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sacrifice of a victim was customary (Gen. 15:10; Jer. 34:18, 19). He who “made a
covenant” did so at the cost of a life. While the terminology in Heb. 9:16, 17 has the
appearance of being appropriate to the circumstances of making a will, there is excellent
reason for adhering to the meaning “covenant-making.” The rendering “the death of the
testator” would make Christ a Testator, which He was not. He did not die simply that the
terms of a testamentary disposition might be fulfilled for the heirs. Here He who is “the
Mediator of a new covenant” (v. 15) is Himself the Victim whose death was necessary.
The idea of “making a will” destroys the argument of v. 18. In spite of various advocacies
of the idea of a will, the weight of evidence is confirmatory of what Hatch, in
,
0
5
, p. 48, says: “There can be little doubt that the word (
) must be
invariably taken in this sense of ‘covenant’ in the NT, and especially in a book … so
impregnated with the language of the Sept. as the Epistle to the Hebrews” (see also
Westcott, and W. F. Moulton). We may render somewhat literally thus: ‘For where a
covenant (is), a death (is) necessary to be brought in of the one covenanting; for a
covenant over dead ones (victims) is sure, since never has it force when the one
covenanting lives’ [Christ being especially in view]. The writer is speaking from a Jewish
point of view, not from that of the Greeks. “To adduce the fact that in the case of wills
the death of the testator is the condition of validity, is, of course, no proof at all that a
death is necessary to make a covenant valid.… To support his argument, proving the
necessity of Christ’s death, the writer adduces the general law that he who makes a
covenant does so at the expense of life” (Marcus Dods). See
APPOINT
,
MAKE
.
TESTIFY
1.
$
(
$ $!
, 3140), for which see
WITNESS
, is frequently rendered “to
bear witness, to witness,” in the
RV
, where
KJV
renders it “to testify,” John 2:25; 3:11, 32;
5:39; 15:26; 21:24; 1 Cor. 15:15; Heb. 7:17; 11:4; 1 John 4:14; 5:9; 3 John 3. In the
following, however, the
RV
, like the
KJV
, has the rendering “to testify,” John 4:39, 44;
7:7; 13:21; Acts 26:5; Rev. 22:16, 18, 20.
2.
$
(
# $ $!
, 1957), “to bear witness to” (a strengthened form of
No. 1), is rendered “testifying” in 1 Pet. 5:12.¶
3.
$
(
$ "$
, 3143), primarily, “to summon as witness,” then, “to
bear witness” (sometimes with the suggestion of solemn protestation), is rendered “to
testify” in Acts 20:26,
RV
(
KJV
, “I take … to record”); 26:22, in the best texts (some have
No. 1),
RV
; Gal. 5:3; Eph. 4:17; 1 Thess. 2:11, in the best texts (some have No. 1),
RV
,
“testifying” (
KJV
, “charged”).¶
4.
$
(
$ "$
, 1263), “to testify or protest solemnly,” an
intensive form of No. 3, is translated “to testify” in Luke 16:28; Acts 2:40; 8:25; 10:42;
18:5; 20:21, 23, 24; 23:11; 28:23; 1 Thess. 4:6; Heb. 2:6; “to charge” in 1 Tim. 5:21; 2
Tim. 2:14; 4:8.¶
5.
$
(
$ $ "$
, 4303), “to testify beforehand,” occurs in 1 Pet.
1:11, where the pronoun “it” should be “He” (the “it” being due to the grammatically
neuter form of
$ ;
the personality of the Holy Spirit requires the masculine
pronoun).¶