Hebrews

Daily Gleanings about Origen’s position on Paul’s authorship of Hebrews and the importance of reading primary literature.

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. ...

Gareth Lee Cockerill 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, ...

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 ...

[caption id="" align=“alignright” width=“250” caption=“15th-c. Illumination (Photo credit: Wikipedia)”] [/caption] 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). ...

[caption id="" align=“alignright” width=“268” caption=“Scenes of the Passion of Christ (Image via Wikipedia)”] [/caption] 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). ...

Cynthia Westfall has the latest article in the Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism, “Blessed Be the Ties that Bind: Semantic Domains and Cohesive Chains in Hebrews 1.1–2.4 and 12.5–8.” Based on her investigation, Westfall concludes, [A]n analysis of semantic domains provides a vital lens through which we can view every text. At times, it seems that the [Louw-Nida] lexicon does not do enough, and it is easy to find what appear to be shortcomings in the failure to place some words in certain semantic domains. For instance, the truncated classification of προφήτης under ‘Religious Activities’ does not remotely begin to describe the features that ‘prophet’ shares with other lexical items. In this case, the authors did not follow one of their guiding principles that a derivative (e.g. προφήτης) should be placed as close as possible to its semantic basis (e.g. προφητεύω). However, when the theory is understood, the reader realizes that the entries and glosses are suggestive, and the referential (meaning) range of any lexical unit can only be determined by a careful and, above all, a coherent reading of the surrounding context (216). ...