After thus tracing the contrast between the Two Covenants, the writer proceeds to shew the difference between their _ordinances of ministration_(Hebrews 9:1 to Hebrews 10:18). He contrasts the sanctuary (1 5), the offering, and the access (6, 7) of the Levitical Priests, in their shadowy and ineffic... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then verily the first tabernacle had also ordinances_ Rather, "To resume then, even the first (_covenant_) had its ordinances." No substantive is expressed with "first," but the train of reasoning in the last chapter sufficiently shews that "Covenant," not "Tabernacle," is the word to be supplied.... [ Continue Reading ]
_made_ "prepared" or "established." He treats of the Sanctuary in 2 5, and of the Services in 6 10. _the first_ By this is not meant the Tabernacle in contrast with the Temple, but "_the outer chamber_(or Holy Place)." It is however true that the writer is thinking exclusively of the Tabernacle of... [ Continue Reading ]
_after the second vail_ Rather, "behind the second veil." There were two veils in the Tabernacle one called _Mâsâk_(Exodus 26:36-37, LXX. _kalumma_or _epispastron_) which hung before the entrance; and "the second," called _Parocheth_(LXX. _katapetasma_) which hung between the Holy Place and the Holi... [ Continue Reading ]
_the golden censer_ The Greek word is _thumiaterion_, and it has been long disputed whether it means Censer or Altar of Incense. It does not occur in the Greek version of the Pentateuch (except as a various reading) where the "altar of incense" is rendered by _thusiasterion thumiamatos_(Exodus 31:8;... [ Continue Reading ]
_the cherubims_ Rather, "the Cherubim," since _im_is the Hebrew plural termination. _of glory_ Not "the glorious Cherubim" but "the Cherubim of the Shechinah" or cloud of glory. This was regarded as the symbol of God's presence, and was believed to rest between their outspread wings (see 1 Samuel 4:... [ Continue Reading ]
_Now when these things were thus ordained_ Rather, "since then these things have been thus arranged." _went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God_ Rather, "into the outer tabernacle the priests enter continually in performance of their ministrations." Their ordinary min... [ Continue Reading ]
_But into the second_ i.e. "the inner," "the Holiest." There was a graduated sanctity in the Tabernacle and in the Temple. In the Temple any one might go into the Outer Court or Court of the Gentiles; Jews into the Second Court; men only into the Third; priests only in their robes into the Holy Plac... [ Continue Reading ]
_that the way into the holiest … was not yet made manifest_ Entrance into the Holiest symbolised direct access to God, and the "way" into it had not been made evident until He came who is "the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). He is "the new and living way" (Hebrews 10:19-20). _while as the... [ Continue Reading ]
_which was a figure for the time then present_ i.e. And this outer Tabernacle is a parable for the present time. By "the present time" he means the prae-Christian epoch in which the unconverted Jews were still (practically) living. The full inauguration of the New Covenant of which Christ had prophe... [ Continue Reading ]
_which stood only in meats and drinks_ The "which" of the A. V. refers to the "present time." The Greek is here elliptical, for the verse begins with the words "only upon." The meaning is that the "gifts and sacrifices" consist only in meats and drinks and divers washings being ordinances of the fle... [ Continue Reading ]
Assurance of Conscience, the condition of access to God, was secured through Christ alone 11. _being come_ "Being come among us." _a high priest of good things to come_ Another and perhaps better reading is "of the good things that have come" (γενομένων B, D, not μελλόντων). The writer here transf... [ Continue Reading ]
_neither_ "Nor yet." _by the blood of goats and calves_ "by means of the blood of goats and calves," (this is the order of the words in the best mss.). It is not meant that the sacrifices of the Old Covenant were _useless_, but only that when they were regarded as meritorious _in themselves_apart f... [ Continue Reading ]
_if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean_ The writer has designedly chosen the two most striking sacrifices and ceremonials of the Levitical Law, namely the calf and the goat offered for the sins of people and priest on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16)... [ Continue Reading ]
_how much more_ Again we have the characteristic word the key-note as it were of the Epistle. _the blood of Christ_ which is typified by "the fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness" (Zechariah 13:1). _who through the eternal Spirit_ If this be the right rendering the reference must be to the f... [ Continue Reading ]
The indispensableness and efficacy of the death of Christ 15. _for this cause_ i.e. on account of the grandeur of His offering. _the mediator of the new testament_ Rather, "a mediator of a New Covenant." Moses had been called by Philo "the Mediator" of the Old Covenant, i.e. he who came between Go... [ Continue Reading ]
_For where a testament is_ In these two verses (16, 17), and these only, _Diathçkç_is used in its Greek and Roman sense of "a will," and not in its Hebrew sense of "a covenant." The sudden and momentary change in the significance of the word explains itself, for he has just spoken of _an inheritance... [ Continue Reading ]
_after men are dead_ This rendering expresses the meaning rightly a will is only valid "in cases of death," "in the case of men who are dead." _Ex vi termini_, "a testament," is the disposition which a man makes of his affairs with a view to his death. The attempt to confine the word _diathçkç_to th... [ Continue Reading ]
_Whereupon_ Rather, "Wherefore;" because both "a covenant" and "a testament" involve the idea of death. _neither_ "not even." _was dedicated_ Lit. "has been handselled" or "inaugurated." The word is from the same root as "Encaenia," the name given to the re-dedication of the Temple by the Maccabee... [ Continue Reading ]
_and of goats_ This is not specially mentioned, but it may be supposed that "goats" were among the burnt-offerings mentioned in Exodus 24:5. _water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop_ These again are not mentioned in Exodus 24:6, but are perhaps added from tradition on the analogy of Exodus 12:22; Numbe... [ Continue Reading ]
_This is_ In the Hebrew "Behold!" Some have supposed that the writer adopted the variation from a reminiscence of our Lord's words "This is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins" (Matthew 26:28). But if such a reference or comparison had been at all present to... [ Continue Reading ]
_both the tabernacle_ This again is not mentioned in the scene to which the writer seems to be referring (Exodus 24:6-8), which indeed preceded the building of the Tabernacle. It is nowhere recorded in Scripture that the _Tabernacle_was sprinkled, although it is perhaps _implied_that on a later occa... [ Continue Reading ]
_almost all things_ There were a few exceptions (Exodus 19:10; Leviticus 5:11-13; Leviticus 15:5; Leviticus 16:26, &c.) The word σχεδὸν, "almost," is only found in two other passages of the N.T. (Acts 13:44; Acts 19:26). _without shedding of blood_ This, and not "pouring out of blood" at the foot of... [ Continue Reading ]
_patterns_ Rather, "copies," or outlines _Abbilden_(not _Urbilden_), Hebrews 4:11; Hebrews 8:5. _the heavenly things themselves_ Not "the New Covenant," or "the Church," or "ourselves as heirs of heaven," but apparently the Ideal Tabernacle in the Heavens, which was itself impure before Him to whom... [ Continue Reading ]
_For Christ is not entered_ "For not into any Material Sanctuary did Christ enter a (mere) imitation of the Ideal, but into Heaven itself, now to be visibly presented before the face of God for us." The Ideal or genuine Tabernacle is the eternal uncreated Archetype as contrasted with its antitype (o... [ Continue Reading ]
_entereth into the holy place every year_ In this entrance of the High Priest once a year, on the Day of Atonement, into the Holiest Place culminated all that was gorgeous and awe-inspiring in the Jewish ritual. The writer therefore purposely chose it as his point of comparison between the ministrat... [ Continue Reading ]
_for then must he often have suffered_ Since He could not have entered the Sanctuary of God's Holiest in the Heavens without some offering of atoning blood. _once_ "Once for all." _in the end of the world_ This phrase does not convey the meaning of the Greek which has "at the consummation of the ag... [ Continue Reading ]
_as_ "Inasmuch as." _it is appointed_ Rather, "it is reserved;" lit., "it is laid up for." _the judgment_ Rather, "a judgment." By this apparently is not meant "a day in the which He will judge the world in righteousness" (Acts 17:31), but a judgment which follows immediately after death.... [ Continue Reading ]
_was once offered_ Christ may also be said as in Hebrews 9:14 "to _offer Himself;_" just as He is said "to be delivered for us" (Romans 4:25) and "to deliver up Himself" (Ephesians 5:2). _to bear the sins_ The word rendered "to bear" may mean "to carry them with Him on to the Cross," as in 1 Peter... [ Continue Reading ]