The version used is KJV
Authorship and Language
This is from my initial study and not an indepth study across all available literature. Here I relied on the Church History over the textual scholarships of more recent times.
Although modern tradition, post 1800s hold that the author of the epistle to Hebrews is unknown, it was known to early church that Paul (or Saul of Tarsus) was the author. From History of the Church [6.14] by Eusebius, he recounts Clement of Alexandria attributes the epistle to Paul, written in Hebrew and then translated by Luke to greek. The analogy Clement makes is that this is similar to Acts, which was transcribed in the same way.
Origen also agreed to the Pauline authorship, without any specifics to the language and translations.
The 1611 KJV refers to this book as The Epistle pf Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews.
The general confusion around authorship might have originated early on or when Martin Luther attributed this to Appolos. This in general could be due to fact that many Psalm and Tanak references are closer to Septuagint than to the currently known Masoretic Text. But it could also be that when Luke transcribed and translated to greek, he used the appropriate Septuagint references.
I attribute the statements that early century Jews spoke more greek and were hellenized/romanized, to wishful thinking of the western minds. For example, our Messiah Jesus spoke to Paul on the road to Damascus in Hebrew [Acts26:14]. Paul spoke in hebrew, although a roman citizen [Acts21:40,22:2]
About Hebrews
Hebrew comes from the hebrew word ivriy [H5080] which means, one from beyond. The origin is closely linked to the patriarch Eber, the great grandson of Shem. In greek its hebraios [G1445]. The first use of this is in [Gen14:13] in reference to Abram, when the escapee from Lott rushed to inform Abram of his nephew's plight. There is also reference in greek for this being, one who crossed over the river Euphrates, which would be to Abraham.
Here are few other examples. Joseph was called a hebrew [Gen39:14,Gen41:12]. Joseph calls it the land of hebrews [Gen40:15]. The hebrews were recognized as a distinct people [Gen43:32,Exo2:6]. Our God, Yah, is called the God of Hebrews [Ex3:18,5:3,7:16,9:1]. David was a hebrew [1Sam29:3].Jonah called himself one [Jonah1:9]. In [Luke23:38] the statement King of the Jews was written in hebrew. Paul spoke in hebrew [Acts22:2]. Jesus spoke to Paul in hebrew [Acts26:14]. Paul calls himself a hebrew [Phil3:5].
Relevance and application to us
There have been cases through reformation and to modern times, when the application of this epistle to us modern Christ followers have come in to question. It was recognized as canonized scripture from early church and has been preserved, with the entire text being in harmony with the rest of the scriptures, which speaks to the validity of it being inspired by The Most High God. Hence its very applicable to us directly for edification, education and exortation.
In addition, if we look to our identity as followers of our Messiah, we see the following:
- our Messiah is a Hebrew, as the line from the line of Judah, from Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, who was descended from Eber.
- since we are of Christ our Messiah, we are Abhraham's seed and heirs according to the promise made to Abraham [Gal3:29], affirmed again in [Rom11:25-26]
- we are grafted into the vine that is our Messiah, hence can not be anything but a hebrew, as we are His slave first and through obedience achieve sonship to the Most High God, through the promise.
- the new covenant [Jer31:31] which was promised was to Israel and Judah and through our acceptance of the Messiah we are partakers of the new covenant
Therefore, the book of Hebrews is more applicable to us now, living in confused state of various national identities, racial identities and where the general spirit of the world is tearing us apart. Now more than ever do I need to recognize the true identity as being a follower of my Messiah and that my citizenship is not of this world, but of Heaven, being made members of this Heavenly Kingdom through my allegiance to my King and Messiah, Jesus Christ, the Son of Most High God.
Practically, the wisdom and teachings in the books will be useful in my daily walk and how to live out my faith, just like my spiritual fathers and fore-fathers did -
- from leaving Chaldee to come to the promised land,
- to moving to Egypt due to famine,
- to leaving Egypt to enter the promised land through the wilderness,
- to the prophets, judges and kings,
- to the dispersion and exile,
- to the returning back to the promised land,
- to walking with our Messiah in flesh and
- to the various persecutions and trials that followed the early church.
I will be able to apply lessons across the history to my current situations as prosperity, persecution or poverty comes.