Levítico 9

Levítico 9

Meyer comments on Jesus our High Priest - There was a double blessing. First, Aaron blessed the people when he stood against the altar, Leviticus 9:22, and afterward, when he came out of the Tabernacle, Leviticus 9:23. When He came from offering His supreme sacrifice on Calvary, which was burned-offering, peace-offering, sin- and trespass-offerings combined, He blessed His own. We are told that as He blessed them He was borne upward to heaven, Luke 24:51; but we expect another blessing from Him, when He shall come forth out of the heavenly Temple and extend His hands in benediction, using perhaps the very words of the ancient benediction. F B Meyer (Our Daily Homily) Aaron lifted up his hand toward the people, and blessed them. The eighth day is evidently the type of the bright millennial morning (Ed: See caveats regarding Typology). During the present age we are hidden with Christ in God; the world knoweth us not, as it knew Him not; our hopes, and joys, and aims, are largely secret. But the day is not far distant when He shall be manifested, and then we shall be manifested with Him in glory. That group of priests, following the high priest out from the recesses of the Holy Place, is a picture of the Second Advent, when Christ and his own shall come forth to bless the world. When Jesus was parted in the Ascension from his disciples, He was in the act of blessing them (Lk 24:50-51); and in that attitude He will return. Who can doubt that all through the intervening ages those blessed hands have still been outstretched, that heart ever going forth, in blessing. What a Savior is ours! In Him are combined meekness that bears all insult and hatred, and mercy that retaliates on wrong-doing in ministries of love. He fulfils his own idea of blessing those that hate, and praying for those that despitefully use. How truly can it be said of Him, as of Archbishop Ussher, that to do him a wrong is to make him your friend for ever! Let us imitate Him in this, and let the going forth of our lives be one incessant stream of benediction to men, until they shall fall on their faces and acknowledge the overwhelming power of love. But in order to this we must be much in company with our blessed Lord; gazing on his face we shall reflect his likeness; the lineaments of the Divine beauty shall pass into our life, and light it up with a loveliness which is not of earth. Thus shall we bring glory to our God. Merrill on the phrase he stepped down - This common verb, which means "come or go down, descend," is used here in reference to the altar. However, in Exod. 20:26 the LORD specifically states that the priest was "not [to] go up to my altar on steps, lest your nakedness be exposed on it." Since this is the case, two options are available to interpret the verb in this verse. First, one could take it metaphorically in the sense that Aaron stepped away from the altar that was considered so holy that the step was "down." This metaphorical meaning attached to direction can be seen throughout the OT where Jerusalem is constantly spoken of "up" even when one is coming from a place of higher elevation. Secondly, the prohibition in Exod. 20:26 may have been against an altar so high that the worshipers, when looking up at the officiating priest, could observe his nakedness under his robes. Ezek. 43:17 speaks of a future altar with steps, needed because of its great size of over 20 feet tall, but it was also an altar with various platforms that may have increased the base size sufficiently that the worshipers were not too close to the altar. In either case it is true that God wanted both holiness and modesty to be present at the sacrificial altar. Hyatt - Then he came down from doing the sin offering and the rededication-offering, and the peace-offerings. After the blessing, Aaron “came down” from the altar. This statement indicates that, when a priest officiated at the altar, he was at least slightly above the worshipers. Exodus 20:26 states plainly that Jehovah’s altar was not to be on a platform high enough to require steps. Perhaps a small platform was built onto the altar itself for the priest to stand on as he served at the altar. The description of the altar in Exodus 27:1-8; 38:1-7 does not give every detail about its construction. However, its height (3 cubits or 4 ½ feet) was such that a priest would have needed to be slightly raised above the base of the altar to work comfortably over it. This slightly raised platform on the altar may have been what was meant by the “ledge” mentioned in Exodus 27:5; 38:4. Possibly, Aaron’s standing on that ledge helped the people, who were standing outside the courtyard, see him as he offered the offerings and pronounced his blessings on them. Sin offering (02403)(chattat/chattath) is a main Hebrew word for sin but also is used as here for sin offering. (Occurs in Lev 9:2, 3, 7, 8, 10, 15, 22) Burnt offering (05930)('olah introduced in Leviticus 1) (Occurs 10x in Leviticus 9 - Lev 9:2, 3, 7, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 22, 24) Peace offerings (08002)(selem/shelem introduced in Leviticus 3) (Occurs in Lev 9:4, 18, 22) Adam