In Ephesians, direct citation of the O.T. is limited to one passage in the doctrinal

section (Eph. 1:-3:) and three in the practical section (Eph. 4:-6:), namely Eph. 1: 22;

4: 8; 5: 31 and 6: 2.  In Hebrews O.T. quotation and reference meet us at every turn.

Instead therefore of attempting an examination of these--a task quite outside the scope of

the present enquiry--we propose to limit our examination to the way in which both

epistles treat an identical O.T. passage.

Both Ephesians and Hebrews quote from Psalm 8:, Ephesians merely citing, in

passing, the words "And hath put all things under His feet", without in any way giving an

indication that a quotation is being made, whereas Hebrews refers to "one who in a

certain place testified saying" and follows with a fairly full quotation of the Psalm, and an

exposition of some of its clauses. The writer of the Hebrews has told us why he

introduced this Psalm, saying,

Peri hes laloumen, "whereof we speak" is explicit. Peri means "concerning": it

suggests the circumference of a circle, and includes the Psalm that is immediately quoted.

All therefore that is said, until the subject changes, is bounded by the word peri: the

quotation of Psalm 8: is entirely limited to "the world to come whereof we speak". It

is therefore important that we should know something about this "world to come". The

Greek word for "world" here is somewhat rare, it is the word oikoumene. It was used by

the Greeks to indicate that portion of the earth inhabited by Greeks, as distinct from

Barbarians; much as we to-day might speak of "The civilized portion of the earth". It

was used to designate the Roman Empire, as in Luke 2: 1, and it is the word employed

by Luke when, in his description of the temptation in the wilderness, he says that the

Devil showed the Saviour "all the kingdoms of the world" (Luke 4: 5). The word was

well-known to the Hebrews as it is used in the LXX version of the O.T. and also in the

Apocrypha. Something of the prophetic import of the word may be seen by referring to

Psalm 72: 8 (Psalm 71: in the LXX).

In this passage the original Hebrew word translated "earth" is eretz which means

either "earth" or "land". The first occurrence of oikoumene in the LXX is significant, it is

found in Exod. 16: 35, where it speaks of the land of Canaan as "inhabited", in contrast

with the wilderness in which Israel had so long wandered, and so, the oikoumene of

Heb. 2: 5, and the "rest" of chapter 4: 8-11 are placed on either side of the wilderness

wandering of chapter 3: In this first occurrence the Greek word translates the Hebrews

yashab, "to dwell". In Psalm 49: 1 the word translated "world" is cheled, which refers

to the transitory character of this life. With the exception of these passages, and of eight

references in Isaiah which translate the Hebrew word eretz, "earth", the bulk of the

occurrences of oikoumene in the LXX are translations of the Hebrew word tebel.