John Bengel Commentary - Hebrews 9:19 - 9:19

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John Bengel Commentary - Hebrews 9:19 - 9:19


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Heb 9:19. Λαληθείσης, having been recited or spoken) Exo 24:16, etc.-πάσης ἐντολῆς κατὰ νόμον, every precept according to the law) Moses had recited or read those commandments which occur in Exodus 20, and perhaps also those which occur in the following chapters. And the brief indication of the written book was tantamount to a recapitulation of all that was recited.-τῶν μόσχων καὶ τράγων, of calves and goats) In Exo 24:5 they are expressly called μοσχάρια, little calves: the word ὁλοκαυτώματα, in that passage implies the τράγους, spoken of here.-μετὰ ὕδατος καὶ ἐρίου κοκκίνου καὶ ὑσσώπου, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop) These are not found in the passage quoted, but are taken for granted as already well known from other passages in the writings of Moses, Lev 14:5-6. The scarlet wool corresponds to the Hebrew שני החולעת. The LXX. translate תילעת κόκκινον, שני κλωστὸν διπλοῦν, double spun (twined), from its form: the apostle terms it from its material (wool); scarlet colour, viz. as being like blood.-βιβλίον) Many, and the Latins too from the Vulgate, construe this word with ἐῤῥάντισε, he sprinkled; but it should evidently be construed with λαβὼν, having taken, as Exo 24:7, καὶ λαβὼν τὸ βιβλίον τῆς διαθήκης, and having taken the book of the covenant. There is an elegance in the conjunction; τὸ αἷμα αὐτό τε τὸ βιβλίον, as appears by comparing those words, τοῦτο τὸ αἷμα τῆς διαθήκης; that in this ceremony the blood may be shown by itself; the testament, by the showing of the book; and that ἑγκαινισμὸς, the dedication, may be perfected by that double exhibition (showing): αὐτὸ, itself, is added, because the testament described in the book, was of more importance than that blood. Τε does not always refer to the following καὶ, Heb 9:1; Joh 2:15, where the τε connects the discourse rather with what goes before, than with what follows: also the sheep and the oxen: comp. moreover Act 26:11; wherefore it is not necessary here to construe αὐτό τε τὸ βιβλίον καὶ πάντα τὸν λαὸν ἐῤῥάντισε. The other things which are here mentioned by the apostle, and yet are not found in the 24th chap. of Exod., may be derived from other passages; but respecting the sprinkling of the book, which notwithstanding, if true, would constitute a very large portion of that ceremony, we find nothing in all the books of Moses. Furthermore, if the book had been sprinkled, and if the apostle had spoken of that sprinkling, he would have joined it, not with the sprinkling of the people, but with the sprinkling of the tabernacle and the vessels, and therefore of the altar; comp. Van Hoeke, p. 190. See, however, Jun. I. 1209, l. 54. But indeed it was not befitting that the book itself should be even sprinkled, for the book, containing the word of GOD, represented there GOD Himself, as Flacius in Gloss. says; where, however, he is of opinion that the book was also sprinkled. No doubt the tabernacle along; with the vessels [the tabernacle being at that very time adapted to the altar, Exo 24:6-8; Exo 25:8.-V. g.] needed purification, Heb 9:21; Lev 16:16; Lev 16:19-20; Lev 16:33; 2Ch 29:21; but the book, or the word of GOD, did not need it. And since these things are so, yet καὶ before πάντα is not only no disadvantage, but has much elegance. For the sentence is copulative: ΚΑΙ πάντα τὸν λαὸν ἐῤῥάντισε, “Moses sprinkled all the people,” on the one side; ΚΑΙ τὴν σκηνὴν δὲ-ἐῤῥἁντισεν (Heb 9:21), “and the tabernacle indeed-he the same sprinkled,” on the other. The Latins say, et, et vero, both, and indeed, or, non modo, verum etiam, not only, but also. So οὔτε-καὶ οὐ, Rev 9:20-21.-πάντα τὸν λαὸν ἐῤῥάντισε) LXX., κατεσκέδασε τοῦ λαοῦ, in the place quoted above. But elsewhere they often put ῥαίνω, ῥαντίζω, κ.τ.λ.