Hebrews 8:13

he hath made the first old The very expression, "a New Covenant," used in the disparaging connexion in which it stands, superannuates the former covenant, and stamps it as antiquated. The verse is a specimen of the deep sense which it was the constant object of Alexandrian interpreters to deduce from Scripture. The argument is analogous to that of Hebrews 7:11.

Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away Lit. "Now that which is becoming antiquated and waxing aged, is near obliteration." The expression "nearevanescence "again shows that the Epistle was written before the Fall of Jerusalem, when the decree of dissolution which had been passed upon the Old Covenant was carried into effect. Even the Rabbis, though they made the Law an object of superstitious and extravagant veneration, yet sometimes admitted that it would ultimately cease to be namely, when "the Evil Impulse" (Deuteronomy 31:21) should be overcome.

ready to vanish away Comp. the expression "near a curse" (Hebrews 6:8), and Dr Kay points out the curious fact that "curse" and "obliteration" (aphanismoshere alone in the N. T.) appear in juxtaposition in 2 Kings 22:19 (where our version renders it "desolation").