Leviticus 16:26

26–28. The bullock and the goat for the Sin-Offerings were not eaten, as their blood had been brought into the holy place (Lev_6:30). They were carried forth and burnt in the fire. The ordinary Heb. word for ‘burn’ is here used—the burning was not sacrificial. The Sin-Offering was most holy (Lev_6:25). Whatsoever touched the flesh thereof was holy (Lev_6:27), and those who carried them out must remove the contagion of holiness by washing their clothes and bathing. The same ceremony was required of the man that let go the goat for Azazel (Lev_16:26). Whether this goat was regarded as sin-laden and unclean, or whether it shared the holiness of the Sin-Offering (the two goats constitute the Sin-Offering; see Lev_16:5), is not stated. It may be noted that in Lev_4:1-21 those who carried the Sin-Offerings outside are not required to undergo this rite of washing and bathing.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lev 16:26 And he that let go the goat for the scapegoat shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward come into the camp.

Ver. 26. Shall wash his clothes.] To show, (1.) That it was for our sins that Christ suffered; (2.) That all that partake of his benefits must wash their hearts from wickedness. {Jer 4:14; 2Co 5:15; 2Co 7:1}

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.

Verse 26. He that let go the goat - shall wash, &c.] Not only the person who led him away, but the priest who consecrated him, was reputed unclean, because the goat himself was unclean, being considered as bearing the sins of the whole congregation. On this account both the priest and the person who led him to the wilderness were obliged to wash their clothes and bathe themselves, before they could come into the camp.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(26) And he that let go the goat for the scapegoat.—Better, And he that leadeth away the goat to Azazel (see Lev_16:10). As the messenger who conducted the sin-laden animal to the author of sin contracted defilement by the impurity which the victim carried away, he had both to wash his clothes and immerse his whole body in water before he was admitted into the camp. During the second Temple he remained in the last booth, which was a mile from Jerusalem, till sundown, when he was re-admitted into the camp.

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

And the bullock for the sin offering, and the goat for the sin offering,.... The one for Aaron and his family, the other for the people of Israel, of which see Lev 16:5,

whose blood was brought in to make an atonement in the holy place; the holy of holies, where it was brought and sprinkled, as directed inLev 16:14,

shall one carry forth without the camp; by command, as Aben Ezra observes; by the order of the high priest; and, perhaps, more than one was employed to carry out those carcasses, they being too large for one man, and as it seems from a following clause; and the Targum of Jonathan is,

"they shall be carried out on staves by the hands of the junior priests;

so Jarchi says (r), four men carried two staves, two before and two behind, and they went staff by staff, and the bullock and the goat were upon them, and they carried them one upon another: this was done after the high priest had done to them what was necessary; for so it is said, he went to the bullock and to the goat that were to be burnt; he ripped them up and took out their inwards, and put them in a bowl, and offered them on the top of the altar; and cut them with cuttings (made incisions into the flesh of them, but did not part it), and ordered them to be carried out to the place of burning, which was without the camp of Israel, and afterwards without the city of Jerusalem: the mystery of this, and the application of it to Christ, setting forth the nature and place of Christs sufferings, are fully and largely expressed by the apostle in Heb 13:11,

and they shall burn in the fire their skins, and their flesh, and their dung; the priests, as Aben Ezra; for there were more than one concerned, as in carrying them out, so in the burning of them: the high priest was not concerned in it, for while these were burning he was reading, as observed on Lev 16:24; so that he that saw, the high priest when he was reading, saw not the bullock and the goat when they were burnt; and he that saw the bullock and the goat burnt, saw not the high priest when he read; not because it was not lawful, but because the way was distant, and the business of both was done together (s): this was done in a place called the place of ashes (t), where the ashes of the altar of burnt offering were carried; See Gill on Lev 4:11 andSee Gill on Lev 4:12.

(r) In Misn. Yoma, c. 6. sect. 7. (s) Misn. Yoma, c. 7, sect. 2. (t) Misn. Zebachim, c. 5. sect. 2. & c. 12. sect. 5.

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

Both he who led away the goat, and he who burned the parts of the sin-offerings had to purify themselves. They who went out of the camp during a religious solemnity incurred uncleanness; hence, the need of purification.

Lev 16:27

Shall burn in the fire - i. e., consume in the fire, not burn sacrificially. See Lev 1:9.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Camp. This was always required of those who had burnt the bodies of the victims out of the camp, as ver. 28, and Numbers xix. 7. (Outram.) --- In some of the sacrifices for sin, the priests might eat part of the flesh. But here all was consumed, as the victim was offered for the sins of all.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

He shall wash his clothes, because he had contracted some degree of ceremonial uncleanness by the touch of the goat.

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

The man that let go the goat which served for a remover of sins is to wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh before he comes into the comp. This is not ordered on account of any special defilement attaching to the scapegoat, but only because it had been the symbolical sin-bearer, and therefore conveyed legal uncleanness by its touch. The man who bore the flesh of the ether goat to be burnt had to do exactly the same thing (verse 25).

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

The man who took the goat into the desert, and those who burned the two sin-offerings outside the camp (see at Lev 4:11, Lev 4:21), had also to wash their clothes and bathe their bodies before they returned to the camp, because they had been defiled by the animals laden with sin.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)