THE DAY OF ATONEMENT
IN THE TEMPLE
Continued from previous oage:
CONFESSIONS OF SIN
SPRINKLING THE BLOOD
With this presentation of the scape-goat before the people
commenced the third and most solemn part of the expiatory
services of the day. The high-priest now once more returned
towards the The sanctuary, and a second time laid his two hands
on the bullock, which still stood between the porch and the
altar, to confess over him, not only as before, his own and his
household's sins, but also those of the priesthood. The formula
used was precisely the same as before, with the addition of the
words, 'the seed of Aaron, Thy holy people,' both in the
confession and in the petition for atonement. Then the
high-priest killed the bullock, caught up his blood in a vessel,
and gave it to an attendant to keep it stirring, lest it should
coagulate. Advancing to the altar of burnt-offering, he next
filled the censer with burning coals, and then ranged a handful
of frankincense in the dish destined to hold it. Ordinarily,
everything brought in actual ministry unto God must be carried in
the right hand - hence the incense in the right and the censer in
the left. But on this occasion, as the censer for the Day of
Atonement was larger and heavier than usual, the high-priest was
allowed to reverse the common order.
Every eye was strained towards the sanctuary as, slowly
bearing the censer and the incense, the figure of the white-robed
high-priest was seen to disappear within the Holy Place. After
that nothing further could be seen of his movements.
The curtain of the Most Holy Place was folded back, and the
high-priest stood alone and separated from all the people in the
awful gloom of the Holiest of All, only lit up by the red glow of
the coals in the priest's censer. In the first Temple the ark of
God had stood there with the 'mercy-seat' overshadowing it;
above it, the visible presence of Jehovah in the cloud of the
Shechinah, and on either side the outspread wings of the
cherubim; and the high-priest had placed the censer .
between the staves of the ark. But in the Templeof Herod there
was neither Shechinah nor ark - all was empty; and the
high-priest rested his censer on a large stone, called the
'foundation-stone.' 1 He now most carefully emptied the
incense into his hand, and threw it on the coals of the
censer, as far from himself as possible, and so waited till the
smoke had filled the Most Holy Place. Then, retreating backwards,
he prayed outside the veil as follows: 2 'May it please Thee, O
Lord our God, and the God of our fathers, that neither this day
nor during this year any captivity come upon us. Yet, if
captivity befall us this day or this year, let it be to a place
where the law is cultivated. May it please Thee, O Lord our God,
and the God of our fathers, that want come not upon us, either
this day or this year. But if want visit us this day or this
year, let it be due to the liberality of our charitable deeds.
May it please Thee, O Lord our God, and the God of our fathers,
that this year may be a year of cheapness, of fulness, of
intercourse and trade; a year with abundance of rain, of
sunshine, and of dew; one in which Thy people Israel shall not
require assistance one from another. And listen not to the
prayers of those who are about to set out
......
1 There is no need for here entering on the legends connected
with this so-called 'foundation. stone.'
2 We give the prayer in its simplest form from the Talmud. But
we cannot help feeling that its form savours of later than
Temple-times. Probably only its substance dates from those days,
and each high-priest may have been at liberty to formulate it
according to his own views.
......
on a journey.1 And as to Thy people Israel, may no enemy exalt
himself against them. May it please Thee, O Lord our God, and
the God of our fathers, that the houses of the men of Saron may
not become their graves.' 2 The high-priest was not to prolong
this prayer, lest his protracted absence might fill the people
with fears for his safety.
While the incense was offering in the Most Holy Place the
people withdrew from proximity to it and worshipped in silence.
At last the people saw the high-priest emerging from the
sanctuary, and they knew that the service had been accepted.
Rapidly he took from the attendant, who had kept it stirring, the
blood of the bullock. Once more he entered into the Most Holy
Place, and sprinkled with his finger once upwards, towards where
the mercy-seat had been, and seven times downwards, counting as
he did so: 'Once' (upwards), 'once and once' (downwards), 'once
and twice' and so on to 'once and seven times,' always repeating
the word 'once,' which referred to the upwards sprinkling, so as
to prevent any mistake. Coming out from the Most Holy Place, the
highpriest now deposited the bowl with the blood before the,
veil. Then he killed the goat set apart for Jehovah, and,
entering the Most Holy Place a third time, sprinkled as before,
once upwards and seven times downwards; and again deposited the
bowl with the blood of the golden stand before the veil. Taking
up the bowl with the bullock's
......
1 Who might pray against the fall of rain. It must be
remembered that the autumn rains, on which the fruitfulness of
the land depended, were just due.
2 This on account of the situation of that valley, which was
threatened either by sudden floods or by dangerous landslips.
......
blood, he next sprinkled once upwards and seven times downwards
towards the veil, outside the Most Holy Place, and then did the
same with the blood of the goat. Finally, pouring the blood of
the bullock into the bowl which contained that of the goat, and
again the mixture of the two into that which had held the blood
of the bullock, so as thoroughly to commingle the two, he
sprinkled each of the horns of the altar of incense, and then,
making a clear place on the altar, seven times the top of the
altar of incense. Thus he had sprinkled forty-three times with
the expiatory blood, taking care that his own dress should never
be spotted with the sin-laden blood. What was left of the
blood the high-priest poured out on the west side of the base of
the altar of burnt-offering.
By these expiatory sprinklings the high-priest had cleansed
the sanctuary in all its parts from the defilement of the
priesthood and the worshippers. The Most Holy Place, the veil,
the Holy Place, the altar of incense, and the altar of
burnt-offering were now clean alike, so far as the priesthood and
as the people were concerned ; and in their relationship to the
sanctuary both priests and worshippers were atoned for. So far as
the law could give it, there was now again free access for all;
or, to put it otherwise, the continuance of typical sacrificial
communion with God was once more restored and secured. Had it
not been for these services, it would have become impossible for
priests and people to offer sacrifices, and so to obtain the
forgiveness of sins, or to have fellowship with God. But the
consciences were not yet free from a sense of personal guilt and
sin. That remained to be done through the 'scape-goat.' All
this seems clearly implied in the distinctions made in Lev. xvi.
33: 'And he shall make an atonement for the holy sanctuary, and
he shall make an atonement for the tabernacle of the
congregation, and for the altar, and he shall make an atonement
for the priests, and for all the people of the congregation.'
THE SCAPE GOAT
Most solemn as the services had hitherto been, the
worshippers would chiefly think with awe of the high-priest going
into the immediate presence of God, coming out thence alive, and
securing for them by the blood the continuance of the Old
Testament privileges of sacrifices and of access unto God through
them. What now took place concerned them, if possible, even more
nearly. Their own personal guilt and sins were now to be removed
from them, and that in a symbolical rite, at one and the same
time the most mysterious and the most significant of all. All
this while the 'scape-goat,' with the 'scarlet-tongue,' telling
of the guilt it was to bear, had stood looking eastwards,
confronting the people, and waiting for the terrible load which
it was to carry away unto a land not inhabited.' Laying both his
hands on the head of this goat, the high-priest now confessed and
pleaded: 'Ah, JEHOVAH! they have committed iniquity; they have
transgressed; they have sinned - Thy people, the house of Israel.
Oh, then, JEHOVAH! cover over (atone for), I intreat Thee, upon
their iniquities, their transgressions, and their sins, which
they have wickedly committed, transgressed, and sinned before
Thee--Thy people, the house of Israel. As it is written in the
law of Moses, Thy servant, saying: "For on that day shall it be
covered over (atoned) for you, to make you clean from all your
sins before JEHOVAH ye shall be cleansed."' And while the
prostrate multitude worshipped at the name of Jehovah, the
high-priest turned his face towards them as he uttered the last
words, 'Ye shall be cleansed!' as if to declare to them the
absolution and remission of their sins.
THE GOAT SENT INTO THE WILDERNESS
Then a strange scene would be witnessed. The priests led the
sin-burdened goat out through 'Solomon's Porch,' and, as
tradition has it, through the eastern gate, which opened upon the
Mount of Olives. 1 Here an arched bridge spanned the intervening
valley, and over it they brought the goat to the Mount of Olives,
where one, specially appointed for the purpose, took him
incharge.
Tradition enjoins that he should be a stranger, a
non-Israelite, as if to make still more striking the type of Him
who was delivered over by Israel unto the Gentiles! Scripture
tells us no more of the destiny of the goat that bore upon him
all the iniquities of the children of Israel, than that they
'shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the
wilderness,' and that 'he shall let go the goat in the
wildernes.' 2 But tradition supplements this information. The
distance between Jerusalem and the beginning of 'the wilderness'
is computed at ninety stadia, making precisely ten intervals,
each half a Sabbath-day's journey from the other. At the end of
each of these intervals there was a station, occupied by one or
more persons, detailed for the purpose, who offered refreshment
to the man leading the goat, and then accompanied him to the next
station. By
......
1 The Talmud has it, that the foreign Jews present used to burst
into words and deeds of impatience, that the 'sin-bearer' might
be gone.
2 Lev. xvi. 22.
......
this arrangement two results were secured: some trusted persons
accompanied the goat all along his journey, and yet none of them
walked more than a Sabbath-day's journey-that is, half a journey
going and the other half returning. At last they reached the
edge of the wilderness. Here they halted, viewing afar off,
while the man led forward the goat, tore off half the
'scarlet-tongue,' and stuck it on a projecting, cliff; then,
leading the animal backwards, he pushed it over the projecting
ledge of rock. There was a moment's pause, and the man, now
defiled by contact with the sin-bearer, retraced his steps to the
last of the ten stations, where he spent the rest of the day and
the night. But the arrival of the goat in the wilderness was
immediately telegraphed, by the waving of flags, from station to
station, till, a few minutes after its occurrence, it was known
in the Temple, and whispered from ear to ear, that 'the goat had
borne upon him all their iniquities into a land not inhabited.'
THE MEANING
What then was the meaning of a rite on which such momentous
issue depended? Everything about it seems strange and mysterious
- the lot that designated it, and that 'to Azazel;' the fact,
that though the highest of all sin-offerings, it was neither
sacrificed nor its blood sprinkled in the Temple; and the
circumstance that it really was only part of a sacrifice - the
two goats together forming one sacrifice, one of them being
killed, and the other 'let go,' there being no other analogous
case of the kind except at the purification of a leper, when one
bird was killed and the other dipped in its blood, and let go
free. Thus these two sacrifices - one in the removal of what
symbolically represented indwelling sin, the other contracted
guilt-agreed in requiring two animals, of whom one was killed,
the other 'let go.' This is not the place to discuss the various
views entertained of the import of the scape-goat. 1 But it is
destructive of one and all of the received interpretations, that
the sins of the people were confessed not on the goat which was
killed, but on that which was 'let go in the wilderness,' and
that it was this goat - not the other - which 'bore upon him all
the iniquities' of the people. So far as the conscience was
concerned, this goat was the real and the only sin-offering 'for
all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their
transgressions in all their sins,' for upon it the high-priest
laid the sins of the people, after he had by the blood of the
bullock and of the other goat 'made an end of reconciling the
Holy Place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the
altar.' 2 The blood sprinkled had effected this; but it had
done no more, and it could do no more, for it 'could not make him
that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience.' 3
The symbolical representation of this perfecting was by the
live goat, which, laden with the confessed sins of the people,
carried them away into 'the wilderness' to 'a land not
inhabited.' The only meaning of which this seems really
capable, is that though confessed guilt was removed from the
people to the head of the goat, as the symbolical substitute, yet
as the goat was not killed, only sent far away, into 'a land not
inhabited,' so, under the Old Covenant, sin was not really
blotted out, only put away
......
1 For a full discussion, we must refer to works on Biblical
Antiquities and on the Types of the Old Testament.
2 Lev. xvi. 20.
3 Heb. ix. 9.
......
from the people, and put aside till Christ came, not only to take
upon Himself the burden of transgression, but to blot it out and
to purge it away. 1
Thus viewed, not only the text of Lev. xvi., but the
language of Heb. ix. and x., which chiefly refer to the Day of
Atonement, becomes plain. The 'blood,' both of the bullock and of
the goat which the high-priest carried 'once a year' within 'the
sacred veil,' was offered for himself (including the priesthood)
and for the errors (or rather ignorances) of the people.' In the
language of Lev. xvi. 20, it reconciled 'the Holy Place, and the
tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar,' that is, as
already explained, it rendered on the part of priests and people
the continuance of sacrificial worship possible. But this live
scape-goat 'let go' in the wilderness, over which, in the
exhaustive language of Lev. xvi. 21, the high-priest had
confessed and on which he had laid 'all the iniquities of the
children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their
sins,' meant something quite different. It meant the inherent
'weakness and unprofitableness of the commandment;' it meant,
that 'the law made nothing perfect, but was the bringing in of a
better hope;' that in the covenant mercy of God guilt and sin
were indeed removed from the people, that they were 'covered up,'
and in that sense atoned for, or rather that they were both
'covered up' and removed, but that they were not really taken
away and destroyed till Christ came; that they were only taken
into a land not inhabited, till He should blot it out by His own
blood; that the provision which the Old
......
1 May there be here also a reference to the doctrine of Christ's
descent into Hades (GARBAGE to that idea about Christ going into
'hades' to preach to departed spirits, as many fundamental
teachers want you to believe; it is part of the false teaching of
the immortal soul doctrine - Keith Hunt)
......
Testament made was only preparatory and temporary, until the
'time of the reformation ;' and that hence real and true
forgiveness of sins, and with it the spirit of adoption, could
only be finally obtained after the death and resurrection of
the 'Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.' Thus in
the fullest sense it was true of the 'fathers,' that 'these all
... received not the promise; God having provided some better
thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.'
For 'the law having a shadow of the good things to come,' could
not make the comers thereunto perfect;' nor yet was it possible
'that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.'
The live goat 'let go' was every year a remover of sins which yet
were never really removed in the sense of being blotted out -
only
deposited, as it were, and reserved till He came 'whom God hath
set forth as a propitiation ... because of the passing over
of the former sins, in the forbearance of God.' 1 'And for this
cause He is the mediator of a new covenant, in order that, death
having taken place for the propitiation of the transgressions
under the first covenant, they which have been called may receive
the promise of the eternal inheritance.' 2
This is not the place for following the argument further.
Once understood, many passages will recur which manifest how the
Old Testament removal of sin was shown in the law itself to have
been complete indeed, so far as the individual was concerned, but
not really and in reference to God, till He came to
......
1 Rom. iii. 25. We have generally adopted the rendering of
Dean Alford, where the reader will perceive any divergence from
the Authorized Version.
2 Heb. ix. 15.
......
Whom as the reality these types pointed, and Who 'now once at
the end of the world hath been manifested to put away sin by the
sacrifice of Himself.' 1 And thus did the types themselves prove
their own inadequacy and insufficiency, showing that they had
only 'a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very
image of the things themselves.' With this also agree the terms
by which in the Old Testament atonement is designated as a
'covering up' by a substitute, and the mercy-seat as 'the place
of covering over.'
(A fancy try by Edersheim as to the meaning of the "scape-goat"
but not understanding the plan of salvation, he would not know
the real and actual meaning. The goat set free, upon whom the
collective sins were placed, is representing Satan the Devil. The
Devil has a part in all sins, not only as the first sinner in the
universe, but also as he and his demon helpers, are ever trying
to make people sin in their adversary work against God. The time
will come when the universe will see all sins of the Devil placed
back on him, and he will be sent out into the bottomless pit of
the wilderness during the 1,000 year age, and then finally into
outer darkness of punishment, where he and the demons can have no
more influence on any creature in the Kingdom of God - Keith
Hunt)
THE TERM AZAZEL
After this it is comparatively of secondary importance to
discuss, so far as we can in these pages, the question of the
meaning of the term 'la-Azazel.' 3 Both the interpretation which
makes it a designation of the goat itself (as 'scape-goat' in our
Authorised Version), and that which would refer it to a certain
locality in the wilderness, being, on many grounds, wholly
untenable, two other views remain, one of which regards Azazel as
a person, and denoting Satan; while the other would render the
term by 'complete removal.' The insurmountable difficulties
connected with the first of these notions lie on the surface. In
reference to the second, it may be said that it not only does
violence to Hebrew grammar, but implies that the goat which was
to be for 'complete removal' was not even to be sacrificed, but
actually 'let go!' Besides, what in that case could be the object
of the first goat which was killed, and whose blood was sprinkled
in the Most Holy Place? We may here at once state, that the
later Jewish practice of pushing the goat
......
1 Heb. ix. 26.
2 Heb. x. 1.
3 Lev. xvi. 8,10,26.
4 Thus the book "Sifra" paraphrases it: 'a rough place in the
mountains.'
......
over a rocky precipice was undoubtedly on innovation, in no wise
sanctioned by the law of Moses, and not even introduced at the
time the Septuagint translation was made, as its rendering of
Lev. xvi. 26 shows. The law simply ordained that the goat, once
arrived in 'the land not inhabited,' was to be 'let go' free, and
the Jewish ordinance of having it pushed over the rocks is
signally characteristic of the Rabbinical perversion of its
spiritual type. The word Azazel, which only occurs in Lev.
xvi., is by universal consent derived from a root which means
'wholly to put aside,' or, 'wholly to go away,' Whether,
therefore, we render 'la-Azazel' by 'for him who is wholly put
aside,' that is, the sin-bearing Christ, or 'for being wholly
separated,' or 'put wholly aside or away,' the truth is still the
same, as pointing through the temporary and provisional removal
of sin by the goat 'let go' in 'the land not inhabited,' to the
final, real, and complete removal of sin by the Lord Jesus
Christ, as we read it in Isa. liii. 6: 'Jehovah hath made the
iniquities of us all to meet on Him.'
(No, the real truth is just what the word means - to wholly put
aside - wholly to go away - and is respresentive of Satan the
Devil who will be wholly sent away from the Kingdom of God -
Keith Hunt)
THE CARCASSES BURNT
OUTSIDE THE CITY
While the scape-goat was being led into the wilderness, the
high-priest proceeded to cut up the bullock and the goat with
whose blood he had previously 'made atonement,' put the 'inwards'
in a vessel which he committed to an attendant, 1 and sent the
carcasses to be burnt 'outside the city,' in the place where the
Temple ashes were usually deposited. Then, according to
tradition, the high-priest, still wearing the linen garments, 2
went into the 'Court of the Women,'
......
1 Lightfoot (De Minist. Templi) erroneously states that the
highpriest immediately burnt them.
2 But this was not strictly necessary; he might in this part of
the service have even officiated in his ordinary layman's dress.
......
and read the passages of Scripture bearing on the Day of
Atonement, viz. Lev. xvi.; xxiii. 27-32; also repeating by
heart 1 Numb. xxix. 7-11. A series of prayers accompanied this
reading of the Scriptures. The most interesting of these
supplications may be thus summed up:--Confession of sin with
prayer for forgiveness, closing with the words, 'Praise be to
Thee, O Lord, Who in Thy mercy forgivest the sins of Thy people
Israel;' prayer for the permanence of the Temple, and that the
Divine Majesty might shine in it, closing with--'Praise be to
Thee, O Lord, Who inhabitest Zion;' prayer for the establishment
and safety of Israel, and the continuance of a king among them,
closing-- 'Thanks be to Thee, O Lord, Who hast chosen Israel;'
prayer for the priesthood, that all their doings, but especially
their sacred services, might be acceptable unto God, and He be
gracious unto them, closing with-- 'Thanks be to Thee, O Lord,
Who hast sanctified the priesthood;' and, finally (in the
language of Maimonides), prayers, entreaties, hymns, and
petitions of the high-priest's own, closing with the words: 'Give
help, O Lord, to Thy people Israel, for Thy people needeth help;
thanks be unto Thee, O Lord, Who Nearest prayer.' 2
These prayers ended, the high-priest washed his hands and
feet, put off his 'linen,' and put on his 'golden vestments,' and
once more washed hands and feet before proceeding to the next
ministry. He now appeared again before the priest in Golden
people as the Lord's anointed in the golden garments of
the bride-chamber. Before he
......
1 Maimonides gives a curious Rabbinical reason for this.
2 In regard to these prayers we refer the reader to our remarks
in a previous chapter. The view there expressed about the wording
of the prayers holds also good in regard to those on the Day of
Atonement.
......
offered the festive burnt-offerings of the day, he sacrificed
'one kid of the goats for a sin-offering,' 1 probably with
special reference to these festive services, which, like
everything else, required atoning blood for their acceptance. The
flesh of this sin-offering was eaten at night by the priests
within the sanctuary. Next, he sacrificed the burnt-offerings for
the people and that for himself, 2 and finally burned the
'inwards' of the expiatory offerings, whose blood had formerly
been sprinkled in the Most Holy Place. This, properly speaking,
finished the services of the day.
But the high-priest had yet to offer the ordinary evening
sacrifice, after which he washed his hands and his feet, once
more put off his 'golden' and put on his 'linen garments,' and
again washed his hands and feet. This before entering the Most
Holy Place a fourth time on that day, 3 to fetch from it the
censer and incense-dish which he had left there. On his return he
washed once more hands and feet, put off his linen garments,
which were never to be used again, put on his golden vestments,
washed hands and feet, burnt the evening incense on the golden
altar, lit the lamps on the candlestick for the night, washed his
hands and feet, put on his ordinary layman's dress, and was
escorted by the people in procession to his own house in
Jerusalem. The evening closed with a feast.
If this ending of the Day of Atonement seems incongruous,
the Mishnah records 4 something yet more strange in connection
with the day itself. It is said that on the afternoon of the
15th of Ab, when
......
1 Numb. xxix. 16.
2 One ram, Lev. xvi. 3.
3 Heb. ix. 7 states that the high-priest went 'once in every
year,' that is, on one day in every year, not on one occasion
during that day.
4 Taan. iv. 8.
......
the collection of wood for the sanctuary was completed, and on
that of the Day of Atonement, the maidens of Jerusalem went in
white garments, specially lent them for the purpose, so
The that rich and poor might be on an equality, into the
vineyards close to the city, where they danced and sung. The
following fragment of one of their songs has been preserved: 1
'Around in circle gay, the Hebrew maidens see;
From them our happy youths their partners choose.
Remember! Beauty soon its charm must lose -
And seek to win a maid of fair degree.
When fading grace and beauty low are laid,
Then praise shall her who fears the Lord await;
God does bless her handiwork - and, in the gate,
"Her works do follow her," it shall be said.'
ATONEMENT IN MODERN SYNAGOGUE
We will not here undertake the melancholy task of describing
what the modern synagogue has made the Day of Atonement, nor how
it observes the occasion chiefly in view of their gloomy
thoughts, that on that day man's fate for the year, if not his
life or death, is finally fixed. But even the Mishnah already
contains similar perverted notions of how the day should be kept,
and what may be expected from its right observance. 2 Rigorous
rest and rigorous fasting are enjoined from sundown of one day to
the appearance of the first stars on the next. Neither food nor
drink of any kind may be tasted; a man may not even wash, nor
anoint himself, nor put on his sandals. 3
......
1 The Talmud repeatedly states the fact and gives the song.
Nevertheless we have some doubt on the subject, though the
reporter in the Mishnah is said to be none other than Rabbi
Simeon, the son of Gamaliel, Paul's teacher.
2 Mish. I Yoma, viii.
3 Only woollen socks are to be used--the only exception is, where
there is fear of serpents or scorpions.
......
The sole exception made is in favour of the sick and of
children, who are only bound to the full fast - girls at the age
of twelve years and one day, and boys at that of thirteen years
and one day, though it is recommended to train them earlier to
it. 1 In return for all this 'affliction' Israel may expect that
death along with the Day of Atonement will finally blot out all
sins!
That is all - the Day of Atonement and our own death!
Such are Israel's highest hopes of expiation! It is unspeakably
saddening to follow this subject further through the minutiae of
Rabbinical ingenuity - how much exactly the Day of Atonement will
do for a man; what proportion of his sins it will remit, and what
merely suspend; how much is left over for after-chastisements,
and how much for final extinction at death.
The law knows nothing of such miserable petty MIS-
representations of the free pardon of God. In the expiatory
sacrifices of the Day of Atonement every kind 2 of
transgression, trespass, and sin is to be removed from the people
of God. Yet annually anew, and each time confessedly only
provisionally, not really and finally, till the gracious promises
3 should be fulfilled: 'I will forgive their iniquity, and I
will remember their sin no more.'
Accordingly it is very marked, how in the prophetic, or it
may be symbolical, description of Ezekiel's Temple 4 all mention
of the Day of Atonement is
......
1 Kings and brides within thirty days of their wedding are
allowed to wash their faces; the use of a towel which has been
dipped the previous day in water is also conceded.
2 For high-handed, purposed sins, the law provided no sacrifice
(Ileb. x. 26), and it is even doubtful whether they are included
in the declaration Lev. xvi. 21, wide as it is. Thank God, we
know that 'the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth from all
sin,' without exception.
3 Jer. xxxi. 34.
4 Ezek. xl.-xlvi.
......
omitted; for Christ has come an 'high-priest of good things to
come,' and 'entered in once into the Holy Place,' 'to put away
sin by the sacrifice of Himself.' 1
......
1 Heb.ix. 11,12,26.
........................
Edersheim continues with other Jewish feasts and various
purifications etc. in ancient Israel, which I will not reproduce.
The reader if interested, can still obtain Edersheim's books
either on the Internet or at the local public Library.
The TWO goats are simple to understand on this Day of Atonement.
We are clearly told only ONE "is for the Lord" hence the other
goat cannot be representing Christ the Messiah, for if both goats
represented the Lord, no lots would have to be cast, and no such
words "is for the Lord" would be needed; in fact if both goats
were for the Lord, then it would be stated, something like, "and
two goats for the Lord."
When one understands the plan of salvation as revealed in the
Festivals of God, it is clear to see the goat sent into the
wilderness, not killed, but sent away from the people of God,
respresents Satan being chained up for 1,000 years during the age
to come, and finally being banished from the Kingdom of God fully
and completely, into outer darkness.
Keith Hunt
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