The Christ Church Wednesday Bible Study Group is studying of the Old Testament book of Leviticus. The key to the book of Leviticus is found in verses 45 and 46 of chapter 11.
Leviticus 11:44-45 NIV I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves along the ground. I am the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.
These are the notes to session 10.
From birth to burial, the Jews had to submit every aspect of their daily lives to the authority of God’s law. Whether it was selecting their food, preparing their food, caring for a mother and new baby, diagnosing a disease, or disposing of waste, nothing was left to chance in the camp of Israel lest someone be defiled. In order to maintain ceremonial purity, each Jew had to obey God’s law in several areas of life.
We also talk about Israel’s High Holy Day the Day of Atonement—Yom Kippur
Apply the Cleanliness that was Declared
Leviticus 14:8-9 NIV “The person to be cleansed must wash their clothes, shave off all their hair and bathe with water; then they will be ceremonially clean. After this they may come into the camp, but they must stay outside their tent for seven days. On the seventh day they must shave off all their hair; they must shave their head, their beard, their eyebrows and the rest of their hair. They must wash their clothes and bathe themselves with water, and they will be clean.
Why wash when the priest had already pronounced him clean? Because he had to apply personally what God said was true positionally. The man was ceremonially clean and had the right to live in the camp, but he needed to be made personally and practically clean so he would be fit to live in the camp. “
Isaiah 1:16-17 NIV Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.
2 Corinthians 7:1 NIV Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.
You know Paul compared the new life in Christ to a change of clothes.
Colossians 3:9-14 NIV Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
The cleansed person had to, after staying outside their tent for seven days had to cleanse themselves again.
The man had to wash, shave his body again, and put on clean clothes. The dual shaving left his skin like that of a baby, symbolizing a new birth. The shaving and washing didn’t kill the germs of leprosy—God had done that—but they symbolized the newness of life that had come to the former leper.
John 3:3 NIV Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
After all this the person had to also offer the required sacrifices.
It’s now the eighth day since the priest first visited the leper, and eight is the number of the new beginning. The cleansed leper must bring to the door of the tabernacle a male lamb for a trespass (guilt) offering, a male lamb for a burnt offering, a ewe lamb for a sin offering, as well as fine flour and oil for a meal offering.
Leviticus 14:10-11 NIV “On the eighth day they must bring two male lambs and one ewe lamb a year old, each without defect, along with three-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with olive oil for a grain offering, and one log of oil. The priest who pronounces them clean shall present both the one to be cleansed and their offerings before the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting.
If the person couldn’t afford the two lambs then one lamb and two doves or pigeons along with the grain offering.
Leviticus 14:21-22 NIV “If, however, they are poor and cannot afford these, they must take one male lamb as a guilt offering to be waved to make atonement for them, together with a tenth of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with olive oil for a grain offering, a log of oil, and two doves or two young pigeons, such as they can afford, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering.
On the basis of these sacrifices, the priest had pronounced the man clean (Lev. 14:7), because these sacrifices picture the person and work of Jesus Christ. The sin offering shows Christ atoning for a person’s sin. The trespass offering reminds us that Christ paid the debt we owed to God because, like the leper, we were unable to serve Him during our days of uncleanness. In the burnt offering, the man dedicated himself completely to God, and the meal offering displayed the perfections of Christ accepted for the imperfections of the worshipper.
The unique thing about this ceremony is that the priest treated the cleansed leper like a fellow priest!
He put the blood of the trespass offering on the man’s right ear, right thumb, and right big toe. He sprinkled oil on the man seven times and then put the oil on the blood that was already on his ear, thumb, and toe. After that, he poured the oil on the man’s head.
Leviticus 14:14-18 NIV The priest is to take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, on the thumb of their right hand and on the big toe of their right foot. The priest shall then take some of the log of oil, pour it in the palm of his own left hand, dip his right forefinger into the oil in his palm, and with his finger sprinkle some of it before the Lord seven times. The priest is to put some of the oil remaining in his palm on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, on the thumb of their right hand and on the big toe of their right foot, on top of the blood of the guilt offering. The rest of the oil in his palm the priest shall put on the head of the one to be cleansed and make atonement for them before the Lord.
No doubt, the ear symbolizes hearing, the hand doing, and the foot living, but beyond that the blood has been taken to be a reference to cleansing by some commentators (JFB; MacDonald) and to consecration by other commentators (Clarke, Constable; The NKJV Study Bible; The Ryrie Study Bible). The blood has also been said to signify both cleansing and consecration. One commentator says the blood signifies “that they were cleansed and dedicated to God. Blood on the ear may have symbolized dedication to the hearing of God’s Word, blood on the thumb may have pictured holiness in doing God’s work, and blood on the toe may have spoken of walking carefully in the service of God” (John Hannah in the Bible Knowledge Commentary).
This is like the ceremony Moses used when he ordained Aaron and his sons (chap. 8).
Leviticus 8:22-24 NIV He then presented the other ram, the ram for the ordination, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head. Moses slaughtered the ram and took some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear, on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot. Moses also brought Aaron’s sons forward and put some of the blood on the lobes of their right ears, on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of their right feet. Then he splashed blood against the sides of the altar.
What grace that God should treat a former leper like a priest! Six times in this section the Lord declares that the priest “made atonement” for the man (14:18–21, 29–31), which means that his sins were forgiven.
Remember what we said when we started looking at chapters 13-15. These three chapters illustrate three topics that are vitally related to the life of holiness: sin (Lev. 13), salvation (chap. 14), and sanctity (chap. 15).
3. SANCTITY (15:1–33)
The key word in this chapter is issue, used twenty-four times. It simply means a flow of liquid, whether water in nature or a fluid discharged from the human body.
The human discharge may be natural or unnatural, but it’s still considered unclean and must be dealt with according to the law of God. Personal hygiene and God’s concern for women are certainly involved in these regulations, but the main thrust is that of enforcing personal sanctity. Not everybody is a leper, but all of us have occasional “discharges” that defile us and could defile others.
Unnatural male discharges. These could be anything from diarrhea to discharges caused by a venereal disease such as gonorrhea. Anything the afflicted man touched or spat upon was unclean. In fact, those defiled by touching him had to wash themselves and their clothes, and they remained unclean until evening. Clay vessels that he touched were to be broken and wooden vessels washed. The possibility of infection was taken very seriously.
Leviticus 15:1-12 NIV The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When any man has an unusual bodily discharge, such a discharge is unclean. Whether it continues flowing from his body or is blocked, it will make him unclean. This is how his discharge will bring about uncleanness: “ ‘Any bed the man with a discharge lies on will be unclean, and anything he sits on will be unclean. Anyone who touches his bed must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. Whoever sits on anything that the man with a discharge sat on must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. “ ‘Whoever touches the man who has a discharge must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. “ ‘If the man with the discharge spits on anyone who is clean, they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. “ ‘Everything the man sits on when riding will be unclean, and whoever touches any of the things that were under him will be unclean till evening; whoever picks up those things must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. “ ‘Anyone the man with a discharge touches without rinsing his hands with water must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. “ ‘A clay pot that the man touches must be broken, and any wooden article is to be rinsed with water.
By the goodness of the Lord, the man with a discharge could get well; when that happened, he had to wait a week and, like the cleansed leper, wash himself and his clothes. On the eighth day, he brought a sin offering and a burnt offering. After that, the man was free to worship the Lord and live a normal life in the camp.
Leviticus 15:13-15 NIV “ ‘When a man is cleansed from his discharge, he is to count off seven days for his ceremonial cleansing; he must wash his clothes and bathe himself with fresh water, and he will be clean. On the eighth day he must take two doves or two young pigeons and come before the Lord to the entrance to the tent of meeting and give them to the priest. The priest is to sacrifice them, the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. In this way he will make atonement before the Lord for the man because of his discharge.
Natural male discharges (vv. 16–18).
Leviticus 15:16-18 NIV “ ‘When a man has an emission of semen, he must bathe his whole body with water, and he will be unclean till evening. Any clothing or leather that has semen on it must be washed with water, and it will be unclean till evening. When a man has sexual relations with a woman and there is an emission of semen, both of them must bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.
This paragraph doesn’t even suggest that sexual intercourse within marriage is impure or defiling. Moses is dealing here with ceremonial uncleanness, not moral uncleanness. Since intercourse involves bodily fluids, and bodily fluids made a person unclean, the husband and wife had to take pains to wash themselves and maintain ceremonial purity. No sacrifices were required for their cleansing, only washing in water. Thus there was no sin that needed to be atoned for.
Natural female discharges (vv. 19–24).
Leviticus 15:19-24 NIV “ ‘When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her monthly period will last seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean till evening. “ ‘Anything she lies on during her period will be unclean, and anything she sits on will be unclean. Anyone who touches her bed will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. Anyone who touches anything she sits on will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. Whether it is the bed or anything she was sitting on, when anyone touches it, they will be unclean till evening. “ ‘If a man has sexual relations with her and her monthly flow touches him, he will be unclean for seven days; any bed he lies on will be unclean.
Once again, God wasn’t condemning or punishing the woman for experiencing her normal monthly period, because He made her that way so she could bear children. This regulation declares only that the woman’s discharge made her unclean and therefore she could make others unclean. Rachel used this ploy when she deceived her father about his household gods.
Genesis 31:35 NIV Rachel said to her father, “Don’t be angry, my Lord, that I cannot stand up in your presence; I’m having my period.” So he searched but could not find the household gods.
An interesting observation from a commentator
During the time of her period and for a week afterward, a woman was unclean and had to be careful where she sat and slept and what she touched. But this confinement was a blessing in disguise since it allowed her to enjoy rest and quiet when she needed it most. If her husband was too aggressive sexually, this law kept him from taking advantage of her at a time when intercourse wouldn’t be especially pleasant to her. If he forced himself on her, both he and the marriage bed would be unclean for a week, and this would separate him from everybody in the family and the camp! It wasn’t worth it.
Certainly God created sex for pleasure as well as for procreation, but pleasure that isn’t disciplined soon becomes bondage and then torture. Unmarried people must exercise self-control lest they commit fornication and invite the judgment of God, but married people also need self-control lest they take advantage of one another and leave God out of their most intimate relationship. God created sex, and wise is the person who permits the Creator to make the rules.
Unnatural female discharges (vv. 25–33).
Leviticus 15:25-30 NIV “ ‘When a woman has a discharge of blood for many days at a time other than her monthly period or has a discharge that continues beyond her period, she will be unclean as long as she has the discharge, just as in the days of her period. Any bed she lies on while her discharge continues will be unclean, as is her bed during her monthly period, and anything she sits on will be unclean, as during her period. Anyone who touches them will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. “ ‘When she is cleansed from her discharge, she must count off seven days, and after that she will be ceremonially clean. On the eighth day she must take two doves or two young pigeons and bring them to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting. The priest is to sacrifice one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. In this way he will make atonement for her before the Lord for the uncleanness of her discharge.
A prolonged hemorrhage would be both physically painful and religiously disastrous, for the woman would be perpetually unclean. The unknown woman who came to Jesus for help had suffered with this affliction for twelve years.
Luke 8:43-48 NIV And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped. “Who touched me?” Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.” But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.” Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.” (also Mark 5:25–34). Strictly speaking, everybody she touched in that big crowd was defiled by her whether they knew it or not; when she touched our Lord’s garment, He was also defiled. How gracious of Him to heal her and give back to her the normal life she longed for!
These regulations for personal sanctity weren’t just pious suggestions from the religious leaders of the nation. They were holy commandments from the Lord, and it was a serious thing to disobey them.
Leviticus 15:31-33 NIV “ ‘You must keep the Israelites separate from things that make them unclean, so they will not die in their uncleanness for defiling my dwelling place, which is among them.’ ” These are the regulations for a man with a discharge, for anyone made unclean by an emission of semen, for a woman in her monthly period, for a man or a woman with a discharge, and for a man who has sexual relations with a woman who is ceremonially unclean.
For an unclean person to go to the tabernacle would be to defile the tabernacle and invite judgment. Whether “cut off” meant death or excommunication, commentators don’t agree, but whatever the penalty was, it was serious.
As it was when Leviticus was written God’s words to us today are still, “Be holy, for I am holy!”
Israel’s High Holy Day Chapter 16.
The most important day of the year for the Old Testament Jew was the Day of Atonement—Yom Kippur—when God graciously atoned for all the sins of all the people and gave the nation a new beginning. Because today they have neither a temple nor a priest (Hos. 3:4), Israel can’t celebrate Yom Kippur in the appointed way, but those who have received Jesus Christ can see in this ancient ritual a picture of what Jesus did for us on the cross.
AN APPOINTED TIME (16:1–2, 29)
Leviticus 16:1-2, 29 NIV The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who died when they approached the Lord. The Lord said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron that he is not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die. For I will appear in the cloud over the atonement cover. “This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any work—whether native-born or a foreigner residing among you—
The deaths of Nadab and Abihu (Lev. 10) must have put the fear of God into Aaron and the priests so that they wondered whether it was even safe to enter the tabernacle’s precincts to do their work. God made it clear that the priests should not be afraid to serve, but that only the high priest was to enter the Holy of Holies, and that only once a year on the Day of Atonement. It wasn’t a matter of human choice; it was a matter of divine appointment. Any priest who disobeyed would die.
The appointed day was the tenth day of the seventh month. The tenth day was the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur.
AN ANNOUNCED PURPOSE (16:30–34)
Leviticus 16:30-34 NIV because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the Lord, you will be clean from all your sins. It is a day of sabbath rest, and you must deny yourselves; it is a lasting ordinance. The priest who is anointed and ordained to succeed his father as high priest is to make atonement. He is to put on the sacred linen garments and make atonement for the Most Holy Place, for the tent of meeting and the altar, and for the priests and all the members of the community. “This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: Atonement is to be made once a year for all the sins of the Israelites.” And it was done, as the Lord commanded Moses.
There was certainly sin in the camp. In addition, not every offender had brought the required sacrifices the previous year, and the sanctuary itself had been defiled in ways only God could see. It was time for a new beginning.
The high priest had to repeat the ritual of the Day of Atonement year after year, but Jesus Christ came at the right time to finish the work nobody else could do.
Hebrews 9:23-28 NIV It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
The death of Christ on the cross has fulfilled the Day of Atonement.
The Hebrew word kapar, translated “atonement,” is used fifteen times in Leviticus 16, and it basically means “to ransom, to remove by paying a price.” The priest placed his hands on the head of the sacrifice, symbolizing the transferring of the nation’s sins to the innocent victim who died in their place. Atonement means that a price is paid and blood is shed, because life must be given for life.
Leviticus 17:11 NIV For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.
The word blood is used nine times in this chapter and thirteen times in chapter 17. If the Day of Atonement teaches us anything about salvation, it’s that there can be no salvation from sin apart from the shedding of blood.
Jesus Himself said:
Matthew 26:28 NIV This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
The sacrifices offered on the Day of Atonement brought a threefold cleansing: to the high priest and his family, to the people of Israel
Leviticus 16:6, 17 NIV “Aaron is to offer the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household. No one is to be in the tent of meeting from the time Aaron goes in to make atonement in the Most Holy Place until he comes out, having made atonement for himself, his household and the whole community of Israel and to the tabernacle.
Leviticus 16:16, 20, 33 NIV In this way he will make atonement for the Most Holy Place because of the uncleanness and rebellion of the Israelites, whatever their sins have been. He is to do the same for the tent of meeting, which is among them in the midst of their uncleanness. “When Aaron has finished making atonement for the Most Holy Place, the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall bring forward the live goat. and make atonement for the Most Holy Place, for the tent of meeting and the altar, and for the priests and all the members of the community.
It seems strange to us that the holy sanctuary would be defiled and need cleansing, but such was the case. The sins of the people not only defiled themselves, but they also defiled the tabernacle of God. The sacrifices made on earth purified the earthly sanctuary, but our Lord’s sacrifice purified “the heavenly things” with the blood of a better sacrifice
Hebrews 9:23 NIV It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
Regardless of the day of the week on which it fell, the annual Day of Atonement was considered a Sabbath, and the people weren’t allowed to do any work. God commanded them to afflict themselves the Hebrew word translated afflict or deny means to “to humble or oppress.”
The “affliction” on the Day of Atonement is usually interpreted to mean fasting and the confession of sin.
On that day, God called His people to get serious about sin. For us today it would be like what James wrote.
James 4:8-10 NIV Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
AN ASSIGNED PROCEDURE
It wasn’t enough that the high priest serve on the right day, for the right purpose, and that the people have the right heart attitude. It was also important that the high priest follow the right procedure that God gave to him. The Day of Atonement was not a time for innovation because too much was at stake.
The high priest prepares (vv. 3–5).
Leviticus 16:3-5 NIV “This is how Aaron is to enter the Most Holy Place: He must first bring a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. He is to put on the sacred linen tunic, with linen undergarments next to his body; he is to tie the linen sash around him and put on the linen turban. These are sacred garments; so he must bathe himself with water before he puts them on. From the Israelite community he is to take two male goats for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.
First of all, the high priest had to make sure the proper sacrifices were available: a bull and a ram for himself and his family, and two goats and a ram for the people. These animals had to be examined to make sure they had no defects.
The high priest then took off his glorious garments, washed at the laver, and put on the simple linen garments of an ordinary priest. He left his special garments in the holy place, where he would return later to put them on again. Laying aside his glorious robes was an act of humiliation, and washing at the laver was an act of sanctification. He was setting himself apart to serve the Lord and His people on this special day.
In a much greater way, our Lord Jesus Christ did all of this for us.
He never needed to be cleansed from sin because He was sinless, but He did set Himself apart to serve us. He laid aside His glory and came into this world as a poor baby. As God’s Suffering Servant, He humbled Himself and died on the cross. His work completed, He returned to heaven and dressed Himself once again in the glory that is rightfully His
Philippians 2:5-11 NIV In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
The high priest offers his own sin offering (vv. 6, 11–14).
Leviticus 16:6, 11-14 NIV “Aaron is to offer the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household. “Aaron shall bring the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household, and he is to slaughter the bull for his own sin offering. He is to take a censer full of burning coals from the altar before the Lord and two handfuls of finely ground fragrant incense and take them behind the curtain. He is to put the incense on the fire before the Lord, and the smoke of the incense will conceal the atonement cover above the tablets of the covenant law, so that he will not die. He is to take some of the bull’s blood and with his finger sprinkle it on the front of the atonement cover; then he shall sprinkle some of it with his finger seven times before the atonement cover.
Being now properly washed and dressed, the high priest then went to the altar where he sacrificed the bull as a sin offering for himself and his family, which probably included all the priests.
The high priest needed a sacrifice because he was a sinner, but Jesus didn’t need a sacrifice for Himself because He is sinless (Heb. 7:23–28).
Taking some of the blood of the bull, plus a censer of coals from the altar and a supply of the special incense, he entered the Holy of Holies. He put the incense on the coals so that the cloud would cover the mercy seat upon the ark, and then he sprinkled some of the blood on the mercy seat and some of the blood seven times before the mercy seat.
Since the cloud of incense symbolized the glory of God, the high priest put God’s glory ahead of everything else. We need to remember that the ultimate goal of God’s great plan of salvation is not the good of people but the glory of God.
Ephesians 1:4-6, 11-14 NIV For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
Having offered the sacrifice for himself and his family the high priest now offers the sin offering for the people.
Leviticus 16:7-10, 15-22 NIV Then he is to take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting. He is to cast lots for the two goats—one lot for the Lord and the other for the scapegoat. Aaron shall bring the goat whose lot falls to the Lord and sacrifice it for a sin offering. But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to be used for making atonement by sending it into the wilderness as a scapegoat. “He shall then slaughter the goat for the sin offering for the people and take its blood behind the curtain and do with it as he did with the bull’s blood: He shall sprinkle it on the atonement cover and in front of it. In this way he will make atonement for the Most Holy Place because of the uncleanness and rebellion of the Israelites, whatever their sins have been. He is to do the same for the tent of meeting, which is among them in the midst of their uncleanness. No one is to be in the tent of meeting from the time Aaron goes in to make atonement in the Most Holy Place until he comes out, having made atonement for himself, his household and the whole community of Israel. “Then he shall come out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it. He shall take some of the bull’s blood and some of the goat’s blood and put it on all the horns of the altar. He shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times to cleanse it and to consecrate it from the uncleanness of the Israelites. “When Aaron has finished making atonement for the Most Holy Place, the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall bring forward the live goat. He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—and put them on the goat’s head. He shall send the goat away into the wilderness in the care of someone appointed for the task. The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a remote place; and the man shall release it in the wilderness.
The two goats together constituted one sin offering (“two kids of the goats for a sin offering,” v. 5), even though only one goat was slain.
The high priest cast lots over the goats, and one of them was chosen to die. He killed the goat and took some of its blood into the Holy of Holies, where he sprinkled it on the mercy seat and seven times before the mercy seat, just as he’d done with the blood of the bull from his offering. But he also sprinkled the goat’s blood in the holy place of the tabernacle and applied it to the horns of the brazen altar, along with the blood of the bull. Thus, he purified the tabernacle and altar “from the uncleanness of the children of Israel” (v. 19).
The high priest then put both hands on the head of the living goat and confessed “over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins” (v. 21 NIV).
This goat was led out of the camp and released in the wilderness, never to be seen again.
This goat is called “the scapegoat” short for “escape-goat,” that is, the goat that escaped death and escaped into the desert.
The releasing of the goat symbolized the sins of the people being carried away, never to be held against them again.
Psalms 103:8-12 NIV The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
John 1:29 NIV The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
Remember that the two goats were considered one sin offering. One goat died because there must be blood sacrifice before there can be forgiveness. The other goat lived but was lost in the wilderness, having “carried away” the nation’s sins. Because the living goat was part of a sin offering, the man who led the goat out of the camp had to wash himself and his garments before he could return to the camp (v. 26).
The high priest washes himself and puts on his official garments (vv. 23–24).
Leviticus 16:23-24 NIV “Then Aaron is to go into the tent of meeting and take off the linen garments he put on before he entered the Most Holy Place, and he is to leave them there. He shall bathe himself with water in the sanctuary area and put on his regular garments. Then he shall come out and sacrifice the burnt offering for himself and the burnt offering for the people, to make atonement for himself and for the people.
Once he was sure that the scapegoat was officially lost in the wilderness, the high priest went into the holy place of the tabernacle, took off the linen garments, bathed, and put on his official robes. This reminds us of our Lord’s return to heaven, where He received the glory He had laid aside when He was here on earth.
The high priest offers the burnt offerings (vv. 3, 5, 24).
Leviticus 16:3, 5, 24-25 NIV “This is how Aaron is to enter the Most Holy Place: He must first bring a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. From the Israelite community he is to take two male goats for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. He shall bathe himself with water in the sanctuary area and put on his regular garments. Then he shall come out and sacrifice the burnt offering for himself and the burnt offering for the people, to make atonement for himself and for the people. He shall also burn the fat of the sin offering on the altar.
He offered a ram for himself and a ram for the people, each a symbol of total devotion to the Lord. At the same time, he burned the fat of the sin offering.
Leviticus 4:8-10 NIV He shall remove all the fat from the bull of the sin offering—all the fat that is connected to the internal organs, both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the long lobe of the liver, which he will remove with the kidneys— just as the fat is removed from the ox sacrificed as a fellowship offering. Then the priest shall burn them on the altar of burnt offering.
Once the burnt offerings had been presented, and the fat of the sin offerings burned, the high priest supervised the carrying of the sin offerings outside the camp to be burned.
Leviticus 16:26-28 NIV “The man who releases the goat as a scapegoat must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water; afterward he may come into the camp. The bull and the goat for the sin offerings, whose blood was brought into the Most Holy Place to make atonement, must be taken outside the camp; their hides, flesh and intestines are to be burned up. The man who burns them must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water; afterward he may come into the camp.
The man who did the job had to wash before he could return to the camp.
Leviticus 16:29-34 NIV “This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any work—whether native-born or a foreigner residing among you— because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the Lord, you will be clean from all your sins. It is a day of sabbath rest, and you must deny yourselves; it is a lasting ordinance. The priest who is anointed and ordained to succeed his father as high priest is to make atonement. He is to put on the sacred linen garments and make atonement for the Most Holy Place, for the tent of meeting and the altar, and for the priests and all the members of the community. “This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: Atonement is to be made once a year for all the sins of the Israelites.” And it was done, as the Lord commanded Moses.
