God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
Paul, though not inscribing his name, was well known to those addressed (Hebrews 13:19: see 'Introduction'). In the Pauline method the statement of subject and the division are put before the discussion; at the close, the practical follows the doctrinal portion. The ardour of spirit, as in 1 John, bursting at once into the subject, without prefatory inscription of name and greeting, more effectively strikes the hearers. The date must have been before the temple's destruction, 70 AD; some time before the martyrdom of Peter, who mentions this letter of Paul (2 Peter 3:15-16) when many of the first hearers of the Lord were dead.
At sundry times, х polumeroos (G4181)] - 'in many portions.' All was not revealed to each prophet: one received one portion of revelation, another another. To Noah, the quarter of the world to which Messiah should belong was revealed; to Abraham, the nation; to Jacob, the tribe; to David and Isaiah, the family; to Micah, the town; to Daniel, the exact time; to Malachi, the coming of His forerunner; through Jonah, His burial and resurrection, etc. Each only knew in part; Messiah combined and realized all (1 Corinthians 13:12).
In divers manners - e.g., internal suggestion, audible voices, Urim and Thummim, dreams, etc. 'In one way He was seen by Abraham, in another by Moses, in another by Elias, in another by Micah, Isaiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel' (Theodoret) (cf. Numbers 12:6-8). The Old Testament revelations were fragmentary in substance, manifold in form: the very multitude of prophets shows they prophesied only in part. In Christ the revelation of God is not in separated colours: He, the pure light, unites in His one person the whole spectrum (Hebrews 1:3).
Spake - the expression usual for a Jew in addressing Jews. So Matthew, a Jew writing for Jews, quotes, not by the formula. "It is written," but "said," etc.
In time past. From Malachi, the last Old Testament prophet, for 400 years, there had arisen no prophet, that the Son might be the more an object of expectation (Bengel). As God (the Father) is introduced as having spoken here, so God the Son, Hebrews 2:3; God the Holy Spirit, Hebrews 3:7.
The fathers - the Jews of former days (1 Corinthians 10:1).
By - Greek, 'IN.' A mortal king speaks by, the King of kings IN, His ambassador. The Son is the last and highest manifestation of God (Matthew 21:34; Matthew 21:37): not merely a measure, as in the prophets, but the fullness of the Spirit of God dwelt in Him bodily (John 1:16; John 3:34; Colossians 2:9). If the Jews boast of their prophets, Jesus is the end of all prophecy (Revelation 19:10), and of the law (John 1:17; John 5:46).