And Jehovah spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they came near before Jehovah and died;
God dates a new set of instructions from a funeral. Two of Aaron's sons had drawn near to Him and died. Why does the chapter of the day of atonement open with that disaster?
Verse 1 points back to the death of Nadab and Abihu, Aaron's sons. One writer explains why that reminder stands here.
This is a chapter of central importance in the book of Leviticus. It forms a basis for, and is explained in, the letter to the Hebrews. Aaron's two sons had died for offering "strange fire to the Lord" (Lev. 10:1-2). We are reminded of this in verse 1 of chapter 16 so that we may be impressed with the seriousness of any approach into the holy presence of God.
Older English Bibles say the two sons "offered" before the Lord. One writer corrects the wording. The point is not what they offered, but that they approached the LORD.
Leviticus 16:1 — It is not when they "offered," but "came near before," or approached, the LORD.
That death led to a rule of distance. Aaron could not enter the holiest, the place behind the veil, whenever he chose. One writer weighs that distance against the joy God's people are meant to have.
Our joy is meant to have the glory of God as its element. We have a right to rejoice in the hope of that glory, just as we have a right to rejoice in God Himself. But such joy assumes nearness to Him. To keep the soul out of the presence of God cannot go together with real enjoyment of Him. Still, it was the failure of Nadab and Abihu that made this distance necessary on man's part. Under the law, and until the cross, no other provision was possible.
The two deaths did not end the matter. Yet the wording of the restriction leaves a door open, and one writer shows how much hangs on a short phrase.
The consequences of their sin did not cease with their death, as the opening verses of this chapter show… How gracious of the Lord to speak this way! "That he come not" would destroy all hope, but "at all times" at once revives it. Without question He has the right to say who should approach Him, and when.
One writer asks what this closed door meant. The high priest did go in, but not for fellowship.
The way into the holiest is closed; Aaron is forbidden to enter there at all times. He never went in wearing his garments of glory and beauty. When he did go in, it was not for communion. He went to cleanse the sanctuary, which the sins of a people among whom God dwelt had defiled. The day of atonement is introduced only with a ban on entering the holy place at all times. It also stands out as taking place after the death of the sons of Aaron. He does it with a cloud of incense, so that he will not die. It was truly a gracious provision, so that the people would not perish because of their defilements. But the Holy Spirit was showing that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made known.
That rule made the holiest a place of death for everyone but Aaron. It is the background for what happened when Jesus died.
It would therefore have been certain death, by the judgment of God, had anyone besides the high priest ventured inside that fearful veil (Lev. 16:1-2; Num. 15, 16). But the moment the sacrifice of Christ was finished, the veil was torn from top to bottom (Matt. 27:51). By His death He glorified God in every attribute of His character on the question of sin. By that one offering He perfected forever those who are sanctified. The veil was therefore torn to show that the way was now open into the holiest of all. "The same thing that tore the veil to let us in has also put away the sin that shut us out."
- Death — God dates the chapter from a funeral. Two priests drew near in their own way and died, and that event frames all that follows.
- Drawing near — the issue is not what they offered but that they approached God, which is never a casual thing.
- Distance — the answer was a limit on access. Under the law no other provision was possible; only the cross could bring us near.
- Grace — the words "at all times" limit the entry without closing it. God keeps the right to say who may approach Him, and when.
- Opening — the shut way was a sign that the true way was not yet open. At the cross the veil tore, and the sin that shut us out was put away.
and Jehovah said to Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the sanctuary inside the veil before the mercy-seat which is upon the ark, that he die not; for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy-seat.
Verse 2 draws a line inside the tabernacle: Aaron, the high priest, may not enter the innermost room whenever he pleases, on pain of death. Why did God shut His own priest out of His own dwelling, and what does the cloud over the mercy seat mean?
The wording is not a flat refusal. God restricts the timing rather than closing the door forever, and one writer hears mercy in that small phrase.
How gracious of the Lord to speak like this! "That he come not," would destroy all hope, but "at all times" immediately revives it. Without question He has the right to say who should approach Him, and when.
Stuart quotes an older translation here and below. Where it reads "that he come not at all times," the ESV has "not to come at any time."
The same writer notes whom the ban names — and whom it leaves out.
Aaron only was permitted to visit it once a year, though probably Moses, as mediator, had access to it at all times (Ex. 25:22; 34:34-35); for the prohibition in Lev. 16:2 ran in this form, "Speak to Aaron, your brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the veil." Not a word was said here about restricting Moses.
A gold slab gave the whole room its name. Its Hebrew name carries its own meaning.
The mercy seat was a slab of pure gold, two and a half cubits long by one and a half cubits wide, resting on the ark. It had its own meaning and its own name. It was not part of the ark, though always joined to it. Scripture calls the holy of holies "the place of the mercy seat" (see Lev. 16:2 and 1 Chr. 28:11). The Hebrew word for mercy seat is Kapporeth = to cover up, to reconcile, to atone.
Where God said He would appear became the seat of His rule over the nation, and the point from which mercy was measured out.
The mercy seat was His throne, the throne on which He sat, from where He governed His people, and from where He dispensed mercy according to the efficacy of the incense and the blood of the sacrifices presented before Him on the great day of atonement.
The threat of death applied even to the high priest himself.
There was not a man to be found in all the earth fit to come into the presence of the holy God, without the blood of a slain victim. No, not one; not even the high priest of Israel. Once a year God's people stood as one nation out of all the nations of the earth, and out of that nation stood one man. Yet even that one man must not come into the presence of God without blood... And the man who dares approach the mercy seat of God without the blood of the sin offering, that man must die.
The closed door matched the state of the people, and the one yearly entry had a narrow purpose.
The way into the holiest is closed; Aaron is forbidden to enter there at all times. He never went in wearing his garments of glory and beauty. When he went in, it was not for communion, but to cleanse the sanctuary defiled by the sins of a people among whom God dwelt... It was truly a gracious provision, so that the people should not perish because of their defilements. But the Holy Spirit was showing that the way into the holiest of all was not yet open.
The curtain that closed the sanctuary did not stay shut forever. One writer sets the old arrangement beside the new.
Here we see a picture of a way into the holiest for sinners, and a standing before God that no one can challenge. But the sacrifices offered then did not open that way or secure that standing. Aaron repeated them each year, and the veil, never torn, kept the inner sanctuary of God closed. Then, one man entered, the high priest; now, all enter who are priests. Then, he went behind the veil; now, we enter through it... "since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus" (Heb. 10:19). That inner sanctuary was empty when Aaron entered it, and empty when he left it. Is the holiest empty now?
- Barrier. God shut His own high priest out of the innermost room; the way into the holiest was not yet open.
- Boundary with hope. God limited when Aaron could come, not whether he could ever come; the door was shut, but not sealed forever.
- Blood. Not one man on earth was fit to stand before God without the blood of a slain victim; approach the mercy seat without it and that man must die.
- Basis. The mercy seat's name means to cover, to reconcile, to atone — God's throne, from which He governed and dispensed mercy on the ground of blood.
- Boldness. Then one man went behind the veil once a year; now all who are priests enter through it, by the blood of Jesus.