A Torah Verse By Verse Commentary Of Paul's Epistles by Re'tzon Ha'El - HTML preview

Chapter 8

V1 Those things to be uttered of 5:11, in reference to a detailed exposition by the author of the High priest of the order of Melchizedek, have been thoroughly summarized. He goes on now to elucidate Yeshua’s position and duties within this order.

V2 Yeshua is the minister/servant of the Father of the heavenly sanctuary and tabernacle i.e. the true original one, far greater than the tabernacle of Moses or temple of Solomon, and of that built by Herod, which were but a shadow of the true heavenly one Ex 26:30.

V3 Yeshua the eternal High priest in heaven, also must needs carry out the role of offering in the heavenly sanctuary as did those of the earthly. It is stressed again as is characteristic of Paul’s epistles that Yeshua is a man, not some extra-terrestrial being whom we cannot relate to. We shall be told in chapter 9 that unlike the blood of goats and calves and bulls offered by the Aaronic high priests in the earthly sanctuary, Yeshua offered His own precious blood once and for all for the eternal redemption of mankind in the superior heavenly sanctuary.

V4-5 Yeshua could not be a High priest during His first advent on earth, as He would not have qualified as a descendant of Aaron, as stipulated in the old covenant, whereupon this priestly order was required to conduct these earthly offerings. The Aaronic priesthood susceptible to impurity through human foibles, nonetheless was only a shadow of the pure priesthood of heaven of the order of Melchizedek Ex 25:9,40. In essence had Yeshua partaken of this priesthood, even if He were of Aaronic descent, it would have been of an inferior office, which would have ridiculed His superior role that was anticipated since declaration of the oath of Ps 110:4.

V6 Instead of being an earthly Aaronic High priest inferior in many aspects in offering animal sacrifices, conducting liturgical rites in a tabernacle fabricated by mortal man, offerings being made in a small room made most holy by the presence of Elohim above the ark of the covenant, Yeshua’s priesthood of the order of Melchizedek proved superior in many facets. Yeshua is sat at the right hand of the very presence of the Father in heaven, in the true tabernacle not the earthly prototype, with unrestricted access to intercede for us to Elohim the Father, as opposed to the Aaronic priesthood that was restricted to that annual day of atonement. This indeed is a more excellent ministry, and mediation by a perfect immortal mediator being daily in the very presence of Elohim proving the superiority of this better perfect covenant, established upon the very oath of YHVH the Father which is immutable with promises of not only redemption of our sins, but also of entrance into the rest of Elohim which is eternal life Heb 4:1.

V7 -8 These 2 verses need to be read together in order not to misinterpret v7 and take it out of context to support the wild unfounded interpretation made by almost all commentators of our age that Torah was abolished. The first covenant was made faulty by the ‘them’ referred to in verse 8. Torah is perfect, but mortal man is not. The Torah had precepts for an Aaronic priesthood. These commandments could not be adhered to perfectly for this office, as mankind is subject to sin, which works through the lusts of the flesh. This very fact rendered the Torah susceptible to failure through these priests.

It was hence necessary to patiently wait throughout the ages for a perfect man to live amongst us, die for us, defeat sin and death, in order to redeem us by His unblemished precious blood in the very sanctuary of heaven, and replace this susceptible Aaronic priesthood by a fail-safe priesthood in the form of the order of Melchizedek, which would improve the Torah. As with any contract, covenant or agreement, alterations made to improve the agreement are made once its operational status is found to be compromised by those utilizing it. Once a solution to improve that susceptible aspect of the agreement is found, it replaces the susceptible clause and does not abolish the rest of the clauses. This is ratified as a new agreement with exactly the same terms, conditions and clauses as the first, except for that clause replaced by the new superior one.

It would need to be signed again by the parties involved, rendering the first covenant null and void. However, it is absolutely of paramount importance to bear in mind that although the first agreement is null and void, all of its contents excluding the susceptible clause replaced by the better, remain completely intact within the second agreement. This is exactly what occurred with the old covenant being replaced by the new. If dietary laws, observance of the Sabbath and feast days, circumcision rites, ceremonial laws and the like, had been susceptible to fault as the Aaronic priesthood, then the book of Hebrews would have simply stated outright, the abolition of Torah in its entirety, and not gone to great lengths to solely point out the human foibles entangled within the precepts relating to the Aaronic priesthood. But this is not the case as is grossly taught on a wholesale scale in Christendom, through parroting false doctrines established ever since the Gentiles took over the reins of the early messianic Christians, and bastardized the faith.

V9 It is repeated once again that the old covenant was not at fault, but the people, who failed to keep it through their murmurings, disobedience and wilful adherence to the lusts of the flesh. Cf Jer 31:32 from which this verse is quoted. The original in Jeremiah equates the old covenant to that of a marriage certificate. Having been an unfaithful wife to YHVH Elohim the husband, Israel was divorced from Him, necessitating the upgrading of the marriage agreement to provide for a perfect mediator, as the Aaronic priestly mediators were too tainted to suffice.

V10-12 quotes Jer 31:33-34. If only the detractors of Torah would have the sense to read the original quote from Jeremiah in context, would they repent of their iniquitous hatred for Torah. If they would but just read the following 2 verses of Jer 31:35-37, whereby YHVH Elohim categorically states that the choq/ordinances, statutes are perpetual, as did Yeshua (who is wrongly accused of nailing the Torah to the cross) states quite unabashedly that He did not come to destroy Torah neither Matt 5:17-19. An adjustment to Torah is not synonymous with abolition of Torah. These 2 statements are mutually exclusive. Cf Is 51:6-7.

At this point one would beg to ask ‘if YHVH was omniscient, knowing beginning from end, why would he have bothered with the former covenant?’ The answer lies in the fact that we are confined to time and space. The former covenant was necessary pre-Yeshua’s first advent to allow man to know right from wrong. This inevitably needed a means of atoning for sin. Because Yeshua’s advent was not nigh, the Israelites and world at large needed some form of atonement liturgy, which was ordained through the Aaronic priesthood. Unfortunately, man and Yeshua the Messiah were worlds apart in righteousness, hence the former was a temporary picture of the perfect latter covenant to come at Yeshua’s ascension.

V13 Hence because the old covenant had been upgraded and re-ratified, it had to be made obsolete as it contained the redundant Aaronic priesthood precepts, which were replaced in the new covenant by the High priesthood of the order of Melchizedek. The former was made faulty by man. A perfect man made the new covenant faultless. The former required daily blood sacrifices to atone for the Aaronic priest who was sinful and mortal, in order to be a decent mediator for the Commonwealth of Israel. The new covenant required a one-time blood sacrifice of the perfect man Yeshua of Nazareth who is sinless and immortal and is the righteous mediator for the whole world, within the commonwealth of Israel.