SEV Biblia, Chapter 2:7
T lo hiciste un poco menor que los ngeles, lo coronaste de gloria y de honra, y lo pusiste sobre las obras de tus manos;
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Hebrew 2:7
Verse 7. Thou madest him a little lower than the angels] We must again have recourse to the original from which this quotation is made: yhlam f[m whrsjtw vattechasserehu meat meelohim. If this be spoken of man as he came out of the hands of his Maker, it places him at the head of all God's works; for literally translated it is: Thou hast made him less than God. And this is proved by his being made in the image and likeness of God, which is spoken of no other creature either in heaven or earth; and it is very likely that in his original creation he stood at the head of all the works of God, and the next to his Maker. This sentiment is well expressed in the following lines, part of a paraphrase on this psalm, by the Rev. C. Wesley:-" Him with glorious majesty Thy grace vouchsafed to crown: Transcript of the One in Three, He in thine image shone.
Foremost of created things, Head of all thy works he stood; Nearest the great King of kings, And little less than God." If we take the words as referring to Jesus Christ, then they must be understood as pointing out the time of his humiliation, as in ver. 9; and the little lower, bracu ti, in both verses, must mean for a short time, or a little while, as is very properly inserted among our marginal readings.
Adam was originally made higher than the angels, but by sin he is now brought low, and subjected to death; for the angelic nature is not mortal.
Thus, taking the words in their common acceptation, man in his present state may be said to be lessened below the angels. Jesus Christ, as the eternal Logos, or God with God, could not die, therefore a body was prepared for him; and thus bracu ti, for a short while, he was made lower than the angels, that he might be capable of suffering death. And indeed the whole of the passage suits him better than it does any of the children of men, or than even Adam himself in a state of innocence; for it is only under the feet of Jesus that all things are put in subjection, and it was in consequence of his humiliation that he had a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, Phil. ii. 9-11. Therefore he must be infinitely higher than the angels, for they, as well as all the things in heaven, bow in subjection to him.
Thou crownedst him with glory and honour] This was strictly true of Adam in his state of innocence, for he was set over all things in this lower world; all sheep and oxen, the beasts of the field, the fowl of the air, the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth over the paths of the seas, Psa. viii. 7, 8. So far all this perfectly applies to Adam; but it is evident the apostle takes all in a much higher sense, that of universal dominion; and hence he says, he left nothing that is not put under him. These verses, collated with the above passage from the Epistle to the Philippians, mutually illustrate each other. And the crowning Christ with glory and honour must refer to his exaltation after his resurrection, in which, as the victorious Messiah, he had all power given to him in heaven and earth.
And although we do not yet see all things put under him, for evil men, and evil spirits, are only under the subjection of control, yet we look forward to that time when the whole world shall be bowed to his sway, and when the stone cut out of the mountain without hands shall become great, and fill the whole earth. What was never true of the first Adam, even in his most exalted state, is true of the second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ; and to him, and to him alone, it is most evident that the apostle applies these things; and thus he is higher than the angels, who never had nor can have such dominion and consequent glory.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 7. Thou madest him a little lower than the angels , etc..] In the Hebrew text it is, than Elohim, which some render, than God; but it is rightly rendered by the apostle, than angels; and so the Targum, Jarchi, Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and Ben Melech, interpret it. Christ was made a little lower than the angels, through the assumption of the human nature, which is inferior to angels, especially the corporeal part of it, and in this Kimchi makes the lessening to be; and more especially as that was assumed by Christ, with the infirmities of it; and by reason of the straits and indigencies he was brought into in it; besides, he was in it made under the law, which was given by angels, and to some parts of which they are not subject; and sometimes he stood in need of the ministry and support of angels, and had it; particularly he was made lower than they, when he was deprived of the gracious presence of God, and in the time of his sufferings and death; and which seem chiefly to be respected, as appears from ( Hebrews 2:9) and the word little may not so much intend the degree of his humiliation, as the duration of it; for it may be rendered, a little while; in which sense it is used in ( Acts 5:34) as the Hebrew word j[m is in ( Psalm 37:10) and so may respect the time of his suffering death; and at most the time from his incarnation to his resurrection; for he could not continue long in this low estate, which is matter of joy to us; he could not be held by the cords of death, but must rise, and be exalted above angels, as he is: and he was made so low by God, Jehovah the Father, whose name is excellent in all the earth, ( Psalm 8:1) he preordained him to this low estate; he prepared a body for him, and had a very great hand in his sufferings and death; though neither of these were contrary to his will: thou crownest him with glory and honour ; with that glory he had with the Father before the world was, and which followed upon his sufferings and death; for through them he entered into it, and upon his resurrection had it, and he is ascended on high, where he has the honour to sit at the right hand of God, which none of the angels have; and therefore is now above them, though once for a while below them, and they are now subject to him: and didst set him over the works of thy hands : over angels, principalities, and powers; over the kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of it, and all things in it, and made him higher than the heavens, and gave him a name above every name.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 5-9 - Neither the state in which the church is at present, nor its mor completely restored state, when the prince of this world shall be cas out, and the kingdoms of the earth become the kingdom of Christ, i left to the government of the angels: Christ will take to him his grea power, and will reign. And what is the moving cause of all the kindnes God shows to men in giving Christ for them and to them? it is the grac of God. As a reward of Christ's humiliation in suffering death, he ha unlimited dominion over all things; thus this ancient scripture wa fulfilled in him. Thus God has done wonderful things for us in creatio and providence, but for these we have made the basest returns.
Greek Textus Receptus
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