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Hebrews 9

Chapter 9 in 30 seconds

A tour of the tabernacle: lampstand, table, ark and the Most Holy Place, where the high priest went once a year with blood. Jesus entered heaven itself with His own blood, once for all. People die once and then face judgment, and He is coming again.

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In this chapterField Notes · ArchaeologyThe Place of Trumpeting · after verse 5 Field Notes · ArchaeologyThe Temple Treasures in Rome · after verse 5

The Earthly Tabernacle// Exodus 40:1–33; Acts 7:44–47

¹Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. ²A tabernacle was prepared. In its first room were the lampstand, the table, and the consecrated bread. This was called the Holy Place. ³Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, ⁴containing the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. Inside the ark were the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. ⁵Above the ark were the cherubim of glory, overshadowing the mercy seat. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.

HEB 9:2[ARCHAEOLOGY]Relief on the Arch of Titus in Rome, about AD 81, showing Roman soldiers carrying the temple lampstand, table and trumpets from Jerusalem
HEB 9:4[FULFILLS]A jar of manna was kept before Yahweh for later generations ← EX 16:33MEDIUM
HEB 9:4[FULFILLS]The staff of the man God chose would sprout ← NUM 17:5
HEB 9:4[NOTE]THE GOLDEN ALTAR. Exodus 30:6 puts the incense altar just outside the curtain. The Greek word here can mean altar or censer. Many think Hebrews means the altar belonged to the Most Holy Place, as 1 Kings 6:22 says.
HEB 9:5[FULFILLS]God would meet His people above the mercy seat ← EX 25:22MEDIUM

Field Notes · Archaeology

The Place of Trumpeting

Hebrews 8:13 · 10:1 to 2 · Numbers 10:10

The Trumpeting Place stone, Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Photo Andrey Zeigarnik, CC BY SA 2.0.

WHAT IT IS: A big limestone block from the top of the Temple Mount wall that King Herod built. Carved on it in Hebrew are the words to the place of trumpeting, followed by a broken word. Many read it as to announce, or to separate, holy days from ordinary days.
HOW OLD IT IS: Carved while Herod's temple was being built, between about 20 BC and AD 64. In 1968 Benjamin Mazar's dig found it lying on the street at the foot of the southwest corner, where Roman soldiers threw it down in AD 70. It is about 8 feet long and is now in the Israel Museum. The one at the site is a copy.
THE HIGH CORNER: The stone fell from the southwest corner, where two of the great walls met high above a busy street of shops. Some think this corner was the pinnacle of the temple where the devil took Jesus, Matthew 4:5, but that is only a guess.
WHAT JOSEPHUS SAID: The Jewish historian Josephus, about AD 75, says a priest stood up high on the temple wall and blew a trumpet to announce when the Sabbath began each Friday evening and when it ended the next evening.
TRUMPETS IN THE BIBLE: God told the priests to blow silver trumpets on feast days and new moons, Numbers 10:10. Hebrews 12:19 remembers the trumpet blast at Mount Sinai.
WHY IT MATTERS HERE: When Hebrews was written the temple was still standing, and priests still offered sacrifices, 10:1 to 2. The writer says the old covenant is aging and will soon disappear, 8:13. A few years later this stone lay in the street, and the trumpets were silent.
WHAT IT DOES NOT PROVE: The stone tells about the temple, not about Hebrews or who wrote it. The broken last word means part of its meaning is a guess.

CONFIDENCE: HIGH · THE LAST WORD IS BROKEN

Field Notes · Archaeology

The Temple Treasures in Rome

Hebrews 9:1 to 5 · Exodus 25:23 to 40 · Numbers 10:2

The spoils panel inside the Arch of Titus, Rome. Photo Sailko, CC BY 3.0.

WHAT IT IS: A carved marble panel inside the Arch of Titus in Rome. Roman soldiers wearing victory wreaths carry the golden lampstand from the temple in Jerusalem. Next to it they carry the table for the bread of the Presence, with two long silver trumpets leaning across it, and signs held up on poles.
HOW OLD IT IS: The arch was built about AD 81 by Emperor Domitian to honor his brother Titus, who had just died. It shows the victory parade of AD 71, after Titus' army destroyed Jerusalem in AD 70. The arch was repaired in the early 1800s, but this panel is the ancient original, worn by time.
JOSEPHUS SAW IT: Josephus watched the parade in Rome. He says the golden table, the lampstand and a copy of the Jewish Law were carried in it. Emperor Vespasian put the treasures in his new Temple of Peace, finished in AD 75.
HEBREWS 9:2: The first room had the lampstand, the table and the consecrated bread. Hebrews describes the tabernacle of Moses' day, Exodus 25, and says Jesus entered the real Most Holy Place, heaven itself, 9:24.
WHERE DID IT GO?: The writer Procopius says the Vandals carried the treasures from Rome to Carthage in AD 455, and a Roman general brought them to Constantinople in 534. After that no one knows. Stories that the lampstand is hidden in the Vatican have no proof.
THE LAMPSTAND TODAY: In 1949 the new State of Israel put this very lampstand from the arch on its national emblem. Another panel of the same arch is in the 2 Corinthians Field Notes, A Roman Triumph.
WHAT IT DOES NOT PROVE: The arch is later than Hebrews and shows Herod's temple treasures, not the tabernacle items Hebrews describes.

CONFIDENCE: HIGH · LATER THAN HEBREWS

⁶When everything had been prepared in this way, the priests entered regularly into the first room to perform their sacred duties. ⁷But only the high priest entered the second room, and then only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.

HEB 9:7[FULFILLS]Day of Atonement prefigures Christ's once-for-all sacrifice ← LEV 16:15-17
HEB 9:7[ALLUDES TO]Refers to ← LEV 16:2, 34

⁸By this arrangement the Holy Spirit was showing that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing. ⁹It is an illustration for the present time, because the gifts and sacrifices being offered were unable to cleanse the conscience of the worshiper. ¹⁰They consist only in food and drink and special washings—external regulations imposed until the time of reform.

Redemption through His Blood

¹¹But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that have come, He went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made by hands and is not a part of this creation. ¹²He did not enter by the blood of goats and calves, but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, thus securing eternal redemption.

HEB 9:11[FULFILLS]Day of Atonement prefigures Christ's once-for-all sacrifice ← LEV 16:15-17
HEB 9:11[FULFILLS]The Most Holy Place would be anointed ← DAN 9:24cMEDIUM

¹³For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that their bodies are clean, ¹⁴how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, purify our consciences from works of death, so that we may serve the living God!

HEB 9:13[FULFILLS]A spotless red heifer was killed outside the camp for cleansing ← NUM 19:2-3MEDIUM
HEB 9:13[FULFILLS]His sprinkled blood would cleanse the nations ← IS 52:15
HEB 9:14[FULFILLS]A spotless, blemish-free Lamb required for atonement ← EX 12:5

¹⁵Therefore Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, now that He has died to redeem them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

HEB 9:15[FULFILLS]God would make a new covenant, write His law on hearts, and remember sins no more ← JER 31:31-34

¹⁶In the case of a will, it is necessary to establish the death of the one who made it, ¹⁷because a will does not take effect until the one who made it has died; it cannot be executed while he is still alive.

¹⁸That is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. ¹⁹For when Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, along with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people, ²⁰saying, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.”

HEB 9:18[FULFILLS]This is the blood of the covenant ← EX 24:8
HEB 9:20[QUOTES]Direct ← EX 24:8

²¹In the same way, he sprinkled with blood the tabernacle and all the vessels used in worship. ²²According to the law, in fact, nearly everything must be purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

HEB 9:22[FULFILLS]God covered Adam and Eve with animal skins, a picture of sin covered by sacrifice ← GEN 3:21MEDIUM

²³So it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. ²⁴For Christ did not enter a man-made copy of the true sanctuary, but He entered heaven itself, now to appear on our behalf in the presence of God.

HEB 9:24[FULFILLS]Day of Atonement prefigures Christ's once-for-all sacrifice ← LEV 16:15-17

²⁵Nor did He enter heaven to offer Himself again and again, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. ²⁶Otherwise, Christ would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But now He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

HEB 9:25[ALLUDES TO]Refers to ← LEV 16:2, 34

²⁷Just as man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment, ²⁸so also Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await Him.

HEB 9:27[NOTABLE]One life, one death, then judgment. Compare the 2 Maccabees 12:45 note on prayer for the dead.
HEB 9:28[PROPHECY]Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation → STILL TO COME
HEB 9:28[FULFILLS]The scapegoat carried the people's sins away into the wilderness ← LEV 16:21-22MEDIUM
HEB 9:28[FULFILLS]He would bear the iniquities of many ← IS 53:11c
HEB 9:28[ALLUDES TO]Refers to ← IS 53:12

Hebrews 9

The Earthly Tabernacle// Exodus 40:1–33; Acts 7:44–47

Redemption through His Blood

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