Hone Your Craft as a Biblical Scholar
Peter Gurry draws attention to Matthew Thomas’s new essay about Origen’s comments on Paul’s possible authorship of Hebrews.
I’ve done the same thing as Peter. And we all have to rely on the expertise of others in various ways.
But Thomas’s argument stresses how important it is for us—as much as possible—to be familiar and in dialog with the primary sources for ourselves.
Logos Bible Software’s free book of the month for December is now live. The selection is Stephen Fowl’s Ephesians from the New Testament Library series. Also deeply discounted to $1.99 is Luke Timothy Johnson’s Hebrews volume from the same series.
Also available for free on the Logos platform via the Noet website is James Joyce’s Dubliners, with Joyce’s Ulysses coming in as the bonus deep-discount item at $0.99.
Thanks to Eerdmans and the Stone-Campbell Journal, Gareth Lee Cockerill’s New International Commentary on the New Testament volume on Hebrews arrived recently. According to the publisher,
This commentary by Gareth Lee Cockerill offers fresh insight into the Epistle to the Hebrews, a well-constructed sermon that encourages its hearers to persevere despite persecution and hardships in light of Christ’s unique sufficiency as Savior. Cockerill analyzes the book’s rhetorical, chiastic shape and interprets each passage in light of this overarching structure. He also offers a new analysis of the epistle’s use of the Old Testament—continuity and fulfillment rather than continuity and discontinuity—and shows how this consistent usage is relevant for contemporary biblical interpretation. Written in a clear, engaging, and accessible style, this commentary will benefit pastors, laypeople, students, and scholars alike.
The Eerdmans blog has a two-part interview with Cockerill about the volume (part 1, part 2). This volume is a replacement for F. F. Bruce’s 1964 volume, which has been kept in print as a stand-alone work.
To demonstrate the superiority of Jesus’ sacrifice to those previously offered under the Torah, the writer to the Hebrews quotes a version of Ps 40:6–8 (Eng; 40:7–9 HB; 39:7–9 OG; Heb 10:5–9).1 In so doing, Hebrews fairly clearly situates its rendition of this psalm’s words as Jesus’ own (cf. Heb 10:10).2 If one were to read the entire psalm in this direction however,3 problems would seemingly arise (e.g., vv. 12–17 Eng).4
Nevertheless, in looking at the whole psalm from the perspective of Hebrews’ reading, one might well consider that Jesus “sometimes speaks in the name of our Head; sometimes also He speaks of us who are His members.”5 In this way, initially problematic elements (e.g., v. 12 Eng) would follow not with respect to him who is the head but with respect to those who are his members.6 Moreover,
Of all those things which our Lord Jesus Christ has foretold, we know part to have been already accomplished, part we hope will be accomplished hereafter. All of them, however, will be fulfilled because He is “the Truth” who speaks them, and requires of us to be as “faithful,” as He Himself speaks faithfully.7
Thus, it befits the church too to join in praying this psalm alongside her Lord.8
1. Paul Ellingworth, The Epistle to the Hebrews: A Commentary on the Greek Text (The New International Greek Testament Commentary; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1993), 488; Richard B. Hays, The Conversion of the Imagination: Paul as Interpreter of Israel’s Scripture (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005), 106–7; B. F. Westcott, The Epistle to the Hebrews (3rd ed.; London: Macmillan, 1906), 311. On Hebrews’ quotation and its relationship to the OG, see GS, Ps 39:7–9; Franz Delitzsch, Psalms (Commentary on the Old Testament 5; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1866; repr., Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 2006), 302; Geoffrey Grogan, Prayer, Praise, and Prophecy: A Theology of the Psalms (Ross-shire, Great Britain: Christian Focus, 2001), 273; Karen H. Jobes, “The Function of Paronomasia in Hebrews 10:5–7,” TrinJ 13, no. 2 (1992): 182, 184; see also Karen H. Jobes and Moisés Silva, Invitation to the Septuagint (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2000), 48–51.
2. Ellingworth, Hebrews, 499; Jobes, “Paronomasia in Hebrews 10:5–7,” 186; Delitzsch, Psalms, 299; Westcott, Hebrews, 311; cf. Augustine, Enarrat. Ps., 40.5 (NPNF1, 8:120–21); see also Chrysostom, Hom. Heb., 18.1 (NPNF1, 14:451). Unless εἰσερχόμενος (Heb 10:5; entering) is both substantival and anarthrous, the text omits an explicit an explicit subject for the verb λέγει (says; Westcott, Hebrews, 311).
3. Cf. Chrysostom, Hom. Heb., 18.1 (NPNF1, 451); Hays, Conversion of the Imagination, 107.
5. Augustine, Enarrat. Ps., 40.5 (NPNF1, 8:121).
6. E.g., Augustine, Enarrat. Ps., 40.22 (NPNF1, 8:126).
7. Augustine, Enarrat. Ps., 40.1 (NPNF1, 8:119).
8. Augustine, Enarrat. Ps., 40.2, 5 (NPNF1, 8:119–21); cf. Walter Brueggemann, “Psalms and the Life of Faith: A Suggested Typology of Function,” JSOT 17 (1980): 3–32; Hays, Conversion of the Imagination, 101–18; Jerry Eugene Shepherd, “The Book of Psalms as the Book of Christ: A Christo-Canonical Approach to the Book of Psalms” (Ph.D. diss., Westminster Theological Seminary, 1995).
First Samuel 18:6 describes David’s return after killing Goliath (1 Sam 17:41–58). Precisely how this event sits chronologically in relationship to the surrounding narrative is difficult to establish.1 One good way of reading the narrative, however, involves treating 1 Sam 18:1–5 as an extended parenthesis, which includes some foreshadowing, and understanding 1 Sam 18:6 to be bringing the reader back to the main plot line that had temporarily paused with 1 Sam 17:58.2 In this context, it begins to be said הכה שׁאול֙ באלפו ודוד ברבבתיו (1 Sam 18:7; Saul has slain by his thousands and David by his ten thousands; see also 1 Sam 21:11; 29:5).3 Yet, thus far, David has specifically been reported to have killed only one person (Goliath) and some animals (1 Sam 17:34–37)—not רבבת (ten thousands).4 Rather, the women’s song quantitatively represents the qualitative value of David’s victory over Goliath as it relates to Saul’s previous exploits.5 On hearing this song, then, Saul becomes enraged and starts looking and acting to do David harm (1 Sam 18:8–9).
Not dissimilarly did a later Saul also act against a later David (cf. Jer 30:9; Ezek 34:23–24; 37:24–25).6 Although the former Saul perhaps did so from envy and the later from zeal (cf. Rom 10:1–2; Gal 1:13–14; Phil 3:4b–6), they both found themselves standing against the one on whose side יהוה stood (1 Sam 16:14; 17:37; 18:12, 28; Acts 26:14).7 Although they were, in some ways, outstanding among their fellows (e.g., 1 Sam 9:2; 11:1–15; Gal 1:13–14; Phil 3:4b–6), the persecution in which they engaged was without any just cause (1 Sam 23:24b–24:22; 26:1–25; Acts 9:4–5; 22:7–8; 26:14–15).8 Yet, despite some more positive moments of lesser tension in the relationship between the former Saul and the former David (e.g., 1 Sam 24:16–22; 26:21–25), this Saul dies by his own hand (1 Sam 31:4).9 Only in the case of the later Saul does the persecutor ultimately capitulate to the goodness of the one with whom יהוה stands and die by Torah in order to live in faithfulness and join with those who announce goodness of the Davidic Messiah, who has himself delivered his people from the one who had held them in terror (Gal 1:11–24; 2:19–20; Heb 2:14–15; cf. 1 Sam 17:11, 24).10
1. E.g., K&D, Samuel, 490–91n1; cf. Walter Brueggemann, “Narrative Coherence and Theological Intentionality in 1 Samuel 18,” CBQ 55, no. 2 (1993): 243; Antony F. Campbell, “The Reported Story: Midway between Oral Performance and Literary Art,” Semeia 46 (1989): 77–85; Simon J. De Vries, “David’s Victory over the Philistine as Saga and as Legend,” JBL 92, no. 1 (1973): 23–24, 35–36.
2. Burke O. Long, “Framing Repetitions in Biblical Historiography,” JBL 106, no. 3 (1987): 396; cf. Jerome, Ep., 46.2 (NPNF2, 6:61).
3. Brueggemann, “1 Samuel 18,” 238. The term רבבת does not itself designate an exact quantity, but it and its context do ascribe to David a significantly greater quantity of slaughter than to Saul (1 Sam 18:7–8; Brueggemann, “1 Samuel 18,” 228–29, 239; R. P. Gordon, I & II Samuel: A Commentary [LBI; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1986], 160; HALOT, “רבבה”; Katherine Stott, “Herodotus and the Old Testament: A Comparative Reading of the Ascendancy Stories of King Cyrus and David,” SJOT 16, no. 1 [2002]: 63).
4. Based on David’s description in 1 Sam 17:14–15, 28, 33, 38–39, 42, 55–56, 58, 1 Sam 16:18 likely concerns David’s confrontation with the beasts that he mentions later (1 Sam 17:34–37; K&D, Samuel, 478–79). Or, the narrative of 1 Sam 16:14–23 may be a flash-forward to the parallel material in 1 Sam 18:10a (cf. Brueggemann, “1 Samuel 18,” 238; Chrysostom, Hom. 2 Cor., 24.4 [NPNF1, 12:393]). Moreover, according to 1 Sam 17:52, אנשׁי ישׂראל ויהודה (the people of Israel and Judah), or probably more simply, בני ישׂראל (1 Sam 17:53; the children of Israel), are said to have routed the remainder of the Philistine army. To be sure, the narrative represents David’s defeat of Goliath was the catalyst for this larger victory. Yet, at this point, (1) אנשׁי ישׂראל ויהודה (the people of Israel and Judah) were certainly not under David’s command (1 Sam 17:12–20, 28, 33, 42) and (2) the text does not necessarily imply that David accompanied the rest of the people in their pursuit after the remainder of the Philistine army (1 Sam 17:51a, 54, 57). Indeed, even in such a pursuit, unless David had carried with him some weapon from the battlefield itself (e.g., Goliath’s sword; 1 Sam 17:50–51), after killing Goliath, David hardly seems to have been armed with more than a staff and four stones for his sling (cf. 1 Sam 17:40, 50).
5. Even the numbers of enemies later reported to have been killed in particular engagements by David’s שׁלֹשׁת הגברים (three mighty men) and their close associates pale in comparison (e.g., 2 Sam 23:8–23; 1 Chron 11:10–12:22).
6. Cf. Irenaeus, Haer., 4.27.1 (ANF, 1:498).
7. Chrysostom, Hom. 2 Cor., 24.4 (NPNF1, 12:393); Irenaeus, Haer., 4.27.1 (ANF, 1:498); Tertullian, Praescr., 3 (ANF, 3:244).
8. Augustine, The Correction of the Donatists, 2.9 (NPNF1, 4:636); Irenaeus, Haer., 4.27.1 (ANF, 1:498); Tertullian, Praescr., 3 (ANF, 3:244).
9. Chrysostom, Hom. 2 Cor., 24.4 (NPNF1, 12:393).
As יהוה was delivering Israel from Egypt, he commanded his people spread lamb’s blood on their doorposts and lintels (Exod 12:7). In view of this blood, יהוה passed over his people and judged only the Egyptians’ firstborn and their gods (Exod 12:12–13), for יהוה had provided that the Israelites should redeem their firstborn with lamb’s blood (Exod 13:15; cf. Exod 34:18–20). He delivered them mightily, he brought them through the sea, he made a covenant with them, and he settled them in Canaan (Exod 12:29–Judges 1:26). Nevertheless, even those who entered the land did not fully enter יהוה’s rest (Heb 4:8–11), and year by year, they offered sacrifices for sins (Lev 16:1–34; 23:26–32; Num 29:7–11; Heb 9:6–10; 10:1–4).
Correspondingly, Jesus was a faithful son in all things ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ (Heb 5:7; in the days of his flesh; cf. Heb 3:6).1 Yet, especially in his death, ἔπρεπεν . . . αὐτῷ, διʼ ὃν τὰ πάντα καὶ διʼ οὗ τὰ πάντα, πολλοὺς υἱοὺς εἰς δόξαν ἀγαγόντα τὸν ἀρχηγὸν τῆς σωτηρίας αὐτῶν διὰ παθημάτων τελειῶσαι (Heb 2:10; it was fitting for him, because of whom are all things and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to perfect through afflictions the originator of their salvation; cf. John 19:30; 1 Cor 5:7).2 Having thus died and risen again, therefore, this Jesus has secured an eternal redemption and brings those who side with his faithfulness οὐ . . . ψηλαφωμένῳ (not to what may be touched) with dire consequences (Exod 19; Heb 12:18–21) but to a resplendent πόλις . . . ἡ μέλλουσα (Heb 13:14; city that is to come; cf. Rom 3:21–26; Eph 2:19–22; Phil 3:20–21; Heb 6:11–12; 9:11–12; 10:19–31; 12:18–29).3
1. Cf. Augustine, Faust., 19.10 (NPNF1, 4:243).
2. Athanasius, Ep., 2.7, 6.2, 7.3, 10.10, 19.1 (NPNF2, 4:512, 520, 524, 531, 544–45); Augustine, Faust., 19.10 (NPNF1, 4:243); Augustine, Tract. Ev. Jo., 55.2, 117.2, 121.3 (NPNF1, 7:299–300, 428, 436); Hippolytus, Fragments, 5 (ANF, 5:238); Tertullian, Adv. Jud., 10 (ANF, 3:167); (Pseudo-)Tertullian, Marc., 2.83–112 (ANF, 4:147); cf. Chrysostom, Hom. 1 Cor., 15.6–7 (NPNF1, 12:85–86); Origen, Comm. John, 10.11, 10.13 (ANF, 9:388–90).
3. Athanasius, Ep., 6.2, 13.7, 43 (NPNF2, 12:520, 541, 552–53); Augustine, Doctr. chr., 2.41 (NPNF1, 2:555); Augustine, Enarrat. Ps., 40.13 (NPNF1, 8:124); Augustine, Ep., 55.3.5 (NPNF1, 1:304–5); Augustine, Faust., 19.10 (NPNF1, 4:243); Chrysostom, Hom. Eph., 23 (NPNF1, 13:165–66); Hippolytus, Haer., 8.11 (ANF, 5:123); Peter of Alexandria, Fragments, 5.7 (ANF, 6:282); cf. Clement of Alexandria, Strom., 4.10 (ANF, 2:460); Leo the Great, Serm., 59.5 (NPNF2, 12:1:172); Origen, Comm. John, 10.11 (ANF, 9:388); Tertullian, Marc., 5.7 (ANF, 3:443).