The following is an excerpt from The Pulpit Commentary: Hebrews
§ 4. To Whom and Whence the Epistle Was Sent All we can be sure of is that it was originally sent to Christians of Jewish race, residing in some definite locality. This last conclusion follows from the reference to the past experience of the persons addressed (ch. 6:10, etc.; 10:32), and to their departed leaders (ch. 13:7), and from the writer’s expressed intention to visit them (ch. 13:19, 23). It was, therefore, not an encyclical Epistle to all Hebrew Churches, though it may have been intended to be generally circulated, so as to be of use to all. But what Church or group of Churches it was first meant for can only be surmised. The designation Hebrews (Ἑβραῖοι) is used in the New Testament to denote those who adhered to the Hebrew language in public worship and to the national Hebrew customs and traditions, in opposition to the Hellenizing Jews, called Ἐλληνισταί (Acts 6:1; cf. 9:29; 11:20); but also, in its more general and proper sense, to denote all of Hebrew race (2 Cor. 11:22; Phil. 3:5). Hence it cannot be concluded from the title, Πρὸς Ἑβραίους, that the Jewish converts in Palestine rather than elsewhere were addressed. Nor, on the other hand, is the fact of the Epistle having been written in Greek, and of the LXX being always quoted, an argument against this supposition. For Greek as well as Aramaic was at that time spoken in Palestine, and was the language of Christian literature from the first. It is remarkable in this connection that Justin Martyr, though born at Flavia Neapolis (the ancient Sichem) in Palestine, probably at the close of the first century, shows no signs of being acquainted with the vernacular language of his country, and even in arguing with the Jew Trypho refers only to the LXX Chrysostom, and the Greek Fathers generally suppose the Churches of Palestine to be addressed, and this appears still to be the prevailing view, being that which most naturally suggests itself, and at least as probable as any other. Alford, indeed, argues at considerable length against it, and in favour of the Epistle having been addressed to Rome; but his reasoning is by no means convincing. Nor can we determine with any certainty the locality from which the Epistle was sent. The expression, “They of Italy (οἱ ἀπὸ τῆς Ιταλίας) salute you” (ch. 13:24), does not settle the question whether the writer was or was not in Italy when he wrote. It may mean either persons who had come from Italy or simply Italians. In favour of the latter meaning, cf. Acts 10:23, τῶν ἀπὸ Ιόππης: 12:1, τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐκκλησίας: 17:13, οἱ ἀπὸ τῆς Θεσσαλονίκης: 21:27, οἱ ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀσίας Ἰουδαῖοι. With these instances before us (all being from St. Luke, whose language that of the Epistle so constantly resembles), we may most naturally take the phrase to mean the Hebrews, or the Christians generally, who were of Italy; and if so, to suppose the writer to have been himself in Italy, possibly in Rome, when he thus sent salutations from them. He could not, in fact, have used a more appropriate expression, if this were the case. This expression, then, seems to afford a probability, though not a certainty, that it was so. The familiarity of the Roman Clement with the Epistle, though no copy of it seems to have been preserved in the Roman Church, may further be thus accounted for.
Spence-Jones, H. D. M. (Hrsg.): The Pulpit Commentary: Hebrews. Bellingham, WA : Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2004, xvii