Hebrews 10:2

"For the law, having a shadow of the good to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect those who draw near."

Key Reflection

The passage suggests that the Mosaic Law, though providing a preview of righteousness, could not achieve true spiritual perfection through repeated animal sacrifices. These rituals merely symbolized what was to come and were insufficient for cleansing the conscience completely.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

Verse 2. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? Marg. "Or they would have." The sense is the same. The idea is, that the very fact that they were repeated showed that there was some deficiency in them as to the matter of cleansing the soul from sin. If they had answered all the purposes of a sacrifice in putting away guilt, there would have been no need of repeating them in this manner. They were, in this respect, like medicine.

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