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 6:13-20, God's oath and the anchor behind the curtain
When God promised Abraham, he swore by himself, since there was no one greater. Promise and oath, two things in which God cannot lie, give a hope that holds like an anchor and reaches behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone ahead as high priest for ever.
Hebrews 6:13-20, in every translation this tool compares.
To steady anxious readers, the writer points to the promise God gave Abraham and backed with an oath sworn on his own name, since no one greater existed. A promise plus an oath gave double assurance that God would not go back on his word. That hope, he says, holds like an anchor and reaches into the inner sanctuary, where Jesus has already gone ahead as a priest for ever.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/oaths-and-vows\/","n":"Oaths and vows","s":"Calling God, or something holy, to witness that you speak the truth or will keep your word. People swore by lesser things to keep God's name safe if they broke it.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/the-tabernacle\/","n":"The tabernacle and its heavenly pattern","s":"The tent sanctuary Israel carried through the wilderness, with an outer room for the priests and an inner room, the holy of holies, for the ark. Moses built it to a pattern shown on the mountain, and many Jews thought of the earthly sanctuary as a copy of a heavenly one.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/high-priest\/","n":"The high priest","s":"The head of Israel's priests, from Aaron's line, who offered for his own sins and then the people's and alone went into the holy of holies, once a year. By the first century Herod and Rome named and removed him at will.","r":""}
The weightiest human oaths called on God, and an oath God took on his own name left his word beyond doubt, above all in the few oaths that included a promise not to change his mind (Psalm 110:4; Isaiah 45:23) (Keener; the cultural backgrounds notes). Philo said that God alone could bear witness to his own truthfulness (Keener). Oaths had legal force and were used in court, which explains the legal vocabulary here, and Jews and philosophers alike agreed that the true God did not lie (Keener). The two promises in view are the oath to Abraham (Genesis 22:16) and the oath to the priest like Melchizedek (Keener). The anchor was a common figure for a secure hope, and behind the curtain means the holy of holies, which only the high priest entered, once a year (Keener; the cultural backgrounds notes; the ESV Study Bible). The Zondervan dictionary describes that inner curtain as blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen worked with cherubim, hung on four gold-covered acacia posts. Forerunner was used of an army's vanguard and of the leading runner, and always implied that others would follow (Keener).
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, introduction to Hebrews 6:13-20, and on Hebrews 6:13-17, 6:18, 6:19 and 6:20
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Hebrews 6:16, 6:17 and 6:19
- ESV Study Bible, study note on Hebrews 6:19-20
- J. D. Douglas and Merrill C. Tenney, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary, entry curtain
