Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and an earthly sanctuary.
All Commentaries on Hebrews 9:1 Go To Hebrews 9
John Chrysostom
AD 407
He has shown from the Priest, from the Priesthood, from the Covenant, that that [dispensation] was to have an end. From this point he shows it from the fashion of the tabernacle itself. How? This, he says, [was] the Holy and the Holy of Holies. The holy place then is a symbol of the former period (for there all things are done by means of sacrifices); but the Holy of Holies of this that is now present.
And by the Holy of Holies he means Heaven; and by the veil, Heaven, and the Flesh enters into that within the veil: that is to say, through the veil of His flesh. Supra, 6:19; Hebrews 10:20
And it were well to speak of this passage, taking it up from the beginning. What then does he say? Then verily the first had also (the first what? The Covenant). Ordinances of Divine service. What are ordinances? symbols or rights. Then; as (he means) it has not now. He shows that it had already given place, for (he says) it had at that time; so that now, although it stood, it is not.
And the worldly Sanctuary. He calls it worldly, inasmuch as it was permitted to all to tread it, and in the same house the place was manifest where the priests stood, where the Jews, the Proselytes, the Grecians, the Nazarites. Since, therefore even Gentiles were permitted to tread it, he calls it worldly. For surely the Jews were not the world.
