Hebrews and Odyssey

Of course Hebrews is written to Hebrews, not to Greeks. But there are suggestive echoes of the proem of the Odyssey in the opening chapters of the letter. The first words of the letter, polymeros kai polytropos , remind me of Homer’s first description of his hero – polymetis , the man of many devices.

More, Homer withholds the name of the hero until the very end of the proem, giving us a summary of his adventures and sufferings before assigning a name to the famously anonymous “nobody.” The writer of Hebrews does the same, telling us all about the Son’s preeminence and superiority to angels before, finally, naming Jesus in 2:9, at the very same time he first speaks of death.