Charles Ellicott Commentary Hebrews 9:2

"For there was a tabernacle prepared, the first, wherein [were] the candlestick, and the table, and the showbread; which is called the Holy place." — Hebrews 9:2 (ASV)

Tabernacle.—It must be carefully observed that the Epistle throughout refers to the Tabernacle, and not once to the Temples which succeeded it. Although they were formed on the same general model, their very nature and design necessitated changes of plan and detail which unfitted them for the writer’s argument here. Insofar as the Temple was a copy of the Tabernacle, and only to that extent, was it made “after the pattern” that Moses had seen; and only to that extent was its symbolism of divine and not human origin.

The first, in which was . . .—In Hebrews 9:6, when the writer passes from place to ministration, he uses the present tense, although it is of the Tabernacle that he is speaking. The explanation is the one that has come before us again and again: the arrangements prescribed in Scripture are to him ever present, abiding from age to age in that unchanging word. Hence, we should probably read are here instead of “were.”

The golden candlestick, the table, and the showbread are in the Holy Place as it is described in the Law. We are not concerned here with the symbolical meaning of the furniture of the Holy Place. The writer contents himself with words that plainly imply that none of the parts and arrangements of the Tabernacle were without significance.

For the golden candlestick (more strictly, lampstand), see Exodus 25:31-37; for the ten candlesticks of the Temple of Solomon, see 1 Kings 7:49; and for the table and the showbread, see Exodus 25:23-30 and Leviticus 24:5-9 (see also 1 Kings 7:48; 2 Chronicles 4:8).

It is somewhat remarkable that the table should be so distinctly mentioned here, because usually (both in the Bible and in Jewish tradition) no special importance appears to be assigned to it apart from the offering which was placed on it. (Compare, however, Leviticus 24:6; 2 Chronicles 13:11; Malachi 1:7; Malachi 1:12.) This offering is called “bread of the face” in Hebrew—that is, bread of the (divine) Presence; in Matthew 12:4 and Luke 6:4, it is called “loaves of the setting forth;” and here, “the setting forth of the loaves.”

Sanctuary.—Or, holy place. The same word is applied to the Holy of Holies in Hebrews 8:2; Hebrews 9:8; Hebrews 12:24–25; Hebrews 10:19; and probably in Hebrews 13:11.

This verse and the next give the proper names of the two parts of the Tabernacle, which must be used when one is to be distinguished from the other. Where there is no risk of mistake, the simpler designation is sufficient (Leviticus 16:17; Leviticus 16:20). It will be observed that here, and in Hebrews 9:3 and Hebrews 9:6-7, these divisions are spoken of as if they were two distinct Tabernacles.