His inwards and his legs— By the inwards, Le Clerc and others understand the whole carcase; all that was under the skin, as viscera sometimes signifies in the Latin. The washing of these parts is allowed to denote that universal purity which was in Christ, the great Antitype of all the sacrifices, and which is required in all true worshippers; see Hebrews 10:22.
REFLECTIONS.—The sacrifice, if of the herd, must be a male without blemish. God requires and deserves that we should offer him our best. The blind and lame offerings are not a sacrifice, but an abomination. The oblation must be voluntary. That alone is acceptable obedience which flows from love as its principle. He must come with it to the door of the tabernacle as one unworthy to enter, yet desiring to draw near to God. He must lay his hand on the head of the beast, intimating his acknowledgment of his deserving that death by reason of sin, to which this bullock was devoted, and also his faith in the acceptance of the sacrifice in his stead. The beast was then to be slain, and his blood sprinkled by the priests upon the altar, as typical of the death of the great sacrifice who bore our sins, and of his atoning blood which is sprinkled on the guilty conscience. The whole then, properly divided and cleansed, must be burnt with fire, as a sweet savour to the Lord. And thus Jesus on the cross offered up himself to be consumed by the fierce wrath of God, a sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savour by which peace and reconciliation are obtained for the sinner, and his person and services become acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.