Who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications wi th strong crying and tears

unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and wa s heard in that He feared; (Heb 5:7) In the days ..."of his humanity"....or "when he was clothed with flesh", as the Syriac version says it. John Gill states: " it is not to be concluded from hence, that he has not flesh now, or is not in the flesh; for it is certain that he had flesh after his resu rrection; only now he is free from all the infirmities of the flesh, the pains, and sorrows, and griefs of it, which he endured when here on earth:" Albert Barnes states: "In the days of his flesh - When he appeared on earth as a man. Flesh is used to denote human nature, and especially human nature as susc eptible of suffering. The Son of God still is united to human nature, but it is human nature glorified, for in his case, as in all others, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, 1Co_15:50. He has now a glorified body Phi_3:21, suc h as the redeemed will have in the future world; compare Rev_1:13-17. The phrase days of his flesh, means the time when he was incarnate, or when he lived on earth in human form." Clark states: To save him from death - I have already observed that Jesus Christ was the repre sentative of the human race; and have made some observations on the peculiarity of his sufferings, following the common acceptation of the words in the text, wh ich things are true, howsoever the text may be interpreted. But here we may cons ider the pronoun , him, as implying the collective body of mankind; the children who were partakers of flesh and blood, Heb_2:14; the seed of Abraham, Heb_2:16, who through fear of death were all their life subject to bondage. So he made supplic ation with strong crying and tears to him who was able to save Them from death; for I consider the , them, of Heb_2:15, the same or implying the same thing as , s verse; and, thus understood, all the difficulty vanishes away. On this interpr etation I shall give a paraphrase of the whole verse: Jesus Christ, in the days of his flesh, (for he was incarnated that he might redeem the seed of Abraham, t he fallen race of man), and in his expiatory sufferings, when representing the w hole human race, offered up prayers and supplications, with strong crying and te ars, to him who was able to save Them from death: the intercession was prevalent , the passion and sacrifice were accepted, the sting of death was extracted, and Satan was dethroned. If it should be objected that this interpretation occasions a very unnatural cha nge of person in these verses, I may reply that the change made by my constructi on is not greater than that made between Heb_5:6 and Heb_5:7; in the first of wh ich the apostle speaks of Melchisedec, who at the conclusion of the verse appear s to be antecedent to the relative who in Heb_5:7; and yet, from the nature of t he subject, we must understand Christ to be meant. And I consider, Heb_5:8, Thou gh he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered, as b elonging, not only to Christ considered in his human nature, but also to him in his collective capacity; i.e., belonging to all the sons and daughters of God, w ho, by means of suffering and various chastisements, learn submission, obedience and righteousness; and this very subject the apostle treats in considerable det ail in Heb_12:2-11 (note), to which the reader will do well to refer. {Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that w as set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradicti on of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye ha ve not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou t he chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endu

re chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the fa ther chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partaker s, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our fl esh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few da ys chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might b e partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joy ous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of rig hteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. (Heb 12:2-11)...........} __________________________________