The High Priest on the Day of Atonement
J.A. Macdonald Leviticus 16:1-4 And the LORD spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the LORD, and died;… The Jewish high priest was an eminent type of Christ. He was this on ordinary occasions of his ministry, in respect to which Jesus is called "the High Priest of our profession" (Hebrews 3:1). But he was especially so upon this great occasion of his entrance into the most holy place, I. THE MOST HOLY PLACE OF THE TEMPLE WAS A TYPE OF HEAVEN. 1. The tabernacle was a figure of the universe. (1) It represented the material universe. In allusion to this, Paul speaks of the universe as the great house built by the hands of God (see Hebrews 3:3, 4). And our Lord, also, alluding to the temple with its many courts and offices, speaks of the universe as his Father's house (John 14:1). (2) It likewise represented the moral universe. In this light it is also viewed by Paul in the same connection as that in which he likens it to the material (see Hebrews 3:6). In many places of Scripture the people of God are described under the similitude of the temple (see 1 Corinthians 3:16; 2 Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 2:21, 22; 1 Peter 2:5). 2. The holy places signified the heavens. (1) Amongst the coverings were what our version calls "badgers' skins," but the original word (תחשׁ), techesh, in ancient versions is explained to denote a colour, viz. blue. The covering may have been composed of rams' skins dyed blue, as the other covering was of "rams' skins dyed red." Blue was the proper colour to suggest the air, while the red would suggest the golden glow of the light in the ethereal heavens. (2) Josephus, speaking of the gate of the porch of the temple, which stood always open, styles it an "emblem of the heavens." And the vail leading flora the porch to the holy place, made like Babylonish tapestry (Joshua 7:21) of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen, he compares to the elements ('Wars,' 5:5). Josephus also describes the branched candlestick, with its seven lights, as emblems of the planets of the solar system. (3) But whatever may be said of details, the broad fact is not left to conjecture or even to tradition; for Paul tells us plainly that the holy places were patterns of the heavens (Hebrews 4:14; Hebrews 9:23). 3. The most holy place figured the supreme heaven. (l) This must be obvious from the fact that the Shechinah was there. God appeared then in regal state upon his throne of glory. The cherubim around him represented the powers of creation, physical and intellectual, which all wait upon him to fulfill his will everywhere in the great universe. Their faces were so placed that, while they all looked inward upon the propitiatory, they also looked outward in all directions, upon the house. (2) This innermost sanctuary Paul accordingly describes as "heaven itself " - an expression synonymous to the "third heaven," and "heaven of heavens" (Hebrews 9:24; 2 Corinthians 12:2, Deuteronomy 10:14; Psalm 115:16). It is the palace of God and of angels. IX. THE ENTRANCE OF THE HIGH PRIEST INTO THE MOST HOLY PLACE ADUMBRATED THAT OF JESUS INTO HEAVEN. (See Hebrews 8:1, 2; Hebrews 9:11, 12, 23, 24.) 1. He entered in his white garments. (1) Not in his "golden robes." These are vulgarly supposed to have been his nobler vestments, and it is thought that entering in his white garments he appeared in "mean" attire, to express "humiliation" and "mourning" (see Matthew Henry, in loc.). (2) But is this opinion just? Where are the white robes of the high priest so described in Scripture? Is it not rather the other way (see Ezekiel 44:17)? Are the seven angels (Revelation 15:6) described as in mean attire? As a matter of fact, did Jesus meanly or mourningly enter heaven? Was it not rather his entrance "into his glory" after his "sufferings" were "finished" (Luke 24:26)? (3) The white robes represented the glorious body of his resurrection (see 1 Timothy 6:14-16; Hebrews 9:24, 25). And a specimen of the quality of these garments was given on the mount of transfiguration, when the light of his glory was so white that no fuller on earth could make linen to compare with it (see Matthew 17:2; Mark 9:3). 2. Note now the allusion to Nadab and Abihu. (1) (See verse 1; refer also to Leviticus 10:1, 2.) This terrible event occurred in the wilderness of Sinai (Numbers 3:4), where the Law was given, and where these very men were called up with Aaron to witness the glory of the Lord (Exodus 24:1). Whatever induced them to offer strange fire, they became, in the sequel, a figure of Jesus, who came not with legal righteousness, and whom the fire of God was to search to the utmost. (2) Aaron now became a similar type (see verse 2). He was to die if he came near Jehovah, and so represented Jesus, who, in the union of his manhood with the Godhead, was to die. This issue was only averted from Aaron by the substitution of animal sacrifices, which were to procure the "forbearance of God," until Immanuel should put away typical sin sacrifices by the sacrifice of himself. (3) To avert death from Aaron, God appointed that incense also should be fumed before the mercy-seat, in the cloud of which he would appear (verses 2, 12, 13). The cloud tempered the fierceness of the fire of the presence of God, and showed that, in virtue of the intercession of Christ, man may see God and live. - J.A.M. Parallel Verses KJV: And the LORD spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the LORD, and died; WEB: Yahweh spoke to Moses, after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before Yahweh, and died;