DBG - February 9 - Leviticus 16-18

In this chapter are the directions for the Day of Atonement.  I would advise special attention to this chapter as it contains some of the most powerful imagery of Christ’s sacrifice and our salvation.

vs. 1-2 – I do not think that this special day came only because of the sin of Nadab and Abihu, but that tragedy led to its revelation.  God is holy and must be approached carefully on His terms.

vs. 3-5 – The preparations for the day.  The high priest acts alone on this day.  He is dressed in the white uniform of a common priest as he begins.  There are a bull and two rams prepared for sacrifice.

vs. 6 – The high priest must first atone for his own sins before he can minister on behalf of the people.

vs. 7-10 – Lots are cast to determine the use of the rams.  One will be a sin offering for the people.  The other, one of the unique features of this day, is the scapegoat and will be released into the wilderness.

vs. 11-14 – The blood of the bull is taken into the Tabernacle.  The high priest burns incense which produces a cloud of smoke before the vail.  He goes beyond the vail – something done only on this day – and sprinkles the blood of the bull on the Mercy Seat as an atonement for his own sins.

vs. 15-16 – The process is repeated with the blood of the ram that was offered as a sin offering.  This was to provide atonement for the sins of the people.

vs. 17 – The High Priest acts alone on this day.  This is a wonderful picture of how Christ alone provides our salvation.

vs. 18-19 – The blood of the bull and goat are combined, placed on the horns of the Golden Altar of Incense within the Tabernacle, and then sprinkled seven times upon it.

vs. 20-22 – The High Priest ceremonially places the sins of the people on the scape goat.  It is then taken and released in the wilderness. In the sin offering, the blood pictures the atonement or covering of sin.  In the scape goat is pictured the removal or forgetting of sin.

vs. 23-25 – The High Priest bathes in the Tabernacle and puts on his usual uniform.  He exits and burns the fat of the sin offering on the Brazen Altar.

vs. 26 – The man who handled the scapegoat is unclean and must wash before returning to camp.

vs. 27-28 – The carcasses of the bull and ram that were sacrificed are burned outside the camp.  This is not a sacrifice, but a removal of something unclean.  We see this in how the man who burns the carcasses must also bathe himself.  See Hebrews 13:11-12 for how this ties to Christ.

vs. 29-34 – The Day of Atonement, called Yom Kippur, takes place yearly on the tenth day of the seventh month.  It is a Sabbath day but not a joyous celebration.  It was a day for deep introspection on the guilt of man and the need for a Savior.

In this chapter we deal with regulations concerning the butchering of animals for food and consuming blood.  There are many reasons for these, including prevention of idolatry and cleanliness.  We find in Acts 15 that these principles were still considered relevant in early Christianity, certainly for the same reasons they were implemented.

vs. 1-9 – We must consider the setting for these commands.  The nation of Isarel was in the wilderness and God provided them manna.  Slaughtering animals for food was not very common.  Most likely it was only done for a feast or celebration.  While Israel was camped before entering the Promised Land, any animals that were slaughtered for food were required to be brought to the Tabernacle to ensure they were properly handled.  A major reason for this is to prevent pagan or alternative sacrifices.  They were to serve one God in one way.  Another reason is to make sure they are not eating the blood which comes in the next section.  Those who refused to follow these rules were to be outcasts.  Again, this was only for their sojourn in the wilderness and did not carry on into the Promised Land.

vs. 10-12 – The blood was to be considered sacred. It represented life itself and God put a special claim to it.  Even today the kosher rules followed by the Jews have to have their meat specially butchered and prepared to remove as much blood as possible.

vs. 13 – Briefly stated is the case of hunting wild animals for food.  These were not used for sacrifices and were not required to be brought to the Tabernacle.  The blood still had to be removed.

vs. 14 – This verse links to vs. 10-12. 

vs. 15-16 – Two cases are presented where the blood had not been properly removed from the carcass.  First, an animal that died on its own, whose blood would have coagulated.  Second, an animal that was attacked by wild beasts but not yet dead.  This was also covered in Exodus 22:31.

In this chapter we deal with holiness in sexual relations.

vs. 1-5 – God knew the perversion that was in Egypt and Canaan.  Archaeologists testify to the unspeakable debauchery that occurred in these ancient cultures.  God desired His people to be different, to be holy in their actions.  This includes sexual relations.

vs. 6-13 – To “uncover nakedness” is to have sexual relations with someone.  God’s intention is for sex to be confined between a husband and a wife – a faithful, monogamous relationship.  But even these relations needed to have guidelines, as we even see in the church at Corinth in I Corinthians 5:1.  Relations with someone of near kinship are forbidden.  I think God knows the wickedness of man’s hearts and is careful to spell out as many situations as possible in this passage.

vs. 14-17 – Here are forbidden relations with close relations not of blood.

vs. 18-23 – Various other restrictions are given, including bestiality and homosexuality.  In vs. 21 we have a command to not offer infants as sacrifices, a very common practice in that world.

vs. 24-30 – God acknowledges the wickedness of the pagan nations and calls for His people to be holy.  There are grave consequences pronounced if they do not follow these commands.

The Day of Atonement is one of my favorite topics to study.  The rabbis called it “The Day” or “The Great Day”.  Once a year, the High Priest went beyond the vail and entered the Most Holy Place.  There he stood before the Ark of the Covenant amid the smoke of the burning incense.  He sprinkled the shed blood on the Mercy Seat to be a covering for the sins of the nation.  Symbolically, it that blood blotted out sin and restored the broken relationship between a Holy God and sinful man.  “At-one” is the way to remember this, and surprisingly exactly how the English word came to be according the etymologists.  This is the reconciliation that comes through Christ, as Paul writes in Romans 5:10.

Our hymn today, “Faith in Christ Our Sacrifice”, was written by Isaac Watts in 1709.  It reminds us that the sacrifices, such as we see on the Day of Atonement, are mere shadows of Christ’s death and resurrection. 

Not all the blood of beasts
on Jewish altars slain
could give the guilty conscience peace
or wash away the stain.

But Christ, the heav'nly Lamb,
takes all our sins away;
a Sacrifice of nobler name
and richer blood than they.

My faith would lay her hand
on that dear head of Thine,
while like a penitent I stand,
and there confess my sin.

My soul looks back to see
the burden Thou didst bear
when hanging on the cursed tree;
I know my guilt was there.

Believing, we rejoice
to see the curse remove;
we bless the Lamb with cheerful voice
and sing His bleeding love.