us in what he requires, what he expects from us, unto whom all —
these things are unfolded, made plain and evident. 3. The third thing in the text is the time or season wherein the Bie ely xa. tabernacle was so parabolically or mystically instructive. pov cov eveoen It was cig rbv xaupdy rdv eveornxdra. Some few copies for xire, rév read rotroy, as doth that now before me,—“ unto this
present time.” This reading is generally rejected by expositors, as not
suited unto the mind of the apostle in this place. For he intends not the time that was then present when he wrote the epistle, not the times of the gospel, not the time after the resurrection of Christ until
I
ak 7 SS Sa
VER. 9, 10.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. QA7
the destruction of the temple, which the addition of that word would denote; for God had prepared another kind of instruction for that season, and not by parables, or mystical metaphors. But yet the word may be retained, and a sense given of the words both sound and proper. For sg may well signify as much as “until;” or be taken redsméig, as it is often. Eig rotrov xcsp6v,—“ unto this season ;” ‘until the time that God would grant another kind of teaching, which now he hath done. It served until this present season, wherein the gospel is preached, and all the things signified by it are accomplished.’ But I shall rather follow the reading of the most copies, though the Vulgar Latin reading “ temporis instantis” seems to favour the first. And Arias rectifying it into “in tempus preesens,” gives the same sense also. But the word éveorquéra being of the preterimperfect tense, signifies a tume that was then present, but is now past. And it is therefore well rendered by our trans- lators, “the time then present ;” as if rére had been in the text ;—the time then present when the tabernacle was made and erected, 6 xa- pos 6 eveargxwe, the season of the church which was then present. For the apostle in this whole discourse not only respects the tabernacle, and not the temple, but he considers the first erection of the taber- nacle in a peculiar manner; for then was it proposed as the means of the administration of the first covenant and the worship. there- unto belonging. It is the covenants which he principally designeth a comparison between. And he doth in that way of the disposition and administration of them, which was given and appointed at their first establishment. As this in the new covenant was the person, _ office, sacrifice, and ministry of Christ; so as unto the first, it was the tabernacle and all the services of it.
Wherefore “the time then present,” was the state and condition of the church at the first setting up of the tabernacle. Not as though this time were confined unto that or those ages wherein the tabernacle was in use, before the building of the temple; but this instruction, which was then signally given, was. the whole of what God granted unto the church during that state wherein it was obliged unto the ordinances and services which were then instituted. The instructions which God thought meet to grant unto the church at that season were obscure, mystical, and figuratively representa- tive; yet was it sufficient for the faith and obedience of the church, had it been diligently attended unto, and what the Holy Ghost signi- fied thereby. So are all God’s ways of instruction in all seasons. We cannot err but either by a neglect of inquiry into them, or by looking for more than God in his wisdom hath committed unto them.
And this sense those who render rapator# by a “figure,” “type,” or “example,” must come unto: for the use of it is confined unto
248 - AN EXPOSITION OF THE | [cHaP. Ix.
the time of the erection of the tabernacle, and the institution of the ordinances thereunto belonging; but a type or figure was unto them of no use but so far as it was instructive, which was obscurely and mystically, And that thisis the sense of the word the apostle declares, verse 8, where he shows the substance of what the Holy Ghost sig- nified by the building, disposal, and services of the tabernacle; that is, what he taught the church thereby parabolically and figuratively.
This kind of instruction, whatever now it seem to us, was meet and fit for them unto whom it was given. And by the administra- tion of grace in it, it was a blessed means to ingenerate faith, love, and obedience, in the hearts and lives of many unto an eminent de- gree, And we may consider from hence what is required of us, unto whom the clear revelation of the wisdom, grace, and love of God, is made known from the bosom of the Father, by the Son himself.
4, The especial nature and use of this tabernacle and its service is declared: “In which were offered both gifts and sacrifices.” Kal’ 6, the Vulgar Latin reads “juxta quam;” making the relative to answer unto 7ris, or to rapatoay. But the gender will not allow it in the original. Kaé’ é& is as much as év §, “in which time,” “during which season :” for immediately upon the setting up of the tabernacle God gave unto Moses laws and in- stitutions for all the gifts and sacrifices of the people, which were to be offered therein. This was the first direction which God gaye after the setting up of the tabernacle, namely, the way and manner of offering all sorts of gifts and sacrifices unto him.