New Daylight is our most popular series of Bible reading notes, helping thousands of people every day to ‘practise the presence of God’ through Bible reflection and prayer. Published three times a year, the new issue covering May to August is available now. To give you a taste of what New Daylight offers, this is an extract from Amy Scott Robinson’s reflections on Hebrews 8—13, which run from Easter Day to 30 April.
6 April 2025
A tent, a mountain and a city
The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews draws on stories, objects and ways of worship associated with the first tabernacle. This tent travelled with the Hebrew people in the wilderness when they were led by Moses, after their escape from Egypt, and everything concerning it was carefully laid out in the law. The imagery would have been familiar to the readers of the epistle, who celebrated stories of their ancient ancestors at festivals, studied the law they were given and still followed similar patterns of worship.
As modern Christian readers, we can explore these references by looking back to where they appear in the Old Testament. However, for the writer of the epistle, these are only stepping stones into thinking about Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, why it was significant and what kind of salvation it has brought about. Understanding what they are being compared with, and why, is more important than fully understanding the intricacies of the references themselves.
In a journey through the letter to the Hebrews, we keep passing the same landmarks: a tent, a mountain and a city. The writer compares the transient nature of the first tabernacle, in a tent in the wilderness, with the lasting and solid nature of the heavenly city. Later, the tent becomes a symbol of human life as the writer recalls the wandering heroes of faith, seeking their lasting city. Meanwhile, the mountain on which Moses met with God becomes a meeting place for God and Jesus, and finally the place where redeemed humanity can encounter God in a new and better way.
Throughout these chapters, there is constant comparison between the earthly and the heavenly things, and we are left with one word ringing in our ears: ‘better’. In Christ we have been given a better covenant, with better promises, through better sacrifices; we are offered a better country and a better provision in a lasting city. The writer’s excitement, gratitude and awe for what Jesus has achieved for us echo down the centuries in the words of this extraordinary letter.
I wonder how it felt to Moses to worship in the tabernacle, while remembering the indescribable glory that he had seen on the mountain.
A sketch, a shadow and a pattern
Every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices… They offer worship in a sanctuary that is a sketch and shadow of the heavenly one, just as Moses was warned when he was about to erect the tent. For, God said, ‘See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.’
Hebrews 8:3a, 5 (NRSV)
In the BBC television series Fake or Fortune, experts attempt to discern whether a work of art is truly by the well-known master its owners are hoping for or is a clever fake or copy. Very often, the piece in question is a sketch for an existing work of art. Going backwards in an artist’s process and trying to discover whether these few pencil lines may have led to a famous oil painting is a fascinating and difficult business.
Here, the writer of Hebrews compares Moses’ tabernacle of Exodus 26 with a sketch, a mere idea of the heavenly reality that exists, and with a shadow of that reality. While a sketch is made in preparation for something greater, a shadow is cast by the real thing. Shadows may give an idea of shape, but they are fuzzy, fleeting and colourless, and their size changes, too.
How can the tabernacle be both a preparation for the heavenly one and a fuzzy reflection of the real thing? The clue comes when the writer quotes Exodus 25:40, God telling Moses to follow the pattern that he was shown on the mountain, where he saw the glory of the Lord and received the law. Along with the commandments, God’s pattern for holy living, Moses received a pattern for worship based on the reality that already exists in heaven. A knitting pattern is just a selection of letters and numbers until it falls into the hands of a knitter, then it becomes a beautiful and functional garment. I wonder how it felt to Moses to worship in the tabernacle, while remembering the indescribable glory that he had seen on the mountain.
The writer of Hebrews says that the pattern of earthly worship, based on the true worship of heaven, finds its reality in Jesus.
Sometimes we follow sheet music; other times we play by ear. That is the difference between the old covenant and the one which the writer calls ‘a better covenant’.
A better covenant
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. 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.
Hebrews 8:10-11 (NRSV)
I have been blessed with a musical family and many musical friends, and I love the visits when we bring out the instruments and play something together. Sometimes we follow sheet music and play duets by Baroque composers; other times we take the tune of a hymn or song that we all know by heart and play by ear, following the music wherever it takes us.
That is the difference between the old covenant and the one which the writer calls ‘a better covenant’ in Hebrews 8:6. Before, God’s law had been external, written on stone tablets and followed dutifully, and when it was abandoned, all was lost. ‘They did not continue in my covenant,’ says God (v. 9). The strict demands of printed scores penned by musical maestros can cause a lesser musician like me to lose heart and give up altogether.
This new covenant, however, is internal, written on the hearts and minds of God’s people, so that their knowledge of it is as complete and effortless as a familiar tune, a jazz standard that is the same and yet new every time. Both methods of playing produce good music. There was nothing wrong with the old covenant in itself, but it could never fully meet the need of imperfect humanity. This new covenant, however, will lead to full knowledge of God and to complete forgiveness (vv. 11–12). And like a new piece of music striking up in a concert hall, it will cause the strains of the old one to fade away.
