Where can Hebrews 10:4 be confirmed in the old testament?

[Anonymous0210]

For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. - Hebrews 10:4

I'm curious where in the old testament this can be confirmed because one thing I have thought about when discussing christianity and have a question depending on what it is I sometimes ask myself if it lines up with the old testament bassically like how the old testament points to Christ. I'm curious where in the old testament hebrews 10:4 can be confirmed along with the idea of salvation being through faith alone.

 

[Vambram]

The sacrifices of the goats, and bulls, and lambs by the priests in the OT were counted as an Atonement for the sins of the people of Isreal. The blood sacrifices covered the sins enabling forgiveness from the Lord God. However, only the power of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is able to take away our sins.

 

[AV1611VET]

For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. - Hebrews 10:4

I'm curious where in the old testament this can be confirmed because one thing I have thought about when discussing christianity and have a question depending on what it is I sometimes ask myself if it lines up with the old testament bassically like how the old testament points to Christ. I'm curious where in the old testament hebrews 10:4 can be confirmed along with the idea of salvation being through faith alone.

The blood of bulls and goats is tainted blood, due to the Fall.

Jesus' blood is pure.

 

[Aaron112]

For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. - Hebrews 10:4

I'm curious where in the old testament this can be confirmed because one thing I have thought about when discussing christianity and have a question depending on what it is I sometimes ask myself if it lines up with the old testament bassically like how the old testament points to Christ. I'm curious where in the old testament hebrews 10:4 can be confirmed along with the idea of salvation being through faith alone.

There is nothing in Scripture that says the blood of bulls and goats was tainted blood.
However, it was also never meant to be sufficient nor complete in God's Plan as written throughout all Scripture:
commentary : "

Study Bible

Book ◦ Chapter

because it is impossible
This phrase emphasizes the absolute nature of the statement. The impossibility here is not due to a lack of effort or sincerity in the sacrificial system but is inherent in the nature of the sacrifices themselves. The Old Testament sacrificial system was designed by God as a temporary measure, pointing forward to a more perfect solution. The word "impossible" underscores the limitations of the old covenant and the need for a new and better covenant, as discussed throughout the book of Hebrews.
for the blood of bulls and goats
The sacrificial system in the Old Testament, particularly in Leviticus, required the blood of animals such as bulls and goats to atone for the sins of the people. These sacrifices were central to the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), where the high priest would offer sacrifices for the sins of the nation. However, these sacrifices were symbolic and served as a foreshadowing of the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The blood of animals was never intended to be a permanent solution but rather a temporary covering for sin.

to take away sins.
The phrase "to take away sins" refers to the complete removal and forgiveness of sin, which the animal sacrifices could not achieve. In the Old Testament, the sacrifices provided a temporary covering (atonement) for sin, but they could not cleanse the conscience or provide lasting forgiveness. This is contrasted with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, whose death on the cross provides a once-for-all atonement for sin, as described in Hebrews 9:12-14. The ultimate fulfillment of the sacrificial system is found in Christ, who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29)."

 

[ViaCrucis]

For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. - Hebrews 10:4

I'm curious where in the old testament this can be confirmed because one thing I have thought about when discussing christianity and have a question depending on what it is I sometimes ask myself if it lines up with the old testament bassically like how the old testament points to Christ. I'm curious where in the old testament hebrews 10:4 can be confirmed along with the idea of salvation being through faith alone.

I'd encourage you to look to what David says in Psalm 51.

The point of the sacrificial system wasn't that by killing and bleeding an animal one could expunge their sins; the point of the sacrificial system had several purposes:

1) Animal sacrifice was a common practice among ancient people, God took a common human practice and gave it a special significance among the Jewish people, as a way to point to the seriousness of sin and the relationship between sin and death.

2) In the New Testament we see that there was an even deeper and more important point: The sacrificial system points to Jesus, the One who by His life, death, and resurrection brings peace between God and man.

The blood of bulls and goats couldn't take away sin. What is needed to address the problem of sin isn't the blood of animals, but forgiveness and mercy, and the defeat of the curse of death and bringing wayward people back into a restored life with God. That's what Jesus has done.

We can see time and again how the sacrifices of animals didn't put an end to sin. After the flood and there is dry land, Noah builds an altar to God and offers sacrifice. Immediately after this we see Noah passed out drunk and naked in his tent, Noah's son Ham sees Noah in this state and it brings Noah shame; Noah's response is to place a curse on Ham's son Canaan. No sooner than the flood waters recede and God offers a profound sacrifice does the problem of sin immediately rise its ugly head up.

In the Old Testament it was required that every year the High Priest step beyond the veil into the Holy of Holies to offer an offering of blood upon the Mercy Seat on top of the Ark of the Covenant, between the cherubim, as a propitiation for the sins of the nation; and every year a goat was sent out into the wastelands to symbolically carry the people's sins out into the wasteland.

This was every year, year after year. Sin was never dealt with, but there was a yearly reminder that the nation was full of sin. And it required the High Priest to enter into the most sacred and intimate location of the Divine Presence and render sacrifice.

Hebrews goes on to tell us that this is why we have such a Great High Priest in Jesus; who offers Sacrifice once and for all. Not yearly, but once and final; and His Sacrifice of Himself actually accomplishes what the old sacrifices pointed toward: The need of atonement, reconciliation, of restoration.

Jesus fulfills the whole point of the former things. In Him the vocations of Temple, High Priest, Israel, Sacrifice, Paschal Lamb, and Davidic King are found. Jesus is God's Temple, Jesus is the Great High Priest, Jesus is the Suffering Servant, Jesus is the Sacrifice, Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, Jesus is King Messiah who has received kingdom, power, and authority and is seated on an everlasting throne.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Der Alte]

For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. - Hebrews 10:4

I'm curious where in the old testament this can be confirmed because one thing I have thought about when discussing christianity and have a question depending on what it is I sometimes ask myself if it lines up with the old testament bassically like how the old testament points to Christ. I'm curious where in the old testament hebrews 10:4 can be confirmed along with the idea of salvation being through faith alone.

Psalms 50:12-14​

(12) If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.​

(13) Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?​

(14) Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:​

 

[Yarddog]

For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. - Hebrews 10:4

I'm curious where in the old testament this can be confirmed because one thing I have thought about when discussing christianity and have a question depending on what it is I sometimes ask myself if it lines up with the old testament bassically like how the old testament points to Christ. I'm curious where in the old testament hebrews 10:4 can be confirmed along with the idea of salvation being through faith alone.

The blood of the animals were shadows of the blood of Christ. The blood didn't cleanse the Hebrews but the faith upon which they were obedient to God did.
Abraham, the first Hebrew, was granted righteousness through faith, not by obeying a law. Through his faith, he obeyed what God told him to do. God told him to sacrifice Isaac and he was obedient but God stopped him when his faith was proven, again.
This points to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. God gave Abraham a ram, which was caught in a thorny bush. The ram was Jesus and the thorny bush was the crown of thorns which was placed on his head. Abraham sacrificed that ram through faith.

 

[2PhiloVoid]

For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. - Hebrews 10:4

I'm curious where in the old testament this can be confirmed because one thing I have thought about when discussing christianity and have a question depending on what it is I sometimes ask myself if it lines up with the old testament bassically like how the old testament points to Christ. I'm curious where in the old testament hebrews 10:4 can be confirmed along with the idea of salvation being through faith alone.

There are some verses that can be indirectly referenced from the Old Testament, but there is no clear, literal, point for point corresponding set of verses in the Old Testament which any of us can cite in order to show an exacting, clear connection and inference between them Hebrews 10:4.

Which is part of the inherent point of the overall message of the book of Hebrews as you then move on to the next verse, Hebrews 10:5, and we see the writer of Hebrews citing Psalm 40 as an explanation [from a pattern] as to "why" his statement in verse 4 is 'true.'

Personally, I would cite Micah 6:6-7 as an additional place to read where the suggestion is presented through interrogative, poetic expression that there is a conditionality and limit to the purpose and effects of the Old Testament sacrifices, whether those sacrifices were sin offerings or burnt offerings. The writer of the book of Hebrews takes these inherent expressions and implies that with the Advent of Christ and the new revelation God has brought into the world, we can now understand that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament sacrifices, even of the Passover.

If you'd like to do additional reading on this interpretive topic, I'd recommend the book,

​

Beckwith, Roger T., and Martin J. Selman, eds. Sacrifice in the Bible. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2004.​