Leviticus 16:18

And 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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(18) And he shall go out unto the altar.—The authorities during the second Temple took this to denote the golden altar, or the altar of incense which stood in the Holy place over against the Holy of Holies, as this was the altar for which expiation was made once a year on this day (see Exodus 30:10); hence it was cleansed next. Beginning at the north-eastern corner, the high priest then went to the north-western, then the south-western, and last round to the south-eastern corner.

Benson Commentary

Leviticus 16:18. The altar before the Lord — That is, the altar of incense, where the blood of sacrifices was to be put, particularly the blood of the sin- offerings offered upon this day of atonement, and which is most properly said to be before the Lord; that is, before the place where God in a special manner dwelt. His going out relates to the holy of holies, into which he was said to go in, Leviticus 16:17.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The order of the ceremony required that atonement should first be made for the most holy place with the mercy-seat, then for the holy place with the golden altar, and then for the altar in the court. See Leviticus 16:20, Leviticus 16:33. The horns of the brazen altar were touched with the blood, as they were in the ordinary sin-offerings. Leviticus 4:25, Leviticus 4:30, Leviticus 4:34.

Of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat - Some of the blood of the two victims was mingled together in a basin.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

11-19. Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself, &c.—The first part of the service was designed to solemnize his own mind, as well as the minds of the people, by offering the sacrifices for their sins. The sin offerings being slain had the sins of the offerer judicially transferred to them by the imputation of his hands on their head (Le 4:4, 15, 24, 29, 33); and thus the young bullock, which was to make atonement for himself and the other priests (called "his house," Ps 135:19), was killed by the hands of the high priest. While the blood of the victim was being received into a vessel, taking a censer of live coals in his right hand and a platter of sweet incense in his left, he, amid the solemn attention and the anxious prayers of the assembled multitude, crossed the porch and the holy place, opened the outer veil which led into the holy of holies and then the inner veil. Standing before the ark, he deposited the censer of coals on the floor, emptied the plate of incense into his hand, poured it on the burning coals; and the apartment was filled with fragrant smoke, intended, according to Jewish writers, to prevent any presumptuous gazer prying too curiously into the form of the mercy seat, which was the Lord's throne. The high priest having done this, perfumed the sanctuary, returned to the door, took the blood of the slain bullock, and, carrying it into the holy of holies, sprinkled it with his finger once upon the mercy seat "eastward"—that is, on the side next to himself; and seven times "before the mercy seat"—that is, on the front of the ark. Leaving the coals and the incense burning, he went out a second time, to sacrifice at the altar of burnt offering the goat which had been assigned as a sin offering for the people; and carrying its blood into the holy of holies, he made similar sprinklings as he had done before with the blood of the bullock. While the high priest was thus engaged in the most holy place, none of the ordinary priests were allowed to remain within the precincts of the tabernacle. The sanctuary or holy place and the altar of burnt offering were in like manner sprinkled seven times with the blood of the bullock and the goat. The object of this solemn ceremonial was to impress the minds of the Israelites with the conviction that the whole tabernacle was stained by the sins of a guilty people, that by their sins they had forfeited the privileges of the divine presence and worship, and that an atonement had to be made as the condition of God's remaining with them. The sins and shortcomings of the past year having polluted the sacred edifice, the expiation required to be annually renewed. The exclusion of the priests indicated their unworthiness and the impurities of their service. The mingled blood of the two victims being sprinkled on the horns of the altar indicated that the priests and the people equally needed an atonement for their sins. But the sanctuary being thus ceremonially purified, and the people of Israel reconciled by the blood of the consecrated victim, the Lord continued to dwell in the midst of them, and to honor them with His gracious presence.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Unto the altar, to wit, the altar of incense, where the blood of sacrifices was to be put, Leviticus 4:7; and particularly the blood of the sin-offerings offered upon this day of atonement, Exodus 30:10; and which is most truly and properly said to be before the Lord, i.e. before the place where God in special manner dwelt, to wit, the holy of holies. Some understand it of the altar of burnt-offerings, because he is said to go out to it. But that going out relates not to the tabernacle, but to the holy of holies, into which he was said to go in, Leviticus 16:17. Add to this, that this altar which is atoned by the high priest seems to be in that place where he only might now come, and therefore in the holy place, called here the tabernacle, from which all other priests were for this day excluded, whereas the altar of burnt-offerings was without the holy place or tabernacle, to wit, at the door of it, and in the court of the priests.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he shall go out unto the altar that is before the Lord,.... The golden altar, the altar of incense, which stood in the holy place without the vail, over against the most holy place, where Jehovah dwelt, and so is said to be before him; of this altar the Misnah (r) understands it, and so do Jarchi and Ben Gersom; and, according to Exodus 30:10; once a year Aaron was to make an atonement on the horns of it, with the blood of the sin offering, which plainly refers to this time, the day of atonement; but Aben Ezra is of opinion, that the altar of burnt offering is meant; and Bishop Patrick is inclined to think so too, because he supposes the high priest's going out signifies his coming from the sanctuary, where the golden altar was, and which had been cleansed, Leviticus 16:16; and because, if the altar of burnt offering is not here meant, no care seems to be taken of its cleansing; but it should be observed, that the holy place, Leviticus 16:16, means the holy of holies, and not the holy place where the altar of incense stood; and that the altar of burnt offering was atoned for and cleansed, when the tabernacle of the congregation was, in which it stood, and from which, this altar is manifestly distinguished, Leviticus 16:20; wherefore the reason given for the altar of burnt offering holds good for the altar of incense, since if that is not intended, no care is taken about it; add to this, that the last account of the high priest was, that he was in the most holy place, and not the holy place, Leviticus 16:17; out of which he now came into the holy place, where the altar of incense was:

and make an atonement for it; where incense was daily offered up, signifying the prayers of the saints, which having many failings and imperfections in them, yea, many sins and transgressions attending them, need atonement by the blood of Christ, of which this was a type:

and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat; mixed, as the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases it; and so Jarchi asks, what is the atonement of it? he takes the blood of the bullock, and the blood of the goat, and mixes them together: the account given of this affair in the Misnah (s) is; he poured the blood of the bullock into the blood of the goat, and then put a full basin into an empty one, that it might be well mixed together: and having so done, he did as follows:

and put it upon the horns of the altar round about; upon the four horns which were around it; and it is asked in the Misnah (t), where did he begin? at the northeast horn, and so to the northwest, and then to the southwest, and (ended) at the southeast; at the place where he began with the sin offering on the outward altar, there he finished on the inward altar, and as he went along he put the blood on each horn, which was the atonement for the altar.

(r) Yoma, c. 5. Sect. 5. (s) lbid. Sect. 4. (t) Ut supra. (Misn. Yoma, c.5. sect, 3.)

Geneva Study Bible

And he shall go out unto the {f} 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.

(f) Upon which the sweet incense and perfume was offered.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

18. And he shall go out unto the altar that is before the Lord] The Mishna sees here a reference to the golden altar (Yoma, 58 b), but this must be questioned: throughout this chapter ‘the altar’ is mentioned, and in Leviticus 16:12, where it undoubtedly means the altar of Burnt-Offering, it is described as ‘the altar before the Lord,’ as in this verse. The words ‘and he shall go out,’ after the purification of the whole tabernacle enjoined in Leviticus 16:16-17, can hardly have any other meaning than ‘he shall go out of the tabernacle into the court in which was the brasen altar.’ In Exodus 30:10 the high priest is commanded to make atonement for the altar of incense once a year with the blood of the Sin-Offering of atonement, but the performance of this rite is not recorded here.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 18, 19. - The holy of holies and the outer chamber of the tabernacle having been reconciled, the high priest shall go out unto the altar that is before the Lord - that is, the altar of burnt sacrifice in the court, standing in front of the tabernacle, not the altar of incense, as has been supposed by some - 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. And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times. This completes the ceremony of "making an atonement for the holy sanctuary, and making an atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar" (verse 33.) Leviticus 16:18

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

After he had made atonement for the dwelling, Aaron was to expiate the altar in the court, by first of all putting some of the blood of the bullock and he-goat upon the horns of the altar, and then sprinkling it seven times with his finger, and thus cleansing and sanctifying it from the uncleannesses of the children of Israel. The application of blood to the horns of the altar was intended to expiate the sins of the priests as well as those of the nation; just as in the case of ordinary sin-offerings it expiated the sins of individual members of the nation (Leviticus 4:25, Leviticus 4:30, Leviticus 4:34), to which the priests also belonged; and the sevenfold sprinkling effected the purification of the place of sacrifice from the uncleannesses of the congregation.

The meaning of the sprinkling of blood upon the capporeth and the horns of the two altars was the same as in the case of every sin-offering. The peculiar features in the expiatory ritual of the day of atonement were the following. In the first place, the blood of both sacrifices was taken not merely into the holy place, but into the most holy, and sprinkled directly upon the throne of God. This was done to show that the true atonement could only take place before the throne of God Himself, and that the sinner was only then truly reconciled to God, and placed in the full and living fellowship of peace with God, when he could come directly to the throne of God, and not merely to the place where, although the Lord indeed manifested His grace to him, He was still separated from him by a curtain. In this respect, therefore, the bringing of the blood of atonement into the most holy place had a prophetic signification, and was a predictive sign that the curtain, which then separated Israel from its God, would one day be removed, and that with the entrance of the full and eternal atonement free access would be opened to the throne of the Lord. The second peculiarity in this act of atonement was the sprinkling of the blood seven times upon the holy places, the floor of the holy of holies and holy place, and the altar of the court; also the application of blood to the media of atonement in the three divisions of the tabernacle, for the cleansing of the holy places from the uncleanness of the children of Israel. As this uncleanness cannot be regarded as consisting of physical defilement, but simply as the ideal effluence of their sins, which had been transferred to the objects in question; so, on the other hand, the cleansing of the holy places can only be understood as consisting in an ideal transference of the influence of the atoning blood to the inanimate objects which had been defiled by sin. If the way in which the sacrificial blood, regarded as the expiation of souls, produced its cleansing effects was, that by virtue thereof the sin was covered over, whilst the sinner was reconciled to God and received forgiveness of sin and the means of sanctification, we must regard the sin-destroying virtue of the blood as working in the same way also upon the objects defiled by sin, namely, that powers were transferred to them which removed the effects proceeding from sin, and in this way wiped out the uncleanness of the children of Israel that was in them. This communication of purifying powers to the holy things was represented by the sprinkling of the atoning blood upon and against them, and indeed by their being sprinkled seven times, to set forth the communication as raised to an efficiency corresponding to its purpose, and to impress upon it the stamp of a divine act through the number seven, which was sanctified by the work of God in creation.