Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Hebrews 9

The writer has no noun with his adjective “first,” but NIV is certainly correct in inserting “covenant.” The author is contrasting two whole ways of approach to God—the old covenant that has been superseded and the new one that Jesus has now established. The old one had been set up with a full set of regulations for worship, prescribed directly by God. Thus the new covenant, also established by God, is its fulfillment, not its contradiction.

The old way not only had regulations but also a sanctuary described as “earthly” (GK 3176). This sanctuary belonged to this world in contrast to the heavenly sanctuary where Jesus ministers (v.11). The first covenant, then, was established with its due regulations for worship and its holy place of this earth where worship could be carried on. The author will go on to stress the “earthly” nature of it all.

The tabernacle was a tent with two compartments. The term rendered “was set up” (GK 2941) is not the usual word for the pitching of a tent but has rather the meaning of “prepare.” It may be used not only of the erection of a building but also of its furnishings and equipment. This is in mind here as is shown by the list of furnishings that follows. In the first tent there was “the lampstand,” i.e., the seven-branched lampstand (Exodus 25:31ff.; 37:17ff.). It also had “the table and the consecrated bread” (a hendiadys for “the table of the consecrated bread”). There were twelve loaves, each baked from two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour, arranged in two rows of six, pure frankincense being put with each row. Every Sabbath day Aaron had to set them up, and it was prescribed that they were to be eaten only by the priests (Leviticus 24:5–9). The loaves were called “the continual bread” (cf. Numbers 4:7), a name that brings out the fact that there were always to be such loaves in the Holy Place, put on a table specially constructed for the purpose (Exodus 25:23–30; Exodus 37:10–16). The tent in which these objects were placed was called “the Holy Place.” The Tabernacle Fulfilled in Jesus Christ According to the writer to the Hebrews, the Old Testament tabernacle was a shadow pointing to the real thing, Jesus Christ (8:6; 9:23; 10:1). This chart depicts in detail how the various parts of the tabernacle are fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Then there was a “second curtain” (cf. Exodus 26:31–33; 36:35–36; Leviticus 24:3); it is called the “second” to distinguish it from the curtain between the outer court and the Holy Place (Exodus 26:36–37; Exodus 36:37–38). Behind this curtain was a tent called the “Most Holy Place,” the very special place where God dwelt between the cherubim. As the author will presently emphasize, it was never to be entered by anyone other than the high priest, and by him only on the Day of Atonement.

The author now says some things about the furnishings of the Most Holy Place, beginning with the golden “altar of incense” (GK 2593). There is a problem in that the author seems to locate this altar inside the Most Holy Place, though its place was really “in front of the curtain” (Exodus 30:6). Indeed, it had to be outside the Most Holy Place, for it was used daily (Exodus 30:7–8). Most likely he has in mind the intimate connection of the incense altar with the Most Holy Place; it “belonged to the inner sanctuary” (1 Kings 6:22), as is shown by its situation “in front of the curtain that is before the ark of the testimony—before the atonement cover [mercy seat] that is over the Testimony” (Exodus 30:6). The writer does not say that this altar was “in” the Most Holy Place but only that that Place “had” it. It is true that the same verb covers the ark that was undoubtedly inside the veil, but the indefinite term may be significant.

On the Day of Atonement, the high priest offered incense, using coals of fire from this altar, “so that he will not die” (Leviticus 16:12–13). The incense was indeed important.

There is no question that the “gold-covered ark of the covenant” was in the Most Holy Place of the tabernacle (Exodus 25:10ff.; 26:33; 40:21). The ark contained “the golden jar of manna” (cf. Exodus 16:33–34) and Aaron’s rod that had budded (Numbers 17:1–11). Neither of these is said in the OT to be “in” the ark; rather, they were “in front of” it (Exodus 16:34; Numbers 17:10). We are told in 1 Kings 8:9 that in Solomon’s temple there was nothing in the ark but the tablets of stone. But the author is not concerned with the temple. He is writing about the tabernacle, and it is possible that a different arrangement held there. Also in the ark were “the stone tablets of the covenant” (cf. Exodus 25:16; 31:18; Dt 9:9ff.; 10:3ff.). They represented the permanent record of the terms of the old covenant and were kept in the most sacred place.

Above the ark were “the cherubim of the Glory.” The exact form of these is not known, but most interpreters hold that they had bodies of animals; they were certainly winged (Exodus 25:18–20; Exodus 37:7–9). Moreover, they were especially associated with the presence of God (Psalms 80:1; Psalms 99:1), which is why they are here called the cherubim “of the Glory.” They overshadowed the lid of the ark, which is here called “the place of atonement.” The justification for this translation is that on the Day of Atonement this object was sprinkled with the blood of the sin offering, whereby sins were atoned for. Doubtless the writer would have been glad to dwell on the significance of all these objects. He points out, however, that it is not the time for him to do this. His argument proceeds on other lines.