And Aaron shall present the bullock of the sin-offering, which is for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house, and shall slaughter the bullock of the sin-offering which is for himself.
Once a year the high priest could pass behind the veil, into the innermost room called the holiest. On that day the first blood shed was not for the nation but for the priest himself. Before Aaron could act for anyone else, he had to bring a bull — older versions call it a bullock — for his own sin and his household's. That order, and that animal, carry meaning far beyond the ritual.
Nothing on this day happened at random. The steps run in a fixed order, and the first one settles God's claim before anything touches the people's sins.
Atonement, in its first meaning, upholds the claims of God's throne about human sin. You can see this in what the high priest did on the Day of Atonement. First he carried the blood of the bullock into the holiest for himself and for his house. Then he presented the blood of the goat for the people of Israel. Only when these things were done did he send the scapegoat away with all the sins of the people on its head. The order put God first, then man.
The chapter says three times that this offering is for Aaron himself. At that exact point the likeness between Aaron and Christ turns into a contrast.
Scripture records this bullock three times as the sin offering for himself (16:6, 11). Wherever it mentions the atonement this bullock makes, it says that atonement is for himself and for his house (16:6, 11, 17). The high priest and his house are tied together this closely. No doubt this is to draw our attention to the oneness between Christ and His house — though there is a striking contrast as well. Aaron's bullock for sin suffered for himself and his house. Aaron was himself a sinner, and his house was made up of sinners like himself. Our High Priest knew no sin, and so He offered up Himself only for others.
The bullock covers a household, not a nation. So who is that house? One writer answers by asking who could enter the sanctuary at all.
The letter to the Hebrews says plainly that Christ's offering was not for Himself. But it also shows a priestly house that He offered it for. There were those that God gave to Him, as it is written, "Behold, I and the children God has given me." The true Aaron has a house and a family now on earth — Christians! ... One aim of this letter is to prove that our sins are not only forgiven — we also have the right to enter the sanctuary. And who can enter into the sanctuary but a son of Aaron? An ordinary Israelite could not go there. He could only come as far as the court outside.
Why a bullock for the priest's house, when Israel's offering was a goat? The difference is not just about size.
Now how striking it is to find that on the day of atonement the bullock is for the priestly house — the Church — while the goat is again for Israel. The bullock speaks of service; the goat speaks only of taking the place of sin. With the goat, if sin is removed, that is all; but the bullock speaks of service to God, of glorifying Him in the place taken. And "if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself" — this opens the sanctuary to His people. He is not only their Substitute upon the cross, but their Representative in glory.
Israel's atonement needed two goats — one killed, one sent away. The priestly house has one bullock and no second animal.
The bullock was offered only for the priestly house. There was no matching bullock to be driven away with their sins confessed and laid on its head, like the second goat which followed the first after a notable interval.
That missing animal also changes the timing. Kelly shows who must wait and who need not.
The blood of the bullock has to do only with those who enter the holy places, the sanctuary of God. The blood of the goat was brought there too, for God must be glorified in reconciling Israel or any others. But the first goat cannot be separated from the second. They combine to make up the necessary atonement for the people who wait for the great High Priest to come out. It is not so with those concerned in the bullock. They do not wait for Him to appear before they are accepted. The bullock has to do at once and only with the presence of God, for those whom grace entitles to enter there.
- God first. The priest's blood went in before the people's goat was touched. Atonement settles God's claim before it eases man's conscience.
- A house, not a crowd. The bullock covered a household. The true High Priest has one too: those God gave Him.
- The contrast that saves. Aaron offered for himself because he was a sinner. Christ knew no sin, so He could offer for others alone.
- The larger animal. The bullock speaks of service and of glorifying God, not only of sin removed. So it opens the sanctuary: a Representative in glory, not only a Substitute on the cross.
- Nothing left pending. Israel's two goats meant waiting for the priest to come out. The one bullock means the house is accepted now, free to enter at once.
And he shall take the censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before Jehovah, and both his hands full of fragrant incense beaten small, and bring it inside the veil.
Once a year the high priest could enter the innermost room of the tabernacle, and God fixed the order of what he did there: incense first, blood after. Every detail counts — coals from the altar outside, incense crushed fine, a cloud rising over the place where God appeared.
Aaron stops in the middle of his sacrificial duties to do this. Why does the incense go in before the blood?
It is not sacrifice; it must not be confused with it. It proclaims the value of Christ Himself, before anything testifies to the value of His work with God. Here the fire of God's holiness tests everything — and how it has tested Him! It only brings out the fragrance of "sweet incense." That fragrance covers the mercy seat, so the priest may sprinkle it with the blood of atonement in safety and in peace.
The fire was not the priest's own. It came from the altar where the sacrifice had burned, and that source gives the incense its meaning.
Notice that it was burnt on the altar. Fire was what brought out its sweet fragrance. The fire used for this came from the bronze altar. So the same fire that consumed the sacrifice brought out the fragrance of the incense. This explains its significance. The fire is a type of the searching judgment of God — of His holiness applied in judgment. Our blessed Lord passed through this on the cross. But the only effect of the holy fire upon Him was to bring out a "cloud" of sweet perfume.
A common reading treats incense as a picture of prayer. Kelly tests that against the places where incense appears and finds it will not hold.
This, with a great deal more elsewhere, makes one thing clear. We cannot take the incense to mean only, or entirely, the prayers of the saints. In Revelation 5 the royal priests present the prayers of the saints as incense. In Revelation 8 the angel high priest adds much incense to the prayers of all the saints. No creature could do that — only He Himself. Where would be the sense in adding the prayers of the saints to the prayers of the saints?
The incense was crushed to powder, not carried in as lumps. Mackintosh finds the same idea in the burnt offering, which was cut into pieces.
This action presents a truth much like that taught in the "sweet incense beaten small" (Leviticus 16). The Holy Spirit delights to dwell on the sweetness and fragrance of the sacrifice of Christ. He dwells on it not only as a whole, but also in all its smallest details. Look at the burnt offering as a whole, and you see it without blemish. Look at it in all its parts, and you see it is the same.
The stated purpose is survival — the cloud covers the mercy seat so the priest does not die. Stuart looks at what the incense was made of, and at how the cloud works in both directions.
The sweet incense pictured the sweet fragrance of the merits of Christ. God chose its four ingredients (Exodus 30:34-36), and three of them are named nowhere else — for there was something in the Lord Jesus Christ, we must all admit, that was acceptable to God and belonged to Him alone. With the cloud of incense between Aaron and the mercy seat, he could stand before it… Aaron could see the glory of God shining on the mercy seat through the cloud of incense. And God saw Aaron, the representative of his house and his nation, through that same cloud. Of course, the One Aaron pictured needed no cloud of incense for God to see Him. He is in the presence of God according to the excellence of His Person… But no human being can stand before God apart from the merits of Christ.
Where does real worship come from? Mackintosh answers, and adds a warning about the fire.
Only the power of the Spirit can produce all this. There is no need to work up nature's devotional feelings by the various devices of a religious system. There must be pure fire as well as pure incense. (Compare Leviticus 10:1 with Leviticus 16:12.) All efforts to worship God by nature's unholy powers come under the heading of "strange fire."
- Fire — the coals came from the altar of sacrifice. The judgment that consumed the offering is the same heat that released the perfume.
- Fragrance — that heat raised no smoke of ruin. It raised a cloud of sweetness: the tested perfections of Christ.
- Fineness — "beaten small" means the excellence reaches the smallest detail, not just the whole.
- Cover — the cloud rises first and shields the man, so the priest can sprinkle the blood in peace instead of dying.
- Access — no one stands before God on his own record. Aaron needed the cloud; we need the merits of Christ.
And he shall put the incense upon the fire before Jehovah, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy-seat which is upon the testimony, that he die not.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle with his finger upon the front of the mercy-seat eastward; and before the mercy-seat shall he sprinkle of the blood seven times with his finger.
On the Day of Atonement the high priest carried the bull's blood past the veil. He did two things with it. He put it once on the mercy seat, then seven times on the ground in front of it. Why the difference in number? And what did this one act settle, for God and for the people outside?
The mercy seat was the lid of the ark, the place where God met His people. What was placed on it decided the character of that meeting.
On the mercy seat God Himself was met. In fact that is what made it a mercy seat, for otherwise it was a throne of judgment. Now it is a throne of government in man's favour, instead of a throne of judgment against him.
The blood touches the mercy seat first, and the ground in front only after that. The order matters.
The mercy seat was the place of God's throne on earth, so the priest sprinkled the blood there first. God's throne had its claims, and those claims came first. On that day the making of propitiation came before all thought of the sinner's standing.
The two numbers answer two different needs.
Suppose a Jew had looked in through the torn veil, what was there to see? The blood on the mercy seat and the blood before the mercy seat. The blood sprinkled once "upon" the mercy seat was enough for God. But man needs every possible means to make him sure, and God graciously grants it. Seven times the priest sprinkled the blood "before" the mercy seat. That gives man full evidence that he may draw near to God in safety and certainty.
That patch of ground in front of the seat was where the priest himself stood, which is why the repeated sprinkling speaks to the one who approaches.
The blood was sprinkled there in testimony that propitiation had been made, and seven times so that it might be a perfect testimony... So whoever receives God's testimony in the gospel comes to the mercy seat — Christ — "through faith in His blood." In God's very presence he finds the perfect witness that propitiation has been made for his sins. He also finds that another has borne those sins, and borne them away for ever.
Seven, taken as the number of completeness, is read as covering every group and every sphere the atonement will ever touch.
In the sprinkling of the blood seven times before the mercy seat we learn that whatever the application of the atonement of Christ may be — whether to things, to places, or to persons — it is perfectly valued in the divine presence. The blood which secures the salvation of the Church... the blood which secures the salvation of the congregation of Israel; the blood which secures the final restoration and blessing of the whole creation. That blood has been presented before God. It was sprinkled and accepted according to all the perfectness, fragrance, and preciousness of Christ. The blood sprinkled on the believer's conscience has been sprinkled seven times before the throne of God.
The direction is not decoration. East was the side the worshippers came from.
He entered the immediate presence of the Lord, where He dwelt alone. There he sprinkled some of the blood on the throne, or mercy seat. He did this "once." He placed the blood "upon the mercy seat eastward" — on the part of it that faced the entrance gate into the sanctuary. That was the gate through which Israel approached the Lord. This was the foundation for all the purifications which followed. Because of the atoning blood, the throne of divine holiness could now look on the people with mercy.
The animal here is the bull, not the goat. Earlier in the chapter the bull belongs to Aaron and his household.
The bull had been for Aaron and his house (v. 6). This points to the Lord Jesus and the priestly family. Today that family is the Church of God, for all believers now are priests (1 Peter 2:5).
The priest had to repeat this act every year. That is where the picture gives way to the reality.
Let us remember that on the mercy seat of propitiation the blood was placed before the eye of God!... This had to be done again; the blood of a bull had to be sprinkled before God on that golden mercy seat once every year. And the blood of other victims often had to be shed. Not so the blood of Christ; that blood, once shed and sprinkled, can never be shed or sprinkled again.
- Once — for God. One touch of blood on the mercy seat met the claims of the throne. God needed only one witness that the sacrifice had been made.
- Seven — for man. The seven sprinklings mark the spot where the priest stood. They give the one who draws near the full assurance man is slow to take in.
- Eastward — toward us. The priest put the blood on the side facing the entrance, so the throne could look on the people with mercy.
- Wide — beyond us. The same perfect value of the blood reaches the Church, Israel, the whole creation — and the believer's own conscience.
- Final — once for all. The bull's blood came back every year. Christ's blood, once shed and sprinkled, is never sprinkled again.
And he shall slaughter the goat of the sin-offering, which is for the people, and bring its blood inside the veil, and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy-seat, and before the mercy-seat;
On the Day of Atonement the high priest first carried the bullock's blood inside the veil for himself and his house. Now he kills a second victim, the goat for the people, and puts its blood in the same place — the mercy seat.
Two animals do not mean two sacrifices. One writer sees in the doubling two purposes held together in one death.
It is not as if there were two offerings of our blessed Lord Jesus; but at least two objects of His work were in the mind of God here... The main picture before us now is the blood of the bullock put on the mercy seat and in front of it — once on it, seven times in front of it. Once was enough for God, where approach to Him was invited; man needed seven times. How slow man has proved to take in the fullest encouragement God gives! It was He who provided all of this in the picture. He despises no one.
The place matters. The mercy seat was the lid of the ark, where God sat enthroned among Israel. Blood on that spot made propitiation — God's holy claims fully met.
First, Aaron sprinkled the blood on the mercy seat. That sprinkling is what made propitiation, because the mercy seat was God's throne in the middle of Israel... The Lord was holy, and as such He claimed holiness from His people... But as soon as God gave the law, Israel broke it and came under its righteous penalty of death. God would have had to carry out that penalty, unless a way could be found to satisfy the claims of a holy God upon a nation of sinners.
The bullock covered the priest's own household; this goat is named for the nation. One writer sees two groups in view, both reached by the same entry into God's presence.
Aaron's house, then, was the priestly family, which pictured the whole Christian family. For them the blood of the bullock was shed. For whom, then, was the blood of the goat? For the people... He has gone in, not with the blood of others, but with His own. He went in not only for us who believe, but for the people as well. And we now have the matchless privilege of entering in spirit into that sanctuary where the forerunner has entered for us.
This goat is only half of the picture. The live goat, sent away later in the chapter, does something different — and that difference shapes how the gospel is preached.
It is not substitution when I say to everyone, "The blood is on the mercy seat." I do not say "your sins are put away," because I do not know that they are. In detail, I can not only say, "Come, and welcome." I can say, "God begs you to come, for the blood is on the mercy seat." The scapegoat goes a step further. If a person does come, it declares that God can never speak to you about your sins again, for they are all put away.
Commentators differ on how far the two goats can be separated. Another writer holds that this goat already pictures one person standing in the place of another:
The goat which is the Lord's lot speaks just as plainly of substitution as it does of propitiation. The goat, the type of the sinner, is the very thing that says so; no figure could convey the thought more precisely. It proclaims that propitiation comes by substitution. So it is for the people in whose place the victim stood, and for no others.
The seven sprinklings in front of the seat carry their own meaning. One writer traces how far the worth of that blood reaches.
"Seven" is the perfect number. The blood sprinkled seven times before the mercy seat teaches us this: wherever the atonement of Christ is applied — to things, to places, or to persons — God values it perfectly in His presence. One blood secures the salvation of the Church, the house of the true Aaron. The same blood secures the salvation of the congregation of Israel. The same blood secures the final restoration and blessing of the whole creation. That blood has been presented before God, sprinkled and accepted according to all the perfectness, fragrance, and preciousness of Christ.
- Blood first. Blood on the mercy seat makes propitiation. That seat was God's throne among a people who had broken His law.
- Blood for God. Once was enough for God. The seven sprinklings in front of the seat were for man, who is slow to take in the encouragement God Himself gives.
- Blood for the people. The bullock covered the priest's household. This goat is named for the nation. One entry into God's presence reaches both.
- Blood, then the scapegoat. The blood on the seat lets God invite everyone to come. The live goat tells the one who comes that his sins will never be raised again.
- Blood beyond Israel. God values that blood perfectly. Its worth reaches the Church, Israel, and creation itself.
and he shall make atonement for the sanctuary, [to cleanse it] from the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and from their transgressions in all their sins; and so shall he do for the tent of meeting which dwelleth among them in the midst of their uncleanness.
Once a year the high priest carried blood inside the veil, and the first thing it cleansed was not the people but the place. Leviticus 16:16 gives the reason: God had chosen to live among a people whose sin reached even the tent where He met them.
A building cannot sin. So why does the verse call it unclean?
Why "uncleanness"? All evil is unclean and defiling. Whatever deals with it is unclean by contact, as Leviticus 15:4-12 and Numbers 19:7-8, 10 show. And uncleanness needs both cleansing and atonement. The building could not be guilty, but it did get unclean, because of "their transgressions in all their sins." Unclean Israel came often to the tabernacle, and the very handling of their uncleanness defiled what was holy. Atonement was needed because uncleanness had been allowed.
Sin never stays private:
What a solemn thought! A man who commits sin may say, It is only myself I am injuring; nobody else has anything to do with it. And he is rightly told that no man is so cut off from his fellows. If someone came into a city with a contagious disease, he would not be allowed to stay. And the sinner can rightly be told, You are not only affected yourself, you influence humanity. You set an example, and you defile those you are associated with. You are lowering the moral level of the human race.
The blood was not only for the people. It was what let God stay among them:
The claims of the sanctuary must be provided for. The Lord's courts, as well as His throne, must bear witness to the value of the blood. God's provisions of atonement must fence in the tabernacle, which stood in the middle of Israel's uncleanness… Without the power of the blood, the Holy One could not have stayed among the congregation for a moment! The blood is what left Him free to dwell, act and rule among a straying people.
Notice which thing surrounds which:
On the day of atonement it is said to be "for the tent of meeting, which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleannesses" (Leviticus 16:16). It is not that the uncleanness is in the midst of the tabernacle, but the tabernacle in the midst of it — quite a different thought.
That surrounding pressure was the problem God Himself had to solve, without lowering His own character:
Israel was, in fact, a people in the flesh, defiled by sin. So the tabernacle of God remained "with them in the midst of their uncleannesses." A holy and righteous God could not tolerate this. To tolerate it, He would have denied His own character. He would have announced that sin does not break every relationship between man and Him. So God had to find a way to receive Israel before Him and still maintain His character… He provided that way for Israel by the offerings of the day of atonement.
Commentators note that the Hebrew allows a slightly different shading of "for the holy place":
The "atonement for the holy place was because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of all their transgressions in all their sins"; or it might perhaps be rendered, "he shall make atonement upon the holy place, from the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and from their transgressions in respect to, or on account of, all their sins."
The same pattern reaches beyond the wilderness tent to heaven itself:
The blood of Christ purifies the heavenly places, just as the blood of bulls and goats purged the tabernacle. Leviticus 16 gives the reason for this rite for the tabernacle in the wilderness… God has set up His dwelling-place among His people. We are in contact with His tabernacle. Our transgressions and our sins are named there. What a thing for sin to be named in heaven!
What Aaron repeated every year is now finished:
On the great day of atonement Aaron carried the blood of the sin offering inside the veil, so that he might "make atonement for the Holy Place." This has now been done once and for ever. The atonement for the holy place lasts — it is as much purged once and for ever as the worshipper himself. No worshipper who enters there need fear bringing defilement. That blood cleanses all sin away, and it is there for ever before God.
- Contact defiles. The tent could not sin. But a sinful people came to it, and handling their uncleanness made it unclean.
- Contact spreads. No one sins alone. A person's sin lowers the moral level of everyone around him.
- Blood answers contact. Atonement for the holy place left God free to dwell, act and rule among a straying people, without denying His own character.
- Contact surrounds. The tent stood inside the uncleanness, not the uncleanness inside the tent. God placed His dwelling in the middle of the defilement.
- Contact now cleanses. The picture rises to heaven itself, where the blood stays for ever, so the worshipper enters without fear of defiling the place.
And there shall be no man in the tent of meeting when he goeth in to make atonement in the sanctuary until he come out; and he shall make atonement for himself, and for his house, and for the whole congregation of Israel.
Once a year the high priest carried blood behind the curtain, and while he was inside the tent had to be empty — no other priest, no helper, no witness. Why did God want him alone, and what were the people outside meant to do?
The phrase is easy to misread. In this chapter it stands for the innermost room, not the outer one. One writer points to the italics in older printings as the clue.
"The holy place," throughout this chapter where the word "place" is in italics, means the "most holy," verses 2, 16, 17, 20, 23, 27. It is called "the holy sanctuary" in verse 33. No one was to be with him, or to enter the tabernacle, until he had completed that important work of atonement. Atonement, strictly speaking, is all Godward, and one person alone accomplishes it.
The empty tent says something about the work itself. One writer ties it to what the work had to be worth.
No man was to be with the high priest in this unutterably solemn action. He does it all Himself. He was for this purpose alone with God. Nothing mingled with the atonement of Christ. It had to be fully fit for the divine glory, and the highest perfection for His own to enjoy. So He does the work in His own person, and shuts out every other. This made all sure.
The same command that shuts people out of the work opens the benefit of it to them without limit. Notice how both sides stand together — and notice what the nation was doing meanwhile.
In the picture Aaron acted alone, but the great High Priest did the real work, and all the glory of it must always go to Him. Thank God, all who believe on the Lord Jesus share in the results of it, and share for ever. In the doing of it they had no part, and could have had none. See how carefully God cared for the glory of His Son. See also how plainly He taught that the people it was done for could take no part in the work… In the camp the people were resting from all work, though afflicting their souls.
The same solitude appears at the cross, where darkness covered the scene.
At the last stage of this great transaction there is darkness over all the earth. How fitting that it should be so! God and Christ were alone there. Long before, these words had pictured the scene: "No one may be in the tent of meeting from the time he enters to make atonement in the Holy Place."… God meant to withdraw His Son in that hour. No one was to see what passed between Him and Christ while the Blessed One bore the judgment of God against sin.
Only one man could be inside the tent. One writer draws out what that rules out today.
The high priest alone conducted its services. He alone made the atonement. No fellow priest helped him. Israel could only look on, with hope centred in him. He stood as the picture of the great Worker acting for man. No one could be inside the Holy place until the high priest came out. In the same way, the idea of co-mediators and co-redeemers with Christ in heaven contradicts the divine reality.
One writer describes what the people could know while the priest was inside, and how they waited.
They could not know whether he was even alive in the sanctuary, or what he had done there. They did not stand outside praying or pleading; they waited in silence and suspense until he came out. Then they knew he had met all God's requirements, and the proof was that he was alive.
The verse names three groups the atonement covers: the priest himself, his house, and all Israel. One writer says we are living now in the gap before he comes out, and that believers and Israel stand differently in it.
This whole period is, strictly speaking, the day of atonement. The true Aaron has gone in with His own blood, into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. By and by, He will come out to lead the congregation of Israel into the full results of His accomplished work. Meanwhile His house — that is, all true believers — are joined with Him. They have boldness to enter the holiest, brought near by the blood of Jesus.
- Alone — in place. The "holy place" here is the innermost sanctuary. God emptied the tent of everyone else while the work went on.
- Alone — in doing. He does it all Himself. Nothing mingled with the atonement of Christ, and that is what made it sure.
- Alone — in darkness. At the cross darkness covered the earth, and no eye saw what passed between God and His Son.
- Alone — so no one else can be added. No fellow priest helped Aaron, which rules out any co-mediator or co-redeemer with Christ.
- Alone — but not for Himself. Those shut out of the doing share for ever in the results, and wait for the High Priest to come out again.
And he shall go out unto the altar which is before Jehovah, and make atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about;
The Day of Atonement does not end at the mercy seat inside the veil. The high priest comes out to an altar and puts blood on its horns. Two questions sit in this verse. Which altar is meant? And why should a piece of furniture need atonement at all?
Commentators differ here. One reading takes the altar's own description as the clue:
"The altar that is before the LORD," verse 18, seems to be the bronze altar, because it is described in this way. Aaron sprinkles the blood on the mercy seat first. Then he makes atonement for the holy place, and next for the tent of meeting. Then "he shall go out to the altar that is before the LORD and make atonement for it." The bronze altar was "before the LORD." Exodus 29:42 uses the words that way, and verse 43 says, "There I will meet with the people of Israel."
Others read the same "going out" as a move from the holiest into the holy place. That would make it the golden altar of incense:
On further consideration I have no doubt that the altar for which atonement is made in Leviticus 16:18 is the altar of incense. The "go out" that misled me for a moment is from the holiest (v. 16) to the holy place. What decides it for me is that the whole scene is the tabernacle (v. 16) and what is inside it.
Whichever altar it is, it stands where the people met God, and their uncleanness has defiled it. That says something about sin itself:
But more was needed. Acting for the earthly people, the priest had to put the blood on the horns of the golden altar. That is the altar before the LORD in verse 18, the ordinary place where they stood... They knew nothing of such an entrance into the holiest. So the blood was put on their behalf where they stood as a nation before God. It made atonement for the altar, cleansed it, and set it apart from all the uncleanness of the people of Israel. They were also taught that their uncleanness was found in a place they themselves never reached. They never entered the sanctuary on any pretext, yet their uncleanness counted as reaching into it — a reminder that the effects of sin reach far beyond the person who commits it.
The cleansing has a purpose beyond the day itself. It keeps the altar fit for use afterwards:
This picture shows what the letter to the Hebrews calls the "purification of the heavenly things" (Hebrews 9:23). The blood of atonement is what makes it right for the tabernacle — and so for God's presence — to remain among a sinful people. Right after this, the altar too is purified, so that it may remain among them to sanctify their gifts.
The blood goes on the horns of the altar, and the horns carry a meaning of their own:
The horn is a symbol of strength. So when the blood was sprinkled on the horns, the whole strength of the altar was shown in full. That strength had been against the sinner. Now it works on his behalf. The horns of the altar became a place of refuge, a shelter no one could break into, for everyone who had a right to their protection on the ground of the sprinkled blood.
The verse names both bloods — the bull's and the goat's. Commentators see two different groups behind that pairing:
The blood of the bull has to do only with those who enter the holy places, the sanctuary of God. The blood of the goat was brought there too, for God must be glorified in reconciling Israel or anyone else. But the first goat cannot be separated from the second. They belong together and make up the atonement needed for the people who await the coming out of the great High Priest. It is not so with those concerned in the bull. There is no waiting for His appearing for their acceptance.
The high priest's exit is not just procedure. Commentators read it as a picture of what is still ahead:
But He will come out. Has He come out yet? No... "And he shall go out," etc. (Lev. 16:18), just as we know the Lord Jesus Christ is coming from the right hand of God in heaven.
What He does on coming out reaches wider than one nation:
When the Lord does come, He will come to reign over this world. He will take the lower heavens and the earth under His own power and rule, for the glory of God. The letter to the Colossians says that by the blood of His cross He not only made peace, but is to reconcile all things, whether in heaven or on earth. This matches what we have here. The blessing of all creation comes together with the forgiveness of Israel.
- Blood first. Atonement moves outward from the mercy seat. The blood goes to God first, then to the places where the people stand.
- Blood on the place. Sin defiles ground the sinner never stood on. So the blood cleanses even the altar. Sin reaches further than the sinner.
- Blood on the horns. The horns speak of strength. The altar's full power once stood against the sinner. Now it shelters everyone covered by that blood.
- Blood for two companies. Bull and goat together: Aaron's house is accepted now; the people still wait for the High Priest to come out.
- Blood then coming out. Aaron's exit points to Christ coming out from heaven. Then He forgives Israel and reconciles all things.
and he shall sprinkle upon it of the blood with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleannesses of the children of Israel.
The day of atonement did not end inside the veil, where the high priest sprinkled blood on the mercy seat. He then came out and put blood on the altar too, which raises a question: why does an object of wood and metal need cleansing?
This sprinkling is the last stop on a route the blood travelled all day. One writer follows it from end to end:
So the atoning blood was sprinkled everywhere. It went from the throne of God inside the veil out to the altar that stood in the court of the tent of meeting.
Israel's people never entered the sanctuary, yet their uncleanness is named there, and atonement is made for the altar where they did stand. One commentator draws out both halves of that:
Israel had no entrance into the holiest. So the high priest put the blood on their behalf where they stood before God as a nation. It made atonement for the altar, cleansed it, and set it apart from all the uncleanness of the people of Israel (verses 18, 19). They were also taught something more: their uncleanness was found in a place they themselves never reached. They never entered the sanctuary on any pretext, yet their uncleanness still counted as reaching into it. The effects of sin reach far beyond the person who commits it.
Notice what the verse cleanses: the altar, not the people who used it.
What had to be cleansed was what belonged to God: the holy place and the altar of incense, the place where God dwelt. It was not the people. This was not forgiving them, though it was the basis of that. It was "Jehovah's lot" cleansing the place of His presence. It showed the character of Him who dwelt there, who could not bear sin and uncleanness.
Earlier that day the high priest also sprinkled blood seven times before the mercy seat. One writer explains what the number means:
"Seven" is the perfect number. In the sprinkling of the blood seven times before the mercy seat we learn this: whatever the atonement of Christ is applied to, whether things, places, or persons, God values it perfectly in His presence.
Commentators differ about which altar this is. Some place it in the outer court, where ordinary Israelites brought their offerings:
The third great act took place in the court, where Israel could enter and approach God at the altar. Here the worshipper had stood with his offering of pleasing aroma. Here too sin had driven the wrongdoer to bring his sin offering. The court and its altar needed cleansing. The high priest first put the blood of the sacrifices on the horns of the altar. Then he "sprinkled some of the blood on it with his finger seven times." For sin offerings the priest put blood on the horns of the altar. For offerings of pleasing aroma he threw the blood against the altar walls. So this double action — blood on the horns, and blood sprinkled on the altar — stood for every offering in which life was given up to God in sacrifice.
Others follow the movement of the chapter and reach a different answer:
After further thought, I have no doubt that the altar atoned for in Leviticus 16:18 is the altar of incense. The words "go out" misled me for a moment. They mean going out from the holiest (verse 16) into the holy place. What decides it for me is that the whole scene is the tabernacle (verse 16) and what is inside it.
This cleansing of places reaches beyond the tabernacle. One writer states it plainly:
The heavenly things themselves need better sacrifices. Satan and his angels are there, and cleansing is needed. This cleansing is not forgiveness. God must have His house cleansed as well as His people made righteous.
- Reach. Sin spreads further than the sinner. Israel's uncleanness reached a sanctuary no Israelite ever entered.
- Route. The blood follows that reach step by step: throne, tent, altar. It covers every place sin had touched.
- Object. Here the blood cleanses God's place, not the people. It shows the character of the One who dwells there and cannot bear uncleanness.
- Measure. Seven sprinklings mean God values that blood perfectly, whether for things, for places, or for persons.
- Scale. The same principle reaches heaven itself. God will have His house cleansed as well as His people made righteous.