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Introduction**
Today we move into the Book of Hebrews.
The book itself was probably written sometime between 64-68 AD.
It was definitely written prior to 70 AD.
We know this because the letter insinuates that the Temple was still in full use.
Now, who wrote it?
We don’t know … it’s one of the mysteries of the New Testament that persists into today.
There is some tradition that points to Paul as the author.
But most Bible scholars would point out that the style of writing is different from Paul’s other letters …
… and there is no personal greeting at the beginning.
In 58 AD, Paul was in a cell in Caesarea, having been falsely accused while in Jerusalem.
He remained there for 2 years.
He was then taken to Rome and under house arrest until 63 AD when he was released.
In 64 AD and 65 AD, it was likely that Paul was headed even further west to Spain and maybe even as far as the British Isle.
And then in 66 AD, Paul was back in prison in Rome.
He would remain in prison until his execution in 68 AD.
In his letters, it was normal for Paul to mention his location, his imprisonment, or say hello to his friends in ministry.
But in Hebrews, there is no formal mention about the location of the author.
And in Hebrews, there is mention of the author’s imprisonment in chapter 10 and then also in chapter 13.
And in the closing of the letter in chapter 13, the statement, “Those from Italy greet you.”
We know that Paul was imprisoned in Rome, Italy from 60 AD to 63 AD and again from 66 - 68 AD.
There is also a mention of Timothy in the closing chapter.
Of course, just because he is mentioned it doesn’t mean Paul was the author.
In fact, the writer refers to Timothy as “our brother” while Paul often referred to him as “a son.”
The reference in chapter 13 reads:
Hebrews 13:
It seems to indicate that the author of this letter was expecting Timothy to join him and then visit the recipient of the letter together.
Whether that is after some confinement Timothy was under OR that he has been released from some duty he was attending to, it’s hard to say.
We do know that Timothy was with Paul during Paul's imprisonment.
3 of the letters written by Paul while he was a prisoner (Colossians, Philippians, and Philemon) mention Timothy.
If Timothy was imprisoned, , would say that Timothy was released before Paul.
So again, the question is “What was Timothy released from?”
Albert Barnes says that Timothy wasn’t released from prison, but released from obligations to Paul while in prison to see congregations that Paul was concerned about, such as Philippi.
But Aristarchus () and Epaphras () were both in prison with Paul, so it isn't hard to imagine that Timothy may also have been imprisoned for a period of time.
Aristarchus () and Epaphras () were both in prison with Paul, so it isn't hard to imagine that Timothy was also arrested for a period of time.
As to why Timothy was in prison, we don't know.
The most likely is that it had something to do with teaching the gospel.
Also notice that the author refers to him as “our brother Timothy” which sounds a lot like Paul from and .
So, that might seem to indicate Paul as the author.
The problem then, is the date.
If an early date of 64-65 AD is appropriate for the letter, then it’s plausible that Paul is the author.
If a later date of 67-68 AD is true, that would seem to indicate Paul is NOT the author, since he would have been in prison for his second time.
During his 2nd imprisonment Paul did not expect to be released, as we know, and would not have expected to travel to see anyone with Timothy.
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The fact that the author ministered with Timothy is not conclusive evidence, either.
As we’ve seen from Paul’s letters, he was not the only person whom Timothy ministered with.
There are whole lists of mutual acquaintances with whom Timothy may have ministered from time to time.
So, Paul is a very good possibility, but there is no conclusive evidence that he is the author.
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Other suggestions include Barnabas and Apollos as well as Luke.
Each of these guys would have ministered alongside Timothy at times.
If Stephen had not been martyred, he would be a prime candidate for authorship … the theme of the letter follows very well with his speech from .
In chapter 11 there is a personal pronoun used that indicates the author was male, but other than that, it’s all educated guesses and conjecture.
One thing we can make a “more than educated guess” about is that the author was Jewish.
His knowledge of the temple, it’s rituals, and his deep concern for the Jewish nation give this away.
My personal opinion is that this letter was written by Paul and I believe there is a preponderance of evidence to suggest this.
However, I could also be convinced it was written by Apollos.
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Another important consideration is who this letter was written TO.
One thing that is often used to reject Paul’s authorship is the lack of an introduction.
There is no, “The apostle Paul to …” that indicates a particular church or people to which this was written.
As I mentioned earlier, this is obviously written to Jews who were familiar with the Temple ritual system.
But, there are reasons to believe that the letter was not written directly to Jews living in Jerusalem … so, not necessarily the Jerusalem church.
First,
First, the author quotes exclusively from the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) rather than the Hebrew Old Testament.
Second, the believing Jews in Israel were poor, but the recipients of this letter were able to be generous toward other Christians as we see in chapter 6.
Third, and perhaps most notable … chapter 2 states that the recipients of this letter did not experience the ministry of Jesus first hand.
So then, this letter was intended for Jews who met these criteria.
We also know that the recipients of this letter were believers.
They were worshipping in churches with a leadership structure (we know this from the concluding remarks, “Greet all those who rule over you, and all the saints.”
They had come to faith through the testimony of those who were eyewitnesses of Christ.
Chapter 5 lets us know that they had been believers for some time but they were stunted in their growth.
Chapter 10 says that they had endured tribulations and reproaches.
But the tenor of the book suggests that they were either willing or almost willing to lapse into Judaism or merge Judaism in with their faith in order to avoid persecution.
Taking these things into account, I believe that we can deduce whom this letter was written to.
This letter was written to Hebrew Christians who were scattered outside of Israel.
When the Assyrians conquered Israel in 722 BC, the Hebrew inhabitants were scattered all over the Middle East.
Later, when Nebuchadnezzar deported the Judaeans in 597 and 586 BC, he allowed them to remain in a unified community in Babylon.
Another group of Judaeans fled to Egypt, where they settled in the Nile delta.
So from 597 onwards, there were 3 distinct groups of Hebrews:
A group in Babylon and other parts of the Middle East,
A group in Judaea, and
A group in Egypt.
Now, Cyrus the Persian allowed the Judaeans to return to their homeland in 538 BC, but most chose to remain in Babylon.
And all of these Jews retained their religion, identity, and social customs.
The Persians and the Greeks even allowed them to run their lives by their own laws.
In 63 BC, Judaea came under the protective hand of Rome.
More and more Rome’s protection became oppression and many believing Jews living in Jerusalem began to move away.
And in 70 AD, Jerusalem was sacked and the Temple was destroyed.
These Jews of the Diaspora would have made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem for at least the 3 pilgrimage feasts: Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot.
And there were many represented at Pentecost (Shavuot) when the church was born with the proclaiming of the Gospel.
Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot
As we discussed in our study of Titus, there were Jews who returned to Crete having accepted Christ.
This would have been the case among many of these groups of Jews living outside of Israel.
In 63 BC, Judaea came under the protective hand of Rome.
More and more Rome’s protection became oppression.
For the most part, prior to 70AD in the Roman Empire, the Jewish faith was allowed, but the Christian faith was heavily persecuted.
It would be tempting to go back to Judaism or to try to merge Christianity with Judaism in order to avoid persecution.
This letter was written to Jewish believers living in the Roman Empire, outside of Israel, between 64 AD and 70 AD who were backsliding.
Now, certainly this letter would have spoken important truths to Jewish believers in Israel as well.
But by the time this letter was written, there were very few believers left in Jerusalem.
There were large populations of Jews throughout the Roman Empire.
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And as Rome tightened it’s grip on Israel, more and more were leaving to live elsewhere.
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