Charles Ellicott Commentary Hebrews 2:12

"saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, In the midst of the congregation will I sing thy praise." — Hebrews 2:12 (ASV)

I will declare your name...—The quotation is taken (with very slight variation) from Psalm 22:22—a Psalm remarkable for its close connection with the narratives of the Passion of our Lord. Whether the inscription which speaks of David as author is correct, or whether (from the difficulty of discovering any period in David’s history to which the expressions used can apply) we consider the Psalm to have been written after the Captivity, there can be no doubt of its Messianic character.

Some would class this Psalm with Psalm 110 (see Note on Hebrews 1:13), as simply and directly prophetic, having no historic foreground.

But the language of some of the verses is so definite and peculiar that we must certainly regard it as descriptive of actual experience, and must rather regard the Psalm as typically prophetic of Christ.

Each division of this verse is in point as a quotation:

1. Those to whom the Messiah will declare God’s name He speaks of as “brethren”;
2. Not alone, but in the “church” (or rather, in a congregation of God’s people) will He sing the praise of God.

The latter thought—community with men, as attested by a like relation to God—is brought out with still greater prominence in Hebrews 2:13.