Hebrews 9:19 Commentary and Bible Study

The detail is given as to how copiously the blood was made use of in the Mosaic ritual. Moses gave the people all the statutes and commandments that were revealed to him by God (Deuteronomy 31:12), but everything had to be followed up with the ritual sprinkling of blood, including on the people themselves (Exodus 24:6-8; Leviticus 8:11,30; 14:4; Numbers 19:18). Other ingredients are mentioned which were used for ceremonial cleansing. The purpose of this was to purify the items used in worship: the altar, the book of the covenant (Exodus 24:7) which lay on it, and the people; for without the shedding of blood, and therefore, by implication, without death of the victim nothing could be put into effect. Moses wanted all the people to be aware that the shedding of blood was a vital part of this arrangement. They must understand this because it pointed to the work which Christ must in future do if there was to be salvation from sin for anyone. Since the point is being made that the old arrangement through Moses was also a testament, to use the word ‘covenant’ here in the translation, as some versions do, is very confusing.