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The Day of Atonement16 The L ord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the L ord and died. 2The L ord said to Moses: Tell your brother Aaron not to come just at any time into the sanctuary inside the curtain before the mercy seat that is upon the ark, or he will die; for I appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat. 3Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. 4He shall put on the holy linen tunic, and shall have the linen undergarments next to his body, fasten the linen sash, and wear the linen turban; these are the holy vestments. He shall bathe his body in water, and then put them on. 5He shall take from the congregation of the people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering. 6 Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. 7He shall take the two goats and set them before the L ord at the entrance of the tent of meeting; 8and Aaron shall cast lots on the two goats, one lot for the L ord and the other lot for Azazel. 9Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the L ord, and offer it as a sin offering; 10but the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the L ord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel. 11 Aaron shall present the bull as a sin offering for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house; he shall slaughter the bull as a sin offering for himself. 12He shall take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the L ord, and two handfuls of crushed sweet incense, and he shall bring it inside the curtain 13and put the incense on the fire before the L ord, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the covenant, or he will die. 14He shall take some of the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat he shall sprinkle the blood with his finger seven times. 15 He shall slaughter the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood inside the curtain, and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it upon the mercy seat and before the mercy seat. 16Thus he shall make atonement for the sanctuary, because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel, and because of their transgressions, all their sins; and so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which remains with them in the midst of their uncleannesses. 17No one shall be in the tent of meeting from the time he enters to make atonement in the sanctuary until he comes out and has made atonement for himself and for his house and for all the assembly of Israel. 18Then he shall go out to the altar that is before the L ord and make atonement on its behalf, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and of the blood of the goat, and put it on each of the horns of the altar. 19He shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it and hallow it from the uncleannesses of the people of Israel. 20 When he has finished atoning for the holy place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat. 21Then Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and sending it away into the wilderness by means of someone designated for the task. 22The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a barren region; and the goat shall be set free in the wilderness. 23 Then Aaron shall enter the tent of meeting, and shall take off the linen vestments that he put on when he went into the holy place, and shall leave them there. 24He shall bathe his body in water in a holy place, and put on his vestments; then he shall come out and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people, making atonement for himself and for the people. 25The fat of the sin offering he shall turn into smoke on the altar. 26The one who sets the goat free for Azazel shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward may come into the camp. 27The bull of the sin offering and the goat of the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall be taken outside the camp; their skin and their flesh and their dung shall be consumed in fire. 28The one who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward may come into the camp. 29 This shall be a statute to you forever: In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall deny yourselves, and shall do no work, neither the citizen nor the alien who resides among you. 30For on this day atonement shall be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins you shall be clean before the L ord. 31It is a sabbath of complete rest to you, and you shall deny yourselves; it is a statute forever. 32The priest who is anointed and consecrated as priest in his father’s place shall make atonement, wearing the linen vestments, the holy vestments. 33He shall make atonement for the sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for the altar, and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. 34This shall be an everlasting statute for you, to make atonement for the people of Israel once in the year for all their sins. And Moses did as the L ord had commanded him. New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.
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16. And he shall make an atonement for the holy place. The cleansing of the sanctuary might seem absurd, as if it were in man’s power to pollute what God Himself had consecrated; for we know that God remains true, although all’ the world be unholy, and consequently that whatever God has appointed changes not its nature through the sins of men. Yet, if no contagion from men’s sins had infected the tabernacle, this cleansing would have been superfluous. But although the sanctuary in itself may have contracted no defilement from the guilt of the people, still, in regard to the sin and guilt of the people themselves, it is justly accounted unclean. And thus sin is made more exceeding sinful, inasmuch as men, even though their intention be to serve God, profane His sacred name, if they do so carelessly or irreverently. It was at that time a detestable sacrilege in all to defile the altar and sanctuary of God; and Moses convicts the Israelites of this sacrilege when He commands the sanctuary to be cleansed. Moreover, let us learn that men may so contaminate the sacred things of God as that their nature should still remain unaltered and their dignity inviolate. Wherefore Moses expressly states that the sanctuary is cleansed not from its own uncleanness, but from that of the children of Israel. We must now apply the substance of this type to our own use. By Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, God appears to us in his only-begotten Son: these are the pledges of our holiness; yet such is our corruption that we never cease from profaning, as far as in us lies, these instruments of the Spirit whereby God sanctifies us. Since, however, we have now no victims to kill, we must mourn and humbly pray that Christ, by the sprinkling of His blood, may blot out and cleanse these defilements of ours, by which Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are polluted. The reason of the purification is also to be observed, viz., because the tabernacle “dwelleth among them in the midst of their uncleanness;” 247247 Margin, A.V. by which words Moses signifies that men are so polluted and full of corruptions that they contaminate all that is holy without the intervention of a means of purification; for he takes it for granted that men cannot but bring some impurity with them. What he had said of the inner sanctuary he extends to the altar and the whole of the tabernacle. |