Leviticus 1:11

11 and he hath slaughtered it by the side of the altar northward, before Jehovah; and sons of Aaron, the priests, have sprinkled its blood on the altar round about;

Leviticus 1:11 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 1:11

And he shall kill it on the side of the altar northward
before the Lord
This is a circumstance not mentioned in the killing of the bullock: Maimonides ^F7 says, there was a square place from the wall of the altar northward, to the wall of the court, and it was sixty cubits, and all that was over against the breadth of this, from the wall of the porch to the eastern wall, and it is seventy six cubits; and this foursquare place is called the "north", for the slaying of the most holy things; so that it seems this being a large place, was fittest for this purpose. Aben Ezra intimates, as if some respect was had to the situation of Mount Zion; his note is, "on the side of the altar northward", i.e. without, and so "the sides of the north", ( Psalms 48:2 ) for so many mistake who say that the tower of Zion was in the midst of Jerusalem; and with this agrees Mr. Ainsworth's note on ( Leviticus 6:25 ) hereby was figured, that Christ our sin offering should be killed by the priests in Jerusalem, and Mount Sion, which was on "the sides of the north", ( Psalms 48:2 ) crucified on Mount Calvary, which was on the northwest side of Jerusalem; as by the Jews' tradition, the morning sacrifice was killed at the northwest horn of the altar ^F8:

and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall sprinkle the blood round about
upon the altar; (See Gill on Leviticus 1:5).

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 In Misn. Zebachim, c. 5. sect. 1.
F8 Misn. Tamid, c. 4. sect. 1.

Leviticus 1:11 In-Context

9 and its inwards and its legs he doth wash with water; and the priest hath made perfume with the whole on the altar, a burnt-offering, a fire-offering of sweet fragrance to Jehovah.

10 `And if his offering [is] out of the flock -- out of the sheep or out of the goats -- for a burnt-offering, a male, a perfect one, he doth bring near,

11 and he hath slaughtered it by the side of the altar northward, before Jehovah; and sons of Aaron, the priests, have sprinkled its blood on the altar round about;

12 and he hath cut it into its pieces, and its head and its fat, and the priest hath arranged them on the wood, which [is] on the fire, which [is] on the altar;

13 and the inwards and the legs he doth wash with water, and the priest hath brought the whole near, and hath made perfume on the altar; it [is] a burnt-offering, a fire-offering of sweet fragrance to Jehovah.