Leviticus 16:1

In this chapter we stand upon the summit of Moses' law, where, in the most impressive ritual of the entire system, the Judaic High Priest performed an atonement for Israel, the same being an inspired shadow of that Greater High Priest, our Lord Jesus Christ, who would give his life as a propitiation for the sins of the whole world! (1 John 2:2). The Jews still observe this day which falls upon the tenth day of their first month of the year, Tishri, the same being the seventh month of their religious year, the very numbers of these months symbolizing the truth that the Atonement marks the beginning of Israel's national life and the fruition and completeness (the seventh month) of their religious life.

"Yom Kippur" is the name which the Jews have given this day. [~Yowm] means day; and [~Kippur] refers to the mercy-seat, a translation given by William Tyndale to the word for the lid or covering of the Ark of Covenant, the [~kappereth], which in a figure means the covering of sins, or atonement. In Hebrew writings, the day is sometimes called simply [~Yoma], meaning "The Day."

Critical writers profess dissatisfaction with the placement of this chapter. They would have put it somewhere else! But, as Seiss expressed it, "Its proper place seems to be exactly where God put it."[1] The theological point of departure for this chapter was accurately discerned and convincingly presented by Gordon J. Wenham, a highly-respected, present-day scholar:

(Paraphrase). It began in Leviticus 10, referred to from the outset here, where the death of two of Aaron's sons demonstrated the wrath of God against all who dared to approach God improperly. The intervening chapters (Leviticus 11-15) gave careful instructions regarding what was or was not clean, and the next logical and necessary step is taken here in Leviticus 16, where the proper procedure must be observed by the High Priest to preserve him and the other priests from a fate like that of Nadab and Abihu.[2]

However, much more than the preservation of the lives of the priests is involved. The elaborate rules for cleanness in Leviticus 11-15 demonstrated the absolute certainty that all people would at times be "unclean," that their unworthiness to approach God was, in a sense, constant, that this would of necessity contaminate the very articles and structure of the tabernacle itself, and that even those sacred items thus contaminated would need to be purified, or to have an atonement made for them, the same being one of the great purposes discernible here. (See Leviticus 16:16ff). Along with this, there also appears the purpose of taking away the sins of Israel itself. Surely, we stand at the heart of the O.T. system right here.

One of the most amazing things regarding the Day of Atonement is the scarcity of mention of it throughout the O.T. The historical books paid little or no attention to it, and the observance of it was apparently suspended entirely, along with the rite of circumcision, during the time of the journeys in the wilderness. Only a few of the specific occasions of its observance are found in the whole Bible. These facts, of course, have set the critical community in a frenzy of desire to make this chapter "a later intrusion" into the sacred record, or of a much later date than the times of Moses, or any other postulation that might be pressed into the service of their assault upon the Scriptures. The scarcity of Biblical reference to Israel's observance of this day, however, is typical. There are a number of the most important events in the O.T., and precisely some of those that are the most prophetic witnesses of Jesus Christ that are mentioned only one time. For example, the deployment of the story of Melchizedek in Genesis 14, is the basis of several chapters in the Book of Hebrews, despite the fact of there being no other reference whatever to Melchizedek in the O.T. (except in Psalms 110:4). The Passover itself is also distinguished in that only four or five occasions of this actual observance by Israel may be found in the Bible, including that of Josiah.

THE DAY OF ATONEMENT

Summary of Procedures:

(1) The High Priest came to the Holy Place with a young bullock for a sin-offering, and a ram for a burnt-offering (Leviticus 16:3).

(2) He bathed himself all over (Leviticus 16:4).

(3) He put on, after divesting himself of his High Priestly regalia, the pure white linen garments, even less ornate than that of the ordinary priests. Not as a semi-royal person clothed in his full authority and dignity, but as a servant he would perform his duties (Leviticus 16:4).

(4) He received from the people two he-goats for a sin-offering and one ram for a burnt-offering. Note that the two goats were but one offering, a sin-offering (Leviticus 16:5).

(5) He offered the bullock as a sin-offering for himself and "his house," meaning all the priesthood (Leviticus 16:6), following the regulations in Leviticus 4.

(6) He offered the two goats "before Jehovah," at the door of the tent of meeting (Leviticus 16:7). This is an emphatic declaration that both goats were here presented to God Himself.

(7) He cast lots for the goats, not to determine who was to receive them, that having already been decided and stated in Leviticus 16:7, but for the purpose of determining which goat would serve in which phase of their dual offering to Jehovah. (Leviticus 16:8).

(8) He offered the goat as a sin-offering that was identified by the lot (Leviticus 16:9), meaning that phase of this particular sin-offering, since both goats were part of that one sin-offering to Jehovah (Leviticus 16:5).

(9) He received instructions regarding the other goat which was to be sent away as "the remover of sin" (Leviticus 16:10).

(10) Having already killed the bullock which was the sin-offering for himself and his house (recapitulated in Leviticus 16:11), he took a censer full of live coals from the altar and his hands full of sweet incense and went to the veil through which the Holy of Holies would be entered (Leviticus 16:12).

(11) He entered within the veil (Leviticus 16:12).

(12) He put the incense upon the fire (which he brought inside in the censer) producing a thick cloud of smoke from the incense (Leviticus 16:13), sufficient to cover the mercy-seat, so that he would not die.

(13) He sprinkled the blood of the bullock (Leviticus 16:11) seven times on the mercy-seat on the east side (the front side). "Upon the mercy-seat," and "before the mercy-seat" would mean that the blood was sprinkled twice seven times (Leviticus 16:14).

(14) He then killed one of the goats of the sin-offering, as determined by the lot (Leviticus 16:15).

(15) He then repeated, in full, the procedures recounted above in (11) and (12), entering within the veil with live coals and the sweet incense (Leviticus 16:15), and sprinkling the blood seven times upon the mercy-seat and seven times before it. The blood sprinkled here was that of the first goat offered as one-half of the sin-offering of the people.

(16) He then, through the device of sprinkling blood of the people's sin-offering, made atonement for the Holy Place, the larger sanctuary of the tabernacle (Leviticus 16:16), the same being one of the great purposes of the whole Day of Atonement.

(17) He then, alone, with even the whole area of the Holy Place being cleared of any observers, entered the Holy of Holies (the 3time) and completed the atonement for himself, his house, and all the people of Israel (Leviticus 16:17).

(18) He then left the Holy of Holies and went into the Holy Place where a special atonement service for the great altar was performed by the sprinkling of the blood upon the horns of it (Leviticus 16:18,19).

(19) The atonement was extended to include the tent of meeting in its entirety. And when Aaron had finished with this, "he presented the live goat" (Leviticus 16:20). To whom? To the Devil? Certainly not! He presented it to God. It was already God's, having been designated so from the moment of its being brought "before Jehovah" (Leviticus 16:7). We are outraged and disgusted by the critical nonsense about this goat's being for a demon, or the Devil, named Azazel. Allegations to that effect are examples of criticism having gone absolutely insane!

(20) Aaron then laid his hands upon the heads of the live goat and confessed "all the iniquities ... all their transgressions ... even all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat" (Leviticus 16:21).

(21) He then, by the hand of a special messenger, dispatched the goat, bearing all the sins of Israel into a "land that is cut off," where it was commanded that the goat be released (Leviticus 16:22).

These twenty-one specific steps (the sacred number three multiplied by the sacred number seven) constituted the ceremonies of the Day of Atonement. The balance of the chapter merely records the various "mopping up" activities after the ceremonies were concluded. Aaron, after concluding the ceremonies, came out, bathed himself, changed to High Priestly regalia, offered, the burnt-offerings for himself and for the people, making atonement and concluding the observance of the instructions for the sin-offerings as given in Leviticus 4. Also, the messenger who had led the goat away and the ones who carried the remains of the sacrifices "without the camp" washed their clothes and bathed themselves (Leviticus 16:23-28). The concluding paragraph of the chapter (Leviticus 16:19-34) called for the observance of this Day of Atonement throughout the history of the Chosen Nation, providing for a solemn fast on that Day, the same being the only fast commanded by God in the entire O.T.

"And Jehovah spake unto Moses, after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before Jehovah, and died; and Jehovah 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. Herewith shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bullock for a sin-offering, and a ram for a burnt-offering. He shall put on the holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh, and shall be girded with the linen girdle, and with the linen mitre shall he be attired: they are the holy garments; and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and put them on. And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two he-goats for a sin-offering, and one ram for a burnt-offering."

In his office as High Priest, Aaron was a type of the Son of God himself, our Great High priest. Of course, there were inevitably some great dissimilarities. Jesus had no need to offer sacrifices for himself, as did Aaron, but in other particulars there is an amazing correspondence. It will be remembered that Jesus, being first arrayed in that gorgeous purple, scarlet, and (perhaps also) blue robe, had it stripped from him prior to the crucifixion, and was clothed again with his own clothes which were of a very humble variety, even as were those which Aaron wore here after having been divested of the formal dress of the High Priest. There was also another distinction:

"When the high priest went into the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement, he had to wear a simple linen garment without seams, a garment of the type Jesus wore when he went to the Cross as our sacrifice (John 19:23,24)."[3]

Another analogy appears in the requirement that two he-goats were to constitute the single sin-offering for the people. No single animal could have typified what Jesus did for mankind in the removal of sin. He not only made the sacrifice in his death for our sins, but he bore them away from us forever, exactly after the analogy of the second goat, called the scapegoat. One animal could not have typified this, hence, the requirement for two.

Still another analogy is seen in the fact that before Aaron entered upon this ministry of Atonement on the sacred Day, he had to bathe himself, just as Jesus began his ministry by being immersed of John in the Jordan river. Despite the blindness of many commentators who cannot see this and never mention it, the striking analogy is most certainly there. In all of these adjacent chapters, a similar thing is witnessed in the release of one of two birds in certain sacrifices, the birds serving even somewhat better than the scapegoat, in that they flew into the heavens, whereas the goat merely wandered around in the wilderness.

It is interesting that all of the instructions for the priests here, even those for Aaron, were not communicated to Aaron, but to Moses, who thus holds a place even superior to that of Israel's high priest. "The peculiarly exalted role of Moses runs through Exodus to Deuteronomy, and is evident here as well."[4]

The fact that Aaron's entry into the Holy of Holies was restricted to his performance of these duties on the Day of Atonement was significant:

"Holiness communicated to Aaron did not cancel his sin, but only covered it for the performance of his official duties. So long as the Law which produced a knowledge of sin, but not its forgiveness, existed, the holy God was and remained to mortal men a consuming fire."[5]

The fact of these Day of Atonement rituals having to be repeated every year "shows that the question was not really settled."[6] Sins were not in any ultimate sense forgiven, for, "There was a remembrance made of the sins year by year" (Hebrews 10:3), not merely of the sins committed since the last day of atonement, but all their sins; note the emphatic triple mention of this in Leviticus 16:16 and Leviticus 16:21.

There were some remarkable differentiations in Aaron's attire for these sacred duties that stressed the chasm between the priests of paganism, who are called three times in the Sacred Text the [~chemarin], meaning "the BLACK-ROBED ones" (Zephaniah 1:4; 2 Kings 23:5; and Hosea 10:5). Aaron was clad totally in WHITE for these ceremonies, and particular mention of the WHITE linen breeches was included.[7] Those breeches also carried a sharp repudiation of the conduct of the priests of paganism, "Where ritual nakedness, especially for priests, was a feature of some of their ancient religions."[8]

The simplicity and humility of Aaron's dress here showed, that when men appear before God as sinners, "The highest and the lowest were on a level, for God is no respecter of persons."[9] As a matter of fact, Wenham declared that, "On the Day of Atonement, Aaron looked like a slave."[10] So he did, and Jesus fulfilled the picture perfectly when, upon the night of his betrayal, he took a towel and girded himself and washed the feet of his apostles (John 13:1-5)!

Our observation that the two goats (Leviticus 16:5) actually constituted only ONE offering is corroborated by all conservative scholars. As Maclaren said, "They (the two goats) are spoken of as constituting but ONE offering."[11]