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Summary

Leviticus 16:1–2 – Warning after Nadab and Abihu

What happens: God warns Aaron not to enter the Most Holy Place at will. He must follow God’s way to approach the ark.

What it means: God’s presence is holy and not casual. Access comes by his command, not by personal impulse.


Leviticus 16:3–10 – Offerings and the two goats

What happens: Aaron brings a bull for his own sin and two goats for the people, casting lots for the Lord’s goat and the scapegoat. He wears simple linen garments.

What it means: The mediator must be cleansed and humble. God provides a substitute to bear sin and a sign of removal.


Leviticus 16:11–14 – Incense cloud and blood for the priest

What happens: Aaron offers incense so the cloud covers the mercy seat, then sprinkles bull’s blood before the ark.

What it means: God shields the sinner with mercy. Atonement for the priest comes first, guarding the people.


Leviticus 16:15–19 – Blood for the people and cleansing the holy place

What happens: He sprinkles the people’s goat’s blood to cleanse the sanctuary and the altar from Israel’s sins.

What it means: Sin pollutes even holy spaces. God purifies what sin has stained so fellowship can continue.


Leviticus 16:20–22 – The scapegoat carries sins away

What happens: Aaron confesses Israel’s sins over the live goat and sends it into the wilderness.

What it means: God not only forgives but removes guilt from his people. This pictures complete release from sin’s burden and shame.


Leviticus 16:23–28 – Washing and burning outside the camp

What happens: Aaron removes the linen garments, washes, and offers burnt offerings. The bull and goat carcasses are burned outside the camp.

What it means: Cleansing follows service, and sin is carried away and destroyed. God keeps holy distance from what defiles.


Leviticus 16:29–34 – A lasting statute of rest and affliction

What happens: On the tenth day of the seventh month Israel pauses work, humbles itself, and the priest makes atonement yearly. This is a statute forever.

What it means: God gives a yearly reset for conscience and community. The Day of Atonement points to deeper, final atonement fulfilled in Christ.


Application

  • Approach God through the mediator he appoints, with humility.
  • Confess sin and trust God to forgive and remove guilt.
  • Set rhythms of fasting, rest, and self-examination.
  • Live as a cleansed people who keep holy distance from sin.

Bible

1And the LORD spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the LORD, and died;

2And 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.

3Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering.

4He 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.

5And 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.

6And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house.

7And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

8And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat.

9And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD'S lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering.

10But 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.

11And 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:

12And 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:

13And 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:

14And 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.

15Then 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:

16And 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.

17And 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.

18And 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.

19And 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.

20And 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:

21And 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:

22And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.

23And 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:

24And 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.

25And the fat of the sin offering shall he burn upon the altar.

26And 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.

27And 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.

28And he that burneth them shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp.

29And 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:

30For 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.

31It shall be a sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever.

32And 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:

33And 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.

34And 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.

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