Hebrews

Hebrews an anonymous New Testament homily with closing greetings normally associated with the letter genre, written before c.AD 96. It is addressed to Jewish Christians who were being pressured to renounce their confidence in Jesus. The first part is an argument that Christ is superior to the angels and to Moses; it closes with an exhortation to faith in the form of a commentary on a passage from Psalm 95. Jesus' priesthood is of the eternal order of Melchizedek, which replaces the levitical priesthood of Aaron . His sacrifice of himself is superior to and supersedes the incessant round of sacrifices offered by the levitical priests because it effects expiation of sins and the cleansing of the conscience once and for all. Chapter 11 celebrates the heroes of the faith, leading into a concluding exhortation to endurance and godly living.

Bibliography: See studies by F. F. Bruce (rev. ed. 1988) and W. L. Lane (1991).

Hebrews. Biblical term for those who became the Jews. The origin of the word and its connection with Habiru are disputed, but the term subsequently became synonymous with ‘Jew’.

Hebrews The usage of the OT does not make it clear whether the Hebrews are regarded as an ethnic group. The description is rare. But they are distinguished from Egyptians (Exod. 2: 11) and identical with ‘Israelites’ (Exod. 5: 1, 3). The Philistines who are alarmed by ‘Hebrews coming out of their holes’ (1 Sam. 14: 11) are referring contemptuously to Israelites. There were rules about releasing slaves who were Hebrews (Israelites), reiterated by Jeremiah (Jer. 34: 9, 14), some of whom were ‘neighbours and friends’ (34: 17) of their owners. Jonah pronounces himself a Hebrew (Jonah 1: 9) who worships Yahweh. As late as the Maccabean period, Jews are distinguished from foreigners as ‘Hebrews’ (2 Macc. 11: 13) and in the NT those Jews who retained the use of Hebrew and Aramaic rather than speaking Greek are called Hebrews (Acts 6: 1; Phil 3: 5). Generally, however, from and after the Exile, the people of Judah and Judaea are known as ‘Jews’.