Leviticus 8:9

Lev 8:9. The holy crown — The crown signified the dignity of the high- priest, and its being termed holy, the sanctity of his person and office. Thus he was a type of Christ, crowned with glory and honour, perfectly holy, and consecrated for evermore.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8:9 The turban worn by the high priest was made of linen and was distinct from the headdresses of the common priests (Exod 28:40). The gold medallion was suspended from the turban and bore an inscription that read, “Holy to the Lord” (Exod 28:36). With the names of the tribes on his shoulders and over his heart and the dedication to the Lord on his forehead, the high priest was clearly marked as the people’s representative to God and God’s representative to the people. In this mediating role, the high priest modeled the standard for all priests.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

So called, because this superscription, Holiness to the Lord, was graven in it.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 9. And he put the mitre] See Clarke on Ex 28:36.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(9) And he put the mitre.—See Exo_28:36-38.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9. the mitre] turban as R.V. mg. Heb. miẓnépheth in Lev. here and Lev_16:4 (the linen mitre) only: in Exod. (in the cognate passages) Exo_28:4; Exo_28:37; Exo_28:39, Exo_29:6, Exo_39:28; Exo_39:31. It was made of fine linen; tradition describes it as 24 ft. long, so it was probably wound round the head like a turban. Besides the passages quoted, where it denotes the headdress of the high priest, it occurs only in Eze_21:26 (Heb. 31). (mitre R.V., diadem A.V.). Another word (ẓânîph) from the same root occurs Isa_62:3 (Ḳ’ri), translated ‘diadem,’ in parallelism with the common Heb. word for ‘crown’; and in Zec_3:5 with reference to the high priest Joshua. It is strange that ẓânîph should be used in the Zechariah passage to denote a mitre for the high priest, if miẓnépheth were already the technical term used for that portion of his attire.

Josephus (Ant. iii. 7. 6) says that the high priest’s mitre was like that of all the other priests, but another word is used (see Lev_8:13) for the head-dress of Aaron’s sons. He describes fully another mitre with a triple golden crown. This was probably an ornament added in later times. Alexander Balas sent a purple robe and a crown of gold to Jonathan which he wore at the Feast of Tabernacles b.c. 153 (1Ma_10:20). This may be the crown described by Josephus.

upon the mitre, in front] In A.V. ‘upon his forefront,’ ‘his’ refers to the mitre and in modern English would be ‘its.’

the golden plate, the holy crown] The golden plate is described Exo_28:36-37. The Heb. word (ẓîẓ), translated ‘plate,’ implies something bright and glittering, and is elsewhere used of a flower. The plate was fastened by its lace of blue to the turban (Exo_28:37, Exo_39:31) and would appear as an ornament or diadem in the headgear of the high priest. It is called ‘the holy crown’ in Exo_29:6, and here both names are given to it. The same combination occurs in Exo_39:30 where the English ‘the plate of the holy crown of pure gold’ conveys the impression that the ‘plate’ and the ‘crown’ are different instead of synonymous.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And he put the mitre upon his head,.... Which was made of fine linen, and was a wrap of that of a considerable length about his head, Exo 28:39.

also upon the mitre, even upon his forefront, did he put the golden plate; which was put upon the forehead of the high priest, reaching from ear to ear, and was fastened to the mitre with a blue lace, and had on it this inscription, "holiness to the Lord": Exo 28:36 and is here therefore called

the holy crown: denoting both the sanctity and the dignity of the high priest, and typical of Christ, who is holiness itself, and to his people, and is now crowned with glory and honour, being a priest upon the throne: hence the Jews (u) speak of the crown of the law, and of the crown of the kingdom, and of the crown of the priesthood: and this, as all the rest, was done

as the Lord commanded Moses; all these were made according to the divine order, and were put on in the manner and form he directed him; of the mystery of the mitre and the crown; see Gill on Exo 28:39, Exo 28:36, Exo 28:37.

(u) Pirke Abot, c. 4. sect. 13.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Sanctification. Having these words engraven on it, Holiness to the Lord.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

This here added, either because Nadab and Abihu had been led to their error by drinking too much, which might easily fall out when they were feasting and full of joy for their entrance into so honourable and profitable an employment; or at least because others might thereby be drawn to commit the same miscarriages, which they might now commit from other causes. Drunkenness is so odious a sin in itself, especially a minister, and most of all in the time of his administration of sacred things, that God saw fit to prevent all occasions of it. And hence the devil, who is God’s ape in his prescriptions for his worship, required this abstinence from his priests in their idolatrous service.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

9. The mitre — This was a turban, since its Hebrew name is from a verb signifying to wind about. This was a very splendid head-covering, worn only by pontiffs and kings, (Eze_21:26,) as an emblem of dignity, styled in Sir_45:12, “an ornament of honour, a costly work, the desire of the eyes.”

The holy crown — It was called holy because it had the tetragrammaton — the four-lettered Hebrew word for Jehovah — inscribed upon it. Exo_28:36. It was of fine linen, with a fillet of blue lace, symbolizing heaven, and over it a golden diadem, “on which,”

says Josephus, “blossomed a golden calyx like the flower of the henbane.” The engraved golden plate was a gold band, two fingers broad, tied behind with blue lace embroidered with flowers. It bore the inscription, HOLINESS TO THE LORD.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

וישם על המצנפת UPON THE MITRE … DID HE PUT [THE GOLDEN PLATE] — Threads of blue purple that were: fastened on the Plate he put over the mitre, consequently the Plate hung from the mitre mid would be “against his face” (upon his forehead) as stated here (cf. Rashi on Exodus 28:37).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.