The Messianic Jewish Expositor Arthur P Wolinsky

Hebrews 1:7
Hi Folks.  We’re finally up to verse 7 of Hebrews, chapter one.  I’m going to read it in the NIV:
Hebrews 1:7 (NIV) In speaking of the angels he says, "He makes his angels spirits, and his servants flames of fire."
I’d like to ask you a question.  How can we explain this verse to someone?  How can we expound it or dig the meaning out of it?  I don’t think that is necessarily an easy thing to do.  But, based on our last session together, I think there is a way to do it.  And it’s a way that we can also apply to some other verses and passages that may not be clear.
In Hebrews 1:6, we saw that the phrase “Let all God’s angels worship Him” came from Psalm 97:7 in the Septuagint and we were able to understand what Hebrews 1:6 was talking about by looking at the message of Psalm 97 as a whole.  And doing that opened our understanding to let us see that Hebrews 1:6 was actually telling us about the second coming of Christ.  I think that the author of Hebrews expected us to see this and to get this additional understanding from Psalm 97:7 in the Septuagint.
This method, if we can call it that, was used by Jesus in responding to the Jewish leaders when they said certain things to Him.  Let’s look at an example of that:
Matthew 21:16 (NIV) "Do you hear what these children are saying?" they asked him. "Yes," replied Jesus, "have you never read, "'From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise'?"
Now let’s look at that verse in context:
Matthew 21:13-16 (NIV) "It is written," he said to them, "'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it 'a den of robbers.'" [14] The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. [15] But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they were indignant. [16] "Do you hear what these children are saying?" they asked him. "Yes," replied Jesus, "have you never read, "'From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise'?"
The chief priests and the teachers of the law were indignant when they saw the wonderful things that Yeshua did and when the children cried out Hosanna to the Son of David.  These children were praising Jesus and calling Him the Messiah!  They recognized who He was, and they exclaimed it, unlike these Jewish leaders.  I’m going to quote Jesus’ response from the King James Version:  Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?
Jesus was saying this to these leaders:  You’ve seen what I’ve done but you deny that I’m the Messiah.  Even these children know who I am.  And haven’t you read what the Tehillim (the Psalms) say about me?  Yeshua was quoting Psalm 8:2. Let’s look at that in context:
Psalms 8:1-9 (NKJV) O LORD, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth, Who have set Your glory above the heavens! [2] Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, Because of Your enemies, That You may silence the enemy and the avenger. [3] When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, [4] What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? [5] For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor. [6] You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, [7] All sheep and oxen—Even the beasts of the field, [8] The birds of the air, And the fish of the sea That pass through the paths of the seas. [9] O LORD, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth!
This method of quoting a verse which “hinted” at a passage of Scripture that would provide additional understanding was sometimes used by Rabbis with their students and it was given a name: remez,

Hi folks, we’re going to take a detailed look at Hebrews 1:6 today but, by way of review let’s read the first six verses of Hebrews, chapter one, in the NIV, first. 
Hebrews 1:1-6 (NIV) In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, [2] but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. [3] The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. [4] So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs. [5] For to which of the angels did God ever say, "You are my Son; today I have become your Father"? Or again, "I will be his Father, and he will be my Son"? [6] And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, "Let all God's angels worship him."
Now verse 6 in the NKJV is a little different.  Let’s read that:
Hebrews 1:6 (NKJV) But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says: "LET ALL THE ANGELS OF GOD WORSHIP HIM."
There are two differences in this verse between the NIV and the NKJV.  One difference is the placement of the word again, and we’ll discuss that shortly, and the other difference is that in the NKJV the phrase "LET ALL THE ANGELS OF GOD WORSHIP HIM" is in all capital letters which means the translators are indicating that this phrase comes from the Old Testament.  The NASB does the same thing.  Personally, I find this helpful.
But where is this phrase "LET ALL THE ANGELS OF GOD WORSHIP HIM" in the Old Testament?  Scholars say that it is from Psalm 97:7 in the Septuagint.  Two scholars in particular have helped me here.  I’m referring to a Puritan, John Owen and his seven volume Commentary on Hebrews, and to John MacArthur and his Commentary on Hebrews.  And if you wish to, you can verify this for yourself.  If you search the NKJV of the Bible, you will not find the phrase "LET ALL THE ANGELS OF GOD WORSHIP HIM" anywhere in the Old Testament.  You won’t find it in the NIV either.  And that is because it is a quote from the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, made by a group of about 70 rabbis, 270 years or so before Yeshua came into the world. Because the New Testament writers wrote in Greek, they often quoted Old Testament Scriptures from the Septuagint.  And if you search the English translation of the Septuagint electronically, yourself, in the widely available e-Sword program, you will find it in one place only, in Psalm 97:7.  The scholars of old had to really know their Bibles, including the Septuagint, in order to recognize that this phrase was quoted from Psalm 97:7 since these scholars didn’t have the benefit of electronic searching which we have today.
Modern translations such as the NIV translate Psalm 97:7 this way:
Psalms 97:7 (NIV) All who worship images are put to shame, those who boast in idols— worship him, all you gods!
But that’s not what Hebrews 1:6 says.  It says this, in the NIV:
Hebrews 1:6 (NIV) And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, "Let all God's angels worship him."
The reason for the difference is that Hebrews 1:6 uses the Septuagint translation of the original Hebrew which reads like this:
Psalms 97:7 (Brenton) Let all that worship graven images be ashamed, who boast of their idols; worship him, all ye his angels.
Why the change from gods, meaning idols, in Psalm 97:7 in the Hebrew Bible to all God’s angels in Hebrews 1:6?  In the Hebrew, in Psalm 97:7, the word we are interested in is Elohim, a plural word that usually refers to God, who has a plural nature, but it can also refer to false gods or idols.  It doesn’t usually refer to angels.  The usual Hebrew word for angels is malachim.  In fact, in the Hebrew Bible, Eloh

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Theologydoctor - Posts about God and the Bible and Hope
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Israel, a Cup of Trembling
3 talks given at Calvary Chapel of Chapel Hill, NC on the evening of December 6, 2023
ARTHUR P WOLINSKY
DEC 7, 2023
What About the Jewish People?
Hi Folks. Many of you know that I’m Jewish, the son of two Jewish parents. In view of the October 7 massacre of many Jewish people in Israel, I want to share several things with you this evening.
I want to talk with you about the root cause of antisemitism, about the root cause for the Jewish people's resistance to believing in Jesus, about whether the Law of Moses applies to Jewish people today, and about the future for the Jewish people as a Nation and for individual Jews today.
I.             What is the Root Cause of Antisemitism?
Remember how in the Garden of Eden the Lord gave Adam one commandment?  The Lord said to Adam “You may eat of any plant or tree in the Garden except for the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  In the day that you eat of it you will surely die”.  Adam communicated this knowledge to Eve and she was tricked by the serpent who was inhabited by Satan and Eve ate of the fruit and shared it with Adam who also ate.  Right then, sin entered the entire human race and with sin came death.  Everything changed and everything was corrupted.  Right then God spoke to the serpent, the Devil:
Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall crush your head, And you shall bruise His heel."
The Seed of the woman was and is the Deliverer.  He is the Messiah and this prophecy makes it clear that one day the Messiah will crush the head of the enemy of humanity, Satan.  That will be the end of him.
As the story unfolds through Scripture we are told that God chose Abraham and his physical descendants including the 12 tribes of Israel to be His special people and we are told that the Messiah would come from the tribe of Judah and from King David.  As the enemy learned that the Messiah was to come through the Jewish people, the enemy tried to prevent Messiah from coming into the world through the attempted killing of all Jewish babies in ancient Egypt.  He was unsuccessful however.  Moses was born and survived to lead his people out of Egypt as a Nation.  Later the evil Haman in Persia tried to annihilate all the Jewish people and he also failed.  This is celebrated in the festival of Purim which Jewish people still celebrate today.  Later yet, in about 175 BC, a Syrian king named Antiochus tried to destroy all the Jewish people and he committed something called the abomination of desolation in the temple.  He too failed and the victory of the Jewish people over Antiochus is celebrated in the festival of lights, Chanukah.  And there were many more attempts, all of which failed.
So the Messiah was born of the virgin Miriam, a direct descendant of King David,  in Bethlehem, and He was crucified in about 33 AD.  The Messiah was born to die, to be the ultimate blood sacrifice for His people and for all people, that whoever would accept Him would never die but would have eternal life.  He fulfilled the Law of Moses – by obeying it completely – and He promised that one day He would return.  Then Satan’s head would be crushed.  The Messiah was and is Yeshua of Natzeret, or Jesus of Nazareth.
So, Messiah came and He died.  What could the Enemy do to prevent the return of the Messiah?  Jesus said something to the Jewish people, from Jerusalem, several days before He went to the cross:
Matthew 23:37-39 (NKJV) "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! [38] See! Your house is left to you desolate; [39] for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'BLESSED is HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!' "
So bef

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Hi Folks. I’m excited for us to move on to the next two verses of Hebrews together today so let’s start by reading them. We’re using the NKJV today:
Hebrews 1:4-5 (NKJV) having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. [5] For to which of the angels did He ever say: "YOU ARE MY SON, TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU"? And again: "I WILL BE TO HIM A FATHER, AND HE SHALL BE TO ME A SON"?
Hebrews 1:4-5 tells us that our Messiah, having become so much better than the angels, has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. So we need to ask ourselves if Yeshua, Jesus, became something that He was not previously. How did He obtain a more excellent name? Now this verse is comparing Jesus with angels. He has become better than the angels and He has inherited a more excellent name than they. We might ask if He has become better than the angels by virtue of inheriting a more excellent name and if so what is in that name that makes Him better? Let’s read verse four again:
‌Hebrews 1:4 (NKJV) 4 having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
Because the word as separates two clauses in this verse, and because as is present in the Greek, we might wonder how the Son of God, who was and is always perfect and who was and is always God, became so much better than the angels by inheriting a better name. What could that mean? I think that in order to understand this question we need to remember the last part of verse 3 and we need to remember that the chapter and verse numbers in the Bible were not in the original Scriptures. Keeping that in mind let’s read the last part of verse 3 with all of verse 4 as if that was a single verse:
‌Hebrews 1:3-4 (NKJV) .... when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
‌So, Yeshua’s becoming better than the angels by obtaining a more excellent name seems to be at least in part be due to His sitting down on the Father’s right hand and that could never have happened without Jesus having purged our sins. And He couldn’t have done that without being the perfect sacrifice and He couldn’t have been that perfect sacrifice without being God. But OK, we know that Jesus is God and He was God before the cross.
John 1:1 (NKJV) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Jesus being God is not new. So, how did He become so much better than the angels? It seems to me that of course, as God He was better than the angels already but then He became so much better than the angels. What accounts for that? Let’s read verse four once more:
Hebrews 1:4 (NKJV) having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
What is the meaning of as here? Does it mean He became so much better because He obtained a more excellent name than they? I think we have to understand what rank the angels hold and compare it to the rank that Yeshua holds. And of course, there is no comparison there! There never was. But Yeshua has been elevated even more in some way.‌
Again, His becoming better seems to be due to a change in His name and what that name represents.
‌So what was the nature of this change? It was a change in status or rank. To understand this, I think we get some help from looking at the next verse, verse 5 :
Hebrews 1:5 (NKJV) 5 For to which of the angels did He ever say: “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You”? And again: “I will be to Him a Father, And He shall be to Me a Son”?
‌“You are My Son, Today I have begotten You” - Now folks, this could be a little confusing, so please stick with me. Jesus was God the Son throughout eternity but this clause from Hebrews 1:5 is describing something extra, something ne