Leviticus 16:3

Hebrew Bible

3 “In this way Aaron is to enter into the sanctuary—with a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. 4 He must put on a holy linen tunic, linen leggings are to cover his body, and he is to wrap himself with a linen sash and wrap his head with a linen turban. They are holy garments, so he must bathe his body in water and put them on. 5 He must also take two male goats from the congregation of the Israelites for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering.

Ezekiel 9:2

Hebrew Bible

1 Then he shouted in my ears, “Approach, you who are to visit destruction on the city, each with his destructive weapon in his hand!” 2 Next I noticed six men coming from the direction of the upper gate that faces north, each with his war club in his hand. Among them was a man dressed in linen with a writing kit at his side. They came and stood beside the bronze altar. 3 Then the glory of the God of Israel went up from the cherub where it had rested to the threshold of the temple. He called to the man dressed in linen who had the writing kit at his side.

 Notes and References

"... Important to note here is that the typological pattern identified by Morales can elucidate Aaron’s post requisite washing: as the high priest ritually “descends” from the [innermost sanctuary] he must pass back through the waters in order to rejoin the mundane sphere of normal existence. Providing further support to this conceptual parallel are the clothes Aaron was to dress in when entering his marginal state. The prescribed garments were not his normal attire (compare Exodus 28). Rather, Aaron was to dress in “linen clothes” (16:23); more specifically, in linen “tunic”, “undergarment”, “sash”, and “turban” (16:4). The wearing of such unusually plain clothing is often understood to signify association with the people, humility, or repentance. However, other nuances are also possible. Keil, followed by others, notes that linen clothing in the Old Testament is often associated with angelic beings and the divine court (e.g., Ezekiel 9:2–3, 11; Daniel 5:5; 7:6–7). Thus, Aaron’s unique clothing may signify, in a manner similar to his ceremonial passing through the waters, his “ascent” into the “other world” of the most holy place. Support for such a reading is found in 1QSb 4:25, which describes the high priest as the “angel” of the inner shrine in heaven ..."

Harper, G. Geoffrey "I Will Walk among You": The Rhetorical Function of Allusion to Genesis 1-3 in the Book of Leviticus (pp. 244-245) Eisenbrauns, 2018

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