[B-Greek] LOGOS PARAKLHSEWS in Hebrews 13:22

yancywsmith yancywsmith at sbcglobal.net
Tue Jun 6 19:33:15 EDT 2006


Is it possible that there is any warrant for translating LOGOS  
PARAKLHSEWS in Hebrews 13:22 as "word of consolation"?

We English speakers might tend to think of "exhortation" and  
"consolation" as categorically distinct, yet PARAKLHSIS, includes  
consolation, as Chrysostom's comment on Heb 13:22 shows:
OU LEGEI, PARAKALW hUMAS, ANECESQE TOU LOGOU THS PARAINESEWS, ALLA  
TOU LOGOGU THS PARAKLHSIS; TOUTESTI, THS PARAMUQIAS, THS PROTROPHS.

He does not say, I urge you to put up 'with my word of admonisment,'  
but 'with my word of encouragement,' that is, my word of consolation,  
of exhortation.

It might also be observed that consolations, according to Greco-Roman  
rhetorical practice, include a forceful hortatory component.

There is an additional ancient warrant for this reading of Hebrews  
13:22, coming from about the same time as Chrysostom. Jerome  
translates Hebrews 13:22 as rogo autem vos fratres suferatis verbum  
solacii. "I beg you, brothers, to put up with my word of  
consolation." The rejection of this ancient interpretation, e.g.  
Henry Alford, Alford’s Greek Testament: An Exegetical and Critical  
Commentary, vol. 4, Hebrews-Revelation (5th ed.;Grand Rapids, MI:  
Baker Book House, 1875), 272 on the basis that, if Hebrews were  
“comfort” then no ajne/cesqe would be necessary probably stems from a  
failure to connect Hebrews with the ancient genre of consolation.  
Preocupation with the relationship of Hebrews to a Jewish audience  
led scholars to interpret Hebrews as a polemical-hortatory  
composition against Judaism, see idem, 74-76.

So far I have not found any monographs or articles relating Hebrews  
to ancient consolatory literature. One notable exception is Thomas  
Olbricht, “Hebrews as Amplification” in Rhetoric and the New  
Testament: Essays from the 1992 Heidleberg Conference (ed. Stanley  
Porter, T. Olbricht; JSNTSup 90; Sheffield: Sheffield University  
Press, 1993), 375-387, who argues on the basis of structure and  
thematic similarities that Hebrews resembles ancient funerary  
speeches, which is a subgenre of consolation literature. Olbricht’s  
findings concerning the epideictic device of amplification have been  
picked up subsequently by deSilva, Perseverence in Gratitude, 47,  
53-4, and Koester, Hebrews, 82, 94, who demonstrate reserve  
concerning the relation of Hebrews to ancient funerary addresses.

Yancy Smith
Y.W.Smith at tcu.edu
yancywsmith at sbcglobal.net
Brite Divinity School
Texas Christian University




On Jun 6, 2006, at 4:53 PM, George F Somsel wrote:

> I am concerned with an unwarranted shift from "exhortation" to  
> "consolation" here.  You began well by saying, "Another word to  
> consider is PARAKLHSIS. For example, Hebrews is called a LOGOS  
> PARAKLHSEWS. What does this mean? Usually scholars and translators  
> are content to render this 'exhortation' in a general."   
> Immediately, however, you continue "However, a more precise  
> association with consolation is probable."   I see no association  
> of the LOGOS PARAKLHSEWS which the author of Hebrews uses to  
> reference his work with the concept of consolation though it is  
> most definitely a "word of exhortation."  Consider the words of Heb  
> 2.1 DIA TOUTO DEI PERISSOTEROS PROSEXEIN hHMAS TOIS AKOUSQEISIN . . .




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