Leviticus 1:11

And he shall kill it on the side of the altar northward before the LORD: and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall sprinkle his blood round about upon the altar.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(11) On the side of the altar northward.—As the place for the refuse was on the east side (see Leviticus 1:16), as the laver stood on the west side, and as the ascent to the altar was on the south side, the north side was the most convenient for slaughtering the victims. This also applies to the sin and trespass offerings (Leviticus 4:24; Leviticus 4:29; Leviticus 4:33; Leviticus 6:25; Leviticus 7:2; Leviticus 14:13, &c.).

Benson Commentary

Leviticus 1:11. Northward — Here this and other kinds of sacrifices were killed, (Leviticus 6:25; Leviticus 7:2,) because here seems to have been the largest and most convenient place for that work, the altar being probably near the middle of the east end of the building, and the entrance being on the south side.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:10-17 Those who could not offer a bullock, were to bring a sheep or a goat; and those who were not able to do that, were accepted of God, if they brought a turtle-dove, or a pigeon. Those creatures were chosen for sacrifice which were mild, and gentle, and harmless; to show the innocence and meekness that were in Christ, and that should be in Christians. The offering of the poor was as typical of Christ's atonement as the more costly sacrifices, and expressed as fully repentance, faith, and devotedness to God. We have no excuse, if we refuse the pleasant and reasonable service now required. But we can no more offer the sacrifice of a broken heart, or of praise and thanksgiving, than an Israelite could offer a bullock or a goat, except as God hath first given to us. The more we do in the Lord's service, the greater are our obligations to him, for the will, for the ability, and opportunity. In many things God leaves us to fix what shall be spent in his service, whether of our time or our substance; yet where God's providence has put much into a man's power, scanty offerings will not be accepted, for they are not proper expressions of a willing mind. Let us be devoted in body and soul to his service, whatever he may call us to give, venture, do, or suffer for his sake.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Northward before the Lord - That is, on the north side of the altar. See also Leviticus 4:24, Leviticus 4:29, Leviticus 4:33; Leviticus 7:2. This was probably an arrangement of some practical convenience. On the west side of the altar stood the laver; on the east side was the place of ashes (see Leviticus 1:16 note); and the south side, where appears to have been the slope by which the priests went up to the altar, must have been left clear for a path.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

10-13. if his offering be of the flocks—Those who could not afford the expense of a bullock might offer a ram or a he-goat, and the same ceremonies were to be observed in the act of offering.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

This and other kinds of sacrifices were killed

on the side of the altar northward, Leviticus 6:25 7:2, because here seems to have been the largest and most convenient place for that work, the altar being probably near the middle of the east end of the building, and the entrance being on the south side; so the north side was the only vacant place. Besides, this might design the place of Christ’s death, both more generally, to wit, in Jerusalem, which was

in the sides of the north, Psalm 48:2; and more specially, to wit, on Mount Calvary, which was on the north and west side of Jerusalem.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he shall kill it on the side of the altar northward before the Lord,.... This is a circumstance not mentioned in the killing of the bullock: Maimonides (g) says, there was a square place from the wall of the altar northward, to the wall of the court, and it was sixty cubits, and all that was over against the breadth of this, from the wall of the porch to the eastern wall, and it is seventy six cubits; and this foursquare place is called the "north", for the slaying of the most holy things; so that it seems this being a large place, was fittest for this purpose. Aben Ezra intimates, as if some respect was had to the situation of Mount Zion; his note is, "on the side of the altar northward", i.e. without, and so "the sides of the north", Psalm 48:2 for so many mistake who say that the tower of Zion was in the midst of Jerusalem; and with this agrees Mr. Ainsworth's note on Leviticus 6:25 hereby was figured, that Christ our sin offering should be killed by the priests in Jerusalem, and Mount Sion, which was on "the sides of the north", Psalm 48:2 crucified on Mount Calvary, which was on the northwest side of Jerusalem; as by the Jews' tradition, the morning sacrifice was killed at the northwest horn of the altar (h):

and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar; See Gill on Leviticus 1:5.

(g) In Misn. Zebachim, c. 5. sect. 1.((h) Misn. Tamid, c. 4. sect. 1.

Geneva Study Bible

{g} And he shall kill it on the side of the altar northward {h} before the LORD: and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall sprinkle his blood round about upon the altar.

(g) Read Le 1:5.

(h) Before the altar of the Lord.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 11. - He shall kill it on the side of the altar, northward before the Lord. In the sacrifice of the bullock it is only "before the Lord" (verse 5). No doubt the same place is meant in both cases, but it is specified with more exactness here. On the western side of the altar was the tabernacle, on the east side the heap of ashes (Leviticus 1:16), on the south side probably the ascent to the altar (see Josephus, 'De Bell. Jud.,' 5:05, 6); on the north side, therefore, was the most convenient slaughtering place, and this is probably the reason for the injunction. Leviticus 1:11

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

With regard to the mode of sacrificing, the instructions already given for the oxen applied to the flock (i.e., to the sheep and goats) as well, so that the leading points are repeated here, together with a more precise description of the place for slaughtering, viz., "by the side of the altar towards the north," i.e., on the north side of the altar. This was the rule with all the slain-offerings; although it is only in connection with the burnt-offerings, sin-offerings, and trespass-offerings (Leviticus 4:24, Leviticus 4:29, Leviticus 4:33; Leviticus 6:18; Leviticus 7:2; Leviticus 14:13) that it is expressly mentioned, whilst the indefinite expression "at the door (in front) of the tabernacle" is applied to the peace-offerings in Leviticus 3:2, Leviticus 3:8, Leviticus 3:13, as it is to the trespass-offerings in Leviticus 4:4, from which the Rabbins have inferred, though hardly upon good ground, that the peace-offerings could be slaughtered in any part of the court. The northern side of the altar was appointed as the place of slaughtering, however, not from the idea that the Deity dwelt in the north (Ewald), for such an idea is altogether foreign to Mosaism, but, as Knobel supposes, probably because the table of shew-bread, with the continual meat-offering, stood on the north side in the holy place. Moreover, the eastern side of the altar in the court was the place for the refuse, or heap of ashes (Leviticus 1:16); the ascent to the altar was probably on the south side, as Josephus affirms that it was in the second temple (J. de bell. jud. v. 5, 6); and the western side, or the space between the altar and the entrance to the holy place, would unquestionably have been the most unsuitable of all for the slaughtering. In Leviticus 1:12 וגו ואת־ראשׁו is to be connected per zeugma with לנתחיו htiw amguez , "let him cut it up according to its parts, and (sever) its head and its fat."