Bible, History, Archaeology
Bible,
History,
Archaeology
The high priest
To view the High Priest painting, click on the image below.
At the same time, the people received the Tabernacle, a priestly body worthy of YHWH.
The four colors of clothing, opposite: blue, red (scarlet like blood), purple and white.
Aaron and his sons were appointed to the priesthood, a hereditary office reserved for the family of Aaron, descendant of Levi, son of Jacob. All Aaron's sons, free from bodily defect, were priests.
The priests (Cohen) had three essential duties:
1 - Serving YHWH in the sanctuary.
2 - Teaching the Law to the people.
3 - Consult YHWH for the people, by means of the Urim and Thumin (Lights and Perfections), of which we don't know exactly what they consisted (Exodus 28,30).
Differences between the priest (cohen) and the high priest: in terms of clothing, the simple priest wore only four garments: breeches, a tunic, a tiara and a belt, whereas the Cohen Gadol wore, in addition to these four garments, four other accessories such as the pectoral, the apron, the indigo tunic and a kind of diadem (the golden blade).
Concerning the purple hue, one of the four colors of the high priest's garment
«Dyes were obtained from the murex shell (Murex brandaris, Murex Trunculus, Purpura haemastoma) from the shores of the Mediterranean. While still alive, a greenish-yellowish secretion is extracted from its gastropod glands, which turns blue (the biblical “purplish red”), black and red in sunlight. By adding plant pigments to the extract, a purple color is obtained. The dye is then treated in brine and cooked, then a mordant (a fixing substance) is added to prevent the dye from bleeding or fading. Only then are the wool skeins immersed in the dye and left to soak for several hours». (Eilat. Encyclopaedia Biblica, vol. VIII; 544 (in Hebrew).
A «murex» shell, 7.5 cm x 4 cm, living off the Phoenician coast.
This word is directly borrowed from the Latin word «murex».
A gastropod mollusc from which we extracted the purple :
a kind of purplish red, a rare and precious color,
reserved for kings and members of their families.
This was the color of the high priest's vestments.
Public domain.
Below: a general 3d view of the Tabernacle in the desert. In the background, traditional Mount Horeb. Oliver Denker 1790031161.
