EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
10. An annual rite of atonement to be performed for it. The law presupposes Leviticus 16 (which prescribes the ceremonial of the annual Day of Atonement), and is thus later than it.
Leviticus 16:16;
Leviticus 16:18;
Leviticus 16:20 prescribes a rite of atonement for the Holy place, the Tent of Meeting, and the altar of burnt-offering, but none for the altar of incense: the present verse supplies the deficiency.
upon the horns of it] by putting some of the blood of the
sin-offering of atonement (the goat for the people of
Leviticus 16:5;
Leviticus 16:15-19) upon them: cf.
Leviticus 4:7;
Leviticus 4:18. The marg.
for may be disregarded.
for it] to preserve it, like the other sacred objects, in its ideal holiness: cf.
Exodus 29:36, with the note.
most holy] see on
Exodus 29:37.
make atonement] both here and elsewhere
makepropitiation would be a better rend. of
kipper, and
propitiation, &c., of its derivatives (cf.
propitiatory, suggested on
Exodus 25:17 for
kappôreth): not only is this the idea of the word, but
kipper and its derivatives are usually represented in LXX. by (
ἐξ)
ιλάσκομαι‚
ἱλασμός, &c., which in the NT. are expressed in English by ‘(make)
propitiation’ (
Romans 3:25;
1 John 2:2;
1 John 4:10;
Hebrews 2:17 RV.): an important link of connexion between OT. and NT. is thus lost, when, of the two corresponding terms, the rend. is
atonement in the OT. and
propitiation in the NT. (note that in NT. ‘atonement’ occurs in AV.
Romans 5:11 only, RV.
reconciliation; in RV. never). For a fuller discussion of the meaning and use of the Heb. term, reference must be made to the notes on Leviticus 4, and to the writer’s art. Propitiation in
DB.; see also H. M. P. Smith’s arts. in the
Biblical World (Chicago), Jan., Feb., Mar., 1908. Here it can only be briefly explained that
kipper is used in
two applications: (1) with a
human subject, to
make appeasement or
propitiation,
Exodus 32:30 (see the note),
Genesis 32:20,
2 Samuel 21:3 (cf. in the passive, the implicit subject being some act or rite,
1 Samuel 3:14,
Deuteronomy 21:8 b,
Isaiah 6:7;
Isaiah 22:14;
Isaiah 27:9,
Proverbs 16:6); so in P, where the subject is always either the priest, or (rarely) an offering, and the means of effecting the propitiation usually a sacrifice (as ch.
Exodus 29:36-37,
Leviticus 1:4), but occasionally some other act or offering (as below,
vv. 15, 16,
Numbers 25:13 : see further details in
DB. iv. 130); (2) with
God as subject,
to treat propitiously (EVV.
to be merciful, forgive, &c.) either an offender (
Deuteronomy 21:8 a,
Deuteronomy 32:43,
Ezekiel 16:63,
2 Chronicles 30:18) or an offence (
Jeremiah 18:23,
Psalm 65:3;
Psalm 78:38;
Psalm 79:9,
Daniel 9:24). The actual meanings, and usages, of
kipper can be determined from the OT. itself (see
DB. l.c.). Whether, however, as used to be supposed, its
primary meaning was either (Arab.) to
cover, or (Syr.) to
wipe away, is very doubtful. In Ass.
kapâru, it seems, means properly to
remove; kuppuru is to
remove ritual impurity from a person or thing; and the word appears to have come into Heb. with the sense of
ritual purgation attaching to it, and to have been developed there so as to express the ideas of
purge away (sin)
ritually, declare purged, remove guilt or
cause of offence, appease, &c. See Langdon,
Exp. Times, April 1911, p. 320 ff.; cf. Zimmern,
KAT.3[212] 601 f.
[212]
Die Keilinschriften und das A T., 1903, by H. Zimmern (pp. 345–653) and H. Winckler (pp. 1–342).
11–16 (cf.
Exodus 38:24-31). The ransom of souls at a census. When a census of the people is taken, every man is to pay half a (silver) shekel to Jehovah as a ransom for his life, that no ‘plague’ break out among the people: the proceeds of the tax to be applied to the maintenance of the daily services in the sanctuary. It must have been a popular belief, current at the time when this law was drawn up, that a census was dangerous to the lives of the persons numbered (cf. 2 Samuel 24), whether because it was likely to give rise to feelings of self-satisfaction and pride, or because it tended to bring the sins and imperfections of individuals prominently before God’s notice: every adult male of the community was therefore to pay a ‘ransom’ (
Exodus 21:30) for his life, by which he, as it were, purchased it for himself and secured it against peril of death. The Gallas of E. Africa believe that to count their cattle impedes the increase of the flock; and the Lapps, at least formerly, would not count themselves, for fear of the great mortality which they supposed would ensue (Frazer, p. 174 of the volume cited on
Exodus 23:19 b). And an Arab is averse to counting the tents, or horsemen, or cattle of his tribe, lest some misfortune befal them (Burckhardt,
Travels, p. 74 f.). In
2 Chronicles 24:6;
2 Chronicles 24:9 (in two passages
added by the Chronicler to the original narrative of
2 Kings 12:7-9) it is stated that the tax here imposed was enforced—though not apparently upon occasion of a census—by Joash.
Verse 10. -
Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in the year. Once in the year, on the great day of atonement - the tenth day of the seventh month - the high priest, after burning incense within the veil, and sprinkling the blood of a bullock and a ram towards the mercy seat, was to take of the blood, and put it on the horns of the altar of incense "to make an atonement for it - to cleanse it and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel" (
Leviticus 16:18, 19). This was not making it an altar of expiation, but merely expiating it. There was, however, another use for the altar, where it seems to have served for an altar of expiation. When the high priest had sinned in his official character, and offered a sin-offering for his cleansing (
Leviticus 4:3-12), or when the whole congregation had committed an offence through inadvertence, and did the same (
ib, 13-21), the high priest was to put of the blood of the sacrifice on the horns of the altar of incense, "for the expiation of his own sin and the sin of the people" (Keil). In these two cases, the altar of incense served the purpose of the altar of burnt-offering, on which was put the blood of private sin-offerings (
ib, 22-35).
It is most holy. There seems to be sufficient reason for considering the altar of incense as, next to the ark and mercy seat, the most sacred object in the furniture of the tabernacle. This precedence indicates the extreme value which God sets upon prayer.
CHAPTER 30:11-16 Exodus 30:10
Once a year Aaron was to expiate the altar of incense with the blood of the sin-offering of atonement, because it was most holy to the Lord, that is to say, as is expressly observed in the directions concerning this expiatory act (
Leviticus 16:18-19), to purify it from the uncleannesses of the children of Israel. כּפּר, with על objecti constr., signifies literally to cover over a thing, then to cover over sin, or make expiation. In the second clause we have "upon it" (the altar) instead of "upon the horns of it," because the altar itself was expiated in its horns. The use of מן in מדּם is to be explained on the ground that only a part of the blood of the sin-offering was smeared with the finger upon the horns. (For further remarks, see at
Leviticus 16:18-19.) The term "most holy" is not only applied to this altar, in common with the inner division of the tabernacle (
Exodus 26:33), but also to the altar of burnt-offering (
Exodus 29:37;
Exodus 40:10), and all the vessels of the sanctuary (
Exodus 30:29), which were anointed with holy oil; then to the whole of the tabernacle in its holiest aspect (
Numbers 18:10); and lastly, to all the sacrifices, which were given up entirely to Jehovah (see at
Leviticus 2:3); - consequently to everything which stood in so intimate a relation to Jehovah as to be altogether removed, not only from use and enjoyment on the part of man, but also from contact on the part of unsanctified men. Whoever touched a most holy thing was sanctified thereby (compare
Exodus 30:29 with
Exodus 29:37).
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