Leviticus 4:18

4:18 He must put some of the blood on the horns of the altar ¹  which is before the Lord in the Meeting Tent, and all the rest of the blood he must pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering that is at the entrance of the Meeting Tent.

Leviticus 4:34

4:34 Then the priest must take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and he must pour out all the rest of its blood at the base of the altar.

Leviticus 5:9

5:9 Then he must sprinkle ²  some of the blood of the sin offering on the wall of the altar, and the remainder of the blood ³  must be squeezed out at the base of the altar – it is a sin offering.

Leviticus 8:15

8:15 and he slaughtered it. ⁴  Moses then took the blood and put it all around on the horns of the altar with his finger and decontaminated the altar, ⁵  and he poured out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar and so consecrated it to make atonement on it. ⁶ 

Ephesians 2:13

2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who used to be far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ⁷ 

¹ sn See v. 7, where this altar is identified as the altar of fragrant incense.

² tn The Hebrew verb וְהִזָּה (vÿhizzah, Hiphil of נָזָה, nazah) does indeed mean “sprinkle” or “splatter” (cf. Lev 4:6, 17). Contrast “splash” in Lev 1:5, etc. (זָרָק, zaraq).

³ tn Heb “the remainder in the blood.” The Heb. preposition “in” (בְּ, bÿ) is used here to mean “some among” a whole collection of something.

⁴ sn Contrary to some English versions (e.g., NAB, NASB, NIV, NLT), Aaron (not Moses) most likely slaughtered the bull, possibly with the help of his sons, although the verb is singular, not plural. Moses then performed the ritual procedures that involved direct contact with the altar. Compare the pattern in Lev 1:5-9, where the offerer does the slaughtering and the priests perform the procedures that involve direct contact with the altar. In Lev 8 Moses is functioning as the priest in order to consecrate the priesthood. The explicit reintroduction of the name of Moses as the subject of the next verb seems to reinforce this understanding of the passage (cf. also vv. 19 and 23 below).

⁵ tn The verb is the Piel of חָטָא (khata’, “to sin”) and means “to de-sin” the altar. This verse is important for confirming the main purpose of the sin offering, which was to decontaminate the tabernacle and its furniture from any impurities. See the note on Lev 4:3.

⁶ tn Similar to v. 10 above, “and consecrated it” refers to the effect of the blood manipulation earlier in the verse. The goal here was to consecrate the altar in order that it might become a place on which it would be appropriate “to make atonement” before the Lord.

⁷ tn Or “have come near in the blood of Christ.”