Bernard Muller wrote: ↑Fri Jan 15, 2021 8:37 pm
"Jesus means "the salvation of the Lord", being the name of the most excellent possible character" (Philo of Alexandria, On the Change of Names, ch. XXI) See Philippians 2:9 and Hebrews 1:4:
Note: I think Philippians 2:6-11 was initially from Apollos of Alexandria, the most probable author of 'Hebrews':
Php 2:6 [to] 11 v.8 "Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death.
[Heb 5:8 "... he learned obedience from what he suffered ..."]
[Phil. 2.9]` ... Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,
[Heb1:4b "as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs."]
[Phil. 2.10] that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
Cordially, Bernard
Hebrews 1 is about The Son. The full Hebrews 1:4 is
Yet, 'the name' is not specified in Hebrews 1 (but a name is revered in Psalm 8, a few verses of which are cited in Hebrews 2, see later)
Hebrews 1 quotes lots of Hebrew Bible, probably from the LXX/Septuagint -
- Hebrews 1:5a . = . Psalm 2:7
- Hebrews 1:5b . = . 2 Samuel 7:14; 1 Chron. 17:13
- Hebrews 1:6 =. = . Deut. 32:43 (see Dead Sea Scrolls and Septuagint)
- Hebrews 1:7 =. = . Psalm 104:4
- Hebrews 1:9 =. = . Psalm 45:6,7
- Hebrews 1:12= = . Psalm 102:25-27
- Hebrews 1:13= = . Psalm 110:1
ie. half of Hebrews 1 is from the Hebrew Bible, probably from the LXX/Septuagint (as is Hebrews 2, see below the line below)1
The full Hebrews 5:8 is
And previously in Hebrews 5
5 In the same way, Christ did not take on himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him,
....“You are my Son;
........today I have become your Father.” [Psalm 2:7]
6 And he says in another place,
....“You are a priest forever,
........in the order of Melchizedek.”[Psalm 110.4]
.
It all comes across as reaffirming a type, via new midrash/im
1 Hebrews 2
5 It is not to angels that He has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking.
6 But there is a place where someone has testified:
........“What is mankind that you are mindful of them,
.......... a son of man that you care for him? [Psalm 8:4]
...7...You made them a little lower than the angels;
..........you crowned them with glory and honor [Psalm 8:5]
...8...and put everything under their feet.” [Psalm 8:6b]
In putting everything under Him/them, God left nothing that is not subject to Him/them. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to Him/them. 9 But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory2 and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
.
2 I googled 'crowned with glory' and the results on the first page pointed to Heb 5:9. There was the occasional mention of Psalm 8:5,3 which is of course also in Heb 5:7. There's also a hint of 'crowning with glory' in Zech 6:11 -
3 Psalm 8 in its entirety -
1 .Lord, our Lord,
.....how majestic is your name in all the earth!
...You have set your glory
.....in the heavens.
2 .Through the praise of children and infants
.....you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
.....to silence the foe and the avenger.
3 .When I consider your heavens,
.....the work of your fingers,
.....the moon and the stars,
.....which you have set in place,
4 .what is mankind that you are mindful of him/them,
.....human beings that you care for him/them?
5 .You have made him/them a little lower than the angels/God
.....and crowned him/them with glory and honor.
6 .You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
.....you put everything under his/their feet:
7. all flocks and herds,
.....and the animals of the wild,
8 .the birds in the sky,
.....and the fish in the sea,
.....all that swim the paths of the seas.
9 .Lord, our Lord,
.....how majestic is your name in all the earth!
.
Going from Psalm 8 to Hebrews, eg. to Hebrews 2, it's as if they're anthropomorphising God (who they had already personified with 'Him').
And as one goes from chapter to chapter of Hebrews, it seems clear the author increasingly reifies and promotes Jesus,
eg. promoting Jesus over Moses in Hebrews 3:3,5-6, -
5 “Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house” [Num. 12:7], bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. 6 But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.
A lot of the rest of Hebrews 3 is Psalm 95:7-11, with Hebrews 3:15 repeating Psalm 95:7-8.
And it ends contrasting 'conviction in Christ' with 'those Moses did not lead out of the wilderness' -
Hebrews 3
14 We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we [should] hold - κατάσχωμεν - our original conviction firmly to the very end. 15 As has just been said:
....“Today, if you hear his voice,
.....do not harden your hearts
......as you did in the rebellion.” [Psalm 95:7,8]
16 Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? 17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did God swear that they would never enter His rest4 - κατάπαυσιν - if not to those who disobeyed? 19 So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.
.
4 Ps. 95:11b -
...... I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray,
...... and they have not known my ways.’
11 So I declared on oath in my anger,
...... ‘They shall never enter my rest.’.”
[ is there a play on κατάπαυσιν (rest) and κατάσχωμεν (we should hold) ? ]
... to be continued ...