Hebrews Chapter Eight Verses 7-13

HEBREWS CHAPTER EIGHT VS 7-13 (USING KING JAMES STUDY TEXT, STUDY BOOK WILL REFERENCE A DIFFERENT VERSION FOR READING)

Heb 8:7  For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. 

Heb 8:8  For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: 

Heb 8:9  Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. 

Heb 8:10  For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: 

Heb 8:11  And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. 

Heb 8:12  For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. 

Heb 8:13  In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. 

Main Point: Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. 

He is (and has been) dismantling the old law, and any reason to continue to rely on it.

4.   Notice in verse 7 that the implication is that the first covenant was faulty, and yet in verse 8 the statement is that the people were at fault. What is the first covenant? Explain where the fault lies: Verse nine explains the dispensation period as  “I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt”.  The “first covenant” statement is exclusive in context to the Mosaical period….his dealings with Abraham’s descendants. Just to be clear the agreement God had with Israel, established during the wanderings are better defined in Deuteronomy…not Leviticus. Leviticus was sundry laws and sacrifice-for-sin stuff (all important). Deuteronomy was the reminder of what it meant to be called “Gods chosen”  and the promises associated with keeping Jehovah as their God. See Deut 6:1-6. This was an extension of His promises to Abraham Gen 15:5 – ultimately fulfilled in Jesus the Christ.

5.   What is meant by, “I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts”? Oh my what an abstract thought. To think that laws will be made not on stone (the shadow), but will effectually move mankind toward God. The Levitical law was not designed to do this. THE COVENANT WAS, and it was established through deliverance (salvation) from Egypt …another foreshadow. The PERFECTED deliverance would come through the one thing nobody saw coming…GOD DYING for His creation…THAT is HOW He writes it on hearts and minds. Somebody get me a pulpit!

6.   What is meant by, “None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother saying ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me? The context are those who have God in mind and heart. Not sure what else to say about this…except that it has also happened in the general context. Does not most if not all the world know that there is a Christian religion? Why would we see oppression and suppression of the word by governments and other violent religions if this has not been fulfilled? (Not saying everyone knows Him as they should).

7.   Explain, “Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” This is the writer putting the hammer down on the thinking that the Old Law was still a viable/preferred system/covenant. His language must have been upsetting to those who wanted to stay “safe” with the old traditions. Remember, there may be a few different sources of persecution for the believing Israelite. Their mettle is being tested.

Additional:

8) Fault: 3201 - Middle voice of an apparently primary verb; to blame: - find fault.

    …with them: 846 -From the particle αὖ au (perhaps akin to the base of G109 through the idea of a baffling wind; backward); the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the compound of G1438) of the third person, and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other persons.   

What is the significance in verse 8 of using BOTH names Israel and Judah?

What does God mean in verse nine “I regarded them not”? How serious is that? (Contrast the end of verse 10)