Albert Barnes Commentary Hebrews 13:22

"But I exhort you, brethren, bear with the word of exhortation, for I have written unto you in few words." — Hebrews 13:22 (ASV)

Suffer the word of exhortation. This refers to the arguments and counsels in this whole epistle—which is, in fact, a practical exhortation to persevere in adhering to the Christian religion amid all the temptations to apostasy that existed.

For I have written a letter unto you in few words. This does not mean that this epistle is short compared with others the author had written, as most of Paul's epistles are shorter than this one. Rather, it means that it was brief compared with the importance and difficulty of the subjects he had treated.

The topics introduced would have allowed for a much more extended discussion, but in handling them, he used as few words as possible. No one can deny this who considers the concise manner of this epistle.

As an illustration of this, perhaps we may remark that it is easy to expand the thoughts of this epistle into ample volumes of exposition. Indeed, it is difficult to provide an explanation of it without a commentary that would greatly surpass the text in length.

Also, no one can doubt that the author of this epistle could have greatly expanded the thoughts and illustrations himself if he had chosen to do so. It is probably with reference to such considerations that he says the epistle was brief.