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 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", Ps 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 Le 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", Ps 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 :and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar; See Gill on "Le 1:5".
In Misn. Zebachim, c. 5. sect. 1. Misn. Tamid, c. 4. sect.