Hebrews 12:6

Heb 12:6. Μαστιγοῖ δὲ, and moreover scourgeth) Heb. וּכְאָב, and (supply the Lord ייסר, will chasten) as a father his son, whom He shall hold acceptable or pleasing to Him. The LXX. read וּכְאֵב, μαστιγοῖ δέ, and He scourges. The apostle retained it, although elsewhere it does not denote paternal chastisement. Blood is drawn by the lash, Heb 12:4. And he himself insinuates the meaning of the Hebrew reading in the following verses. It is the part of a prudent teacher, not openly to blame a version before a number, and yet to give a taste of the meaning of the originals to those who are ignorant.

Heb 12:6. The Levitical sprinklings did not purify physically, but morally. For, 1. It was not exclusively (precisely) the hand, or any other part of the body, which had accidentally contracted uncleanness, or even the whole body, that was sprinkled, but the sprinkling was performed in a general way, namely, whereever the blood or water of sprinkling might fall. 2. The sprinkling was analogous to the blood of the passover, Exo 7:7; Exo 7:13, which was not sprinkled on their bodies, but on their gates; and yet it was profitable to the Israelites. 3. After a man was sprinkled, it was his duty then, and not till then, to wash his body and his clothes. Consequently the sprinkling had a moral, and the washing a physical effect.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Heb_12:6. Παιδεύει] him He chasteneth. So in the LXX. Cod. A, and fifteen other MSS. The remaining manuscripts of the LXX. have, what is probably the original reading: ἐλέγχει.

μαστιγοῖ δὲ πάντα υἱὸν ὃν παραδέχεται] and scourges every son whom He receives (adopts as His). According to present punctuation, the words in Hebrew read: וּכְאָב אֶת־בֵּן יִרְצֶה, and (He chastens) as a father the son in whom he delights. Instead of כְּאָב, the LXX., however, read כָאֵב (to cause pain).

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(Rev 3:19.)

and--Greek, "yea and," "and moreover"; bringing out an additional circumstance.

scourgeth--which draws forth "blood" (Heb 12:4).

receiveth--accepts. Takes to Himself as a son "in whom He delighteth" (Pro 3:12).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 6. For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth] Here is the reason why we should neither neglect correction, nor faint under it: it is a proof of the fatherly love of God Almighty, and shows his most gracious designs towards us; from which we may be fully convinced that the affliction will prove the means of good to our souls, if we make a proper use of it.

And scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.] Μαστιγοι δε παντα υἱον, ὁν παραδεχεται. This is a quotation, literatim from the Septuagint, of Pr 3:12, of which place our version is: Even as the father the son in whom he delighteth. But, howsoever near this may appear to be the Hebrew, it bears scarcely any affinity to the apostle's words. The Hebrew text is as follows: וכאב את־בן ירצה uchab eth-ben yirtseh. Now, וכאב may be a noun, compounded of the conjunction ו vau, "and," the comparative particle כ ke, "as" or "like;" and אב ab, "a father:" or it may be the third person preterite kal of כאב caab, "he spoiled, wasted, marred, ulcerated," compounded with the conjunction ו vau, "and." And in this sense the Septuagint most evidently understood it; and it is so understood by the Arabic; and both readings seem to be combined by the Syriac and Chaldee versions. And as to רצה ratsah, one of its prime meanings is to accept, to receive graciously, to take into favour; the translation, therefore, of the Septuagint and apostle is perfectly consonant to the Hebrew text, and our version of Pr 3:12 is wrong.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

6. For whom the Lord loveth, etc. This seems not to be a well-founded reason; for God visits the elect as well as the reprobate indiscriminately, and his scourges manifest his wrath oftener than his love; and so the Scripture speaks, and experience confirms. But yet it is no wonder that when the godly are addressed, the effect of chastisements which they feel, is alone referred to. For however severe and angry a judge God may show himself towards the reprobate, whenever he punishes them; yet he has no other end in view as to the elect, but to promote their salvation; it is a demonstration of his paternal love. Besides, the reprobate, as they know not that they are governed by God’s hand, for the most part think that afflictions come by chance. As when a perverse youth, leaving his father’s house, wanders far away and becomes exhausted with hunger, cold, and other evils, he indeed suffers a just punishment for his folly, and learns by his sufferings the benefit of being obedient and submissive to his father, but yet he does not acknowledge this as a paternal chastisement; so is the case with the ungodly, who having in a manner removed themselves from God and his family, do not understand that God’s hand reaches to them.

Let us then remember that the taste of God’s love towards us cannot be had by us under chastisements, except we be fully persuaded that they are fatherly scourges by which he chastises us for our sins. No such thing can occur to the minds of the reprobate, for they are like fugitives. It may also be added, that judgment must begin at God’s house; though, then, he may strike aliens and domestics alike, he yet so puts forth his hand as to the latter as to show that they are the objects of his peculiar care. But the previous one is the true solution, even that every one who knows and is persuaded that he is chastised by God, must immediately be led to this thought, that he is chastised because he is loved by God. For when the faithful see that God interposes in their punishment, they perceive a sure pledge of his love, for unless he loved them he would not be solicitous about their salvation. Hence the Apostle concludes that God is offered as a Father to all who endure correction. For they who kick like restive horses, or obstinately resist, do not belong to this class of men. In a word, then, he teaches us that God’s corrections are then only paternal, when we obediently submit to him.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(6) And scourgeth.—As the words stand in our Hebrew text, the meaning is “even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.” A very slight change in one word, however, will yield the sense in which the clause was understood by the Greek translators, and which is here retained. For the purpose of this quotation the difference between the two renderings is not material.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6. for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth] This blessedness of being “trained by God” (“Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law,” Psa_94:12) is found in many parts of Scripture. “As many as I love, I test (ἐλέγχω) and train” (paideuo), Rev_3:19; Psa_119:75; Jas_1:12.

and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth] The writer follows the reading of the LXX., by a slight change in the vowel-points, for “even as a father to a son He is good to him.”

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth,.... All men are not the objects of God's love, only a special people, whom he has chosen in Christ; for whom he has given his Son, when they were sinners and enemies; whom he quickens and calls by his grace, justifies, pardons, and accepts in Christ; and whom he causes to love him; these he loves with an everlasting and unchangeable love, and in a free and sovereign way, without any regard to any motive or condition in them. Now these are chastened by him, and loved while they are chastened; their chastening is in love, as appears from the nature of God's love to them, which changes not; from the nature of chastening itself; which is that of a father; from the divine supports granted under it; from the ends of it, which are, among others, that they might be more and more partakers of holiness, and not be condemned with the world; and from the issue of it, which is a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. So the Jews (p) often speak of , "chastisements of love", in distinction from evil "chastisement", or vindictive ones:

and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth; by whom are meant, not any of the angels, nor all the sons of men, but such whom God has predestinated to the adoption of children, and in the covenant of his grace has declared himself a father to; for whom Christ has a special regard, as children, and therefore partook of human nature, and died to gather them together, and redeemed them, that they might receive the adoption of children; and who appear to be the children of God by faith in Christ; and who have the spirit of adoption, witnessing their sonship to them; this is a valuable blessing of grace, and springs from love: and such are received by God into his heart's love and affection, with complacency and delight; and into the covenant of his grace, to share all the blessings and promises of it; and into his family, to enjoy all the privileges of his house, and into communion with himself; and they will be hereafter received by him into glory: now these he scourges; he suffers them sometimes to be scourged by men, and to be buffeted by Satan; and sometimes he scourges them himself with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men, but always in love.

(p) Zohar in Gen. fol. 39. 3. & 102. 4. & in Exod. fol. 98. 2. & 102. 2. & in Lev. fol. 19. 3.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

Ver. 6. For whom the Lord loves] Whom he entirely loveth and cockereth above the rest of his children. That son in whom he is well pleased, saith Mercer on Pro 3:12, whom he makes his white boy, saith Theophylact here. See my Love Tokens.

And scourgeth every son] Lays upon them hard and heavy strokes. When Ignatius came to the wild beasts, Now, saith he, I begin to be a Christian. Omnis Christianus crucianus, saith Luther. And he hath not yet learned his A B C in Christianity, saith Bradford, that hath not learned the lesson of the cross. When Munster lay sick, and his friends asked him how he did, and how he felt himself, he pointed to his sores and ulcers (whereof he was full), and said, Hae sunt gemmae et pretiosa ornamenta Dei, & c., These are God’s gems and jewels wherewith he decketh his best friends, and to me they are more precious than all the gold and silver in the world. (Joh. Manl. loc. com.)

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth - This is also a quotation from Proverbs 3. It means that it is a universal rule that God sends trials on those whom he truly loves. It does not, of course, mean that he sends chastisement which is not deserved; or that he sends it “for the mere purpose” of inflicting pain. That cannot be. But it means that by his chastisements he shows that he has a paternal care for us. He does not treat us with neglect and unconcern, as a father often does his illegitimate child. The very fact that he corrects us shows that he has toward us a father’s feelings, and exercises toward us a paternal care. If he did not, he would let us go on without any attention, and leave us to pursue a course of sin that would involve us in ruin. To restrain and govern a child; to correct him when he errs, shows that there is a parental solicitude for him, and that he is not an outcast. And as there is in the life of every child of God something that deserves correction, it happens that it is universally true that “whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth.”

And scourgeth every son whom he receiveth - Whom he receives or acknowledges as his child. This is not quoted literally from the Hebrew, but from the Septuagint. The Hebrew is, “even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.” The general sense of the passage is retained, as is often the case in the quotations from the Old Testament. The meaning is the same as in the former part of the verse, that every one who becomes a child of God is treated by him with that watchful care which shows that he sustains toward him the paternal relation.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth: for showeth this to be a suasory reason against fainting under God’s rebukes, and enforcing the foregoing duty: sheet whomsoever, son or daughter, every child, that God the Father choicely loveth, taketh into his bosom, tendereth as a parent doth a child, Eph 5:1, he nurtureth, instructs, corrects by his word and rod in its respective measure, for their spiritual profit and advantage, 1Co 11:32.

And scourgeth every son whom he receiveth: scourgeth noteth the highest degree of chastening, even with the sharpest and most smarting punishment, wherein God proceedeth with all and every son or child, not any excepted, whom he hath adopied and received into his bosom with complacency and delight, Heb 5:8; compare Pro 3:12; Mat 17:5; Rev 3:19, where, though the words do vary, yet the sense is one and the same; God correcting, as a Father, the son in whom he delighteth.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

6. Loveth… chasteneth—Even the attacks of persecutors, though neither appointed nor approved by God, yet when they come are by him used as trials by which we, if rightly using them, are bettered, and prepared to reign with the Jesus with whom we suffer.

Receiveth—Accepts and treats as his son.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For - All springs from love; therefore neither despise nor faint.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Lord

Jehovah. Pro 3:12.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

A reason is given in these words, why we should not faint under divine chastisements, because God chasteneth every one whom he loves.

Here note, That love is antecedent unto chastening, and that chastening is consequential unto love.

Note, 2. That divine love and fatherly chastenings are inseparable; whom he loveth, that is, whomsoever he loveth, he chasteneth, none goes free.

Note, 3. That no person then has any reason to complain of his portion of fatherly chastisements, seeing it is the constant way and manner of God’s dealing with his children.

Note, 4. That in and under all our chastisements, the resignation of ourselves to the sovereign pleasure and infinite wisdom of God, is the only means to preserve us from fainting and weakness.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6. Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth. The chastening hand does not show the anger of God but his love. Every child is chastened and reproved for its good.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

6. παιδεύει. This blessedness of being “trained by God” (“Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law,” Psa 94:12) is found in many parts of Scripture. “As many as I love, I test (ἐλέγχω) and train” (παιδεύω), Rev 3:19; Psa 119:75; Jas 1:12.

μαστιγοῖ δὲ κ.τ.λ. The writer follows the reading of the LXX., by a slight change in the vowel-points, for “even as a father to a son He is good to him.”

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6.] for whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth (ἐλέγχει, LXX-B; have as text: in ref. Rev., both are combined, ἐγὼ ὅσους ἂν φιλῶ, ἐλέγχω καὶ παιδεύω), yea, and (the δέ throws out the new feature into a climax) scourgeth every son whom He receiveth (“In the Heb. this clause according to the present punctuation is וּכְאָב אֶת־בֵּן יִרְצֶה, ‘and (that) as a father the son in whom he delighteth.’ The LXX, instead of כְּאָב, have expressed כֵּאֵב, the Pihel of כָּאֵב ‘to feel pain,’ and have taken it as = ‘to cause pain,’ as the Hiphil הִכְאִיב occurs sometimes, e. g. Job 5:18, of God’s chastisement of men. Certainly by this rendering the parallelism with the first hemistich, and the whole expression, gain in completeness, whereas according to the Masoretic punctuation there is an appearance of lameness about it.” Bleek: who thinks, as does Del., that the LXX have expressed better the sense of the Writer than the Masoretic punctuators. “For the translation of כֵּאֵב by μαστιγοῦν, to scourge, to whip, instead of generally to punish, cf. Psa_32 (31) 10, μάστιγες for מַכְאוֹבִים: and for the use of the Greek verb for divine chastisement (reff.), Tobit 11:14 [ (not א)], ἐμαστίγωσας κ. ἠλέησάς με: 13:2 (5, 9), αὐτὸς μαστιγοῖ κ. ἐλεεῖ: Judith 8:27, εἰς νουθέτησιν μαστιγοῖ κύριος τοὺς ἐγγίζοντα αὐτῷ.”

ὃν παραδέχεται, see reff., whom He takes to him as a veritable son, receives in his heart and cherishes).

7,

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He chasteneth [παιδευει] . See on Luk 23:16.

Scourgeth [μαστιγοι] . Not very common, but found in all the four Gospels. Hebrews only here. Quite often in LXX

Receiveth [παραδεχεται] . Admits to filial privileges : acknowledges as his own. Of receiving the word of God, Mr 4:20 : of receiving delegates from a body, Act 14:4 : of adopting or approving customs, Act 16:21.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.