Two immutable things. — The promise and the oath.
Consolation. — Rather, encouragement. For us, rather than for Abraham alone, was the encouragement designed; for us, who (as men in danger of their lives flee to the sanctuary) “fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us” in the promise. Up to this point we read of what God has done; here of what must be done by man. The laying hold expresses the “faith,” and implies the “patient waiting” (Hebrews 6:12); by it we become true “heirs of the promise” (Hebrews 6:17).