The version used is KJV
OT Quotes
Please refer to the Pass4 published before this post. In this post, I take the OT quotations, that were quoted in Hebrews and then using the concepts in the OT reference map back to the first five books - Torah. Again, this pass is on quotations and not just references.
This was motivated by the fact that, there is heavy featuring of Psalm and Isaiah quotations directly.
The Psalms are an interesting part of Scriptures as they are often used from times of old in prayer and worship, but they also reference key topics that condense various aspects in consumable ways:
- theology
- attributes of Yah
- praise (doxology)
- worship
- victory
- lament
- repentance
- Messiah
This then explains why Hebrews references much of the Psalms. In addition, the context of when and to whom this was written, gives us more clues. This was during the period where the early believers in Messiah suffered at the hands of both Romans and the unvelieving Jews. In addition, the nature of temple/tabernacle had to be explained as Jesus our Messiah paid the price for sins which paid the debt on the sins, instead of the animal sacrifices that was performed regularly. In addition, the sacrifice at Pesach/Passover was also done away, since Jesus became the Pesach. Given these occurrence, the Hebrew believers needed to:
- be taught on the eternal sacrifice and how it mapped to what was already foretold in the Tanach
- encourage and point to the eternal reward
- encourage them to not fall away and be stengthened in Yah
- to fear and trust Yah and not any man or happenings around them
- have faith and finish the race
The other reason could be that, the maturity of believers at that point in time was varied, which meant some of the new believers had just come into faith and were working out their salvation. This meant they were not masters of OT/Tanach yet, as this was the only book available as canonized Scripture. Therefore, the most commonly available and memorable teachings were from the Psalms, which most probably recollected easier, as it was sung often when saints gathered and catchy - to it probably being set to tune/music. Also the Torah was only read once a week in the Synagouge, as part of the Parshat portions.
For these reasons and others I am not sure of, is why the Psalms were prominantly quoted in Hebrews.