Commentary - Leviticus 16:11-14

Bird's-eye view

Leviticus 16 is the high point of the Levitical code, describing the central ceremony of the old covenant: the Day of Atonement. This was the one day of the year when the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies, the very throne room of God on earth. This passage, verses 11-14, details the first part of that solemn entry. Aaron, the high priest, must first make atonement for himself and his own house. He is a sinner, just like the people he represents, and he cannot stand before a holy God without a sacrifice. This is a crucial point. Before he can mediate for others, he must be right with God himself. This involves the blood of a bull and a cloud of incense, both of which are rich with theological significance, pointing forward to the perfect work of our great High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The actions are precise and freighted with meaning. The coals from the altar, the fragrant incense, the thick cloud obscuring the mercy seat, and the careful sprinkling of blood, all of it teaches us about the utter holiness of God and the deadly seriousness of sin. God does not deal with sin lightly. Atonement is a bloody, costly business. And yet, in the midst of this terrifying holiness, God provides a way for man to approach Him. The cloud of incense is both a symbol of prayer and a necessary shield, preventing the priest from seeing the unveiled glory of God and being struck dead. The blood on the mercy seat is the answer to the demands of the law, represented by the testimony within the ark. It is a picture of propitiation, where wrath is turned aside by a substitutionary death. Every detail here is a shadow, and the substance, as the New Testament makes plain, is Christ.

Outline

Context In Leviticus

This chapter is the heart of the book of Leviticus, and Leviticus is the heart of the Pentateuch. The central theme of the book is holiness: "Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy" (Lev. 19:2). God has condescended to dwell in the midst of His people, and this requires a meticulous system for dealing with the sin and impurity that would otherwise make His presence lethal to them. Chapters 1-7 lay out the basic sacrificial system. Chapters 8-10 describe the consecration of the priesthood and the disastrous consequences of approaching God improperly, as seen in the deaths of Nadab and Abihu. Chapters 11-15 detail various forms of uncleanness. All of this leads to chapter 16, the ultimate provision for cleansing the sanctuary and the people from the accumulated pollution of their sin over the course of the year. This annual cleansing is what makes the ongoing relationship between a holy God and a sinful people possible.

Key Issues

Verse by Verse Commentary

11 “Then Aaron shall bring near the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his household, and he shall slaughter the bull of the sin offering which is for himself.

The proceedings begin not with the sins of the people, but with the sin of the priest. This is first base, and you cannot get to second without touching it. Aaron, the high priest, the man who stands as a mediator between God and Israel, is himself a sinner. He cannot represent the people until his own sin is dealt with. The author of Hebrews makes much of this point, contrasting the Levitical priests with Christ, who "had no need to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people" (Heb. 7:27). Aaron's sin offering for himself underscores the inadequacy of the old covenant. The priests were flawed, temporary mediators. They needed atonement just as much as anyone else. He makes atonement for himself and for "his household," which includes the entire Levitical priesthood. The whole system of worship is implicated in this need for cleansing. The bull is slaughtered, and we are reminded from the outset that atonement means death. The wages of sin is death, and this bull is dying in Aaron's place. This is substitution.

12 And he shall take a firepan full of coals of fire from upon the altar before Yahweh and two handfuls of finely ground fragrant incense, and bring it inside the veil.

Having dealt with his sin judicially through the death of the bull, Aaron must now prepare to enter God's immediate presence. He takes two things with him. First, coals of fire from the bronze altar of burnt offering. This is holy fire, the only fire acceptable for this purpose. It is fire that has consumed sacrifice, fire that represents God's judgment against sin. Second, he takes two handfuls of fragrant incense. This incense was specially formulated and sacred, not to be used for any common purpose. It represents the prayers of the saints, ascending to God. The fire and the incense together create the means of his approach. He is coming before God on the basis of a substitutionary sacrifice (the altar) and cloaked in prayer (the incense). He is about to go "inside the veil," a barrier that separates the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place, a graphic reminder that sin has separated man from God.

13 And he shall put the incense on the fire before Yahweh, that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the ark of the testimony, so that he will not die.

Once inside the veil, in the terrifying darkness of the Holy of Holies, Aaron's first action is to place the incense on the burning coals. The result is a thick cloud of fragrant smoke. The text is explicit about the purpose of this cloud: it is to "cover the mercy seat... so that he will not die." The mercy seat was the golden lid of the Ark of the Covenant, where the glorious presence of Yahweh was manifest between the cherubim. To see that unfiltered glory would be fatal for a sinful man, even for the atoned high priest. The cloud serves as a protective screen. It is an act of divine mercy. God provides the means for Aaron not to be consumed by the very holiness he is approaching. This is not some magical smoke screen; it is a profound theological statement. We can only approach God when His glory is mediated to us. For us, that mediator is Christ. The cloud of incense, representing prayer, teaches us that we come before God shrouded in the intercession of our great High Priest, who ever lives to make intercession for us.

14 Moreover, he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat on the east side; also in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.

Now comes the central act of atonement. Aaron takes the blood of the bull, his own sin offering, and sprinkles it on the mercy seat. The mercy seat, or kapporeth, is the place of atonement. It is the lid of the ark which contained the "testimony", the tablets of the law. The law cries out for justice; it condemns the sinner. But now, the blood of the substitute is placed directly over the law. The blood satisfies the demands of the law. God, looking down from His throne, sees the blood, not the broken commandments. This is propitiation. God's righteous wrath against sin is satisfied by the death of the substitute. He sprinkles the blood once "on" the mercy seat and seven times "in front of" it. The number seven signifies perfection or completeness. This is a full and complete cleansing. The blood of the priest's own substitute has made the way for him to stand in the presence of God and to continue his work of mediating for the people.

Key Words

Atonement (kaphar)

The Hebrew word kaphar literally means "to cover." In the context of the sacrificial system, it refers to the act by which sin is covered over and its consequences are averted. It's not that God simply pretends the sin isn't there; rather, the sin is covered by the blood of a substitute, which satisfies God's justice. The New Testament fills out this picture with the concept of propitiation, where the sacrifice not only covers sin but actively turns away God's wrath. Atonement is God's gracious provision for dealing with our sin so that He can remain just and still be the justifier of the one who has faith.

Mercy Seat (kapporeth)

The kapporeth was the solid gold lid of the Ark of the Covenant, flanked by two golden cherubim. Its name is directly related to the word for atonement, kaphar. It was, quite literally, the "place of atonement." It was not a seat in the sense of a chair, but rather the symbolic throne of God on earth. It was the meeting place between God and man, but a meeting place that could only be approached with blood. The law inside the ark condemned, but the blood on the mercy seat brought peace. This is a beautiful picture of Christ Himself, who is our mercy seat, our propitiation (Romans 3:25).

Application

The first and most glaring application is our utter need for a better priest and a better sacrifice. Aaron had to offer a sacrifice for his own sin, year after year. The blood of bulls and goats could never truly take away sin (Heb. 10:4). It was all a shadow, a placeholder, pointing to the reality to come. We have that reality in the Lord Jesus. He is the perfect High Priest, not from the flawed line of Aaron, but after the order of Melchizedek. And He did not offer the blood of an animal, but offered Himself, once for all, as the perfect sacrifice for sin (Heb. 9:12-14).

Second, we must appreciate the holiness of God. We live in a casual age, and our approach to God is often far too casual. This chapter reminds us that we are approaching a consuming fire. We cannot waltz into His presence on our own terms. We come only through the veil, which was torn for us at the cross. We come only under the cloud of Christ's perfect intercession. We come only on the basis of His sprinkled blood. Our confidence is not in ourselves, but entirely in our Mediator. The fear and trembling of Aaron should chasten our flippancy and cultivate in us a profound reverence for the God with whom we have to do.

Finally, this passage is a deep well of assurance. The mercy seat, sprinkled with blood, declares that God has provided a solution for our sin that satisfies His own perfect justice. He is not grading on a curve. He is not overlooking our sin. He is dealing with it fully and finally in the cross of Christ. The blood has been sprinkled. The atonement is complete. Therefore, as the writer to the Hebrews argues, we can "draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith" (Heb. 10:22). The way into the holiest of all has been opened for us.