Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
Hebrews 1:1-14, The Son above the angels
God, who spoke in many ways through the prophets, has now spoken through a Son, heir of all things, who made purification for sins and sat down at the right hand of the Majesty. A chain of Scripture quotations sets the Son above the angels, who worship him and are sent to serve those who will inherit salvation.
Hebrews 1:1-14, in every translation this tool compares.
Hebrews begins with no greeting and goes straight to its claim: God's earlier speech through the prophets has now reached its last and fullest word in his Son. The writer presents the Son as heir, maker and the shining of God's own glory, who dealt with sins and then took his seat beside God. A string of Old Testament texts follows to show that the Son outranks the angels, who serve while he rules. The author, date and first readers of the letter are all open questions.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/messiah\/","n":"The Messiah, son of David","s":"The anointed king most Jews expected from David's line, who would free Israel from its enemies. Nobody expected him to be killed.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/adoption-and-heirs\/","n":"Adoption, heirs and wills","s":"A family's property passed to its heirs; in Jewish practice the land went to the sons, the eldest with a double share. Roman law also let a man adopt a son, often a grown one, who left his old debts and ties behind and became his heir. A will, sealed before witnesses, settled who inherited and who looked after an heir too young to inherit.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/angels\/","n":"Angels","s":"God's messengers and his heavenly army. Jews of Jesus' day spoke of guardian angels, of the greatest angels standing before God's face, and of angels coming with God at the judgment.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/divine-council\/","n":"God's council and throne room","s":"Israel's Scriptures picture God presiding over an assembly of heavenly beings, the sons of God, and Psalm 82 calls its members gods. Who those gods are is one of the hardest questions behind John 10.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/jewish-ways-of-reading-scripture\/","n":"How Jews read Scripture","s":"By the first century Jews held a known body of sacred writings, roughly the Old Testament, to be God's true word. They taught it to children from infancy, read it aloud in the synagogue and explained it, and Greek-speaking Jews called it the sacred writings.","r":""}
The letter names no author, and its writer, date and readers are open questions; the sources give both sides. Keener and the cultural backgrounds notes find the Greek too unlike Paul's, and Wright and Bird call Pauline authorship "grossly improbable"; Carson, Moo and Morris add that in 2:3 the writer counts himself among those who heard the gospel second hand. Names put forward include Apollos, Barnabas, Luke, Clement of Rome and Priscilla, though Carson, Moo and Morris think the masculine self-reference of 11:32 rules her out, and conclude, "It is far better to admit our ignorance." Dates run from Wright and Bird's 50 to 95 to Keener's about AD 68; Carson, Moo and Morris find that "the preponderance of evidence favors a date before 70", with 1 Clement, which draws on this chapter, as a later limit. The readers were most likely Jewish believers, though the CSB Study Bible reports a Gentile view, living in Rome ("as good a guess as any", say Carson, Moo and Morris), in Macedonia, Asia or Syria (Keener), or near Jerusalem (Wright). Whether 1:6 quotes the Greek of Deuteronomy 32:43 (Keener; the cultural backgrounds notes; Heiser) or Psalm 97:7 (Wright) is debated.
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, introduction to Hebrews (Style, Date, Authorship, Audience, Genre), introduction to Hebrews 1:1-14, and on Hebrews 1:1-2, 1:3, 1:4, 1:5, 1:6, 1:7 and 1:14
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, Introduction to Hebrews (Authorship, Date, Recipients), and notes on Hebrews 1:1-2, 1:3, 1:4, 1:5, 1:6 and 1:7
- N. T. Wright, Hebrews for Everyone, comments on Hebrews 1.1-5, 1.6-14, 2.1-4 and 13.9-16
- N. T. Wright and Michael F. Bird, The New Testament in Its World, ch. 30, The Letter to the Hebrews (Authorship, Date, Genre), and The Argument of Hebrews, section 2
- Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm, ch. 37, This Means War, endnotes
- CSB Study Bible, Introduction to Hebrews (Background)
- D. A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo and Leon Morris, An Introduction to the New Testament, ch. 17, Hebrews, Author, Date, Destination and Purpose
