Temple Study Continued; Services of the Temple; The High Priest (Exodus 28)

The High Priest (Exodus 28)

The High Priest in his golden garments

The High Priest was a religious person of a high rank who has the authority to perform the services in the Temple. He was in charge of the priests and was allowed to enter the Most Holy Place once a year on the Day of Atonement.

The High Priest had two sets of uniforms:

1. Golden Garments which he wore all year round;
2. White Garments which was worn only on the Day of Atonement.

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http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12407b.htmAfter the Exile anointing was not in use: both high-priests and priests were consecrated by simpleinvestiture. The rabbis held that even before the Exile the high-priest alone was anointed by pouring the sacred oil "over him" and applying it to his forehead over the eyes "after the form of the Greek X" (Edersheim, "The Temple, Its Ministry and Service at the Time of Jesus Christ", 71In the New Testament (Matthew 2:4; Mark 14:1, etc.) where reference is made to chief priests, some think that these all had been high-priests, who having been deposed constituted a distinct class and had great influence in the Sanhedrin. It is clear from John 18:13, that Annas, even when deprived of the pontificate, took a leading part in the deliberations of that tribunal. Schürer holds that the chiefpriests in the New Testament were ex-high-priests and also those who sat in the council as members and representatives of the privileged families from whom the high-priests were chosen (The JewishPeople, Div. II, V. i, 204-7), and Maldonatus, in Matthew 2:6, cites 2 Chronicles 36:14, showing that those who sat in the Sanhedrin as heads of priestly families were so styled.

The high-priest alone might enter the Holy of Holies on the day of atonement, and even he but once a year, to sprinkle the blood of the sin-offering and offer incense: he prayed and sacrificed for himself as well as for the people (Leviticus 16). He likewise officiated "on the seventh days and new moons" and annual festivals (Jos., "Bell. Jud.", V, v, 7). He might marry only a virgin "of his own people", though other priests were allowed to marry a widow; neither was it lawful for him to rend his garments nor to come near the dead even if closely related (Leviticus 21:10-14; cf. Josephus, "Ant.", III, xii, 2). It belonged to him also to manifest the Divine will made known to him by means of the urim and thummim, a method of consulting the Lord about which we have very little knowledge. Since the death of the high-priest marked an epoch in the history of Israel, the homicides were then allowed to return home from the city where they had found a refuge from vengeance (Numbers 35:25, 28).

The typical character of the high-priest is explained by St. Paul (Hebrews 9), where the Apostle shows that while the high-priest entered the "Holy of Holies" once a year with the blood of victims, Christ, the great high-priest, offered up His own blood and entered into Heaven itself, where He "also makethintercession for us" (Romans 8:34; see Piconio, "Trip. Expos. in Heb.", 9).

In addition to what other priests wore while exercising their sacred functions the high-priest put on special golden robes, so called from the rich material of which they were made. They are described inExodus 28, and each high-priest left them to his successor. Over the tunic he put a one piece violet robe, trimmed with tassels of violet, purple, and scarlet (Joseph., III, vii, 4), between the two tassels were bells which rang as he went to and from the sanctuary. Their mitres differed from the turbans of the ordinary priests, and had in front a golden plate inscribed "Holy to the Lord" (Exodus 28:36).Josephus describes the mitre as having a triple crown of gold, and adds that the plate with the name ofGod which Moses had written in sacred characters "hath remained to this very day" (Ant., VIII, iii, 8; III, vii, 6). In a note to Whiston's Josephus (Ant., III, vii, 6) the later history of the plate is given, but what became of it finally is not known. The precious vestments of the high-priest were kept by Herodand by the Romans, but seven days before a festival they were given back and purified before use in any sacred function (Jos., "Ant.", XVIII, iv, 3). On the day of atonement, according to Lev., xvi, 4, the high-priest wore pure linen, but Josephus says he wore his golden vestments (Bell. Jud., V, v, 7), and to reconcile the two Edersheim thinks that the rich robes were used at the beginning of the ceremonyand changed for the linen vestments before the high-priest entered the Holy of Holies (The Temple, p. 270). For additional information concerning the vestments and ornaments of the high-priest seeEPHOD, ORACLE, PECTORAL, URIM AND THUMMIM.