Leviticus 9:7 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Leviticus 9:7
And Moses said unto Aaron, Go unto the altar, and offer thy sin offering, and thy burnt offering, and make an atonement for thyself, and for the people: and offer the offering of the people, and make an atonement for them; as the LORD commanded.
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Aaron
אַהֲרֹ֗ן'a.ha.Ron
H175
Aharon · proper noun, a man's name
Go
קְרַ֤בke.Rav
H7126
to approach (causatively · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
altar
הַמִּזְבֵּ֙חַ֙ha.miz.Be.ach
H4196
an altar · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
offer
וַעֲשֵׂ֞הva.'a.Seh
H6213
to do or make · conjunction + verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
offering
חַטָּֽאתְךָ֙cha.ta.te.Kha
H2403
an offence (sometimes habitual sinfulness) · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
offering
עֹ֣לָתֶ֔ךָ'o.la.Te.kha
H5930
a step or (collectively · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
atonement
וְכַפֵּ֥רve.kha.Per
H3722
to cover (specifically with bitumen) · conjunction + verb, piel imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
people
הָעָ֑םha.'Am
H5971
a people (as a congregated unit) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
offer
וַעֲשֵׂ֞הva.'a.Seh
H6213
to do or make · conjunction + verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
offering
קָרְבַּ֤ןka.re.Ban
H7133
something brought near the altar · noun, common masculine singular construct
people
הָעָם֙ha.'Am
H5971
a people (as a congregated unit) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
atonement
וְכַפֵּ֣רve.kha.Per
H3722
to cover (specifically with bitumen) · conjunction + verb, piel imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
LORD
יְהוָֽהYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
commanded
צִוָּ֥הtzi.Vah
H6680
(intensively) to constitute · verb, piel perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Hebrews 5:3 And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins.
Hebrews 5:1 For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for…
Leviticus 4:3 If the priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the people; then let him bring for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bull…
Hebrews 9:7 But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the p…
Leviticus 4:16-20 And the priest that is anointed shall bring of the bullock’s blood to the tabernacle of the congregation:
1 Samuel 3:14 And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever.
Hebrews 7:27-28 Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once…
Leviticus 8:34 As he hath done this day, so the LORD hath commanded to do, to make an atonement for you.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Leviticus 9:1-7
Orders are here given for another solemnity upon the eighth day; for the newly-ordained priests were set to work immediately after the days of their consecration were finished, to let them know that they were not ordained to be idle: He that desires the office of a bishop desires a good work, which must be looked at with desire, more than the honour and benefit. The priests had not so much as one day's respite from service allowed them, that they might divert themselves, and receive the compliments of their friends upon their elevation, but were busily employed the very next day; for their consecration was the filling of their hands. God's spiritual priests have constant work cut out for the…
Make an atonement for thyself - This showed the imperfection of the Levitical law; the high priest was obliged to make an expiation for his own sins before he could make one for the sins of the people. See the use made of this by the apostle, Heb 5:3; Heb 7:27; Heb 9:7.
John Gill on 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 awa…
And Moses said unto Aaron, Go unto the altar Here is repeated what was stated elsewhere, that the priest, as being himself a sinner, must first make entreaty for himself, before he propitiates God towards others. Hence the Apostle justly infers that the legal priesthood was weak and merely typical. (Hebrews 5:1.) For none can be a true peace-maker, except he, who, in reliance on his perfect innocence, presents himself before God to obtain pardon for others, and, being pure from every blemish, requires no expiation for himself. All else to the end of the chapter I pass over, because Moses only records how Aaron sacrificed according to God's command and the legal ritual.
The Church Fathers
It seems that they have not paid sufficient attention to the fact that Zachary was a priest and that all priests at that time were obliged by the law of God to offer sacrifice first for their own sins and then for those of the people. Therefore, as it is now proved by the sacrifice of prayer that we are not sinless, since we are [daily] commanded to say, "Forgive us our debts," so it was proved then by the sacrifice of animal victims that the priests were not sinless, since they were commanded to offer the victim for their own sins.
And Moses said to Aaron, "Come near the altar and offer the sacrifice for your sin and your burnt offering and make atonement for yourself and your household." It is striking that he first says that he must offer the sacrifice for sin and then the burnt offering, when shortly before he orders the sacrifices for sins to be placed on top of the burnt offerings (Cf Lv 4,35), except when it comes to birds (Cf Lv 5, 8-10). Or is it that what is done before, that is, the holocaust, is mentioned here? For here it is not said as when the birds were spoken: first do this and then that, but say: do this and that. The instruction set out above indicates what needs to be done before. It says that the sacrifice for sins must be placed on top of the holocaust. The fact that the Scripture says, in addition that Aaron did what he was commanded, poses a serious problem, because first he is reminded that he must make the sacrifice for sin and then the holocaust. But it would not be safe for him to have done it first or the Scripture would have narrated first what was done next, as is often the case in many places, unless it was read in the text what I said earlier, when the author tried to sacrifice the sin. For the text says: And the priest shall put it on the altar upon the burnt offering of the Lord. And the priest will make atonement for him, for the sin he committed and he will be forgiven (Lv 4,35). How could this be put on the holocaust, if the holocaust was not put on before? But about the sacrifice of salvation, he was ordered to stand on top of the burnt offering (Cf Lv 3,5). And as this is not said in all places, nor for all the sacrifices of salvation, nor for all the sacrifices for sin, it may be said that this was not regularly prescribed, but was said there only to be done in the sacrifice of salvation, when a bullock is offered-for there it was ordained thus-and in the sacrifice for sin, when a female of the sheep is offered. On the other hand, it is not necessary that the other sacrifices, whether of salvation or sin, be placed on the burnt offerings. The question is also raised that, when Aaron made the offering of the people (Cf Lv 9,7), mentioned above, it is not said that all the things that were commanded were sacrificed, but only the kid for sin and the burnt offering. And there was no express mention of the lamb of a year old. And the other two things…
Dictionary and topics
Aaron — The eldest son of Amram and Jochebed, a daughter of Levi (Ex. 6:20). Some explain the name as meaning mountaineer, others mountain of strength, illuminator. He was born in Egypt three years before…
Atonement · MA — MA
Burnt Offering, The · Was an atonement for sin — Was an atonement for sin
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Keil & Delitzsch on Leviticus 9:6-7
After everything had been prepared for the solemn ceremony, Moses made known to the assembled people what Jehovah had commanded them to do in order that His glory might appear (see at Exo 16:10). Aaron was to offer the sacrifices that had been brought for the reconciliation of himself and the nation.
Tyndale Open Study Notes on Leviticus 9:7
your sin offering . . . burnt offering: Before the high priest could make atonement for the people, he had to be right with God himself.
Rashi on Leviticus 9:7
קרב אל המזבח [AND MOSES SAID TO AARON] GO TO THE ALTAR, for Aaron was diffident and feared to go there. Moses therefore said to him “Wherefore art thou diffident? For this purpose hast thou been selected!” (cf. Sifra, Shemini, Mechilta d'Miluim 2 8).
את חטאתך THY SIN OFFERING — the young calf (v. 2).
ואת עלתך AND THY BURNT OFFERING — the ram (v. 2).
קרבן העם THE OFFERING OF THE PEOPLE — the kid of the goats and the calf and the lamb (v. 3). Wherever the term עגל, “calf” is mentioned without further definition it denotes one in its first year, and it is from this passage that you may derive this rule (cf. Sifra on 4:2; Rosh Hashanah 10a).
