Hebrews 9:7

‘But into the second the high priest alone, once in the year, not without blood, which he offers for himself, and for the errors of the people.’

But into the second tabernacle, the Holy of Holies, even the priests have no entry. Note the deliberate contrast between ‘the priest go in continually’ and ‘the High Priest alone once in the year’. The Holy of Holies existed in solitary splendour along with its accoutrements, in total darkness except for when the light of God shone there (no earthly light was allowed), only to be entered once a year and that by the High Priest alone. On that day there were two brief, but memorable and awesome, visits, by the High Priest, one for himself and one for the people, and those only after the offering of special sacrifices of sin offerings of which the blood was to be presented, sacrifices which were offered on the Day of Atonement both for the High Priest’s sins and the sins of the people (see Leviticus 16:0).

‘Offers.’ Not as a sacrifice but as evidence that the ritual has been carried through correctly, ensuring the overall atonement for himself and the people for another year. The word ‘offering’ does not appear with respect to the Holy of Holies in the ritual for the Day of Atonement. The word used there is ‘sprinkled’ which indicates application of the blood. It demonstrated that the necessary sin offerings had been made. It also confirmed that atonement had been made.

‘The errors (or ‘ignorances’) of the people.’ Man’s sins were a mixture of error, folly, wilfulness and ignorance. And all had to be atoned for.

This day was looked on as especially holy, and the rightness of the preparations had to be carefully ensured. For it was a fearsome experience for a man, even though he be the High Priest. First the tabernacle would be emptied of all personnel, so that the veil could be partially pulled aside. Only the one who was fully ritually prepared could be allowed in the sanctuary without the veil fully pulled across.

He would previously have carefully clothed himself in the High Priestly garments, knowing that any mistake would be his last, and then fearfully and tentatively he would move through the sanctuary towards the veil, take the golden censer and fill it with coals from the altar of incense, and place incense on them. All the time his heart would be beating strongly within him at the thought of what he was going to do. Then he would draw a portion of the veil aside and enter alone through the veil into the Most Holy Place, the Holy of Holies where no man but he would ever go while he was still alive. The tension would be horrific.

The glowing ashes for the burning of incense which he carried in his censer would provide the only dim light, and by that dim light he would approach in almost sheer darkness the dim shape of the Mercy Seat that he could make out before him, with all that it signified of the presence of the holy and invisible God, in order that he might present the incense and the blood of bull and goat. He would at the same time be filled with fear that one mistake might mean his end, that one moment of God’s displeasure could strike him down. For so it was believed.

And it was always with great relief that he would finally, after two such visits, first to make atonement for himself, and then to make atonement for the people, withdraw again the second time, grateful to be alive and could recognise at last that what he had done had been accepted. The people and the priests would meanwhile have been waiting in silent awe all through the process, filled with tension until he reappeared, and at that point there would be huge jubilation. Atonement had been satisfactorily accomplished for another year. All the sins of Israel for a whole year had been ‘covered’. (Indeed so holy was the place that there grew up a tradition, not mentioned in Scripture, that sometimes a rope would be tied around his leg so that if God should strike him down his body could be recovered without anyone else entering, for none would dare to enter in order to recover it even in such an emergency).

The procedures were carried through even when the Ark was gone, possibly carried off by the victorious Babylonians. But it is interesting that no mention was ever made of it, (2 Chronicles 36:10 refers to ‘the goodly vessels of the house of Yahweh’), and surely had they believed it to be in Babylon great efforts would have been made to ensure its recovery. Perhaps then they knew that it had been destroyed or that it had been melted down in the King’s treasury. (A Jewish record, 4 Ezra 10:22, declares that ‘the light of our lamp is extinguished, the Ark of our covenant is spoiled’). There appears to have been no Ark in the second Temple. Tacitus writes, "The first Roman to subdue the Jews and set foot in their Temple by right of conquest was Gnaeus Pompaeus (Pompey). Thereafter it was a matter of common knowledge that there were no representations of the gods within, but that the place was empty and the secret shrine contained nothing" (Hist. Hebrews 5:9). 2MMalachi 2:4-7 refers to a tradition that the prophet Jeremiah hid the tabernacle, the Ark and the altar of incense in a cave. However, there was certainly later an altar of incense in the Temple.