The distinctive ceremonial of the D.ay of Atone- ment is described at length in Lv 10. The high priest first selected for himself a young bullock for a sin-ofTering, and a ram for a burnt-otl'ering ; then, having bathed, he discarded his distinctive golden vestments, and arrayed himself in gar- ments of white linen. After this he took from tlie people a ram for a bumt-ofl'erinc, and two goats for a sin-offeriBg, and proceeded to choose liy lot from the two goats one for J " and one for AZAZELJ (Lv le'-'"). This done, he oU'ered the
• Called bjr the later Jew» kdi' the day, iiai kdv (cf. !■ 1" LXX) (*« great day, oix CI' the fast -day, Menachoth, xl., ♦nrf, K31 KOl» the great fast ; ct li wnmU, Acte 27>, Ep. Bar- nab. 1*. *, Jos. Ant. XVII. vi. 4 ; ^ riif f. i.u-i^, xiv. iv. 3 (on xiv. xvl. 4, cf. Schiirer, IIJ P i. L 398 n.) ; i Uyiu<n ,., Philo, ii. 138, 691 ; mrri.ac i«(iTr, li. 296.
t Apparently the 10th day of this month was at one time regarded as New Year's Day'; see Ezk 401 and cf. Lv 25».
t I'^V "^SjS f<* make atonejnent for it, because, probably, by Itanrlint* before J" during the ceremonial which followe, itshares In the atonement made thereby for the sanctuary, and so become* titled to bear away the sins of the people. So Hengst., Riehn, Keil, Nowack (Ueb. Archnol. ii. 192), aL
bullock, which he had selected previously, for him- self and his family ; and having filled a censer with coals from the altar of burnt-ofl'ering, and takin" with him a handful of incense, he entered tlie Most Holy Place, where he threw the incense upon the burning coals, causing thereby a cloud of smoke to envelop tlie ark and the mercy seat ; after this he dipped his finger in the blood of the bullock, and sprinkled the blood once on the front (or east) side of the mercy seat, and seven times in the vacant space in front of the mercy seat (vv. "•'*). Having thus completed the atonement for himself and his house, the high priest returned to the court ; and after killing the goat of the people whicli had been allotted to J", he again entered the Most Holy Place, and sprinkled its blood, in the same manner as that of the bullock, on the front of the mercy seat and before the mercy seat. The puri- fication of the Most Holy Place being thus accom- plished, the high priest went out into the Holy Place (called the ' tent of meeting' v."), and there performed a similar atoning ceremony. The de- tails of this ceremony are not described in Lv 16 ; but in Ex 30'°, which seems to be a later addition to P, we learn that the blood of the sin-oflering of atonement was to be placed on the golden altar of incense, which is nowhere mentioned in Lv 16. During this time no one except the high priest was allowed to be present in the tabernacle. When the high priest again came out into the court, he completed the atonement of the sanc- tuary by placing on the horns of the altar of burnt-ottering * some of the blood both of the bullock and of the goat, and with his fingers sprinkling the blood seven times on the sutar (V 16-ia) 'pijg living goat was then brought near ; and the high priest, having placed both hands upon its head, confessed over it all the sins and offences of the Israelites ; after which the goat wa* led away, by a man standing in readiness, into the wilderness for Azazel, that it might bear the iniquities to a land 'cut ott',' i.e. to one remote from human Iiabitations, from which there was no chance of its bringing back again its burden of guilt (vv.^"-"-'). The high priest then returned to the Holy Place, and after bathing, and putting on Ills usual priestly garments, came out and ofterod the two burnt-oli'erings (w.»- ») for hiin-sclf and for the peoiile (w.**- "). Finally, the fat of the sin- ofl'crings having been consumed in sweet smoke upon the altar,t the rest of their flesh (in accord- ance with the general rule, Lv 4"'- »' etc.) was carried outside the camp and destroyed by fire ; those to whom this service wtus intrusted, and also the man who had led away the goat for Azazel, being not permitted to return to tlie con- gregation till they had bathed, and washed theii clothes (vv.^-»).
Two main questions arise in connexion with the Day of Atonement, wliich, as we shall see, are in some mea-Hure connected with each other: (1) to wliat date is the ceremonial enjoined in ch. 16 to be a-scribed ? (2) is the chapter describing it homo- geneous in structure ?
(1) We hear notliing of the observance of the Day of Atonement in pre-exilic times, nor is any mention made of tliis day in the earlier legal codes ('Book of the Covenant,' Dt, H). On the other hand, there are several points in the law regulating its observance which seem to connect it with the jjcriod after the exile, when the ceremonial aspects of sin and atonement at least occupied a more prominent place in the life and • The altar of v." cannot be the altar of Incense. Tlie purifi- cation of the Holv I'lacc has been de8cribc<l in v.l«f. For 'before J'" (v.is), cf. Lv 1» : J" dwells in the tabernacle (Ex 2.^j*'. ^. and the great oltar stands in front of this.