Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 16:5
And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.
5. The two he-goats are described as one Sin-Offering.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Take of the congregation – i. e. they were to be supplied at the public cost.
Two kids of the goats – This should be, two shaggy he-goats (Lev 4:23 note), of the same color, size, and value.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
5-10. shall take of the congregation. . . two kids of the goats . . . and one ramThe sacrificeswere to be offered by the high priest, respectively for himself andthe other priests, as well as for the people. The bullock (Le16:3) and the goats were for sin offerings and the rams for burntofferings. The goats, though used in different ways, constituted onlyone offering. They were both presented before the Lord, and thedisposal of them determined by lot, which Jewish writers have thusdescribed: The priest, placing one of the goats on his right hand andthe other on his left, took his station by the altar, and cast intoan urn two pieces of gold exactly similar, inscribed, the one withthe words “for the Lord,” and the other for “Azazel”(the scapegoat). After having well shaken them together, he put bothhis hands into the box and took up a lot in each: that in his righthand he put on the head of the goat which stood on his right, andthat in his left he dropped on the other. In this manner the fate ofeach was decided.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel,…. With whom only the high priest had to do on the day of atonement; as Christ our high priest has only with the Israel of God, the elect, given him by the Father, for whom he offered up himself, and for whose sins he made reconciliation:
two kids of the goats for a sin offering; the one of which was killed, and the other let go alive, and both were but one offering, typical of Christ in both his natures, divine and human, united in one person; and who was made sin, and became a sin offering for his people:
and one ram for a burnt offering; a type of Christ, mighty to save, this creature being a strong one; and of his dolorous sufferings, this offering being burnt; and of God’s gracious acceptance of his sacrifice, which was of a sweet smelling savour to him; the burnt offering following by way of thanksgiving for atonement made by the sin offering graciously accepted by the Lord.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
5 And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering. 6 And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house. 7 And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 8 And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat. 9 And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD‘s lot fell, and offer him for 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 an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness. 11 And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make an atonement for himself, and for his house, and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself: 12 And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the LORD, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the vail: 13 And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not: 14 And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times.
The Jewish writers say that for seven days before the day of expiation the high priest was to retire from his own house, and to dwell in a chamber of the temple, that he might prepare himself for the service of this great day. During those seven days he himself did the work of the inferior priests about the sacrifices, incense, c., that he might have his hand in for this day: he must have the institution read to him again and again, that he might be fully apprised of the whole method. 1. He was to begin the service of the day very early with the usual morning sacrifice, after he had first washed his whole body before he dressed himself, and his hands and feet again afterwards. He then burned the daily incense, dressed the lamps, and offered the extraordinary sacrifice appointed for this day (not here, but Num. xxix. 8), a bullock, a ram, and seven lambs, all for burnt-offerings. This he is supposed to have done in his high priest’s garments. 2. He must now put off his rich robes, bathe himself, put on the linen garments, and present unto the Lord his own bullock, which was to be a sin-offering for himself and his own house, <i>v. 6. The bullock was set between the temple and the altar, and the offering of him mentioned in this verse was the making of a solemn confession of his sins and the sins of his house, earnestly praying for the forgiveness of them, and this with his hands on the head of the bullock. 3. He must then cast lots upon the two goats, which were to make (both together) one sin-offering for the congregation. One of these goats must be slain, in token of a satisfaction to be made to God’s justice for sin, the other must be sent away, in token of the remission or dismission of sin by the mercy of God. Both must be presented together to God (v. 7) before the lot was cast upon them, and afterwards the scape-goat by itself, v. 10. Some think that goats were chosen for the sin-offering because, by the disagreeableness of their smell, the offensiveness of sin is represented: others think, because it was said that the demons which the heathens then worshipped often appeared to their worshippers in the form of goats, God therefore obliged his people to sacrifice goats, that they might never be tempted to sacrifice to goats. 4. The next thing to be done was to kill the bullock for the sin-offering for himself and his house, v. 11. “Now,” say the Jews, “he must again put his hands on the head of the bullock, and repeat the confession and supplication he had before made, and kill the bullock with his own hands, to make atonement for himself first (for how could he make reconciliation for the sins of the people till he was himself first reconciled?) and for his house, not only his own family, but all the priests, who are called the house of Aaron,” Ps. cxxxv. 19. This charity must begin at home, though it must not end there. The bullock being killed, he left one of the priests to stir the blood, that it might not thicken, and then, 5. He took a censer of burning coals (that would not smoke) in one hand, and a dish full of the sweet incense in the other, and then went into the holy of holies through the veil, and went up towards the ark, set the coals down upon the floor, and scattered the incense upon them, so that the room was immediately filled with smoke. The Jews say that he was to go in side-ways, that he might not look directly upon the ark where the divine glory was, till it was covered with smoke; then he must come out backwards, out of reverence to the divine majesty; and, after a short prayer, he was to hasten out of the sanctuary, to show himself to the people, that they might not suspect that he had misbehaved himself and died before the Lord. 6. He then fetched the blood of the bullock from the priest whom he had left stirring it, and took that in with him the second time into the holy of holies, which was now filled with the smoke of the incense, and sprinkled with his finger of that blood upon, or rather towards, the mercy-seat, once over against the top of it and then seven times towards the lower part of it, v. 14. But the drops of blood (as the Jews expound it) all fell upon the ground, and none touched the mercy-seat. Having done this, he came out of the most holy place, set the basin of blood down in the sanctuary, and went out.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
(5) And he shall take of the congregation.On this occasion the high priest himself had to officiate, by virtue of his being the chief mediator between God and His people.
Two kids of the goats.Better, two shaggy he-goats. (See Lev. 4:23.) These two goats, which were the sin offering for the people, and the ram, which was their burnt offering, were purchased with the money of the public some time before the Day of Atonement. During the second Temple the two goats had to be alike in value, equal in size, and of the same colour. If one of them happened to die after the decision of the lot, a new pair had to be purchased, and the surviving one of the original pair was kept and properly fed till it became ritually defective, whereupon it was sold, and the money paid into the sacred treasury.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5. Two kids of the goats This expression in the Hebrew is usually understood to mean” he-goats,” (R.V.,) which were used as sin offerings for princes and for the people on high festival seasons. See Lev 23:19, note.
For a sin offering It is worthy of note that both the goats are for a sin offering, though only one of them is to be slain.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two he-goats for a purification for sin offering, and one ram for a whole burnt offering.”
For the congregation of the children of Israel, the whole people, he was to take two he-goats and a ram. The two he-goats were ‘for a purification for sin offering’. As we shall see shortly the two were seen as one. The ram was for a whole burnt offering.
They were types and shadows of the great He-Goat and Ram, the Lamb of God, Who would offer up Himself once-for-all that He might offer Himself without spot to God, purging our consciences from dead works to serve the living God (Heb 9:14) and perfecting for ever those whom He sanctified (Heb 10:14).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Observe, the distinction made between the offering intended for the priest, and for the people. JESUS though in all points, like as we are, yet was without sin. 2Co 5:21 .
The apostle Paul, who was commissioned by the HOLY GHOST, to explain the whole of this memorable service to the Church, hath drawn several very striking lines of distinction, in order to show, both the agreement which the Jewish ceremony carried with it to the Christian sacrifice; and no less the vast dissimilarity. The Jewish high-priest offered first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. This he needed because he was himself a sinner. But our JESUS being holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, needed no sacrifice for himself.-The Jewish high priest entered the holy place, but once in every year. Our JESUS hath entered once for all, having obtained eternal redemption for his people.-The Jewish high priest entered into the holy place, with the blood of others. Our JESUS with his own blood.- The Jewish high priest was obliged to repeat this service every year, testifying thereby, the weakness and insufficiency of it. Our high priest, by the offering of his precious body, an offering for sin, once for all, hath forever perfected thereby, them that are sanctified. These things are beautifully explained to us, by the HOLY GHOST himself, through the ministry of the apostle; and we never can be sufficiently thankful to him for it. See Heb 9 throughout. Heb 10:10-12 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Lev 16:5 And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.
Ver. 5. Two kids of the goats. ] Both of them types of Christ: who though he died not for wicked goats, yet he seemed rejected of God, and was reckoned among malefactors. Isa 53:9
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
children = sons.
kids. Hebrew shaggy he-goats.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
goats
The two goats. The offering of the high priest for himself has no anti-type in Christ Heb 7:26; Heb 7:27. The typical interest centres upon the two goats and the high priest. Typically
(1) all is done by the high priest Heb 1:3 “by Himself”), the people only bring the sacrifice; Mat 26:47; Mat 27:24; Mat 27:25.
(2) The goat slain (Jehovah’s lot) is that aspect of Christ’s work which vindicates the holiness and righteousness of God as expressed in the law Rom 3:24-26 and is expiatory.
(3) The living goat typifies that aspect of Christ’s work which puts away our sins from before God Heb 9:26; Rom 8:33; Rom 8:34.
(4) The high priest entering the holiest, typifies Christ entering “heaven itself” with “His own blood” for us Heb 9:11; Heb 9:12. His blood makes that to be a “throne of grace,” and “mercy seat” which else must have been a throne of judgment.
(5) For us, the priests of the New Covenant, there is what Israel never had, a rent veil Mat 27:51; Heb 10:19; Heb 10:20. So that, for worship and blessing, we enter, in virtue of His blood, where He is, into the holiest; Heb 4:14-16; Heb 10:19-22. The atonement of Christ, as interpreted by the O.T. sacrificial types, has these necessary elements:
(1) It is substitutionary–the offering takes the offerer’s place in death.
(2) The law is not evaded but honored–every sacrificial death was an execution of the sentence of the law.
(3) The sinlessness of Him who bore our sins is expressed in every animal sacrifice–it must be without blemish.
(4) The effect of the atoning work of Christ is typified
(a) in the promises, “it shall be forgiven him”; and (b) in the peace-offering, the expression of fellowship–the highest privilege of the saint. (See Scofield “Exo 29:33”)
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Lev 4:14, Lev 8:2, Lev 8:14, Lev 9:8-16, Num 29:11, 2Ch 29:21, Ezr 6:17, Eze 45:22, Eze 45:23, Rom 8:3, Heb 7:27, Heb 7:28, Heb 10:5-14
Reciprocal: Exo 30:10 – sin offering Lev 5:7 – one Lev 9:3 – Take ye Lev 16:15 – Then shall Lev 16:24 – his burnt Heb 9:12 – by the