Which have the rule. — Rather, which were your leaders (Hebrews 13:17; Hebrews 13:24; Acts 15:22), who spake unto you the word of God. These spiritual guides had been removed from them by death.
Whose faith follow. — Better, and, contemplating: the end (or, issue) of their life, imitate their faith. Their Christian life and course (James 3:13; 1 Peter 1:15, et al.), had been known by the Church; they, too, have obtained a good report “by faith” (Hebrews 11:2), and all who contemplate the blessed issue of such a life will be strengthened to imitate their faith. We may well suppose that some had died a martyr’s death, but the writer seems carefully to avoid any direct expression of this thought; his words apply to all who have ended their course in the triumph of faith. This verse recalls a striking passage in the Book of Wisdom, Hebrews 2:17-18; especially Hebrews 13:17, where the ungodly say of the righteous man, “Let us see if his words be true, and let us prove what shall happen in the end of him.”