Leviticus 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.

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 needed 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 (16:29; 23:26–32; 25:9; Num. 29:7–11). The Jewish calendar is described in Leviticus 23, and we’ll study it in detail in chapter 10, but we need to notice now the importance of the seventh month (our midSeptember to mid-October). On the first day of the seventh month, the trumpets were blown to announce the beginning of a new year (Rosh Hashanah; 23:23–25). The tenth day was the day of Atonement (23:26–32), and then came the Feast of Tabernacles (or Booths), which started on the fifteenth day of the month and lasted a week (23:33–44).

The blowing of the trumpets announced the new year, but only the shedding of the blood could give the people forgiveness and a new beginning. “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness’’ (Heb. 9: niv). 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 (Gal. 4:4–5) to finish the work nobody else could do. “Once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself’’ (Heb. 9: nkjv). The death of Christ on the cross has fulfilled the day of Atonement.

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). 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. “And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth’’ (John 17:19). 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 (2 Cor. 8:9; Phil. 2:5–11). His work completed, He returned to heaven and “dressed Himself’’ once again in the glory that is rightfully His (John 17:1, 5).

The high priest offers his own sin offering (vv. 6, 11–14). 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 (Lev. 16:11). 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 (v. 13), and then he sprinkled some of the blood on the mercy seat and some of the blood seven times before the mercy seat (v. 14).

Since the cloud of incense symbolized the glory of God, the high priest put God’s glory ahead of everything else. It reminds us of Christ’s first request in His high priestly prayer, “Glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee’’ (John 17:1). 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 (Eph. 1:6, 12, 14). 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).

The high priest offers the sin offering for the people (vv. 7–10, 15–22). 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. 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’’ (vv. 8, 10, 26), short for “escape-goat,’’ that is, the goat that escaped death and escaped into the desert. The Hebrew word is azazel, which could be a compound of the two Hebrew words “goat’’ and “to go away.’’ Some Hebraists connect it with an Arabic word that means “to remove, to banish.’’ Regardless of the origin of the word, the meaning is clear: The releasing of the goat symbolized the sins of the people being carried away, never to be held against them again. “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us’’ (Ps. 103: nkjv). “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’’ (John 1: nkjv)

Remember that the two goats were considered one sin offering (Lev. 16:5). 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). 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). 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 (see 4:8–10). “But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared’’ (Ps. 130: nkjv). Forgiveness and the fear of the Lord go together, for the privilege of forgiveness carries with it the obligation of commitment and obedience. Jesus offered Himself up to the Father in total obedience, and we cannot do less than follow His example.

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 (Lev. 4:1–12; see Ex. 29:13–14). The man who did the job had to wash before he could return to the camp.

An appropriate picture (Zech. 12:10—13:1) Many see in the annual day of Atonement a picture of Israel’s future cleansing when their Messiah appears to deliver them, cleanse them, and establish them in their kingdom.

The seventh month begins with the blowing of the trumpets, and there is a future “trumpet call’’ for Israel to gather the people together. “And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall thresh, from the channel of the River to the Brook of Egypt; and you will be gathered one by one, O you children of Israel. So it shall be in that day. That the great trumpet will be blown; they will come, who are about to perish in the land of Assyria, and they who are outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem’’ (Isa. 27:12–13 nkjv). Jesus also referred to this future gathering of the Jews (Matt. 24:29–31).

Just as the day of Atonement was a day of personal “afflicting’’ for the Jews, so they will mourn when they see their Messiah (Zech. 12:10–14). God will give them “the spirit of grace and supplication’’ (v. 10), and they will repent of their sins and believe in Him. “They will look on Me, the One they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child’’ (v. 10 niv).

Israel’s repentance and faith will lead to their cleansing. “On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and impurity’’ (13: niv). Their Messiah who died for them will be their sin offering and burnt offering, and they will make a new beginning as a forgiven people, beloved of the Lord. What the Lord said about the Jewish remnant returning home from Babylon will be true of the nation in that great day: “Search will be made for Israel’s guilt, but there will be none, and for the sins of Judah, but none will be found, for I will forgive the remnant I spare’’ (Jer. 50: niv).

The annual day of Atonement was followed by the Feast of Tabernacles, Israel’s most joyful time of celebration, and Israel’s future “day of Atonement’’ will be followed by the establishing of the kingdom God promised to His people (Isa. 11–12; 32; 35). Creation will be delivered from the bondage of sin (Rom. 8:18–22); Jesus will reign as King, and “in his days the righteous will flourish; prosperity will abound till the moon is no more’’ (Ps. 72: niv).

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’’ (“deny yourselves,’’ niv), a Hebrew word that means “to humble or oppress.’’ It’s used to describe the pain that the Egyptians inflicted on the Hebrews (Ex. 1:11–12) and the suffering Joseph felt in prison (Ps. 105:18). 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; the church needs to heed that call today. “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up’’ (James 4:8–10 nkjv).

“Repentance is almost a lost note in our preaching and experience,’’ said Vance Havner, “and the lack of it is filling our churches with baptized sinners who have never felt the guilt of sin or the need of a Savior.… We are trying to get young people to say, ‘Here am I’ before they have ever said, ‘Woe is me!’”

The fact that the people weren’t to do any work reminds us that we are saved wholly by God’s grace, through faith, and not because of our character or our good works (Eph. 2:8–9). The forgiveness that the people received that day was the gift of God.

The Hebrew word kapar, translated “atonement,’’ is used sixteen 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 (17:11). John Stott says it magnificently: “We strongly reject, therefore, every explanation of the death of Christ which does not have at its center the principle of ‘satisfaction through substitution,’ indeed divine self-satisfaction through divine self-substitution.’’

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. Those who reject this view and claim that they want “only the loving religion of Jesus’’ had better listen to what Jesus Himself said: “For this is My blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins’’ (Matt. 26: nkjv). “Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many’’ (Matt. 20: nkjv).

The sacrifices offered on the day of Atonement brought a threefold cleansing: to the high priest and his family (Lev. 16:6, 17), to the people of Israel (v. 17), and to the tabernacle (vv. 16, 20, 33). 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 (Heb. 9:23).