Leviticus 16:20

20 When he has finished atoning for the holy place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat.

Leviticus 16:20 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 16:20

And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy
[place]
That is, the holy of holies, by carrying in the blood of the bullock, and of the goat there, and sprinkling them as before observed:

and the tabernacle of the congregation;
the great court where the people met, and where the altar of burnt offering stood:

and the altar;
the altar of incense in the holy place; and so all the parts of the tabernacle were reconciled and atoned for, even the holy of holies, the holy place, and the court of the people: all the work the day of atonement, we are told F23, was done according to the order prescribed, and that if anything was done before another, it was doing nothing: thus, for instance, if the blood of the goat went before (or was sprinkled before) the blood of the bullock, he must return and sprinkle of the blood of the goat after the blood of the bullock; and if before he has finished the puttings (of the blood) within, the blood is poured out, (that is, at the bottom of the altar of burnt offering,) he shall bring other blood, and return and sprinkle anew within, and so in the temple, and at the golden altar, for every atonement is by itself:

he shall bring the live goat;
that which remained alive after the other was slain, as it was to do, according to the lot that fell upon it, ( Leviticus 16:10 ) ; this was brought to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, whither the high priest went, and performed the following rites.


FOOTNOTES:

F23 Yoma, c. 5. sect. 7.

Leviticus 16:20 In-Context

18 Then he shall go out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement on its behalf, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and of the blood of the goat, and put it on each of the horns of the altar.
19 He shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it and hallow it from the uncleannesses of the people of Israel.
20 When he has finished atoning for the holy place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat.
21 Then Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and sending it away into the wilderness by means of someone designated for the task.
22 The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a barren region; and the goat shall be set free in the wilderness.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.