Hebrews 9:6-10

Hebrews 9:6-10

[6] Now  thus  ordained,  the priests  went  into  the first  tabernacle,  accomplishing  the service  [7] But  into  the second  went the high priest  alone  once  every year,  not  without  blood,  which  he offered  for  himself,  and  for the errors  of the people:  [8] The Holy  Ghost  signifying,  that the way  not yet  made manifest,  while as the first  tabernacle  was  yet  standing:  [9] Which  was a figure  for  the time  then present,  in  which  were offered  both  gifts  and  sacrifices,  that could  not  him that did the service  perfect,  as pertaining to  the conscience;  [10] Which stood only  in  meats  and  drinks,  and  divers  washings,  and  carnal  ordinances,  imposed  on them until  the time  of reformation. 

What does Hebrews 9:6-10 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

He passed on to the "regulations of divine service" ( Hebrews 9:1) in the Old Covenant to show its inferiority further. The "outer tabernacle" is the holy place ( Hebrews 9:6), and "the second" is the holy of holies ( Hebrews 9:7). The high priest entered the holy of holies only once a year on the Day of Atonement to offer the special sacrifices for that day ( Leviticus 16:2). His offering then covered those sins of the people that they committed ignorantly as opposed to those they committed in deliberate apostasy (cf. Leviticus 4:1-2; Leviticus 5:17-19). Some ignorance is culpable (blameworthy); sins of this kind do matter. In Israel the punishment for deliberate rebellion against the Mosaic Covenant was death. It is about this apostasy that the writer warned his audience. He also comforted them with the assurance that their High Priest would deal gently with the misguided who sin ignorantly ( Hebrews 5:2).
The writer clarified that the Holy Spirit intended to communicate the fact that the Levitical system did not provide access into God"s presence for the ordinary believer. The "holy place" is God"s throne-room in heaven, and the "outer [1] tabernacle" refers to the earthly tabernacle and its successors, namely, the temples in Israel ( Hebrews 9:8).
"The "front compartment" (he prote skene) becomes a spatial metaphor for the time when the "first covenant" (he prote diatheke) was in force. As an illustration for the old age, which is now in process of dissolution ( Hebrews 8:13), it symbolizes the total first covenant order with its daily and annual cultic ritual ( Hebrews 9:6-7). Once the first has been invalidated, the second becomes operative (see Hebrews 10:9). In the figurative language of the writer, the front compartment of the tabernacle was symbolic of the present age (ton kaipon ton enestekota), which through the intrusion of the kairos diorthoseos, "the time of correction" ( Hebrews 9:10), has been superseded ..." [2]
The Old Covenant system of worship did not meet the deepest need of God"s people, namely, intimate personal relationship with God. Its rites and ceremonies extended mainly to external matters until God would provide a better system at "a time of reformation" ( Hebrews 9:10).
This comparison helps us keep externals in their proper perspective as secondary to inward reality with God. Relationship with God purifies the conscience. It is possible to fulfill all the outward obligations of religion and still have a conscience that is not right with God ( Hebrews 9:9). This is one of the tragic inadequacies of religion that does not involve relationship with God.
"The necessity of a cleansed conscience is insisted upon throughout the letter [3]. A conscience stained with sin is the one effective barrier to man"s fellowship with God ..." [4]
"The reason for detailing the arrangement of the tabernacle and its furnishings in Hebrews 9:2-5 is manifestly to show the lack of access to God under the old cultus. This, in turn, provides a framework for the development of certain deficiencies in the cultic regulations that had been imposed under the terms of the Sinaitic covenant in Hebrews 9:6-10." [5]
"The greatest festival of the Jewish year paradoxically shows most clearly the limitations of the old dispensation and its high priesthood." [3]2
The Old Covenant sanctuary was inferior for five reasons. It was an earthly sanctuary ( Hebrews 9:1), it was a type of something greater (its antitype; Hebrews 9:2-5), and it was inaccessible to the people ( Hebrews 9:6-7). Furthermore it was only temporary ( Hebrews 9:8) and its ministry was external rather than internal ( Hebrews 9:9-10). [7] A type is a divinely intended illustration of something else, the antitype. A type may be a person (cf. Romans 5:14), a thing (cf. Hebrews 10:19-20), an event (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:11), a ceremony (cf. 1 Corinthians 5:7), or an institution, as here.