Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Hebrews 8:7

"For if that first [covenant] had been faultless, then would no place have been sought for a second." — Hebrews 8:7 (ASV)

The author brings out the superiority of the new covenant by referring to the supersession of the old one. If there had been “nothing wrong” with the old covenant, there would have been no place for the new. That the new covenant has now been established is itself evidence that the old one was not adequate (cf. 7:11ff.). The old covenant was lacking not so much in what its terms spelled out as in the fact that it was weak and unable to bring people to the Lord (cf. 7:18– 19; Romans 7:10–11).