6. Sprinkle of the blood. As there was no one higher in rank than the high priest, who could officiate for him, he ministered the blood himself. In the sacrifices previously considered, the blood was sprinkled on the altar of burnt offering in the court or placed upon its horns. But when the anointed priest sinned, the blood was carried into the sanctuary itself. This was doubtless because his sin was considered more serious than that of anyone else, and of more concern to God. The priest dipped his finger in some of the blood and sprinkled it seven times before the veil, “before the Lord.” Also, he put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar of incense, which is also said to be “before the Lord” ( 7).
It should be noted that the priest did not sprinkle the blood on the veil, but before it. It is also of interest that he used only one finger in sprinkling. Furthermore, this sprinkling was done only when the anointed priest or the whole congregation sinned. We have no record of how often the high priest sinned and brought a bullock as an offering, but it was probably not often. Again, we do not know how often the whole people sinned and had to bring a bullock, but we suppose that this was not often. That the people often sinned individually is evident, but we have few records of national sins, such as are here contemplated. The only definite record we have was when they sinned and danced about the golden calf. True, there were other national apostasies, but as the offering was only to be brought when they repented of their sins, there could not have been many instances.
The sprinkling took place with reference to the law, which was directly behind the veil. However, the blood did not reach the law; the veil intervened. In the daily service the time had not come for the sinner to face the law. That was reserved for the Day of Atonement, which, in type, was the day of judgment for Israel (see on Heb. 10:19, 20).