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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Heb_9:6-10
6Now when these things have been so prepared, the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle performing the divine worship, 7but into the second, only the high priest enters once a year, not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance. 8The Holy Spirit is signifying this, that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed while the outer tabernacle is still standing, 9which is a symbol for the present time. Accordingly both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience, 10since they relate only to food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation.
Heb_9:6 "continually entering the outer tabernacle" The priests were to fill the containers on the menorah with oil (cf. Exo_27:20-21), replace the bread weekly (cf. Lev_24:8-9), and place small amounts of incense on the incense altar (cf. Exo_30:7-8).
Heb_9:7 "the high priest. . .once a year" He entered only on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement (cf. Leviticus 16). "Kipper" means "to cover"; the Akkadian cognate means "to wipe away." Hebrews 9 focuses on the rituals of the Day of Atonement more than any other chapter in the NT.
▣ "in ignorance" Only sins that were not pre-meditated could be dealt with by the sacrificial system. Intentional sins, or "sins of the high hand" (KJV) could not be atoned for (cf. Lev_4:2; Num_15:24; Num_15:27; Num_15:30-31; Psa_51:17). The Day of Atonement primarily dealt with the ceremonial impurity of the nation.
Heb_9:8-10 These verses show (1) the preliminary nature of the Mosaic covenant and (2) the superiority of the new covenant. How is the new covenant in Christ better?
1. in the old only the high priest entered the inner shrine once a year for his sins and the unintentional sins of Israel (limited access and limited forgiveness).
2. in the new covenant all believers are brought near to God because of Jesus' sinlessness and the removal of the distinction between intentional and unintentional sins (full access and full forgiveness).
The new covenant (cf. Jer_31:31-34), based on faith in the finished work of Christ, not meritorial human performance of an external code, has given worshipers confidence (a new heart, a new spirit, cf. Eze_36:20-27) to approach a holy God, not through ritual procedures or liturgy (cf. Heb_6:1-2), but through the gospel.
Heb_9:8
NASB "the outer tabernacle"
NKJV "the first tabernacle"
NRSV "the first tent"
TEV "the outer tent"
NJB "the old tent"
The author of Hebrews calls the outer part of the tent "the first tabernacle," referring to "the holy place."This would represent Mosaic covenant worship, which did not allow full access to God. The veil of Herod's Temple being torn from top to bottom when Jesus died (cf. Mat_27:51) symbolized this new access through Christ.
Heb_9:9 "which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience" The old covenant was not able to purge the guilt of sin from mankind's conscience (cf. Heb_9:14). The conscience in the NT (not the OT) is a moral guide (cf. 1Pe_3:21). The danger is that it can be culturally conditioned or abused into silence (cf. Mat_23:25-26). It is the NT counterpoint to the "sound of gentle blowing" or "the still small voice" of 1Ki_19:12.
A very interesting discussion of this term's use in Hebrews is found in Robert B. Girdlestone's Synonyms of The Old Testament
"The passages in the epistle to the Hebrews in which the word occurs are very interesting and important. From Heb_9:9, we gather that the offerings under the O.T. could not make man 'perfect as pertaining to the conscience' i.e., could not take away the sense of sin which hinders man from oneness with God. They did not take away sin, as a matter of fact, and they could not, from the nature of things; for if the effect of the Levitical dispensation had been to make men perfect, i.e., at one with God , the offerings would not have needed repetition. If the worshipers had been purged once for all, they would have had no more consciousness of sins (Heb_10:2). But 'the blood of Christ' cleanses a man's consciousness from dead works, and enables him to serve the living God (Heb_9:14); and the heart is thus 'sprinkled from an evil conscience' (10.22). In other words, the faithful acceptance of the sacrifice of Christ takes away that sense of sin which had been a bar between man and God, and enables a man to live no longer as a servant, but as a son" (p. 73).
▣ "perfect" See Special Topic at Heb_7:11.
Heb_9:10
NASB "a time of reformation"
NKJV "the time of reformation"
NRSV "the time comes to set things right"
TEV "the time when God will establish the new order"
NJB "the time come to set things right"
This refers to the new covenant inaugurated in Jesus. This phrase was used by the rabbis of the last "Jubilee" when the Messiah would come. It is used in the moral sense in Jer_7:3; Jer_7:5.