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Leviticus 16

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Leviticus 16 Overview

Leviticus 16 gives the Day of Atonement following the deaths of Nadab and Abihu. Aaron may not enter the holy place at any time he chooses. On the appointed day he offers for himself, enters with incense and blood, makes atonement for the holy place, tabernacle, altar, priests, and people, and presents two goats: one slain for the people and one sent away bearing confessed iniquities. The chapter establishes an annual solemn day of affliction and rest for Israel.

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Before you read Leviticus 16

Coming from

Leviticus 15 ended by warning Israel not to die in uncleanness by defiling the tabernacle.

In this chapter

The high priest enters the holy place under strict conditions to make annual atonement for sanctuary, priesthood, and people.

Leads into

Leviticus 17 regulates the place of sacrifice and explains why Israel must not eat blood.

Key understanding

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

Truth 1

Access to the holy place is restricted because God’s holiness cannot be approached casually.

Truth 2

The high priest must first make atonement for himself and his house.

Truth 3

Two goats together portray different aspects of the people’s atonement: blood is brought within, and confessed iniquities are borne away.

Truth 4

The sanctuary itself requires cleansing because it stands among a sinful and unclean people.

Truth 5

The Day of Atonement is annual, showing the repeated and incomplete nature of the Levitical system.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

Connection 1

Leviticus 10 provides the historical warning that frames the chapter.

Connection 2

Hebrews 9 directly explains the high priest’s annual entrance and contrasts it with Christ entering once into the holy place.

Connection 3

Hebrews 10 emphasizes that yearly sacrifices bring remembrance of sins but cannot finally take sins away.

Connection 4

Isaiah 53 uses sin-bearing language later fulfilled in Christ.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Keep this clear 1

The two goats form one Day-of-Atonement ritual; speculative identification of one goat with Satan is not required by the text and conflicts with the atoning context.

Keep this clear 2

“Afflict your souls” describes Israel’s solemn observance and should not become self-harm or a works-salvation practice.

Keep this clear 3

Aaron’s repeated annual entrance highlights limitation, not perfection of the old system.

Keep this clear 4

Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice must govern Christian understanding of this chapter.

Read Leviticus 16 watching for…

The connection to Nadab and Abihu.

Aaron’s sacrifice for himself before the people.

The incense cloud over the mercy seat.

The different roles of the two goats.

The repeated word “atonement” and the annual nature of the day.

Chapter outline6 sections

1-10Aaron is instructed how to enter the holy place 11-14Aaron offers for himself and brings incense within the veil 15-19The goat's blood makes atonement for the holy place and altar 20-22The scapegoat bears Israel's iniquities away 23-28Aaron changes garments and completes the offerings 29-34The Day of Atonement is established as a yearly statute

And the LORD spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the LORD, and died;

And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the vail before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat.

Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering.

He shall put on the holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh, and shall be girded with a linen girdle, and with the linen mitre shall he be attired: these are holy garments; therefore shall he wash his flesh in water, and so put them on.

And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.

And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house.

And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat.

And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD's lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering.

But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.

And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make an atonement for himself, and for his house, and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself:

And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the LORD, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the vail:

And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not:

And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times.

Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat:

And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness.

And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place, until he come out, and have made an atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel.

And he shall go out unto the altar that is before the LORD, and make an atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about.

And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.

And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat:

And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness:

And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.

And Aaron shall come into the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall put off the linen garments, which he put on when he went into the holy place, and shall leave them there:

And he shall wash his flesh with water in the holy place, and put on his garments, and come forth, and offer his burnt offering, and the burnt offering of the people, and make an atonement for himself, and for the people.

And the fat of the sin offering shall he burn upon the altar.

And he that let go the goat for the scapegoat shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward come into the camp.

And the bullock for the sin offering, and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall one carry forth without the camp; and they shall burn in the fire their skins, and their flesh, and their dung.

And he that burneth them shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp.

And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you:

For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD.

It shall be a sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever.

And the priest, whom he shall anoint, and whom he shall consecrate to minister in the priest's office in his father's stead, shall make the atonement, and shall put on the linen clothes, even the holy garments:

And he shall make an atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make an atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar, and he shall make an atonement for the priests, and for all the people of the congregation.

And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year. And he did as the LORD commanded Moses.

STUDY THIS VERSE

Leviticus 16:13

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