God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
Ver. 1. God who at sundry times, &c.] See my True Treasure.
God who in times past, &c.] The Hebrews had generally a lighter esteem (though without cause) of the prophets than of the law; and of such of the hooks of Holy Scripture as had not the names of God or Lord in them (as Esther, Canticles, &c.) than of those that had. Our apostle, for more authority' sake, begins his Epistle with that nomen maiestativum (Tertul.), that holy and reverend name of God, so precious and pleasant to Hebrew ears; and wades at first into that Profundum sine fundo that bottomless depth of divinity: prefixing Θεος, Θεος (as Pausanias testifieth that the ancients even among the heathens were wont to do, in all their sacred writings), the name of God, for a preface, captandi gratia ominis boni, in token and hope of better speed and success.