Leviticus 16: Group Study Handout

How to use: read Leviticus 16 aloud together, then take the questions in order. One page is enough for an evening.

Overview

Yahweh instructs Moses about how Aaron should approach the Most Holy Place, warning him not to enter at all times (vv. 1-2). Aaron is to bring a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering (vv.

Key verse

“Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, even all their sins; and he shall put them on the head of the goat, and shall send him away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness.”
Leviticus 16:21 (WEB)

Outline

Leviticus 16:1–2 Instructions for Aaron's Approach
Leviticus 16:3–6 Offerings for Atonement
Leviticus 16:7–10 The Two Goats Ritual
Leviticus 16:11–16 Atonement Procedures
Leviticus 16:17–22 Isolation During Atonement
Leviticus 16:23–28 Post-Atonement Actions
Leviticus 16:29–34 The Day of Atonement Statute

Discussion questions

In v6, why does Aaron offer the bull for a sin offering?
What does Aaron do with the goat on which the lot fell for the scapegoat in vv. 10-11?
In v12, why does Aaron take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar?
In v18, what is the meaning of Aaron making atonement for the altar?
When have you needed to 'afflict your souls' as part of seeking atonement (v29)?

Go deeper

Passages that echo Leviticus 16: Hebrews 9, Leviticus 4, Leviticus 23.

Before next time: read Leviticus 17.