Hebrews 5
v.7
During the days of Jesus’ life, on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.
Loud cries and tears. If the Son of God himself was driven to such a place of utter desperation and dependency on the Father, how much more shall we? We cannot justify an absence of passionate expression in interactions with God if we see clearly Jesus was driven to such a posture.
Prayers and supplications - These words are often used to denote the same thing. If there is a difference, the former - δεήσεις deēseis - means petitions which arise “from a sense of need” - from δέομαι deomai - “to want, to need;” the latter refers usually to supplication “for protection,” and is applicable to one who under a sense of guilt flees to an altar with the symbols of supplication in his hand. Suppliants in such cases often carried an olive-branch as an emblem of the peace which they sought. A fact is mentioned by Livy respecting the Locrians that may illustrate this passage. “Ten delegates from the Locrians, squalid and covered with rags, came into the hall where the consuls were sitting, extending the badges of suppliants - olive-branches - according to the custom of the Greeks; and prostrated themselves on the ground before the tribunal, with a lamentable cry;” Lib. xxix. 100:16. The particular idea in the word used here - ἱκετηρία hiketēria - is petition for “protection, help,” or “shelter” (Passow), and this idea accords well with the design of the passage. The Lord Jesus prayed as one who had “need,” and as one who desired “protection, shelter,” or “help.” The words here, therefore, do not mean the same thing, and are not merely intensive, but they refer to distinct purposes which the Redeemer had in his prayers. He was about to die, and as a man needed the divine help; he was, probably, tempted in that dark hour (see the note, John 12:31), and he fled to God for “protection.”
Connected to prayer.
v.8-9
Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered 9and once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him
See also Psalm 119:71 and suffering.
This, startling though it is, does not mean that Jesus passed from disobedience to obedience. Rather, he learned obedience by actually obeying. There is a certain quality involved when one has performed a required action—a quality that is lacking when there is only a readiness to act. Innocence differs from virtue.
v.11
We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn.
slow to learn translates more accurately as have become dull of hearing.
Being dull of hearing is not a problem with the ears, but a problem with the heart. The hearer isn’t really interested in what God has to say. Not wanting to hear the Word of God points to a genuine spiritual problem. It can even be a reason for unanswered prayer, according to Proverbs 28:9: One who turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.
v.12
In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!
Christians who have really progressed in the faith ought to be able to instruct others (see 1Pe1 3:15; cf. Ro 2:21)… Always in the Christian life, one either moves forward or slips back. It is almost impossible to stand still. These people had not advanced; so the result was that they had gone back and had “become” beginners.
v.14
But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
Connected to godliness. “We may sharpen our senses by use. When I was in the tea-trade, my sense of touch and taste and smell became acute to discern quite minute differences. We need a similar acuteness in discerning good and evil.” (Meyer)
The Greek word means “habit, practice.” The meaning is, that by long use and habit they had arrived to that state in which they could appreciate the more elevated doctrines of Christianity. The reference in the use of this word is not to those who “eat food” - meaning that by long use they are able to distinguish good from bad - but it is to experienced Christians, who by long experience are able to distinguish what is useful in pretended religious instruction from what is injurious. It refers to the delicate taste which an experienced Christian has in regard to those doctrines which impart most light and consolation. Experience will thus enable one to discern what is suited to the soul of man; what elevates and purifies the affections, and what tends to draw the heart near to God.
The ability to differentiate critically between good and bad, i.e., between truth and falsehood, was important to Greco-Roman writers in general, although the specific application to moral sensibilities is more often Jewish (2 Sam 14:17; 1 Kings 3:9; Ezek 44:23). The writer borrows the language of Greek ethics, which would impress his *Diaspora Jewish readers, and uses it to call them to study the Bible more thoroughly.