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Hebrews 4:1-13 Contextual Analysis The author and recipients of the book of Hebrews are unknown. Some believe there are hints at them in Hebrews 4:1-13. The use of the word μάχαιραν (sword) (4:12) has led some to suggest a better rendering would picture “that of a knife used by a priest or butcher, or possibly a surgeon”, and if a surgeon it might be fitting that Luke is the author (Allen, 2010, p. 510). :7-11 is a long quote of scripture which is unusual for the , except in the writings of Luke (Steyn, 2011, p. 171).

Looking more broadly within the epistle, there is some information about the author, although it is not “clear and unequivocal” (Allen, 2010, p. 39). The author was a friend of

Timothy (13:23) possibly writing in Italy (13:24), although this verse may mean “those who are originally from Italy”. In 2:3 the author includes himself in receiving the message of salvation from those who first heard it, thus making it likely the author was not an Apostle but a second generation convert (Achtemeier, Green, & Thompson, 2001, p. 467). The style of Greek, rhetoric skill and their knowledge with the Septuagint suggests they were well educated (Craddock, 1998, p. 7).

This epistle seems to be written to people who were tempted to either turn to, or back to

Judaism. Some had given up meeting (10:25). They had suffered persecution but not martyrdom (10:32-43, 12:4). Some suggest that the recipients of the letter were a subset of an established community (5:12), perhaps former Jewish priests (Allen, 2010, p. 92). The theme of “rest” and “resting place” suggests the “readers might have been converts from a [Jewish] group that held the Sabbath in high regard” (Steyn, 2011, p. 194). There have been multiple suggestions for the location of the recipients including Palestine, Ephesus, the Lycus Valley,

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Corinth, Alexandria and Rome (Achtemeier, Green, & Thompson, 2001, p. 471; Steyn, 2011, p. 194). In the end, like the author, their identity is unknown.

A conservative dating of Hebrews is between 60-95 AD (Craddock, 1998, p. 8) or “possibly in the early eighties” (Brown, 1982, p. 17). Clement quotes from Hebrews in his writings from 95 AD. The author makes no reference to a temple at all (Jobes, 2011, p. 34) and is more focused on the wilderness tabernacle and the writings in the Old Testament (Craddock,

1998, p. 7). There is “deafening silence in reference to the fall of and the temple in

AD 70” which would have allowed the author an “irrefutable argument in his attempt to show the passing nature of the temple” (Allen, 2010, pp. 103-104), making it likely to have been written between 60-70 AD (Jobes, 2011, p. 36).

Formal Analysis The use of the Old Testament texts gives rise to the suggestion that this letter might be better classified as a sermon since it lacks the normal features of a letter (Achtemeier, Green, &

Thompson, 2001, p. 466). Others believe that it starts as a sermon but ends as a letter (Allen,

2010, p. 40). It is possible that originally this Epistle was a written sermon to be delivered orally with an attached final greeting (Jobes, 2011, p. 43). In 13:22 the author refers to their own work as a “word of exhortation”1.

Craddock (1998, p. 16) describes Hebrews as alternating from exposition to exhortation throughout the book and classes the section from 3:7-4:16 as an exhortation. However the first five verses of this section are a quotation from :7-11 which is referenced throughout (3:14; 4:3, 5, 7) suggesting the author is expositing this Psalm. Both Pink (2012, p. 286) and Ehrman (2000, p. 379) title this section as “Christ superior to ”. While this point may be implicit, the whole theme of Hebrews is that is greater than anyone or

1 All quotes are from the NRSV, unless otherwise stated Page 2 of 9

Andrew Vella (2014) for CSU Word Count: 2746 anything. This particular section is less Christological and more theocentric and exhortative.

This is surprising as the book is “one of the most majestic presentations of Christology in the entire New Testament” (Allen, 2010, p. 40). Some commentators have seen Christological references in verses 8-10 (Moore, 2014, p. 386).

4:1-13 is part of a larger section starting from 3:7 and is considered as “a complex bit of paraenesis” (Attridge, 1980, p. 280) to the whole argument of the book. It addresses the topic of belief and unbelief by painting a picture of rest (Steyn, 2011, p. 172). 3:7-4:13 has been broken into three sections moving from God’s word in the past (3:7-11), the present (3:12-19) and into the future (4:1-13) (Brown, 1982, pp. 83, 85, 89). While this breakup has symmetry moving from the past to the future, the timing of the promise of rest in 4:1-13 is not entirely based in the future, but open today.

Within 4:1-13 the argument moves in a circular fashion (Steyn, 2011, p. 186) in three main parts. The concept of entering rest is disperses throughout (4:1, 3a, 3b, 5, 6, 10, 11) (Allen,

2010, p. 486). The first two parts (4:1-5 and 4:6-11) both repeat sections of the quoted

Scripture in 3:7-11. Generally verses 1-5 are about entering rest and verse 6-11 are about not entering rest because of disobedience (Allen, 2010, p. 486). The last section (4:12-13) is an amplification of the exhortation in verse eleven (Allen, 2010, p. 504).

Detailed Analysis The first two verses of this pericope act as a “transition and summary of 3:7–19 and 4:3–13.”

(Allen, 2010, p. 487). After explaining how the wilderness generation did not enter God’s rest because of unbelief (3:19) the author closes the geographical and historical gap between that generation and the audience (Craddock, 1998, p. 52). They are to “take care” so they do not

“fail to reach” this promise of rest (4:1) by faithfully obeying the words they have heard

(4:2).

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Verse two mentions the “good news” (εὐηγγελισμένο) which both the audience and the exodus generation are said to have heard, linking them together (Allen, 2010, p. 490). Some render εὐηγγελισμένο as “the Gospel” and explain that this means the message of redemption from slavey in Exodus 6:6-8 or the news of the Promised Land in Numbers 13:26-27, 30

(Pink, 2012, pp. 299-300). In the context, it is better understood as simply the promise of rest

(Allen, 2010, p. 490).

The mention of “those who [had] heard” in verse two is ambiguous. Most likely the group in question is the current believers (Allen, 2010, p. 491). However, Swetnam thinks it refers “to the group of Christians who heard with faith the words of the Lord as he instituted the

Eucharist” (Swetnam, 2012, p. 608), by linking these people with “those who heard” in

Hebrews 2:3.

The author then turns to believers and states they can enter the promised rest. The timing of its fulfilment is debated. The present tense for “enter” may mean it is certain in the future

(Allen, 2010, p. 492). Pink (2012, p. 300) argues that understanding this rest as something here and now is a mistake and instead points “to the eternal sharing of His [God’s] rest in heaven” (Pink, 2012, p. 298). It likely means the believers were in a process of entering the rest or in the present favourable state with a future expectation (Craddock, 1998, p. 52; Allen,

2010, p. 492).

Verse four sets the grounds for verse three’s assertion that God entered rest at the foundation of the world (Allen, 2010, p. 493). The author quotes Genesis 2:2, although some have proposed the quote came from Exodus 31:17b (Steyn, 2011, p. 196). Throughout Hebrews the author shows a lack of precision when referring to Scripture, perhaps by choice so as to direct attention to God who spoke the words rather than the human author (Docherty, 2009, p.

189).

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The author uses a rabbinical technique called “gezerah shawah”, which links two texts based on the same catchword (Steyn, 2011, p. 190; Docherty, 2009, p. 189). This only works because the author used the Septuagint and not the Hebrew (Weiss, 1996, p. 681) as in the

Greek both verses use the same root word2. By using Genesis 2:2 to reinterpret Psalm 95,

“rest” becomes a reference to the divine Sabbath and not a physical place in the form of the

Promised Land (Steyn, 2011, p. 190) “which God entered upon the completion of creation”

(Attridge in Steyn, 2011, p. 192). Since this rest depends on the “permanent nature of God’s rest” it opens up the possibility of successive generations entering into it (Weiss, 1996, p.

682).

The nature of rest that God and believers enjoy should not be confused with the cessation from activity altogether (Moore, 2014, p. 393). “Resting” in this context should be seen as the cessation from one activity in favour of another. For example God rested from creating new kinds of creatures and took up sustaining creation (Moore, 2014, p. 394; Pink, 2012, p. 312).

The Sabbath rest God entered when he ceased creating can be accessed by faith and

“becomes the symbol of eschatological salvation” (Steyn, 2011, p. 191).

Verse six points back to verse one and forward to verse nine (Allen, 2010, p. 494). It concludes that the promised rest is open today for people to enter it, and those who did not enter rest did so because of disobedience. Verses 7-10 have been considered a parenthesis to establish how this divine rest is available for believers today, so that they “take care” not to

“fail to reach it” (4:1) (Pink, 2012, pp. 314-315).

Verse seven is the only reference in this Epistle to a human author of Scripture (Steyn, 2011, p. 180). In Hebrews 3:7 the author describes this Psalm as spoken by the Holy Spirit, here they assume it was written by indicating they held to the dual authorship of Scripture

2 “the verb κατέπαυσεν in Genesis, and the related noun κατέπαυσις in the psalm” (Docherty, 2009, p. 189). Page 5 of 9

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(Docherty, 2009, p. 185). This attribution to David as the author of the Psalm does not occur in the Hebrew text but the Septuagint version (Steyn, 2011, p. 180).

The author strongly emphasises the word “today” in Psalm 95:7 showing the Psalm is still

“relevant not only in the past but to those who hear it today.” (Docherty, 2009, p. 191). It would not make any sense if the “rest” in the Psalm had already been achieved in the Exodus generation (Attridge, 1980, p. 281). The author shows that during David’s generation the promise of rest was still available, hundreds of years after they had already entered the

Promised Land (Allen, 2010, p. 495). By extension, the rest that was open in David’s day is the same rest that the audience of Hebrews can enter through faith.

The introduction of Joshua in verse eight leads many to suggest the author intended to parallel Joshua with Jesus as their name in Greek is the same (Allen, 2010, p. 497). The

“Jesus” of the Old Testament was unable to bring God’s people into rest in the promises of

God, but Jesus Christ “opens the full and final rest” (Jobes, 2011, p. 128).

The Greek term σαββατισμὸς in verse nine occurs nowhere in ancient documents prior to this epistle, leading people to suspect the author coined the term (Allen, 2010, pp. 498-499). In

Genesis 2:2 the author associated “rest” with the “Sabbath” and then likewise associated

“Sabbath” with “rest” in Psalm 95:11. So in verse nine the association is made explicit, calling it a “Sabbath rest” (Docherty, 2009, p. 191). The linking of “sabbath” with “rest” has caused people to suggest this means a celebration where people praise God around His throne for eternity (Allen, 2010, p. 499). This is because the “Sabbath was a time of festive praise and celebration, and not a time of quiet and inactivity in the Jewish tradition” (Steyn, 2011, p.

193). While this may be true in its ultimate sense, this Sabbath rest is not only to be experienced at the end of time, it is available now.

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Verse ten indicates that the rest that God entered on the first Sabbath is the same type of rest that believers will enter. Since the “labours” of God and the believers are not defined in this passage, it is best not to assume it means a ceasing of all activity in heaven (Allen, 2010, p.

501). Throughout this passage the present readers are to be an antitype to the Exodus generation who did not experience the rest in the Promised Land, which is itself another type of the prototype of God’s rest that He entered into at the end of the creation week (Weiss,

1996, p. 284).

The final phrase at the end of verse ten has lead the “vast majority of commentators and translators” to say it is God and not Jesus who rested from labours (Allen, 2010, p. 501).

However, Moore (2014, p. 393) thinks verse ten should be translated: “For the one who entered God’s rest has himself also rested from his works, just as God did from his”. Jesus is the one who entered God’s rest. Throughout Hebrews, Jesus is described as seated at the right hand of the Father (1:3, 8:1, 10:12), indicating that His work is now complete. In this light, the passage becomes Christological, making Jesus the foundation or basis of the Sabbath rest that is available to believers (Moore, 2014, p. 397).

Verse eleven is sometimes seen as the end of the section from verse one or sometimes the start of the next short section to verse thirteen (Allen, 2010, p. 501). Treating verses 1-11 as a unit results in the breakup being bookended by strong imperatives and warnings (Craddock,

1998, pp. 51-52). The theme of rest is last mentioned in verse eleven and the presence of the

“therefore” initiates the conclusion of the previous section by way of exhortation (Allen,

2010, p. 501). The readers are called to obedience so they can enter God’s Sabbath rest.

The final two verses make up the third and final part of this pericope. It is a forceful reminder that the God who spoke (1:1) still speaks (Craddock, 1998, p. 54). “The majority of the church fathers and medieval theologians” read John 1:1 into the phrase “the word of God”

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Andrew Vella (2014) for CSU Word Count: 2746 who is living and active as a reference to Jesus. However, it is most likely a reference to the written Word of God, with the quotation of Psalm 95:7-11 in mind, but a wider application is not restricted by the quote (Allen, 2010, p. 504).

The elements that the word divides are in three pairs “soul from spirit, joints from marrow” and “thoughts and intentions of the heart”. These pairs have lead some commentators to attempt to work out exactly what each element is. Pink (2012, pp. 329, 332) sees “spirit” as the “seat of God-consciousness”, the “soul” as the “seat of self-consciousness” and the

“body” as the “seat of sense-consciousness”. However, it is better to see these pairs as “a complex summary of the whole of human nature” (Attridge in Smillie, 2004, p. 343).

A person will be “laid bare” by the word of God. The word used here could picture a wrestler using a choke hold on someone’s neck, or the head stretched back for a sacrificial throat cutting (Smillie, 2004, p. 346) meaning “total exposure and utter defencelessness” (Allen,

2010, p. 511). Smillie (2004, p. 350), argues that the effect of the word of God is life giving, not life threating because it fits with the effectual work of Jesus (Smillie, 2004, p. 347). The word μάχαιραν does not necessarily mean a deadly sword but could be a small knife, scalpel or a tool used for shaving or cooking (Smillie, 2004, p. 348). The Septuagint uses this word when describing the knife used in circumcision (Josh 5:2, 3; 24:31) (Smillie, 2004, p. 348).

However, the author also uses this same word two more times in reference to a sword and death (11:34, 37) (Smillie, 2004, p. 346). The “laid bare” imagery could be a reference to a

“surgical procedure that has as its purpose to expose what is unhealthy, and to cure it, making the patient whole and sound” with them “stretched out and laid bare before the surgeon’s eyes” (Smillie, 2004, pp. 347-348).

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Conclusion God’s promise of rest is still open today for those who believe in the Son who is seated at the right hand of the father. We know this to be true because the living God has said it in His living word.

Works Cited Achtemeier, P. J., Green, J. B., & Thompson, M. M. (2001). Introducing the New Testament: Its literature and theology. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

Allen, D. L. (2010). Hebrews: An exegetical and theological exposition of holy Scripture. Nashville: B&H Academic.

Attridge, H. W. (1980). "Let us strive to enter that rest": The logic of Hebrews 4:1-11. Harvard Theological Review, 73(1-2), 279-288.

Brown, R. (1982). The message of Hebrews: Christ above all. (J. Stott, Ed.) Leicester: Inter- Varsity Press.

Craddock, F. B. (1998). The letter to the Hebrews. In L. E. Keck (Ed.), The new interpreter's Bible: Volume XII (pp. 3-173). Nashville: Abingdon Press.

Docherty, S. E. (2009). The use of the Old Testament in Hebrews. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck.

Ehrman, B. D. (2000). The New Testament: A historical introduction to the early Christian writings (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Jobes, K. H. (2011). Letters to the Church. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Moore, N. J. (2014). Jesus as 'the one who entered his rest': The Christological reading of Hebrews 4.10. Journal for the Study of the New Testament, 36(4), 383-400.

Pink, A. W. (2012). An exposition of Hebrews. New York: Start Publishing LLC.

Smillie, G. R. (2004). "ο λογος του θεοv" in Hebrews 4:12-13. Novum Testamentum, 46(4), 338-359.

Steyn, G. J. (2011). A quest for the assumed LXX Vorlage of the explicit quotations in Hebrews. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.

Swetnam, J. (2012). The meaning of τοῖς ἀκούσασιν at Hebrews 4,2. Biblica, 93(4), 601-608.

Weiss, H. (1996). Sabbatismos in the . Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 58(4), 674-689.

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