Jamieson, Fausset and Brown on Hebrews 9:1

CHAPTER 9

He 9:1-28. Inferiority of the Old to the New Covenant in the Means of Access to God: The Blood of Bulls and Goats of No Real Avail: The Blood of Christ All-sufficient to Purge Away Sin, Whence Flows Our Hope of His Appearing Again for Our Perfect Salvation.

1. Then verily--Greek, "Accordingly then." Resuming the subject from He 8:5. In accordance with the command given to Moses, "the first covenant had," &c.

had--not "has," for as a covenant it no longer existed, though its rites were observed till the destruction of Jerusalem.

ordinances--of divine right and institution.

service--worship.

a worldly sanctuary--Greek, "its (literally, 'the') sanctuary worldly," mundane; consisting of the elements of the visible world. Contrasted with the heavenly sanctuary. Compare He 9:11, 12, "not of this building," He 9:24. Material, outward, perishing (however precious its materials were), and also defective religiously. In He 9:2-5, "the worldly sanctuary" is discussed; in He 9:6, &c., the "ordinances of worship." The outer tabernacle the Jews believed, signified this world; the Holy of Holies, heaven. Josephus calls the outer, divided into two parts, "a secular and common place," answering to "the earth and sea"; and the inner holiest place, the third part, appropriated to God and not accessible to men.