From: Exodus 24:3-8
A sacred meal and sprinkling with blood
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Commentary:
24:1-8. It was common practice for those peoples to ratify pacts by means of a
rite or a meal. This section recounts a meal or rite whereby the Covenant was
sealed. This event is very important for salvation history: it prefigures the sacri-
fice of Jesus Christ, which brought in the New Covenant.
The usual interpretation is that there were two stages in this ratification — first in-
volving Moses and the elders, that is, authorities (vv. 1-2, 9-11) and then the entire
people (vv. 3-8). Other commentators think that there was only one ceremony,
relayed by two different traditions. In both cases the final editor has tried to make
it clear that both the leaders and the people themselves took part in and formally
accepted the divine Covenant and all it laid down.
24:1-11. Nabab and Abihu are priests of Aaron’s line (cf. 6:33; 28:1; Lev 10:1-2);
the elders represent the people on important matters. The ceremony takes place
on the top of the mountain, which all the leaders ascended – Moses; the priests,
holders of religious authority; and the elders, that is, the civil and legal authori-
ties (cf. 18:21-26).
Only Moses has direct access to God (v. 2), but all are able to see God without
dying: what they see far outstrips in brilliance and luxury the great palaces and
temples of the East (cf. the vision of Isaiah in Is 6:10). In fact, they all share the
same table with God (v. 11): the description is reminiscent of a royal banquet, in
which the guests are treated on a par with the host: thus, the king of Babylonia
will show his benevolence to King Jehoiachin by having him as his dinner guest
(cf. 2 Kings 25:27-30). But it is, above all, a ritual banquet in which sharing the
same table shows the intimate relationship that exists between God and the
leaders of the people, and shows too that both parties are mutually responsible
for the covenant now being sealed.
24:3-8. The ceremony takes place on the ‘slope of the mountain; Moses alone is
the intermediary; but the protagonists are God and his people. The ceremony has
two parts — the reading and accepting of the clauses of the Covenant (vv. 3-4),
that is, the Words (Decalogue) and the laws (the so-called Code of the Covenant);
then comes the offering which seals the pact.
The acceptance of the clauses is done with all due solemnity, using the ritual
formula: “all the words which the Lord has spoken we will do”. The people, who
have already made this commitment (19:8), now repeat it after listening to Moses’
address (v. 3) and just before being sprinkled with the blood of the offering. The
binding force of the pact is thereby assured.
The offering has some very ancient features — the altar specially built for the
occasion (v. 4; cf. 20:25); the twelve pillars, probably set around the altar; the
young men, not priests, making the offerings; and particularly the sprinkling with
blood which is at the very core of the rite.
The dividing of the blood in two (one half for the altar which represents God, and
the other for the people) means that both commit themselves to the requirements
of the Covenant. There is evidence that nomadic peoples used to seal their pacts
with the blood of sacrificed animals. But there are no traces in the Bible of blood
being used in that way. This rite probably has deeper significance: given that
blood, which stands for life (cf. Gen 4), belongs to God alone, it must only be
poured on the altar or used to anoint people who are consecrated to God, such
as priests (cf. Ex 29:19-22). When Moses sprinkled the blood of the offering on
to the entire people, he was consecrating it, making it divine property and “a
kingdom of priests” (cf. 19:3-6). The Covenant therefore is not only a commit-
ment to obey its precepts but, particularly, the right to belong to the holy nation,
which is God’s possession. At the Last Supper, when instituting the Eucharist,
Jesus uses the very same terms, “blood of the Covenant”, thereby indicating the
nature of the new people of God who, having been redeemed, is fully “the holy
people of God” (cf. Mt 26:27 and par.; 1 Cor 11:23-25).
The Second Vatican Council has this to say about the connexion between the
New and Old Covenants, pointing out that the Church is the true people of God:
“God chose the Israelite race to be his own people and established a covenant
with it. He gradually instructed this people — in its history manifesting both him-
self and the decree of his will — and made it holy unto himself. All these things,
however, happened as a preparation and figure of that new and perfect covenant
which was to be ratified in Christ, and of the fuller revelation which was to be
given through the Word of God made flesh. […] Christ instituted this new cove-
nant, namely the new covenant in his blood (cf. 1 Cor 11:25); he called a race
made up of Jews and Gentiles which would he one, not according to the flesh,
but in the Spirit, and this race would he the new People of God” (”Lumen gen-
tium”, 4 and 9).
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
From: Hebrews 9:11-15
Christ Sealed the New Covenant with His Blood Once and for All
15] Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called
may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred which
redeems them from the transgressions under the first covenants.
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Commentary:
11-14. The sacrifices of the Old Law could only promise ephemeral benefits,
whereas Christ’s redemptive sacrifice obtained for man, once and for all, “the
good things to come”, that is, the heavenly and eternal benefits proper to the
messianic age—sanctifying grace and entry to heaven. Like the high priest on the
Day of Atonement, Christ entered once for all into the Holy of Holies, through the
curtain. This sanctuary which he entered is the heavenly one; that is why it is
“greater and more perfect” and not made by men (cf. 8:2). Christ passed through
the heavens into the very presence of the Father (cf. 7:26) and is seated in hea-
ven at his right hand (cf. 8:1).
Many Fathers, Doctors of the Church and modern scholars see the expression
“through the greater and more perfect tent” as referring to the sacred humanity of
our Lord, virginally conceived in the womb of Mary, that is, “not made with hands”.
The tent or tabernacle would be our Lord’s body, in which the Godhead dwells.
The text then says that it is “not of this creation”, because Jesus as man was
conceived without the action of a man and without original sin: he did not follow
“the law of nature which holds sway in the created world” (Theodoret, “Interpreta-
tio Ep. ad Hebraeos, ad loc.”). In this case the inspired text would be saying that
Christ redeemed us by means of his human nature (cf. v. 12). However, the words
“through the greater and more perfect tent” can also be understood as referring to
heaven, in the sense of a greater and more perfect sanctuary. In any event, whe-
ther by passing through the heavens or through his most sacred body, Christ
achieved Redemption by offering his own blood. This does not have a temporary
value—like the blood of animals shed each year when the priest entered the Holy
of Holies: Jesus secured eternal Redemption. In the Old Law the Jews were
cleansed by the blood of sacrificed animals from legal impurities which prevented
them from taking part in the liturgy; but Christ’s blood does so much more, for it
cleanses man of his sins. “Do you want to know how effective the blood of Christ
is? Let us go back to the symbols which foretold it and remind ourselves of the
ancient accounts of (the Jews in) Egypt. Moses told them to kill a year-old lamb
and put its blood on the two doorposts and the lintel of each house [...]. Would
you like an additional way to appreciate the power of Christ’s blood? See where
it flowed from, what its source is. It began to flow from the very Cross and its
source was the Lord’s side. For, as the Gospel says, when our Lord was already
dead, one of the soldiers went up to him with a lance and pierced his side and at
once there came out water and blood—water, the symbol of Baptism; blood, the
symbol of the Eucharist. The soldier pierced his side, he opened a breach in the
wall of the holy temple, and there I discover the hidden treasure and I rejoice at
the treasure I have found” (Chrysostom, “Baptismal Catechesis”, III, 13-19).
And so the Church includes in the prayers it recommends to be said after Mass,
one which reads: “I beseech thee, most sweet Lord Jesus, may your passion be
the virtue which strengthens, protects and defends me; your wounds, food and
drink to nourish, inebriate and delight me; your death, everlasting life for me; your
cross, my eternal glory” (”Roman Missal of St Pius V”, recommended prayer of
thanksgiving after Mass).
12. “Thus securing an eternal redemption”: the Greek text uses “having found”,
here translated as “securing”. St John Chrysostom points out that the verb “to
find” in this context has a shade of meaning that implies finding something unex-
pected: the reference is to finding, “as it were, something very unknown and very
unexpected” (”Hom. on Heb, ad loc.”). However, taking into account the whole
context and the possible Hebraic background of the expression, the verb “to find”
is synonymous with “to search keenly, to reach, to attain”: in other words, Christ
eagerly sought to redeem man and he did so by his sacrifice. The verse refers to
an “eternal” redemption, in contrast to the provisional nature of Mosaic sacrifices.
13. These words refer to a ceremony of purification described in the Old Testa-
ment (cf. Num 19). To cleanse a person from certain transgressions of the Law,
the Israelites could avail of certain expiatory ablutions. There were done with wa-
ter mixed with the ashes of a heifer, which the high priest had sacrificed in front
of the tabernacle and then burned in its entirety. Into the fire cedar-wood, hyssop
and scarlet wool (9:19) had also to be thrown. Thus lustral water was only useful
for legal purification or “purification of the flesh”, as distinct from purification of
the spirit.
14. The Messiah acts “through the eternal Spirit”, which may be taken as a refe-
rence to the Holy Spirit, as St Thomas, for example, interprets it: “Christ shed
his blood, because the Holy Spirit did so; that is to say, it was by the Spirit’s in-
fluence and prompting, that is, out of love of God and love of neighbor, that he
did what he did. For it is the Spirit who purifies” (”Commentary on Heb, ad loc.”).
Bl. John Paul II referred to this text to show the presence of the Holy Spirit in
the redemptive sacrifice of the Incarnate Word: “In the sacrifice of the Son of
Man the Holy Spirit is present and active just as he acted in Jesus’ conception,
in his coming into the world, in his hidden life and in his public ministry. Accor-
ding to the Letter to the Hebrews, on the way to his ‘departure’ through Gethse-
mani and Golgotha, the same “Jesus Christ” in his own humanity “opened him-
self totally” to this “action of the Spirit-Paraclete”, who from suffering enables
eternal salvific love to spring forth” (”Dominum et Vivificantem”, 40).
The Son of God desired that the Holy Spirit should turn his death into a perfect
sacrifice. Only Christ “in his humanity was worthy to become this sacrifice, for
“he alone” was ‘without blemish’ (Heb 9:14). But he offered it ‘through the eternal
Spirit’, which means that the Holy Spirit acted in a special way in this absolute
self-giving of the Son of Man, in order to transform this suffering into redemptive
love” (”ibid.”).
It is also possible that “the eternal Spirit” is a more general reference to the God-
head present in Christ; in which case it would be the same as saying that Christ,
being God and man, offered himself as an unblemished victim and therefore this
offering was infinitely efficacious. Thus, as Pius XII says, Christ “labored uncea-
singly by prayer and self-sacrifice for the salvation of souls until, hanging on the
Cross, he offered himself as a victim unblemished in God’s sight, that he might
purify our consciences and set them free from lifeless observances to serve the
living God. All men were thus rescued from the path of ruin and perdition and set
once more on the way to God, to whom they were now to give due glory by co-
operating personally in their sanctification, making their own the holiness that
springs from the blood of the unspotted Lamb” (”Mediator Dei”, 1).
Christ’s sacrifice purifies us completely, thereby rendering us fit to worship the li-
ving God. As St Alphonsus puts it, “Jesus Christ offered himself to God pure and
without the trace of a fault; otherwise he would not have been a worthy mediator,
would not have been capable of reconciling God and sinful man, nor would his
blood have had the power to purify and cleanse our conscience from ‘dead works’,
that is, from sins which are given that name because (our) works are in no way
meritorious or else are worthy of eternal punishment. ‘So that you might serve
the living God”’ (”Reflections on the Passion”, 9, 2).
15-22. The covenant is shown to be new because it has been ratified by the
death and by the shedding of the blood of the testator or mediator. “Man, having
fallen into sin, was in debt to divine justice and was the enemy of God. The Son
of God came into the world and clothed himself in human flesh; being both God
and man he became the mediator between man and God, the representative of
both sides, so as to restore peace between them and obtain divine grace for man,
giving himself as an offering to pay man’s debt with his blood and his death. This
reconciliation was prefigured in the Old Testament in all the sacrifices that were
offered in that period and in all the symbols which God ordained—the tabernacle,
the altar, the veil, the lampstand, the thurible and the ark where the rod of Aaron
and the tables of the Law were kept. All these were a sign and type of the Pro-
mised redemption; and it was because that redemption would come about
through the blood of Christ that God specified the blood of animals—a symbol of
the blood of the divine Lamb—and laid it down that all the symbolic objects men-
tioned above should be sprinkled with blood: ‘Hence even the first Covenant was
not ratified without blood”’ (”ibid.”, 9, 2).
For a third time Christ is stated to be the mediator of a New Covenant. Hebrews
7:22 and 8:6 say that he is the mediator of a better covenant because it can give
eternal life. Here, as in 12:24, it is explained that Christ is the mediator of a New
Covenant, ratified by blood which gives an eternal inheritance. The emphasis is
on the sacrificial aspect: Christ is the mediator insofar as he is the atoning victim
and at the same time the offerer of the sacrifice: in his sacrifice he is both priest
and victim. “Christ is priest indeed; but he is priest for us, not for himself. It is in
the name of the whole human race that he offers prayer and acts of human reli-
gious homage to his Eternal Father. He is likewise victim; but victim for us, since
he substitutes himself for guilty mankind. Now the Apostle’s exhortation, ‘Yours
is to be the same mind as Christ Jesus showed ‘ (Phil 2:5), requires all Chris-
tians, so far as human power allows, to reproduce in themselves the sentiments
that Christ had when he was offering himself in sacrifice—sentiments of humility,
of adoration, praise, and thanksgiving to the divine Majesty. It requires them also
to become victims, as it were; cultivating a spirit of self-denial according to the
precepts of the Gospel, willingly doing works of penance, detesting and expia-
ting their sins” (”Mediator Dei”, 22).
Christ’s sacrifice is not only effective to forgive our sins; it is a manifestation of
our Redeemer’s love for us and it sets an example which we should follow. “And
if God forgives us our sins it is so that we might use the time that remains to us
in his service and love. And the Apostle concludes, saying, ‘Therefore he is the
mediator of a new covenant.’ Our Redeemer, captivated by his boundless love for
us, chose to rescue us, at the cost of his blood, from eternal death; and he suc-
ceeded in doing so, for if we serve him faithfully until we die we shall obtain from
the Lord forgiveness and eternal life. Such were the terms of the testament, me-
diation or compact between Jesus Christ and God” (”Reflections on the Passion”,
9, 2).
15-17. As the RSV note points out the Greek word can be translated as either
“covenant” or “will”. The context and the parallel with the covenant of Sinai sug-
gest the idea of covenant or pact, since the covenant with the chosen people
was an unilateral pact, that is, a concession granted by God; however, it too can
also be taken in a broad sense as a “will”. Both the word “mediator” and the word
“testator” (the one who makes the will) applied here to Christ serve to emphasize
that his death needed to involve the shedding of blood. His is a death whereby we
are called to “receive the promised eternal inheritance”: “The work of our Redemp-
tion has been accomplished. We are now children of God, because Jesus has
died for us and his death has ransomed us. “Empti enim estis pretio magno!” (1
Cor 6:20), you and I have been bought at a great price.
“We must bring into our life, to make them our own, the life and death of Chri
We must die through mortification and penance, so that Christ may live in us
through Love. And then follow in the footsteps of Christ, with a zeal to co-redeem
all mankind” (St. J. Escriva, “The Way of the Cross”, XIV).
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.