Hebrews 9:8

The Holy Ghost. Speaking through the appliances and forms of worship. The intimation is that God intended to emphasize, in the old economy itself, the fact of his inaccessibility, in order to create the desire for full access and to prepare the way for this.

The way into the holiest of all [τ η ν τ ω ν α γ ι ω ν ο δ ο ν]. Lit. the way of the holies. For the construction comp. odon ejqnwn way of the Gentiles, Mark 10:5. The phrase N. T. o. Twn ajgiwn as in vers. 12, 24, 25; Hebrews 10:19. While as the first tabernacle was yet standing (eti thv prwthv skhnhv ejcoushv stasin). By the first tabernacle is meant the first division. The point is that the division of the tabernacle showed the limitations of the Levitical system, and kept the people from coming directly to God. Of this limitation the holy place, just outside the second veil, was specially significant; for the holy place barred priests and people alike from the holy of holies. The priests could not pass out of it into the holy of holies; the people could not pass through it to that sanctuary, since they were not allowed in the holy place. The priests in the holy place stood between the people and God as revealed in the shrine. Exoushv stasin, lit. had standing. The phrase N. T. o. Stasiv everywhere in N. T. except here, is used in its secondary sense of faction, sedition, insurrection. Here in its original sense. Note that the sense is not physical and local as the A. V. implies, but remained a recognized institution.