Ver. 5.—Who serve [in sacred worship | unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, even as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount.
1. We must first consider the reading of these words, by reason of the testimony which'the apostle quotes out of the law, and his ren- dering thereof. The words in the original, Exod. xxv. 40, are, INT) Wa DST) TAN TWS on2an2 nwy. peak ana ia ee (or Ce Ge heed”) “and make after their pattern which was showed thee in the mount.” The apostle adds xévra, “all things;” which is not in the original, nor in the version of the LXX. But, (1.) He might take it “from verse 9 of the ¢hapter, where the word. is axpresead, WN WY 233 JNIS AN ;—“ according unto all that I shall show thee.” (2. ) Things indefinitely expressed are to’ be expounded universally: 1 Kings viii. 39, “And to give to every man according to his ways;” that is, 2 Chron. vi, 30, “and render to every man according to all his ways.’ Deut. xix. 15, “At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established ;” that is, 2 Cor. xiii. 1, “shall every word be established.” Ps. ex. 1, “ Until I make thine enemies thy footstool;” that is, 1 Cor. xv. 25, “all
36 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP, VIII.
enemies.” Wherefore the apostle, by the addition of révra, “all things,” says no more but what is expressed in one place, and neces- sarily understood in the other.
on23n2 , “ according to their pattern,” or “the pattern of them,” the apostle renders by xar& riy rirov only, “according to the pat- tern;’ which comes all to one.
Tiwos. The word is from 733, to “bind;” and it is used for a prepared pattern or similitude that any thing is to be framed unto. So whereas the apostle renders it by ries, he intends xpwrérumos, or apyéruros, not éxrvmos,—such a type or pattern as other things are to be framed by, and not that which is the effigy or representation of somewhat else.
2. The connection of these words with the preceding discourse, which gives us the general design of the apostle, is nextly to be considered. He had before intimated two things: (1.) That the high priests according to the law did not minister the heavenly things; (2.) That the Lord Christ alone did so: whence he con- cludes his dignity and pre-eminence above them;—which is the argument he hath in hand. Both these he confirms in these words. For he confines their ministry unto the types of heavenly things, exclusively unto the heavenly things themselves. And by showing, as in the verse preceding, that if Christ had been to continue on the earth he could not have been a priest, he manifests that he alone was to administer those heavenly things.
3. The argument in general whereby the apostle proves that “they served unto the example and shadow of heavenly things,’— that is, only so, and no more,—is taken from the words of God to Moses. And the force of the argument is evident. For God in those words declares that there was something above and beyond that material tabernacle which was prescribed unto him; for he showed him either an original or an exemplar in the top of the mount, which what he was to do below did but shadow and repre- sent. And therefore they who ministered in what he was to make could serve only therein to be “the example and shadow of hea- venly things.” This, therefore, is the apostle’s argument from this testimony: ‘If God showed unto Moses on the top of the mount that which was heavenly, and he was to make an ota or shadow of it; then they that ministered therein “served only unto the ex- ample and shadow of heavenly things.”’
In the words may be observed, 1. The persons spoken of; “ who.”
2. What ts ascribed unto them; they “serve.” 3. The limitation
of that service: wherein there is, (1.) The present immediate object of it; an “example and shadow:” (2.) The ultimate things in- tended; “heavenly things.” 4 The proof of the whole assertion, from the words of God to Moses: wherein there is, (1.) The manner
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VER. 5.] _ EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 37
of the instruction given him; “he was warned of God:” (2.) The instruction or warning itself; “See that thou make,” etc.
1. There are the persons spoken of; ofrwe¢,—“ who.” It refers unto the priests mentioned verse .4, “Seeing there are priests that offer gifts; who.” But although that ex- pression comprises the whole order of Levitical priests, yet it refers in particular unto the high priests, verse 8, Was yap dpysepeds,— “ very high priest...... ; which high priests.”
2. What is ascribed unto them; rAarpeboucr,—“ do serve.” The
general signification of the English word “to serve” is . not intended, as any thing doth serve for an end, or one person serves another. For it is a sacred word, and signifies only to minister in sacred worship and service, as the Syriac translation renders it. And in particular, it respects here all the dimcanmware rarpeias, “the ordinances of divine service,” which were appointed under the first tabernacle, Heb. ix. 1. “They do serve,”—‘They do, according unto the law, officiate in sacred things; that is, they did so “de jure,” in their first institution, and continue “de facto” so to do still’ And the word Aarpedw is applied both unto the inward spiritual, and outward instituted holy worship of God. See Matt. iv. 10; Acts vii. 7; Rom.i.9. It respects, therefore, all that the high priests did, or had to do, in the worship of God, in the taber- nacle or temple. _ 3. The limitation of their sacred service, is, that it was irode/y- pours xa) ong,—“ to an example and shadow.” Ag?ywa. is a “specimen” of any thing; that whereby any thing is manifested by a part, or instance. It is used in the New Testa- ment only in Jude 7: Upéxewras de?ywa,— Are set forth for an example,” (speaking of Sodom and Gomorrah,) or a “ particular instance” of what would be God’s dealing with provoking sinners at the last day.