Leviticus 16:1-4 - The Day of Atonement and the call to serve humbly

In chapter 16, we have come to the most important chapter of the book of Leviticus. Here, we have reached the highpoint of this book. This is the great day of atonement or what is known as the “Yom Kippur”. This chapter looks back to Leviticus 10 where Nadab and Abihu, the two sons of Aaron, were slain for offering strange fire to the Lord. From verse 1 we learn that this Yom Kippur was an instruction given to Moses and Aaron, and  verses 29, 31 and 34 tell us that it was to be an annual ordinance forever. Today we shall consider the first four verses.

Aaron was instructed not to enter the Holy of holies at any other time except on the Day of Atonement. Here he was specifically instructed that he could enter the most holy place only once a year. Being a sinner himself, Aaron had to atone for his own sin before he could conduct the ceremony for the atonement of the people. He was to bring a bull for his sin offering and a ram for his burnt offering for his own atonement. The people would bring two goats for their sin offering and a ram for their burnt offering.  In verse 4, God even specified how Aaron should be dressed. Why? It’s because the Day of Atonement was a day of grief, contrition, and humiliation over the sins committed. Aaron was to “put on the holy linen tunic, and the linen undergarments shall be next to his body, and he shall be girded with the linen sash and attired with the linen turban (these are holy garments).”   There were another four pieces of the garment known as the golden garment that he was not to put on. (For more detail of the golden garment see Exodus 28:4-5.) His dressing minus the golden garment was a symbol of the servant role he was taking. He was a mere mortal taking on the role of a high priest. Verses 23-24 show that only at the end of the day that he would return and put on the extraordinary garment of the high priest.

Aaron’s dressing consisted of only the white garment, comprising of a linen shirt, shorts, sash, and turban. See Exodus 39:27-29 for the description of these four pieces of garment. Here he put off the grand high priestly robe and adorned the garment of an ordinary priest. This tells us that though he was a leader in the community, at heart he must be a servant. This points us poignantly to Christ, who emptied Himself and took on the role of a servant to deliver our salvation. He has left us with an example that for whatever role we are called to play in the believers’ community, we must come to serve humbly and diligently. We must never, for a moment, think that we are higher than the people we serve.