Levítico 16
Bob Utley · You Can Understand the Bible
Levítico 16
NJB (MT versing) Law of Atonement The Day of Atonement The Ritual for the Day of Atonement The Day of Atonement The Great Day of Expiation 16:1-2a 16:1-5 16:1-2a 16:1-3 16:1-2a 16:2b-10 16:2b-5 16:2b 16:3-4 16:4 16:5-10 16:5-10 16:6-10 16:6-10 16:11-14 16:11-14 16:11-14 16:11-14 16:11-14 16:15-19 16:15-19 16:15-19 16:15-19 16:15-16a 16:16b-17a The Scapegoat 16:17b-19 16:20-22 16:20-22 16:20-22 16:20-22 16:20-22a 16:22b-25 16:23-28 16:23-28 16:23-28 16:23-28 An Annual Atonement Observing the Day of Atonement 16:26-28 16:29-34 16:29-34 16:29-34 16:29-34a 16:29a 16:29b-31 16:32-34a 16:34b 16:34b Etc. CONTEXTUAL INSIGHTS This chapter deals with the voluntary offering of an individual to ensure or restore favor with YHWH. There are several types of the whole burnt offerings (holocaust). Probably they represent different socio-economic levels. the bull (herd), Lev. 1:1-9 the male sheep or goat (flock), Lev. 1:10-13 the bird, Lev. 1:14-17 My favorite commentator on these OT ritual texts is Roland deVaux, Ancient Israel, particularly for sacrifices at pp. 415-454. I also enjoy the discussion on "offerings and sacrifices" in NIDOTTE, vol. 4, pp. 996-1021. There seems to be some variety of procedures but this may be attributed to the assumed knowledge of the receivers and the brevity of the writer (i.e., laying on of hands on each type of animal, a set ritual pronouncement by the officiating priest). There is obviously a distinction where the animal was killed. BACKGROUND STUDY All of the feast days listed in Leviticus 23 are happy, joyful praise to God days. Only the Day of Atonement, found in Leviticus 16, is a penitent fast day (i.e., no peace offerings). We need to make a distinction between most of our worship times being rejoicing occasions and yet still provide a time for sorrow and penitence over the sin in our lives. Several different animal sacrifices are involved (see NIDOTTE, vol. 2, p. 699, #20). a sacrifice for the priest beginning in Lev. 16:3 a sacrifice for the nation beginning in Lev. 16:5 a sacrifice for the Holy Place beginning in Lev. 16:16 a sacrifice for the altar beginning in Lev. 16:19 a sacrifice for the bearing away from the entire community and Tabernacle, Lev. 16:21 It needs to be understood that the sacrifices on the Day of Atonement were not so much for the removal of sin from individual people as it was the removal of the taint of their collective, unintentional sins from the Tabernacle (see Lev. 15:31). God symbolically dwelt over the wings of the Cherubim over the ark of the covenant in the Holy of Holies (cf. Exod. 25:21-22; Num. 7:89; Ps. 80:1; 99:1). He could only remain among His people if they were ceremonially clean. Much of what they did continued to make them unclean. It is a sign of the weakness of the Old Testament system that all of the sacrifices mentioned in Leviticus 1-7 were not able to deal with the sin problem of the nation of Israel. Once a year there had to be a special sacrifice just to remove the pollution of the people from the Tabernacle and the priesthood (it had to be rededicated year after year). For a good brief discussion see Roland deVaux, Ancient Israel, pp. 507-510. The ritual of the Day of Atonement has extreme significance in the life of Jesus, the Messiah (cf. The book of Hebrews, particularly chapter 9). See F. F. Bruce, Answers to Questions, pp. 11-12.
Levítico 16:1-2
16:1 "Now the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron" It is obvious that Leviticus is not in chronological order. Leviticus 10, as well as chapter 16, is historical narrative. See SPECIAL TOPIC: OT HISTORICAL NARRATIVE.
Levítico 16:2-10
16:2b "he shall not enter at any time into the holy place inside the veil" Although this seems to imply no entrance, in context it denotes entrance only once a year with the appropriate sacrifices and only by the High Priest. He is even warned that he will die unless he follows the exact procedures. This links chapter 16 with chapter 10. There were two veils (BDB 827). one to separate the inner shrine tent from the surrounding enclosure one separating the Holy Place (entire inner shrine) from the Holy of Holies (cf. Exod. 26:31-35; Matt. 27:51), see SPECIAL TOPIC: TABERNACLE (chart) ▣ "the mercy seat" This translations comes from Martin Luther. This is the special golden lid (i.e., covering) on the ark of the covenant (BDB 498, KB 495, more literally "lid of covering") on which the two Cherubim are mounted. The symbolism seems to be that as the blood was sprinkled once a year on this particular item, God looked down from His abode in heaven and saw His Ten Commandments, the sin of Israel was covered (BDB 497, KB 493) by the placement of the blood of an innocent animal. The AB, p. 1014, mentions that the rare term may reflect an Egyptian root meaning "sole of the feet." This is surely possible since the ark was viewed as YHWH's footstool (cf. 1 Chr. 28:2; Ps. 99:5; 132:7; Isa. 66:1; Lam. 2:1; Ezek. 43:7). Psalm 99:1 asserts that YHWH sits enthroned above the Cherubim (i.e., mercy seat, note Exod. 25:22; 1 Sam. 4:4). See the following Special Topics. SPECIAL TOPIC: ARK OF THE COVENANT SPECIAL TOPIC: CHERUBIM SPECIAL TOPIC: MERCY SEAT SPECIAL TOPIC: BLOOD ▣ "I will appear in a cloud over the mercy seat" At first it seems that refers to the Shekinah cloud which was a symbol of the presence of God (cf. Exod. 13:21-22; 19:9; 24:15-16,18; 34:5; 40:34-38; Num. 9:15-23). However, because of Lev. 16:13, this may refer to the cloud of incense which the High Priest caused from the incense altar (see SPECIAL TOPIC: ALTAR OF INCENSE) so that he would not see God and die (cf. Gen. 16:13; Exod. 33:20; 1 Kgs. 19:13; Isa. 6:5; John 1:18; 6:46; 1 Tim. 6:16) when he entered behind the second veil. 16:3 "with a bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering" The rabbis say that the bull and the ram must belong to Aaron personally (cf. Lev. 16:6) because this first ritual deals with his sin. Here again is a series of sacrifices. first, the sin offering, making one acceptable to God then the burn offering, showing complete commitment to God 16:4 "and he shall put on the holy linen tunic" His High Priestly robes (see SPECIAL TOPIC: GARMENTS OF THE HIGH PRIEST) and accouterments are described in Exod. 39:27-29. This very plain, working garment is a combination of a slave's working garment and the material of the priest's normal clothing. It was a sign of humility and openness to God. See SPECIAL TOPIC: LINEN. 16:5 "two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering" These two male goats formed a uniqueness of the Day of Atonement (cf. Lev. 16:6-10). One goat would be sacrificed on the altar showing that sin costs a life. The other goat would be sent out into the wilderness to symbolically bear sin out from the camp. 16:6 "for himself and his household" Some say that this refers to Aaron and his immediate family, while others say that it refers to his family, the priests. It may be a collective sacrifice for all the priests. See SPECIAL TOPIC: ATONEMENT. 16:8 "Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats" The method of the casting of lots is somewhat uncertain. The rabbis say that two rocks were used: one marked "for the Lord" and the other, "for Azazel." Others say that it was the use of the Urim and Thummim and was simply a way of determining which goat would be killed and which would be sent away. See SPECIAL TOPIC: URIM AND THUMMIN. For a good brief discussion about casting lots to know God's will, see Hard Sayings of the Bible, pp. 512-514. ▣ NASB, NKJV, Vulgate "scapegoat" NASB Margin "goat of removal" NRSV, TEV, NJB, JPSOA, REB, Net, Peshitta "for Azazel" "to be sent off" REB footnote "for the precipice" This is a very difficult term (BDB 736) to interpret. It occurs only in this chapter. Some try to make it a place; some a person; and some an abstraction. There have been several suggestions for the meaning of the root. from the Hebrew words (i.e., goat and the verb "to send away"); this same understanding is found in the LXX's translation of "one to be sent out" in Enoch 8:1; 9:6; 10:4-8; 13:1-2; 54:5; 55:4; 69:2, it refers to a desert demon; this interpretation has been followed by rabbinical Judaism, which makes it either a name for Satan or a desert demon (Satyr III, Lev. 17:7); the desert was the abode of the demonic (cf. Isa. 13:21-22; 34:11-15) the New English Bible translates this word as "for the precipice" the wilderness where the goat is driven, which was rough and desolate (Arabic root) shows the post-exilic procedure of throwing the second goat over a cliff to make sure it died
Levítico 16:11-14
16:12 "He shall take a firepan full of coals from upon the altar before the Lord" The rabbis have identified the altar before the Lord as the incense altar inside the Holy Place, just before the veil. Most Christian commentators assume that it is the brazen altar at the door of the Tabernacle. The Jews would say that the High Priest stayed inside the Holy Place, while Christian commentators say that he moved in and out of the Holy Place between the bronze altar and the inner shrine. ▣ "two handfuls of finely ground sweet incense, and bring it inside the veil" This was a huge amount of incense and its purpose was to put forth large billows of smoke which would fill the internal part of the shrine (i.e., Holy Place) and, therefore, veil the eyes of the High Priest from seeing God when he entered the Holy of Holies. They believed that God symbolically dwelt above the wings of the Cherubim (cf. Exod. 25:21-22; Num. 7:89; Ps. 80:1; 99:1). For a person to see YHWH meant death. It is also true that even seeing the ark itself could cause death (cf. Num. 4:20; 1 Sam. 6:19). 16:14 "sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat" Remember that the mercy seat was that special place of atonement (cf. Hebrews 9). It was used in the ritual only on the Day of Atonement, where the High Priest first offered a sin offering for himself and then for the nation. See SPECIAL TOPIC: MERCY SEAT. It was an annual cleansing of the Tabernacle and the priesthood. For "sprinkle" see note at Lev. 1:5 and Robert B. Girdlestone, Synonyms in the OT, pp. 151-152.
Levítico 16:15-19
16:16-19 "shall make atonement for the holy place. . .and cleanse it" This shows that the purpose of this ritual was not so much for the cleansing of the people that should have been done in the sacrifices described in Leviticus 1-7, but the cleansing of the Tabernacle and the priesthood (cf. Exod. 30:10; see SPECIAL TOPIC: ATONEMENT) for the continuation of its mediatory activities. 16:18 "put it on the horns of the altar and on all sides" Horns were a normal part of Canaanite altars. They were the most holy part of the altar that lifted the sacrifices to God or it expressed the power of that altar in its efficatory significance. See full note at Lev. 7:4. 16:19 See the following Special Topics for more information. SPECIAL TOPIC: BLOOD SPECIAL TOPIC: SYMBOLIC NUMBERS IN SCRIPTURE, "seven," #4 SPECIAL TOPIC: ALTAR OF SACRIFICE
Levítico 16:20-22
16:21 "lay both hands on the head of the live goat" It usually states to lay a hand (singular; see note at Lev. 1:4), but here both hands were laid on the goat as Aaron confessed the sins of the whole nation. This animal symbolically took the place of the nation as it bore the corporate sin outside the camp. See SPECIAL TOPIC: LAYING ON OF HANDS. ▣ "the iniquities. . .transgressions. . .sins" these are the major terms which describe Israel's violations of their covenant with YHWH. iniquities ‒ BDB 833 transgressions ‒ BDB 833 sins ‒ BDB 308 All three of these terms appear in Exod. 34:7; Lev. 16:21; Job 13:23; Ps. 32:5; Isa. 59:12; Ezek. 21:24; Dan. 9:24. Together they express Israel's sin in many areas over and over again The word for "evil" (BDB 948 II) appears with #2 and #3 in Gen. 50:17. Israel, with all her special blessings (cf. Rom. 9:4) could not/would not follow YHWH. See SPECIAL TOPIC: YHWH'S COVENANT REQUIREMENTS OF ISRAEL and SPECIAL TOPIC: THE FALL. This is why there must be a "new covenant" (cf. Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:22-36; Luke 22:20; 1 Cor. 11:25; 2 Cor. 3:6; Heb. 9:9,13; 9:15).
Levítico 16:23-28
16:24 "put on his clothes" The beautiful garments described in Exodus 28 and 39 (see SPECIAL TOPIC: GARMENTS OF THE HIGH PRIEST) are now put on and the High Priest comes out of the inner shrine to let the people know that the sacrifice has been accepted. In later years, the Jews tied a rope to the leg of the High Priest in case he died inside the Holy Place and they could pull him out without having to enter the Holy Place themselves!
Levítico 16:29-34
16:29-34 The Israelite people had a part in the ritual of the annual Day of Atonement. cessation of work fasting attitude of humility sense of need for corporate, annual cleansing 16:29 "shall be a permanent statute for you" The Hebrew concept of "permanent" (lit. 'olam, cf. Lev. 16:29,31,34) had several possible connotations. See SPECIAL TOPIC: FOREVER ('olam). ▣ "in the seventh month" See SPECIAL TOPIC: ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN CALENDARS. ▣ "you shall humble your souls and not do any work" From Ps. 35:13 the words "humble your souls" implies fasting. We also believe that there were other unexpressed penitent acts (i.e., liturgy or symbolic actions) involved in this day of national mourning for the sins of the entire nation and the cleansing of the Tabernacle and the priesthood. 16:33 "to make atonement for. . ." This is a summary of the purpose of the ritual of the Day of Atonement and the five different things that were cleansed. the inner shrine (Lev. 16:17,24) the tent of meeting (Lev. 16:16,20,33) the altar (Lev. 16:18-19,20,33) the priests (Lev. 16:6,11,17,24,33) the people (Lev. 16:15,17,19,22,24,30,34)