Chapter Nine

The typological significance of the structure of the tabernacle and Old Testament worship (1–10). The fulfillment of the types in the high-priestly ministry of Jesus Christ (11–15). The necessity of the death of sacrificial victims in the Old Testament (16–22). The sacrifice offered once for all by Christ for all people (24–28).

In Chapter IX the apostle continues (from Heb 8:5) to show how the Old Testament sanctuary with its sacred furnishings and service pales before the many-mercied and majestic ministry of the New Testament High Priest and his Sanctuary. In doing so he wisely turns his gaze to the tabernacle and the liturgical institutions of a more ancient time, both because many details of the tabernacle and its worship were no longer present in the contemporary Jerusalem temple, and because by such a reference to the ancient liturgical setting he could most strongly engage the interest of the Jews, given their boundless reverence for everything going back to the time of Moses.

Hebrews 9:1. Now the first covenant also had regulations for worship and an earthly sanctuary: The regulations for worship and the earthly sanctuary — in contrast to the “not-made-with-hands, heavenly” sanctuary of Christ (Heb 9:11 and Heb 9:24).

Hebrews 9:2. for a tabernacle was set up, the first one, in which were the lampstand and the table and the presentation of the loaves, and which is called the holy place. Hebrews 9:3. Behind the second curtain there was a tabernacle called the Holy of Holies, Hebrews 9:4. which had a golden censer and the ark of the covenant covered with gold on all sides, in which were a golden jar holding the manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the tablets of the covenant, Hebrews 9:5. and above it the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat; about these things it is not necessary to speak in detail now. A description of the furnishings of the tabernacle, in accordance with the biblical data, cf. Exod 25:37; Lev 24:6; Num 4:12; about the curtain Exod 26:33; about the other objects of the tabernacle — Exod 30:1-3; Num 17:10; Deut 10:1; 1 Sam 4:22; Ezek 9:3; Exod 40:26 and Exod 40:34; Lev 16:14-15. About all this, in the apostle’s words, “it is not necessary to speak in detail now,” because all this is presumed to be well known to the reader, as something dear and close to his heart.

Hebrews 9:6. With these arrangements in place, the priests enter regularly into the first tabernacle, performing their duties of worship; Hebrews 9:7. but into the second only the high priest enters, once a year, and not without blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of ignorance of the people. Having described the structure and furnishings of the tabernacle, the apostle draws the attention of his readers to the inaccessibility of its main section to ordinary mortals, except for the high priest, who also had access to this section only under specific conditions (once a year, with blood for his sins and those of the people). This peculiarity of the tabernacle had, in the apostle’s view, a deep symbolic significance, pointing to the inaccessibility for people of the path to the true heavenly sanctuary and the insufficiency of the Old Testament institutions (the tabernacle and its worship) for opening the path to that sanctuary. The apostle justifies the correctness of such an interpretation (Heb 9:8) by reference to the fact that it has as its inspirer the same Holy Spirit who uttered the entire revelation (cf. Heb 3:7).

Hebrews 9:8. By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the sanctuary has not yet been opened as long as the former tabernacle is still standing. Hebrews 9:9. This is a figure for the present time, in which gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the worshiper in conscience, Hebrews 9:10. and which, along with food and drink and various washings and bodily ordinances, were imposed only until the time of reformation. The inaccessibility, or imperfection and insufficiency, of the path to the heavenly sanctuary — at the present time, as long as the former tabernacle (the former Old Testament institutions) still stands — is explained by the character of the Old Testament ceremonialism, which only symbolized the future but gave nothing for the perfecting of the conscience and the enlivening of the corrupted powers of man, and from its very institution was destined for annulment by another better arrangement — the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made by hands (that is, the Kingdom of Heaven), the path into which, laid by Christ the High Priest with his own Blood, has become accessible and saving, direct and perfect, for all (Heb 9:11-12.).

Hebrews 9:11. But Christ, the High Priest of the good things to come, having come with the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, Hebrews 9:12. and not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own Blood, entered the holy place once for all and obtained eternal redemption. Hebrews 9:13. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, by sprinkling, sanctify those who are defiled so that their flesh is purified, Hebrews 9:14. how much more will the Blood of Christ, who through the Holy Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works for service to the living and true God! A simple comparison of the Blood of Christ with the blood of the Old Testament goats and calves gives the apostle a new occasion to draw out the most essential and supreme advantage of the New Covenant over the Old. If there the sprinkling with the blood of bulls and goats was considered a sanctification for the bodies of the defiled and restored the capacity for serving God that had been lost through defilement, how much more is the Blood of Christ able to purify our conscience from dead works for service to the living and true God! — The expression that Christ “through the Holy Spirit offered himself without blemish to God” is intended to indicate the gracious participation of the Holy Spirit as an intermediary divine power, which assisted the God-man Christ in accomplishing his great work of offering himself as a sacrifice for the sins of people, and at the same time in making them capable of serving the living and true God.

Hebrews 9:15. And for this reason he is the mediator of the new covenant, so that, since a death has occurred that redeems from the transgressions committed under the first covenant, those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance. Hebrews 9:16. For where there is a will, it is necessary for the death of the testator to be established, Hebrews 9:17. because a will takes effect only upon death; it has no force while the testator is alive. The connection of this difficult passage with what precedes and its meaning have been quite well grasped by Chrysostom, who says: “Since there were probably many faint-hearted people who, precisely because Christ had died, did not believe his promises, Paul, wishing to decisively refute such an opinion, presents an example taken from common custom. What is this custom? For this very reason, he says, one must be certain. Why? Because wills are valid and come into force not during the life of the testators, but after their death. He therefore begins his speech thus: ‘The Mediator,’ he says, ‘of the New Covenant’ ... But, one might say, no one died there: how then was that covenant confirmed? In exactly the same way. How? Also with blood, just as here with blood. Do not be surprised that it was not Christ’s blood there; there, after all, it was a type; and therefore he says: ‘Hence even the first covenant was not inaugurated without blood...’ Thus, he says, a type of both the covenant and the death was needed” (Chrysostom, Homily XVI on the Epistle to the Hebrews).

Hebrews 9:18. Therefore even the first covenant was not inaugurated without blood. Hebrews 9:19. For when Moses had proclaimed all the commandments of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, Hebrews 9:20. saying: This is the blood of the covenant that God has commanded for you. Hebrews 9:21. And he likewise sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels used in worship. A more detailed description of how the Old Covenant was confirmed with blood. Saint Chrysostom accompanies this description with the following interpretations: “Why are the book of the covenant and the people sprinkled? Because that blood and everything else was a type of the most precious blood, which had been foreshadowed from ancient times. Why with hyssop? Because it, as a dense and soft substance, held the blood. What is the water for? It was used as a sign of purification with water. And why the wool? It also was used in order to hold the blood.” The apostle shows that here both blood and water were present together, because baptism is a type of the passion of Christ.

Hebrews 9:22. Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. “Indeed almost” — και σχεδόν πάντα, Slavonic: “and scarce all things.” “Why this qualification? (Chrysostom). Because there was no complete purification and complete remission of sins there, but a half-complete and even far lesser purification, but here — ‘This is the blood,’ he says, ‘of the New Covenant, which is shed for you for the remission of sins’ (Matt 26:28)”.

Hebrews 9:23. Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the heavenly things should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. If “the copies of the heavenly things” (all the Old Testament things enumerated above) required purification with blood, which at that time could only be the blood of sacrificial animals typologically pointing to the Blood of Christ, then “the heavenly things themselves” (all the New Testament things foreshadowed by the Old Testament) required, so to speak, a more heavenly, more corresponding purification with the Blood of Christ. Saint Chrysostom on this occasion gives the following remarkable reflection: “How are they (that is, the Old Testament institutions) copies of heavenly things? And what does he now call heavenly? Heaven itself? Angels? No, but our liturgical acts. Our (liturgical acts) are in the heavens and are heavenly, though performed on earth. So too angels are on earth, but are called heavenly; and the cherubim appeared on earth, but they are heavenly. What do I say — appeared? They remain on earth as if in paradise, and yet even so they are heavenly. And ‘our citizenship is in heaven’ (Phil 3:20), though we live here. The heavenly things themselves, that is, those called there according to our way of wisdom. ‘With better sacrifices.’ The better is called better in relation to something good. Consequently, the copies of the heavenly things were also good. They were not bad as copies; otherwise what they are copies of would also be bad.”

Hebrews 9:24. For Christ has entered not into a holy place made with hands, which is a copy of the true, but into heaven itself, to appear now before the face of God on our behalf, “What he did with regard to the sacrifices, the same he does here as well. As to the sacrifices he contrasted the death of Christ, so here he contrasts to the temple the whole of heaven. But the difference is not only in this, but also in that our priest is closer to God: ‘to appear,’ he adds, ‘before the face of God on our behalf.’ It is clear that all this is said about his flesh” (Chrysostom).

Hebrews 9:25. and not in order to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy place year after year with blood that is not his own; “Do you see how many contrasts? Repeatedly — once; with someone else’s blood — with his own. A great difference! Christ himself is both sacrifice and priest” (Chrysostom).

Hebrews 9:26. otherwise he would have had to suffer repeatedly from the foundation of the world; but now once, at the end of the ages, he has appeared in order to put away sin by his sacrifice. “Here the apostle discloses a certain doctrine: if, he says, it were necessary for him to offer sacrifices repeatedly, it would have been necessary for him also to be crucified repeatedly. ‘But now once at the end of the ages.’ Why ‘at the end of the ages’? After a multitude of sins; if all this had happened at the beginning and no one had believed, the whole work of the dispensation would have been in vain... But when with the passage of time a multitude of sins appeared, then he appeared at the right time...” (Chrysostom).

Hebrews 9:27. And just as it is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment, “Having proved that he ought not to die many times, the apostle now shows also why he died once. ‘It is appointed,’ he says, ‘for men to die once.’ So he died once for all men” — (Chrysostom). True, we still die now the former death, but dying we do not remain in it (death), and this is not what it means to die. The power of death and true death is that in which the one who has died no longer has the possibility of returning to life; but if after death he lives again, and moreover a better life, then this is not death but a falling-asleep. Death could hold all; therefore Christ died in order to free us.

Hebrews 9:28. so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time not to deal with sin, but for those who are eagerly waiting for him, for their salvation. “To bear the sins of many.” Why of many and not of all? Because not all believed. He died for all in order to save all, as far as it depended on him — his death had the power to save all from destruction — but he did not bear the sins of all, because they themselves were unwilling. — “Not to deal with sin” — Greek: χωρίς αμαρτίας — Slavonic more precisely: “without sin.” That is, according to Chrysostom’s interpretation, “not in order to take sins, and not because of sins will he come a second time in order to die again; he even died once not because he was obligated to die. Why then will he appear? To punish, he says; yet he does not express this (directly), but says it with comfort: ‘without sin he will appear to those who await him for salvation,’ since there is no longer need for a sacrifice to save them, but for this their deeds are needed!” ...