"Within the structure of 13:7-19, vv 7-9 and vv 17-19 constitute the literary frame for the central unit of explanatory parenesis in vv 10-16."437
13:7 The example of our spiritual leaders is one we should follow (cf. 12:1; 13:17, 24). They, as the heroes of faith in chapter 11, set a good pattern. The outcome of their life if they had died was that they were now with the Lord and already beginning to enjoy some of their eternal inheritance. People tend to forget or to worship their former leaders, but we should remember them and their godly teachings and examples (cf. 1 Thess. 5:12-13).
"In Hebrews discipleship consists in imitating the pattern of response established by past exemplars of faithfulness rather than in following' Jesus (see . . . 6:12 . . .)."438
13:8 Jesus Christ is the content of the message that the leaders had preached to these hearers (cf. v. 7).439That message and its hero is what this writer had urged his readers not to abandon. The leaders had preached the word of God to these readers, and that preaching culminated in Jesus Christ.
"Jesus is not the object of faith [in this verse or in Hebrews, according to this writer], but the supreme model of it."440
"Yesterday' the original leaders preached Jesus Christ, even as the writer does now; the present time can tolerate no other approach to the grace of God (2:9). Forever' recalls the quality of the redemption secured by Jesus Christ (5:9; 9:12, 14-15; 13:20) and of the priesthood of Christ (7:24-25): it is eternal.'"441
Another less probable interpretation of this verse sees Jesus as the leader who is perpetually available in contrast to the leaders who had preached to these readers but who were now dead.442He had also died and gone to heaven (cf. 12:2). His example of faithfulness as expounded in this epistle should be a continuing encouragement to all believers. He is as faithful to His promises now as He ever was, and He always will be faithful to them.
13:9 We should reject teaching that deviates from apostolic doctrine. The terms "varied and strange"describe a variety of heretical positions. Rather than accepting these ideas we should receive strength by taking in God's grace that comes through His Word (4:12-13; 1 Pet. 2:2). This strength comes from spiritual rather than material food. Evidently one of the strange teachings prevalent when this letter originated was that certain foods or abstinence from certain foods resulted in greater godliness (cf. Col. 2:16; 1 Tim. 4:1-5). This was, of course, what Judaism taught too. Judaism taught that eating food strengthened the heart in the sense that when the Jews ate they gave thanks to God and thus brought Him into their experience (cf. Ps. 104:14-15).443However, Jesus' death on the cross is the source of both the saving and sustaining grace of God by which we experience strengthening.
"This, I think, is the key message of Hebrews: You can be secure while everything around you is falling apart!'"444
13:10 Believers under the Old Covenant ate part of what they offered to God as a peace offering (Lev. 7:15-18). However believers under the New Covenant feed spiritually on Jesus Christ who is our peace offering. Those still under the Old Covenant had no right to partake of Him for spiritual sustenance and fellowship with God since their confidence was still in the Old Covenant.
"Christians had none of the visible apparatus which in those days was habitually associated with religion and worship--no sacred buildings, no altars, no sacrificing priests. Their pagan neighbors thought they had no God, and called them atheists; their Jewish neighbors too might criticize them for having no visible means of spiritual support."445
Roman Catholics have tended to see in this "altar"a reference to the mass, whereas Protestants have viewed it as a reference either to Christ Himself or His cross or a heavenly altar. I prefer Christ Himself since it is through Him that we are to offer a sacrifice of praise to God (v. 15; cf. 1 Pet. 2:5).
13:11 Far from defiling those who associated with Jesus Christ, our sin (purification) offering, association with Him leads to holiness. Here the writer compared Jesus to the sin offering that the Jewish high priest offered on the Day of Atonement (cf. Lev. 16:27).
". . . in Hebrews the expression high priest' customarily signals that the field of reference is the annual atonement ritual (cf. 5:3; 7:27; 8:1-3; 9:7, 11, 12, 24-26)."446
13:12 Jesus' death outside Jerusalem fulfilled the Day of Atonement ritual in that the high priest burned the remains of the two sacrificial animals outside the precincts of the wilderness camp. It also fulfilled the ritual of that day in that Jesus' execution outside the city involved the shame of exclusion from the sacred precincts. It symbolized His rejection by the Jewish authorities.447
13:13 Christians bear Jesus' reproach when we identify ourselves with Him. He suffered reproach, and so do we, when we identify with Him. This was especially true of the original Jewish recipients of this epistle. They needed to sever their emotional and social ties to Judaism.448Jerusalem was no longer their special city (cf. v. 14).
"The exhortation to leave the camp and to identify fully with Jesus introduces a distinctive understanding of discipleship. Jesus' action in going outside the camp' (v 12) set a precedent for others to follow. The task of the community is to emulate Jesus, leaving behind the security, congeniality, and respectability of the sacred enclosure, risking the reproach that fell upon him. Christian identity is a matter of going out' now to him. It entails the costly commitment to follow him resolutely, despite suffering.
"In the context of the allusion to Golgotha in v 12, this summons to discipleship implies following Jesus on the way to the cross . . ."449
13:14 The city we seek is the heavenly Jerusalem. Our present habitation on earth is only temporary (cf. 11:26).
13:15-16 Even though God does not require periodic animal and vegetable sacrifices from us, we should offer other sacrifices to Him. These sacrifices include praise (cf. Hos. 14:3), good works, and (even, especially) sharing what we have with others (as well as giving Him ourselves, Rom. 12:1). We should offer these sacrifices of the New Covenant continually.
"In systems like Judaism sacrifices were offered at set times, but for Christians praise goes up all the time."450
13:17 The leaders in view are church elders (pastors; cf. vv. 7, 24). These shepherds will have to give account to God one day for their stewardship over us. We should make their work now easier for them by being obedient and submissive to them. Will the leaders of your church be able to tell God that leading you was a pleasure when they stand before Him?
13:18-19 The writer confessed to needing the prayers of his brothers and sisters in the faith. He faced the same pressure to depart from the Lord that they faced. He longed to return to them again wherever they may have been living. He believed their prayers could affect God's timing of his return to them. Hebrews was not originally anonymous since the writer and the readers knew each other.
