Leviticus 16 explained: The Yearly Day of Cleansing

Coming near safely (vv. 1-5)

These rules come after two of Aaron's sons died for approaching God the wrong way (chapter 10), so they spell out how the high priest may enter the inner room where God's presence rested above the ark. He may go in only on this one yearly day, wearing plain linen instead of his rich robes, which many read as a sign of humility.

Two goats chosen by lot (vv. 6-10)

Aaron first offers a bull for his own wrongs and his family's, since the one seeking forgiveness for others needed it too. Then lots, a way of drawing straws, decide which goat is killed for the people and which is sent away alive, linked to a Hebrew word, Azazel, that scholars are unsure of: it may mean "the goat that goes away," a remote place, or a wilderness spirit.

Blood behind the curtain (vv. 11-19)

Aaron fills the inner room with incense smoke that hides the lid of the ark so that he will not die, then sprinkles blood there and on the altar outside. The idea seems to be that a year of the people's wrongs and impurity had stained the sacred tent, and this cleansing made it fit for God to stay among them.

The goat sent away (vv. 20-22)

Aaron lays both hands on the live goat and says the people's wrongs out loud, picturing them being placed on its head. The goat is then led far into the wilderness, a vivid image of sins carried off for good, and this is where the English word "scapegoat" comes from.

Washing and finishing up (vv. 23-28)

Aaron changes back into his usual robes and offers whole burnt offerings for himself and the people, while the remains of the sin offerings are burned outside the camp. Anyone who handled the sent goat or those remains had to wash before coming back, likely because contact with what carried sin was treated as making a person unclean for a time.

A yearly day for everyone (vv. 29-34)

Every year on the tenth day of the seventh month, in autumn, everyone, including foreigners living among them, was to stop work and humble themselves, long understood as fasting. Jewish people still keep this day as Yom Kippur, and Christians have read it in light of Jesus, seeing him as the high priest who makes atonement once for all.

Key verse: Leviticus 16:30

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on how this ritual mainly worked and points to Jesus: some stress the animals dying in the people's place to take their penalty, while others stress the blood cleansing what sin had stained so God could stay present.

Something to think about

When you have done something wrong, what actually helps you let it go, and what makes that hard?