Commentary - Leviticus 8:14-17

Bird's-eye view

This passage details a crucial moment in the consecration of Aaron and his sons to the priesthood. Following the ascension offering, Moses now officiates the sin offering, a necessary step to purify both the priests and the altar itself before they can begin their mediatorial work. This is not just a ritual for ritual's sake; it is a profound theological drama unfolding in actions. The laying on of hands signifies the transfer of sin, the slaughter of the bull represents the penalty of that sin, which is death, and the careful application of the blood demonstrates the cleansing power of the atonement. The separation of the fat to be burned on the altar and the rest of the bull to be burned outside the camp teaches a vital lesson about God's holiness and the utter defilement of sin. Every element here is a shadow, a type, pointing forward to the perfect priesthood and final sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, who would become both the priest and the offering, purifying His people and consecrating a new and living way into the presence of God.

In short, this is the formal detoxification of the priesthood and the sanctuary. Before Aaron can represent the people to God, he must be ritually cleansed from his own sin. Before the altar can receive acceptable sacrifices from the people, it must be purged. Sin is a pollutant, a contagion, and it must be dealt with decisively and according to God's precise instructions before any true worship can occur. This ceremony establishes the foundational principle of the gospel: forgiveness and cleansing must precede fellowship and service.

Outline

Context In Leviticus

Leviticus 8 is the narrative fulfillment of the instructions given by God in Exodus 29. After the detailed "blueprints" for the tabernacle, the priesthood, and the sacrificial system were laid out, we now see them put into practice. The book of Leviticus is the handbook for worship in the old covenant, and this chapter is the ordination ceremony for the first priests. Chapters 1-7 detailed the five main types of offerings. Now, in chapter 8, Moses, acting as a special officiating priest, uses these offerings to formally install Aaron and his sons. This passage, focusing on the sin offering, comes after the priests have been washed, clothed, and anointed (Lev 8:6-13). It is followed by the ram of the ascension offering and the ram of ordination (Lev 8:18-29). The sin offering is essential because it deals with the problem of defilement. Without this purification, the priests would be unfit to enter God's presence, and the tabernacle itself would be contaminated by their presence. This sets the stage for the entire Levitical system, grounding it in the reality of sin and the necessity of blood atonement.

Key Issues

The Bloody Foundation of Ministry

Before a priest can do anything for God, something must be done to him. This is the logic of grace, and it is written here in the blood of a bull. Aaron and his sons are about to be set apart for the holiest task on earth, mediating between a holy God and a sinful people. But the first order of business is to remind them that they are part of the second group. They too are sinful men. They cannot stand before God on their own merits any more than the common Israelite can. Their fancy garments, the ephod and the breastplate, mean nothing if the sin problem is not dealt with first.

And so, the foundation of their entire ministry is laid here, and it is a bloody one. The sin offering, or chatat, is not about securing brownie points or making a goodwill gesture. It is about purification from defilement. Sin is not just a legal problem; it is a spiritual contaminant. It makes things unclean. It makes people unclean. It makes the very ground they walk on unclean. Before the priests can offer sacrifices to make others clean, they themselves must be made clean. This is why the ceremony is so visceral, so graphic. God wants the lesson to be unmistakable: ministry in the house of God begins with a death. Your death, represented by the death of this substitute.

Verse by Verse Commentary

14 Then he brought the bull of the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the bull of the sin offering.

The action begins with the presentation of the substitute. This is not just any bull; it is the bull designated for this specific purpose, the sin offering. And the first thing that happens is a solemn act of identification. Aaron and his sons, the priests-to-be, lay their hands on the bull's head. This is a profound legal and spiritual transaction. In our individualistic age, we have trouble grasping this, but this is corporate solidarity in action. By laying their hands on the animal, they are saying, "This bull is us. Our sin, our guilt, our defilement is now transferred to this animal." This is the doctrine of imputation in living color. The sin of the priests is reckoned to the bull. This is not a mere symbol; in the economy of the old covenant, a real transfer is taking place. The bull is now ceremonially guilty, and Aaron and his sons are ceremonially innocent. This is the necessary prelude to the sacrifice, because God's justice requires that the sin be punished where it is found.

15 Next Moses slaughtered it and took the blood and with his finger put some of it around on the horns of the altar and purified the altar. Then he poured out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar and set it apart as holy, to make atonement for it.

With the sin imputed to the bull, the sentence is carried out. Moses, acting in a unique priestly role for this occasion, slaughters the animal. The wages of sin is death, and that wage is now paid. But the death itself is not the end of the story. The life is in the blood (Lev 17:11), and so the blood, representing a life poured out in death, becomes the agent of cleansing. Moses takes this atoning blood and applies it to the horns of the altar. The horns were the highest points of the altar, representing its power and efficacy. By daubing them with blood, Moses is purifying the altar itself. Even the furniture of the tabernacle, because it exists in a sinful world and is ministered at by sinful men, needs to be cleansed. The rest of the blood is poured out at the base, consecrating the very foundation of the place of sacrifice. The word "atonement" here means to cover, to purge, to cleanse. The blood of the substitute purifies the altar so that it can be a place where God and man can meet.

16 He also took all the fat that was on the entrails, and the lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys and their fat; and Moses offered it up in smoke on the altar.

Not all parts of the animal are treated the same. The fat portions, which were considered the richest and best parts of the animal, are taken and offered up on the newly purified altar. This fat represents the choicest portion, the energy and wealth of the animal. In offering the fat to God, it is an acknowledgment that the best belongs to Him. It goes up in smoke as a "pleasing aroma," not because God enjoys the smell of burning fat, but because He is pleased with the obedience and the right handling of the sin problem that the sacrifice represents. Justice has been served, the penalty has been paid, and now a tribute of the best can be offered to the holy God who provided the way of atonement.

17 But the bull and its hide and its flesh and its refuse he burned in the fire outside the camp, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

This is the stark contrast. While the fat, the best part, ascends to God from the altar, the rest of the bull, now thoroughly identified with sin, is treated as something utterly defiled and rejected. It is taken outside the camp, away from the presence of God and the community of His people, and it is utterly destroyed by fire. The hide, the flesh, even the dung, it is all consumed. The lesson is potent. Sin is so foul, so polluting, that once it has been laid on the substitute, that substitute becomes a thing accursed. It cannot be eaten; it cannot be used for any other purpose. It must be utterly removed from the presence of holiness. The author of Hebrews picks up on this very point, noting that Jesus also suffered "outside the gate" to sanctify the people through His own blood (Heb 13:11-12). Our sin made Christ an object of God's wrath, removed from the holy city, bearing our reproach. This burning outside the camp is a picture of the curse-bearing nature of substitutionary atonement.

Application

The ceremony described here is ancient, bloody, and foreign to our modern sensibilities. But the theology it teaches is the very bedrock of our faith. We are all Aaron. We are all called to be a kingdom of priests (1 Pet 2:9), to minister before God and represent Him to the world. But like Aaron, we are shot through with sin. We are unclean, and we cannot approach a holy God on our own terms. Our good intentions, our religious activities, our best efforts are all tainted.

Before we can do anything for God, something must be done to us. We need a sin offering. And praise God, we have one. Jesus Christ is our great high priest, but He is also our bull of the sin offering. By faith, we lay our hands on His head. We confess that He is our substitute. Our sin, our filth, our shame, our guilt, all of it was imputed to Him. He who knew no sin was made to be sin for us (2 Cor 5:21). On the cross, He was slaughtered. His blood was shed, a life poured out, and that blood is the only detergent in the universe powerful enough to cleanse a human heart and purify our worship.

Like the fat on the altar, His perfect life was an offering of infinite value, a pleasing aroma to the Father. And like the bull outside the camp, He bore our curse, He was cast out, He endured the full, incinerating wrath of God against our sin. The application for us is simple. Do not dare to approach God on the basis of your own goodness. Do not try to serve Him before you have been cleansed by Him. Come to the cross. Lay your hands on the Lamb of God. Confess your sin and see it laid on Him. And then, and only then, having been purified by His blood, can you offer your own body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service (Rom 12:1).