35. TESTAMENT AND COVENANT (HEB. IX. 15-23)

In ch. v. 1 Peter himself was a witness of this great truth, for he had been a witness of Christ's sufferings, and would be a partaker of His glory also when it shall be revealed.

Finally, in ch. v. 10, they are reminded that though they may "suffer awhile," yet, the God of all grace has called them unto eternal glory.

There can be no question, therefore, as to what is the scope of the Epistle as a whole; neither can there be any doubt as to the scope of the particular passage (ch. iii. 18-22), where the resurrection, ascension, and glorification of Christ after His sufferings, proved that it was "better to suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing." A triumph it was. And, a triumph so great, that He went and proclaimed it to the in-prison spirits in Tartarus to show them that all this triumph was in spite of the Satanic plot referred to and recorded in Gen. vi. and in which they had so great a share, so great a guilt, and so great a condemnation. This is the triumph of Col. ii. 14, 15.

3. Testament and Covenant.—Heb. ix. 15-23¹ affords another example, showing how the scope of a passage will furnish us with the meaning of the word ἀνακήκη (diathēkē), covenant.

In the A.V. it is consistently, but, as we shall see, wrongly rendered by our word "testament." The R.V. is certainly inconsistent, for in verse 15 it twice renders it "covenant," and in verses 16 and 17 it twice renders it "testament"; while in verses 18 and 20 it twice again has the word "covenant" (one of the two being put in italics; as the word "testament" is similarly supplied in italics).

All this confusion speaks loudly to us, and tells us that there is something, here, that needs explanation. The note also given by the Revisers tells us that they were perfectly aware of their inconsistency: for against each of the occurrences of the word in question they say in the margin:

"The Greek word here used signifies both covenant and testament."

¹ See below, Canon II., pp. 223-223, our reason for giving these verses as the context or scope.

N 2

II. MEANING OF WORDS FROM SCOPE OF PASSAGE

This statement may be true of Greek classical authors, but this passage is in God's Word.¹ Greek writers knew nothing of God's covenants with Noah and Abraham, and Israel and David. Here, it is entirely a question of what is the subject or scope of the passage. What is it all about? This is the question we have to ask. And if we look at the whole passage from verse 15 to verse 23, we see at once that the one great subject is a contrast between the NEW Covenant (v. 15), and the OLD Covenant (vv. 19-22).

This should settle the question for us, once for all. We have no right within the compass of a few verses to change the subject of our own arbitrary will. It is a serious matter so to do, and it leads to grave consequences. Here, it quite changes the scope, and affects the translation of the whole passage.

(1) In verse 17 ἐπὶ νεκροῖς (epi nekrois) is rendered in the A.V. "after men are dead," and in the R.V. "where there hath been a death." But the Revisers' note against this, in the margin, is "Gr. over the dead." This shows that, having changed the subject they are forced to do violence to the translation, and to abandon the plain meaning of the Greek. The marginal note is a confession of this.

(2) In other ways both Versions are compelled to adapt their translation of the words to suit the new subject which they have introduced.

ὁ διαθέμενος (ho diathemenos) means the appointed; and here, the appointed sacrifice, by which all covenants must be made. It is masculine in Gender in order to agree not with the Greek word ὁσοία (thusia), sacrifice, but with the Hebrew thought (יְהוָה, (zavach), sacrifice, which is masculine).

The word diathemenos is the participle of διατίσμαι (diatithemi), to appoint (see Luke xxii. 29. Acts iii. 25.

¹ Ἰωεῖν (diathēkē) occurs 250 times in the Septuagint, and is used always of a covenant. This must be its meaning throughout the N.T. The late Dr. Hatch, in his Essays in Biblical Greek (Oxford Press, 1889), says, "The attempt to give it in certain passages its classical meaning of 'testament' is not only at variance with its use in Hellenistic Greek, but is probably also the survival of a mistake: in ignorance of the philology of later and vulgar Latin, it was formerly supposed that 'testamentum,' by which the word is rendered in the early Latin versions as well as in the Vulgate, meant 'testament' or 'will'; whereas, in fact, it meant also, if not exclusively, 'covenant.'"

ISAAC'S MEDITATION (GEN. XXIV. 63)

Heb. viii. 10 and Heb. x. 16; the only places where the verb occurs); and it is specially used of making a covenant (Heb. viii. 10 and x. 16).

We have said enough to enable us now to give the words their true meaning and force according to the scope; and we are not compelled to adapt them to a different subject.

The scope of Heb. ix. 15-23 is the same as that of Exod. xxiv. 5-8, which describes the old covenant-making.

"For where a covenant [is made, the] death of the appointed [sacrifice] is necessary to be brought in: for, a covenant [is] confirmed [only] over dead [victims or sacrifices]; since it hath no force while the appointed [sacrifice] is living."

The change of the scope in the A.V. and R.V. necessitates the bringing in of the word "men"--about which there is not even a hint in the Greek. All is about covenants and sacrifices.

This will be seen when we look at this passage again, below, where we shall see its scope made more clear by its structure. (See pp. 220-223.)

We see sufficient here to illustrate our first Canon: that the scope of the passage must determine the meaning of the several words employed in it.

4. Another example of a different character is found in Gen. xxiv. 63: "And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide."

This is a case in which the context must give us the meaning of the word שָׂרָה (sūach), which is rendered "meditate," "or, to pray," in the margin.

That translators are perplexed is clear. The R.V. has "meditate," the Syriac has "to take a walk." Gesenins suggests to go to and fro in the field (to muster the flocks)! We get the rendering "meditate" from the Vulgate's "ad meditandum."

But even granting that the word "meditate" would serve, is there any thing to show us what sort of a meditation it was likely to be?

It is clear that chapter xxiv., long as it is, is only a digression introduced in order to give us the mission of Eliezer, to seek a wife for Isaac.

MEANING OF WORDS FROM SCOPE OF PASSAGE

The last event, immediately before that mission was the burial of Sarah, Isaac's mother (Gen. xxiii. 19).

The next thing we read of Isaac is his going forth in the field to meditate. This is followed immediately by his reception of Rebekah: "And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death" (ch. xxiv. 67).

Is there nothing in this context to show us what is the meaning of the word rendered "meditate"?

Yes, it sends us again to the Lexicon and to the Concordance. There we find that usage connects it with being bowed down. Ps. xliv. 25 (26), "Our soul is bowed down to the dust." Lam. iii. 20, "my soul . . . is humbled in me" (marg. "Heb. bowed").

Why was Isaac "comforted after his mother's death"? Comfort is for those who mourn. Isaac was therefore still mourning the death of his mother; and he went out into the field to be alone, and to give vent to his grief.

He did not go out either to pray or to think out some problem; but to seek in solitude comfort and relief.

5. "The Lord's Day." Rev. i. 10.—Here, the whole scope of the passage in which we find these words is concerning judgment. The nine verses which precede lead up to it, and the whole subsequent subject of the book has to do with the coming of the Lord in judgment.

This can have no more to do with a day of the week than with a day of the month; but it does have to do with "the Day of the Lord."

That this meaning of the expression is not only in agreement with the scope of the book, but with all the known facts of the case, can be tested and proved.

1 Compare also Ps. vi. 6, "I am bowed down with my groaning"; 1 Sam. i. 15, a sorrowful spirit; Prov. xxiii. 29, "Who hath melancholy" (not "babbling"); R.V. has "complaining."

2 See above, pp. 158, 159. Also a pamphlet on this subject entitled, The Lord's Day: Is it a Day of the Week or the Day of the Lord? by the same author and publisher (price 6d.).

CANON II.

THE SCOPE OF A PASSAGE MAY BEST BE DISCOVERED BY ITS STRUCTURE.