The Hebrew language is on several occasions referred to in the NT. What is meant is not the
ancient Hebrew of the OT but the Aramaic dialect of Palestine which was understood by the Jews of Jerusalem at the date of the apostles {Ac 21^" 22* 26'^).
Literature.— H. Ewald, Gescftic/itedes Volkea Israel^, i. [1864] 407 ff. ; W. Robertson Smith, art. ' Hebrew Language and Literature ' in EBr^ xi. 594 ff. ; J. B. Lightfoot, Philippians'\ 1869, p. 145 ; J. H. Bernard, E(iT, ' 2 Corinthians,' 1903, p. 105; H. A. A. Kennedy, EGT, ' Philippians,' 1903, p. 451 ; artt. in HDB and ££i. \V. F. BOYD.
HEBREWS, EPISTLE TO THE.— 1. Form and
object. — Of all the NT writings which bear the name ' Epistle,' that which is commonly called the Epistle to the Hebrews presents the nearest,approxi- mation to the form of an ordered treatise. The Avriter pays great attention to style. His well- balanced periods appeal to the ear as well as to the intellect, and his argument is arranged with ex- treme care. We do not find, as is sometimes the case in the Pauline letters, several distinct ideas all struggling for expression at the same time. Each fresh notion comes in its logical order, and the mind of the reader is first carefully prepared to expect it.
' The whole argument is in view from the beginning. Whether in the purely argumentative passages or in those which are in form hortatory, we are constantl}' meeting phrases which are to be taken up again and to have their full meaning given to them later on. The plan itself develops. While the figures to some extent change and take fresh colour, there is growing through all, in trait on trait, the picture which the writer designs to leave before his readers' minds ' (E. O. Wickham, The Epistle to the Hebrews, p. xxi).
Yet, notwithstanding these general characteris- tics and the absence of any opening salutation, the Epistle is not to be regarded as a theological essay addressed to Christendom in general. It is a real letter, written to meet the needs of a definite and limited circle of readers. Such a circle is presup- posed by the personal touches of 13^^- "* and by the repeated exhortations (2i-^ S^--'^^ 4^- ""i" 5"-6'- 10'^- 12-"), in which the writer displays too much personal feeling and too exact a knowledge of the spiritual condition.of his readers to permit the supposition that he is speaking to the Church at large. But even if these passages could be struck out of the Epistle, the remaining doctrinal portions would still point to the same conclusion. The pains taken by the ^vriter to prove that the sufierings and death of Christ were not only intelligible but also a necessary part of His human experience, or again that the Levitical order was a temporary, imperfect arrangement, implj' that the readers were doubtful about these things. Such doubts may well have arisen in a small band of Christians, but they were never characteristic of the Church as a Avhole.
The readers for whom the Epistle was intended were Christians (2^- ■*), who at the first had shown whole-hearted devotion to the faith (10^-"^'*). But their minds were dull. They seemed incapable of understanding anything beyond the merest rudi- ments of their profession (5"- ^^ 6'). The earthly humiliation of Je.sus, His sufferings and tempta- tions, seemed to them unworthy of Messiah. To them, as to the Jews, the Cross was a stumbling- block, a suffering Christ no true Christ at all. Nor was that their only difficulty. They felt the novelty of Christianity. They found it hard to believe that the new religion could really supersede the ancient Divinely-given religion of the Jews. They were conscious also of its lack of outward aids to faith and worship. Christianity had, as it seemed to them, no visible priesthood or sacrifice. By these perplexities their faith in Christ was being gradually undermined. Their minds began to turn from their Christian inheritance, which contained so much that was new and strange, to the familiar splendours of the Temple and the teaching of Judaism. But it was impossible for
HEBREWS, EPISTLE TO THE
HEBEEWS, EPISTLE TO THE 535
them to remain in a state of hesitation. A crisis was rapidly approaching which must determine their course of action (9^ 10^^). The Epistle to the Hebrews was Avritten as a 'word of exhortation' (13^^) to nerve them to meet that crisis. The writer tries to explain their difficulties and to make them realize the meaning of the earthly life and death of Christ. He urges them to make the venture of faith and take their stand by the Master's side (13"), for there is no other place where ' eternal salvation' can be found (6*'^). His argument takes the form of a systematic contrast between Christianity and Leviticalism. Yet its logical conclusion is not simply that Christianity is the better of the two, but tbat Christianity is the best religion conceivable, the final, eternal revelation of God to men.
2. Summary of contents. — (1) The theme: the old dispensation and the new. — God has made two revelations to men — the first partial and incom- plete, the second perfect and therefore final. The prophets at best could merely proclaim the will of God, and that only so far as human limitations allowed them to perceive it. In One who is Son the very essence of the Father is revealed. Levitical priests could only call attention to the sins of man ; the Son has washed them away. In Him human nature is raised to the right hand of God (P'^).