And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make an atonement for himself, and for his house, and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself:
Aaron shall bring the bullock ..., х wªhiqriyb (H7126)] - shall offer or present (cf. Leviticus 16:6; Leviticus 16:9; Leviticus 16:20). This act must have been a solemn and impressive part of the ceremonial. In this formal presentation of the destined victims there was a silent but significant declaration of the common consciousness of demerit on the part of all-priests as well as people requiring an atonement, and engaging in the religious solemnity with a character of humble, deliberate seriousness, which indicated a deep sense of the vast importance of the occasion. The first part of the service was designed to solemnize his own mind, as well as the minds of the people, by offering the sacrifices for their sins. The sin offerings being slain had the sins of the offerer judicially transferred to them by the imputation of his hands on their heads (Leviticus 4:1-35); and thus the young bullock, which was to make atonement for himself and the other priests (called his house, Psalms 135:19), was provided at the expense (Josephus, 'Antiquities,' b. 3:, ch. 10:, sec. 3), and killed by the hands, of the high priest. While the blood of the victim was being received into a vessel, taking a censer of live coals in his right hand, and a platter of sweet incense (see the note at Exodus 30:1-38) in his left, he, amid the solemn attention and the anxious prayers of the assembled multitude crossed the porch and the Holy Place, opened the outer veil which led into the Holy of Holies, then the inner veil, and, standing before the ark deposited the censer of coals on the floor, emptied the plate of incense into his hand, poured it on the burning coals, and the apartment was filled with fragrant smoke, calculated to shelter a high priest 'that had infirmity' in the awful presence, 'that he die not;' and further intended, according to Jewish writers, to prevent any presumptuous gazer prying too curiously into the form of the mercyseat, which was the Lord's throne.
The high priest having done this, perfumed the sanctuary-a rite to which a great significance was attached (Revelation 5:8) - returned to the door, took the blood of the slain bullock, and carrying it into the Holy of Holies, sprinkled it with his finger once upon the mercyseat 'eastward' - i:e., on the side next to himself, and seven times "before the mercyseat" - i:e., on the front of the ark. Josephus says he did it 'on the covering of the ark and on the pavement.'
The representation of the act as seven-fold, the number of the covenant, points out the nature and importance of the sprinkling. The ark of the covenant was the concentration of expiatory virtue in the tabernacle, and on that account the highest typical atonement was made by the effusion upon it of the blood of the most holy offering. Hence, the meaning of capporeth, 'the lid of expiations;' and it is on the shedding of blood in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man, that the believer's title is founded to enter into the Holiest in spirit (Hebrews 9:12; Hebrews 9:23-24).
Leaving the coals and the incense burning, he went out a second time, to sacrifice at the altar of burnt offering the goat which had been assigned as a sin offering for the people (Hebrews 7:27), and carrying its blood into the Holy of Holies, made similar sprinklings as he had done before with the blood of the bullock. While the high priest was thus engaged in the most Holy place, none of the ordinary priests were allowed to remain within the precincts of the tabernacle.
The Sanctuary or Holy place and the golden altar (Exodus 30:1-38) were in like manner sprinkled seven times with the blood of the bullock and the goat, and going out into the open air, he poured the remainder of the blood round about the altar of burnt offering. The object of this solemn ceremonial was to impress the minds of the Israelites with the conviction that the whole tabernacle was stained by the sins of a guilty people, that by their sins they had forfeited the privileges of the divine presence and worship, and that an atonement had to be made as the condition of God's remaining with them.
The sins and shortcomings of the past year having polluted the sacred edifice, the expiation required to be annually renewed. The exclusion of the priests indicated their unworthiness and the impurities of their service. The mingled blood of the two victims being sprinkled on the horns of the altar indicated that the priests and the people equally needed an atonement for their sins. But the sanctuary being thus ceremonially purified, and the people of Israel reconciled by the blood of the consecrated victim, the Lord continued to dwell in the midst of them and honour them with His gracious presence.