ μου πιστός εστι (Numbers 12:7), where the context throws the emphasis on ὅλῳ. “The ‘house of God’ is the organised society in which He dwells” (Westcott), cf. 1 Timothy 3:15. Weiss says that the words ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦ “necessarily belong” to πιστὸν ὄντα. This is questionable, because the writer’s point is that Jesus is faithful not “in” but “over” the house of God (Hebrews 3:6).

Hebrews 3:3. The reason is now assigned why Jesus and His fidelity should eclipse in their consideration that of Moses. The reason is that “this man” (οὗτος, “the person who is the subject of our consideration”) “has been and is deemed worthy of greater glory (‘amplioris gloriae,’ Vulg. πλείονος, qualitative as in Hebrews 11:4) than Moses, in proportion as he that built the house has more honour than the house.” The genitive follows the comparative πλείονα. The “greater glory” is seen in the more important place occupied by Him in the fulfilment of God’s purpose of salvation. This glory of Jesus is as much greater than that of Moses, as the cause is greater than the effect, the builder than the house. [The principle is stated by Philo (De Plant., c. 16. In Wendland’s ed., ii. 147) ὁ κτησάμενος τὸ κτῆμα τοῦ κτήματος ἀμείνων καὶ τὸ πεποιηκὸς τοῦ γεγονότος, and by Menander and other comic poets as quoted by Justin (Apol., i. 20) μείζονα τὸν δημιουργὸν τοῦ σκευαζομένου. Weiss, however, is of opinion that it is not a general principle that is being stated, but that τοῦ οἴκου refers directly to the house of God.] ὁ κατασκευάσας includes all that belongs to the completion of a house, from its inception and plan in the mind of the architect to its building and furnishing and filling with a household. Originally the word means to equip or furnish, κατασκευάζειν τὴν οἰκίαν τοῖς σκεύεσιν, Diog. L. Hebrews 3:14. So συμπόσιον κατασ. Plato, Rep., 363 C. σκεύεσιν ἰδίοις τὴν ναῦν κατεσκεύασα, Demosth., Polyc., 1208. Thence, like our word “furnish” or “prepare,” it took the wider meaning of “making” or “building” or “providing”. Thus the shipbuilder κατασκ. the ship; the mason κατασ. the tower. So in Hebrews 11:7 κατεσκεύασε κιβωτόν, cf. 1 Peter 3:20. (Further, see Stephanus and Bleek). In the present verse it has its most comprehensive meaning, and includes the planning, building, and filling of the house with furniture and with a household. The household is more directly in view than the house. The argument involves that Jesus is identified with the builder of the house, while Moses is considered a part of the house. It is the Son (who in those last Days has spoken God’s word to men through the lips of Jesus), who in former times also fulfilled God’s purpose by building His house and creating for Him a people. And lest the readers of the epistle should object that Moses was as much the builder of the old as Jesus of the new, the writer lifts their mind from the management of the system or Church to the creation of it.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

2. who was faithful] Lit., “Being faithful,” i.e. as Cranmer excellently rendered it, “how that he is faithful.” The word is suggested by the following contrast between Christ and Moses, of whom it had been said “My servant Moses is not so, who was faithful in all mine house,” Numbers 12:7.

to him that appointed him] Lit., “to Him that made Him.” There can be little doubt that the expression means, as in the A.V. “to Him that made Him such,” i.e. made Him an Apostle and High Priest. For the phrase is doubtless suggested by 1 Samuel 12:6, where the LXX. has “He that made Moses and Aaron” (A.V. “advanced”); comp. Mark 3:14, “And He made (ἐποίησε) Twelve, that they should be with Him.” Acts 2:36, “God made Him Lord and Christ.” The rendering “appointed” is therefore a perfectly faithful one. Still the peculiarity of the phrase was eagerly seized upon by Arians to prove that Christ was a created Being, and this was one of the causes which retarded the general acceptance of the Epistle. Yet even if “made” was not here used in the sense of “appointed” the Arians would have had no vantage ground; for the word might have been applied to the Incarnation (so Athanasius, and Primasius), though not (as Bleek and Lünemann take it) to the Eternal Generation of the Son. Theodoret and Chrysostom understood it as our Version does.

as also Moses … in all his house] Rather, “in all His (God’s) house,” Numbers 12:7. The house is God’s house or household, i.e. the theocratic family of which the Tabernacle was a symbol—“the house of God which is the Church of the living God,” 1 Timothy 3:15. The “faithfulness” of Moses consisted in teaching the Israelites all that God had commanded him (Deuteronomy 4:5) and himself “doing according to all that the Lord commanded him” (Exodus 40:16).

Bengel's Gnomen

Hebrews 3:2. Πιστὸν ὄντα, who is faithful) Numbers 12:7, at the end, עבדי משה בכל ביתי נאמן הוא, LXX., ὁ θεράπων μου (comp. presently afterwards, Hebrews 3:5) Μωϋσῆς ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ οἴκῳ μου πιστός ἐστι. He calls him faithful, who is both himself so, and is acknowledged to be so by GOD, and is praised on that account. From this flows faithfulness in office, and the faith of the hearers without exception, for this very reason that Moses is נאכון; comp. Num. same chap., Hebrews 3:8, likewise at the end.—τῷ ποιήσαντι αὐτὸν, to Him that appointed Him) His heavenly Father made or appointed Jesus Christ to be both His Apostle and High Priest, ch. Hebrews 5:5; where τὸ γενηθῆναι, to be made, viz. by the word of the Lord, corresponds to τῷ ποιήσαντι. Add Acts 2:36. And this rouses us to the exercise of faith. There is an expression which very much resembles this in 1 Samuel 12:6; 1 Samuel 12:8 : “It is the Lord who made [Engl. Vers., advanced] (LXX., ὁ ποιήσας) and sent Moses and Aaron.”—ὡς καὶ Μωϋσῆς, as also Moses) So Deuteronomy 18:15. He praises Moses, and thus conciliates the Jews, before that he prefers Christ to him; although he has prepared their minds for hearing it, by his preferring the same Jesus even to angels.—οἴκῳ, in His house) A rare appellation in the time of Moses.—αὐτοῦ, His, of Him) of GOD, Hebrews 3:6, note.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 2. - Who was faithful (or, as being faithful) to him that appointed (literally, made) him, as also Moses was in all his house. The reference is to what was said of Moses (Numbers 12:7), "My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house," and serves aptly to introduce the intended comparison of Christ with him. In respect of faithfulness to him who constituted him in his office, Christ resembles Moses; in respect to his office itself, it is to be shown that he is far above him. Observe

(1) that "his house" means God's house, as' is plain from the text cited, i.e. the house of him who appointed him;

(2) that "in all his house" has reference to Moses only, not to Christ; for the main point of what follows is that Christ is over God's house, not in it, as Moses was. As to the verb ποιήσαντα (translated in A.V. "appointed "), it may have been suggested by 1 Samuel 12:6, where the LXX. reads Κύριος ὁ ποίησας τὸν Μωυσῆν καὶ τὸν Ἀαρὼν, the Hebrew verb being עַשׂה, which seems to mean in this case "constitute," not "create" (so Gesenius). The preceding words, ἀπόστολον καὶ ἀρχιερέα, though it is not necessary to supply them as understood, may be taken here to rule the meaning of ποιήσαντι (cf. for a similar use of the verb without a second accusative following, Mark 3:14, καὶ ἐποίησε δώδεκα. Thus the Arian inference from the word, that Christ is represented as a creature, is groundless. Nor need reference be supposed to his human birth or conception, the temporalis generatio of the man Jesus (Athanasius, Ambrose, and other Fathers). Certainly not to his eternal generation (as Bleek and Lunemann); such reference is foreign to the idea of the passage; nor could the word ποιεῖν with any propriety be so used. Hebrews 3:2

Vincent's Word Studies

Who was faithful (πιστὸν ὄντα)

Rend. "is faithful." A general designation of inherent character. He is faithful as he ever was.

To him that appointed him (τῷ ποιήσαντι αὐτὸν)

Constituted him apostle and high priest. Some render created, referring to Christ's humanity or to his eternal generation. So the Old Latin, creatori suo; but this does not suit the context. Ποιεῖν often in Class. in the sense of institute, as sacrifices, funerals, assemblies, etc., and in the middle voice of adoption as a son. See 1 Samuel 12:6; Mark 3:14; Acts 2:36.

As also Moses (ὡς καὶ Μωυσῆς)

The highest example of human fidelity known to the readers.

In all his house (ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦ)

Const. with was faithful. Jesus was faithful even as Moses was faithful.

The subject of the high-priesthood of Christ, introduced in this verse, is not carried out in detail by showing the superiority of Jesus to earthly high priests. This is reserved for chs. 5-7. Instead, the writer proceeds to show that Christ is superior to Moses, as he has already shown his superiority to angels. He will thus have shown Christ's superiority to both the agencies by which the old covenant was mediated. The subject is a delicate one to treat for Jewish readers to whom Moses was the object of the deepest veneration; but the treatment displays tact by placing Moses in the foreground beside Christ as an example of fidelity to his commission. Justice is thus done to the familiar historical record, and to God's own testimony, Numbers 12:7. The general sense of the comparison is that Moses was as faithful as any servant in a house can be, while Christ was not a servant in the house, but a son, and displayed his fidelity in that capacity.