5. The readers. — (1) Jeivs or Gentiles? — A unan- imous tradition, reaching back to the 2nd cent, and embodied in the title invariably given to the Epistle, asserts that it was addressed a-/)6s'E/3patoi/s. It may be granted that the title does not go back to the original Avriter, and that it represents nothing more than an inference from the contents of the letter, but the inference is probably correct if not inevitable. The traditional view remained unquestioned until the 19th cent., but since then it has frequently been maintained that the Epistle Avas addressed to Gentiles, or at least to Christians generally, Avithout regard to their origin. By isolating certain incidental statements contained in the Epistle, it is not ditticult to present a plausible case for this opinion. It has been said, for example, tliat no JcAvish convert Avould need to be taught the elementarj^ doctrines enumerated in 6'* '^ ; that conversion from Judaism Avhich the Avriter believed to be a Divinely-given religion, Avoiild never have been described by him as turning ' from dead Avorks to serve a livingGod ' (9") ; that the faults against Avhich the readers are Avarned (12" IS'*) are the faults of heathen rather than of Jews. It must be recognized, however, that the details on Avhich the argument rests are capable of more than one interpretation, and that similar passages, equally dubious perhaps {e.r/. tlie use of the terms ' seed of Abraham ' [2"'] and ' the nation ' [2^'], Avhere the argument rather requires ' man- kind'), may be quoted on the other side.
But the traditional opinion is most strongly
HEBREWS, EPISTLE TO THE
HEBREWS, EPISTLE TO THE 539
supported by the general drift and tendency of the Epistle taken as a whole. The writer appeals to the OT as to an independent authority which may be quoted in support of the Christian faith. He assumes that his readers take the same view of the OT. This would be true of Jewish but not of Gentile converts. To the Gentile the OT had no meaning apart from Christianity. In the same way the main argument of the Epistle, while in- volving the conclusion that Christianity is the perfect and final religion, yet formally proves only that Christianity is superior to Judaism. This method of reasoning, unaccompanied by any refer- ence to paganism in any form, is only intelligible if addressed to men who were either Jews by birth or who had adopted Jewish ways of thinking so com- pletely as to be indistinguishable from born Jews. (2) Place of residence. — The Epistle contains no opening salutation, and no direct information as to its destination. This lack of evidence makes it very difficult to locate the readers for whom it was intended. The ancient title irpbs 'E^paiovs throws no light upon the question, for the term ' Hebrews' is national, not local. Many suggestions have been made of ijrobable places where such a circle of readers as the Epistle presupposes may have existed. The claims most widely upheld are those of (a) Jerusalem or some other Palestinian or Syrian community, (b) Alexandria, (c) Rome or some other church in Italy.
(a) In favour of the first hypothesis, it is argued that Jei->isalem, or at least some Palestinian city, would be the most likely place for a purely Jewish community, and that there too the practical problem with which the Epistle deals would be most keenly felt. But the language used in the Epistle (2^), which implies that the community addressed had had no opportunity of hearing the gospel from Christ's own lips, certainly does not favour the theory of any Palestinian destination, nor do tlie suggestions of the comparative wealth of the readers (6'" 10^^'* ) agree with the known poverty of the primitive church of Judjea. Palestine again is not a place where Timotliy might be expected to have much influence (13'^), and the absence of any distinct mention in the Epistle of the Temple as opposed to the Tabernacle would be, to say the least, remarkable if it were addressed to Judtea.
(b) Alexandria has been suggested chiefly on account of the affinities of thought and language between the Epistle and Alexandrian Judaism as represented by the writings of Philo and the Book of Wisdom. Such affinities undoubtedly exist, and may perhaps contain a hint concerning the writer's own birth-place, but they supply no evidence as to the destination of the Epistle. It must be remem- bered also that the Alexandrian type of Judaism was by no means confined to Alexandria. The theory that the Epistle Avas written with particular reference to the worship of the Jewish Temple at Leontopolis falls to the ground when it is realized that the writer had in view not the worship of any particular Temple, but the Levitical service as it is described in the Pentateuch (K. Wieseler, Unter- suchung itber den Hebrderbrief, 1861).
(c) What little evidence the Epistle itself supplies, may be quoted in favour of Home or some other Italian community. For the words ' They of Italy send greeting' are most naturally taken as imply- ing that the letter was sent either to or from Italy, and some less vague expression than ol dirb ttjs 'IraXias (13'-'*) might reasonably have been expected if the writer were actually in Italy at the time of writing. Corroborative evidence for regarding Rome as the destination of the Epistle may be found in the fact that the earliest known quotation of its language occurs in the letter of Clement of Rome.