Thanks Eeli for the positive response to my article. FYI, I have also written a book on this topic called
"In the Original Text It Says". See:
http://www.amazon.com/%2522In-Original- ... xt+it+saysThe only reason I give the amazon link is because there is a review of the book on that page that will give you a good idea of what's in the book. The book is available at most online retailers I know about.
David, I think you may find helpful what R.T. France says in his commentary on Hebrews in The Expositor's Bible Commentary: Revised Edition 13 regarding Heb 9:15-17 (p. 120):
"The mention of death as the basis of the new covenant ..., together with the idea of "inheritance," leads the author into his wordplay on
diatheke. A will (
diatheke) does not take practical effect until the testator has died, as these verses explain at rather repetitious length; "inheritance" comes only as the result of a death. The switch to the second sense of
diatheke (an "obvious rhetorical conceit," Attridge, 254) should not be pressed too far, since the death involved with regard to the new covenant is not that of the one who made the
diatheke (namely, God) but of his Son as a third party ("mediator"). The promise of a new
diatheke does not demand the death of God! Our author's point is merely that
diatheke and death belong together."
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Benjamin Baxter