DESTINATION
DESTINATION
Because the author refers to experiences in the lives of his readers (e.g., Heb. 10:3234), we are right to assume that he has a specific group in mind as he writes. Many ancient commentators, and some moderns, 28 think the addressees lived in Palestine, perhaps even in Jerusalem. The strength of this view turns on the repeated references to the cultus. The complete silence on the temple (as opposed to the tabernacle), however, slightly weakens this theory. The epistle is written in polished Greek, and none of the Old Testament quotations and allusions unambiguously depends on Hebrew or Aramaic: from this we must conclude either that the author knew no Semitic tongue or that his readers, if in Jerusalem, were all expatriots, Greek speakers choosing to live in Jerusalem or the surrounding area. In any case, judging by the large numbers of Jews from around the empire that visited Jerusalem at the high feasts, especially Passover, there were countless Jews who did not live in Palestine who nevertheless looked to the cultus in Jerusalem for cleansing and a secure relationship with God. If that is so, it is hard to see what evidence in the book supports Jerusalem or Palestine as the destination, above many other places in the empire.
Although many other candidates for destination have been advanced, including Alexandria, Antioch, Bithynia and Pontus, Caesarea, Colossae, Corinth, Cyprus, Ephesus, and Samaria, the only other suggestion that has garnered a fair measure of support is Rome. 29 In the literature that has come down to us, this is the first place the epistle was known (in the writings of Clement of Rome; see the section Provenance above). The fact that the Roman church, and the West in general, took so long to ascribe it to Paul, may argue that they enjoyed positive information that it was not written by the apostle. As we have seen, this view entails taking "those from Italy” (Heb. 13:24) to refer to some Italians who left Italy and at the time of writing were living elsewhere (like Priscilla and Aquila), and the Greek certainly allows that interpretation. Both Harnack 30 and William Manson 31 have attempted to tie this theory into the early history of Christianity at Rome, Harnack envisaging that the addressees were in a house church in Rome and Manson envisaging a conservative Jewish-Christian faction there.
Doubtless Rome is as good a guess as any, but it is not much more than a guess. Fortunately, few exegetical issues depend on determining the geographic location of the addressees. The situation that calls forth this epistle is far more important.