_BY THE ETERNAL PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST, THE LEVITICAL PRIESTHOOD OF AARON IS ABOLISHED; AND THE TEMPORAL COVENANT WITH THE FATHERS, BY THE ETERNAL COVENANT OF THE GOSPEL._ _Anno Domini 63._ THE apostle, in what goes before, having shewed that Jesus, as an High-priest is superior to all the Levitical... [ Continue Reading ]
A MINISTER OF THE SANCTUARY,— Των αγιων, _of holy things,_ which seems preferable. In the next clause the apostle speaks of _the holy places;_ and from that clause we are to borrow the word αληθινων, and to understand him as Christ's being a minister of the _true holy things,_ and of the _true,_ tha... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR EVERY HIGH-PRIEST IS ORDAINED, &C.— "For the special business of every high-priest, for which he is appointed and authorized of God, is to present oblations and sacrifices of atonement, which were to be slain andoffered before he carried their blood into the holy place, and in order to his doing... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR IF HE WERE ON EARTH,— _"But,_ we may observe by the way, that if _he were_ always to continue _on earth, he could not,_ in any consistence with the Jewish institutions, _have been a priest,_ to officiate at the temple of God in Jerusalem; _as there are_ already a certain order of _priests_ there... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT NOW HATH HE OBTAINED A MORE EXCELLENT MINISTRY,— This _now_ seems to depend on Hebrews 8:1. Now that he is _set on the right hand of the throne,_ &c. The _more excellent ministry_ is that which is more excellent than that of the high-priests under the law, who performed divine service to the exe... [ Continue Reading ]
_HEBREWS 8:7_.— Mr. Peirce is of opinion, that what follows, to the end of this chapter, is a digression, or an argument brought in by the apostle incidentally, upon his having said that Christ had obtained a more excellent ministry than the priests under the law. It was a natural inference, that if... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR FINDING FAULT WITH THEM, &C.— "For God having accused and reproved the Jews by the prophet Jeremiah, Jeremiah 31:31, &c. for their transgressions of that covenant, (he says,) Observe with attention, wonder, and joy, The days are coming and hastening on apace, (says the Sovereign Lord of heaven a... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THIS IS THE COVENANT, &C.— "This new covenant shall be of a much better tenor than that: for this is the sum and substance of the covenant which I will make with all my spiritual Israel who perseveringly yield to myfree grace, under the gospel state, says the great Jehovah; I will enlighten and... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY SHALL NOT TEACH EVERY MAN— We are not to suppose that these words are designed to exclude all public and private, ministerial, family, and social instruction: for this is enforced in the New Testament institution of a gospel ministry, to continue to the consummation of all things (Matthew 2... [ Continue Reading ]
HE HATH MADE THE FIRST OLD.— St. Paul in another place calls the Jewish ceremonial law _weak and beggarly elements;_ and, ch. Hebrews 7:18 of this epistle, he says, _There is a disannulling of that commandment for the weakness and un-profitableness thereof._ Agreeably to this, he here speaks of it a... [ Continue Reading ]