Constructing “Janus-Faced” Exhortations. The Use of Old Testament Narratives in Heb 13,1-8(1) I. The Integrity of Heb 13 Were it not for the way in which the anonymous characterisation of the letter to the Hebrews has diverted attention towards questions of authorship, audience and provenance, the relationship of chapter 13 to the rest of the epistle would probably have emerged as the cause celèbre of Hebrews’ scholarship, the question automatically posed once one identifies oneself as a Hebrews’ scholar. The passionate exhortations of the first twelve chapters, imbibed as they are in the once for all sacrificial imagery of Christ the great high priest, have, for many scholars, sat ill with the more earthy, practical, and apparently non-specific claims of 13,1-7 (2). The authenticity of the chapter has consequently been challenged, traditionally viewed as an afterthought, a separate text, or an appendix, at the very least disconnected to the prior material, or alternatively as a mere jumble of broad exhortations divorced from the actual situation of the community (3). In recent years, however, scholars have argued for the authenticity of, and integral unity to, the chapter and the consensus holds it to be part of the overall letter. (4) In terms of the exhortations themselves, Vanhoye, in particular, has noted the internal, rhetorical cohesion within Heb 13,1-6 that challenges the notion that they are merely random paraenesis (5). Others, such as Floyd Filson, have found much to link the chapter with the foregoing sections (6), and it is now seen less as an embarrassment that has to be compensated for, and rather an important part of the overall letter, with 13,1-6 a key unit linked to the exhortation of 12,28 that demands appropriate worship. Craig Koester even begins the perorative section at 12,28, seeing the citation of Deut 4,24 in Heb 12,29 as closely linked to the ensuing discourse of Heb 13 (7). The exhortations of 13,1-7 therefore become the acts of appropriate worship (1) An earlier version of this paper was given at the British OT in the NT conference, Hawarden, March 2008. I am grateful for the comments and suggestions received from the attendees. (2) See for example G.W. BUCHANAN, To the Hebrews. Translation, Comment and Conclusions (AB 36; Garden City, NY 1972) 267-268, who argues that chapter 13 is an addition, prepared for a different community than that for whom chapters 1–12 were composed. (3) See the discussion in P. ELLINGWORTH, The Epistle to the Hebrews. A Commentary on the Greek Text (NIGTC; Grand Rapids, MI 1993) 692-693. (4) For a dissenting view, see A.J.M. WEDDERBURN, “The ‘Letter to the Hebrews’ and its Thirteenth Chapter”, NTS 50 (2004) 390-405. (5) A. VANHOYE, “La Question Littéraire de Hébreux XIII.1-6”, NTS 23 (1976-77) 121- 139. (6) F.V. FILSON, Yesterday. A Study of Hebrews in the Light of Chapter 13 (SBT 2/4; London 1967) 27-81. (7) C.R. KOESTER, Hebrews. A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (AB; New York 2001) 554-555.