Page 500 - Demo

CHAPTER 9
m. [9:19] 9:12–13.
n. [9:20] Ex 24:3–8; Mt 26:28; Mk 14:24.
o. [9:21] Ex 40:9; Lv 8:15, 19.
p. [9:22] Lv 17:11.
q. [9:23] Jb 15:15.
r. [9:24] 7:25; Rom 8:34; 1 Jn 2:1–2.
s. [9:26] 7:27; Jn 1:29; Gal 4:4.
t. [9:27] Gn 3:19.
u. [9:28] 10:10; Is 53:12.
CHAPTER 10
a. [10:1] 8:5; Col 2:17.
b. [10:3] Lv 16:21; Nm 5:15 LXX.
c. [10:4] Is 1:11; Mi 6:6–8.
d. [10:5–7] Ps 40:7–9.
e. [10:8] 10:5–6; Ps 40:7.
HEBREWS -
the blood of calves [and goats], together with water and crimson wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,m 20saying, “This is ‘the blood of the covenant which God has enjoined upon you.’”n 21In the same way, he sprinkled also the tabernacle* and all the vessels of worship with blood.o 22* According to the law almost everything is puri ed by blood,p and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
23* Therefore, it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be puri ed by these rites, but the heavenly things themselves by better sacri ces than these.q 24For Christ did not enter into a sanctuary made by hands, a copy of the true one, but heaven itself, that he might now appear before God on our behalf.r 25Not that he might o er himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters each year into the sanctuary with blood that is not his own; 26if that were so, he would have had to su er repeatedly from the foundation of the world. But now once for all he has appeared at the end of the ages* to take away sin by his sacri ce.s 27Just as it is appointed that human beings die once, and after this the judgment,t 28so also Christ, o ered once to take away the sins of many,* will appear a second time, not to take away sin but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await him.u
One Sacri ce Instead of Many.
101* Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come,* and not the very image of them, it can never make perfect those who come to worship by the same sacri ces that they o er continually each year.a 2Otherwise, would not the sacri ces have ceased to be o ered, since the worshipers, once cleansed, would no longer have had any consciousness of sins? 3But in those sacri ces there is only a yearly remembrance of sins,b 4for it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats take away sins.c 5For this reason, when he
came into the world, he said:*
“Sacri ce and o ering you did not desire,d but a body you prepared for me;
6holocausts and sin o erings you took no delight in. 7Then I said, ‘As is written of me in the scroll,
Behold, I come to do your will, O God.’”
....* [9:21] According to Exodus, the tabernacle did not yet exist at the time of the covenant rite. Moreover, nothing is said of sprinkling it with blood at its subsequent dedication (Ex 40:9–11).
* [9:22] Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness: in fact, ancient Israel did envisage other means of obtaining forgiveness; the Old Testament mentions contrition of heart (Ps 51:17), fasting (Jl 2:12), and almsgiving (Sir 3:29). The author is limiting his horizon to the sacri cial cult, which did always involve the shedding of blood for its expiatory and unitive value.
* [9:23–28] Since the blood of animals became a cleansing symbol among Old Testament pre gurements, it was necessary that the realities foreshadowed be brought into being by a shedding of blood that was in nitely more e ective by reason of its worth (Heb 9:23). Christ did not simply pre gure the heavenly realities (Heb 9:24) by performing an annual sacri ce with a blood not his own (Heb 9:25); he o ered the single sacri ce of himself as the nal annulment of sin (Heb 9:26). Just as death is the unrepeatable act that ends a person’s life, so Christ’s o ering of himself for all is the unrepeatable sacri ce that has once for all achieved redemption (Heb 9:27–28).
* [9:26] At the end of the ages: the use of expressions such as this shows that the author of Hebrews, despite his interest in the Platonic concept of an eternal world above superior to temporal reality here below, nevertheless still clings to the Jewish Christian eschatology with its sequence of “the present age” and “the age to come.”
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* [9:28] To take away the sins of many: the reference is to Is 53:12. Since the Greek verb anapherō can mean both “to take away” and “to bear,” the author no doubt intended to play upon both senses: Jesus took away sin by bearing it himself. See the similar wordplay in Jn 1:29. Many is used in the Semitic meaning of “all” in the inclusive sense, as in Mk 14:24. To those who eagerly await him: Jesus will appear a second time at the parousia, as the high priest reappeared on the Day of Atonement, emerging from the Holy of Holies, which he had entered to take away sin. This dramatic scene is described in Sir 50:5–11.
* [10:1–10] Christian faith now realizes that the Old Testament sacri ces did not e ect the spiritual bene ts to come but only pre gured them (Heb 10:1). For if the sacri ces had actually e ected the forgiveness of sin, there would have been no reason for their constant repetition (Heb 10:2). They were rather a continual reminder of the people’s sins (Heb 10:3). It is not reasonable to suppose that human sins could be removed by the blood of animal sacri ces (Heb 10:4). Christ, therefore, is here shown to understand his mission in terms of Ps 40:6–8, cited according to the Septuagint (Heb 10:5–7). Jesus acknowledged that the Old Testament sacri ces did not remit the sins of the people and so, perceiving the will of God, o ered his own body for this purpose (Heb 10:8–10).
* [10:1] A shadow of the good things to come: the term shadow was used in Heb 8:5 to signify the earthly counterpart of the Platonic