Rabbi Ḥanina and Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, colleagues of the Rabbis, said: Why does the High Priest serve with eight vestments? It corresponds to circumcision, which is at eight days. That is what is written: “My covenant was with him, life and peace (Malachi 2:5). Rabbi Simon said in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua: Why does the High Priest not enter with the golden vestments?
It is because a prosecutor does not become an advocate, so as not to afford the accuser a pretext to prosecute and say: Yesterday, they crafted golden gods, and now they are seeking to serve in golden vestments?28The High Priest would not enter the Holy of Holies in his regular vestments because they contained gold, which could be reminiscent of the sin of the golden calf. Rabbi Yehoshua of Sikhnin says in the name of Rabbi Levi: It is in order to spare the money of Israel.29The garments worn by the High Priest in the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur would not be used again (see below, section 12).
Rabbi Levi said: It is because [of the need to avoid] arrogance, as in [the verse]: “Do not glorify yourself before a king” (Proverbs 25:6).