Commentary - Leviticus 9:15-21

Bird's-eye view

In this section of Leviticus, we are witnessing the public inauguration of the Aaronic priesthood. For seven days, Aaron and his sons have been consecrated, set apart for their holy office. Now, on the eighth day, the day of new beginnings, Aaron steps forward to act as the mediator for the people for the very first time. Having first offered sacrifices for his own sin, he is now qualified to stand in the gap for the congregation. This passage meticulously details the sequence of offerings brought on behalf of the people: the sin offering, the burnt offering, the grain offering, and finally, the peace offering. This order is not arbitrary; it is a divinely choreographed liturgy that teaches a profound theological truth. Atonement for sin must come first, followed by total consecration to God, which then allows for the offering of our substance and culminates in fellowship and peace with Him. This is the pattern of our salvation, a detailed picture of the comprehensive work of Christ, who is both priest and sacrifice.

The actions described here, from the slaughtering of the animals to the splashing of the blood to the waving of the choice portions, are not the dry proceedings of an ancient ritual. They are the visible gospel for Old Covenant Israel. They demonstrate that approaching a holy God is a deadly serious business that requires a substitute, a mediator, and strict adherence to God's own commands. This entire ceremony is a prelude to the dramatic appearance of the glory of the Lord and the consuming fire from heaven that will fall at the end of the chapter, God's own "Amen" to this foundational act of worship.

Outline

Context In Leviticus

Leviticus 9 is the climax of the ordination of the priesthood. Chapter 8 detailed the seven-day ceremony for consecrating Aaron and his sons, setting them apart from the people for their sacred work. This chapter records the events of the eighth day, when their ordination is complete and they begin their public ministry. The structure of the chapter is simple and powerful. First, Aaron offers sacrifices for himself (9:8-14), because a sinful priest cannot atone for a sinful people. He must be cleansed first. Only then does he turn to the people's offerings, which are detailed in our passage (9:15-21). This entire event is a direct fulfillment of the commands given by God through Moses. The chapter will conclude with Aaron blessing the people and the glory of Yahweh appearing to all, consuming the offerings in a flash of divine fire (9:22-24). This chapter establishes the pattern for all future tabernacle worship and serves as the foundational moment for Israel's mediatorial priesthood.

Key Issues

The Pattern for Approaching God

One of the central lessons of the book of Leviticus is that a holy God cannot be approached casually. You don't just wander into His presence on your own terms. There is a protocol, a divinely mandated procedure, and it is not optional. We see this protocol laid out with precision in this chapter. The order of the sacrifices is not a matter of convenience; it is a lesson in systematic theology. Sin must be dealt with first. There is no path to God that bypasses the problem of our guilt. So, the sin offering comes first. Once atonement is made, the way is cleared for total dedication, which is what the burnt offering represents. With sin handled and the worshiper wholly consecrated, he can then bring the tribute of his labors, the grain offering. And the culmination of it all is the peace offering, the fellowship meal shared between God, the priest, and the worshiper. This is the gospel logic: atonement, then consecration, then service, then fellowship. Any attempt to rearrange this order, to seek peace with God without atonement, is to build a religion of our own making, which is no religion at all.

Verse by Verse Commentary

15 Then he brought near the people’s offering and took the goat of the sin offering which was for the people and slaughtered it and offered it for sin, like the first.

Having made atonement for himself, Aaron is now fit to be the mediator for the people. Notice, the very first thing he does for them is deal with their sin. The corporate life of Israel begins with a corporate confession of guilt, embodied in this goat. This goat is the people's substitute. It dies the death they deserve. The phrase like the first refers back to the calf Aaron offered for himself in verse 8. The lesson is plain: priest and people stand on level ground at the foot of the altar. All have sinned, and all require a blood sacrifice for atonement. There is one way to God for every man, and it is the way of a substitutionary death.

16 He also brought near the burnt offering and offered it according to the legal judgment.

With the sin offering completed, the burnt offering can now be brought. The burnt offering was unique in that the entire animal, except for the hide, was consumed on the altar. It represented the complete and total dedication of the worshiper to God. This is the logical next step after atonement. Once we are forgiven, our only proper response is to offer ourselves as living sacrifices to the one who forgave us. The phrase according to the legal judgment is crucial. In the Hebrew it is "according to the ordinance." This is not improvised worship. Aaron is not making it up as he goes along. He is carefully following the prescribed rules God had laid down. True worship is an act of submission to God's Word, not an expression of our own creativity.

17 Next he brought near the grain offering and filled his hand with some of it and offered it up in smoke on the altar, besides the burnt offering of the morning.

After atonement and consecration comes the tribute offering. The grain offering was a gift of flour, oil, and incense, representing the fruit of a person's labor. It was an act of thanksgiving, acknowledging that all we have and all we produce comes from God's hand. A handful was burned on the altar as a memorial portion, and the rest was for the priests to eat. The text adds an important detail: this was done besides the burnt offering of the morning. This inaugural ceremony did not cancel the regular, daily sacrifices. This teaches us that the special occasions of worship in our lives should never supplant the ordinary, daily disciplines of devotion. We need both the feast days and the daily bread.

18 Then he slaughtered the ox and the ram, the sacrifice of peace offerings which was for the people; and Aaron’s sons handed the blood to him, and he splashed it around on the altar.

Finally, we arrive at the peace offering. This is the culmination of the entire sequence. Peace with God is the goal. This sacrifice was a communal meal. Portions were given to God (the fat), to the priest, and the remainder was eaten by the worshipers and their families in a joyful feast before the Lord. It was a celebration of restored fellowship. But notice that this fellowship is established upon a foundation of blood. Before the meal can be enjoyed, the blood of the ox and ram must be splashed against the altar. Our peace, our communion, our joy, are all purchased by the death of a substitute. There is no fellowship with God that is not blood-bought.

19-20 As for the portions of fat from the ox and from the ram, the fat tail and the fat covering and the kidneys and the lobe of the liver, they now placed the portions of fat on the breasts; and he offered them up in smoke on the altar.

The fat was considered the richest, most energy-laden part of the animal. In the sacrificial system, the fat always belonged to God. It was His portion. To offer the fat was to offer the very best, the essence of the animal's strength and life, to God. The meticulous listing of the various fatty parts underscores the care with which God's portion was to be handled. Placing these parts on the breasts of the animal before offering them was a procedural step, gathering all the portions together for the final act of turning them into smoke, a pleasing aroma to the Lord. This is a picture of giving our best, our strength, our richest affections, to God alone.

21 But the breasts and the right thigh Aaron waved as a wave offering before Yahweh, just as Moses had commanded.

Here we have the priest's portion. The breast, representing the heart and affections, and the right thigh, the strongest portion for walking and a prime cut of meat, were designated for Aaron and his sons. The action of "waving" was likely a side-to-side motion, presenting the offering to God, who symbolically resided in the tabernacle, and then drawing it back. It was a symbolic way of saying that the gift is first given entirely to God, and then God, in His grace, gives it back as provision for His minister. This is a beautiful picture of the Christian economy. When we give our offerings to God, He in turn uses them to sustain the life and work of the church. Our giving to God is the mechanism by which God provides for His servants.

Application

The book of Leviticus can seem remote and strange to modern Christians, but the gospel it preaches is as relevant today as it was at the foot of Sinai. The pattern of sacrifice laid out here is the pattern of our own salvation. We do not bring goats or oxen, because our High Priest, Jesus Christ, has fulfilled every aspect of this ceremony in Himself.

He is our sin offering, the goat slaughtered for our transgressions. He is our burnt offering, who consecrated Himself wholly to the Father's will, even unto death. He is our grain offering, the bread of life, the firstfruits from the dead, whose life is our spiritual food. And He is our peace offering, whose blood makes peace between us and God, allowing us to feast in joyful fellowship with the Father. We must come to God in this order. We cannot offer our lives in consecration or enjoy fellowship with God until we have first come to Christ as our sin offering, confessing our guilt and trusting in His substitutionary death.

Furthermore, our worship must be "according to the legal judgment." We are to worship God as He has commanded in His Word, not according to our fads, feelings, or traditions. And just as Aaron waved the breast and thigh, we are to present our whole selves, our affections and our strength, to God, trusting that He will receive our offering and provide for all our needs as we serve Him. This ancient liturgy is a roadmap of the Christian life, a life that begins with blood and ends in a feast.