Leviticus 16:14

Lev 16:14 And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle [it] with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times.

Ver. 14. Upon the mercy seat eastward.] This and the following verses signify, saith one, that even heaven itself is defiled unto us by our sins; until it be made clean by the blood and obedience of Christ, who is entered thither, "not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood," and thereby hath "purified the heavenly things themselves." {Heb 9:12; Heb 9:23}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lev 16:14. He shall take of the blood — He went out of the holy place, and then entered it a second time. We must observe, that as the burning of the incense preceded the sprinkling of the blood, it was hereby signified that he was to be prepared for entering into the most holy place by prayer, and was to enter it in a spirit of prayer, which was figured by incense, and which the offering of incense accompanied, Rev 8:3-4. A lively emblem this of the intercession of our great High-Priest, and the efficacy of his merits. He shall sprinkle it upon the mercy-seat — To teach us, that God is merciful to sinners only through and for the blood of Christ. With his face eastward, or upon the eastern part, toward the people, who were in the court which lay eastward from the holy of holies, which was the most western part of the tabernacle. This signified that the high-priest in this act represented the people, and that God accepted it on their behalf; before the mercy-seat — On the ground.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That is, on the side which was toward the people: for the head of the Sanctuary stood Westward.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

(14) And he shall take of the blood.—Having left the Holy place and returned to the court, where the priest stood with the bowl of the blood of the bullock, stirring it, to prevent it coagulating (see Lev_16:11), the high priest took it, and went back to the Holy of Holies, to the same place where he stood on his first entry.

Sprinkle it with his finger.—During the second Temple the high priest sprinkled the blood once upwards and seven times downwards, in such a manner that the eight sprinklings formed a continuous line on the ground. As he sprinkled he was obliged to count one, two, three, &c, lest he should make a mistake.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And he shall take of the blood of the bullock,.... When the high priest slew the bullock, the blood was received in a basin, and given to another priest, that he might keep stirring it on a foursquare bench in the temple, that so it might not thicken and congeal (n), but by a continual motion might become thin and liquid, and fit for sprinkling; and this was doing, while the high priest was gone into the most holy place to offer the incense; which being done, he came out again and took the basin of blood out of the hand of the priest, and went in a second time, and did with it as follows:

and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat, eastward; with his right finger, or forefinger, as the Targum of Jonathan; and the blood sprinkled with it did not fall upon the mercy seat, as our version seems to intimate, but it was sprinkled over against it, towards the upper part of it. Aben Ezra says, that according to their interpreters, "upon the face of the mercy seat", as the words may be literally rendered, signifies above, between the two bars, and here it was the high priest stood; for, according to the Misnah (o), he went in to the place where he had gone in, and stood in the place where he had stood, and then sprinkled, that is, in the same place where he had been and offered the incense; See Gill on Lev 16:13; and here he stood, not with his face to the east, for then his back must have been to the mercy seat, but he stood with his face to the eastern part of the mercy seat, and there sprinkled the blood upwards:

and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times; besides the first sprinkling that was upward, and those downward; so says the Misnah (p), he sprinkled of it (the blood) once above, and seven times below; the same Jarchi observes; and the tradition adds, and he did not look in sprinkling neither above nor below; that is, he did not look to the mercy seat, nor was there any need of it, since the blood did not reach the mercy seat, but fell upon the ground; it was enough that it was done before it, and over against it, and with a respect unto it; or otherwise, had it, fallen on it, it would have been besmeared with it, and would not have been so comely and decent: the mystery of this was to represent the blood of Christ, and perfect purification and atonement by it, and that mercy and justice are reconciled to each other, and agree together in the forgiveness of sinners; and that there is no mercy but in a way of justice, no remission of sin, no justification of persons, no salvation for any of the sons of men, but through the blood of Christ, and the complete atonement made thereby.

(n) Misn. Yoma, c. 4. sect. 3. (o) Ibid. c. 5. sect. 3. (p) Misn. Yoma, c. 5. sect. 3.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

He shall sprinkle it upon the mercy-seat, to teach us that God is merciful to sinners only through and for the blood of Christ.

Eastward, i.e. with his face eastward, or upon the eastern part of it, towards the people, who were in the court, which lay eastward from the holy of holies, which was the most western part of the tabernacle. This signified that the high priest in this act represented the people, and that God accepted it on their behalf.

Before the mercy-seat; on the ground.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

14. Upon the mercy seat — Eastward. Luther’s version is very literal, “Gegen den Gnadenstuhl sprengen vorn an,” Sprinkle against the mercy seat in front. Our English version is opposed to every Jewish authority. Ewald, however, supports it, while the Vulgate omits these words. Outram and Murphy insist that “the blood did not come upon the mercy seat, but fell upon the ground.” The “Seventy” follows the ambiguity of the Hebrew, which is, “upon the face of the mercy seat eastward.” This may direct that the eastern or front side of the ark and the front edge of its cover, the mercy-seat, be stained with blood, or that the blood drops be sprinkled on the east side of the ark, between it and the vail. If the latter be the meaning the last clause of the verse is a repetition for the purpose of emphasizing the seven times to denote the perfection of the expiation. “The bearing of the blood of expiation into the most holy place, where no Israelite ever entered save the high priest, taught that the true expiation could only be effected by one who should pass into the presence of God, and leave the door wide open for all to enter.” — Dr. A. McLaren. “The anti-typal correlative of the presentation of the blood before the mercy seat was our Lord’s appearance before God the Father, bearing in his glorified body (identical with that which suffered) his own precious blood, now glorified, yet still identical with that which had been shed. That high-priestly self-presentation of the Redeemer is the eternal conclusion and ratifying seal of the work of redemption.” — Delitzsch on the Epistle to the Hebrews. See Lev_6:27, note, on the blood of Christ in heaven.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The second entry of the high priest into the holy of holies took place very soon after the first entry. Immediately that he had returned after lighting the incense, and perhaps offering a prayer, he took of the blood of the bullock, which he had previously killed, went back without delay, and sprinkled it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward, that is, on the front of the ark beneath the Presence enthroned upon the mercy seat, and shrouded by the smoke of the incense; and before the mercy seat, that is, on the ground in front of it, he sprinkled of the blood with his finger seven times. In after times, when the ark was gone, the high priest sprinkled upwards once and downwards seven times.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Upon the mercy-seat - To teach us, that God is merciful to sinners only through and for the blood of Christ. With his face east-ward, or upon the eastern part, towards the people, who were in the court which lay east-ward from the holy of holies, which was the most western part of the tabernacle. This signified that the high-priest in this act represented the people, and that God accepted it on their behalf. Before the mercy-seat - On the ground.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

the blood of the bull

This is the blood Aaron caught with a bowl in Leviticus 16:11.

sprinkle it with his finger

He used his finger to splash the blood.

on the front of the atonement lid

He put the blood on the top part of the lid. He also put it on the side of the lid that was towards him as he entered the most holy place.

before the atonement lid

Possible meanings are 1) "below the atonement lid onto the chest" or 2) "onto the ground in front of the atonement lid."

translationWords

blood

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

והזה באצבעו AND HE SHALL SPRINKLE IT WITH THE FINGER — One sprinkling only is implied (since the next phrase mentions a definite number),

ולפני הכפרת יזה שבע AND BEFORE THE COVERING SHALL HE SPRINKLE [OF THE BLOOD] SEVEN TIMES — Thus we have one sprinkling upwards and seven downwards (Yoma 53b).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.