Overall Context of Hebrews 9
by Curtis Forrester
My Greek professor loved to say, “A text without a context is a pretext.” He was old enough to have seen people lift a text out of its setting in order to prove all manner of oddities. The context of Hebrews 9 does not stand alone; the writer doesn’t open the chapter with “now on another topic…”, but is continuing a thought that he has been building, a thought that continues past chapter 9, and a thought that is a central theme to the book.
Some of us view Scripture like a huge rummage sale with stuff lying all over tables with no order or pattern. A child’s book here, an old blender there, and, hey! Look at that beautiful watch. God didn’t just drop a handful of proof texts into a leather binding, stamp your name on it and say, here you go – if you see something you like, grab it. The men who wrote letters wrote to people and to churches, and they wrote to record history and events, and wrote with a purpose. They had knowledge, intent, a goal and an audience in mind. They were intelligent, and sometimes passionate about an idea that was the focus of their message. We think through what we want to communicate, and so did they.
“Exegesis” is a word that we in theological circles pull out when we want to sound “learned”. In short it means “let the writer speak for himself and don’t tell him what he really meant to say.” The opposite is “eisegesis” which essentially means to bring thoughts into the passage that are not actually there. We want to make sure that we are letting the message and context speak and not reading into the passage what we want or need it to say to sustain our theological positions.
The title “Hebrews” tells us something about who it was written to. The letter can be difficult for us to initially understand because we are not first-century Hebrew, and do not have their heritage. I read Hebrews as an American, but am fairly clear on what the theme is and what the overall message is, because, as a Christian, I know about Jesus. I did initially wonder about some of the details. Who’s this Melchizedek and what’s all this “tithe paying” by Levitical priests through Abraham to Melchizedek? I needed to go to Genesis 14 and read up on the background of that story. The same for the sanctuary discussions – I needed to read in Exodus and Leviticus to understand that part. In other words, I needed to broaden my base of knowledge to understand the fuller context and concepts of Hebrews.
The writer was undoubtedly Hebrew himself and a well-informed follower of Jesus Christ. His burden is to reinforce the teachings about Christ to Jewish Christians who were young in the faith, and possibly even nudge some of his unbelieving countrymen into the cause of Christ through some pretty sophisticated and well thought out arguments.
So, in considering the context for Hebrews 9 I need to step back and take a wide view to see where the passage fits into the broader picture. The letter was written in the early days of Christianity where most of the believers would have come out of Jewish backgrounds and may not have fully understood how these new ideas about Jesus related to their Laws, traditions and ceremonies. We today are not unlike those early Jewish Christians in that we also misunderstand the relationship between the earlier workings of God, and what happened in Christ around 34 C.E. There is, then, even for us a value in digging through the imagery of Hebrews to discover, or rediscover some very exalted themes of our Champion Jesus Christ.
So, if I partially paraphrased the theme of Hebrews it would sound something like this:
“Consider Jesus, our High Priest in Heaven who is the fulfillment of the ancient laws and promises, and who has taken His seat at the right hand of God, having entered within the veil as our forerunner, intercessor, and Champion.” (Heb. 3:1;2:17;4:14-16;6:19,20;7:18,22,25;10,12-14)
Hebrews has a couple of recurring themes woven through it, but none is more obvious and prevalent than a focus on and an exaltation of Jesus Christ. The whole first chapter is nothing if it’s not a bragging session about Jesus and how great He is – and I mean “is” as contrasted with how we normally brag about someone. Ali, as a great boxer, was never known for his humility. “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee”, he was bragging about what he did. A celebrity may have great acting skills, or may have a jump shot that never misses, or may be able to create paintings that awe and inspire the viewer. Yet, Hebrews 1 is bragging about who Jesus is by nature.
Yet, there is boasting also about what Jesus has done as well, and this is the continuing theme through the book. He is this; He has done that as well. Not only is He, and has He done something, but more importantly (for us, at least), He has achieved something of great value. So, throughout the book there is this theme of “consider Jesus” and, hey, look at who He is (by nature), check out what He did, and hear what He has achieved for all of us.
The Hebrew mind is the writer’s audience, so he approaches the problem of explaining about Jesus from their unique historical and cultural perspective. Who of us (who grew up in the United States) has never heard about Paul Revere or George Washington’s little cherry tree episode? Who doesn’t know that we dumped a bunch of tea into a harbor or found a ton of gold in California? Who didn’t have to memorize when and how Columbus stumbled onto our fair land? These stories were told and retold, and they make up a part of our common heritage.
The Hebrew reader would have been intimately familiar with the themes in the book of Hebrews. They may not have been experts on the subject, but they would have understood the broad strokes of what he is speaking of, enough so to have understood his point.
Other themes of the book that the reader would have been familiar with included the Sabbath rest and the sordid history of Moses with ancient Israel, the general imagery of the sanctuary and its services and players, and the fact that even though they had all those Laws, sacrifices and services these didn’t seem to make the worshipers better. And, as the writer walks down through the halls of history displaying the pictures and stories known well to the mind influenced by the ancient writings, he points to each and highlights their faith and what they achieved through it (chapter 11).
Finally, having put history, both ancient and recent, and teachings all into their proper perspective – that is, in Christ – he calls the hearer to fix their “eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him [saving you and I] endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (12:2). And they are exhorted to let love continue, show hospitality to strangers, let character be free from love of money, etc. (13:1-5) Given all those neat things that we recounted and learned, and all that Jesus has achieved for us, here’s how we should live.
The letter to the Hebrews has a purpose and points to make, and the writer has a strategy of how to communicate those points. The strategy is detected as one navigates the flow of thought through the letter. Themes transition one into another, and as they build on each other, the progression of thought is seen. Today, as we study the letter, and as we educate ourselves on the historical context from the Old Testament, a few key thoughts emerge. First, as we mentioned, Jesus Christ is described for who He really is, and His works and His achievements are prominently displayed. His role in this salvation drama is clearly identified – He is our High Priest, Intercessor, and the Sacrifice as well. He is the ultimate one man band, playing a music that is soothing and healing to our souls.
A strategy in presenting the truths about Christ is to contrast between what the Hebrew would have been familiar with and the new teachings about Jesus. This strategy rises in volume in chapter 7 (v.11), but we begin to hear the melody much earlier in the description of details about the old and ancient. Moses is contrasted with Christ (chapter 3), ancient Israel failed to enter into God’s rest, the Levitical priesthood is compared with the priesthood of Melchizedek, and the Levitical priests are shown to have paid tithes to Melchizedek through Abraham.
Yet, the contrast between old and new crescendos into Hebrews 9 where the writer contrasts the laws and ceremonies of the old covenant with what Christ brought in under the new covenant. This, then, is a most important theme, or strategy, to keep in mind as we dive into Hebrews 9, and one we will explore in more detail in the next essay. A “text without a context is a pretext,” so we approach Hebrews 9 slowly and with a broad vision so as to understand what the original purpose of that passage of the letter was.
A final illustration is found in a story of my son. From my office I heard him talking in what sounded like a disrespectful way to his Mother. I jumped up from my chair and charged into the room, preparing on the way a verbal scolding of epic proportions. I came into the room only to find Blake surrounded by a horde of stuffed animal friends and he in the center playing a game. Mom, it would seem, was nowhere to be found. “Hi Daddy”, was his cheerful greeting.
From my perspective Blake was being disrespectful to his Mother. Once the context of his words was understood, however, the game was harmless and silly, which perfectly described how I felt.
The writer of Hebrews had a time period, a purpose and an audience in mind when he wrote his letter. Hebrews 9 rests with the stream of thought and can only be understood once we observe the lay of the land and get the feel for the flow of the conversation. So, your homework before reading the second part in this series is to read Hebrews at least from chapters 1-10. In this way you will have a solid introduction to the surrounding context of the chapter we are ultimately going to focus on.
May the Holy Spirit be your light as you read these chapters.
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