Hebrews 1:12

And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(12) And as a vesture . . .—Rather (see Hebrews 1:10), And as a mantle shalt Thou roll them up; as a garment shall they also be changed. The course of thought is easily traced: as the garment which has grown old is rolled up and changed, so the former heavens and earth shall give place to the new heavens and the new earth.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:4-14 Many Jews had a superstitious or idolatrous respect for angels, because they had received the law and other tidings of the Divine will by their ministry. They looked upon them as mediators between God and men, and some went so far as to pay them a kind of religious homage or worship. Thus it was necessary that the apostle should insist, not only on Christ's being the Creator of all things, and therefore of angels themselves, but as being the risen and exalted Messiah in human nature, to whom angels, authorities, and powers are made subject. To prove this, several passages are brought from the Old Testament. On comparing what God there says of the angels, with what he says to Christ, the inferiority of the angels to Christ plainly appears. Here is the office of the angels; they are God's ministers or servants, to do his pleasure. But, how much greater things are said of Christ by the Father! And let us own and honour him as God; for if he had not been God, he had never done the Mediator's work, and had never worn the Mediator's crown. It is declared how Christ was qualified for the office of Mediator, and how he was confirmed in it: he has the name Messiah from his being anointed. Only as Man he has his fellows, and as anointed with the Holy Spirit; but he is above all prophets, priests, and kings, that ever were employed in the service of God on earth. Another passage of Scripture, Ps 102:25-27, is recited, in which the Almighty power of the Lord Jesus Christ is declared, both in creating the world and in changing it. Christ will fold up this world as a garment, not to be abused any longer, not to be used as it has been. As a sovereign, when his garments of state are folded and put away, is a sovereign still, so our Lord, when he has laid aside the earth and heavens like a vesture, shall be still the same. Let us not then set our hearts upon that which is not what we take it to be, and will not be what it now is. Sin has made a great change in the world for the worse, and Christ will make a great change in it for the better. Let the thoughts of this make us watchful, diligent, and desirous of that better world. The Saviour has done much to make all men his friends, yet he has enemies. But they shall be made his footstool, by humble submission, or by utter destruction. Christ shall go on conquering and to conquer. The most exalted angels are but ministering spirits, mere servants of Christ, to execute his commands. The saints, at present, are heirs, not yet come into possession. The angels minister to them in opposing the malice and power of evil spirits, in protecting and keeping their bodies, instructing and comforting their souls, under Christ and the Holy Ghost. Angels shall gather all the saints together at the last day, when all whose hearts and hopes are set upon perishing treasures and fading glories, will be driven from Christ's presence into everlasting misery.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And as a vesture - A garment; literally something thrown around - περιβόλαιον peribolaion - and denoting properly the outer garment, the cloak or mantle; see notes, Matthew 5:40. "Shalt thou fold them up." That is, the heavens. They are represented in the Scriptures as an "expanse." or something spread out (the Hebrew text of Genesis 1:7): as a "curtain," or "tent" Isaiah 40:22, and as a "scroll" that might be spread out or rolled up like a book or volume, Isaiah 34:4; Revelation 6:14. Here they are represented as a garment or mantle that might be folded up - language borrowed from folding up and laying aside garments that are no longer fit for use. "And they shall be changed." That is, they shall be exchanged for others, or they shall give place to the new heavens and the new earth; 2 Peter 3:13. The meaning is, that the present form of the heavens and the earth is not to be permanent, but is to be succeeded by others, or to pass away, but that the Creator is to remain the same. "Thou art the same." Thou wilt not change. "And thy years shall not fail." Thou wilt exist forever unchanged. What could more clearly prove that he of whom this is spoken is immutable? Yet it is indubitably spoken of the Messiah, and must demonstrate that he is divine. These attributes cannot be conferred on a creature; and nothing can be clearer than that he who penned the Epistle believed that the Son of God was divine.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

12. vesture—Greek, "an enwrapping cloak."

fold them up—So the Septuagint, Ps 102:26; but the Hebrew, "change them." The Spirit, by Paul, treats the Hebrew of the Old Testament, with independence of handling, presenting the divine truth in various aspects; sometimes as here sanctioning the Septuagint (compare Isa 34:4; Re 6:14); sometimes the Hebrew; sometimes varying from both.

changed—as one lays aside a garment to put on another.

thou art the same—(Isa 46:4; Mal 3:6). The same in nature, therefore in covenant faithfulness to Thy people.

shall not fail—Hebrew, "shall not end." Israel, in the Babylonian captivity, in the hundred second Psalm, casts her hopes of deliverance on Messiah, the unchanging covenant God of Israel.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up: peribolaion is an upper garment, cloak, or coat, which a man puts on or casts off at his pleasure; when it is of no more use it is folded up and laid by: so the great gospel Minister, God the Son incarnate, shall roll up the natural heavens when useless, and lay them by.

And they shall be changed; by him they shall be altered, and made more glorious by new modelling them, changing of them into a better state, Isaiah 34:4 65:17 66:22: compare 2 Peter 3:10-13.

But thou art the same: the identity of this Person is opposed to the changeableness of excellent creatures, and showeth him to be what he is here entitled, Jehovah, Hebrews 13:8. His assumption of the humanity to his person made no alteration in him, being still the same most excellent person as ever, Malachi 3:1,6 1 Corinthians 12:5.

And thy years shall not fail; as the being of God the Son is not measured nor terminated by years or time, so, in respect of his humanity, the years which were the measure of it shall never fail; for being raised from the dead, he shall die no more, but

abideth for ever, John 12:34, and ruleth, as foretold, Luke 1:33 1 Peter 4:11. How transcendently excellent is He, who is immutable and eternal, for state and name above angels!

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up,.... In order to lay them aside, and make no use of them in the manner they now are; just as clothes, when they are grown old, or out of fashion, are folded up, and laid aside from use at present, or are put into another form. In the Hebrew text it is, "as a vesture shalt thou change them"; but the sense is the same, for a garment is changed by folding it, or turning it; agreeably to which Jarchi interprets the Hebrew phrase thus,

"as a man turns his garment to put it off;''

the Vulgate Latin version reads as the Hebrew does, and one of the manuscripts of New College, Oxford.

And they shall be changed; as to their form and use, not as to their being; for a change, and an annihilation, are two things:

but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail; which is expressive of the immutability of Christ, in his nature and perfections, in his person, and offices, in the virtue of his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice; and of his duration or continuance, in opposition to the fading and transitory nature of the heavens and earth, and of all outward enjoyments: and this may serve to take off the heart from the one, and set it upon the other; and to strengthen our faith in Christ, and encourage us to expect a continuance of blessings from him; all supplies of grace now, and eternal glory hereafter.

Geneva Study Bible

And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Hebrews 1:12. Καὶ ὡσεὶ περιβόλαιον ἑλίξεις αὐτοὺς καὶ ἀλλαγήσονται] and as a cloak (something flung about one) wilt Thou roll them up, and they shall become changed. In the original: As the vesture dost Thou change them, and they are changed. This sense of the original is rendered by the LXX. according to the reading of the Cod. Vat.: καὶ ὡσεὶ περιβόλαιον ἀλλάξεις αὐτοὺς καὶ ἀλλαγήσονται; whereas the Cod. Alex. presents ἑλίξεις; and this is also most probably the reading followed by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews in our passage.

οὐκ ἐκλείψουσιν] will know no end.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

12. shalt thou fold them up] Lit., “Thou shalt roll them up.” This reading (ἑλίξελς) is found in most MSS. and is perhaps an unconscious reminiscence of Isaiah 34:4 (comp. Revelation 6:14); but א, D read “thou shalt change them” (ἀλλάξεις), as in the original, and in the LXX. (Cod. Alex.). On this final consummation, and the destruction of the material universe, see Matthew 24:35; 2 Peter 3:7; Revelation 21:1.

thou art the same] In the Hebrew (literally) “Thou art He.”

thy years shall not fail] i.e. they shall never come to an end (Hebrews 13:8; Revelation 1:8).

Bengel's Gnomen

Hebrews 1:12. Ἀλλάξεις, Thou shalt change.—ἀλλαγήσονται, they shall be changed) Many read for ἀλλάξεις, ἑλίξεις: but there is the one verb חלף twice in the Hebrew, which the LXX. often translate ἀλλάσσω, never by ἑλίσσω.[9]—Ὁ ΑὐΤῸς) הוא, the same, never another (anything different), without old age and change. See Hiller, Onom., p. 71, 262. So 1 Samuel 2:10 יהוה, LXX. Αὐτός.

[9] It must be observed, however, that the marg. of the 2d Ed., differing from the larger Ed., does not assign a greater value to the reading ἀλλάξεις than to ἑλίξεις. Umwenden, which is read in the Germ. Vers., accords with this. Therefore the latter views of Bengel are not refuted but confirmed by the decision which Ernesti gives, Bibl. th., T. vi., p. 6. But the same learned man, T. v., p. 216, reminds us that ἀλλάξεις and ἑλίξεις, in the idiom found in Hebraizing Greek, are the same as, Thou shalt abolish, shalt reduce to nothing. Let them so consider who can.—E. B

AB and the oldest MS. of Vulg. Amiat. have ἑλίξεις D(Δ) corrected, f, and Victor’s Vulg., have ἀλλάξεις.—ED.

Hebrews 1:12

Vincent's Word Studies

Vesture (περιβόλαιον)

Only here and 1 Corinthians 11:5. From περιβάλλειν to throw around: a wrapper, mantle.

Shalt thou fold them up (ἑλίξεις αὐτούς)

Rather, roll them up. A scribal error for ἀλλάξεις shalt change. After these words the lxx repeats ὡς ἱμάτιον as a garment from Hebrews 1:11.

Shall not fail (οὐκ ἐκλείψουσιν)

Shall not be ended. With this exception the verb only in Luke's Gospel. See Luke 16:9; Luke 22:32; Luke 23:45. Very frequent in lxx.