110 JAMES SWETNAM high priest. The goal of becoming high priest seems presumed; the qualities of merciful and faithful with regard to the things of God are the point of the need by Jesus to become like these brothers and expiate their sins. The reason for this necessity is given in 2,18: the brothers are being tested, hence Jesus had to be tested. The inversion of the phrase “flesh and blood” at the beginning of 2,13b-18 into “blood and flesh” (aıma kaı sarj – 2,14) probably suggests ü ù¥ that the blood of Jesus will be emphasized in what follows 30. In its own verse the inversion seems to lead to mention of Jesus’ death in the same verse, which suggests that the inversion is important for understanding that death. In 2,17 there is the culmination of this part of the exposition with the statement that Jesus became a merciful and faithful high priest for the expiation of the sins of the people. The expiation of sin by Jesus the earthly high priest mentioned in 2,17 is relevant to blood from the standpoint of what is necessary in the Hebrew faith-world for it to occur. But looking in 2,10-12 to the counterpart in what is effected by Jesus the heavenly high priest, one notes the emphasis on sanctification : “the one sanctifying and those being sanctified are all from one ”, i.e., are persons who have not only Abrahamic faith-trust but Christian faith-trust as well. In Hebrews sanctification is linked with the shedding of Jesus’ blood either explicitly (9,13; 10,29; 13,12) or implicitly (10,10.14). * * * The present note has suggested that the crux in Heb 2,9 which seems to say that Jesus died in order to die should be taken at face value: he died once physically on the cross so that he could die repeatedly in the gaze of those who believe in him and thus be liberated from the fear of death that dogs them. Further, the note has taken the occasion of the apparent parallelism The reason for the inversion is much discussed. Cf. ELLINGWORTH, 30 Hebrews, 171. Ellingworth thinks that sacrificial language is “conspicuously absent in Heb 2,14-15”. This, of course, is to beg the question: if the inversion was caused by the desire to give a coloring involving Jesus’ blood, i.e., a coloring of sacrifice, to all that follows, 2,14 takes on the coloring of sacrifice. But apart from this consideration, the word “death” (uanatov) must be ¥ interpreted as it is found elsewhere in the epistle, especially in Heb 2,9, and 2,13a. The three repetitions of uanatov in 2,14 and 2,15 indicate that death is ¥ the crucial reality under consideration, and in the passage 2,5-18 (cf. the thematic 2,13a) it is more plausible to hold that uanatov as undergone by Jesus ¥ is being primarily considered in its sacrificial aspect.