Leviticus 10:16

"And Moses diligently sought the goat of the sin-offering, and, behold, it was burnt: and he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron that were left, saying, Wherefore have ye not eaten the sin-offering in the place of the sanctuary, seeing it is most holy, and he hath given it to you to bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before Jehovah? Behold the blood of it was not brought into the sanctuary within: ye should certainly have eaten it in the sanctuary, as I commanded. And Aaron spake unto Moses, Behold, this day have they offered their sin-offering and their burnt offering before Jehovah; and there have befallen me such things as these: and if I had eaten the sin-offering today, would it have been well-pleasing in the sight of Jehovah? And when Moses heard that, it was well-pleasing in his sight."

In Leviticus 10:9-11, we had the very first heavenly communication from God to Aaron, and, in this passage, we have the very first action of the newly constituted High Priest. Significantly, Aaron's action here was one of mercy and forgiveness. The sins of Eleazar and Ithamar in not eating the sin-offering as they were commanded to do, was assumed by Aaron and taken upon himself! "If I had eaten ... etc." Nothing had been said by Moses to the effect that Aaron had sinned in this particular. His anger was directed at the two sons (Leviticus 10:16). These words by Aaron were profoundly appropriate. He took upon himself the sins of the errant sons. No wonder Moses was pleased by this. Herein also lies a perfect picture of the blessed Christ who took upon himself the sins of the whole world. The very first action of Christ, after he was risen from the dead was that of forgiving and restoring Peter.

Clements suggested that this passage demonstrates that, "Common sense was to prevail over rigorous legalism in the interpretation of sacrificial regulations."[15] Perhaps it would be better to say that mercy ranked higher than God's law, even in the O.T. The glorious proof of this is seen in the placement of the mercy-seat above and on top of the ark of the covenant containing the sacred law.