Where the first readers are to be looked for hangs as completely on their character as does the question of date. If Gentile, most would think it probable that they were to be found at Rome, where they may have constituted only a single group of many among the Christians in the city. If, however, they were really He brews, it is, if not impossible, at any rate less likely that they were at Rome. The reference to (those from Italy° is ambiguous, but it would seem plausible that Timothy had been imprisoned at Rome rather than that on re lease he should hasten hither. If the core of the book is a warning against Judaism, it would be natural to look for those needing such a nearer the Temple than was Rome. While it is generally regarded as improbable that the letter was addressed to the church at Jerusalem, there may have been many commu nities within easy reach of that city where such a group of Christians as these °Hebrews° could have been found. Syrian Antioch and Jamnia have been named among other places.
The author very fitly styled his work °a message of appeal? Such it is throughout.
To be sure, the first 10 chapters consist largely of argument skilfully marshaled and stated, but all is to strengthen appeal, and exhortation is constantly inwoven with demonstration. The great theme is the superiority of Christianity over Judaism. While this is developed in many phases, it may be briefly summed up in saying that in chapters i-vi the stress is laid on the personal superiority of Christ, as compared with angels, Moses, Aaron, and then (vii, 1-x, 18) the superiority of the work of Christ is set forth. But the whole is one plea for persist ence in the Christian profession and life, and while the changes of the centuries have made much in this book peculiarly hard to under stand and have robbed other arguments of some of their original force, yet, when under stood, this plea for the value of Christianity remains cogent as well as earnest.
Bibliography.— Consult on this epistle: Bruce, A. B. (1899) ; Davidson, A..B. (1880) ; Edwards, T. C. (in Bible,' 1888) ; Vaughan, C. J. (1891) ; Westcott, B. F. (1889).