Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Leviticus · About this commentary
The Two Goats
Leviticus 16:1-10
1 Yahweh spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they came near before Yahweh, and died; · WEB
The high priest may enter the innermost room on one day a year, dressed in plain linen, and two goats are divided by lot.
The chapter is dated by a death. Yahweh spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they came near before Yahweh, and died Leviticus 16:1.
What follows is the answer to the question that death raised. Nadab and Abihu came near on their own initiative and were consumed; the whole nation now needs someone to go nearer still. Chapter 16 is the appointed way, and it is given to a man who has just buried two sons for approaching wrongly.
The restriction is absolute: Aaron is not to come at just any time into the Most Holy Place within the veil Leviticus 16:2. Once a year, on one date, and no other occasion in a lifetime.
The clothing is the first surprise. Not the ephod, the breastplate, the golden plate and the woven colors of chapter 8 — the holy linen tunic... linen trousers... linen sash... linen turban Leviticus 16:4. Plain white, the dress of an ordinary servant, and he bathes before putting it on.
The most glorious office in Israel enters the holiest place in the least impressive garments it owns. Whatever the high priest represents when he stands before the people, he goes in behind the veil as a servant.
He also goes in for himself first. Aaron shall offer the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house Leviticus 16:6. The man conducting the nation's atonement is a man who needs it, and the New Testament makes exactly that contrast with a high priest who had no sins of his own to offer for Hebrews 7:27.
Then the two goats, and the procedure is the strangest in the book. They are set together at the door, and Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats: one lot for Yahweh, and the other lot for the scapegoat Leviticus 16:8.
The goats are identical and interchangeable until the lot falls. Nobody chooses which is which — not the priest, not the people. Two indistinguishable animals stand side by side and their entirely different fates are assigned by something no one controls.
The first is killed as a sin offering. The second is presented alive before Yahweh and then sent away into the wilderness Leviticus 16:10. One provides blood; the other carries something off. What each does is set out in the verses that follow, and the two must not be collapsed into one.
settled What this mark means