Yom Kippur - Leviticus 16

Chapter 16 is covers what is the most holy and important day in all of Israel, Yom Kippur, the day of atonement. When this was revealed by the Lord to Moses, it happened right after Aaron’s sons were killed for the thing that they did wrong so the first time that Aaron went into the Holy of Holies, he was probably terrified and felt like he was taking his life into his hands. To properly participate in the day of atonement, the people were, as TB put it, “abstain,” or “deprive” themselves of anything pleasurable. The IM focuses on the fasting aspect of it, but he also suggests that it would have been happy gatherings, food, drink, sex, games, anything like that. This was a very solemn occasion. TB also notes that Yom Kippur was contingent on everything being done in the temple so when the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD, the Jewish leadership started making up all sorts of rules to try to make the event work in a way that they thought was close to the original meaning, even without having a temple. He also mentioned that part of it has to be with the ark of the covenant, which went missing with the first Babylonian exile and never returned, meaning that instead of putting the blood on the horns of the ark, the priests were just spilling the blood on the ground. This is very much an example of “God meeting you where you’re at” and it was acceptable because they were never struck down, so we have to say that it worked.

First, the high priest had to get ready, and then go into the Holy of Holies, which was only allowed on this one day per year. While in there the IM says he made “sacrifices for himself and his house, as well as washing and purification through the sprinkling of sacrificial blood on various objects in the tabernacle.” It’s important to note that instead of the fancy, elaborate temple clothes that they typically wore, for this, the priests wore a simple white linen robe. This reminds me of our temple clothes today, but TB also makes an interesting note that simple white linen clothes were what slaves wore at that time. So the priest presented himself as a humble servant to God, which is an interesting way to think about it, about temple service. It’s also important to note that here the high priest represented Jesus. The IM says, “Christ is the great high priest who, unlike the high priest of the Aaronic priesthood, was holy and without spot and did not need to make atonement for his own sins before he could be worthy to officiate for Israel and enter the holy of Holies. His perfect life was the ultimate fulfillment of the symbol of wearing white garments.” It’s an interesting thought experiment, to think about this whole ritual but with Christ officiating and sacrificing himself for the sins and reconciliation of the people to God. The IM also makes a really powerful statement, saying, “Christ is the Lam of Jehovah as well as High Priest. Through the shedding of his blood he became capable of entering the heavenly holy of holies where he offered his own blood as payment for the sins of those who would believe in him and obey his commandments.”

During the ritual, two goats were chosen at random and one was sacrificed and had it’s blood sprinkled on the ark and other places, which was a problem after the ark disappeared. This goat was called the “scapegoat” which makes sense. This goat was sacrificed for the sins of Israel, thus this was the goat of Lord. The second goat was the goat of Azazel, which this is the only place that this name is mentioned. The IM and TB both agree that Azazel is Satan. The high priest put his hands on this goats head and transferred all of Israel’s sins onto the goat and then the goat was sent out into the wilderness, never to be seen again. TB suggests that this is sending Israel’s sins away from the people and back into the desert where they belong with Satan.