Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 16:34

And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year. And he did as the LORD commanded Moses.

And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you,…. Which is the third time of its being observed, see Le 16:29, to show that this was a law of considerable moment, and to be taken notice of, and strictly and closely kept by the priests, to whom these words are directed, and on whom the chief service of the day lay:

to make atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year; namely, on the tenth day of the seventh month, or Tisri, as before directed:

and he did as the Lord commanded Moses; that is, Aaron did, as the Targum of Jonathan, Aben Ezra, and Ben Gersom supply it; when the day of atonement came, as Jarchi expresses it, he did according to this order, to fulfil the decree of the king, even the King of kings; whose will it was that such a day should be yearly observed, and such and such rules performed in it; so very significant of Christ, and of the atonement to be made by him, and which has been made.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(34) And this shall be an everlasting statute.Better, And this shall be a statute for ever, as the Authorised Version has it in Lev. 16:29. Here, again, we have an instance of how the same phrase which occurs three times within four verses (see Lev. 16:29; Lev. 16:31; Lev. 16:34) is rendered in the Authorised Version by two different phrases, thus giving the idea to the English reader that there is a difference in the original. The thrice-repeated phrase emphasises the abiding nature of this law, and indicates the solemnity of the day.

And he did as the Lord commanded MosesThat is, Aaron performed the service for the first time, according to the ordinances which the Lord communicated to Moses. A similar remark occurs at the first observance of the Passover. (See Exo. 12:50.) The solemn admonition, therefore, addressed to the priesthood at the beginning of this chapter (see Lev. 16:1-2), not to presume on their office, but to submit to the Divine regulations, was duly observed by the first high priest. It may, however, also be designed to indicate that Aaron did not assume the dignity of the pontificate to exalt himself, but in obedience to the command God gave to Moses.

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

34. For all their sins Though this day is appointed by God as the day for the forgiveness of sins, no such end can be reached except by true repentance and the firm determination not to sin any more. As is stated in Tr. Yoma, 85 b: “He who yieldeth to sin in the supposition that the day of atonement will bring him forgiveness, will find no forgiveness on this day. And only the sins committed by man against God can be atoned for on this day; as to the sins, however, between man and man, this day is powerless to remove them until the offender has appeased the offended.” Since there were many sins and “errors” (Greek, ignorances, Heb 9:7) for which there had been no specific expiation in the Levitical code, and many which had been neglected, there was need of one general expiation once each year. See Lev 16:9, note. “If the law were not spiritual, atonement would not be so absolutely necessary. That any one could keep the law, and thereby merit the favour of God, never entered the thought of the lawgiver. Its immediate purpose was only to excite a sense of the need of redemption. In this view, the law was only ,” (a child-leader unto Christ.) Hengstenberg. For a reply to Baehr’s denial of the substitutional nature of the Mosaic sacrifices, see Numbers 15, concluding note. “To a God of infinite benevolence, justice, and holiness, nothing can compensate for sin save the removal of sinfulness from the heart of the sinner; nothing make room for forgiveness save the establishment of a principle of daily life actually operating and assuring that removal. Wherefore the willing self-sacrifice of the innocent for the guilty is admissible in God’s plan of salvation, not as an end satisfactory in itself, but as a means for effecting that real, practical removal of sin by the destruction of sinfulness, which will justify a just and holy God for pardoning and forgetting the sins of the past. To this principle nothing else in the whole Mosaic ritual so plainly points as does the feast of atonement. In the death of its victims it repeated the daily lesson of bloody sacrifices; while in its liberated offering it set forth the crowning truth, that even self-sacrifice can expiate sins committed only in so far as it removes ’sends away for Azazel’ the disposition to commit sins.” Geo. W. Cable.

And he that is, Aaron, to whom Moses was directed to communicate this command did as the Lord commanded. This bit of history must have been added at least seven months after the dedication of the tabernacle, when Nadab and Abihu were slain and the precepts of this chapter were given. The first day of atonement was after the rebellion at Kadesh-Barnea. Compare Lev 9:23; Lev 10:1, with Exo 40:17, and Introduction to Numbers, (4.)

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

“And this shall be an everlasting statute to you, to make atonement for the children of Israel because of all their sins once in the year.” And he did as Yahweh commanded Moses.

And it is repeated that this statute should be applied into the distant future so as to make atonement for the children of Israel because of their sins once a year. In the final analysis it was ‘the children of Israel’ whom God wanted to bless and save. And the writer finishes the record with a confirmation of Aaron’s obedience to what God had said. presumably this is speaking of his first observance of the Day of Atonement, and the point is that he carried it out to the letter.

As we cease our study into the Day of Atonement we, as Christians, have much to glory in. This Day was one that had to be repeated every year, it was carried through by a sinful High Priest who had first to offer purification for sin offerings for himself, on the basis of what was involved its effect could only be partial (no he-goat could bear all the sins of Israel, nor were they totally annihilated), it only allowed the High Priest into Yahweh’s presence once a year, and the remainder not at all.

But we as Christians know that Christ has made for us a total and complete sacrifice offered once-for-all (Heb 10:12), has no need to offer a purification for sin offering for Himself (Heb 7:26-27), made a sacrifice that was truly sufficient for all sin for all time (Heb 9:14; Heb 10:10; Heb 10:12; Heb 10:14), has borne all our sin for us and has removed it for ever, and has made a way for each individual Christ to enter into the Holiest of all, into the very presence of God, by His blood and through His death and resurrection (Heb 10:19-21) so that they may be presented perfect before Him without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but holy and without blemish (Eph 5:27).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Lev 16:34. To make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins The rabbis observe, that all these rites of expiation, however solemnly performed, were nothing in the sight of God without repentance and sincere resolutions of new obedience: so neither, under the Christian dispensation, can any man be entitled to the merits of Christ’s atonement, without genuine repentance; a deficiency in which renders the most pompous forms of external worship mere solemn mockery. “The ceremonies of this sacred day,” says Henry, “afford us on one side a type of what Christ our great High-Priest hath done for our salvation, delivering us from our sins by the free oblation of himself; after which, entering into the holy places, not made with hands, he hath opened an access for us by the efficacy of his death and the merits of his intercession. On the other hand, we see what we ought to do, in order to partake of the sacrifice and intercession of the Son of God. By faith we should lay our hands upon that precious Victim, regarding it as the only price of our redemption, and as the only means of salvation. By repentance we should afflict our souls, renounce sin, die to it, and live again unto righteousness.”

The very ingenious editors of the Prussian Testament, Messrs. De Beausobre and L’Enfant, observe, that “this fast, in general, was the most lively representation of the atonement which was made for the sins of mankind by the blood of JESUS CHRIST.” It is observable, that Philo-Judaeus had some notion of this truth; for, in his Treatise de Somn. p. 447 he says, that the Word of God, whereby he means the Son, is the Head and Glory of the propitiation, i.e. of what renders men acceptable to God. These passages of Scripture, that Jesus Christ gave his life a ransom for many, Mat 20:28 that he was made the propitiation for our sins, 1Jn 4:10 that he was the propitiation, not only for our sins, but also for those of the whole world, 1Jn 2:2 and such like expressions, which occur almost in every page of the Gospel, can mean nothing more, than that Jesus Christ has, by the sacrifice of himself, performed that, which was only prefigured by the sacrifices under the law, and particularly by the general and solemn expiation we are now speaking of. The same Jewish author, quoted just before, had also some notion of this matter. It will be proper to set down his very words; not as if we thought they were any confirmation of the Christian religion, but only to shew that these were truths which the wisest part of the nation acknowledged, and had found out by close and serious meditation, accompanied with Divine illumination. He says then, that whereas the priests of other nations offered sacrifices for their own countrymen only, the high-priest of the Jews offered for all mankind, and for the whole creation. (See Phil. de Monar. p. 637.) And not only these sacrifices, which were offered on the day of expiation, were a more exact representation of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ than any other; but also the person, by whom the atonement was made, was in every respect qualified to represent the High-Priest of the Christian church: and that, 1. Upon the account of his dignity, which, according to the Jews, was at its utmost height when he entered into the holy of holies; for which reason he was called great among his brethren, ch. Lev 21:10. This dignity was so very considerable, that Philo does not scruple to say, agreeable to his lofty and rhetorical way of speaking, that the high-priest was to be something more than human; that he more nearly resembled God than all the rest; and that he partook both of the divine and human nature. (See de Monar. p. 63 and de Somn. p. 872.) It seems to have been with a design of expressing both the holiness and dignity of the high-priest, that the law had enjoined none should remain in the tabernacle while the high-priest went into the holy of holies; see Lev 16:17. [Further, the high-priest of the Jews, upon the day of atonement, put not on at the first his best suit of apparel, but was content with the holy linen garments which he wore in common with other priests; hereby signifying, that when our blessed Lord should come into the world, to do the will of God, he should not make a splendid figure, nor array himself with all that glory of which he is truly possessed.] 2. The high-priest represented our Saviour by his holiness: To denote which, a greater quantity of oil was used in the anointing of the high-priest, than in that of his brethren; whence he was called the priest anointed, ch. Lev 4:3; Lev 4:5. Nothing can better represent the great holiness of Jesus Christ, than this great plenty of oil used in the consecration of Aaron. 3. The high-priest represented Jesus Christ by his being, on the day of atonement, a mediator between God and the people. For though Moses be called a mediator in the New Testament, yet it is certain, that the high-priest was invested with this office on the day of expiation. Moses must indeed be acknowledged as a mediator, God having by his means made a covenant with the children of Israel. But, as they were very apt to transgress the law, it was necessary there should be a mediator, who, by his sacrifices and intercession, might reconcile them to God. Now this was the high-priest’s function; so that Moses and Aaron were exact types of the two-fold mediation of Jesus Christ. By him was the new covenant made, and by his own blood has he for ever reconciled God to mankind. 4. The entrance of Jesus Christ into heaven once for all, there to present his own blood to God, as an atonement for our sins, was very clearly typified by the high-priest’s going once a year into the holy of holies with the blood of victims; see Heb 12:24. As for the two goats, we learn from the epistle of St. Barnabas, (which must have been written not long after the destruction of Jerusalem) that they were even then looked upon as typical.

Further reflections, 1st, On the fast of anniversary atonement in general: and, 2nd, on the ordinance of the scape-goat in particular.

I. On the fast of anniversary atonement in general.

Whatever our great High-Priest has done on earth beneath, or in heaven above, for the salvation of his people, was prefigured in this venerable solemnity. This the inspired writer to the Hebrews having at great length illustrated to our hand, it will not be necessary to enlarge upon. Let it suffice briefly to hint at the typical sense of some of the principal sacerdotal actions reserved for this memorable day.
The happy effects of the holy rites practised on this great anniversary, are said to be a cleansing the people from all their sins, Lev 16:30. Now, it is evident that these carnal ordinances have many marks of weakness and imperfection. If we speak of real atonement, it was utterly impossible that the blood of these bullocks and goats could take away sin as pertaining to the conscience. They were but brute creatures, of an inferior nature to the priest that offered them, and to the people for whom they were offered. They were offered by a sinful man, who needed an atonement for himself. They were offered year by year continually, and in them a remembrance was again made of sin every year. Now, if they could have made the comers to them perfect, would they not have ceased to be offered? Most certainly they would: because that the worshippers once purged, should have had no more conscience of sin. In all these things the priest of our profession has the pre-eminence. He needed not, like Aaron and his successors, to offer for himself, being harmless and undefiled. He needed not to shed the blood of others; for he was able to offer up himself. He needed not repeat his sacrifice oftener than once; for by one offering he hath for ever perfected all them that are sanctified. These necessary allowances being made, of the vast disparity between the type and Jesus Christ, we shall touch upon some of the grand evangelical mysteries which were enigmatically preached to the Jews in the transactions of this day.

That in future time a true and proper atonement should be made for the sins of Israel; or, to use the style of the prophet Zechariah, that “God would remove the iniquity of his land in one day,” Zec 3:9 this seems to have been the leading doctrine held forth in all the sacrifices, but especially in those which were offered on this occasion.Yet a little while, and God will exhibit a propitiation in the promised Messiah, who shall finish transgression, and make an end of sin, and perfectly do that will of God, which cannot be fulfilled by any legal sacrifices or burnt-offerings. And how shall this great event be brought to pass? How shall the Messias redeem Israel from all his iniquities? What shall he do? What shall be done unto him? How shall he begin; and in what manner shall he finish the arduous work? These questions may all be answered by these anniversary rites.

It was signified, that the great Maker of atonement should assume the nature of the persons for whom it should be made: for their high-priest was one of their brethren, and taken from among men.That he should be constituted a public person: for the high-priest officiated on this occasion as the representative of the people.That in this character he should suffer the punishment of death, and his life be violently taken away: for the sin and burnt-offerings were slain.That the blood of Jesus should be shed in a public manner without the gate: for the bodies of the sacrificed beasts were burned without the camp.That he should, when the work of purging our sins was finished, disappear on earth, and enter within the vail of these visible heavens, into the happy place where God resides among the blessed angels: for when the high-priest had shed the blood of the bullock and the goat, he went out of the sight of the Israelites, entering within the vail into that venerable apartment, where were the symbols of the Divine Presence, and where JEHOVAH sat enthroned between the cherubims.That though the heavens should contain him, and the world see him no more, he should still be carrying on his priestly work in the presence of God: for when the Jewish priest entered within the vail, he perfumed the mercy-seat with incense, and sprinkled it with blood. Indeed, unless the high-priest had gone into the holiest of all with his blood and incense, he had not discharged the most glorious part of his work. If he had only offered the victims, and gone no further than the middle court, the inferior priests had been upon a level with him; for these things they did as well as he: so if Jesus Christ had continued upon earth, where he offered up himself; if he had not gone to the Father, and retired from the view of men, he could not have been a priest in the most eminent sense of the word: the most glorious parts of his function were still to be discharged, and the resemblance between him and the Jewish high-priest would have been very imperfect. But rejoice, O ye that believe on his name, who make his atonement the grand basis of your comfort; for we have a great High-Priest, who was once upon earth, but is now passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God. There he appears as a Lamb that was slain, and stands with his golden censer, to offer up the incense of his intercession with the prayers of all saints. A time will come, when the interposing vail shall be drawn aside, and the great High-Priest return with sound of trumpet, to bless his expecting people, and absolve them from all their iniquities before an assembled world: for “to them that look for him, he shall appear a second time, without sin, unto salvation.” Heb 9:28.

II. On the ordinance of the scape-goat.

The goat is none of those creatures which are supposed to have the most amiable properties. It may therefore seem singular, that the Lamb of God should be prefigured by such beasts, as are, for their uncleanly and unruly temper, emblems of the wicked, who in the last day shall be separated from the godly by the Judge of all the earth. But perhaps even this circumstance in the type might signify, that Christ was to appear in the likeness of sinful flesh. The goat, though commonly held an unclean creature, was, notwithstanding, of the number of clean beasts in the law of Moses: and Jesus Christ, though reputed among men a sinner, was most pure and righteous in the eye of God.

But wherefore two goats? Or if two, why not both used in the same manner? Why was one of them put to death, and the other saved alive? Doubtless they are both to be viewed as types of the great Propitiation. The first may signify that complete satisfaction which Christ made to Divine justice by the offering up of himself; and the second, the happy consequence of this propitiatory sacrifice, in finishing transgression, making an end of sin, and carrying it, as it were, into the land of forgetfulness; so that, to use the elegant words of Jeremiah, “the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found.” Jer 50:20. Nor ought it to seem strange, that such a momentous truth should be inculcated so many various ways on the same occasion: for it is a singular effect of the goodness of God, to exhibit such interesting truths in different views, that we may have strong consolation. Besides that all similitudes and types fall infinitely short of the great mysteries they point at, therefore they are multiplied, that they may mutually supply the deficiences of each other: for here the saying is made good, “Two are better than one; for if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow.”

That the first goat was an emblem of Christ sacrificed for us, as much as any other sacrifices, is clearly evident: but we are now to attend to the mystery of the scape-goat, and its likeness to Jesus Christ.
It was, like the other, to be taken from the congregation of Israel, and doubtless purchased with the public money. So Christ was taken from among his brethren, and bought, in some sense, for thirty pieces of silver out of the public treasury, that he might be numbered with transgressors, and bear the sins of many.
It was, like the other, presented at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord and all the people. So Christ presented himself to do his heavenly Father’s will before God and the people, when, at the passover-solemnity, he went up to Jerusalem, not ignorant of what was to be done to him by Jews and Gentiles.

The sacred animal being thus presented, the high-priest was to lay both his hands upon its head, devoting it by this action to the service of God, and translating the sins of Israel upon it in a typical manner. Perhaps it might signify, that the hand of Divine Justice was to lie heavy on the surety of sinners; and it is expressly affirmed by the prophet, “The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Isa 53:6.

That this was the meaning of the rite, appears more evidently from the following one. For in this posture did the high-priest confess all the sins of the people from whom the goat was taken. Why should their sins be confessed in this manner, if it was not to signify, that they were in some sort laid upon the head of the innocent victim? It was thus the great Doer of God’s will, who knew no sin, was made sin, for us. The goat could not be guilty of these sins, for it was a brute beast: nor could its antitype, who was spotless and sinless, be a transgressor of the law. Yet both the one and the other did bear the sins of many, to which it was impossible in the nature of things that they could be accessary in the smallest degree. It was not thy sin, O spotless Victim, but the sin of the world, which consigned thee over to the bloody and shameful cross! Ours were the sins which took hold upon thee, and justified thy death. “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows, and the chastisement of our peace was upon him.” Isa 53:4-5. How else could his heavenly Father, for whom it is no more good to punish the just than to clear the guilty, have been pleased to bruise him?

The devoted creature, thus laden with sin, is, by the hand of a proper person, conducted into the wilderness. Why should not this wilderness be viewed as an emblem of those afflictions to which the surety was exposed by the sins he was charged with? Or shall we say, it might be a faint intimation, that the blessing of the atonement should be extended to the world of Gentile sinners, which, in the style of the prophet, is called the wilderness of the people? Or, rather, the meaning may be, that, as the mystic goat was never more looked after, (for probably it would soon perish, if not by hunger, at least by wild beasts,) so Jesus Christ, by his atoning blood, would take away the sin of the world, and remove away all the iniquities of his faithful people, as far as the east is distant from the west. O condemning law, thou hast nothing to lay to their charge, for Christ is dead! Yea, rather he is risen again! therefore it is God that justifieth!

What thanks shall be rendered to that gracious Redeemer, who was manifested to restore to God that glory which he took not away, and to take away that sin of man which he did not introduce? But there are, alas! too many to whom this all-important truth is of small account, (for some deride, and more despise it,) yet to the weary soul, to the conscience burdened with guilt, it is grateful and delicious, as the full flowing stream to the hunted hart. The happy soul, to which the doctrine of the atonement is experimentally known, hears, upon the matter, the voice of the great JEHOVAH speaking to her in such ravishing accents as these: “I have made thine iniquity to pass from thee;” or in the words of Nathan to the penitent king David, “the Lord hath taken away thy sin; thou shalt not die.” Who would not be constrained by this love, to put away the evil of their doings from before his eyes who has put away the guilt of them from before his face?

Draw near all ye whose consciences are burdened with the intolerable pressure of a thousand aggravated iniquities, who are ready to cry, “Mine iniquities are gone over my head, they are a burden too heavy for me.” Psa 38:4. While some, with Cain, go from the presence of the Lord, and drown their dismal thoughts in the delights of sense, or else in the whirl of businesswhile others have no ground of comfort but the general and unatoned mercy of Godwhile a third sort derive comfort to their troubled hearts from their own imperfect righteousness, their tears of repentance, their sorrow for what is past, and their resolutions to do better for the future; confers your iniquities over the head of the New-Testament scape-goat: for “he, who [thus] confesseth and forsaketh them, shall find mercy.” Pro 28:13. Thus runs the gracious promise of the Holy One of Israel, “By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many: for he shall bear their iniquities.” Isa 53:11. But he, who despises this way of peace, shall bear his own burden, whosoever he be.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

REFLECTIONS

PAUSE, my soul, over this precious chapter, and take another view of thy Great High Priest, in the type of him here presented on the day of atonement. Behold in Aaron the resemblance of him, who, in respect to his human nature, was taken from among men, solemnly called to the priesthood, and confirmed in the office by an oath. And do not forget, my soul, that it was the FATHER’S rich love, which both appointed and furnished thy JESUS, with every necessary gift and grace for the work, that his sacrifice might be of infinite value, and his person altogether competent to the arduous undertaking of bearing the sins of his people; an undertaking, the weight of which would have crushed the whole race of men and angels. Behold JESUS, fully qualified, entering upon the glorious service! See him as the great High Priest of thy profession, on the solemn day of atonement, going in before the mercy-seat. And fix thine eye, with steady faith, on this GOD-MAN CHRIST JESUS, while looking after him within the vail, because he entereth not with the blood of others, but with his own blood; and because he entereth not within the vail of an earthly sanctuary, but into heaven itself, there to appear in the presence of GOD for us. Hail, precious Saviour! all glory to thy name, now thou art gone before, and hast taken possession of the realms above in our name. Remember LORD, thy sweet promise, and may it be my portion, to feel the constraining influence of it in my heart. For thou didst say, before thy departure; and I, if I be lifted up will draw all men unto me. LORD draw my soul upward, heavenward, Christward and I will run after thee, for thou art the LORD my GOD!

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Lev 16:34 And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year. And he did as the LORD commanded Moses.

Ver. 34. For all their sins once a year. ] For whereas in their private sacrifices they durst not confess their capital sins for fear of death, due to them by the law, God graciously provided and instituted this yearly sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the whole people, without particular acknowledgment of any. There are of good note who think, a that this anniversary fast, called “the fast” by a specialty, Act 27:9 was instituted in reference unto, and solemn remembrance of, the fall of Adam; which happened, say they, on the tenth day of the world, answering to the first of November. But how strangely are the Jews at this day besotted, if that be true of them that some b report, viz., that at this their feast of reconciliation, they use to bribe Satan, that he may not accuse them for their sins; and that this is one thing for which they do yearly afflict their souls, namely, the translation of the Bible out of Hebrew into Greek, by the Septuagint!

a Arch. Ussher, Annales Vet. Test., p. 2.

b Alex. Ross’s View of Religions.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)