Hebrews 9:1

Hebrews 9:1

The first covenant

When the writer here talks about the “First Covenant” he is referring to the covenant made with Moses and the Israelites on Mount Sinai. The Covenant made with Abraham, referred to previously, was made years before. Paul calculated it was 430 years. (Galatians 3:16-17.) The Sinai Covenant was a complex and demanding arrangement that the Israelites fastidiously attempted to obey, and they failed miserably. As would we! The full contents of this contract are set out in the Torah and the rules and ramifications of it all occupy most of the texts of Exodus through to Deuteronomy. The verse before us highlights the two main aspects; regulations for worship, and everything associated with an earthly tabernacle. 

“Tabernacle” simply means “tent or temporary dwelling.”  It’s a deliberate action on God’s part, the Law and its rituals were only ever meant to be temporary, they were to occupy a period of time until Messiah came. They were given solely to the Israelites but established as a principle and a lesson to the whole world. God separated one group of people, one nation, as a light to all other nations and peoples. It is their individuality and His sovereign choice of them that is at the root of antisemitism today, and it has always been so. We might not agree with His choice or the actions and attitudes of the Jews, very few ever have! But, we would be foolish to join the world in persecuting those people and associating with the hatred that is heaped upon them. Our Bibles clearly tell us that God still has a purpose for them and that they are still loved by Him. In other words, the hatred of the Jews and persecution of them is a spiritual matter, it is a direct rejection of God and His people. And yes! It is agreed that they are not perfect. But then neither are we! God loves us on the basis that we are His chosen ones, not on the basis of what we have or have not done. This is another vital lesson that the Jews have to teach us. Paul articulates all of this in Romans 9-11. 

The enigma highlighted by our verse is that the Jews were never satisfied with a tabernacle. David triumphantly transported it from Shiloh to a sacred site on Mount Zion, but in his heart he longed for something more glorious and permanent than a tent! His longings were fulfilled with the construction of Solomon’s Temple many years later but this, in truth, was also only temporary as various invaders smashed it to the ground. Even Herod’s dramatic and monumental construction was destroyed by the Romans in AD70 and has not been rebuilt since. You see, the first Covenant is obsolete, and all of its many facets have been fulfilled and replaced by the work of Yeshua.  Let’s press on to explore this further.  

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