PerryDox – BeJustAChristian

Many observant students of the Old Testament discover that the altar of incense is not actually behind the second veil within the Holy of Holies.  The golden altar was actually outside of the Holy of Holies (Ex.30:6; Lev.16:18; 1 Kgs.6:22). The question then arises did the Hebrew writer make a mistake?

Two credible answers are possible.

1)         “Earlier, in v.2, the Greek text says that the table with showbread and the menorah were ‘in’ the Holy Place. And in the latter part of the present verse, the Greek says that the manna, rod and tablets were ‘in’ the ark.  But the Greek expression for the relationship between the Holiest Place and the incense altar is not ‘in which’ but ‘having,’ i.e., ‘having associated with itself.’  Like the ark the incense altar was associated with the Holiest Place. But the author did not make the mistake of locating the incense altar in the Holiest Place, which would have been an error; on the contrary, choosing his words carefully, he associated the incense altar with the Holiest Place even though it was outside.” (David Stern, Jewish New Testament Commentary, pp.692)

2)         The word altar could be translated censer.  On the Day of Atonement, incense was taken into the Most Holy Place.  This fits the context extremely well since in v.12 Jesus is pictured as going into the Most Holy Place.  This would also be supported by juxtaposing Lev.10:1-3 with 16:1-2

Tags: Commentary

This entry was posted by PHall on Friday, October 23rd, 2009 at 1:17 pm and is filed under Hebrews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.