Hebrews Chapters 5 and 6 with notes
Guide: CJB emphasis
in bold (CJB online), mine in green with footnotes replaced in blue; NIV in magenta ;
Nomads* discussion in yellow; and my
comments in gray.
*Participative
Sunday-school-class at UBC led by Kenneth Tipton. My continually improved
statement about Genesis 1:26-28 is at the end of this. Also: Why did The Church
canonize this particular literature? (To be answered in future.)
Phil’s
heartfelt concerns from the scripture, Chapters 5 and 6.
1. The homilist continues to
satisfy my accusation: failure to integrity.
a. I address intentional omissions
rather than ignorance.
i.
CJB NT quotes of OT not accurate
ii.
Europeans (NIV) debate Israel (CJB or better) without notifying us, the
readers
1. Judaism expresses Elohim (God, Genesis
1:1), Yahweh (Lord, Jehovah, Genesis 2:4), and Adonai (the Lord, Master, Genesis
15:2); https://www.blueletterbible.org/study/misc/name_god.cfm. However,
Christianity does not present The Trinity.
b. Ken’s leadership on “today” empowers
perception of good and evil in the Bible for application during our lifetimes.
i.
I want to learn Ken’s notice about “hope” to be shared next week.
2. The writer pretends to know
intentions of The God, a mystery.
a. The writer sincerely expresses this pretense as an
honor.
i.
He
purports to judge himself – know when to sacrifice for self.
b. The God wants gifts and
sacrifices rather than acceptance and appreciation, e.g., of Genesis 1:26-28,
which came from Mesopotamian experiences.
c. Priests deal with the ignorant and strays, whereas
civic citizens and the ignorant may and can, together, annihilate evil.
d. Yeshua informs that human being (verb) can be
perfect; Yeshua’s priests may lead.
3. Quoting King David’s opinion gives us examples of
good and evil.
a. John thinks Yeshua was present in the beginning. Fatherhood
extends not begins today.
i.
Perhaps
the actually-real presence is goodness, light, the word, acceptance
b. Equating Yeshua to a high priest is not appealing
Davidic advice, to me.
i.
On atonement
day, the high priest sprinkles blood in the Holy of Holies; Leviticus 16:14.
c. V 7-9 contain at least 4 theological issues
between CJB and NIV.
i.
Can resurrection
happen without death?
ii.
If
Yeshua was godly, could he obey?
iii.
Could
one who existed from the beginning submit?
iv.
Can a
person follow Yeshua if they listen to Paul?
d. V 10, I think David errs to equate a priest to
Yeshua.
4. I think it is erroneous for one human (the homilist
here) to tell another they lack awareness.
a. Better to state opinion and claim you pursue (don’t
know) the ineluctable truth.
i.
Expressing
The God, I admit it could be the laws of physics and progeny.
ii.
It’s
worse to claim blame the other party for your privation regarding “righteousness”.
b. Distinguishing good from evil has not proven
promising through today.
i.
Marxism
dominates the United States
1. Opposition is constrained by Victorian language
2. United States’ independence seems failing
ii.
Consider
today’s wars in Ukraine and in Israel
5. Chapter 6 begins with theological debate
a. Christ would obfuscate the one anointed to unite
the 12 tribes of Israel.
b. Faith in The Trinity would displace trust in
Elohim.
c. Resurrection of the dead more important than
perfection of the living
d. Emphasis is on the world to come
e. The earth may eventually be burned
6. The
solution is to continue to serve the author of this homily, unreliable as the
homily is
a. Recall the promise to Abraham, that seemed
impossible
b. Adonai appeared [as] El Shaddai [God Almighty] in Genesis 17 with the covenant
of circumcision.
c. Elohim tested Abraham to kill his son, in Genesis
22.
i.
I
cannot trust such homilies.
ii.
My
trust was not required for my conception.
1. I trust my destiny.
2. I cannot bargain trust to gain faith; life for
hope.
7. I look forward to next Sunday’s discussion.
Yale: https://yalebiblestudy.org/courses/hebrews/
1. Jesus previously foreshadowed by early Jewish
leaders but now high priest
a. Not a Levite
b. Priestly duties
i.
Did not
include sprinkling blood on Day of Atonement
c. Aaron first high priest, called
i.
Christ
called, Psalm 110:4
ii.
What is
Melchesidec?
iii.
Jesus
prayer – forecasting Gethsemane
iv.
Suffering
to justify for priesthood
2. Turning to the audience
a. Warning against damnation
b. But we are above that
c. Like Abraham, like Paul in Galatians
i.
Odd to
assert that God swore; did it for us
d. Jesus is the anchor whose death tore the curtain
Yale Study Guide, Session 3,
covering Hebrews 5 and 6:
1. Jesus as high priest introduced in 2:17
a. Jesus as Christ or Messiah – Pauline
b. Name above every name
c. Loyalty, bold freedom of speech
2. Aaron made high priest in Leviticus 9:7-24
a. Homilist adds “deal gently . . . “
b. Not self-appointed; Exodus 28:1
c. Psalm and Jesus a prophecy rather than reflection
d. Melchizedek invocation affirms David as priest as
well as king
e. An ancient Semetic name “My king is Zedek”, an
ancient Canaanite deity
f.
Psalm:
seat at God’s right hand
3. Contemporary Jesus
a. Son learning obedience through suffering
b. Perfect qualification rather than character
4. Exhorting the audience
a. Take warning not to be lax
b. Forgiveness not possible if the offender cannot
imagine it
c. Accept nurturing
d. Imitate the saints
e. Virtues: 1 Thessalonians 1:3; 1 Corinthians 13:13
f.
Zeal
for confirmation of hope and imitate faith
5. God swearing
a. Psalm 95 “I swore in my anger that they would not enter
my rest.”
b. Philo
explained, to grant assurance?
c. Immutability a Platonic form.
d. Jesus to priestly cultic action on the Day of
Atonement.
e.
Questions
for Discussion:
1.
Does the image of Christ
in anguished prayer appeal to you?
No. Especially as a
prophecy.
2.
How do you understand the
notion of “perfection” in Hebrews?
On suggestion herein, I
take it as qualification for human sacrifice on the cross.
3.
What do you make of the
stern warning of chapter 6?
I do not think it
represents the continual appeal by Elohim to Israel to reform.
4.
Do you find the
homilist’s use of metaphors, often mixed, to be enlightening or distracting?
Intentional misleading.
Comments on the scripture itself.
5:1 For every cohen gadol [high priest] taken from
among men is appointed to act on people’s behalf with regard to things
concerning God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He can deal gently with the ignorant
and with those who go astray [How does the writer distinguish ignorance from going astray?],
since he too is subject to weakness. 3 Also,
because of this weakness, he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well
as those of the people. 4 And no one takes this honor [does opinion motivate the writer to call this an
honor?] upon himself, rather, he is called by God, just as Aharon was. [Aharon was Israel’s first high
priest and served during the 40 years in the wilderness. He did not cross the
Jordan.]
5 So
neither did the Messiah glorify himself to become cohen gadol;
rather, it was the One
who said to him,
“You are my Son; today
I have become your Father Psalm 2:7 quoting Adonai rather than Jehovah or Genesis 1’s Elohim;
see https://www.oneforisrael.org/bible-teachings/the-name-of-god/ [sovereignty vs existence, the
Lord vs Lord, the eternal vs the creator]
6 Also,
as he says in another place,
“You are a cohen forever, to be compared with
Malki-Tzedek.” Psalm 110:4 quoting David’s opinion about Adonai
7 During
Yeshua’s life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions, crying aloud and
shedding tears, to the One
[the one] who had
the power to deliver [could save] him from death [Does the CJB claim deny resurrection?
Resurrection cannot occur without death.]; and he was heard because of
his godliness [reverent
submission]. [Being
the Son and present at creation, did he have the prerogative to submit?] 8 Even
though he was the Son, he learned obedience through his sufferings. 9 And
after he had been brought to the goal [made perfect], he became the source of eternal deliverance to
all who obey him [How can
a person obey Yahweh if they follow Paul?], 10 since
he had been proclaimed by God as a cohen gadol to
be compared with Malki-Tzedek.
11 We
have much to say about this subject, but it is hard to explain, because you
have become sluggish in understanding. 12 For
although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you
the very first principles of God’s Word all over again! You need milk, not
solid food! 13 Anyone who has to drink milk is
still a baby, without experience in applying the Word about
righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature,
for those whose faculties have been trained by continuous exercise to distinguish good from evil. [This may be the second most
precise, accurate, and deep message I have read in the complete Bible: a Yeshua
follower is mature enough to judge good from evil. Further, a police chief’s
statement last week that their job is to protect citizens from evil gave me the
idea that both civic citizens and ignorant citizens must be protected from evil
people. See V 2.]
6:1 Therefore, leaving behind the initial lessons
about the Messiah [Christ],
let us go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of turning from works
that lead to death, trusting God [and of
faith in God], 2 and
instruction about washings, s’mikhah [ordination of a rabbi] [the
laying on of hands], the resurrection of the dead and eternal punishment [judgement] [CJB could imply there is no
resurrection of the perfect dead. That is, having achieved perfection during
life, their death is permanent. This would be consistent with returning to the
World Soul (a branch of Hinduism). However, one source points to Judaism
expecting a utopia of all past souls returned to their bodies; see https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2626/jewish/The-Resurrection-of-the-Dead.htm.]. 3 And,
God willing [permitting],
this is what we will do.
4 For
when people have once been enlightened, tasted the heavenly gift, become
sharers in the Ruach HaKodesh, 5 and
tasted the goodness of God’s Word and the powers of the ‘olam haba [the world to come] [the coming age]— 6 and
then have fallen away — it is impossible to renew them so that they turn from
their sin, as long as for themselves they keep executing the Son of God on the
stake all over again and keep holding him up to public contempt. [So much for “once saved always
saved” or antinomianism or forgiveness by the grace of God. Is this addressed
to ignorant people as well as evil people?] 7 For
the land that soaks up frequent rains and then brings forth a crop useful to
its owners receives a blessing from God; 8 but if
it keeps producing thorns and thistles, it fails the test and is close to
being cursed; [To Adam he
said, “Because you listened to what your wife said and ate from the tree about
which I gave you the order, ‘You are not to eat from it,’ the ground is cursed
on your account; you will work hard to eat from it as long as you live. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and
you will eat field plants.] in the end, it will be burned. [Burned is not consistent with
Adam having to work. In the context of this writing, the implication is that the
earth will be burned.]
9 Now
even though we speak this way, dear friends, we are confident that you have the
better things that come with being delivered [—the
things that have to do with salvation]. 10 For God is not
so unfair as to forget your work and the love you showed for him in your past
service to his people — and in your present service too. 11 However,
we want each one of you to keep showing the same diligence right up to the end,
when your hope will be
realized; 12 so that you will not become sluggish,
but will be imitators of those who by their trust [faith] and patience are receiving what has been
promised.
13 For
when God made his promise to Avraham, he swore an oath to do what he had
promised; and since there was no one greater than himself for him to swear
by, he swore by himself Genesis 22:16 14 and said,
“I will certainly bless you,
and I will certainly give you many descendants”; Genesis
22:17
15 and
so, after waiting patiently, Avraham saw the promise fulfilled. 16 Now
people swear oaths by someone greater than themselves, and confirmation by an
oath puts an end to all dispute. 17 Therefore, when
God wanted to demonstrate still more convincingly the unchangeable character of
his intentions to those who were to receive what he had promised, he added an
oath to the promise; [US Constitution,
Article VI, Clause 3, “no religious Test
shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under
the United States.”] 18 so
that through two unchangeable things, in neither of which God could lie, we,
who have fled to take a firm hold on the hope set before us, would be strongly
encouraged. 19 We have this hope as a sure and safe anchor for ourselves, a
hope that goes right on
through to what is inside the parokhet [curtain over the Holy
of Holies], 20 where a forerunner has
entered on our behalf, namely, Yeshua,
who has become a cohen gadol forever,
to be compared with Malki-Tzedek. Paalm 110:4 quoting David’s opinion about Adonai [No priest can judge Yeshua. Phil
Beaver cannot and will not lessen Yeshua to a high priest’s standard.]
[Genesis 1:26-28:
Then God said, “Let
us make mankind in our
image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over
the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all
the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
So God
created mankind in his own
image, in the image of
God he created them; male and female he created them.
God blessed them and
said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the
earth and subdue it. Rule
over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living
creature that moves on the ground.
This, the conclusion
of the first chapter of the Holy Bible informs Today that humankind may and can rule on earth. Acceptance of this
power, authority, and responsibility is human being (verb) – pursuit of
goodness. The rest of the Bible discloses the chaos that ensues if most
individuals choose wanton behavior. The collective cannot rule if most individuals
practice badness and accommodate evil. Yeshua affirmed Genesis 1:26-28. Today there are more than 8,000
religions and 45,000 Christian sects on earth. Today is time for individuals to accept the power,
the authority, and the responsibility to practice civic integrity.]
