Chapter nine begins with the trappings of the old covenant. Old religious values are explained. Concerning the old covenant, the author held that, as a matter of fact, the old covenant, like the new, had ordinances of divine service. That is to say that a law was set forth by a governing authority, that the covenant functioned within the framework of an authoritative decree. Also, the first “ordinances of divine service” were furnished with a worldly sanctuary through which said service was rendered. The author points specifically to a tabernacle that was “made.” Within that physical structure could be found a physical candlestick, table, and showbread – all the familiar paraphernalia through which divine services had been carried out down through the ages. Beyond the second veil, there was the “Holiest of all.” In that area could be found the physical golden censer and the ark of the covenant which the tribes of Israel carried with them for generations. In the ark were real items with relevance to the people. They were the gold pot with manna in it, the rod of Aaron, and the tablets of their law.
This list of special structures and special items is found in verses one through five. They are listed as articles of common history. The author continues by pointing to those real people who carried out the divine service. Those people were grandfathers, great grandfathers, and great great grandfathers. The families of those people counted them in their lineage. Their names were listed and remembered with reverence. Everything the author brings into evidence can be corroborated through common knowledge and shared history. Real people went into the real first tabernacle to perform the actual service to God. The regular priests went into the tabernacle but not into the Holiest of all. That was a special chamber reserved for the high priest. Only he entered, and he entered it only once each year. He did so with the blood of sacrifices to stand in the presence of God and plead for the errors of himself and his people.
What was the point of all this? Verse eight provides the answer. “While the first tabernacle was yet standing,” there was no manifest path for the common man into the presence of God. The author's witness, here, is the Holy Ghost, and testimony in regard to the obstructed path comes from that source alone. Both the tabernacle, the author asserts, and the divine service were precursors, mere figures of something far greater than all the generations filled with services that could, by no means, ever bring the high priest to perfection. The yearly gifts and sacrifices failed in that they had to be repeated the next year. It was a matter of conscience that this truth was revealed through the Holy Ghost. If the high priest of the first covenant could, himself, never reach perfection, how could he ever hope to help the people? The divine services of the first covenant never reached a higher spiritual level. They never pulled free from the physical and worldly aspects of the human condition. They remained firmly rooted in the physical activities of a mortal framework – meats and drinks, bathing, and washing of hands. The services performed were carnal, and imposed as a placeholder until the time of reformation.
The case of the new high priest stands in stark contrast to the old. The coming reformation was achieved in Jesus Christ. He entered into the presence of God, not in the chamber of a physical building, but in a greater and more perfect tabernacle. Rather than entering yearly with the blood of animals, he entered once into the Holy place by his own blood and obtained for us an unfailing redemption. This is found in verses twelve through fourteen. The reasoning is that if the blood and ashes of animals cleansed and purified the flesh of mortal men, how much better was the blood of Christ, “who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God,” to purify our spirits. With dead works purged from the conscience within, the obstructed path is opened to all men to serve the living God. Divine service and the Holiest of all are open to each of us. This, argues the author, is the relevance of Christ as the mediator of the “new testament” – that by means of death and for the redemption of transgressions under the “first testament,” all of us who are “called” can receive the “promise of eternal inheritance.”
The Hebrew term for covenant is berit, meaning “to bond or fetter.” It is translated into Greek as syntheke, “binding together” or diatheke, “will, testament.” In the Bible, then, a covenant is a relationship based upon mutual commitments. It typically involves promises, obligations, and rituals. The terms testament and covenant can be used interchangeably, though covenant tends to be used for the relationship between Jews and God. This explanation is given on learnreligions.com.
The author uses the word testament, here, in the sense of 'last will and testament.' He explains that a testament is without force until after the death of the testator. A death is necessary for the enactment and enforcement of the testament. In that regard, blood was required for both testaments, old and new. In the new, it was the blood of the testator, Jesus Christ. In the old, this explanation is given by the author. Taken from verses eighteen through twenty-one, after Moses revealed the old testament to the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, and using scarlet wool and hyssop, he sprinkled the book, the people, the tabernacle, and the vessels of the ministry. He said to all the people, “This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.” This may refer to actions noted in Exodus twenty-four, while the reference of the author(s) of Hebrews is not found word for word, but inferred. The less than literal use of the Exodus account stems from Jewish tradition.
See https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/hebrews-9-19.html
According to Judaic interpretation, almost all offenses and inadequacies are purged by blood. That interpretation concerns the law that binds Israel to God, the law of God as delivered to them through Moses. The consensus is that without the shedding of blood there is no “remission.” For the purpose of this study, we must understand what the author means by the word 'remission.' Turning to online sources, the definition of the word is this: the cancellation of a debt, charge, or penalty. Synonyms for remission include 'repeal,' 'pardon,' 'absolution,' 'forgiveness,' and one might also include a stay of execution. This is said in verse twenty-two, but distinctions are set forth in verse twenty-three. There, we note that the author presents us with, first of all, “heavenly things,” and secondly with the worldly “patterns” of things in the heavens.
As for those patterns, purification necessitated physical applications toward physical ends. That after which worldly objects and actions were patterned required a higher application of sacrifice and of blood. Therefore, the flesh was purified physically, but the spirit achieves remission spiritually. The author, in verse twenty-four, goes on to explain the spiritual application brought about through Christ. Christ did not enter the holy places of a physical building, neither did he engage in handwashing, the sacrifice of animals, or the maintenance of things like the shewbread or the candle. All of those things were mere “figures” of higher truths. Jesus entered into heaven itself, there to place himself in the presence of God as our sacrifice. Verse twenty-five tells us, neither did Jesus offer himself often in the manner of the worldly high priests who entered every year with the blood of “others.” To approach the matter from that angle, Jesus would have had to suffer and be crucified multiple times from the very beginning of the world. The higher application was to appear at the end of worldliness to put away sin with his singular sacrifice. Spiritual absolution is thus granted to the spirit.
Why was remission approached from this angle? Simply because it has been determined that every man must die once in his life. After that death, and not before, comes the judgment. So then, for the one death of many men, after which comes the one judgment of all, Jesus offered himself, once, to bear the sins of those destined to pass from life to face the judgment. For those who look to Jesus, and apparently, only those, Jesus will appear a second time. The judgment comes to all, but the judgment that comes to those who do not look to Jesus will be a judgment in which Jesus is absent. The judgment of those who look to Jesus will be a judgment in which Jesus appears as salvation. Why this point matters goes back to the author's distinctions between the heavenly and the worldly. We are figures of the truth. We are patterned after Jesus. We will see him because we are patterns of his incorruption. It says in First John 3:2, and I paraphrase, “Beloved, now are we the children of God, and while it does not presently appear what we shall be, we know that when he does appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”
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