Holly Bible - KJV with Concise Commentaries by Z Selam - HTML preview
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The day appointed for this solemnity. It must be observed yearly on the tenth day of the seventh month, Le 16:29. The seventh had been reckoned the first month, till God appointed that the month in which the children of Israel came out of Egypt should thenceforward be accounted and called the first month. Some have fancied that this tenth day of the seventh month was the day of the year on which our first parents fell, and that it was kept as a fast in remembrance of their fall. Dr. Lightfoot computes that this was the day on which Moses came the last time down from the mount, when he brought with him the renewed tables, and the assurances of God's being reconciled to Israel, and his face shone: that day must be a day of atonement throughout their generations; for the remembrance of God's forgiving them their sin about the golden calf might encourage them to hope that, upon their repentance, he would forgive them all trespasses.
30 for on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to
cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the Lord.
31 It shall be a Sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls,
by a statute for ever.
The duty of the people on this day.
(1.) They must rest from all their labours: It shall be a sabbath of rest, Le 16:31. The work of the day was itself enough, and a good day's work if it was done well; therefore they must do no other work at all. The work of humiliation for sin requires such a close application of mind, and such a fixed engagement of the whole man, as will not allow us to turn aside to any other work. The day of atonement seems to be that sabbath spoken of by the prophet (Isa 58:13), for it is the same with the fast spoken of in the verses before.