The High Priest entered the Most Holy Place every day, not only once a year.
Peter, the apostle, warns us about the possibility of confusing what Paul says in his epistles. He informs us that Paul speaks of things which are hard to understand.
"And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even
as our beloved brother
Paul also according to the wisdom given unto
him hath written
unto you; as also in all his epistles, speaking in
them of
these things; in which are some things hard to be
understood,
which they
that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the
other scriptures, unto their own destruction."
( II Pet 3: 15-16 )
We have a good example of this in Heb 9: 1-7. From this passage of Saint
Paul, several good theologians and seminary teachers have drawn the wrong
idea that nobody entered in the Most Holy, except the High Priest, who
entered only once a year. This error is taught by good and honest
theologians and seminary teachers, to those who will be pastors, who think that
their teachers cannot be wrong. This is the way in which errors spread
within Christianity; and this is why there are hundreds of denominations.
This is also a good example to teach us the mistake of
reading only some passages or some books or sections of the Bible, and not
the whole thing, from cover to cover, during our lifetime. It is a big
mistake in itself not having time to read the Bible, but using that time in
reading books "that expound the Bible". It is a mistake because
the error of the author of the book passes to the reader who does not have the
whole Bible in his mind. In the case of the High Priest and the Most Holy
Place the problem has its origin in reading only the New Testament and not the
Old Testament. Let us see what Paul said.
"1 Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine
service, and a worldly sanctuary.
2 For there was a tabernacle
made; the first, wherein was the
candlestick, and the table, and
the shewbread; which is called the
sanctuary. 3 And after
the
second
veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all;
4 Which had the golden censer, and
the ark of the covenant
overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that
had
manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the
covenant; 5 and over it the cherubims of glory
shadowing the
mercyseat;
of which we cannot now speak particularly. 6 Now
when these
things were thus ordained, the priests went always
into the first tabernacle, accomplishing
the service of God.
7 But
into the second went the high priest alone once every year,
not without blood, which he
offered for himself, and for the
errors of the people." ( Heb 9: 1-7 )
As we can read in verse 3, the section that was after the second veil was
called the Holiest of All, or the Holy of Holies. According to
verse 4 in this Holy of Holies there existed two things: the Altar
to Burn Incense Upon, and the Ark of the Covenant.
Therefore, anyone who wanted to burn incense in the altar of incense, had to
enter the Holy of Holies.
It is true that the High Priest entered the Most Holy Place
to make an atonement for the people, putting blood upon the horns of the altar
of incense, once a year. In this occasion he also sent a scapegoat to the
wilderness. But he entered to burn sweet incense in that altar
twice a day, everyday.
Paul is not saying that the Most Holy Place could only be
entered once a year. What he is saying is that the High Priest
entered, only once a year, for atoning the people with blood upon the horns
of the altar of incense. Let us see how they entered in the Most Holy
every day.
"1 And thou shalt make
an altar to burn incense upon, of shittim
wood shalt thou make it. 2 A cubit shall be the length thereof,
and a cubit
the breadth thereof; foursquare shall it be, and two
cubits
shall be the height thereof; the horns thereof shall be of the
same.
3 And thou shalt overlay it with
pure gold, the top thereof,
and the sides thereof round about, and the horns thereof;
and thou
shalt make
unto it a crown of gold round about. 4 And two golden
rings shalt
thou make to it under the crown of it, by the two corners
thereof,
upon the two sides of it shalt thou make it; and they shall
be for
places for the staves to bear it withal. 5 And
thou shalt make
the staves of shittim wood, and
overlay them with gold. 6 And
thou
shalt put
it before the vail that is by the ark of the testimony, before
the
mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with
thee.
7 And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every
morning, when
he dresseth
the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. 8 And when
Aaron lighteth
the lamps at even, he shall burn
incense upon it, a
perpetual
incense before the LORD throughout your generations.
9 Ye
shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor
meat offering;
neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon.
10 And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once
in
a year
with the blood of the sin offering of atonements: once in the
year
shall he make atonement upon it throughout your
generations,
it is most holy unto the LORD." ( Ex 30: 1-10 )
From this passage it is perfectly understandable that in the very same altar
in whose horns they put blood on once a year, they also burned
incense every morning and every evening. Let us analyze this
passage.
As we read verse 1 we see that it is talking about
the altar to burn incense. We must keep this in mind so that we may not
get confused later. Verse 2 says that this altar had horns, and also
gives its measurements. Verse 3 speaks about making a crown of gold all
around it, etc. Verses 4 and 5 explain why this altar had rings
and staves, etc.
Verse 6 says where to place the altar to burn
incense: before the vail, before the mercy seat that was over the testimony: it
means by the ark. Verses 7 and 8 describe what was going to be its most
frequent use:
"7 And Aaron shall burn thereon
sweet incense every morning,
when he
dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it.
8
And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even,
he shall burn
incense
upon it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout
your generations." ( Ex 30: 7-8 )
When studying this passage we learn that the High Priest used to enter daily
where the altar was in order to burn incense upon it. He burned incense upon
it everyday in the morning and in the evening.
In verse 9 it is declared which things were forbidden
to be done upon the altar. Then in verse 10, it tells that, as an
exception to these prohibitions of verse 9, Aaron was going to enter to put blood
upon its horns, once a year. Let us read verse ten again.
"10 And Aaron shall make an
atonement upon the horns of it once
in a year with the
blood of the sin offering of atonements: once in
the year
shall he make atonement upon it throughout
your generations,
it is most holy unto the LORD."
(
Ex 30: 10 )
As we see, in this passage it describes how to build the altar for burning
incense, what was going to be the usage of it, and when the High Priest must
put blood unto its horns. In this very same passage it says that incense
was going to be burnt in it twice a day and blood was going to be put in its
horns once a year. Therefore, it is clear that they entered into the Most
Holy every day.
Not only does this passage tell us about entering daily into
the Most Holy, there are a couple more passages that tell us something similar:
"If the priest that is anointed do sin according to the
sin of the
people;
then let him bring for his sin, which he hath sinned,……
And the
priest shall put some of the
blood upon the horns of the
altar of sweet incense before
the LORD…"
(
Lev 4: 3-7 abbreviated )
"And if the whole congregation of Israel sin through ignorance……
And he
shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar
which
is before the LORD…" ( Lev 4: 13-18 abbreviated )
As we can see there are at least three passages that tell us that they entered
the Most Holy much more frequently than once a year. Nevertheless, it is
true that with the blood of the atonement for the whole nation, as Paul
specified, once a year could the High Priest enter the Most
Holy. This ceremony symbolized Christ's sacrifice. That is why it
had to be done only once a year, symbolizing that Jesus was going to be
sacrificed only once.
If now we go to the New Testament we see that Zachary (
Luke 1: 8-9 ), who was not the High Priest, was the one who burned
the incense that day. This means that not only the High Priest, but any
priest could enter the Most Holy Place if he was elected to do so by the
casting of lots. What only the High Priest could perform was to bring
blood to be put in the altar of incense as an atonement for the whole people of
Israel.
Not very long ago I heard a Sunday School teacher that
was teaching an error. He learned this error from a pastor, who in
turn learned it from a seminary teacher, who learned it from another teacher,
who read it in a book, whose author learned it from a teacher,
who….etc. Sadly, none of them learned it from the Bible, which
should be the only source of religious knowledge for them.
What this teacher taught to his brethren was that the Bible
says that only the High Priest could enter the Most Holy, and even so, he had
to enter with a rope tied to his leg in case that if he were to die, they could
remove his body, because no one else could go into the Most Holy. This is
false. The Bible says nothing like that.
Besides, by reading the Bible we see that during the
exodus, the tabernacle with the Most Holy included, had to be disassembled
each time that people moved. Therefore, young men had to come
to disassemble it and carry it on their shoulders. It is not logical to
think that Aaron, who at that time was over 83 years old, was going to do the
whole job alone.
This next argument is not a biblical one, but it makes
sense. Another reason for not believing that the Most Holy could be
entered only once a year, is that a place where nobody enters for a year, will
become full of mildew and other fungus like plants; and besides, all kinds of
bugs, snakes, rats, etc., will come to live in there. Especially when the
tabernacle was in the wilderness.
As you see, it is good to read the whole Bible from cover
to cover continuously. We must never expend our time reading "books
that talk about the Bible" if we have not red yet the Bible that
day. It is good to read these books, but only if you have time to
first read the Bible, because this way it will be more difficult to get
confused by the error of a brother. Most probably our brother's purpose
was not to make us err, but he makes us err anyway. Therefore, it is our
responsibility to avoid any error, no matter if it was done purposely or not.