08_Biblica_2_AM_C_Swetnam_Layout 1 30/01/13 13:18 Pagina 603 08_B 603 THE MEANING OF toi/j avkou,sasin HEBREWS 4,2 AT would seem to refer to the Christian addressees. The verse immediately following verse 4,2, verse 4,3, states: “for we are entering into the rest” (eisercomeqa ga.r eivj th.n kata,pausin). The difficulty with this interpreta- v , tion (besides those mentioned above) is that the words toi/j avkou,sasin in their context refer to the third person plural: the author in the context habit- ually uses the first person when referring to the Christian addressees so as to include himself (cf. the use of the first person in vv. 1, 2 and 3 — fobhqw/men, evsmen and eivserco,meqa). If the author had understood toi/j akousasin as referring to the addressees and himself he would more natu- v, rally, judging by the way he speaks in the context, have said h`mi/n toi/j akousasin, or used some other expression to indicate the first person. The v, inference is that toi/j avkou,sasin refers to a group different not only from the desert generation but also from the Christian addressees and the author. The use of the article with reference to the group indicated by the words toi/j avkou,sasin indicates that the same group was mentioned pre- viously in the epistle or is well known to the addressees and/or to the au- thor, or both. This would seem to indicate the group of first-generation Christians who are described as the ones who “heard” (avkou,santej) the Lord speaking (cf. 2,3). They not only “heard” in the sense of becoming aware but “heard” in the sense of obeying, for they passed on what they heard to “us” as something so important that it demanded validation. As interpreted by the present writer, that which the first generation of Chris- tians “heard” were the words of institution of the Eucharist which, in 2,4, is viewed as the presence of God among the Christians as they take part in the new exodus 10. The implication in Heb 4,2, then, would seem to be that the Israelites in the desert generation cannot enter into God’s prom- ised rest, even though they received such a promise just as the Christians have, because they were not linked in faith with the first Christians and with the words of the Eucharist, i.e., they were not linked with the Eu- charist itself. But it remains to be seen just why this is so. 2) “The word heard” (o` lo,goj th/j avkoh/j) can be understood in either an active or passive sense: either “hearing the word” or “the word they heard” 11. The latter, passive sense, seems indicated on the basis of the use of the word lo,goj in the epistle. At Heb 2,2 lo,goj is used of the Mosaic Law, “spoken” (lale,w) “through” (dia,) angels. In the same passage the Mosaic Law is explicitly contrasted with what was “spoken” (lale,w) “through” (dia,) the Lord. The reason for this is to indicate that God is really the ultimate one responsible for both the Mosaic Law and the Eucharist. Cf. J. SWETNAM, “Tw/n lalhqhsome,nwn in Hebrews 3,5”, Bib 90 (2009) 10 90 and 98-99. Cf. ELLINGWORTH, Hebrews, 242. The present writer has substituted 11 “word” for Ellingworth’s “message” as being a more literal translation of lo,goj. © Gregorian Biblical Press 2012 - Tutti i diritti riservati