On many past occasionsThis phrase indicates the continuity and consistency of God's communication with humanity throughout history. It suggests that God's revelation was not a one-time event but occurred repeatedly over time. This aligns with the biblical narrative where God interacted with His people at various points, such as with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and others. Each occasion was part of a progressive revelation leading to the ultimate revelation in Jesus Christ.
and in many different ways
God's methods of communication were diverse, including dreams, visions, direct speech, and symbolic actions. For example, God spoke to Moses through a burning bush (Exodus 3), to Joseph through dreams (Genesis 37), and to Elijah in a gentle whisper (1 Kings 19:12). This diversity underscores God's creativity and adaptability in ensuring His message was understood by different people in different contexts.
God spoke to our fathers
The term "our fathers" refers to the patriarchs and ancestors of the Jewish people, emphasizing the continuity of God's covenant relationship with Israel. This phrase connects the audience of Hebrews to their rich heritage and the faithfulness of God to their forebears. It also highlights the communal aspect of God's revelation, as it was given to a people, not just individuals.
through the prophets
Prophets were God's chosen messengers, serving as intermediaries between God and His people. They played a crucial role in guiding, warning, and encouraging Israel. Figures like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel were instrumental in delivering God's messages. The prophetic tradition is deeply rooted in the Old Testament, and the prophets often pointed forward to the coming of the Messiah, fulfilled in Jesus Christ. This phrase underscores the authority and divine origin of the prophetic messages.
Persons / Places / Events
1.
GodThe supreme being who communicates with humanity. In this context, God is the initiator of revelation.
2.
Our FathersRefers to the ancestors of the Jewish people, including the patriarchs and those who received God's messages in the past.
3.
ProphetsIndividuals chosen by God to deliver His messages to the people. They played a crucial role in conveying God's will and guidance.
4.
Past OccasionsRefers to the various times throughout history when God communicated with His people.
5.
Different WaysIndicates the diverse methods God used to reveal His messages, such as visions, dreams, and direct speech.
Teaching Points
God's Initiative in CommunicationGod actively seeks to communicate with humanity, demonstrating His desire for a relationship with us.
Diversity in RevelationGod's use of various methods to communicate shows His adaptability and creativity in reaching people where they are.
Role of the ProphetsProphets were vital in conveying God's messages, reminding us of the importance of listening to those who speak God's truth today.
Continuity and FulfillmentThe communication through prophets in the past sets the stage for the ultimate revelation through Jesus Christ, emphasizing the continuity of God's plan.
Relevance of the Old TestamentUnderstanding how God spoke in the past helps us appreciate the depth and richness of the Old Testament as part of God's ongoing revelation.
Bible Study Questions and Answers
1.What is the meaning of Hebrews 1:1?
2.How does Hebrews 1:1 emphasize God's communication through prophets in the past?
3.What does Hebrews 1:1 reveal about God's methods of speaking to our ancestors?
4.How can we discern God's voice today, as He spoke in Hebrews 1:1?
5.How does Hebrews 1:1 connect with God's revelations in the Old Testament?
6.How should Hebrews 1:1 influence our understanding of God's communication with humanity?
7.How does Hebrews 1:1 affirm the continuity of God's revelation through history?
8.Why did God choose prophets to communicate in Hebrews 1:1?
9.What does Hebrews 1:1 imply about the nature of divine revelation?
10.What are the top 10 Lessons from Hebrews 1?
11.Are there prophets in the world today?
12.What are the key differences between the Bible and Quran?
13.How can Hebrews 1:1–2 claim God now speaks solely through His Son when no direct historical record outside scripture confirms this revelation?
14.Is Jesus superior to the angels?What Does Hebrews 1:1 Mean
On many past occasionsGod’s self-revelation stretches across the centuries. From Eden to Babylon, from wilderness wanderings to royal courts, He consistently addresses His people. •Genesis 3:9 shows Him calling to Adam after the fall. •Exodus 3:4 records His voice from the burning bush centuries later. •Daniel 9:21-23 reminds us that even in exile He continued to speak. The opening words of Hebrews underline this long timeline so we remember that divine communication is not random or rare; it is woven through all of history.
and in many different waysThe Lord varied His methods to reach His people, illustrating His creativity and patience. • Dreams (Genesis 37:5-10;Matthew 1:20) • Visions (Isaiah 6:1-8;Ezekiel 1:1) • Audible voice (1 Samuel 3:4-10) • Written tablets (Exodus 31:18) • Symbolic actions (Jeremiah 13:1-11) • Angelic messengers (Judges 6:11-23;Luke 1:26-38) This diversity highlights that God tailors revelation for each moment while maintaining absolute consistency in truth (Malachi 3:6;James 1:17).
God spokeThe verb is active and deliberate. Revelation is not humanity’s discovery of God but God’s gracious initiative toward humanity. •Isaiah 55:11 promises His word will accomplish what He desires. •Psalm 33:9 reminds us, “For He spoke, and it came to be.” His speaking carries authority, creativeness, and obligation; when He speaks, reality and responsibility follow.
to our fathersThe message came to those who formed the spiritual heritage of the faith community. • Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3) received covenant promises. • Moses (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) was entrusted with the law. • David (2 Samuel 7:12-16) was given the messianic promise. Hebrews ties believers to this lineage, stressing continuity between Old and New Testament saints (Hebrews 11:39-40).
through the prophetsProphets were God’s chosen instruments, speaking His words, not their own (Jeremiah 1:9;2 Peter 1:21). Their ministries often included warning, comfort, and future hope. • Elijah confronted idolatry (1 Kings 18:36-39). • Isaiah proclaimed both judgment and the coming Servant (Isaiah 53). • Micah foretold Messiah’s birthplace (Micah 5:2). By noting “through the prophets,” Hebrews honors the prophetic voice while preparing readers to see the ultimate and superior revelation in the Son (Hebrews 1:2).
summaryHebrews 1:1 reminds us that God has always been a speaking God, engaging His people across eras, employing varied methods, addressing covenant forefathers, and commissioning prophets as His mouthpieces. The verse lays a rich historical foundation, preparing us to value the climactic revelation found in Christ, who perfectly fulfills and surpasses all prior words.
(1)
God, who at sundry times. . . .--The fine arrangement of the words in the Authorised version fails, it must be confessed, to convey the emphasis which is designed in the original. The writer's object is to place the former revelation over against that which has now been given; and the remarkable words with which the chapter opens (and which might not inaptly serve as the motto of the whole Epistle) strike the first note of contrast. If we may imitate the artistic arrangement of the Greek, the verse will run thus, "In many portions and in many ways God having of old spoken unto the fathers in the prophets." To the fathers of the Jewish people (comp.
Romans 9:5) God's word was given part by part, and in divers manners. It came in the revelations of the patriarchal age, in the successive portions of Holy Writ: various truths were successively unveiled through the varying ministry of law, and of prophecy, and of promise ever growing clearer through the teaching of experience and history. At one time the word came in direct precept, at another in typical ordinance or act, at another in parable or psalm. The word thus dealt out in fragments and variously imparted was God's word, for the revealing Spirit of God was "in the prophets" (
2Corinthians 13:3). We must not unduly limit the application of "prophet"; besides those to whom the name is directly given, there were many who were representatives of God to His people, and interpreters of His will. (Comp.
Numbers 11:26;
Numbers 11:29;
Psalm 105:15.)
Verse 1. - Retaining the order of the words in the original, we may translate,
In many portions, and in many modes of old God having spoken to the fathers in the prophets.
Πολυμερῶς καὶ πολυτρόπως ( νοτ a mere alliterative redundancy, denoting
variously:
- the writer's usual choice use of words forbids this supposition. Nor is the
μερῶς of the first adverb to be taken (as in the A.V.) to denote portions of
time:
- this is not the proper meaning of the compound. Nor (for the same reason) does it denote various
degrees of prophetic inspiration, but (on etymological as well as logical grounds) the various
portions of the preparatory revelation to "
the fathers." It was not one utterance, but many utterances; given, in fact, at divers times, though it is to the diversity of the utterances, and not of the times, that the expression points. Then the second adverb denotes the various
modes of the several former revelations - not necessarily or exclusively the rabbinical distinction between dream, vision, inspiration, voices, angels; or that between the visions and dreams of prophets and the "mouth to mouth" revelation to Moses, referred to in
Numbers 12:6-9; but rather the various characters or forms of the various utterances in themselves. Some were in the way of primeval promises; some of glimpses into the Divine righteousness, as in the Law given from Mount Sinai; some of significant ritual, as in the same Law; some of typical history and typical persons, spoken of under inspiration as representing an unfulfilled ideal; some of the yearnings and aspirations, or distinct predictions, of psalmists and of prophets. But all these were but partial, fragmentary, anticipatory utterances, leading up to and adumbrating the 'one complete, all-absorbing "speaking of God to us in the SON
," which is placed in contrast with there all. If the subsequent treatment in this Epistle of the Old Testament utterances is to be taken as a key for unlocking the meaning of the exordium, such ideas were in the writer's mind when he thus wrote. "
Πολυμερῶς pertinet ad materiam,
πολυτρόπως ad formam" (Bengel).
Of old;
i.e. in the ages comprised in the Old Testament record. Though it is true that; God has revealed himself variously since the world was made to other than the saints of the Old Testament, and though he ceased not to speak in some way to his people between the times of Malachi and of Christ, yet both the expression, "to the fathers," and the instances of Divine utterances given subsequently in the Epistle, restrict us in our interpretation to the Old Testament canon. Addressing Hebrews, it is from this that the writer argues.
Having spoken;
a word used elsewhere to express all the ways in which God has made himself, his will, and his counsels, known (cf.
Matthew 10:20;
Luke 1:45, 70;
John 9:29;
Acts 3:21;
Acts 7:6).
To the fathers; the ancestors of the Jews in respect both of race and of faith; the saints of the Old Testament. The word had a well-understood meaning (cf.
Matthew 23:30;
Luke 1:55, 72;
Luke 11:47; and especially
Romans 9:5). For the double sense of the term "father," thus used, see
John 8:56, "your father Abraham;" but again,
John 8:39, "If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham;" and also
Romans 4. and
Galatians 3:7. But this distinction between physical and spiritual ancestry does not come in here.
In the prophets. The word "prophet" must be taken here in a general sense; not confined to the prophets distinctively so called, as in
Luke 24:44, "Moses, the prophets, and the psalms." For both Moses and the psalms are quoted in the sequel, to illustrate the ancient utterances.
Προφήτης means, both in classical and Hellenistic Greek (as does the Hebrew
נָבִיא, of which
προφήτης is the equivalent), not a foreteller, but a forth teller of the mind of God, an inspired expounder (cf.
Διὸς προφήτης ἐστὶ Λοξίαςπατρός, AEsch., 'Eum.,' 19; and
Exodus 7:1, "See I have made thee a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron thy brother shall be thy
prophet"). Observe also the sense of
προφητεία in St. Paul's Epistles (especially
1 Corinthians 14.). In this sense Moses, David, and all through whom God in any way spoke to man, were prophets. On the exact force of the preposition
ἐν, many views have been entertained. It does not mean "in the books of the prophets," - the corresponding "in the SON" precludes this; nor that God by his Spirit spoke
within the prophets, - this idea does not come in naturally here; nor is "the SON" presented afterwards as one in whom the Godhead dwelt, so much as being himself a manifestation of God; nor may we take
ἐν, as simply a Hellenism for
διὰ, - the writer does not use prepositions indiscriminately.
Ἐν, (as Alford explains it) differs from
διὰ as denoting the element in which this speaking takes place. This use of the preposition is found also in classical Greek; cf.
σημαίνειν ἐν οἰωνοῖς, frequent in Xenophon; in the New Testament, cf.
Ἐν τῷ ἄρχοντι τῶν δαιμονίωι ἐκβάλλει τὰδαιμόνια (
Matthew 9:34.).
Parallel Commentaries ...
Greek
{On many} pastπάλαι(palai)Adverb
Strong's 3819:Of old, long ago, in times past, former. Probably another form for palin; formerly, or sometime since; ancient.occasionsΠολυμερῶς(Polymerōs)Adverb
Strong's 4181:Adverb from a compound of polus and meros; in many portions, i.e. Variously as to time and agency.andκαὶ(kai)Conjunction
Strong's 2532:And, even, also, namely.in many different ways,πολυτρόπως(polytropōs)Adverb
Strong's 4187:In many ways. Adverb from a compound of polus and tropos; in many ways, i.e. Variously as to method or form.GodΘεὸς(Theos)Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 2316:A deity, especially the supreme Divinity; figuratively, a magistrate; by Hebraism, very.spokeλαλήσας(lalēsas)Verb - Aorist Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 2980:A prolonged form of an otherwise obsolete verb; to talk, i.e. Utter words.to [our]τοῖς(tois)Article - Dative Masculine Plural
Strong's 3588:The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.fathersπατράσιν(patrasin)Noun - Dative Masculine Plural
Strong's 3962:Father, (Heavenly) Father, ancestor, elder, senior. Apparently a primary word; a 'father'.throughἐν(en)Preposition
Strong's 1722:In, on, among. A primary preposition denoting position, and instrumentality, i.e. A relation of rest; 'in, ' at, on, by, etc.theτοῖς(tois)Article - Dative Masculine Plural
Strong's 3588:The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.prophets.προφήταις(prophētais)Noun - Dative Masculine Plural
Strong's 4396:From a compound of pro and phemi; a foreteller; by analogy, an inspired speaker; by extension, a poet.
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NT Letters: Hebrews 1:1 God having in the past spoken (Heb. He. Hb) 
