Psalm 95, 70AD as the Backdrop to Hebrews

Our understanding of the Letter to the Hebrews is that it was written against the backdrop of the impending destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD.  This may seem like an odd idea to some who have been used to the interpretive challenges in the “warning” passages.  For years all I could do was engage in the debate as to whether these passages indicated you could lose your salvation or whether they spoke of people who had never been saved or even people who were eternally saved but not very good Christians.   

But when you read through our verse-by-verse posts on Hebrews (coming soon, as in a few months) you will see there is good reason in Hebrews to have this view that they are being warned not to return to the old religion, given the deadly consequences.  The writer of the letter clearly considers them to be Christians.  In other words, they have concluded that they can engage in the temple worship, perhaps as a cultural event, while still claiming Jesus as their Messiah.  This view takes the struggle out of the warnings in Heb. 6 and 10 and helps make sense of those in Heb. 3-4 and 12. 

Nevertheless, you should note this is not a view that in any way originated with me.  Arnold Fruchtenbaum has developed this in some detail in his commentary on Hebrews.  But I suspect he may be at least partially indebted to Dr. Pentecost of Dallas Seminary and author of the great book on eschatology, Things to Come. 

I am providing a quote from an article Pentecost wrote on the subject in a compendium of articles on theology.  It relates to the warning in Heb. 3-4 involving the event at Kadesh Barnea when the people of Israel refused to enter the promised land (Num. 13-14).  For those people, this was a one-time situation.  They either entered that day, or they didn’t enter at all.  Even the following day, when they tried to repent, God would not hear it.  The key is to understand that this event was not about their “eternal salvation.”  The first Passover in Egypt was their opportunity to put their trust in the blood of the Savior.  This was about whether or not they entered the land.  So, the recipients of Hebrews had a one-time decision to make.  If they returned to the temple it would mean their death. 

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     Interpreting the difficult concepts of “entering into rest” (Heb. 4:1) and “it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance,” will show the importance of broader context.  The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews is writing to instruct, encourage, exhort and warn a generation of believers who are losing patience in their circumstances.  The recipients are viewed as believers, “holy brethren” (3:1), who publicly identified with Jesus Christ through their baptism and “confession” (10:23), who have been grounded in truth (5:12), who in their past experience have suffered for Christ’s sake (10:32-34), and who need patience to endure present persecutions (10:35-36; 12:1). … The historical incident which took place at Kadesh Barnea provides background to much of the exhortation and warning of the book and, therefore, becomes a key part of the larger context.

J. Dwight Pentecost, chapter entitled “Kadesh Barnea in the Book of Hebrews” in the book, Basic Theology Applied. (p128)

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