Albert Barnes Commentary Leviticus 16:11-25

"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 kill the bullock of the sin-offering which is for himself: and he shall take a censer full of coals of fire from off the altar before Jehovah, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the veil: and he shall put the incense upon the fire before Jehovah, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy-seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not: and he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy-seat on the east; and before the mercy-seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times. Then shall he kill the goat of the sin-offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the veil, and do with his blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy-seat, and before the mercy-seat: and he shall make atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleannesses of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions, even all their sins: and so shall he do for the tent of meeting, that dwelleth with them in the midst of their uncleannesses. And there shall be no man in the tent of meeting when he goeth in to make atonement in the holy place, until he come out, and have made atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the assembly of Israel. And he shall go out unto the altar that is before Jehovah, and make 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. And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleannesses of the children of Israel. And when he hath made an end of atoning for the holy place, and the tent of meeting, and the altar, he shall present the live goat: and 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, even all their sins; and he shall put them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a man that is in readiness into the wilderness: and the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a solitary land: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness. And Aaron shall come into the tent of meeting, and shall put off the linen garments, which he put on when he went into the holy place, and shall leave them there: and he shall bathe his flesh in water in a holy place, and put on his garments, and come forth, and offer his burnt-offering and the burnt-offering of the people, and make atonement for himself and for the people. And the fat of the sin-offering shall he burn upon the altar." — Leviticus 16:11-25 (ASV)

It is important, in reference to the meaning of the Day of Atonement, to observe the order of the rites as they are described in these verses.

(Leviticus 16:12) A censer - See the note on Exodus 25:38.

The altar before the Lord - that is, the altar of burnt-offering on which the fire was always burning.

(Leviticus 16:14) The high priest must have come out from the Most Holy Place to fetch the blood, leaving the censer smoking within, and then have entered again within the veil. He sprinkled the blood seven times upon the mercy-seat, on its east side (not “eastward”), and then seven times upon the floor in front of it. If the mercy-seat may be regarded as an altar, the holiest one of the three, on this one occasion in the year atonement was thus made for it, as for the other altars, with sacrificial blood.

(Leviticus 16:15) Having completed the atonement in the Holy of Holies on behalf of the priests, the high priest now had to do the same thing on behalf of the people.

(Leviticus 16:16) The “holy place” - Here, the place within the veil, the Holy of Holies.

Tabernacle of the congregation - tent of meeting. Atonement was now to be made for the tabernacle as a whole. The sense is very briefly expressed, but there seems to be no room to doubt that the high priest was to sprinkle the blood of each of the victims before the altar of incense, as he had done before the mercy-seat within the veil, and also to touch with blood the horns of the altar of incense (Exodus 30:10).

that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness - Compare to Leviticus 16:19. The most sacred earthly things that came into contact with the nature of man needed from time to time to be cleansed and sanctified by the blood of the sin-offerings that had been taken into the presence of Yahweh (see Exodus 28:38 note).

(Leviticus 16:18) The order of the ceremony required that atonement should first be made for the Most Holy Place with the mercy-seat, then for the Holy Place with the golden altar, and then for the altar in the court (see Leviticus 16:20, Leviticus 16:33). The horns of the brazen altar were touched with the blood, as they were in the ordinary sin-offerings (Leviticus 4:25, Leviticus 4:30, Leviticus 4:34).

Of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat - Some of the blood of the two victims was mingled together in a basin.

(Leviticus 16:21) Confess over him - The form of confession used on this occasion in later times was: “O Lord, Your people, the house of Israel, have transgressed, they have rebelled, they have sinned before You. I beseech You now to absolve their transgressions, their rebellion, and their sin that they have sinned against You, as it is written in the law of Moses Your servant, that on this day he shall make atonement for you to cleanse you from all your sins, and you shall be clean.”

A fit man - literally, a timely man, or a man at hand. Tradition says that the man was appointed for this work the year before.

(Leviticus 16:22) Unto a land not inhabited - Unto a place cut off, or (as in the margin) a place “of separation.”

It is evident that the one significance of the ceremony of this goat was the complete removal of the sins that were confessed over him. No symbol could so plainly set forth the completeness of Yahweh’s acceptance of the penitent, as a sin-offering in which a life was given up for the altar, and yet a living being survived to carry away all sin and uncleanness.