OLBHeb;
Here is laid down the form and matter of God's oath: the form, in Genesis 22:16, is implied in the particle yk in this text well rendered surely, Hebrews 3:11. The other defective expressions are forms of swearing, as if, except, unless; but here it is positive, surely, or verily, which Christ frequently useth; it is a vehement assertion of what he saith. The whole matter of God's oath is not repeated, but the substance and comprehensive part of it, which made for the apostle's purpose here. By blessing, in the Hebrew manner of expressing, is carried the abundance and certainty of all that temporal and spiritual good, which he would convey unto him in and through the blessed and promised Seed, our Lord Jesus Christ, with the multiplicity, abundance, and certainty of the seed natural, and believing, to whom he should be related as a Father through Christ, as is evident, Genesis 22:16-18; and all this so uttered, as if God could not express how much he loved him.