Denis the Carthusian: Commentary on Hebrews Chapter 9
Introduction
Finally, the Apostle consequently shows the excellence of Christ's priesthood from the rite and indeed from the preceding and Old Testament.
Heb 9:1–5: The Old Tabernacle
"Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary."
Indeed, the first or Old Testament had its justifications of worship (i.e., observances removing certain impediments to divine worship). Just as the sacraments of the New Law, by virtue of the grace contained in them, purge from interior vices by which man is simply made unfit for divine worship, so the sacraments of the Old Law, not containing grace, cleansed from bodily uncleanness and irregularities on account of which the Jews were prohibited from divine worship (from access to the temple and the assembly of the faithful), such as contact with a dead body or an unclean thing. Therefore, these observances by which such impediments were removed are called justifications of worship.
"A worldly sanctuary." It also had an earthly sanctuary (i.e., an exterior uncleanness apparent to men). Some understand by "earthly sanctuary" the material temple, which the Jews considered holy, and in a way it was because it was ordered to the worship of God. The following text agrees with this exposition: "For there was a tabernacle made."
"The first tabernacle." The first tabernacle was fabricated by human artifice. By the first tabernacle is designated the exterior part of the tabernacle made by Moses, by which there was an entrance. But by the second tabernacle is signified the interior part of the same tabernacle. For the Tabernacle of Moses, having 30 cubits in length, 10 in width, and 10 in height, was divided into two parts along its length by a curtain or intermediate veil. The exterior of these had 20 cubits in length. And on account of its veneration and the signification by which it signified the Church Militant, it was called the Holy or Sanctuary. But the interior part of the tabernacle, after the curtain, was called the Holy or Holy of Holies on account of its principal veneration and because it figured the Church Triumphant.
"In which first tabernacle were the candlesticks..." In this first tabernacle was one golden candlestick, which is here called plural candlesticks because it had seven lamps. This was in the southern part. And the table of proposition, made square of Sethim wood and covered with purest gold. This was in the northern part. And the proposition of loaves (i.e., twelve loaves which were placed fresh on the table every Sabbath). There was also in this part of the tabernacle the altar of incense, concerning which the Apostle is silent.
"Which is called the Sanctuary." This first tabernacle is called the Holy, as is now clear. "But after the second veil..." (i.e., behind the veil or after the intermediate curtain) was the second tabernacle (i.e., the second part of the whole tabernacle). This second part is called the Holy of Holies for the reason stated above.
"Having the golden censer..." Concerning this, it is not read in the Old Testament. On account of which, some understand by the censer the incense pot in which the High Priest, entering the Holy of Holies, placed incense so that the smoke rising from there might impede those who were in the other part of the tabernacle from seeing those things which were in the second part of the tabernacle. Others are of the opinion that in the time of David or Solomon, when divine worship was increased, the golden censer was made and placed there.
"And the Ark of the Testament covered on every side with gold." For it was of incorruptible Sethim wood, covered inside and outside with golden plates. "In which Ark was the golden urn having the manna..." (to the measure of a Gomor, in commemoration of the miracle by which God fed the sons of Israel with manna for 40 years in the desert). "And the rod of Aaron which had budded" (overnight, as a sign that Aaron was divinely elected as priest). "And the tables of the Testament" (i.e., the two tables on which the law was written, namely the Decalogue).
"And over it were the Cherubim of glory overshadowing the Propitiatory." (i.e., made gloriously and splendidly like angels, or figurative of the glory of God). Overshadowing (i.e., with their wings extended and connected to each other, covering) the Propitiatory (the golden table which was over the Ark, called the Propitiatory because from there God gave a response to Moses praying for the multitude). Concerning these things, it is not necessary to speak individually now; for fewer things suffice. The Apostle pursues these things briefly and only allegorically.
Heb 9:6–10: The Service and Its Meaning
"Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle... But into the second went the high priest alone once every year..."
"These things therefore being so composed" (i.e., the two parts of the tabernacle disposed in the aforementioned way): "Into the first tabernacle" (which is called the Holy), the priests entered always (i.e., daily, twice, namely at the hour of the morning and evening sacrifice). For at both these hours a lamb was immolated. "Accomplishing the offices of sacrifices" (i.e., completing those things which pertained to the rite of sacrifices). For the immolation of sacrifices happened outside the tabernacle, under the open sky, in the atrium on the altar of holocausts, where, fire having been kindled, the priest took coals in the censer, and thus proceeded to the altar of incense situated within the first tabernacle, and placing incense in the censer, he left it upon the altar of incense, and thus the sacrifice was consummated.
"But into the second tabernacle" (namely into the Holy of Holies), "once a year the high priest alone entered" (namely on the Feast of Expiation), "not without blood" (for he took with him of the blood of the immolated host to offer it before the Propitiatory). "Which he offered for himself and the people's ignorance" (i.e., for the expiation of his own sins and those of his people committed out of ignorance). According to the Gloss, the High Priest often entered the Holy of Holies without blood, but not except once with blood.
"The Holy Spirit thus signifying..." Then the Holy Apostle shows the mystical signification of these things. This being figuratively signified by the Holy Spirit through the disposition of the Tabernacle of Moses: "That the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest" (i.e., the entrance to the Kingdom of Heaven, or Christ Himself who is the way by which one goes to the homeland, was not yet opened), "while the first tabernacle was still standing" (i.e., the first part of the tabernacle which is called the Holy having status and prohibition of entering the second tabernacle, i.e., the Holy of Holies). For by the veil placed between the parts of the tabernacle, it was signified that the way to the Kingdom of Heaven (which was signified by the Holy of Holies) was closed.
"Which was a figure for the time then present..." Which disposition of worship and rite of the tabernacle is a parable (i.e., similitude or figure) of the time then instant (i.e., of the time of grace and of those things which are done in the New Testament under the time of grace). For all things happened to them in figure, and the Old Testament was a figure of the New.
"In which were offered both gifts and sacrifices..." According to which parable (i.e., legal and figurative observance), hosts (from the flesh of animals) and gifts (from inanimate things) are offered by the priests of Levitical stock for the time of the Old Testament. "Which could not make him that did the service perfect..." Which hosts and gifts cannot, according to conscience (i.e., according to the dictate of right conscience or inside in the conscience), make the servant (i.e., him who serves God) perfect (i.e., pure from vices and decorated with grace).
"Standing only in meats and drinks, and divers washings..." But only in foods and drinks (i.e., in the eating and abstaining from certain aliments according to the precepts of the law which prohibited certain foods), and various baptisms (i.e., washings of the body or some member in water on account of contact with a dead body or a leper). "And carnal ordinances..." (i.e., observances removing bodily uncleanness or irregularity). "Imposed until the time of correction..." (i.e., imposed and commanded and lasting until the time of the Evangelical Law, which perfects the Mosaic Law and corrects and emends the vices of its observers). For they were to be kept by divine command until the preaching of the Gospel.
Heb 9:11–15: Christ the High Priest
"But Christ being come an High Priest of the good things to come..."
Then the Apostle shows what the High Priest or Pontiff entering into the Holy of Holies with blood once a year to pray for himself and others figured. For by the Pontiff, Christ was figured; by the Holy of Holies, Heaven. Therefore, the aforementioned legal things could not make the servant perfect.
"Christ being come..." But Christ, assisting God the Father to intercede for us, assisting also (i.e., prepared to succor us), High Priest (i.e., supreme and sacerdotal minister as man), or Pontiff (i.e., in His pontificate the bestower of future goods), i.e., of heavenly goods, of which it is read in the Psalm: "I believe to see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living."
"By a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands..." Through a greater (i.e., much larger and more capable) and more perfect tabernacle, namely Heaven, not made with hands (i.e., not fabricated by the hands of men), that is to say, not of this building (i.e., not of human industry), or not of this creation (i.e., not existing of the nature of inferior creatures which are corruptible). For that is incorruptible.
"Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place..." Nor through the blood of goats or calves, as the legal pontiff, but through His own blood (i.e., with the prior shedding of His own blood). He entered once (namely on the day of the Ascension) into the holy place (i.e., into the celestial tabernacle prefigured by the Holy of Holies), eternal redemption having been obtained (i.e., true beatitude recovered for us and found by us).
"For if the blood of bulls and of goats... sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh..." That the blood of Christ was suitable for saving, the Apostle demonstrates: If indeed the blood of goats and bulls and the ash of a burnt heifer mixed with water, sprinkled upon the unclean (i.e., those defiled by the exterior stain of man), sanctifies (i.e., purges from such a stain) to the purifying of the flesh (i.e., to acquiring bodily cleanliness)—for such things could not take away sins, but cleansed from exterior impurity—"How much more shall the blood of Christ..."
"Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God..." (i.e., cooperating and inspiring Holy Spirit). "Shall purge your conscience from dead works..." He offered Himself on the Cross, by reason of the assumed nature, immaculate to the Father for us. He shall cleanse our conscience (in Baptism or Penance, or other sacraments by which His virtue or merit is applied to us) from dead works (i.e., from sins). "To serve the living God..." (i.e., that cleansed from sins we may serve God, the fountain principle of all life, in holiness and justice continually before Him).
"And for this cause He is the Mediator of the new testament..." And therefore (i.e., because Christ offered Himself for us), He is the Mediator of the New Testament (i.e., a middle giver, mediating between God and men and proposing a new law). "That by means of death..." (i.e., the merit of the Passion of Christ intervening for us). "For the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament..." (i.e., to obtain indulgence for transgressions which were vigorous in the time of the Old Testament and could not be removed by the law). "They which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance." They might obtain the promised good, who are called by the call of eternal predestination, of which it is said to the Romans: "Whom He did predestinate, them He also called." Of eternal inheritance (i.e., the eternal inheritance or felicity itself promised to men). For by the death of Christ the gate to the homeland is fitted, and by the merit of the Lord's Passion all the elect are saved.
Moreover, the vocation is twofold: namely, of eternal predestination (and thus the elect are called); another is the vocation of present justification, of which it is read in the Gospel: "Many are called, but few are chosen."
Heb 9:16–22: The Necessity of Death
"For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator."
Furthermore, that the New Testament was confirmed by the Passion of Christ, the Apostle proves first by human custom. "For where a testament is..." (i.e., for the value and strength of a human testament, it is required that the death of the testator intervene or mediate between the disposition of the testament and its confirmation). "For a testament is of force after men are dead..." (i.e., it is confirmed by the death of the testators). "Otherwise it is of no strength at all..." (i.e., it is not yet valid nor has efficacy) while the testator liveth. This is so according to civil and canonical laws. For before death it can be changed, since it is the last will of the testator. In like manner, the New Testament, which is the promise of eternal life and Evangelical doctrine, was confirmed by the death of Christ. Whence on the Cross He said: "It is finished." For in the assertion of the promise of His doctrine, Christ willed to die.
"Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood." Then the Apostle proves the same by divine authority. "Whereupon neither the first..." (i.e., in the beginning of the law given, or the Old Testament) was dedicated without blood (i.e., strengthened), to figure that the New Testament was to be strengthened by the blood of Christ.
"For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law..." (moral, ceremonial, and judicial). "He took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop..." Moses taking the blood of offered goats and calves with water (in which was mixed, which prefigured the cleansing which is done in the water of Baptism by virtue of the blood of Christ, from whose side went out blood and water, by whose virtue all sacraments obtain efficacy). "And scarlet wool and hyssop." He made a sprinkler of these two for sprinkling the blood. Nevertheless, in Exodus mention is made only of the blood of calves, but it is to be believed by the Apostle that the others now expressed were present then.
"He sprinkled both the book and all the people..." He also sprinkled the book itself and all the people to whom the law was conferred. Perhaps he puts the part for the whole. For it does not seem that so many thousands were sprinkled with blood by Moses. He sprinkled them therefore, saying: "This is the blood of the testament..." (i.e., robustive of the testament) which God hath enjoined unto you (i.e., sent and commanded to you through me).
"Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry." (i.e., in which the Levites and priests ministered in the Tabernacle of Moses). He sprinkled with blood similarly, not then when he sprinkled the book and the people (for the tabernacle and its vessels were not yet made), but this sprinkling was done on the day of the consecration of the tabernacle and vessels.
"And almost all things are by the law purged with blood..." (i.e., from exterior uncleanness or unfitness) according to the law. He says almost, because some things were cleansed by fire (namely those which could sustain fire), and some vessels were cleansed by water. "And without shedding of blood is no remission." (i.e., expiation of guilt was not made unless necessity impeded the oblation). For then a good purpose sufficed. This was a figure that by the shedding of the blood of Christ remission of sins is made. For in us nothing is cleansed interiorly without the blood of Christ.
Heb 9:23–28: Heavenly Things and the Second Coming
"It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these..."
"It was necessary therefore..." That the patterns (i.e., figures) of heavenly things (i.e., of the Church Militant, whose conversation is in Heaven) be cleansed with these (namely the blood of sacrifices). The Apostle calls patterns those things which were in the Old Testament and figured those things which are done in the Church. "But the heavenly things themselves..." (i.e., ecclesiastical persons tending to Heaven) it was necessary to be cleansed with better sacrifices than these (i.e., legal ones), namely with the Body and Blood of Christ. Otherwise they would not enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but they enter after death into it, following their Head, namely Christ.
"For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands..." Therefore it is added: "For Jesus entered not into the holy places made with hands" (i.e., into earthly tabernacles fabricated by human artifice, as was the Tabernacle of Moses), which are the figures of the true (i.e., of heavenly things). For there are eternal tabernacles, of which it is read in the Gospel, whose figures are the manufactured holy places of the present life. "But into heaven itself..." But Jesus entered into Heaven itself (the Empyrean) in the Ascension. "Now to appear in the presence of God for us." To appear now before the face of God for us, and present Himself to the Father to intercede for us. This is one cause of the Ascension of Christ.
"Nor yet that He should offer Himself often..." (i.e., Christ did not enter Heaven and appear to the Father for us so that He might suffer frequently for our salvation). "As the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others." Just as the pontiff of the Law entered (and entered under the Old Testament) into the Holy of Holies every year (i.e., in each year once) with blood of others (i.e., with the blood of goats and calves which he offers). For on account of the insufficiency of the legal hosts, it was necessary that they be repeated often. Nor does the pontiff enter the Holy of Holies through his own blood.
"But the host which Christ offered..." But the host which Christ offered, on account of the efficacy of its dignity, is most sufficient to take away the sins of all; therefore it does not behoove it to be reiterated, or Christ to suffer again. "Otherwise it behoved Him to suffer often..." Otherwise (i.e., if it were not so, but it behooved it to be iterated), it follows that it behoved Him (namely Christ) to suffer often from the beginning of the world even to the present, indeed even to the end of this age. For from the beginning of the world to the end, the crimes of men are continued, multiplied, and vigorous.
"But now once in the end of the world hath He appeared..." Nevertheless, John in the Apocalypse says: "The Lamb who was slain from the beginning of the world." But this is to be understood that the Passion of Christ profited the future as well as the done. "But now" (i.e., in the beginning of the time of grace) once (namely on Good Friday) in the end of the ages (i.e., at the end or last age of the world). For we are those upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Whence John testifies: "It is the last hour." "To put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." (i.e., for taking away sins). He appeared (i.e., was presented to all on the Cross) by His host (i.e., by the oblation of Himself).
"And as it is appointed unto men once to die..." Furthermore, the Apostle proves that Christ ought not to suffer for men except once, by a similitude or example. "And as it is appointed..." (i.e., determined or prefixed by divine wisdom and justice) unto men once to die (in punishment of original sin). "But after this the judgment..." (i.e., particular judgment individually immediately when they die, and universal at the end of the world). "So Christ was once offered..." So also Christ was offered once on the Cross. "To bear the sins of many..." (i.e., to extract and dissolve the sins of many). For He was offered to take away the sins of all according to sufficiency, but only to take away the sins of the elect according to efficiency. This also has been said often before.
"Unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation." "But the second time" (i.e., after these things, namely in His second coming) He shall appear without sin (i.e., He will be seen without the likeness of sin). Not in passible flesh, which is the likeness of sinful flesh, but in a glorious body, whose purity will be conspicuous to men. "Looking for Him..." But He will appear to them longanimously expecting Him. "Unto salvation" (i.e., to eternal felicity then to be granted to them).
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