Timothy to Hebrews - The Preterist Archive

Hebrews IX. 8-10. 497
nacle to its construction and destination. But in this verse, also,
the way is prepared, at the same time, for the idea which follows,
that the Old Testament sanctuary as a whole was merely of a
relative
character. In ver. 6, 7 then, first of aU, notice is taken of
the difference between the
(relatively) lioly place and (absolutely)
lioly of Jiolies, and then it is at the same time also indicated, that,
just on account of this distinction, the tabernacle as a loliole was
of a merely relative character in comparison with the New Testament
fulfilment. First, notice is taken of the distinction between
the (relatively) holy place and the (absolutely) holy of holies. In
the one place there was a daily service ; this service is not more
particularly described here, but its general character appears from
the anthithetical exj)ression in ver. 7, not ivitlioxit hlood. The service
in the holy place was without hlood ; the priest brought oil
and bread, never an offering of blood. No atoning act was ever
performed in the holy place, but always only a representation of the
occasional relative holiness or conformity to the law.
But what follows from this distinction ? That the people were
relatively holy, but regarded from an absolute point of view, were
unJioly, and remained so in spite of the atonement which was repeated
every year. (Comp. the preceding general observations on
ver. 2.) It followed, therefore, in other words, from the continued
existence of a holy place (a symbol of relative holiness) side by side
with the holy of holies, the place of atonement, that the atonement
itself ivas as yet merely relative, that the true place of atonement
had not yet been opened, or that " the place of atonement had not
yet been truly opened."
Wiiat is subjoined to this by means of the gen. absolute (" inasmuch
as the Holy Ghost thereby showed,") is easy and intelligible.
That Holy Ghost, according to whose eternal plan (comp.
chap. viii. 5), the tabernacle was built, intended to indicate by the
separation between the holy place and the holy of holies, a second,
^further truth (besides the distinction of relative holiness and absolute
atonement), namely, that here, in the tabernacle, the absolute
also teas as yet relative.
This is the idea in ver. 8. "Ayia (comp. ver. 3), the holy of
holies ; the genitive is the genitive of direction (as in Matt. x. 5 ;
LXX., 2 Sam. xviii. 23.) The way into the holiest of all was not
opened (literally, not yet shown, revealed*), the holiest of all was
* The author seems here to allude to the event, recorded in Matt, xxvii. 51. Otherwise,
he would have said simply : fxf/Tcu dvecjxOfjvai tt/v tuv uyiuv 6S6i>, But, in the
manner in which he exi^resses himself, he points to a time when an event had not yet
taken place, which, again, only emblematically indicated the opening up of the way.
"At that time," he says, "it had not yet been shown by God (as has now been done)
that the way into the holiest of all is open."
Vol. VI—32.