Hebrews 8:5 - Exposition

Who ( i.e. being such as do so; οἵτινες ) serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things ( ὑπόδειγμα here, as in Hebrews 9:23 , means" representation," in the way of copy, not of pattern. "Shadow" ( σκιὰ ) is opposed in Hebrews 10:1-39 . I to εἰκὼν , which denotes the reality, and in Colossians 2:17 to σῶμα ), even as Moses is admonished of God when about to make the tabernacle (literally, to complete ; but net in the sense of finishing a thing begun, but of carrying out a design to entire completion); for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern that was showed thee in the mount. For the sense of κεχρημάτισται , according to Hellenistic usage, cf. Matthew 2:22 , "Being warned of God in a dream ( χρηματισθεὶς δὲ κατ ὄναρ ) . " The reference here is to Exodus 25:40 ; the words which "the LORD spake unto Moses." Rabbinical writers, holding the view of an actual heavenly tabernacle, the prototype of the earthly one, have concluded from the passage in Exodus that Moses had a vision of it, or that a visible representation of it was exhibited to him on the mount. All that is necessarily implied is that he was divinely admonished to make the tabernacle after the fashion conveyed, in whatever way, to his apprehension when on the mount, so that it might be a true representation of some heavenly reality (cf. Acts 7:44 ).