Hebrews 9:1

DIVISION V

CHRIST PROVIDES BETTER SACRIFICES (Hebrews 9:1-10:39);

DESCRIPTION OF THE RITES AND SACRIFICES OF THE LAW;

THEIR INFERIORITY TO THE DIGNITY AND THE PERFECTION OF CHRIST AND HIS BLOOD AND SACRIFICE

Now even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service, and its sanctuary, a sanctuary of this world. (Hebrews 9:1)

The mundane sanctuary mentioned here is doubtless the tabernacle constructed and erected in the wilderness by Moses upon instructions of God; and the fact that the more ancient tabernacle, rather than the Herodian temple, comes to view here should not be viewed as an indication that the temple was not then standing, or that the recipients of this epistle were not Jewish. It is precisely in line with the author's thesis that he should go back to the original tabernacle, erected according to the pattern God gave Moses, rather than appeal to the temple then standing, which, after all, had been copied from the tabernacle in all its essential details. The word "ordinances" in this place means "regulations." Beginning here is a detailed and extensive contrast between that worldly sanctuary, whether the tabernacle or the temple, which was the center of the Jewish religious institution, with the heavenly counterpart of it which is the grand theater of the redemptive ministry of Jesus. "Divine service" is an implication that God is recognized as the author of all those things in the "sanctuary of this world."