The phrase oneidismon tou Christou (“reproach of the Messiah”) is difficult,
and almost impossible to translate adequately, but two points can confidently
be made. First, in the honor-shame world of the author, oneidismos falls emphatically on the side of shame (see Josh 5:8; 1
Sam 17:26; Neh 5:9; Hos 12:14; Joel 2:19; Jer 6:10; 23:40; T. Reu. 4.7; T. Jud.
23.3). Second, just as the hearers were reminded that in earlier days they had
been exposed to afflictions and oneidismoi
and were partners of people who lived that way (Heb 10:33), so Moses here
serves as a model of identifying with the shame of those who are being shamed.
The hard question concerns the
identification with the Messiah (Christos).
The author of Hebrews clearly regards the crucifixion of Jesus as something
shameful in human eyes. He says that Jesus endured the cross, “despising its
shame” (12:3). Christians who experience shame are, in turn, associated with
the shame of the Christ. The hearers are told to go “outside the camp, bearing
his reproach (ton oneidismon autou)”
(13:13). The link between Christ and Christians is similarly made in Rom 15:3,
which quotes lxx Ps 68:10, “the reproaches of those who reproach you have
fallen upon me.” But how are Moses and the Christ connected, so that the shame
Moses embraces is the “shame of the Messiah”?
Here we can look at another psalm
where the language of reproach appears. In Ps 88:51 the theme of the Davidic
dynasty is prominent: God made a covenant with David his chosen one (88:3–4),
whom he anointed (88:19–21), and to whom he promised an everlasting kingdom
(88:27–37). He is the christos, the
anointed one. But the king has been brought low by enemies, who “are full of
wrath against your anointed” (88:39), so that “he has become the scorn (oneidos) of his neighbors” (88:42). The
psalm concludes with David asking the Lord to remember “the reproach of your
servants” (in the plural: oneidismou tōn
doulōn sou), by which they “have taunted (ōneidisan) your anointed one (tou
christou sou)” (88:51–52). According to the psalm, the reproach of the
people and of the Christ are the same. Therefore, if Moses took on the reproach
leveled at his people, he also took on the reproach leveled at the Messiah
about whom the later psalmist would speak. It is quite likely that this is
precisely what the author meant by his statement in Heb 3:5 that Moses was a
servant “in order to give evidence about things yet to be spoken.”
Moses’ choice, like that of the
earlier heroes of faith, was based on a calculation or a “knowing” of a reality
that could not be seen with the eyes. He “looked forward” to the reward (misthopodosian), thus demonstrating the
truth enunciated by the author in 11:6 that God is the rewarder of those who
seek him. Moses is also a model for the hearers because, like them, his
allegiance to God’s people meant being associated with shame and facing the loss
of material possessions (“the treasures of the Egyptians”; see 10:32–33). Above
all, his faith was exemplary, for he acted not in view of a temporary advantage
but in view of an eternal reward. (Luke Timothy Johnson, Hebrews: A
Commentary [The New Testament Library; Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John
Knox Press, 2012], 300-1)
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