Leviticus 17:2, commentary and pictures

This is the Lord's command addressed to Aaron, his sons, and all the children of Israel. It requires every offering to be brought to the entrance of the tabernacle, where the Lord placed His name to meet them, and to be offered only there, forbidding burnt offerings and sacrifices in every other place on pain of being cut off from among the people. The restriction was to keep Israel from sacrificing in the fields to devils, since offering elsewhere failed to recognize God's personal presence in the sanctuary and was evidence of idolatrous worship. The chapter teaches that the life is in the blood, and that blood alone makes atonement for the sinner who has forfeited life, because sin's penalty is death and only the shedding of blood can put sin away. The slain animals are types of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God whose sinless life given as a sufficient sacrifice puts away sin, prefigured when the sinner laid hands on the victim's head transferring his sins in figure and the victim was slain, with forgiveness granted when its blood was carried into the sanctuary and sins blotted out entirely for the penitent on the day of atonement.

Command and Its Setting

The verse opens the commands of Leviticus 17 as the thing the Lord commanded, spoken to Aaron and to his sons and to all the children of Israel. It stands at the head of a block of various laws, ordinances, prohibitions and precepts running from Leviticus 17 through 24, whose reason is for the most part self-evident. What follows is the command that every offering be brought to the entrance of the tabernacle of the congregation and be offered only there. That was the place where the Lord placed His name and where He would meet them, and burnt offerings and sacrifices in every other place were forbidden on pain of that man being cut off from among the people.

The statute was designed to prevent the Israelites from sacrificing in the fields to devils. To bring offerings elsewhere showed failure to recognize God's personal presence in the sanctuary and was evidence of idolatrous worship. It does not teach that forgiveness was available only in the first apartment, nor does it address where atonement is made for the people's sins in a way that contradicts the account of atonement in Leviticus 16. It distinguishes this restriction on where sacrifices could be made from the high priest's atonement for the people's sins in the holiest place.

Blood Atonement Foreshadowing Christ

The chapter teaches that blood is life. God gave instructions about blood to teach and enforce a proper regard for life, because the life is in the blood. It prominently sets forth the use of blood to make atonement for sinners who have forfeited life, since only blood represents the equivalent of the forfeiture. Because the penalty of sin is death, the shedding of blood is required for sin to be put away. The sacrifices and slain animals are types of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, whose sinless life given as a sufficient sacrifice for sinners puts away sin.

The offering was to be placed at the entrance of the tabernacle, where the offerer presented and killed the victim. In the individual sin-offering this was where the sinner, or the elders of the congregation, laid a hand on the victim's head and slew it before the priest carried out the blood rite that brought forgiveness. By laying hands on the head of the offering the sinner transferred his sins in figure to the victim representing Christ. The victim receiving the sins was slain to prefigure Christ delivered for offenses who died for the ungodly, and when the blood or flesh was carried into the sanctuary the sinner was forgiven. If the forgiven man remained penitent until the day of atonement, his sins were then blotted out entirely when the sanctuary was cleansed, all referring to Christ who appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. The high priest's work in the holiest included atonement for the people's sins as well as cleansing the sanctuary, a twofold work typifying Christ's work in the most holy place, where individual cases of sin are dealt with while Jesus' blood remains available for the church.

The place the Lord chose for the sanctuary was Jerusalem, where a sanctuary was built, where His testimony was kept, and where only the priests ministered. Every offering was to be brought to the tabernacle of the congregation where the Lord placed His name and to be offered only there. Because Jerusalem is in the hands of strangers and the dwelling-place of the name of God has been destroyed, the appointed blood sacrifices cannot now be carried out, so their cessation is of necessity and not by choice. Present customs that replace blood with fasting, repentance, restitution, and righteousness are in conformity to circumstances and contrary to Scripture, which requires blood to make atonement.