16:1 The Day of Atonement is introduced with reference to the death of Aaron’s sons, recalling the narrative of the inauguration of tabernacle worship (chs. 8–10). Israel’s covenant worship enacts the fellowship between God and humanity that had been known previously in Eden (cf. Introduction; comment on 26:11–12). In this context Nadab and Abihu’s sin followed by the Lord’s swift judgment replays another fall of humanity. But it does more than that. Introducing the Day of Atonement in light of grave transgression brings into focus that which the sacrificial system is intended to achieve: the cleansing of all unrighteousness in order to restore relationship with the Lord.

16:2 The Lord prohibits approach into his presence “at any time” of Aaron’s choosing. Rather, the time and manner of approach before the throne of God will be determined by him. The Holy Place is the Lord’s audience hall and the Most Holy Place his throne room, concealed from visibility by a veil embroidered with figures of guardian cherubim. Behind the veil rests the holiest article of furniture, the ark of the covenant, crowned with a cover of pure gold from whose ends rise two cherubim of pure gold (Ex. 25:17–22). The cherubim are turned inward, facing each other, and their outstretched wings create a seat where the Lord is envisioned as enthroned (Ps. 99:1; Isa. 37:16). This cover, translated as “mercy seat” (ESV) or “atonement cover” (NASB), derives its name from the Day of Atonement ceremonies because it is the focal point of ritual activity on this day (Lev. 16:13–15).184

Verses 2–3 set before the readers of this text a contrast between the proper and improper ways of approaching the Lord, recalling the priesthood’s charge to distinguish between holy and common / clean and unclean (10:10) and setting a tone that guards from overfamiliarity with the God who makes his dwelling among his people. The Lord pledges his personal presence in the sanctuary—“I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat” (Lev. 16:2; cf. Ex. 25:22)—a presence that both visits judgment on sin (Lev. 10:2) and secures forgiveness for the penitent (16:30).

16:3–5 The ritual first specifies the offerings: a bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering for Aaron’s household (v. 3) and two male goats for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering on behalf of the people (v. 5). In addition to the offerings a change of clothing is specified. The change of dress is no mere outward formality but speaks to an inner disposition. The high priest must humble himself by laying aside his sumptuous garments in favor of plain linen robes (Exodus 28; Lev. 8:7–9). His role on this day is to represent the people before the Lord, so he dresses in a linen tunic of the common priesthood in identification with every Israelite. Aaron washes his body before dressing, thereby signaling a more thorough ritual cleansing and consecration not required on other days of his priestly ministry, likely because he will be drawing closer than ever to the presence of the Lord.

16:6 Verses 6–10 offer a preliminary description of the sacrificial ritual that will be enacted at the appointed time. This verse anticipates the sin offering for the priestly household that is fulfilled in verse 11.

16:7–8 The focus now shifts to the sin offering that will be made for the people at the appointed time (cf. v. 15). Aaron must present the two male goats to the Lord, and it is the Lord who will select by lot which one will be for purification and which will be sent into the wilderness (vv. 9–10). The use of lots is a sanctioned means of discerning God’s will: “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord” (Prov. 16:33).

Azazel is mentioned only here in the Bible,185 making it difficult to decipher its identity with any certainty. Several avenues of interpretation have been proposed, all which depend on etymology. Azazel could be taken either as a personal name, a geographical location, or a description of the goat’s function. First, since it appears in parallel with the name of the Lord, Azazel may be a personal name containing the words ʿez (“goat”) and ʾel (“mighty”). Reading this chapter together with the following one, some interpreters suggest that Azazel is the name of a goat demon (cf. Lev. 17:7).186 In this scenario the nation’s sin is placed on the goat and dispatched to a realm believed to be associated with demons.

Another reading understands Azazel to derive from the Arabic ʿazazu, meaning “rough and rocky precipice,” possibly referring to the type of terrain or location to which the goat is banished (cf. 16:10, 22).187 This proposal sees the nation’s sin as being transferred onto a carrier destined to the precipice, which cuts it off from human habitation.

Related to its function, Azazel may represent a combination of the words ʿez and ʿazal to mean “goat that departs.” In distinction to the goat offering whose blood cleanses the sanctuary, Azazel’s function is to remove sin from the congregation by carrying it outside of the boundaries of the Lord’s domain. The traditional rendering of scapegoat (“escape-goat”) derives from this explanation.188 It is important to bear in mind that etymology alone can be interpreted in a variety of ways, yet the goat’s ritual function is clear and best comports with this final meaning.189

16:9–10 The two goats, one slain and one released alive, will accomplish the twofold work of atonement. The first goat’s sacrificial blood will cleanse from impurity and sin (purification), while the second goat will carry away all sin and its lethal burden.

16:11 The day’s ceremonies begin with a sin offering for the high priest and his household, as did the inaugural service evoked in verse 1 (cf. 9:8).

16:12–13 Aaron fills his censer (fire pan) with live coals from the “altar before the Lord,” that is, the golden altar in front of the veil drawn before the Most Holy Place. To the coals he adds two handfuls of holy incense, compounded of fragrant resins, spices, and herbs finely ground and mixed with salt for combustion (Ex. 30:34–35). This incense is “most holy” and exclusive to the sanctuary; any other use is forbidden and results in the user’s being cut off from God’s people (Ex. 30:36–38). Incense is burned daily on the golden altar (Ex. 30:7–8), producing a cloud that permeates boundaries that otherwise cannot be crossed as it drifts through the separating veil into the Most Holy Place. On this day Aaron brings his censer behind the curtain so that the incense cloud hovers over the mercy seat (cf. Lev. 16:2). The ark is referred to here as the ark of the testimony to emphasize the tablets of the covenant it contains and the covenant obligations that have been violated throughout the year (Ex. 31:18; 40:21).

To be granted access into the innermost chamber of God’s throne room Aaron must create his own veil of separation, shielding himself behind the smoky, sweet-smelling cloud. This cloud will “cover the mercy seat,” over which the Lord appears (Lev. 16:2), “so that [Aaron] does not die” (v. 13), for no one can see the Lord in all his glory and live (Ex. 33:20). Aaron is thus permitted entry, not as a stranger but as a welcome priest into the Lord’s throne room to make atonement, an act that looks forward to a far greater priest performing a far greater work of atonement in the throne room of heaven itself (cf. Heb. 9:23–24).

16:14 It is for the purpose of atonement that the high priest is granted access behind the cherubim-embroidered veil that replicates the separation between God and humanity that has existed since the guardian cherubim were first stationed at the entrance to Eden (Gen. 3:24). Israel’s sins throughout the year have generated pollution that has accumulated in the sanctuary and infiltrated even into the Lord’s throne room. Aaron takes the blood of his household’s sin offering and sprinkles it on the cover of the mercy seat and in front of it seven times, a number signifying completion. God’s throne and the ground on which it rests are thus cleansed when atonement is made.

16:15 Aaron then slaughters the goat chosen by lot as the people’s sin offering (Lev. 16:9) and brings its blood inside the Most Holy Place to sprinkle as he did the bull’s.

16:16 The blood of the sin offerings cleanses the innermost sanctuary and entire tent of meeting pitched amid a sinful people. This verse implies that the ritual performed in the Most Holy Place is also to be performed in the Holy Place, most likely by sprinkling the altar of incense seven times and applying blood on its horns (cf. vv. 18–19).

In the first movement of the ritual of atonement the Lord’s dwelling is thoroughly cleansed of all sin, categorized as “uncleannesses” (chs. 11–15), willful “transgressions,” and all other “sins” that have polluted the sanctuary (chs. 4–5). While “impurity” and “sin” have been the subject of Leviticus’s laws, “transgression” appears for the first time, recognizing that people also sin willfully and defiantly. The Hebrew term (peshaʿ) carries the sense of rebellion, such as that of a vassal against his suzerain (1 Kings 12:19; 2 Kings 8:20). In Israel’s covenant with the Lord willful and defiant sin is open rebellion against his rule over his people’s lives. Yet on this day all sin—including defiant sin—is atoned for so that the Lord may continue to dwell among his people.

16:17 To underscore the gravity of the day’s rites and uniqueness of the mediator the instructions clarify that no one but the high priest is permitted in the tent during the purification of the sanctuary, “from the time he enters . . . until he comes out.” This is the work exclusively of the man who stands as mediator between the Lord and his people.190

16:18–19 The blood that was brought inside the veil (v. 15) is carried outward to cleanse the Holy Place (v. 16) and then the sacrificial altar in the courtyard (v. 18). The progressive movement from God’s throne room to the courtyard where worshipers gather bears witness that it is the Lord who cleanses his people from their sins. The same movement is observed in Ezekiel’s prophetic vision of restoration, where cleansing waters instead of blood flow from God’s throne to bring to new life everything in their path (Ezekiel 47).

The high priest takes the bull’s blood (priestly sin offering) and the goat’s blood (people’s sin offering) and mixes them together to apply to the horns of the altar and to sprinkle the altar itself. For the third time there is mention of a sevenfold sprinkling, drawing on language rich with symbolism to illustrate a complete cleansing.191 The application of blood purifies the altar and reconsecrates it, removing defilement and making it ritually fit for God’s people to utilize in meeting with him again through the sacrifices and gifts of covenant worship. The sprinkling recalls the altar’s original consecration (Lev. 8:11, 15) and signals the new beginning that the Day of Atonement achieves.

16:20 Once the tent of meeting has been purified (vv. 11–19) the Day of Atonement continues with the second of the two goats.

16:21 As elsewhere in the Bible, sin is conceived of here as a physical burden carried about as “an encumbrance, an ever-present yoke, under whose strain [the sinner] may eventually be crushed.”192 When carried by the sinner, it inevitably leads to suffering sin’s consequence and punishment (5:17; 22:9; Num. 18:22). When carried by a substitute, it is carried away for forgiveness as the sinner is freed from the burden of his iniquity (Ex. 34:7; Pss. 32:5; 85:2; Isa. 53:11; Mic. 7:18). This background helps make clear what is occurring in these verses.

To begin Aaron presents the live goat before the Lord, places both his hands on the goat’s head, and confesses over it Israel’s sins. As high priest, he thus representatively stands in for all sinners, since it is always the offerer who leans his hand on the sacrificial victim (Lev. 1:4) and the guilty who makes a confession of sin (5:5).193 Aaron confesses the iniquity and transgressions of the Israelites—all their sins—thereby transferring them onto the goat’s head.194 This language expresses the totality of sins the substitute carries, repeating the very language of the totality of the Lord’s forgiveness when he reveals himself a God rich in mercy, “forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” (Ex. 34:7). Aaron then expels the goat and all Israel’s sins with it by means of a man designated for the task.

16:22 The ritual landscape now extends to the limits of the known world when the goat on whose head Israel’s sin has come to rest is driven out into the wilderness. In Israel’s worldview the wilderness represents chaos, the opposite of the Lord’s ordered and life-giving presence (cf. Matt. 4:1; 12:43). It is forsaken, unsown, and uncreated, a restless haunt for predators (Jer. 4:23–26). This solitary, cut-off land is the antithesis of the life of the redeemed community. As the animal is driven away in the opposite direction from God’s presence and people, it illustrates what happens to those who bear their own sin apart from forgiveness (Lev. 7:27; 18:26–29; 20:2–5; Isa. 53:8).195

The handling of the Azazel goat dispels any thought it could be a sacrifice: it carries the nation’s sin away into those realms unclaimed by the redemptive purposes of God. Sin is pushed back into the realm of chaos, and the realm of the Lord’s holy dwelling (sanctuary, people, and land) becomes rid of its pollution.

16:23–25 After the purification and elimination rites Aaron removes the linen garments worn on this special day, washes in a holy place (cf. Lev. 6:27), and once again dons the distinctive high priestly dress to offer two rams—one on behalf of the priests and the other on behalf of the people—together with the sin offering’s fat portions (cf. 4:8–10). His change of dress signals a change in ritual movement. The last time in the narrative that ram offerings were made was at the inaugural service (9:2, 4), linking the passages to imply a restart to the tabernacle’s sacrificial ministry.196 On the day that sin is banished from the community of the redeemed, worship of the Lord begins anew.

16:26 The designated man who leads the live goat into the wilderness must wash the clothes that have been in the presence of the nation’s sin. After he washes his body outside the camp he is then able to rejoin the congregation.

16:27–28 Another man, one in charge of burning the remains of the sin offering’s hide, flesh, and offal, also has to wash before returning to the camp (cf. 4:11–12; Num. 19:8). As the Israelites witness this process, sin’s contagion would be hard to miss. The men remain nameless, emphasizing the importance of Aaron in his high priestly role.

From a literary perspective the instructions for the Day of Atonement begin and end with the sin offerings, creating a frame around the other rituals and interpreting all activities as cleansing the sanctuary and community from all sin (Lev. 16:11, 27).197

16:29–31 The high priest is the mediator of the nation’s atonement, but the people are no afterthought. They are addressed for the first time in the text, although they have been participants all along. On this day their act of worship is to “afflict themselves”198 by fasting and offering prayers of repentance (cf. Ps. 35:13; Isa. 58:5). Anyone who does not humble himself in repentance before the Lord is to be cut off from his people (cf. Lev. 23:29). This is the only mandatory fast day in the law, and in calling the covenant community to afflict itself much more than fasting is in view. The people are to abase themselves as one does when mourning, weeping, and interceding in sackcloth and ashes (Est. 4:3; Joel 2:12–13). They are commanded to be in a posture of sorrow over their sin to teach that “godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation” (2 Cor. 7:10).199 Fasting, furthermore, is of no benefit unless it is accompanied by works that testify to a changed heart, such as feeding the hungry, caring for the poor, and championing the cause of the oppressed (Isa. 58:6–8).

This solemn day is a “Sabbath of Sabbaths,” on which work is strictly prohibited for the Israelite and the resident alien,200 as both are held accountable under the same law (Lev. 24:22) for sin that pollutes the land.201 If anyone does any work, he is to be cut off from his people (cf. 23:30). In the ancient world work was necessary for survival. To abstain from both work and food effectively disconnects a person from all that is life-sustaining. The rite of atonement takes center stage so that Israel learns it is only cleansing from sin that brings life.

Verses 29–31 are arranged in a chiasm, the bookends of which describe the Day of Atonement as a perpetual statute and a day of rest (vv. 29, 31). Highlighted in between is the declaration that Israel will be cleansed and made clean, repeated for emphasis (v. 30). There is a day written into Israel’s calendar—the tenth day of the seventh month—on which sin is banished from God’s presence and forgiveness is won for the penitent through the ministry of the high priest.

16:32–34a The ritual legislation ends on a note highlighting the high priestly office. It looks forward to Aaron’s descendants who will succeed him, coming back full circle to the beginning of the chapter, which makes mention of the two sons who did not respect the Lord’s holiness. Humble obedience to the Lord’s commands assures the perpetuation of Aaron’s priestly lineage and its performance of atonement for the sanctuary, priesthood, and the people of Israel.

16:34b The reckless tragedy of the opening line is reversed through obedience: Aaron is faithful to perform all that the Lord has commanded through Moses.