Section I: Holy Persons, § 9.
SECTION I: HOLY PERSONS
A comparison between the Old Testament high priest and Christ.
§ 9. The consecration of the high priest, his attire, and his office are described in Exodus 28–29 and in Leviticus 8. The Epistle to the Hebrews teaches very clearly that he was a type of Christ, who is the one and only high priest of the New Testament. The agreement of type with antitype consists especially in the following points. Just as it was the duty of the high priest to pray for the people, to offer sacrifices, and to carry before the Lord the names of the children of Israel on his breastplate, so Christ “in the days of His flesh offered up prayers and supplications for us with loud cries and tears” (Heb. 5:7) and “has entered into heaven to appear in the presence of God on our behalf” (Heb. 9:24). In fact, “He sits at the right hand of God and intercedes for us” (Rom. 8:34) because He first offered Himself for us on the altar of the cross as “a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Eph. 5:2). At the same time, He wears on His heart, so to speak, the spiritual Israelites and bears them on His shoulders. The beautiful vestments of the high priest made of gold, blue, purple, etc., denote the glory and majesty of Christ and His spiritual attire in the virtues and excellent gifts of the Holy Spirit. Ps. 45:7–8: “Your God has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your fellows; Your vestments are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia.”
The Urim and Thummim.
On the breastplate of the high priest were the Urim and Thummim, which they translate as “doctrine and truth,” “illuminations and perfections.” The use of this breastplate was for the priests, wearing the robe and ephod, to receive answers through it when they asked questions of the Lord. However, nowhere does it say whether a voice was heard or a vision was given to the priest wearing the breastplate or whether the priest was advised about the will of God by an inner illumination of the Spirit. Hence some claim that whenever God wanted to respond in the affirmative to a priest asking a question about a dubious matter, the jewels would emit a very bright flash. Some rabbinic scholars think that something divine or some sacred names were written; others think that they were very clear stones in which the high priest perfectly saw the judgment of the sons of Israel. Still others think differently about these hidden matters (Münster, commentary on Exodus 28).
** Do see also Paul Fagius, in the Chaldaic paraphrase of Exodus 28; Schindlerus, on the root 
. “The rabbinic scholars think that some writing was put on the double breastplate, either the name 
[’Jehovah’] or something else. Rabbi David Kimchi (commentary on 2 Samuel 25) thinks that the high priest wearing the breastplate was filled with the Holy Spirit and by His prompting responded to the questions.” **
Josephus writes on this subject (Antiq., bk. 3, ch. 9): “One of the two stones the priest was wearing on his shoulders would glisten. Every time a favorable response was given, the one on his right shoulder would emit such a glow that it would be visible even to onlookers at a distance.” Rabbi David Kimchi (commentary on Judges 20) notes that this was the way they inquired of God:
Whoever wanted to inquire as to a public matter or an otherwise grave matter would go to the priest. The priest, wearing the ephod, would stand before the ark of the Lord. The ephod, or breastplate, contained twelve precious stones engraved with the names of the twelve tribes in addition to the names of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Thus all the letters of the alphabet were there on the stones. The inquirer had to face the priest and ask his question, not so loudly that his voice could be heard nor so softly that he was merely thinking his inquiry in his heart, but the way Hannah, it says [1 Sam. 1:13], prayed, only moving her lips without making any audible sound. Then an oracle would be given to the priest in this way: some letters on the breastplate would stand out by the power of the Holy Spirit (either by their placement or by glowing), and in them the priest would read the oracle and will of God. These are the Urim and Thummim the priest wore on the breastplate.
(Those are Kimchi’s words.) This can fittingly be applied to Christ, who has made known to us the counsel of God for our salvation (John 1:18), who not only offers to us outwardly in His Word the perfect truth of heavenly doctrine but also illumines our hearts within with the Holy Spirit so that illumination and perfection truly do come down from Him.
Just as on the skirts of the priestly robe there were bells whose sound would be heard when the priest would enter and depart from the sanctuary in the sight of God, so also Christ in the days of His flesh spread far and wide the fame of His teaching and miracles. Moreover, He even caused the sound of the apostles’ preaching to go out into all the earth (Ps. 19:4).
Just as the golden plate the high priest wore on his forehead had been engraved with these words: “The Holiness of the Lord” [Exod. 28:36], so Christ is our “Holy of Holies” (Dan. 9:24), who “sanctified Himself for us” (John 17:19). So even the title affixed to His cross testified that He was a Nazarene uniquely consecrated to the Lord [cf. Matt. 27:37].
The unsewn, white linen robe denoted the innocence of Christ; the turban, His royal dignity; the girdle, His promptness to carry out the parts of the office committed to Him.
The high priest used to be anointed and consecrated with holy oil poured onto his head. So also Christ “was anointed with the oil of gladness” (that is, with the Holy Spirit) “above all His fellows” (Ps. 45:7), seeing as He received the Holy Spirit “without measure” (John 3:34).
The high priest was permitted to marry only a virgin (Lev. 21:13). So also the church and every faithful soul as the spiritual Bride of Christ ought to be a virgin and should not cling to the devil by spiritual fornication. 2 Cor. 11:2: “I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.”
Anyone who suffered from an unsightly bodily blemish could not serve as a priest (Lev. 21:17). No stain of sin was found on Christ, the high priest of the New Testament (Isa. 53:9; 1 Pet. 2:22).
We leave the rest of the points of comparison to the private investigation and meditation of the learned. (In regard to the vestments of the high priest, see Isidore of Seville, commentary on Exodus, ch. 54; Rupert, De Trin., bk. 4, ch. 23; Gregory, Moral., bk. 28, ch. 9. Concerning the jewels on the breastplate, see Epiphanius, De duod. lapidibus Aaronis; and Francis Rueus, De gemmis; etc.)
The difference between the Old Testament high priest and Christ.
§ 10. Of course, “Christ has obtained a far better ministry [λειτoνργίας],” as He is the Mediator of a better testament, than what the Old Testament priests obtained (Heb. 8:6). Therefore the difference between the two priesthoods is also noteworthy. The priests of the Old Testament were only men, “chosen from among men” (Heb. 5:1), and “beset with the weakness of sin” (v. 2). As a result, they had “to offer sacrifices for their own sins” (v. 3). But Christ, our High Priest, is “without father” according to His humanity, “without mother” according to His divinity, “without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life but, resembling the Son of God, He remains a priest forever” [Heb. 7:3]. “He is blameless, unstained, distinct from sinners” (v. 26).
Priests of the Old Testament were chosen from the tribe of Levi, following the line of Aaron (Heb. 7:5); but Christ came from the royal tribe of Judah, “and Moses said nothing about that tribe as regards the priesthood” (v. 14). Therefore God named Him a priest “according to the order of Melchizedek” (Ps. 110:4; Heb. 5:10). “This Melchizedek was king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who blessed Abraham on his return from the slaughter” (Heb. 7:1) “and received tithes from him” (v. 2). Christ is like him as King of righteousness and peace (v. 3), greater than all the Levitical priests (v. 10), having neither associate nor successor as did the other priests of the Old Testament.
There were many of them “because they were prevented by death from persisting” (v. 23); but [Christ] “possesses an eternal priesthood because He continues forever” (v. 24), because “He forever sits at the right hand of God” (Heb. 10:12), “waiting as for the rest until His enemies should be made a stool for His feet” (v. 13).
The Old Testament priests were appointed without an oath. But He was appointed by the oath of the one who said to Him: “The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind: ‘You are priest forever’” (Heb. 7:21). “The Law appoints men as priests who have weakness, but the word of the oath which came later than the Law appoints a Son who is perfect forever” (v. 28).
“They served a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, but He is the Mediator and Priest of a new and better covenant” (Heb. 8:5–6). “Every year they entered the Holy of Holies made by hands” (Heb. 9:7), “but Christ has entered not into a sanctuary made with hands but into heaven itself ” (v. 24). “Nor was it to offer up Himself repeatedly, as the high priest entered the holy place every year with blood not his own” (v. 25); “rather, He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to destroy sin by the sacrifice of Himself ” (v. 26).
“They ministered daily and repeatedly offered the same sacrifices, which could never take away sins” (Heb. 10:11). “However, He offered a single sacrifice for sins” (v. 12) and “by a single oblation forever brought to consummation those who are to be sanctified” (v. 14). “They [entered] through the blood of goats and calves, but He entered the Holy of Holies once for all through His own blood and secured an eternal redemption” (Heb. 9:12).