Hebrews 7:18-19 — Which Commandment Was Set Aside

This passage is read as Yahuah cancelling a weak and useless Law. But the word is singular: “the commandment going before.” Two verses earlier the writer named it, “the law of a carnal commandment” (7:16), the rule that made priests by descent from Levi. That commandment was set aside when the priesthood moved to the order of Melchizedek.

The weakness is named too. The Levitical priests died and could not continue (7:23), and the law “maketh men high priests which have infirmity” (7:28). The weakness was in the men, as Paul says the law was “weak through the flesh” (Romans 8:3). The Law “made nothing perfect” because it was never the door of entry. The blood is the door, and the better hope is how the believer draws near. The Law remains holy, just, and good (Romans 7:12), and it is the walk for those who have come in.