Leviticus 16:23-24 - Exposition

In later times another scene was interposed at this point. The high priest, having sent away the man with the goat, recited the passages of Scripture which commanded the observance of the Day of Atonement ( Leviticus 16:1-34 ; Leviticus 23:27-32 ; Numbers 29:7-11 ), and offered prayers in which the people might mentally join. Then he went back into the tabernacle of the congregation (not into the holy of holies), and, as all the special atoning and purifying services of the day were now over, he there took off his linen dress, and put it away; and after bathing in the holy place , that is, in that part of the sanctuary set apart for that purpose, he put on his ordinary high-priestly garments, and sacrificed first a goat for a sin offering ( Numbers 29:16 ), next his own burnt offering of a ram, and then the burnt offering of the people , which was also a ram and other victims (Ibid.).