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Leviticus 25 | Psalm 32 | Ecclesiastes 8 | 2 Timothy 4

Leviticus 25 introduces us to one of the more intriguing events that Yahweh mandated for his people: the Year of Jubilee. In part, the Year of Jubilee is fascinating as an economic model for restoring lost inheritance property to families who had to sell it away because of debt, but the Year of Jubilee is also a historical curiosity since the evidence we have suggests that Israel rarely, if ever, observed the Year of Jubilee. 1

The Year of Jubilee fell on the year following every seventh seven-year period (Lev. 25:8)—in other words, the Year of Jubilee was the year after every forty-ninth year (Lev. 25:10–11). That fiftieth year was the highest of all Israel’s festivals. On that year, the land rested (Lev. 25:11), just as it would have during a Sabbath year (Lev. 25:1–7).

But more than simply allowing the land to rest, the Year of Jubilee was a year of property restoration. So, if an Israelite had come upon hard times and had sold his inheritance in the Promised Land as a means of paying off debt, the purchaser would restore the property to the original owner during the Year of Jubilee. No matter whether the property had been sold in the first year or the forty-ninth year of the Jubilee cycle, the original owner regained his inheritance—although Israelites were allowed to buy and sell property at different prices depending on when the next Year of Jubilee was coming (Lev. 25:14–17).

Yahweh gives the reasoning behind this restoration of property in Leviticus 25:23: “The land shall not be sold in perpetuity for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me.” In other words, the Promised Land was not Israel’s possession to sell or to buy—the land belonged to Yahweh, and he gave it to Israel as a gift. The Israelites themselves were merely strangers and sojourners with Yahweh, without any rights and receiving their inheritance only by grace.

In this way, Yahweh made it possible for even the poorest families in Israel to survive from generation to generation.2 No matter how impoverished one generation became, the next generation would be restored their property at the Year of Jubilee.

The Year of Jubilee, then, was eschatological—that is, it anticipated the end of time. Every time Israel celebrated the Year of Jubilee, they tangibly looked forward to the restoration of the ultimate inheritance that God has promised to his people: a new creation, with new heavens and a new earth. What God’s people lost through their debt of sin, Jesus Christ restored through his life, death, and resurrection.

And on the final Year of Jubilee when Jesus returns, God’s people will never again languish under the poverty of the curse—instead, we will be named co-heirs to inherit all things through Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:17).

1 Gordon J. Wenham, The Book of Leviticus, NICOT (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1979), 318.

2 Christopher J. H. Wright, The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2006), 294–95.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Leviticus 24 | Psalm 31 | Ecclesiastes 7 | 2 Timothy 3

In all of Leviticus, only two stories break up the statutes and legislation that otherwise fill up the book:1 one story comes in Leviticus 10, narrating how Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, had offered strange fire before Yahweh. The other story comes here in Leviticus 24:10–16, when the son of an Israelite woman and an Egyptian man blasphemes “the Name” (Lev. 24:11). In both stories, the offenders are put to death—by Yahweh himself in the case of Nadab and Abihu and by the entire congregation of Israel in the case of the blasphemer.

The obvious question that this story in Leviticus 24 raises is whether we ought to consider the death penalty for blasphemy today; however, we are probably nervous even to raise such a question for two reasons. First, we are surrounded by blasphemy in our culture, so it is worrying to think that our friends and relatives might be committing a crime worthy of capital punishment in these cases. Second, this question obviously raises a host of other, larger questions surrounding the relationship of the church to the state—how would we even approach such a topic today?

But in fact, there is an important difference between the Israelites in Leviticus 24 and those of us living today: namely, Yahweh established a theocracy with Israel through a unique, national covenant that he made with his people. So, in addition to the moral laws represented by the Ten Commandments, and in addition to the ceremonial laws prescribing the nature of Israel’s worship that make up much of Leviticus, God’s (old) covenantal law with his people legislated that blasphemers were to receive the death penalty.

It is still sinful to blaspheme today, since blasphemy is a violation of the third commandment, but because we are no longer members of the old covenant, the civil consequence mandated for blasphemy (the death penalty) no longer applies.

The reason for the death penalty in this case, then, was that Yahweh dwelt in the midst of his people, and if his people flagrantly blasphemed the holy Name of Yahweh, they defiled Yahweh’s holiness, which was such a wicked act that it deserved punishment by death.

Instead, we live today in a totally different reality. We live in the knowledge that Jesus has come into this world to establish a new covenant unlike the covenant that Israel broke (Heb. 8:9), a covenant that is not dependent upon a holy land or a holy temple. Instead, God’s kingdom dwells in the hearts of his people throughout the entire world. Blasphemy is still a violation of God’s holy law, but God’s law no longer mandates civil punishments for that crime.

Rather, we await the coming of Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead for all their deeds. Blasphemy will not go unpunished, but we are not the ones to administer the consequences.

1 Leviticus 8–9 does narrate the process for consecrating and ordaining Aaron and his sons for priestly ministry, but it is written to reflect the step-by-step obedience of Israel in the keeping the law for ordination as laid out in Exodus 29. The stories in Leviticus 10 and Leviticus 24:10–16 represent cases where entirely new precedents are set.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Leviticus 23 | Psalm 30 | Ecclesiastes 6 | 2 Timothy 2

In Leviticus 23, Yahweh lays out the regular calendar of festivals for Israel. A large part of Israel’s worship was bound up in special feasts that Yahweh had commanded to commemorate something he had done in creation or in his work of redemption.

The first set of feasts began with the Passover, during which Israel remembered how Yahweh had brought Israel safely out of Egypt by passing over Israel to strike down every firstborn male in Egypt. The Passover was held on the fourteenth day of the first month, with the Feast of Unleavened Bread beginning the following day (Lev. 23:5–6). After remembering Yahweh’s redemption, Israel purified themselves by removing leaven from their homes (Ex. 12:19). Then, after the seventh day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Israel celebrated the Feast of Firstfruits by offering the first of their harvest to Yahweh to acknowledge God’s gracious provision (Lev. 23:9–14).

The second set of feasts was the Feast of Weeks. The Feast of Weeks also celebrated God’s provision for Israel, and Allen Ross helpfully explains how the Feast of Firstfruits and the Feast of Weeks were connected:

In the sequence of events, the first (barley) sheaf was brought to the sanctuary [for the Feast of Firstfruits] just after Passover. Forty-nine days later the last cereal crop (wheat) ripened. But now the Israelites had to bring loaves of bread made from wheat. This festival celebrated what the harvests produced, or more precisely what the LORD had produced for them.1

In the New Testament, we learn the full significance of these feasts. If the resurrection of Jesus made him the firstfruits of new creation after his crucifixion during Passover (1 Cor. 15:20), then the gift of the Holy Spirit became the final harvest of God’s grace at the Feast of Weeks—that is, the Feast of Pentecost (Acts 2). Also, we have received the “firstfruits” of the Spirit now while we await the redemption of our bodies at the harvest—that is, the return of Jesus (Rom. 8:23).

The third set of feasts began with the Feast of Trumpets on the first day of the seventh month (Lev. 23:24), with the Day of Atonement following on the tenth day of the seventh month (Lev. 23:27). Then, on the fifteen day of the seventh month, Israel lived in booths for seven days during the Feast of Booths to remember how they lived in the wilderness before entering the Promised Land (Lev. 23:34, 42–43).

Just as the Day of Atonement stood as a perpetual reminder of our need for atonement and cleansing from sin—pointing forward to Christ’s perfect atonement—the Feast of Booths reminds us that we are a pilgrim people, “sojourners and exiles” (1 Pet. 2:11), until Jesus returns, when the trumpet of God blasts and the Lord descends to bring his people home (1 Thess. 4:16).

1 Allen P. Ross, Holiness to the LORD: A Guide to the Exposition of the Book of Leviticus (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002), 420.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Leviticus 22 | Psalms 28–29 | Ecclesiastes 5 | 2 Timothy 1

Leviticus 22 continues the theme from Leviticus 21, which is that the priests were held to a higher standard of holiness because of the fact that they served in the tabernacle, the holy place where God himself dwelt. So, they were to take measures above and beyond what normal Israelites had to do in order to avoid coming into contact with anything at all that might render them unclean.

But in Leviticus 22:1–9, Yahweh lays out a few more provisions, and these provisions are no longer given in excess of what normal Israelites had to do—all of the requirements in Leviticus 22:1–9 can be tied back to what Yahweh has already said to all Israelites about the level of cleanness required to remain within the camp. First, any priest with the skin diseases mentioned in Leviticus 13 was disqualified until he was made clean according to the provisions of Leviticus 14 (Lev. 22:4). Second, any priest who did touch the dead or who had a bodily emission of semen was unclean until the evening (Lev. 22:4–6), according to the provisions of Leviticus 15. Third, priests were not allowed to eat the unclean foods mentioned in Leviticus 11.

The only difference for uncleanness among the priests, then, is that the stakes were higher. Any priest who served in the tabernacle or ate of the holy foods in uncleanness would be cut off from Yahweh’s presence (Lev. 22:3) or die (Lev. 22:9).

The second half of Leviticus 22 focuses not on the priests themselves but on the sacrifices offered. Just as the priests were not allowed to serve if they had any physical blemish, so also any sacrifice with a blemish that an Israelite brought would not be accepted (Lev. 22:19, 20, 21, 23, 25, 29), although different kinds of sacrifices had different requirements for what was acceptable (e.g., Lev. 22:23).

Now, because Jesus has come as our great high priest and as our once-for-all sacrifice, these priestly requirements and sacrificial laws do not apply directly to us anymore. Still, these laws are incredibly important for developing an appropriate theology of God’s holiness.

Many times, we are tempted to abuse and presume upon God’s grace, trying to downplay his holiness to the point that it vanishes away, but the book of Leviticus challenges that thinking. The fact that we don’t live by the same statutes and rules doesn’t mean that God is any less holy—it simply means that God has shown us far more grace.

And if our holy God has shown us such overflowing, abundant grace, what excuse do we have for being careless and sloppy as we approach him in our worship? We may not be under the law, but shouldn’t our gratitude for God’s holy grace drive us to more reverence, not less?

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Leviticus 21 | Psalms 26–27 | Ecclesiastes 4 | 1 Timothy 6

If the last few chapters of Leviticus have focused on the personal holiness required of all Israelites, Leviticus 21–22 focuses specifically on the personal holiness of the priests, who were called to a higher standard of living. In fact, the priests faced a few requirements that we may find surprising or even shocking.

For example, why were priests forbidden from coming into contact with any dead person outside their blood relatives (Lev. 21:1)? And why was the chief priest not allowed to mourn at all by letting his hair hang lose or tearing his clothes (Lev. 21:10)? Or, why was he not allowed to leave the sanctuary even to visit his own father or mother who had died (Lev. 20:11–12)?

While we might understand why priests were not allowed to marry prostitutes or a divorced woman (Lev. 21:7), why would God forbid the chief priest even from marrying a widow (Lev. 21:14)? And what possible reason could Yahweh have for disqualifying from priestly ministry anyone with a physical blemish, whether that person was blind or lame, mutilated in the face or in a limb (Lev. 21:18), injured in their hand or foot (Lev. 21:19), a hunchback or a dwarf, merely nearsighted, or had a skin disease or crushed testicles (Lev. 21:20)?

The answer to these questions follows the same idea we explored in yesterday’s meditation about the general holiness required for all Israel: Yahweh had intended the Promised Land to be the holy land where he dwelt with his holy people. But more precisely, it was the tabernacle (and later, the temple) within the Promised Land that would represent the new Garden of Eden. So, while Israel in general had to avoid any wicked behavior that would defile the Promised Land generally, the priests had a far greater responsibility to avoid anything that reeked of the curse of sin, death, or the devil.

The priests, therefore, were not allowed to serve in the tabernacle while they were defiled by death or by sexual immorality or even by physical blemish. As Allen Ross writes, “If death was in the community, [the priests] had to convey the eternal hope of the covenant [by refraining from mourning]; if they married, they had to live out the purity of the covenant in their marriages; if they were not perfect in body and mind, they could not enter priestly service.”1

But while the priests were commanded to avoid anything related to the curse of the fall, they were powerless to reverse the curse. To turn back the effects of the fall and to restore God’s creation again to its original perfection, God’s people would need a much greater priest who could minister according to much greater promises.

And only in the fullness of time would that priest eventually come.

1 Allen P. Ross, Holiness to the LORD: A Guide to the Exposition of the Book of Leviticus (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002), 389.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Leviticus 20 | Psalm 25 | Ecclesiastes 3 | 1 Timothy 5

The majority of Leviticus 20 focuses on Yahweh’s prohibitions against four kinds of wickednesses: child sacrifice (Lev. 20:1–5), mediums and wizards (Lev. 20:6, 27), cursing one’s father or mother (Lev. 20:8), and sexual immorality (Lev. 20:10–21). These laws are set in the context of a larger section of laws in Leviticus 11–22 about how Israelites were to seek personal holiness.

Also, as Yahweh explained in Leviticus 18:3, 24–25, and 27–28, it is not that these abominations were theoretical possibilities of sin that might beset Israel; rather, the specific things that Yahweh forbids were standard behavior for the nations that would surround Israel in the Promised Land (Lev. 20:23).

And again, just as in Leviticus 18:24–28, we see another warning that engaging in these abominable acts would lead the land itself to vomit Israel out, just as the land was about to vomit out the Canaanites—precisely because they were doing all these things (Lev. 20:22). As we might suspect from this repeated emphasis, there is an important, underlying theological principle not only behind the laws themselves but behind the blessings Yahweh promised for obedience as well as the cursings that Yahweh promised for disobedience.

The principle is this: the Promised Land was to be the holy place where the holy God would dwell with his holy people. The Promised Land was far more than a reward for good behavior. It was more than a carrot to entice Israel to follow through with obedience to his commandments. In fact, the Promised Land was to serve as the renewed Garden of Eden.

So, if Israel kept the terms of God’s law, they would be able to continue living in the Garden of Eden, just as Adam and Eve would have continued living in the Garden of Eden if they had kept the terms of God’s law to them not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And on the flipside, just as Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden for disobedience, so Israel would eventually be vomited out of the land for their disobedience.

Yahweh’s demands are straightforward: “You shall be holy to me, for I the LORD am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine” (Lev. 20:26). Yahweh has chosen and called a people to himself to be holy—that is, separated for a special purpose—and he therefore demands that they obey him in holiness.

And we who have been bought with the blood of Jesus receive the same charge: “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, for it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Pet. 1:14–16).

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Leviticus 19 | Psalms 23–24 | Ecclesiastes 2 | 1 Timothy 4

Sandwiched between two sections of laws in Leviticus 19 that deal with matters of personal holiness (Lev. 19:1–8, 19–37) is a passage in which we find one of the most famous verses in the Bible: “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18). Most of us are more familiar with this verse because Jesus quoted it along with Deuteronomy 6:5 (“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might”) to summarize the entire law (Matt. 22:34–40). Reading this verse in its original context, however, helps us to fill out a clearer picture of what it means to love your neighbor as yourself.

First, Yahweh commands in Leviticus 19:9–10 that his people live generously, requiring them to leave a portion of their fields unharvested so that the poor of the land could glean from the leftovers. Second, in Leviticus 19:11–14, Yahweh prohibits all kinds of dishonesty, including theft, false witness, and the oppression of the poor or people with disabilities. Third, in Leviticus 19:15–16, Yahweh insists upon justice, which meant that Israelites were forbidden from defrauding both the poor and the rich.

But then Yahweh gets to the crux of the issue, insisting that his people not hate their fellow Israelites in their hearts, and even prohibiting the bearing of a grudge (Lev. 19:17–18). Yahweh demanded not only that his people avoid certain, specific actions but also that they cultivate genuine love for their brothers, and it is only at this point that Yahweh finally lays down the summary of all these laws: “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18).

Jesus took the exact same approach to the law in his Sermon on the Mount, by first noting what specific actions the law prohibited and then intensifying those prohibitions by dealing with the thoughts and intentions of the heart. So, after acknowledging that murder violated the law (Matt. 5:21), Jesus intensified that law by teaching that even anger or an angry outburst will put you in danger of the fires of hell (Matt. 5:22). While the law largely dealt with external behavior, we see a glimpse here in Leviticus 19 of how the law pressed beyond our actions to the real, root problem: the sinfulness of our hearts.

But at this point, the law can accomplish nothing further. The law can identify sinful behaviors and can even reach into the depths of our hearts to cast light on the sin that dwells within us, but the law cannot do two things: it cannot permanently atone for our sins and it cannot transform our hearts so that we want to obey God’s law.

For that, God’s people need something greater than the law—we need nothing less than the Redeemer Jesus Christ.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Leviticus 18 | Psalm 22 | Ecclesiastes 1 | 1 Timothy 3

There is no getting around it—Leviticus 18 is an awkward chapter to read. Here, Yahweh details all the possible people a man was prohibited from approaching to uncover their nakedness—that is, to approach sexually. Nevertheless, this chapter has great significance today as we live in a culture obsessed with sexual relationships between anyone, in any context, and at any time. Leviticus 18 is one of the more explicit chapters for establishing a theology of human sexuality.

First, it is interesting that these laws would have prohibited the marriages of two of the patriarchs, Abraham and Jacob. Abraham had married his half-sister—the daughter of his father but not the daughter of his mother (Gen. 20:12)—a relationship Yahweh now specifically forbids in Leviticus 18:9. As for Jacob, he had taken Rachel as a rival wife to her sister, Leah, while Leah was still alive, which Yahweh prohibits here in Leviticus 18:18.

Although no such prohibitions existed at the time Abraham or Jacob married their wives, we should acknowledge that these marriages were deeply problematic, even if they had been lawful. Abraham abused Sarah’s sibling relationship to him by lying about their marriage—twice (Gen. 12:10–20, 20:1–18). And when Jacob married both Rachel and Leah, he made their lives miserable through their marital rivalry (Gen. 29:1–30:24).

Second, Yahweh notes three times in this chapter (Lev. 18:3, 24–25, 27–28) that the activity he was prohibiting was not theoretical or hypothetical but the standard practice of both Egypt as well as the nations who were being vomited out of the land of Canaan.

Third, but relatedly, Yahweh ties these regulations for sexual relations to the overarching, stated purpose of the law, that whoever obeys the rules of the law will live by them (Lev. 18:5). In this way, Yahweh places sexual behavior in the context of holiness, so that engaging in unlawful sexual behavior represents something far worse than breaking an arbitrary rule—such activity defiled the holiness of Yahweh who dwelt in Israel’s midst.

Our sexuality is not a small thing to Yahweh, and what was true for Israel under the old covenant takes on even more significance for those of us living today. For Israel, sexual immorality defiled the tabernacle where God’s presence dwelt in their midst.

But today, we have been made members of the body of Christ, and God has even made us the temple in which his Holy Spirit lives. So, Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 6:12–20 that not only does sexual immorality defile our bodies, but it actually joins Christ to a prostitute and defiles the Holy Spirit who dwells within us.

Therefore, “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Cor. 6:19–20).

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Leviticus 17 | Psalms 20–21 | Proverbs 31 | 1 Timothy 2

Leviticus 17 provides theological insight that not only undergirds the sacrificial system in Leviticus but also informs the theology of the rest of the Bible. The chief value of Leviticus 17 lies in its explanation of the theology of blood. The chapter itself is divided into two sections, the first to prohibit sacrificing animals in any place other than the tabernacle (Lev. 17:1–9) and the second to prohibit the eating of blood (Lev. 17:10–16). The rationale behind both sections is the same: the blood of animals is too precious to shed outside the context of a holy sacrifice.

So, Yahweh first condemns anyone who slaughters an animal in the open field, athough we should pay careful attention to the rationale given in Leviticus 17:5: “This is to the end that the people of Israel may bring their sacrifices that they sacrifice in the open field, that they may bring them to the LORD, to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and sacrifice them as sacrifices of peace offerings to the LORD.” The purpose of this prohibition was to prevent idolatry. If you simply wanted a barbecue, you could bring the animal as a peace offering, which was a communal meal eaten in the context of a sacrifice to Yahweh.

But the key verse of the chapter—and therefore a critical verse in understanding biblical theology—is Leviticus 17:11: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.” Yahweh had already revealed in the Noachic covenant (Gen. 9:4) that the life of an animal was in its blood, but here Yahweh reveals something further: it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. It is the sacred nature of blood that supports the biblical theology of atonement—that is, paying a ransom for one life by shedding the blood of another life.1

This theology provides the background for one of the more puzzling sayings of Jesus: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:53–54).

Of course, Jesus wasn’t talking about cannibalism, but about faith: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35). To drink the blood of Jesus is to believe in the blood of Jesus as our very life: the substitutional, atoning sacrifice for our sins, given to make atonement for our souls.

1 Gordon J. Wenham, The Book of Leviticus, NICOT (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1979), 28, 245.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Leviticus 16 | Psalm 19 | Proverbs 30 | 1 Timothy 1

After a lengthy discussion about cleanness in Israel over the last several chapters, the focus in Leviticus 16 returns to priestly ministry—in fact, to the highest ministry entrusted to the priests: the Day of Atonement. On this day, once every year, the high priest (originally Aaron) would cleanse the tabernacle and the people of Israel from the defilements of Israel’s uncleannesses and sins (Lev. 16:16–19).

To begin, the high priest bathed in water and then dressed in only a coat, an undergarment, a sash, and a turban—all of linen (Lev. 16:4). These were not the normal high priestly garments as described in Exodus 28, which would have been beautiful and colorful, so that he looked like a king. Rather, as Gordon Wenham observes, “On the day of atonement he looked more like a slave.”1

Before he could seek atonement for the nation of Israel, the high priest first had to atone for his own sins, offering a bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering (Lev. 16:3, 6), sprinkling the blood of that bull in front of the mercy seat inside the veil (Lev. 16:14).

To atone for the sins of the people, the high priest would then take two goats from the congregation of the people and cast lots, and one goat would be offered “for the LORD” as a sin offering, but the other goat would be sent away into the wilderness “to Azazel” (Lev. 16:7–10)—that is, as a scapegoat.2 The high priest slaughtered the first goat as a sin offering and then took its blood back inside the veil, sprinkling it over the mercy seat and in front of it, making atonement for the Holy Place to purify it from the uncleanness of Israel (Lev. 16:16–19).

After cleansing the tabernacle with the blood of the goat sin offering, Aaron would then lay his hands on the scapegoat, confessing over it the sins of Israel. When he was done, another man would lead the goat out into the wilderness, so that the goat carried away with it the sins of Israel.

In this way, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest would make atonement for both the tabernacle and the people of Israel so that Yahweh could continue to dwell in the midst of Israel.

And for passages like this, it isn’t hard to see the connection to the ministry of Jesus in the New Testament. Jesus was stripped of his royal garments to be executed like a slave (Luke 23:11, 34), was led outside Jerusalem to carry upon himself the sins of Israel like the scapegoat (Heb. 13:12), shed his blood as the perfect sin offering for his people (Heb. 10:11–14), and thereby opened the way to the Holy Place inside the veil to his people (Matt. 27:51; Heb. 10:19–20).

1 Gordon J. Wenham, The Book of Leviticus, NICOT (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1979), 230.

2 The term Azazel is never explicitly defined in the Bible, and it occurs only in this chapter, but it likely means something like “the goat has gone away.” The meaning of scapegoat (a term introduced by Tyndale for his English translation of the Bible in the sixteenth century) means “one who takes the blame for others.” See Allen P. Ross, Holiness to the LORD: A Guide to the Exposition of the Book of Leviticus (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2002), 318–19.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.