Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 16:24

And he shall wash his flesh with water in the holy place, and put on his garments, and come forth, and offer his burnt offering, and the burnt offering of the people, and make an atonement for himself, and for the people.

In the holy place; either in the laver appointed for that purpose, or in some other vessel within the holy place, because after he had washed in it he is said to

come forth.

His garments; not his ordinary priestly linen garments, for he was to leave them in the tabernacle, Lev 16:23, but the high-priestly garments, called his garments properly and peculiarly, and by way of distinction from the former garments, which are called holy garments, Lev 16:4, and the linen garments, Lev 16:23, but never his garments, as these are. And this change of his garments was not without cause. For the common priestly garments were more proper and fit for him in the former part of his ministration, both because he was to appear before the Lord in the most holy place to humble himself, and make atonement for his own and for the peoples sins, and therefore his humblest and meanest attire was most fit; and because he was to lay his hands upon that goat on which all their sins were put, by which touch both he and his garments would be in some sort defiled: and therefore, as we read here that he washed himself or his flesh, so we may well presume his linen garments were laid by for the washing, as the clothes of him who carried away the scape-goat were washed, Lev 16:26. And the high-priestly garments were most proper for the latter part of his work, which was of another nature.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

And he shall wash his flesh with water in the holy place,…. In the court of the tabernacle of the congregation, where, as Aben Ezra says, they spread fine linen for him; Jarchi says, it was a place on the roof of the house of Parvah, where all the dippings and washings were made, except the first; [See comments on Le 16:4]; and this washing was no other than the dipping of his whole body in water; and if our Lord was baptized on this day, as some have thought, before observed, whose baptism was by dipping, Mt 3:16; there will appear in this a great likeness between the type and the antitype:

and put on his garments and come forth; put on his golden garments, and come out of the place where he had washed himself, to the court, where was the altar of burnt offering: all which may be an emblem of Christ’s putting off the pure and spotless garment of the flesh, in which he appeared in a low estate, and made atonement for sin; and of his burial, which the washing of the flesh may point at, being what was used of the dead, and which washing in baptism is a figure of; and of his resurrection from the dead, when God gave him glory, and he appeared in a glorious body, signified by his golden garments put on again:

and offer his burnt offering, and the burnt offering of the people; his ram, and the people’s ram, and the bullock of the people, and their seven lambs, as it is written, Nu 29:8; so Aben Ezra, first his own, and then the people’s, which order was before observed in the sin offerings:

and make an atonement for himself, and for the people; which though properly made by the sin offerings, and the carrying the blood of them into the most holy place, yet these were the completing of it, being the last of the services peculiar to the day of atonement: the service performed by the high priest after the sending away the goat into the wilderness was this; he read this “sixteenth” chapter of Leviticus, and

Le 23:27, if he read in linen garments, he washed his hands and his feet, he stripped himself, went down and dipped himself, and came up and wiped himself; then they brought him the golden garments, and he put them on, and washed his hands and his feet, and went out and offered his ram, and the people’s ram, and the seven perfect lambs of a year old; then he washed his hands and his feet, and stripped and went down and dipped, and came up and wiped himself; then they brought him the white garments, and he put them on, and washed his hands and his feet, and went into the holy of holies to fetch out the incense cup and the censer; then he washed his hands and his feet, and stripped, and went down and dipped, and came up and wiped himself; then they brought him the golden garments, and he put them on, and he washed his hands and his feet, and went in (to the holy place) to offer the evening incense, and to him the lamps; and then he washed his hands and his feet, and stripped; and they brought him his own garments (what he usually wore when out of service), and he put them on; and they accompanied him to his house, where he made a feast for his friends, because he was come out of the sanctuary in safety o: where, it seems, sometimes some died, and others became sick by getting cold through frequent shifting of their clothes and washing, and wearing thin linen garments.

o Misn. Yoma, c. 7. sect. 3, 4.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(24) And he shall wash his flesh.That is, immerse his whole body. The baptistery, where the high priest performed these ablutions, was on the roof of a building in the sacred precincts. According to the authorities and practice during the second Temple the act described in this verse preceded the one ordered in the foregoing verse. The burnt offering, both for himself and for the people, the high priest offered in the golden garments. These he changed for the white robes when he afterwards went into the Holy of Holies to fetch the censer and the incense cup. The sacrifice consisted first of his own ram, then the ram of the people, and lastly the bullock of the people, and their seven lambs. (Comp. Num. 29:8).

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

24. And wash his flesh His hands and feet were washed from the defilement of the sin offering.

In the holy place Rather, in a holy place, probably near the laver. He then put on his golden pontifical garments and appeared in the sight of the people, symbolizing no longer the suffering Saviour, but the exalted “Mediator of the new covenant.” His duties after sending away the scapegoat were to take the fat out of the goat and bullock, whose blood he had sprinkled in the holy of holies, to cut them into pieces, and to send them without the camp to be burned; to read the sixteenth and part of the twenty-third chapters of Leviticus in the court of the women, blessing the people; then, after his change of raiment, he offered the extra goat (Num 29:11) and his own ram for his burnt offering, and the people’s ram; he burned the fat of the sin offering, the bullock and goat, offered the daily evening sacrifice as on other days, trimmed the lamps, laid aside his priestly robes and put on his common clothes, and went home, attended by the people, to celebrate a feast of gladness that he had gone safely through the important ritual of the great day of atonement. “The great lesson is, that the separation of sin from the soul is most difficult. The assayer who would separate the pure metal from the dross must carefully follow most minute directions. Some ores are so refractory that we send them ten thousand miles to be treated. Minute and definite are the directions of Him who would separate sin from the soul. There is but one way. Without the shedding of blood there is no remission.” Bishop H.W. Warren.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments