Hebrews 1:1 >>
¹    God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,

The very first word of the book of Hebrews is God, translated from the Greek word "theos."  This word means the supreme deity.  He is our creator and sustainer.  He is the maker of all things and without Him nothing was made.  Surely a letter to the Israelites could have no better salutation than this.  God, having nurtured, protected, punished and  guided the Israelites for centuries, had certainly made Himself known to them.  There should have been no better way than this to get their attention.  The very mention of God would be enough to bring the penitent believer to an immediate state of deep reverence. 

At various times in recorded Biblical history, the text says that God spoke.  Starting with Adam and continuing on for centuries God made His will known to men in diverse manners.  

God spoke to Moses from a burning bush; Exodus 3:4 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.

God spoke to people in dreams; Gen 20:3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man's wife.

God spoke to Balaam through the mouth of a donkey;
Num 22:28-30
(28) And the LORD opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times?
(29) And Balaam said unto the ass, Because thou hast mocked me: I would there were a sword in mine hand, for now would I kill thee.
(30) And the ass said unto Balaam, Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day? was I ever wont to do so unto thee? And he said, Nay.

God spoke to deceitful men;
1 Kings 13:18-20
(18) He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him.
(19) So he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house, and drank water.
(20) And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the LORD came unto the prophet that brought him back:

God spoke to entire nations through prophets and preachers;
Jonah 1:1-2
(1) Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
(2) Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.

The nation in view here is the capitol city of the nation of Assyria.  Of interest is the fact that we here learn that God, while certainly communicating with the Israelites, also made His will known to the Gentiles as well.  The Israelites became quite high minded and self righteous over the knowledge that they were God's chosen people.  It is of extreme significance in the life of the modern day Christian to note that God, while favoring and nurturing the Israelites for centuries, most certainly did not utterly abandon the Gentiles to their fate without warnings. 

2 Chron 16:9
For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. ...

"in time past unto the fathers by the prophets"

In times which are now past, behind, gone, God made His will known to the fathers of the Israelite people.  The inspired author is focusing in on the Hebrew fathers, i.e. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, King David, etc, etc.  God often used prophets to bring His word to the leaders.  In King David's case we have Samuel who anointed him king, (1 Sam 16:13), and Nathan who brought word of God's displeasure over David's conduct with Bath-sheba, (2 Sam 12:1), and Gad who brought word of God's displeasure over David's census of the Israelite army, (2 Sam 24:13, 1 Chron 21:10).  King David himself was a prophet and an inspired writer of scripture. 

The message here being an introductory thought to the next statement from the pen of the inspired writer.  The thought here is that God, in the past, spoke in diverse means to the prophets.  There is a feeling of finality here.  The author is leading up to his next thought where he will describe something which is different than anything they had ever experienced before. 

Hebrews 1:1 >>