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Heb_9:22. Confirmation of the special historic facts adduced Heb_9:19-21, by the general rule, which throughout the whole domain of Mosaic law was recognised as, with hardly any exception, of binding obligation.
σχεδόν ] almost, nearly (Act_13:44; Act_19:26), does not belong to ἐν αἵματι (Bengel, Böhme). Still less is it to be joined to καθαρίζεται , as is done by Chrysostom, Oecumenius, Theophylact, and Primasius, who, in opposition to the cohesion with that which precedes and follows, will find the thought expressed that the purification accomplished in accordance with the law is only a partial, bodily one, and thus only imperfect, since it is not able to cancel sins. It belongs logically to πάντα . The author, however, does not write καὶ ἐν αἵματι σχεδὸν πάντα καθαρίζεται , but, on the contrary, prefixes σχεδόν to the whole clause, in order to imply that the limitation contained in this expression extends to both members of the clause. The sense is consequently: and one must almost say that all things are according to the law purified with blood, and that without the shedding of blood no remission takes place. So, rightly, Bleek, Winer, Gramm., 7 Aufl. p. 514 f.; Riehm, Lehrbegr. des Hebräerbr. p. 500; Alford, Maier, Hofmann, and Woerner. As concerns the thought, Grotius in his day aptly refers us to the saying of the Talmud (tract. Joma, fol. 5. 1; Menachoth, fol. 93. 2): àÅéï ëÌÇôÌÈøÈä àÈìÌÈà áÇãÌÈí , non est expiatio nisi per sanguinem. The conceding, moreover, of the existence of single exceptions, by virtue of σχεδόν , finds its justification, as regards the first half of the clause, in Exo_19:10; Lev_15:5 ff., Lev_15:27; Lev_16:26; Lev_16:28; Lev_22:6; Num_31:22-24; as regards the second half, in Lev_5:11-13.
πάντα ] all universally (men as well as things), which as Levitically impure has need of cleansing. Wrongly Peirce and Riehm (Lehrbegr. des Hebräerbr. p. 563): all the furniture and utensils of the sanctuary.
κατὰ τὸν νόμον ] in conformity with the law, i.e. so soon as the norm fixed by the Mosaic law is taken into account. The addition κατὰ τὸν νόμον is likewise to be supplied in thought to the second member of the clause.
αἱματεκχυσία ] a word not elsewhere met with in Greek literature. What is meant is not specially the pouring out of the blood upon the altar (de Wette, Hofmann, Schriftbew. II. 1, 2 Aufl. p. 435, al.), but in general, the blood-shedding by the slaying of sacrificial animals (Bleek, Delitzsch, Maier, Kurtz, Hofmann, Comm. p. 363).
ἄφεσις ] remission, sc. of the guilt incurred.