Hebrews 13:11

Heb_13:11-13

Jesus also … suffered without the gate

Jesus suffering without the gate

I.

A CUSTOM that prevailed among the Israelites in the wilderness; The bodies of those beasts, etc. The apostle writes as though the camp and this custom still existed. The camp, however, was gone, but the custom remained with this difference only, that the temple was now substituted for the tabernacle and the city for the camp. It was a custom of Divine appointment. The Lord, in framing a law for the Jews, regarded the whole nation as sinners. Besides, therefore, the offerings to be made by individuals for their own sins, various sacrifices were ordained for the sins of the nation, and among these, one of unusual solemnity. It was to be offered once in every year, and on a certain day of the year, called from this circumstance the day of atonement.

II. AN EVENT which took place at Jerusalem, closely resembling it; Wherefore Jesus also, &c. Notice three points of resemblance between our Lord and the animals burnt on the day of atonement.

1. They did not die a natural death; their blood was shed before they were carried forth. And our Lord also suffered; His precious blood, too, was poured forth.

2. He suffered in the same place in which these animals were destroyed. They were slain, indeed, in the camp, but they were burned outside of it. So our Lord suffered without the gate. They led Him out to crucify Him, out of their city, to the very spot probably where, after the people were settled in Jerusalem, the bodies of those beasts which had so long prefigured Him were consumed.

3. He suffered for the same end. The blood of these animals was shed that it might be taken into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, as a propitiation for sin; their bodies were burned as a testimony of the Divine indignation against sin. When these two ceremonies had been gone through God is said to have been reconciled to His people, the whole camp was considered as purged from its transgressions. And what was the end for which our Lord suffered? It was that His people, His spiritual Israel, might have sin removed from them.

III. AN EXHORTATION grounded on the event mentioned. Let us go forth, &c. We must again imagine ourselves in the desert. Around us are spread the tents of Israel. The men dwelling in them are all worshipping the Lord in one way--as their fathers worshipped Him, looking for His mercy through rites and ceremonies and bleeding victims. The Lord Jesus appears amongst them; tells them He is sent of God to abolish these rites and ceremonies, to become Himself once for all a victim for them, and calls upon them in consequence to turn from their shadowy rites and long accustomed sacrifices to Him. Instead of this, they cast Him forth out of their camp and crucify Him. We are to conceive of Him, therefore, as even now hanging in shame and suffering on a Cross beyond the gate, and then comes this apostle saying to us among our tents, Let us not linger here. Let us go forth unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach.

1. It is clear, then, that He calls on us, first, to forsake the religion of our fellow-men, a religion, it may be, that either is or once was our own. The Jew in the desert could not go forth to a bleeding Jesus without turning his back on the Jewish worship, and giving up all his long-cherished Jewish hopes. He must abandon the sanctuary and ordinances with which all his religious feelings have been long associated, and around which he beholds his countrymen still gathering. A painful sacrifice. And it is the same now. Many of us have a religion that the gospel calls on us to renounce. It is made up of opinions and feelings and hopes which are as much opposed to the gospel of Jesus Christ as the religion of any Jew ever was. We may have cherished it long, even from our childhood. The world around us may respect and commend it; it is natural it should do so--it is the worlds own religion; the world taught it us. But no matter who commends it or how highly we may have valued it, we must let it go; or rather we must turn our backs on it, we must cast it away, before we and the Cross of Christ can ever meet.

2. And with the religion of the world, we must forsake also to a considerable extent the men of the world.

3. Then, connected with this forsaking of the world, there must be an actual coming, the apostle says, to Christ our Lord. Observe, he does not simply bid the Israelites leave the camp, as though his only object was to get them away from their old religion and companions, he directs them all to one spot; he bids them leave the camp for one purpose, that they may go to Him who is suffering for them without the gate. So we are not to go forth only, we are to go forth unto Christ. It will profit us nothing to give us the empty religion of the world, if when we let that go, we get no other. Superstition for scepticism is a poor exchange. And it will profit us as little to forsake the world, if we stand still when we have forsaken it. The going forth, the apostle enjoins, is not going into cells and hermitages, nor is it roaming this desert world in a proud, dreary solitariness. It is a going forth unto Jesus. It is exchanging the religion of the world for the religion of His Cross; it is giving up that which cannot elevate, comfort, or save us, for that which can. And then it is leaving the world for the worlds Master; it is suffering the loss of all things that we may win Christ; it is the forsaking of a world which is not worthy even of us, that we may be--what? outcasts? No; but fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God; sharers now of higher riches and pleasures than the earth can give, and heirs of a world that is worthy, if any world can be, of the God who made it. (C. Bradley, M. A.)

Let us go forth therefore unto Him

Exhortation to decision and earnestness in religion:

I. A GENERAL VIEW OF THE ADMONITION IN THE TEXT.

1. The conduct which he intended to prescribe to the Christian converts to whom he wrote was evidently this--namely, that they should openly profess their faith in Jesus, who had been cast out as accursed, notwithstanding the reproach to which such a profession would expose them; and should publicly adhere to His worship and service in the sight of their unbelieving and reviling countrymen.

2. What does the apostle here exhort us to do? He doubtless exhorts us to make Christ crucified our only hope; to confess Him before men, and by our open and consistent attachment to His cause, His people and His ordinances, to show that we indeed belong to Him.

II. SOME PARTICULARS WHICH A COMPLIANCE WITH THIS ADMONITION INVOLVES.

1. That we renounce all other grounds of satisfaction for sin, and of acceptance with God, but those which the Cross of Jesus Christ provides.

2. That we separate ourselves from the world. Especially

(1) From its corrupt practices and principles; and

(2) From its religion--the resemblance of godliness without the power thereof.

3. That we are prepared to take up the cross and encounter reproach for Christs sake.

III. THE MOTIVES BY WHICH THE ADMONITION IS ENFORCED.

1. Our situation in this world is one of extreme uncertainty. Here we have no continuing city.

2. Besides we seek one to come. This is our profession as Christians. We profess that we are seeking a city which hath foundations; a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. But unless we go forth unto Christ, all such profession is vain. (E. Cooper, M. A.)

Let us go forth

I. We have, first of all, THE BELIEVERS PATH. Let us go forth without the camp. The Divine command is not, Let us stop in the camp and try to reform it--things are not anywhere quite perfect, let us therefore stop and make matters right; but the Christians watch cry is, Let us go forth. To this day the Christians place is not to tarry in the camp of worldly conformity, hoping, Perhaps I may aid they movement for reform: it is not the believers duty to conform to the world and to the worlds ways, and say, Perhaps by so doing I may gain a foothold, and mens hearts may be the more ready to receive the truth. No, from the first to the last day of the Church of God, the place of witness is not inside, but outside the camp; and the true position of the Christian is to go forth without the camp, bearing Christs reproach. What is meant by this going forth without the camp?

1. I understand it to mean that every Christian is to go forth by an open profession of his faith. You that love the Lord are to say so. You must come out and avow yourselves on His side. You may be Christians and make no profession, but I cannot be sure of that, nor can any other man.

2. This done, the Christian is to be separate from the world as to his company. He must buy, and sell, and trade, like other men in the world, but yet he is not to find his bosom friends in it.

3. The follower of Jesus goes without the camp as to his pleasures. He is not without his joys nor his recreations either; but he does not seek them where the wicked find them. If thou hast no separation from the world, as to thy pleasures, since thy heart is generally in thy pleasures, thy heart therefore is with the wicked, and with them shall thy doom be when God comes to judge mankind.

4. Furthermore, the true follower of Christ is divided from the world as to his maxims; he does not subscribe to the laws which rule most men in their families and their business. Men generally say, Every one for himself, and

God for us all. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others, is the Christians rule.

5. Once more--and here is a very difficult part of the Christians course--the Christian is to come out not only from the worlds pleasures, andsins, and irreligion, but there are times when the true followers of Christ must come out from the worlds religion as well as irreligion.

II. But now, secondly, we have in the text, THE CHRISTIANS LEADER. It does not say, Let us go forth without the camp merely, but, Let us go forth therefore unto Him.

1. It means, let us have fellowship with Him. He was despised; He had no credit for charity; He was mocked in the streets; He was hissed at; He was hounded from among society. Expect not to wear the crown where Christ carried the Cross; but, for fellowships sake, follow Him.

2. Again, if I am to follow Him, I am to follow His example. What Christ did, that I am to do.

3. I am to go forth unto Him: that is, I am to go forth to His truth. Wherever I see His truth, I am to espouse it: wherever I see error, I am to denounce it without hesitation.

4. And then I am to go forth to Christs witness-bearing. The present age does not believe in witness-bearing, but the whole Bible is full of it. The duty of every Christian is to bear witness for the truth.

III. Now, in the third place, we have THE CHRISTIANS BURDEN. He is to bear the Lords reproach. I knew you may live without it if you will fawn and cringe, and keep back part of the price; but do not this, it is unworthy of your manhood, much more is it unworthy of your Christianity. For God and for Christ be so holy and so truthful that you compel the world to give its best acknowledgment of your goodness by railing at you--it can do no more, it will do no less. Be content to take this shame, for there is no heaven for you if you will not--no crown without the cross, no jewels without the mire. You must stand in the pillory if you would sit in glory; and if you reject the one you reject the Other.

IV. THE CHRISTIANS REASON FOR BEARING HIS REPROACH, AND GOING WITHOUT THE CAMP. It is in the text, Let us go forth therefore--there is the reason. Why then?

1. First, because Jesus did. Jesus Christ came into the world pure and holy, and His life and His testimony were a witness against sin. Jesus Christ would not conform. He stands out like a lone mount of light, separate from the chain of dark mountains; and so must the Christian. Christ was separate; and so must you be. Christ was pure, holy, truthful; so must you be. I pray you either renounce your profession, or else seek grace to carry it out.

2. Moreover, the connection of the text tells us that Christ set apart His people by going without the camp. That He might sanctify His people, He suffered without the camp. The Head is not of the world, and shall the members be of it?

3. Again, Christ would have His people separate for their own sanctification. You cannot grow in grace to any high degree while you are conformed to the world. The path of separation may be a path of sorrow, but it is the path of safety. The martyrs tell us in their diaries that they were never so happy as when they were in the dungeon alone with Christ for company; nay, their best days were often their days of burning: they called them their wedding-days, and went to heaven singing and chanting the triumphal paean, as they mounted in their chariots of fire.

4. Thus we shall hope to win the crown if we are enabled by Divine grace faithfully to follow Christ in all respects. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Going forth to Christ

1. Let us go forth unto Christ without the camp, that we may testify to Him as the Messiah, the only Saviour. This is manifestly the first leading idea which our text is designed to convey. On this fundamental doctrine of our holy faith hinges the essential difference between Christianity and Judaism. It constitutes also one vital point of difference between the gospel and the various systems of heathenism and infidelity. All the sections of the unbelieving world agree in this, that they do not acknowledge Christ as the promised Messiah. Unto you who believe He is precious. Attachment to the person of Christ can only spring from a Divine principle. No man can truly call Him Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. I beg of you, therefore, distinctly to understand, that I do not expect you will be prepared to lift up a consistent testimony to His Messiahship, unless you are the subjects of a saving change. The carnal mind is enmity against God, and is not subject to His law, neither indeed can be.

2. Let us go forth unto Jesus without the camp, that we may specially bear testimony to Him as King of Zion. This is what may be emphatically called our present duty. We might justly regard it as treason against the Lord of Glory, were we to overlook this view of our subject. We dare not hold our peace regarding the sovereign authority of the Redeemer, although some prejudiced souls should be offended.

3. We must go forth unto our Lord without the camp if we would enjoy fellowship and communion with Him. This idea is naturally suggested by the preceding context, We have an altar whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle. The importance of this consideration should ever be borne in mind. It argues a very diseased state of things on the part of any professing Christian, when the question with him is--How far he may go in the path of error and corruption, and still enjoy communion with the author and finisher of our faith. And it certainly is a sign of daring impiety when individuals, be they ministers or hearers, are exercising their ingenuity in devising reasons for palliating soul-destroying errors, and when they have the effrontery to tax us with want of charity when we endeavour to vindicate the doctrine of spiritual fellowship, and call upon the Christian people to abandon the communion of a Church that has practically renounced the King of saints.

4. In obeying this command we must lay our account with contempt, reproach, and persecution. It is the dictate of experience, as well as of Scripture, that all who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. The mere circumstance of coming out from the world lying in wickedness, and of faithfully serving the Captain of our salvation, has never failed to bring upon them the scorn and hatred of the ungodly. The votaries of superstition cannot bear to see the truth as it is in Jesus openly proclaimed and honoured. Men of despotic principles will not tolerate, if they can help it, a spiritual authority which stands in the way of their usurpations. And false professors of the gospel, whose interests are linked with corruption and tyranny, will be among the foremost to vilify such as for conscience sake withdraw from their communion. Where do we find, among men, a brighter example of piety, and holiness, and philanthropy, than that of the apostle of the Gentiles? and who ever experienced greater reproach or more bitter persecution than he? When we look higher we see that our Lord Himself was despised and rejected of men, a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. Why should we dream of exemption from trials? The offence of the Cross has not ceased. But we must not be deterred from following Christ by the dread of obloquy, or the loss of all things. (John Thomson.)

The renouncing spirit of Christianity

I. ALL PRIVILEGES AND ADVANTAGES WHATEVER ARE TO BE FOREGONE, PARTED WITHAL, AND RENOUNCED WHICH ARE INCONSISTENT WITH AN INTEREST IN CHRIST, and a participation of Him; as our apostle shows at Php_3:4-10).

II. That if it were the duty of the Hebrews to forsake these ways of worship, which were originally of Divine institution, that they might wholly give up themselves unto Christ in all things pertaining unto God, MUCH MORE IS IT OURS TO FOREGO ALL SUCH PRETENCES UNTO RELIGIOUS WORSHIP AS ARE OF HUMAN INVENTION.

III. Whereas the camp contained not only ecclesiastical but also political privileges, WE OUGHT TO BE READY TO FOREGO ALL CIVIL ACCOMMODATIONS ALSO IN HOUSES, LANDS, POSSESSIONS, CONVERSE WITH MEN OF THE SAME NATION, WHEN WE ARE CALLED THERE UNTO ON THE ACCOUNT OF CHRIST AND THE GOSPEL.

IV. If we will go forth unto Christ as without the camp, or separated from all the concern of this world, WE SHALL ASSUREDLY MEET WITH ALL SORTS OF REPROACHES.

V. THAT BELIEVERS ARE NOT LIKE TO MEET WITH ANY SUCH ENCOURAGING ENTERTAINMENT IN THIS WORLD AS TO MAKE THEM UNREADY OR UNWILLING TO DESERT IT, and to go forth after Christ bearing His reproach. For it is a motive in the apostles reasoning to a readiness for that duty, we have here no continuing city.

VI. THIS WORLD NEVER DID, NOR EVER WILL, GIVE A STATE OF REST AND SATISFACTION TO BELIEVERS. It will not afford them a city. It is Jerusalem above that is the vision of peace. Arise and depart, this is not your rest.

VII. IN THE DESTITUTION OF A PRESENT SATISFACTORY REST, GOD HATH NOT LEFT BELIEVERS WITHOUT A PROSPECT OF THAT WHICH SHALL AFFORD THEM REST AND SATISFACTION TO ETERNITY. We have not, but we seek.

VIII. As God hath prepared a city of rest for us, so IT IS OUR DUTY CONTINUALLY TO ENDEAVOUR THE ATTAINMENT OF IT IN THE WAYS OF HIS APPOINTMENT.

IX. THE MAIN BUSINESS OF BELIEVERS IN THIS WORLD IS DILIGENTLY TO SEEK AFTER THE CITY OF GOD, or the attainment of eternal rest with Him; and this is the character whereby they may be known. (John Owen, D. D.)

Coming forth to Christ

I. WE MUST COME FORTH OF THE CAMP OR CITY TO HIM.

1. The camp or city is Judaism, and all erroneous sects, and also the world, and men of the world: we must separate from all things inconsistent with the truth and Christ.

2. Out of this camp or city we must come forth, and that we do when we renounce all errors in religion and all earthly affections. We have something in our hearts which keeps us from our God till we be truly converted.

3. To come forth to Christ, therefore, is to be rightly informed, and to believe the saving truth of Christ; and upon this right information, to love Him above all, as far more necessary, excellent, and beneficial than anything, than all things else. To come forth to Him is not to change the place but our hearts; it is a motion not of the body, but the soul, and if we once knew the beauty of Christ, and had tasted of His sweetness, we should be ravished with Him, and all the world could not keep us from Him. In Him alone true happiness is to be found.

II. The second part of the duty is TO BEAR HIS REPROACH. Here is reproach, His reproach, the bearing of His reproach. In this the author alludes unto the bearing of the cross, which was the greatest shame any man could be put unto. To endure disgrace, and suffer in our reputation, credit, hot, our, and good name, is a very grievous evil, and few can endure it, and some can better suffer death than ignominy. The Cross was not only a matter of reproach, but of grievous pain, and was the epitome of all possible evils; and, therefore, by reproach is signified all kinds of afflictions which we may suffer from men, or may be obnoxious unto in this life. Yet this reproach and this cross here meant must be His reproach, His Cross. If we suffer punishment for our own crimes, and through our own folly, then it is not Christs cross. This is a reproach and cross laid upon us for His sake, because we profess His truth, obey His laws, oppose sin and His enemies, refuse to comply with the world in any sin, renounce all errors, idolatry, superstition, and wicked customs of the world, and all this out of love to Christ. To bear this cross is not merely to suffer any ways, but to suffer the worst man can do unto us with patience, with constancy, with joy, and to think ourselves happy and much honoured that we are counted worthy to suffer for so great a Saviour, and in so noble a cause. This requires a Divine faith well grounded upon the word and promises of God, and a special assistance of the Divine Spirit; for these will strengthen our hearts, and make us willing to suffer anything before we offend our God and lose our Saviour. (G. Lawson.)

Bearing His reproach

Christs reproach

It is called Christs reproach in sundry respects: as

1. The union that is betwixt Him and His Church. So as the reproach of the body or of any member thereof is the reproach of Christ Himself.

2. The sympathy which is betwixt Christ and every of His members. He is sensible of that reproach which is cast upon any of them (Act_9:4).

3. The account which Christ hath of the reproaches of His saints; He doth account them as reproaches cast upon Himself.

4. His undertaking to revenge such reproaches and wrongs as are done to His members (Rom_12:19).

5. The cause of the reproach which is here meant, and that is Christ Himself, a profession of His name, a maintaining of His gospel, and holding close to His righteousness. In this sense an apostle calleth sufferings in such cases Christs sufferings (1Pe_4:14; Act_5:41).

6. That resemblance that is betwixt the reproaches of saints and Christ.

This reference of reproach to Christ in this phrase, His reproach is for limitation, direction, consolation, and incitation.

1. It affordeth a limitation, in that it restraineth it to a different kind of reproach, which is Christs reproach. It is not every kind of reproach that can be counted a matter of glory, wherein a man may rejoice; but Christs reproach. I may in this case say of reproach, as the apostle doth of buffeting: What glory is it, if when ye be reproached for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? (1Pe_2:20).

2. It affordeth a direction in showing how we ought to bear reproach, even as Christ did; for we are in this case to look unto Jesus, who despised the Heb_12:2).

3. It ministereth much comfort, in that no other thing is done to us than what is done to our Head before us. Herewith doth Christ comfort His disciples (Mat_10:25; Joh_15:20).

4. What greater motive can we have to incite us willingly and contentedly to bear reproach than this, that it is Christs reproach? If honour, if profit may be motives to incite us to a duty, these motives are not wanting in this case. What can be more honourable than to be as Christ was? and if we be reproached with Him here, we shall enjoy with Him hereafter a crown of glory; what more honourable? what more profitable? (W. Gouge.)

Reproach incurred by Christians:

The following are the chief grounds on which the first Christians were called to bear reproach, and on which we also may be called to bear the same.

1. They suffered reproach, as being followers of a crucified Saviour.

2. A second ground of the reproach suffered by the first Christians was that they forsook the ways of an evil world.

3. Christians are reproached by many on account of their general seriousness and spirituality of character.

4. Lastly: those who adopt any peculiar mode of religious observance have been at times exposed to ridicule on that account. (R. Hall, M. A.)

Bearing Christs reproach

Sheriff--was the child of a Christian mother. He had lived to be over sixty years of age without openly confessing Christ. Some time ago he became interested in his spiritual welfare, and after attending some meetings in the city where he lived, he arose and openly acknowledged his intention to be a Christian. The positiveness of his expression, and his prominence in the community, caused a reporter to insert an item in the next mornings paper that the sheriff had been converted. When he went into the court-house in the performance of his duties, he was saluted by one of a throng of godless men with the remark, Well, sheriff, we hear you are going to leave us.

Leave you? said he. What do you mean? Why, we heard, said the man, that you were going to leave the world, the flesh, and the devil. The sheriff hesitated only an instant, and said, with great emphasis, Thats just what Im going to do. One of the men then said, How do you like its being printed in the paper that you have been converted? He said, Was that in the paper? I think that is grand. I wish that theyd print placards about it and put them up all over the city, so that people might know about it at once, that I mean henceforth to be a Christian man. It is needless to say that from that time he was a devoted and faithful follower of Christ.

Prizing the Cross:

Tacitus reports that though the amber ring among the Romans was of no value, yet, after the emperor began to wear it, it began to be in great esteem: it was the only fashion amongst them. So our Saviour has borne the Cross, and was borne upon it. Once a disgrace, even, it comes to be a boast to the true believer. We should esteem it more highly than many of us do, and bear it daily in remembrance of Him. (E. P.Thwing.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Heb 13:11. For, &c. — As if he had said, This was shown figuratively in the law; for the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought — On the day of atonement; into the sanctuary — The holy of holies; by the high-priest, for sin — To make expiation of it; are burned without the camp — See Lev 4:12; and therefore no part of them could be eaten by the priest or people; so they who, under the gospel, adhere to that way of worship, cannot partake of Christ, who is the truth signified by that type. In other words, according to their own law, the sin-offerings were wholly consumed, and no Jew ever ate thereof. But Christ was a sin-offering; therefore they cannot feed upon him as we do. This is explained more at large by Macknight, thus: “This law, concerning the bodies of the animals whose blood the high-priest carried into the holy places, we have Lev 16:27. The same law is given concerning all the proper sin- offerings, Lev 6:30; from which it appears that neither the priest, who offered the sin-offerings, nor the people, for whom they offered them, were to eat of them. Wherefore, if the eating of the burnt-offerings and peace-offerings was permitted, to show that the offerers were at peace with God, as their political Ruler, it may fairly be presumed that the prohibition to eat any part of the bodies of animals whose blood was brought into the holy places as an atonement, was intended to make the Israelites sensible that their sins against God, as moral Governor of the world, were not pardoned through these atonements; not even by the sacrifices which were offered by the high-priest on the tenth of the seventh month, which, like the rest, were to be wholly burned. Unless this was the intention of the law, the apostle could not, from that prohibition, have argued with truth that they who worshipped in the tabernacles with the sin- offerings, had no right to eat of the Christian altar. Whereas if, by forbidding the priests and people to eat the sin-offerings, the law declared that their offences against God, as moral Governor of the world, were not pardoned thereby, it was in effect a declaration, as the apostle affirms, that they had no right to eat of the Christian altar; that is, to share in the pardon which Christ hath procured for sinners by his death, who trusted in the Levitical sacrifices for pardon and acceptance with God.”

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13:11-12 The author describes the sacrifice on the Day of Atonement (Lev 16:1-28), in which animals were burned outside the camp (Lev 16:27). By analogy, Jesus suffered and died outside the city gates of Jerusalem. He was the supreme Day of Atonement sacrifice (Heb 9:11-14, 24-28; 10:1-4).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Heb 13:11. Ὧν γὰρ εἰσφέρεται) Lev 6:23 (30), And no sin-offering, whereof any of the blood εἰσενεχθῇ, is brought into the tabernacle of the testimony, to reconcile Heb 9:12-13.—αἷμα· σώματα, blood; bodies) which were the shadows of the blood and of the body of Christ.—ἔξω τῆς παρεμβολῆς) without the camp, in which were the tabernacle, and the Levitical priests, and as many of them as adhered to that worship. So the LXX., Lev 4:12; Lev 4:21, etc., Lev 16:27.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Heb_13:11-12. Proof for Heb_13:10. The proof lies in the fact that Christs sacrifice is one which has been presented without the camp, and consequently has been freed from all community with Judaism. Heb_13:11 and Heb_13:12 are, as a proof of Heb_13:10, closely connected, and only in Heb_13:12 lies the main factor, whereas Heb_13:11 is related to the same as a merely preparatory and accessory thought (Bähr). For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest are burned without the camp; wherefore Jesus also, in order that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered without the gate. That is to say: The N. T. sacrifice of the covenant is typically prefigured by the great atoning sacrifice under the Old Covenant. Of the victims, however, which were devoted to the latter, neither the high priest nor any other member of the Jewish theocracy was permitted to eat anything. For of those animals only the blood was taken, in order to be brought by the high priest into the Most Holy Place as a propitiatory offering; the bodies of those animals, on the other hand, were burned without the camp or holy city (Lev_16:27), wherein was contained the explanation in an act (comp. Bähr, l.c.), that they were cast out from the theocratic communion of Judaism. But thus, then, has Jesus also, in that He entered with His sacrificial blood into the heavenly Holy of Holies, made expiation for the sins of them that believe in Him; His sacrificial body, however, has, since He was led out of the camp, or beyond the gate of the holy city, in order to endure the infliction of death (comp. Lev_24:14; Num_15:35 f.; Deu_17:5), declared by this act to be cast out from the Jewish covenant-people. Eat of His sacrificial body, i.e. obtain part in the blessing procured by His sacrifice, can therefore no one who is still within the camp, i.e. who still looks for salvation from the ordinances of Judaism. Consequently he who will eat of the altar of Christ must depart out of Judaism, and go forth unto Christ without the camp (Heb_13:13).

τὰ ἅγια] as Heb_9:8; Heb_9:12; Heb_9:24-25, Heb_10:19, the Most Holy Place.

The tenses in the present mark the practice as one still continuing.

παρεμβολή] Characterization of the dwelling-place of the Jewish people at the time of the lawgiving, while it was still journeying through the wilderness and had tents for its habitation. The camp was the complex of the tents, enclosing the totality of the people together with the sanctuary. Thus there was combined with the idea of locality the religious reference to the people as one covenant-people, and without the camp became equivalent in signification to without the bounds of the Old Covenant. But, since afterwards the city of Jerusalem, with the temple in its midst, took the place of the παρεμβολή, the ἔξω τῆς πύλης standing in Heb_13:12, without the gate, sc. of the city of Jerusalem, says in effect the same thing as ἔξω τῆς παρεμβολῆς, Heb_13:11; Heb_13:13.

διό] wherefore, i.e. because the sacrificial death of Jesus has been prefigured by the type mentioned, Heb_13:11.

ἰδίου] opposition to the animal blood in the O. T. sacrifices of atonement.

τὸν λαόν] see at Heb_2:16, p. 132.

ἔπαθεν] comp. Heb_9:26.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For just as "the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by . . . are burned without the camp," so "Jesus also that . . . suffered without the gate" of ceremonial Judaism, of which His crucifixion outside the gate of Jerusalem is a type.

for--reason why they who serve the tabernacle, are excluded from share in Christ; because His sacrifice is not like one of those sacrifices in which they had a share but answers to one which was "wholly burned" outside (the Greek is "burnt completely," "consumed by burning"), and which consequently they could not eat of. Lev 6:30, gives the general rule, "No sin offering whereof any of the blood is brought into the tabernacle of the congregation to reconcile withal in the holy place, shall be eaten; it shall be burnt in the fire." The sin offerings are twofold: the outward, whose blood was sprinkled on the outward altar, and of whose bodies the priests might eat; and the inward, the reverse.

the sanctuary--here the Holy of Holies, into which the blood of the sin offering was brought on the day of atonement.

without the camp--in which were the tabernacle and Levitical priests and legal worshippers, during Israel's journey through the wilderness; replaced afterwards by Jerusalem (containing the temple), outside of whose walls Jesus was crucified.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 11. For the bodies of those beasts] Though in making covenants, and in some victims offered according to the law, the flesh of the sacrifice was eaten by the offerers; yet the flesh of the sin-offering might no man eat: when the blood was sprinkled before the holy place to make an atonement for their souls, the skins, flesh, entrails, c., were carried without the camp, and there entirely consumed by fire and this entire consumption, according to the opinion of some, was intended to show that sin was not pardoned by such offerings. For, as eating the other sacrifices intimated they were made partakers of the benefits procured by those sacrifices, so, not being permitted to eat of the sin-offering proved that they had no benefit from it, and that they must look to the Christ, whose sacrifice is pointed out, that they might receive that real pardon of sin which the shedding of his blood could alone procure. While, therefore, they continued offering those sacrifices, and refused to acknowledge the Christ, they had no right to any of the blessings procured by him, and it is evident they could have no benefit from their own.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

11. are burnt without the camp] Of the sin-offerings the Priests could not, as in the case of other offerings, eat the entire flesh, or the breast and shoulder, or all except the fat (Num_6:20; Lev_6:26, &c.). The word for “burn” (saraph) means “entirely to get rid of,” and is not the word used for burning upon the altar. The rule that these sin-offerings should be burned, not eaten, was stringent (Lev_6:30; Lev_16:27).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For the bodies of those beasts,.... Not the red heifer, Num 19:1 nor the sin offering in general, Lev 6:30 nor those for the priest and people, Lev 4:11 but the bullock and goat, on the day of atonement, Lev 16:11 which were typical of Christ, in the bringing of their blood into the most holy place, by the high priest, for sin; and in the burning of them, without the camp: these beasts were slain, their blood was shed, and was brought into the most holy place, by the high priest; and was sprinkled on the mercy seat, and the horns of the altar of incense; and, by it, atonement was made for the priest, his house, and all Israel; which was a type of the death of Christ; the shedding of his blood; the carrying of it into heaven; the sprinkling it upon the throne of grace and mercy; by which reconciliation is made for the sins of all God's people:

whose blood is brought into the sanctuary: that is, into the holy of holies, as the Ethiopic version renders it:

by the high priest for sin; to make atonement for it, for his own, and for the sins of his family, and of all Israel:

are burnt without the camp, Lev 16:27 even their skins, flesh, and dung; and the men that burnt them were unclean, though, upon being washed, were received: which was typical of the dolorous sufferings of Christ without Jerusalem, as the next verse shows; and points out the extent of his sufferings, reaching to all parts of his body, and even to his soul; and expresses not only the pains, but the shame and reproach he endured, signified by the burning of the dung; and hints at the pardon of the wicked Jews, who were concerned in his sufferings; which was applied unto them upon their repentance.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

11 For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp.

Ver. 11. Are burnt without the camp] And so the priests had no part of the sin offering; to show that they have no part in Christ that adhere to the Levitical services. See Lev 16:27.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For the bodies of those beasts ... - The word rendered here “for” - γὰρ gar - would be here more properly rendered “moreover.” Stuart. The apostle is not urging a reason for what he had said in the previous verse, but is suggesting a new consideration to excite those whom he addressed to fidelity and perseverance. In the previous verse the consideration was, that Christians are permitted to partake of the benefits of a higher and more perfect sacrifice than the Jews were, and therefore should not relapse into that religion. In this verse the consideration is, that the bodies of the beasts that were burnt were taken without the camp, and that in like manner the Lord Jesus suffered without the gate of Jerusalem, and that we should be willing to go out with him to that sacrifice, whatever reproach or shame it might be attended with.

Whose blood is brought into the sanctuary - ; see the notes on Heb 9:7, Heb 9:12. “Are burned without the camp;” Lev 4:12, Lev 4:21; Lev 16:27. The “camp” here refers to the time when the Israelites were in the wilderness, and lived in encampments. The same custom was observed after the temple was built by conveying the body of the animal slain for a sin-offering on the great day of atonement beyond the walls of Jerusalem to be consumed there. “Whatever,” says Grotius, “was not lawful to be done in the camp, afterward was not lawful to be done in the city.”

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

This is commonly interpreted of the sacrifice of the Eucharist, by which is continued (though in a different manner) Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, of which he speaks in the following words, telling them that the bodies of those beasts, with the blood of which the sanctuary was sprinkled on the feast of expiation, (see Leviticus xvi. 29. and xxiii. 27. and Numbers xxix. 8.) were burnt without the camp, not eaten as the other victims. Wherefore Jesus, when he fulfilled this figure, and offered himself on the cross, a sacrifice of expiation for the sins of all mankind, and to obtain for them true sanctification, was pleased to suffer out of the gate of Jerusalem. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The illustration of the legal and gospel altar service is added as a typical proof of the foregoing reason; for annexing it to it; that the Jews and Judaizing Christians had no right to eat of the Christian altar, for a law of their own excludes them from it, which is written, Lev 6:30; 16:27; That the bodies of those living creatures, which were yearly sacrificed as a sin-offering for priests and people, both of the bull and the he-goat, with their skins, &c., were burnt wholly without the camp; so as neither the priests nor any of the people had any part of this bull or goat allowed them to eat, having no right to it by the law of God, which otherwise ordered it. This is the literal sense, yet the use of it is anagogical, leading us to higher things; as that the high priest signified Christ, God-man; the altar, his Godhead; the sanctuary, heaven itself; the sacrifice, his human nature, the true sin-offering, of which neither priest nor people serving the tabernacle ought to eat.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

11. For—To illustrate this separation between the faithful participant and unbeliever. As at the great day of atonement the sacrificed animal was carried out of the limits of camp or city, and burned; and as, similarly, Christ was led out of the city to be crucified, so do we, his followers, leave the symbolic “camp” or “city” of Judaism, and go out unto him. The Jew is in the camp, the city, and we are with the crucified One. Outside the city is the cross. Apart from the tabernacle is the Church, and in the Church is the true altar. The bodies of sacrificed beasts were generally eaten by priests or people. But there was one pre-eminent exception. On the great day of atonement the blood of the victim was brought into the sanctuary and sprinkled on the altar for sin, but the body of the beast, instead of being made a banquet for the people, was taken from the camp while in the desert, and from the city in later ages, and burned without.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 11, 12. For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the High Priest for sin, (i.e. as sin offerings; for this sense of peri amartiav , cf. Heb_10:6) are burned without the comp. Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered without the gate. The allusion is to the sin offerings on the Day of Atonement the bullock for the high priest, and the goat for the people. Of the flesh of some sacrifices of ordinary peace offerings the people ate, being themselves "partakers of the altar;" that of ordinary sin offerings was partaken of by the priests alone: but the special sin offerings of the great day, which typified complete atonement, and the blood of which alone was taken into the holiest of all, were consumed entirely by fire without the camp, and not even the priests might eat of them. (Lev_16:27, etc.) This part of the ceremonial, not mentioned in Heb 9, completed the symbolism of the Day of Atonement. It not only typified (together with the other goat that was set free) the entire removal of sin from the congregation; it also signified that the Law itself made none, not even the priests, partakers in such complete atonement. Christ fulfilled the first significance of this type by suffering "without the gate;" the Jews, in casting him out from their midst, were the unconscious instruments of his so fulfilling it; he thus bare and took away the sins of all outside the holy city which represented the Israel of God. But further, in him is supplied what under the Law was wanting; for of him, the true Sin Offering, we may all partake: he declared this himself when he spoke of our caring his flesh and drinking his blood in which words the mention of the blood as well as of the flesh is peculiarly significant; for of the blood, which was "given upon the altar to make atonement for sins", (Lev_17:11) none might in any case under the Law partake; but of him we even drink the blood, in token that atonement is completed, and that we are now full partakers in all its benefits. The only seeming discrepancy between the type and the Antitype, as above set forth, is in the order of the different parts of the old ceremonial. The sin offering was slain in the camp before it was burnt outside, whereas Christ fulfilled both these parts of the type by one act upon the cross outside. Again, the blood of the sin offering was taken into the holy of holies before the body was consumed by fire outside, whereas Christ entered the heavenly sanctuary with his own blood" after he had suffered "without the gate." But the general significance of the symbolism in its several parts is not thus disturbed; it is viewed as a whole, and all parts of it are found to be fulfilled. In saying, "we have an altar," and implying that we eat of it, the writer has surely the Eucharist in view, though it does not follow that yusiasthrion means definitely the table on which it is celebrated. He may, as some explain, have especially in his mind the cross on which the sacrifice was once for all completed; or he may have had no definite local image before him, seeing rather (as elsewhere in the Epistle) in spiritual realities and relations the counterparts of the Levitical symbols. But that the Holy Communion is alluded to, even if it were not apparent here, might be concluded from 1Co_10:14-22, where similar phrases are used with distinct reference to it. There St. Paul is dissuading from participation in heathen sacrificial feasts, as being inconsistent with partaking of the Holy Communion; and he says in this connection, "Behold Israel after the flesh: are not they which eat of the sacrifices (esyiontev taav) partakers of the altar (koinwnoi tou yusiasthriou)?" It is evident that "partakers of the Lord"s table" (ver. 21) are regarded as being thereby partakers of the Christian altar, of which mention is made in the text before us. It may be observed that the use here of the word yusiasthrion may be held to justify and this without implying any actual repetition of the one accomplished sacrifice the application of the term "altar" to the table on which the Eucharist is celebrated, as does 1Co_10:21 the term "the Lord"s table." Both terms were so applied from very early times. The holy tables in our churches are altars, in that on them is continually commemorated and pleaded the one sacrifice of the cross, and that from them the spiritual food of the body and blood is given to the faithful.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For - According to their own law, the sin-offerings were wholly consumed, and no Jew ever ate thereof. But Christ was a sin-offering. Therefore they cannot feed upon him, as we do, who are freed from the Mosaic law.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

As if the apostle had said, "As the beasts slain for atonement, whose blood was brought into the sanctuary, were not to be eaten by the priest, but burnt without the bounds of the camp of Israel; in like manner Christ, when he was to be offered up, to sanctify the people with his own blood, went without the gates of Jerusalem to suffer; signifying, that as they rejected him as unworthy to live with them, so he departed from them and their political and legal state.

Accordingly, Let us go forth unto him without the camp; that is, let us go unto him from the Jewish state and ceremonial law, bearing his reproach of the cross, which must be expected by us."

Observe here, That Jesus Christ in his suffering did offer himself unto God; that the end of his offering was to sanctify the people: this he designed, and this he accomplished by his own blood, so called emphatically, partly in opposition to the sacrifice of the high priest, which was the blood of bulls, and not their own: and partly to testify what our sanctification cost Christ, even his own blood.

Observe, farther, The circumstance of place where our Lord suffered, it was without the gate of the city of Jerusalem, intimating, that he had now finally left the city and church of the Jews, and accordingly he denounced their destruction as he went out of the gate. Luk 23:28-30

And by thus turning his back upon the temple, he plainly showed, that he had now put an end to all sacrificing in the temple, as unto divine acceptation; and by going out of the gate, he declared that his sacrifice, and the benefits of it, were not included in the church of the Jews, but equally extended unto the whole world; and by going out of the city as a malefactor, and dying an accursed death, he plainly declared that he died a sin-offering: that his death was a punishment for sin.

Observe, lastly, Our duty to go forth to him wihtout the camp; this implies a reliquishing of all the privileges of the temple and city.

1. A turning our backs eternally upon all Jewish observations. 2. An acceptance of the merit of his sacrifice. 3. The owning of Christ under all that reproach and contempt that was cast upon him in his suffering withut the gate, and not being ashamed of his cross. 4. In our conformity to him in self-denial and suffering; all which are comprised in his apostolical exhortation, Let us go forth to him without camp, bearing his reproach.

The sum is this, "That we must leave all to go forth to a crucified Saviour; and if we resolve so to do, we must expect and prepare to meet with all sorts of reproaches."

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11. The bodies of those beasts. The sacrifices slain for a sin offering on the day of atonement. This blood was carried by the high priest before the mercy seat, but the bodies were burned without the camp (Lev. 16:27), thus representing the penalty of sin. They were held to be accursed.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

11. ἔξω τῆς παρεμβολῆς. Of the sin-offerings the Priests could not, as in the case of other offerings, eat the entire flesh, or the breast and shoulder, or all except the fat (Num 6:20; Lev 6:26, &c.). The word for “burn” (saraph) means “entirely to get rid of,” and is not the word used for burning upon the altar. The rule that these sin-offerings should be burned, not eaten, was stringent (Lev 6:30; Lev 16:27).

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11.] For (reason why this exclusion has place: because our great Sacrifice is not one of those in which the servants of the tabernacle had any share, but answers to one which was wholly taken out and burnt: see below) of the animals of which the blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest, of these the bodies are consumed by fire outside the camp (there was a distinction in the sacrifices as to the subsequent participation of certain parts of them by the priests. Those of which they did partake (I take these particulars mainly from Delitzsch) were: 1. the sin-offering of the rulers (a male kid), and the sin-offering of the common people (a female kid or lamb), Lev 4:22 ff., Lev 4:27 ff. (compare the rules ib. ch. 6 about eating and not eating the sacrifices): 2. the dove of the poor man, Lev 5:9: 3. the trespass-offering, Lev 7:7: 4. the skin of the whole burnt-offering, ib. ver. 8: 5. the wave-breast and heave-shoulder of the peace-offerings: 6. the wave-offerings on the feast of weeks, entire. But those of which they did not partake were, 1. the sin-offering of the high priest for himself, Lev 4:5-7, esp. ver. 12: 2. the sin-offerings for sins of ignorance of the congregation, Levit. 4:16-21, cf. Num 15:24: 3. the sin-offering for high priest and people combined, on the great day of atonement, the blood of which was brought not only into the holy but into the holiest place, Lev 16:27. Besides which we have a general rule, to which doubtless the Writer here alludes, Lev 6:30, “No sin-offering, whereof any of the blood is brought into the tabernacle of the congregation to reconcile withal in the holy place, shall be eaten: it shall be burnt in the fire.” As regards particular expressions: τὰ ἅγια here, as in ch. 9:8, 12, 24, 25, and 10:19, probably means not the holy place commonly so called, but the holy of holies, into which the blood of the sin-offering was brought on the day of atonement, and which only typified heaven, whither Christ as High Priest is entered with His Blood. ἔξω τῆς παρεμβολῆς refers to the time when Israel was encamped in the wilderness: the enclosure of the camp was afterwards replaced by the walls of Jerusalem, so that ἔξω τῆς πύλης below answers to it).

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The statement that the adherents of the old economy are excluded from the privileges of the new is justified by an illustrative argument drawn from the ceremonies of the Great Day of Atonement. See Leviticus 16, and comp. Heb 9:7. Of the victims offered on that occasion neither people nor priest were allowed to eat. The blood of the bullock and of one of the goats was carried into the sanctuary and sprinkled upon the mercy - seat, and afterward on the horns of the great altar outside; and the bodies of the slain animals were burned in a clean place outside of the camp or city. Beasts [ζωων] . Lit. living creatures. The victims for the Day of Atonement were a bullock and two young goats for sin - offerings, and two rams for burnt - offerings. Only one goat, chosen by lot, was slain; the other served as the scape - goat. Zwon animal is not used elsewhere of a sacrificial victim, either in N. T. or LXX The word in N. T. mostly in Revelation. See on Rev 1:16; Rev 4:6.

Without the camp [εξω της παρεμβολης] . Burning without the camp was also required in the case of victims offered at the consecration of the priests, Exo 29:14; at the sin - offering for the priest, Lev 4:11, 12; and at the sin - offering for the congregation, Lev 4:21. For parembolh camp, see on Act 21:34.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

11. dv γὰρ elodép.] The proof of the reality of this surpassing privilege of Christians lies in the fnmiliar ordinances in regard to the sacrifice on the Day of Atonement: Lev. xvi. 27. Of these victims only was the blood brought into the Holy of Holies. In two other cases the blood was brought into tho Holy place; and here also the

(sin-offering for the congregation) ; xvi. 27 (sin-offering on the Day of Atonement). See also Lev. vii. 17; ix. 11.

The life is takon to the presence of God: that which has boon the transitory organ of life is taken boyond the limits of tho ordored Society to be wholly removed.

Brooke Foss Westcott (1825–1901), The Epistle to the Hebrews (1889) and The Epistles of St John (1883) — public domain (pre-1929). Text recovered from Internet Archive / Google Books OCR scans. Westcott’s Gospel of John commentary is not included (its OCR lost the chapter running-heads required for reliable verse-keying). Some Greek quoted in the Hebrews volume is imperfectly rendered by the OCR.