Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
1. Wherefore, seeing we also, etc. This conclusion is, as it were, an epilogue to the former chapter, by which he shows the end for which he gave a catalogue of the saints who excelled in faith under the Law, even that every one should be prepared to imitate them; and he calls a large multitude metaphorically a cloud, for he sets what is dense...
Lay aside every dead weight, the world's claim on your affections, and strip away the sin that has the greatest hold on you, whether unbelief or attachment to the old covenant. Then run your race with patience; it is marked out for you.
AI summary
Commenting on Hebrews 12:1-3
Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about,...., As the Israelites were encompassed with the pillar of cloud, or with the clouds of glory in the wilderness, as the Jews say; See Gill on Co1 10:1, to which there may be an allusion, here, since it follows, with so great a cloud of witnesses; or "martyrs", as the Old Testament saints, the instances of whose faith...