Leviticus 16:1-10
Access to God’s presence requires mediated atonement and careful obedience to His commands.
1 Yahweh spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they came near before Yahweh, and died;
2 and Yahweh said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at just any time into the Most Holy Place within the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark; lest he die; for I will appear in the cloud on the mercy seat.
3 “Aaron shall come into the sanctuary with a young bull for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering.
4 He shall put on the holy linen tunic. He shall have the linen trousers on his body, and shall put on the linen sash, and he shall be clothed with the linen turban. They are the holy garments. He shall bathe his body in water, and put them on.
5 He shall take from the congregation of the children of Israel two male goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.
6 “Aaron shall offer the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house.
7 He shall take the two goats, and set them before Yahweh at the door of the Tent of Meeting.
8 Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats: one lot for Yahweh, and the other lot for the scapegoat.
9 Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for Yahweh, and offer him for a sin offering.
10 But the goat on which the lot fell for the scapegoat shall be presented alive before Yahweh, to make atonement for him, to send him away as the scapegoat into the wilderness.
Access to God’s presence requires mediated atonement and careful obedience to His commands.
This passage introduces the Day of Atonement by restricting access to the Most Holy Place and prescribing the required preparation of the high priest and sacrificial animals.
After Leviticus 11-15 has distinguished clean from unclean across animals, childbirth, skin disease, houses, and bodily discharges, Leviticus 16 gathers the holiness and impurity concerns into the sanctuary's central annual rite. The reference to the death of Aaron's sons recalls Leviticus 10:1-3 and frames the chapter as a guarded approach to the God whose presence is holy, not common or manageable.
The unit belongs to Israel's wilderness sanctuary legislation and regulates the high priest's entrance into the inner sanctuary. It follows the deaths of Nadab and Abihu, whose unauthorized approach exposed the danger of treating the LORD's holiness lightly.
The Day of Atonement: Cleansing the Sanctuary and Bearing Away Israel's Sins
The holy LORD provides annual atonement through His appointed high priest, blood, substitution, confession, cleansing, and removal so that He may continue dwelling among His sinful and unclean people.