Hebrews 9:9

ἥτις παραβολὴ εἰς … “for this is a parable for the time [then] present,” for the contemporary period. ἥτις has for its antecedent σκηνῆς. This is the simplest construction (Cf. Winer, p. 207). That suggested by Primasius and Vaughan “Which thing (the fact of there being a πρώτη σκηνὴ separate from the Holy of Holies) was a parable” is grammatically admissible. εἰς τ. καιρὸν τὸν ἐνεστηκότα, “for the time being”. In the usual division of time into past, present and future, the present was termed ὁ ἐνεστώς. But present to whom? Several interpreters reply, To those living under the Christian dispensation. So especially Delitzsch and Alford. But N.T. usage, and especially the usage of this Epistle which speaks of the Christian dispensation as “the coming age” (Hebrews 6:5), “the future world” (Hebrews 2:5), indicates that “the present time” must refer to the O.T. period. Besides, the opposition to καιρὸς διορθώσεως points in the same direction; as also does the clause under καθʼ ἥν. εἰς is here “with reference to”. And the meaning is, that the outer tent which did not itself contain God's presence, but rather stood barring access to it, was a parable of the entire dispensation. In other words, this Tabernacle arrangement was a striking symbol of the Mosaic economy which could not of itself effect spiritual approach and abiding fellowship with God. The Levitical δικαιώματα themselves, on the ground of which all these arrangements proceed, emphatically declared their own inadequacy. Wrapped up in them was the truth that they could not bring the worshipper into God's presence. καθʼ ἣν δῶρά τε … “in accordance with which [parable] are offered both gifts and sacrifices that cannot perfect him that doth the service as regards conscience, being only ordinances of the flesh resting upon meats and drinks and divers washings, imposed until a time of rectification”. καθʼ ἣν - referring to παραβολὴ; it is in accordance with the parabolic significance of the Tabernacle and its arrangements, that gifts and sacrifices were offered which could only purge the flesh, not the conscience. μὴ δυνάμεναι, Winer's note (p. 608) is misleading. Cf. Jebb's Appendix to Vincent and Dickson's Modern Greek, p. 340. “In later Greek, μή tended to usurp the place of οὐ,” especially with participles. Cf. Blass, 255. κατὰ συνείδησιν τελειῶσαι means, to give to the worshipper the consciousness that he is inwardly cleansed from defilement and is truly in communion with God; to bring conscience finally into peace.