Leviticus 16:5

And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(5) And he shall take of the congregation.—On this occasion the high priest himself had to officiate, by virtue of his being the chief mediator between God and His people.

Two kids of the goats.—Better, two shaggy he-goats. (See Leviticus 4:23.) These two goats, which were the sin offering for the people, and the ram, which was their burnt offering, were purchased with the money of the public some time before the Day of Atonement. During the second Temple the two goats had to be alike in value, equal in size, and of the same colour. If one of them happened to die after the decision of the lot, a new pair had to be purchased, and the surviving one of the original pair was kept and properly fed till it became ritually defective, whereupon it was sold, and the money paid into the sacred treasury.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

16:1-14 Without entering into particulars of the sacrifices on the great day of atonement, we may notice that it was to be a statute for ever, till that dispensation be at an end. As long as we are continually sinning, we continually need the atonement. The law of afflicting our souls for sin, is a statue which will continue in force till we arrive where all tears, even those of repentance, will be wiped from our eyes. The apostle observes it as a proof that the sacrifices could not take away sin, and cleanse the conscience from it, that in them there was a remembrance made of sin every year, upon the day of atonement, Heb 10:1,3. The repeating the sacrifices, showed there was in them but a feeble effort toward making atonement; this could be done only by offering up the body of Christ once for all; and that sacrifice needed not to be repeated.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Take of the congregation - i. e. they were to be supplied at the public cost.

Two kids of the goats - This should be, two shaggy he-goats (Leviticus 4:23 note), of the same color, size, and value.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

5-10. shall take of the congregation … two kids of the goats … and one ram—The sacrifices were to be offered by the high priest, respectively for himself and the other priests, as well as for the people. The bullock (Le 16:3) and the goats were for sin offerings and the rams for burnt offerings. The goats, though used in different ways, constituted only one offering. They were both presented before the Lord, and the disposal of them determined by lot, which Jewish writers have thus described: The priest, placing one of the goats on his right hand and the other on his left, took his station by the altar, and cast into an urn two pieces of gold exactly similar, inscribed, the one with the words "for the Lord," and the other for "Azazel" (the scapegoat). After having well shaken them together, he put both his hands into the box and took up a lot in each: that in his right hand he put on the head of the goat which stood on his right, and that in his left he dropped on the other. In this manner the fate of each was decided.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel,.... With whom only the high priest had to do on the day of atonement; as Christ our high priest has only with the Israel of God, the elect, given him by the Father, for whom he offered up himself, and for whose sins he made reconciliation:

two kids of the goats for a sin offering; the one of which was killed, and the other let go alive, and both were but one offering, typical of Christ in both his natures, divine and human, united in one person; and who was made sin, and became a sin offering for his people:

and one ram for a burnt offering; a type of Christ, mighty to save, this creature being a strong one; and of his dolorous sufferings, this offering being burnt; and of God's gracious acceptance of his sacrifice, which was of a sweet smelling savour to him; the burnt offering following by way of thanksgiving for atonement made by the sin offering graciously accepted by the Lord.

Geneva Study Bible

And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

5. The two he-goats are described as one Sin-Offering.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 5. - And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats. It was necessary that the sacrifice offered for a person or class of persons should be provided by the offerer or offerers. The two kids of the goats, or rather the two he-goats, constituted together but one sin offering. This is important for the understanding of the sequel. Leviticus 16:5

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Only בּזאת, "with this," i.e., with the sacrifices, dress, purifications, and means of expiation mentioned afterwards, could he go into "the holy place," i.e., according to the more precise description in Leviticus 16:2, into the inmost division of the tabernacle, which is called Kodesh hakkadashim, "the holy of holies," in Exodus 26:33. He was to bring an ox (bullock) for a sin-offering and a ram for a burnt-offering, as a sacrifice for himself and his house (i.e., the priesthood, Leviticus 16:6), and two he-goats for a sin-offering and a ram for a burnt-offering, as a sacrifice for the congregation. For this purpose he was to put on, not the state-costume of the high priest, but a body-coat, drawers, girdle, and head-dress of white cloth (bad: see Exodus 28:42), having first bathed his body, and not merely his hands and feet, as he did for the ordinary service, to appear before Jehovah as entirely cleansed from the defilement of sin (see at Leviticus 8:6) and arrayed in clothes of holiness. The dress of white cloth was not the plain official dress of the ordinary priests, for the girdle of that dress was coloured (see at Exodus 28:39-40); and in that case the high priest would not have appeared in the perfect purity of his divinely appointed office as chief of the priesthood, but simply as the priest appointed for this day (v. Hoffmann). Nor did he officiate (as many of the Rabbins, and also C. a Lapide, Grotius, Rosenmller, and Knobel suppose) as a penitent praying humbly for the forgiveness of sin. For where in all the world have clear white clothes been worn either in mourning or as a penitential garment? The emphatic expression, "these are holy garments," is a sufficient proof that the pure white colour of all the clothes, even of the girdle, was intended as a representation of holiness. Although in Exodus 28:2, Exodus 28:4, etc., the official dress not only of Aaron, but of his sons also, that is to say, the priestly costume generally, is described as "holy garments," yet in the present chapter the word kodesh, "holy," is frequently used in an emphatic sense (for example, in Leviticus 16:2, Leviticus 16:3, Leviticus 16:16, of the most holy place of the dwelling), and by this predicate the dress is characterized as most holy. Moreover, it was in baddim ("linen") that the angel of Jehovah was clothed (Ezekiel 9:2-3, Ezekiel 9:11; Ezekiel 10:2, Ezekiel 10:6-7, and Daniel 10:5; Daniel 12:6-7), whose whole appearance, as described in Daniel 10:6, resembled the appearance of the glory of Jehovah, which Ezekiel saw in the vision of the four cherubim (ch. 1), and was almost exactly like the glory of Jesus Christ, which John saw in the Revelation (Revelation 1:13-15). The white material, therefore, of the dress which Aaron wore, when performing the highest act of expiation under the Old Testament, was a symbolical shadowing forth of the holiness and glory of the one perfect Mediator between God and man, who, being the radiation of the glory of God and the image of His nature, effected by Himself the perfect cleansing away of our sin, and who, as the true High Priest, being holy, innocent, unspotted, and separate from sinners, entered once by His own blood into the holy place not made with hands, namely, into heaven itself, to appear before the face of God for us, and obtain everlasting redemption (Hebrews 1:3; Hebrews 7:26; Hebrews 9:12, Hebrews 9:24).