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fabric of Mosaic ritual vanishes into the shadows before the face of Him Who could say,
"I am the resurrection and the life".
With the "perfecting of the Son" by the oath, we reach the conclusion of the lengthy
comparison commenced in chapter 5: Before entering into a detailed examination of the
Tabernacle and its sacrifices and seeing them as shadows of the true, a short chapter is
devoted to bringing the teaching of chapters 5:-7: to a point: "Now of the things which
we have spoken this is the sum" (8: 1).
The principal thing.
The teaching of this passage is something more than a summary. The word
kephalaion (sum) may mean the summing up of a number as in Numb. 4: 2, "Take the
sum of the sons of Kohath", or it may be the principal part as in Numb. 5: 7, "He shall
recompense his trespass with the principal thereof". The following translation seems to
convey the sense of the passage.
"The principal thing, however, amongst those things of which we are speaking is that
we have such a high Priest Who is seated on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in
the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary, and of the true Tabernacle which the Lord
pitched and not man" (Heb. 8: 1, 2).
A seated Priest in a heavenly Sanctuary.
It will be well to prepare the reader for the necessity of a certain amount of close
attention. The arguments of this central part of Hebrews are involved, and there are, as
the Apostle has said, some things "hard to be understood" concerning this heavenly
Priesthood. There is a wealth of detail and a formidable series of sub-divisions to
exercise our patience, but at the beginning the Apostle would have us look away from
these and let our hearts dwell upon "the principal thing". We have a seated Priest; that
tells of a finished work. This seated Priest is the Minister of no earthly Tabernacle; He
has entered "heaven itself". The consideration of this finished work and this heavenly
Tabernacle occupies the bulk of chapters 9: and 10:
Just as all the Tabernacle and its service revolve around the ark and mercy seat, so all
that the writer has said concerning the excellence of Christ is concentrated upon His once
offered Sacrifice. This is the theme that is immediately introduced in 8: 3:
"For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of
necessity that this Man have somewhat also to offer."
The "somewhat" suggests something different from the offerings of the law, and
verse 4 puts forward the argument that the Lord could have no priesthood on earth, as the
prescribed offerings were already ministered by an earthly and an exclusive priesthood.
Their service, however, was typical of a higher and a greater.
"Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things" (8: 5).