*5:2 A gentle priest is a comfort.
†5:4 Aaron's descendants receive the honor by virtue of birth, not choice.
‡5:5 See Psalm 2:7.
§5:6 See Psalm 110:4.
*5:7 I believe the reference is to Gethsemane. Note that there was a single loud (desperate?) cry (that should have roused the drowsy disciples). His anguish was so severe that Jesus literally passed blood through the pores in His skin—normally fatal (Luke 22:44). I suspect that the fear mentioned here was the fear that He would die prematurely, there in the garden. He came to die, certainly, but it had to be on the cross. So the Father sent angels to strengthen Him, to keep Him from dying prematurely.
†5:9 His qualifications to become High Priest were completed. As God, what could He know about suffering and obedience, except in theory? While in human form Jesus literally learned obedience—He had to feel it like we feel it.
‡5:9 That is what the Text says; we must obey Him.
§5:11 The ‘difficulty’ is not so much in the subject matter, but in the spiritual condition of the hearers. This would seem to indicate that the author has a specific audience in view.
*5:12 The implication is that they are going backwards.
†5:14 Expressions like “habitual use” and “trained their senses” indicate directed, conscious effort on our part.