Hebrews 9:7Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Do you see the very types already set forth here? Lest they should say, "How can there be one sacrifice? How did the High Priest, Christ, offer it once?" the Apostle shows that it was so from of old.

The most holy and fearful sacrifice was one. Thus the Jews were prepared from ancient times. Even then, he says, the high priest offered the sacrifice once.

He also rightly says, "not without blood." It was not without blood, though not with such blood as now, for the ministry was not such.

This signified that a sacrifice would come which would not be consumed by fire, but would rather be revealed through blood.

"But into the second, once a year, only the high priest." Do you see the very types already set forth here?

Lest they should say, "The sacrifice of Christ was offered once; how then did it sanctify all?" he shows that it was so from of old.

For in the Old Testament also, the most holy and fearful sacrifice was offered by the high priest once.

"Not without blood." After calling the Cross a sacrifice, and one without fire, without wood, and not often offered, he shows that the Old Testament sacrifice was also like this. It too was offered once, with blood.

Some asked how it is written in Exodus that Aaron was to burn incense upon the golden altar, which, they thought, was evidently in the Holy of Holies.

but into the second only the high priest entered, once a year, and not without blood, which he offered first for his own sins of ignorance, and then for those of the people.

From this text it is evident that Zacharias is presented as high priest. For it is written of the first tabernacle that the priests always entered it, performing the service (Heb 9:6).

But only once a year did the high priest enter the temple: "But into the second tabernacle, once a year, only the high priest, not without blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people" (Heb 9:6-7).

This is the high priest who was chosen by lot, because the true High Priest was not yet known. One who is chosen by lot does not depend on human judgment.

That high priest was chosen, yet he was only a type of Another. The true eternal Priest was being chosen, to whom it was said: "You are a Priest forever" (Ps 109:4; Heb 7:21).

He was commanded to “sprinkle” the blood “with his finger upon the mercy seat” (Lev. 16:19). See Heb. 9:9.

Look at the types appointed beforehand in the Old Testament, lest anyone should say, "How could the single sacrifice of Christ be sufficient?" The Apostle shows that this was ordained from above.

For there also, in ancient times, there was only one most holy and most fearful sacrifice each year, with the shedding of one blood. This served as a type of the blood of Christ, who was also the High Priest.

Likewise, the whole year gives a hidden indication of this entire earthly life.

"Which he offers for himself and for the ignorances of the people." He offers "for himself" because he too is beset with weakness.

The high priest, who was commanded to enter the Holy of Holies within the veil scarcely once a year (Heb. 9:7), teaches us this. Only one who has passed through the court and the holy place, and has entered within the Holy of Holies, should approach the visions of God with an uncovered and naked mind. That is, he must have passed beyond the whole nature of sensible and noetic beings, and become pure from every property belonging to temporal existence.

Above the ark there was something like a four-sided table, called the golden mercy seat. It symbolized Christ, who is called our propitiation (1 Jn 2:2) and redemption (1 Cor 1:30).

In the relevant places in Exodus it says that the high priest entered the Holy of Holies twice a day to burn incense.

For it is written: "Aaron shall burn fragrant incense with it," that is, with the golden censer that was in the Holy of Holies. "Every morning, when he prepares the lamps, he shall burn it.

And when Aaron lights the lamps in the evening, he shall burn this perpetual incense" (Ex 30:7-8).

How, then, does Saint Paul say here, "once a year, only the high priest"?

The Apostle figuratively lifts the same veil when he clearly explains to the Hebrews, and fittingly according to the custom of allegorical understanding, why the priests always entered the first tabernacle to perform divine service.

Into the second, however, only the high priest entered, once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins of ignorance of the people.

This veil is interpreted as heaven (Heb 9:24). By the high priest who once a year enters the Holy of Holies with sacrificial blood, the Apostle here means the High Priest Himself, to whom it was said: "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek" (Heb 7:21).

He is the One who was once offered for our sins. He Himself is both priest and sacrifice. By His own blood He ascended into heaven itself, "now to appear in the presence of God for us" (Heb 9:24).

“Once in the year.” This means one day in the year. Yet on that day the high priest entered several times. Judging from the account in Leviticus (Lev. 16:10-15), he entered three times: with incense, with the blood of the calf, and with the blood of the goat. According to the firm assertion of the Hebrews, he entered even four times.

The very structure of the tabernacle, and the priestly rites performed in it, were meant to suggest both their insufficiency and their temporary significance (Heb 9:1-7).

When describing the tabernacle, to what does the Apostle chiefly direct attention? He points to the inaccessibility of the Holy of Holies, not only for the people, but even for the priests in the human or earthly sanctuary, as the Apostle calls it.

That is, it had significance only for temporal and earthly life. Only the great high priest could pass beyond the veil that concealed the Holy of Holies.

Yet even he did so only once a year, with great fear and trembling, and not without blood, "which he offered for himself and for the ignorances of the people" (Heb 9:7).

He is properly seeking to indicate the typical and shadow-like character of the divine service performed in the tabernacle.

With this aim in view, he first sets forth the limited rights enjoyed by the Old Testament ministers in performing divine service.

The priests could not enter the Holy of Holies at all, while the high priest was permitted to do this only once a year.

By this very fact, according to the Apostle, the divinely inspired Scripture clearly indicated that the way to true holiness, to the throne of God, had not yet been opened to men while the front part of the tabernacle still stood (vv. 6-8; cf. είσοδος των άγιων in Heb 10:19 ff.).