Read The Jewish Annotated New Testament Online
Authors: Amy-Jill Levine
12
saying,
“I will proclaim your name to my brothers
and sisters,
*
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.”
13
And again,
“I will put my trust in him.”
And again,
“Here am I and the children whom God
has given me.”
14
Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,
15
and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death.
16
For it is clear that he did not come to help angels, but the descendants of Abraham.
17
Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters
*
in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people.
18
Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.
3
Therefore, brothers and sisters,
*
holy partners in a heavenly calling, consider that Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession,
2
was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses also “was faithful in all
*
God’s
*
house.”
3
Yet Jesus
*
is worthy of more glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself.
4
(For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.)
5
Now Moses was faithful in all God’s
*
house as a servant, to testify to the things that would be spoken later.
6
Christ, however, was faithful over God’s
*
house as a son, and we are his house if we hold firm
*
the confidence and the pride that belong to hope.
7
Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,
“Today, if you hear his voice,
8
do not harden your hearts as in the
rebellion,
as on the day of testing in the
wilderness,
9
where your ancestors put me to the test,
though they had seen my works
10
for
forty years.
Therefore I was angry with that
generation,
and I said, ‘They always go astray in their
hearts,
and they have not known my ways.’
11
As in my anger I swore,
‘They will not enter my rest.’”
12
Take care, brothers and sisters,
*
that none of you may have an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.
13
But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
14
For we have become partners of Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end.
15
As it is said,
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the
rebellion.”
16
Now who were they who heard and yet were rebellious? Was it not all those who left Egypt under the leadership of Moses?
17
But with whom was he angry forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
18
And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, if not to those who were disobedient?
19
So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
4
Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest is still open, let us take care that none of you should seem to have failed to reach it.
2
For indeed the good news came to us just as to them; but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.
*
3
For we who have believed enter that rest, just as God
*
has said,
“As in my anger I swore,
‘They shall not enter my rest,’” though his works were finished at the foundation of the world.
4
For in one place it speaks about the seventh day as follows, “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.”
5
And again in this place it says, “They shall not enter my rest.”
6
Since therefore it remains open for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience,
7
again he sets a certain day—“today”—saying through David much later, in the words already quoted,
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts.”
8
For if Joshu
*
had given them rest, God
*
would not speak later about another day.
9
So then, a sabbath rest still remains for the people of God;
10
for those who enter God’s rest also cease from their labors as God did from his.
11
Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall through such disobedience as theirs.
12
Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
13
And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.
14
Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession.
15
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested
*
as we are, yet without sin.
16
Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
5
Every high priest chosen from among mortals is put in charge of things pertaining to God on their behalf, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.
2
He is able to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is subject to weakness;
3
and because of this he must offer sacrifice for his own sins as well as for those of the people.
4
And one does not presume to take this honor, but takes it only when called by God, just as Aaron was.
THE HIGH PRIEST IN JEWISH TRADITION
Understanding of the high priest in Hebrews is predicated on the high priest’s distinctive role in Jewish tradition. Ex 29.1–35 and Lev 8–9 recount the establishment of the priesthood, where Moses ordains Aaron as the first high priest. In theory all high priests were to be descendents of Aaron, although later sources indicate that the high priestly line passed to Zadok (2 Sam 8.17; 1 Kings 2.27,35). During the monarchy, the high priest’s status was secondary to that of the king and his authority was limited to the religious sphere, but beginning in the Persian period, and more especially during the Hellenistic period, the authority of the high priest extended to the political arena. The Maccabees’ authority lies in their having installed themselves in the high priest’s position (1 Macc 10.15–21). Genealogical lineage was not required once civil authorities gained the right to appoint the high priest. Indeed, Herod the Great appointed six high priests.
Given the corrupt appointment procedure, speculation developed about heavenly and messianic priests. A few texts from Qumran speak of two messiahs, one kingly and one priestly (1QS 9.11: “the anointed one of Aaron”; see also “Melchizedek,” p.
415
). Despite the political and religious importance of the high priest during the Second Temple period, there is no evidence that Hebrews depends on any specific extra-biblical sources.
5
So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him,
“You are my Son,
today I have begotten you”;
6
as he says also in another place,
“You are a priest forever,
according to the order of Melchizedek.”
7
In the days of his flesh, Jesus
*
offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.
8
Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered;
9
and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him,
10
having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
11
About this
*
we have much to say that is hard to explain, since you have become dull in understanding.
12
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic elements of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food;
13
for everyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is unskilled in the word of righteousness.
14
But solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties have been trained by practice to distinguish good from evil.
6
Therefore let us go on toward perfection,
*
leaving behind the basic teaching about Christ, and not laying again the foundation: repentance from dead works and faith toward God,
2
instruction about baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.
3
And we will do
*
this, if God permits.
4
For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit,
5
and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come,
6
and then have fallen away, since on their own they are crucifying again the Son of God and are holding him up to contempt.
7
Ground that drinks up the rain falling on it repeatedly, and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God.
8
But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and on the verge of being cursed; its end is to be burned over.