Leviticus 9:7

7 And he said to Aaron: Approach to the altar, and offer sacrifice for thy sin. Offer the holocaust, and pray for thyself and for the people: and when thou hast slain the people’s victim, pray for them, as the Lord hath commanded.

Leviticus 9:7 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 9:7

And Moses said unto Aaron
This is only observed to show, that as Aaron did not take upon him this office of himself, but was called unto it, and invested with it, by the appointment of God, so neither did he enter upon it but through the call of God by Moses, in the sight of the congregation:

go unto the altar, and offer thy sin [offering], and thy burnt
offering;
the young calf and ram:

and make an atonement for thyself and for the people;
first for himself, and then for the people; for, as Aben Ezra says, a man cannot atone for another until he is pure from all sin; which is a character only to be found in Christ, our great High Priest, and so a proper person to atone for and take away the sins of others: hence the priests under the law, with their sacrifices, could never take away sin really, only typically; and this shows the imperfection of the Levitical priesthood, that the priests of that order were obliged to offer first for their own sins; this our high priest, of another order, needed not to do; see ( Hebrews 7:27 Hebrews 7:28 )

and offer the offering of the people, and make atonement for them;
typical of the true and full atonement made by Christ, when he offered himself without spot to God:

as the Lord commanded;
Aaron to do, and as he commanded Christ, his Son and our surety, the antitype of Aaron, ( John 10:18 ) ( 14:31 ) .

Leviticus 9:7 In-Context

5 They brought therefore all things that Moses had commanded before the door of the tabernacle: where when all the multitude stood,

6 Moses said: This is the word, which the Lord hath commanded. Do it, and his glory will appear to you.

7 And he said to Aaron: Approach to the altar, and offer sacrifice for thy sin. Offer the holocaust, and pray for thyself and for the people: and when thou hast slain the people’s victim, pray for them, as the Lord hath commanded.

8 And forthwith Aaron, approaching to the altar, immolated the calf for his sin.

9 And his sons brought him the blood of it: and he dipped his finger therein, and touched the horns of the altar, and poured the rest at the foot thereof.