A Priest, a Levite, and an Officer,
from the History of Costume

Priests and High Priests

Priests were descendants of Aaron whose job was to offer sacrifices and represented the people to God.

Since Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice, there are no more sacrifices for sin needed. When we trust in Christ, we have direct access to God, so each of us is a priest (1 Peter 2: 9; Revelation 1: 6).

High Priest: Aaron, Moses' brother, was the first high priest.

Originally, the office was hereditary and the person held it for life. Their most important duty was to enter the Holy of Holies once a year on the Day of Atonement, to offer sacrifices for the sins of whole nation.

They were also the head of the Sanhedrin, which was like a Jewish Supreme Court. By the time Jesus was doing his public ministry, Herod or the Roman official in charge appointed the high priest.

It had become a political appointment. They would choose someone they thought would cooperate with them, and appoint someone else whenever they thought it was convenient.

The Jews still had the mindset that this was a lifetime position, so, for instance, even though Caiaphas succeeded Annas as high priest, Luke 3: 2 refers to both Annas and Caiaphas as high priests at Jesus' trial.