<p>1:1 <em>God, who at various times and in various ways- Polymeros... polytropos </em>is framed in such a way as to aid memorization, and would be typical of a spoken address; see on 13:22 and 1 Thess. 2:1.</p><p><em>Spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets</em>- The Lord was &ldquo;the word made flesh&quot;; having spoken to us through the words of the prophets, God now speaks to us in His Son (Heb. 1:1,2 RV). His revelation in that sense hasn&rsquo;t finished; it is ongoing. Right now, the Lord Jesus speaks with a voice like many waters and a sword of flame- according to John&rsquo;s vision of the Lord&rsquo;s post-resurrection glory.<br />In the first century, you usually began a letter with a preface, saying who you were and to whom you were writing. The letter to the Hebrews has a preface which speaks simply of the greatness of Christ (Heb. 1:1-3), tackling the devaluing of the Lord Jesus and the role of Messiah generally which was being done by the Judaizers. The higher critics speak of how the preface has been lost or got detached. But no, the form of Heb. 1:1-3 is indeed that of a preface. The point is that the greatness of Christ, of which the letter speaks, is so great as to push both the author and audience into irrelevancy and obscurity. It&rsquo;s significant that the New Testament writers speak so frequently of Jesus as simply &ldquo;the Lord&rdquo;. This would&rsquo;ve been strange to first century ears. Kings and pagan gods always had their personal name added to the title &lsquo;the Lord&rsquo;- e.g. &lsquo;the Lord Sarapis&rsquo;. To just speak of &ldquo;the Lord&rdquo; was unheard of. The way the New Testament speaks like this indicates the utter primacy of the Lord Jesus in the minds of believers, and the familiarity they had with speaking about Him in such exalted terms.</p>