IN THE DAYS OF HIS FLESH HE OFFERED UP BOTH PRAYERS AND SUPPLICATIONS WITH LOUD CRYING AND TEARS: os en tais hemerais tes sarkos autou, deeseis te kai hiketerias pros ton dunamenon (PPPMSA) sozein (PAN) auton ek thanatou meta krauges ischuras kai dakruon prosenegkas (AAPMSN) kai eisakoustheis (APPMSN) apo tes eulabeias:  (Heb 2:14; Jn 1:14; Ro 8:3; Galatians 4:4; 1Ti 3:16; 1Jn 4:3; 2John 1:7) (Psalms 22:1-21; 69:1; 88:1; Matthew 26:28-44; Mark 14:32-39; Leviticus 2:2; 4:4-14; John 17:1) (Matthew 27:46,50; Mark 15:34,37) (Isaiah 53:3,11; John 11:35)

OT PASSAGES QUOTED IN HEBREWS 5 - Click for complete list of OT Quotations/Allusions

He 5:5 <> Ps 2:7
He 5:6 <> Ps 110:4
He 5:10 <> Ps 110:4

KEY WORDS IN HEBREWS 5 - Click for complete list of Key Words in Hebrews

Eternal - He 5:9
Sacrifice - He 5:1, 3
Priest - He 5:1, 5, 6, 10

In the days of His flesh - The writer again emphasizes the reality of our Lord's humanity and His participation in all the experiences of His people, which makes him fit for having compassion on those for whom He mediates.

As Ironside says "He trod the path of faith and took the place of dependence on the Father."

Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil (He 2:14-note, cp He 4:15-note)

And the Word (see Jn 1:1) became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. (Jn 1:14)

For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh (Why? because the flesh could never keep the Law perfectly, cp Jas 2:10), God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh (Ed: Not "likeness of" - He was not a sinner but was made sin on the Cross to atone for man's sins - 2Cor 5:21. Stated another way - Although in His incarnation Christ became fully man, He took only the outward appearance of sinful flesh, because He was completely without sin. But by coming into the world in human form, He resembled sinful humanity.) and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, (Ro 8:3-note)

The writer now explains how in a sense Christ was under training for the priesthood, and thus he proceeds to describe the process of training.

A T Robertson...

Here (He 5:7, 8, 9) the author turns to the other requirement of a high priest (human sympathy). Since Jesus was “without sin” (He 4:15) he did not have to offer sacrifices “for himself,” yet in all other points he felt the sympathy of the human high priest, even more so by reason of his victory over sin. (Hebrews 5 Word Pictures)

Hughes makes the point that

throughout this time on earth it was the custom of the incarnate Son to maintain fellowship with and to express his dependence on the Father by means of prayer and supplication (see Mk. 1:35; 6:46; Lk. 5:16; 6:12; Jn. 17:1ff., etc.).

Phil Newton adds that...

Our writer gives us a picture of the humanity of God the Son as He faithfully exercised His divinely appointed office of High Priest. In seeing Christ bearing the emblems of His mediatorial office the struggling believer can find new courage to press on in the face of trials, persecution, and even doubts. Paul reminds us concerning Christ, "Who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men" (Phil 2:6, 7). As man Jesus Christ was not less than God. He remained God throughout His earthly pilgrimage. Yet, to use J. B. Phillips translation, "For he, who had always been God by nature, did not cling to his prerogatives as God's equal, but stripped himself of all privilege by consenting to be a slave by nature and being born as mortal man." Jesus Christ lived as a Man-for that is exactly what He was (and is!).

Just as we live in dependence
upon the Father and His provisions,
so did Jesus Christ.

That is why the writer is pressing this point, for these struggling believers needed to see that Christ had set the way of obedience before them. They were to be strengthened by looking to Him who "learned obedience from the things which he suffered."

Our writer could have said, "In the days of his humanity," in order to soften the effect of Christ being a man. But he chose to use the coarse, earthy sounding term sarx or flesh to emphasize that Jesus Christ's humanity and dependence upon the Father as a man was real. (Jesus Christ: Qualified as High Priest Hebrews 5:1-10)

Steven Cole comments on...

The identification of Jesus, our high priest, with us: He prayed and learned obedience through what He suffered (He 5:7-8).

These verses elaborate on He 4:15, that Jesus can sympathize with our weaknesses because He has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Similar to the Levitical priests, Jesus could identify with the weaknesses of the people. But, unlike these priests, He had no sin of His own.

“In the days of His flesh” refers to Jesus’ earthly life, but He 5:7 especially points to Jesus’ agony in the Garden of Gethsemane as He wrestled with the imminent prospect of taking our sins upon Himself. Jesus’ intense struggle in the Garden was not just over the thought of the physical agony of crucifixion.

Rather, He was struggling with the thought
of being separated from the Father as He bore our sin.

This was so intense that He literally sweat blood.

None of the gospel accounts report Jesus’ “loud crying and tears,” but this information probably came directly from one of the apostles who were present. It shows us that even though Jesus is fully God, and the cross was central to God’s predetermined plan (Acts 2:23; 4:27,28), the actual implementation of that plan was not easy. It was not just playacting a role! Jesus’ suffering in the Garden and on the cross was more intense than we can ever imagine, because we do not know what it was like to be one with the Father from all eternity until that dreadful hour.

There is debate about the content of Jesus’ request. If He was asking to be saved from death, in what sense was His prayer heard, since He was not delivered from that awful death? Probably Jesus was asking to be sustained through the agony of bearing our sins, and to be brought through death into resurrection and complete restoration with the Father. The word “piety” (NASB) is better rendered “reverent submission” (NIV). It refers to His reverential submission to the will of the Father when He prayed, “not My will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42). (Hebrews 5:1-10 The Kind of Priest You Need)

CHRIST'S PRIESTLY
"OFFERING"

The word translated “offered” is prosphero which was used in the LXX of the priests bringing a sacrifice to the altars of God. The Levitical priests offered up blood sacrifices (He 9:6, 7-note, He 10:1-note). This Priest after the order of Melchizedek (He 5:10-note) offered up Himself (not just His blood but His body - He 10:10-note) as a blood sacrifice (He 9:14-note, He 9:26-note), but before doing this, brought another offering to God, a heart torn with anguish and suffering, a soul in which the conflict of the ages was raging, a contest in which God the Son was facing the powers of darkness, waging a battle for the lost race, a battle in which He was victor over death, and thus over him who had the power of death, the devil. (Wuest, K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: Eerdmans or Logos or Wordsearch)

Prayers (1162) (deesis [word study]) refers to urgent requests or supplications to meet a need and are exclusively addressed to God. Deesis refers to special, definite requests.  Deesis in the New Testament always carries the idea of genuine entreaty and supplication before God.  It implies a realization of need and a petition for its supply.

Do not be afraid (command to stop fearing indicating he already was fearful), Zacharias (means "Jehovah remembers"), for your petition (deesis - specifically their need for God to open his wife's womb) has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth (means "my God is an oath") will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John (means “Jehovah has shown grace”)” (Luke 1:13).

Supplications (2428) (hiketería  [sole occurrence of this noun in the NT] form hiketes = a suppliant from hiko = to come to one) originally described an olive branch entwined with wood carried by a suppliant. In the Greek culture the suppliant would hold and wave to express their desperate prayer and desire. The idea then came to mean that which is being urgently requested by someone, in this case the God-Man! What a powerful picture of the depth of Christ's humility and the profundity of His prayers! We get a sense of this in Luke's description of our Lord in Gethsemane the night before He went to the cross, praying so intensely that His sweat was like drops of blood. His heart was broken at the prospect of bearing sin.

And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground. (Lk 22:44)

Marcus Dods comments that

The conjunction ("with...")...in this verse is for emphasis. These supplications were accompanied “with strong crying and tears,” expressing the intensity of the prayers and so the keenness of the suffering. The “strong crying” is striking. Schöttgen quotes: “There are three kinds of prayers, each loftier than the preceding: prayer, crying, and tears. Prayer is silent, crying with raised voice, tears overcome all things.”  (Hebrews 5 Expositor's Greek Testament Commentary - online)

Vincent writes that hiketeria

is properly an adjective, pertaining to or fit for suppliants, with (rhabdous) staves or (elaias) olive-branches understood. The olive-branch bound round with wool was held forth by a suppliant in token of his character as such. (Hebrews 5 Greek Word Studies)

Note that our Lord neither was saved from death nor did He ever pray to be saved from such. Furthermore He did He fear death as some teach. His mission as the Son of God was to enter our world and die. And yet  what a testimony these tears provide regarding the reality of His manhood!

Ironside recounts that...

Three times we read of His weeping. He wept at the grave of Lazarus as He contemplated the awful ravages that death had made, tears of loving sympathy. He wept as He looked upon Jerusalem and His prophetic soul saw the tribulations through which the devoted city must pass. And He wept in Gethsemane's garden as His holy soul shrank from drinking the cup of divine indignation against sin when He would hang on the cross. While the cup could not be averted, nevertheless He was heard because of His piety—that is, because of His godly fear, His reverence for the Father's will. And thus He who is the eternal Son who never knew what subjection meant, became man. As He walked the pilgrim path of suffering and rejection down here, He learned obedience by the things that He suffered. It is not that His will had to be subdued, but that from the moment when He assumed humanity He entered into new experiences. He who had always commanded learned practically what obedience meant. (Ironside Expository Commentary on Hebrews)

Crying (2906) (krauge from krazo = to croak or cry) is a cry which a man does not choose to utter but is wrung from him in the stress of some tremendous tension or searing pain. Krauge is  an onomatopoeic word, imitating the raven’s cry. It describes a crying, screaming, shrieking, shouting, Lat. clamor. The idea is a crying out as with a sharp cry or even a shout, as when one cries out in surprise (Mt 25:6), in support (Acts 23:9), in unrestrained brawling (Eph 4:31). In the present context this word pictures Jesus crying out loudly to God in prayer during His time of trial.

Krauge - 6x in 6v in NAS - Matt 25:6; Luke 1:42; Acts 23:9; Eph 4:31; Heb 5:7; Rev 21:4. NAS = clamor(1), crying(2), shout(1), uproar(1), voice(1).

A T Robertson...

 No doubt the writer has in mind other times when Jesus shed tears (John 11:35; Luke 19:41), but Gethsemane chiefly. (Hebrews 5 Word Pictures)

The rabbis wrote that

There are three kinds of prayers, each loftier than the preceding-prayer, crying and tears. Prayer is made in silence; crying with raised voice; but tears overcome all things.

Hughes explains why Jesus was in such intense agony writing that...

The agony of Christ at Gethsemane was occasioned by something other and deeper than the fear of physical death; for what He faced was not simply a painful death but also judgment—the judgment of a holy God against sin, our sin, which is the experience of the "second death" (Rev. 20:14-note; cf. He 9:27-note), the disintegrating experience of

Separation from God.

Hence the terrible cry of dereliction from the cross: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Mk. 15:34).

In a real but deeply mysterious manner, which no words of man can explain, the incarnate Son as he hung on the cross endured the desolating anguish of being torn away from his Father. He took our sins, the sins of the whole world (1Jn 2:2), upon himself at Calvary in order that there he might bear our judgment, the Righteous for the unrighteous (1Pe 2:24-note; 1Pe 3:18-note). It was then, on that cross, that "God made him who knew no sin to be sin for our sake, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2Co 5:21).

For this reason the second death has no power over those who by faith are one with Him Who as our Sin-Bearer endured the second death in our place; and for them the first death, which is the death of the body, holds no terror because the bodily resurrection of Jesus is the guarantee that they too will rise to everlasting life (1Co 15:20; 2Co 4:14).

The dread with which he approached the cross is explained, as Calvin says, by the fact that in the death that awaited him "he saw the curse of God and the necessity to wrestle with the total sum of human guilt and with the very powers of darkness themselves."

The "loud cries and tears" which accompanied Christ's supplication are to be understood, then, in relation to the indescribable darkness of the horror that he, our High Priest, was to pass through as, on the cross, he bore not only the defilement and guilt of the world's sin but also its judgment. At Gethsemane and at Calvary we see him enduring our hell so that we might be set free to enter into his heaven. (A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews - recommended resource) (Bolding added)

Phil Newton describes Jesus' agonizing in Gethsemane this way...

All of the purity of his soul would be opened to the pitch-black darkness of human sinfulness. Our lies, lusts, deceitfulness, anger, complaining, cheating accompanied an innumerable host of sins, saturating as a sponge in water upon the spotless bosom of Jesus Christ. Our rebellion against the Law of God and our unbelief in Him as a merciful Redeemer in all of its lurid detail strikes the Son. In His own being He felt the combined weight of the world's sins. That is why we find Him agonizing in the Garden as He fulfilled His high priestly office. He was soon to "appear before God" on our behalf, sprinkling His own blood upon the mercy seat, satisfying the divine cry of "Justice, Justice, Justice!" See Him bearing your sin. See Him agonizing over His separation from the Father. See how He feels the pains of hell upon His own spotless soul. And for whom? For someone who has known the glories of the gospel and is creeping back into the world or retreating to his own devices.

Get your eyes off of your own complaints and your own self-pity! Look at Him who "offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears." What was he doing? As the only sinless man he was expressing the agony of bearing sin; and as the only great high priest he was submitting to the will of the Father. And the Father "heard Him because of His piety." He does not hear us because of our "piety" or godly fear. He hears us because of Jesus Christ! (1Ti 2:5, He 7:25-note) Rather than die in the Garden from the horrid weight of separation from the Father and bearing the weight of our sin, the Father sustained the Son through the trauma of the cross, so that he might declare, "It is finished!" (Jn 19:30-note) His prayers were heard and the answer came as he successfully bore the judgment of God for us (Gal 3:13, 1Pe 2:24, 25-note) at the Cross and then rose from the dead in victory (Acts 4:2, 17:32, 23:6, 24:21, 26:23, Ro 1:4-note, 1Co 15:21, 22, 54, 55 56 57, 1Pe 1:3-note). (Jesus Christ: Qualified as High Priest Hebrews 5:1-10) (Scripture References added)

A. W. Pink wrote...

Into what infinite depths of humiliation did the Son of God descend! How unspeakably dreadful was His anguish! What a hideous thing sin must be if such a sacrifice was required for its atonement! How real and terrible a thing is the wrath of God! What love moved Him to suffer so on our behalf! What must be the portion of those who despise and reject such a Saviour! (cp He 10:29-note) (Hebrews 5:5-7 Christ Superior to Aaron)

My God, I Love Thee
My God, I love Thee; not because
I hope for Heav’n thereby,
Nor yet because who love Thee not
May eternally die.

Thou, O my Jesus, Thou didst me
Upon the cross embrace;
For me didst bear the nails and spear,
And manifold disgrace.

And griefs and torments numberless,
And sweat of agony;
E’en death itself; and all for man
Who was Thine enemy.

Then why, O blessèd Jesus Christ
Should I not love Thee well?
Not for the hope of winning Heaven,
Nor of escaping hell.

Not with the hope of gaining aught,
Nor seeking a reward,
But as Thyself hast lovèd me,
O everlasting Lord!

E’en so I love Thee, and will love,
And in Thy praise will sing,
Solely because Thou art my God,
And my eternal King.

TO THE ONE ABLE TO SAVE HIM FROM DEATH: pros ton dunamenon (PPPMSA) sozein (PAN) auton ek thanatou:  (Mt 26:52,53; Mk 14:36) (Heb 13:20; Ps 18:19,20; 22:21,24; 40:1, 2, 3; 69:13, 14, 15, 16; Is 49:8; Jn 11:42; Jn 17:4,5)

To the One able to save - Referring to God the Father.

As Jesus reminded Peter (Mt 26:52)...

“Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels? (Mt 26:53)

In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus again testified to the saving ability of His Father...

And He was saying, “Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will.” (Mk 14:36)

Don't misunderstand what he is saying. Jesus was not hoping to escape the cross because it was for this very purpose that He came to earth. In John's gospel Jesus declared...

Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, 'Father, save Me from this hour'? But for this purpose I came to this hour. (John 12:27)

Save (4982)(sozo [word study]) means the Father could (present tense = continuously) rescue Jesus from Death, the great enemy of mortal men (1Co 15:26, 54, 55, 56, 57). Additional nuances of sozo include to protect, keep alive, preserve life, deliver, heal, be made whole.

Save Him from death - More literally this reads "save Him out of (Greek preposition "ek" = out of) death". The point is that Jesus was not asking to be saved from dying but to be saved out of death or in other words to be saved from remaining in death. He was not asking to avoid the Cross but to be assured of the resurrection (cf. Ps 16:8, 9, 10, 11)

MacDonald...

Christ’s prayer was not that He might be saved from dying; after all, to die for sinners was His very purpose in coming to the world (John 12:27). His prayer was that He might be delivered out of death, that His soul might not be left in Hades. This prayer was answered when God raised Him from the dead. (MacDonald, W & Farstad, A. Believer's Bible Commentary: Thomas Nelson or Logos)

AND HE WAS HEARD BECAUSE OF HIS PIETY: kai eisakoustheis apo tes eulabeias: (Heb 12:28; Matthew 26:37,38; Mark 14:33,34; Luke 22:42, 43, 44; John 12:27,28)

and was heard in that he feared (KJV)

because of his reverent submission (NIV)

Guzik asks an interesting question...

If Jesus asked that the cup be taken away from Him (Luke 22:42), and the cup was not taken away, how can it be said that He was heard? Because His prayer was not to escape His Father’s will, but to accept it - and that prayer was definitely heard.

Because of His piety - He was heard on account of His good acceptance of what He was accomplishing as the High Priest.

Piety (2124) (eulabeia from eulabes = careful as to the realization of the presence and claims of God, reverencing God, pious, devout from eu = good, well, right + lambano = take hold ~ taking hold well) in the original Greek usage meant caution, circumspection, discretion and then reverence or veneration. The Lxx usage in Joshua conveys the idea of fear, anxiety or dread. The NT uses convey the idea of godly fear, reverence, reverent regard, reverent submission or reverent awe in the presence of God.

Eusebeia is a closely related word is similar to eulabeia in reflecting an attitude of one's inner being, but in addition produces an demonstration of that inner  attitude in worship.

Wuest comments that...

The picture in the word is that of a cautious taking hold of and a careful and respectful handling. Hence, it speaks of a pious, devout, and circumspect character, who in his prayer, takes into account all things, not only his own desire, but the will of the Father. (Wuest, K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: Eerdmans or Logos or Wordsearch)

A T Robertson...

The image in the word is that of a cautious taking hold and careful and respectful handling: hence piety of a devout and circumspect character, as that of Christ, who in his prayer took account of all things, not only his own desire, but his Father’s will...God was able to save him from death altogether. He did not do this. He was able to sustain him under the anguish of death, and to give him strength to suffer the Father’s will: he was also able to deliver him from death by resurrection: both these he did. It is not impossible that both these may be combined in the statement he was heard.

Vine writes that eulabeia...

signifies, first, “caution”; then, “reverence, godly fear,” Heb. 5:7; 12:28...in general, “apprehension, but especially holy fear,” “that mingled fear and love which, combined, constitute the piety of man toward God; the OT places its emphasis on the fear, the NT...on the love, though there was love in the fear of God’s saints then, as there must be fear in their love now” (Trench, Synonyms) (Vine, W E: Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. 1996. Nelson)

There are only 2 uses of eulabeia in the NT...

Hebrews 5:7 (note) In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety.

Hebrews 12:28 (note) Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe

There are 2 uses in the Septuagint (LXX)...

Joshua 22:24 "But truly we have done this out of concern (eulabeia), for a reason, saying, 'In time to come your sons may say to our sons, "What have you to do with the LORD, the God of Israel?

Proverbs 28:14 How blessed is the man who fears (Hebrew = pachad - be in dread, in awe; LXX = eulabeia) always, But he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity.

The idea of eulabeia is that of being devoutly submissive. I wonder why my prayers don't seem to be heard so often? Could it be I lack this Philippians 2:5 attitude?

OUR BLESSÈD SAVIOR SEVEN TIMES SPOKE

Our blessèd Savior sev’n times spoke
When on the cross our sins He took
And died lest men should perish.
Let us His last and dying words
In our remembrance cherish.

“Father, forgive these men; for, lo,
They truly know not what they do.”
So far His love extended.
Forgive us, Lord, for we, too, have
Through ignorance offended.

Now to the contrite thief He cries:
“Thou, verily, in Paradise
Shall meet Me ere tomorrow.”
Lord, take us to Thy kingdom soon
Who linger here in sorrow.

To weeping Mary, standing by,
“Behold thy Son,” now hear Him cry;
To John, “Behold thy mother.”
Provide, O Lord, for those we leave;
Let each befriend the other.

The Savior’s fourth word was “I thirst.”
O mighty Prince of Life, Thy thirst
For us and our salvation
Is truly great; do help us, then,
That we escape damnation.

The fifth, “My God, My God, O why
Forsake Me?” Hark, the awful cry!
Lord, Thou wast here forsaken
That we might be received on high;
Let this hope not be shaken.

The sixth, when victory was won,
“’Tis finished!” for Thy work was done.
Grant, Lord, that, onward pressing,
We may the work Thou dost impose
Fulfill with Thine own blessing.

The last, as woe and sufferings end,
“O God, My Father, I commend
Into Thy hands My Spirit.”
Be this, dear Lord, my dying wish;
O heavenly Father, hear it.

Whoe’er, by sense of sin oppressed,
Upon these words his thoughts will rest,
He joy and hope obtaineth
And through God’s love and boundless grace
A peaceful conscience gaineth.

O Jesus Christ, Thou Crucified,
Who hast for our offenses died,
Grant that we e’er may ponder
Thy wounds, Thy cross, Thy bitter death,
Both here below and yonder.

ALTHOUGH HE WAS A SON HE LEARNED OBEDIENCE FROM THE THINGS WHICH HE SUFFERED: kaiper on (PAPMSN) huios emathen (3SAAI) aph on epathen (3SAAI) ten hupakoen aph on epathen (3SAAI) ten hupakoen:  (Hebrews 1:5,8; 3:6) (He 10:5, 6, 7, 8, 9; Isaiah 50:5,6; Matthew 3:15; John 4:34; 6:38; 15:10; Philippians 2:8)

One might say that Jesus' "training for the priesthood" involved suffering, even though he was the Son of God. He certainly did not need to suffer in order to conquer or correct any disobedience.

He was - Was is in the present tense indicating Jesus has always been the Son of God (cp Jn 1:1, 14)

Obedience (5218)(hupakoe [word study] from hupó = under + akouo = hear) (see also verb hupakouo) literally means "hearing under", that is, listening from a subordinate position in which compliance with what is said is expected and intended. 

Steven Cole comments that...

When it says, “Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered,” it does not mean that He was formerly disobedient. The first phrase is better translated, “Son though He was.” It points to His position as God’s unique Son (He 5:5).

Jesus “learned obedience” in the sense that He experienced what obedience means through what He suffered. He was always obedient to the Father’s will, but the proof of obedience is revealed in situations where obedience is not pleasant. Suppose that when my children were younger, I told you, “I have obedient kids. Let me prove it to you: Kids, eat your ice cream.” You would say, “That’s no test of obedience!” The real test would be, “Kids, clean your rooms!” Jesus experienced obedience to the maximum when He went to the cross.

The author’s point is that Jesus is our perfect High Priest in that His prayers and obedience through His sufferings show that He can sympathize with us in our sufferings. Therefore, we should obediently persevere in trials through prayer. (Hebrews 5:1-10 The Kind of Priest You Need)

He learned obedience - The definite article ("the" in Greek) modifies obedience which identifies it as a specific or particular obedience which was required of Jesus in the days of His flesh.

Wuest...

The idea is, “Though He was the Son of God, God the Son, Very God of Very God, yet He learned obedience by the things He suffered.” The omniscient God knew what obedience was, but He never experienced it until He became incarnate in human flesh. Before His incarnation, He owed obedience to no one. There was no one greater than He to whom He could have rendered obedience. But now in incarnation, God the Son became obedient to God the Father. He learned experientially what obedience was. (Wuest, K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: Eerdmans or Logos or Wordsearch)

Vincent...

Jesus did not have to learn to obey, see Jn 8:29; but he required the special discipline of a severe human experience as a training for his office as a high priest who could be touched with the feeling of human infirmities. He did not need to be disciplined out of any inclination to disobedience; but, as Alford puts it, “the special course of submission by which he became perfected as our high priest was gone through in time, and was a matter of acquirement and practice.” This is no more strange than his growth in wisdom, Lk 2:52. Growth in experience was an essential part of his humanity.

Marcus Dods writes that "it was through painful obedience, not by arrogant ambition he became Priest. The main statement is, He learned obedience and became perfect as Saviour."

The prophet Isaiah records these words of the Messiah...

The Lord GOD has opened My ear; And I was not disobedient, Nor did I turn back. I gave My back to those who strike Me, And My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard; I did not cover My face from humiliation and spitting. (Isaiah 50:5-6)

There is a principle that it is in the school of suffering where we grow the most in obedience. We all know only too well that often the best way to learn sympathy is by having suffered what another is suffering. We can read about the pain of starvation and even see pictures on television of starving children in Africa, but we until we have gone hungry for a period, we cannot completely sympathize with the victims of starvation. If suffering was the lot of the Son of God, we must never despise it as a tool of the Father's instruction in our lives. If suffering was the lot of our Savior and Lord, His disciples are called to follow in His steps (1Pe 2:21-note). Scripture does not teach that a dynamic faith will keep us from all suffering and in fact, more often a strong faith is associated with greater suffering! But do not let this deter you from pressing on toward the goal! The prize is eternally worthwhile!

And so we see in the following passages that God places suffering in an interesting light ...

(Paul reminds the believers at Thessalonica that) we sent Timothy, our brother and God's fellow worker in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith, 3 so that no man may be disturbed by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we have been destined for this. (1Th 3:2-note, 1Th 3:3-note)

And after they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples (How did they make disciples?), they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, "Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God." (Acts 14:21,22)

(Paul encourages the believers in Rome that they are) children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. (Ro 8:17, 18-see notes Romans 8:17; 18 cp 2Cor 4:16, 17, 18)

Jesus suffered by taking on Himself our sins, and in this way He became far more than any human priest. He is able to deal gently with our sins because He is so fully aware of the sense of personal defilement by sin, even though He Himself was sinless (cp He 2:18-note, He 4:15-note)

Phil Newton asks...

What did Jesus do throughout the earthly journey to the cross? He fully obeyed the Father. "Although He was a Son [or 'Son though He was'], He learned obedience from the things which He suffered."

Let us come back to our first century audience. The bottom line was that they struggled with following or obeying Jesus Christ. Do you find yourself in the same position? Their faith was being called into question by their hesitation to obey. So the writer turns their attention-and ours-to Jesus Christ. We can rejoice that Jesus Christ obeyed the Father! The Son's obedience was with the full responsibility of being high priest for all the redeemed. We might pay closer attention to our obedience and actions when we have a responsibility because there is a sense of accountability for a right performance. Our eternities rested upon the obedience of Jesus Christ. Without His sinless life and perfect obedience, the Cross was useless. There was no adequate sacrifice if the sacrificial victim was polluted by the very sins that he was seeking to atone for. (Jesus Christ: Qualified as High Priest Hebrews 5:1-10)

Henry Morris explains the obedience of our Lord this way...

What Jesus knew by omniscience, He "learned" by experience, thus "being made perfect"--not as God (for as God He was eternally perfect, by definition), but as man (Morris, Henry: Defenders Study Bible. World Publishing)

As Guzik says...

Jesus did not pass from disobedience to obedience. He learned obedience by actually obeying. Jesus did not learn how to obey; He learned what is involved in obedience. (Hebrews 5)

In short, Jesus learned the full meaning of the cost of obedience from the things which He suffered, and God therefore affirmed Him as the completely obedient, perfect High Priest. That is the kind of High Priest weak men need, One Who knows and understands what we are going through.

A modern poet says of the poets

“We learned in suffering what we teach in song.”

William Barclay make a good point writing that...

God speaks to men in many experiences of life, and not least in those which try their hearts and souls. But we can hear his voice only when we accept in reverence what comes to us. If we accept it with resentment, the rebellious cries of our own heart make us deaf to the voice of God. (Barclay, W: The Daily Study Bible Series. The Westminster Press or Logos)

Steven Cole draws several lessons from this section of Hebrews. For example, on suffering to be expected...

God’s love for us does not preclude His taking us through great trials. The Father loved the Son, and yet the cross was His destiny. He loves us, and yet brings us to glory through many sufferings.

John Piper observes

No one ever said that they learned their deepest lessons of life, or had their sweetest encounters with God, on the sunny days. People go deep with God when the drought comes (Don't Waste Your Life - download the book free).

C. H. Mackintosh, commenting on the death of Lazarus (John 11), said

Never interpret God’s love by your circumstances; but always interpret your circumstances by His love (Miscellaneous Writings [Loizeaux Brothers], He 6:17, 18, “Bethany”).

<> Feeling deep emotions during trials is not wrong, but we must submit our emotions to the will of God.

The often-repeated comment, “Emotions aren’t right or wrong; emotions just are” has a grain of truth in it, but a lot of error. The truth is, don’t deny the emotions that you are experiencing. The error is, your emotions may be acceptable in God’s sight, or they may be sinful. Grief in a time of loss is acceptable. Railing at God or being bitter towards Him is sinful. Though God strip us of everything, as He did with Job, we should through our tears say with Job, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).

<> Even as God answered Christ’s prayers for deliverance through death and resurrection, so He sometimes answers our prayers in ways that seem contradictory to our request.

Some say that we are not praying in faith if we pray, “Lord, Your will be done.” They say that we must be bold to ask God for what we want and claim it by faith. It seems, though, that Jesus didn’t understand this principle. He prayed, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42). God answered Jesus’ prayer by sustaining Him through the cross and into the resurrection and ascension. He may not answer our requests exactly as we pray. Often “we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Ro 8:26).

You need a high priest because God is infinitely holy and you are a sinner. Jesus Christ is that high priest. Flee to Him for salvation and live daily at the foot of the cross!  (Hebrews 5:1-10 The Kind of Priest You Need)

Our gracious Lord had to learn obedience to the will of God by a personal experience of suffering, and especially by an implicit submission to his heavenly Father's will. And what was this will? That he should take upon himself the huge debt which his bride had incurred by original and actual transgression; that he should offer himself as a ransom price to discharge and put it away; that he should bear our sins in his own body on the tree, with everything which was involved in being made a curse for us; that he should by death overcome Satan, who had the power of death, and deliver them who all their life, through fear of death, were subject to bondage; and that, whatever sorrows and sufferings should lie in his path, he should bear them all, and learn, in and by them, implicit submission to the will of God. This was the will of God, for he was determined that his law should be magnified, his justice glorified, his infinite purity and holiness revealed and established; and yet, amid all and through all his displeasure against sin, that his infinite wisdom, tender pity, everlasting love, and sovereign grace might shine and reign in the happiness of millions through a glorious eternity. This, also, was the joy that was set before Christ, for which he endured the cross, despising the shame, and is now set down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Daily Portions)

The pardon of a believer's sins is an entire pardon. It is the full pardon of all his sins. It was no pardon to him if it were not an entire pardon. If it were but a partial blotting out of the thick cloud-if it were but a partial canceling of the bond-if it were but a forgiveness of some sins only, then the gospel were no glad tidings to his soul. The law of God had brought him in guilty of an entire violation. The justice of God demands a satisfaction equal to the enormity of the sins committed, and of the guilt incurred. The Holy Spirit has convinced him of his utter helplessness, his entire bankruptcy. What rapture would kindle in his bosom at the announcement of a partial atonement-of a half Savior-of a part payment of the debt? Not one throb of joyous sensation would it produce. On the contrary, this very mockery of his woe would but deepen the anguish of his spirit. But go to the soul, weary and heavy-laden with sin, mourning over its vileness, its helplessness, and proclaim the Gospel. Tell him that the atonement which Jesus offered on Calvary was a full satisfaction for his sins;-that all his sins were borne and blotted out in that awful moment;-that the bond which Divine justice held against the sinner was fully cancelled by the obedience and sufferings of Christ, and that, appeased and satisfied, God was "ready to pardon." How beautiful will be the feet that convey to him tidings so transporting as this! And are not these statements perfectly accordant with the declarations of God's own word? Let us ascertain. What was the ark symbolical of, alluded to by the apostle, in the ninth chapter of his Epistle to the Hebrews, which contained the manna, Aaron's rod, and the tables of the covenant, over which stood the cherubim of glory shadowing the mercy-seat? What, but the entire covering of sin? For, as the covering of the ark did hide the law and testimony, so did the Lord Jesus Christ hide the sins of His chosen, covenant people-not from the eye of God's omniscience, but from the eye of the law. They stand legally acquitted. So entire was the work of Jesus, so infinite and satisfactory His obedience, the law of God pronounces them acquitted, and can never bring them into condemnation. "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus; who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." "Who is he that condemns? It is Christ that died, yes rather, that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us."