in these last days
The phrase "in these last days" refers to the eschatological period initiated by the coming of Christ. In the Greek, "ἐπ’ ἐσχάτου τῶν ἡμερῶν τούτων" (ep’ eschatou tōn hēmerōn toutōn) indicates a culmination of God's redemptive history. The term "eschatos" (last) is often used in the New Testament to denote the final era of God's plan, which began with Jesus' incarnation. This phrase underscores the urgency and significance of the message delivered through Christ, marking a new and definitive phase in God's revelation to humanity.

He has spoken to us
The Greek verb "ἐλάλησεν" (elalēsen) is in the aorist tense, indicating a completed action. This suggests that God's communication through His Son is a definitive and final revelation. Unlike the fragmented and varied messages delivered through the prophets, this communication is direct and personal. The use of "to us" emphasizes the personal and communal nature of this revelation, inviting believers into a relationship with God through Christ.

by His Son
The phrase "by His Son" highlights the unique and superior role of Jesus in God's revelation. The Greek "ἐν Υἱῷ" (en Huiō) signifies not just a messenger, but one who embodies the message. The term "Son" denotes a special relationship with the Father, emphasizing Jesus' divine nature and authority. This is a central theme in Hebrews, where the Son is portrayed as superior to angels and prophets, being the exact representation of God's being.

whom He appointed heir of all things
The word "appointed" (Greek "ἔθηκεν," ethēken) indicates a deliberate and sovereign act of God. The term "heir" (Greek "κληρονόμον," klēronomon) reflects the legal and familial rights bestowed upon Jesus, signifying His authority and ownership over creation. This echoes Psalm 2:8, where the Messiah is promised the nations as His inheritance. It underscores the preeminence of Christ in all things, affirming His role in the divine plan.

and through whom He made the universe
The phrase "through whom He made the universe" attributes the act of creation to the Son, aligning with John 1:3 and Colossians 1:16. The Greek "δι’ οὗ καὶ ἐποίησεν τοὺς αἰῶνας" (di’ hou kai epoiēsen tous aiōnas) uses "aiōnas" (ages or universe) to denote the entirety of time and space. This affirms the Son's preexistence and active participation in creation, highlighting His divine nature and eternal power. It serves as a reminder of Christ's sovereignty and the foundational role He plays in the cosmos.

(2) Hath in these last days . . .--Better, at the end of these days spake unto us in a Son. The thought common to the two verses is "God hath spoken to man"; in all other respects the past and the present stand contrasted. The manifold successive partial disclosures of God's will have given place to one revelation, complete and final; for He who spake in the prophets hath now spoken "in a Son." The whole stress lies on these last words. The rendering "a Son" may at first cause surprise, but it is absolutely needed; not, "Who is the Revealer?" but, "What is He?" is the question answered in these words. The writer does not speak of a Son in the sense of one out of many; the very contrast with the prophets (who in the lower sense were amongst God's sons) would be sufficient to prove this, but the words which follow, and the whole contents of this chapter, are designed to show the supreme dignity of Him who is God's latest Representative on earth. The prophet's commission extended no farther than the special message of his words and life; "a Son" spoke with His Father's authority, with complete knowledge of His will and purpose. It is impossible to read these first lines (in which the whole argument of the Epistle is enfolded) without recalling the prologue of the fourth Gospel. The name "Word" is not mentioned here, and the highest level of St. John's teaching is not reached; but the idea which "the Word" expresses, and the thought of the Only Begotten as declaring and interpreting the Father (John 1:18; also John 14:10; John 14:24) are present throughout. There is something unusual in the words, "at the end of these days." St. Peter speaks of the manifestation of Christ "at the end of the times" (1Peter 1:20); and both in the Old Testament and in the New we not unfrequently read "at the end (or, in the last) of the days." (See 2Peter 3:3; Jude 1:18; Numbers 24:14; Daniel 10:14, &c.) The peculiarity of the expression here lies in "these days." The ages preceding and following the appearance of Messiah are in Jewish writers known as "this world" (or, age) and the "coming world" (or, age); the "days of Messiah" seem to have been classed sometimes with the former, sometimes with the latter period; but "the end of these days" would be understood by every Jewish reader to denote the time of His appearing. . . . Verse 2. - In these last days. The true reading being ἐπ ἐσχάτον τῶν ἡμερῶν τούτων, not ἐπ ἐσχάτων, as in the Textus Receptus, translate, at the end of these days', The Received Text would, indeed, give the same meaning, the position of the article denoting' "the last of these days," not "these last days." The reference appears to be to the common rabbinical division of time into αἰὼν οϋτος, and αἰὼν μέλλων, or ἐρχόμενος: the former denoting the pro-Messianic, the latter the Messianic period. Thus "these days" is equivalent to αἰὼν ου{τος, "the present age," and the whole expression to ἐπὶ συντέλειᾳ τῶν αἰώνων, "at the end of the ages" (infra, Hebrews 9:26); cf. 1 Corinthians 10:11," for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come." The term, αἰὼν μέλλων, is also used in this Epistle (Hebrews 6:5); cf. Hebrews 2:5, τὴν οἰκουμένην τὴν μέλλουσαν. For allusions elsewhere to the two periods, cf. Matthew 12:32; Mark 10:30; Luke 18:30; Luke 20:35; Ephesians 1:21; Titus 2:12. Cf. also in Old Testament, Isaiah 9:6, where, for "Everlasting Father," Cod. Alex. has πατὴρ τοῦ μελλόντος αἰῶνος. A subject of discussion has been the point of division between the two ages - whether the commencement of the Christian dispensation, ushered in by the exaltation of Christ, or his second advent. The conception in the Jewish mind, founded on Messianic prophecy, would, of course, be undefined. It would only be that the coming of the Messiah would inaugurate a new order of things. But how did the New Testament writers after Christ's ascension conceive the two ages? Did they regard themselves as living at the end of the former age or at the beginning of the new one? The passage before us does not help to settle the question, nor does Hebrews 9:26; for the reference in both cases is to the historical manifestation of Christ before his ascension. But others of the passages cited above seem certainly to imply that "the coming age" was regarded as still future. It has been said, indeed, with regard to this apparent inference from some of them, that the writers were regarding their own age from the old Jewish standing-point when they spoke of it as future, or only used well-known phrases to denote the two ages, though they were no longer strictly applicable (see Alford's note on Hebrews 2:5). But this explanation cannot well be made to apply to such passages as 1 Corinthians 10:11 and Ephesians 1:21, or to those in the Gospels. It would appear from them that it was not till the παρούσια (or, as it is designated in the pastoral Epistles, the ἐπιφάνεια) of Christ that "the coming age" of prophecy was regarded as destined to begin, ushering in "new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness" (2 Peter 3:13). Still, though "that day" was in the future, the first coming of Christ had been, as it were, its dawn, signifying its approach and preparing believers for meeting it. "The darkness was passing away; the true light was already shining" (1 John 2:8). Hence the apostolic writers sometimes speak as if already in the "coming age;" as being already citizens of heaven (Philippians 3:20); as already "made to sit with Christ in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 2:6); having already "tasted the powers of the age to come" (Hebrews 6:5). In a certain sense they felt themselves in the new order of things, though, strictly speaking, they still regarded their own age as but the end of the old one, irradiated by the light of the new. To understand fully their language on the subject, we should remember that they supposed the second advent to be more imminent than it was. St. Paul, at one time certainly, thought that it might be before his own death (2 Corinthians 5:4; 1 Thessalonians 4:15). Thus they might naturally speak of their own time as the conclusion of the former age, though regarding the second advent as the commencement of the new one. But the prolongation of "the end of these days," unforeseen by them, does not affect the essence of their teaching on the subject. In the Divine counsels "one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." Hath spoken unto us (more properly, spake to us) in his Son. "His" is here properly supplied to give the meaning of ἐν υἱῷ. The rendering, a SON, which seems to have the advantage of literalism, would be misleading if it suggested the idea of one among many sons, or a son in the same sense in which others are sons. For though the designation, "son of God," is undoubtedly used in subordinate senses - applied e.g. to Adam, to angels, to good men, to Christians - yet what follows in the Epistle fixes its peculiar meaning here. The entire drift of the earlier part of the Epistle is to show that the idea involved in the word "Son," as applied to the Messiah in prophecy, is that of a relation to God far above that of the angels or of Moses, and altogether unique in its character. This idea must have been in the writer's mind when he selected the phrases of his exordium. Nor is the article required for the sense intended. Its omission, in fact, brings it out. Ἐν τῷ υἱῷ would have drawn especial attention to "the personage in whom God spake; ἐν υἱῷ does so rather to the mode of the speaking - it is equivalent to "in one who was SON." Son-revelation (as afterwards explained), is contrasted with previous prophetic revelations (cf. for omission of the article before υἱὸς, Hebrews 3:6; Hebrews 5:8; Hebrews 7:28). Whom he appointed (or, constituted) heir of all things; not, as in the A.V., "hath appointed." The verb is in the aorist, and here the indefinite sense of the aorist should be preserved. "Convenienter statim sub Filii nomen memoratur haereditas" (Bengel). Two questions arise.

(1) Was it in respect of his eternal Divinity, or of his manifestation in time, that the Son was appointed "Heir of all things?"

(2) When is God to be conceived as so appointing him? i.e. What is the time, if any, to be assigned to the indefinite aorist? In answer to question

(1) the second alternative is to be preferred. For

(a) his eternal pre-existence has not yet been touched upon: it is introduced, as it were parenthetically, in the next and following clauses.

(b) Though the term Son is legitimately used in theology to denote the eternal relation to the Father expressed by the Λόγος of St. John, yet its application in this Epistle and in the New Testament generally (excepting, perhaps, the μονογενὴς υἱὸς peculiar to St. John, on which see Bull, 'Jud. Eccl. Cath.,' 5:4, etc.), is to the Word made flesh, to the Son as manifested in the Christ. And hence it is to him as such that we may conclude the heirship to be here assigned.

(c) This is the view carried out in the sequel of the Epistle, where the SON is represented as attaining the universal dominion assigned to him after, and in consequence of, his human obedience. The conclusion of the exordium in itself expresses this; for it is not till after he had made purification of sins that he is said to have "sat down," etc.; i.e. entered on his inheritance; having become (γένομενος not ω}ν) "so much better," etc. This is the view of Chrysostom, Theodoret, and the Fathers generally (cf. the cognate passage, Philippians 2:9).

(2) It seems best to refer the aorist ἔθηκε, not to any definite time, as that of the prophetic utterances afterwards cited, or that of the actual exaltation of Christ, but indefinitely to the eternal counsels, which were indeed declared and fulfilled in time, but were themselves ἐνἀρχῇ. A similar use of the aorist, coupled with other aorists pointing to events in time, is found in Romans 8:29, 30. What this heirship of all things implies will appear in the sequel, By whom also he made the worlds. Interposed clause to complete the true conception of the SON; showing who and what he was originally and essentially through whom God "spake" in time, and who, as SON, inherited. Here certainly, and in the expressions which follow, we have the same doctrine as that of the Λόγος of St. John. And the testimony of the New Testament to the pre-existence and deity of Christ is the more striking from our finding the same essential idea under different forms of expression, and in writings differing so much from each other in character and style. He who appeared in the world as Christ is, in the first place, here said (as by St. John 1:3) to have been the Agent of creation; cf. Colossians 1:15-17, where the original creative agency of "the Son of his love" is emphatically set forth, as well as his being "the Head of the body, the Church." This cognate passage is of weight against the view of interpreters who would take the one before us as referring to the initiation of the gospel ages; with respect to which view see also the quotation from Bull given below under ver. 3. Here τοὺς αἰῶνας is equivalent to "the worlds," as in the A.V. For though the primary meaning of αἰών has reference to time - limited in periods, or unlimited in eternity - it is used to denote also the whole system of things called into being by the Creator in time and through which alone we are able to conceive time. "Οἱ αἰῶνες, saecula, pro rerum creatarum universitate est Hebraismus" (Bull); cf. Hebrews 11:3, καταρτίσθαι τοὺς αἰῶνας ῤήματι Θεοῦ: also 1 Corinthians 2:7, πρὸ τῶν αἰώνων: and 2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 1:2, πρὸ χρόνων αἰωνίων.

Parallel Commentaries ...

But in
ἐπ’ (ep’)
Preposition
Strong's 1909: On, to, against, on the basis of, at.

these
τούτων (toutōn)
Demonstrative Pronoun - Genitive Feminine Plural
Strong's 3778: This; he, she, it.

last
ἐσχάτου (eschatou)
Adjective - Genitive Neuter Singular
Strong's 2078: Last, at the last, finally, till the end. A superlative probably from echo; farthest, final.

days
ἡμερῶν (hēmerōn)
Noun - Genitive Feminine Plural
Strong's 2250: A day, the period from sunrise to sunset.

He has spoken
ἐλάλησεν (elalēsen)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 2980: A prolonged form of an otherwise obsolete verb; to talk, i.e. Utter words.

to us
ἡμῖν (hēmin)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Dative 1st Person Plural
Strong's 1473: I, the first-person pronoun. A primary pronoun of the first person I.

by
ἐν (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.

[His] Son,
Υἱῷ (Huiō)
Noun - Dative Masculine Singular
Strong's 5207: A son, descendent. Apparently a primary word; a 'son', used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinship.

whom
ὃν (hon)
Personal / Relative Pronoun - Accusative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3739: Who, which, what, that.

He appointed
ἔθηκεν (ethēken)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 5087: To put, place, lay, set, fix, establish. A prolonged form of a primary theo to place.

heir
κληρονόμον (klēronomon)
Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular
Strong's 2818: From kleros and the base of nomos (reflexively) getting by apportionment); a sharer by lot, i.e. Inheritor; by implication, a possessor.

of all things,
πάντων (pantōn)
Adjective - Genitive Neuter Plural
Strong's 3956: All, the whole, every kind of. Including all the forms of declension; apparently a primary word; all, any, every, the whole.

and
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

through
δι’ (di’)
Preposition
Strong's 1223: A primary preposition denoting the channel of an act; through.

whom
οὗ (hou)
Personal / Relative Pronoun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 3739: Who, which, what, that.

He made
ἐποίησεν (epoiēsen)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 4160: (a) I make, manufacture, construct, (b) I do, act, cause. Apparently a prolonged form of an obsolete primary; to make or do.

the
τοὺς (tous)
Article - Accusative 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.

universe.
αἰῶνας (aiōnas)
Noun - Accusative Masculine Plural
Strong's 165: From the same as aei; properly, an age; by extension, perpetuity; by implication, the world; specially a Messianic period.


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NT Letters: Hebrews 1:2 Has at the end of these days (Heb. He. Hb)