The High Priest is the head of the entire priestly class and the most respected and esteemed person of the Israelite nation. It was the High Priest who offered the most important sacrifices of atonement once year. In this issue we deal with the special sacrifices he offered on the Day of Atonement. These sacrifices were fulfilled in the sacrifice offered by Jesus on the cross. Thus we shall try to understand the great reality of the salvation Jesus won for us and through which he reconciled the whole human race with the Father.

According to the calendar of worship of the Jewish people, the first month is called the month of Nisan. This falls during our March-April months. It is in the month of Nisan that they celebrate the feast of the pasch. According to this calendar, on the 10 th of the month of Tashari, the seventh month (our September -October months), the entire Jewish people observed as a day of atonement. All the people repented of their sins, acknowledged them, assembled in the temple, received pardon from God and were purified.

They asked forgiveness of God with repentant hearts. On that day they fasted giving up food and drink. Therefore, it was a great day, when, with repentance tears and anguish, they confessed their sins in the presence of God and were purified. The special sacrifices specified for atonement of sins were offered on that day. There were separate sacrifices for the priests and the entire nation. The priests and the people, the sacred things in the temple and the altar were all sanctified. Through the special sacrifices offered for the atonement of sins, the priests as well as the people were reconciled to God, attained peace and were purified. The blood of the sacrificed animal was sprinkled on the Holy of Holies in the presence of God and the same blood was sprinkled on the things and the altar of the temple. Thus everything was purified. The book of Leviticus states that it was the blood of the animal of sacrifice that made atonement (cf Lev 17:11). The same idea is seen in Hebrews 9:22.

In order to celebrate this Day of Atonement, the people prepared themselves from the first till the tenth of the month. All got ready to discover their faults, to repent of them and to make good any breach of relationship with their neighbours or others in the society. As a fulfillment of all this preparation, complete fasting was observed from sunset of 9th till the sunset of the 10th and with tears and lamentation, the people begged forgiveness of sins and observed the Day of Atonement.

On this day when all the people were assembled in the temple, the High Priest became the centre of attraction. He was the main celebrant of the special sacrifices of atonement offered on that day in the temple. It was on that day, and only on that day that he entered the Holy of Holies, into the presence of God. He did so with fear and trembling, offered incense, sprinkled the blood of the bull and goat killed for the sacrifices of atonement on the cherubim of the Ark of the Covenant. It was as the mediator of all the people that he entered the Holy of Holies with the blood of the animals. All the sacrifices and services of this day were centred on the High Priest. As far as the High Priest was concerned, this was the most important, sublime and glorious day. It was the day when the great sacrifices of atonement were offered and reconciliation with God effected for all and peace was established.

Let us observe the ceremony performed by the High Priest on this day. We read in Leviticus 23:26-32,16:1-34 and Numbers 29:7-11 the description of the rules and prescriptions for the offering of the sacrifices. The sacrifices offered on the Day of Atonement were symbols and signs of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. They were perfected and fulfilled in the sacrifice of Jesus. We can read about it in the letter to the Hebrews chapter 8,9and 10.

On the Day of Atonement very special and significant things were celebrated in the temple. All the people must celebrate it as a sacred day just like the Sabbath. They must assemble in the temple. The day was considered as a time when God judged the sins of all Israel. It was, therefore, also called the "Day of judgment".

Just as the people prepared for 10 ten days prior to the Day of Atonement, the High Priest also prepared for it. A week before, he left his palace and stayed in a place close to the temple. During these days the members of the Sanhedrin read out loudly to him the relevant portions from the Holy Bible and other books in order to update his knowledge of the regulations and prescriptions he had to follow. He purified himself and tried to become worthy to enter the presence of God on behalf of the people. He spent the time in more prayer and fasting.

The ceremonies of that day were in this manner: the daily sacrifices of the lambs for the people took place as usual. In the morning a lamb was sacrificed as burnt offering. It was only after that, that the special offering of the sacrifice of atonement followed.

The High Priest laid aside his grand, splendid ceremonial garments, washed his body well and put on the white linen garments, symbolic of purity, linen socks, belt and headdress. Thus the purity he imbibed in his mind and soul was expressed outwardly in washing his body and donning pure white garments.

A bull and two male goats were selected and brought to the front of the temple to the right of the altar of sacrifice. The bull was to be sacrificed for the sins of the High Priest and the priestly class while the goats were for the sins of the people. The High Priest then placed his hands heavily between the horns on the head of the bull facing the presence of God in front of the holy place, and acknowledged his own sins and those of all the priests and prayed loudly and with great contrition, that those sins may be borne by the bull. They believed that through these long and heart-rending prayers, the sins of the High Priest and those of all the priests would be transferred to the bull. Then, with his assistants, he approached the two goats standing on the right of the altar facing the people. Lots were cast and one was assigned for God and the other for Asaselin (head of the evil spirits dwelling in the desert) and the lots were tied between their horns. Next he tied a red ribbon between the horns and around the neck of the goat assigned for Asaselin and then went to the bull and again placed his hands on its head, confessed his sins and prayed aloud. After this second prayer, he slaughtered the bull. He collected the blood that was shed at that time in a silver vessel and handed it over to a priest standing by. The priest received it and kept twirling it around to prevent the blood from clotting. The High Priest walked up to the top of the altar of size 45'x45'x15', for the burnt sacrifice, collected some glowing coals in a golden plate from the fire burning on the top of the altar and descended the steps and with it in his right hand and some grains of incense in a golden plate in the left, went through the holy place, entered the Holy of Holies behind the curtain. There he stood in fear and trembling in the presence of God, placed the smoking pot before the Ark of the Covenant, and dropped the incense into it. The holy place was thus filled with smoke and the presence of God was covered with it. He then, with great reverence and fervour, returned from behind the curtain, without turning his back, took the vessel containing the blood of the bull from the priest standing by, went again behind the curtain, stood before the Ark, and dipping his finger in the blood of the bull sprinkled it seven times on the cherubim on the Ark. Then he came out of the holy place and kept the remaining blood on a stand. Next, he chopped off the head of the goat allotted for the Lord and standing facing the altar, and, with this blood went for the third time into the Holy and Holies and repeated the earlier ritual. After coming out, he mixed the remaining blood with the blood of the bull placed on the stand and with it sprinkled the curtain that separated the holy place from the Holy of Holies17 times and with the remaining blood smeared the vessels of the holy place and the altar and purified everything. The next action was to go to the second goat allotted for Asaselin that stood facing the people, placed his hands on its head, confessed the sins of all the Israelites and prayed loudly for a long time that those sins may be transferred on to this goat. All this time the people kept confessing their sins with tears and sorrow, begging for God's mercy. The High Priest then handed over this goat, on which all the sins of the nation were placed, to a man who would take it to the wilderness. There in the wilderness, the goat was taken to an overhanging cliff and pushed down into the ravine below where the wild animals tore it to pieces and devoured it. At that time the red ribbon tied earlier on its horns and round its neck turned white. This was taken as a sign that God had forgiven all the sins of the people and he had been reconciled to them. We have to understand it in the context of comparing sin to the colour red and purity to white. It is against the background of this line of thought and observance that we must see the words of Isaiah, "Come now, let us argue it out, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool" (Is 1:18).

Thus they believed that by sprinkling the blood of the goat in the presence of God and by having the other goat killed in the desert, God forgave all the sins of the people and were reconciled to them in peace.

As soon as the news that the goat was killed in the desert reached the High Priest, he read loudly the 16th chapter of the book of Leviticus. He then entered the Holy of Holies again, took the vial of blood and came out. Thus, as he bade good-bye for a year to the Holy of Holies where he alone could enter once a year, the sins of all the people were forgiven and they had made their peace with God. With this conviction, the people kept praising and thanking God loudly. They then received the High Priest with great exultation and accompanied him to his own palace. The High Priest was filled with great satisfaction and rejoicing for having conducted the ceremonies of the day successfully. To express his jubilation there would be a great feast prepared in his palace. All partook of this feast joyfully.

The carcasses of the bull and goat were taken outside the city and burnt because the animals killed in atonement of sins should not be burnt on the altar in the temple.

These offerings of the bull and goat on the Day of Atonement, and the consequent remission of sins which they believed to have obtained for the priestly class and the people, were but signs and symbols of the self-sacrifice of the Messiah yet to come. The sacrifice Jesus the Saviour effected on the cross on Calvary was one he offered for the redemption of all people, forever, reconciling the whole world with God the Father. Like the bull and the lamb, Jesus shed his blood in reparation for sins and offered his life as a sacrifice. With this offering he became the High Priest for the whole human race. He entered the Holy of Holies, that is, the presence of God in heaven, and with his own blood, effected the atonement of the sins of all mankind, reconciled them to God his Father, and became the victim that took upon himself the sins of all mankind. He thus became the "Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world". The epistle to the Hebrews deals with the eternal salvation that Jesus won for us through his death on Calvary. Jesus, as the High Priest, entered the Holy of Holies and won eternal salvation for all mankind, not by the blood of calves or goats but by his own blood. All these truths are given in chapters 8,9,10 of the letter to the Hebrews.
 
The following issues will deal with the Jewish observance of the Sabbath and celebration of the Jewish feasts.