Fontanini - Adam - Priest figure

5” Adam the High Priest.
The early morning sun illuminated the Temple’s walls with a brilliant glow. Adam, the High Preist walked through the courtyards and into the Sactuary, noting with pleasure the priests preparing for the day’s rituals. Jews from every corner of Judea traveled to the Temple to ask the priests to perform special ceremonies, and each day the Temple must be ready to receive the multitudes of visitors. “Excellent!” Adam thought. “We are ready to carry out the duties prescibed by God for the benefit of all our peolple.”

The priests who ministered to the visiting Jews were dressed in simple garb. A white linen tunic, simple belt, and tall white headdress gave the priests an air of authority. Each morning Adam donned the same garments with additional vestments to denote his station. Over the white robe he slipped on a blue sleeveless tunic hemmed with golden bells, the the ephod, a brightly colored and patterned apron. Atop these garments he arranged a magnificient breastplate, inlaid with tweleve precious stones to represent the twleve tribes of Israel. The breastplate contained a pocket which held the lots that the High Priest used to divine God’s will. finally he positioned the traditional white linen priest’s cap on his head, but his was overlaid with a golden plate inscribed “Holy the the Lord.”

Adam watched as the penitents entered the Temple court and the priests offered them the services they sought: performing rituals, burning incense, and pronouncing blessings. As the High Priest, Adam’s duties varied from the daily rountine of the others. He alone held the responsibility of representing God to His people, and also the people to God. Through prayer, he divined God’s will and gave it to the people. And as the leader of the Jews, he attended to their needs by interceding for them with the political forces of Rome.

On the most solemn holiday of the year, the Day of Atonement, the Hight Priest was the only one who could enter the Holy of Holies. To enter the Temple’s inner sanctum was to encounter the presence of God and ask forgiveness for the people’s sins. Looking at the Jews who filled the Temple, Adam remarked to himself, “This responsibility I gladly accept, for to represent my people before the Lord is truly an honor.”