Hebrews 9:1

ἡ πρώτη. The addition of σκηνὴ in the rec. is very ill supported, and the sense requires the word διαθήκη to be understood. Besides which ἡ πρ. σκ. has a different meaning altogether in the next verse.

1. Εἶχε μὲν οὖν κ.τ.λ. “To resume then, even the first (διαθήκη) had its ordinances.” No substantive is expressed with “first,” but the train of reasoning in the last chapter sufficiently shews that “Covenant,” not “Tabernacle,” is the word to be supplied.

εἶχε. Although he often refers to the Levitic ordinances as still continuing, he here contemplates them as obsolete and practically annulled.

τό τε ἅγιον κοσμικόν. “And its sanctuary—a material one.” The word κοσμικόν, rendered “worldly,” means that the Jewish Sanctuary was visible and temporary—a mundane structure in contrast to the Heavenly, Eternal Sanctuary. The adjective only occurs here and in Titus 2:12. Some editors, both here and in Josephus (B. J. IV. 5, § 2), render it “complete,” i.e. in perfect order. It is impossible to render with the A.V. “a worldly sanctuary,” for the N.T. writers keep the rule about the attributive adj. being placed before the article or after the noun. κοσμικόν is in apposition, and some regard it as a sort of substantive. See Winer, p. 166.