Leviticus 16:17 Commentary - Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

(17) And there shall be no man.—Whilst the high priest was performing this process of cleansing, no one, whether priest or Israelite, was permitted to be present, thus precluding the possibility of anyone being within the precincts who had unwittingly contracted defilement. The fact that the high priest was thus alone in the sanctuary, with no one to see how he conducted the ritual, gave rise to the practice of his being sworn, on the eve of the Day of Atonement, by the chief priests and the elders of the Sanhedrin that he would make no change whatever in the traditional ceremonies of the day, as follows :—“We adjure thee, by Him who hath caused His name to dwell in this house, that thou shalt not alter anything of all that we do say unto thee.” This had especial reference to the points at issue between the Pharisees and Sadducees, as some of the high priests held the Sadducaic views. (See Lev. 16:2.)