KJV: We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.
YLT: we have an altar, of which to eat they have no authority who the tabernacle are serving,
Darby: We have an altar of which they have no right to eat who serve the tabernacle;
ASV: We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat that serve the tabernacle.
Ἔχομεν | We have |
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 1st Person Plural Root: ἔχω Sense: to have, i.e. to hold. |
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θυσιαστήριον | an altar |
Parse: Noun, Accusative Neuter Singular Root: θυσιαστήριον Sense: the altar for slaying and burning of victims used of. |
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φαγεῖν | to eat |
Parse: Verb, Aorist Infinitive Active Root: ἐσθίω Sense: to eat. |
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ἐξουσίαν | authority |
Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular Root: ἐξουσία Sense: power of choice, liberty of doing as one pleases. |
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οἱ | those |
Parse: Article, Nominative Masculine Plural Root: ὁ Sense: this, that, these, etc. |
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τῇ | in the |
Parse: Article, Dative Feminine Singular Root: ὁ Sense: this, that, these, etc. |
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σκηνῇ | tabernacle |
Parse: Noun, Dative Feminine Singular Root: σκηνή Sense: tent, tabernacle, (made of green boughs, or skins or other materials). |
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λατρεύοντες | serving |
Parse: Verb, Present Participle Active, Nominative Masculine Plural Root: λατρεύω Sense: to serve for hire. |
Greek Commentary for Hebrews 13:10
We Christians have a spiritual altar This metaphor is carried out. Whereof Our spiritual altar. The tabernacle Dative case with λατρευοντες latreuontes (serve), σκηνη skēnē being used for “the whole ceremonial economy” (Vincent) of Judaism. [source]
d Those who persist in adhering to the Jewish economy can have no part in the blessing of the new covenant. The two are mutually exclusive. The statement is cast in the mould of the Jewish sacrificial ritual, and in the figure of eating a sacrificial meal. [source]
It is a mistake to try to find in the Christian economy some specific object answering to altar - either the cross, or the eucharistic table, or Christ himself. Rather the ideas of approach to God, - sacrifice, atonement, pardon and acceptance, salvation, - are gathered up and generally represented in the figure of an altar, even as the Jewish altar was the point at which all these ideas converged. The application in this broader and more general sense is illustrated by Ignatius: “If one be not within the altar ( ἐντὸς τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου the sacred precinct), he lacketh the bread of God … . Whosoever, therefore, cometh not to the congregation ( ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ ), he doth thereby show his pride, and hath separated himself,” Eph. v. Ignatius here uses the word, not of a literal altar, but of the church. Comp. Trall. vii. Again: “Hasten to come together as to one temple, even God; to one altar, even to one Jesus Christ,” Magn. vii. [source]
The foundation of the figure is the sacrifice of the peace or thank-offering, in which the worshippers partook of the sacrifice. See Leviticus 7:29-35; Deuteronomy 12:6; Deuteronomy 27:7. The peace-offerings were either public or private. The two lambs offered every year at Pentecost (Leviticus 23:19) were a public offering, and their flesh was eaten only by the officiating priests, and within the holy place. The other public peace-offerings, after the priests had received their share, were eaten by the offerers themselves. Jehovah thus condescended to be the guest of his worshippers. The large scale on which such festivals were sometimes celebrated is illustrated in 1 Kings 8:63. In private peace-offerings, the breast of the victim belonged to the Lord, who gave it to the priests (Leviticus 7:30), and the right shoulder was given directly to the priests by Israel (Leviticus 7:32). After the ritual of waving, the entrails were consumed, and the rest was eaten by the priest or the worshippers and their invited guests, among whom were specially included the poor and the Levites. [source]
See on John 1:12. [source]
This does not mean the priests only, but the worshippers also. Σκηνή tabernacleis used figuratively for the whole ceremonial economy. A reference to the priests alone is entirely foreign to the context, and to the whole drift of the discussion which contrasts the privileges of Christians at large (we ) with those of Israel at large. The writer is speaking in the present tense, of institutions in operation in his own time, to which tabernacle, in any other than a figurative sense, would be inappropriate. Moreover, λατρεύειν toserve is used throughout the N.T., with the single exception of Hebrews 8:5, of the service of the worshipper and not of the priest. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Hebrews 13:10
In Pastorals only here. Comp. Romans 1:9, Romans 1:25; Philemon 3:3. Frequent in Hebrews. Originally, to serve for hire. In N.T. both of ritual service, as Hebrews 8:5; Hebrews 9:9; Hebrews 10:2; Hebrews 13:10; and of worship or service generally, as Luke 1:74; Romans 1:9. Especially of the service rendered to God by the Israelites as his peculiar people, as Acts 26:7. Comp. λατρεία service Romans 9:4; Hebrews 9:1, Hebrews 9:6. In lxx always of the service of God or of heathen deities. [source]