Leviticus 16:1-34
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the LORD, and died;
2 And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the vail before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat.
3 Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering.
4 He shall put on the holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh, and shall be girded with a linen girdle, and with the linen mitre shall he be attired: these are holy garments; therefore shall he wash his flesh in water, and so put them on.
5 And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.
6 And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house.
7 And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
8 And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat.a
9 And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD'S lot fell,b and offer him for a sin offering.
10 But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.
11 And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make an atonement for himself, and for his house, and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself:
12 And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the LORD, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the vail:
13 And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not:
14 And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times.
15 Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat:
16 And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remainethc among them in the midst of their uncleanness.
17 And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place, until he come out, and have made an atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel.
18 And he shall go out unto the altar that is before the LORD, and make an atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about.
19 And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.
20 And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat:
21 And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fitd man into the wilderness:
22 And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.
23 And Aaron shall come into the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall put off the linen garments, which he put on when he went into the holy place, and shall leave them there:
24 And he shall wash his flesh with water in the holy place, and put on his garments, and come forth, and offer his burnt offering, and the burnt offering of the people, and make an atonement for himself, and for the people.
25 And the fat of the sin offering shall he burn upon the altar.
26 And he that let go the goat for the scapegoat shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward come into the camp.
27 And the bullock for the sin offering, and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall one carry forth without the camp; and they shall burn in the fire their skins, and their flesh, and their dung.
28 And he that burneth them shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp.
29 And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you:
30 For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD.
31 It shall be a sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever.
32 And the priest, whom he shall anoint, and whom he shall consecratee to minister in the priest's office in his father's stead, shall make the atonement, and shall put on the linen clothes, even the holy garments:
33 And he shall make an atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make an atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar, and he shall make an atonement for the priests, and for all the people of the congregation.
34 And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year. And he did as the LORD commanded Moses.
Leviticus 16:3. A young bullock and a ram. It appears from Numbers 28:29, that seven lambs and a he-goat were added to the sacrifice, and perhaps a thousand victims from individuals.
Leviticus 16:4. The holy linen coat. Herodotus, in Euterpe, says that the Egyptian priests are clothed with a linen robe only, and wear shoes made of papier wood.
Leviticus 16:8. The other lot for a scape-goat. עזאזל Azazel, from Az, a goat, and zail, he went; referring to the goat sent away to the desert. So Buxtorf. Other critics would turn the words, “The other lot for the goat sent to the mount of Azazail.” In later times the Jews sent the goat to a rock, from which it was precipitated and killed; but we know of no such name for that rock or mount, nor does it appear to have been known to Moses. Vatablus supposed the mount to be near mount Sinai. The chief difficulty lies at the 26th verse, where the word occurs twice. Let the goat go for a scape-goat; the literal reading is here preferred by many Let Azazail go for a scape-goat.
Leviticus 16:14. With his finger. Seven times he sprinkled upon the covering or mercy-seat, and seven times upon the pavement before the mercy-seat. It is remarkable that our Saviour bled seven times for us. His head was crowned with thorns, his back was scourged, his hands and feet were nailed to the cross, and his side pierced for our redemption. It is equally remarkable that the holy scriptures give us a sevenfold view of the atonement for all mankind, even as these victims bled for the whole nation of the Jews.
(1) Christ is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.
(2) He is our vicarious sacrifice, having suffered the just for the unjust.
(3) He is the propitiation, or mercy-seat sprinkled with blood, for the sins of the whole world.
(4) We are redeemed with his most precious blood, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot.
(5) He is our peace, having made peace by the blood of the cross.
(6) He is the fountain in which the house of David, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the gentile hosts might wash their garments, and make them white as snow.
(7) In a word, he shed the blood of the covenant, which makes all its blessings forever our own. See Hebrews 9.
Leviticus 16:17. There shall be no man in the tabernacle. The highpriest might enter there, and that about four times in the year: for there is only one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.
Leviticus 16:21. Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over him the iniquities of Israel. Herodotus, who travelled in Egypt, says in Euterpe, “When the Egyptians had carefully examined a bull to see that he had no defect, then they led him before the altar, and poured wine on the fire. After slaughtering the victim, they cut off his head and burned the body; and having loaded the head with maledictions, they took it to the market to sell it to the Greeks; but if they found no market with foreigners, then they threw the head into the river.” This custom has a striking resemblance to the scape-goat of the Hebrews.
Leviticus 16:29. On the tenth day of the month ye shall afflict your souls. This is the day, says Maimonides, in which Moses descended from the mount with the second two tables in his hand, and announced to the people the pardon of their sins. On this account it is chosen as a hallowed day of repentance and devotion. This is equally admonitory to the christian church: we should review our errors, and confess our sins to the Lord.
REFLECTIONS.
The day that Moses descended from the mount, and obtained a pardon for the revolted nation, when they had sinned in worshipping the molten calf, was annually observed as a day of national atonement. Seven days before the arrival of this great day, the highpriest retired to his chamber, and began to sanctify his person. Each of these seven days he officiated at the altar, inuring himself to the sacred service. The festival was observed with the greatest solemnity; every one was enjoined to abstain from meat and labour, under the penalty of excommunication.
The highpriest thus purified, put off his splendid costume; and putting on white robes, proceeded to the sacred duties of the day. This was to offer a bullock for a sin-offering, and a ram for a burnt-offering, that his own sins might be expiated before he dared to approach the Lord in behalf of the nation. In these preparatory oblations, we see the superior glory of Christ, who laid aside his robes of glory and majesty; and being arrayed in innocence, proceeded to make atonement for our transgressions. Sinners also may learn hence to approach the Lord, not in the splendid fashions of the day, but in humility of heart, and with penitential confessions of sin. Then it is that our great Highpriest enters into the heavens by his own blood, covers the throne of God with a cloud of incense, and pleads the atonement of his death for the pardon of our transgressions.
The second scene of this august festival was, the two young goats presented at the door of the tabernacle in behalf of the people. That for the altar was not accepted by choice, but determined by lot. This should teach sinners, that they are not accepted of God for any worthiness of their own, but conformably to the grace and covenant of God. The priest next took the other goat, and laying his hand on its head he confessed over it, in a most solemn and devotional way, the sins of the nation; and then tying a scarlet bandage round its horns, he sent it to the desert. In later times it was sent to a promontory about twelve miles from Jerusalem: and being pushed from the summit of the rock, was dashed in pieces by the fall. Men were arranged at different distances, with white clothes, to give the signal one to another when the goat had arrived in the desert. Hence, in less than a minute, by this ancient kind of telegraph, the penitent nation were apprized of the arrival of the animal in the wilderness. In these goats we see again a most significant figure of the propitiation made by Jesus Christ for sin. See him, like the first goat, endure part of his sufferings in Jerusalem, and the other part on the rock of Calvary. Behold him red in his apparel, as the goat with the scarlet thread; but it was that our sins, whose tints are deep like scarlet and crimson, might be white as snow; it was that our sins might be buried in his grave, and be remembered no more for ever.
Oh Lord, open thou mine eyes, to behold wonderful things out of thy law. Let me see in all these victims, laden with iniquity and dying for sin, the love of my Redeemer, who bare our sins in his own body on the tree. Let me see in the hallowed altar smoking with victims, in the censer covering the mercy-seat with a cloud of perfumes; let me see in the spotless person of this priest, the more glorious person of Christ, atoning by his death, pleading by his merit, and giving me, a sinner, boldness of access by the richest invitations of his love. In the millions of Israel and of the proselytes let me see the converted multitudes, waiting in thy courts for acceptance, and an entrance into the holy of holies, which was denied them while on earth. Let me see in the victim dragged into the desert, the joyful tidings of the Messiah crucified, and then carried to the gentile world. Let many nations be sprinkled with his blood, and let Ethiopia soon stretch out her hands to God.