Acharei Mot and Kedoshim
"After the death" and "Holies"
Leviticus 16:1-18:30 & 19:1-20:27
Ezekiel 22:1-22:19 & Amos 9:7-15
Psalm 26 & 15
James 4:6-12
This week, rather do a deep study of the portions, I thought we could take a walk in the steps of the Kohen HaGadol as he prepares for the Yom HaKippurim Service. Although the rituals seem rigid and disconnected from modern worship, try to imagine how important this would have been to the average Israelite each year. If we can grasp that sense of anticipation, foreboding, hope, longing, appreciation all mixed into a single day, perhaps we can better appreciate Messiah Yeshua's advocacy for us in the Heavenlies. Even though we can't see it, we can know it's happened and happening. He ever advocates for the Father's children.
Preparation began a week in advance for the Kohen HaGadol. He left his house to take up residence in a special chamber of the Mikdash. A substitute was also chosen in case the worst happened.
When it was time for the Kohen HaGadol to depart his home to go to the Beit HaMikdash seven days before Yom HaKippurim, a proclamation was issued in Jerusalem. The people streamed to accompany him to the Temple in this order:
- All those descended from the family of the kings who reigned over the Ten Tribes.
- Descendants of the royal dynasty of David who were heralded, “Give honor to David’s house!”
- The Levites dressed in light blue garments, who were heralded, “Give honor to the House of Levi!”
- The Kohanim dressed in white, grouped according to their watches and tasks.
- Choir, musicians, trumpet blowers, door watchmen, those who prepared ketoret (incense), those who fabricated the parochet (veils), treasurers, guilds that performed holy work on the Temple.
- Seventy members of the Sanhedrin.
- Seventy kohanim bearing silver banners.
- The Kohen HaGadol.
- The oldest and most respected of the kohanim, marching two by two.
As they passed the street corners, they were encouraged and urged on by the heads of the study houses and synagogues.
When the procession arrived at the Temple Mount, prayers were recited for the continued existence of the Davidic dynasty, the priesthood, and the Temple.
The shouts of the crowd’s response to blessings was so mighty that it could split an eardrum. The Kohen HaGadol then departed from the encouragement of the people in tears and trembling for his responsibility.
The kohanim accompanied him to a special preparation chamber where he’d spend the next seven days. During this week, the Kohen HaGadol scrupulously guarded himself from any impurity. He was sprinkled with the purifying waters of the red heifer on the 3rd and 7th days just in case he contacted tamei (ritual impurity) unknowingly.
The Sanhedrin sent a delegation of wise and respected scholars to instruct the Kohen HaGadol in the Service of Yom HaKippurim. They read to him the parasha Acharei Mot and other passages that pertain to the Service and practical details of the day. He had to repeat them until he knew them well. If he was wise, he expounded upon them to the scholars. In the Second Temple, the Sadducees were able to buy the position, so not every Kohen HaGadol was competent.
He practiced offering the incense, sacrificial procedure, and lighting the menorah that week under supervision of the scholars.
On Erev Yom HaKippurim, all the animals reserved as sacrifices were passed before him. He identified each one so that they would not be mixed with other animals that were not designated for the Service of Yom HaKippurim. This included the bull of the sin offering for the House of Aaron. The Kohen HaGadol had to pay for this bull with his own money, not public funds. As with the other sacrifices, he marked it so he would recognize this bull among the others. He needed to recognize his own sin-bull before he could bring the atonement for others.
The next morning, the sages who had instructed the Kohen HaGadol left, and they were replaced by a group of skilled kohanim. They practiced with him the art of pouring the ketoret from a spoon into his hand, one of the most difficult acts of the Service which was reserved for the Holy of Holies. Since the incense represented the prayers of Israel, not even one drop could be spilled.
The Kohen HaGadol was not permitted to go to sleep on the night of Yom HaKippurim. He stayed awake, reading the books of Job, Ezra, Chronicles, and Daniel. If he began to doze off, the young kohanim would snap their fingers. If he felt tired, he was made to stand on the stone floor, which was cold.
The Kohen HaGadol was brought new garments woven of the very finest linen. He would have to remove four of his eight garments each time he entered the Holy of Holies, leaving the golden ones outside. The linen represented humility in the Presence. In the Holy of Holies, the Kohen HaGadol resembled an angel, a being that served the Most High and performed His will, singular in purpose. Angels were envisioned by Ezekiel as wearing linen garments. When he returned to the outer Service in the Mikdash, the Kohen HaGadol would put on the golden garments again to be seen by Israel.
The Kohen is an example to all Israel. If we humble ourselves in the Presence, or “sight” of YHVH, then we leave it to Him to lift us in honor before the eyes of others. It’s a difficult transformation for us to visualize on this lower level of Service. The Apostle James teaches the humility required of the Kohen HaGadol to enter the Holy of Holies as an example to everyone.
We must recognize our own "bull," and purify our speech. Quit blaming everyone else, for there is no atonement if one's own bull isn't identified, marked, and sacrificed from our own account. Blaming others is trying to sacrifice someone else's bull! We must wash our own hands as the Kohen HaGadol did multiple times in the day, signifying the cleansing of his own heart.
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But He gives more grace. Therefore He says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another? (Ja 4:6-12)
The Kohen changed garments five times. Before and after each change, he poured water from a golden pitcher over his hands and feet so that on that day, he washed them altogether ten times. At every garment change, he immersed in a mikveh.
Before dawn, the courtyard was filled with people.
After daybreak, the Kohen immersed himself in the mikveh, put on his golden garments, and poured water over his hands and feet.
He offered the daily tamid sacrifice, burned the usual handful of ketoret, finished setting up the lights in the menorah, and performed the rest of the morning service.
He offered the Kohen HaGadol’s daily mincha offering.
He offered the special mussaf (extra) sacrifice of Yom Kippur, a bullock and seven lambs as mentioned in parasha Pinchas.
Afterward, he poured water over his hands and feet, removed the golden garments, immersed in the mikveh, put on the four white garments (sash, tunic, breeches, headcover), and again washed his hands and feet.
First confession: He rested his hands upon his personal sacrifice, the bull, and confessed his own sins along with those of his family:
- “Please, Hashem, I sinned unintentionally, I transgressed willfully, and I transgressed defiantly before you, I and my family. Please Hashem, please atone the inadvertent sins, the willful transgression and the rebellions which I and my family committed before You, as it is said in the Torah of Your servant Moshe (Vayikra 16:3), ‘For on this day, He will atone for you to cleanse you that you may be pure of all your sins before Hashem.”
In all his confessions on Yom HaKippurim, the Kohen pronounced the Sacred Name YHVH the way it is written. Whenever the kohanim and the people assembled in the Courtyard heard the Name, they fell upon their faces and responded, “Baruch shem kvod malchuto le’olam va’ed.” “Blessed is the Name of His glorious Kingdom forever and ever.”
He pronounced the Name a total of ten times, however, he did not have to make an effort. It miraculously left his mouth by itself.
He does not slaughter his bull yet. First, he casts lots upon the two he-goats for the central Service.
Both lots were placed in an urn. The Kohen HaGadol put in both his hands and blindly grasped one in each. He put the lot in his right hand on the goat standing to his right, and the lot in his left on the goat to his left.
He proclaimed, “This one is a chataat sacrifice to Hashem!” concerning the one who would be sacrificed and have his blood sprinkled.
On the head of the goat “L’Azazel,” he attached a scarlet thread and attached a second red thread onto the entrance of the Holy Place.
Now the Kohen returned to his own bull, said the confession again for himself and all the kohanim, and then slaughtered the bull. Its blood was caught in a special pan, and it was handed to a different kohen.
The Kohen HaGadol filled a golden pan with glowing coals taken from the Brazen Altar.
He is handed a vessel containing the incense, and he scoops incense with both hands. He transfers these to a spoon, takes the pan containing the coals in his right and the spoon in his left, and enters the Holy of Holies.
He put down the pan with the coals between the poles of the Aron (or its stone once the Ark disappeared in 2nd Temple period), seized the edge of the spoon containing the incense either with his fingertips or teeth to keep both hands free, and poured the ketoret back into his hands. This was the most difficult of skills since not a single drop of incense could fall to the ground.
He heaped the ketoret into the pan which contains the coals and waited for the smoke of the incense to fill the Holy of Holies. This caused the glory of the Presence to reveal itself, yet veiled in smoke so the Kohen could not gaze at it directly. He walked out backwards, without averting his face from the direction of the Ark.
While they waited, the other kohanim and the people prayed and trembled. If the Kohen erred, he would die (Le 16:13.) Only a high priest who was truly righteous could perceive the Presence.
The Kohen HaGadol left the Holy of Holies and prayed for the nation for a good year in the Holy Place. During this time, all the kohanim had to leave. No one could intrude into the meeting between the Kohen HaGadol and the Presence, not even the angels. He did not stay too long, or it would frighten the people.
The Kohen HaGadol entered the Holy of Holies again with the blood of his bull. Another kohen had kept the bowl in constant motion so the blood would not coagulate.
He sprinkled the blood between the poles of the Aron (or stone) eight times, once upwards and seven times downwards. He counted aloud so as not to make a mistake.
He left the Holy of Holies to slaughter in the Courtyard the goat designated “L’Adonai” and received its blood in a pan. He re-entered the Holy of Holies to sprinkle the goat’s blood in the same fashion as the bull’s.
In the Holy Place, he sprinkled the blood of the bull and that of the goat onto the parochet (veil), once upward, seven times downward.
Next, he blended the bull’s and goat’s blood, applied the mixture to the four corners of the Golden Altar while he was standing to the east of the Golden Altar and north of the menorah. He cleared an area on top of the Golden Altar and sprinkled the blood seven times onto it. The remaining blood was poured into the base of the Exterior Altar.
The Kohen HaGadol then rested his hands between the horns of the living he-goat designated “L’Azazel,” and said the vidui, or confession of sins, a third time. This time it is for the sins of the entire people. (Le 16:22)
A man was standing by to lead the goat for Azazel into rocky, uncultivated desert land and cast it down from a cliff. This man was usually one who was not expected to live out the year because the man who led the goat usually did not live out the year. In Second Temple times, when the office was sometimes filled with unrighteous kohanim, many did not live long after they performed the Service.
The Kohen HaGadol could not leave the Courtyard until the goat arrived in the desert. A special signaling system was in place. Platforms were set at distances visible to one another so that a shawl waved as a signal could pass to the next until the signal reached Jerusalem.
Some sources say the scarlet thread on the entrance to the Holy Place turned white as well. While the Kohen HaGadol waited for the signal, he prepared to burn the inner organs of the bull and goat whose blood had been sprinkled.
While he waited for the signal, the Kohen went to the Court of the Women and read the Torah readings, sections in Acharei Mot dealing with the Yom Kippur Service and a paragraph of Pinchas describing the Service (Nu 29:7-11).
After the Torah reading, he recited seven blessings.
Next, he poured water over his hands and feet, removed the white linen garments, immersed in the mikveh, changed back to his golden garments, washed his hands and feet again, and offered up a he-goat as a chataat to complete the Mussaf sacrifice for the day.
He offered up his own ram and that of the people which were special sacrifices of Yom Kippur.
Next, he burned the inner organs of the bull and goat “L’YHVH” that he’d prepared.
He brought the daily afternoon olah, a lamb.
The Kohen HaGadol washed his hands, removed the golden garments, immersed in the mikveh, put on white linen garments, and washed his hands and feet. Then he entered the Holy of Holies one more time to remove the spoon and pan from the incense service.
He washed his hands and feet, removed the white linen garments, immersed in the mikveh, changed back to golden garments, and washed his hands and feet. Then he burned a handful of (daily) ketoret on the Golden altar and lit the menorah.
Next, he burned the second half of his daily mincha offering on the Brazen Altar.
This concluded his long and strenuous service. He washed his hands and feet, took off his golden garments, dressed in his own clothes, and left the Mikdash. The entire populace escorted him to his house. There was deafening rejoicing at his having completed the service successfully, reportedly double the celebration that accompanied him there a week earlier. All of the people dressed in white and most held burning wax torches. The windows of the city were decorated and held burning candles or lamps.
Many times the Kohen could not reach his home before midnight because of the crowds that filled the streets. Although they’d been fasting, no one would return home before at least trying to reach the Kohen HaGadol to kiss hands in gratefulness for his service.
On the following day, the Kohen HaGadol arranged for his relatives and friends to join him in a great feast to celebrate his emergence from the Holy of Holies in peace. I can't wait for Yeshua's great feast for friends and relatives, can you?
For a special treat, a teaching on the Song of Songs, join us on the YouTube live stream tomorrow at 4:00 pm.
