V. 2.— A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched, and not man. He was a minister of the holy places, τῶνἁγιμων, in distinction to the tabernacle, or royal tent, in which the God of Israel represented himself as dwelling among his chosen people, first in the wilderness, and then in the land of Canaan. The true tabernacle may either be understood of heaven, or of the body which was prepared for the incarnation of Christ, which was essential to his unity with his people, chap. 2:11, and being qualified to act as their high priest, chap. 5:1. The tabernacle was the habitation of the God of Israel, and we find Jesus, when the Jews desired a sign, saying, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up, but he spake of the temple of his body,” John 2:18-21, or, perhaps, it rather means heaven itself, in distinction from the worldly sanctuary. He afterwards teaches that Christ is not entered: " For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us,” chap. 9:24.