p. 407. It has fince occurred to me, that againavos, which I confider as incorrect, may be explained as a fault of the tranflator. Where the Greek words TOV ETTI της γης παραιτησαμενοι χρηματίζοντα are ufed, the Hebrew original was perhaps to the following purport, die fich den von der Erde redenden erbaten, und den vom Himmel verbaten; and the words, which I have printed in Italics, were either overlooked by the tranflator, or had been omitted by accident in the copy, from which he tranflated.

Ch. xiii. 9. Βεβαιεσθαι την καρδίαν appears to be a too literal and conféquently obfcure tranflation of a TD, which, literally taken, fignifies to ftrengthen the heart,' but is ufed as denoting to invigorate the body. by food,' or to partake of a meal,' as in Judges xix. 5. and Pfalm civ. 15. See the 491ft Note in my Commentary.

Ch. xiii. 15. See the 501ft Note.

SECT. XIV.

Remarks on the Greek flyle of the Epifle to the Hebrews.

THE

THE Greek style of this Epiftle is different from that of every other book of the New Testament. It is likewife fuperior to that of every other book*, with the exception perhaps of the fpeeches of St. Paul recorded in Acts xvii. 22-31. xxiv. 10-21. xxvi. I-21. But though the language of these speeches is equally good and fluent with that of the Epiftle to the Hebrews, it is ftill of a very different kind.

Among the peculiarities of the Greek ftyle of this Epiftle may be reckoned the particular ufe of certain words.

* See the words of Origen quoted above, in the 10th fection of this chapter.

words. For inftance, the appellation of Amosoλos is Αποστολος" given to Chrift, ch. iii. 1. The ufe of αποςολος in this fenfe may be afcribed perhaps to the circumftance, that it is a tranflation of the Hebrew word nhw. For in

שילה

.שליח

John ix. 7. n appears to be the name of the Meffiah, in fupport of which fenfe. Wetstein in his Note to John ix. 7. has quoted a paffage from Debarim Rabba and in the books of the Sabians, Jefus is faid to have called himself, that is, the firft Apoftle. Nuegos, ch. v. 11. vi. 12. an elegant Greek word, occurs in no other inftance in the whole New Testament; and in the Septuagint it is used only in the Proverbs of Solomon, which are tranflated into better Greek, than any other part of the Old Teftament. In the Epiftle to the Hebrews, valgos is probably the tranflation of 7. Axpolivia, ch. vi. 4. occurs in no other inftance, either in the New Teftament, or in the Septuagint. It is here an admirably chofen word, for it literally denotes that part of the fpoil, which was allotted to the commander. The expreffion ×× av devTegas εNTEITO TOTOS, ch. viii. 7. is really elegant Greek.

.כבדי

In quoting paffages, without mentioning the place, from which they were taken, the tranflator makes use of fuch terms as were agreeable to the manner of the Greeks: for inftance, ch. ii. 6. διεμαρτύρατο δε που τις, and ch. iv. 4. εignne yag wr. In the original was probably ufed the common rabbinical expreffion 28, which a tranflator, lefs acquainted with the Greek mode of writing, would have rendered by na T, or xa λέγει. Alfo the plural number we,' inftead of the fingular I,' occurs in ch. v. 11. and is continued almost throughout the next chapter: it occurs again

.

ch.

y Carpzov in his Note to this paffage obferves, that Philo often quotes in his manner.

z As in Matth. xix. 5. where we can have no other meaning. than the fcripture fays, or it is thus written.'

ch. x. 15.; and perhaps ch. xiii. 18. may be added as an inftance of the plural for the fingular, though in the verfe, which immediately follows, the fingular is ufed.

Laftly, the tranflator has feveral favorite words, which diftinguifh him from other writers, and occur more frequently in this Epiftle, than in any other part of the New Teftament. For instance xλngovoμos and *λngovoμe, where the fubject does not relate to inheritance, as in ch. i. 2. 4. 14. xi. 7. Again, xpEITTWv, in the sense of superior,' or nobler, or more excellent, ch. i. 4. vii. 7. 19. 22. viii. 6. ix. 23. xi. 40. xii. 24. On the whole, this word occurs thirteen times in the Epistle to the Hebrews, though in all the other books of the New Teftament put together it occurs only fix times, and is ufed fimply in the sense of better. METEXE is ufed, ch. ii. 14. vii. 13. to denote relationship, or participation of blood or tribe. It is used however, ch. v. 13. to denote participation of food, in the fenfe, in which St. Paul has used it, in whofe Epiftles, it occurs on the whole five times. To the preceding examples may be added the particular ufe of πειραν λαμβανειν, ch. xi. 29. 36.

Whether the tranflator had read the works of Philo, with whom he fometimes agrees in his expreffions, as in ch. i. χαρακτηρ, 3. I will not undertake to determine. But for the opinion, that the author had ever read Philo, there is no ground whatsoever: fince their mode of arguing on the fame fubject, and on the fame paffages of the Old Teftament, is totally different. It was Philo's object to adapt the doctrines of Mofes to the precepts of Plato, for which purpose he interprets his quoted paffages allegorically, and involves fimple facts in the most profound and often ridiculous myftery but the author of the Epiftle to the Hebrews does not quote and argue in this manner. And, as the two writers have fo little connexion with each other, I do not fee how this Epiftle can be confidered even as a confutation of the allegorical dreams of Philo.

Neither

Neither in any other book of the New Teftament, nor in the works of any Christian writer of the first century, is there any refemblance to the ftyle of this Epiftle it must have proceeded therefore from a perfon, of whom we have no other writings now extant. The notion, that St. Paul dictated the Epiftle in Hebrew, and that an amanuenfis committed it immediately to writing in Greek, is highly improbable: for in fuch an hafty tranflation the words would not have been fo well chofen, nor the fentences fo well arranged.

1

SECT. XV.

Of the author of the Epiftle to the Hebrews: whether it was written by St. Paul: and firft, of the opinion of the ancients on this fubject,

HE queftion, which we have now to examine, is

TH

authority of this Epiftle, which will be confidered in a following fection, entirely depends upon it.

Hiftorical evidence, in the strict fenfe of the word, or confidered as teftimony to a matter of fact, we have none on this fubject: and the opinions of the most celebrated ecclefiaftical writers are fo far from being uniform, that while fome received it, others, nay whole churches rejected it, as not being the work of St. Paul.

The most ancient writer, who has afcribed this Epiftle to St. Paul, but who at the fame time obviated the objection, derived from the difference of ftyle, by faying, that the Apoftle wrote it in Hebrew, and that the Greek is only a tranflation, is Clement of Alexandria, whofe words are quoted by Eufebius, in his

Q3

Eccle

1

Ecclefiaftical Hiftory, B. VI. Ch. 14. Now as Clement lived at the end of the fecond, and at the beginning of the third century, he cannot be confidered in this inftance as bearing teftimony to a matter of fact, which indeed he does not pretend to do. But at the fame time it must be observed, that Clement quotes the authority of his mafter Pantænus: for after having delivered his own opinion, he proceeds, as follows. Ηδη δε, ὡς ὁ μακαριτης ελεγε πρεσβύτερος, επει ὁ Κύριος, αποστολος ων το παντοκράτορος, απεστάλη προς Εβραίος, δια μετριότητα ὁ Παυλος, ως αν εις τα έθνη απεσταλμένος, εκ εγγραφει ἑαυτον Εβραίων αποστολον, δια τε την προς τον Κυριου ήμων τιμην, δια τε το εκ περισσίας τοις Εβραιοις επιςέλλειν,

εθνών κηρυκα οντα και αποςολον. - Pantænus therefore afcribed the Epiftle to St. Paul, and endeavoured to account for the omiffion of the Apoftle's name at the beginning of it. But this again is rather opinion than teftimony, fince Pantanus lived three or four generations later than St. Paul.

Origen, the celebrated fcholar of Clement, entertained a different opinion on this fubject, and confequently must have confidered what was afferted by Clement and Pantænus likewife as mere opinion, and not as hiftorical evidence. The words of Origen, which are quoted by Eufebius, in his Ecclefiaftical Hiftory, B. VI. Ch. 25. are to the following purport. In my opinion, the matter was from St. Paul, but the conftruction of the words from another, who recorded the thoughts of the Apostle, and made notes, as it were, of what was faid by his mafter.' According to Origen then, the Epistle to the Hebrews was not written by St. Paul, in any fenfe whatsoever, neither in Greek, nor in Hebrew: for in his opinion, the fentiments only were thofe of the Apoftle, but the clothing in which

This is the appellation, by which he generally diftinguishes Pantænus.

b See what was said on this subject, in the fecond fection of this chapter.