The tabernacle as a heuristic device for the interpretation of the Christology of the epistle to the Hebrews (original) (raw)
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Annang Asumang iv I am extremely grateful to the Lord for granting me this opportunity to reflect on His eternal Word and for the direction of His Holy Spirit who leads us into all truth, to Dr Bill Domeris, my supervisor, whose patience and wisdom has guided me through this, to Dr Anthony Akobeng for proof reading the earlier versions and to my wife, Edna and our children; Christine, John and Paul for putting up with me through the early hours of wake and the whole time that I have appeared pre-occupied. To them, I dedicate this meager contribution to understanding God's Word better. v ABSTRACT The Christological argument of the epistle to the Hebrews is presented as a series of comparisons and contrasts of Jesus the Son of God and our eternal High Priest, with the angels, Moses, Joshua and Aaron. There is no consensus among Biblical scholars regarding the reasons for these comparisons. Suggestions have ranged from the author's polemical or rhetorical strategy to dissuade faltering Jewish Christians from defecting back to Judaism, to a pastoral strategy of expounding the glorious honour of Christ in order to encourage suffering and persecuted believers.
This article analyzes Heb 13, particularly vv. 7–19, applying the methods of spatial analysis. Of specific interest is the space described as “outside the camp” in Heb 13:11–13. As the term seems to allude to three different spaces in time, namely, the spaces outside the desert camp, outside Jerusalem, and outside Rome (the addressees’ location as generally assumed), a practice of overlapping maps can be observed, in which the first shapes all subsequent maps. This first map points to Sinai, where the ritual related to Yom Kippur was introduced. As Sinai is also the location where Israel’s leader Moses, to whom Jesus in Hebrews is compared, left the camp due to its defilement, the primary intertext underlying Heb 13 is identified in Exod 33, particularly in vv. 7–11. A detailed spatial analysis of the Sinai narrative adopting Edward W. Soja’s trialectic of Firstspace, Secondspace, and Thirdspace, together with additional readings from various Targumim as well as Philo of Alexandria, results in a useful model that seems to have served the author of Hebrews to interpret the spaces, bodies, and actions in ch. 13. This analysis not only sheds new interpretative light on a chapter widely considered to be a crux interpretum but also strengthens the position that this chapter is an integral part of the preceding text in Hebrews.
COSMOLOGY OF THE HEAVEN(S), TABERNACLE, AND SANCTUARY OF THE PRIESTLY WORK OF CHRIST IN HEBREWS 8-10 This thesis argues the author of Hebrews purposely used spatial referents in a context of ontological reality typified by the Tabernacle. Also, the Tabernacle framework outlines and shadows a background grid for the subtext main point explaining Christ’s priestly work. Chapter 1 introduces cosmology which can be cartographically mapped. Chapter 2 establishes the synchronic existence of a text for plural heavens in Hebrews 8-10, tracks the diachronic treatment of the plural of οὐρανός, and explains the disappearance of the biblical textual usage of plural heavens. Chapter 3 develops semantically the context of plural heavens and includes a brief comparison among other New Testament authors. Chapter 4 answers proposed contra arguments. In Chapter 5 the subtext of the work of Jesus as High Priest is applied cartographically using the test text of Hebrews 9:11-14 with a test question of whether Jesus actually took his own blood to heaven. Finally, Chapter 6 concludes. William W. Henry Jr., M.D., M.A.Th. Supervisor: David L. Allen, Ph.D. School of Theology Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2015
Наукові записки УКУ Богослов’я 11 (Analecta of the Ukrainian Catholic University), 2024
This article seeks to identify a single source of intertextual connection that has been influential in forming theological statements about Christ’s death in Heb 13:12 in terms of spatial-topological theology. It reexamines and evaluates the theological approaches to the interpretation of place-space indicators such as “outside the gates” and “outside the camp”. For the first time in studies of this kind, the differences in the soteriological and eschatological scenarios associated with the choice of the respective backgrounds are pointed out, and the practical implications of these differences are outlined. The motive that led the apostle Paul to use the language of a specific Old Testament background, with the help of which he recorded the true reality and its intentionality, was made explicit. It has been shown that the rituals of Yom Kippur are not the hermeneutical context of the indicators mentioned and cannot serve as an interpretive axiom. In turn, this has shed light on the negative consequences of imposing the Day of Atonement motif not only for the contents of Heb 13:12, but for the whole document. Certainly, this approach to dealing with the crucial informative aspects in this Exhortation to Hebrews, is evidence of the domination of academic thinking by fixed theological motivations, and within the boundaries of a particular scholarly trend. It has been exegetically argued that the ritual activity of the daily service in the earthly Tabernacle, is regarded as a non-alternative outline in the explication of the cumulative features of the informative constituents in Heb 13:12. In general, this made it possible not only to coordinate the vector of interpretation of the soteriological component with the intentions of the author of the document, but also to determine how the identified data, outline the contours of the practical life of church members, forming their doctrinal-worldview horizon. Keywords: Day Atonement, Yom Kippur, space, place, heavenly temple, placespace, soteriology, eschatology, sanctuary, High Priest.
This essay focuses on the supernatural experiential elements and events that attend the Epistle to the Hebrews’ portrayal of the heavenly sanctuary, and attempts to demonstrate the integral relationship of these elements and events to the author’s overarching hortatory effort. Hebrews’ narratival construction of the heavenly sanctuary is not simply an ‘updated and expanded’ version of the tradition, intended to stir the addressed community’s imagination; rather, the author’s goal is for the community actually to be present in that sacred place, to benefit truly from Christ’s actions performed there, and to participate in the Son’s exaltation. Their presence and participation is effected via the author’s repeated calls to ‘draw near’ and enter the heavenly sanctuary (4:14–16; 6:18–20; 10:19–23; 12:22–4), which have as their goal a transformative encounter with God and his Son, as well as their involvement in a divine adoption ceremony (2:12–13). Mystical visuality, working in concert with the rhetorical practices of ekphrasis and enargeia, together provide crucial assistance to this effort: besides a number of vivid descriptions of the heavenly sanctuary and Jesus’ sacral actions therein, the author exhorts the community to ‘see’ the exalted Son (2:9; 3:1; 9:24–6; 12:2) and their involvement in the adoption ceremony (2:13; 10:24–5). This visual programme directly serves the author’s ultimate hortatory purpose: just as Moses ‘persevered by seeing him who is invisible’ (11:27), so also the community’s waning commitment will be reversed when they actualize their true identity as the family of God, and ‘see’ in Jesus that their steadfastness in suffering will surely result in vindication (2:6–10).
pp. 135–74 in: Eric F. Mason and David M. Moffitt (eds.), Son, Sacrifice, and Great Shepherd. Studies on the Epistle to the Hebrews (WUNT 2/510; Mohr-Siebeck: Tübingen, 2020
The brief and selective description of Israel's desert tabernacle and some of its furnishings in Heb 9:1−5 is not among biblical passages famous for attracting scholarly attention. Part of the reason for this doubtlessly lies in the remark ending the tabernacle description, "of these things we cannot now speak in detail" (ESV). Engagement with our passage is sometimes short and restricted to enumerations of biblical and parabiblical parallels. 1 Exegetes seem so preoccupied with the relevance of the heavenly sanctuary and of Christ's priestly service therein 2 that they hardly pause to reflect why τὸ ἅγιον κοσμικόν (v. 1) should merit the description we get in the introductory verses of the central part * Dedicated to Martin Karrer in gratitude. A prepublication version of this chapter was dedicated to Martin Karrer on the occasion of his 65 th birthday in 2019. Martin Karrer is known for, among other things, his important contributions to Hebrews scholarship, not least among them his commentary on the epistle (Der Brief an die Hebräer [2 vols.; ÖTK; Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 2002-2008]). With this chapter, I wish to express my gratitude for an ongoing conversation spanning many years, together with my very best wishes for a scholar I am glad to call a teacher.