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It may be of service if we give all the occurrences of martus, martureo and marturion in the epistle to the
Hebrews.
`For a testimony of those things' (3:5).
`Of whom it is witnessed that he liveth' (7:8).
`For He testifieth, Thou art a priest' (7:17).
`The Holy Ghost also is a witness to us' (10:15).
`Died ... under two or three witnesses' (10:28).
`The elders obtained a good report' (11:2).
`He obtained witness that he was righteous' (11:4).
`God testifying of his gifts' (11:4).
`He had this testimony' (11:5).
`These all, having obtained a good report' (11:39).
`So reat a cloud of witnesses' (12:1).
CLOUD (nephos). The word does not occur elsewhere in Scripture, the usual word for cloud being the related
nephele. It is a word in use among Greek writers for a great company. Homer, in the Iliad, has the line: `With him
followed a cloud of foot-men'. So Herodotus, Euripides and others. The figure was used likewise by Latin writers;
Livy has the line peditum equitumque nubes, `a cloud of horse and foot'.
PATIENCE (hupomone). The only occurrences of this word in Hebrews are 10:36 and 12:1. The word literally
means `to remain under'. We take note of it here because of its cognates that are not so obvious in the English
translation. The verbal form (hupomeno) comes in Hebrews 10:32, `Ye endured'; 12:2, `He endured the cross';
12:3, `endured such contradiction'; 12:7, `If ye endure chastening'.
Closely allied, and having a very definite bearing upon the theme, is the simple form meno, `to remain'. It
occurs six times in Hebrews:
`Abideth a priest continually' (7:3).
`He continueth ever' (7:24).
`An enduring substance' (10:34).
`Those things which cannot be shaken may remain' (12:27).
`Let brotherly love continue' (13:1).
`For here have we no continuing city' (13:14).
RACE (agon). The word means a contest, a race, a conflict, and the accompanying imagery is borrowed from the
Greek games.
`So run, that ye may obtain ... every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate ... they do it to obtain a
corruptible crown' (1 Cor. 9:24,25).
`I have fought a good fight ... henceforth ... a crown' (2 Tim. 4:7,8).
A connection hidden from the English reader is found in Hebrews 12:4 `Striving against' is antagonizomai, just
the verbal form of agon as used in 1 Corinthians 9:25, with the prefix anti, against.
The consideration of these words has of itself created the true atmosphere of the passage. It is a race, calling for
endurance, beset with peculiar difficulties, having a prize ahead, and a glorious Example. We are now ready for the
structure, and can then pass on to the argument itself.