Leviticus 16:5-28 And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering… Upon ordinary occasions sacrifices might be offered by common priests, who might act as representatives of the high priest or as representatives of the people, and so be types of Christ, or types of Christians. But upon this day the high priest must act in person, which leaves no doubt as to these transactions being eminently emblematical of Christ and of his great work. We notice - I. THE OFFERINGS FOR AARON AND HIS HOUSE. (See verse 6.) 1. In these Christ is viewed in his relation to his Church. (1) The Christian Church is the house or family of Jesus (Hebrews 3:6). (See Psalm 135:19, where the "house of Aaron," as opposed to the "house of Israel," may be spiritually construed to denote the Christian as opposed to the Hebrew Church.) (2) To his Church Jesus stands in the relations of (a) Priest, (b) Sacrifice, (c) Bondsman. He bears our sin in his own person, and dies for us, as Aaron would have died for his own sin and that of his house, had not the sin sacrifices been substituted to procure the forbearance of God until our competent Aaron should appear to satisfy all the claims of justice and mercy. (3) Aaron, in making atonement for himself and his house, evinced that Christ should be a priest having compassion (see Hebrews 5:2, 3). For though Jesus had no sin of his own, yet did he take upon him our nature, with its curse, so as to be "touched with the feeling of our infirmities" (comp. Hebrews 7:28, margin; 2:18; 4:15). What a blessed assurance for us! 2. But Christ cannot be of the family of Aaron. (1) Aaron for himself and for all his house needed sacrifices to atone for their own sins; how then could they put away sin from others? This they could only do typically and ceremonially (see Hebrews 7:26, 27). (2) Provision was made in the family of Aaron for the transmission of the priesthood from hand to hand; it was therefore never contemplated that any member of that house should have the priesthood in perpetuity. But this we must have in the office of a perfect Priest. His intercession must have no interruption (see Hebrews 7:23-25). (3) To fulfill these conditions, Christ is come, a high priest after the order of Melchisedec (Psalm 110:4; Hebrews 7:15-22). He sprang from Judah, of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood (Hebrews 7:11-14). We may praise God for the perfection of the priesthood of Christ, which needs no supplement in the offices of mortals. II. THE OFFERINGS FOR THE PEOPLE. 1. There was the burnt offering. (1) This, under ordinary circumstances, for the individual might be a bullock, or a ram, or a he-goat, or, in case of poverty, a pigeon; but in this case for the nation, as in the consecration of the priests, the ram is specified. (Leviticus 1:3, 10, 14; Leviticus 8:18). It is suggested that this animal was chosen for the offensiveness of its smell, in order to represent the odiousness of sin. (2) In this case also the high priest in person, and alone, officiated. No one was to remain with him in the tabernacle of the congregation (verse 17). What an expressive figure of Christ (see Isaiah 63:3, 5; Zechariah 13:7; Matthew 26:31, 56; John 16:32)! No one could help Jesus in his great work of atonement. 2. The sacrifice of the two goats now claims attention. (1) Two are brought, to foreshadow what one could not adequately, viz. that one part only of the compound person of Christ could die, while both parts were necessary for his making atonement. The animal on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat was to stand alive before the Lord, to make atonement with him (verse 10; see Hebrews 8:3; 1 Peter 3:18). The "somewhat" which our high priest has to offer is his humanity, which his Godhead supported and rendered infinitely efficacious for the expiation of sin. (2) In casting lots upon the goats, one for the Lord, and the other for the scapegoat, we are taught that the sufferings of Christ were ordered by the providence of God (see Acts 4:28). This is amply evinced in the wonderfully detailed anticipations of prophecy. (3) Aaron laid his two hands upon the head of the creature that was to be the scapegoat, and confessed the sins of the congregation. These were such as may not have been atoned for by the usual sacrifices. And they are summed up as "iniquities" and "transgressions" and "sins" (verse 21). Laden with these, (4) he was sent away "by the hand of a man of opportunity" (verse 21, margin). Such was Simon the Cyrenian, who bore the cross on which the atonement was to be made for sin (Matthew 27:32; see Galatians 6:14; Ephesians 2:16; Colossians 2:14). Jesus was hurried along to his execution by the rabble rather than by any officer appointed to lead him. And as the man of opportunity was to be unclean until he had bathed his flesh and washed his clothes, so will the blood of the murder of Jesus be upon the Jews until it is cleansed by their repentance and faith (comp. Matthew 27:25 and Joel 3:21). (5) The scapegoat was to go away with its burden into a "a land not inhabited," or "land of separation," a "wilderness," a place in which it might be lost sight of. This was designed to teach us how effectually our sins are borne away into oblivion by Christ (Psalm 103:12; Isaiah 38:17; Micah 7:19; John 1:29; Hebrews 8:12). To set forth this important truth, it was also ordered that the bodies of those beasts whose blood was brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, were burnt without the camp (verse 27; Hebrews 13:11, 12). So, like the "man of opportunity," whoever burnt the sin offering became unclean, and so remained until he had washed (see Zechariah 13:1). Have we been purified from all complicity in the guilt of the crucifixion of Jesus? - J.A.M. Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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