Within which veil?

Hebrews 6:19, 20 says that Jesus entered within the veil as a forerunner on our behalf. But which veil? New Testament scholars generally take the position that this passage refers to the inner veil that separates the holy from the most holy place. Adventist scholars are divided. Some believe that these verses refer to the inner veil, and some that they refer to the veil that separates the holy place from the court yard. In his article "Within the Veil: Where Did Christ Go?" Erwin Gane takes the position that the veil of Hebrews 6:19 can be understood as referring to either sanctuary veil. ¹

In the original Greek, this controversial phrase reads eis to esoteron tou katapetasmatos. English translations render it in various ways: "into that within the veil" (KJV), "behind the curtain" (NIV), "within the veil" (NASB), "beyond the veil" (NAB), "into the inner shrine behind the curtain" (RSV).

This expression resembles very closely the Septuagintal translation of Leviticus 16:2, eis to hagion esoteron tou katapetasmatos ("into the holy place within the veil" [RSV]). The phrase in Leviticus 16:2 differs from that of Hebrews 6:19 only by the addition of hagion ("the holy place"). But there are two things that we must note here. First, in Leviticus 16:2, to hagion refers to the most holy place, as it does in verses 3,17, 23, and 27 as well. The context demands that we under stand to hagion as meaning this in this chapter. However, in its 14 other appearances in the Pentateuch, to hagion refers to the first apartment holy place. ²

Second, in Leviticus 16:2, 12, 15 the Revised Standard Version translates esoteron tou katapetasmatos as "within the veil," while rendering the phrase in Hebrews 6 as "the inner shrine behind the curtain." This latter translation reflects the context of Leviticus 16, understanding "the inner shrine" as the most holy place. However, Hebrews 6 has its own context, and we must understand this phrase within that con text. The other English translations quoted earlier in this article are to be preferred to that of the Revised Standard Version.

To understand this phrase in Hebrews, we must examine its key parts, eis to esoteron and tou katapetasmatos, and then place them within the context of Hebrews 6.

The veil

In the Old Testament, two Hebrew words are used for the veils in the sanctuary: paroketh and masak. With a few exceptions, paroketh refers to the inner veil, and masak to the veils before the holy place and the courtyard.

But an assumption made by the vast majority of those who have written commentaries on Hebrews poses a problem in identifying the veil our passage refers to. They assume that the Septuagint consistently renders paroketh by katapetosma and masak by kalumma. Therefore, they say, when we read katapetasma in Hebrews 6:19, we must understand it as signifying the veil before the most holy place.

While Brooke Foss Westcott holds with the majority of commentators in his interpretation of the veil in Hebrews 6:19, and appeals to the Septuagint's use of katapetasma to translate paroketh as the basis for his position, he admits that the distinction between paroketh/katapetasma and mosak/kalumma "is not strictly preserved in the LXX [Septuagint]." ³

However, Westcott does not inform his readers as to the freedom with which the Septuagint breaks this assumed relationship. Upon examining the Septuagint's use of katapetasma and kalumma within the Pentateuch, we find that katapetasma is the hands-down favorite for all three of the sanctuary's veils. Exodus 37:3, 5, and 16 (Septuagint only) illustrates this well. In verse 3 the Hebrew word paroketh is used for the inner veil, and the Septuagint renders it katapetasma. Verse 5 uses masak for the veil between the holy place and the court, and it is rendered katapetasma. And in verse 16 masak is used for the courtyard veil and is translated with katapetasma. Here within one chapter katapetasma is used for all three sanctuary veils.

In Moses' writings, by my count, katapetasma is used in 5 out of the 6 references to the courtyard veil, 7 out of 11 times for the veil before the holy place, and 23 out of 25 times for the inner veil. In other words, the Septuagint uses katapetasma to translate 35 of the Pentateuch's 42 references to the veils, making little distinction as to which veil is being referred to or which word (paroketh or masak) was used in the original Hebrew. So to declare that the veil in Hebrews 6:19 is the inner veil because the Septuagint uses katapetasma for this veil is erroneous.

Not only does the Old Testament background not incontrovertibly indicate to which veil the katapetasma in Hebrews 6 refers, nothing within the context does either. The term appears in two other places in Hebrews. In Hebrews 9:1-5 the two apartments of the earthly sanctuary are described. Verse 3 reads "Behind the second curtain [katapetasma] stood a tent" (RSV). The fact that the veil before the second apartment is qualified by a numerical adjective ("second curtain"—deuteron katapetasma) indicates that the original readers were aware of a first curtain or veil (katapetasma).

This word appears again in Hebrews 10:20. Like chapter 6:19 the context does not help us to identify which veil it is. However, because chapter 10:20 parallels chapter 6:19 in a three-step chiasm, I would like to suggest that both verses refer to the same veil. The chiasm is as follows:

a. Hebrews 6:19—Hope enters within the veil (katapetasma).

   b. Hebrews 6:20a—Jesus is forerunner on our behalf.

      c. Hebrews 6:20b—Jesus is priest after the order of Melchizedek.

      c¹ . Hebrews 7:1-28—Jesus is priest after the order of Melchizedek.

   b¹. Hebrews 8:1-10:18—Jesus is minister on our behalf in the true sanctuary.

a¹ . Hebrews 10:19-39—Enter through the curtain (katapetasma) with confidence.

How far within?

Now let's look at the prepositional phrase "eis to esoteron." Esoteron is the comparative form of the adverb eso ("within"). In his master's thesis John Livingston takes the full force of esoteron, rendering it "the farther within." ⁴

Taking into consideration the Septuagint's use of katapetasma (his results are very close to mine) and his under standing of esoteron, Livingston concludes that the veil of Hebrews 6:19 is the veil before the holy place and that "the farther within" (esoteron) is the second apartment. He reasons that beginning at the veil before the holy place, "the farther within" (esoteron) would carry a person beyond the eso ("within," simple adverb), which he takes as the holy place, to the most holy place.

Therefore, according to Livingston, while Hebrews 6:19 refers to the veil before the holy place, it also speaks of the second apartment—"the farther within."

However, this whole problem is simplified when we realize that by the New Testament era the Greek comparative form was breaking down and could be translated as though it were the simple form. While we could give examples from the New Testament, the best illustration comes from the Septuagintal version of Leviticus 16, a use of Greek that preceded the New Testament by almost 200 years.

Verse 2 of that passage contains the phrase we have been studying, eis to hagion esoteron tou katapetasmatos. We have already noted that in that verse to hagion refers to the most holy place and esoteron tou katapetasmatos to the veil immediately before that innermost apartment. If we were to adhere to the comparative form ("farther within"), then we would have to look for a third apartment somewhere beyond the inner veil and the most holy place.

So we are justified in simply translating the phrase in Hebrews 6 "within the veil."

Identifying the veil

But to which veil does Hebrews 6:19 refer? The context of Leviticus 16 indicates that the veil to which that Old Testament passage refers is the inner veil. And the context of Hebrews 9:3 and its use of the numerical adjective second make clear that that passage also speaks of the inner veil. But it would be wrong to identify the veil of Hebrews 6:19 by imposing on it the contexts of Leviticus 16 and Hebrews 9. We must understand the veil this chapter mentions within its own context.

Hebrews 6:13-20 deals with dispensing the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant to Abraham and his children. It notes: (1) that God swore by Himself to fulfill His promise (verses 13-16); (2) that He interposed with an oath to convince the heirs of the covenant that He would fulfill His word (verse 16); (3) that by these two unchangeable things we have "strong encouragement to seize the hope [fulfillment of God's covenant promises] set before us" (verse 18, RSV); and (4) that hope enters within the veil where Jesus has gone on our behalf as priest after the order of Melchizedek (verses 19, 20).

This context does not deal with the sanctuary per se—in other words, with its apartments, furniture, services, etc. It introduces the veil simply to indicate where Jesus is ministering, where the hope of the covenant people is centered, and from whence the covenant blessings are dispensed. So it would seem that the word veil is used metaphorically to point to the sanctuary as a whole, and that, unlike Hebrews 9:3, Hebrews 6 makes no attempt to identify to which veil it refers.

Because Hebrews 6:19 is in parallel with Hebrews 10:20 in the three-step chiasm, it would be logical to understand the latter verse's use of the word veil as a metaphor for the entire sanctuary as well.