Hebrews 2:17 For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.
Hebrews 4:14-16 Jesus the Great High Priest Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
In the Jewish system, a priest mediated between the people and God. Aaron and his descendants were appointed priests, with the tribe of Levi serving as assistants in the Tabernacle (Numbers 3:5-10). The Levites were viewed as belonging to God (Numbers 3:12); they were set apart. The priests, too, were set apart (holy). Specific regulations for the priests can be found in Leviticus 21 - 22. The high priest was the chief religious leader and had certain duties. Among those duties were wearing the Urim and Thummin to assist in determining the will of God and overseeing the other priests. Most importantly, it was the high priest who entered into the Most Holy Place on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). Only the high priest could enter and, before doing so, he was required to make a sacrifice for himself. In this way the high priest was cleansed and could then go on to offer the cleansing sacrifices for the people (Leviticus 16).
Jesus as High Priest mediates for us. His sacrifice is what provides cleansing for our sins. Rather than a yearly (or daily) atonement, Jesus' sacrifice is once-for-all (Hebrews 10:1-18). Jesus, like the high priests of Old Testament times, stands in the gap between us (the people) and God. He made the necessary sacrifice for us (Jesus was without sin so did not need to offer a sacrifice for Himself as did the high priests of the Old Testament). We have been made righteous by Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21) and are now able to enter into God's presence. This mediation of Jesus is permanent and continual. Hebrews 7:23-25 says, "The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever." While Jesus' sacrifice was once-for-all, His mediation for us continues. Jesus also communicates the will of God to us through His teachings and through the Holy Spirit (John 14:26).
God tells us what He expects of our High Priests in the Old Testament. I have often wondered why there seemed to be such a difference in what we read about the character of the High Priests in the Old Testament versus how they act in the New Testament, along with the Pharisees and Sadduccees.
We know that God selected Aaron from the tribe of Levi to be the first High Priest and that all future ones would be chosen from that line. God's law was obeyed during the "first temple period". Priesthood was a very prestigious and righteous position to hold
We have had many discussions about these positions / groups during our Bible studies so I thought I would do a little research. The information below was taken from a variety of places including the television show "Israel: The Prophetic Connection". Feel free to read at your leisure.
The "second temple period" began with the Greek occupation of Israel. That position became corrupted by the time you get to the Greek Empire and the Romans. This is when they began to buy and sell that office on a yearly basis. While the building (temple) itself was a gloriously beautiful building, the level of spirituality was considerably lower than the first temple period and not in keeping with what the Jewish temple was supposed to be about. The corruption of the temple leaders drove groups and individuals away from Jerusalem and into the wilderness. One such group set up their community in the desert outside Jerusalem on the western shores of the Dead Sea. This community was known as Qumran. The inhabitants of Qumran strove for a higher level of spirituality far from Jerusalem's corruption. They are most popular for their scribal workmanship known as the "Dead Sea Scrolls". John the Baptist was yet another individual who challenged the corrupt leadership in Jerusalem. Rather than utilizing the ritual baths around the temple precincts he immersed his followers in the Jordan River calling for true repentance and righteousness.
The Pharisee ("separatist") party emerged largely out of the group of scribes and sages who harked back to Ezra and the Great Assembly. Their name comes from the Hebrew and Aramaic parush or parushi, which means "one who is separated." It may refer to their separation from Gentiles, sources of ritual impurity or from irreligious Jews. The Pharisees, among other Jewish sects, were active from the middle of the second century B.C.E. until the destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E. Josephus first mentions them in connection with Jonathan, the successor of Judas Maccabeus ("Ant." xiii. 5, § 9). One of the factors that distinguished the Pharisees from other groups prior to the destruction of the Temple was their belief that all Jews had to observe the purity laws (which applied to the Temple service) outside the Temple. The major difference, however, was the continued adherence of the Pharisees to the laws and traditions of the Jewish people in the face of assimilation. As Josephus noted, the Pharisees were considered the most expert and accurate expositors of Jewish law.
THE SADDUCEES IN NT TIMES
The Sadducees were so named because they claimed to be descended from Zadok, the high priest at the time of King David and King Solomon. They consisted of the wealthy aristocratic families who controlled the office of high priest. They rejected belief in angels and the resurrection, but they were not liberal rationalists. Rather, they were staunch conservatives, who observed the Law of the Books of Moses (Pentateuch) and who rejected later interpretations of the law, the 'oral law'.
The Sadducees were angered at Jesus' cleansing the temple and at his teaching on the resurrection. It was Sadducean chief priests who condemned Jesus at a night-time trial and handed him over to Pilate. The Sadducees were primarily responsible for trying to suppress the preaching of Peter and the other apostles when they proclaimed that Jesus had risen from the dead. As the destruction of the temple in AD 70 destroyed their reason for existence, the Sadducees did not survive this period.
THE SADDUCEES according to Josephus
During the life-time of Jesus, there were probably not more than about 5,000 of the Sadducees in Palestine, but they represented the rulers and the official order, and wore mostly resident in Jerusalem. The name of the sect is usually traced back to the priest Zadok, from whom they were all supposed to be descended. That is why they were more of a family than a religious sect. Josephus also tells us that the Sadducees often refused to take public office (" Antiquities " 18: 1, 4) and were sometimes compelled to do so by force.
All our real information about their beliefs and customs is derived directly from the New Testament and from Josephus (who himself was a Pharisee). Josephus is very clear in saying that the Sadducees believed that the souls of men "die with their bodies." They had no doctrine of the resurrection, an issue which they raised on one occasion with Christ (Mk 12:18-) and of this Paul took advantage at a later date (Acts 23:6). Josephus adds that they would not recognize anything in addition to what the Law commanded (they rejected the "tradition of the elders" (Mk 7:2-.).
In other passages (" The Jewish Wars " 1: 8, 14) Josephus adds further details which show their attachment with Epicurean philosophy: they deny providence, and declare that God is not concerned about our individual choice of right or wrong, a view which removes the idea of having a vital relationship with God, and leads towards skepticism. According to the New Testament, they were very skeptical about miracles and any unusual experience, and they did not believe in angels or spirits (Acts 23:8).
SADDUCEES VS. PHARISEES
In the time of Jesus there was much hostility between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. In many ways these two groups conflicted with each other. The Sadducees represented the privileged, conservative, traditional elite of Judaism. The Pharisees were the democratic, progressive new party of the common man. The Sadducees controlled the temple and its rituals, but the Pharisees controlled the synagogues.
The Pharisees openly challenged the privileged status of the Sadducees and criticized their easy tolerance of foreign rule. For the most part, the Pharisees opposed Roman rule, refused to take the oath of allegiance to the emperor and more than once participated in short revolts against Rome. (In 66 AD they led the nation in the great rebellion against Roman rule.) Though the Pharisees were represented on the Sanhedrin by the scribal members, the power there still rested with the Sadducees. The Pharisees were mostly influential in the realm of religious devotion and daily ritual.
But both parties united against Jesus. He brought about an uneasy alliance between these two groups. By threatening the privileged position of the Sadducees and at the same time challenging the basic scribal and Pharisaic precepts, he caused them to unite against Him. For their own very separate reasons, both parties saw this self-styled, unlearned Prophet from Galilee as a dangerous enemy, and together they concluded that he must be brought to trial and condemned to death.