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Hebrews 9:22

22 And according to the law, I may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and apart from shedding of blood there is no remission.

Commentary

Adam Clarke
Verse 22 And almost all things are - purged with blood - The apostle says almost, because in some cases certain vessels were purified by water, some by fire, Num 31:23, and some with the ashes of the red heifer, Num 19:2-10, but it was always understood that every thing was at first consecrated by the blood of the victim. And without shedding of blood is no remission - The apostle shows fully here what is one of his great objects in the whole of this epistle, viz. that there is no salvation but through the sacrificial death of Christ, and to prefigure this the law itself would not grant any remission of sin without the blood of a victim. This is a maxim even among the Jews themselves, אין כפרה אלא בדם ein capparah ella bedam, "There is no expiation but by blood." Yoma, fol. 5, 1; Menachoth, fol. 93, 2. Every sinner has forfeited his life by his transgressions, and the law of God requires his death; the blood of the victim, which is its life, is shed as a substitute for the life of the sinner. By these victims the sacrifice of Christ was typified. He gave his life for the life of the world; human life for human life, but a life infinitely dignified by its union with God.
John Wesley
Errors - That is, sins of ignorance, to which only those atonements extended.
Pulpit Commentary
Heb 9:22

And almost all things are according to the Law purified with blood; and without shedding of blood there is no remission. The essentiality of blood, which is "the life of all flesh," for atonement and consequent remission, is emphatically asserted in Le 17:11, which expresses the principle of the whole sacrificial ritual. The idea seems to be that the life of man is forfeit to Divine justice (cf. Gen 2:17), and so blood, representing life, must be offered instead of his life for atonement.
Barnes' Notes
Verse 7. But into the second. The second apartment or room, called the most holy place, Heb 9:3. Went the High priest alone once every year. On the great day of atonement, Ex 30:10. On that day he probably entered the holy of holies three or four times, first to burn incense, Lev 16:12; then to sprinkle the blood of the bullock on the mercy-seat, Lev 16:14; then he was to kill the goat of the sin-offering, and bring that blood within the veil, and sprinkle it also on the mercy-seat; and then, perhaps, he entered again to bring out the golden censer. The Jewish tradition is, that he entered the holy of holies four times on that day. After all, however, the number of times is not certain, nor is it material; the only important point being that he entered it only on one day of the year, while the holy place was entered every day. Not without blood. That is, he bare with him blood to sprinkle on the mercy-seat. This was the blood of the bullock and of the goat--borne in at two different times. Which he offered for himself. The blood of the bullock was offered for himself and for his house or family--thus keeping impressively before his own mind and the mind of the people the fact that the priests, even of the highest order, were sinners, and needed expiation like others, Lev 16:11. And for the errors of the people. The blood of the goat was offered for them, Lev 16:15. The word rendered errors--αγνοημα --denotes, properly, ignorance, involuntary error; and then error or fault in general--the same as the Hebrew from -- to err. The object was to make expiation for all the error and sins of the people, and this occurred once in the year. The repetition of these sacrifices was a constant remembrance of sin; and the design was, that neither the priests nor the people should lose sight of the fact that they were violators of the law of God. (c) "once" Ex 30:10, Lev 16:2

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