Hebrews 12:18-29 as Torah Discourse: Intertextual

Analysis as an Interpretive Aid

David Ketter

May 1, 2009
 In the history of interpretation, the Epistle to the Hebrews has been understood

primarily as a polemic against Judaism. Because of this assumption, much of the

commentary and exegesis of Hebrews has also traditionally had an anti-Judaistic bent.

It has influenced how we understand the authorʼs doctrine and his use of the Old

Testament Scriptures. Furthermore, it has led us to make assumptions — perhaps

correct, perhaps not — about what error the recipients of the text were falling into. As

commentator Leon Morris stated, “[the author] sees the ancient system that meant so

much to the Jews as no more than an unsubstantial, shadowy affair” (Morris 1981: 94).

Since W.D. Davies published Paul and Rabbinic Judaism: Some Rabbinic

Elements in Pauline Theology in 1948, there has been a significant move in the realm of

theology and biblical studies to re-inform our understanding of first century/Second

Temple Judaism. This has led to a host of theologies and interpretations of the New

Testament — many of which are at odds with each other. This same discussion,

however, is what provides the space to re-examine Hebrews, particularly Hebrews

12:18-29, as a text that is not primary polemical, but intertextual and hopeful. By

exploring the passage and its Old Testament basis, the author hopes to demonstrate a

theology of revelation rather than replacement.

First, intertextuality should be established as a credible analysis of New

Testament scriptures. Richard Hays, in his book Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of

Paul, defines intertextuality as follows: “the imbedding of fragments of an earlier text

within a later one” (Hays 1989: 14). In other words, Paul and the other epistolary

authors of the New Testament — in addition to rabbinic sages of the same era — used

the texts and vocabulary of the Old Testament “in a way that reactivated past revelation
 Ketter 2

under new conditions” (ibid). In analyzing passages for intertextual “echoes,” Hays

provides seven tests: availability of texts, prominence of source text, recurrent allusions,

thematic coherence, historical plausibility, historical interpretation, and sensible reading.

As these tests apply, they will be used as a framework for testing the strength of the Old

Testament foundations in Hebrews 12:18-29.

In approaching this passage, it is important to recognize that many of the

phrases contained herein have multiple sources that the author of Hebrews could have

pulled from. Some of the themes are frequent in Torah accounts of pertinent narratives.

Rather than weakening the argument, however, the frequency makes the intertextual

use of the Old Testament in this passage all the more likely.1 For each Old Testament

allusion, there are clear connections from Exodus and Deuteronomy simultaneously,

while some are rooted only in Exodus or Deuteronomy. There is also two possible

allusions to Genesis and a direct quotation from Haggai. Thus, it will be seen that this

passage, at least, is Torah-based discourse to address the failings of this purported

Jewish-Christian recipients.

The Hebrews passage begins with a description of the mountain scene found in

Exodus 19-20 and 24 and Deuteronomy 4-10. While having connection with a multitude

of the descriptions of Sinai/Horeb, the passage that most captures this description is

Deuteronomy 5:22 (ESV): “These words [the ten commandments] the LORD spoke to all

your assembly at the mountain out of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick

darkness, with a loud voice; and he added no more. And he wrote them on two tablets

of stone and gave them to me.” This verse, containing most of the elements found in

1 See “Appendix: Phrase Sources”

 Ketter 3

Hebrews 12:18-19, brings to the readerʼs mind an image of covenant-making, namely

the giving of Torah.

It is important to realize that in the Second Temple Judaism which these

recipients were brought up in did not see Torah as a burden, a nuisance, or a curse. It

was the gift of God. One rabbi, in fact, would say in the decades before Jesus, “Upon

three things the world stands: upon Torah, upon the Temple service, and upon acts of

kindness” (Pirke Avot 1:2, authorʼs translation). Torah, in a certain sense, is foundational

to Creationʼs existence and, to the Jewish mind - Pharisee, Essene, Sadducee, or some

variation of them - inseparable from Yahwehʼs own revelation of Himself. We know who

God is because He revealed His Torah and it teaches us how to live in a way that is in

conformity to His active presence in our lives. This is the hope of Israel and the promise

of the prophets.

So, when the author of Hebrews is describing the Horeb event and the

mountainʼs own manifestation of Godʼs presence, it is not to terrify the readers but to

remind them of their place: they were the recipients of Torah. They (in the style of

Deuteronomyʼs “you”) were at Sinai and had seen Yahweh reveal Himself. His mighty

acts had brought them redemption from Egypt. His love for the patriarchs and election

of them and their descendants guaranteed them the kindness of Yahweh. It also laid

claim to their faithfulness. Because of Yahwehʼs grace of in redeeming them, Israel

owed him obedience and faithful love. Just as it bound Mosesʼ hearers, so it now bound

the recipients of Hebrews. Mosesʼ prophetic call to Israel had become the rallying cry of

Hebrewsʼ author and he took on the task of prophet. To explore this role, we must

examine the quotation of Haggai 2:6.

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The significance of this quotation can be found in its immediate setting, which is

best seen in the text:

In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word
of the LORD came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, ” “Speak now
to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to
Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to all the
remnant of the people, and say, ʻWho is left among you who saw
this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as
nothing in your eyes? Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares
the Lord. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest.
Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the LORD. Work, for I
am with you, declares the LORD of hosts, according to the covenant
that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit
remains in your midst. Fear not. For thus says the LORD of hosts:
Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the
earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, so
that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this
house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the
gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. The latter glory of this
house shall be greater than the former, says the LORD of hosts. And
in this place I will give peace, declares the LORD of hosts.ʼ” [Haggai
2:1-9, emphasis mine]

In this passage, Yahweh, through the prophet Haggai, is speaking

encouragement and exhortation to the leaders of returning exiles of Judah as they

complete the temple. This construction of exiles was a shack compared to the glory of

Solomonʼs temple, which had been destroyed nearly a century before. He guarantees it

on the basis of the covenant inauguration at Sinai and promises, “My Spirit remains in

your midst.” So, where Zerubbabel the governor and Joshua the priest had seen reason

to question Yahwehʼs favor on His people, Yahweh takes them back to their covenantal

roots and provides them unquestionable assurance. And this assurance of His presence

means that He will again act mightily on their behalf to remove those things that serve

as barriers to His being glorified in their worship.

 Ketter 5

For the author of Hebrews to quote directly from this passage is to again provide

assurance and encouragement to his readers. The prophet appeals to Sinai, promises

the present work of the Holy Spirit, and provides guarantee that it is Yahweh who will

cause Israel to praise Him worthily and faithfully in a manner that is fitting. The author of

Hebrews appropriates this text to tell his readers the same. In other words, “Yahweh is

calling you to faithful obedience and worship of Him. He has promised His Spirit and

guarantees His presence in worship characterized by faithfulness. He has promised,

too, that all our images and idols will be shaken and removed. But we have something

better: an inheritance, a kingdom in which to worship our God and live in conformity to

His presence, knowing the power of His might against wickedness.

The passage contains a string of references and allusions from Exodus and

Deuteronomy. Phrases like “blazing fire,” “darkness and gloom,” “tempest,” “the sound

of a trumpet,” are a mere sample of this. They, along with most of the others, come from

the Horeb encounter described reminiscently in Deuteronomy 4-10 and narrated in

Exodus 19-20 and 24. Yet, it would seem that for all the selections present, the theology

of the passage is determined primarily by Deuteronomy 4:1-40, which serves as the

conclusion to Mosesʼ first discourse to Israel in the book.

As a beginning, the contents of Deuteronomy 4:1-40 must be understood.

Deuteronomyʼs own structure is built around three discourses Moses delivers to the

people of Israel near the day of his own death and their impending conquest of Canaan.

It functions as a preparation for covenant renewal and a reminder for all that Yahweh

had done for them, despite the faithless actions of Israel, and the exhortation to be

faithful to the covenant that Yahweh had given them because “the LORD set his heart in
 Ketter 6

love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you

are this day” (Deut. 10:15, ESV).

The content of Deuteronomy 4:1-40, however, is not part of the natural

progression of a discourse In fact, this passage is a paranesis “concerning various

implications of Israelʼs responsibility to obey the Horeb covenant” (Biddle 2003: 77).

While Biddle can make little sense of its exhortations in terms of itʼs organization and

direction, it is not so difficult as that. In summation, the direction of the passage is to say

that Yahweh has claim to Israelʼs faithfulness because of His mighty actions on their

behalf, His revealing of Himself to them and His faithfulness to His promises. Therefore,

as the argument goes, He alone should be worshipped and He alone should be

acknowledged as God and in this way, they would enjoy the life He gives.

One of the key words in this passage is nahalah or “inheritance.” According to

Duane L. Christensen, “[t]he central two verses in this structure present [...] a carefully

instructed literary whole” in chiastic form, which focuses on nahalah (Christensen 1991:

73). Israel is Yahwehʼs nahalah. “The land,” in turn, is Israelʼs nahalah. This land is

Yahwehʼs kingdom and the place of His active presence in the midst of His people

(Haggai 2). This motif of receiving an inheritance from Yahweh is then transformed by

the author of Hebrews into that very “kingdom that cannot be shaken” from which they

can “offer to God acceptable worship.”

Thus, the passage as a whole is a call to faithfulness. Far from being a polemic

against Judaism — or rather, an obscure, sectarian Judaism — Hebrews 12:18-29 is

virtually saying to the Hebrews, “You serve the great God who brought you out of Egypt

and covenanted with you because of the love He had for your forefathers. Worship Him
 Ketter 7

faithfully and in truth according to His own demands for worship. He has given you an

inheritance — a kingdom that cannot be shaken — so that you may worship Him.”

In truth, this argument would be questioned quickly on the grounds of Hebrews

12:22-24:

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God,
the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal
gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in
heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the
righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new
covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than
the blood of Abel.

In the history of interpretation, this part of the passage has served as the positive

end of a supreme contrast between, as its been understood, Judaism and Christianity,

the old covenant and the new covenant. Chrysostom, Augustine, Luther, Calvin, and the

broad stream of interpretation down to the present day has consistently held this view.

Yet, the word alla here does not necessitate a strong contrast. We must take what we

know to be true about the passage: Hebrews 12:18-20 is a combination of Exodus and

Deuteronomy texts that function much like a Deutereonomic discourse. Furthermore,

the exhortation in 25-29 has more in common with prophetic exhortation from Torah for

the purpose of calling Yahwehʼs people to obedience. It closes with an undeniable

connection to Deuteronomy 4 and the theology of that passage: “our God is a

consuming fire.”

Since Hebrews 12:18-20, 25-29 have a consistent argument, theology and

common sources, we should not, as interpreters, presume to dismiss that work on the

basis of alla in 12:21 and our own presuppositional backgrounds. Rather, we ought to

understand alla as the point of transition, the climax of the passage. The author sets up
 Ketter 8

a contrast, not to diminish the Sinai covenant, but to make use of its goodness and

grace. In essence, the author is making use of the exegetical technique qal vahomer,

which is common throughout the epistle (Guthrie 2007, 990). In other words, the grace

of God and His deserving the faithful worship and obedience of His people are true of

the magnificent scene at Sinai. Compared to Zion, Sinai pales in glory and so, when we

speak of those who come to Zion, how much more so is the grace of God evident and

how much more so ought His people to serve Him in faithful worship and obedience.

Admittedly this has severe implications for the hermeneutics of Hebrews. If

Hebrews 12:18-29 is Torah discourse, particularly displaying the Deuteronomic theology

of Yahwehʼs grace and Israelʼs call to faithful obedience, there are surely other parts of

the epistle with the same approach. We have read Hebrews as a severe polemic for so

long that it would take years of work for us to come to see Hebrews in any other light.

One would think, however, that the concern for Godʼs Truth and the desire to be faithful

to His word above all else would be sufficient reason for the Church to consider its

interpretation of Hebrews and humbly ask and pursue the truthful and faithful

interpretations, whatever they may be.

One would not be so arrogant as to believe that all our interpretation of Hebrews

would be changed. The supremacy of Christ above angels, Moses, and the Levitical

priesthood is without question a major theme in Hebrews. The questions raised would

deal with the nature of that supremacy: in other words, what does it mean for these

creatures and their roles to be inferior to the One who was the agent of their creation?

And since we, like them, are to be placed under His feet, those are important questions
 Ketter 9

as we seek to live the lives of faithfulness that God requires of His people as a response

to His grace.

In closing, we must reconsider our understanding of Hebrews for the sake of the

Jewish mission. Because of Christianityʼs “superiority complex” and consequent

practice, which resembles Marcion more closely than it does Paul, we further aggravate

the partial hardness of heart that God has given Israel at the present time. Though they

be “enemies of God” for our sake, we have largely forgotten that “they are beloved for

the sake of their forefathers” (Romans 11:28, another passage reminiscent of

Deuteronomy). We have much harm to undo if we are to demonstrate to Israel the

grace that Yahweh has shown us Gentiles and thus, to make them jealous for the

redemption of Messiah.

Rabbi Jacob Emden (d. 1776) was a famous Orthodox rabbi in Europe. He

wrote, at one point, an epistle to Christians appealing to them for fellowship and peace,

rather than persecution. He was a scholar and student, rejecting anything that did not

conform the strict Jewish orthodoxy (including much of the Zohar and significant

portions of Maimonidesʼ writings). For all that, he found much value in the New

Testament. In his epistle, he appeals strongly according to the following:

If certain Christians who consider themselves scholars would

understand this secret, who believe that they are commanded to
abolish the Torah of Moses from the seed of Israel, they would not
engage in such foolishness. The people listen to their self-
conceived words, something which was never intended by the
writers of the Gospels. Quite the opposite, they have written clearly
that they intended the contrary.

Because of these errant scholars, hatred has increased toward the

Jews who are blameless of any guilt and proceed innocently to
observe their Torah with all their heart, imbued with the fear of God.
They should instead bring their people to love the ancient Children
 Ketter 10

of Israel who remain loyal to their God, as indeed commanded to

Christians by their original teachers.

They even said to love ones enemies. How much more so to us! In
the name of heaven, we are your brothers! One God has created
us all. Why should they abuse us because we are joined to the
commandments of God, to which we are tied with the ropes of his
love? We do this not to enjoy the pleasures of the (evil) inclination
and emptiness of a passing world. For truly (Ps. 44) we have
become a byword among the nations, and with all this (ibid.). In
God have we gloried all the day, and we will give thanks unto Thy
name for ever. We pray for the good of the entire world, and
especially for the benefit of these lands in which we reside,
protecting us and our observance of the Torah…

You, members of the Christian faith, how good and pleasant it might
be if you will observe that which was commanded to you by your
first teachers; how wonderful is your share if you will assist the
Jews in the observance of their Torah (Emden 1757).

For the sake of integrity; for the sake of honesty; for the sake of our Christian

duty; for the sake of loving neighbor; and above all, for the sake of the Gospel, we must

pursue the Scriptures and seek to understand them aright, apart from the polemics of

anti-Judaism. To see the critiques of Jesus, the apostles, and the other writers of

Scriptures is to see the call of a covenanting God who desires His people, His

possession, to repent and turn again to Him that He might again show them favor in the

midst of the nations and we, if we hold fast by His work, shall share in that grace.
 Appendix: Phrase Sources

“A blazing fire” “innumerable angels in festal gathering”

• Exodus • Genesis 28:12?
• 19:18
• 24:17 “God, judge of all”
• Deuteronomy • Genesis 18:25?
• 4:11, 36
• 5:4, 22-24, 26 “sprinkled blood”
• 9:10, 15 • Exodus 24:3-8
• 10:4
“acceptable worship, with reverence and
“darkness and gloom” awe”
• Exodus 20:19 • Deuteronomy 4:15-23
• Deuteronomy
• 4:11 “for our God is a consuming fire”
• 5:22-23 • Exodus 24:17
• Deuteronomy 4:24
“tempest”
• Exodus
• 19:16
• 20:18

“the sound of a trumpet”

• Exodus
• 19:13, 19
• 20:18

“a voice”
• Deuteronomy
• 4:12, 15, 36
• 5:22-26

“the hearers beg that no further

messages be spoken to them”
• Exodus 20:19
• Deuteronomy 5:23-27

“the order that was given”

• Exodus 19:12-13

“Moses said”
• Exodus 19:16
• Deuteronomy 9:19
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