An Atheist Explores the Bible Part 235: Outside the gates of Minas Tirith, or something like that (Hebrews 11-13)

Hebrews 11-13
Outside the gates of Minas Tirith, or something like that.

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 11
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

The chapter goes on at length about the benefits of faith, although to be honest given the OT examples it lists, it doesn’t do a great job of selling the idea (see below).

Faith is necessary for God to like you, says the author, and it reveals that “things which are seen were not made of things which do appear” – which means… things aren’t what they seem? I guess. Doesn’t sound that faith-like to me but anyway.

Then the chapter goes on to list the way various OT characters exhibited faith – Abel, by offering better gifts to God than Cain, Enoch bodily transported away, Sara conceiving in old age, all four of the patriarchs from Abraham to Joseph, Rahab the prostitute escaping the sack of Jericho, and Joshua for performing the sack, Noah and his ark, Moses’ adopted parents for saving him and Moses himself for being ungrateful to them and joining the Israelites in their plight, the various occurrences that happen during the Exodus and various others hinted at who “Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens” but also “were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented”.

The author points out that a lot of these characters had faith but never met a reward for it (which I suppose is meant to make the faith stronger). It all reads like a bit of a list of being messed around by God to me.

Hebrews 12

“For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

The first part of this chapter goes on for several verses about how God punishes people for their own good, like a mortal father would but more so. And because people still like and respect their father after he punishes them (even though it’s only because he likes it, apparently –“they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure”, therefore everyone should love God as well for the same reasons. Sounds a little like the author is making excuses for God, we’ll see.

The chapter becomes slightly more cheery, exhorting the worshippers to “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” but with a warning, comparing Esau who “for one morsel of meat sold his birthright” (as I recall he was conned by his younger brother) and afterwards “found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears”. So, no seconds chances with God.

The last section describes the metaphorical nature of the “kingdom of God”, it is one that “cannot be moved” and is not a burning mountain, or darkness, but a splendid city that reminds me a bit of descriptions of Minas Tirith

Hebrews 13

“Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.”

The epistle ends with a list of things to do (and not do) – entertain strangers in case they are angels in disguise (which seems like a bit of a selfish reason to help strangers), no fornication, no covetous speech (whatever that might be – “I *want* one of those!”) and, most importantly (because it’s mentioned at least four times in this chapter), do what you’re told. That’s mostly it. There’s some more about sacrifices (don’t do it), with the rather flimsy explanation that Jesus was executed “outside the gate” just like sacrificial animals are taken “outside the gate”, which doesn’t seem much like a mysterious connection to me. If you’re going to execute criminals or kill animals most people in a city would rather you did it beyond the city walls.

Finally the author of the letter is (sort of) revealed to be Timothy. Like many of the Paul epistles it’s a bit confusing who did the actual writing since it says that it is “(Written to the Hebrews from Italy, by Timothy.)” but also mentions “our brother Timothy is set at liberty; with whom, if he come shortly, I will see you”. So the author will come with Timothy, so it can’t be Timothy. Unless the letter is speaking of itself and it will be delivered by Timothy. Or there are two Timothys. It’s all very confusing!

And that’s it for Hebrews, and we’re back to short books again until the very last one. It was quite a packed book, and the poetic language makes it quite fun to read; indeed like a lot of the poetics it feels more about tone and feeling than details, compared to Paul’s letters which were quite straightforward to read. This makes it a bit more complicated to interpret though, but it’s pretty obvious it’s all about how certain old Levitical practices aren’t needed with Christianity. Which makes me question why they were needed in the first place, like God was doing a place-holder religion until He had something else sorted. Also, if this book is able to change what was considered law before, how do we know that this is the end product?