The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament (262 page)

12:29 a consuming fire:
God is a raging fire of love and holiness, which is warming and purifying to the saints (Lk 3:16; 1 Pet 1:6-7) but searing and punishing to the sinner (Heb 10:26-27). • The imagery comes from Deut 4:24. 
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13:2 entertained angels:
Hospitality is encouraged by recalling how OT figures such as Abraham (Gen 18:121), Lot (Gen 19:1-3), Gideon (Judg 6:11-24), and Tobias (Tob 5:4-9) welcomed heavenly messengers without realizing it. 
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13:3 in prison:
Visiting the imprisoned is a charitable work of mercy (Mt 25:36; CCC 2447). 
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13:4 the marriage bed:
Prohibits every form of sexual immorality inside (e.g., adultery) and outside (e.g., fornication) the boundaries of lawful wedlock. This standard of chastity applies to the married and unmarried alike.
See note on Eph 5:3
. 
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13:5 love of money:
A deadly vice that, left unchecked, can destroy our hope of salvation (Mt 6:24; 19:23).
I will never fail you:
Encouragement once given to Joshua (Deut 31:6, 8; Josh 1:5). It inspires contentment in the Providence of God, who can always be trusted to meet our needs (Mt 6:2534; 1 Tim 6:6-10). 
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Word Study

Mediator
(
Heb 12:24
)

Mesitēs
(Gk.): a middleman who tries to resolve differences between two parties or help them work together toward a common end. The term is used six times in the NT, twice in reference to Moses (Gal 3:19-20) and four times for Christ (Heb 8:6; 9:15; 12:24; 1 Tim 2:5). Moses was the mediator of the Old Covenant who stood in the gap between Israel and Yahweh. He spoke the word of God to Israel in the Law (Ex 20:19; Deut 5:5), and he spoke to God on behalf of Israel as an intercessor (Ex 32:30-32; Num 14:13-19). Christ is a more perfect mediator between God and his people because he unites in himself both humanity and divinity. He therefore mediates and administers a more excellent covenant than did Moses and the priests of Israel, a covenant that brings the Father and the human family together through an eternal redemption from sin (Heb 9:1114) and perpetual intercession in heaven (Heb 7:25).

13:6 The Lord is my helper:
A citation from Ps 118:6. • Recalling how the Lord delivered him from distress in times past, the Psalmist bursts out with a prayer of confidence in God in the face of new enemy threats. 
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13:7Remember your leaders:
The original pastors of the community. 
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13:8 the same:
Jesus Christ is unchanging because he is divine, i.e., he is the Lord who is more ancient and more permanent than the visible universe (1:12). 
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13:9 not by foods:
The eaten portions of Temple sacrifices are probably in view (1 Cor 9:13; 10:18). 
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13:10 an altar:
Many interpret this as a reference to the Cross or to the sacrifice of Jesus in general. More likely, it refers to the eucharistic altar of the Church, which is off-limits to the non-Christian priests serving at the sanctuary altar in Jerusalem. In favor of this reading, several considerations suggest that the Eucharist is a significant, albeit submerged, element in the theology of Hebrews.
(1)
The towering importance of the New Covenant throughout the letter points in this direction, since Jesus mentioned "the new covenant" only in the context of the Last Supper (Lk 22:20; 1 Cor 11:25). This would not go unnoticed by readers familiar with the Gospels' traditions.
(2)
At one point, the author seems to allude to the eucharistic words of Jesus (
See note on Heb 9:20
). Not only so, but the allusion leads to a significant point about the relationship between shedding blood and the forgiveness of sins (9:22), a point that Jesus himself also made in the words of institution (Mt 26:27-28).
(3)
A reference to the Eucharist probably occurs in 6:4, where Christian initiation involves tasting a "heavenly gift".
(4)
The typology in 7:1-3 invites us to consider the links between Jesus and the priest Melchizedek. Christian readers would naturally see a prefigurement of the sacrament in the "bread and wine" offered by Melchizedek (Gen 14:18).
(5)
Hebrews teaches that we draw near to God and actually enter his heavenly sanctuary "by the blood of Jesus" (10:19) and "through his flesh" (10:20). It is difficult to know how the humanity of Christ enables us to accomplish this in the present apart from Eucharistic Communion (CCC 1182). 
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13:12 outside the gate:
A final connection is made between the sacrifice of Jesus and the Day of Atonement liturgy developed in Heb 9-10. • After the sin offerings were slain in the outer court of the Tabernacle, the carcasses of the victims were dragged outside the camp of Israel to be burned (Lev 16:27). This signifies how the body of Jesus was disgraced outside the city walls of Jerusalem (Mk 12:8; Jn 19:17-20). Readers are challenged to follow him out, leaving behind the city and sanctuary of the Old Covenant and ready to suffer for the gospel as he did (Heb 13:13-14). 
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13:14 the city . . . to come
: The heavenly Jerusalem (12:22; CCC 2796). 
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13:17 Obey your leaders:
The pastors who replaced the original leaders of the community remembered in 13:7 (CCC 1269).
See note on 1 Thess 5:12
. 
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13:20 from the dead:
The only explicit mention of Jesus' Resurrection in the letter, although the fact is often assumed (2:14; 5:7; 7:16; etc.). 
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13:22 word of exhortation:
The same expression is used in Acts 13:15 to refer to a synagogue sermon. For this and other reasons, many scholars maintain that the Letter to the Hebrews is a homily that came to be written down. See introduction:
Themes and Characteristics.
 
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13:23 Timothy:
A mutual friend of the author and his readers. He is commonly identified with Paul's missionary coworker of this name from Asia Minor (Acts 16:1-4). If that is who he is, this is the only indication in the NT that he spent time in prison. For his background,
see note on 1 Tim 1:2
. 
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13:24 Those who come from Italy:
This could mean that Hebrews was written either
from
Italy or
to
Italy, depending on the present location of the author's Italian companions. Traditionally it was held that Hebrews was sent from Italy to a community of believers in Palestine; many modern scholars, however, interpret the geographical reference the other way around. 
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INTRODUCTION TO

Author
 The author of the epistle identifies himself as "James" (1:1). Because several persons in the NT bear this name, it is necessary to settle on his identity by a process of elimination. Two men of this name were among the apostles of Jesus: James the son of Zebedee (Mk 1:19; 3:17) and James the son of Alphaeus (Lk 6:15; Acts 1:13). No doubt these figures possessed the requisite authority to instruct the Church in writing, but most scholars think it improbable that either one wrote the Letter of James—the former was martyred in
A.D.
44, probably too early to have been the author (Acts 12:2), and very little is known about the latter beyond the fact of his enrollment among the Twelve. Instead, scholars through the centuries have given preference to a third figure of the apostolic age: James of Jerusalem, also known as "the Lord's brother" (Gal 1:19). This James was a kinsman of Jesus (Mk 6:3). He was also a witness to the Resurrection (1 Cor 15:7) and later became one of the "pillars" (Gal 2:9) of the earliest Christian community in Jerusalem (Acts 12:17; 15:13-21; 21:17-18). Tradition refers to him as "James the Just" and remembers him as a man of exceptional piety and prayerfulness. Ancient sources tell us that he was martyred in Jerusalem in
A.D.
62 by order of the Jewish high priest, having been either stoned, clubbed, or thrown from the pinnacle of the Temple (Josephus,
Antiquities
20, 200; Hegesippus, as quoted in Eusebius,
Ecclesiastical History
2, 23). Tradition also relates that James was the first bishop of Jerusalem and the first in a line of fifteen Hebrew Christians to hold that position in succession (Eusebius,
Ecclesiastical History
2, 1, and 4, 5).

Modern scholarship often distinguishes this James from the author of the letter bearing his name. In other words, despite general agreement that 1:1 refers to James of Jerusalem, it is held that a later admirer of James wrote in the name of this revered figure in order to instruct believers near the end of the first century. Often the proponents of pseudonymity contend
(1)
that the Greek style of the letter is too smooth and sophisticated to be the work of a Galilean Jew, whose first language must have been Aramaic, and
(2)
that its mention of "elders" in 5:14 reflects a stage in the development of Church leadership more advanced than what existed in James' lifetime. Neither argument is decisive. For one thing, scholarship continues to produce evidence that Galilee was thoroughly bilingual during the NT period (Aramaic and Greek), so the ability of a Palestinian Jew, especially one who was intellectually gifted, to write in excellent Greek is far from impossible (e.g., the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus was educated in first-century Jerusalem and acquired an impressive command of Hellenistic Greek, as well as classical Greek literature). Second, unless one disregards the Book of Acts as a witness to history, it is clear that a hierarchical system of leadership (with "elders" or "presbyters") had emerged well before the end of the first century (Acts 14:23; 20:17; cf. 1 Pet 5:1-2). Beyond these objections, it may be said that the opening self-description of James as a "servant" of the Lord Jesus (Jas 1:1) is best explained if James himself is the author of the letter. In other words, it presupposes that he is already known to his readers and feels no need to assert his authority or credentials. A pseudonymous author, hoping to borrow the reputation of James for himself, would more likely have described him in exalted rather than humble terms. Or, at least, he would have given a sufficiently explicit description of James to help readers identify which of the ancient Jameses he was claiming to be.