The Law · Chapter 16 of 27

Leviticus 16

God gives Aaron the ritual for the Day of Atonement, the one day each year the high priest may enter the Most Holy Place. Clothed in linen, he offers a bullock for himself and casts lots over two goats, one sacrificed and one sent away bearing the people's sins. Blood is sprinkled on the mercy seat to cleanse the sanctuary and the people from all their sins.

What happens in Leviticus 16

After the death of Aaron's sons, God warns Aaron not to enter the holy place behind the veil at will, lest he die. On the appointed day he bathes, dresses in plain linen, and brings a bullock as a sin offering for himself and his house. He takes two goats and casts lots; one is for the LORD, the other the scapegoat. He carries incense and blood behind the veil, sprinkling the bullock's blood on and before the mercy seat seven times, then does the same with the slain goat's blood for the people.

He cleanses the sanctuary, the tent, and the altar from Israel's uncleanness. Laying both hands on the live goat, he confesses all their iniquities over it and sends it into the wilderness to a land uninhabited. This becomes a lasting statute on the tenth day of the seventh month, a sabbath when the people afflict their souls.

Leviticus 16 in context

This is the theological center of Leviticus. It follows the purity laws and answers the accumulated defilement of a sinful people living beside a holy God. The reference to Nadab and Abihu's death (Leviticus 10) sets the stakes: unauthorized access to God's presence is fatal.

The Day of Atonement, later called Yom Kippur, provided an annual cleansing for the sanctuary and the nation, restoring the fellowship that sin continually disrupted.

Main themes of Leviticus 16

Access is granted, not seizedOnly one man, one day, after sacrifice, behind a cloud of incense, may enter God's immediate presence. The repeated warning that he die not underlines how costly and gracious such access is. Nearness to God comes on God's terms, through blood he himself provides for the purpose.

Two goats, one atonementThe slain goat and the scapegoat together picture a single reality. One dies to satisfy the demand of holiness; the other carries sin far away into a land not inhabited. Together they show atonement as both the paying of a debt and the complete removal of guilt from the people.

Cleansing reaches everythingThe blood cleanses not only sinners but the sanctuary, tent, and altar, defiled by dwelling amid an unclean people. Sin contaminates more than individuals; it stains the place of worship itself. God's atonement is thorough, purifying the whole meeting place so he can remain among them.

This is part of the Law, the foundation of the whole story: creation, covenant, and a God who binds Himself to a people. As you read, watch for God's character and His promises, which all lead toward Christ.

Leviticus 16 (KJV)

1And the LORD spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the LORD, and died; 2And 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. 3Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering. 4He shall put on the holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh, and shall be girded with a linen girdle, and with the linen mitre shall he be attired: these are holy garments; therefore shall he wash his flesh in water, and so put them on. 5And 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. 6And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house. 7And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 8And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat. 9And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD’s lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. 10But 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. 11And 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: 12And 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: 13And 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: 14And 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. 15Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat: 16And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness. 17And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place, until he come out, and have made an atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel. 18And he shall go out unto the altar that is before the LORD, and make an atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about. 19And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel. 20And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat: 21And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: 22And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness. 23And Aaron shall come into the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall put off the linen garments, which he put on when he went into the holy place, and shall leave them there: 24And 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. 25And the fat of the sin offering shall he burn upon the altar. 26And he that let go the goat for the scapegoat shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward come into the camp. 27And the bullock for the sin offering, and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall one carry forth without the camp; and they shall burn in the fire their skins, and their flesh, and their dung. 28And he that burneth them shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp. 29And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you: 30For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD. 31It shall be a sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever. 32And the priest, whom he shall anoint, and whom he shall consecrate to minister in the priest’s office in his father’s stead, shall make the atonement, and shall put on the linen clothes, even the holy garments: 33And he shall make an atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make an atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar, and he shall make an atonement for the priests, and for all the people of the congregation. 34And 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.

Verses to carry from Leviticus 16

“Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat:”Leviticus 16:15

“And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness:”Leviticus 16:21

“For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD.”Leviticus 16:30

Christian typology

How Leviticus 16 points to Jesus

The book of Hebrews reads this chapter as a portrait of Christ. Jesus is both the high priest and the offering, entering not a tent made with hands but heaven itself, not with the blood of goats but with his own blood, obtaining eternal redemption. The two goats picture one Savior: the slain goat is Christ crushed under the demand of justice, the scapegoat is Christ bearing our iniquities away into a land where they are remembered no more.

The high priest laid aside his glory for plain linen; Christ laid aside heavenly glory to serve. The veil that barred the way was torn at his death, opening the Most Holy Place. What Aaron repeated every year, Christ accomplished once for all, cleansing the conscience and securing lasting access to God.

Questions about Leviticus 16

Why were two goats needed rather than one?

One sacrifice, two pictures. The slain goat shows atonement as the price of sin, blood offered to satisfy holiness. The live goat, with Israel's sins confessed over its head and driven into the wilderness, shows sin carried completely away. Together they teach that atonement both pays the debt and removes the guilt, so the people stand cleansed and their sins are gone from before God.

What did it mean that atonement happened only once a year?

The annual repetition revealed the limits of the system. Every year the same blood, the same goats, the same afflicting of souls, because none of it finally settled the matter. The very calendar preached the need for something better. Hebrews sees the answer in Christ, whose single offering does what the yearly ritual only rehearsed, cleansing once for all and never needing repetition.

Reflection

Picture the scapegoat disappearing over the horizon, carrying away sins that can never find their way back. That is what God has done with your guilt in Christ. It is not managed or hidden; it is removed, sent into a land not inhabited. You may live today as one whose sins are truly gone.

A prayer from Leviticus 16

Holy God, thank you for the blood that cleanses and the sacrifice that carries my sin away. In Jesus my high priest I come where I never could. Let me live as one whose guilt is removed, not merely covered but gone. Amen.

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