Quotations from scripture and the compilation of Hebrews in an oral world

Abstract

This study interacts with the work of Pieter Botha by presenting four scenarios from my own research on the use of Septuagint quotations by Philo of Alexandria and by the unknown author of Hebrews. The first scenario draws attention to the fusion of oral and written traditions from the Septuagint Pentateuch as perceived in Philo’s Vita Mosis. The second scenario refers to Philo’s Therapeutae which is used as an example of an ascetic Jewish group who studied and contemplated on the ‘Scriptures’. The third scenario tables an example of a first century C.E. catenatemplate for catechetical studies in an oral world – as found in 4 Maccabees. The fourth scenario shifts the emphasis to my research on the Septuagint Vorlage of the explicit quotations in Hebrews. It attempts to indicate, on the one hand, how the compilation of this document is based on a well-planned and well-thought through list of Scriptural passages, detectable in an underlying thread of ‘promises’. On the other hand, it hopes to illustrate the complexity of an integrated process that fused oral and written traditions. The study concludes that the author lives in both an oral and a written world and draws from both during the compilation of his document. Hebrews represents a document at an advanced stage in the history of first century early Christianity and fuses oral and written traditions. But this is not just a random design. It is a well-planned and well-thought through document.