¹⁸ For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.

Temptation is common to all humanity and when God became human this was true of Him as well. One of the great mysteries of the incarnation, but one of the great comforts as well. In context, it has to do with His becoming, “… a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God…” (vs. 17, see also 4:15 where this connection is also emphasized). The priestly function was to represent to God the plight of the human penitent, and this required a certain amount of empathy. A priest was not to be someone who was above the people in terms of righteousness, but someone who was like them.

In OT Israel, the priest had to first offer sacrifice for his own sin before he could offer for anyone else (Heb 7:27, Lev 9:7, 16:6). He was always to be reminded of his own spiritual frailties, and thus he would be sympathetic of those on whose behalf he would subsequently offer sacrifices. Unfortunately, by the time of Christ, the priesthood had devolved into a sort of class system, where they held themselves aloof from the people. They were not expected to relate to the common people of the land. The people did not look to the priests as being able to help them in their struggle against sin; what they received from those priests was probably more along the line of guilt and subservience. Religion had become a form of control over them by the religious elite. In fact, “holy” people would wash their hands after having been in public, for they may have inadvertently touched someone or something that was unholy (called “unclean”).

The Son of God who came as a high priest, in contrast, was not like that at all. Yes, He was superior to the angels, as magnificent and exalted as that was, and He became a “high priest.” But He became like the common people (“his brethren”) in every way (vs. 17) even to the point of fully experiencing the common human struggle with temptation! Such is the stoop, the humility of the Son of God (see Phil 2:6-8). He became like us in every way (the singular exception is later added that, though He was tempted, He did not sin by succumbing to that temptation, Hebrew 4:15). In this humbling, He was exalted.

What tremendous encouragement it is to us that the Lord knows what it is to be tempted and is sympathetic toward us and not judgmental. He is enabled to help us in a uniquely divine and human way. His thrice-expressed anguish for the “cup” to be removed gave way to humble submission to the will of the Father. Thus, He can help us submit to the Father when we are tempted!