9:1. “And it
came to pass on the eighth day, that Moses called Aaron and his sons, and
the elders of Israel;”
In consonance with the
fact that eight is the scriptural number of a new beginning, it was on the
eighth day that the new order of priesthood commenced its ministry, and that
the new order of worship began.
9:2. “And he
said unto Aaron, Take thee a young calf for a sin offering, and a ram for a
burnt offering, without blemish, and offer them before the Lord.”
As discussed already, all
these animals represent the Lord Jesus Christ, and point to the different
aspects of His vicarious sacrifice.
It is instructive to note
that the presentation of the sin offering had to precede that of the burnt
offering, the practical lesson being that sin must be repented of and put
away before any acceptable worship or service can be offered.
Relative to the
presentation of the sin offering for Aaron and his sons, the Jamieson,
Fausset & Brown Commentary makes the following pertinent remark, “In all
false or corrupt forms of religion, the studied policy has been to inspire
the people with an idea of the sanctity of the priesthood as, in point of
purity and favor with the Divinity, far above the level of other men. But
among the Hebrews the priests were required to offer for the expiation of
their sins as well as the humblest of the people.”
9:3. “And unto
the children of Israel thou shalt speak, saying, Take ye a kid of the goats
for a sin offering; and a calf and a lamb, both of the first year, without
blemish, for a burnt offering:”
As the priests had first
to offer a sin offering, so also must the people, for there could be no
communion between them and a holy God until they were ceremonially clean,
the prescribed animal being a kid of the goats, itself a figure of Christ
being made sin for us, and dying to expiate our sin. It is only on the
basis of Christ’s perfect sacrifice that we can enjoy communion with God.
The one-year-old bull
calf, and the one-year-old lamb, both unblemished, and having to be offered
for a burnt, rather than a sin offering, represent Christ in the energy of
His own will as the bullock, offering Himself without spot to God; and in
the lamb, the perfect submission of His own will to that of His Father.
Their being for a burnt offering reminds us that His sacrifice was first for
His Father’s glory, and then for the expiation of our sin.
9:4. “Also a
bullock and a ram for peace offerings, to sacrifice before the Lord; and a
meat (meal) offering mingled with oil: for today the Lord will appear unto
you.”
The bullock and ram have
the same spiritual significance as noted above, while the meal mingled with
oil continues to typify the Lord Jesus Christ as Son of man living here on
earth in perfect submission to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Their being
presented for peace offerings is the typological declaration of what is
stated in Colossians 1:20, He has “made peace by the blood of his cross.”
Man can enjoy neither
communication nor communion with God until he has first been reconciled to
Him by trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, see Romans 5:10, “...
when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son”;
and it is only as we walk in obedience that He “will appear” unto us, i.e.,
reveal Himself to us through His Word.
9:5. “And they
brought that which Moses commanded before the tabernacle of the
congregation: and all the congregation drew near and stood before the Lord.”
Having brought the
prescribed offerings, the people drew near to await the theophany, the
appearance of God; and it is only as we are obedient that He will reveal
Himself to us.
9:6. “And
Moses said, This is the thing which the Lord commanded that ye should do:
and the glory of the Lord shall appear unto you.”
Moses assured them that
their obedience in presenting the mandated sacrifices would be acknowledged
by God in His revealing Himself to them; the practical lesson for us being
repeated in that His revelation of Himself to us will be in proportion to
the degree of our obedience. As to how He reveals Himself to us through His
Word: it is largely through the Spirit-given ability to discern Him in the
Bible’s typological language, such as the types used here in Leviticus, a
mode of communication unknown to the vast majority of Christians today.
9:7. “And
Moses said unto Aaron, Go unto the altar, and offer thy sin offering, and
thy burnt offering, and make an atonement for thyself, and for the people:
and offer the offering of the people, and make an atonement for them; as the
Lord commanded.”
It continues to be
emphasized symbolically that sin is the great impediment to spiritual
knowledge, and to the enjoyment of communion with God; the need to put it
away being emphasized in the repeated command to offer first the sin
offering.
9:8. “Aaron therefore went unto the altar, and slew the
calf of the sin offering, which was for himself.”
Our Great High priest,
typified here by Aaron, had no need to offer any sacrifice for Himself, for
though perfect man as well as perfect God, He was not begotten by human
generation, but by the power of the Holy Spirit, so that He was untainted by
the corruption of sin inherent in all others of Adam’s ruined race.
9:9. “And the
sons of Aaron brought the blood unto him: and he dipped his finger in the
blood, and put it upon the horns of the altar, and poured out the blood at
the bottom of the altar:”
By this application of the
blood the altar was symbolically cleansed, but we who have been redeemed and
cleansed by a better sacrifice, “have an altar, whereof they have no right
to eat, who serve the tabernacle,” Hebrews 13:10, our altar being the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself, He being the One by Whom we draw near to God to
worship “in spirit and in truth,” John 4:2, as it is written, “Having
therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of
Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us, through the
vail, that is to say, his flesh; and having an high priest over the house of
God; let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having
our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with
pure water (the Word).”
9:10. “But the fat, and the kidneys, and the caul above the
liver of the sin offering, he burnt upon the altar; as the Lord commanded
Moses.”
For the spiritual
significance of the fat, kidneys, and caul, see comments on 8:16, their
being presented here for a burnt offering reminding us that the Lord was
never more precious to His Father than when He was willing to be made sin in
order to expiate our sin, His sacrifice being first for His Father’s glory.
9:11. “And the flesh and the hide he burnt with fire
outside the camp.”
The flesh and the hide may
represent all that unbelieving men saw in Christ: to them He was just
another man. But how different was God’s perception! He saw in that One
Whom men despised, His only and beloved Son. The burning of the flesh and
hide outside the camp very clearly portrays the Lord’s suffering at Calvary,
not only outside Jerusalem, but also outside the whole hypocritical charade
of Jewish religion centered in that city.
9:12. “And he slew the burnt offering; and Aaron’s sons
presented unto him the blood, which he sprinkled round about upon the
altar.”
Since “the life of the
flesh is in the blood,” 17:11, the sprinkling of that blood upon the altar
declares that a life had been given up to make the blood available for the
cleansing of sin, the type being fulfilled at Calvary when the Lord Jesus
Christ shed His precious blood for the remission of every believer’s sins.
Every altar used for the offering of Israel’s sacrifices was a type of the
cross on which the Lord died to make atonement for men’s sins, that
atonement being effective for every person who trusts in Him as Savior.
9:13. “And they presented the burnt offering unto him, with
the pieces thereof, and the head: and he burnt them upon the altar.”
This verse is the
typological pattern for the worship of the Church, for they, Aaron’s sons,
represent believers; and he, Aaron, the Lord Jesus Christ as the believer’s
Great High Priest. The burnt offering represents our worship, i.e., the
presentation to God of our estimate of the person and work of Christ, as we
take our places around the Lord’s table on the first day of each week.
The “pieces” represent the
different aspects of the Lord’s death occupying each believer’s thoughts as
we keep that remembrance feast.
Its being emphasized that
the head was included, is designed to teach that worship is more than the
emotional response of our hearts: spiritual discernment is also a
prerequisite of worship, and only eternity will reveal how many worship
meetings have been marred by the obvious lack of that intelligence on the
part of some participants.
9:14. “And he did wash the inwards and the legs, and burnt
them upon the burnt offering on the altar.”
The inwards represent our
inward thought life, known only to us and to God; and the legs, the outward
life as seen by men. Since water is a biblical symbol of the written Word,
see Ephesians 5:26, the literal washing of inwards and legs is the symbolic
announcement of the truth that our thought life, the inwards, is to be
governed by the Word of God just as much as is the outward life represented
here by the legs.
The application of course
is first to Christ, His being the only life that has ever been lived in
perfect conformity to God’s will as revealed in His Word. The burning of
inwards and legs upon the burnt offering which burned continuously on the
altar has also something to teach us. That continuous burnt offering is a
type of Christ Who never once entertained even a thought that wasn’t
pleasing to God. His life is to be the foundation pattern of ours, every
departure requiring confession, repentance, and abandonment of the sin as
soon as we become aware of it.
9:15. “And he brought the people’s offering, and took the
goat, which was the sin offering for the people, and slew it, and offered it
for sin, as the first.”
“... the first” refers to
the sin offering that had been offered first by Aaron for himself and his
sons. It represents what occurs at the conversion of a sinner. Through
faith he first presents to God the Lord Jesus Christ as his sin offering,
i.e., as the One Whose death has made atonement for all his sins, past,
present, and future. The sins he commits as a believer are also atoned for
by virtue of that one perfect sacrifice offered at Calvary.
9:16. “And he brought the burnt offering, and offered it
according to the manner.”
Again it is noteworthy
that the offering of the burnt offering was preceded by that of the sin
offering, the lesson being that there can be no worship until every known
sin is confessed, repented of, and forsaken. This declares the imperative
of self-examination, confession, and abandonment of every known sin, before
coming to the Lord’s table to worship.
9:17. “And he brought the meat (meal) offering, and took an
handful thereof, and burnt it upon the altar, beside the burnt sacrifice of
the morning.”
As discussed already, the
meal offering represents Christ as Son of man, i.e., as perfectly human,
while never ceasing to be also divine, the second Person of the Godhead. He
had to become man in order to die, for as God He could not die. What
remained of the meal offering belonged to Aaron and his sons, see Leviticus
2:3, the truth thus symbolically declared being that the Lord Himself has
found satisfaction in His perfectly completed work, as it is written, “He
shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied,” Isaiah 53:11.
“...beside the
burnt sacrifice” means “as well as” or “in addition to” the burnt
sacrifice. It is called “the burnt sacrifice of the morning” because in
Exodus 29:38-39 we read that one lamb was to be offered in the morning, and
the other in the evening, and obviously the context implies that this was
the one offered in the morning, since the one offered in the evening was the
last sacrifice of the day.
9:18. “And he slew also the bullock and the ram for a
sacrifice of peace offerings, which was for the people: and Aaron’s sons
presented unto him the blood, which he sprinkled upon the altar round
about.”
Significantly the
presentation of the peace offering was preceded by that of the sin offering,
for as noted already, there can be no peace between God and man until man’s
sin has been expiated. The bullock and the ram continue to typify Christ in
the energy of His own will doing His Father’s will.
9:19. “And the fat of the bullock and of the ram, the rump,
and that which covereth the inwards, and the kidneys, and the caul above the
liver:”
For the spiritual
significance of these parts see comments on 8:25.
9:20. “And they put the fat upon the breast, and he burnt
the fat upon the altar:”
The breast speaks of love
and care, and the placing of the fat upon the breast points symbolically to
the fact that the Lord’s love for ruined men is beyond the ability of human
minds to measure: it extended all the way to His death by which their sins
were atoned for, and a basis of perfect righteousness laid that enables God
to pardon their sins, and bestow His priceless gift of eternal life.
The burning of the fat
upon the altar continues to emphasize in symbol that man’s eternal blessing
has been purchased at inestimable cost: the sufferings and death of the Lord
Jesus Christ.
9:21. “And the breasts and the right shoulder Aaron waved
for a wave offering before the Lord: as Moses commanded.”
The right shoulder speaks
of power and might, and assures us that the Lord, our all powerful, almighty
Representative, possessed the power and might to expiate our sins, and
vanquish death, thus enabling God to bless us “with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places (things) in Christ,” Ephesians 1:3.
See comments on 8:27
relative to the import of the wave offering.
9:22. “And Aaron lifted up his hand toward the people, and
blessed them, and came down from offering of the sin offering, and the burnt
offering, and peace offerings.”
The trespass and meal
offering are omitted here because God would focus our attention entirely on
Christ Who, as our sin offering has dealt, not only with our trespasses
(sins), but with the old sin nature that is the source of all our sins. He
is also our burnt offering (which speaks of worship), for it is He whom we
present to the Father when we worship. And finally, He is our peace
offering, He “having made peace by the blood of his cross,” Colossians 1:20.
It was only after all
these offerings had been presented that Aaron could lift up his hand and
bless the people. It is only on the basis of Christ’s finished work that
God can bless us, see Luke 24:50-51 where it is recorded that the Lord,
having completed the work which the Father had given Him to do, “led them
out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.”
9:23. “And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the
congregation, and came out, and blessed the people: and the glory of the
Lord appeared unto all the people.”
We have already noted that
Moses represents the Law; and Aaron, grace, so that their going into the
tabernacle together is the symbolic announcement of the truth that through
Christ’s finished work, law and grace are reconciled, He having met all the
Law’s requirements. He kept the Law, but then in transcendent grace, He
took our place - that of the law-breaker - giving His life as the price of
our redemption, so that God can now impute Christ’s righteousness to us, and
bless us as those no longer condemned, but rather approved, by His holy law.
“... and the glory of the
Lord appeared unto all the people,” as promised in verse 6. The type will
be fulfilled on that soon coming day when we shall stand in heaven and
behold His glory, our presence there being the Father’s response to the
Lord’s petition recorded in John 17:24, “Father, I will that they also, whom
thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory,
which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the
world.”
9:24. “And there came a fire out from before the Lord, and
consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat: which when all the
people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces.”
The consumption of the
offering by that miraculous heavenly fire was the evidence that God had
accepted not only the offering, but also those who presented it. It is the
symbolic demonstration of the truth that He accepts all who present the Lord
Jesus Christ as their spiritual burnt offering, i.e., who trust Him as their
personal Savior and Lord.
The fact that the fire
upon the altar was never to go out declares typologically God’s eternal
existence. He has never had a beginning, nor will He ever have an end.
In Hebrews 12:29 it is
written, “For our God is a consuming fire,” and the redeemed of every age
will worship Him eternally for the love and grace and mercy that impelled
Him to give the Lord Jesus Christ to die in our guilty stead, so that we
might be cleansed from sin, and enabled to stand in His presence unafraid,
possessed of His very life and nature, the confirmation of that
transformation being that the consuming fire which is the essence of His
very being, will then reveal that we too possess that same life and nature
which the fire manifests, but does not destroy.
We should never forget
that our transformation is the result of the Lord’s having taken our guilty
place at Calvary, where the fire of divine wrath against sin fell upon Him,
as foretold in Psalm 102:3, “For my days are consumed like smoke, and my
bones are burned as an hearth”; and again in Jeremiah 1:12-13, “Is it
nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow
like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath
afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. From above hath he sent fire
into my bones, and it prevaileth against them ....”
What is described in this
verse occurred in terrible reality at Calvary when the Lord Jesus Christ
fulfilled the type of the burnt offering, and “... through the eternal
Spirit offered himself without spot to God....” Hebrews 9:14.
“... which when all the
people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces.” Consternation, awe, and
wonder prostrated them as they beheld the terrible glory of God. Today an
unbelieving world mocks God, His Word, and His people, but the day is fast
approaching when their mockery will give place to wailing, as recorded in
Revelation 6:15-17, “And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the
rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and
every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the
mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from
the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”
[Leviticus 10]