Although Hebrews 5 also describes how Jesus Christ is the ultimate high priest for humankind, the first few verses go back and review some key points about high priests in the Jewish faith.
Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people. And no one takes this honor on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was.
Hebrews 5:1-4 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/heb.5.1-4.NIV
These verses might not speak to us as directly as they would to their original audience (who we believe was predominately Jewish), especially if we don’t practice a faith that requires priests and a high priest to intercede for us with God in the way that those descended from Aaron did. (We could study 1 Peter 2:9-10 about how followers of Jesus are a priesthood, but even with that, we cannot replace Jesus as our great high priest.) Still, I think that we can learn more about the role of the high priest under the law given by Moses, based on what we can read in the Bible, and maybe from other faith traditions that we have been exposed to. Let’s run through some key elements here, although not necessarily in the order that they are written in this chapter:
A high priest represented a group of people. The Jewish high priest represented the Jewish people. Unlike a diplomat or an ambassador, though, or even a torchbearer at the Olympic Games, this wasn’t a diplomatic post. The high priest represented people to God, which I think is the most significant element of the priestly role. Although Jewish high priests were human beings, the role of priest is a spiritual one.
A high priest was selected from the group that was being represented. The Israelites weren’t to go out and get a high priest from some other nation. The high priest was a representative of a particular group, and it makes sense that he would be part of the group he was representing.
A high priest offered “gifts and sacrifices”. Under the Mosaic covenant, the people could bring sacrifices to the temple, but it seems that the priests were the ones doing the sacrificing on the people’s behalf. And, once a year, the high priest would bring blood from a sacrifice into the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement (see Leviticus 16). What the high priest offered for the people wasn’t just arbitrary, though: this passage mentions what he offers “for sins”.
Previous high priests, though, had a problem in that they were also sinners. So, they had to offer a sacrifice for themselves, before they could make atonement for the people. However, similar to how we find priests in some faith traditions today serving as counselors, a high priest could help those who were falling into sin (whether or not those sinning knew it). And, this teaching or guidance didn’t have to be harsh: it was one sinner telling another sinner what he had learned about how to be more righteous. Perhaps the sacrifice for the high priest’s own sin on the Day of Atonement served as a witness to the Israelite people that even their high priest was not perfectly holy like God is.
And, in verse 4, the author reminds us that God determined who would be high priest. Given the opportunity, the people at Mount Sinai might not have all “voted” for Moses, kind of like King David’s dad Jesse didn’t present David as a potential candidate for king of Israel at first. God knows what is best, though, and all authority comes from Him (see Romans 13:1-7). So, for these really important choices, He made the call. (By the way, the same should be true today. The church’s leadership must seek God’s will for what to do next, even if that means discarding some of their own ideas. We should pray for our church leaders to be led by God – and God alone.)
I encourage you to read the rest of Hebrews 5 today and consider, 1) what Jesus had in common with high priests descended from Aaron, 2) how Jesus was different from those high priests, and 3) where Jesus surpassed what the previous high priests could accomplish. Then, let’s look further at these ideas in the next article.
From Sunday School lesson prepared for February 8, 2026
References:
- Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
- The College Press NIV Commentary – Hebrews, by Jim Girdwood and Peter Verkruyse. © 1997 College Press Publishing Co.
