Heb 8:13 in the saying `new,' He hath made the first old, and what doth become obsolete and is old is nigh disappearing.
What is the 'new'? What is the 'old'? What became obsolete?
Heb 8:8 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
Three things to notice here:
1) The fault was with the people, not the covenant nor the Law...
Heb 3:10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said,
They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.
2) The Covenant is the discussion here, not the Law. The Covenant is the agreement between God and Israel. The Law is the terms and conditions of the Covenant.
3) The New Covenant is made with Israel and Judah.
Now for the passage about new and old.
Heb 8:9 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.
Again, the problem was the people did not continue in the Covenant.
Heb 8:10 For this
is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
This gets right interesting, this passage is a direct quote from...
Jer 31:31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
Jer 31:32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day
that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
Jer 31:33 But this
shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Jer 31:34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
Now the word for Law in verse 33 is...
H8451
תֹּרָה תּוֹרָה
tôrâh tôrâh
to-raw', to-raw'
From
H3384; a
precept or
statute, especially the
Decalogue or
Pentateuch: - law.
Heb 8:11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
Heb 8:12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
This leads up to verse 13 and shows it is not the Law that is old or new but rather the Covenant. The New Covenant is based on the same Law with deeper spiritual applications...
Isa 42:21 The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law, and make
it honourable.