{N}1,{/}2 {C}The stages of creation{/}. The text says, "eons." The Greek word means, "a world," which is equivalent to saying, an epoch. This word coincides well with the Greek concept in which history consists of a series of cycles which repeat themselves more or less in a similar pattern. The singular form of the word usually means, "world". When used in the plural, the word generally refers to {C}stages{/} (or ages), and when repeated it is the way of saying: forever and ever. In the present text, as also in 11,3, the author uses Greek terms to speak about the creation in six days. He incorporates the poem of Prov 8,22 in which God, through his Son who is Wisdom, fixes the stages of creation. On the other hand, it is very probable that this word, {C}stages{/}, refers to the six days of the biblical text. In a specifically Alexandrian manner of interpreting Scripture, the author expresses the "days" of Genesis in a symbolic way, as will be explained below.

{N}1,{/}5 {N}CHRISTIAN INTERPRETATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT{/}
Much could be said about how the author of Hebrews uses Scripture. To begin, let us exclude our own way of using Scripture argumentatively to prove some point. For example, we would have liked to discover Old Testament texts clearly describing what the Savior would be and how he might be recognized by his gestures. That is precisely how Christians interpreted the Bible for many centuries, attempting to demonstrate especially in the writings of the prophets how they foretold all the details and the events of Gospel stories. And they made such an irrefutable argumentation that they could not understand how the people at Jesus' time failed to recognize him.
The author of Hebrews did not think as we do. Most likely, he was formed in the school of Alexandria on the Nile delta of Egypt. This was one of the largest cities of the Roman Empire. Here the Jews had established an extremely important community within which great intellectual leaders had opened a "school" for the interpretation of the Bible. It is also important to note that it was in this city that capable translators were found to translate the Hebrew Bible into Greek, which became known as the "version of the Seventy." It was also in this city that the younger son of Jesus Ben Sirach translated from Hebrew to Greek the book which we call Sirach. 
Almost a century later, in the same city of Alexandria, when Jesus was preaching in Palestine, a Jew named Philo acquired a reputation throughout the empire for his interpretation of the Bible. Since he was living among Greek non-believers for whom he wanted to provide acceptable answers to their inquiries, he began studying the Scriptures very critically. Philo's basic principle was that the Scriptures were inspired by God and, therefore, they contained nothing that was trivial or unworthy of God. Nevertheless, he encountered many things in the biblical texts which appeared vulgar to him. As he did not want to lose any of the biblical message, he was led to the conclusion that the inspired biblical message was contained not only in the words themselves and in their primary meaning. Without doubt, he said, one must respect the obvious meaning of these words, but we must also understand that the names and the stories function as figures or symbols, or "allegories" of more spiritual realities. 
This allegorical perspective led Philo to interpret many things in a purely figurative sense, for example, the six days of creation. Likewise, the story of the formation of Adam from clay was for Philo a symbol of an eminently spiritual creation in which humankind had been thought of and created in God. In other examples, Abraham was, in certain episodes of his life, the image of wisdom. Moses, as a shepherd of sheep, taught us that a believer ought to be a shepherd of his many desires and feelings which he is capable of unifying and controlling. These examples illustrate how Philo insisted that the biblical text can and ought to receive multiple interpretations. Beyond its primary function of conveying a teaching or a moral message for the readers, the text also communicated a spiritual dimension that a wise person could discover.
This "allegorical" method of interpreting the Bible immediately attracted both Jews and first generation Christians, although in a different manner, and we find examples of such interpretation in this Letter to the Hebrews. But before proceeding, we must take note of two additional elements involved in this subject which might otherwise disorientate us.
First, the author of Hebrews based his message on the Greek version of the Old Testament, which differs in many details from the original Hebrew text. For example, in 1,7 he quotes Psalm 104,4. The original Hebrew word to express "angel" was "messenger." That psalm said: "You make the spirits your messengers." But in the Letter to the Hebrews the author translates it as: "You send forth your angels as spirits." This is not a great difference, however he goes on to compare Christ and the angels. 
Similarly, he quotes Psalm 45 in 1,9, saying: "...therefore, God, your God, has anointed you with the oil..." The Greek text read: "...therefore, oh God, your God gave you an anointing..." The author of Hebrews interpreted this text to insinuate the divinity of Christ.
On the other hand, whenever the author of Hebrews encounters the word, God, in the Bible, he translates it as God the Father. But when he sees the word, Lord (which was a way of translating the name of Yahweh), he systematically made it refer to Christ, following the practice of the Apostles, as we see in 1,10. Similarly 1,6 quotes Psalm 97 which in Hebrew said: "Yahweh reigns...may all the angels adore him." In contrast, the Greek version read: "The Lord reigns..." The author automatically related this to Christ and wrote: "May the angels adore the Son, who is the Lord."
A particularly interesting example is how the author of Hebrews interpreted Psalm 8. This psalm expresses admiration of divine activity saying, "How is it possible that God has conceded such privileges to man, so insignificant in creation?" In the Hebrew original we find a common form of poetic repetition by which the same thing is expressed in different words. The Hebrew psalm speaks of {C}the human one{/} and then of the {C}son of man{/}. The text sounds like this: "You made him a little lower than a god; you crowned him with glory." The Greek version expressed it differently, but not entirely wrong: "You placed him a little below the angels." That was a signal to the author of Hebrews to write: "The Son of Man is Christ. He lowered himself in his passion, but now he is crowned with glory before he is placed over all creation." In this way we see that the author of Hebrews is already convinced that Christ is the center of all God's works, and the psalm helps him to express that Christ incorporates within himself the destiny of all humankind: in him God manifests himself admirably and subjects the entire universe to the Man, therefore it was necessary for him to have become like his brothers and sisters in order to raise them up, as the author will say in the following chapter.
These examples illustrate how proceeds the discourse. The author imposes his own interpretation less through the logics of his argumentation than through his masterful inspiration. Helped by his great familiarity with the Old Testament, he weaves many texts together to construct his magnificent building. He shows that rather than try to prove the truthfulness of faith, it is more effective to present the beauty of the Christian vision of the world because this is a clear sign of his divine character. The prophets of the Early Church, and later thinkers and orators, emphasized the harmony of faith.

{N}9,{/}11 {C}The good things of these new times. {/}The text says: "The good things that have come." In other words, we encounter the gifts that belong to the times that are coming. These times that were hoped for are already here, because Jesus has inaugurated them. We recognize that they are the end times because of their divine character. In our present life they manifest the flavor of eternity.

{N}9,{/}26 {C}At the end of the ages. {/}The text says, "when the stages were fulfilled". Here we again encounter the Greek word "eons"whose meaning we explained in 1,2, as one time that brings the next.

{N}11,{/}3 {C}The stages of creation{/}. We again meet the term, "eons," whose meaning we explained in 1,2.

{N}13,{/}22 This verse is enigmatic. Is it possible that another one than the author added it to the already completed final blessing in verses 20-21? If this is the case, they might be words of Paul who was present at the time when the unknown author of this letter sent it (see the Introduction to this letter).

