Leviticus 16:1-19 - Atonement of the Two Goats

Leviticus 16:1-19

The Day of Atonement

1 Now the LORD spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered profane fire before the LORD, and died; 2 and the LORD said to Moses: “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at just any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark, lest he die; for I will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat.

3 “Thus Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: with the blood of a young bull as a sin offering, and of a ram as a burnt offering. 4 He shall put the holy linen tunic and the linen trousers on his body; he shall be girded with a linen sash, and with the linen turban he shall be attired. These are holy garments. Therefore he shall wash his body in water, and put them on. 5 And he shall take from the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats as a sin offering, and one ram as a burnt offering.

6 “Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house. 7 He shall take the two goats and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. 8 Then Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats: one lot for the LORD and the other lot for the scapegoat. 9 And Aaron shall bring the goat on which the LORD’s lot fell, and offer it as a sin offering. 10 But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make atonement upon it, and to let it go as the scapegoat into the wilderness.

11 “And Aaron shall bring the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house, and shall kill the bull as the sin offering which is for himself. 12 Then he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from the altar before the LORD, with his hands full of sweet incense beaten fine, and bring it inside the veil. 13 And he shall put the incense on the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the Testimony, lest he die. 14 He shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat on the east side; and before the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.

15 “Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people, bring its blood inside the veil, do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat. 16 So he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions, for all their sins; and so he shall do for the tabernacle of meeting which remains among them in the midst of their uncleanness. 17 There shall be no man in the tabernacle of meeting when he goes in to make atonement in the Holy Place, until he comes out, that he may make atonement for himself, for his household, and for all the assembly of Israel. 18 And he shall go out to the altar that is before the LORD, and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar all around. 19 Then he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, cleanse it, and consecrate it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.

The ceremonial atonement of the two goats is described here.  The first was a sin offering that was slain and offered by the priest to cover the sins of the people.  The second was the scapegoat which was offered alive to God, had the sins placed on it head, and sent off into the wilderness outside the camp.  We can see Christ in both os these as our sacrifice and atonement for sin.  This was done after first offering a bull as a sin offering when the LORD overshadowed the most Holy Place with the cloud of His glory and Aaron the high priest was allowed to enter behind the veil to approach the seat of God’s mercy then and there.  He entered dressed in clean clothes to represent righteousness and brought the two goats with him to offer to the LORD as a sin offering and atonement of grace set free.  He therefore made atonement for that Holy Place “because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions, for all their sins.”  We see these things later explained in Hebrews as to how they were fulfilled in Jesus Christ as the great High Priest and sacrifice, our sacrificial Lamb of God to pay our sin’s penalty and simultaneously our scapegoat to carry our sins away from judgment as free from the penalty we deserve and earned.  It is also notable that these things happened just after the death of the two sons of Aaron who had offered profane fire before the LORD and died for not offering proper sacrifices for sin, but did in rebellion to God’s command as if their efforts would please and appease the LORD.  We see that only the works of Christ were the proper and sufficient sacrifices to cover our sin since He alone is the perfect sacrifice and sinless (Hebrews 7:28, 9:11-12) high priest.  No other can save us, and our feeble efforts are only an insult to Him as the profane fire offerings of incense had incensed the LORD before.  May we rely completely and solely on the ministry and sacrifice of the Lamb of God (Genesis 22:8, John 1:29, Revelation 15:3-4) and our great High Priest (Hebrews 4:14) therefore to escape judgment through the gospel alone (Acts 4:12, Titus 3:5) and not our own works.  He alone is just and the justifier (Romans 3:25-26) for our sins and able to cover our sins with everlasting atonement by the propitiation of His sinless death for us, we who trust that work according to His promise of the gospel.  The day of our eternal atonement was the day of His crucifixion.  He fulfilled the atonement of the two goats by His sacrifice of His own lifeblood and by His ministry to carry our sins away by passing over them on our behalf.  Let us trust fully in Him according to this good news that we escape death and judgment through His sacrifice and work as our intercessor.