A proposition and declaration of the fabrics of the Tabernacle,

its furniture and the services performed therein, (verses 1-10).

A declaration of the nature of the Tabernacle and sacrifice of

the Lord Christ, with the end and efficacy thereof (verses 11-

Of the first general, there are four parts:

A proposition of the constitution of the Tabernacle of old, with

all its utensils and furniture, as it was prepared for the

service of the priests (verses 1-5).

The use of that Tabernacle and the things in it, in and unto the

sacred duties and services of the priests (verses 6,7).

The Judgment of the apostle upon the whole, both of the fabric

and its use (verse 8).

The reason of that judgment (verses 9,10)'.

So far John Owen.

Coming now to Hebrews 9 itself.  Just as the apostle contrasts 'the

earthly house of this tabernacle' which was to be 'dissolved' with the

building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens when he

speaks of this body and the resurrection body of glory (2 Cor. 5:1,2), so,

when speaking of the Tabernacle erected in the wilderness as contrasted with

the 'greater and more perfect Tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say

not of this building' (Heb. 9:11), the same apostle applies the word

'worldly' to that earthy and earthly 'sanctuary' (Heb. 9:1).  Incidentally,

the similarity of language and argument here, with the exclusive use, in the

epistles, of the expression 'made with hands', is one of the many indications

that Paul is the writer of Hebrews.  (See article Hebrews2).

It will be noticed that the golden altar of incense is omitted from the

first list, and that the golden censer is added to the second list (Heb. 9:2-

5).  If we interpret the golden censer as the altar, we make the apostle to

teach that the golden altar was in 'the holiest of all' which it certainly

was not.  The LXX uses the word thumiaterion in 2 Chronicles 26:19 and

Ezekiel 8:11, where both passages read 'censer' and can mean nothing else.

It seems to be the intention of the apostle to enforce the great lesson

of Hebrews by the somewhat unexpected alteration.  Both the golden altar and

the golden censer speak of intercession, and our hearts are directed upward

to the right hand of God, where the great high Priest

ever liveth to make intercession, having passed into the heavenly holiest of

all.  We read in Leviticus 16:12,13 that the high priest took a censer full

of burning coals of fire from off the altar and made a cloud of incense to

cover the mercy seat, and it is to this that the writer points in this

chapter in Hebrews.

'The Holy Ghost thus signifying'.  Do let us observe this statement.

By the use of the words 'The Holy Ghost' he completely sets aside all the

critical attacks upon the veracity of the records of Exodus, and by the word

'signifying', he endorses the idea that all these items of Tabernacle

furniture and service were typical, prefiguring the better things that belong