Yahweh spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they came near before Yahweh, and died;
Parallel Translations
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Yahweh spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they came near before Yahweh, and died;
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And the LORD spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the LORD, and died;
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And the LORD spoke unto Moses, after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the LORD, and died;
Cross-references (1)
Passages linked to Leviticus 16:1 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Leviticus 10:1-2 Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer, and put fire in it, and laid incense on it, and offered strange fire before Yahweh, which he had not commanded them. Fire came out from before Yahweh, and devoured them, and they died before Yahweh.
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Lev 16:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses after…
Lev 16:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the LORD, and died;
Ver. 1. After the death.] That others might be warned. Lege historiam, ne fias historia, saith one.
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When they offered before the Lord.] A little strange fire might seem a small matter in the eyes of indifferency: and yet it was such a sin as made all Israel guilty, as appears by the sacrifices offered for that sin, set down in this chapter.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain Here is, I. The date of this law concerning…
Here is, I. The date of this law concerning the day of atonement: it was after the death of the two sons of Aaron (Lev 16:1), which we read, Lev 10:1. 1. Lest Aaron should fear that any remaining guilt of that sin should cleave to his family, or (seeing the priests were so apt to offend) that some after-sin of his other sons should be the ruin of his family, he is directed how to make atonement for his house, that it might keep in with God; for the atonement for it would be the establishment of it, and preserve the entail of the blessing upon it. 2. The priests being warned by the death of Nadab and Abihu to approach to God with reverence and godly fear (without which they came at their peril), directions are here given how the nearest approach might be made, not only without peril, but to unspeakable advantage and comfort, if the directions were observed. When they were cut off for an undue approach, the rest must not say, "Then we will not draw near at all," but, "Then we will do it by rule." They died for their sin, therefore God graciously provides for the rest, that they die not. Thus God's judgments on some should be instructions to others.
II. The design of this law. One intention of it was to preserve a veneration for the most holy place, within the veil, where the shechinah, or divine glory, was pleased to dwell between the cherubim: Speak unto Aaron, that he come not at all times into the holy place, Lev 16:2. Before the veil some of the priests came every day to burn incense upon the golden altar, but within the veil none must ever come but the high priest only, and he but on one day in the year, and with great ceremony and caution. That place where God manifested his special presence must not be made common. If none must come into the presence-chamber of an earthly king uncalled, no, not the queen herself, upon pain of death (Est 4:11), was it not requisite that the same sacred respect should be paid to the Kings of kings? But see what a blessed change is made by the gospel of Christ; all good Christians have now boldness to enter into the holiest, through the veil, every day (Heb 10:19, Heb 10:20); and we come boldly (not as Aaron must, with fear and trembling) to the throne of grace, or mercy-seat, Heb 4:16. While the manifestations of God's presence and grace were sensible, it was requisite that they should thus be confined and upon reserve, because the objects of sense the more familiar they are made the less awful or delightful they become; but now that they are purely spiritual it is otherwise, for the objects of faith the more they are conversed with the more do they manifest of their greatness and goodness: now therefore we are welcome to come at all times into the holy place not made with hands, for we are made to sit together with Christ in heavenly places by faith, Eph 2:6. Then Aaron must not come near at all times, lest he die; we now must come near at all times that we may live: it is distance only that is our death. Then God appeared in the cloud upon the mercy-seat, but now with open face we behold, not in a dark cloud, but in a clear glass, the glory of the Lord, Co2 3:18.
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III. The person to whom the work of this day was committed, and that was the high priest only: Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place, Lev 16:3. He was to do all himself upon the day of atonement: only there was a second provided to be his substitute or supporter, in case any thing should befal him, either of sickness or ceremonial uncleanness, that he could not perform the service of the day. All Christians are spiritual priests, but Christ only is the high priest, and he alone it is that makes atonement, nor needed he either assistant or substitute.
IV. The attire of the high priest in this service. He was not to be dressed up in his rich garments that were peculiar to himself: he was not to put on the ephod, with the precious stones in it, but only the linen clothes which he wore in common with the inferior priests, Lev 16:4. That meaner dress did best become him on this day of humiliation; and, being thinner and lighter, he would in it be more expedite for the work or service of the day, which was all to go through his hands. Christ, our high priest, made atonement for sin in our nature; not in the robes of his own peculiar glory, but the linen garments of our mortality, clean indeed, but mean.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And the Lord spake unto Moses, after the death…
And the Lord spake unto Moses, after the death of the two sons of Aaron,.... That is, either immediately after their death, and so this chapter would have stood in its natural order next to the tenth; or else after the above laws concerning uncleanness on various accounts were delivered out, designed to prevent the people entering into the tabernacle defiled, whereby they would have incurred the penalty of death; wherefore, as Aben Ezra observes, after the Lord had given cautions to the Israelites, that they might not die, he bid Moses to caution Aaron also, that he might not die as his sons died; these were Nadab and Abihu:
when they offered before the Lord, and died; offered strange fire, and died by flaming fire, as the Targum of Jonathan; or fire sent down from heaven, as Gersom, by lightning; see Lev 10:1.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain The institution of the yearly day of atonement for…
The institution of the yearly day of atonement for the whole nation. The whole service is committed to the high-priest, who is,
1. Then only to come into the holy of holies, in his linen garments with a young bullock, ver. 1-4.
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2. To offer a goat, and a bullock for a sin-offering, ver. 5-13.
3. To sprinkle the blood before the mercy seat, and upon the altar, ver. 13-19.
4. To confess over the scape-goat, the sins of the people, and then send him into the wilderness, ver. 20-23.
5. To offer the burnt-offerings, ver. 24-28. And,
6. To appoint this day to be a solemn fast, by a statute forever, ver. 29-34.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain The solemn yearly expiation for the high priest, who…
CHAPTER XVI
The solemn yearly expiation for the high priest, who must not
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come at all times into the holy place, 1, 2.
He must take a bullock for a sin-offering, and a ram for a
burnt-offering, bathe himself, and be dressed in his sacerdotal
robes, 3, 4.
He shall take two goats, one of which is to be determined by
lot to be a sacrifice; the other to be a scapegoat, 5-10.
He shall offer a bullock for himself and for his family, 11-14.
And shall kill the goat as a sin-offering for the people, and
sprinkle its blood upon the mercy-seat, and hallow the altar of
burnt-offerings, 15-19.
The scapegoat shall be then brought, on the head of which he
shall lay his hands, and confess the iniquities of the children
of Israel; after which the goat shall be permitted to escape to
the wilderness, 20-22.
After this Aaron shall bathe himself, and make a burnt-offering
for himself and for the people, 23-28.
This is to be an everlasting statute, and the day on which the
atonement is to be made shall be a Sabbath, or day of rest,
through all their generations, 29-34.
NOTES ON CHAP. XVI
Verse 1. After the death of the two sons of Aaron] It appears from this verse that the natural place of this chapter is immediately after the tenth, where probably it originally stood; but the transposition, if it did take place, must be very ancient, as all the versions acknowledge this chapter in the place in which it now stands.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Lev 16:1. This chapter would naturally have followed the…
Lev 16:1. This chapter would naturally have followed the tenth, where the death of Aaron’s sons is related, if that event had not given occasion for declaring the forementioned laws about those uncleannesses that disqualified an Israelite for approaching the sanctuary.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The reference to the death of Nadab and Abihu…
The reference to the death of Nadab and Abihu is a notice of the occasion on which the instructions were given, well calculated to add point and emphasis to the solemn admonition to the high priest in the second verse. The death of his sons Lev 10:2, for drawing near to Yahweh in an unauthorized manner, was to serve as a warning to Aaron himself never to transgress in this respect.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Fire. It was upon this occasion that the feast…
Fire. It was upon this occasion that the feast of expiation (kippurim) was instituted, to enforce the reverence due to holy things, and particularly to the tabernacle. Hebrew adds, "before the Lord," (Haydock) and does not specify strange fire; but the Chaldean and the Syriac do. (Calmet)
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).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain “The Annual, Universal, National Feast of Purification. The Great…
PART FOURTH. THE DAY OF ATONEMENT
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“The Annual, Universal, National Feast of Purification. The Great Day of Atonement, and the Great Propitiation.”—Lange
Lev_16:1-34
1And the Lord spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when 2they offered1 before the Lord, and died; 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 3appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat. Thus [With this2] shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering. 4He shall put on the [a3] holy linen coat, and he shall have the [omit the3] linen breeches upon his flesh, and shall be girded with a linen girdle, and with the [a3] linen mitre shall he be attired: these are holy garments; therefore shall he wash [bathe4] his flesh in water, and so put them on. 5And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids [bucks5] of the goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.
6And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house. 7And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the [om. the] congregation. 8And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the scapegoat [for Azazel6]. 9And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the Lord’s lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. 10But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat [for Azazel6], shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat [for Azazel6] into the wilderness.
11And 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: 12and he shall take a [the7] 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: 13and 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: 14and he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon8 the mercy seat eastward [on the east side9]; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times.
15Then 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 16bullock, and sprinkle it upon8 the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat: and ho 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 [omit the] congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness. 17And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the [omit 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. 18And 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. 19And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his fingers seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.
20And when he hath made an end of reconciling [making atonement for10] the holy place, and the tabernacle of the [omit the] congregation, and the altar, he shall bring [offer11] the live goat: 21and Aaron shall lay both his hands12 upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their trangressions in [according to13] all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit14 man into the wilderness: 22and the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited:15 and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.
23And Aaron shall come into the tabernacle of the [omit 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: 24and he shall wash [bathe4] 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. 25And the fat of the sin offering shall he burn upon the altar.
26And he that let go the goat for the scapegoat [for Azazel6] shall wash his clothes and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward come into the camp. 27And 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. 28And he that burneth them shall wash his clothes and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp.
29And 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: 30for on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may 31be clean from all your sins before the Lord. It shall be a sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for eLev Lev_16:32 And the priest, whom he [one16] shall anoint, and whom he [one16] shall consecrate 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: 33and he shall make an atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make an atonement for the tabernacle of the [omit the] congregation, and for the altar, and he shall make an atonement for the priests, and for all the people of the congregation. 34And 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.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
Lev_16:1. The LXX., the Targs. of Onk., Jon. and Jerus, the Vulg. and Syr. here insert the words strange fire, as is obviously implied.
Lev_16:3. בְּזֹאת. There seems no reason why the Heb. should not be rendered literally.
Lev_16:4. The articles are not in the Heb., and should be omitted as misleading.
Lev_16:4. רָחַץ, see Textual Note 30 on Lev_14:8. The Sam. and LXX. insert the word all before his flesh.
Lev_16:5. שְׂעִירֵי, see Textual Note 21 on Lev_4:23. The same word is used also Lev_16:7-8, etc.; but it seems unnecessary to alter the translation throughout, as this is the only place in which the sense is affected.
Lev_16:8; Lev_16:10 (bis), 26 עֲזָאזֵל. The word occurs only here, and in the wide difference of opinion existing as to its meaning, it seems far better to retain the Heb. word unchanged, as is done in many modern critical translations. It occurs in all cases without the article. For the meaning, see exegesis.
Lev_16:12. It is better to retain the definite article, as expressed in the Heb.
Lev_16:14-15. For עַל=upon, the Sam. reads אל=before, towards.
Lev_16:14. קֵדְמָה=toward the east is to be connected with the mercy seat, and not with sprinkle. The high priest looking west, faced the mercy seat, and sprinkled it on the side next to him, i.e. the side toward the east. This cannot be clearly expressed in English without a slight modification of the phrase.
Lev_16:20. מִכַּפֵּר. See Textual Note 17 on Lev_6:30 (23).
Lev_16:20. הִקְרִיב, the same word as is used of the other goat in Lev_16:9, and the common word for sacrificial offering.
Lev_16:21. For the יָדָו of the text, 35 MSS. read יָדָיו, as in the k’ri.
Lev_16:21. According to is both a better translation of the prep. לְ and gives a better sense.
Lev_16:21. עִתִּי., ἁπ. λέγ., according to Fuerst existing or appointed at a convenient time. LXX. ἕτοιμος, Vulg. paratus. The sense of appointed would probably bettter express the Heb. than fit (so Targ. Jon., and so Rosenmueller); but there is neither sufficient certainty nor sufficient difference to make the change.
Lev_16:22. גְּזֵרָה. LXX. ἂβατον, Vulg. solitariam, Onk. uninhabitable, Jon. desolate, Syr. uncultivated. Lit. a land cut off. The A. V. sufficiently expresses the sense.
Lev_16:32. These verbs must either be rendered impersonally, or else taken in the passive, as the Heb. idiom very well allows.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Here a new Parashah of the law begins, extending through Leviticus 18 Amo_9:7-15 forms the parallel Proper Lesson from the prophets. That prophecy is cited by St. James at the Council of Jerusalem (Act_15:16-17), and applied to the building up of the Gentiles into the Church of Christ. Wordsworth suggests that he may have selected that particular prophecy because it was associated in his mind, through the public readings in the synagogues, with the passage before us “which displays, in a figure, the work of Christ, our great High Priest, entering into the heavenly Holy of Holies, and reconciling the world to God by His own blood (Heb_9:7-12; Heb_9:24-28).”
This chapter forms the culmination of all that has gone before, of the laws both of sacrifices and of purity, and therefore forms the fitting conclusion of the whole portion of Leviticus concerned with the means of approach to God. The significance of its symbolical ritual is dwelt upon in the 9th ch. of the Ep. to the Heb. The Holy of Holies was entered only on the day and with the sacrifices here prescribed, and this day was the only day of fasting appointed in the Mosaic law. The ritual of its sacrifices was peculiar and impressive, and the goat for Azazel is something so unlike any thing else in the Levitical system as to have occasioned the utmost perplexity to expositors. In Lev_23:27 (Heb.) the day is called “the day of atonements (in the plural), as if this included in itself all other atonements, or at least was the most exalted and important, of them all. In Lev_16:31 (Heb.) it is spoken of as a “Sabbath of Sabbaths,” and by the later Jews it was commonly called simply “Joma,”=day, as the day of all days. It is probably intended by St. Luke in the expression “the fast,” Act_27:9. See Com. there. The high-priest alone could officiate, and this he must do in a peculiar dress worn only on this day. By the ritual of this day, the imperfection and insufficiency of all other sacrifices was brought prominently into view, while yet its own imperfection was necessarily involved in its yearly repetition.
The chapter consists of two portions, of which the first (Lev_16:2-28) contains directions for this great annual expiation; and the second (Lev_16:29-34), the command for its yearly celebration. The whole of Lange’s Exegetical Notes are here given.
“1. It is first of all to be noticed that the yearly feast of atonement is mentioned twice in the Levitical law of worship, viz. once here as the culminating point of the laws and expiations of purifications; and again in Leviticus 23. in the midst of the feasts of the Lord for the positive sanctification of the land and the people, as a solemn prelude to the most festal and joyous of all the feasts, the feast of tabernacles. The point of unity of both lines is the thought: that Israel can then only attain to the full joys of the feast of tabernacles, when, on the great Sabbath of the seventh month—the single exclusive day of expiation and regular fast day of the year—it has humbled and purified itself before Jehovah with the confession, that all its legal atonements had not brought full purification; that the instruments of atonement, priests and altar, must themselves be atoned for; that not even by these comprehensive general supplications and general atonements could complete atonement be made; that a guilt remaining in secret must be sent home to Azazel as inexpiable under the πάρεσις of Jehovah (Rom_3:25)—an act with which the Levitical atonement sweeps out beyond itself to a future and real atonement.
“2. Corresponding to the thoughts that have been mentioned, we have:
“a. The prevailing unapproachableness of the holy God, only momentarily suspended through a hypothetical, typically accomplished power of approach, as the idea of a future perfect atonement. This law was enforced by the fact that the two eldest sons of Aaron had died through approaching profanely, and by the threat that he too should die if he went behind the curtain of the Holy of holies, where Jehovah was manifested in a cloud over the mercy-seat (Jer_30:21), otherwise than according to the stated conditions, once a year. (Heb_9:7). Lev_16:1-2.” [ The historical connection of this chapter with the death of Nadab and Abihu does not exclude the logical connection with the legislation of the rest of the book. The provision for the day of atonement was necessary in any case to the completeness of the Levitical system, but the command for its observance was immediately occasioned by their unauthorized act. There are no data to show the length of the interval between their death and the Divine communication contained in this chapter; but it was probably short. Lev_16:2. Within the vail—which separated the holy place, the outer part of the sanctuary where the priests daily ministered at the altar of incense, from the holy of holies which was never to be entered by man except as provided for in this chapter. On the significance of this arrangement see Doctrinal remarks below. The custom of having peculiarly sacred parts in the heathen temples is well known. The mercy-seat.—כַּפֹּרֶת LXX. ἱλαστήριον, Vulg., propitiatorium, and so the other ancient versions. The LXX. word is twice used in the N. T., being translated mercy-seat in Heb_9:5, but propitiation in Rom_3:25. The word occurs only in Ex., in this chapter, and in Num_7:89, and 1Ch_28:11. It is evident from Exo_25:22; Exo_30:6; and Num_7:89, that it was the place appointed for the peculiar manifestation of the presence of God; and from this chapter, that it was the objective point of the highest propitiatory rites known to the law. The English word only partially conveys the sense. I will appear in the cloud.—There has been much question whether this means the light-giving cloud which overshadowed and at certain times filled the tabernacle, and which according to the Jewish authorities, was afterwards represented by the Shechinah above the ark; or whether it refers simply to the cloud of incense arising from the censer of the highpriest as he passed within the vail. The subject is ably and fully discussed by Bähr (Symb. I. c. V. § 2, IV. 2d aufl., pp. 471–481) who concludes in favor of the latter. See the authorities there cited. The determination in reality involves two separate questions: first, whether the promise of the text is personal to Aaron, or whether it is given in perpetuity to him and his successors in the high-priesthood; and second, whether, after the cessation of the wanderings in the wilderness, there ever was such a Shechinah. In regard to the latter question, later Jewish tradition, from the time of the Targums down, is certainly sufficiently emphatic in the affirmative; but for so remarkable and perpetual a miracle, higher authority is required. Bähr has shown that Philo and Josephus, as well as the Christian Fathers to the time of S. Jerome, knew nothing of it, and it is never mentioned in the Scriptures, or in the Jewish Apocryphal books. Nevertheless, the incense is not spoken of until Lev_16:12, and it seems unlikely that the cloud from it should be intended here. God had hitherto manifested His presence to Moses and to the people in the cloud which covered the tabernacle, and that in various localities; it would not be strange that He should now promise a similar manifestation to Aaron by the same instrumentality. That this should take place upon the mercy-seat was a consequence of Aaron’s coming before it in this highest act of propitiation. Of course this would give no ground to suppose that such a manifestation continued there perpetually, or at any other time than that on which it is here especially promised, Rosenmüller, Keil, and most other commentators, however, accept the Jewish tradition of the Shechinah.—F. G.].
“b. He must next protect himself with a great sacrifice; for he is directed to take a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering. By these the great faults of the priesthood on the one side, and the great duties on the other side are signified,” Lev_16:3. [ Come into the holy is sometimes understood in relation to Aaron’s entrance into the tabernacle merely, because these offerings were offered before he passed beyond the court at all; but as the point of the whole ritual is the entrance into the holy of holies, the words are more fitly interpreted in relation to this. Full account is given of the ritual of the sin offering in Lev_16:11-14; Lev_16:27-28; the sacrifice of the priestly burnt offering was at the same time with that of the people at the conclusion of the other sacrifices (Lev_16:24).—F. G.].
“c. After this, he is to make himself the atoner for the collective priesthood. All the high-priestly ornaments were laid aside, and he was clothed with a linen coat over linen drawers, and girt with a linen girdle. The linen cap completed the attire. Even this enrobing must be preceded by a religious lustration” (Lev_16:4).” [This clothing is called the holy garments, Lev_16:4; Lev_16:32; and it is separated from that of the common priests by a white linen girdle in place of the ordinary priestly girdle wrought in needle-work with “blue and purple and scarlet” (Exo_39:29). The high-priest is thus to lay aside his “golden garments” of authority, and to be clad in pure white as symbolical of holiness. This symbolism was increased by his bathing himself before putting on these garments, and again when he exchanged them (Lev_16:24) for his official robes. These bathings were not the mere ordinary bathings of the hands and feet, but of the whole body.—F. G.].
“d. Only in such guise can he receive the means of atonement for the congregation involved with him in guilt, the two he-goats, which in the more general sense, are appointed for a sin offering. In the presentation of the burnt offering, however, the congregation was equalized with the high-priest himself. But how inconsiderable is the he-goat in comparison with the young bullock, Lev_16:5.” [He shall take of the congregation.— Inasmuch as these sacrifices were for the people, the victims were supplied by them, as the former ones had been by Aaron. The fact that the two goats together constitute the sin offering is to be particularly noted. The high-priest’s sin offering was a bullock, as provided in Lev_4:3, and the ordinary sin offering for the whole congregation was the same (ib. 14); here it is changed to two goats to meet the particular ritual provided, but they together constitute a single sin offering. In the same way two birds were required for the purification of the leper (Lev_14:4), or to “make atonement for the leprous house (ib. 53) one of which was set free; and so also in the sin offering of the poor (v. 7), two doves were required which were differently treated, but together made up a single sacrifice. The burnt offering, both for the high-priest and for the congregation, was not a bullock, but an inferior victim was prescribed, probably to avoid withdrawing the attention from the other sacrifices, and thus to bring out with greater force the significance of the whole work of the day as an atonement for sin.—F. G.].
“e. Now follows the ordinance for the atonement in a shorter statement. The sin offerings were placed together before the sanctuary, presented before the Lord; the bullock and the two he-goats; since the guilt is indeed different, but yet also common.” [The text, however, distinctly separates the presentation of Aaron’s bullock (Lev_16:6) from that of the he-goats for the people (Lev_16:7); and this is in accordance with the order of the actual sacrifice which follows. It seems also necessary to the idea that Aaron must first make an atonement for himself and for his house before proceeding to offer for the people.—F. G.]. “But now the mysterious act was performed: the lot was cast over the two he-goats, while the lot of the one was called for Jehovah, that of the other for Azazel. On the various significations of this, see below. Meantime, only the directions which belong to both are spoken of. Lev_16:9-10.” [6–10. The עָלָה used in Lev_16:9-10 of the lots refers to the coming up of the lot out of the urn. Keil. Aaron’s bullock is now offered, not sacrificed, for this comes afterwards, Lev_16:11; the same is true also of the other sin offerings. According to Jewish tradition, this offering was accompanied by the high-priest’s making a solemn confession of sin, the form of which is given in Massechet Joma c. 3, § 8 (Patrick). His house is not his immediate, personal family, but the whole order of priests, and perhaps it also included the Levites after they were separated from the congregation.—The two goats of Lev_16:7 were to be, according to Jewish tradition, of the same size, color, and value, and as nearly alike in every way as possible. Both of them alike Aaron was directed to present before the Lord, but the word used for this act (הֶעֱמִיד) is a different one from that used of Aaron’s offering of the bullock (הִקְרִיב), and does not appear to be used in a sacrificial sense. The lots were then cast, and only the one upon which the LORD’S lot fell was Aaron at present to offer (הִקְרִיב) for a sin offering (Lev_16:8) as he had already done with his own bullock; the other, on which the lot fell for Azazel was to be presented alive (יָעֳמַד־חַי) before the Lord (Lev_16:10). This difference in the treatment of the two goats from the outset is too important to be overlooked; but subsequently the other was also offered(Lev_16:20), and it is expressly said that Aaron should make an atonement with him.—Thus it is clear that the goat for Azazel, while forming part of the one sin offering and used for the purpose of atonement, was yet offered to the Lord, in the sacrificial sense, separately from the other.—F. G.].
“f. The sacrificial acts follow these preparations. Aaron must slay the sin offering of the priesthood in the court. Then he first brings a large offering of incense (both hands full of I sweet incense) into the holy of holies, a cloud of the fulness of prayer, which covers the whole mercy-seat, as this covers the law, the evidence of the guilt of sin. With this preparatory entrance only is made possible the principal entrance for fulfilling the priestly atonement, without Aaron’s dying in that entrance. Then he comes back, brings the vessel of blood, and first sprinkles with his finger blood upon the mercy-seat on its front side, as if to express the thought that there is an atonement in the blood; then he sprinkles before the Kaporeth” [mercy-seat] “with his fingers (plural) seven times, as if to express the whole historical work of the blood of martyrdom which the blood-sprinkling of the Kaporeth” [mercy-seat] “crowned.” [Lev_16:11-14. It is important to the understanding of this day to keep the order of its rites distinctly in view. They have been clearly stated above: (1) the high priest slew the bullock for the priestly sin offering; (2) then he entered the holy of holies with the golden censer (comp. Heb_9:4) full of burning incense; (3) taking the blood of his own sin offering, he again entered the holy of holies and sprinkled the blood, first upon the front side of the mercy-seat, and then seven times before it; (4) he again came out to slay the goat for the sin offering of the people (Lev_16:15).—F. G.]. “Now first follows the atonement for the people. Aaron takes the vessel of blood of the people’s atonement, and performs the two sprinklings in the holy of holies as before. Here also the distinction is made upon the mercy-seat and before the mercy-seat. But as Aaron does not make atonement for his private guilt, of which mention was made in chap. 4, but for the faults in his sacrificial service itself, so is it also with the atonement for the people. For their private sins they have brought their sacrifices during the course of the year; now they have, in connection with the priesthood, to atone generally for the subtle sins in all their atonements and offerings.” [Yet it would give an imperfect view of the purpose of the great day of atonement to suppose it restricted simply to atoning for defects in the various sacrifices of the past year, nor probably does Lange mean to be so understood. It was rather an expression of the inherent insufficiency of those sacrifices; an acknowledgment that, notwithstanding all those propitiations, there still remained an alienation between a sinful people and a perfectly holy God. It was the design of this day to acknowledge this, and by the most solemn and expressive types, symbolically to remove it; yet in the provision for its annual repetition, its own insufficiency to this end stands confessed, and with especial clearness it points forward to the only true remedy in Him who should really obtain the victory over the power of evil.—F. G.] “So first atonement was made for the sanctuary of the Temple” [or Tabernacle] “in the holy of holies (which indeed had itself remained unapproachable for sin as well as the sinner), and then from the holy of holies outward, for the tabernacle of congregation, which had been particularly exposed to defilement in the midst of the impurities of the people. That by the tabernacle of congregation is meant the court, is shown by the command that no one should enter it while he accomplishes the atonement.” [On the other hand, Keil understands “the holy place of the tabernacle” in contradistinction to the “holy of holies,” which is called throughout this chapter simply “the holy.” So also Rosenmüller and others. And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of congregation.— The object of this was not to guard the privacy of the ceremony, but simply because all were regarded as defiled and to be atoned for, and every thing defiled must be excluded during the process of atonement.—F. G.] “The whole religion of the people appears as in abeyance while the high-priest was consummating the atonement. And fitly were these atoning acts so named. After the high-priest had completed the atonement in the holy of holies, he went back into the sanctuary, and there sprinkled the altar of incense. In a manner entirely analogous to the sprinkling upon the mercy-seat, he first sprinkled the horns of the altar of incense, and then the altar itself seven times.” [The analogy is still more completely carried out by the change of words in the Heb. put it (נָתַן) upon the horns of the altar.… he shall sprinkle (הִזָּה) of the blood upon it.— F. G.] “Only in this sprinkling, the blood of the bullock is joined with the blood of the he-goat, as indeed the prayers of both priest and people rise together to God, and in like manner also their faults in prayer. It is remarkable that the act of sprinkling in the court (at the altar of burnt offering) seems to follow the act of sprinkling in the holy of holies, and not till then the sprinkling of the altar of incense in the temple” [tabernacle], “which is here called par excellence the altar. In this connection the passage Exo_30:10 is worthy of note. Accordingly the atonement for this altar was the last act of sacrifice, and thereby the atonement for the theocratic prayer became the last point in the atonement, as indeed it had certainly been the basis for the first.” [The ceremonies of propitiation began by carrying the burning incense, symbolizing prayer, within the vail; then the blood was sprinkled upon the instruments of propitiation, the mercy-seat and the brazen altar, and finally upon the altar of incense itself which was connected with the symbolism of prayer.—F. G.] “This ordinance seems to be connected with the thought that the altar of incense in its relation to Jehovah (the altar that is before the LORD) was reckoned as belonging to the holy of holies, as also the Epistle to the Hebrews seems to understand. After all this comes the treatment of the living he-goat, designated for Azazel. This goat was brought into the court. Here the high-priest must lay both his hands (his hand in the singular was said of the offerer Lev_1:4; Lev_3:2; Lev_4:4; Lev_4:24) upon the head of the goat and confess upon it all the misdeeds (עֲוֹנֹת) of the children of Israel, and all their breaches of allegiance (deadly sins, crimes) (תִּשְׁעֵיהֶם), which belong to all their sins, which are not included either in the sins to be atoned for, or which have already been atoned for (לְכָּל־חַטֹאתָם), and shall lay these upon the head of the goat, and shall send it away (hunt it away) into the wilderness by means of a man who stood ready for that purpose (therefore instantly). The object, however, is that the he-goat shall bear away all the sins, as if they had been laid upon him, into a desolate place. So shall he send him away into the wilderness, properly speaking, into a complete solitude, into a bare place in the midst of the wilderness, to the most desolate spot. So fearful indeed is the burden of guilt of this beast, that the man who has driven away the goat must first, outside the camp, wash his clothes and bathe himself before he may come back again into the camp. This is the contagious power of the deadly sins. It is to be considered that sins done with uplifted hand could not be removed by Levitical sacrifice.”
“But further, they could not all be discovered and blotted out by the penalty of death, the Cherem. Thus there remained, after all the atonements and penalties, an unatoned and unpardonable residue, the hidden guilt of Israel, which crept on in darkness through its history until the crucifixion of Christ (Rom_3:25). From this the congregation of Israel could only be freed by a symbolical act, in which they hunted away this burden of guilt with the sin-goat of double power, to him to whom this guilt belonged, to the Azazel in the wilderness. That the solitude inside the pasturage of the wilderness was considered as a region of evil spirits is plain from passages of the Old and New Testaments (Isa_13:21; Isa_34:14; Mat_12:43 ss.); that further, the dismissing of the unpardonable sins could be considered as a giving over of the sinner, with his sin, to its author, is shown by the act of excommunication of Paul (1Co_5:5), and that the idea or conception of a diabolical opposing spirit was handed down from patriarchal times, is plain, backwards, from Genesis 3, and forwards, from the position of Satan in Job, and other places. The name Azazel corresponds throughout to this conception. Whether the עֲזָאזֵל be derived from עָזַל, it means (from the verb in Pihel) the one that is always hiding, separating himself; or from אָזַל, the one that is always removing himself, the escaping one, the old one every where and nowhere; and one can only say simply that the various explanations which are most divergent from this conception are only to be accounted for from the want of understanding the undoubtedly very obscure and solemn idea of the text. Thus Knobel finds himself authorized by the text and the grammar to explain “our author considered Azazel as an evil being in the wilderness.” To be sure, it is his purpose to assert in this connection that the devil does not appear in the old Hebrew books, and was not a dweller in the wilderness. [Similarly Kalisch argues, upon the same grounds, that this book must be later than the time of Zechariah!”—F. G.] That the teaching concerning the devil has only been gradually developed from the obscurest forms; that the devil appears in Scripture in connection with subordinate demons; that further, he is described in the New Testament as a dweller in the wilderness;17 that finally, the conception of natural or spectral “Desert fiends” would be a dualistic one, contravening the spirit of the Old Testament—all this is overlooked in his skilfully prepared antithesis. But when Merx, in opposition to the interpretation of the passage of Satan, declares that the Old Testament consciousness is never dualistic, he has not learned to distinguish dualism from the biblical teaching in regard to Satan; and, as regards the further exposition, that the idea of Satan was foreign to the Old Testament, it is a pure assumption, with which he sets himself in opposition to the best recognized passages. The lately advanced proposition, “this thought does not appear any where else in Scripture,” denies the conception of ἅπαξ λεγόμενα, and can only be described as bad Hermeneutics, without mentioning that we have here nothing to do with a ἅπαξ λεγόμενον. Into what adventurousness Exegesis was brought when it passed to the thought, that the absolutely or relatively (for the Old Testament economy) inexpiable sins were given over to the kingdom of darkness for earlier or later judgment, is shown by the interpretations that are given:—Azazel signifies a locality in the wilderness; a desolate place; a mountain (while it is forgotten that the people journeyed from station to station); or the buck goat itself (from עֵז and עָזַל, caper emissarius, “the scapegoat” (der ledige Bock18) according to Luther); or Azazel is a demon, to whom this goat is brought as a sacrifice; or the word is an abstraction, and signifies the whole sending away, like the characteristic hesitation of the LXX. between ἀποπομπή and ἀποπομπαῖος, in which two different expositions are brought out.” [In regard to the meaning of Azazel: in the great variety of etymologies given for the word by scholars of the highest standing, it may be assumed as certain that nothing can be positively determined by the etymology. See the Lexicons and Bochart, Hieroz. I., lib. II. c. 54 (Tom. I., p. 745 seq. ed. Rosen.); Spencer, de leg. L. III. Diss. 8, Sect. 2 (p. 1041 s. ed. Tübing.). Not only the roots themselves are varied, but their signification also, and still further the signification of the compound. Little light can be had from the Ancient Versions. The Sam., and the Targs. of Onk., Jon., and Jerus., retain the word unchanged; so also does the Syriac, but in Walton’s Polyglott this is parenthetically translated Deus fortissimus, for which, however, there seems to be no more authority than in the Hebrew; the Vulg. has caprus emissarius; the LXX. renders in Lev_16:8, τῷ ἀποπομπαιῷ (which Josephus also uses), in Lev_16:10 eἰς τὴν ἀποπομπήν, in Lev_16:26 tὸν χίμαρον τὸν διεσταλμένον εἰς ἄφεσιν; Symm. ἀπερχόμενος; Aq. ἀπολελυμένος (or, according to Theodoret, ἀπολυόμενος; Theod. ἀφιέμενος. All these versions, it will be observed, either retain the word unchanged, or else refer it to the goat itself in the general sense of Luther, and the A. V. scape-goat. The old Italic, too, has ad dimissionem. The Jewish authorities differ, R. Saadias Gaon being quoted by Spencer, and Kimchi by Münster and others for the interpretation rough mountain of God, but many of them explaining the word of the Devil. Of the Christian Fathers, Origen (contra Cels. 6), and a Christian poet cited by Epiphanius (Hæres, xxxiv.) from Irenæus, identify Azazel with the Devil; on the other hand, Theodoret (Qu. xxii. in Lev.) and Cyril (Glaph.) concur with the interpretation of Jerome. Suidas and Hesychius make the LXX. ἀποπομπή–ἀποτροπή—averruncus, the averter of evil. (See Suicer Thes. S. V. ἀποπμπαῖος.) The great majority of modern commentators agree with Spencer and Rosenmüller in interpreting the word itself of the Devil, although Bähr, Winer, and Tholuck contend for the sense complete removal. The Book of Enoch, so called, uses the name, or one so like it as to be evidently meant for the same, several times (Lev_8:1; Lev_10:12; Lev_13:1), in a way that shows the author understood by it the Devil; but this book, being an apocryphal composition, probably of the second century, (see Excursus It. in my com. on S. Jude), can add nothing to the authorities already cited. The writers who adopt this sense differ very widely in regard to the object of the goat for Azazel, some considering him as a sacrifice to appease the evil spirit, others as sent “to deride and triumph over him in his own dominion,” and others as simply “sent away to him as to one banished from the realm of grace.” (Clark.) See the dissertations, among others, by Spencer and one by Hengstenberg in his Egypt and the Books of Moses.
In this great variety of interpretation of the word and of the meaning of the ritual, we are fairly remanded to the text itself with the conviction that nothing is certain except what is positively stated there. These points at least, are clear: (1) the two goats together constitute one sin offering, ver 5; and also in Lev_16:10, the goat for Azazel is expressly said to be presented before the LORD to make an atonement with him.לְכפַּרֵ עָליָו according to invariable usage, denotes the object of the expiation; “to expiate it, i.e., to make it the object of expiation, or make expiation with it.” Keil.) Nevertheless a distinction is observed in the text in the purpose of the expiation effected by each of the goats. The blood of the one that was slain is used only for making atonement for the holy places, Lev_16:15-19; after this it is expressly said, and when he hath made an end of making atonement for the holy place,etc. The expiation for these was then finished, and as yet no expiation had been made for the sins of the people. Then follows, he shall bring the live goat, and on his head the high-priest lays the sins of the people to be borne away. The two goats then constitute one sin offering, but one is used to expiate the holy places, the other to bear away the sins of the people. (2) The two goats were not offered together in the sacrificial sense, but only caused to stand before the Lord for the purpose of casting lots, Lev_16:7; afterwards the goat for sacrifice was offered (Lev_16:9) by himself, and the goat for Azazel (Lev_16:20) was offered by himself. (3) The lot was cast by Aaron as the officiating high-priest, and was plainly intended to place the choice of the goats entirely in the hands of the Lord Himself. (4) The preposition used is precisely the same in regard to both the goats: for (לְ) the Lord,for Azazel; in view of this it is impossible to understand Azazel as in any way designating the goat itself, so that the interpretation of the LXX. Vulg. and A. V. is untenable as a literal translation, although as a paraphrase, it very well expresses the sense. On the other hand, this by no means implies, as so often assumed, that Azazel must be a personal being. It would be perfectly consonant to the usage of language that one goat should be for the Lord, and the other for anything, or place, or “abstraction;” for the knife, for the wilderness, for the bearing away of sin. (5) The word Azazel is elsewhere unknown to the Scriptures, and there is no satisfactory evidence that, except as taken from this passage, it ever was a word known to any language. (6) Finally it is to be borne in mind that this is not the only case in which two victims, treated with different ritual, constituted together a single sin offering. The same thing occurred in the two birds of the sin offering of the poor (v. 7–10), of which one was treated according to the ritual of the sin offering, and the other according to that of the burnt offering, yet both together constituted the sin offering. Another analogy is in the two birds for the purification of the leprous man or house, one killed, the other set free. These last, however, were not a sacrifice.
In view of these facts why may it not be supposed that the word Azazel was somewhat vague and indeterminate in its signification to the ancient Israelites themselves, just as Redemption is to the Christian? So far as our sinful condition is concerned, nothing can be plainer or more vitally important; but when the question is asked, “To whom is this redemption paid?” no certain and satisfactory answer has been, or can be given. May it not have been in the same way with this word to the Israelites? That their sins were borne away was most clearly taught; but looking upon these sins as concrete realities, the question might arise, “Whither were they carried?” The answer is in the first place to the wilderness, “to the place of banishment from God;” and then further to Azazel. It was not necessary that the word should be clearly understood; in fact the more vague its meaning, the more perfect the symbolism. The typical system could not explain further. The main point is well brought out in the translations of the LXX. the Vulg. and the A. V., After every other part of the atonement for the holy places had been completed (Lev_16:20) this goat was appointed for the symbolic bearing away of the sins of the people, first into the wilderness, a wide, indefinite place, and then further to Azazel, a wide, indefinite word. All this very emphatically symbolized to the people the utter removal of the burden of their sins, without attempting to define precisely what became of them. The only danger that could be supposed of similar vagueness entered into the New Testament account of the great Sacrifice for sins, to set at rest the endless theories which aim in vain at explaining the modus operandi of the Divine atonement—except that whatever that term had been, learning and ability would have been hopelessly devoted to ascertain its meaning, as has already been the case with Azazel.—F. G.]
“After the atoning sacrifice was completed in the way described, Aaron must prepare to present the burnt offering. It is very significant that he had to lay aside in the court the linen garments, the garments of expiation, and bathe his flesh with water, and then only, in his own high-priestly robes, present his burnt offering and that of the people, a ram for himself, and a ram for the people. Moreover, when it is said, he shall both make an atonement for himself, and for the people (Lev_16:24), it is certainly implied in the expression that the typical burnt offering signified only a typical Interim for the real Burnt offering (Rom_12:1), provided the expression is not to be considered as a final recapitulation. The contrast between the he-goat which had been slain as a sin offering to Jehovah, and the goat, of the Azazel is also expressed in this: that the fat of the first came upon the altar with the burnt offering, while even the man who drove away the Azazel goat had to undergo a lustration.” [Aaron’s bathing himself (Lev_16:24) seems also to be connected with his having symbolically laid the sins of the people upon the head of the goat. The same lustration was also required of him who burnt the flesh of the other goat and of the bullock without the camp (Lev_16:28), as is noticed by Lange below. The object of these requirements is evidently to express by every possible symbolism the defiling nature of sin. In Lev_16:27 the word for burning is שָׂרַפ, which as noted under Lev_4:12, is never used of sacrificial burning.—F. G.] “The sin offerings indeed, the bullock and the goat, in their remainder of skin, flesh and bones, were carried without the camp, and there burned; as was to be done with the sin offerings of the high-priest and of the congregation according to Lev_4:1-21, as if these pieces were considered a Cherem.“ [The law required that the flesh of all sin offerings whose blood was brought within the sanctuary, should be burned without the camp. See on Lev_10:18.—F. G.] “But it has certainly this meaning: that these pieces were here neutralized and removed with a becoming reverence for their signification. On account of this important idea, the fulfiller of this work was also subjected to a lustration, Lev_16:28.”
“As a supplement, partly a repetition, it is now said, that the children of Israel shall on this day afflict their souls; that this law shall be an everlasting law; the day a great Sabbath on which all work shall be stopped; that it shall be Israel’s atonement from all their sins which the high-priest should execute, and that once a year. It also remains not unnoticed that the ordinance in regard to this was observed at that time.
“For the literature, see Keil, p. 113, 14, ” etc. [Trans. page 398. See also the authorities in Smith’s Bib. Dict. art. Atonement, Day of, and in Winer, art. Versöhnungstag.—F. G.]
[Lev_16:29. In the seventh month of the ecclesiastical year, which according to Josephus (I. 3, § 3), was the first of the civil year. The old Hebrew name for this month was Ethanim, the post-captivity name Tisri. On the first day of this month was appointed the Feast of Trumpets (Lev_23:24), celebrated as a Sabbath and by “an holy convocation;” on the tenth was the great Day of Atonement, provided for in this chapter, and again mentioned Lev_23:26-32; and on the fifteenth day began the feast of tabernacles, lasting for a week (Lev_23:33-43). The deportment required of the people on the Day of Atonement is more fully expressed in Leviticus 23. Here it is simply described as a day in which ye shall afflict your souls,i.e. devote yourselves to penitence and humiliation. This would of course include fasting; but the distinctive word for fasting, צוּם or צוֹם, so common afterwards, does not occur in the Pentateuch or Joshua. It was further provided that the people should do no work at all, not merely no servile work, as was provided for on various other occasions, but absolutely no work. And this ordinance was extended to the stranger that sojourneth among you. Various laws were made obligatory upon the stranger, as the observance of the fourth commandment, Exo_20:10; the abstinence from blood, Lev_17:10; certain laws of sexual purity, Lev_18:26; the law against giving of one’s seed to Molech, Lev_20:2; and against blasphemy, Lev_24:16. These were all laws so essential to the Hebrew theocracy that every one who came within the sphere of their exercise was bound to respect them. They apply to every one staying for however long or short a time within the bounds of Israel, and it is a mistake to restrict them (Clark) to those of other races permanently domiciled among the Israelites, as will at once appear from a consideration of the character of several of these laws. Lev_16:34. He did as the LORD commanded Moses,i.e. in announcing the law. Perhaps also the expression may include the observance of the day when the time came round which could only have been several months later, the Israelites having departed from Mount Sinai on the twentieth day of the second month (Num_10:11), while all the legislation in Leviticus was given during their sojourn there (Lev_26:46; Lev_27:34).—F. G.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
I. The vail shutting out the Holy of Holies set forth, in speaking symbol, the unapproachableness and unknowableness of God. Even the high priest, entering once in the year, must obscure his view in the very cloud of incense with which he approached. The same truth was more feebly taught in the arrangements of the heathen temples, and was set forth in the speculations of heathen philosophy. In the Jewish Scriptures it is declared with the utmost emphasis and clearness. In the New Testament too, we are taught that He can be revealed to man only by Him who is both God and man. Thus the latest conclusion of modern philosophy, that behind all that can be discovered of nature there is an “Unknowable,” a “power inscrutable to the human intellect” is taught in Scripture from beginning to end. Even when the vail was rent asunder at the crucifixion of Christ, and a new and living way was consecrated for us into the holy of holies, it became a way to the knowledge and apprehension of God rather practically and spiritually than intellectually. The finite and the Infinite can meet only in Him who is both.
II. The high-priest was warned to enter within the vail only in the way and at the time prescribed, lest he die. His official and symbolic holiness did not make him personally holy, so that he could bear to enter as he pleased the presence of the holy God, but only covered his official service. This was not prevented or rendered unavailing by his own personal unworthiness. So here is taught the great principle that “the unworthiness of ministers hinders not the effect of the sacraments;” that the grace of God accompanies the acts of those whom He has appointed in that which He has given them to do, although this treasure be placed “in earthen vessels.”
III. The dress of Aaron when he passed within the vail was evidently significant. Ordinarily, when he ministered as high-priest and in the presence of the people, his robes were of the utmost splendor, symbolizing his high office as the typical mediator between God and the congregation; but now in the highest act of that mediation, when alone before God, these are to be laid aside, and the whole purpose of the dress is to symbolize that perfect purity with which only he may enter the presence of the immediate dwelling-place of God.
IV. In Aaron’s first offering of a sin offering for himself is very strongly set forth the imperfection of the Levitical law. The one on whose mediation the people must depend for forgiveness must yet first make propitiation for himself. And in the provision for the annual repetion of this day, its insufficiency is apparent, see Heb_10:1-3. Here then again, as so constantly in every part of its provisions, the law of sacrifice proclaims itself as but a temporary institution until that which is perfect should come.
V. By the goat for Azazel again, the same thing is taught. “It is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins” (Heb_10:4); therefore after all symbolism had been exhausted in the sacrifice of bulls and of goats, the sins were yet laid upon the head of the goat for Azazel, and sent away into the wilderness. The sins thus sent away are not to be looked upon as different sins from those for which propitiation was offered, nor as a residue of these unatoned for; but as the same sins, as all the sins of the children of Israel (Lev_16:21). Atonements had been made for these throughout the year; a further and higher atonement had at this moment been made; but that all these were inherently ineffectual was now shown by the goat for Azazel.
VI. The Christian Fathers, with that instinct which often seizes upon a truth without recognizing accurately the process by which it is reached, generally considered the goat for Azazel as a type of Christ, some of them in one way, some in another. Cyril thought him a type of the risen Christ, and the wilderness to which he was sent, a type of heaven. Theodoret makes him a type of the Divine nature of Christ, which was necessary to the perfection of His atonement, and yet incapable of suffering. The type seems really to consist in this: that the sins for which all the Levitical sacrifices were unable really to atone, were symbolically borne away by the goat; even as our iniquities are truly laid upon Christ, and He has borne them away. Isa_53:4-6.
VII. The incense formed a prominent and essential part of the ritual of the day of atonement. This is not to be forgotten in its relation to the antitype. It is not on Christ’s sacrifice alone that we depend for the forgiveness of our sins, but upon His intercession also.
VIII. On the day of atonement no work whatever was to be done: the propitiation for sin was not only the paramount duty, taking the place of everything that interfered with it; but it was to be all-absorbing. The people had no duties to perform directly in connection with the service of atonement; but still they must do no work. The propitiation for sin must be the one thing on that day done in all the camp of Israel; and meanwhile the whole congregation were to “afflict their souls.” Though the propitiation of sins be wrought for us, and not by us, yet must it bring to us the lowliness and humiliation of repentance.
IX. Aaron was to make an atonement (Lev_16:20) for the holy of holies, for the tabernacle, and for the altar; but these had already been sanctified at their first consecration, and the atonement now made must be perpetually repeated year by year. It is plain from this that there was no effective remedy for the inherent weakness and sinfulness of man, which contaminated even his most holy things, until the coming of that Son of man who should be without sin. The high-priest entered the holy of holies, and thus approached the symbolic dwelling-place of God; but he did not thereby open the way to others, or even to himself except for this same typical entrance, “the Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the Holiest of all was not yet made manifest” (Heb_9:8); the only atonement which could really open the way for man to heaven itself must be offered before the throne of Jehovah by Him who alone could offer an all-sufficent sacrifice for the sin of the world.
X. “The rites were not in any proper sense supplemental, but were a solemn gathering up, as it were, of all other rites of atonement, so as to make them point more expressively to the revelation to come of God’s gracious purpose to man, in sending His Son to be delivered for our offences, and to rise again for our justification to be our great High Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec, and to enter for us within the vail (Rom_4:25; Heb_6:20). The day of atonement expanded the meaning of every sin offering, in the same way as the services for Good Friday and Ash Wednesday expand the meaning of our Litany days throughout the year, and Easter Day, that of our Sundays.” Clark.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The day of atonement “forms a contrast to the defilement of the sanctuary by the sons of Aaron, their rash intrusion, their strange fire, their moral death and fearful destruction. (Lev_16:1). It depends—as far as concerns the understanding—upon a great dread, a great world-historic preparation, and earnest religious prayers and actions. It is performed for the whole people, and this means for all humanity. But it points also, by its several particulars out from the Old Testament and into the New. The high-priest is not yet clean, not yet the righteous; he must first offer for himself (see the Ep. to the Heb.). He is not one with his sacrifice and sacrificial blood, although he must represent the approximation to this unity in the disrobing himself of his high-priestly majesty. But even the sin offering availed only for sins of weakness (Lev_24:16; Num_15:30), and not for sins of malice, of rebellion, of outrage with a high hand. These were everywhere, when they were discovered, punished with death. But since all were not discovered, a deadly sin steals through the life of Israel, and accumulates—as a token of which the goat of the sin offering is sent, through the goat of the Azazel, into the wilderness as a curse offering to the author of the demon-like sin.” [The same application may be made of the different views given of the sins borne away by the goat, and of Azazel in the Exegetical.—F. G.]. “Thus the law lightens the darkest night-side of Israel and of the human race. But Christ has shown the chain and tradition of these secret faults in His denunciation, Mat_23:30 ss., and Paul has shown (Romans 3) how Christ, before the tribunal of God. has also atoned for these hitherto inexpiable sins (on the distinction between πάρεσις and ἄφεσις see Cocceius), and has moreover no scruple in declaring that Christ also has become a curse offering for us (Gal_3:13).” [The κατάρα of Gal_3:13 may well be compared with the ἁμαρτίαν ἐποίησεν of 2Co_5:21. It cannot possibly denote that Christ became a “curse offering” in the sense which Lange attributes to the Azazel-goat (although something approaching even this view of the atonement was held in Christian antiquity. See Oxenham’s Cath. doct. of the Atonement, 2d ed., pp. 114–124); but rather means that he took upon Himself the curse which belonged to us.—F. G.]. “The New Testament atonement is indeed conditioned on faith in its objective application to individual men, although in its universal objective force it is absolutely unconditioned. Of itself also, the shadowy representative of this great future atonement produced in Israel a calm, thankful, and festive disposition, the foundation for the joyous feast of Tabernacles. The Old Testament sanctuary itself, in all its parts (Lev_16:33), was again expiated and cleansed, in a typical way, by this atonement. As the ground for this lies the thought: that without such purifications from time to time, a priestly institution is in danger of sinking into the deepest and most corrupting corruption. The acts for sanctifying the holy people extend to the end of Leviticus 16; in Leviticus 17 follow the sacred observances.” Lange.
The congregation of Israel were wholly excluded from even the typical holy of holies, yet were they required to be holy; when on one day of the year their high-priest passed within the vail, they must “afflict their souls” and do no manner of work; but for us, our Great High-Priest has passed within the vail, and opened a new and living way for us to follow; “let us then draw near with a true heart” (Heb_10:22). The hope of thus entering the true holy of holies at the end of his pilgrimage brings with it to the Christian a closer communion with God on his journey thither; for that is not reserved for the end, but in spirit even now he has “boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus” (ib. 19). Only all depends upon the Propitiation which the day of atonement typified.
The fearful contagion of sin is shown by the purification of those who had to do with the propitiation for sin; even Aaron must bathe himself and change his robes, and the men who took charge of the two goats of the sin offering, who led into the wilderness the one for Azazel, or burnt the flesh of the one slain in sacrifice, must wash their clothes and bathe their flesh before they could return to the camp. Hereby is shadowed forth the exceeding pollution of sin.
The sacrifices of this day were performed by the high-priest alone, and especially when he made atonement for the holy places no man might be within the court. “Thus the high-priest prefigured Christ, who accomplished the work of atonement ‘alone, and of the people there was none with Him; His own arm brought salvation’ (Isa_63:5).” Wordsworth.
The holy of holies was never entered by anyone except at this time; yet (Lev_16:16) atonement must be made for it because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel.—Upon this Calvin (in Lev_16:16) remarks, “Moses distinctly says that the sanctuary must be purified not from its own uncleannesses, but from those of the children of Israel. Now the reality of this figure is to be regarded for our advantage. God appears to us in His only Begotten Son through baptism and the holy supper: these are the pledges of our sanctification: but such is our corruption that we do not cease, as far as in us lies, to profane these instruments of the Spirit, by which God sanctifieth us. But since no flocks may be slain, it becomes us to mourn, and earnestly to pray that our uncleanness, by which baptism and the holy supper are vitiated, Christ may wash away and cleanse by the sprinkling of His own blood.”
Footnotes:
[1]Lev_16:1. The LXX., the Targs. of Onk., Jon. and Jerus, the Vulg. and Syr. here insert the words strange fire, as is obviously implied.
[2]Lev_16:3. בְּזֹאת. There seems no reason why the Heb. should not be rendered literally.
[3]Lev_16:4. The articles are not in the Heb., and should be omitted as misleading.
[4]Lev_16:4. רָחַץ, see Textual Note 30 on Lev_14:8. The Sam. and LXX. insert the word all before his flesh.
[5]Lev_16:5. שְׂעִירֵי, see Textual Note 21 on Lev_4:23. The same word is used also Lev_16:7-8, etc.; but it seems unnecessary to alter the translation throughout, as this is the only place in which the sense is affected.
[6]Lev_16:8; Lev_16:10 (bis), 26 עֲזָאזֵל. The word occurs only here, and in the wide difference of opinion existing as to its meaning, it seems far better to retain the Heb. word unchanged, as is done in many modern critical translations. It occurs in all cases without the article. For the meaning, see exegesis.
[7]Lev_16:12. It is better to retain the definite article, as expressed in the Heb.
[8]Lev_16:14-15. For עַל=upon, the Sam. reads אל=before, towards.
[9]Lev_16:14. קֵדְמָה=toward the east is to be connected with the mercy seat, and not with sprinkle. The high priest looking west, faced the mercy seat, and sprinkled it on the side next to him, i.e. the side toward the east. This cannot be clearly expressed in English without a slight modification of the phrase.
[10]Lev_16:20. מִכַּפֵּר. See Textual Note 17 on Lev_6:30 (23).
[11]Lev_16:20. הִקְרִיב, the same word as is used of the other goat in Lev_16:9, and the common word for sacrificial offering.
[12]Lev_16:21. For the יָדָו of the text, 35 MSS. read יָדָיו, as in the k’ri.
[13]Lev_16:21. According to is both a better translation of the prep. לְ and gives a better sense.
[14]Lev_16:21. עִתִּי., ἁπ. λέγ., according to Fuerst existing or appointed at a convenient time. LXX. ἕτοιμος, Vulg. paratus. The sense of appointed would probably bettter express the Heb. than fit (so Targ. Jon., and so Rosenmueller); but there is neither sufficient certainty nor sufficient difference to make the change.
[15]Lev_16:22. גְּזֵרָה. LXX. ἂβατον, Vulg. solitariam, Onk. uninhabitable, Jon. desolate, Syr. uncultivated. Lit. a land cut off. The A. V. sufficiently expresses the sense.
[16]Lev_16:32. These verbs must either be rendered impersonally, or else taken in the passive, as the Heb. idiom very well allows.
[17][This statement is probably founded upon two facts—first, that of our Lord’s having been led into the wilderness “to be tempted of the Devil;” but tins does not imply that the Devil is in any especial sense a dweller in the wilderness, but only that this was a favorable situation for him to ply his temptations; and second, that certain men possessed of evil spirits sought solitary places. Other passages of the N. T. certainly present the Devil as eminently cosmopolitan.—F. G.]
[18]“Hiller indeed thinks, that the scape-goat (der ledige Bock) signifies that the people are set free by the expiation; only since they could not have let it run free in Jerusalem, they sent it into the wilderness!”
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain THE OCCASION OF THE INSTITUTION, Lev_16:1-2.
THE OCCASION OF THE INSTITUTION, Lev_16:1-2.
1. After the death of the two sons of Aaron — This judgment of Jehovah is recorded in chap. 10, on which occasion the important safeguards respecting the high priest’s entrance into the most holy place were given. Why this record does not immediately follow chap. x, its natural place, is unknown.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 1. On the introductory clauses see App. I (d),…
1. On the introductory clauses see App. I (d), pp. 163 ff.
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.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (1) And the Lord spake unto Moses.—As the observance…
XVI.
(1) And the Lord spake unto Moses.—As the observance of the minute regulations given in the preceding chapters about the daily sacrifices and purifications would necessarily be tainted with many imperfections and shortcomings, both on the part of the mediating priests and the offering laity, a general day of atonement is here instituted, when priest and people are alike to obtain atonement once a year for the sins which were mixed up even with their sacred worship. The day of atonement enacted in the chapter before us is therefore an appropriate conclusion of the laws of purification in the preceding chapters. It is an annual supplement and completion of all the ordinances which were daily practised, and the design of which was to obtain atonement and reconciliation.
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After the death of the two sons of Aaron.—That is, after Nadab and Abihu, his two eldest sons, had died, in consequence of having presumptuously entered the sanctuary in a profane manner, and at an irregular time. (See Lev_10:1-2.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. H. Mackintosh 1880 · Public Domain Leviticus 16
Leviticus 16
This chapter unfolds some of the weightiest principles of truth which can possibly engage the renewed mind. It presents the doctrine of atonement with uncommon fullness and power. In short, we must rank the sixteenth chapter of Leviticus amongst the most precious and important sections of Inspiration; if indeed it be allowable to make comparisons where all is divine.
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Looking at this chapter, historically, it furnished a record of the transactions of the great day of atonement in Israel, whereby Jehovah’s relationship with the assembly was established and maintained, and all the sins, failures, and infirmities of the people fully atoned for, so that the Lord God might dwell among them. The blood which was shed upon this solemn day formed the basis of Jehovah’s throne in the midst of the congregation. In virtue of it, a holy God could take up His abode in the midst of the people, notwithstanding all their uncleanness. "The tenth day of the seventh month" was a unique day in Israel. There was no other day in the year like it. The sacrifices of this one day formed the ground of God’s dealing in grace, mercy, patience, and forbearance.
Furthermore, we learn from this portion of inspired history," that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest." God was hidden behind a veil and man was at a distance. "And the Lord spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the Lord, and died; and the Lord said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times unto the holy place within the veil before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark, that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat."
The way was not open for man to approach, at all times, into the divine presence, nor was there any provision, in the entire range of the Mosaic ritual, for his abiding there continually. God was shut in from man; and man was shut out from God, nor could "the blood of bulls and goats" open a permanent meeting place; "A sacrifice of nobler name and richer blood" was needed to accomplish this. "For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? Because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins." (Heb. 10: 1-4) Neither the Levitical priesthood nor the Levitical sacrifices, could yield perfection. Insufficiency was stamped on the latter, infirmity on the former, imperfection on both. An imperfect man could not be a perfect priest; nor could an imperfect sacrifice give a perfect conscience. Aaron was not competent or entitled to take his seat within the veil, nor could the sacrifices which he offered rend that veil.
Thus much as to our chapter, historically. Let us now look at it typically.
"Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering." (Ver. 3) Here, we have the two grand aspects of Christ’s atoning work, as that which perfectly maintains the divine glory, and perfectly meets man’s deepest need. There is no mention, throughout all the services of this unique and solemn day, of a meat offering, or a peace offering. The perfect human life of our blessed Lord is not foreshadowed, here, nor is the communion of the soul with God, consequent upon His accomplished work, unfolded. In a word, the one grand subject is "atonement," and that in a double way namely, first, as meeting all the claims of God - the claims of His nature - the claims of His character - the claims of His throne; and, secondly, as perfectly meeting all man’s guilt and all his necessities. We must bear these two points in mind, if we would have a clear understanding of the truth presented in this chapter, or of the doctrine of the great day of atonement. "Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place," with atonement, as securing the glory of God, in every possible way, whether as respects His counsels of redeeming love toward the church, toward Israel, and toward the whole creation, or in reference to all the claims of His moral administration; and with atonement as fully meeting man’s guilty and needy condition. These two aspects of the atonement will continually present themselves to our view as we ponder the precious contents of our chapter. Their importance cannot possibly be overestimated.
"He shall put on the holy linen coat, and be shall have the linen breeches upon his Flesh, and he shell 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. (Ver. 4) Aaron’s person, washed in pure water, and robed in the white linen garments, furnishes a lovely and impressive type of Christ entering upon the work of atonement. He is seen to be personally and characteristically pure and spotless. "For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth." (John 17: 19) It is peculiarly precious to be called, as it were, to gaze upon the Person of our divine Priest, in all His essential holiness. The Holy Ghost delights in every thing that unfolds Christ to the view of His people; and wherever we behold Him, we see Him to be the same spotless, perfect, glorious, precious, peerless Jesus, "the fairest among ten thousand, yea, altogether lovely." He did not need to do or to wear anything, in order to be pure and spotless. He needed no pure water, no fine linen. He was, intrinsically and practically, "the holy One of God." What Aaron did, and what he wore - the washing and the robing, are but the faint shadows of what Christ is. The law had only a "shadow," and "not the very image of good things to come." Blessed be God, we have not merely the shadow, but the eternal and divine reality - Christ Himself.
"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. And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, Which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house." (Ver. 5, 6) Aaron and his house represent the Church, not indeed as the "one body," but as a priestly house. It is not the Church as we find it developed in Ephesians and Colossians, but rather as we find it in the First Epistle of Peter, in the following well-known passage: "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 2: 5) So also in Hebrews: "But Christ as a Son over His own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end." (Heb. 3: 6) We must ever remember that there is no revelation of the mystery of the Church in the Old Testament. Types and shadows there are, but no revelation. That wondrous mystery of Jew and Gentile forming "one body," "one new man," and united to a glorified Christ in heaven, could not, as is obvious, be revealed until Christ had taken His place above. Of this mystery Paul was, pre-eminently, made a steward and a minister, as he tells us in Ephesians 3: 1-12, a passage which I would commend to the prayerful attention of the Christian reader.
"And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the scapegoat. And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the Lord’s lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. 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." (Ver. 7-10) In these two goats, we have the two aspects of atonement already referred to. "The Lord’s lot "fell upon one; and the people’s lot fell upon the other. In the case of the former, it was not a question of the persons or the sins which were to be forgiven, nor of God’s counsels of grace toward His elect. These things, I need hardly say, are of infinite moment; but they are not involved in the case of "the goat on which the Lord’s lot fell." This latter typifies the death of Christ as that wherein God has been perfectly glorified, with respect to sin in general. This great truth is fully set forth in the remarkable expression, "the Lord’s lot." God has a peculiar portion in the death of Christ - a portion quite distinct - a portion which would hold eternally good even though no sinner were ever to be saved. In order to see the force of this, it is needful to bear in mind how God has been dishonoured in this world. His truth has been despised. His authority has been contemned. His majesty has been slighted. His law has been broken. His claims have been disregarded. His name has been blasphemed. His character has been traduced.
Now, the death of Christ has made provision for all this. It has perfectly glorified God in the very place where all these things have been done. It has perfectly vindicated the majesty, the truth, the holiness, the character of God. It has divinely met all the claims of His throne. It has atoned for sin. It has furnished a divine remedy for all the mischief which sin introduced into the universe. It affords a ground on which the blessed God can act in Grace, mercy, and forbearance toward all. It furnishes a warrant for the eternal expulsion and perdition of the prince of this world. It forms the imperishable foundation of God’s moral government. In virtue of the cross, God can act according to His own sovereignty. He can display the matchless glories of His character, and the adorable attributes of His nature. He might, in the exercise of inflexible justice, have consigned the human family to the lake of fire, together with the devil and his angels. But, in that case, where would be His love, His grace, His mercy, His kindness, His long-suffering, His compassion, His patience, His perfect goodness?
Then, on the other hand, had these precious attributes been exercised, in the absence of atonement, where were the justice, the truth, the majesty, the holiness, the righteousness, the governmental claims, yea, the entire moral glory of God! How could "mercy and truth meet together?" or "righteousness and peace kiss each other" How could "truth spring out of the earth" or "righteousness look down from heaven?" Impossible. Nought save the atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ could have fully glorified God; but that has glorified Him. It has reflected the full glory of the divine character, as it never could have been reflected amid the brightest splendours of an unfallen creation. By means of that atonement, in prospect and retrospect, God has been exercising forbearance toward this world, for well nigh six thousand years. In virtue of that atonement, the most wicked, daring, and blasphemous of the sons of men "live, move, and have their being;" eat, drink, and sleep. The very morsel which yonder open blaspheming infidel puts into his mouth, he owes to the atonement which he knows not, but impiously ridicules. The sunbeams and showers which fertilise the fields of the atheist, reach him in virtue of the atonement of Christ. Yea, the very breath which the infidel and the atheist spend in blaspheming God’s revelation, or denying His existence, they owe to the atonement of Christ. Were it not for that precious atonement, instead of blaspheming upon earth, they would be weltering in hell.
Let not my reader misunderstand me, I speak not here of the forgiveness or salvation of persons. This is quite another thing, and stands connected, as every true Christian knows, with the confession of the name of Jesus, and the hearty belief that God raised Him from the dead. (Rom. 10) This is plain enough, and fully understood; but it is in no wise involved in that aspect of the atonement which we are, et present, contemplating, and which is so strikingly foreshadowed by "the goat on which the Lord’s lot fell." God’s pardoning and accepting a sinner is one thing; His bearing with that man, and showering temporal blessings upon him, is quite another. Both are in virtue of the cross, but in a totally different aspect and application thereof.
Nor is this distinction, by any means, unimportant. Quite the opposite. Indeed, so important is it that where it is overlooked, there must be confusion as to the full doctrine of atonement. Nor is this all. A clear understanding of God’s ways in government, whether in the past, the present, or the future, will be found involved in this profoundly interesting point. And, finally, in it will be found the key wherewith to expound a number of texts in which many Christians find considerable difficulty. I shall just adduce two or three of these passages as examples.
"Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." (John 1: 29) With this we may connect a kindred passage in John’s first epistle, is which the Lord Jesus Christ is spoken of as" the propitiation for the whole world." (1 John 2: 2)* In both these passages the Lord Jesus is referred to as the One who has perfectly glorified God with respect to "Sin" and "the world," in their broadest acceptation. He is here seen as the great Antitype of "the goat on which the Lord’s lot fell." This gives us a most precious view of the atonement of Christ, and one which is too much overlooked, or not clearly apprehended. Whenever the question of persons and the forgiveness of sins is raised, in connection with these and kindred passages of scripture, the mind is sure to get involved in insuperable difficulties.
{*The reader will observe, in the above passage, that the words "the sins of" are introduced by the translators, and are not inspired. The divine accuracy of the passage is completely lost by retaining those uninspired words. The doctrine laid down is surely this - in the first clause of the verse Christ is set forth as the propitiation For His people’s actual sins; but in the last clause, it is not a question of sins or of persons at all, but of sin and the world in general. In fact, the whole verse presents Christ as the Antitype of the two goats, as the One who has borne His people’s sins; and, also. as the One who has perfectly glorified God with respect to sin in general, and made provision for dealing in grace with the world at large, and for the final deliverance and blessing of the whole creation.}
So, also, with respect to all those passages in which God’s grace to the world at large is presented. They are founded upon that special aspect of the atonement with which we are more immediately occupied. "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." (Mark 16) "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him might not perish, but have everlasting life, For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world ; but that the world through him might be saved." (John 3: 16, 17) "I exhort, therefore, that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time." (1 Tim. 2: 1-6) "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men," (Titus 2: 11) "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man. (Heb. 2: 9) "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3: 9)
There is no need whatsoever for seeking to avoid the plain sense of the above and similar passages. They bear a clear and unequivocal testimony to divine grace toward all, without the slightest reference to man’s responsibility, on the one hand, or to God’s eternal counsels, on the other. These things are just as clearly, just as fully, just as unequivocally, taught in the word. Man is responsible, and God is sovereign. All who bow to Scripture admit these things. But, at the same lime, it is of the very last importance to recognise the wide aspect of the grace of God, and of the cross of Christ. It glorifies God and leaves man wholly without excuse. Men argue about God’s decrees and man’s incompetency to believe without divine influence. Their arguments prove that they do not want God; for did they only want Him, He is near enough to be found of them. The grace of God, and the atonement of Christ, are as wide as they could desire. "Any" - "every" - "whosoever" - and "all," are God’s own words; and I should like to know who is shut out. If God sends a message of salvation to a man, He surely intends it for him; and what can be more wicked and impious than to reject God’s grace, and make Him a liar, and then give His secret decrees as a reason for so doing. It would be, in a certain sense, honest for a man to say at once, "The fact is, I do not believe God’s word, and I do not want His grace or His salvation." One could understand this; but for men to cover their hatred of God and His truth with the drapery of a false because one-sided theology, is the very highest character of wickedness. It is such as to make us feel, of a truth, that the devil is never more diabolical than when he appears with the Bible in his hand.
If it be true that men are prevented, by God’s secret decrees and counsels, from receiving the gospel which He has commanded to be preached to them, then on what principle of righteousness will they be "punished with everlasting destruction" for not obeying that gospel? (2 Thess. 1: 6-10) Is there a single soul throughout all the gloomy regions of the lost who blames God’s counsels for his being there? Not one. Oh! no; God has made such ample provision in the atonement of Christ, not only for the salvation of those that believe, but also for the aspect of His grace toward those that reject the gospel, that there is no excuse. It is not because a man cannot, but because he will not believe that he "shall be punished with everlasting destruction." Never was there a more fatal mistake than for a man to ensconce himself behind God’s decrees while deliberately and intelligently refusing God’s grace; and this is all the more dangerous, because supported by the dogmas of a one-sided theology. God’s grace is free to all; and if we ask, How is this? the answer is, "Jehovah’s lot" fell upon the true victim, in order that He might be perfectly glorified as to sin, in its widest aspect, and be free to act in grace toward all, and "preach the gospel to every creature." This grace and this preaching must have a solid basis, and that basis is found in the atonement; and though man should reject, God is glorified in the exercise of grace, and in the offer of salvation, because of the basis on which both the one and the other repose. He is glorified, and He shall be glorified, throughout eternity’s countless ages. ("Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again . . . . . Now is the judgement of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto me." (John 12: 27-32.)
Thus far we have been occupied only with one special point, namely, "the goat on which the Lord’s lot fell;" and a cursory reader might suppose that the next thing in order would be the scape-goat, which gives us the other great aspect of the death of Christ, or its application to the sins of the people. But no: ere we come to that, we have the fullest confirmation of that precious line of truth which has been before us, in the fact that the blood of the slain goat, together with the blood of the bullock, was sprinkled upon, and before, Jehovah’s throne, in order to show that all the claims of that throne were answered in the blood of atonement, and full provision made for all the demands of’ God’s moral administration.
"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. 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 veil. 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." Here we have a most vivid and striking presentation indeed. The blood of atonement is carried in within the veil, into the holiest of all, and there sprinkled upon the throne of the God of Israel. The cloud of the divine presence was there; and in order that Aaron might appear in the immediate presence of the glory, and not die, "the cloud of incense" ascends and "covers the mercy-seat," on which the blood of atonement was to be sprinkled "seven times." The "sweet incense beaten small" expresses the fragrance of Christ’s Person - the sweet odour of His most precious sacrifice.
"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. Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people, and bring his blood within the veil, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy-seat, and before tile mercy-seat." (Ver. 14, 15.) "Seven" is the perfect number; and in the sprinkling of the blood seven times before the mercy-seat we learn that whatever be the application of the atonement of Christ, whether as to things, to places, or to persons, it is perfectly estimated in the divine presence. The blood which secures the salvation of the Church - the "house" of the true Aaron; the blood which secures the salvation of the "congregation" of Israel; the blood which secures the final restoration and blessedness of the whole creation - that blood has been presented before God, sprinkled and accepted according to all the perfectness, fragrance, and preciousness of Christ. In the power of that blood God can accomplish all His eternal counsels of grace. He can save the Church, and raise it into the very loftiest heights of glory and dignity, despite of all the power of sin and Satan. He can restore Israel’s scattered tribes - He can unite Judah and Ephraim - He can accomplish all the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He can save and bless untold millions of the Gentiles. He can restore and bless the wide creation. He can allow the beams of His glory to lighten up the universe for ever. He can display, in the view of angels, men, and devils, His own eternal glory - the glory of His character - the glory of His nature - the glory of His works - the glory of His government. All this He can do, and will do; but the one solitary pedestal upon which the stupendous fabric of glory shall rest, for ever, is the blood of the cross - that precious blood, dear Christian reader, which has spoken peace, divine and everlasting peace, to your heart and conscience, in the presence of Infinite Holiness. The blood which is sprinkled upon the believer’s conscience has been sprinkled" seven times" before the throne of God. The nearer we get to God, the more importance and value we find attached to the blood of Jesus. If we look at the brazen altar, we find the blood there; if we look at the brazen laver, we find the blood there; if we look at the golden altar, we find the blood there; if we look at the veil of the tabernacle, we find the blood there: but in no place do we find so much about the blood, as within the veil, before Jehovah’s throne, in the immediate presence of the divine glory.
In heaven His blood for ever speaks,
In God the Father’s ears."
"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 remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness." The same truth meets us all along. The claims of the sanctuary must be provided for. Jehovah’s courts, as well as His throne, must bear witness to the value of the blood. The tabernacle, in the midst of Israel’s uncleanness, must be fenced round about by the divine provisions of atonement. Jehovah provided, in all things, for His own glory. The priests and their priestly service, the place of worship, and all therein, must stand in the power of the blood. The Holy One could not have remained, for a moment, in the midst of the congregation, were it not for the power of the blood! It was that which left Him free to dwell, and act, and rule, in the midst of an erring people.
"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." (Ver. 17) Aaron needed to offer up sacrifice for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people. He could only enter into the sanctuary in the power of the blood. We have, in verse 17, a type of the atonement of Christ in its application both to the church and to the congregation of Israel. The church now enters into the holiest by the Blood of Jesus. (Heb. 10) As to Israel, the veil is still on their hearts. (2 Cor. 3) They are still at. a distance, although full provision has been made in the cross for their forgiveness and restoration when they shall turn to the Lord. This. entire period is, properly speaking, the day of atonement. The true Aaron is gone in with His own blood, into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. By and by, He will come forth to lead the congregation of Israel into the full results of His accomplished work. Meanwhile, His house, that is to say, all true believers, are associated with Him, having boldness to enter into the holiest, being brought nigh by the blood of Jesus.
"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. 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." (Ver. 18, 19) Thus the atoning blood was sprinkled everywhere, from the throne of God within the veil, to the altar which stood in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation. "It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: nor yet that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest entered into the holy place every year with blood of others; for then must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world; but now once in the end of the world (at the end of everything earthly, everything human) hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time, without sin, unto salvation." (Heb. 9: 23-28)
There is but one way into the holiest of all, and that is a blood-sprinkled way. It is vain to strive to enter by any other. Men may attempt to work themselves in, to pray themselves in, to buy themselves in, to get in by a pathway of ordinances, or it may be of half-ordinances, half-Christ; but it is of no use. God speaks of one way, and but one, and that way has been thrown open through the rent veil of the Saviour’s flesh. Along that way have the millions of the saved passed, from age to age. Patriarchs, prophets, Apostles, martyrs, saints in every age, from Abel downwards, have trod that blessed way, and found thereby sure and undisputed access. The one sacrifice of the Cross is divinely sufficient for all. God asks no more, and He can take no less. To add ought thereto is to cast dishonour upon that with which God has declared himself well pleased, yea, in which He is infinitely glorified. To diminish ought therefrom is to deny man’s guilt and ruin, and offer an indignity to the justice and majesty of the eternal Trinity.
"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. 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 fit man into the wilderness. 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."
Here, then, we have the other grand idea attached to the death of Christ - namely, the full and final forgiveness of the people. If the death of Christ forms the foundation of the glory of God, it also forms the foundation of the perfect forgiveness of sins to all who put their trust in it. This latter, blessed be God, is but a secondary, an inferior application of the atonement, though our foolish hearts would fain regard it as the very highest possible view of the cross to see in it that which puts away all our sins. This is a mistake. God’s glory is the first thing; our salvation is the second. To maintain Gods glory was the chief, the darling object of the heart of Christ. This object He pursued from first to last, with an undeviating purpose and unflinching fidelity. "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again." (John 10: 17) "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him." (John 13: 31, 32) "Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people from far: the Lord hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft: in his quiver hath He hid me; and said unto me, Thou art my servant, 0 Israel, in whom I will be glorified." (Isaiah 49. 1-3)
Thus, the glory of God was the paramount object of the Lord Jesus Christ, in life and in death. He lived and died to glorify His Father’s name. Does the Church lose ought by this? Nay. Does Israel Nay. Do the Gentiles? Nay. In no way could their salvation and blessedness be so perfectly provided for as by being made subsidiary to the glory of God. Hearken to the divine response to Christ, the true Israel, in the sublime passage just quoted. "It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation to the ends of the earth."
And is it not a blessed thing to know that God is glorified in the putting away of our sins We may ask, Where are our sins? Put away. By what? By that act of Christ upon the cross in which God has been eternally glorified. Thus it is. The two goats, on the day of atonement, give the double aspect of the one act. In the one, we see God’s glory maintained; in the other, sins put away. The one is as perfect as the other. We are as perfectly forgiven as God is perfectly glorified, by the death of Christ. Was there one single point in which God was not glorified in the cross? Not one. Neither is there one single point in which we are not perfectly forgiven. I say we;" for albeit the congregation of Israel is the primary object contemplated in the beautiful and impressive ordinance of the scape-goat; yet does it hold good, in the fullest way, with respect to every soul that believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, that he is as perfectly forgiven as God is perfectly glorified, by the atonement of the cross. How many of the sins of Israel did the scape-goat bear away? "All." Precious word! Not one left behind. and whither did he bear them? "Into a land not inhabited" - a land where they could never be found, because there was no one there to look for them. Could any type be more perfect? Could we possibly have a more graphic picture of Christ’s accomplished sacrifice, in its primary and secondary aspects? Impossible. We can hang with intense admiration over such a picture, and, as we gaze, exclaim, "Of a truth, the pencil of the Master is here! "
Reader, pause here, and say, do you know that all your sins are forgiven, according to the perfection of Christ’s sacrifice? If you simply Believe on His name they are so. They are all gone, and gone for ever. Say not, as so many anxious souls do, "I fear I do not realise." There is no such word as "realise" in the entire gospel. We are not saved by realisation, but by Christ; and the way to get Christ in all His fullness and preciousness is to believe" only believe!" And what will be the result? "The worshippers once purged should have no more conscience of sins." Observe this. "No more Conscience of sins." this must be the result, inasmuch as Christ’s sacrifice is perfect-so perfect, that God is glorified therein. Now, it must be obvious to you that Christ’s work does not need your realisation to be added to it to make it perfect. This could not be. We might as well say that the work of creation was not complete until Adam realised it in the garden of Eden. True, he did realise; but what did he realise? A perfect work. Thus let it be with your precious soul this moment, if it has never been so before. May you, now and evermore, repose, in artless simplicity, upon the One who has, by one offering, perfected for ever them that are sanctified! And how are they sanctified? Is it by realisation? By no means. How then? By the perfect work of Christ.
Having sought - alas! most feebly - to unfold the doctrine of this marvellous chapter, so far as God has given me light upon it, there is just one point further to which I shall merely call my reader’s attention, ere I close this section. It is contained in the following quotation: "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. 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. It shall be a Sabbath of rest and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever." (Ver. 29-31)
This shall have its full accomplishment in the saved remnant of Israel by and by, as foretold by the prophet Zechariah: "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications; and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon . . . . In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness. . . . . . . and it shall come to pass in that day that the light shall not be clear (in one place) and dark: (in another:) but it shall be one day, (the true and long-expected Sabbath,) which shall be known to the Lord, not day nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light. And it shall be in that day. that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be. And THE LORD SHALL BE KING OVER ALL THE EARTH: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one . . . . . . . In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD . . . . . . And in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts." (Zech. 12 - 14)
What a day that will be! No marvel that it should be so frequently and so emphatically introduced in the above glowing passage. It will be a bright and blessed "Sabbath of rest" when the mourning remnant shall gather, in the spirit of true penitence, round the open fountain, and enter into the full and final results of the great day of atonement. They shall "afflict their souls," no doubt; for how could they do otherwise, while fixing their repentant gaze "upon him whom they have pierced?" But, oh! what a Sabbath they will have! Jerusalem will have a brimming cup of salvation, after her long and dreary night of sorrow. Her former desolations shall be forgotten, and her children, restored to their long-lost dwellings, shall take down their harps from the willows, and sing once more the sweet songs of Zion beneath the peaceful shade of the vine And fig tree.
Blessed be God, the time is at hand. Every setting sun brings us nearer to that blissful Sabbath. The word is, "Surely, I come quickly;" and all around seems to tell us that "the days are at hand, and the effect of every vision." May we be "sober, and watch unto prayer!" May we keep ourselves unspotted from the world; and thus, in the spirit of our minds, the affections of our hearts, and the experience of our souls, be ready to meet the heavenly Bridegroom! Our place for the present is outside the camp. Thank God that it is so! It would be an unspeakable loss to be inside. The same cross which has brought us inside the veil has cast us outside the camp. Christ was cast out thither, and we are with Him there; but He has been received up into heaven, and we are with Him there. Is it not a mercy to be outside of all that which has rejected our blessed Lord and Master? Truly so; and the more we know of Jesus, and the more we know of this present evil world, the more thankful we shall be to find our place outside of it all with Him.
C. H. Mackintosh, Notes on the Pentateuch — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain THE CEREMONIAL PURIFICATION OF THE WHOLE CONGREGATION ON THE…
THE CEREMONIAL PURIFICATION OF THE WHOLE CONGREGATION ON THE GREAT DAY OF ATONEMENT. This chapter, containing the account of the institution of the ceremonial to be used on the Day of Atonement, would take its place chronologically immediately after the tenth chapter, for the instructions conveyed in it were delivered to Moses "after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the Lord and died (verse 1), when the fate of Nadab and Abihu would naturally have led Aaron to desire a more perfect knowledge than had as yet been imparted to him as to the manner in which he was to present himself before the Lord. Logically it might either occupy its present position, as being the great and culminating atoning and cleansing ceremony, or it might be relegated to a place among the holy days in chapter 23, where it is, in fact, shortly noticed. That it is placed here shows that the most essential characteristic of the Day in the judgment of the legislator is that of its serving as the occasion and the means of "making an atonement for the holy sanctuary, and making an atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar, and for making an atonement for the priests, and for all the people of the congregation (verse 33).
Annually there gathered over the camp, and over the sanctuary as situated in the midst of the camp, a mass of defilement, arising in part from sins whose guilt had not been removed by the punishment of the offenders, and in part from uncleannesses which had not been cleansed by sacrifices and the prescribed ceremonial rites. Annually this defilement had to be atoned for or covered away from the sight of God. This was done by the solemn observance of the great Day of Atonement, and specially by the high priest"s carrying the blood of the sacrifices into the holy of holies, into which he might enter on no other day of the year; while the consciousness of deliverance from the guilt of sin was quickened on the part of the people by their seeing the scapegoat "bear away upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited (verse 22).
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Vers. 1-28. Union and communion with God
is that which the undepraved heart of man most longs for, and which religion is especially intended to bring about. That this may be effected, the barrier of sin, and of that which represents sin ceremonial uncleanness must be broken down. If sin and uncleanness cannot be taken away so as to be as though they had not been, they must, according to their nature, be either punished as justice demands, or be so covered over as to be withdrawn from the sight of the Divine eye. This covering or atonement is wrought by sacrifices for sin, and ceremonial purifications. Hence the public and private sin offerings, and the various forms of cleansing. But in spite of penalties inflicted and sacrifices offered, a mass of crime and sin and uncleanness accumulates year by year, which has not been avenged or cleansed, and this defilement affects the very tabernacle of God and his holy things, as well as the congregation of living men. Therefore an annual atonement and reconciliation were required, which were effected each year on the great Day of Atonement.
I THE CEREMONIES.
1. Bathing.
2. Robing in white garments.
3. The sin offerings.
4. The entry into the holy of holies.
5. The sprinkling of the blood of the sin offerings on the ark and before the mercy-seat.
6. The scapegoat.
II THEIR MEANING. All is typical of Christ.
1. Washing with his blood and in the waters of baptism.
2. Clothing with his righteousness.
3. Christ the Sin Offering on the cross.
4. Christ"s ascension and entry into heaven. (Heb 9, 10)
5. Christ"s life-blood offered on the cross, and carried by him into heaven.
6. Christ the Sin-bearer and the Remover of sins.
III THE LESSONS.
1. Reconciliation between God and man has been effected. For Christ has come and has offered himself as a sin offering. The mass of sins which gathered over mankind age after age, has been covered or atoned for by the blood of Christ, shed by him upon the cross; and those who were alienated are now reconciled. Christ is the all-prevailing Peacemaker, who has united man with man, and man with God. "He is our peace, who hath made both (Gentile and Jew) one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; ... for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God". (Eph_2:14-19) And this reconciliation was wrought by one offering, once for all offered. The high priest"s atonement was made annually, for the blood of bulls and goats could not, effectually and permanently, but only symbolically and temporarily, take away sins. (Heb_10:4) "But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God.... For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified". (Heb_10:12-14) And it was wrought for all mankind. How, then, are all to share in it? By realizing their adoption in Christ, which has been potentially bestowed upon the whole family of man, and is made effective to each individual by his "belief" "in the Word of truth," and his being "sealed" in baptism "with the Holy Spirit of promise". (Eph_1:13) The spiritual bathing, and clothing in white garments, which are now the privileges of every Christian, derive their sacramental force solely from the Sacrifice of the cross.
2. Christ has opened for us the way to heaven. Christ is not only the antitype of the sin offering made for the congregation, but also of the high priest who sacrificed the offering; for he, the Priest, offered himself, the Victim. The holy of holies, wherein the presence of God exhibited itself, was the type of heaven. Into this place "went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people: the Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest". (Heb_9:7, Heb_9:8) Alone, the high priest entered beyond the mysterious vail, and no one might be present, even in the outer chamber of the tabernacle, at the time of his entrance, nor while he was fulfilling his functions before the ark. He could not take any one with him. Not even after the atonement had been made, could those who had been reconciled, whether priests or people, enter there. The vail was drawn again, and all was shrouded in silence and mystery as before. But "Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us". (Heb_9:24) At his ascension he entered heaven, and (unlike the high priest) there he remained at the right hand of God, (Heb_10:13) having received gifts for men from his Father, and having bestowed them upon his Church by the operation of his Spirit. (Eph_4:8-11) And not only so, but he opened the way to all his followers. He was the mystical Head, and where the Head was, there the Body would be likewise. By his death he purchased for man an entrance into the presence of God, and an eternal continuance before the throne. "Having therefore boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the vail, that is to say, his flesh; and having a high priest over the house of God; let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water". (Heb_10:19-22)
3. Christ has borne, and borne away, our sins. "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all". (Isa_53:4-6) "Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many". (Heb_9:28) "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed". (1Pe_2:24) Christ, by his sacrifice, not only earns for us forgiveness of sin, but also gives us a consciousness of their forgiveness. Those who, in self-abasement and self-abandonment, have thrown themselves at the foot of the cross, have arisen assured of the pardon of their sins, as though they had seen and felt the burden of them taken off from their necks, and carried step by step into a land cut off, from whence no return for them is possible. If there are any who feel overcome by the weight of their sins, they are taught here that, if they cannot bear them, there is One who can bear them, and that, though they cannot free themselves from them, yet they can be freed. "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world!". (Joh_1:29)
IV WARNING. Washed, robed, reconciled, and delivered from sin, and from the consciousness of sin, what more could have been done for us that God has not done? What return are we to make? We are to live as children of God. "Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works". (Heb_10:23, Heb_10:24) Further warning. The danger of failing away after having been forgiven and admitted to the privileges of sonship. "For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries". (Heb_10:26, Heb_10:27) One unclean spirit may be exchanged for seven. (Mat_13:43-45)
"See that ye refuse not him that speaketh; for our God is a consuming fire". (Heb_12:25, Heb_12:29)
HOMILIES BY R.A. REDFORD Vers. 1-34. The great Day of Atonement
(verses 29-31). One day in the year set apart to the most solemn representation possible of the two facts the sinfulness of man, the righteous love of God. Atonement underlying the whole of the ceremonial Law, but the insufficiency of the dally sacrifices, set forth by the separation of one day for the special sacrifice, thus pointing to one atonement in which all other atone-meats should be perfected. Solemn warning in the death of the two sons of Aaron, proclaiming the unchangeableness of Divine Law, and unapproachableness of God in his infinite righteousness. Necessity that, while the cloud upon the mercy-seat spoke of holiness and majesty, there should be a more emphatic testimony to love and mercy. Yet that testimony must be in the way of Law and ordinance, therefore itself maintaining that God is just while he is merciful. These preliminary considerations prepare us to take the "great Day of Atonement" as a typical prophecy fulfilled in the revelation of Christ. Notice
I THE MEDIATION BETWEEN GOD AND MAN MUST BE A PERFECT MEDIATION.
1. Personal perfection. For ordinary ministration, washing feet and hands sufficient. For the great day, entire cleansing. This must be. A fellow-creature, imperfect and sinful, may be employed as a channel of communication between God and us, hut not as the efficient Mediator undertaking for both. The spotlessness of Jesus must be more than relative, more than character; it must be absolute, therefore, only as we see it in the Incarnation. Nor can we find satisfaction in the humanity of Christ unless we believe that it was capable of rendering to God an infinitely acceptable sacrifice; therefore, while it was flesh, it must have been free from all taint of sin. We lay our sins on him; then he must be himself absolutely sinless, or else our sins will be increased by his. Only in the pre-existence of the Second Person in the Trinity can we find a support for this doctrine of personal perfection in the man Christ Jesus.
2. Official perfection. The high priest must be clothed in spotless garments. "Holy garments. He put off his "golden garments," and put on the white linen, emblematical of official perfection. The continual repetition of the sacrifices and the priestly ablutions, together with the special priestly offerings, represented the necessary imperfection of the ceremonial atonement. The priest"s office was seen in its height of dignity in the high priest"s office; the high priest"s office in its most solemn duty, to enter the holiest once a year and make atonement for all. But the true High Priest and the true mediation were yet to come. The ministry of Christ was a perfect offering of man to God, in his active and passive obedience, and a perfect revelation and assurance of Divine favour to man; in the facts of his earthly life, promising healing and restoration for human woes, and life from the dead; in the development of a perfect humanity by example; in the unfolding and proclamation of the heavenly kingdom, which actually commenced in his person, and proceeded in ever-widening spheres of spiritual life in his Church; in his risen glory and the bestowment of the Holy Spirit, which were the completion of his official work as Mediator, for he said that if he went to the Father (that is, as Mediator), he would send the Comforter. Thus the vail was taken away, and the way into the holiest made manifest. (Heb_9:8 Heb_10:19-23) Our High Priest is not one of an imperfect succession of Aaron"s sons, but after the order of Melchisedec, coming forth directly from God, and standing in unique perfection; the pledge at once of Divine acceptance and the spiritual liberty of the gospel.
II VICARIOUS ATONEMENT. The three facts of the day were:
1. The blood of the victims shed and sprinkled.
2. The living way opened between the throne of God and. His people.
3. The public, solemn putting away of sins and their loss, as guilt, in the wilderness.
In the true atonement, thus represented, these are the essential factorsexpiation, reconciliation, restoration.
1. Expiation. The blood of the bullock, the blood of the goat, brought in before the mercy-seat, sprinkled seven times, etc. No remission of sins without blood. A tribute to the holiness of God, therefore to the perfection of the Divine government. No peace can be true and abiding which has not its roots in the unchangeableness of God. Notice how the modern feeling of the steadfastness and uniformity of nature vindicates the necessity of a forgiveness of sin which is a maintenance of Law. The sufferings of Christ must be viewed, not as the arbitrary assignment of a penalty, but as the sufferings of the sacrificial Victim, i.e., of him whose blood, that is, his life, was freely offered to seal the covenant, and who, being in the form of a servant, obeyed even unto death; made of a woman, made under the Law, therefore both having a fleshly, mortal nature, and being in a position of obedience, wherein he must, as a true Son, "fulfill all righteousness." The cross was an open conflict between righteousness and unrighteousness, in which the true representative Seed of the woman, the true Humanity, was bruised, and, as a Victim, laid bleeding and dying on the altar; but in which, at the same time, the acceptance of the offering, as proved by the Resurrection and Ascension, was a manifestation of the victory of righteousness and the putting away of sin. The universality of the expiation was represented by the offering for priests and people alike, for the holy place, for the very mercy-seat, fur all the worship and religious life of the congregation. Apart from the merit of the Saviour"s blood, there is no acceptance of anything which we offer to God. The attempt to eliminate all distinctive recognition of expiation from religious worship, is the folly of our times in many who reject the teaching of Christianity. A temple without a sacrifice, without the blood which is the remission of sins, is a contradiction of the first truth of Scripture, that man is a fallen being, and can therefore be acceptable to God only on God"s own revealed terms of atonement.
2. Reconciliation (verses 11-14). The true conception of salvation is not a mere deliverance from the punishment of sin, but living fellowship between God and his creature. The life of man is the outcome of God"s wisdom, power, goodness, unchangeable and everlasting. He carries eternity and divinity in his very nature and existence. His future blessedness, yea, his very being, must be secured in God"s favour. The burning coals of fire from off the altar, and the sweet incense beaten small, rising up as a cloud before the mercy-seat, betoken the intermingling of the Divine and human in the life of God"s reconciled children. This is maintained by the offerings of faith and prayer: the light of Divine truth penetrating the mind and life of man, the heart rejoicing in God and seeking him by a constant reference of all things to him, and dependence of daily life on his mercy. When thus the will and love of God underlie all our existence and pervade it, there is an open way between this world and heaven; the two are intermingled. Man becomes what he was made to be a reflection of his Maker"s image. "I will say, It is my people, and they shall say, The Lord is our God." Christianity has the only true message of hope for the world, because it proclaims reconciliation between the infinite perfection of God and the polluted and imperfect humanity which he has redeemed.
3. Restoration (verses 20-28). The scapegoat an emblem of the entire deliverance of man from the guilt and misery of sin. The necessity of this proclamation of a new world. Heathen minds recognized the evil of sin, but lay under the spell of fatalistic despair. "No symbol could so plainly set forth the completeness of Jehovah"s acceptance of the penitent, as a sin offering in which a life was given up for the altar, and yet a living being survived to carry away all sin and uncleanness." The commencement of all renovation of character and life is the sense of entire forgiveness, perfect peace with God. The sins are gone into the wilderness, they have not to be cleansed away by any efforts of ours. Spiritual restoration lies at the root of all other. "The kingdom of God" is first "righteousness," then "peace, and then "joy in the Holy Ghost. This is the Divine order of restoration. But as the priest put his hand upon the head of the goat, and confessed over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, so in the Divine work of grace on behalf of man, there must be the living faith which blends the penitent submission of the human will with the infinite sufficiency of the Divine righteousness and power. R.
HOMILIES BY R.M. EDGAR Chapter 16The climax of sacrificial worship, the Day of Atonement.
Cf. Joh_1:29 1Co_5:7 Heb_9:10. The sacrifices already considered all bring out with more or less emphasis the idea of atonement. But to render this cardinal idea of our religion still more emphatic, it was ordained that the tenth day of the seventh month in each year should be a day of special humiliation on the part of the people, and special ritual on the part of the priests. The directions about it were apparently given immediately after the presumption and death of Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron. They must have ventured, we think, into the very "holiest of all," with their censers of unholy fire. The stages in atonement may be set forth in the following way:
I THERE IS THE VOLUNTARY HUMILIATION OF THE HIGH PRIEST. The Day of Atonement was the high priest"s day; he undertook the atoning work, and no man was to venture near the tabernacle (verse 17) while he was engaged in it. The first thing required of him was humiliation. He had to lay aside his glorious garments in which he usually ministered, and to assume plain white linen ones; he had to bring a sin offering for himself and household; he had thus to humble himself under the mighty band of God, before he could be exalted by admission to the Divine presence. Now, it requires the high priest with his sin offering to typify with any adequacy Jesus Christ. For he is both our High Priest and our Sin Offering. He humbles himself to die as a Sacrifice upon the cross; he is a voluntary Sacrifice he offers himself. (Heb_7:27) The humiliation of our High Priest can only be judged by our conception of the glory of Divinity which he temporarily resigned, added to the depth of ignominy into which in his crucifixion he came. All this was necessary that a way of reconciliation might be opened up for sinners.
II THE HIGH PRIEST WAS REQUIRED NEXT TO PERFUME THE AUDIENCE CHAMBER WITH INCENSE. He proceeded with a censer of coals from off the altar, and a handful of incense, and was careful to fill the holy of holies with the fragrant cloud. Here again does it require the incense, in addition to the priest, to typify the relations of Jesus to our atonement. The work of atonement begins in his intercession. Think how he prayed during his life on earth how earnest his prayer in Gethsemane was when he sweat as it were great drops of blood; think, further, how his intercession is continued in the heavenly places. Prayer is the beginning, middle, and end of the redemptive work. Without this incense, even the blood of the unblemished lamb would lose much of its effect.
It seems evident from this that we must put away those hard and businesslike illustrations of atonement, as a hard bargain driven on the one side and paid literally and in full on the other. We must allow a sufficient sphere in our conceptions for the play of intercession and appeal, and remember that, while it is a God of justice who is satisfied, he proves himself in the transaction a God of grace.
III AFTER THE INCENSE THERE IS BROUGHT IN THE BLOODY FIRST OF HIS OWN SIN OFFERING, AND THEN OF THE PEOPLE"S. The blood of Jesus Christ is symbolized by both, and the act of sprinkling it before God is also to be attributed to our Great High Priest. "For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." "Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us". (Heb_9:24, Heb_9:12) Now, the presentation of blood unto God, and the sprinkling of it seven times in the appointed place, represented the appeal which the self-sacrifice of Jesus, his Son, is so well calculated to make to the Divine mercy in the interests of guilty men. The law of mediation is that self-sacrifice stimulates the element of mercy in the Judge. (f1) And if it be objected that surely God does not require such an expensive stimulant, the reply is that the self-sacrificing Son and the stimulated Father and Judge are in essence one. The act is consequently a Divine self-sacrifice, to stimulate the element of mercy towards man, and make it harmonize with justice. Here then we have remission of sins secured through the shedding of the blood of Jesus. Pardon and reconciliation are thus put within the reach of the sinner.
IV BUT THE HIGH PRIEST WAS EXPECTED NOT ONLY TO SECURE THE PARDON OF SINS, BUT ALSO TO PUT IT AWAY BY THE DISMISSAL OF THE SCAPEGOAT. For the pardon of sin is not all man needs. He requires sin to be put away from him. He needs to be enabled to sing, "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us". (Psa_103:12) Now, this putting away of sin was Beautifully represented in the dismissal of the scapegoat. This second sin offer-lug, after having the sins of the people heaped upon its head by the priestly confession, is sent away in care of a faithful servant to the wilderness, there to be left in loneliness either to live or die. Here again we have a type of Jesus. He is our Scapegoat. He carried our sins on his devoted head into that wilderness of desolation and loneliness, which compelled from him the cry, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" There did he fully atone for them, and secured their annihilation. As we meditate upon this portion of his mediation, we are enabled by the Spirit to realize that sin is put away through Christ"s sacrifice of himself. (Heb_9:26) That desolation of the Redeemer into which he entered for us interposes itself, so to speak, between us and our sins, and we feel a wholesome separation from them. How can we ever love sin when we realize that it led our Lord to this?
V THE HIGH PRIEST, HAVING THUS DISPOSED OF SIN, RESUMED HIS GLORIOUS GARMENTS, AND OFFERED THE BURNT OFFERING FOR HIMSELF AND THE PEOPLE. The stages already noticed have been prayer, the remission of sins through the shedding of blood, and the putting away of sin through the dismissal of the victim. Now comes dedication as the crowning purpose of the atonement, and which the burnt offering all along has indicated. It is Christ who offers this burnt offering, and is the Burnt Offering. That is to say, he has offered for men a perfect righteousness, as well as afforded us a perfect example. Our consecration to God is ideally to be a perfect one but really how imperfect! but Christ is made unto us sanctification; we are complete in him; we are accepted in the Beloved; and we learn and try to live as he lived, holy as he was holy.
Moreover, upon the burnt offering was presented the fat of the sin offering, the Lord. thus emphasizing his satisfaction with the atonement, and his acceptance of it. The remainder of the sin offering, as a sacred thing, is carried to a clean place without the camp, and there burned. In no more beautiful way could God convey the assurance to his people that the ritual of atonement was complete and acceptable to him. It is when we gratefully dedicate ourselves to God, which is our reasonable service, that we receive the assurance of acceptance in the Beloved.
VI THE WASHING OF THE THREE MEN OFFICIATING ON THE DAY OF ATONEMENT CONVEYS SURELY THE IDEA OF THE CONTAMINATING POWER OF SIN. For the high priest, before he puts on the glorious garments and presents the burnt offering, is required to wash himself in water. The man who piloted the scapegoat to the wilderness has also to perform careful and complete ablutions. And so has the man who took the remains of the sin offering beyond the comp. For all three had to deal with sin, and are ceremonially affected by it. Most vivid must have been the impression thus produced upon the people. Sin would appear the abominable thing which God hates, when it is so defiling.
We have here the climax of the sacrificial worship. The Day of Atonement would be a rest indeed to the sin-burdened people. At the tabernacle they see in ritual how God could be reconciled to man, and how he could pardon and put away sin. As the smoke of the burnt offering passed up to heaven, many a soul felt that a burden was gone, and that the heavens were smiling once more. May the experience of the day of atonement abide in our hearts still, for we need it as much as the pilgrims long ago. R.M.E.
HOMILIES BY J.A. MACDONALD Vers. 1-4. The high priest on the Day of Atonement.
The Jewish high priest was an eminent type of Christ. He was this on ordinary occasions of his ministry, in respect to which Jesus is called "the High Priest of our profession". (Heb_3:1) But he was especially so upon this great occasion of his entrance into the most holy place,
I THE MOST HOLY PLACE OF THE TEMPLE WAS A TYPE OF HEAVEN.
1. The tabernacle was a figure of the universe.
(1) It represented the material universe. In allusion to this, Paul speaks of the universe as the great house built by the hands of God. (see Heb_3:3, Heb_3:4) And our Lord, also, alluding to the temple with its many courts and offices, speaks of the universe as his Father"s house. (Joh_14:1)
(2) It likewise represented the moral universe. In this light it is also viewed by Paul in the same connection as that in which he likens it to the material. (see Heb_3:6) In many places of Scripture the people of God are described under the similitude of the temple. (see 1Co_3:16 2Co_6:16 Eph_2:21, 22 1Pe_2:5)
2. The holy places signified the heavens.
(1) Amongst the coverings were what our version calls "badgers" skins," but the original word ( techesh, in ancient versions is explained to denote a colour, viz. blue. The covering may have been composed of rams" skins dyed blue, as the other covering was of "rams" skins dyed red." Blue was the proper colour to suggest the air, while the red would suggest the golden glow of the light in the ethereal heavens.
(2) Josephus, speaking of the gate of the porch of the temple, which stood always open, styles it an "emblem of the heavens." And the vail leading flora the porch to the holy place, made like Babylonish tapestry (Jos_7:21) of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen, he compares to the elements ("Wars," 5:5). Josephus also describes the branched candlestick, with its seven lights, as emblems of the planets of the solar system.
(3) But whatever may be said of details, the broad fact is not left to conjecture or even to tradition; for Paul tells us plainly that the holy places were patterns of the heavens. (Heb_4:14 Heb_9:23)
3. The most holy place figured the supreme heaven.
(1) This must be obvious from the fact that the Shechinah was there. God appeared then in regal state upon his throne of glory. The cherubim around him represented the powers of creation, physical and intellectual, which all wait upon him to fulfill his will everywhere in the great universe. Their faces were so placed that, while they all looked inward upon the propitiatory, they also looked outward in all directions, upon the house.
(2) This innermost sanctuary Paul accordingly describes as "heaven itself an expression synonymous to the "third heaven," and "heaven of heavens". (Heb_9:24 2Co_12:2,de 2Co_10:14 Psa_115:16) It is the palace of God and of angels.
IX THE ENTRANCE OF THE HIGH PRIEST INTO THE MOST HOLY PLACE ADUMBRATED THAT OF JESUS INTO HEAVEN. (see Heb_8:1, 2 9:11, 12, 23, 24)
1. He entered in his white garments.
(1) Not in his "golden robes." These are vulgarly supposed to have been his nobler vestments, and it is thought that entering in his white garments he appeared in "mean" attire, to express "humiliation" and "mourning" (see Matthew Henry, in loc. ).
(2) But is this opinion just? Where are the white robes of the high priest so described in Scripture? Is it not rather the other way? (see Eze_44:17) Are the seven angels (Rev_15:6) described as in mean attire? As a matter of fact, did Jesus meanly or mourningly enter heaven? Was it not rather his entrance "into his glory" after his "sufferings" were "finished"? (Luk_24:26)
(3) The white robes represented the glorious body of his resurrection. (see 1Ti_6:14-16 Heb_9:24, Heb_9:25) And a specimen of the quality of these garments was given on the mount of transfiguration, when the light of his glory was so white that no fuller on earth could make linen to compare with it. (see Mat_17:2 Mar_9:3)
2. Note now the allusion to Nadab and Abihu.
(1) (See verse 1; refer also to Lev_10:1, Lev_10:2) This terrible event occurred in the wilderness of Sinai, (Num_3:4) where the Law was given, and where these very men were called up with Aaron to witness the glory of the Lord. (Exo_24:1) Whatever induced them to offer strange fire, they became, in the sequel, a figure of Jesus, who came not with legal righteousness, and whom the fire of God was to search to the utmost.
(2) Aaron now became a similar type (see verse 2). He was to die if he came near Jehovah, and so represented Jesus, who, in the union of his manhood with the Godhead, was to die. This issue was only averted from Aaron by the substitution of animal sacrifices, which were to procure the "forbearance of God," until Immanuel should put away typical sin sacrifices by the sacrifice of himself.
(3) To avert death from Aaron, God appointed that incense also should be fumed before the mercy-seat, in the cloud of which he would appear (verses 2, 12, 13). The cloud tempered the fierceness of the fire of the presence of God, and showed that, in virtue of the intercession of Christ, man may see God and live. J.A.M.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON Vers. 1, 2. The peril of privilege.
Was it, then, necessary to contemplate the possibility of Aaron"s dying at his post? Was he, the chosen servant of God, who had been so solemnly inducted into his office (chapters 8, 9), in actual peril of death as he ministered unto the Lord? Could he draw too near to God, so as to endanger his very life? It was even so. His two sons, Nadab and Abihu, had paid the extreme penalty of their sin in the service of Jehovah; "they offered before the Lord, and died" at their post. And if Aaron had violated the precepts here given, it is certain that from "the cloud upon the mercy seat" would have flashed the fatal fire which would have destroyed the high priest himself. We are not afraid now
(1) of such condign and signal punishment as befell the sons of Aaron: God does not visit us thus in these days; nor
(2) of coming too often or drawing too near to God. The barriers which then stood between the manifested Deity and the common people are removed. We may "come at all times" to the mercy-seat, and are in much greater peril of God"s displeasure for "restraining prayer," than for intruding into his presence without need. Nevertheless, privilege has its own peculiar peril, and the penalty is very serious: it is death; not physical, but spiritual, eternal death. There may be in our case
I PRESUMPTION FROM OFFICIAL POSITION. It is only too possible that those who "offer before the Lord" may come to regard their official duties as things which avail before him, independently of the spirit in which they are rendered. "Many will say,... have we not prophesied in thy Name... and in thy Name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you". (Mat_7:22, Mat_7:23) Many may say, "Have we not preached thy gospel, taught thy truth, evangelized in thy Name?" etc., and trusting in their official works instead of looking to their inner spirit, and instead of attaching themselves to Christ in penitence and faith be condemned at his bar.
II FORMALISM FROM FAMILIARITY. It is all too possible for those who "offer before the Lord" to die a spiritual death, because they lose all real and living appreciation of the things they say and do. There is a subtle but powerful tendency in the human mind to do mechanically and unintelligently that with which it is exceedingly familiar. Not even the most sacred words or solemn rites are proof against it. We may, at the desk, or pulpit, or even at the table of the Lord, take words upon our lips which find no answer in the soul. We may be obnoxious to our Lord"s reproach. (Mat_15:8) To use sacred language without sacred feeling is to move away from the fountain of life; to have entered the precincts of habitual formalism is to have passed the outer portals of the kingdom of death.
III DISOBEDIENCE FROM DISREGARD TO THE WILL OF GOD. We are not bound to a rigid correspondence with every minute New Testament practice. There are some matters in which changed circumstances demand other methods. But we are bound to search the Scriptures to find the will of our Lord in the worship we render and the work we do for him. If we follow nothing better than "the traditions of men," or our own tastes and inclinations, we may find ourselves in the wilderness a long way from the water of life.
Whatever position we occupy in the Church of Christ, however much of "the honour that cometh from man" we may enjoy, it is essential that we:
1. Cherish the spirit of humility, and exercise a living faith in Jesus Christ.
2. Realize the truth we speak, and spiritually participate in the services we conduct.
3. Have supreme regard to the will of our Master, seeking to learn that will as devoutly, patiently, studiously, as we can. These things must we do "that we die not" before the Lord. C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain IN the first verse of chapter 16, which ordains…
THE GREAT DAY OF ATONEMENT
Lev_16:1-34
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IN the first verse of chapter 16, which ordains the ceremonial for the great annual day of atonement, we are told that this ordinance was delivered by the Lord to Moses "after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the Lord, and died." Because of the close historical connection thus declared between this chapter and chapter 10, and also because in this ordinance the Mosaic sacrificial worship, which has been the subject of the book thus far, finds its culmination, it seems most satisfactory to anticipate the order of the book by taking up at this point the exposition of this chapter, before proceeding in chapter 11 to a wholly different subject.
This ordinance of the day of atonement was perhaps the most important and characteristic in the whole Mosaic legislation. In the law of the offerings, the most distinctive part was the law of the sin offering; and it was on the great annual day of atonement that the conceptions embodied in the sin offering obtained their most complete development. The central place which this day occupied in the whole system of sacred times is well illustrated in that it is often spoken of by the rabbis, without any more precise designation, as simply "Yoma," "The Day." It was "the day" because, on this day, the idea of sacrificial expiation and the consequent removal of all sin, essential to the life of peace and fellowship with God, which was set forth imperfectly, as regards individuals and the nation, by the daily sin offerings, received the highest possible symbolical expression. It is plain that countless sins and transgressions and various defilements must yet have escaped unrecognised as such, even by the most careful and conscientious Israelite; and that, for this reason, they could not have been covered by any of the daily offerings for sin. Hence, apart from this full, solemn, typical purgation and cleansing of the priesthood and the congregation, and the holy sanctuary, from the uncleannesses and transgressions of the children of Israel, "even all their sins" (Lev_16:16), the sacrificial system had yet fallen short of expressing in adequate symbolism the ideal of the complete removal of all sin. With abundant reason then do the rabbis regard it as the day of days in the sacred year.
It is insisted by the radical criticism of our day that the general sense of sin and need of expiation which this ordinance expresses could not have existed in the days of Moses; and that since, moreover, the later historical books of the Old Testament contain no reference to the observance of the day, therefore its origin must be attributed to the days of the restoration from Babylon, when, as such critics suppose the deeper sense of sin, developed by the great judgment of the Babylonian captivity and exile, occasioned the elaboration of this ritual.
To this one might reply that the objection rests upon an assumption which the Christian believer cannot admit, that the ordinance was merely a product of the human mind. But if, as our Lord constantly taught, and as the chapter explicitly affirms, the ordinance was a matter of Divine, supernatural revelation, then naturally we shall expect to find in it, not mans estimate of the guilt of sin, but Gods, which in all ages is the same. But, meeting such objectors on their own ground, we need not go into the matter further than to refer to the high authority of Dillmann, who declares this theory of the post-exilian origin of this institution to be "absolutely incredible"; and in reply to the objection that the day is not alluded to in the whole Old Testament history, justly adds that this argument from silence would equally forbid us to assign the origin of the ordinance to the days of the return from Babylon, or any of the pre-Christian centuries for "one would then have to maintain that the festival first arose in the first Christian century; since only out of that age do we first have any explicit testimonies concerning it."
Again, the first verse of the chapter gives as the occasion of the promulgation of this law, "the death of the two sons of Aaron," Nadab and Abihu, "when they drew near before the Lord and died"; a historical note which is perfectly natural if we have here a narrative dating from Mosaic days, but which seems most objectless and unlikely to have been entered, if the law were a late invention of rabbinical forgers. On that occasion it was, as we read, {Lev_5:2} that "the Lord said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the veil, before the mercy seat which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat." Into this place of Jehovahs most immediate earthly manifestation, even Aaron is to come only once a year, and then only with atoning blood, as hereinafter prescribed.
The object of the whole service of this day is represented as atonement; expiation of sin, in the highest and fullest sense then possible. It is said to be appointed to make atonement for Aaron and for his house (Lev_16:6), for the holy place, and for the tent of meeting (Lev_16:15-17); for the altar of burnt offering in the outer court (Lev_16:18-19); and for all the congregation of Israel (Lev_16:20-22, Lev_16:33); and this, not merely for such sins of ignorance as had been afterward recognised and acknowledged in the ordinary sin offerings of each day, but for "all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, even all their sins": even such as were still unknown to all but God (Lev_16:21). The fact of such an ordinance for such a purpose taught a most impressive lesson of the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man, on the one hand, and, on the other, the utter insufficiency of the daily offerings to cleanse from all sin. Day by day these had been offered in each year; and yet, as we read, {Heb_9:8-9} the Holy Ghost this signified by this ordinance, "that the way into the holy place hath not yet been made manifest"; it was "a parable for the time now present"; teaching that the temple sacrifices of Judaism could not "as touching the conscience, make the worshipper perfect". {Heb_9:9} We may well reverse the judgment of the critics, and say-not that the deepened sense of sin in Israel was the cause of the day of atonement; but rather, that the solemn observances of this day, under God, were made for many in Israel a most effective means to deepen the conviction of sin.
The time which was ordained for this annual observance is significant-the tenth day of the seventh month. It was appointed for the seventh month, as the sabbatic month, in which all the related ideas of rest in God and with God, in the enjoyment of the blessings of a now complete redemption, received in the great feast of tabernacles their fullest expression. It was therefore appointed for that month, and for a day which shortly preceded this greatest of the annual feasts, to signify in type the profound and most vital truth, that the full joy of the sabbatic rest of man with God, and the ingathering of the fruits of complete redemption, is only possible upon condition of repentance and the fullest possible expiation for sin. It was appointed for the tenth day of this month, no doubt, because in the Scripture symbolism the number ten is the symbol of completeness; and was fitly thus connected with a service which signified expiation completed for the sins of the year.
The observances appointed for the day had regard, first, to the people, and, secondly, to the tabernacle service. As for the former, it was commanded (Lev_16:29) that they should "do no manner of work," observing the day as a Sabbath Sabbathon, " a high Sabbath," or "Sabbath of solemn rest," (Lev_16:31); and, secondly, that they should "afflict their souls" (Lev_16:30), namely, by solemn fasting, in visible sign of sorrow and humiliation for sin. By which it was most distinctly taught, that howsoever complete atonement may be, and howsoever, in making that atonement through a sacrificial victim, the sinner himself have no part, yet apart from his personal repentance for his sins, that atonement shall profit him nothing; nay, it was declared, {Lev_23:29} that if any man should fail on this point, God would cut him off from his people. The law abides as regards the greater sacrifice of Christ; except we repent, we shall, even because of that sacrifice, only the more terribly perish; because not even this supreme exhibition of the holy love and justice of God has moved us to renounce sin.
As regards the tabernacle service for the day, the order was as follows. First, as most distinctive of the ritual of the day, only the high priest could officiate. The other priests, who, on other occasions, served continually in the holy place, must on this day, during these ceremonies, leave it to him alone; taking their place, themselves as sinners for whom also atonement was to be made, with the sinful congregation of their brethren. For it was ordered (Lev_16:17): "There shall be no man in the tent of meeting when the high priest goeth in to make atonement in the holy place, until he come out," and the work of atonement be completed.
And the high priest could himself officiate only after certain significant preparations. First (Lev_16:4), he must "bathe in water" his whole person. The word used in the original is different from that which is used of the partial washings in connection with the daily ceremonial cleansings; and, most suggestively, the same complete washing is required as that which was ordered in the law for the consecration of the priesthood, and for cleansing from leprosy and other specific defilements. Thus was expressed, in the clearest manner possible, the thought, that the high priest, who shall be permitted to draw near to God in the holiest place, and there prevail with Him, must himself be wholly pure and clean.
Then, having bathed, he must robe himself in a special manner for the service of this day. He must lay aside the bright-coloured "garments for glory and beauty" which he wore on all other occasions, and put on, instead, a vesture of pure, unadorned white, like that of the ordinary priest; excepting only that for him, on this day, unlike them, the girdle also must be white. By this substitution of these garments for his ordinary brilliant robes was signified, not merely the absolute purity which the white linen symbolised, but especially also, by the absence of adornment, humiliation for sin. On this day he was thus made in outward appearance essentially like unto the other members of his house, for whose sin, together with his own, he was to make atonement.
Thus washed and robed, wearing on his white turban the golden crown inscribed "Holiness to Jehovah," {Exo_28:38} he now took (Lev_16:3, Lev_16:5-7), as a sin offering for himself and for his house, a bullock; and for the congregation, "two he-goats for a sin offering"; with a ram for himself, and one for them, for a burnt offering. The two goats were set "before the Lord at the door of the tent of meeting." The bullock was the offering before prescribed for the sin offering for the high priest, {Lev_4:3} as being the most valuable of all sacrificial victims. For the choice of the goats many reasons have been given, none of which seem wholly satisfactory. Both of the goats are equally declared (Lev_16:5) to be "for a sin offering"; yet only one was to be slain.
The ceremonial which followed is unique; it is without its like either in Mosaism or in heathenism. It was ordered (Lev_16:8): "Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for Azazel"; an expression to which we shall shortly return. Only the goat on whom the lot fell for the Lord was to be slain.
The two goats remain standing before the Lord; while now Aaron kills the sin offering for himself and for his house (Lev_16:11); then enters, first, the Holy of Holies within the veil, having taken (Lev_16:12) a censer "full of coals of fire from off the altar before the Lord," with his hands full of incense (Lev_16:13), "that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony (i.e., the two tables of the law within the ark), that he die not." Then (Lev_16:13) he sprinkles the blood "upon the mercy seat on the east"-by which was signified the application of the blood God-ward, accompanied with the fragrance of intercession, for the expiation of his own sins and those of his house; and then "seven times, before the mercy seat,"-evidently, on the floor of the sanctuary, for the symbolic cleansing of the holiest place, defiled by all the uncleannesses of the children of Israel, in the midst of whom it stood. Then, returning, he kills the goat of the sin offering "for Jehovah," and repeats the same ceremony, now in behalf of the whole congregation, sprinkling, as before, the mercy seat, and, seven times, the Holy of Holies, thus making atonement for it, "because of the uncleannesses of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions, even all their sins" (Lev_16:16). In like manner, he was then to cleanse, by a seven-fold sprinkling, the Holy place; and then again going into the outer court, also the altar of burnt offering; this last, doubtless, as in other cases, by applying the blood to the horns of the altar.
In all this it will be observed that the difference from the ordinary sin offerings and the wider reach of its symbolical virtue is found, not in that the offering is different from or larger than others, but in that, symbolically speaking, the blood is brought, as in no other offering, into the most immediate presence of God; even into the secret darkness of the Holy of Holies, where no child of Israel might tread. For this reason did this sin offering become, above all others, the most perfect type of the one offering of Him, the God-Man, who reconciled us to God by doing that in reality which was here done in symbol, even entering with atoning blood into the very presence of God, there to appear in our behalf.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain The Great Day of Atonement
The Great Day of Atonement
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Lev_16:2.—Come not at all times into the holy place within the veil. It was but natural that the solemn judgment which befel Nadab and Abihu “when they offered before the Lord and died” (v 1) should have rendered Aaron apprehensive lest he also might err in his ministries before Jehovah. God’s message of direction, therefore, came to guide him in his sacred duties; for He will show the good and the right way to such as desire to do His will, albeit He is swift to rebuke those who adventure to act presumptuously in His sacred presence.
For I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat. Shall we not “stand in awe and sin not” where we know that God is present? That “cloud” softened His exceeding glory, so as to allow the eye of mortal man to look and yet live; and that “mercy-seat” suggested the divine pitifulness towards the sinner who desired to approach Him in reconciliation. Nevertheless, there might be no trifling, no profanity in His holy light; for God is severe as well as gracious. Man should fear before Him. And since there is no scene where God is not present, should we not cultivate reverence, and live as in readiness to meet Him? Within His house still there should be solemnity; His worship demands homage; “the Lord is in His holy temple.” He will be gracious to the lowly and devout wherever they approach Him, shielding His great glory from them as with a “cloud” while they seek with supplications and offerings His “mercy seat.”
Lev_16:3.—Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place. Only “once a year”; on the august Day of Atonement. This restriction carried a pensive lesson: “that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest”; that the hindrances to man’s free approach to God had been only partially removed; that no provision was in existence for his abiding in the holy presence. Man might, by special arrangements of grace, enter where God dwelt, but he could not tarry there. Because atonement was not then complete; for types could not “take away sins” so satisfactorily as to qualify man for continuous nearness to God. Only in the perfect work of Jesus Christ can sinners gain abiding fitness for this highest privilege.
Sin offering and a burnt offering. These again meeting the twofold aspects of atonement (vide chaps. 4 and 6); meeting every requirement of God’s holiness and of man’s guilt.
Lev_16:4.—He shall put on the holy linen coat Attired “in fine linen, clean and white” (Rev_14:7-8), symbolic of a blameless righteousness:—the inherent perfection and purity of Christ our High Priest, and the derived sanctity of His redeemed and priestly followers. Being divested of His glorious robes, and appearing simply in these “garments of righteousness,” suggests to us our Lord’s condition while He was engaged in making “atonement”; His majesty and splendour laid aside, but adorned with faultless sanctity and grace. Such meek purity became Him most while engaged in the sad work of atoning for human transgression and wrong.
Lev_16:5-10.—Two kids of the goats: the one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat. The two goats formed one sin offering God takes His share and is well pleased therewith; for there was a portion in Christ’s sacrifice which was specially welcome to His Father, the perfect worthiness, the sweet subjection, the willing suffering of His Son—that was “the Lord’s lot.” The other part was for the sinner’s release, removing from the transgressor the guilt and penalty of sin; and in the virtue of Christ’s work through which we have “remission of sins” we find the sinner’s “lot.” “As far as the east is from the west so far hath he removed our transgressions from us” (Psa_103:12).
Lev_16:11-19—The sin offering for priest, people, and sanctuary. The incidents were as follows; the young bullock was slain; while its blood was being gathered into a vessel Aaron entered within the veil carrying a censer of burning coals in his right hand and a platter of fragrant incense in his left; placing the burning coals at the foot of the Ark he cast the incense thereon and thus filled the Most Holy shrine with a soft cloud, thereby veiling the Ark from open vision: he then returned for the vessel of blood, and going again within the veil he sprinkled the Mercy Seat therewith, thus making atonement for his own sin and for his priestly associates; for the “sweet savour of Christ” and the “blood of sprinkling” are needed even for consecrated and priestly souls. Leaving the Holy of Holies, where the incense still burned, he offered on the altar the goat which had been allotted as the sacrifice for the people’s sin, afterwards re-entering the veil to sprinkle also its blood of atonement upon and before the Ark. Thus three entrances were made that day into the Most Holy of All. No other priest was allowed within the tabernacle (Lev_16:17) during these solemn incidents; for unworthiness excluded every one, since “none doeth good and sinneth not.” The faultlessly Divine Priest alone—typified in Aaron—might have access to where the Glory dwelt. With the sprinkling of blood Aaron also made atonement for the defilement of the sanctuary and the altar; symbolically purifying them from all defilements which had incidentally accumulated through neglect or misdemeanour during the year. For uncleanness clings to our holiest things and our best deeds, and “almost all things are by the law purged with blood.”
Lev_16:20-22.—The live goat. Propitiation by death has been enacted in these first regulations. The release of the living is signified by the second typical arrangement. It pictorially shows us the taking away of sin from the sinner by his Substitute; “behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world,” but it also expresses the removal from the believer’s conscience of the burden and grief of his transgressions—the confession of iniquities leading to their being carried into oblivion; “the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities into a land not inhabited.” Glad remission indeed! “Thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back” (Isa_38:17); they are annulled by God; and as for ourselves, “the worshippers once purged have no more conscience of sins” (Heb_10:2); they are obliterated for the believer. And is every iniquity and transgression thus borne into forgetfulness? Yes. “All their iniquities” (Lev_16:21-22). This is remission of sins to the full! Hence the “peace which passeth all understanding”; for, “being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom_5:1).
Lev_16:23-24.—Aaron shall put off the linen garments. The magnificent attire re-assumed by Aaron when the sin offerings were completed may remind us of the glory which did follow when our Lord had finished atonement; He re-assumed His majesty; though still, as High Priest for man in the heavenly sanctuary, He perpetuates sacrificial merits for His people. “The fat of the sin offering,” etc. (comp. Lev_4:10), the choicest virtues of our Redeemer’s atonement still go up from the altar as a delightsome offering unto the Lord.
Lev_16:29-34.—A statute for ever unto you. Every year the Day of Atonement should be solemnly set apart, and its ordinances devoutly observed. Such seasons for self-mortification, for severance from the affairs of this life, for concentrated attention to the needs of our souls and the claims of God, foster humility and reverence, bring eternal realities powerfully before our thoughts, and impress us with the preciousness of the Redeemer’s work. Our peril is in habitual heedlessness; we are borne on in the rush of secular concerns. The Lord’s Day ought to bring us a healthful pause, enough to correct our worldliness and awaken to spiritual attention. But it is for our good that we check life’s ensnaring routine, and secure an interlude in which to give supreme consideration to the wonders of God’s redeeming grace and the urgency of our spiritual interests: “that ye may be clean from all your sins before the Lord” (Lev_16:30): “it shall be a sabbath of rest unto you.”
EXPLANATORY ARTICLE
CONCERNING THE MEANING OF “AZAZEL,” OR THE “SCAPEGOAT” (Lev_16:8)
“And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats: one lot for the Lord (Heb. La-JEHOVAH), and the other lot for the scapegoat (Heb. La-Azazel).”
In the eastern part of the Court of Priests in the Temple, i.e., close to the worshippers, stood an urn, called Calphi, in which were two lots of the same shape, size, and material; (in the second temple these were of gold); the one bore the inscription “la-JEHOVAH,” for Jehovah,; the other “la-Azazel,” for Azazel. The two goats were placed with their backs to the people, and the faces toward the sanctuary (westward). The high priest now faced the people, shook the urn, thurst his two hands into it, drew out the two lots, laying one on the head of each goat. Popularly it was considered a good augury if the right hand lot had fallen “for Jehovah.” The two goats must be altogether alike in appearance, size, and value. The lot having designated each of the two goats, the high priest tied a tongue-shaped piece of scarlet cloth to the horn of the goat “for Azazel,” and around the throat of the goat “for Jehovah.” The goat that was to be sent into the wilderness was now turned round face to the people, waiting, as it were, till their sins should be laid on him to carry them forth “to a land not inhabited.” Afterwards the high priest, laying both his hands on the head of this goat, confessed and pleaded as follows:
“O Lord, the house of Israel Thy people have trespassed, rebelled, and sinned before Thee. I beseech thee, O Lord, forgive now their trespasses and sins which Thy people have committed, as it is written in the law of Moses, Thy servant, saying that in that day there shall be ‘an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that you may be clean from all your sins before the Lord.’ ”
While the prostrate multitude worshipped at the name of JEHOVAH, the high priest turned his face towards them as he uttered the words “Ye shall be cleansed,” as if declaring to them the absolution and remission of their sins.
A strange scene was then witnessed; the priests led the sin-burdened goat through “Solomon’s porch,” and, as tradition has it, through the eastern gate which opened upon the Mount of Olives. Here an arched bridge spanned the intervening valley, and over it they brought the goat to the Mount of Olives, where one, specially appointed for the purpose, took him in charge. Tradition enjoins that he should be a stranger, a non-Israelite. Scripture tells us no more of the destiny of the goat that bore upon him all the iniquity of the children of Israel than that they “shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness” (Lev_16:22), but tradition supplements this information.
The distance between Jerusalem and the beginning of “the wilderness” is computed at nearly 90 stadia, making precisely ten intervals, each half a Sabbath-day’s journey from the other. At the end of each of these intervals there was a station, occupied by one or more persons detailed for the purpose, who offered refreshment to the man leading the goat, and then accompanied him to the next station. By this arrangement two results were secured: some trusted persons accompanied the goat all along his journey, and yet none of them walked more than a Sabbath day’s journey. At last they reached the edge of the wilderness; here they halted, and the attendant, viewing afar off, while the man led the goat forward, tore off half the scarlet tongue and stuck it on a projecting cliff; then, leading the animal backwards, he pushed it over the projecting ledge of rook.
If tradition be correct on this point it must have been a modern innovation, for originally the goat was set free.
There was a moment’s pause, and the man, now defiled by contact with the sin-bearer, retraced his steps to the last of the ten stations, where he spent the rest of the day and night. But the arrival of the goat in the wilderness was immediately telegraphed by the waving of flags from station to station, so that in a few minutes after its occurence it was known in the temple.
In a subject so obscure great difference of opinion exists as to the significance of the word “Azazel.” Those opinions most worthy of notice are: It is to be taken—
1. As a designation of the goal itself. Most old interpreters hold this view: regarding it as meaning the goat sent away, or let loose. In accordance with this the Vulgate renders it Caper emissarius; Luther, der ledige Bock; the Septuagint uses the term ὁ άποπμπᾶις applied to the goat itself. Theodoreb and Cyril of Alexandria, consider the meaning of the Hebrew to be the goat sent away, and regard that as the sense of the word used in the Septuagint.
2. As the name of the place to which the goat was sent. Thus Vatlabus, Deyling, Kimchi, Abenezra, and others regard it as the desolate spot in the wilderness; Bochart and Carpvoz as any lonely place; and the Arabian version, some Rabbins, LeClerc and others, as “Mount Azaz,” or the cliff down which the goat was thrown.
3. As a personal being to whom the goat was sent. They, Gesenius, Ewald, Rosenmüller, Dr. Wette, Knobel and many of the Rabbins think that “Azazel” was an evil demon. Origen considers it was Satan. Spencer supposes the goat was given up to the devil, and committed to his disposal. Hengstenberg affirms very confidently that “Azazel” cannot possibly be anything but another name for Satan. He repudiates the notion that the goat was in any sense a sacrifice to Satan, but urges that it was sent away laden with the sins of God’s people, now forgiven, in order to mock their spiritual enemy in the desert, his proper abode, and to symbolize by its free gambols their exalting triumph. He argues that the origin of the rite was Egyptian, and that the Jews substituted Satan for Typhon, whose dwelling was the desert.
4. The interpretation most harmonious with the scope of Scripture and with the nature of the service is that “Azazel” denotes “a free going away,” or “an entire and utter removal.” Michaelis and Jahn give the former rendering of the word, and Tholuck, Thompson, Bähr and Winer the latter.
Dr. Endersheim (in his work, “The Temple, its Ministry and Service”), says, “The word Azazel is, by universal consent, derived from a root which means ‘wholly to put aside,’ or ‘wholly to go away.’ Whether, therefore, we render the la-Azazel by ‘for him who is wholly put aside,’ that is the sin bearing Christ, or ‘for being wholly separated,’ or ‘put wholly away, or aside,’ that is, the putting away of sin, the truth is still the same, as pointing
(1) to the temporary and provisional removal of sin by the goat ‘let go’ into ‘the land not inhabited,’ and
(2) to the final, real, and complete removal of sin by the Lord Jesus Christ (Isa_53:6).”
And, as if to add to the significance of the rite, tradition has it that when the sacrifice was fully accepted, the scarlet mark which the scapegoat had borne became white (Isa_1:18), but adds that this miracle did not take place for forty years before the destruction of Jerusalem.
“Smith’s Dictionary” (see Day of Atonement) suggests that “the slain goat” should be viewed as setting forth the act of sacrifice, in giving up its own life for others “to Jehovah,” in accordance with the requirements of divine law: and the goat which carried off its load of sin for “complete removal,” as signifying the cleansing influence of faith in the sacrifice.… But for us the whole spiritual truth has been revealed in historic fact, in the life, death, and resurrection of Him who was made sin for us, who died for us, and rose again for our justification. This Mediator it was necessary should in some unspeakable manner unite death and life.
SECTIONAL HOMILIES
Topic: A UNIQUE DAY IN ISRAEL (Lev_16:2-3)
I. A LAW OF SEPARATION: Hindrances to abiding nearness to God. “That he come not at all times into the holy place within the veil.”
1. God was enclosed from man within that veil; man excluded from God: sin’s effect.
2. No permanent abiding place had been secured for even the most privileged within God’s presence; atonement was not perfect (Heb_10:1-4).
3. Perfection for man could not come of Levitical priesthood or sacrifices: and the faulty, the unclean, could not abide in God’s sight.
II. A LAW OF RECONCILIATION: Atonement removing obstructions from between man and God. Access within the veil effected, through—
1. A spotless priest. “These are holy garments” (Lev_16:4). “Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place” (Lev_16:3).
2. The ample atonement. “With sin-offering, and burnt-offering” (Lev_16:3); satisfying all God’s claims against the sinner; and sufficing for all man’s guilt and requirements.
3. Privileged recipients. “Make atonement for himself and his house” (Lev_16:6); representing the Church (Heb_3:6).
III. A LAW OF FELLOWSHIP: Admission into the most sacred Presence.
1. By blood of sprinkling: Evidence of substitutionary death. “Seven times” applied (Lev_16:14): perfect redemption.
2. By merits of the Saviour’s grace; sweet incense burned before the Lord (Lev_16:12-13): “sweet savour of Christ.” By the fragrant merits, by the precious blood of Christ, we may “enter into the holiest.” [See Addenda to chap. xvi., Mercy Seat.]
Topic: TYPICAL ENACTMENT OF ATONEMENT (Lev_16:3, seq.)
Both the day and the observances were authorised of God (Lev_16:1-2); both, therefore, divinely important.
(1) In regard to the definiteness of the day.
(2) In regard to the meaning and order of its ceremonies.
I. THE TYPICAL MEANING OF THE JEWISH ATONEMENT DAY.
1. The divinely stated reason for its appointment (Lev_16:16).
(1) The fact of sin and the necessity for its expiation by blood, both unmistakeably and divinely declared. This is significant, as it bears upon the atonement of which this was only a type.
(2) Sin necessitates atonement if it is to be pardoned: “without shedding of blood there is no remission” (Heb_9:22).
(a) Aaron’s personal preparations typical of the purity and holiness of our Lord (Lev_16:4 : Heb_7:26).
(b) Aaron’s typical work (Lev_16:17-18).
i. Our Lord was absolutely alone in His great atoning work.
ii. Though Aaron here typifies Christ, he must not himself forget that he is a sinner, and therefore must atone for his own sins. In this he was not a type of Christ (Heb_7:27).
(3) This fact bespeaks the antagonism of sin against the divine will, and the holiness and righteousness of the divine character.
2. The divinely appointed measures for its observance.
(1) In respect to the agent to carry out the measure.
(a) It was not anyone who volunteered, but Aaron the priest (Lev_16:2-6).
(b) So is the case of our Lord (Heb_5:4-5).
(2) In respect to the measures themselves.
iii. The blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled first upon the mercy seat eastward, and then before the mercy seat (Lev_16:14), and then in the “holy place,” and lastly upon “the altar that is before the Lord.” Thus the atoning blood was sprinkled everywhere, from the throne of God within the veil to the altar which stood in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation (comp. Heb_9:23; Heb_9:28).
iv. Now follows the typical act of releasing the live goat (Lev_16:20-22).
The two goats were designed to represent the two aspects of Christ’s atonement: First, that on which “the Lord’s lot” fell being doomed to death showed that the DEATH of Christ alone could vindicate the majesty, truth and holiness of the character of God. Secondly, the live goat over which Aaron confessed the people’s sins, and thus typically was ordained to “bear upon him all their iniquities into a land not inhabited” (Lev_16:22), signified the completeness of the divine act in the remission of the sins of him who, by confession and faith in Christ, transfers them to Him.
v. An instructive and significant scene follows (Lev_16:27-28). The burnt offering represents consecration. Here, first, of our Lord; having atoned for our sins, He has consecrated Himself to His Father for His Church, to protect, guide, sympathise with, intercede for, and ultimately present her without spot unto the Father (Eph_5:25-27; Joh_14:3; Rom_8:34). Secondly, we have here represented the consecration of the believer.
vi. The perpetuity of this memorial.
PRACTICAL LESSONS
1. The hatefulness, heinousness, and guiltiness of sin are here shown.
2. God’s desire to provide for the removal of its guilt, and the prevention of its consequences demonstrated.
3. The comprehensiveness of the provision in the atonement.—Rev. D. C. Hughes.
Topic: THE SLAIN GOAT AND THE SCAPEGOAT (Lev_16:8-10; Lev_16:15-16; Lev_16:21-22)
On this day many victims died. Each holy altar, each holy place received the reconciling sign of blood. Each sacrifice proclaims that substituted sufferings avail.
Christ, their full truth, has once laid down His life. That once is all-sufficient for all the sins of all His people.
But in the service of the atoning day one part stands singularly forth. Two goats are brought for a sin offering. The priest receives them at the tabernacle door. Lots are cast. Man’s mind may not select. Some unseen hand takes one for death and bids the other live. This scene reveals the council of eternal love. Before the worlds, God’s will called Jesus to the saving work. Each portion of the scheme was pre-resolved. Each was consigned to His receiving hands.
I. THE SENTENCED GOAT DIED; and mark the uses of its blood.
With this the high priest ventures within the mystic veil; the mercy seat receives the drops; the holy tent is strewn throughout; seven times the golden altar s horns are touched.
1. Blood is our peace. The wounded conscience writhes; sin is deepest misery. But when the Spirit shows the blood, all dread forebodings cease. It proves that peace is signed in heaven.
2. Blood has a sin-expelling power. How can that be loved which pierced the Lord?
3. Blood drives Satan back. Nothing can daunt him, no place exclude him, but this blood of Christ.
4. Blood bars the entrance to doom. A Christ-washed soul may not enter there.
5. Blood removes the hindrances to heaven. Behold the countless multitudes before the throne. “They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”
6. The blood fills paradise with songs. This is the substance of their mighty anthem: “Thou wast slain,” etc. They cannot sing above who have not washed on earth.
II. THE LADEN GOAT IS LED AWAY.
1. On its head is transmitted all Israel’s guilt. The substitute receives the whole. The scapegoat takes the burden on its head.
2. It is borne by him afar; beyond the camp, beyond all sight, beyond the track of man. Unseen, unknown, forgotten, it departs from mortal view; buried in oblivion’s land.
Faith knows this scapegoat well; there is no brighter picture of full pardon of all sin in Christ. Daily the soul tells out all its sin upon the head of Christ, who waits to bear it, and carry it far away. Christ hastens away with the accursed load, and God’s all-searching eye finds it no more.
Is the east distant from the west? Can we move through the intervening space? As we advance the horizon still recedes; infinite separation divides. Thus far the scapegoat bears our guilt away (Psa_103:12).
Can we recover what is buried in ocean depths? Such is the grave of sin (Mic_7:19).
Are objects visible upon which the back is turned? Thus sins are hidden from God (Isa_38:17).
How does a mass of blackening clouds wrap the sky in a pall of impenetrable night! Heed the voice of pardoning grace: “I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgression,” etc. (Isa_44:22).
No search finds His people’s sins. A land of infinite forgetfulness conceals them (Jer_50:20).
God’s pledge stands. “I will remember their sin no more” (Jer_31:34). The scapegoat ordinance confirms the truth.
Ponder this ordinance. Sins, many, vile and hateful, pass to our Scapegoat, and so pass away. Faith transfers them; Christ removes them; God forgets them.
Have your hands touched the Scapegoat’s head? If not, your loathsome load remains.—Dean Law.
Topic: INTERCESSION OF CHRIST (Lev_16:12-14)
“And he shall take a censer full of burning coals from off the altar, and his hands full of sweet incense and bring it within the veil.”
We derive great advantage from being able to compare the Old Testament with the New. Since we see religion is essentially the same thing in all times and ages.
There are not two ways of acceptance with God: one under the law and another under the gospel—but one way for Jew and Gentile: “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, etc.”
The fault of the Jews who entered not into the proper spirit of their own religion: that they valued the shell of their religion, but saw not the Pearl of great price. They fully estimated, perhaps over estimated the adornments of the casket, but certainly overlooked the bright Jewel within. They rejoiced in the pomp of their worship, the splendour of their ritual, the imposing grandeur of their sacrifices and the miraculous attestation that their religion came from God, but were strangely remiss in not discovering its real spirituality of design, and its intimate connection with the person and work of Christ. They cried “The Temple of the Lord are we,” but when the Lord of the Temple came, they treated Him with opposition and contempt. Had they been good Jews, they would have been good Christians. Our Lord implies this—“If ye believed his writing (marg.) ye would have believed my words.” If they had been true disciples of Moses they would have been of Christ.
Let us be warned, and pray that we may see the spiritual design both of their dispensation and of our own.
I. THE DOCTRINE OF THE INTERCESSION OF CHRIST.
1. As typically exhibited under the law.
Here Moses describes the ceremony of the great day of expiation and atonement. Aaron went into the most holy place to sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice before the mercy seat. No human being was permitted to accompany him. All the worshippers remained without (Luk_1:8-9; Luk_1:12). Aaron was to enter on behalf of the children of Israel—so that what he did within the veil was not merely on his own account but on theirs, all of which was a great type of Christ (Heb_9:11). He used no words, but what he did was significant enough. He appeared there that the virtue of the blood shed on the altar might be applied to the acceptance of the tribes be represented in the forgiveness of their sins, and the answer of their prayers. Herein a type of Christ.
2. As actually fulfilled in Christ. He not only suffered on the cross, but ascended Not on His own account but ours.
It mainly consists in His presenting Himself before God in our nature, and in the merit of His finished atonement as the ground of our acceptance, and in the intimation of His will (in thought if not in words), that the purchased blessing of His salvation may be theirs, and that all law-charges and accusations against them may be hushed and cancelled.
“To appear in the presence of God.” Not for Himself but for us. Teaching us that His state of transcendant happiness has not removed Him to an inaccessible distance, and has neither dissolved nor impaired His gracious connection with us, but maintains, without any detraction from His own perfect bliss, the most generous sympathy with our interests and wants.
It puts a glory on His atonement—that everything is to pass through His hands. A shining testimony of the holiness of God, and the efficacy of Christ’s work. No wonder if, having finished His work, He should appear above with large accessions of splendour to repossess the glory He had before all worlds. But here is the point of admiration, He does not appear for His benefit but for ours. Illustrated by common analogies:—as an advocate appears on behalf of his clients; a king on behalf of his subjects; a general as representative of his troops; a priest at the altar as representative of whole body of worshippers; so Christ appears as the representative of all His believing people. As our King He appears in beauty; as Captain of salvation appears victorious; as Elder Brother; as Priest, Counsellor, Advocate.
Grand expression of His love. Not content to offer one life on the Cross. He consecrates His new existence. Though raised to the throne of reverence, does not overlook His little flock (John 17).
II. THE BENEFITS WE DERIVE FROM IT.
i. The forgiveness of our sins. “If any man sin.” After all done for us, we are guilty and undeserving. But while our sins are crying out against us on earth, Christ is pleading in heaven.
Every contrite sinner has liberty to apply by faith the merits of the atoning sacrifice. Nay, every sinner is condemned for not doing this. “Whosoever cometh.” But for this, our state would be less safe than under the law. Every Jew, to whatsoever tribe he belonged, might carry his sacrifice to the priest, and as he saw him enter the veil might say, “He is gone thither for me, sprinkled the Holy Place for me.” So every Christian now.
ii. Relief of our sorrows. Christ possesses a capacity of sympathy, especially in mental distresses, tenderness of conscience, etc. Hannah prayed, but Eli’s heart was not touched with feeling of her infirmity.
iii. The acceptance of our duties. These are maimed and imperfect. Enough evil in them to render them offensive and displeasing to God. But Christ presents them (Rev_8:2).
Your tears of penitence, labours of faith, songs of gratitude, vows of obedience, He presents. Amid worship of angels, saints, and martyrs He disdains not to present the sighings of the prisoner, the tears of contrite, the prayers of the child whose mind is opening to devotion, and ejaculation of dying.
iv. The frustration of spiritual enemies. Satan is the avenger, but Christ is our advocate. “Peter, I have prayed for thee.”—S. THODEY, A.D. 1840.
Topic: THE WORTH OF SACRIFICES (Lev_16:16-30)
Of all the days of the Jewish year this was The Day, the meeting-time of God and man.
The priestly tribe could minister on all other days; none but the High Priest on this. No foot but his should press the floor of the sacred tent. Dressed in purest white, repeatedly cleansed with pure water, he entered—one man for the nation, into the holy of holies.
What did the elaborate ritual of the day mean? If divine forgiveness depended upon such a day, then why did the world wait for twenty-five hundred years before the Day’s appointment? If absolutely necessary, why was not the day and its ritual enjoined upon Abraham, and even upon Adam in Paradise? What is the meaning of sacrifice? Observe—
1. God’s character is not changed by sacrifice. He neither regards sin with less hatred, nor loves the sinner less in consequence. The burnt offerings and sacrifices of the centuries have not added jot or tittle to His immeasurable love. The sacrifice of Calvary was the natural outcome of the divine nature, rather than the means of changing that nature. This sacrifice, like all others, expressed His change of attitude.
2. These mere sacrifices possessed no intrinsic value. In themselves considered, sacrifices are a “vain oblation” (Isa_1:13; comp. Mic_6:7; Psa_51:16; Heb_10:6). So, though thousands stood by the altar with their offerings, with a multitude of sacrifices, “It is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.”
Bearing these facts in mind, that the divine nature is unchanged by them, also that mere sacrifices are unpleasing to Him and powerless to take away sin; what is their nature and history, and why commanded?
Of the 4,000 years ending with the Sacrifice of Calvary, 2,500 had passed ere sacrifices were instituted. God says by Jeremiah, “I spake not unto your fathers concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices” (Jer_7:22). They were instituted after the sinful worship of the golden calf at Sinai.
But the fact is evident that they were instituted because there was a necessity: yet since, as we have seen, it was not a necessity on God’s part, it must have been for man’s sake.
In the sacrifices of the Day of Atonement God proclaims eternal truths.
I. THE DIVINE TESTIMONY AGAINST SIN.
These were the chosen people whose God alone was holy. Yet behold the people all in abasement: it is the cry, “We have sinned!”
1. Not one of all the people could offer a sacrifice: not one was sinless: the high priest alone was allowed to act for them.
2. One spot alone was sacred, curtained with richest fabrics: and this one spot thus curtained was the divine rebuke against sin.
II. THE BASIS OF ATONEMENT.
Our sinfulness cannot change God’s nature, although it changes His attitude towards us.
1. The whole sacrificial order of the Day of Atonement was given for the cleansing from sin. Just as Christ afterwards came to “save His people from their sins.”
2. Every sacrifice was one of blood, from Abel’s downward. Why? “The life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it you upon the altar to make an atonement for your soul.”
3. This affirms that the God of love must respect His holy law even at the expense of death. These sacrifices were the elementary lessons declaring that by-and-by the law would be made honourable by the costliest of all sacrifices.
III. THE NECESSITY FOR A PERFECT HIGH PRIEST.
In silence, on that great silent Day, stood priests and people while the high priest entered the holy place and fulfilled his task.
1. His unworthiness for such deeds was impressed upon him every moment. He must offer sacrifices “for himself”: then five times he washed his whole body, and ten times his hands and feet. He must lay aside his own garments and wear the whitest linen.
No imperfect man could become a perfect priest, any more than an imperfect sacrifice could give a perfect conscience. Salvation depends on a more perfect High Priest than Aaron.
2. Our Great High Priest needed no such cleansing. “He offered himself without spot to God.”
Verily the Day of Atonement was the culminating day of Jewish history. Its sunrise was upon Sinai, its sunset upon Calvary. In the morning the people said to Moses, “Let not God speak to us lest we die!” but in the evening the surging crowd heard the sacred lips proclaim to a world longing for salvation, “IT IS FINISHED!”—Rev. David O. Mears.
Topic: FULL ATONEMENT
“This shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the chil of Israel for all their sins once a year (Levi. Lev_16:34)
The day of atonement was pre-eminenently intended to typify that great day of vengeance of our God, which was also the great day of acceptance of our souls, when Jesus Christ “died, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God.” That day of atonement happened only once a year, to teach us that only once should Jesus Christ die; and at a set and appointed time; not left to choice of Moses, or convenience of Aaron, but on a peculiar set day (Lev_16:29), to show that God’s great day of atonement was appointed and predestinated by Himself. Christ’s expiation occurred but once, and then not by any chance; God had settled it from before the foundation of the world; and at that hour when God had predestinated, on the very day that God had decreed Christ should die, was He led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers He was dumb.
I. THE PERSON WHO WAS TO MAKE THE ATONEMENT. Aaron the high priest did it. “Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place; with a young bullock for a sin offering and a lamb for a burnt offering,” Inferior priests slaughtered lambs; other priests at other times did almost all the work of the sanctuary; but on this day nothing was done by any one, as a part of the business of the great day of atonement, except by the high priest. Old rabbinical traditions tell us that everything on that day was done by him, even the lighting of the candles, and the fires, and the incense, and all the offices that were required, and that, for a fortnight beforehand, he was obliged to go into the tabernacle to slaughter the bullocks and assist in the work of the priests and Levites, that he might be prepared to do the work which was unusual to him. All the labour was left to him. So Jesus Christ, the High Priest, and He only, works the atonement. There are other priests, for “he hath made us priests and kings unto God.” Every Christian is a priest to offer sacrifice of prayer and praise unto God, but none save the high priest must offer atonement, go within the veil, slaughter the goat, and sprinkle the blood.
2. The high priest on this day was a humbled priest. “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” (Lev_16:4). On other days he wore the golden garments; the mitre with a plate of pure gold around his brow, tied with brilliant blue; the splendid breastplate, studded with gems, adorned with pure gold and set with precious stones; the glorious ephod, the tinkling bells, and all the other ornaments wherewith he came before the people as the accepted high priest. But on this day he had none of them. On that day he humbled himself just as the people humbled themselves. Jesus Christ, when He made atonement, was a humbled priest. He did not make atonement arrayed in all the glories of His ancient throne in heaven. Upon His brow there was no diadem save the crown of thorns; around Him was cast no purple robe, save that which He wore for a time in mockery; on His head was no sceptre, save the reed which they thrust in cruel contempt upon Him. But oh! adore Him, for it was the simple clean linen of His own humanity, in which He made atonement for your sins.
3. A spotless high priest; and because there were none such to be found, Aaron had to sanctify himself and make atonement for his own sin before he could go in to make an atonement for the sins of the people (Lev_16:3). Yea, more, before he went within the veil with the blood of the goat which was the atonement for the people, he had to go within the veil to make atonement there for himself (Lev_16:11-13). Aaron must not go within the veil until his sins had been typically expiated, nor even then without the burning smoking incense before his face, lest God should look on him and he should die, being an impure mortal. Moreover, it is said, that he had to wash himself many times that day (Lev_16:4; Lev_16:24). So you see it was strictly provided for that Aaron on that day should be a spotless priest; not so as to nature, but, ceremonially, care was taken that he should be clean. But we have a spotless High Priest, who needed no washing, needed no atonement for Himself; needed no incense to wave before the mercy seat to hide the angry face of justice; needed nothing to hide and shelter Him; He was all pure and clean. Adore and love Him, the spotless High Priest, who, on the day of atonement, took away guilt.
4. The atonement was made by a solitary high priest—alone and unassisted. “And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place” (Lev_16:17). Matthew Henry observes, that no disciple died with Christ: when He was put to death His disciples forsook Him and fled; they crucified none of His followers with Him, lest any should suppose that the disciple shared the honour of atonement. Thieves were crucified with Him because none would suspect that they could assist Him: but if a disciple had died, it might have been imagined that he had shared the atonement. God kept that holy circle of Calvary select to Christ. O glorious High Priest, Thou hast done it all alone. “I have trodden the wine-press alone, and of the people there was none with me.” Then give all the glory unto His holy name, for alone and unassisted He made atonement for your guilt.
5. Again, it was a laborious high priest who did the work on that day. There were fifteen beasts which he slaughtered at different times, besides the other offices, which were all left to him. He who was ordained priest in Jeshurun, for that day toiled like a common Levite, worked as laboriously as priest could do, and far more so than on any ordinary day. Just so with our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, what a labour the atonement was to Him! It was a work that all the hands of the universe could not have accomplished; yet He completed it alone. There was the bloody sweat in Gethsemane, the watching all night, then came the shame, the spitting, the cruel flagellations in Pilate’s hall; then there was the via dolorosa through Jerusalem’s sad streets; then came the hanging on the cross, with the weight of His people’s sins on His shoulders. Ay, it was a divine labour that our great High Priest did on that day—a labour mightier than the making of the world: it was the new making of a world, the taking of its sins upon His almighty shoulders and casting them into the depths of the sea. Jesus, though He had toiled before, yet never worked as He did on that wondrous day of atonement.
II. THE MEANS WHEREBY THIS ATONEMENT WAS MADE.
“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” (Lev_16:5; see also Lev_16:7-10). The first is the type of the means whereby the atonement was made.
1. It answered all the pre-requisites of every other thing sacrificed; it must be a perfect, unblemished goat of the first year. Even so was our Lord a perfect man, in the prime and vigour of his manhood. And further, this goat was an eminent type of Christ from the fact that it was taken of the congregation of the children of Israel (Lev_16:5). The public treasury furnished the goat. So Jesus Christ was, first of all, purchased by the public treasury of the Jewish people before He died. Thirty pieces of silver they had valued Him at, a goodly price; and as they had been accustomed to bring the goat, so they brought Him to be offered; not with the intention that He should be their sacrifice, but unwittingly they fulfilled this when they cried “Crucify Him!”
2. Though this goat, like the scapegoat, was brought by the people, God’s decision was in it still. Mark, it is said, “Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the scapegoat.” This mention of lots is to teach that although the Jews brought Jesus Christ of their own will to die, yet, Christ had been appointed to die. Christ’s death was fore-ordained, and there was not only man’s hand in it, but God’s. “The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord.” So it is true that man put Christ to death, but it was of the Lord’s disposal that Jesus Christ was slaughtered, “the just for the unjust, to bring us to God.”
3. Behold the goat marked out to make the atonement, and see it die. The priest stabs it. Mark it in its agonies; behold it struggling; observe the blood. Ye have here your Saviour. See His Father’s vengeful sword sheathed in His heart; behold His death agonies. Mark the blood from His open side. As the blood of the goat made the atonement typically, so thy dying Saviour made the great atonement for thy sins.
4. That blood was taken within the veil, and there sprinkled. So with Jesus’s blood, “Sprinkled now with blood the throne.” The Saviour’s blood has made atonement within the veil; He has taken it there himself. By this one offering atonement was made for ever.
III. We now come to the EFFECTS.
1. One of the first effects of the death of this goat was the sanctification of the holy things which had been made unholy. “He shall sprinkle it upon the mercy seat: and he shall make an atonement for the holy place,” etc. (Lev_16:15). Where God dwelt should be holy, but where man comes there must be some degree of unholiness. This blood of the goat made the unholy place holy. So of this sanctuary, our praises and our prayers, there is blood on them all; our holy Sabbath services have been sprinkled with the blood of the great Jesus, and as such they will be accepted through Him. Is it not sweet to reflect that our holy things are now really holy; that though sin is mixed with them all, and we think them defiled, yet the blood has washed out every stain: and our Sanctuary service is as holy in God’s sight as the service of the cherubim, and is acceptable as the psalms of the glorified; we have washed our worship in the blood of the Lamb, and it is accepted through Him.
2. The second great fact was that their sins were taken away. This was set forth by the scapegoat. The first goat was a type of the atonement; the second is the type of the effect of the atonement. The second goat went away, after the first was slaughtered, carrying the sins of the people on its head, and so it sets forth, as a scapegoat, how our sins are carried away into the depths of the wilderness. But mark, this goat did not sacrificially make the atonement: it is the fruit of the atonement; but the sacrifice is the means of making it. So by the death of Christ there was full, free, perfect remission for all those whose sins are laid upon His head. For on this day all sins were laid on the scapegoat’s head—sins of presumption, ignorance, uncleanness, sins little and sins great, sins against the law, morality, ceremonies, sins of all kinds were taken away on that great day of atonement.
3. An interesting fact is here worth mentioning. Turn to Lev_25:9, and you will read: “Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.” So one of the effects of the atonement was set forth to us, the scapegoat is gone and the sins are gone; and no sooner are they gone than the silver trumpet sounds.
The year of jubilee is come,
Return, ye ransomed sinners, home.
On that day sinners go free; on that day our poor mortgaged lands are liberated, and our poor estates which have been forfeited by our spiritual bankruptcy are all returned to us. So when Jesus dies, slaves win their liberty, and lost ones receive spiritual life again; when He dies, heaven, the long lost inheritance, is ours. Blessed day! Atonement and jubilee ought to go together. Have you ever had a jubilee in your hearts? If you have not, it is because you have not had a day of atonement.
4. One more effect of this great day of atonement: entrance within the veil. Only on one day in the year might the high priest enter within the veil, and then it must be for the great purposes of the atonement. Now, the atonement is finished, and you may enter within the veil; “Having boldness, therefore, to enter into the holiest, let us come with boldness unto the throne of the heavenly grace.”
IV. What is OUR PROPER BEHAVIOUR WHEN WE CONSIDER THE DAY OF ATONEMENT.
1. “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” (Lev_16:29). That is one thing that we ought to do when we remember the atonement. Sure, sinner, there is nothing that should move thee to repentance like the thought of that great sacrifice of Christ which is necessary to wash away thy guilt. “Law and terrors do but harden,” but methinks, the thought that Jesus died is enough to make us melt. It is well, when we hear the name of Calvary, always to shed a tear, for there is nothing that ought to make a sinner weep like the mention of the death of Jesus. On that day “ye shall afflict your souls.” And even you, Christians, when you think that your Saviour died, should afflict your souls: ye should say,
Alas! and did my Saviour bleed?
And did my Sov’reign die?
Would He devote that sacred head
For such a worm as I?
Drops of grief ought to flow, to show our grief for what we did to pierce the Saviour. “Afflict your souls,” weep for Him that died; weep for Him who was murdered by your sins.
2. Then, we are to “do no work at all” (Lev_16:29). When we consider the atonement, we should rest, and “do no work at all.” Rest from your works as God did from His on the great Sabbath of the world; rest from your own righteousness; rest from your toilsome duties; rest in Him. “We that believe do enter into rest.” No longer seek to save thyself; it is done, it is done for aye!
3. When the priest had made the atonement, after he had washed himself, he came out again in his glorious garments. When the people saw him they attended him to his house with joy, and they offered burnt offerings of praise on that day: he being thankful that his life was spared, and they being thankful that the atonement was accepted; both of them offering burnt offerings as a type that they desired now to be “a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God.” Let us go into our houses with joy. The atonement is finished; the High Priest has laid aside the linen garments, and He stands before you with His breastplate, and His mitre, and His embroidered vest, in all His glory. How He rejoices over us, for He hath redeemed His people, and ransomed them out of the hands of His enemies. Come, let us go home with the High Priest; the atonement is accepted, and we are accepted too; the scapegoat is gone, our sins are gone with it. He hath given unto us a day of atonement, and a day of acceptance, and a year of jubilee.—C. H. Spurgeon, A.D.1856: Abbreviated.
Topic: THE DAY OF ATONEMENT (Lev_16:1-5)
The Mosaicritual here reaches a climacteric point. On this annual day of national expiation every kind of sin was confessed and atoned for, which might have escaped notice before. Propitiation being offered for the whole nation, all the people received forgiveness. The day gave all other days a deeper meaning, its rites interpreted and intensified all other ceremonies. Notice—
I. THE TIME; when the day of atonement was instituted. “After the death of the two sons of Aaron.” (a) It was just after a great catastrophe. The fire of the Lord had flashed out, revealing the divine indignation against the reckless priests. Thus the Lord showed, that, though the workers may sin and die, the work must go on; that in the midst of deserved wrath He remembers mercy. (b) It was just at a great crisis. The Jewish theocracy was being consolidated, and those rites and ceremonies completed that would distinguish the Jews for ever from all other nations. The basis was being laid, broad and deep, for the operations of God to bless the world. All the light of nature and revelation, of the patriarchial dispensation and the human conscience, was centred in the day of atonement, (c) It was just before a great career. Israel had before them a great mission, they had been miraculously delivered from Egyptian bondage, were to pass the wilderness and enter the promised land. They were to be the custodians of the Word of God, and the representatives of real religion. Through them all the nations of the earth were to be blessed; with them Jehovah would dwell; by them, make Himself known to the world; and eventually through their posterity He would come, and in very deed would dwell with man on the earth.
II. THE PERSON by whom the atonement was to be made. “The Lord said unto Moses, speak unto Aaron thy brother,” etc. Any of the priests could offer the daily sacrifices; but, the annual one could be offered by the high priest alone. For so great and distinguished an office (a) a human agent was selected. A man—feeble, sinful, sorrowful, and dying—Moses’ brother, and a brother of the whole race. What dignity God puts on man! How He selects feeble agents to accomplish mighty results, and makes men co-workers with Himself in the most solemn and sublime engagements. (b) A human agent was directed. Moses—to convey directions about the duties Aaron should perform in connection with his high office. The Lord never calls men to work for Him without giving them, at the same time, ability to do it, and directions how to do it. Aaron but faintly fore-shadowed our great High Priest; for Christ was God, as well as man, and needed not to be instructed. He knew the Father’s will completely, and did it perfectly; and knew also what was in man, and needed for man.
III. THE SPIRIT in which the person was to officiate. Aaron was not to come at all times unto the holy place; so, he was to possess (a) a reticent spirit. His sons, who were slain before the Lord, had not restrained themselves, but rushed unbidden into the holy place; Aaron was to take warning by their fate, hold himself under restraint, not be too free and familiar with sacred things, even though he might be tempted to go into the holy of holies more than once a year. (b) A devout spirit. The most holy place was calculated to inspire the priests with reverent feelings. That it was to be entered but once a year would impress the mind of Aaron with religious awe, as well as the fact that, on entering, he had to attire himself in special vestments and offer specified sacrifices. The holy of holies was the audience chamber of the theocratic King, the seat and throne of the divine kingdom among men. The peculiar privilege of meeting God face to face once a year demanded the deepest solemnity and profoundest reverence. (c) A sanctified spirit. Not only was Aaron to feel becomingly reverent, when he offered the atonement, but he was also to possess a suitable disposition in other respects. He was commanded to lay aside his splendid pontifical robes, and attire himself in the simple sacerdotal garments of an ordinary Levite He did not appear now as the representative of the people simply, but as a sinful man seeking pardon for himself and the whole nation. The clean white linen in which he officiated would symbolise purity; and the complete washing before putting it on would represent sanctity of character.
When Christ came to our world to atone for men, He laid aside His glory and took upon Him the clean white garment of the virgin’s nature; He came in a spirit that pleased God, that met all the requirements of the divine law, thereby securing a perfect and everlasting righteousness, which is unto all and upon all who believe.
IV. THE RESULTS the officiator was to expect. The Lord, always present in the cloud upon the mercy seat, had promised the people that on the day of atonement He would “appear” unto them. (a) There would be the special manifestation of the divine presence. Not in the cloud of incense ascending from the swinging censer in Aaron’s hand, but in the supernatural cloud that did not waste away—did not change like other clouds; that was lighted up, not with rays of the natural sun, but with beams of divine brightness. The divine appearance was supernatural. (b) There would be the mysterious manifestation of the divine presence. The Lord would appear, but it would be in the cloud, His glory would be veiled; for no man could literally see His face and live. The Deity was to be seen “through a glass darkly.” He was to be apprehended, but not comprehended. (c) There would be the gracious manifestation of the divine presence. It was upon “the mercy seat” that the Lord promised to appear. Had the Deity erected a judgment seat, instead, among the people, they would all, not only have been condemned, but speedily consumed. But the day of atonement would work propitiation, and win both pardon and peace.
If the gospel is in any part of the book of Leviticus, we have it here; and, read in the light of the ninth chapter of Hebrews we see the great atonement of the Redeemer foreshadowed in the ceremonies connected with this national day of expiation. Through Christ’s atonement the veil has been rent in twain; we may now draw near to God, and know Him as our Father; for Christ was “the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person.” Through Him we have now received the atonement.—F. W. B.
Topic: AARON’S SIN OFFERING FOR HIMSELF (Lev_16:5-14)
The holiness communicated and imputed to the high priest at his consecration, did not free him from liability to commit sin and incur guilt. Hence, previous to presenting an atonement for the sins of the whole nation Aaron was commanded to present a sin offering for himself and his house. He needed clean hands and a pure heart when entering into the most holy place. According to the word of the Lord so Aaron did. Observe—
I. It was AN OBEDIENT ACT. The bullock was to be taken and slain by the high priest’s own hands, indicating ready and unquestioning acquiescence with the divine will. Such obedience is still indispensible to acceptable worship and sacrifice.
II. It was A FRAGRANT ACT. A censer full of burning coals, of the fire from off the altar of the Lord, was taken within the veil, and sweet incense, beaten small, put upon the fire, that its fragrance might fill the holy place.
III. It was A REVERENT ACT. The cloud of the incense was to cover the mercy-seat, that the offerer die not. He was not to gaze with unclouded eyes upon the place where God made Himself specially known. He was to be reminded of the infinite and unapproachable majesty, as well of the infinite meekness and mercy of Jehovah; and, that though privileged to draw near the mercy seat, he must worship with profound reverence.
IV. It was A SUPPLIANT ACT. The blood of the bullock was to be sprinkled upon the mercy seat, eastward, and before it, with his finger seven times. The incense would not only denote cheerful but also expectant worship, for it suggests the sweet and ascending nature of prayer. The blood sprinkled on and before the mercy seat would seem to cry for mercy; and indicate, not only prayer, but propitiation.—F. W. B.
Topic: AARON’S SACRIFICE COMPARED AND CONTRASTED WITH CHRIST’S
I. ANALOGY.
(1) Both were divinely appointed. Aaron was chosen and anointed to be the high priest of Israel. Christ was set apart, and ordained as the High Priest of man, and “anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows.”
(2) Both atoned “alone” on the great day of atonement. No one was allowed to enter the most holy place with Aaron; and Christ “trod the winepress alone”; neither man, nor angels shared with Him the suffering and oblation of the cross.
(3) Both were divinely accepted. Assurances were given that the great oblation would be accepted; and, when offered, indications were vouchsafed that Jehovah was well pleased. Aaron’s return from the solemn seclusion of the most holy place was proof he had pleased Jehovah; for unacceptable sacrifice would have been visited with death to the offerer. So, when Christ came from the darkness of the grave after His atonement it showed He was accepted, and Jehovah satisfied.
(4) The blessings of both were discriminately dispensed. The atoning blood only bedewed those who felt and confessed their guilt. So, while the atonement of Christ is sufficient for all, it is only efficient and applied where hearts are truly broken and contrite.
II. DISPARITY.
(1). Aaron had to make the atonement once a year; showing how imperfect and temporary the efficacy of his offering was; but Christ offered His atonement once for ever, never to be repealed or repeated.
(2). Aaron atoned for himself, needed to obtain pardon before he could atone for the people; but Christ was “holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners,” and needed not to atone for Himself; He “did no sin, neither was any deceit found in his mouth.”
(3). Aaron offered a sacrifice that was provided for him; but Christ offered Himself; was both priest and victim; and it was the infinite dignity of His nature that gave infinite value to His sacrifice.
(4). Aaron offered a material sacrifice, but Christ ‘poured out his soul unto death.” He gave His blood, i.e., His life and love to reconcile the world unto God.
(5). Aaron offered for HIMSELF and the sins of ISRAEL ONLY. Christ did not offer for Himself but He offered “for the sins of the whole world.”
(6) Aaron’s offering only atoned for inadvertant sins, for faults and failings of men; for high-handed sins, and wilful transgressions there was no remedy; when those were discovered, they were met with the penalty of death. But the sacrifice of Christ atones for ALL SIN, even the most flagrant and heinous (see Hebrews 10).—F. W. B.
Topic: RATIFICATION OF THE STATUTE OF THE ATONEMENT (Lev_16:29-34)
Special significance was given to the day of atonement by directions concerning it being reiterated, by freedom from all ceremonial defilement being insisted upon. The priests burnt incense every day on the golden altar without the veil, but the high priest alone was permitted to enter into the holy of holies within the veil once a year. This statute would awaken solemn reflection, and be an abiding precaution against undue familiarity with the visible symbolic presence of Jehovah. The day of atonement was to be observed—
I. ANNUALLY. “And it shall be a statute for ever unto you.” The tenth day of the seventh month (Tisri) in every year was to be observed down to the time when the great antitype would render the annual repetition of the rite unnecessary. The day gave a rounded completeness to the oblations of the year; the ceremony would be perpetually needed, for each succeeding generation would require the blessings of propitiation and forgiveness.
II. PUBLICLY. The whole nation was commanded to join in celebration with great unanimity. “Whether it be one of your own country, or of a stranger that sojourneth among you.” The blood of the sacrifice was to be taken by the high priest within the veil, and sprinkled secretly upon the mercy seat, but he was to reappear among the people, pronounce publicly his benediction, and show openly that the sacrifice had been completed, the end of the ceremony secured. The service included, because it was intended for, all.
III. TRANQUILLY. “It shall be a sabbath of rest to you.” No manner of work to be done by any who were in the camp. Thus disengaged from all secular toil, the people could concentrate their thoughts upon the solemn engagements of the day, with undistracted minds and undivided hearts. The exercises of the day were not sanguinary struggles with the Almighty for victory over His wrath against sin, but an exhibition of His mercy in opening a way of propitiation for all who would embrace opportunity. The tranquillity of the day of atonement was symbolic of the rest of soul Israel might enjoy under a consciousness of sin forgiven and restoration to the divine favour; suggestive of the peace of God which passeth all understanding, and which those enjoy who are made one with Him by sacrifice.
IV. CONTRITELY. “Ye shall afflict your souls.” According to many Jewish writers, the children of Israel submitted to manifold deep humiliations on that day, observed it as a solemn fast. They were not commanded to afflict their bodies or rend their garments, but to present the sacrifice of broken and contrite hearts, which God will never despise. This would necessitate the suppression of worldliness, the repression of every sinful passion. When the hands of the high priest were placed upon the head of the scapegoat, and the sins of the people confessed, faith and repentance were to be exercised or the ceremony would be a mere farce, and offensive to Him who expects worshippers to draw near in spirit and in truth.
Many objections have been alleged against the doctrine of atonement by vicarious sacrifice, against propitiation by “blood.” Those difficulties dwindle away as the light of the New Testament is thrown upon them. The Epistle to the Hebrews shows that “blood” represented life, which is symbolic of (a) priceless worth; (b) highest sanctity; (c) choicest gift. Thus the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin, because it represents and means that His life and love were poured out for the sake of the world’s redemption.
Against the doctrine of divine mediation reason can bring no valid objection; for nature, by abundant analogies and illustrations, suggests its probability in the realm of grace. The sacrifice of Christ was (a) universal; (b) efficacious; (c) voluntary; (d) final. Our duty and privilege to accept the blessings typified by the day of atonement. Our only hope for time and eternity is in Christ. The music that will hush all the discords of earth swells from the new song of Moses and the Lamb.—F. W. B.
OUTLINES ON VERSES OF CHAPTER 16
Lev_16:2.—Theme: UNDUE FAMILIARITY IN DIVINE THINGS CHECKED.
“He shall come not at all times into the holy place within the veil before the mercy seat”
The day of atonement the most solemn day in the Jewish Calender. Everything about it calculated to awaken interest and solemnity. Other offerings had respect to particular persons and sins, this to the whole nation and all sin. Thus was prefigured the great sacrifice of Calvary, which atoned for sins of whole world. Nadab and Abihu had displayed presumption and irreverence in drawing near to the Lord, and for their wicked conduct had been slain; now, Aaron is commanded not to go into the holy of holies but once a year, lest he should also die. Notice—
I. THAT ACCESS INTO JEHOVAH’S PRESENCE WAS RESTRICTED. Every day ordinary offerings could be presented, and divine favour secured; but, lest the people should become unduly familiar, and therefore irreverent, restraint was put upon their communion, they were not allowed to enter the most holy place at all, and the high priest only on the day of atonement Access into God’s special presence could only be—
1. In a special place. The holy of holies; within the veil, where was the mercy seat crowned with the shekinah cloud. God is everywhere, His favour may be secured in every place: but, His full presence and glory are only beheld in heaven, within the veil.
2. At special times. On the day of atonement special revelations were made of divine mercy, special benedictions were bestowed upon the people. God’s love was signally displayed when Christ effected the atonement upon the cross; special blessings come upon man on the days of rest that remind us of the seal of the atonement, of the resurrection of Jesus on the morning of the third day.
3. By special persons. Only the high priest could enter within the veil, thus teaching Israel how great and worshipful Jehovah was. There was only One in the whole universe who could offer atonement for the sins of the world, and appear in the presence of God for us, the Son of God, the man Christ Jesus.
4. After special preparation. Aaron had to present offerings for himself, and become cleansed from all ceremonial uncleanness, the preparation very thorough and complete. Christ, our Great High Priest, needed not to sacrifice for Himself, nor to seek purification; but He was made perfect through sufferings, and passed through the baptism of Gethsemane on the way to Calvary.
5. For special purposes. Aaron went in to atone and intercede, to fulfil the will and purposes of Jehovah in relation to Israel. Christ died to remove sin, to open gate of heaven to all believers for the regeneration and redemption of humanity.
II. THAT SUCH RESTRICTION WAS MERCIFUL AND BENEFICIAL.
(a) Impressed the people with the deep solemnity of the ceremony.
(b) Produced profound reverence in their hearts for the worship of Jehovah.
(c) Awakened expectations of special blessings.
The veil of the Temple has been rent in twain; we may go with holy boldness to the throne of grace; yet reverence ought to be cultivated, worship is to be associated with godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire.—F. W. B.
Lev_16:10-12.—Theme: SIN REMOVED.
The two goats, presented at the door of the tabernacle before the Lord, were but one offering, though one was allowed to escape into the wilderness. The goat slain would indicate that atonement could be effected only by the shedding of blood; the scapegoat would teach that in atonement sin is not only forgiven, but completely taken away. The gospel and the law agree here.
I. THAT SIN TO BE FORGIVEN MUST BE CONFESSED. The people could not atone for their sins, but they must offer the sacrifice of broken and contrite hearts. As Aaron laid his hands on the goat and confessed the sins of the people he would be showing in the most emphatic way that personal faith and repentance were needed in order that guilt might be forgiven. So God requires still that those who seek His pardoning mercy shall feel sorry for their sins and confess them with humble, lowly, and believing hearts.
II. THAT SIN TO BE FORGIVEN MUST BE REMOVED. Not connived at or covered up, not clung to and repeated when the pardon is secured, but taken away for ever; not only the guilt, but the love and practice of sin gone. Christ atoned for, and removed sin. Redemption is to produce sanctification and righteousness. Holiness is the outcome of propitiation, the end of the law and the gospel Christ has secured by His atonement pardon for the guilt of sin and the annihilation of its existence when His kingdom shall be complete, and He “all and in all.”—F. W B.
Lev_16:13—Theme: INTERCESSION.
The incense may be regarded as symbolic of the merits of the atonement and intercession of the high priest. Sweet ascending fragrance from live coals off altar of sacrifice suggests concerning intercession—
I. ITS BASIS. Sacrifice, mercy-seat: the cloud covered the place where God met propitiously with man.
II. ITS SANCTION. God commanded it; had it before Him. Aaron could swing the censer with holy boldness when and where divinely directed.
III. ITS EFFICACY. Saved life of the priest, “that He die not”; showed that the ceremony had been acceptably observed; gave Aaron warrant to complete the rite and bless the people. Our great High Priest presents the merits of His own sacrifice within the veil; the fragrance of His life and death avail for all who come to God by Him Our prayers and praises may rise mingled with the merits of His intercession, and find acceptance in the holiest of all.—F. W. B.
V 24.—Theme: SUPREME DEMAND FOR HOLINESS.
Aaron, having offered the appointed sacrifice, laid aside his linen garments, washed his person in pure water, arrayed himself in his gorgeous vestments, and stood before the people as their earthly representative and head. Every act in the service pointed to the holiness of God, to His disapproval of every form of sin Sanctification from the stains of guilt, and assumption of the beautiful garments of holiness, essential to acceptable fellowship with the Lord; for—
I. DEFILEMENT CANNOT APPEAR IN THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD. Only sin can separate between God and man, but sin, producing defilement of the soul, withdraws the sinner far from God, renders him unfit for the divine presence. When our first parents sinned they fled from the presence of the Lord; the atonement heals the breach, effects righteousness within a man, and shows how the perfect righteousness of another may be set over to his account; and this because—
II. PROVISION HAS BEEN MADE FOR THE REMOVAL OF DEFILEMENT. Aaron’s ablutions of his flesh were symbolic of moral cleansing, and suggest to us how guilt may now be removed. In the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness we may have every stain removed, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. The old man, with the lusts of the flesh, must be put off, and the new man put on, transforming the worshippers into new creatures in Christ Jesus.—F. W. B.
Lev_16:30.—Theme: THE ATONING SACRIFICE
Israel was taught both helplessness and need, in that atonement had to be made for the nation by one who stood as mediator in its stead. Atonement was made in Jehovah’s own way, the people were to reverently submit to the arrangements, and by repentance and faith avail themselves of the blessings presented Observe—
I. THE ATONEMENT WAS OF A VICARD US CHARACTER. The innocent suffered for the guilty, the priest atoned for the people.
II. THE ATONEMENT SECURED SPIRITUAL PURITY. “That ye may be clean from all your sins”
(a) The moral depravity of man needed it.
(b) The holy nature of Jehovah demanded it.
Once, in the fulness of time, atonement has been made for the sins of the world; a way has been opened for the removal of guilt here, for admission unto perfect holiness and blessedness hereafter.—F. W. B.
ILLUSTRATIVE ADDENDA TO CHAPTER 16
THE MERCY SEAT
“Propitiation,” or mercy seat (the same word as in Heb_9:5). If we would have mercy it must be through Christ; out of Christ no mercy is to be had. We read in the old law—
First: None might come into the holy of holies, where the mercy seat stood, but the high priest; signifying that we have nothing to do with mercy but through Christ our High Priest.
Secondly: The high priest might not come near the mercy seat without blood (Lev_16:14), to show that we have no right to mercy but through the expiatory sacrifice of Christ’s blood.
Thirdly: The high priest might not, upon pain of death, come near the mercy seat without incense (Lev_16:13), indicating that there could be no mercy from God without the incense of Christ’s intercession.
So that, if we would have mercy, we must get a part in Christ—Watson.
THE SCAPEGOAT
There was in the year 1856 exhibited in the Art Union a fine picture of the scapegoat dying in the wilderness: it was represented with a burning sky above it, its feet sticking in the mire, surrounded by hundreds of skeletons, and there dying a doleful and miserable death. Now, that was just a piece of gratuitous nonsense, for there is nothing in the Scripture that warrants it in the least degree. The rabbis tell us that this goat was taken by a man into the wilderness and there tumbled down a high rock to die; but, as an excellent commentor says, if the man did push it down the rock he did more than God ever told him to do. God told him to take a goat and let it go: as to what became of it neither you nor I know anything; that is purposely left. Our Lord Jesus Christ has taken away our sins upon His head, just as the scapegoat, and He is gone from us—that is all: the goat was not a type in its dying, or in regard to its subsequent fate. God has only told us that it should be taken by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness. The most correct account seems to be that of one Rabhi Jarchi, who says that they generally took the goat twelve miles out of Jerusalem, and at each mile there was a booth provided where the man who took it might refresh himself till he came to the tenth mile, when there was no more rest for him till he had seen the goat go. When he had come to the last mile he stood and looked at the goat till it was gone, and he could see it no more. Then the people’s sins were all gone too. Now, what a tine type that is if you do not enquire any further! But if you will get meddling where God intended you to be in ignorance, you will get nothing by it. This scapegoat was not designed to show us the victim or the sacrifice, but simply what became of the sins. The sins of the people are confessed upon that head; the goat is going; the people lose sight of it; a fit man goes with it; the sins are going from them, and no v the man has arrived at his destination; the man sees the goat in the distance skipping here and there over the mountains, glad of its liberty; it is not quite gone; a little farther, and now it is lost to sight. The man returns, and says he can no longer see it; then the people clap their hands, for their sins are all gone too. Oh! soul; canst thou see thy sins all gone? We may have to take a long journey, and carry our sins with us; but oh! how we watch and watch till they are utterly cast into the depths of the wilderness of forgetfulness, where they shall never more be found against us for ever.—C. H. Spurgeon.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain The solitude of the sin-bearer is something altogether distinct…
Lev 16:22
The solitude of the sin-bearer is something altogether distinct from the solitude of the Holy One. The solitude of holiness separated Him from sinners; but that separation, which made Him lead in His humanity a strange, lonesome life, yet brought Him into such full contact with all the glorious beings and the realities of the spirit-world, that such a solitude could hardly be looked upon with any considerable regret, or be the source of actual pain. The solitude of the sin-bearer is different from that of the Representative of holiness and purity.
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Consider the causes of this solitude. (1) Wherever sin exists, it is an isolating principle. Its tendency is to induce seclusion and separation, to shut the person who is possessed of it from all connection with that which is outside itself. (2) The scapegoat was to bear upon its head all the confessed iniquity of the children of Israel, and to bear it into a land of separation. Christ was the Scapegoat of the human family. In the Epistle to the Hebrews we read that He, by the Eternal Spirit, offered Himself to God. The scapegoat finds the land of separation at last, all alone in the darkness. He bore our sins into the land not inhabited. No witnessing spirit can find them there; no denizen of those dreary regions can rediscover them. They are lost sight of by man; the angels find them obliterated from their view; and God Himself has turned His back upon them, and left them in the land of separation.
W. Hay Aitken, Mission Sermons, 3rd series, p. 267
References: Lev 16:30.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxii., No. 1923. Lev 16:34.—H. Melvill, Golden Lectures, 1856 (Penny Pulpit, No. 254S); J. Fleming, The Gospel in Leviticus, p. 7; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. ii., No. 95. Lev 16.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iv., p. 530, and vol. v., p. 8; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. ii., p. 371. Lev 17:8, Lev 17:9.—J. Fleming, The Gospel in Leviticus, p. 30. Lev 17:11.—A. Lindesie, The Gospel of Grace, p. 20. Lev 19:9, Lev 19:10.—Parker, vol. iii., p. 134. Lev 19:16, Lev 19:17.—Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 334.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain Division 3. (Lev 16:1-34; Lev 17:1-16.)
Division 3. (Lev 16:1-34; Lev 17:1-16.)
The purification of the heavenly sanctuary and the earthly people. Christ’s appearing in the sanctuary and from the sanctuary.
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We now come to the central division of the book, and, in other ways than this, the heart of it. If Leviticus be the book of the sanctuary -that sanctuary in which was enshrined the glory of God, it was on the day of atonement that this sanctuary was justified in its abode among them, and their crowning blessing secured. It was also the day in which alone the sanctuary in its innermost recesses was opened, and man in some sense drew nigh to God.
True, it was still but the shadow, and not the very image. The high-priest alone, not Israel, not even the whole priestly family, drew nigh; and he but for a brief moment, covered with a cloud of incense, and in the power of the atoning blood which he presented to God. The vail which was before God was thus only temporarily lifted, -that vail which through all the dispensations of law declared that "the way into the holiest was not yet made manifest" (Heb 9:8), as grace, founded on a better sacrifice, alone could manifest it. But for us that grace is revealed, and we are brought to God: we have the substance of the shadows; and for us, therefore, they can speak with a fuller meaning than they could have before. The epistle to the Hebrews is largely the exposition and application to us of this day of atonement; and we have thus an inspired commentary on it of inestimable value, and which gives corresponding value to the type before us.
Israel’s great day is for us also great; and we must seek with all possible care, and in dependence upon the teaching of the Spirit of God, to get understanding of it.
And for this it will be well to anticipate somewhat the teaching of the twenty-third chapter, and to see its dispensational place as there revealed. In this way many things of importance become clear to us, and the details alone capable of being grasped. The dispensational place is most intimately connected with its spiritual meaning.
In the twenty-third chapter, the year of the Lord’s holy seasons (they are not all "feasts") gives us the cycle of blessing for the Church and Israel -the heavenly and the earthly saints. It divides, therefore, into two parts: the passover, first-fruits, and the "feast of weeks" begin the year; then, after a pause, another cluster is found in the seventh month, -on the first day, the blowing of trumpets; on the tenth, the day of atonement; and on the fifteenth begins the feast of tabernacles. The first group we have no difficulty in recognizing as specially our own: the feast of redemption, the sheaf of resurrection, and Pentecost. The second group begins with the blowing of trumpets, which, as the gathering of the congregation, speaks of the reassembling of Israel; then the day of atonement shows them in repentance taking refuge under the work of Christ; and lastly the feast of tabernacles brings in for them millennial blessing.
It is evident, therefore, that the day of atonement is here connected in a special way with the repentance of Israel in the last days, -the seventh month, or time of complete accomplishment of His purposes toward them; and this explains (whatever else may be found in it,) the meaning of the scape-goat, and that while the first goat is killed and its blood brought into the holiest for them when Aaron goes in there, their sins are not confessed and sent away from them until he has come out again. Just so will it be with the nation of Israel. Whatever preparatory work has gone before, (and such there will assuredly be,) yet as to the nation we are told, "They shall look on Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born. . . . And the land shall mourn, every family apart. . . . In that day shall there be a fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness." (Zec 12:10; Zec 12:12; Zec 13:1.)
It might be thought, however, that this still left open the question of time, and that the looking upon Him whom they had pierced was only poetic imagery for conviction under the gospel. But this difficulty is quite removed by the New Testament prophet, quoting and applying the older prophecy: "Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth" -the exact words, really, for "all the tribes of the land," however capable of a wider significance, -"shall wail because of Him." (Rev 1:7.) Here it is plain that it is in the day of Christ’s visible glory that Zechariah’s prophecy will be fulfilled, and with it the scapegoat also shall find its antitype.
So much is clear, then, as to the application to Israel. Having obtained it, however, we find no less clearly that the day of atonement begins long before this, and contemplates the Lord’s entrance into heaven as well as His return from it, this stretching over all the present time; and its fullness of meaning for us the epistle to the Hebrews brings out and develops. Brought thus far, indeed, it is not difficult to discover that in the priestly house of the sons of Aaron we have here (what we have seen in them elsewhere,) our own type, and that the day of atonement gives us, thus, a most comprehensive picture of the fruits of atonement both for the Church and Israel. We have to insert into it from the New Testament the rending of the vail, and then we are prepared to look at the details of what must have the profoundest interest and instruction for us.
In the division of this part of the book, commentators in general unite the seventeenth chapter with those which follow, rather than with the sixteenth. It is, in fact, however, as an appendix to this that it finds its real place and significance. The statement of what makes atonement before God is its central feature, and its connection with the day of atonement should be easily seen. It is, in fact, fundamental to the whole subject; and as we have already had to appeal to its teaching, so we shall find a necessity for such appeal once more, in order that there may be full assurance as to the interpretation of what is immediately before us. It is strictly a supplementary note, but of the greatest possible moment.
1. As a first section here, it is easy to characterize the sixteenth chapter: it is surely of the concord of divine righteousness with peace toward men that the day of atonement speaks, -the theme of the epistle to the Romans, especially in its first part, where, in Rom 3:25, the blood-sprinkled mercy-seat is brought before us: the word for "propitiation" there, which is rather "propitiatory," is the word used in the Septuagint and in Heb 9:5 for "the mercy-seat." The themes of Romans and of Hebrews are combined in this most expressive type.
(1) And here, first, we learn with what the priest must come into the holy place: it is, as we know, Aaron the high-priest, and no other of the priestly family can come in at all. This does not deprive us of access; it was a figure for the time then present; but for us the vail is rent: we have "boldness to enter into the holiest through the blood of Jesus." (Heb 10:19.)
All through the day of atonement, except only in leading away the goat, and in carrying the sin-offering without the camp, it is Aaron who does all. As high-priest, he is the representative of the people, as he is the representative-head of the priestly house. Even the slaying of the victims is accordingly his work. This makes it easier to apprehend the application of this to Christ, that Aaron must enter into the sanctuary only with the blood of sacrifice. Thus the apostle, translating the type, says of Him, that "neither by the blood of goats and bullocks" -not necessarily "calves," -"but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption." (Heb 9:12.) The word here is dia -"by means of," and its force in connection with the Jewish high-priest is not a question. He could not have entered apart from the blood of sacrifice. Of course this could apply to the Lord only in the official character in which Hebrews presents Him: no one dreams that personally He could not enter at any time, but as High-Priest, the representative of others, and of such as we are, it was otherwise: "the Son of Man must be lifted up," He Himself says. (Joh 3:14.) Thus, "having obtained eternal redemption," He entered in once into the holy place.
While this is surely true, what our eyes are at present fixed on is Himself. The white linen with which the high-priest is to be clothed shows the perfect righteousness which as man is His personal qualification to draw nigh. The robes of glory and beauty are not upon him. It is not a question of what He is officially, or even as the Divine Son. The first and all-important question is of His own ability to stand the test of the absolute requirements of divine holiness. Upon this amid the agonies of the cross everything hung: "He was heard for His piety." (Heb 5:7, marg.) Bearing the awful weight of sins not His own. He vindicated by entire submission the character of God in imposing a penalty which was but the necessary requirement of His own nature; and God thus glorified, that nature demanded the deliverance out of death of the blessed Sufferer: "by the glory of the father" He was raised up from the dead. (Rom 6:4.) Thus the white linen garments are in necessary connection with the blood with which the high-priest enters the holiest.
Lastly, for the people also as well as for the priesthood He has an offering. These different offerings we are called to consider in that which follows.
(2) In the second subsection we have the presentation to Jehovah of the offerings: they are not actually yet sacrificed, but only presented to God. Scripture always distinguishes between this offering and the final offering up. It is the putting them into relation to Him and to their appointed work; and so Christ "through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God." (Heb 9:14.) We also read that "He offered up Himself." (Heb 7:27.) To offer to God was not in itself priestly work: here the high-priest does it because he is the people’s representative, just as afterwards he kills the victim. The priest’s work, as we have seen, begins after this, with the sprinkling of the blood, and the offering up upon the altar.
In the application of this we need the most careful discrimination. It has been contended by some, that thus the priest’s work begins "the other side of death," and that Christ’s priestly work did not commence therefore until after death. But the offering up was priestly, and Christ "offered up Himself:" this could not be after the cross. If it be contended that here the shadow of the law was as "not the very image," we might as well (and better) argue that this applies to the slaying of the victim rather. But this cannot be justified either, and, if the principle were admitted, all certainty as to the interpretation of the types would disappear. There can be conceived no reason why, if the spiritual meaning require it, the offerer should not as well "offer up" as slay the victim: yet there was nothing in the law more stringent than the prohibition of any such intrusion into the priestly office.
The failure of the shadows of the law to give the perfect image of the reality is of two kinds, and it would seem two only. One example of this failure is familiar to us in the rent vail. It was not something of which no account could be given, but had a definite lesson of its own, and a needful one. Its meaning was that the way into the holiest was not yet made manifest: the law could show no way. Thus this class of examples, as the apostle says, were figures for the time then present (Heb 9:9). -needful assurances of the weakness and inefficacy of law in its very nature. Of the other class of examples we can find one which bears very directly upon the matter before us. The death of the animal preceded its burning upon the ground or on the altar: in the antitype it was the reverse, the judgment upon sin Christ endured before death, and not after it; and the inversion of the order here has helped to occasion the very misconception of the priestly work coming only after death. Yet it is surely clear that this inversion is simply a necessity of a sort easily to be recognized, although the Spirit of God has none the less turned it to account. Thus from some natural necessity or from the character of the law itself this want of correspondence between type and antitype seems to arise. To imagine it where there is no such need is on the other hand to introduce unmeaning and causeless confusion into the inspired Word: no example of such a kind can be produced, it is confidently believed, from the whole range of Scripture.
"Christ by the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God;" and we find this apparently as what was implied in His coming to John’s baptism. It was the end of that private life of His for thirty years, in which in the fulfillment of His personal responsibility as man He was being manifested as the Lamb without spot. John’s baptism of repentance had therefore no claim upon Him personally, and to have come to it on His own account would have been a denial of His own spotlessness. "I have need to be baptized of Thee," says the Baptist, from that point of view rightly, -"and comest Thou to me?" All thought of the Lord’s doing this by way of example for us is therefore a grave as it is a gross mistake. Was He a penitent? or one taking refuge by faith in a Saviour to come? No, He could be neither; and therefore could not mean by His action to put Himself in such a place. What, then, could it mean?
His answer to John is, "Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness." In His coming to it as a baptism of repentance He could not in righteousness own it for Himself; for others it obviously was the first step in righteousness that could be taken by sinners, -and for them how deeply significant! a baptism in Jordan, the river of death, a "baptism to death" therefore (Rom 6:4), to which the sins they confessed were their just title. Death was the righteous penalty of sin, which by grace they were thus permitted to anticipate, owning their guilt in view of "remission of sins" (Luk 3:3) through Him whom John preceded. Now He was come, and owning for them the righteousness of this confession of their guilt and of the penalty under which they were, His own fulfillment of righteousness is in going into death for them as their Saviour and their sacrifice. He is moving therefore from His former position as One fulfilling righteousness for Himself; He is taking position as One fulfilling it for others. And this implies for Him death, which He speaks of afterward, as the baptism He was to be baptized with, "straitened" by His love, and in the manifestation of it, till it was accomplished (Luk 12:50).
It is in this way, then, He takes His place under John’s baptism. It is His offering Himself without spot to God, and as this He is immediately proclaimed by the Father’s voice, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." And now the Spirit of God openly descends upon Him. He is anointed without blood, as we saw in Aaron’s case (Exo 29:7; Lev 8:12), and thus He becomes the "anointed priest," to offer up the offering He had just presented.
All, therefore, is harmony, as in the Word of God it always is, -the offering first, and then the priestly offering up. From His baptism by John, the Lord goes forth as the Lamb reserved for sacrifice, and as the High-Priest whose offering up is of Himself. All glories unite in Him, and the pathway of suffering is indeed His glory.
And now returning to Leviticus, we find, along with the presence of the offerings, the diversity of the offerings insisted on, in their purpose and in their character alike. Of course they all have their fulfillment in His one all-comprehensive offering: but this is displayed for us here, in the different ends it is designed to answer, and in its diverse character as suited to those ends. And thus we must look at it.
First, we have the difference between the offerings for the people, and for the priestly house: for the former, two goats; for the latter, one bullock. We have seen the distinctive character of these -the goat and the bullock, and have only to see their appropriateness as offerings respectively for Israel and the Church. The goat is the sin-offering elsewhere prescribed for the prince and common person in Israel, as the bullock is for the high-priest, and the congregation at large; here for the congregation at large it is but the goat. Yet we must distinguish: for the congregation in Lev 4:1-35 includes the priesthood, while here the priesthood are represented separately; thus we see the ground upon which the congregation here represents the people of Israel simply, while there it stands for the redeemed as a whole.
The bullock thus as the offering for the Church gives us, as we have already seen, the Lord as the blessed Servant of the Father’s will: the goat speaks of simple substitution. Thus the bullock brings in directly the thought of the glorifying God as the goat does not. In the latter sin is seen as removed, and completely; but in the former case the incense-altar can be anointed in the sanctuary, -that is, in heaven (Lev 4:7; Lev 4:18). On the day of atonement indeed the blood of both goat and bullock is brought into the sanctuary, and put upon the mercy-seat before God, but the people are not brought in by it, and the scape-goat shows us the effect for Israel. But of this we must speak in its place.
For the people there are two goats, and here again is diversity; for they are separated to different work. This is given in some detail, and there are conflicting views as to the interpretation, which call for some examination.
Lots are cast as to the two goats, as to their destination: the one is said to be "for Jehovah;" the other "for the scape-goat." In the last place, the Revised Version, with many critical authorities now, substitutes "for Azazel," with an alternative in the margin, "or dismissal," which would bring it back nearly to the old translation. Azazel is mere adoption of the Hebrew word, as to the meaning and application of which there have been so many different thoughts, that some are content to leave it as an insoluble enigma. And yet it is certain that the first two letters of the word are those for "goat," and that it is a goat on which the lot falls; while the rest of the word is one which signifies to go away," "depart," and this is exactly what the goat does: why then should there be any difficulty as to the meaning?
Keil contends, however, that "the words, one lot for Jehovah and one for Azazel, require unconditionally that Azazel should be regarded as a personal being in opposition to Jehovah;" but this is his affirmation only: no one that had no theory to support would see any such necessity. But a long line of commentators, Jewish and Christian both, declare Azazel to be a name for Satan, and with this Keil agrees, and that the goat is to be sent away to Satan, for what purpose they cannot decide, for the simple reason that Scripture says nothing about it. The two goats are one sin-offering (v. 5) and of course a double representation of Christ, and the great point is, that the sins for which the first goat dies are taken away from the people on the head of the second "into a land cut off" -where therefore they cannot be found. All is as simple as can be, and needs no such weird invention to introduce confusion into it.
The fact that the two goats are one sin-offering meets another difficulty which has been found in the words as to the second goat, "to make atonement for him, to let him go as a scape-goat into the wilderness." The common version escapes it by rendering "to make atonement with him," but this cannot be maintained. Others would translate, "to make atonement over him," but this is neither the force of the word, nor has it any plain significance that one can discern. The words mean regularly "to make atonement for him," and the meaning is simple when we consider that, the two being one sin-offering, the atonement is made entirely by the first goat, which therefore makes it for the other: this solution of the matter, simple as it is, seems to have escaped the commentators. Its importance is, that what is done with it is defined not to be "atonement," and inconsistent with the thought of its really making it; for atonement is made for it, to let it go. It shows also that the being let go is a real freedom, the result of atonement made, and that the "land cut off" is not death or its equivalent, as I once thought. It is as the consequence of atonement that the sins are borne away, and their being on the head of the goat does not mean penalty for it, but freedom for the people -a freedom which involves their sins being no more found.
Thus too the meaning of "Jehovah’s lot" becomes plain. The first goat is that, because it is the real sacrifice, while the other is "let go." It is not a question of two parts or aspects of atonement; for the first alone really makes the atonement, while the other expresses the result for the people.
(3) And now we are to see the actual entrance into the holiest. First, for himself and his house. Aaron slays the bullock of the sin-offering, and then fills the sanctuary with a cloud of incense, that it may cover the mercy-seat; afterward sprinkling the blood of the bullock upon the front of it, and seven times before it, making atonement for the priestly house. He then kills the goat which is for the people, and does with its blood as with the blood of the bullock, making "atonement for the sanctuary because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins," "for the tent of meeting which abideth among them in the midst of their uncleanness."
The first point of inquiry here must be as to the meaning of what is the central feature of all, the sprinkling of the blood upon the "propitiatory" or "mercy-seat." That it was for "atonement" is explicitly said, as in the next chapter the blood is stated to be given upon the altar for atonement. Here the mercy-seat takes the place of the altar, although afterward the blood is carried out to the altar, as we shall see; but the mercy-seat is first here and central, being indeed the "propitiatory" (as in Heb 9:5 it is literally) or the "place of propitiation or atonement."
The "propitiatory" was the cover of the ark, as we know, and with it represented Christ, in its two materials of wood and gold, just as the altar of burnt-offering represented Christ in its two materials of wood and brass. If the mercy-seat were the "place of propitiation," the altar (mizbeach) was literally "the place of sacrifice." The altar, as the Lord Himself tells us, is that which "sanctifieth the gift." (Mat 23:19.) The person of Christ is that which makes His work so precious and acceptable to God.
We have seen already that when Christ offered Himself to God for the baptism to death to which He was to be baptized, that then He was proclaimed of God the Son in whom He was well pleased, and anointed with the Spirit for His priestly work. Similarly the apostle connects God’s acknowledgment of His Son with His call to the High-Priesthood (Heb 5:5). Afterward we are shown Him in the suffering which was His wondrous obedience, offering up Himself (Heb 5:7-8; Heb 7:27), perfected as the Saviour, and for His work in the heavenly sanctuary. He rose from the dead, and having "by Himself purged our sins," ascended into heaven, and "sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high" (Heb 1:3). He was "raised again for our justification" (Rom 4:25), His deliverance from death being the public acceptance of His work on our behalf, and the clearance from charge of all those who by faith are His. The living bird, dipped in the blood of atonement, first sprinkles the leper, and then takes its flight into the open field.
It is of this entrance into heaven after resurrection that the epistle to the Hebrews speaks, -an entrance by ascension, which the Lord in His words to Mary on the day of His resurrection denies having yet taken place: "Touch Me not," He says, "for I am not yet ascended to My Father." With His ascension is connected His session at the right hand of God: "He was received up into heaven," says Mark, "and sat on the right hand of God." This was necessarily a thing done once, not needing to be repeated, and so is spoken of always in Hebrews: "We have such a High-Priest who is set down on the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens;" "by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place;" "but this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins, sat down forever" -or has taken His seat in perpetuity" -"at the right hand of God." This is the true force of the last verse, though in the R.V. only given in the margin.
From all this it is plain that the entrance contemplated in Hebrews is after resurrection and by ascension only, and therefore in the value of a work already accepted of God. But this being so, it ought to be as plain that the entrance of the high-priest into the sanctuary in Leviticus is a type of the same, and that the blood he carries does not wait for acceptance when it is put upon the mercy-seat, but is put there as already accepted, to make atonement for the sanctuary: the work already looked at as complete is applied to this particular purpose. Thus the same blood, in the language of the Old Testament, can make atonement again and again, -that is, for every fresh object to which it is applied.
The purpose here is plain: "he shall make atonement for the sanctuary, 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 tent of meeting which abideth among them in the midst of their uncleannesses." Thus in this picture we have exhibited what the epistle to the Hebrews calls the "purification of the heavenly things" (Heb 9:23). It is seen that the blood of atonement is that which vindicates the abiding of the tabernacle -thus of the divine presence -in the midst of a sinful people. And so directly after is the altar also purified, that it may remain among them to sanctify their gifts.
For us there is a higher blessing. Christ has entered into heaven, not for a moment, but to take His place in the presence of God for us, "a High-Priest over the house of God." The vail rent in answer to His work accomplished, we have access ourselves to God in the holiest, and are invited to "draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith" (Heb 10:22). The holy and the holiest are now one, and there is no "first tabernacle" (Heb 9:8).
But this connects with another thing, which Hebrews does not enlarge upon, though it lays the foundation, and other epistles of Paul are full of it. The high-priest is the head and representative of the priestly family before God, and we are "seated together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." This in the Old Testament is necessarily as yet a mystery hid in God; and here we can only indicate a connection. There is none with Aaron in the sanctuary in Leviticus, and he does not remain there. In making atonement he is of course alone.
(4) The numerical structure marks, as it would seem decisively, the scapegoat as giving the result for Israel, the earthly people. This we have seen emphasized in other ways: prophecy is abundantly clear that while provision has been made for Israel long since in the work of the cross, it is only when the Lord appears that their sins as a nation will be put away. In this way the meaning of the two goats is perfectly simple, the first only being the Lord’s lot and the real atonement, the last being, however, in a sense and for a purpose quite evident, identified with it. Like the second bird, it typifies, therefore, the results of the work rather than the work itself,* the putting away of Israel’s sin at the time of the Lord’s appearing from heaven, but in virtue of a work accomplished when He went in. The two goats figure in this way but one sin-offering, which is seen in its Godward side in that which is Jehovah’s lot, and in its effect for the nation in the scapegoat.
{*Questions have, however, been raised as to the connection of these goats respectively with propitiation and substitution, so important in their bearing upon the nature of atonement itself, that it is impossible to avoid the discussion of them. It has been sought to distinguish them in this way, that propitiation is the glorifying of God by the work of the cross, -the satisfying of His nature, -in such a manner as to enable the offer of grace to be made to all men; while substitution is that which unconditionally takes away the sins of His people. He is a propitiation for the whole world, it is said, but He bears only the sins of the latter: "The Lord hath laid upon Him the iniquity of us all" applies in this way, for those whose sins are borne could never have themselves to bear them. This, therefore, if true as to the world, would necessitate universal salvation. Let us look, then, at these questions, and what they involve.
First of all, if these views are true, they involve an atonement for the world different in character from that for believers. The work of the cross becomes a twofold work, and there is an atonement which saves and one that does not save. If the believer is only saved by his sins being borne by Another (and this is substitution), then if every one’s sins are not borne, there can be no salvation, and no provision for the salvation, of any but the elect. Some, no doubt also, would accept this, and here is not the place to take it up: it is limited atonement of the most rigid kind, but does not allow of any "world" to which atonement can at all apply, except the world of the elect, nor of any propitiation which cannot save. As to this last, it is clearly right: a propitiation which cannot save is not in any true sense "propitiation."
But if, on the other hand, a propitiation without substitution still can save, then is substitution itself needless and meaningless: there is no place for it any where. So far is this, however, from the truth, that it ought not to need proof for those who have but their Old Testament before them, that in a substitutionary bearing of sin lies the very essence of sacrifice -of propitiation. Thus is God’ s righteousness in the sentence upon sin maintained, in that which puts away sin; and in the Son of God becoming the substitute, divine love is maintained in righteousness. This is what propitiates, -not turns God’s heart toward us, which was never estranged, but enables Him to show mercy consistently with all that He is.
Then, as to the extent of atonement or propitiation, it is indeed "for the whole world" (1Jn 2:2), but not unconditionally: as it is elsewhere said, Christ is "a propitiation through faith, by His blood." (Rom 3:25.) The word here is the word for the mercy-seat -the "propitiatory," which does not touch the meaning. He is thus a propitiation for the whole world, conditionally upon faith, thus in effect for believers -an unconditional propitiation for believers. And substitution is (as all allow) for believers; "a propitiation, through faith, by His blood," (as the R.V. rightly puts it,) binds together these two -propitiation and substitution -as equal in extent and upon the same condition for all.
"God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Here is the universality of the atonement, and the condition of faith wherever it shall avail. Election is a truth of Scripture, but it is never said that Christ died for the elect, either simply or in any special way. To the sinners at Corinth Paul preached as gospel that "Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures" (1Co 15:3), -that is, of course, for the sins of those whom he was then addressing; and the effect being conditioned upon faith, "all who believe are justified from all things" (Act 13:39), and "justified by faith," -that is, when they believe. It is never said that Christ died for the elect, or that men are justified by their election, but by their faith. "Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness." (Rom 4:3.)
Believing sinners are thus the people for whom Christ died, a provision sufficient for the whole world, if the whole world would believe. Thus the offer of salvation can be truly made to all, and the responsibility of non-acceptance be truly pressed on all: "ye will not come unto Me, that ye might have life" (Joh 5:40). All this seems clear; the only real difficulty remains to be considered.
How could it be said in this way, "The Lord hath laid upon Him the iniquity of us all"? or that Christ "bare our sins in His own body on the tree"? Here habits of thought, and not the words of Scripture, create the perplexity. There is really the thought in the mind of what has been justly called a "commercial atonement," a thought which if fully weighed will be found to lower the character of it, and which is foreign to Scripture, though built upon mistaken inferences from it.
In the day of judgment men will be "judged according to their works." Every sin will receive its just recompense; there will be the infliction of "few stripes" or "many stripes." Penalty will be strictly commensurate with desert.
Now, if Christ "bare our sins in His own body on the tree," this principle has been thought to involve the strict penalty of these sins in full measurement being laid upon Him -so much suffering for so much sin. Here it is easy to see that if this be so, atonement must be strictly limited. To atone for one sinner, nay, for one more sin, He must suffer more. Then too if He suffered for these sins, those whose sins they were could not suffer for them. The highest Calvinistic view results: an absolutely efficacious atonement for those whose sins He really bore, and for others none whatever.
But Scripture says nothing of all this, and what it does say is inconsistent with it: a propitiation for the whole world would in this way be impossible, and so would the over-payment which the trespass-offering insists upon. Was the value of the cross indeed only sufficient to save just so many? or if the whole world had been saved by it, would there not have been an over-payment still? Yes, surely: for the power of the atonement and the glory of the work accomplished were not in so much deserved suffering meted out to One who had not deserved it, but in that death and wrath which were man’s portion proclaimed as the holy judgment of God by Him who went into them in a perfect love that was the full expression of divine love. The "substitute for penalty," which some speak of here would not have done this; and the "equivalent," which others advocate, could not be found. "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree."
And if our sins brought Him to this, as they did, why should we not be able to say that "Himself bare our sins in His own body," as the sacrificial victim? or looking at the whole multitude of the redeemed, that, "Jehovah laid upon Him the iniquity of us all"? The sacrifice is truly, fully efficacious for all His people, and that not merely for a certain defined number, but limitless save by the unbelief that can "neglect so great salvation."}
For us all it avails to show that the blessed sacrifice puts away sin for none until it has been confessed to God by those whose hearts have turned to Him in that repentance which is never separate from faith. It is a condition of the gospel, that "if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1Jn 1:9.)
(5) The first four sections of this chapter, complete the peculiar features of the day of atonement. The high-priest now puts off the white linen garments with which he went into the sanctuary, and returns to his garments of glory and beauty, his usual official dress. In this he offers the burnt-offering and burns the fat of the sin-offering upon the altar. We have already seen the significance of these two things, which add the positive side of acceptance in Christ to the negative putting away of sin and with this agrees the blooming out of color in the high-priest’s robe. It is like Joseph’s variegated coat, God’s recognition in delight of His Son, and upon this footing is man now with God, the meaning, as I believe, of the numerical place of this section; and briefly though it is given, how much would be lacking if we had not this!
(6) Next we have, in the burning of the sin-offering outside the camp, the way in which sin is overcome and removed, and which Heb 13:1-25 links so decisively with the entrance of the blood into the holy place. This too, then, has its necessary place here: its exposition has been already elsewhere given.
(7) Lastly, in connection with all this, we have a sabbath of rest appointed, in which all work is solemnly forbidden. In connection with atonement the meaning is most simple. Whether for Israel or for the believer now, no work of man must supplement the glorious work which has been done for sinners. On the other hand, the rest so dearly purchased for us is not to be received with light and indifferent hearts: Israel were to "afflict their souls" on the day of atonement, just as on the passover they were to eat the bitter herbs with the lamb. A humble and chastened spirit alone becomes those who enjoy rest through His toil, -a peace made through the blood of the cross.
2. The seventeenth chapter is strictly an appendix to the sixteenth, as has been already said. Its central thought is of atonement by blood, the testimony as to which, as a thing of surpassing importance, is enjoined to be maintained throughout the daily life.
Whenever ox or sheep or goat was slain by any, there was to be recognition of the need of atonement, and how it had been met. In fact, to one enlightened by the Word of God, all nature is full of such remembrances; but nothing speaks more clearly than this great natural ordinance that death should be the sustenance of life. Accordingly, every such meal God ordained to be in communion with the altar, a feast upon an offering. How blessed would it be for us if nature’s real lessons were known and laid to heart after this manner continually, and our common every-day lives thus lifted into higher meaning! Thus would God make Christ to be ever before our eyes, and fellowship with Him to be confirmed and strengthened -the things seen and temporal to minister to the things unseen and eternal!
As a provision against the wandering heart after other gods also, there is in all this deep significance. In truth, it is the unoccupied part of our lives -whatever in them is not positively consecrated to God -that betrays us to the enemy. We need to realize that in an enemy’s country as we are, and not only so, but on a daily battle-field, there can be no neutral ground. Whatever, as well as whosoever, is not for Christ is against Him. There is no place where sin will not gain advantage over us except the presence of God. "Thou art my hiding-place," needs to be continually the language of our souls.
The eleventh verse, that in which we find the heart of the whole chapter, has been already considered. It shows us how it is the blood maketh atonement for the soul: it is because the life is in the blood; and to pour out the blood is therefore the sign of death, not of life, as some perversely take it: "He poured out his soul’’ -or "life" -"unto death," is the inspired interpretation.
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain Lev 16:1 - Lev 16:19.
Leviticus
THE DAY OF ATONEMENT
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Lev 16:1 - Lev 16:19.
The Talmudical treatise on the ritual of the day of atonement is entitled ‘Yoma,’ the day, which sufficiently expresses its importance in the series of sacrificial observances. It was the confession of the incompleteness of them all, a ceremonial proclamation that ceremonies do not avail to take away sin; and it was also a declaration that the true end of worship is not reached till the worshipper has free access to the holy place of the Most High. Thus the prophetic element is the very life-breath of this supreme institution of the old covenant, which therein acknowledges its own defects, and feeds the hopes of a future better thing. We do not here consider the singular part of the ritual of the Day of Atonement which is concerned with the treatment of the so-called ‘scapegoat’ but confine ourselves to the consideration of that part of it which was observed in the Tabernacle and was intended to expiate the sins of the priesthood and of the people. The chapter connects the rites of the Day of Atonement with the tragic death of the sons of Aaron, which witnessed to the sanctity of the inner shrine, as not to be trodden but with the appointed offerings by the appointed priest; and so makes the whole a divinely given instruction as to the means by which, and the objects for which, Aaron may enter within the veil.
I. In Lev 16:3 - Lev 16:10 we have the preliminaries of the sacrifices and a summary of the rites. First, Aaron was to bathe, and then to robe himself in pure white. The dress is in singular contrast to the splendour of his usual official costume, in which he stood before men as representing God, and evidently signifies the purity which alone fits for entrance into the awful presence. Thus vested, he brings the whole of the animals to be sacrificed to the altar,-namely, for himself and his order, a bullock and a ram; for the people, two goats and a ram. The goats are then taken by him to the door of the tent,-and it is to be observed that they are spoken of as both constituting one sin offering {Lev 16:5}. They therefore both belong to the Lord, and are, in some important sense, one, as was recognised by the later Rabbinical prescription that they should be alike in colour, size, and value. The appeal to the lot was an appeal to God to decide the parts they were respectively to sustain in a transaction which, in both parts, was really one. The consideration of the meaning of the ritual for the one which was led away may be postponed for the present. The preliminaries end with the casting of the lots, and in later times, with tying the ominous red fillet on the head of the dumb creature for which so weird a fate was in store.
II. The first part of the ritual proper {Lev 16:11 - Lev 16:14} is the expiation for the sins of Aaron and the priesthood, and his entrance into the most holy place. The bullock was slain in the usual manner of the sin offering, but its blood was destined for a more solemn use. The white-robed priest took a censer of burning embers from the altar before the tent-door, and two hands full of incense, and, thus laden, passed into the Tabernacle. How the silent crowd in the outer court would watch the last flutter of the white robe as it was lost in the gloom within! He passed through the holy place, which, on every day but this, was the limit of his approach; but, on this one day, he lifted the curtain, and entered the dark chamber, where the glory flashed from the golden walls and rested above the ark. Would not his heart beat faster as he laid his hand on the heavy veil, and caught the first gleam of the calm light from the Shechinah? As soon as he entered, he was to cast the incense into the censer, that the fragrant cloud might cover the mercy-seat. Incense is the symbol of prayer, and that curling cloud is a picture of the truth that the purest of men, even the anointed priest, robed in white, who has offered sacrifices daily all the year round, and today has anxiously obeyed all the commands of ceremonial cleanliness, can yet only draw near to God as a suppliant, not entering there as having a right of access, but beseeching entrance as undeserved mercy. The incense did not cover ‘the glory’ that Aaron might not gaze upon it, but it covered him that Jehovah might not look on his sin. It would appear that, between Lev 16:13 - Lev 16:14, Aaron’s leaving the most holy place to bring the blood of the sacrifice must be understood. If so, we can fancy the long-drawn sigh of relief with which the waiting worshippers saw him return, and carry back into the shrine the expiating blood. The ‘most holy place’ would still be filled and its atmosphere thick with the incense fumes when he returned to perform the solemn expiation for himself and the whole priestly order. Once the blood was sprinkled on the mercy-seat, and seven times, apparently, on the ground in front of it. The former act was intended, as seems probable, to make atonement for the sins of the priesthood; the latter, to cleanse the sanctuary from the ideal defilements arising from their defective and sinful ministrations.
This completed the part of the ceremonial which belonged immediately to Aaron and the priests. It carries important lessons. Could there be a more striking exhibition of their imperfect realisation of the idea of the priestly office? Observe the anomaly inherent in the very necessity of the case. Aaron was dressed in the white robes emblematic of purity; he had partaken in the benefit of, and had himself offered, sacrifices all the year round. So far as ritual could go, he was pure, and yet so stained with sin that he dared not enter into the divine presence without that double safeguard of the incense and the blood. The priest who cleanses others is himself unclean, and he and his fellows have tainted the sanctuary by the very services which were meant to atone and to purify. That solemn ritual is intended to teach priest and people alike, that every priest ‘taken from among men’ fails in his office, and pollutes the temple instead of purifying the worshipper. But the office was God’s appointment, and therefore would not always be filled by men too small and sinful for its requirements. There must somewhere and somewhen be a priest who will be one indeed, fulfilling the divine ideal of the functions, and answering the deep human longings which have expressed themselves in all lands, for one, pure with no ceremonial but a real purity, to bring us to God and God to us, to offer sacrifice which shall need no after atonement to expiate its defects, and to stand without incense or blood of sprinkling for himself in the presence of God for us. The imperfections of the human holders of the Old Testament offices, whether priest, prophet, or king, were no less prophecies than their positive qualifications were. Therefore, when we see Aaron passing into the holy place, we see the dim shadow of Christ, who ‘needeth not to make atonement’ for His own sins, and is our priest ‘for ever.’
III. The ritual for the atonement of the sins of the people follows. The two goats had been, during all this time, standing at the door of the Tabernacle. We have already pointed out that they are to be considered as one sacrifice. There are two of them, for the same reason, as has been often remarked, as there were two birds in the ritual of cleansing the leper; namely, because one animal could not represent the two parts of the one whole truth which they are meant to set forth. The one was sacrificed as a sin offering, and the other led away into a solitary land. Here we consider the meaning of the former only, which presents no difficulty. It is a sin offering for the people, exactly corresponding to that just offered for the priests. The same use is made of the blood, which is once sprinkled by Aaron on the mercy-seat and seven times on the ground before it, as in the former case. It is not, however, all employed there, but part of it is carried out into the other divisions of the Tabernacle; and first, the holy place, which the priests daily entered and which is called in Lev 16:16 ‘the tent of meeting,’ and next, the altar of burnt offering in the outer court, are in like manner sprinkled seven times with the blood, to ‘hallow’ them ‘from the uncleanness of the children of Israel’ {Lev 16:19}. The teaching of this rite, in its bearing upon the people, is similar to that of the previous priestly expiation. The insufficiency of sacrificial cleansing is set forth by this annual atonement for sins which had all been already atoned for. The defects of a ritual worship are proclaimed by the ritual which cleanses the holy places from the uncleanness contracted by them from the worshippers. If the altar, the seat of expiation, itself needed expiation, how imperfect its worth must be! If the cleansing fountain is foul, how shall it be cleansed, or how shall it cleanse the offerers? The bearing of the blood of expiation into the most holy place, where no Israelite ever entered, save the high priest, taught that the true expiation could only be effected by one who should pass into the presence of God, and leave the door wide open for all to enter. For surely the distance between the worshippers and the mercy-seat was a confession of imperfection; and the entrance there of the representative of the sinful people was the holding out of a dim hope that in some fashion, yet unknown, the veil would be rent, and true communion be possible for the humble soul. The Epistle to the Hebrews tells us where we are to look for the realities of which these ceremonies were the foreshadowings. The veil was rent at the crucifixion. Christ has gone into ‘the secret place of the Most High,’ and if we love Him, our hearts have gone with Him, and our lives are ‘hid with Him, in God.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain Ritual of the Day of Atonement
Ritual of the Day of Atonement
(See also Lev_23:26-32; Num_29:7-11; Exo_30:10.)
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This solemn ceremonial took place once a year on the tenth day of the seventh month (Tishri = September). It was enacted by the high priest alone, but the whole nation indicated its interest and participation in it, by resting from all manner of work, by keeping a very strict fast, and by assembling for an 'holy convocation.' The ritual of the Day of Atonement marked the culminating point of the Levitical system, and was calculated to impress the minds of the worshippers in a peculiar degree. Most of the other sacrifices and purifications were occasional and personal, but this was the yearly atonement for the nation as a whole, including the priesthood itself, and the yearly purification of the sanctuary and its parts from the defilement of the sins of the people in whose midst it stood. It gathered up and included all the separate and individual sacrifices of the year, and restored to the nation the holiness it had lost. It was but natural that Christians should see, in its peculiarly striking and solemn ritual, a foreshadowing and illustration of the atonement wrought by Christ, through the one sacrifice of Himself, and His entering into the Holy Place, there to appear in the presence of God for His people. This is pointed out by the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews: see Heb_4:14; Heb_6:20; Heb_9:11-28, which should be read in this connexion.
A great deal has been made of the fact that there is no mention of the actual observance of the Day of Atonement till after the exile, from which it has been inferred that its institution is of post-exilic date. But the argument is not convincing. The connexion with the death of Nadab and Abihu (see Lev_16:1), and the mention of Azazel (see Lev_16:8 and note), indicate that the ritual of this chapter rests on a very ancient basis. And not only are the preexilic books silent on the Day of Atonement, but the post-exilic contain no reference to it either, which shows the precarious nature of the argument from silence.
The Day of Atonement is still the great day of the Jewish sacred year, and is observed with much solemnity as a day of humiliation and repentance: see on Exo_32:32.
3-5. The first act of the high priest is to choose the sacrificial victims, to bathe himself, and exchange his distinctive vestments for a garment of white linen, the garment of the ordinary priest.
6-11. He then presents the sin offering for himself and for his house, and casts lots between the two goats of the sin offering for the people, one of which is to be slain and the other let loose. He then sacrifices his own sin offering.
8. For the scapegoat] RV 'for Aaazel.' This word does not occur elsewhere in OT. The parallel, for the Lord, suggests that it should be taken as a proper name, and left untranslated. The word scapegoat in AV is not a translation, but indicates merely the use to which this goat is to be put. Azazel is understood to be the name of one of those malignant demons with which the superstition of the Israelites peopled the wilderness and all waste places (see Isa_13:21; Isa_34:14, cp. Mat_12:43; Mar_1:13). The sending of the sin-laden goat to him (Lev_16:21-22) signified the complete removal of the sins of the people and the handing them over, as it were, to the evil spirit to whom they belonged: cp. the ceremony connected with the cleansing of lepers (Lev_14:6-7). This rite may have been intended, at all events it would serve, to counteract any disposition to honour and worship such evil spirits (cp. Lev_17:7).
12-14. The high priest next enters the Holy of Holies with incense and the blood of his sin offering, which he sprinkles once on the mercy seat and seven times in the space before it, thus making atonement for himself and his house.
15-19. He then goes out into the court and sacrifices the goat on which the lot fell 'for Jehovah,' and brings its blood as before into the Holy of Holies to make atonement for the sanctuary and its parts, and cleanse them from the sins. which mingle even with the best service that man can offer to God.
20-22. He now takes the goat destined 'for Azazel,' and laying his hands on its head confesses over it the sins of the people, after which a man standing in readiness leads the goat away into the wilderness and releases it. In the time of the Second Temple the goat was destroyed by being precipitated from a rock 12 m. from Jerusalem.
23-28. He finally bathes and resumes his distinctive vestments and offers the two burnt offerings for himself and the people, in token of entire reconsecration to the service of God. At the same time he burns the fat of the two sin offerings, the flesh of which is taken outside the camp and there consumed. In later times the high priest at this point read in the hearing of the people prescribed portions of the Law, viz. Lev_23:26; Num_29:7-11, concluding with a series of benedictions.
29. Afflict your souls] i.e. observe a fast: see Psa_35:13; Isa_58:3, Isa_58:5. This is the only fast enjoined in the Mosaic Law. After the exile fasting was a common religious usage: see e.g. Ezr_8:21; Neh_9:1; Est_4:8; Zec_8:19; Mat_9:14-17; Luk_2:37; Luk_18:12; Act_13:2-3; Act_14:23. In Act_27:9 the reference is to the Day of Atonement which was called 'The Fast' par excellence.
34. He] i.e. Aaron.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain 1. The Day of Atonement
IV. THE DAY OF ATONEMENT: IN THE HOLIEST
1. The Day of Atonement
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CHAPTER 16
1. The command how Aaron was to enter (Lev 16:1-5)
2. The presentation of the offerings (Lev 16:6-10)
3. The blood carried into the Holiest (Lev 16:11-19)
4. The scapegoat (Lev 16:20-22)
5. Aaron’s burnt offering and that for the people (Lev 16:23-25)
6. The ceremony outside of the camp (Lev 16:26-28)
7. Cleansed and resting (Lev 16:29-34)
A brief rehearsal of the ceremonies of this great day of atonement, with a few explanatory remarks, will help in a better understanding of this chapter. The day of atonement was for the full atonement of all the sins, transgressions and failures of Israel, so that Jehovah in His holiness might tabernacle in their midst. On that day alone the Holiest was opened for the high priest to enter in. That all connected with this day is the shadow of the real things to come, and that in the New Testament we have the blessed substance, is well known. The Epistle to the Hebrews is in part the commentary to Israel’s great day of atonement. The way into the Holiest by the rent vail which is revealed in the Epistle to the Hebrews, was not made known on the day of atonement. The day itself was celebrated on the tenth day of the seventh month, and it was a Sabbath of rest in which they were to afflict their souls (chapter 23:27-29). What is called “afflict” was fasting, the outward sign of inward sorrow over sin. When this was omitted the atonement did not profit anything “for whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people.” Only true faith manifested by repentance gives the sinner a share in the great work of atonement.
Aaron is the central figure in the day of atonement. All is his work with the exception of the leading away of the scapegoat. Aaron is the type of Christ. Aaron had to enter the Holiest with the blood of sacrifice, but Christ entered by His own blood. “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us” (Heb 9:12). Aaron had to come into the holy place with a sin offering and a burnt offering. Nothing is said about a meal or a peace offering. These would be out of keeping with the purpose of the day. As we have seen, the sin and the burnt offerings foreshadow the perfect work of Christ in which God’s righteous claims are met and in which atonement is made for the creature’s sins. Aaron had to lay aside his robes of beauty and glory and put on white linen garments after he had washed his flesh in water. Christ did not need fine linen garments, nor was there any need in Him for washing. Aaron wearing these garments and washed in water typifies what Christ is in Himself. Aaron had to take next two kids of the goats for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. He had to offer the bullock of the sin offering (chapter 4:3). Such an offering for Himself Christ did not need (Heb 7:27). But Aaron’s offering was an atonement for his house. And Christ is Son over His house, whose house we are (Heb 3:6). The bullock offering made by Aaron typifies therefore the aspect of Christ’s work for the Church. The two goats were for the people Israel. Lots were cast by Aaron, and one goat was taken by lot for Jehovah and the other for the scapegoat. After the choice by lot had been made Aaron killed the sin offering for himself and his house. Then having taken a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar, with his hands full of sweet incense, he entered within the vail, into the Holiest. The cloud of incense covered the mercy seat. He then sprinkled the blood with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward and seven times before the mercy seat. How blessedly all this foreshadows Christ and His work! The incense typifies the fragrance of His own person, and the sprinkled blood is the type of His own precious blood, in which God accomplishes all His eternal and sovereign counsels of grace.
“The blood which is sprinkled upon the believer’s conscience has been sprinkled ‘seven times’ before the throne of God. The nearer we get to God, the more importance and value we find attached to the blood of Jesus. If we look at the brazen altar, we find the blood there; if we look at the brazen laver, we find the blood there; if we look at the golden altar, we find the blood there; if we look at the vail of the tabernacle, we find the blood there; but in no place do we find so much about the blood as within the vail, before Jehovah’s throne, in the immediate presence of the divine glory.”
In Heaven His blood forever speaks,
In God the Father’s ears.
Then the first goat was killed and the blood was also sprinkled in the same manner. “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 remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness” (verse 16). “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of the things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these” (Heb 9:22-23). Christ brought the one great sacrifice on the cross and then entered into heaven itself. Having made by Himself purification of sins He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. Christ Himself, in the Holiest, is the blood-sprinkled mercy seat. Aaron and his presence in the Holiest behind the vail is described in verse 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, one for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel.” We see again the difference which is made in the atonement for Aaron and his household and atonement for all the congregation of Israel. It foreshadows the atonement made by the one sacrifice of Christ for the church and for Israel. Israel, however, does not yet possess the blessings and fruits of this atonement on account of their unbelief. We shall soon see how this great day of atonement foreshadows the forgiveness of their sins in the future. The true priest having gone into heaven with His own blood and being there alone, the day of atonement is now. And we who believe and constitute His church have boldness to enter into the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He hath consecrated for us through the vail, that is to say, His flesh. This entire age is the day of atonement, and it will end when He comes forth again.
When the work was finished by Aaron and he had come forth again the live goat was brought. Aaron then put his hands upon it and confessed over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, all their transgression, and all their sins. All these were put symbolically upon the head of the goat and a fit man sent the goat away into the wilderness. “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.” We cannot follow the different views expressed on the meaning of the second goat. However, we mention a few. The word for scapegoat is in the Hebrew _azazel. Some take it that _Azazel is an evil being. Inasmuch as it saith that one goat is to be for Azazel, Azazel must also be a person. Some critics claim that all this is a kind of relic of demon worship; such a statement is not only wrong, but pernicious. Others claim that the goat sent to Azazel in the wilderness shows Israel’s sin in rejecting Christ, and that they were on account of it delivered to Satan. There are still other views which we do not mention. Jewish and Christian expositors declare that Azazel is Satan, and try to explain why the goat was sent to him.
The best exposition we have seen on this view is by Kurtz: “The blood of the first goat was carried by him into the holiest of all, on this day (on which alone he was permitted to enter) and sprinkled on the mercy-seat. The sins for which atonement was thus made, were put upon the head of the second goat, which was sent away alive into the wilderness of Azazel (the evil demon, represented as dwelling in the wilderness), in order that the latter might ascertain all that had been done, and know that he no longer retained power over Israel. This whole transaction expressed the thought that the atonement made on this day was so complete, and so plain and undeniable, that even Satan the Accuser (Job 1 and 2; Zech. 3; Rev 12:10-11) was compelled to acknowledge it. In the sacrifice of this day, consequently, the sacrifice of Christ is shadowed and typified more clearly than in any other, even as we read in Heb 9:12: “By His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.”
There is no need for all these speculations. “Azazel” is not at all an evil being or Satan. The Hebrew word signifies “dismissal”--”to depart.” It is translated in the Septuagint (Greek version of the Old Testament) with _eis _teen _apopompeen, which means “to let him go for the dismissal.” Both goats are for sin offering. The first goat represents Christ dying for the sins of His people. The second goat laden with those sins which were atoned for by the blood of the first goat, represents the blessed effect of the work of Christ, that the sins of His people are forever out of sight. It is a blessed harmony with the two birds used in connection with the cleansing of the leper.
And here the dispensational aspects come in. Before the transgressions of Israel could be confessed over the scapegoat and before the goat could be sent forever away with its burden, never to return, the high priest had to come out of the Holiest. As long as he remained alone in the tabernacle the scapegoat could not carry off the sins of the people. When the Lord appears the second time, when He comes forth out of Heaven’s glory as the King-Priest, then the blessed effect of His death for that nation (Joh 11:51) will be realized and their sins and transgressions will forever be put away. Then their sins will be cast into the depths of the sea (Mic 7:19) and they shall no more be remembered (Isa 43:25). That this is the true meaning of the scapegoat taking the sins of the people into the wilderness and therefore forever out of sight, we shall learn also in the twenty-third chapter. The feasts and holy seasons mentioned there are: Passover (redemption by blood); firstfruits (resurrection); feast of weeks (Pentecost); feast of trumpets (the regathering of Israel); the day of atonement (when Israel repents and is forgiven); the feast of tabernacles (millennial times). Israel therefore is unconsciously waiting for Christ’s return as their forefathers waited outside, till Aaron came back to put their sins on the scapegoat.
Of the many other interesting things for brief annotation we but mention the rest connected with this great day (verse 31). In the Hebrew “Sabbath of rest” is “Sabbath sabbatizing.” No work had to be done on that great day. The work was completely on God’s side, man must not attempt to supplement that work. But let us also remember the dispensational application. When Israel’s great national day of atonement and repentance comes, when they shall look upon the One, whom they pierced and the great mourning and affliction of soul takes place (Zec 12:9-12), the glorious Sabbath will follow. Rest and glory will come at last to them as His redeemed people, while the glory of the Lord will cover the earth and all the earth will have rest.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain Aaron’s Sacrifices for Himself
Aaron’s Sacrifices for Himself
v. 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the Lord and died, their unauthorized act bringing down upon them the destroying wrath of God, Lev 10:1-2.
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v. 2. And the Lord said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron, thy brother, that he come not at all times, at any time that he might choose, into the Holy Place within the veil, into the Most Holy Place, before the mercy-seat, which is upon the ark, the corer, or lid, of the chest which contained the tables of the covenant, that he die not; for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy-seat. That was the place appointed for the peculiar manifestation of God in the glory of His mercy, Exo 25:22; for this cloud revealed the presence of God to the representatives of the people. To step into this place of highest consecration in an arbitrary way, without the special direction of God, would result in death to the offender.
v. 3. Thus shall Aaron come into the Holy Place, into the innermost section of the Tabernacle: with a young bullock for a sin-offering and a ram for a burnt offering. These were the sacrificial offerings for the faults of the high priest and for those of the entire priesthood.
v. 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 miter, the turbanlike head-dress, shall he be attired; these are the holy garments; therefore shall he wash his flesh in water, and so put them on. These white garments were reserved for the special ceremonies of this day, whereas upon other occasions the high priest appeared in his variegated dress, Exodus 28. The white color indicated that no unclean person, no sinner, should step into the presence of the holy God.
v. 5. And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel, as the joint offering of the entire people, and therefore supplied by them, two kids of the goats for a sin-offering and one ram for a burnt offering. Although the ritual dealt with the two young goats in an entirely different manner, yet they both together constituted a single sin-offering. Thus the sacrificial victims both for the priesthood and for the congregation were provided.
v. 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, the term here apparently including not only the immediate family of the high priest, but the whole order of priests. Since all the priests were representatives and mediators of the people in their dealings with the Lord, it was necessary that their own sin, first of all, be covered and expiated in the sight of God.
v. 7. And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the Lord at the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation, formally set them forth in their character as sacrificial animals, before the face of the Lord. According to Jewish tradition the two goats were of the same size and otherwise as identical as possible in their markings.
v. 8. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats, the lots being drawn from an urn by some attendant; one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat, or Azazel, as the Hebrew has it, for the "Remover of Sin. " Both he-goats bore the sins of the people, the one through the act of sacrifice, the other by complete removal into the wilderness.
v. 9. And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the Lord’s lot fell, and offer him for a sin-offering, in the manner prescribed for such sacrifices.
v. 10. But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, to symbolize the complete removal of all transgression and iniquity, shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness. So much for the preparation for the sacrifices.
v. 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, for the entire priesthood, and shall kill the bullock of the sin-offering which is for himself. This was the first stage of the day’s sacrifices.
v. 12. And he shall take a censer, a pan or vessel, full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the Lord, from the altar of burnt offering, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, the form in which its perfume would be strongest, and bring it within the veil, into the Most Holy Place;
v. 13. and he shall put the incense upon the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense arising from its burning in the censer may cover the mercy-seat that is upon the testimony, that covers the tables of the testimony, that he die not. The cloud of incense protected the high priest, a sinful human being as he was, from the angry glance of the holy God.
v. 14. And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, which had been caught up by some attendant and meanwhile kept from coagulating by constant stirring, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy-seat eastward, on the side which faced the east; and before the mercy-seat, between the ark and the veil, shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times. This was the second stage of the special sacrifices of the day, whereby the atonement for the priesthood was completed. The atonement was made, not without blood, for without the shedding of blood there is no remission, and for the high priest and his house first, Heb 5:1-3; Heb 9:7.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Aaron's two sons
Aaron's two sons
This refers to Nadab and Abihu. They died because they brought fire to Yahweh that he did not approve. (See: Leviticus 10:1-2)
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translationWords
Yahweh
Moses
die
Aaron
holy place
curtain
atonement lid
ark of the covenant
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 16:1-34 The Day of Atonement, the tenth day of…
16:1-34 The Day of Atonement, the tenth day of the seventh month (see 16:29; 23:27; Num 29:7), was the most solemn day of the year for Israelites. It was the only required fast, and it was a Sabbath of rest for all the people (Lev 23:32). Introduced by the Festival of Trumpets (Num 29:1, 7-11), it was the day when the corporate sins of the community were atoned for. Only the high priest (Aaron) could officiate, because only he could represent all the people, including other priests (Aaron’s sons). The Day of Atonement is celebrated today as Yom Kippur.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.