Who wrote the Book of Hebrews?

Q Who wrote the Book of Hebrews and to whom was it written?

A.Most likely it was Paul and there are several reasons for this. Church Fathers like Clement and Eusebius said Paul wrote it. The author was an expert in the use of the Seven Rules of Hillel and other complex forms of Homiletic Midrashic Exegesis and Paul was a student of Gamaliel and certainly would have this skill..

It seems that Paul wrote other letters not included in the New Testament and the author was in bonds, as was Paul (10.34) and his companion was Timothy(13.23). Now, to whom was Hebrews addressed? It is possible and likely that his audience were followers of John the Baptist and were Essene/Ebionite-like believers. We know that a sect of followers of John existed 30 years after John had died(Acts 19) and that John had a relationship with the Essenes in the Wilderness.. He lived there as a child (Lk 1.80) and had a community a few miles from Qumran at Bethabara (Jn 1.28).

There was an early church tradition that said after Herod killed the children at Bethlehem, John and his mother fled to to a mountain and it opened up for them and protected them, where an angel appeared to them. Could this be talking about Qumran , with openings(caves) and angels (Essenes) helping them? Essenes raised other peoples children according to Josephus. There are many other reasons to think that Paul wrote the book and he is writing to those who believed with Essene/Ebionite beliefs. The Essenes repudiated the Temple and the priesthood because they felt they were corrupt. The pre-Ebionites believed that Yeshua came to abolish the sacrifies.

Paul argues in favor of the Temple and the sacrifices and tries to present Yeshua as the expected priestly,Melchi-zedek figure who was higher than the earthly things, and the earthly was a picture of the heavenly. He presents Yeshua as the priest-king, like Melchi-zedek, who will bring Israel their inheritance.THe occasion for writing this book seems to be to encourage these believers after the death of James, who held all these different groups together in one Messianic community. The Kingdom was being rejected and the Messianic movement was losing momentum and Paul is trying to keep up their spirits, they felt like they were being oppressed and needed exhortation. Paul is taking their high belief in angels, and showing that Yeshua was greater.

He take the Essene belief of two Messiahs, and uses Melchizedek as an example of one who was not from Levi, but combined the 2 offices of priest-king and was greater than the earthly priesthood. Paul does not sign his name because he was a Pharisee and these Essene/Ebionite readers may have been offended. The Pharisee's were seen as comprimisers by these groups. This book is very Hebraic and cannot be understood unless one knows the history of the time, the festivals and the politics of the 1st century. It is not that hard to understand when you have some of these basics, but it is at a high level of Midrashic exegesis and Rabbinical Hermeneutics and whoever wrote it was brilliant in his presentation. Now, go and study!