The primary objectives of expiatory rites prescribed here involve rare practices called rites of riddance, which effect the removal and destruction of impurity. The transgressions of the Israelites and their priests, which produce impurity, are dramatically transferred to the scapegoat, which is driven into the wilderness, never to return. Certain parts of sin offerings are burned to ashes outside the encampment rather than the altar. Chapter 16 also ordains the use of sacrificial blood in unusual ways during the purification of the sanctuary. These two processes- purification through sacrificial blood and purification by riddance- are woven into one of the most complex rituals to have reached us from any ancient society […] The primary objective of expiatory rites like the ones set forth in chapter 16 was to maintain a pure sanctuary. An impure, or defiled, sanctuary induced God to withdraw his presence from the Israelite community. Obviously, the greatest threat to the purity of the sanctuary came from the priesthood itself, whose members functioned within its sacred precincts and who bore primary responsibility for its maintenance. The sanctuary was also threatened by major transgressions of the laws of purity involving the entire Israelite community or by the failure of individual Israelites to attend to their own purification […] As long as impurity persisted, God remained offended, so to speak, and the danger of his wrath and possible alienation was imminent.
-Baruch A. Levine The JPS Torah Commentary on Leviticus (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 99.
The Day of Atonement, which this passage summarizes, is given significant typological reference in the book of Hebrews. When you understand that Christ, who was our perfect High Priest, lived sinlessly, it brings stark realization that the first temple was merely ceremonial and sub-standard to what God would eventually reveal, a sinless “Temple” providing unaided access. At further point this new Temple (Christ) actually approached us and invited us into him. And it is imperative to understand that throughout scripture, the indication is given that sacrifice never really removed sin, but was merely an ordered ritual as commanded by God.
Now, what I have written is nothing but mere theological speculation, but we must consider the Old Tabernacle found in Leviticus in light of the New Temple (Christ). Not that Christ is the temple, but he serves a representative by which we are capable of approaching God, through his body, which was sinless.
