Hebrews
2:16
The second key verse in the
passage in 2:10-18 also has a crux: the word επιλαμβανεται. Earlier exegetes held that the word can only mean “to
seize, take hold of”, and claimed that the present tense underscores the
permanence of the union between Jesus and those whose nature he has laid hold
of. These exegetes asserted, against those who claim that επιλαμβανεται means “to
help” because of this meaning in Heb 8:9, that the meaning there is dependent
on the word χειρ which επιλαμβανεται governs.
In opposition to these exegetes
are the majority of exegetes today, who maintain that επιλαμβανεται means “to help” and who point
to the word βοηθησαι in 2:18
as justification for seeing in επιλαμβανεται a synonym: “For of course it is not angels he is helping (επιλαμβανεται );
it is the seed of Abraham he is helping (επιλαμβανεται )”. They stress the present tense
of the verb as grounds for not accepting the meaning “to take hold of”. They
claim that reference to the Incarnation involves a repetition of the reference
to the Incarnation at v. 14.
In brief: for επιλαμβανεται in 2:16
one can adopt the normal meaning of “to take hold of” and struggle to explain the
present tense, or adopt the normal meaning of the present tense and struggle to
explain the meaning of επιλαμβανεται .
επιλαμβανεται does not refer to the
Incarnation. The Incarnation is mentioned in v. 14; further, the present tense
disqualifies this interpretation. On the other hand, there is no valid reason
for abandoning the normal meaning of επιλαμβανεται . The present tense signifies
that the action in question is contemporaneous with the recipients of the
letter, and the meaning of the verb—“to seize, take hold of” indicates what is
happening. Jesus is taking hold of the seed of Abraham now, at the time of
writing and at the time of the reception of the epistle. In v. 18 the act of “taking
hold of” is among those considered as an act of helping, but in itself it is
more specific. Just what this action is remains to be determined more precisely.
This, then, is the verse which
supplies the common denominator for what precedes and for what follows.
What precedes is a presentation
of the fact that the Incarnation (v. 14a) together with a twofold purpose (vv.
14b-15): through death 1) to destroy the dominion of the devil and 2) free
those who had lived in slavery to the fear of death. V. 16 seems to refer to
both purposes under the common aspect of death. The seed of Abraham, then, is
composed of those who had lived under the dominion of the devil and who had
lived in slavery to the fear of death. But they are also the “children”, for in
v. 14 a motive for the Incarnation is said to be the sharing by Jesus in the
blood and flesh of his “children”. Putting all these complicated data together
with the interpretation already advanced in vv. 10-14 results in the following
view: The “seed of Abraham” was already in existence before the Incarnation. It
was composed of the human beings (not angels) whom Jesus was to call “brothers”
(v. 11b) and “children” (v. 13b). They were brothers because, like him, they
were spiritual children of Abraham, facing death with trust. But they also
faced death with fear because Abraham’s comportment at the Aqedah, while giving
a model of trust to imitate, had not brought salvation. The origin of salvation
came only with the advent of Jesus (v. 10). In v. 16 Jesus is pictured as being
superior to the seed of Abraham because the seed of Abraham is here being considered
as his children, i.e., the beneficiaries of his salvation. His “taking hold of”
the seed of Abraham is the way the salvation is being brought to bear so that there
is no more fear: trust after the example of Abraham is being complemented with
salvation which comes from Jesus.
There remains the analysis of vv.
17-18 and their relation to v. 16. Jesus’ taking hold of the seed of Abraham is
said to be the reason why (οθεν)
he had to become like “the brothers” “in all things”. The latter phrase, given
the context, suggests that Jesus had to die, death being regarded in the
context as the point at issue (cf. vv. 10 [δια παθηματων] and v. 14 [δια του θανατου]).
Death, in turn, enables Jesus to become a merciful and faithful high priest for
the things of God and for expiating the sins of the people (v. 17). This
sequence in which death comes before Jesus’ becoming high priest indicates that
the activity of Jesus as high priest is conceived of as taking place after his
death and, from the context, it seems to be looked upon as involving the way in
which he is “taking hold” of the seed of Abraham. V. 18 describes this
activity: “For because of the fact that he has sudffered under test he is able
to help those who are being tested”. The notion of “testing” in the epistle,
apart from a citation from Ps 95:9 at 3:9 and a doubtful instance at 11:37, is
used only of Abraham at the Aqedah (11:17)., Jesus at his death (2:18, 4:15),
and the addressees (2:18). What seems to lie behind this usage is a view of
Jesus’ death as related to the Aqedah so Jesus was tested at his death.
Further, the recipients of the letter are being tested just as Jesus and
Abraham were. Since Abraham’s test at the Aqedah was a trial of his trust in
God in the face of death, it would seem to follow that Jesus was tested at his
death by having his trust in God put to trial, and the recipients would seem to
be in the same situation.
Thus, an analysis of the context
of vv. 15-18 suggests that not only is the “seed of Abraham” a central concept,
as in vv. 10-13, but that this seed consists of those who, like Abraham, have
trust in God in the face of death. (James Swetnam, Jesus and Isaac: A Study
of the Epistle to the Hebrews in the Light of the Aqedah [Analecta Biblica
94; Rome: Biblical Institute Press, 1981], 134-37)
