Leviticus 16

THE DAY OF The regulations for the observance of an annual rite of expiation follow appropriately after the laws of purification contained in chs. 11–15.

Leviticus 16:1

1. On the introductory clauses see App. I (d), pp. 163 ff.

Leviticus 16:2

The ritual to be observed (1–28) 2. into the holy place within the veil] the veil (pβrτketh), which separates the ‘holy place’ from the ‘most holy’ (here called ‘the holy place within …’), cp. Exodus 26:31-33. the mercy-seat] Heb. kappτreth, here and in Leviticus 16:13-15, a solid gold plate of the same size as the top of the ark (2½ by 1½ cubits), to which the two cherubim were fixed, as described in Exodus 25:17-21. It was the place where the Lord appeared (Leviticus 16:2); from which He gave His commands (see note on Leviticus 1:1); the most holy spot in the most holy place, the ‘footstool’ of the Lord who sitteth enthroned upon the cherubim (1 Chronicles 28:2; Psalms 99:5, cp. Leviticus 16:1; Psalms 132:7, cp. Leviticus 16:5). The Heb. word is formed from kipper, to make propitiation, and means that which propitiates. The Gk. ἱλαστήριον exactly corresponds, and from the Vulg. propitiatorium the word ‘propitiatorie’ was used in Wiclif’s translation.

This word is the best English equivalent for the Heb., and indicates the nature of the solemn rite performed within the veil on the Day of Atonement. As ‘oratory’ is the place of ‘oration’ or prayer, so ‘propitiatory’ in the sense of ‘place of propitiation’ would fitly express the Heb. word which is rendered in EVV by ‘mercy-seat.’ See note on Exodus 25:17 (C.B.); Art. Mercy-seat in Enc. Bib.; and Art. Tabernacle in HDB. iv. 665 a. The mercy-seat is described as ‘upon the testimony’ in Leviticus 16:13. ‘The testimony’ is the name given to the two tables on which the Ten Words were written, so called because they contain the ‘testimony’ or witness of God’s will for man.

See note on Exodus 25:16, and Intr. to Pent. App. II. pp. 221 f. that he die not] Here and in Leviticus 16:13 there is reference to the penalty attending breach of the rules to be observed in the service of the sanctuary. A general warning is given in Leviticus 22:9 to the priests who keep the charge of the Lord, ‘lest they bear sin for it, and die therein, if they profane it.’ The expression in the text is found in Exodus 28:35 with reference to putting on the robe of the ephod with the bells on its skirt when going in unto the holy place; in Exodus 28:43 the same penalty is threatened for omitting to wear the linen breeches; in Exodus 30:20 for omitting to wash before entering the holy place; in 8:35 in connexion with the ceremonial prescribed at the inauguration of the priesthood; also in Exodus 10:6-7; Exodus 10:9, Numbers 4:19 (of the Kohathites, cp. Leviticus 16:15; Leviticus 16:20), Numbers 17:10, Numbers 18:3; Numbers 18:32, Numbers 35:12. The variety of the offences for which the penalty of death is threatened in these passages should be noticed. The expression ‘that he die not’ is used generally in connexion with infringement of rules by priests, Levites, and people, and its use here does not imply any reference to the story of Nadab and Abihu.

Leviticus 16:3

3. Herewith] with the offerings and ceremonies set forth in what follows.

Leviticus 16:4

4. The linen garments here mentioned are the garments described in Exodus 28:39-43. Cp. Leviticus 16:23-24.

Leviticus 16:5

5. The two he-goats are described as one Sin-Offering.

Leviticus 16:6-7

6, 7. The animals for the Sin-Offerings are presented ‘before the Lord.’ The verb in Leviticus 16:7, ‘and set them,’ is different from that in Leviticus 16:6, ‘and Aaron shall present’; after the lots are cast, Aaron ‘presents’ the goat ‘upon which the lot fell for the Lord’ (Leviticus 16:9). No distinction is made in A.V.

Leviticus 16:8

8. for Azazel] for the scapegoat, A.V. For this peculiar feature of the Day of Atonement see Appendix V, pp. 185 ff.

Leviticus 16:10

10. to make atonement for (mg. over) him] The meaning of this phrase is obscure. It probably refers to some ceremony of atonement performed over the goat, before being sent into the wilderness. Kennedy (ad loc.) suggests that it was an early purification rite, here reintroduced, but otherwise unknown. The name ‘scapegoat’ is to be traced back to the caper emissarius of the Vulg. Neither this nor the R.V. mg.’s rendering, dismissal, can be obtained etymologically from the Heb. In Leviticus 16:3-10 we find prescribed how Aaron is to come into the holy place, the garments which he must wear, the animals which he is to bring, and their destination: the following Leviticus 16:11-28 contain a detailed account of the whole ceremonial.

Leviticus 16:11

11. According to the Mishna (Tal. Bab. Yoma), the high priest on presenting his bullock (Leviticus 16:6) made a confession of sin to which the people answered ‘Blessed be the Name of the glory of His Kingdom for ever and ever.’ He cast lots upon the goats, and declared which was for the Lord, and they answered ‘Blessed be the Name, etc.’ (fol. 39 a). He put a tongue-shaped piece of scarlet wool upon the head of the goat to be sent away, and came beside his bullock (Leviticus 16:11) the second time and repeated his confession, and they answered ‘Blessed be the Name, etc’ (41b). He killed the bullock, and caught the blood in a bowl; he took the censer and put burning coals from the altar in it (43b).

They brought him the cup and the censer; he filled his hands with incense and put it into the cup; he took the censer in his right hand and the cup in his left (47a), and went into the temple, and when he came to the altar, he heaped the incense on the burning coals and the whole house was filled with smoke; he returned, and offered a short prayer in the outer house, but did not prolong it, lest (by a lengthy absence) he should cause terror in Israel (51b, 52b). In the second temple the high priest placed the censer on a stone in the Holy of Holies, called ‘foundation, which was three fingers high. [There was no altar in the second temple.] He took the blood of the bullock and returned within the veil, and sprinkled of it once upwards and seven times downwards; he went out and placed the bowl on a column in the sanctuary.

He then killed the goat, and brought the blood within the veil, and sprinkled it as he did with the blood of the bullock; he went out and placed the bowl on a column in the sanctuary [tradition varies as to whether the column was the same as that on which the bowl containing the bullock’s blood had been placed]; he then sprinkled the blood of the bullock on the veil on the outside, and afterwards the blood of the goat, both sprinklings being once upwards and seven times downwards, as he sprinkled the blood within the veil; he then mixed the blood of the bullock with that of the goat (53b), and went out to the altar that is ‘before the Lord,’ the golden altar [but cp. note on Leviticus 16:18], and began cleansing it; he sprinkled on the middle [the clean place] of the altar seven times, and some of the remainder of the blood he poured out on the western base of the outer altar [the altar of Burnt-Offering] and the remainder of the blood he poured out on the southern base of that altar (58b). If the high priest did not perform the work of the Day of Atonement in the prescribed order, it was invalid (60b). Concerning the two goats for the Day of Atonement, it is commanded that they should be alike in colour, height, and price, with provision in the event of one of the goats dying (61b). The high priest placed his two hands on the goat to be sent away, and said (Tal. Bab. Yoma, 66a): O Lord, Thy people the house of Israel have committed iniquity, and transgressed, and sinned before Thee. O Lord pardon now the iniquities, the transgressions, and the sins which Thy people, the house of Israel, have iniquitously done, transgressed, and sinned before Thee, as it is written in the law of Moses Thy servant, ‘For on this day shall atonement be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins shall ye be clean before the Lord’ (Leviticus 16:30). And the priests and the people when they heard the Name from the mouth of the priest, bowed, and worshipped, and fell on their faces and said, ‘Blessed be the Name, etc.’ (66a). The goat was conducted to a place called Ẓ ?ôḳ ?, about 12 miles from Jerusalem (66b), where it was thrown backwards from the edge of a cliff. Booths were placed at the end of each of the first ten miles; the nobles of Jerusalem accompanied the goat to the first booth, and the rest of the people as far as the last booth from which they watched the actions of the man who took charge of the goat. Watchmen made signals when the goat arrived at the edge of the wilderness, and its arrival was thus made known to the high priest (67a, 68b). This treatise, though it contains many additional directions not found in Scripture, throws light on some parts of the Biblical account. It makes clear the occasions on which the high priest enters the Most Holy place: (1) he goes in with the censer and the incense as ordered in Leviticus 16:12-13; (2) after going out to fetch the blood of the bullock he enters the Most Holy place the second time (Leviticus 16:14); he then kills the goat, the Sin-Offering of the people; and (3) enters the Most Holy place the third time with the blood of the goat (Leviticus 16:15). It also mentions the mixing of the blood of the bullock with that of the goat, which seems implied in Leviticus 16:18. The text of Lev 16:14-15 ordains sprinkling upon the mercy-seat, according to EVV, and the generally accepted meaning of the Heb. But according to the Jewish tradition the sprinkling was in front of the mercy-seat, and the mercy-seat itself was not touched with the blood.

Leviticus 16:13

13. the testimony] ‘çduth, always with the definite article, except in the Psalms. This was something put into the ark, Exodus 25:16; Exodus 25:21; Exodus 40:20; cp. ‘which I shall give thee,’ Exodus 25:16, with Exodus 31:18, ‘And he gave unto Moses … the two tables of the testimony.’ They are so called Exodus 32:15, and are identified with the first tables on which the ten words were written, Deuteronomy 5:22; Deuteronomy 9:10-17. The first tables being broken were replaced by others which were put into the ark, Exodus 34:28-29; Deuteronomy 10:1-5. Hence the ark is called the ‘ark of the testimony,’ and the tabernacle is called the ‘tabernacle (mishkân) of the testimony,’ Exodus 38:21; Numbers 1:50; Numbers 1:53; Numbers 10:11, and the ‘tent (’ohel) of the testimony,’ Numbers 9:15; Numbers 17:7; Numbers 18:2 (note that of these three passages which are all that contain the expression, the first is correctly rendered by A.V., but the other two are rendered ‘tabernacle of witness’). The mercy-seat (kappôreth) which is upon the ark is described here as ‘the mercy-seat that is upon the testimony’; and the veil (pârôkheth) which is before the ark is described (Exodus 27:21) as ‘the veil which is before the testimony,’ and (Leviticus 24:3) as ‘the veil of the testimony.’

Leviticus 16:16-17

16, 17. for (in) the holy place] by ‘the holy place,’ here distinguished from the ‘tent of meeting’ as in Leviticus 16:20; Leviticus 16:23, is meant the Holy of Holies, and so in Leviticus 16:2-3; Leviticus 16:27. The tent of meeting which was among an unclean people required periodical cleansing. The altar was cleansed when it was erected (Exodus 29:36; Leviticus 8:15) and also anointed (Leviticus 8:11), but it required cleansing.

Leviticus 16:18

18. And he shall go out unto the altar that is before the Lord] The Mishna sees here a reference to the golden altar (Yoma, 58 b), but this must be questioned: throughout this chapter ‘the altar’ is mentioned, and in Leviticus 16:12, where it undoubtedly means the altar of Burnt-Offering, it is described as ‘the altar before the Lord,’ as in this verse. The words ‘and he shall go out,’ after the purification of the whole tabernacle enjoined in Leviticus 16:16-17, can hardly have any other meaning than ‘he shall go out of the tabernacle into the court in which was the brasen altar.’ In Exodus 30:10 the high priest is commanded to make atonement for the altar of incense once a year with the blood of the Sin-Offering of atonement, but the performance of this rite is not recorded here.

Leviticus 16:20

20. when he hath made an end of atoning] The three things mentioned here indicate the order in which the atonement was made—for the holy place (i.e. the Holy of Holies); the tent of meeting (the outer part of it) and the altar (outside the tabernacle)—and the course of the high priest was from W. to E.

Leviticus 16:21

21. a man that is in readiness] a fit man, A.V., one appointed (as R.V. mg.) for the purpose. In the time of the second temple, one that was not an Israelite was usually chosen (Tal. Bab. Yoma, 66 a and b).

Leviticus 16:22

22. a solitary land] Heb. a land cut off, ‘a land not inhabited,’ as A.V., or a land from which return was cut off.

Leviticus 16:23

23. The high priest now removed the special garments in which he had performed the service of the day, and after again washing, put on the usual high priestly garments (Exodus 28) and offered the Burnt-Offerings. In Numbers 29:7-10 a young bullock and seven he-lambs of the first year are also prescribed. According to tradition these were offered after the ram for Aaron, and the ram for the people.

Leviticus 16:25

25. And … shall he burn] The position of this verse has been the subject of much comment. In Leviticus 16:11-19 no definite instruction has been given to burn the fat portions of the Sin-Offerings, but the manner in which the blood of the victims should be applied for the purification of the sanctuary and altar has been fully described. A supplementary notice has been inserted here, apparently in order that this important part of the ceremonial should be mentioned.

Leviticus 16:26-28

26–28. The bullock and the goat for the Sin-Offerings were not eaten, as their blood had been brought into the holy place (Leviticus 6:30). They were carried forth and burnt in the fire. The ordinary Heb. word for ‘burn’ is here used—the burning was not sacrificial. The Sin-Offering was most holy (Leviticus 6:25). Whatsoever touched the flesh thereof was holy (Leviticus 6:27), and those who carried them out must remove the contagion of holiness by washing their clothes and bathing.

The same ceremony was required of the man that let go the goat for Azazel (Leviticus 16:26). Whether this goat was regarded as sin-laden and unclean, or whether it shared the holiness of the Sin-Offering (the two goats constitute the Sin-Offering; see Leviticus 16:5), is not stated. It may be noted that in Leviticus 4:1-21 those who carried the Sin-Offerings outside are not required to undergo this rite of washing and bathing.

Leviticus 16:29-34

Statute of yearly atonement (29–34) On the annual Day of Atonement the people are to practise self-denial and to abstain from work. According to Benzinger this section forms an original and independent law (with the exception of 34 b), involving a simple rite for expiation of guilt, and afterwards combined with directions as to the conditions under which the high priest should enter the Holy of Holies. See App. p. 163.

Leviticus 16:31

31. a sabbath of solemn rest] Heb. shabbath shabbâthôn, here and Leviticus 23:32 of the Day of Atonement; Exodus 31:15; Exodus 35:2; Leviticus 23:3 of the sabbath; Leviticus 25:4 of the sabbatical year. Shabbâthôn is used of the first day of the seventh month, Leviticus 23:24, and of the first and eighth days of Tabernacles, Leviticus 23:39. In Exodus 16:23 the order of the two Heb. words is inverted, with ref. to an ordinary sabbath, ‘a solemn rest, a holy sabbath.’

Leviticus 16:32

32. shall be consecrated] See on Leviticus 8:33.

Leviticus 16:33

33. all the people of the assembly] An unusual expression, contrasting them with the priests who were also members of it.