What Does Leviticus 16:1 Mean?
And the LORD spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the LORD and died.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And the LORD spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the LORD, and died;THE KEY
The Hebrew behind “offered” says they drew near, placing death beside the approach itself while naming no gift.
THE MEANING
This verse places you before a nearness that is not automatically safe: the sons draw near before the LORD, and they die. The sentence leaves the cause unstated, holding divine presence, human approach, and death together without softening them.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that closeness to God is always harmless or comforting; here, approach stands beside death.
THE ROOT
בְּקָרְבָתָם
bəqorbātām
GROWS FROM
ק־ר־ב
Q-R-B
draw near, approach
“drew near” in this verse is bəqorbātām. The word translated “offered” names their drawing near; no object is specified in this sentence. The root makes approach itself the charged detail before the verse says they die.
ALSO GROWS
qārab: draw near, approach
קָרַב
This is the root behind their action: the verse describes the sons coming near before the LORD.
qorbān: offering; what is brought near
קָרְבָּן
This related word shows how an offering belongs to the language of approach, though this verse does not name what the sons brought.
מֹשֶׁה
Mōsheh
GROWS FROM
מ־שׁ־ה
M-Sh-H
draw out, especially from water
Moses’ name carries the sense of being drawn out. In this verse, the one named “drawn out” receives the word after two others die while drawing near, a contrast held in the wording, not explained by it.
ALSO GROWS
māshāh: draw out
מָשָׁה
This verb supplies the name’s stated connection to being drawn out.
Mōsheh: Moses; the one drawn out
מֹשֶׁה
The name recalls the act of being drawn out, a distinct image beside the sons’ fatal approach.
THE PATTERN
Approach to God’s presence is marked by a boundary or a given means of entry.
And you shall mark a border all around the people, saying, Guard yourselves, do not go up into the mount or touch its edge. Whoever touches the mount shall surely die.And the LORD said to Moses, Speak to Aaron your brother. He does not come at any time into the set-apart place within the curtain, before the covering upon the ark, so that he does not die. For I will be seen in the cloud upon the covering.Having therefore, brothers, open speech for entering the set-apart places by the blood of Jesus,THE THREAD
If his drawing near from the herd is a rising offering, he shall bring near a whole male to the opening of the tent of appointed meeting, and he shall bring it near of his own pleasure before the face of the LORD.The Hebrew verb for “offer” here belongs to the same Q-R-B root family as the word for “offered” in Leviticus 16:1; both carry the idea of drawing near. Leviticus 1:3 names an animal and a place for that approach, while 16:1 leaves the object unnamed and places the drawing near beside death.
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