Leviticus 9:3

Lev 9:3 And unto the children of Israel thou shalt speak, saying, Take ye a kid of the goats for a sin offering; and a calf and a lamb, [both] of the first year, without blemish, for a burnt offering;

Ver. 3. Take ye a kid of the goats for a sin offering.] Quia gravis odor peccati. The smell of sin is grievous; it offendeth all God’s senses, yea, his very soul. {Isa 1:12-13, &c.}

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 9:3. A sin-offering — For the people, for whose sin a young bullock was required, Lev 4:15; but that was for some particular sin; this was more general for all their sins. Besides, there being an eye here to the priest’s consecration and entrance into his office, it is no wonder if there be some difference in these sacrifices from those before prescribed.

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

Verse 3. Take ye a kid] In Le 4:14 a young bullock is commanded to be offered for the sin of the people; but here the offering is a kid, which was the sacrifice appointed for the sin of the ruler, Le 4:22-23, and hence some think that the reading of the Samaritan and the Septuagint is to be preferred. Speak unto the ELDERS of Israel, these being the only princes or rulers of Israel at that time; and for them it is possible this sacrifice was designed. It is however supposed that the sacrifice appointed Le 4:14 was for a particular sin, but this for sin in general; and that it is on this account that the sacrifices differ.

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

(3) And unto the children of Israel thou shalt speak.—That is, Aaron, who was now constituted high priest, was to give the orders about the sacrifices It will be seen that the elders of the people whom Moses summoned in Lev_9:1 to witness in behalf of the people the first ministrations of the priests, are here called “the children of Israel,” thus showing that the representatives acted for the people. Hence the two terms are interchanged (see Lev_8:2), which accounts for the fact that the Greek Version (LXX.) renders it here by “elders.”

A kid of the goats . . . and a calf.—Better, a shaggy-haired he-goat. (See Lev_4:23, &c.)

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

3. And unto the children] LXX. and Sam. have ‘elders’ as in Lev_9:1.

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.

And unto the children of Israel thou shalt speak,.... That is, Aaron should speak to them, for being now high priest, Moses had no more to do with the sacrifices of the people, but it was incumbent on Aaron to call upon them to bring them to him such as the Lord by this law required of them:

saying, take ye a kid of the goats for a sin offering; this creature fitly represented Christ as made sin, and an offering for sin, in the room of his people:

and a calf, and a lamb; both of them, as before observed, were proper emblems of Christ in his strength and innocence, sometimes called the fatted calf, and frequently the Lamb of God, Luk 15:23 Joh 1:29,

both of the first year, without blemish, for a burnt offering; denoting the tenderness of Christ, his spotless purity, and painful sufferings.

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

Children. Samaritan and Septuagint, "the ancients," or princes of the people, for whom a he-goat is sacrificed. --- Old. Not above, though they might be younger.

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).

A sin-offering for the people, as it is expressed here Lev 9:15, for whose sin a young bullock was required, Lev 4:14; but that was for some particular sin, but this was more general and indefinite for all their sins. Besides, there being an eye here had to the priest’s consecration and entrance into his office, it is no wonder if there be some difference in these sacrifices from those before prescribed.

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

3. A kid of the goats — See Lev_23:19, note.

A burnt offering — Chap. 1 and Lev_6:9, notes.

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

A sin-offering - For the people, for whose sin a young bullock was required, chap. iv, 15, but that was for some particular sin; this was more general for all their sins. Besides, there being an eye here to the priest's consecration and entrance into his office, it is no wonder if there be some difference in these Sacrifices from those before prescribed.

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

General Information:

Moses continues speaking to Aaron.

You must speak to the people of Israel and say, 'Take a male goat ... will appear to you

Moses continues speaking to Aaron. This has a quotation within a quotation. A direct quotation can be stated as an indirect quotation. AT: "And tell the people of Israel to take a male goat ... will appear to all the people" (See:Quotes Within Quotes and Direct and Indirect Quotations)

a year old

"twelve months of age"

to sacrifice before Yahweh

"to sacrifice to Yahweh"

translationWords

Israel

goat

sin offering

cow

lamb

year

blemish

burnt offering

cow

ewe

peace offering

grain offering

oil

command

tent of meeting

assembly

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

And unto the children of Israel thou shalt speak. This means that Aaron is to speak to them thus, as it was His wish that Aaron should be the one who commands in the name of G-d, and that he should be the one who would bring the offerings, in order to elevate him in the eyes of the people. The correct interpretation is that the expression and unto the children of Israel thou shalt speak, means you [Aaron] and the elders mentioned [in Verse 1], since it was for that purpose that he called them,. so that they should speak to the children of Israel, as in the verse, And Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them: Draw out [and take you lambs]. Or it may be that [Moses] said to each of the elders, and unto the children of Israel thou shalt speak [the singular word thou thus referring to each one of the elders]. Accordingly, the meaning of the section is as follows: and he [Moses] said to Aaron: Take thee etc., and to [each of] the elders he said, and unto the children of Israel thou shalt speak. For one who speaks to many people usually addresses his command to each person individually, something like that which it is said, And I commanded you at that time, saying etc.: Ye shall pass over armed before your brethren. There are many such cases in the Book of Deuteronomy [where Moses speaks to the whole congregation, when his message is actually addressed to each person individually].Now Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra wrote that the verse, And Moses said: This is the thing which the Eternal commanded that ye should do, means that “Moses had already told them, this is the thing.” If so, it is possible that the meaning of the verses be as follows: Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel, and Moses said: This thing which the Eternal has commanded me ye should do, that the Glory of the Eternal may appear unto you; and he said unto Aaron: Take thee a bull-calf etc.; and unto the children of Israel thou shalt speak, saying: Take ye a he-goat for a sin-offering etc. Thus [Moses] spoke briefly at first [as in Verse 6] and then explained himself at the end [in Verses 2-4].But this is not correct. Rather, after Moses had mentioned to them the offerings [which they were required to bring on that day], and they brought that which Moses commanded, he said to them again, This is the thing which the Eternal commanded that ye should do, meaning that they should bring the offerings in the order that he would command them, and afterwards the Glory of the Eternal would appear to them. Now since he had said, for today the Eternal appeareth unto you, he went back and said that He would appear to them through His Glory.Now these offerings [which were brought on the eighth day after the completion of the seven-day consecration of the priests], were not mentioned in the section of And this is the thing that thou shalt do unto them to hallow them, to minister unto Me, for there He only gave the command about the consecration, and their days of consecration were completed with the seven days and their offerings, but now on the eighth day, they themselves brought the offerings [whereas on the seven days of the consecration, the offerings were brought by Moses]. Thus these offerings [brought on the eighth day] were a kind of initiation for the priests, as was the meal-offering of the baken cakes command for future generations [which were brought] on the day when he is anointed., Verse 13. I.e., on the day that the ordinary priests are installed into the priestly service. The High Priest, however, brought this meal-offering every day. Ramban thus suggests that the offerings brought on the eighth day [as explained in this section] were a sort of initiation, comparable to the meal-offering brought in future generations by the ordinary priest once in his lifetime, and by the High Priest every day.It is possible that it was in order to atone for the incident of the golden calf that He now gave them these added offerings, for at the time when He commanded the section of And this is the thing that thou shalt do unto them to hallow them, to minister unto Me, the golden calf had not yet been made, as I have explained, and therefore He did not mention them [these offerings] there. It is thus not as Rashi wrote there, that the bullock [offered on each of the seven days of consecration] was to atone for the incident of the golden calf, but these bullocks were to purify the altar, and for Aaron and his sons in order to hallow them, and it was this calf [brought] on the eighth day that was to atone for the incident of the golden calf. Thus Aaron’s offerings [on this eight day] were the same as his offerings on the Day of Atonement,. [namely, the bull-calf for a sin-offering, and a ram for a burnt-offering, as mentioned in the verse before us], and the people’s sin-offering [on this eighth day] was the same as their sin-offering on the Day of Atonement, namely, one he-goat for a sin-offering. So also have the Rabbis said in the Tosephta of the section of consecration, in the Torath Kohanim, 4. that this calf [brought on the eighth day] was to atone for the incident of the golden calf. Thus they interpreted: “For what reason did Israel bring more offerings [on this day] than Aaron? It was on account of what He said to them: ‘You [the people] have in your hands [sin] at the beginning, and you have in your hands [sin] at the end.’ You have sinned at the beginning, as it is written [when the brothers sold Joseph], and they killed a he-goat, and you have sinned at the end, as it is said, they have made them a molten calf. Therefore let them bring the he-goat [for a sin-offering] to atone for the incident connected with that of the he-goat, and let them bring a calf [as a burnt-offering] to atone for the incident of the golden calf.”It would appear that because the reason for Aaron’s sin-offering [on this eighth day] was the same as that of his sin-offering on the Day of Atonement, therefore he burnt it [outside the camp] as the one of the Day of Atonement is burnt, even though this sin-offering [of the eighth day] was “an outer sin-offering”, Note 52. Ramban’s concluding thought here — “for Moses did not explain that he should do so” — is thus to be understood as follows: Since Scripture does not relate that Moses commanded Aaron to burn his sin-offering outside the camp although it was not “an inner sin-offering,” the question arises why did Aaron do so [as stated in Verse 11]? It must be, Ramban suggests, because the reason for Aaron’s sin-offering on this eighth day of the initiation was the same as that of his sin-offering on the Day of Atonement, which being “an inner sin-offering” is rightfully burnt outside the camp, and hence Aaron on this eighth day did similarly. In the text following, Ramban will suggest that Aaron actually received this command from Moses, and the reason why Scripture did not mention it is explained in the text of Ramban. [while that of the Day of Atonement was “an inner sin-offering”], for Moses did not explain that he should do so. But perhaps Aaron was indeed so commanded, and [it is not mentioned because] Scripture did not want to prolong the matter, it being known that Aaron would only do what Moses said, and that Moses would only say what G-d had commanded.

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.