An Atheist Explores the Bible Part 233: Too Many Metaphors Spoil The Clarity (Hebrews 1-5)

Hebrews 1-5
Too Many Metaphors Spoil The Clarity.

Welcome to another instalment of An Atheist Explores Sacred Texts (Bible version).

In this series I work my way chapter-by-chapter through the King James Bible, commenting on it from the point of view of the text as literature and mythology.

For more detail, see the introductory post http://bit.ly/2F8f9JT

For the online KJV I use, see here http://bit.ly/2m0zVUP

And now:

Hebrews 1

“For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?”

I don’t think this is Paul’s work, it’s a lot more poetic than his previous writings (also, in Philemon, he referred to himself as “aged” which suggested to me we might not see much more from him).

This is quite a nice bit of fiery writing concerning how the Son (no mention of either Christ or Jesus as yet) has been raised up to equal with God – “whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds”. The Son is greater than the angels of God, and has been given “the sceptre of thy kingdom”.

There’s more about how God “laid the foundation of the earth” and will one day fold up existence like an old robe “as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed” but God will continue on, and more about how none of the angels have been given the same authorities as the Son. I can only assume here that the author here is addressing someone who has a bit of an angel veneration going on, and is trying to point out how the Son is not merely just another angel but something co-equal to God.

“But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?” Which makes me question – what kind of enemies does a God have? One would assume that e.g. non-believers would be a minor annoyance at best. They’d have no power to harm an immortal god, would they? Or significantly diminish His powers? Or is this meant to refer to some other immortal power opposed to God? In which case does that not diminish the power of God by not making Him sovereign over any opposition?

Hebrews 2

“How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him”

The first part of this chapter sounds an awful lot like a variant of Pascal’s Wager. Because this is one of those more poetic books, it’s a bit harder to discern meaning compared to Paul’s plainer writing style, but as near as I can tell the author is saying that if you believe that the angels were good and just, how much more good and just is the Son of God going to be? Surely it makes sense then to worship Him? - “if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation”.

The chapter then goes on to explain what the death of Jesus accomplished, and how. Jesus’ death is, somehow, for everyone – “he by the grace of God should taste death for every man”, and in doing so, somehow, made some kind of … freedom from death? “That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil”. Interesting that the author here puts the devil (heretofore pretty much a bit-player in the Bible) as the ruler of death, like he was Hades or something. Perhaps Greek influence sneaking into the theology? And it’s freedom from the fear of death, it would seem – “And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage”. Which … well, I can see that. But death is a natural thing; the Bible has a bit of an ambiguous relationship with it. I mentioned in Titus about how, in Genesis 3, God is actually trying to prevent mankind from becoming immortal and so, even though the antediluvians apparently lived a long time, and death is apparently a curse for disobedience, presumably Adam and Eve were always going to die at some point else there’d be no worries about eating the fruit of the tree of life.

Anyway, death is scary, Jesus is the answer, and I’ve just told you He’s better than angels so He must be powerful. I’ve just noticed, as well, that so far Hebrews hasn’t referred to Him as “Christ Jesus” as Paul did so it must be a different author, surely?

The final verse looks like it’s going to segue into the next chapter. “For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.” This is the argument I’ve seen that by becoming a man, God was able to understand what it was like to be human better. Which is again kind of an odd thing for an omnipotent being to need to do. Either God knows everything, or He doesn’t. And if He doesn’t, what are His limitations? I do quite like the philosophical concept here, though; can an omnipotent being create something that He doesn’t understand? And really, is human behaviour the answer? It can be odd and quirky at times but most people have some kind of understanding of it.

Hebrews 3

“For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house.”

So much for my supposition last chapter, because the very first verse of this chapter refers to “Christ Jesus” the same way as Paul usually does, so I guess I need to wait until the last chapter to see if this one has a named author.

The chapter discusses Moses, and how the Israelites wandered forty years in the wilderness because of their unbelief. It compares Christ to Moses with a confusing house metaphor, which runs something like: Houses are built by men. God built all things. Moses was faithful in his house. Christ is son over his own house. We are that house.

No. Me neither.

Hebrews 4

“Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”

It gets worse. Now there’s talk of “rest” that feels like it goes in circles. “For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.” It’s not clear who “he” is, possibly God, possibly Jesus. If you have faith, the chapter seems to say, you can “come into your rest”, or “his rest”, which I guess is some kind of … afterlife? State of salvation? The “kingdom of God” that Jesus spoke about? I’m not sure, the language is very obtuse. The message, however, (whatever the “rest” actually means”) is that it will only work if you believe in it.

Hebrews 5

“So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee.”

The previous couple of chapters, although I skipped over it, referred to Christ as a “high priest”, and here the author makes a comparison directly to Aaron. Aaron was, apparently, a good model as a high priest because he was called to it by God rather than seeking out the office for himself. Also a good high priest needs to understand what it is to be human, so that he “can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity”. We’ll just overlook that whole thing about Aaron creating the Golden Calf and thereby leading 3000 Israelites into death, shall we?

The author reasons that Christ must be a better high priest that other because a) the role was given to Him, not sought; b) He lived as a human and suffered and c) became a god, which Aaron didn’t.

The author then lambasts the Hebrews, saying that they are “dull of hearing” and suited only for drinking milk like babes and not strong meat, because “strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil”.

I recall Paul saying something similar in Romans or Corinthians, about the recipients of the letter were not ready for advanced Christianing.

It’s interesting that the author writes of those who have used their reason to discern good and evil as being a good thing, when gaining the capacity to do so was what got humanity exiled from Eden.