3 For every high priest is constituted for the offering both of gifts and sacrifices; whence it is needful that this one also should have something which he may offer.
4 If then indeed he were upon earth, he would not even be a priest, there being those who offer the gifts according to the law,
5 (who serve the representation and shadow of heavenly things, according as Moses was oracularly told [when] about to make the tabernacle; for See, saith He, that thou make all things according to the pattern which has been shewn to thee in the mountain.)
6 But now he has got a more excellent ministry, by so much as he is mediator of a better covenant, which is established on the footing of better promises.
7 For if that first was faultless, place had not been sought for a second.
8 For finding fault, he says to them, Behold, days come, saith the Lord, and I will consummate a new covenant as regards the house of Israel, and as regards the house of Juda;
9 not according to the covenant which I made to their fathers in [the] day of my taking their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because *they* did not continue in my covenant, and *I* did not regard them, saith [the] Lord.
10 Because this [is] the covenant that I will covenant to the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord: Giving my laws into their mind, I will write them also upon their hearts; and I will be to them for God, and *they* shall be to me for people.
11 And they shall not teach each his fellow-citizen, and each his brother, saying, Know the Lord; because all shall know me in themselves, from [the] little one [among them] unto [the] great among them.
12 Because I will be merciful to their unrighteousnesses, and their sins and their lawlessnesses I will never remember any more.
13 In that he says New, he has made the first old; but that which grows old and aged [is] near disappearing.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Hebrews 8
Commentary on Hebrews 8 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 8
In this chapter the apostle pursues his former subject, the priesthood of Christ. And,
Hbr 8:1-5
Here is,
Hbr 8:6-13
In this part of the chapter, the apostle illustrates and confirms the superior excellency of the priesthood of Christ above that of Aaron, from the excellency of that covenant, or that dispensation of the covenant of grace, of which Christ was the Mediator (v. 6): his ministry is more excellent, by how much he is the Mediator of a better covenant. The body and soul too of all divinity (as some observe) consist very much in rightly distinguishing between the two covenants-the covenant of works and the covenant of grace; and between the two dispensations of the covenant of grace-that under the Old Testament and that under the New. Now observe,