[B-Greek] Heb 6:19 Who/is entering/reaching the Holy of theHolies?
Iver Larsen
iver at larsen.dk
Mon Mar 13 03:20:56 EST 2006
> <clipped>
>
>> The first connection with EISERCOMENHN is hHN at the beginning of v. 19.
>> Since this is a relative, it must itself refer back to another word. In
>> this case it is ELPIIDOS at the end of v. 18.
>
> <clipped>
>
> Now, as I understood grammatically, hHN, thus ELPIDOS, is the subject
> of the verb ESERCOMENHN .
>
> Then, what would it mean when it says 'Hope entering the Holy of Holies'?
>
> Oun Kwon
> 6:19 hHN hWS AGKURAN ECOMEN THS YUCHS ASFALH TE KAI BEBAIAN
> KAI EISERCOMENHN EIS TO ESWTERON TOU KATAPETASMATOS
Hope is described with the metaphor of an anchor (of soul). Both ELPIS and AGKURA are feminine words, so I would prefer
to see all three further descriptions relate grammatically as an apposition to the anchor, but semantically to both,
since the hope is described as an anchor.
The concept of "hope" can be somewhat fluid. But an anchor is here described as both ASFALHS (secure, definite) and
BEBAIOS (firmly established, sure) and the reason that it is a reliable, secure and firmly established is that it is
secured to the innermost section of God's Temple, where God's own presence it. The picture is that the anchor is as
secure as that to which it is attached. So, I would say that it is the anchor that "goes into the Holy of Holies". Don't
be limited by the English gloss "enter". The subject for enter does not have to be animate. For instance, Matt 15:11
talks about "the thing that goes/enters into the mouth". The same word is used as here. The anchor goes all the way into
the very presence of God. Notice that the NET says "it reaches inside the curtain". RSV is in my opinion somewhat
misleading by repeating "hope" when they should have repeated "anchor", if anything. Most translations use the ambiguous
"it" as a reference pointer.
Iver Larsen
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