616 



HEBREWS 



HEBRIDES 



to the Romans. The Church of Rome, however, 

 must have always been greatly Gentile, and refer- 

 ences like xiii. 7, 17 preclude the idea that a Jewish 

 section of a church was addressed. 



The authorship of the epistle is involved in 

 equal obscurity. In the earliest times opinion 

 was divided. In Rome and the West the consistent 

 tradition is that the epistle is not Pauline. In 

 Africa Tertullian refers to it as by Barnabas (De 

 Pudic., c. 20). In Alexandria and the East, on 

 the other hand, it is regarded as Pauline, either' 

 immediately, or mediately through a translator 

 (Clement), or some one who had given the Pauline 

 thoughts form and expression ( Origen ). Augustine 

 gave in to the Alexandrian view, and since his 

 time the Pauline authorship was accepted in the 

 West. At the Reformation Luther suggested 

 Apollos as the author ; and Calvin either Luke or 

 Clement of Rome. Modern scholarship is virtually 

 unanimous in the opinion that the epistle is 

 not from the hand of St Paul. This view is based 

 on many things, as upon the language, which is 

 purer Greek than any other New Testament writ- 

 ing ; upon the rhetorical, rhythmical, and flowing 

 style, and the carefully planned and systematic 

 form of the treatise, which lias none of the abrupt- 

 ness and sudden transitions characteristic of the 

 Pauline writings ; upon the fact that the author 

 appears to be ignorant of Hebrew, quoting always 

 the Septuagint, and basing his reasoning on its 

 renderings, even when it deviates from the Hebrew ; 

 upon the different formulas employed in citing 

 Scripture ; and particularly upon the author's 

 system of thought, which reflects Alexandrian 

 Jewish philosophy in some places, and which, 

 though reaching the same conclusion with St Paul 

 that Christianity has fulfilled and superseded the 

 old economy, reaches it by a different road. The 

 place of St Paul's circle of legal ideas guilt, satis- 

 faction, imputation, justification by faith is taken 

 by a circle of ideas having reference to worship of 

 God : sin is uncleanness hindering the sinner from 

 drawing nigh to God ; the blood of Christ purifies 

 the conscience so as to serve the living God (ix. 

 14) ; hence redemption is conceived as the work of 

 a perfect High-priest. Faith is generalised into a 

 realising of the unseen (chap, xi.) ; and the Spirit 

 does not appear to occupy the place he has in the 

 Pauline writings as the source of the new Christian 

 life. Modern scholarship has not succeeded in 

 suggesting any new name as author of the epistle, 

 opinions being divided in favour of Apollos, Barna- 

 bas, Clement, Luke, and Silas. 



It has been thought that if Jerusalem had fallen 

 before the author wrote he would certainly have 

 used this fact to support his teaching that Judaism 

 had been transfigured into Christianity, and con- 

 sequently that the epistle dates before 70 A.D., 

 probably about the beginning of the Jewish war 

 (67 A.D. ). It must be acknowledged that owing 

 to the author's theoretical method of reasoning on 

 Judaism, which would apply to it whether the 

 temple and ritual remained or not, this argument 

 is not very strong, and others prefer a later date. 

 The epistle is largely used in Clement's Epistle, 

 which is usually assigned to about 96 A.D. 



The persons to whom the epistle is addressed 

 being such as above described, its theme is, the 

 finality of Christianity as a religion. This finality 

 is shown by a continuous contrast with Judaism. 

 The contrast has three main steps, which move, so 

 to speak, backwards or inwards, accompanied always 

 by earnest exhortation. ( 1 ) Chap, i.-ii. , Christ, the 

 Son, exalted because of death to be head of the new 

 world of redemption. Contrast with angels. (2) 

 Chap, iii.-iv. 13, Christ, the Son, the faithful leader 

 into the rest of God. Contrast with Moses and 

 Joshua. (3) Chap. iv. 14 x. 18, Jesus, the Son of 



God, the heavenly High-priest, and true sacrifice. 

 Contrast with Aaron, with the earthly tabernacle, 

 and with the sacrifices of bulls and goats. On this, 

 follows a splendid passage of exhortation (chap. x. 

 19 xii. 29) on the application and personal appro- 

 priation of the truths just taught. And finally 

 (chap, xiii.), a more personal conclusion. 



See the commentaries by Bleek (3vols. 1828-40), the 

 same, Commentary (1 vol. 1868) ; Tholuck (3d ed. 1850) ; 

 Delitzsch (1857, trans. Clark ) ; M. Stuart (new ed. 1876) ; 

 Biesenthal (1878); Angus (1883); Lowrie (N.Y. 1884); 

 A. B. Davidson, (Clark, Handbooks); Keil (1885); Liine- 

 mann (in Meyer, Eng. trans.) ; Weiss (in Meyer, 1888) ; 

 Kendall (1888); Edwards (1888, Expositor's Bible); 

 Westcott (1889); Lange ( Eng. trans. ); also Ttiehm, Lehr- 

 beyriff des Hebrfierbriefs ( 1859 ). Full literature in Lange's. 

 Commentary (Clark). 



Hebrews, GOSPEL OF THE. See APOCEYPHA. 



Hebrides, or WESTERN ISLANDS, the name 

 applied in a general sense to all the islands 

 on the west coast of Scotland. To the Outer 

 Hebrides, the geological substratum of which 

 is almost exclusively gneiss, belong Lewis with 

 Harris (Long Island), North Uist, Benbecula, 

 South Uist, Barra, and the remote group of St 

 Kilda, 60 miles to the west. The principal of the 

 Inner Islands, composed chiefly of trap and slate, 

 are Skye, Eigg, Coll, Tiree, Mull, lona, Staff'a, 

 Ulva, Lismore, Kerrera, Colonsay, Oronsay, Jura, 

 and Islay. Bute, the Cumbraes, and Arran, are 

 usually counted amongst the Hebrides ; and to the 

 same group were anciently assigned the peninsula 

 of Kintyre, the island of Rathlin, and the Isle of 

 Man. The total number of islands of any size 

 is about 500, but of these only one-fifth are 

 inhabited. The pop. of all in 1891 was 159,899. 

 Of the whole surface only about 200,000 acres 

 are arable ; the rest is pasture-land of little 

 value, morasses, peat-mosses, lakes, and barren 

 sands and rocks. Owing to the influence of the 

 Gulf Stream, the Hebrides have a mild though 

 humid climate. Politically the Hebridean isles- 

 are distributed among the Scottish counties of Ross, 

 Inverness, Argyll, and Bute. The humbler class of 

 natives for the most part speak Gaelic. The people 

 are much occupied in fishing and fowling (see 

 CROFTER). A large proportion of the area has 

 been converted into sheep-walks, whilst extensive 

 tracts are let to sportsmen. 



The Hebrides are the Ebudce of Ptolemy and 

 Pliny's Hebiides (of which ' Hebrides' is a corrup- 

 tion, due originally to a misprint), and Sudreyjar 

 ( Southern Islands ) of the Norwegians. This last 

 name was Latinised as Sodorenses, which survives 

 in the title 'Bishop of Sodor and Man.' The 

 early Celtic inhabitants were converted to Christi- 

 anity by St Columba in the 6th century. Some 

 three centuries later several of the islands were 

 colonised by Norwegians, who came hither to 

 escape the iron rule of Harold Haarfager (q.v. ). 

 But in consequence of the severe depredations 

 which these sea-rovers afterwards committed on 

 the coast of Norway, Harold sent an expedition 

 westwards, which subdued all the Western Islands, 

 as far south as Man. To Norway they remained 

 subject till 1266, when they were transferred to 

 Scotland. From that time the islands were 

 governed by native chiefs, until in 1346 the head 

 of the Macdonalds reduced the whole under his 

 authority, and took the title of Lord of the Isles 

 ( q.v. ). But from the beginning of the 16th century 

 they were gradually annexed to the Scottish crown. 

 In the 19th century the Hebrides have become 

 widely known through Scott's poem The Lord of 

 the Isles and Mr William Black's charming novels. 



The more important works on the Hebrides are 

 Martin's Description (1703) ; Pennant's Tour (1774) ; Dr 



