For every high priest is appointed to offer forth [εἰς τὸ προσφέρειν] both gifts and sacrifices [δῶρά τε καὶ θυσίας]; whence the necessity for this high priest also to have something which he might offer forth [ὃ προσενέγκῃ].
In addition to this verb, which appears twice in the verse, I have also given the Greek for two other sacrificial words, gifts and sacrifices, which appear in our epistle; these and still other terms will be brought to bear as we go along.
The term προσφέρω itself, however, appears often in the LXX in sacrificial contexts, as I pointed out in my note on Leviticus 1.1-17 & Exodus 24.4-6. I demonstrated in that post that this verb may apply to several different steps of the sacrificial process: the offering forth of the animal at the door of the tabernacle, the offering forth of the blood at the altar, and the offering forth of the flesh on the altar. (The prefix προσ-, which means toward, seems to imply in these cases the act of bringing a sacrificial animal toward the altar.) Also, it may apply to the entire sacrificial process at once, including all relevant steps.
It is in this latter, general sense that the epistle appears to use the term every single time it appears with any sacrificial meaning at all, for the context never seems to limit its use to any one of the steps. To demonstrate this, I will cite all the verses in which the term appears with a sacrificial meaning. I will also include all verses which use other sacrificial language, such as gifts and sacrifices, as quoted above; I will even include Hebrews 7.26-27, already discussed in connection with the sacrificial verb ἀναφέρω. Furthermore, in order to highlight something that I consider to be somewhat revealing about the sacrificial language used in the epistle, I will divide the instances into three categories according to who is offering the sacrifice:
- The patriarchs and the Levites and/or Aaronids.
- Jesus.
- Both Jesus and the Levites and/or Aaronids (by way of comparison or contrast).
1. The patriarchs and the Levites and/or Aaronids:
[Hebrews 11.4:] By faith Abel offered forth [προσήνεγχεν] to God a greater sacrifice [πλείονα θυσίαν] than Cain, through which it was testified that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through it, though having died, he still speaks.
[Hebrews 11.17:] By faith Abraham, being tested, has offered forth [προσενήνοχεν] Isaac; and he who had received the promises was offering forth [προσέφερεν] his only begotten.
[Hebrews 5.1-3:] For every high priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of men with respect to things pertaining to God, in order to offer forth both gifts and sacrifices [προσφέρῃ δῶρά τε καὶ θυσίας] on behalf of sins, able to moderate his passions with the ignorant and the wandering, since he himself also is surrounded by weakness, and on account of it he must offer forth [προσφέρειν] on behalf of sins, just as concerning the people, so also concerning himself.
[Hebrews 9.6-7:] And these things having been thus prepared, the priests are through it all going into the first (chamber of the) tabernacle, performing the ministry, but into the second the high priest alone (goes), once per year, not without blood, which he offers forth [ὃ προσφέρει] on behalf of himself and of the ignorances of the people.
[Hebrews 9.9b:] Accordingly both gifts and sacrifices are offered [δῶρά τε καὶ θυσίαι προσφέρονται] which cannot perfect the worshiper according to conscience....
[Hebrews 10.1-2:] For the law, having only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very image of things, can never by the same sacrifices [ταῖς αὐταῖς θυσίαις] year by year, which they offer forth [προσφέρουσιν] in perpetuity, perfect those who come near, since would they not have ceased to be offered forth [προσφερόμεναι], on account that the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins?
[Hebrews 10.5-6:] Thus, when he comes into the world, he says: Sacrifice and offering forth [θυσίαν καὶ προσφορὰν] you did not desire, but a body you fitted for me. In holocausts and (things) concerning sin you took no pleasure.
[Hebrews 10.8-9:] After saying above: Sacrifices and offerings forth and holocausts [θυσίας καὶ προσφορὰς καὶ ὁλοκαυτώματα] and (things) concerning sin you did not desire, nor did you take pleasure in them, which are offered forth [προσφέρονται] according to the law, then he said: Behold, I have come to do your will. He takes away the first in order to establish the second.
[Hebrews 11.17:] By faith Abraham, being tested, has offered forth [προσενήνοχεν] Isaac; and he who had received the promises was offering forth [προσέφερεν] his only begotten.
[Hebrews 5.1-3:] For every high priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of men with respect to things pertaining to God, in order to offer forth both gifts and sacrifices [προσφέρῃ δῶρά τε καὶ θυσίας] on behalf of sins, able to moderate his passions with the ignorant and the wandering, since he himself also is surrounded by weakness, and on account of it he must offer forth [προσφέρειν] on behalf of sins, just as concerning the people, so also concerning himself.
[Hebrews 9.6-7:] And these things having been thus prepared, the priests are through it all going into the first (chamber of the) tabernacle, performing the ministry, but into the second the high priest alone (goes), once per year, not without blood, which he offers forth [ὃ προσφέρει] on behalf of himself and of the ignorances of the people.
[Hebrews 9.9b:] Accordingly both gifts and sacrifices are offered [δῶρά τε καὶ θυσίαι προσφέρονται] which cannot perfect the worshiper according to conscience....
[Hebrews 10.1-2:] For the law, having only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very image of things, can never by the same sacrifices [ταῖς αὐταῖς θυσίαις] year by year, which they offer forth [προσφέρουσιν] in perpetuity, perfect those who come near, since would they not have ceased to be offered forth [προσφερόμεναι], on account that the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins?
[Hebrews 10.5-6:] Thus, when he comes into the world, he says: Sacrifice and offering forth [θυσίαν καὶ προσφορὰν] you did not desire, but a body you fitted for me. In holocausts and (things) concerning sin you took no pleasure.
[Hebrews 10.8-9:] After saying above: Sacrifices and offerings forth and holocausts [θυσίας καὶ προσφορὰς καὶ ὁλοκαυτώματα] and (things) concerning sin you did not desire, nor did you take pleasure in them, which are offered forth [προσφέρονται] according to the law, then he said: Behold, I have come to do your will. He takes away the first in order to establish the second.
2. Jesus:
[Hebrews 1.3b:] Having made a cleansing [καθαρισμὸν] of sins, he sat down at the right hand [ἐκάθισεν ἐν δεξιᾷ] of the majesty in the heights....
[Hebrews 2.17:] Whence he was obligated to be made like his brethren according to all things, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest with respect to things pertaining to God, to make propitiation [εἰς τὸ ἱλάσκεσθαι] for the sins of the people.
[Possibly also Hebrews 10.26, listed below.]
[Hebrews 2.17:] Whence he was obligated to be made like his brethren according to all things, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest with respect to things pertaining to God, to make propitiation [εἰς τὸ ἱλάσκεσθαι] for the sins of the people.
[Possibly also Hebrews 10.26, listed below.]
3. Both Jesus and the Levites and/or Aaronids (by way of comparison or contrast):
[Hebrews 7.26-27:] For such a high priest was fitting for us, holy, guileless, undefiled, having been separated from sinners and become higher than the heavens, who does not have need day by day, just as the high priests, to offer up sacrifices [θυσίας ἀναφέρειν], first on behalf of his own sins, then on behalf of (the sins of) the people, for this he did once for all having offered himself up [ἑαυτὸν ἀνενέγκας].
[Hebrews 8.3-4:] For every high priest is appointed to offer forth [εἰς τὸ προσφέρειν] both gifts and sacrifices [δῶρά τε καὶ θυσίας]; whence the necessity for this high priest also to have something which he might offer forth [ὃ προσενέγκῃ]. If, therefore, he were on earth, he would not be a priest, there being those who offer forth the gifts according to law [ὄντων τῶν προσφερόντων κατὰ νόμον τὰ δῶρα].
[Hebrews 9.11-14:] But Christ, having come along [παραγενόμενος] as a high priest of the good things that have come [τῶν γενομένων ἀγαθῶν], went in [εἰσῆλθεν] through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is, not of this creation [οὐ ταύτης τῆς κτίσεως], and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, once for all [ἐφάπαξ] into the holies [εἰς τὰ ἅγια], having found eternal redemption [αἰωνίαν λύτρωσιν εὑράμενος]. For if the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been made common, sanctify toward the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself forth [ἑαυτὸν προσήνεγκεν] blemishless [ἄμωμον] to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to worship the living God?
[Hebrews 9.23-28:] Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices [κρείττοσιν θυσίαις] than these. For Christ did not go into holies made with hands, antitypes of the true ones, but into heaven itself [εἰς αὐτὸν τὸν οὐρανόν], now to appear [νῦν ἐμφανισθῆναι] in the presence of God on our behalf, not in order that he should offer himself forth [προσφέρῃ ἑαυτόν] often, just as the high priest goes into the holies every year with blood not his own, since (in that case) it would be inevitable for him to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages he has been manifested for the setting aside of sin through the sacrifice of himself [διὰ τῆς θυσίας αὐτοῦ]. And inasmuch as it is laid up for men to die once, and after this judgment, so Christ also, having been offered forth [προσενεχθεὶς] once to bear up [ἀνενεγκεῖν] the sins of many, will appear a second time unto salvation without sin to the ones eagerly awaiting him.
[Hebrews 10.10-14:] In which will we have been sanctified through the offering forth of the body [διὰ τῆς προσφορᾶς τοῦ σώματος] of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands daily ministering and offering forth [προσφέρων] the same sacrifices [θυσίας] often, which are never able to take away sins; but he himself, having offered forth one sacrifice [μίαν... προσενέγκας θυσίαν] on behalf of sins in perpetuity, sat down at the right hand of God [ἐκάθισεν ἐν δεξιᾷ τοῦ θεοῦ], waiting for the remainder until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by one offering forth [μιᾷ... προσφορᾷ] he has perfected in perpetuity those who are sanctified.
[Hebrews 10.26:] For if we are sinning voluntarily after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there is no longer left a sacrifice [θυσία] concerning sins....
[Hebrews 13.11-13:] For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest, as an offering for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Hence, let us go out to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach.
[Hebrews 8.3-4:] For every high priest is appointed to offer forth [εἰς τὸ προσφέρειν] both gifts and sacrifices [δῶρά τε καὶ θυσίας]; whence the necessity for this high priest also to have something which he might offer forth [ὃ προσενέγκῃ]. If, therefore, he were on earth, he would not be a priest, there being those who offer forth the gifts according to law [ὄντων τῶν προσφερόντων κατὰ νόμον τὰ δῶρα].
[Hebrews 9.11-14:] But Christ, having come along [παραγενόμενος] as a high priest of the good things that have come [τῶν γενομένων ἀγαθῶν], went in [εἰσῆλθεν] through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is, not of this creation [οὐ ταύτης τῆς κτίσεως], and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, once for all [ἐφάπαξ] into the holies [εἰς τὰ ἅγια], having found eternal redemption [αἰωνίαν λύτρωσιν εὑράμενος]. For if the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been made common, sanctify toward the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself forth [ἑαυτὸν προσήνεγκεν] blemishless [ἄμωμον] to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to worship the living God?
[Hebrews 9.23-28:] Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices [κρείττοσιν θυσίαις] than these. For Christ did not go into holies made with hands, antitypes of the true ones, but into heaven itself [εἰς αὐτὸν τὸν οὐρανόν], now to appear [νῦν ἐμφανισθῆναι] in the presence of God on our behalf, not in order that he should offer himself forth [προσφέρῃ ἑαυτόν] often, just as the high priest goes into the holies every year with blood not his own, since (in that case) it would be inevitable for him to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages he has been manifested for the setting aside of sin through the sacrifice of himself [διὰ τῆς θυσίας αὐτοῦ]. And inasmuch as it is laid up for men to die once, and after this judgment, so Christ also, having been offered forth [προσενεχθεὶς] once to bear up [ἀνενεγκεῖν] the sins of many, will appear a second time unto salvation without sin to the ones eagerly awaiting him.
[Hebrews 10.10-14:] In which will we have been sanctified through the offering forth of the body [διὰ τῆς προσφορᾶς τοῦ σώματος] of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands daily ministering and offering forth [προσφέρων] the same sacrifices [θυσίας] often, which are never able to take away sins; but he himself, having offered forth one sacrifice [μίαν... προσενέγκας θυσίαν] on behalf of sins in perpetuity, sat down at the right hand of God [ἐκάθισεν ἐν δεξιᾷ τοῦ θεοῦ], waiting for the remainder until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by one offering forth [μιᾷ... προσφορᾷ] he has perfected in perpetuity those who are sanctified.
[Hebrews 10.26:] For if we are sinning voluntarily after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there is no longer left a sacrifice [θυσία] concerning sins....
[Hebrews 13.11-13:] For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest, as an offering for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Hence, let us go out to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the only references, two of them, to sacrifice amongst the patriarchs (before the Levites were even on the scene, let alone constituted as the priestly tribe) occur in chapter 11, the review of the faithful from Israelite history.
What is noteworthy is how many references there are to the Levitical priests and to Jesus in comparison or contrast with the Levitical priests, yet how few to Jesus on his own. Of these, Hebrews 1.3b and 2.17do not even refer to sacrifice per se, but rather to the result of sacrifice, the cleansing of or propitiation for sins. The other possible reference, in Hebrews 10.26, though it refers most directly to the sacrifice of Jesus, is actually also comparing his sacrifice with those of the Hebrew scriptures, to wit, passages such as Numbers 15.29-31, which distinguish between intentional and unintentional sins, only the latter of which are actually covered by the atoning sacrifices; there are really no sacrifices for the former. When (pseudo-)David in Psalm 51.16 (50.18 LXX) avers that he would offer a sacrifice for the business with Bathsheba and Uriah if God wished it, this is more than mere rhetoric; there is no sacrifice for killing a man in order to wed his wife, and by rights David ought to be, as Numbers 15.30 phrases it, cut off from his people.
However one wishes to view these references, however, it is evident that our author, when speaking of the sacrifice of Jesus, always or very nearly always speaks of it in terms of the Levitical sacrifices (the priests did X, so Jesus also did X), not on its own merits as an independent factoid. It is easy to see why: Jesus offering himself up, or offering himself forth, while more than a metaphor (because it is seen as efficacious and as a true replacement for the Levitical system), is not literal, either; that is, our author does not envision Jesus literally mounting an altar, slitting his own throat, and then with his dying gasp lighting it all on fire. It is only by way of comparison or contrast with the Levitical sacrifices that the death of Jesus is comprehensible in some way as a sacrifice. (In theological terms, we are dealing with types and antitypes.)
Even the cleansing of the heavenly tabernacle with blood in chapter 9 is described solely in terms of the sacrifices offered on the Day of Atonement.
When our author describes either the death of Jesus on its own or his entrance into heaven on its own, without reference to the Levitical sacrificial system, the descriptions come out rather differently. In my next post I will discuss those nonsacrificial descriptions. And, in the post after that, unless something untoward comes up, I will tie the threads together and argue for a location for the death of Christ in this epistle.
Ben.
