-the faith of Christ, to persevere in good
works, Μνημονεύετε τῶν ἡγου- μένων ὑμῶν. . . “Have in remem- brance them wha had the rule over you, especially as they are those who spoke to you the word of God”. μνημον. might be used, as in xi. 22 and Gal. ii. x, τῶν πτωχῶν μνημ.» of keeping living persons in mind (and so Rendall) but what fol- lows makes it more likely that it here refers to the past. These deceased lead- ing men were the persons alluded to in ii. 3 and iv. 2, who first ‘‘spoke” the word of the gospel to the Hebrews and who were now no longer present. The word ἡγούμενοι, occurring also in wv. 17 and 24 andin Acts xv. 22 (and cf. Sir. xxx. 18, οἱ ἡγούμενοι ἐκκλησίας) is a general term for leading and influential men in whom some undefined authority was vested. Official status was not yet de- fined and official titles were not yet universal. The chief reason why they are to be held in remembrance is given in the clause under οἵτινες, “for they are they who”. But an additional reason is
5-14.
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καλὸν γὰρ χάριτι βεβαιοῦσθαι τὴν καρδίαν, οὐ βρώμασιν, ἐν οἷς οὐκ h Exod.
ὠφελήθησαν οἱ περιπατήσαντες.'
- - > ” 9 , ε A - λ , οὗ φαγεῖν οὐκ ἔχουσιν ἐξουσίαν ot TH σκηνῇ λατρεύοντες.
ἔξω τῆς πύλης ἔπαθε.
10. Ἔχομεν θυσιαστήριον, ἐξ Lev. ἵν. he 14, 21, et II. ὧν ουν. 30, et 3 ε om XV1. 27 γὰρ εἰσφέρεται ζώων τὸ αἷμα περὶ ἁμαρτίας εἰς τὰ ἅγια διὰ τοῦ Num.xix ἀρχιερέως, τούτων τὰ σώματα κατακαίεται ἔξω τῆς παρεμβολῆς’ i - A i Joan. xix 12. | διὸ καὶ Ἰησοῦς, ἵνα ἁγιάσῃ διὰ τοῦ ἰδίου αἵματος τὸν λαὸν, ἜΣ τθ. ’, 2 2 Ἀ τε > κα 1ο, 16; 13. τοίνυν ἐξερχώμεθα πρὸς αὐτὸν ἔξω τῆς Mich. ἢ. . a ; Phil. παρεμβολῆς, τὸν ὀνειδισμὸν αὐτοῦ pépovtes: 14. "οὗ γὰρ ἔχομεν iii’ 2.
1 περιπατουντες in ΑΝ.
suggested in the following clause, ὧν ἀναθεωροῦντες . . - “whose faith imitate as you closely consider the issue of their manner of life”. ὧν follows ἀναστροφῆς. ἀναθεωρέω in Theophrastus and Diodorus Siculus is explicitly con- trasted with the simple verb to denote a keener and more careful observation. We cannot therefore render, as naturally we might, “look back upon”. ἔκβασιν, in 1 Cor. x. 18 has the meaning “‘ escape” ; but in Wisd. ii. xvii., as here, it denotes the end of life with a distinct reference to the manner of it, as illustrating the man’s relation to God. The leading men among the Hel ew Christians had, whether by martyrdom (as Weiss, etc.) or not, sealed their teaching and exhibited a faith worthy of imitation. Ver. ὃ gives force both to ver. 7 andtover.g. Imitate their faith, for the object of faith has not changed nor passed away. Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς ἐχθὲς. . . . “Jesus Christ yesterday and to-day is the same, yea and for ever.” ὁ αὐτὸς exactly as in Plutarch’s Pericles, xv. 2, where in des- cribing the influence of success upon Pericles it is said οὐκέθ᾽ ὁ αὐτὸς ἦν, he was no longer the same. ἐχθὲς is the proper Attic form, χθές the old Ionic, see Rutherford’s New Phryn., 370. ‘‘ Yester- day and to-day,” in the past and in the present Jesus Christ is the same, and He will never be different. Therefore, δι- δαχαῖς ποικίλαις καὶ ξέναις μὴ παραφέρεσθε. ‘ Be not carried away by teachings various and unheard of, and foreign.” παραφερ. is used in Diodorus and Plutarch of being swept away by a river in flood; cf. παραρυῶμεν of ii. 1. The teachings against which the Hebrews are here warned are such con- structions of Old Testament institutions and practises as tended to loosen their attachment to Christ as the sole media- tor of the New Covenant. These teach- ings were “various,” inasmuch as they laid stress now on one aspect, now on
another of the old economy [*bald in der Schriftgelehrsamkeit, bald in pein- licher Gesetzseserftillung, bald im Op- ferkult, bald in den Opfermahlzeiten ” (Weiss)]. They were ξέναι both as being novel and as being irreconcileable with pure Christian truth. καλὸν yap χάριτι. - . » “For it is good that by grace the heart be confirmed, not by meats.” The present wavering unsatisfactory condi- tion of the Hebrews is to be exchanged for one of confidence and steadfastness not by listening to teachings about meats which after all cannot nourish the heart, but by approaching the throne where grace reigns and from which it is dispensed, iv. 16. From the following verse (ver. 10) in which sacrificial food is expressly mentioned, it would appear that the refer- ence in ov βρώμασιν is not to asceticism nor to the distinction of clean and un- clean meats, but to sacrificial meals. These are condemned by experiment as useless, ἐν οἷς οὐκ ὠφελήθησαν - « - ‘which were of no avail to those who had recourse to them” (Moffatt). Cf. the ἀσθενὲς καὶ ἀνωφελές of vii. 18. Sacrificial meals are also shown to be irreconcileable (ξέναι) with the Christian approach to God, for our (the Christian) altar is one from which neither worship- pers nor priests have any right to eat. The point he wishes to make is, that in connection with the Christian sacrifice there is no sacrificial meal. As in the case of the great sacrifice of the Day of Atonement the High Priest carried the blood into the Holy of Holies, while the carcase was not eaten but burned outside the camp; so the Christian altar is not one from which food is dispensed to priest and worshipper. ot τῇ σκηνῇ λατρεύ- οντες refers to the Christian worship- pers. The figure introduced in θυσια- στήριον is continued in these words, To reter them to the O.T. priests is to shatter the argument. Literally the words mean “they who serve the tabernacle,” that is,