Leviticus 16:24

16:15-34 Here are typified the two great gospel privileges, of the remission of sin, and access to God, both of which we owe to our Lord Jesus. See the expiation of guilt. Christ is both the Maker and the Matter of the atonement; for he is the Priest, the High Priest, that makes reconciliation for the sins of the people. And as Christ is the High Priest, so he is the Sacrifice with which atonement is made; for he is all in all in our reconciliation to God. Thus he was figured by the two goats. The slain goat was a type of Christ dying for our sins; the scape-goat a type of Christ rising again for our justification. The atonement is said to be completed by putting the sins of Israel upon the head of the goat, which was sent away into a wilderness, a land not inhabited; and the sending away of the goat represented the free and full remission of their sins. He shall bear upon him all their iniquities. Thus Christ, the Lamb of God, takes away the sin of the world, by taking it upon himself, Joh 1:29. The entrance into heaven, which Christ made for us, was typified by the high priest's entrance into the most holy place. See Heb 9:7. The high priest was to come out again; but our Lord Jesus ever lives, making intercession, and always appears in the presence of God for us. Here are typified the two great gospel duties of faith and repentance.

By faith we put our hands upon the head of the offering; relying on Christ as the Lord our Righteousness, pleading his satisfaction, as that which alone is able to atone for our sins, and procure us a pardon. By repentance we afflict our souls; not only fasting for a time from the delights of the body, but inwardly sorrowing for sin, and living a life of self-denial, assuring ourselves, that if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. By the atonement we obtain rest for our souls, and all the glorious liberties of the children of God. Sinner, get the blood of Christ effectually applied to thy soul, or else thou canst never look God in the face with any comfort or acceptance. Take this blood of Christ, apply it by faith, and see how it atones with God.

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 Gill on Leviticus 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, Matthew 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, Numbers 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, a

Leviticus 16:24 . He shall wash in the holy place — That is, in the court of the tabernacle, where stood the altar of burnt-offering, and the sacred laver. Here he was to wash or sprinkle his whole body, that he might purify himself after he had touched the goat which bare their iniquities, just as the man that carried him into the wilderness was to wash afterward. This ceremony signified that the creature was made so polluted and abominable by being a substitute for sinners, that none could touch it without contracting some pollution. And put on his garments — The garments peculiar to his office, wherein he officiated on other days. And this change of his garments was not without cause. For the common priestly garments were more proper for him in the former part of his ministration, because then he was to appear before the Lord in the most holy place, to humble himself, and make atonement for his own and for the people’s sins, and therefore his meanest attire was most fit. And the high-priestly garments were most proper for the latter part of his work, which was of another nature.

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, Leviticus 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, Leviticus 16:4 , and the linen garments, Leviticus 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 people’s 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, Leviticus 16:26 . And the high-priestly garments were most proper for the latter part of his work, which was of another nature.

Unto a land not inhabited - Unto a place cut off, or (as in the margin) a place "of separation." It is evident that the one signification of the ceremony of this goat was the complete removal of the sins which were confessed over him. No symbol could so plainly set forth the completeness of Yahweh's acceptance of the penitent, as a sin-offering in which a life was given up for the altar, and yet a living being survived to carry away all sin and uncleanness.

23-28. Aaron shall come into the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall put off the linen garments—On the dismissal of the scapegoat, the high priest prepared for the important parts of the service which still remained; and for the performance of these he laid aside his plain linen clothes, and, having bathed himself in water, he assumed his pontifical dress. Thus gorgeously attired, he went to present the burnt offerings which were prescribed for himself and the people, consisting of the two rams which had been brought with the sin offerings, but reserved till now. The fat was ordered to be burnt upon the altar; the rest of the carcasses to be cut down and given to some priestly attendants to burn without the camp, in conformity with the general law for the sin offerings (Le 4:8-12; 8:14-17). The persons employed in burning them, as well as the conductor of the scapegoat, were obliged to wash their clothes and bathe their flesh in water before they were allowed to return into the camp.

(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. Numbers 29:8 ).