Leviticus 16:2

_AND THE LORD SAID UNTO MOSES, SPEAK UNTO AARON THY BROTHER, THAT HE COME NOT AT ALL TIMES INTO THE HOLY PLACE WITHIN THE VAIL BEFORE THE MERCY SEAT, WHICH IS UPON THE ARK; THAT HE DIE NOT: FOR I WILL APPEAR IN THE CLOUD UPON THE MERCY SEAT._ Come not at all times ... Common priests went every day to burn incense on the golden altar into the part of the sanctuary without the veil. But none except the high priest was allowed to enter within the veil (Leviticus 4:6), and that only once a year, with the greatest care and solemnity. "The holy place," for the most holy place (Hebrews 9:2): the sacred writers frequently use the positive for the other degrees of comparison. This arrangement was evidently designed to inspire a reverence for the most holy place, and the precaution was necessary, at a t

2._Speak unto Aaron. _The sum of the law is, that the priest should not frequently enter the inner sanctuary, but only once a year, _i.e., _on the feast of the atonement, in the month of September. The cause of this was, lest a more frequent entrance of it should produce indifference; for if he had entered it promiscuously at every sacrifice, no small part of the reverence due to it would have been lost. The ordinary sprinkling of the altar was sufficient to testify the reconciliation; but this annual ceremony more greatly influenced the people’s minds. Again, by this sacrifice, which they saw only once at the end of the year, the one and perpetual sacrifice offered by God’s Son was more clearly represented. Therefore the Apostle elegantly alludes to this ceremony in the Epistle to the Hebrews, where it is said that by the annual entrance of the high priest the Holy Ghost signified, "tha...

1-14 Without entering into particulars of the sacrifices on the great day of atonement, we may notice that it was to be a statute for ever, till that dispensation be at an end. As long as we are continually sinning, we continually need the atonement. The law of afflicting our souls for sin, is a statue which will continue in force till we arrive where all tears, even those of repentance, will be wiped from our eyes. The apostle observes it as a proof that the sacrifices could not take away sin, and cleanse the conscience from it, that in them there was a remembrance made of sin every year, upon the day of atonement, Hebrews 10:1; Hebrews 10:3. The repeating the sacrifices, showed there was in them but a feeble effort toward making atonement; this could be done only by offering up the body of Christ once for all; an...

Verse Leviticus 16:2. _THAT HE COME NOT AT ALL TIMES INTO THE HOLY PLACE_] By the holy place we are to understand here what is ordinarily called the _Holy of Holies_, or _most holy place_; that place within the veil where the ark of the covenant, c., were laid up and where God manifested his presence between the cherubim. In ordinary cases the high priest could enter this place _only once_ _in the year_, that is, on the day of annual atonement; but in extraordinary cases he might enter more frequently, viz., while in the wilderness, in decamping and encamping, he must enter to take down or adjust the things; and on solemn pressing public occasions, he was obliged to enter in order to consult the Lord: but he never entered without the deepest reverence and due preparation. That it may appear that the grand subject of this chapter, the ordinance o

THE HOLY PLACE WITHIN THE VAIL - See Exodus 26:33; Hebrews 9:3. THE CLOUD - Compare Exodus 16:10 note. THE MERCY SEAT - See Exodus 25:17 note....

PART III. SECTION II. EXPOSITION THE CEREMONIAL PURIFICATION OF THE WHOLE CONGREGATION ON THE GREAT DAY OF ATONEMENT. This chapter, containing the account of the institution of the ceremonial to be used on the Day of Atonement, would take its place chronologically immediately after the tenth chapter, for the instructions conveyed in it were delivered to Moses _"after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the Lord and died" _(Leviticus 16:1), when the fate of Nadab and Abihu would naturally have led Aaron to desire a more perfect knowledge than had

AND THE LORD SAID UNTO MOSES, SPEAK UNTO AARON THY BROTHER,.... Who was the high priest; and what is here said to him was binding on all high priests in succession from him: THAT HE COME NOT AT ALL TIMES INTO THE HOLY [PLACE]; or "holiness" p, which was holiness itself, or the most holy place, as distinguished from that which was sometimes called the holy place, where stood the incense altar, the showbread table, and the candlestick, into which Aaron went every day, morning and evening, to do the service there enjoined him; but into the holy of holies here described, as appears by the after description of it, he might not go at all times, or every day, or when he pleased, only once a year, on the day of atonement; though, according to the Jewish writers, he went in four times on that day, first to offer incense, a second time to sprinkle the blood of the bullock, a third time to sprinkl...

Leviticus 16:1. _And the LORD spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the LORD, and died; and the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the vail before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat._ The way into the heavenly places was not yet made manifest; the inner shrine, called the holy of holies, was specially guarded from human access. No one could have said in those days, «Let us come boldly unto the throne of grace,» for only the high priest could approach the mercy seat at all, and he must go within the vail strictly in accordance with the instructions given to Moses by the Lord. Nadab and Abihu appear to have entered into the presence of God wrongfully. They had probably been drinking, for th

IV. THE DAY OF ATONEMENT: IN THE HOLIEST 1. The Day of Atonement CHAPTER 16 _ 1. The command how Aaron was to enter (Leviticus 16:1)_ 2. The presentation of the offerings (Leviticus 16:6) 3. The blood carried into the Holiest (Leviticus 16:11) 4. The scapegoat (Leviticus 16:20) 5. Aaron's burnt offering and that for the people (Leviticus 16:23) 6. The ceremony outside of the camp ...

ATONEMENT RITE FOR HIGH PRIEST AND HIS FAMILY. The holy place within the veil, _i.e._ the inner of the two compartments of the shrine, is not to be entered at will, but only on New Year's Day (Leviticus 16:29). Otherwise the intruder would be killed by the Shekinah which dwelt there in solitary majesty. (For the veil, see Exodus 26:31 *; for the mercy-seat, see Exodus 25:17 ff.*) The priest, wearing less ornate robes than at his consecration (Leviticus 8:7 ff.), presents the bullock as his own sin offering, and the two goats; on these he casts lots (to make atonement for him ...