The great day of atonement
16
📚And the LORD spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron 📖, when they offered strange fire before the LORD, and died;2 📚and the LORD said to Moses, “Tell your brother Aaron that he must not come at all times 📖 into the Most Holy Place inside the veil that is in front of the mercy seat which is on the ark, so that he does not die 📖; for I will appear in the cloud on the mercy seat.
3 📚“Aaron must come into the Most Holy Place like this: with a young ox for a sin offering 📖, and a ram for a burnt offering 📖. 4 📚He shall put on the holy linen tunic and have the linen breeches on his body and fasten on the linen sash, and put on the linen turban. These are holy garments; therefore he shall wash his body in water, and then put them on. 5 📚And he shall take from the congregation of the children of Israel two young goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.
6 📚“And Aaron shall offer his ox for the sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself, and for his household. 7 📚And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 8 📚And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat. 9 📚And Aaron shall bring the goat on which the LORD’s lot fell, and offer it as a sin offering. 10 📚But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, is to be presented alive before the LORD to make atonement by it, and to let it go as a scapegoat into the wilderness.
16:7-10 Both of these goats signify Christ. The one offered as a sin offering signifies Christ dying for sinners in their place (Lev 4:3). The goat (“scapegoat”, in Hebrew “azazel”, the goat of removal) let loose in the wilderness signifies Christ in the sinner’s place bearing sin away to an unknown place (John 1:29). The Lord Jesus Christ is the only sin-bearer God has appointed for men. Two goats were required to express two aspects of His work for sinners (compare Lev 14:4-7). All the sins of the people of Israel were confessed over the head of the live goat, after which it went to a “solitary land” (vs 21,22).
The Lord Jesus bore our sins on the cross (1 Pet 2:24) – a wilderness, a solitary place indeed (Matt 27:45-46)! He departed into the realm of death. Unlike this live goat which appeared no more, the Lord Jesus appeared again on the third day, but He was without those sins He had carried away. He left them in that wilderness where He went. He has separated the believer’s sins from him as far as the east is from the west (Ps 103:12), buried them in the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19). At His resurrection the Lord Jesus appeared to only a few of His disciples. The day is coming when He will appear to all of them (Heb 9:28).🪶
11 📚“And Aaron shall bring the ox of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make atonement for himself, and for his household, and shall kill the ox of the sin offering which is for himself. 12 📚And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from the altar before the LORD, and two handfuls of fragrant incense beaten small, and bring it inside the veil, 13 📚and he shall put the incense on the fire before the LORD, so that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the testimony, so that he does not die. 14 📚And he shall take some of the blood of the ox, and sprinkle it with his finger on the eastern side of the mercy seat, and sprinkle some of the blood seven times with his finger in front of the mercy seat.
15 📚“Then he shall kill the goat for the sin offering that is for the people, and bring its blood inside the veil, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the ox, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat, and in front of the mercy seat, 16 📚and make atonement for the Most Holy Place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins. And he shall do the same for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remains with them among their uncleanness. 17 📚And no one is to be in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goes in to make atonement in the Most Holy Place, until he comes out, and has made atonement for himself and for his household and for all the congregation of Israel.
16:17 Aaron, the high priest of Israel, had to perform this work of atonement by himself all alone. No one could help him, no one was even to be there inside with him. So the Lord Jesus alone made atonement for all His people.🪶
18 📚“And he shall go out to the altar that is before the LORD and make atonement for it, and take some of the blood of the ox, and of the blood of the goat, and put it all around on the horns of the altar. 19 📚And he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it seven times with his finger and cleanse it and sanctify it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.
20 📚“And when he has finished atoning for the Most Holy Place and the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, he shall bring the live goat.
16:16-20 Ex 29:36-37; 30:10; Heb 2:17; 9:23. The tabernacle, even the Most Holy Place, as we can see from this, was defiled by the presence of the Israelites around it and by the priests who served in it, all of whom were sinners. This defilement had to be removed by sacrifice. Note on atonement at Ex 29:33.🪶
21 📚And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the evil deeds of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is ready. 22 📚And the goat will carry away on it all their sins to a solitary land. And he shall release the goat in the wilderness.
16:21-22 The sins of God’s people are gone, never to appear again.🪶
23 📚“And Aaron shall come into the tabernacle of the congregation and put off the linen garments which he put on when he went into the Most Holy Place, and shall leave them there. 24 📚And he shall wash his flesh with water in a holy place, and put on his garments and come out and offer his burnt offering, and the burnt offering of the people, and make atonement for himself, and for the people. 25 📚And the fat of the sin offering he shall burn on the altar.
26 📚“And the one who released the goat chosen as the scapegoat shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterwards come into the camp. 27 📚And someone shall take outside the camp the ox for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering whose blood was brought into the Most Holy Place to make atonement. And they shall burn their hides, their flesh, and their dung in the fire.
16:27 Note at Lev 4:11-12.🪶
28 And the one who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterwards come into the camp.
29 📚“And this shall be a permanent regulation for you: In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall humble yourselves, and not do any work at all, whether native-born or a foreigner who is staying among you; 30 📚for on that day the priest will make atonement for you to cleanse you, so that you may be clean from all your sins in the presence of the LORD.
16:30 Notice the word “all”. This means sins done either knowingly or unknowingly. Compare Acts 13:38-39; Col 2:13; 1 John 1:9.🪶
31 📚It shall be a Sabbath of rest for you, and by a permanent regulation you shall humble yourselves.
16:29-31 The Hebrew translated “humble yourselves” means “to suffer, be afflicted, depressed, oppressed, humbled”. The word may have been used to indicate fasting also. It was so important for the Israelites to humble themselves on the day of atonement that an individual who did not was to be cut off (see Lev 23:28-30). It was a Sabbath when no work was to be done. A Sabbath of fasting, mourning, and affliction and humbling oneself. This speaks to us now of ceasing from our own works for salvation. Also of repentance, and trusting in the atonement Christ made. When there is no repentance and faith there will be no benefit from Christ’s atonement. God commands men to repent (Luke 24:46-47; Acts 2:38; 3:19; 17:30; 26:20; Jam 4:8-10; Isa 55:7). Through repentance and faith will come joy, peace, and fellowship with God. For further suggestions as to the meaning of these verses see the note at Lev 23:26-32.🪶
32 📚And the priest who is anointed and who is consecrated to serve as priest in his father’s stead, shall make the atonement. And he shall put on the linen clothes, the holy garments, 33 📚and he shall make atonement for the holy sanctuary, and make atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar, and make atonement for the priests, and for all the people of the congregation.
34 📚“And this shall be an everlasting regulation for you, to make atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year”. And Moses did just as the LORD commanded him.