Hebrews 8:9

9 not like the covenant that I made with their ancestors, on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they did not continue in my covenant, and so I had no concern for them, says the Lord.

Hebrews 8:9 Meaning and Commentary

Hebrews 8:9

Not according to the covenant that I made with their
fathers
The ancestors of the Jews at Mount Sinai:

in the day when I took then, by the hand to lead them out of the
land of Egypt;
which is mentioned, not only to observe the time when the former covenant was made with the Israelites, which was just upon their deliverance out of Egypt; but also to show their weakness and inability to have delivered themselves, and the tenderness of God towards them; they were like children, they could not help themselves when God took them by the hand, and brought them forth with an outstretched arm; and likewise to expose their ingratitude, and vindicate his conduct towards them:

because they continued not in my covenant;
though they promised, at the reading of it, that all that the Lord had said, they would hear and do; but their hearts were not right with God, and they were not steadfast in his covenant, and therefore their carcasses fell in the wilderness:

and I regarded them not, saith the Lord;
the words in ( Jeremiah 31:32 ) are very differently rendered in our translation, "although I was an husband unto them": and so it becomes an aggravation of their sin of ingratitude, in not continuing in his covenant: in the margin it is rendered interrogatively, "should I have continued an husband unto them?" that is, after they had so treated him, no; as if he should say, I will not behave towards them as such; I will reject them, and disregard them. The Chaldee paraphrase is just the reverse of the apostle's translation, "and I was well pleased with them": some render them, "I ruled over them", as a lord over his servants, in a very severe manner. Others, observing the great difference there is between the Hebrew text, and the apostle's version, have supposed a different Hebrew copy from the present, used by the Septuagint, or the apostle, in which, instead of (ytleb) , it was read either (ytlxb) , or (ytleg) ; but there is no need of such a supposition, since Dr. Pocock F7 has shown, that (leb) , in the Arabic language, signifies to loath and abhor, and so to disregard; and Kimchi F8 relates it as a rule laid down by his father, that wherever this word is used in construction with (b) , it is to be taken in an ill part, and signifies the same as (ytlxb) , "I have loathed"; in which sense that word is used in ( Zechariah 11:8 ) and so here, I have loathed them, I abhorred them, I rejected them, I took no care of them, disregarded them, left their house desolate, and suffered wrath to come upon them to the uttermost.


FOOTNOTES:

F7 Not. Miscell. in Port. Mesis, p. 9.
F8 In Jer. xxxi. 32. & Sepher Shorashim, rad. (leb)

Hebrews 8:9 In-Context

7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need to look for a second one.
8 God finds fault with them when he says: "The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah;
9 not like the covenant that I made with their ancestors, on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they did not continue in my covenant, and so I had no concern for them, says the Lord.
10 This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
11 And they shall not teach one another or say to each other, "Know the Lord,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.