Hebrews 2:6-9 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

But one in a certain place, &c.— "Nor think it strange, that a man should be invested with such extraordinary power; for as the Psalmist says of manin general, that he is Lord of all the creation; that, low and mean, and helpless in ten thousand instances, as he seems to be, yet all things are in general subject to him: this, I say, is now literally and eminently true in the case of Jesus Christ, the God-man. What is man, says the Psalmist, that thou art mindful of him; or the son of man, that thou visitest him?—Thou madest him lower than angels, and yet thou hast crowned him with great glory, in that thou hast given him dominion over the works of thine hands. But then, when the Psalmist said, that God had put all things in subjection under man, it is plain that these words are not to be taken too rigidly: for the moon and the stars, and many other things, the work of God's hands, are not in subjection to man. You are not therefore to understand these words absolutely and strictlyof man in the general; but we see how all this is literally verified in Jesus, the God-man, the eternal Son of God, Hebrews 2:9 who, by becoming man, that he might suffer death, was, for a short time, in a very qualified sense, made lower and meaner than the angels; and because he suffered death, he was crowned with glory and honour, and obtained all power in heaven and earth, as man. He was made man, I say, and thus for a short time, in this respect, lower than the angels, that by the grace of God, and to shew his exceeding kindness for us, he might taste death for every man." See 1 Corinthians 15:25-27. Genesis 1:26. A little, Βραχυ τι,— may signify either littleness of the thing, or shortness of the time; and in both these respects Christ, while upon earth, was, in respect to his humanity, inferior to the angels; therefore they were sent to strengthen him. But he had a glory with his Father from all eternity, of which in some figurative sense he emptied himself to become man; and then, as the reward of his sufferings, he received his kingdom, all things being subjected to him. So that it was properly but a little while, or for some short time, that he was as other men are, made lower than the angels. See John 17:5. Philippians 2:6-10. Hebrews 12:2. To taste death is to die: and to taste death for all, or every man, is to die for the benefit of all mankind, both Jew and Gentile. Now our Lord condescended to taste death for all; and the grace and kindness of God was by that means displayed to mankind in a most extraordinary manner, as the apostle explains it in the following verses.