Leviticus 16 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Leviticus 16

The Day of Atonement

16:1 The LORD spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the LORD and died, 2 and the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. 3 But in this way Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: with a bull from the herd for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. 4 He shall put on the holy linen coat and shall have the linen undergarment on his body, and he shall tie the linen sash around his waist, and wear the linen turban; these are the holy garments. He shall bathe his body in water and then put them on. 5 And he shall take from the congregation of the people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.

6 “Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. 7 Then he shall take the two goats and set them before the LORD at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 8 And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the LORD and the other lot for Azazel.¹ 9 And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the LORD and use it as a sin offering, 10 but the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the LORD to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel.

11 “Aaron shall present the bull as a sin offering for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. He shall kill the bull as a sin offering for himself. 12 And he shall take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the LORD, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and he shall bring it inside the veil 13 and put the incense on the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is over the testimony, so that he does not die. 14 And he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat on the east side, and in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.

15 “Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it over the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat. 16 Thus he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins. And so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleannesses. 17 No one may be in the tent of meeting from the time he enters to make atonement in the Holy Place until he comes out and has made atonement for himself and for his house and for all the assembly of Israel. 18 Then he shall go out to the altar that is before the LORD and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar all around. 19 And he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it and consecrate it from the uncleannesses of the people of Israel.

20 “And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat. 21 And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. 22 The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness.

23 “Then Aaron shall come into the tent of meeting and shall take off the linen garments that he put on when he went into the Holy Place and shall leave them there. 24 And he shall bathe his body in water in a holy place and put on his garments and come out and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people and make atonement for himself and for the people. 25 And the fat of the sin offering he shall burn on the altar. 26 And he who lets the goat go to Azazel shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. 27 And the bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be carried outside the camp. Their skin and their flesh and their dung shall be burned up with fire. 28 And he who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp.

29 “And it shall be a statute to you forever that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict yourselves² and shall do no work, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you. 30 For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the LORD from all your sins. 31 It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you shall afflict yourselves; it is a statute forever. 32 And the priest who is anointed and consecrated as priest in his father’s place shall make atonement, wearing the holy linen garments. 33 He shall make atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for the altar, and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. 34 And this shall be a statute forever for you, that atonement may be made for the people of Israel once in the year because of all their sins.” And Aaron³ did as the LORD commanded Moses.

Footnotes

[1] 16:8 The meaning of Azazel is uncertain; possibly the name of a place or a demon, traditionally a scapegoat; also verses 10, 26
[2] 16:29 Or shall fast; also verse 31
[3] 16:34 Hebrew he

Commentary

v1: The message of mercy; access to God was still possible, although still on God's terms.

v2-3: Even the High Priest could not enter the Most Holy Place at simply any time. He had to come at a specific time, and with a sacrifice. This was the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur).

v4: The High Priest had to wear holy linen garments for the offering of atonement; the garments were not put on until after the sin offering was killed (v24). These were simple (ie: humble) garments, not glorious priestly garments which he wears elsewhere.

v5: Mysteriously, the two goats are one sin offering, representing different elements of the same sacrifice. And Jesus fulfils both elements, as his blood is offered to God on our behalf, Heb 9.7, and He carries away our sins, Heb 9.28..

v1-5: provide a summary of this whole chapter. The Day of Atonement is essentiallly the central moment of the Pentateuch.

v12-13: Incense was offered on the altar; see Ex 30.34-38. Even the High Priest had to make an offering for himself "lest he die", see v 6,11,17. Even the best of men are only men at best.

Phil Moore (Straight to the heart of Revelation, p112) comments that the fire from the bronze altar was to be used to burn the incense. 'Jesus wants to make sure that we do not treat prayer as a work of the flesh, trying to win something from God through our own efforts and self-exertions.'

v16: There were offerings for all the uncleanness of the Israelites and all their sins. The people remained sinful, and the Most Holy Place itself was effectively contaminated, even after their sacrifices. There is sacrifice for the tabernacle itself, after the death of Nadab and Abihu (chapter 10). This immediate issue had to be addressed, together with the perennial uncleanness of the people; hence the annual sacrifice. Further, the repetition of the sacrifices was indication of its inefficacy (Heb 10.1-4).

The verse says that the Tabernacle was "in the midst of their uncleanness." Here is a striking contrast, of pure and unclean so close together; yet here too is the provision for God's people to be clean.

v17: No man was to be present in the Tabernacle, except the High Priest; all of the sins of the nation wee his responsibility. Christ suffered alone, and entered the Most Holy Place alone for us (Heb 9.12); although He died in the midst of the people, what He did was hidden from them.

v18-19: Even the altar for sacrifices had to be purified from the uncleanness of the people. The blood of a goat was sprinkled over the death in the tabernacle. The physical space had to be made clean to facilitate God meeting with His people.

v20-22: The scapegoat (also v10, and 14.53). This teaches separation from sins. The goat would bear away all the people's sins. This points clearly to Christ, who bore away our sins in His own body.

The scapegoat became a public spectacle; as in Col 2.15, Christ made a public spectacle of psiritual rulers and authorities.

This is the only place where 'both hands' are laid on the recipient. The sins of the people are transferred to the goat. Azazel refers to the god of the wilderness, ie: satan.

v26-28: Men appointed to take outside the camp the scapegoat, and to remove and burn the remainder of the offerings, were also unclean, and had to wash, and to remain outside the camp for the rest of the day.

v29-34: The Day of Atonement was the important day, at the end of the year. On this day, there was cleansing from all the people's sins.

It seems the offering of blood offering provided forgiveness. The scapegoat made the consciences of the people from free personal guilt, symbolically the goat took away their sins.

Tradition has it that, when the goat was finally released, this was communicated to the worshippers; ‘the goat has borne upon him all their iniquities into a land not inhabited’ (Alfred Edersheim, The Temple, its Ministry and Services)