Leviticus 16:4

_THUS SHALL AARON COME INTO THE HOLY PLACE: WITH A YOUNG BULLOCK FOR A SIN OFFERING, AND A RAM FOR A BURNT OFFERING._ Thus shall Aaron come. Since the duties of the great day of atonement led to the nearest and most solemn approach to God, the directions as to the proper course to be followed were minute and special. And here follows the programme: a full detail of the manner in which he should make a reverent and acceptable entrance. WITH A YOUNG BULLOCK ... AND A RAM. These victims he brought alive, but they were not offered in sacrifice until he had gone through the ceremonies described between this and Leviticus 16:11. After having purified himself by the ablution of his entire person, he was to put on an appropriate dress. But he was not to attire himself on that occasion in the splendid robes that were proper to his sacred office, but in a plain dr

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 16:4. _HE SHALL PUT ON THE HOLY LINEN COAT_] He was not to dress in his _pontifical_ garments, but in the simple sacerdotal vestments, or those of the Levites, because it was a day of _humiliation_; and as he was to offer sacrifices for his _own sins_, it was necessary that he should appear in habits suited to the occasion. Hence he has neither the _robe_, the _ephod_, the _breastplate_, the _mitre_, c. these constituted his dress of _dignity_ as the high priest of God, ministering for others and the representative of Christ: but now he appears, before God as a _sinner_, offering an atonement for his transgressions, and his garments are those of humiliation....

The high priest when he changed his dress on this day was required to bathe himself. In his “golden garments” he had, on this day, and for the previous week, to offer the regular daily sacrifices, and to perform the other sacerdotal duties of the sanctuary, which were usually performed by a common priest. The dress of white linen, which he now put on, appears to have been like the ordinary dress of the common priests, except in the substitution of a linen mitre for the bonnet (or cap), and of a plain linen girdle for the variegated one (Exodus 28:40 notes). In preparing to enter the holy of holies, he attired himself in spotless white as a token of the holiness without which none, in a spiritual sense, can enter the divine presence. He thus became a more distinct foreshadow of the greater high priest...

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

HE SHALL PUT ON THE HOLY LINEN COAT,.... Which he wore in common with other priests: AND HE SHALL HAVE THE LINEN BREECHES UPON HIS FLESH; upon those parts of his body which are more secret, and less honourable flesh, meaning the same, as in Leviticus 15:2: AND SHALL BE GIRDED WITH A LINEN GIRDLE AND WITH THE LINEN MITRE SHALL HE BE ATTIRED, as the other priests were; which were an emblem of the purity and holiness of Christ, whereby he became a proper and suitable high priest, to make atonement for sin, he having none in himself; and of his mean estate of humiliation afflictions, and sufferings, whereby he expiated sin, and made reconciliation for iniquity; the high priest on the day of atonement not appearing in his golden garments, as the Jews call others worn by him, because there were some gold in them, as being unsuitable to a day of affliction

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 ...

WASH. bathe. See note on Leviticus 14:9....