As regards the part taken in the office by the high priest, it is to be observed especially that the ceremonial of the Day of Atonement was the highest exercise of his mediatorial office : he per- formed an atoning rite on behalf of the entire people ; and, represented by him, the entire people had access on that day to the presence of J". As the representative of a sinful people, he natur- ally discarded his gorgeous high-priestly dress,* and assumed an attire, which, being plain and destitute of ornament, was such as became a suppliant suing for forgiveness ; wliile, being white, it symbolised the purity and innocence required in those who appear in the immediate presence of the Holy One (cf. the angels in Ezk 9-- 1. 11 102- »• ', Dn 10» 12«- '). Nor can he, even then, complete the atonement for the people, until he has first offered atonement for his own sins ; and when he enters the Holy of Holies, the incense burnt by him there forms, further, a protecting cloud, comin" as a veil between himself and the lioliness of J' , and at the same time possessing a propitiatory efficacy (Nu IG^"').
Jos. {Ant. III. X. 3) gives a short account of the ceremonies of the Day of Atonement ; and Philo, in his treatise vepl ttjs (^So/iijs, § 23 (II. 29G, Mangey), draws out the ethical teaching which he understands them to imply. Allusions to the holy day are also found in Sir SC" , Ac 27", He 9'- ^.
■riie later Jews were not unconscious of the deeper spiritual truths of wliich the ceremonial of the Day of Atonement was the expression. Philo, for instance (^.c), speaks of it as an occasion for tlie discipline of self-restraint in regard to bodily indulgences : the more effective, as it came at a season of the year when the fruits of the earth had just been gatliered in, and the temptation to an idf^at atonement and reconciliation on behalf of the nation, aa such ; its benefits extendiii];; to individuals, only in so far as thev had sinned involuntarilv, or were truly penitent. Comp. Oehlef, § 140 (KnK. tr. ii. 43 fl.) ; Riehm, A t Tfieot. { 37. 2 ; v. Orelli, in HerzoK^, xvi. 414 ; R. W. Dale, The Ataiiemml, pp. 85, 466-470 ; C. O. Slontellore, The Bible /or Home lieadtng, 1896. p. 144 ff. (where the ancient significance of this annual rite is well pointed out).
* His dress became, In fact, almost that of the ordinary priests, except that he had still a * turban * (ncjliD) — though only one of white linen, not his usual decorated one (Ex 2836f-)— Instead of a 'cap' (TWZiD, Ex 2S4°), and a plain linen ■ saah ' (S12K), instead of • coloured one (Ex 2840).
indulgence would be naturally the stronger; ab- stinence at such a season would raise men's thoughts from the gifts to the Giver, who could sustain life Kal 5ta Toimov Kal di^ev toitujv. Those who took part in the prayers for the day asked for forgiveness, not in dependence upon their own merits, aXXd Sid tt^c ?\ewf ipvcriv tov avyyvu/j.iji' Tpi KoXaueois dpi^ovTO! (cf. Vit. Mos. ii. 4, II. 138 ; Leg. Cai. 39, II. 591). The Mishna also is caieful to teacli that the ceremonies of the Day of Atone- ment are inell'ectual unless accompanied by re- pentance. ' Death and the Day of Atonement work atonement, where there is repentance (.laiBTin). Repentance makes atonement for slight trans- gressions, both of omission and of commission ; and in the case of grave ones, it suspends punish- ment till the Day of Atonement comes, and brings atonement. If a man says, " I will sin, and (then) repent, I will sin, and (then) repent," Heaven does not give him the means of practising repentance ; and if he says, " I will sin, and the Day of Atone- ment will bring atonement," the Day of Atone- ment will bring him no atonement' (YOmd, viii. S-9).
The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews con- trasts (9*^) the work of the high priest on the Day of Atonement with the superior atoning efficacy of the work of Christ. The Jewish high priest entered once yearly * into the Holy of Holies, with the blood of appointed victims : Christ entered once for all into the true sanctuary, the actual presence of God, through His own blood ; He obtained not a temporary, but an eternal de- liverance (9"'''), His blood is far more efficacious for the cleansing and renovation of human nature (gii-14. a-8) than that whicli was offered under the Je\vish law. And whereas, under the Law, full access to God was limited to the high priest, and to him, moreover, under many restrictions of time and mode, Christ has opened a new and living way, by which those whose hearts are properly purged from an evil conscience may at all times have free access to the Father (9<=-" W^'^).
LrrKRATCTiB. — (a) The treatise of the Mishna, F^mfl, with Lat. tr. and notes in Surenhusius* ed. of the Mishna, 1699, ii. p. 206 ff. ; also ed. by Sheringham, 1648, ed. 2 (with an elabor- ate comparison [p. i05flE.]of the work of the high priest with that of Christ, by J. Rhenferd), 1698; and (with Heb. text pointed, and short notes, and glossary) by H. L. Strack (Berlin, 18S8) : many passa^jes of the Getnara on the same treatise are also translated by Wiinsche, in Der Bahyl. Talmud in seinen Uaqqadischen Eestandtheilen, i. (1886), pp. 340-389 ; see further, on the Jemsh ritual of the day, Otho, Lex. Habb. 1676,2 1757 (».y. Expiationis Festum); J. Lightfoot, The Temple Service, c. 16 (Works, 1684, ii. 961-1); J. A. Dani, ' Fimctio Pontif. M. anniversaria,' in Meuschen, NT ex Talm. illustr. 1736, pp. 912- 1012 (with copious extracts from Jewish sources), followed, pp. 1013-39, by Uhenferd's 'Comparatio' (supr.); Maimonides, Uilchoth j/6m hak-kippurim, etc., at the end of Delitzsch's Comjn. on the Hebrews ; Edersheim, The Temple : it$ Ministry atid Services, pp. 263-288. (6) J. Spencer, de Legg. Bebr.t (1686), 111. viii. ; Bahr, Si/mb. del Mos. Culttis, 1839, ii. 664 ff. ; Oehler, OT Theol. §§ HO, 141 ; Schultz, OT Theol. i. 367 f., 402-6 ; Dill- mann on Lv 16 ; Nowack, Hebr. Arch. ii. 183-104 ; Delitzsch, ZKWh, ISSO, pp. 173-183 ; Kuenen, Th. T. 1883, pp. 207-212, and Hex. J 16. 32 ; Wcllli. UUt. 110-112 ; Stade, Getch. u. 182, 268- 260 ; Benzinger, ZA TW, 1889, pp. 66-88.