(κάθαπμα) of God's wrath, and devoted to His curse, he who led it
JOHN CALVIN
the people, and thus acted as a stimulus to sincere repentance; since "the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit," (Psalm 51:17;) nor is it fit that any but the prostrate should be lifted up by God's mercy, nor that any but those who voluntarily condemn themselves should be absolved. The accumulation of words tends to this, "all the iniquities, all their transgressions, all their sins," that believers may not lightly only and as, a mere act of duty acknowledge themselves guilty before God, but rather that they should groan under the weight, of their guilt. Since now in Christ no special day in the year is prescribed in which the Church should confess its sins in a solemn ceremony, let believers learn, whenever they meet together in God's name, humbly to submit themselves to voluntary self-condemnation, and to pray for pardon, as if the Spirit of God dictated a formulary for them; and so let each in private: conform himself to this rule.
26. And he that let the goat go. Since this goat was the outcast (κάθαπμα) of God's wrath, and devoted to His curse, he who led it away is commanded to wash his person and his clothes, as if he were a partaker in its defilement. By this symbol the faithful were reminded how very detestable is their iniquity, so that they might, be affected with increasing dread, whenever they considered what they deserved. For when they saw a man forbidden to enter the camp because he was polluted by simply touching the goat, they must needs reflect how much wider was the alienation between God and themselves, when they bore upon them an uncleanness not contracted elsewhere, but procured by their own sin. The same may be said of him who burned the skin, the flesh, and the dung of the bullock and the goat. We have elsewhere seen that these remnants were carried out of the camp in token of abomination. And on this head Christ's inestimable love towards us shines more brightly, who did not disdain to go out of the city that He might be made an outcast (rejectamentum) for us, and might undergo the curse due to us.
29. And this shall be a statute for ever. This day of public atonement is now finally mentioned in express terms, and the affliction of souls, of which fuller notice is taken in chap. 23, is touched upon, that they may more diligently exercise themselves in more serious penitential meditations, nor doubt that they are truly purged before God; and yet in a sacramental manner, viz., that the external ceremony might be a most unmistakable sign of that atonement, whereby, in the fullness of time, they were to be reconciled to God. Wherefore Moses states at some length that this was to be the peculiar office of the priest; and by this eulogy exalts the grace of the coming Mediator, so that He may direct the minds of believers to Him alone.
Leviticus 1