Mackie Heavenly Sanctuary Mysticism JTS 62 (2011) 77-117 PDF

The Journal of Theological Studies, NS, Vol.
62, Pt 1, April 2011
HEAVENLY SANCTUARY MYSTICISM IN THE

EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS
SCOTT D. MACKIE
Venice, CA
scottdmackie@gmail.com
Abstract
I. INTRODUCTION
For a variety of reasons, perhaps not least of which being the
general neglect from which it has long suVered, the mysticism of
the Epistle to the Hebrews has eluded critical notice. However,
when close attention is paid to Hebrews supernatural experiential
elements and the logic of the authors hortatory strategy, a unique
and coherent mysticism begins to emerge, most notably within an
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This essay focuses on the supernatural experiential elements and events

that attend the Epistle to the Hebrews portrayal of the heavenly sanctuary, and attempts to demonstrate the integral relationship of these elements and events to the authors overarching hortatory effort. Hebrews
narratival construction of the heavenly sanctuary is not simply an updated
and expanded version of the tradition, intended to stir the addressed
communitys imagination; rather, the authors goal is for the community
actually to be present in that sacred place, to benefit truly from Christs
actions performed there, and to participate in the Sons exaltation. Their
presence and participation is effected via the authors repeated calls to
draw near and enter the heavenly sanctuary (4:1416; 6:1820; 10:1923;
12:224), which have as their goal a transformative encounter with God
and his Son, as well as their involvement in a divine adoption ceremony
(2:1213). Mystical visuality, working in concert with the rhetorical practices of ekphrasis and enargeia, together provide crucial assistance to this
effort: besides a number of vivid descriptions of the heavenly sanctuary
and Jesus sacral actions therein, the author exhorts the community to
see the exalted Son (2:9; 3:1; 9:246; 12:2) and their involvement in the
adoption ceremony (2:13; 10:245). This visual programme directly serves
the authors ultimate hortatory purpose: just as Moses persevered by
seeing him who is invisible (11:27), so also the communitys waning commitment will be reversed when they actualize their true identity as the
family of God, and see in Jesus that their steadfastness in suffering will
surely result in vindication (2:610).
78
S C O T T D. M A C K I E
The close relationship of the authors theology to his hortatory eVort has
been best expressed by John Dunnill, Covenant and Sacrifice in the Letter to
the Hebrews (SNTSMS 75; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992),
p. 46: The hortatory passages (are) so fully involved with the theological
thought as to seem to create it. For a detailed discussion of this issue, see
my Eschatology and Exhortation in the Epistle to the Hebrews (WUNT 2.223;
Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2007), pp. 926.
2
Since the authors rhetorical programme is almost entirely directed towards a perceived threat to the existence of the community, a great deal of
eVort has been expended in attempting to ascertain the nature of that threat.
Among the circumstances most commonly proposed: (1) impure consciences;
(2) persecution; (3) a return to Judaism; (4) waning commitment; (5) and the
loss of social status. The emphasis on suVering throughout Hebrews (2:910,
18; 5:8; 9:26; 10:324; 11:2427, 348; 12:111; 13:3, 1213) indicates that the
community was encountering, or had encountered, a substantial threat to their
existence, one that possibly caused them to question their commitment. All the
above proposals have a solid basis in the text of Hebrews, in part due to the
varied nature of the authors rhetorical eVort, which fluctuates in tone and
temper from severe warnings (directed towards those contemplating leaving
the community: see 2:14; 5:116:8; 10:2631) to warm encouragement (indicative perhaps of a waning commitment: see 6:912; 10:329). See my discussion of the communitys situation in Eschatology and Exhortation, pp. 917.
interrelated, though episodic, series of dramatic events that occur

in the heavenly sanctuary. In this mystical drama, and in the
heavenly milieu in which it is largely situated, we see the
convergence of Hebrews dual Christologies, with Jesus depicted
as a high priest and the Son of God. In conjunction with these two
christological portrayals, the two key moments of the Christ event
are transformed accordingly: Jesus crucifixion becomes a cultic
sacrifice and his resurrection is reshaped as an exaltation leading
to divine enthronement. Thus, the heavenly sanctuary is the place
of the Sons exaltation and enthronement (1:513; 2:1213), and
the principal site of Jesus cultic achievement, his sacrificial
self-oVering (1:3; 4:14; 6:1920; 7:26; 8:12; 9:1114, 238; 10:12
14, 1921; 12:23, 24).
As with most of Hebrews theology, these two disparate
christological portrayals and their accompanying soteriological
events are thoroughly integrated into a hortatory narrative, which
is also primarily situated in the heavenly sanctuary.1 To a
community facing a crisis of commitment, resulting from both
societal pressures and a waning sense of Gods involvement in
their lives, the author of Hebrews oVers a word of exhortation
(13:22) in which Jesus priestly self-oVering cleanses his people
from all manner of debilitating defilement and which allows them
confident access to the presence of God in the heavenly sanctuary.2
It is there that they will find Jesus the Son of God, whose
H E AV E N LY S A N C T U A RY M Y S T I C I S M
79
3
The author repeatedly characterizes Jesus death as involving suVering
(2:910, 18; 5:8; 9:26; 13:12). Furthermore, a hortatory pattern of suVering
leading to glorification recurs throughout Hebrews (see 1:3; 2:518; 4:1416;
5:710; 10:12, 329; 12:111; 13:1214). See Norman H. Young, SuVering: A
Key to the Epistle to the Hebrews, Australian Biblical Review 51 (2003), pp.
4759.
4
For recent discussions, see the Afterword in Andrew Louth, The Origins
of Christian Mysticism: From Plato to Denys (2nd edn., Oxford and New York:
Oxford University Press, 2007), pp. 20014; Peter Schafer, The Origins of
Jewish Mysticism (Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2009), pp. 120. A lengthy history
of critical approaches and analyses is oVered by Bernard McGinn, The
Foundations of Mysticism: Origins to the Fifth Century (New York:
Crossroad, 1991), pp. 265343, 42041.
enthronement is transformed into a divine adoption ceremony, in

which the community is oVered membership in the family of God.
At the heart of this participatory hortatory eVort are the
authors repeated calls to draw near and enter the heavenly
sanctuary (4:1416; 6:1820; 10:1923; 12:224), which have as
their goal the enactment of the aforementioned divine adoption
(2:1213). Mystical visuality, working in concert with the rhetorical practices of ekphrasis and enargeia, together provide crucial
assistance to this eVort: besides a number of vivid, evocative
descriptions of the heavenly sanctuary and Jesus sacral actions
therein, the author exhorts the community to see the exalted
Jesus (2:9; 3:1; 9:248; 12:2) and their involvement in the
enthronement/adoption ceremony (2:13; 10:245). This visual
programme directly serves the authors hortatory purpose: just as
Moses persevered by seeing him who is invisible (11:27), so also
the communitys waning commitment will be reversed when they
actualize their true identity as the family of God, and see in Jesus
that their steadfastness in suVering will surely result in vindication
(2:610).3 This experience will also relativize the societal forces
that threaten them. Again following the example of Moses, who
forsook Egyptian royal privilege and chose instead to share
ill-treatment with the people of God (11:245), in this
participatory exhortation the community will be motivated to
forsake the public court of reputation and find their true and
enduring identity, as Jesus siblings, the adopted sons and
daughters of God.
Finally, the meaning of the term mysticism should be
addressed. Attempts to define this term, even when restricted to
a single religious tradition, have often been frustrated and deemed
problematic.4 The definitions that are oVered seldom agree with
one anotherfor as Gershom G. Scholem observed over a
half-century ago, there are almost as many definitions of
80
5
Gershom G. Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (3rd edn., New
York: Schocken, 1954), pp. 34.
6
Louth, The Origins of Christian Mysticism, pp. xiiixiv. In the first edition
of The Origins of Christian Mysticism, Louths definition attempted to clarify
the two varying expressions of the unio mystica. Mysticism can be characterized as a search for and experience of immediacy with God. The mystic is not
content to know about God, he longs for union with God. Union with God
can mean diVerent things, from literal identity, where the mystic loses all sense
of himself and is absorbed into God, to the union that is experienced as the
consummation of love, in which the lover and the beloved remain intensely
aware both of themselves and the other (pp. xiiixiv).
7
Ibid., p. 213.
8
Ibid. James D. G. Dunn, The Theology of Paul the Apostle (Grand Rapids,
MI, and Cambridge: Eerdmans, 1998), p. 394, also warns against seeing the
mysticism of the early Church as involving exceptional occurrences that sharply bifurcate the Christian life into two distinct realms, the sacred and the
mundane. Thus, early Christian mysticism involves the immediacy of the
sense of the presence of God as a dimension (not just a part, and not to
be limited to unusual experiences) of the Christian life .
mysticism as there are writers on the subject.5 In the light of

these diYculties, some scholars have refrained from attempting a
definition. For example, in the recently updated version of his
monograph, The Origins of Christian Mysticism: From Plato to
Denys, Andrew Louth recanted the definition he oVered in the
first edition (which emphasized the unio mystica, the mystical
union with God) and failed to provide a replacement.6 In defence
of this reticence, he points to the diYculties that arise in
attempting to define the mystical thought and practice of even a
single religious tradition. Within the Christian tradition, he
observes, conceptions of what constituted mystical praxis were
completely transformed over the course of a thousand years. In
the early Church and patristic era, the mystical life is the life
with Christ hid in God of Colossians 3:3, a life which is ecclesial,
that is lived in the Body of Christ, which is nourished liturgically,
and which is certainly a matter of experience, though not of
extraordinary experiences .7 By the late Middle Ages, an
individualistic orientation had taken hold, with mysticism now
understood as an elite, individualistic quest for peak experiences.8 Bearing this caution in mind, if a definition should be
attempted, it must be attentive to the particular characteristics of
the document or traditions under consideration. It should also be
strictly confined to closely related texts and traditions and not
attempt ambitious syntheses.
Many recent attempts at defining mysticism, though
tradition-specific, are fairly innocuous, and place an emphasis on
the immediacy of the experience of God. For example, Bernard
81
9
McGinn, The Foundations of Mysticism, p. xvii. That this special consciousness of God is immediate means it takes place on a level of the personality deeper and more fundamental than that objectifiable through the usual
conscious activities of sensing, knowing, and loving (p. xix). McGinn also
notes: The formation of Christian mysticism in the proper sense was the
result of a historical process that was not complete for several centuries.
Nevertheless, from the start Christianity contained a mystical element that
was capable of a mystical interpretation (p. 65).
10
April D. DeConick, What Is Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism?, in
ead. (ed.), Paradise Now: Essays on Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism
(SBLSymS 11; Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature, 2006), pp. 124,
at p. 2.
11
Elliot Wolfson, in DeConick (ed.), Early Jewish and Christian
Mysticism: A Collage of Working Definitions, Society of Biblical Literature
Seminar Papers 40 (2001), pp. 278304, at p. 298. See also his monograph,
Through a Speculum that Shines: Vision and Imagination in Medieval Jewish
Mysticism (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994).
12
On Philos mystical visuality, see my essays, Seeing God in Philo of
Alexandria: The Logos, the Powers, or the Existent One?, Studia Philonica
Annual 21 (2009), pp. 2547; Seeing God in Philo of Alexandria: Means,
Methods, and Mysticism (forthcoming). On the relationship of Philo and
Hebrews, see Kenneth L. Schenck, Philo and the Epistle to the Hebrews:
Ronald Williamsons Study after Thirty Years, Studia Philonica Annual 14
(2002), pp. 11235.
13
Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, pp. 1011.
McGinn sees Christian mysticism as that part of Christian belief

and practices that concerns the preparation for, the consciousness
of, and the reaction to what can be described as the immediate or
direct presence of God.9 April D. DeConick defines ancient
Jewish and early Christian mysticism as a tradition . . . centered on
the belief that a person directly, immediately, and before death can
experience the divine, either as a rapture experience or as one
solicited by a particular praxis.10
A few other observations on the nature and practice of
mysticism merit mention, including Elliot Wolfsons recognition
of the primacy accorded vision of the divine in the constitution of
pious devotion in ancient Jewish and early Christian mysticism.
In these traditions, he asserts, genuine piety is dependent on
seeing God.11 Certainly this is true of Philo of Alexandria, whose
writings are most illuminative for Hebrews.12 Also relevant is
Scholems identification of the common task of constructing
sacred space. Thus, mystical meditation . . . gives birth to the
conception of a sphere, a whole realm of divinity, which underlies
the world of our sense-data and which is present and active in all
that exists.13 Many scholars have also correctly emphasized the
formative, and even determinative, roles played by religious
traditions and socio-historical environments in mystical thought
82
II. THE HEAVENLY SANCTUARY, JESUS THE HIGH PRIEST,

HEBREWS CULTIC SOTERIOLOGY
AND
As mentioned earlier, the heavenly sanctuary provides the

setting both for the Sons exaltation and enthronement as well as
his sacrificial self-oVering. The author clearly believes that an
14
This topic is the subject of the essays in Steven T. Katz (ed.), Mysticism
and Religious Traditions (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983); see esp. id.
The Conservative Character of Mystical Experience, pp. 360.
15
Steven T. Katz, Language, Epistemology, and Mysticism, in id. (ed.),
Mysticism and Philosophical Analysis (New York and Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1978), pp. 2274, at p. 30. Katz further argues that the
entire life of a mystic is permeated from childhood by images, concepts,
symbols, ideological values, and ritual behavior. These factors shape the imaginative and experiential capacity of the mystic, pre-forming their perceptual schema, and thus defining in advance both the mystics desire for an
experience and its actual outcome (pp. 33, 35).
and practice, as well as the reciprocative influence of the mystic on

their religious tradition.14 As Steven T. Katz has observed, a
two-directional symmetry is operative in much mystical practice,
as beliefs shape experience, just as experience shapes belief .15
Most of these insights are applicable to Hebrews heavenly
sanctuary mysticism. The authors conception and construction of
sacred space has not only been shaped by the prevalent Jewish
cult as well as regnal depictions of heaven (Isa. 6; 1 Kgs. 22:19),
but it also seeks to transform those traditions christologically.
Hebrews mysticism is reliant upon Jewish traditions in a number
of other ways, though in every instance the author seeks to
transform those traditions in the light of the Christ event and
increase their applicability to the community he addresses.
Furthermore, in accord with Louths observations about the
communal shape of early Christian mystical praxis, Hebrews
heavenly sanctuary mysticism is decidedly a social mysticism,
one that seeks to promote and evoke a profoundly transformative
mystical experience for, and within, an entire community.
However, the communitys entry into the most holy place in the
heavenly sanctuary and visual encounter with God and his Son
should be considered an extraordinary experience, despite
Louths objections. Nevertheless, Hebrews mysticism is ultimately determinative for the everyday existence of the community.
This is especially evident in the authors exhortations to firmly
hold on to their confession (4:14; 10:23), which undoubtedly
denote an ongoing, bold, and unwavering public stance of
identification with Jesus the Son of God.
83
16
Thomas H. Tobin, The Creation of Man: Philo and the History of
Interpretation (CBQMS 14; Washington, DC: The Catholic Biblical
Association of America, 1983), p. 147. The two most common manifestations
of this belief are: (1) a temple resides at the centre of the heavens; (2) the
universe is itself structured like a temple. This latter view is evident in
Qumrans Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, as Christopher R. A.
Morray-Jones, The Temple Within, in DeConick (ed.), Paradise Now, pp.
14578, at p. 156, observes: The temple is not in heaven; its seven sanctuaries are the heavens.
17
On the relation of the Qumran texts to Hebrews, see Eric F. Mason, You
Are a Priest Forever: Second Temple Messianism and the Priestly Christology of
the Epistle to the Hebrews (STDJ 74; Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2008). Though
Mason acknowledges that no textual dependence of Hebrews on a Qumran
document can be produced, he identifies three shared similarities: In both a
priestly figure is discussed in the context of a Davidic figure . . . Both present
priests appointed to their eschatological duty by Gods divine decree. Both
present priests oVering an eschatological sacrifice of atonement (pp. 193, 197).
18
Jesus priestly occupation as an intercessor is within the compass of New
Testament belief as well (see John 17:9; Rom. 8:34; 1 John 2:1).
actual temple stands at the centre of the heavenly realm; such

belief is apparent in a wide variety of ancient texts, including the
Hebrew Bible (Isa. 6; Ps. 11:4), Second Temple Jewish texts (1
En. 14:823; T. Levi 3:4; Wis. 9:8; 4Q4007; Philo, Mos. 2.66108;
Josephus, Ant. 3:17987), the New Testament (Rev. 3:12; 7:15;
11:19; 14:15, 17; 15:58; 16:1, 17), as well as the works of Cicero
(Resp. 3.14) and Seneca (Ben. 7.7.3). Belief in a temple-shaped
heavenly realm reflects a phenomenon common during the
Hellenistic and Roman periods in which temples were seen as
symbols of the cosmos and vice versa.16
Hebrews high priest Christology is similarly pervasive, appearing throughout the word of exhortation, and most prominently in chapters 710. Eschatological high priestly figures
occasionally appear in Second Temple Jewish texts (T. Levi
8:1117; 18:114; T. Gad 8:1; T. Jos. 19:11), particularly the
literature of the Qumran community (1QS 9:11; 1QSa 2:1213;
1QSb 34; CD 12:23 13:1; 14:19; 19:1011; 20:1; 4Q174; 4Q175;
11QMelch).17 A handful of other Hebrew Bible and Second
Temple texts depict angels engaging in priestly activities,
including heavenly liturgy, intercession, and sacrifice (Isa. 6;
Jub. 2:2; 31:14; 1 En.; T. Levi 3:46). The prevalent New
Testament portrayal of Jesus death as a sacrificial self-oVering
should also be considered a possible influence (Luke 24:1420;
Rom. 3:245; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 5:2; 1 Pet. 2:24; 1 John 2:2).18
The central purpose motivating Hebrews elaborate priestly
Christology, and its attendant heavenly locale, is found in the
authors hortatory proclamation of the experiential, soteriological
84
19
Though see Qumrans fragmentary Purification Liturgies, 4Q414 and
4Q512. Barnabas Lindars, The Rhetorical Structure of Hebrews, New
Testament Studies 35 (1989), pp. 382406, at p. 403, has famously pointed to
the communitys perceived need for conclusive atonement as motivating the
authors high priest Christology: It is a matter of requirements. Atonement
requires the ministry of the high priest: Jesus is a high priest. Atonement
requires the death of a sacrificial victim to release the blood: Jesus died.
Atonement requires the sprinkling of blood: Jesus blood was shed.
Atonement requires the entry of the high priest through the veil into the
holy of holies: Jesus passed through the veil of his flesh to enter into the
presence of God in heaven. The author simply selects details which the readers are certain to respect as central to the Jewish understanding of atonement
and which can be readily applied to the death of Jesus.
20
Other benefits connected to Jesus cultic achievement: merciful representation (2:1618; 4:1516; 9:24; 10:21) and intercession (7:25); a new covenant
(7:22; 8:6, 1012; 10:9, 1617; 13:20); eternal redemption (9:12, 15); and a
hope for final salvation (2:10; 5:9; 7:25; 9:28). On Hebrews cultic soteriology,
see my Eschatology and Exhortation, pp. 185201.
21
Jesus three days in the tomb are apparently sidestepped in the authors
narrative world. Concerning 10:12, David M. Hay, Glory at the Right Hand:
Psalm 110 in Early Christianity (SBLMS 18; Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 1973),
p. 152, observes: The author comes closer here than anywhere else in his
epistle to exhibiting death and heavenly session as a single theological event.
benefits of Jesus sacrifice, which are primarily intended to

facilitate access to God in the heavenly sanctuary. Many, if not
most, of these soteriological benefits are directly related to the
Jewish cultus, though a cultic soteriology of this detail is without
parallel in Second Temple literature.19 In 9:11, the author
programmatically describes Christ as the high priest of the
good things that have come, and those good things that the
community has already experienced include: atonement for sins
(1:3; 2:17; 7:27; 9:26, 28; 10:12, 1718); purification of an unclean
conscience (9:14; 10:22); sanctification (2:11; 10:10, 14, 22, 29;
13:12); and perfection (10:14).20
The importance of atonement for sins for the author is
indicated by its appearances in his most august and epochal
statements, of which 9:26 is unrivalled: Jesus has appeared once
for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of
himself. Besides its association with Christs inauguration of the
eschaton, atonement is also succinctly joined to his enthronement
on two occasions: when he had oVered an eternally valid sacrifice
for sins he sat down at the right hand of God (10:12; see also
1:3).21 The first explicit designation of Jesus as high priest is also
closely accompanied by a reference to his atoning sacrifice for
sins (3l0skomai, 2:17). That the author links his most important
christological convictionsthe inauguration of the eschaton,
Christs enthronement, and his heavenly high priesthoodto
85
22
On conscience, see Philip Bosman, Conscience in Philo and Paul: A
Conceptual History of the Synoida Word Group (WUNT 2.166; Tubingen:
Mohr Siebeck, 2003); C. A. Pierce, Conscience in the New Testament (SBT
15; London: SCM, 1955).
23
There is some ambiguity as to whether the act of being made holy is
completed or ongoing. In 10:10 it is presented as an accomplished fact: we
have been sanctified (3giasmnoi 2smn). In 2:10 and 10:14 the community is
identified as those being sanctified (o3 3giaz0menoi/to1" 3giazomnou"), thus
suggesting an ongoing process. Otto Michel (Der Brief an die Hebraer:
bersetzt und erklart [6th edn., KEK 13; Gottingen: Vandenhoeck &
U
Ruprecht, 1966], p. 341) and Harold W. Attridge (A Commentary on the
Epistle to the Hebrews [Hermeneia; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1989], pp. 2801)
see sanctification as a process. Erich Grasser, An Die Hebraer (EKKNT 17/
13; Zurich: Benziger and Neukirchen-Vluyen: Neukirchener, 19907), vol. 2,
p. 231, detects a now not yet tension in the two tenses of 3gi0zw. Though
Christians already possess das ganze Heil, aber noch nicht das letzte Ziel
erreicht. Insofern sind sie 3giasmnoi und 3giaz0menoi zugleich.
the communitys subjective experiences of forgiveness and reconciliation should not escape our notice.
In two passages a purified conscience is said to aVord true
worship and confident access to God. The community has had
their consciences purified (kaqar0zw) from dead works (9:14),
their hearts sprinkled clean (r&ant0zw) from an evil conscience,
and their bodies washed (lo0w) with pure (kaqar0") water
(10:22). The strategic importance of these two passages within
their respective contexts, 9:114 and 10:1923, both of which
focus almost entirely on confident access to God, surely indicates
the authors confidence that the community had already experienced this decisive cleansing in the innermost depths of their
psyche.22
The most commonly encountered cultic soteriological concept,
sanctification (3gi0zw, 2:11; 10:10, 14, 29; 13:12), probably
represents the next stage in the process begun with purification/
cleansing. After having being cleansed of impurity, the community
has acquired an attribute, holiness, which renders them capable
of confidently relating to a holy God (see 12:10, 14). The notion of
consecration, being dedicated to God and belonging to him, is
also inherent in sanctification, as the work of sanctification
uniquely joins the community to both the Father and the Son:
For the one who sanctifies and those being sanctified all have one
Father (2:11; see also 10:10; 13:12).23 And like atonement for
sins, every occurrence of this particular subjective experience is
connected to a christological conviction, in this case, Jesus
self-oVering.
Perhaps the most complex and elusive soteriological experience
predicated of the community is perfection. On only one occasion,
86
24
See David G. Peterson, Hebrews and Perfection: An Examination of the
Concept of Perfection in the Epistle to the Hebrews (SNTSMS 47; Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1982), p. 149: The perfect tense of tetele0wken
emphasizes that the sacrifice of Christ has a permanent result for believers.
Thus, 10:14 locates this perfecting in the past with respect to its accomplishment and in the present with respect to its enjoyment (pp. 152, 167).
25
On Jesus perfection denoting his resurrection, see David M. MoYtt, If
Another Priest Arises: Jesus Resurrection and the High Priestly Christology
of Hebrews, in Richard Bauckham, Daniel Driver, Trevor Hart, and Nathan
MacDonald (eds.), A Cloud of Witnesses: The Theology of Hebrews in its
Ancient Contexts (LNTS 387; London and New York: T & T Clark, 2008),
pp. 6879, esp. pp. 68, 746.
26
So David Peterson, Possessed by God: A New Testament Theology of
Sanctification and Holiness (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1995), p. 36: The
terminology of perfection is used to proclaim the fulfillment or consummation
of men and women in a permanent, direct and personal relationship with
God. So also id., Hebrews and Perfection, p. 167.
10:14, is the community said to be perfected: For by a single

oVering he has perfected (telei0w) for all time those who are
sanctified.24 Though Jesus perfection may relate to his resurrection,25 the communitys perfection probably reflects the
creation and solidification of their identity, that is, their adoption
into the family of God as siblings of the Son (2:1113).26
Though appearing in a segmentary manner, the logic of the
authors cultic soteriology may be pieced together into a coherent
narrative, with each cultic soteriological concept occupying a
specific place in this hortatory narrative. Jesus atoning sacrifice
undergirds and empowers this entire process. It has provided a
cleansing from sin and the removal of anythingeven a defiled
consciencethat might hinder a relationship with God. The
sanctification of the community, accomplished through the work of
Jesus, 3 3gi0zwn, confers a state of holiness necessary for
interaction with a holy God in the most holy place. Jesus also
consecrates his siblings, transferring them into the possession of
God. The perfection of the community is realized as they follow
Jesus their pioneer and perfecter into the heavenly holy place and
draw near to God, where they actualize their adoption in the
family of God through a confession of Jesus as the Son of God
(4:1416; 10:1923).
Yet one more proof of the communitys subjective experience of
the benefits of Christs cultic achievement is evident in 10:15a,
which appears to be a quotation formula prefacing an abbreviated
reiteration of Jeremiahs promised new covenant (10:1517).
However, this phrase, And the Holy Spirit bears witness to us
(marture8 de; 3m8n ka1 t1 pneAma t1 6gion, 10:15a), does not
necessarily introduce the quotation from Jeremiah. Instead, that
87
III. LET US DRAW NEAR: HEAVENLY ASCENT OR AN EARTHLY

MANIFESTATION OF THE HEAVENLY SANCTUARY?
Direct access to God was often perceived, both in the biblical
tradition and in Second Temple Judaism, as fairly restricted and
somewhat exceptional. Perhaps the most notable exception to this
27
Steven Motyer, The Temple in Hebrews: Is It There?, in T. Desmond
Alexander and Simon Gathercole (eds.), Heaven on Earth: The Temple in
Biblical Theology (Carlisle, PA: Paternoster, 2004), pp. 17789, at p. 186.
28
Ibid. See also 10:13, where the author assumes the worshippers in the
Jewish cultus are capable of discerning their defilement. Their enduring consciousness of sins is reflected in their ongoing sacrifices.
29
This is comparable to Pauls appeal to pneumatological mystical experience in Gal 3:25: The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you
receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you
heard? Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending
with the flesh? Did you experience so much for nothing (tosaAta 2p0qete e2kI),
if, in fact it was for nothing? Well then, does God supply you with the Spirit
and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law, or by your
believing what you heard? Hans Dieter Betz, Galatians: A Commentary on
Pauls Letter to the Churches in Galatia (Hermeneia; Philadelphia: Fortress,
1979), p. 129, sees Gal 3:15 as an example of inductive reasoning, which
Cicero defines as a form of argument that leads the person with whom one
is arguing to give assent to certain undisputed facts; through this assent it
wins their approval of a doubtful proposition (De inv. 1.31.51). According to
Betz, Pauls argument is based on strongest of all possible defense argumentsundeniable evidence. This undeniable evidence is the gift of the
Spirit . . . an ecstatic experience. In fact, supernatural evidence was considered,
by at least some rhetoricians, evidence of the highest order (p. 130). Betz
here appeals to Quintilian, Inst. 5.7.35, though this text is somewhat ambiguous, as he admits at the end of his n. 25 on p. 130.
function is performed by the following phrase, for after saying

(10:15b), whose subject, the Lord, is found within the quote
itself (10:16). The witness of the Holy Spirit then, according to
Steven Motyer, pertains to the tangible experience of the new
covenants promised benefits: inner renewal and forgiveness of
sin.27 Motyer also believes the reach of the Spirits testimony
would almost certainly extend throughout the greater context, and
include the cleansing of the conscience.28 In addition to the
soteriological benefits found in 10:1014, it is quite probable the
Spirits witness would extend into 10:1923, providing preparatory confirmation of the promise of access. The authors exhortation there to draw near and enter the heavenly sanctuary would
then entail a slightly more manageable leap of faith for the
community if they allow the Spirits testimony to recall and
re-enact their forgiveness, cleansing, and sanctification.29
88
30
Though see Isa. 14:1221, which may be viewed as a critique of the
hubristic notion of a heavenly ascent. On Elijahs ascent, J. Edward Wright
remarks: The idea of a human actually joining the divine realm would have
been unimaginable to the biblical tradents responsible for the earliest versions
of the book of Kings (Whither Elijah? The Ascension of Elijah in Biblical
and Extrabiblical Traditions, in Esther G. Chazon, David Satran, and Ruth
A. Clements [eds.], Things Revealed: Studies in Early Jewish and Christian
Literature in Honor of Michael E. Stone [JSJSup 89; Leiden and Boston:
Brill, 2004], pp. 12338, at p. 123). Rather, his ascent to the skies was
understood by them as a journey to the mystical ends of the earth to join
the antediluvian immortal such as Enoch and Utnaphishtim (p. 130).
Christopher Rowland, The Open Heaven: A Study of Apocalyptic in Judaism
and Early Christianity (New York: Crossroad and London: S.P.C.K., 1982), pp.
7980, draws attention to the apparent development of a cosmological divide in
the Second Temple period, in which the biblical belief in Gods immanence
was replaced by a much sharper division . . . between the heavenly world and
the world of humanity. This change made it necessary for anyone who would
enter the immediate presence of God to embark on a journey through the
heavenly world, in order to reach God himself. Martha Himmelfarb, Ascent
to Heaven in Jewish and Christian Apocalypses (Oxford and New York: Oxford
University Press, 1993), pp. 1113, attributes the divide to the desacralization
of the Jerusalem temple, which was no longer considered a fit abode for God.
This trend, begun in Ezekiel, underlies the ideology of Enochs ascent, as a
journey to the true temple in heaven (p. 13).
31
Concerning 14:13, George W. E. Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1: A Commentary
on the Book of Enoch Chapters 136; 81108 (Hermeneia; Minneapolis:
Fortress, 2001), p. 263, observes: To ascend to the heavenly temple is a
restriction, and providing a helpful parallel to Hebrews calls to

draw near God in the heavenly sanctuary, are the accounts of
visionary ascent in ancient Jewish mystical texts. These remarkable texts typically describe the ascent of a legendary hero of
Israels distant past into the heavenly realm. They also emphasize
the overwhelming majesty of the heavenly realm and its occupants, and to a corresponding degree the diYculties the hero
encounters in attempting to reach their heavenly goal.
Though traces of a heavenly ascent are apparent in the Hebrew
Bible (Deut. 30:12; 2 Kgs. 2:114; Prov. 30:14), it is in 1 En.
14:823 that we encounter the oldest explicit account.30 Enoch
recounts what he saw in a vision in my dream: Behold, clouds in
the vision were summoning me, and the mists were crying out to
me; and shooting stars and lightning flashes were hastening me
and speeding me along; and winds in my vision made me fly up to
and lifted me upward and brought me to heaven (14:8). Enoch
first enters a great house that was built of white marble and
which was hot like fire and cold like ice, and devoid of the
pleasure of life (14:10, 13). He reports that fear enveloped me
and trembling seized me (14:13).31 After falling upon his face
89
cause for sheer terror rather than joy. This is no visit to the paradise of
delight.
32
In 15:1 God again tells Enoch to draw near to me, possibly allowing
Enoch to enter the heavenly throne room. However, Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1, p.
270, believes it instead represents a repetition of the earlier command to draw
near (14:24), repeated in 15:1 for the sake of emphasis. Nickelsburg also
notes that some textual variants of 14:23 aVord some angels, the holy ones
of the Watchers, more immediate access to God (p. 265).
33
Ibid., p. 265. The Book of Parables, 1 En. 3771, contains two ascent
accounts, in chs. 39 and 701. The latter account is noteworthy for its emphasis on angels, describing seraphim, cherubim, ophanim, and countless
angelsa hundred thousand times a hundred thousand, ten million times
ten million (71:78). It also provides a vivid description of God, the
Antecedent of Time: His head is white and pure like wool and his garment
is indescribable (71:10). In response to this sight, Enoch fell on his face, his
whole body mollified and his spirit transformed (71:11). Annette Yoshiko
Reeds analysis of 1 En. 616 also emphasizes the extraordinary nature of
Enochs ascent (Heavenly Ascent, Angelic Descent, and the Transmission of
Knowledge in 1 Enoch 616, in Raanan S. Boustan and Annette Yoshiko
Reed [eds.], Heavenly Realms and Earthly Realities in Late Antique Religions
[Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004], pp. 4766). She identifies the
power of knowledge and the proper boundaries of epistemology as the primary concerns of 1 En. 616: the Watchers violated the proper epistemological boundaries between heaven and earth, as evidenced by the havoc wreaked
by their illicit revelations to antediluvian humankind (p. 66). Enochs ascent
and transmission of special knowledge is solely attributable to his unique
status (pp. 48, 66). The account of his ascent is therefore not intended to
function as a model for any contemporary practice of ascent-mysticism
(p. 66).
he saw a vision of a second house . . . built with tongues of fire

(14:1415). Though 14:21 states that neither angels nor humans
are capable of seeing God, Enoch sees the lofty throne of the
Great Glory (14:18). In 14:24 Enoch admits until now I was on
my face, prostrate, and trembling. After being commanded to
draw near, he was then lifted up, by either God or one of the
holy ones, and carried to the doorway leading to the divine throne
room (14:25). Since this doorway also represented a boundary for
angels, we can assume that it also marked Enochs final destination
(14:212).32 Though certainly remarkable for its purported
achievement, this ascent account ultimately projects an image of
a God who is totally transcendent, overpowering in his glory,
and unapproachable to humans and most angels.33
Another notable account of a heavenly ascent is found in T. Levi
2:55:7. While in a dream, the visionary was shown the open
heavens and commanded by an angel of the Lord to enter the
first heaven (2:67). From there he could see the second heaven,
which was brighter and more luminous (2:8). After telling him
to not be amazed at this, Levis angelic guide then promised he
90
34
Himmelfarb, Ascent to Heaven, p. 32.

On these textual issues, see Marinus de Jonge, Studies on the Testaments
of the Twelve Patriarchs: Text and Interpretation (SVTP 3; Leiden: Brill,
1975), p. 253. A single heaven is also presupposed in 4Q213a (Aramaic
Levi) 1:1518: Then I saw visions . . . in the appearance of this vision, I saw
[the] heav[en opened, and I saw a mountain] underneath me, high, reaching
up to heaven . . . to me the gates of heaven, and an angel [said to me: Enter
Levi]. On the origins of the seven heavens motif, see Adela Yarbro Collins,
The Seven Heavens in Jewish and Christian Apocalypses, in John J. Collins
and Michael Fishbane (eds.), Death, Ecstasy, and Other Worldly Journeys
(Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1995), pp. 5993. She believes it was probably borrowed from Babylonian tradition by Jewish apocalyptic writers due to the magical properties of the number. The tradition of
the sabbath and the motif of the seven archangels may also have reinforced the
choice of this motif (p. 86).
36
See Robert A. Kugler, From Patriarch to Priest: The Levi-Priestly
Tradition from Aramaic Levi to the Testament of Levi (Early Judaism and its
Literature 9; Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1996), pp. 181, 199200. See also
Paula R. Gooder, Only the Third Heaven? 2 Corinthians 12.110 and Heavenly
Ascent (LNTS 313; New York and London: T & T Clark, 2006), p. 53: The
image given by the text is that Levi remained in the first or second heaven
and looked upwards through the opened gates of heaven to the place where
God dwells.
35
would see a greater sight, the third heaven, in which he would

mount and stand near the Lord (s1 2gg1" kur0ou sts:, 2:910).
After describing the contents and occupants of each of the three
heavens, the angel opened the gates of heaven and Levi saw the
Holy Most High sitting on the throne (5:1). The purpose of the
ascent is then revealed, as God commissions Levi to be the priest
of the earthly temple (see also 8:119). This account is unique in
that it fails to note any of the ascenders emotions, apart from his
amazement (3:9). Though angels tremble in the presence of the
Great Glory in the holy of holies, the visionary of T. Levi appears
to be fearless and unbowed throughout the account. This is
perhaps attributable to the insensitivity of humans, as Levis
angelic guide infers (3:10), not because of his priestly-angelic
transformation, as Martha Himmelfarb contends.34 Another point
of contention surrounds the ultimate destination of Levis ascent,
an issue complicated by the composite nature of the text. The
initial account of the ascent, in 2:510, describes three heavens
(supplemented by four more by a later hand in 2:9, 3:18), while
5:1 assumes a single heavenly realm.35 The initial ascent account,
which is apparently a later addition, may represent an attempt to
distance the visionary from the highest heaven, limiting his ascent
to either the first or second heaven, and aVording him only a
vision of the highest heaven.36 Nevertheless, in its final form Levi
91
37
So de Jonge, Studies on the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, pp. 2534.

On Philos noetic ascent, see Alan Segal, Heavenly Ascent in Hellenistic
Judaism, Early Christianity, and their Environments, ANRW 2.23.2 (1980),
pp. 13548; Celia Deutsch, Visions, Mysteries, and the Interpretive Task:
Text Work and Religious Experience in Philo and Clement, in Frances
Flannery, Colleen Shantz, and Rodney A. Werline (eds.), Experientia, vol. 1:
Inquiry into Religious Experience in Early Judaism and Christianity (SBLSymS
40; Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature, 2008), pp. 83103, esp. pp. 89
91; and my essay, Seeing God in Philo of Alexandria: Means, Methods, and
Mysticism (forthcoming).
39
Though some have regarded Philos account of the Therapeutae as fictional in nature, most consider it to reflect some degree of reality. For a
thorough treatment of this issue, see Joan E. Taylor, Jewish Women
Philosophers of First-Century Alexandria: Philos Therapeutae Reconsidered
(Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), pp. 819; Mary
Ann Beavis, Philos Therapeutai: Philosophers Dream or Utopian
Construction? Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 14.1 (2004), pp.
3042.
40
See the discussion in Philip S. Alexander, The Mystical Texts: Songs of
the Sabbath Sacrifice and Related Manuscripts (Library of Second Temple
Studies 61; London and New York: T & T Clark, 2006), pp. 56, 11, 936,
11019. Though most scholars see some sort of heavenly ascent operative in
the Sabbath Songs, critiques have been made. See Lawrence H. SchiVmann,
Merkavah Speculation at Qumran: The 4Q Serek Shirot Olat ha-Shabbat, in
Jehuda Reinharz and Daniel Swetschinki (eds.), Mystics, Philosophers, and
Politicians: Essays in Jewish Intellectual History in Honor of Alexander
Altmann (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1982), pp. 1547, at p. 45:
We have a description of the goings on in heaven. There is no ascent or
guided tour. The sect simply describes what can be known from its vantage
point. The information comes from an exegesis of the merkavah visions of
Ezekiel and related biblical texts. Therefore, there is no incubation or preparation for a mystical journey. The songs of praise in our text are those
uttered on high. They are not intended . . . as a means to bring about ecstasy
or mystical experience.
38
acquires immediate access to the heavenly temple of the Holy

Most High (5:1).37
Mystical ascent figures prominently in Philos accounts of
his own praxis (Spec. 3.16; Opif. 6971; Plant. 237), his exegesis
of biblical theophanies (Abr. 701; Praem. 3640; Mos. 1.1589),
and his description of the community of Therapeutae.38 He
depicts that ascetic community as being taught from the beginning always to see and desire the vision of the Existent One and
ascend beyond the sense perceptible sun (Contempl. 11).39
Though heavenly ascent may be implied in the Songs of
the Sabbath Sacrifice (and 4Q491), since the angels are in
heaven, and heaven is above the earth, it is never explicitly
indicated.40 The Qumran community may even have viewed
themselves as simply stepping into and entering another dimension, one existing in parallel with, and in near proximity to, the
92
earthly sphere. And in contrast to 1 En. 14:823 and T. Levi 2:5

5:7, in which the visionary is said to be dreaming when the ascent
occurs, in both Qumrans Sabbath Songs and Philos accounts
ascent occurs in a waking state.42 However, both Philo and the
Qumran texts share with 1 En. 14:823 and T. Levi 2:55:7 a sense
of the extraordinary nature of the ascent. Philo repeatedly
emphasizes the rigorous eVort and spiritual acumen of the
noetic mystic (Somn. 2.2312; Spec. 3.16; Mut. 824; Praem.
3640; Plant. 235; Gig. 2931), as well as the frequency with
which the ascent ends in failure (see esp. Opif. 6971).43
Furthermore, both the Qumran texts and Philos characterization
of the Therapeutae emphasize the ascetic lifestyle and spiritual
discipline of their respective communities.
In the New Testament, a post-resurrection ascent of Jesus to
heaven is mentioned a few times (Luke 24:51; Acts 1:911; John
20:17).44 An ascent may be recounted in Revelation, as the
authors heavenly visions are preceded by what appears to be an
41
41
See Alexander, The Mystical Texts, 11819. Contending against the idea
that the community perceived themselves as transcending the earthly sphere,
Raanan Abusch appeals to 4Q400 2:68, which asks: How shall we be considered [among] them? How shall our priesthood [be considered] in their
dwellings? And [our] holiness their holiness? [What] is the oVering of our
tongues of dust [compared] with the knowledge of the go[ds]? He believes
this fragment should be read as an explicit polemical rejection of the possibility of full human participation in the angelic sphere (Sevenfold Hymns in
the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice and the Hekhalot Literature: Formalism,
Hierarchy and the Limits of Human Participation, in James R. Davila [ed.],
The Dead Sea Scrolls as Background to Postbiblical Judaism and Early
Christianity [STDJ 64; Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2003], pp. 22047, at p.
237). However, the text could just as easily be read as an expression of amazement and praise oVered in response to the communitys unlikely and undeserved inclusion in the heavenly sphere. This is the more probable
reading given the unambiguous assertions of the belief they were participating
in the angelic liturgy, which appear in two of the most important texts in the
Qumran corpus: 1QS (11:78) and 1QH (11:213; 19:1113).
42
On the role of dreams in early Jewish mystical texts, see Frances
Flannery-Dailey, Lessons on Early Jewish Apocalypticism and Mysticism
from Dream Literature, in DeConick (ed.), Paradise Now, pp. 23147. She
notes how dreams erase normal spatial, temporal, and ontological lines of
reality (p. 236). This transcendence of the boundaries of time, space, and
being is essential since God lacks these constraints (p. 241).
43
See my essays, Seeing God in Philo of Alexandria: The Logos, the
Powers, or the Existent One?, pp. 2547; Seeing God in Philo of
Alexandria: Means, Methods, and Mysticism (forthcoming).
44
On the textual issues of Luke 24:51, see John Nolland, Luke 18:3524:53
(WBC 35C; Dallas, TX: Word, 1993), p. 1224; Arie W. Zwiep, The Text of
the Ascension Narratives (Luke 24.5053; Acts 1.12, 911), New Testament
Studies 42 (1996), pp. 21944. The phrase And he was carried up to heaven
93
(ka1 2nefreto e2" t1n o2ran0n) is missing from Sinaiticus and Codex Bezae, but
is found in the original reading of Sinaiticus and P75.
45
This passage has provoked an enormous body of literature; major studies
include James D. Tabor, Things Unutterable: Pauls Ascent to Paradise in its
Greco-Roman, Judaic, and Early Christian Contexts (Lanham, MD: University
Press of America, 1986); Christopher R. A. Morray-Jones, Paradise Revisited
(2 Cor 12:112): The Jewish Mystical Background of Pauls Apostolate,
Harvard Theological Review 86 (1993), pp. 177217; 26592; Gooder, Only
the Third Heaven?
46
James D. Tabor, Heaven, Ascent to, in Anchor Bible Dictionary, vol. 3,
pp. 914, at p. 93. Perhaps due to the essentially Platonic orientation of his
noetic ascent accounts, Philo is more often than not excluded from discussions
of Jewish heavenly ascents (e.g. Tabor, Things Unutterable; Himmelfarb, Ascent
to Heaven; Gooder, Only the Third Heaven?). A notable exception is Segal,
Heavenly Ascent in Hellenistic Judaism, pp. 13548.
47
These issues are addressed in detail by Murray J. Harris, The Second
Epistle to the Corinthians: A Commentary on the Greek Text (NIGTC; Grand
Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2005), pp. 82769.
48
Gooder, Only the Third Heaven?, pp. 1902, 20015.
invitation to ascend to heaven: Come up here (4:1). The most

remarkable heavenly ascent in the New Testament, however,
appears in 2 Cor. 12:110. Though there is some ambiguity, Paul
appears to be describing his own experience.45 If so, then it is the
only firsthand autobiographical account of a heavenly ascent
from the Second Temple period.46 A number of other ambiguities
and anomalies occur in the account. Paul is not certain if the
ascent was bodily, or spiritual (12:3). Though he is caught up
into the third heaven (12:2), and then paradise (12:4), a vision
of God and his throne is curiously absent. Paul hears both
unutterable words (12:4) and a clear revelatory message: My
strength is made perfect in weakness (12:9). Finally, no mention is
made of a reaction of fear, despite an apparent encounter with
Satan (12:7).47 Paula Gooder believes 2 Cor. 12:110 actually
reports a failed ascent, and the anomalies are intended to subvert
the commonly held expectations associated with a heavenly
ascent.48 The account thus functions within the rhetoric of the
larger context, in which Paul demonstrates the wisdom of Jesus
revelatory word: My strength is made manifest in human
weakness.
These accounts of heavenly ascent are extraordinary, and amply
justify our earlier assertion that open access to God in his heavenly
temple was commonly perceived as exceptional, if not even
impossible. That the community also shared this perception is
perhaps evident in the authors repeated appeals to their soteriological experiences, as well as his recurring claims of the ready
access to the heavenly sanctuary they presently possess (2:910;
94
49
See Mathias Rissi, Die Theologie des Hebraerbriefs: Ihre Verankerung in der
Situation des Verfassers und seiner Leser (WUNT 41; Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck,
1987), p. 97: Mit dem Nahen zu Gott stehen wir vor der erstaunlichsten
Deutung der Heilsaneignung im Neuen Testament. Robert Jewett, Letter to
Pilgrims: A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews (New York: Pilgrim
Press, 1981), p. 223, contends the perfect tense you have approached in
12:22 is one of the most dramatic and radical statements of realized eschatology in the New Testament. Similar appraisals of the entry exhortations are
oVered by Franz Laub, Bekenntnis und Auslegung: Die paranetische Funktion
der Christologie im Hebraerbrief (Biblische Untersuchungen 15; Regensburg:
Pustet, 1980), p. 267; Dunnill, Covenant and Sacrifice, p. 140.
50
This reflects, in part, the long-held scholarly practice of minimizing ancient Jewish literary accounts of mystical experience, particularly visionary
apocalyptic texts, treating them as either the product of social, political, and/
or economic forces, or purely literary fictions based on biblical traditions. This
practice has lately come under criticism, perhaps beginning with Rowlands
The Open Heaven (see esp. pp. 6170, 21447) and Michael E. Stone,
Apocalyptic, Vision, or Hallucination?, Milla Wa Milla 14 (1974), pp. 47
56; reprinted in Selected Studies in Pseudepigrapha and Apocrypha with Special
Reference to the Armenian Tradition (SVTP 9; Leiden: Brill 1991), pp. 41928;
and more recently, id., A Reconsideration of Apocalyptic Visions, Harvard
Theological Review 96 (2003), pp. 16780. An analysis of this development is
oVered by Crispin Fletcher-Louis, Religious Experience and the Apocalypses,
in Experientia, vol. 1, pp. 12544.
51
Those who contend drawing near represents prayer: David A. deSilva,
Perseverance in Gratitude: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on the Epistle to the
Hebrews (Grand Rapids, MI and Cambridge: Eerdmans, 2000), p. 329; Craig
R. Koester, Gods Purposes and Christs Saving Work according to Hebrews,
in Jan G. van der Watt (ed.), Salvation in the New Testament: Perspectives on
Soteriology (NovTSup 121; Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2005), pp. 36187, at
p. 372. Arguing it reflects prayer and worship: Rissi, Die Theologie des
Hebraerbrief, p. 97; John M. Scholer, Proleptic Priests: Priesthood in the
Epistle to the Hebrews (JSNTSup 49; SheYeld: SheYeld Academic Press,
1991), p. 11; Hermut Lohr, Umkehr und Sunde im Hebraerbrief (BZNW 73;
Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1994), p. 253; James W. Thompson,
Hebrews (Paideia; Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008), p. 105. Marie
Isaacs, Sacred Space: An Approach to the Theology of the Epistle to the Hebrews
4:3; 7:19, 25; 11:6). These many appeals to their experience and
the claims of open access are on four occasions met with what is
perhaps the most extraordinary oVer of mystical experience in the
New Testament: the exhortations to draw near (prosrcomai) and
enter the heavenly sanctuary (4:1416; 6:1820; 10:1923; 12:22
4).49 These calls to enter the heavenly throne room have been
largely overlooked, misinterpreted, and/or underinterpreted.50
Though typically viewed as denoting prayer or worship, or
representing drawing near, but not actually entering the heavenly
sanctuary, these exhortations are in fact essential to the authors
hortatory eVort, and therefore must represent a real and substantial access to the heavenly realm and Gods enthroned presence.51
95
A number of factors substantiate this claim:
(JSNTSup 73; SheYeld: SheYeld Academic Press, 1992), pp. 185, 21819,
believes drawing near represents an almost entirely non-experiential act of
looking to Jesus, and aspiring to a glory similar to his. Those restricting
the access to drawing near, but not actually entering: Scholer, Proleptic
Priests, pp. 11, 1445, 149, 201; Isaacs, Sacred Space, p. 219; Lohr, Umkehr
und Sunde, p. 269; David A. deSilva, Entering Gods Rest: Eschatology and
the Socio-Rhetorical Strategy of Hebrews, Trinity Journal 21 (2000), pp. 25
43, at p. 28; id., Perseverance in Gratitude, p. 337. See also Luke Timothy
Johnson, Hebrews (NTL; Louisville, KY and London: Westminster John
Knox, 2006), p. 131: So convincingly does Hebrews evoke the imagery of a
physical pilgrimage that a reader is constantly tempted to think of entering
as a physical-spatial reality, when in fact Hebrews speaks of an internal, moral
transformation of persons. It is not a journey through space but a moral and
spiritual dedication.
1. the communitys actual presence in the heavenly sanctuary would represent the climax of the authors comparative critique of the tabernacle/temple cultus. The
exhortation to enter the holy place in 10:1923 constitutes the conclusion to a lengthy argument begun in 9:6.
The impeded access frustrating the eYcacy of the
Levitical cult (9:611; 10:14) has been unfavourably
contrasted with the eYcacious entry of Christ (6:1820;
7:19, 25; 9:1214, 24; 10:1114) and the open access he
now provides. This access must qualitatively supersede
that of the Jewish cultus (which once a year aVorded the
high priest entry into the holy of holies), disallowing the
possibility that the entry terminology refers metaphorically to prayer or worship. Furthermore, an entirely spiritualized entry is no match for the vivid and tangible
cultic experience of the participants in the tabernacle/
temple cultus (9:110, 1821; 10:14).
2. The authors calls to boldly enter the heavenly sanctuary (parrhs0a, 4:16; 10:19), in full confidence . . . without
wavering (plhrofor0a, 10:22; 2klin", 10:23), provide an
exact rhetorical foil to his graphic depictions of disobedience, which repeatedly employ the language of movement to represent rebellious withdrawal from God:
drift away (2:1); flee away from (2:3; 12:25); turn
away (3:12); fail to reach (4:1; 12:15); fall (4:11);
fall away (6:6); neglecting to meet together (10:25);
shrink back (10:38); turn away (12:25); and carried
away (13:9).
96
52
Eschatology and Exhortation, pp. 21630; Confession of the Son of God
in Hebrews, New Testament Studies 53 (2007), pp. 11429; Confession of the
Son of God in the Exordium of Hebrews, Journal for the Study of the New
Testament 30 (2008), pp. 43753.
53
That the two passages are each composed of two separate LXX quotations further strengthens our claim that the shift from second-person to
third-person address was deliberately crafted. Heb. 1:5 draws upon Ps. 2:7
and 2 Sam. 7:14, while Heb. 2:1213 quotes Ps. 22:22 (LXX Ps. 21:22) and
Isa. 8:1718.
3. Most significantly, as I have argued at length elsewhere,

these entry exhortations are essential to the authors primary hortatory goal: the communitys participation in a
divine adoption ceremony, which begins with a dramatic
enactment of the Sons exaltation (chapters 1 and 2),
prominently features mutual confessions of familial relatedness exchanged between the Father (1:5) and the
Son (2:1213), and which depicts the Son conferring
family membership on the community (2:1213).52 The
presence of the community in this drama is perhaps
implied by the manner in which the Fathers and
Sons declarations are presented. After the Father directly addresses the exalted Son in 1:5: You are my Son;
today I have begotten you, he speaks of the Son in the
third person: I will be his Father, and he will be my
Son. The Sons response, dramatically enacted in 2:12
13, follows the same pattern: I will proclaim your name
to my brothers and sisters, in the midst of the congregation I will praise you . . . I will put my trust in
him . . . Here am I and the children whom God has
given me. In both passages the speeches of the dramatis
personae shift from second-person to third-person address, a shift possibly inferring the communitys presence
in the heavenly sanctuary, as participants in the drama
and the objects of divine address.53 Their presence may
be explicitly indicated by the final statement of 2:13:
Here (2do0) am I and the children whom God has
given me. The ultimate goal of the authors hortatory
eVort would then be achieved in the communitys confession of Jesus as the Son of God (4:1416; 10:1923),
which is realized as they draw near and enter the heavenly sanctuary. This confession is reciprocative in nature,
responding to Jesus conferral of family membership in
2:1213, thereby actualizing their adoption into the
97
54
family of God. It is therefore truly an act of saying

the same things (3molog0a) that God (1:5) and the Son
(2:1213) have said.
54
See T. Levi 4:2: In addition to his priestly investiture, Levis ascent
results in his divine adoption.
55
Blood (aA ma) is mentioned only once before ch. 9, in 2:14. After 10:19
23, it reappears in four more key contexts: (1) in the warning of 10:269; (2)
in the panegyric of 12:224; (3) in 13:12: Jesus also suVered outside the city
gate in order to sanctify the people by his own blood; (4) and in the concluding benediction (13:20).
The most important entry passage, 10:1923, as mentioned

above, climactically concludes a lengthy discourse on the history
of access to God in his holy place. This entry exhortation is
unique, for in it the author recalls past instances of mystical
encounter and transformation in order to provoke a decisively
transformative mystical encounter between God, the Son, and the
community, during the reading/performance of his word of
exhortation. The crucial role of the blood of the sacrificial
victim in the history of access (12x: 9:1214, 1822, 25; 10:4)
carries over into 10:1923, as the blood of Jesus is twice appealed
to as aVording confident entry (10:19, 22). (1) It is the blood of
Jesus, that he himself carried into the holy place (9:12), through
the eternal Spirit (9:14), that has brought eternal redemption
(9:12) and confidence to enter/for an opening into (e2" t1n e4sodon)
the sanctuary . . . by the new and living way (3d0") that he opened
for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh) (10:1920).
(2) And like Moses sacral sprinkling (r&ant0zw) of the blood of
sacrificial animals (9:13, 19, 21) that inaugurated (2gkain0zw) the
first covenant (9:21), the inauguration (2gkain0zw) of the new
and living way into the most holy place (10:20) is available to
those whose hearts have been sprinkled (r&ant0zw) clean from an
evil conscience (10:22).55 The communitys past experience of the
psychological benefits of Jesus self-oVering is therefore accorded
an indispensable role in substantiating the extraordinary claim of
their present access to the heavenly sanctuary, wherein they will
actualize their membership in the better, second, new, and
eternal covenant (7:22; 8:68, 13; 9:15; 12:24; 13:20). The eVect
of Jesus self-oVering has presumably penetrated into the innermost depths of the communitys psyche, such that their relationship with God has undergone a fundamental change.
As to the metaphysical nature of the drawing near experience,
we are able only to speculate. Did it represent mystical ascent, as
in 1 Enoch, T. Levi, the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, 4Q491, and
98
56
Despite the exceptional nature of heavenly ascent in the Hebrew Bible
and Second Temple literature, we can be reasonably certain our author was
aware of at least the traditions of Enochs ascent, which had been circulating
for some 200 years before his time.
57
Hebrews contains more references to angels and devotes more time to the
topic than any other epistolary document in the New Testament. The most
important passage for our present discussion is the panegyric description of
Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem (12:224).
The community is there told they have come (proselhl0qate; perfect tense)
and are thus presently a part of this joyous gathering (panguri"), which is
composed of four separate ontological classes of beings: (1) God the judge of
all; (2) myriads of angels; (3) the spirits of just men made perfect, probably
representing the righteous dead; (4) and the community, the church of the
firstborn. Since it is such a short passage, 12:224 should probably not be
seen as attempting to invoke a heavenly ascent and an angelic liturgy, as is
apparently the case with Qumrans Sabbath Songs. An eschatological border
crossing has already been invoked in the two entry exhortations: 4:1416 and
10:1923. Rather, 12:224 serves to confirm and inform the convictions of
4:1416 and 10:1923: the community is truly present in the heavenly sanctuary, and they are joined there by an innumerable company of angels voicing
praise.
especially the Hekhalot literature, or the manifestation of the

heavenly sanctuary in the midst of the community, as in Isa. 6?
Hebrews depicts Jesus exaltation as involving an ascent, as he
passed through the heavens (4:14; see also 1:6; 7:26) and entered
into heaven itself (9:24). He is also said to be leading (4gw) many
children into the same glory he possesses (2:10). Most importantly, the two key entry exhortations, 4:1416 and 10:1923, both
commend an act of entry that follows and imitates Jesus own
heavenly ascent (4:14) and passage through the curtain (10:20).
Therefore, a mystical, heavenly ascent of the whole community
would appear to be envisaged.
However, a manifestation of the heavenly sanctuary on earth is
also possible. The authors brief account of Enochs taking up /
transformation (metat0qhmi / met0qesi") in 11:5 is severely
qualified by the assertion that he, along with Abel, Noah, and
Abraham, died in faith without receiving the promises, but from a
distance they saw and greeted them (11:13). And that they are
said to have desired a better country, a heavenly one (11:16)
would seem to reflect an outright denial of Enochs heavenly
ascent.56 Furthermore, the author describes angelic beings as both
active in the heavenly sanctuary (1:513; 12:224) and active and
immanent in the community (1:14; 13:2).57 The apparent ease
with which they traverse the two locales further points to the
possibility of an epiphanic manifestation of the heavenly sanctuary
in the communitys earthly gathering. Another possible indication
99
IV. BUT
JESUS: MYSTICAL VISUALITY

HEAVENLY SANCTUARY
NOW WE SEE
IN THE
Though certainly emphasizing the necessity of obedient hearing

throughout his word of exhortation (1:23; 2:14; 3:74:11; 5:11
14; 6:1317; 11:812; 12:511, 259; 13:7, 22), the author of
Hebrews also forwards an equally emphatic visual programme,
one primarily directed towards providing an eschatological vision
58
4Q400 1 i 11 may possibly describe the community as those who have
). See James R. Davila, Liturgical Works (Eerdmans
drawn near (
Commentaries on the Dead Sea Scrolls 6; Grand Rapids, MI and
Cambridge: Eerdmans, 2000), p. 99.
of the geographical locus of the drawing near experience is found

in the authors dramatic account of the Sons adoption of the
community, in which Jesus proclaims: In the midst of the
congregation I will sing hymns to God, and Behold! I am
with the children whom God has given me! (2:1213). This
passage appears to document, or perhaps even provoke, a
theophanic and christophanic manifestation in the midst of the
community.
Ultimately, as with the Sabbath Songs, we are lacking any clear
indications of praxis, therefore drawing near may represent
either a communal mystical ascent or an opening of the eyes of
faith to a theophanic manifestation of God and his Son in
the congregation.58 Despite this uncertainty, the heightened
emotional tenor, crucial hortatory importance, and extraordinary
theological content of the two main entry passages, 4:1416 and
10:1923 (and possibly 12:224), allow us to be reasonably certain
of some sort of mystical function, as intending to provoke a liminal
border crossing, from the mundane to the supramundane, from
the earthly gathering into the very presence of God and his Son
in the heavenly sanctuary. Therefore, rhetorically and theologically, the authors entry exhortations must reflect his expectation of
an actual experience of unhindered, substantial, and life-changing
access to God and his Son, one that surpasses the expectations and
experiences of almost all other Second Temple Jewish and early
Christian accounts of heavenly ascents and/or theophanic manifestations. We should also note that the Qumran texts and Philos
account of the Therapeutae constitute the only ancient Jewish
accounts of a communal mystical experience that are comparable
to what we have proposed for Hebrews exhortations to draw
near. As we have seen, ancient Jewish ascent texts typically
recount solitary experiences.
100
of Christs enthronement and priestly ministry in the heavenly

sanctuary.59 Given the communitys experience of suVering,
which was causing them to contemplate abandoning their commitment, the author wants them to see into the heavenly future,
past their earthly present, nearly engulfing experience of suVering.
A vision of Jesus victory over suVering, conquest of death, and
glorious exaltation would confirm beyond all doubt that their
suVering would also ultimately result in glorification and vindication (2:10).
Essential to this hortatory eVort are the visually oriented
rhetorical/literary practices of ekphrasis and enargeia. 60
59
The two senses, seeing and hearing, are fused in a number of passages as
well (1:3; 2:14; 2:69, 1213; 3:74:13; 5:1114; 11:713; 12:514). See, however, Martin Karrer, The Epistle to the Hebrews and the Septuagint, in
Wolfgang Kraus and R. Glenn Wooden (eds.), Septuagint Research: Issues
and Challenges in the Study of the Greek Jewish Scriptures (Septuagint and
Cognate Studies 53; Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature, 2006), pp.
33553. Karrer contrasts Revelation, with its emphasis on unveiling and revelation (2pok0lu i"), with Hebrews, which leaves aside every new unveiling and
has a mistrust in seeing. Moreover, the author finds his criticism of seeing
confirmed already in the Scriptures. As 3:124:11 unfolds, the fathers saw
(e9 don) and did not obey. That underlines the notion that the major way is
to hear (sketched in a history of hearing 2:3) (p. 341). In addition to ignoring
the claim of 2:4, that God confirmed the veracity of the preached word with
visible signs and wonders, and various miracles, Karrer also fails to notice
that the wilderness generation is described as those who heard and yet were
rebellious (3:16), and those who heard the message that did not benefit them
(4:2). The author faults the wilderness generation for their disobedience and
unbelief (3:8, 10, 1213, 1519; 4:2, 67, 11), not the revelatory means employed by God. Also arguing for the primacy of hearing in Heb. 34 is David
M. Allen, Deuteronomy and Exhortation in Hebrews: A Study in Narrative
Re-presentation (WUNT 2.238; Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2008), p. 157. In
fact, the author of Hebrews engages all five classical senses, touch, taste,
smell, hearing, and sight, addressing the whole human person and evoking
an entirely embodied response to his cultic drama: (1) smell (incense, 9:4);
(2) taste (2:9; 6:5); (3) touch (via extromissive sight, and taste, which was seen
as a species of touch). On the importance of visuality and appeals to visual
imagination in the early Church, particularly in the accounts of martyrdoms,
see Elizabeth A. Castelli, Martyrdom and Memory: Early Christian Culture
Making (Gender, Theory, and Religion; New York: Columbia University
Press, 2004), pp. 10433.
60
Appeals to the senses were considered essential to eVective rhetorical and
literary practice. See Werner H. Kelber, Modalities of Communication,
Cognition, and Physiology of Perception: Orality, Rhetoric, and Scribality,
Semeia 65 (1994), pp. 193216, at pp. 2012: one of rhetorics principal missions was to discover and cultivate the sensory potential of words. A rhetor
was always expected to engage the human sensorium and to play the sensory
register in the interest of persuasion. Cicero, Part. or. 6.20, discusses illustris
oratio, brilliant/evident oratory: it is this department of oratory which almost
sets the fact before our eyes (ante oculos)for it is the sense of sight that is
101
An ekphrasis, according to Graham Zanker, is a vividly pictorial

literary description; it represents the the ocular presentation in
literature of any phenomenon in nature and culture.61 It has the
potential to turn hearing into seeing, and transform listeners into
spectators.62 The second-century CE rhetorician Hermogenes of
Tarsus defined ekphrasis at length:
most appealed to, although it is possible for the rest of the senses and also
most of all the mind itself to be aVected.
61
Graham Zanker, Modes of Viewing in Hellenistic Poetry and Art (Madison,
WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2004), pp. 67. The most famous examples
of ekphrasis are the Homeric description of Achilles shield (Il. 18.477617),
and Ps.-Hesiods Shield. The literature on ekphrasis in Greco-Roman texts is
substantial. In addition to the aforementioned work by Zanker, see Jas Elsner,
Art and the Roman Viewer: The Transformation of Art from the Pagan World to
Christianity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995); Simon Goldhill,
The naive and knowing eye: ecphrasis and the culture of viewing in the
Hellenistic world, in id. and Robin Osborne (eds.), Art and Text in Ancient
Greek Culture (Cambridge Studies in New Art History and Criticism;
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), pp. 197223, 3049; id.,
What Is Ekphrasis For? Classical Philology 102 (2007), pp. 119; Ruth
Webb, Ekphrasis, Imagination and Persuasion in Ancient Rhetorical Theory and
Practice (Farnham, UK and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2009). For its role in
biblical texts, see Kelber, Modalities of Communication, Cognition, and
Physiology of Perception, pp. 2045. Jane Heath, Ezekiel Tragicus and
Hellenistic Visuality: The Phoenix at Elim, JTS 57 (2006), pp. 2341,
oVers an application of the methodology to Ezek. Trag. Though attempts
have been made to restrict the use of the term to literary descriptions of
works of art, no such restrictions are found in any ancient Greco-Roman
rhetorical texts.
62
Sight was considered the pre-eminent sense in many, if not most ancient
Mediterranean cultures. Harriet I. Flower begins her analysis of Roman spectacle with the observation that Roman culture was above all a visual culture, a
culture of seeing and being seen (Spectacle and Political Culture in the
Roman Republic, in Harriet I. Flower [ed.], The Cambridge Companion to
the Roman Republic [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004], pp.
32243, at p. 322). Representative statements include Plato, Phaedr. 250 D:
sight is the clearest and sharpest (2xut0th) of the physical senses;
Herodotus 1:8: Humans trust their eyes more than their ears; Philo, Abr.
57, 150: sight is the most excellent of all the senses, and the queen of the
other senses. See the discussion of ancient conceptions of vision and visuality
in Helen Morales, Vision and Narrative in Achilles Tatius Leucippe and
Clitophon (Cambridge Classical Studies; Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2004), pp. 835.
Ekphrasis is a descriptive account; it is visibleso to speakand

brings before the eyes the sight which is to be shown. Ekphrases
are of people, actions, times, places, seasons, and many other
things . . . If we describe places or seasons or people, we will present
the subject through a description and an account that is beautiful or
excellent or unexpected. The special virtues of ekphrasis are clarity
102
(safneia) and visibility (2n0rgeia); the style should contrive to bring

about seeing through hearing. However, it is equally important that
the expression should fit the subject: if the subject is florid, let the
style be florid too, and if the subject is dry, let the style be the
same.63
63
Quoted in Elsner, Art and the Roman Viewer, p. 25.

Quoted in Chris Kraus, Simon Goldhill, Helene P. Foley, and Jas Elsner,
Editors Introduction, in Visualizing the Tragic: Drama, Myth, and Ritual in
Greek Art and Literature: Essays in Honour of Froma Zeitlin (Oxford and New
York: Oxford University Press, 2007), pp. 115, at p. 7. Enargeia is used to
denote the aesthetic sense of lifelike vividness in Posidippus (Hippika XII.6
[AB 74]), c. 3rd c. BCE (cited by Zanker, Modes of Viewing in Hellenistic Poetry
and Art, p. 25). See also Graham Zanker, Enargeia in the Ancient Criticism
of Poetry, Rheinisches Museum fur Philologie 124 (1981), pp. 297311. Perhaps
the most detailed ancient account of the rhetorical uses of ekphrasis and
enargeia is found in Quintilian, Inst. 6.2.2933; 8.3.6190; 9.1.27; 9.2.404.
See Bernard F. Scholz, Sub Oculos Subiectio: Quintilian on Ekphrasis and
Enargeia, in Valerie Robillard and Els Jongeneel (eds.), Pictures into Words:
Theoretical and Descriptive Approaches to Ekphrasis (Amsterdam: VU
University Press, 1998), pp. 7399.
65
Zanker, Modes of Viewing in Hellenistic Poetry and Art, p. 172.
66
Ibid., pp. 25, 174.
67
Webb, Ekphrasis, Imagination and Persuasion in Ancient Rhetorical Theory
and Practice, p. 107. Webb also provides a helpful discussion of the metaphysical, psychological, and biological mechanics involved in the practice and phenomenon of ekphrasis and enargeia. Essential to the process is the evocation of
a fantas0a, phantasia, a visual sense impression, appearance, or presentation,
which is stored in the memory of the audience (pp. 10730). Though the
concept of phantasia has its origins in Stoic epistemology, as a sense impression that possesses varying degrees of reliability, the term was used more
generally in later rhetorical theory. In some sources it even appears to possess
an ideal quality, akin to the Platonic Forms. Thus the rhetor/writer who drew
on a phantasia in the production of an ekphrasis and/or enargeia would hope
that their hearers/readers would similarly experience the same phantasia in the
hearing/reading of their ekphrasis/enargeia. For a discussion, see Elsner, Art
and the Roman Viewer, pp. 267, 37; Shadi Bartsch, Wait a Moment,
64
Enargeia, vividness, visibility, is similarly a literary/rhetorical

technical term, though it was used earlier, to describe the power
to bring an event before the eyes of an audience as if they were
there themselves (Theon, Prog. 11).64 It is a far more flexible
term than ekphrasis; a narrative could be full of instances of
enargeia without being what the rhetors called an ekphrasis.65 In a
number of rhetorical handbooks one finds the assertion that the
primary quality, or virtue, of ekphrasis was enargeia (Hermogenes,
Prog. 10; Theon, Prog. 11; and Aphthonius, Prog. 12).66 It is
therefore the essential constituent or quality that makes an
ekphrasis an ekphrasis.67 Dionysius of Halicarnassus oVers what
103
is perhaps the classic definition of enargeia:

Vividness (2n0rgeia) is a quality which the style of Lysias has in
abundance. This consists in a certain power he has of conveying
the things he is describing to the senses of his audience, and it
arises out of his grasp of circumstantial detail. Nobody who applies
his mind to the speeches of Lysias will be so obtuse, insensitive or
slow-witted that he will not feel that he can see the actions which are
being described going on (6" o2c 3pol etai gin0mena t1 dhlo0mena
3ra' n) and that he is meeting (paroAsin) face-to-face the characters in
the orators story (Lys. 7).68
Phantasia: Ekphrastic Interference in Seneca and Epictetus, Classical

Philology 102 (2007), pp. 8395, esp. pp. 889.
68
Other ancient accounts of visually descriptive rhetorical/literary practice
include: Ps.-Longinus, [Subl.] 15.112; Demetrius, On Style 20920; Rhet. Her.
4.55; Cicero, De. or. 3.202.
69
Liz James and Ruth Webb, To Understand Ultimate Things and Enter
Secret Places: Ekphrasis and Art in Byzantium, Art History 14/1 (Mar.
1991), pp. 117, at p. 7.
70
Quintilian claims the rhetor skilled in these techniques will have the
greatest power over the emotions (Inst. 6.2.30; see also 6.2.32, 356).
Plutarch describes Thucydides as always striving for vividness (2n0rgeia) in
his prose, since it is his desire to make the reader a spectator, and to produce
in the minds of those who read his narrative the vivid emotions of amazement
and confusion that were experienced by those who originally saw them (Mor.
347A). The confusion in this instance is appropriate to the Thucydidean
battle scene Plutarch is considering; contra Goldhill, What Is Ekphrasis
For? pp. 56, who cites this text, among others, as evidence of ekphrasis
power to conceal facts.
71
That the author of Hebrews was trained in rhetoric is quite likely. The
most detailed analysis of his literary technique remains James MoVatt, A
Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle of the Hebrews (ICC;
Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1924), pp. lvilxiv, who concludes with the
When deployed in a narrative, ekphrasis and enargeia were seen

as particularly persuasive, since they were able to reach beyond
the listeners intellect to their emotions by involving them in the
scene evoked.69 This latter point, highlighting the power of
ekphrasis and enargeia to transport hearers/readers into the scene
being described, is explicitly expressed by both Quintilian (Inst.
6.2.30; 9.1.27) and Ps.-Longinus ([Subl.] 26.2).70 Ps.-Longinus
further contends that rhetorical visualization (r&htorik1 fantas0a),
when combined with factual arguments, even possesses the ability
to enslave audiences (doul0w, [Subl.] 15.9).
Visually oriented rhetorical/literary practices figure prominently in four passages in Hebrews: 1:52:13; 3:14:16, 9:110:25, and
12:1824.71 As mentioned earlier, the use of these techniques is
intended to engender a visual encounter with Jesus in the heavenly
104
a. 1:5 2:13
The first ekphrasis occurs in Heb. 1:513, a passage which
uses a chain of LXX quotations to describe the Sons enthronement in the heavenly sanctuary. Though this dramatized representation of the Sons exaltation occurs within a comparative
argument (synkrisis), contrasting the Son with angels, the description of the exaltation, by virtue of its poetic vividness,
bursts its bounds and overshadows the synkrisis. The stage is
set for the catena in 1:3 with a hymnic pronouncement of the
Sons unique visual representation of God (who being the radiance/reflection of his glory and the exact representation of his
very being) as well as his royal enthronement (he sat down at
the right hand of the majesty on high). Then with bold, broad
strokes, the author plots the course of the Sons heavenly exaltation, beginning with a dramatized naming ritual, as God publicly declares his family relationship with Jesus, his Son (1:5).72
In 1:6 the Son is identified as the firstborn who was brought
into the heavenly realm (o2koumnh), a reference to his resurrection, whereupon angelic praise is commanded by God. The heraldic predications made of the Son in 1:513, presumably all
observation: He has the style of a trained speaker; it is style, yet style at the
command of a devout genius (p. lxiv).
72
See 1 En. 48:23, 5; 69:1329.
sanctuary. A number of motifs are found in these passages: (1) the

author dramatizes the narrative, with speaking actors, and
carefully drawn characters, settings, and circumstances all serving
to increase the production of visual imagery in the communitys
imagination, and so encourage their substantive entry into the
dramatic narrative. (2) Community is reinforced visually, as cues
and commands to behold and look closely at one another are
issued (2:13; 3:12; 10:24; 12:23), solidifying their sense of family
mutuality and belonging. (3) The most important motif pertains
to the mystical function of the vivid descriptions. The mental
imagery they evoke recurringly functions as a springboard for an
actual visual encounter, setting the stage for the communitys
visual apprehension of the enthroned Son and his high priestly
ministry in the heavenly sanctuary. The visual encounter is either
provoked by an explicit command to look at/gaze upon the
exalted Jesus (3:1; 12:2), or signaled by the observation that he is
now visible (2:9, 1213; 9:24, 26). It is also eVected via the
exhortations to draw near and enter the heavenly sanctuary
(4:1416; 10:1925; 12:224).
105
73
So also Qumrans Sabbath Songs.

Zanker, Modes of Viewing in Hellenistic Poetry and Art, p. 33. Quintilian
discusses an instance of enargeia in Ciceros Verrine Orations that would undoubtedly provoke the reader/hearer to not only see the actors in the scene,
the place itself and their very dress, but to also imagine other details that the
orator does not describe (Inst. 8.3.64). According to Demetrius, use of this
technique helps earn the audiences respect, as they will think themselves
intelligent because you have aVorded them the means of showing their intelligence. It seems like a slur on your audience to tell them everything as
though they were idiots (On Style 222).
75
Contra Albert Vanhoye, Anamne`se historique et creativite theologique
ptre aux Hebreux, in Daniel Marguerat and Jean Zumstein (eds.),
dans lE
La Memoire et le temps: Melanges oVerts a` Pierre Bonnard (MdB 23; Geneva:
Labor et Fides, 1991), pp. 22031, at p. 228, who contends that blpomen in
2:9 represents the contemplation of Jesus glory.
74
issuing from God in the form of direct speech, when coupled

with the angelic praise elicited by divine command in 1:6, would
surely arouse the communitys visual imagination. However, this
vision, though instigated and guided by the author, requires the
community to be participants in its completion. Though the angelic praise is commanded, it is not described.73 Other important
details are also served in sketch form: the throne (1:8; see also
1:3, 13) and the royal sceptre (1:8) are briefly mentioned, and the
angels are described as winds and flames of fire (1:7). This
deliberate descriptive reticence adheres to an important ekphrastic device that Zanker has identified as reader supplementation.
By deliberately withholding some pieces of descriptive information, a rhetor/author provokes the imaginative involvement
of their audience, so that the viewers personal input
would . . . commit him or her to entering into the images.74
Following a brief warning and exhortation to persevere (2:1
4), the enthronement drama is resumed in 2:5, with a brief rehearsal of the nature of Jesus earthly path to glory. Psalm 8:46
is quoted in Heb. 2:67, and presented as usual as direct speech,
in this case providing an anonymous, dramatized testimony of
the Sons personal involvement in the theodicean nature of
human existence. The evocation of the Sons path to enthronement culminates in the first declaration of Jesus present visibility to the eyes of faith. Though in their earthly circumstances
the community is currently unable to perceive the eVects of
Jesus exaltation to lordship (2:8), they can, however, now see
Jesus (nAn . . . blpomen *IhsoAn) crowned with glory and honour
because of the suVering of death (2:89).75 Jesus visibility is
then confirmed with a dramatic portrayal of his epiphanic manifestation in the midst of the community (2:1213). This latter
106
passage aVords Jesus his first opportunity to speak in the enthronement drama, a speech that deliberately includes the community in the divine family. There, the actor Jesus personally
addresses the community and issues a striking exhortation to
visualize the scene described: Behold! (2do0, i.e. See what I
am seeing!): I am with the children whom God has given
me! (2:13).76 Jesus thereby invites the community to participate
in his own viewing experience, and to see themselvesand one
anotheras he sees them: as members of the family of God.
76
This passage quotes Isa 8:18, and follows the LXX translation of
into 2do0. In the MT
is often used as a particle of immanence. See C. L.
Seow, A Grammar for Biblical Hebrew (rev. edn.; Nashville, TN: Abingdon,
indicates the presence of someone or something, or the
1995), p. 100:
immediacy of an event or situation. Hans-Joachim Kraus, Horen und Sehen
in
der
althebraischen
Tradition,
in
Biblisch-theologische
Aufsatze
(Neukirchen-Vluyen: Neukirchener, 1972), pp. 84101, at p. 85, notes that
is often used to push the listener/reader to attentiveness, with a
shout to awake, to Behold! a situation or person as they truly ought to
be perceived. Robert S. Kawashima, Biblical Narratives and the Death of the
Rhapsode (Indiana Studies in Biblical Literature; Bloomington and
Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2004), pp. 81123, 23846, analyzes
at length, and construes it as an indicator of presentative consciousness,
figuradenoting self and subjectivity. When introducing a noun phrase,
tively points to its referent, and in such cases one easily imagine an accompanying physical gesture on the part of the speaker (p. 81). See the use of 2do0
in Euripides, Ion 2:190225: the commands to behold are answered by the
chorus, who acknowledge the sight. In T. Levi 2:6 2do0 introduces and invites
participation in the heavenly vision. So also T. Naph. 5:2, 6, 8; 6:2, 10.
b. 3:1 4:16
Though the wilderness wanderings of Israel are the primary
rhetorical milieu in which 3:1 4:16 is situated, the close connection of this section with the first exhortation to draw near to
God in the heavenly sanctuary in 4:1416 requires its consideration. The passage begins with a call to visualize (katanosate)
Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession (3:1). The
primary imagery of the immediate context, 3:16, however, is
familial, particularly, the faithful construction of households
(o9 ko"). The verb to build (kataskeu0zw) occurs three times in
3:34, while o9 ko" appears some six times in 3:26. A number of
ekphrastic techniques are employed in 3:74:11: (1) the author
continues to intersperse his narrative with dramatized direct
speeches, in this case, those of the Holy Spirit (3:711, 15) and
God (4:3, 7). (2) The inner and outer lives of the other dramatis
107
77
See Zanker, Modes of Viewing in Hellenistic Poetry and Art, pp. 6671, for
a discussion of the psychological portrait, whereby the rhetor/writer makes
surface detail convey inner ethos. Dionysius of Halicarnassus considered
Lysias the best of all the orators at observing human nature and ascribing
to each type of person the appropriate emotions, moral qualities, and actions
(Lys. 7).
78
Zanker, Modes of Viewing in Hellenistic Poetry and Art, p. 34. See his
discussion of the mimetic hymns of Callimachus, particularly the second and
fifth hymns, as well as the hymns to Apollo and Demeter (pp. 10823). These
hymns are clearly meant, in a way that a traditional hymn was not, to create
an illusion in the reader or audience of being present in the actual festival
(p. 115). Thus, the enargeia of these poems would have integrated Hellenistic
audiences and private readers even into the world of religious experience
(p. 118). Quite comparable to the assertion of Heb. 3:19, that we see the
ignominious deaths of the wilderness generation, is Callimachus, Epigr. 44:
The stranger was trying to keep his wound a secret. How painfullydid
you see it? (e9 de";)he drew his breath through his chest. Zanker notes:
With this single interjected word, i.e. e9 de" (did you see it?), Callimachus
has included an onlooking interlocutor. Within the dramatic framework of the
poem, this will be a fellow symposiast, but the question catches us by surprise.
We feel at least momentarily that we are the addressee, and are thus subtly
but strikingly involved in the scene (p. 112).
personae, the people of Israel in the wilderness years, are portrayed in detail. Their emotional, psychological, and volitional
life is repeatedly highlighted: they possess hardened hearts (3:8,
15), hearts that go astray (3:10), and evil, unbelieving, hearts
(3:12). They are rebellious (3:16), disobedient (3:18; 4:6, 11),
disbelieving (3:19), and faithless (4:2). Their inner life is made
manifest by their actions: they turned away from the living God
(3:12), and sinned and fell in the wilderness (3:17; 4:11).77 (3)
The community is integrated into the wilderness drama by
means of two ekphrastic devices: first, the same imagery of disobedience and failure that characterized the wilderness generation is directly applied to the community, via warnings against
following their example (3:8, 1213, 15; 4:1, 7, 11). Second, and
just as important, is the flat claim, inclusively oVered in the first
person plural, that we see (blpomen) the failure of the wilderness rebellion due to disbelief (3:19). These rhetorical techniques, according to Zanker, follow the ekphrastic principle of
reader or viewer integration, wherein the reader is turned into
an eyewitness.78 The author of Hebrews has adeptly placed the
community into the world of the wilderness wanderers; they find
themselves standing on hard and dry desert ground, in the midst
of the grumbling, hard-hearted ancestors of Israel, hearing Gods
108
79
So Andrew T. Lincoln, Hebrews: A Guide (London and New York: T &
T Clark, 2006), p. 73: the addressees face something more fearful than any
two-edged sword, the lethal weapon of Gods word of judgment.
80
See my extended discussions: Eschatology and Exhortation, pp. 22330;
Confession of the Son of God in Hebrews, pp. 1229. Arguing that the
l0go" of 4:13 is confessional: Gene R. Smillie, The Other LOGOS at the
End of Heb. 4:13, Novum Testamentum 47 (2005), pp. 1925.
81
So Dunnill, Covenant and Sacrifice, pp. 1712.
warnings directed at them, and facing existential choices of eternal consequence.

A community emphasis is also apparent in this passage, with
the authors imperatival command to look closely (blpete) at
the community (3:12). This call to visually survey the community and see if any brother or sisters (2delfo0) appear to be in
danger of withdrawing from the living God extends the implications of Jesus earlier invitation to See what I am seeing! I am
with the children God has given me! (2:13). As a family, the
community must recognize their interdependence and mutual
responsibility.
The passage takes a remarkable turn in 4:1213, the famous
passage that appears to depict the community as exposed and
prone before an all-seeing and all-knowing God, fearsomely
armed with a surgical knife sharper than any two-edged
sword.79 However, a kinder, gentler reading of this passages
imagery is possible, one that connects 4:1213 with its surrounding context: (1) the living and active word of God (4:12) corresponds chiefly to the divine confessions of family belonging
exchanged in 1:5 and 2:1213, and not only the dramatized
divine warnings in the wilderness passage. Thus, the account
(l0go", 4:13) that the community must oVer is a reciprocal confession of family belonging, and Jesus sonship.80 (2) The
two-edged sword metaphor is not intended to evoke the
image of a sword of judgement, but the sharp flint knives
used to circumcise Israel after crossing the Jordan (Josh.
5:29).81 Joshuas failure to provide Israel with true rest has
just been mentioned, in Heb. 4:8, and 4:1213 functions as a
sort of narratival and structural Jordan: just as Joshua and the
wilderness generation established their identity through circumcision immediately after crossing (Josh. 5), so the community has
just passed through a wilderness experience (of suVering) and is
poised to enter the heavenly sanctuary, where they will oVer an
identity-establishing confession of Jesus sonship (Heb. 4:14).
The two-edged sword is then suggestive of the ability of the
word of the God to eVect the construction of identity at the
109
82
82
On the use of similes (similitudines) in enargeia, see Quintilian, Inst.
8.3.7281.
83
Certainly this depiction of Gods gaze is nothing like the accounts, found
in Tacitus (Ann. 14.15; 16.45), Suetonius (6.12.34; 6.20.121.3; 6.22.3; esp.
6.23.23; 6.25.3), and Dio Cassius (Roman History 62.15.23), of Neros oppressive gaze, which was directed on the audience during his public performances (singing and playing lyre, tragic acting, and reading poetry, c.648 CE).
As Shadi Bartsch, Actors in the Audience: Theatricality and Doublespeak from
Nero to Hadrian (Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press,
1994), pp. 135, 20723, notes, Nero the stage-crazed performer scrutinized
the reactive performance of his subjects in the audience, looking for any signs
of treasonous disloyalty and disrespect. In turning spectators into spectacle he
reversed the direction of the theatrical gaze, compelling his audience to act out
a script over which he had total control. Those actors in the audience who
failed to comply with the imperial script were disgraced and punished (Dio
Cassius, Roman History 62.15.23). The theatre was thus transformed into a
courtroom trying loyalty, a visible barometer of an emperors popularity
(Actors in the Audience, p. 3).
84
See Lucians description of the goddess Heras cult statue in Hieropolis:
There is another wondrous feature in the statue. If you stand opposite and
look directly at it, it looks back at you and as you move its glance follows. If
someone else looks at it from another side, it does the same things for them
(De Dea Syria 32). Informed partially by this text, Jas Elsner, Between
Mimesis and Divine Power, in Robert S. Nelson (ed.), Visuality before the
Renaissance: Seeing as Others Saw (Cambridge Studies in New Art History
and Criticism; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), pp. 4569, at p.
61, discusses the ritual-centered viewing that occurred in Greco-Roman temples: the viewer enters the gods world and likewise the deity intrudes directly
on the viewers world in a highly ritualized context. The reciprocal gaze of
this visuality is a kind of epiphanic fulfillment, both of the pilgrim-viewer,
who discovers his or her deepest identity in the presence of the god, and of
the god himself, who receives the oVerings and worship appropriate to his
divinity.
85
Of course this passage sharply contrasts with the throne-visions in Isa. 6
and Ezek. 1. Most pertinent are their characterizations of the psychological
innermost depths of the human person. (3) The depiction of

God as all-seeing is therefore not the oppressive gaze of a judging God.83 Rather, it is an aYrmation of Gods palpable presence, and the reciprocative and mutual gaze exchanged by the
community and God.84
Finally, this passage leads to the first exhortation to draw
near to Jesus in the heavenly sanctuary (4:1416). This great
high priest and Son of God has passed through the heavens
and is in possession of a fully sympathetic and merciful disposition towards humanity in all its frailty (4:1415). Appropriately,
the heavenly throne upon which he sits is a throne of grace, and
to this readily accessible throne the community is bidden to
draw near with boldness (prosercmeqa met1 parrhs0a",
4:16).85 That this commendation of boldness involves not
110
only a confident approach but also a commensurately open

manner of speech in the heavenly sanctuary (3:6; 10:19) is yet
another indication of the communitys substantive involvement
in the enthronement drama.86
and emotional responses of the visionaries. Ezekiels vision of the throne concludes with the observation that he fell on his face (1:26, 28), while Isaiahs
leads him to exclaim, Woe is me, I am silenced! For I am a person with
unclean lips (6:5). These two throne-visions constitute a sort of fons et origo of
a substantial tradition, wherein a vision of the formidable and frightful presence (and near presence) of the enthroned God commonly evokes a response
of terror from the visionary (Dan. 7:9; 1 En. 14:1314, 18; 2 En. 2022; 39; 4
Ezra 8:21; Ezek. Trag. 68, 82; 4Q405 203).
86
In Her. 1929 Philo discusses at length the frankness of speech
(parrhs0a) enjoyed by those who are friends of God. All the wise should
emulate Moses, who questioned Gods judgement and faithfulness in threatening to abandon Israel in the wilderness, and oVered bold discourse uttered in
friendship (1921). Thus, frankness of speech is akin to friendship (21).
Abrahams question: What will you give me seeing I am childless? is also
appealed to as an example of courageous speech before the God who has
imparted the very gift of speech to humans (2230).
87
This passage, 9:15, is one of the more obvious examples of enargeia in
Hebrews. Demetrius lengthy discussion of the various techniques employed to
achieve enargeia begins with a definition: an exact narration overlooking no
detail and cutting out nothing (On Style 209). Zanker, Modes of Viewing in
Hellenistic Poetry and Art, p. 27, labels this most basic ekphrastic technique
the full presentation of the image. In these texts, the visual artist fills in all
the details of both the main subject and its background, with the result that
the viewer can place the main subject within a spatial context.
c. 9:1 10:25
Chapter 9 is an indisputable achievement of ekphrasis. In the
short span of 28 verses, the author leads his audience across a
vast expanse of time and space. The author first recalls, in brief,
yet vivid detail, the oVerings, implements, furniture, and architecture of the tabernacle (9:15).87 He then lets them follow the
high priest into tabernacles most sacred locus, the holy of holies,
where the high priest is depicted as carrying out the Yom
Kippur ritual (9:610). The spatial context of the tabernacle
now firmly established in the minds eye, the author transports
the community to the heavenly sanctuary, which is identical to its
earthly counterpart, since the earthly structure was modelled
after the heavenly one (8:5; 9:234). The community is then
allowed to witness both Christs priestly entry into this greater
and more perfect tent and the sacral presentation of his own
blood (9:1114). This eschatological Yom Kippur sacrifice is
111
88
On this diYcult passage, see Scott W. Hahn, Covenant, Cult, and the
Curse of Death: DiayZkZ in Heb 9:1522, in Gabriella Gelardini (ed.),
Hebrews: Contemporary MethodsNew Insights (BIS 75; Leiden: Brill, 2005),
pp. 6588, esp. pp. 868.
89
Ps.-Longinus remarks about Herodotus are applicable to our author as
well: You see, friend, how he takes you along with him through the country
as he turns hearing into sight ([Subl.] 26.2).
90
Gary A. Anderson, Towards a Theology of the Tabernacle and its
Furniture, in Ruth A. Clements and Daniel R. Schwartz (eds.), Text,
Thought, and Practice in Qumran and Early Christianity (STDJ 84; Leiden
and Boston: Brill, 2009), pp. 16194, has recently argued that the command
of Deut 16:16, ordering every Israelite to come to the temple in Jerusalem
three times a year to see the face of Yahweh, was fulfilled by seeing the
furniture from the holy place. A number of Second Temple and Rabbinic
texts indicate that the temple furniture was thought to be infused with the
very being of God; thus, according to Anderson, they were removed from the
temple thrice yearly, and displayed before the eyes of earnest pilgrims (p.
171). If Anderson is correct, then the comparative rhetoric in ch. 9 is even
more potent. The authors description of the temple/tabernacles furniture in
9:15 would call to mind their role as mediating a visio Dei experience, which
would compare somewhat unfavourably with the assertions of Jesus present
visibility in the heavenly sanctuary (9:236). Also worth considering is Philos
claim that the incenses thick smoke would prevent the high priest from
seeing anything in the most holy place, as it would becloud his eyesight
and prevent him from being able to penetrate to any distance (Spec. 1.72;
see also Lev. 16:1213).
then refracted through another interpretative lens: the bloody

inauguration of the Sinai covenant (9:1522). With fine detail
the community is transported back to this ancient event, and
led to believe that through his sacrificial self-oVering Jesus
received the penalty the blood-spattered Israelites were threatened with.88 Yom Kippur imagery is restored, as Jesus sacral
work in the heavenly sanctuary is seen first as a cathartic cleansing of heaven itself, and then ascribed eschatological significance,
as inaugurating the eschaton (9:236). The community is then
transported into the future, to the end of the ages, and Yom
Kippur imagery is enlisted one last time, as Jesus salvific second
coming is modelled after the high priests triumphant exit from
the sanctuary, a sure sign of his propitiatory/expiatory success
(9:28).89
In the greater context of 9:1 10:25, three sets of comparisons
are made between the earthly cult instituted by Moses and the
heavenly cult over which Jesus presides. (1) The cultic rites of
the earthly tabernacle are compared unfavourably with Jesus
eYcacious entry into the most holy place in the heavenly sanctuary (9:114).90 (2) The two rites of covenant inauguration are
112
a great impression is made by dwelling on a single point and also by

clear explanation and an almost visual presentation of events as if
they were practically happeningwhich are very eVective both in
stating a case and in explaining and amplifying the statement, with
discussed at length (9:1526), culminating again in an assertion

of Jesus entry into the heavenly sanctuary, and his present visibility there (nAn 2mfanisq8nai, 9:24; nun0 . . . pefanrwtai, 9:26). In
addition to the repeated use of the adverb nAn (as in 2:89), the
authors use of the perfect tense verb pefanrwtai in 9:26 further
reflects his belief that the exalted Jesus is, in some sense, currently visible. (3) The eYcacy of the two cults are contrasted,
and the subjective benefits of Christs cultic oVering are appealed
to as providing the basis for substantial entry into the heavenly
sanctuary and full participation in the cultus therein (10:125).
As mentioned before, this whole section might be entitled the
history of access to God in his holy place. Not surprisingly, a
number of rhetors place great emphasis on establishing the full
historical footing of a visually oriented narrative (Demetrius, On
Style 216; Quintilian, Inst. 9.2.41; Rhet. Her. 4.55; Hermogenes,
Prog. 10).
The tenth chapter of Hebrews contains a good deal of descriptive detail, including a dramatized account of the pre-incarnate
Sons declaration of dependence upon God, issued at the time
of his entry into the world (10:57). However, the key passage
in this chapter, 10:1925, is particularly pictorial. A number of
images are brought to mind: Christ as a heavenly priest, the
household/family (o9 ko") of God, and sacral lustration. The passages optical focus, however, is directed towards the heavenly
sanctuarys accessibility. This focal point the author establishes
with a power unmatched in his exhortation, almost forcibly inserting it into the communitys visual imagination by means of
five successive instances of entry and access imagery,
enumerated in 10:1920, 22: we have confidence to enter
(e4sodo") the sanctuary . . . by the new and living way (3d0"), that
he opened (2gkain0zw) for us through the curtain (di1 toA
katapet0smato") . . . let us draw near (prosrcomai). This crescendo of forward movement, entry, and access imagery creates
an air of inevitability to the communitys mystical entry, one that
should have served to impel them forward and upward, into the
heavenly sanctuary. Both Demetrius (On Style 21114) and
Cicero (De or. 3.202) discuss at length the eVectiveness of repetition to generate enargeia. The latter rhetor insists
113
the object of making the fact we amplify appear to the audience as

important as eloquence is able to make it.
Immediately following the communitys ascent into the heavenly sanctuary, or the sanctuarys manifestation in their midst,
they are once again exhorted to look closely at one another
(katano8men 2lllou"), and to provoke one another to love and
good deeds, not neglecting meeting together . . . but encouraging
one another (10:25). The hortatory subjunctive katanow again
elicits the same visual perspective established in 2:13: seeing
what Jesus sees, i.e. both himself and the community gathered
as the family of God.91
91
DeSilva, Perseverance in Gratitude, p. 341, recognizes the significance of
10:25: The subjective dimension of holding onto the confession of hope
must manifest itself in the visible witness to that hope, especially in terms
of continued, open association with the people of God, who live for that
hope. The author urges the hearers to consider one another (katano8men), to
look at and observe one another. The result is outbursts of love and good
works as one believer discovers another to be in need or comes to appreciate
anothers distinctive contributions to the body. The author may also be attempting to establish an emulative environment, one involving not only
seeing and responding to need, but seeing ones sisters and brothers
noble deeds and becoming zealous to emulate them, such that doing good
stimulates more well-doing.
92
N. Clayton Croy, Endurance in SuVering: Hebrews 12:113 in its
Rhetorical, Religious, and Philosophical Context (SNTSMS 98; Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1998), p. 61 (see also p. 169).
93
Ibid., p. 62.
d. 12:1824
The twelfth chapter of Hebrews contains a wealth of visual
detail, as well as three calls to exercise mystical visuality. The
chapter begins with the assertion that the community was standing under the gaze of an untold number of Israels heroes of
faith, as recounted in chapter 11. This cloud of witnesses
(nfo" mart0rwn) is said to surround the community (12:1).
And as N. Clayton Croy observes, the context places emphasis
on the visual aspect of watching rather than the verbal aspect
of bearing testimony. The mart0re" . . . are thus actively
engaged spectators and witnesses.92 This is comparable to the
assertion made in 4:13, of Gods omnividence, and as in the
latter context, this should not be considered an oppressive
gaze. The author instead conceives of the cloud of Israels faithful as an encircling throng of avid spectators.93
A call to exercise mystical visuality follows in 12:2, with
Hebrews final exhortation to fix our eyes on Jesus (2for0w),
114
94
See Prov. 7:627; 24:304; Isa. 5:1213; 6:910; 1QH 6:2, 12, 16; 9:21;
14:3; 21:45; 23:37; 25:10; 1QS 4:11; 5:5; 11:35; T. Reu. 6:1; T. Dan 2:35;
T. Gad 3:3; T. Ben. 3:2; 6; T. Iss. 4; Let. Aris. 142; 1 En. 8990; 4 Macc.
2:213; Wis. 2:17, 212; 3:24; 4:12, 15, 1718; 13:17; Josephus, Ag. Ap.
2:178; Philo, Ebr. 83; Spec. 2.446; 4.192.
who is described as the author and perfecter of our faith, who

for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising
the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of
God. The reference to the joy set before him may represent a
mystical vision enjoyed by Jesus, of the benefits issuing from his
vicarious self-oVering and victorious exaltation. Apprehension
and enjoyment of this same vision of vindication is thus enjoined
upon the community.
Following a lengthy defence of the necessity of submitting to
Gods discipline (paide0a), a remarkable assertion of a visio Dei
is oVered in 12:14. There the author exhorts the community to
pursue peace with everyone and the holiness without which no
one will see (3r0w) the Lord. Two verses in the preceding passage, 12:8 and 12:10, when combined with 12:14, present an
intertwined logic, and the successful fulfilment of that logics
demands would almost certainly guarantee a visio Dei: (1)
belonging in the family of God will issue in discipline (12:8);
(2) submission to Gods fatherly discipline will result in the impartation (metalamb0nw) of his holiness (12:10); (3) possession of
Gods holiness will aVord a visio Dei (12:14). The maxim-like
quality of 12:14 is appropriate, since sensory reliability and clarity, and even the visio Dei, are all directly related to morality in a
wide array of ancient Jewish and Second Temple texts.94
A final communal vision occurs in 12:224, following a brief
rehearsal of the awesome and frightening circumstances that attended the establishment of Israels Sinai covenant (12:1821).
The sensual detail found in 12:1821 is unsurpassed in Hebrews,
including the sense of touch, a blazing fire, darkness, gloom, a
tempest, the sound of a trumpet, and a fearsome voice that
reduced Israel nearly to tears with its warning, If even an
animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned to death. This
whole spectacle (fant0zw) was so frightening that even Moses
cried out: I tremble with fear! (7kfob0" e2mi ka1 7ntromo").
Enargeia is surely eVected with the dramatization of Moses,
and the authors deliberate expansion of Deut. 9:19 to include
the physical dimension of trembling to Moses fear. This unexpected element helps creates a lasting mental image, one that
115
e. Conclusion to the Mystical Visuality Section

In turning hearing into sight our author appears to promote a
faith journey informed and augmented by sight, the queen of
the other senses (Philo, Abr. 150). In fact, his whole rhetorical
programme would seem to be predicated upon providing a mystical/eschatological vision of the exalted Sons high priestly ministry and exhorting the community to look heavenward in order
that they may now see him as he is (contra 1 John 3:3). Like
Moses, they will find the impetus and strength to persevere by
95
This passage draws upon a number of key themes which have already
been placed before the eyes of the community, both ekphrastically and mystically: (1) angels and Jesus heavenly enthronement (1:513); (2) the 2kklhs0a
(2:12; 10:24), and by extension sonship and family adoption imagery; (3) the
new covenant (7:22; 8:68, 13; 9:15; 10:16); (4) Jesus as mediator (9:15).
stands in stark contrast with the communitys confident and

joyful presence in the heavenly sanctuary.
The final communal vision of 12:224 presents the whole hortatory scheme of Hebrews as a fait accompli: the community has
come (proselhl0qate; perfect tense) to Mount Zion, the city of
the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and are thus presently
part of a joyous gathering (panguri") of angels, the righteous
dead, and God and his Son.95 This declaration triumphantly
confirms the oVers of access issued in 4:1416 and 10:1923,
and signals the authors confidence in the success of his exhortation: the church of the firstborn is truly present in the heavenly sanctuary, and they are joined there by an innumerable
company of angels voicing praise. The presence of the spirits
of just persons who have been perfected (12:23) refers again to
the heroes of faith who surround the community like a cloud
(12:1), and also confirms that their witness represents a benign
gaze, one of acceptance and encouragement. And the sprinkled
blood that speaks (lalw) a better word than the blood of Abel
compares the witness to a family destroyed by fratricide with
the sprinkled blood of Jesus that has created the divine family
(12:24). Though the author began this passage with the assertion
that the community has not come to a mountain that is touchable ( hlaf0w, 12:18), his ekphrastic description of the heavenly
Mount Zion, and his assertion that the community is present
there, should have nevertheless engendered a comparably palpable and nearly tangible experience.
116
V. CONCLUDING SUMMARY
This study helps support Marie Isaacss characterization
of Hebrews as a new and powerful theology of access.98
The authors elaborate cultic soteriology is almost entirely
directed towards providing an experiential basis for his exhortations to confidently draw near to God and his Son in the
heavenly sanctuary. And though we cannot be certain of the exact
96
See Marinus, Life of Proclus 22: Whenever he achieved a direct knowledge of transcendental sights, he no longer inferred the knowledge of these
objects by way of syllogism, by discursive reasoning, and demonstration.
97
Samuel Byrskog, Story as HistoryHistory as Story: The Gospel Tradition
in the Context of Ancient Oral History (WUNT 123; Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck,
2000), p. 165. A detailed discussion of the visual orientation of memory in
ancient Greco-Roman thought is oVered by Tom Thatcher, Johns Memory
Theater: The Fourth Gospel and Ancient Mnemo-Rhetoric, Catholic Biblical
Quarterly 69 (2007), pp. 487505. See also Froma I. Zeitlin, The Artful Eye:
Vision, Ecphrasis and Spectacle in Euripidean Theatre, in Goldhill and
Osborne (eds.), Art and Text in Ancient Greek Culture, pp. 13896, 295304,
at p. 163, who discusses some general principles for secure recollective procedures: a strong aVective engagement of the viewer (visual intensity, pleasure
in seeing), sensorily derived and emotionally charged associations both
verbal and visual, marked positions in a series constituted as scenes, and
an experience that can be re-enacted later in the mind. Certainly most of
these principles are present in Hebrews.
98
Isaacs, Sacred Space, p. 67.
seeing him who is invisible (Heb. 11:27).96 Indeed, as we have

noted, the author unequivocally promises this eschatological
vision to those living holy lives (12:14). Our emphasis upon
sight finds additional support in the observation that this mystical unveiling of the enthroned Son and high priest in the heavenly sanctuary functions within the authors recurring rhetoric of
comparison, thus serving as a dramatic foil to the veiling, or
literal concealment, of the holy place in the earthly tabernacle
(9:8). Finally, it is worth mentioning the crucial role both Greek
philosophers (Plato, Aristotle) and Roman rhetors (Cicero,
Quintilian) accorded visuality in the construction and recollection of memory. As Samuel Byrskog observes: The present act
of recall was thus essentially a search for the visual images of the
past stored in the memory.97 The visual emphasis in Hebrews
that we have proposed would then certainly help promote the
long-term survival of the community, filling their minds with the
images of their adoption into the family of God, and Christs
vindicating exaltation to the right hand of God in the heavenly
sanctuary.
117
metaphysical nature of the authors calls to draw near, we can be

fairly sure that the hortatory eVort expected and the communitys
circumstances necessitated a substantial mystical experience, one
that truly brought the whole community into the heavenly most
holy place, where their identity was to be formed. Working in
concert with the cultic soteriology and entry exhortations is the
visual programme that impels, verifies, and solidifies the communitys mystical encounter with God and his Son.
Though the various elements and events comprising Hebrews
heavenly sanctuary mysticism appear intermittently and episodically throughout the word of exhortation, when viewed as a
whole, they acquire logical and rhetorical coherence. And when
considered as a whole, as this essay has attempted to do, Hebrews
oVers an irrefutably attractive vision of the privileges and benefits
that follow upon membership in the Christian community. This
attempt at surfacing and piecing together Hebrews heavenly
sanctuary mysticism is admittedly speculative. We are even less
certain of its reception; that is, did the community actually
understand this documents intent and heed its exhortation,
leading to mystical experiences comparable to those promised?
The sole clue to this question may be found in the preservation of
this most unusual New Testament document, which could
perhaps be attributed to the successful implementation (at least
initially) of its elaborate programme of drawing near to and
seeing the exalted Son in the heavenly sanctuary, and finding ones
enduring identity as his siblings, the adopted sons and daughters
of God.

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Mackie Heavenly Sanctuary Mysticism JTS 62 (2011) 77-117 PDF

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The Journal of Theological Studies, NS, Vol.

62, Pt 1, April 2011

HEAVENLY SANCTUARY MYSTICISM IN THE

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This essay focuses on the supernatural experiential elements and events

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interrelated, though episodic, series of dramatic events that occur

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enthronement is transformed into a divine adoption ceremony, in

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mysticism as there are writers on the subject.5 In the light of

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McGinn sees Christian mysticism as that part of Christian belief

II. THE HEAVENLY SANCTUARY, JESUS THE HIGH PRIEST,

As mentioned earlier, the heavenly sanctuary provides the

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and practice, as well as the reciprocative influence of the mystic on

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actual temple stands at the centre of the heavenly realm; such

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benefits of Jesus sacrifice, which are primarily intended to

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10:14, is the community said to be perfected: For by a single

III. LET US DRAW NEAR: HEAVENLY ASCENT OR AN EARTHLY

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function is performed by the following phrase, for after saying

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restriction, and providing a helpful parallel to Hebrews calls to

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he saw a vision of a second house . . . built with tongues of fire

Himmelfarb, Ascent to Heaven, p. 32.

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would see a greater sight, the third heaven, in which he would

So de Jonge, Studies on the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, pp. 2534.

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acquires immediate access to the heavenly temple of the Holy

earthly sphere. And in contrast to 1 En. 14:823 and T. Levi 2:5

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invitation to ascend to heaven: Come up here (4:1). The most

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A number of factors substantiate this claim:

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3. Most significantly, as I have argued at length elsewhere,

family of God. It is therefore truly an act of saying

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The most important entry passage, 10:1923, as mentioned

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especially the Hekhalot literature, or the manifestation of the

JESUS: MYSTICAL VISUALITY

Though certainly emphasizing the necessity of obedient hearing

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of the geographical locus of the drawing near experience is found

of Christs enthronement and priestly ministry in the heavenly

An ekphrasis, according to Graham Zanker, is a vividly pictorial

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Ekphrasis is a descriptive account; it is visibleso to speakand

(safneia) and visibility (2n0rgeia); the style should contrive to bring

Quoted in Elsner, Art and the Roman Viewer, p. 25.

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Enargeia, vividness, visibility, is similarly a literary/rhetorical