Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Hebrews 7:28

"For the law appointeth men high priests, having infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was after the law, [appointeth] a Son, perfected for evermore." — Hebrews 7:28 (ASV)

Here the contrast between human beings with all their infirmities and the Son with his eternal perfection is further brought out. “The law” brings us back to the law of Moses, the law of divine origin indeed, but the law that necessarily operates among people who are “weak” (GK 819). And when the law appoints high priests, they must be limited, for they are not made from some super race but from ordinary people, with all their human frailty.

“But” introduces the contrast; “the oath” makes all the difference. This oath, we are reminded, “came after the law” and so cannot be thought of as superseded by it. And the oath “appointed the Son.” Actually Ps 110, which speaks of the oath, does not mention the Son, who is referred to in Ps 2:7. But the author sees both psalms as referring to Jesus (cf. 1:5); so he has no difficulty in applying terminology taken from the one to a situation relating to the other. And the Son “has been made perfect forever.” He has been made perfect through those sufferings (2:10) that bring people to God.