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.
William KellyIt 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.
Edward DennettFirst, 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.
The Bible TreasuryAaron'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.
J. N. DarbyIt 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:
Frederick W GrantThe 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.
C. H. Mackintosh"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?
VariousWhy "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:
Samuel RidoutWhat 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:
C. H. MackintoshThe 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:
Frederick W GrantOn 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:
The Christian's FriendIsrael 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":
Arno Clemens GaebeleinThe "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:
J. N. DarbyThe 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:
James L HarrisOn 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.