Discover the sacred heart of Yom Kippur as we unravel the ancient rituals described in Leviticus 16 that paint a vivid portrait of atonement and purification. Feel the weight of the high priest's vestments as we explore his once-a-year entry into the Holy of Holies, the tension between the two goats chosen by lot, and the profound symbolism behind releasing the scapegoat into the wilderness. Our journey through these solemn customs reveals not just the scriptural origins of the Day of Atonement, but the very essence of communal repentance and the enduring quest for spiritual cleansing.
As the shofar sounds to mark the end of our fast, we reflect on the modern observance of Yom Kippur and the manifold traditions that continue to define this holiest of days. Prepare to be moved by stories of reconciliation, as we discuss the necessity of seeking forgiveness, and the power of the collective prayers that rise from synagogues around the world. Join us for an episode steeped in tradition, as we commit to examining every verse of scripture with renewed dedication – an enlightening pilgrimage through the Bible, from the first word in Genesis to the last amen in Revelation.
Discover the sacred heart of Yom Kippur as we unravel the ancient rituals described in Leviticus 16 that paint a vivid portrait of atonement and purification. Feel the weight of the high priest's vestments as we explore his once-a-year entry into the Holy of Holies, the tension between the two goats chosen by lot, and the profound symbolism behind releasing the scapegoat into the wilderness. Our journey through these solemn customs reveals not just the scriptural origins of the Day of Atonement, but the very essence of communal repentance and the enduring quest for spiritual cleansing.
As the shofar sounds to mark the end of our fast, we reflect on the modern observance of Yom Kippur and the manifold traditions that continue to define this holiest of days. Prepare to be moved by stories of reconciliation, as we discuss the necessity of seeking forgiveness, and the power of the collective prayers that rise from synagogues around the world. Join us for an episode steeped in tradition, as we commit to examining every verse of scripture with renewed dedication – an enlightening pilgrimage through the Bible, from the first word in Genesis to the last amen in Revelation.
Thank you for joining me. Open your Bible to Leviticus, chapter 16. The title of today's lesson is Law of Atonement, leviticus 16. Let's read Leviticus 16.
Speaker 2:The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, who died when they approached the Lord. Approached the Lord. The Lord said to Moses Tell your brother Aaron not to come whenever he chooses into the most holy place, behind the curtain, in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die, because I appear in the cloud over the atonement cover. This is how Aaron is to enter the sanctuary area with a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. He is to put on the sacred linen tunic with linen undergarments next to his body. He is to tie the linen sash around him and put on the linen turban. These are sacred garments so he must bathe himself with water before he puts them on. From the Israelite community he is to take two male goats for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. Aaron is to offer the bull for his own sin offering, to make atonement for himself and his household. Then he is to take the two goats, present them before the Lord. At the entrance to the tent of meeting he is to cast lots for the two goats one lot for the Lord and the other for the scapegoat, aaron shall bring the goat whose lot falls to the Lord and sacrifice it for a sin offering. But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to be used for making atonement by sending it into the desert. As a scapegoat, aaron shall bring the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household, and he is to slaughter the bull for his own sin offering. He is to take a censer full of burning coals from the altar before the Lord and two handfuls of finely ground, fragrant incense and take them behind the curtain. He is to put the incense in the fire before the Lord and the smoke of the incense will conceal the atonement cover above the testimony so that he will not die. He is to take some of the bull's blood and, with his finger, sprinkle it on the front of the atonement cover. Then he shall sprinkle some of it with his finger several times before the atonement cover. He shall then slaughter the goat for the sin offering for the people and take its blood behind the curtain and do with it as he did with the bull's blood. He shall sprinkle it on the atonement cover and in front of it. In this way he will make atonement for the most holy place because of the uncleanness and rebellion of the Israelites, whatever their sins have been. He is to do the same for the tent of meeting, which is among them in the midst of their uncleanness.
Speaker 2:No one is to be in the tent of meeting from the time Aaron goes in to make atonement in the most holy place until he comes out, having made atonement for himself, his household and the whole community of Israel. Then he shall come out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it. He shall take some of the bull's blood and some of the goat's blood and put it on all the horns of the altar. He shall sprinkle some of the bull's blood and some of the goat's blood and put it on all the horns of the altar. He shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times to cleanse it and to consecrate it from the uncleanness of the Israelites. When Aaron has finished making atonement to the Most Holy Place, the Tent of Meeting and the altar, he shall bring forward the live goat. He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites, all their sins, and put them on the goat's head. He shall send the goat away into the desert in the care of a man appointed for the task. The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a solitary place and the man shall release it in the desert.
Speaker 2:Then Aaron is to go into the tent of meeting and take off the linen garments he put on before he entered the most holy place and he is to leave them there. He shall bathe himself with water in a holy place and put on his regular garments. Then he shall come out and sacrifice the burnt offering for himself and the burnt offering for himself and the burnt offering for the people to make atonement for himself and for the people. He shall also burn the fat of the sin offering on the altar. The man who releases the goat as a scapegoat must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water. Afterward he may come into the camp. The bull and the goat for the sin offerings, whose blood was brought into the most holy place to make atonement, must be taken outside the camp. Their hides, flesh and offal are to be burned up. The man who burns them must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water. Afterward he may come into the camp.
Speaker 2:This is to be a lasting ordinance for you. On the tenth day of the seventh month, you must deny yourself and not do any work, whether native-born or an alien living among you, because on this day atonement will be made for you to cleanse you. Then, before the Lord, you will be clean from all your sins. It is a Sabbath of rest and you must deny yourselves. It is a lasting ordinance. The priest you must deny yourselves. It is a lasting ordinance. The priest, who is anointed and ordained to succeed his father as high priest, is to make atonement. He is to put on the sacred linen garments and make atonement for the most holy place, for the tent of meeting and the altar, and for the priests and all the people of the community. This is to be a lasting ordinance for you. Atonement is to be made once a year for all the sins of the Israelites.
Speaker 1:And it was done as the Lord commanded Moses. All right Now. The last time we were together, we looked at unhealthiness being cleansed. Today, we will look at the law of atonement. Now this chapter is referring to the jewish holiday, yom kippur, because it refers to what was to happen on the day of atonement. And you may be wondering how did I come up with this? Well, the word atonement, kaphar or kaphar, hebrew 37, 22, which is the one day the high priest could enter the holy place. So that's how I know that this is talking about yom kippur. Now, before we get into the lesson, I actually want to play you a clip where there are some people of the jewish faith who are talking about yom kippur and what it is to them. Hang tight and let's check out this clip hi btn.
Speaker 3:I'm nicole, and today we're going to talk to you about yom kippur.
Speaker 4:Yom kippur is the holiest day in the jewish calendar jewishism is basically one of the religious one, one of the free men in the world. It started back 5,000 years ago. That's what the people of Jewish believe. We have a religious book called the Torah, or the Bible, and many celebrations and important dates through the year, like Yom Kippur.
Speaker 5:It means Day of Atonement, when we seek forgiveness from God for our sins. So the first Yom Kippur was when the Israelites left Egypt. Their leader, moses, went up to a big mountain and asked God for the commandments. He wrote the commandments on stone tablets and gave them to Moses.
Speaker 6:And then he came back down from the mountain and saw that the Jews were praising a different God, which made him really angry and he broke the commandments. Then he went back up to the mountain and God forgave them and gave them a second set of tablets. The day God forgave them was the first Yom Kippur.
Speaker 3:Every year after that, jewish people took part in Yom Kippur and reconnected with the God.
Speaker 5:Before Yom Kippur begins, we eat two big meals to get ready.
Speaker 3:Baba Ingo, can I please have a piece of honey cake? So you ask for honey cake so you can have a start of the new year to be very, very sweet. So then you can have a sweet year.
Speaker 5:During Yom Kippur, we ask God to forgive us for things we've done wrong.
Speaker 7:If we have wronged our friends, then we have to ask them for forgiveness before we ask God for forgiveness. Friends, and we have to ask them for forgiveness before we ask God for forgiveness. We spend close to 26 hours of fasting, which means no food and no drink.
Speaker 3:So you can't have anything that you pleasure, so you can't wear like leather things and you can't get showered or have makeup on. We also don't turn electricity on or off. Yep, no phones, no TV or laptops. So the hardest thing for me is when you see another person eat.
Speaker 5:Many Jewish people go to the synagogue and pray a lot during Yom Kippur.
Speaker 3:When night falls, a special trumpet made from a ram's horn, called a shofar, is sounded, which marks the end of Yom Kippur. When night falls, a special trumpet made from a ram's horn, called a shofar, is sounded, which marks the end of Yom Kippur.
Speaker 6:The shofar symbolises the closing of the sky at the end of Yom Kippur. When Yom Kippur is over and we can finish fasting.
Speaker 7:And everyone sings and dances and knows that God has blessed them with a good year.
Speaker 3:We break our fast with a big dinner. My favourite thing about Yom Kippur is eating at the end.
Speaker 6:My favourite thing about Yom Kippur is hanging out with my friends and why we all fast and just talk about how hard it is to fast.
Speaker 7:Thanks for letting us teach you about Yom Kippur all, right now back to the lesson.
Speaker 1:Now I have broken this lesson down into 10 parts. Part one god gives moses instructions. We see this in verses one through two. Sorry, I lost my spot. Leviticus 16, verses one and two. Now, the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they had approached the presence of the Lord and died. And the Lord said to Moses tell your brother Aaron that he shall not enter at any time into the holy place inside the veil before the mercy seat which is on the ark, lest he die, for I appear in the cloud over the mercy seat, I believe the lord reminds moses about the death of his two nephews, aaron's sons, to make it known that aaron could not enter the holy place anytime. He wanted people. As I have said over and over in this book of leviticus, the lord has certain things that had to be done and they had to be done according to how he, the Lord, wanted them done. Part two the offerings of atonement. We see this in verses three through six. Aaron shall enter the holy place with this, with a bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. He shall put on the holy linen tunic and the linen undergarments shall be next to his body and he shall be girded with the linen sash and attired with the linen turban. These are holy garments, excuse me. Then he shall bathe his body in water and put them on and he shall take from the congregation of the sons of israel two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering. Then Aaron shall offer the bull for the sin offering which is for himself. Then he may make atonement for himself and for his household. Did you notice that very specific, precise things that Aaron had to do before he could enter the temple.
Speaker 1:Part three Sin and scapegoat offerings. We see this in verses 7 through 10. And he shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the doorway of the tent of meeting and Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat. Then Aaron shall offer the goat on which the lot for the Lord fell and make it a sin offering. But the goat on which the lot for the scapegoat fell shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement upon it and send it into the wilderness as the scapegoat. Now, when it says that the lot fell on the one goat. That is how they took a vote in those days. So one goat. Let's just for argument's sake say the goat on his right hand. That was the one that was sacrificed. But the scapegoat they let go, and they let it go out into the wilderness. What did that represent? That represented your sins being forgiven. So they sent that goat out and even though that goat had nothing to do with your sin the sins of the people that goat was sent out into the wilderness and were, in other words, like the the. The one goat that was sacrificed represents christ being on the cross in his shed blood. The other goat represents our sins being forgiven and sent out. And even though neither of those goats had anything to do with the people's sin, they still paid the price. The one paid the price with his life, as Christ did on the cross. The other one was set free. That's how we are to the Lord. He sends us out free of our sins.
Speaker 1:Part four Aaron and his sin offering. We see this in verses 11 through 14. Then Aaron shall offer the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his household and he shall slaughter the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself. See, aaron himself had to even make a sacrifice and he shall take a fire pan full of coals of fire from upon the altar before the lord and two handfuls of finely ground sweet incense and bring it inside the veil and he shall put the incense on the fire before the lord. That the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the ark of the testimony, lest he die. Moreover, he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat, on the east side also, in front of the mercy seat. He shall sprinkle some of the it with his finger on the mercy seat, on the east side, also in front of the mercy seat, he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.
Speaker 1:Part five. Now Aaron makes a sin offering for the people, verses 15 through 20. Notice what it says. Then he, talking about Aaron, shall slaughter the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people, and bring his blood inside the veil and do this with his blood, as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat he shall make atonement for the holy place because of the impurities of the sons of Israel and because of their transgressions in regard to all their sins. And thus he shall do for the tent of meeting, which abides with them in the midst of their transgressions in regard to all their sins. And thus he shall do for the tent of meeting, which abides with them in the midst of their impurities. When he goes in to make atonement in the holy place, no one shall be in the tent of meeting until he comes out that he may make atonement for himself and for his also, and for all the assemblies of Israel. Then he shall go out of the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it and shall take some of the blood of the bull and of the blood of the goat and put it on the horns of the altar on all sides. With his finger he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it seven times and cleanse it from the impurities of the sons of Israel consecrated. When he finishes atoning for the holy place and the sons of Israel consecrated, when he finishes atoning for the holy place and the tent of meeting and the altar he shall offer the live goat.
Speaker 1:Part six the priest relied on the sacrifices while confessing sins. Look at verses 21 through 22. Then Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities of the sons of israel and all their transgressions, in regard to all their sins, and he shall lay them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who stands in readiness, and the goat shall bear on itself all the iniquities of excuse me to a solitary land and he shall release the goat in the wilderness. As we mentioned earlier, that was the scapegoat. That goat went out and they and they let that goat go out into the wilderness to be set free, and that was the atonement for sins. Part seven the priest had to wash himself if he had anything to do with this atonement. So we see this in verses 23 and 24. Then Aaron shall come into the tent of meeting and take off the linen garments which he put on when he went into the holy place and shall leave them there, and he shall bathe his body with water in a holy place and put on his clothes and come forth and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people and make atonement for himself and for the people. Drop down to verse 26, and the one who released the goat as the scapegoat shall wash his clothes and bathe his body with water. Then afterwards he shall come into the camp. Drop down to verse 28, then the one who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body with water, then afterwards he shall come into the camp. So we see that there was a ritual that had to be done for aaron and the man who had his hands on the scapegoat to release it.
Speaker 1:Part 8 the burnt offering is offered up after the priest is bathed we see this in verses 24 and 25 and he shall bathe his body with water in a holy place and put on his clothes and come forth and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people and make atoning for himself and for the people. Then he shall offer up and smoke the fat of the sin offering on the altar. Part nine the priest burned the hides outside the camp we see this in verse 27 but the bull of the sin offering and the goat of the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place shall be taken outside the camp and they shall burn their hides, their flesh and their refuse in the fire. So now we see what had to be done with the rest of the bull after the blood was shed. Part 10 this atonement was a permanent statute. Notice verses 29 through 34.
Speaker 1:And this shall be a permanent statute for you. In the seventh excuse me, in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall humble your souls and do not any work, whether the native or the alien who sojourns among you. For it is on this day that atonement shall be made for you, to cleanse you. You shall clean from all your sins before the lord. Excuse me, you shall be clean from all your sins before the Lord. It is to be a sabbath of solemn rest for you that you may humble your souls. It is a permanent statute. So the priest, who is anointed and ordained to serve as priest in his father's place, shall make atonement. He shall thus put on the linen garments, the holy garments, and make atonement for the holy sanctuary. And he shall make atonement for the holy sanctuary and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for the altar. He shall also make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. Now you shall have this as a permanent statute to make atonement for the sons of israel for all their sins, once every year. And just as the lord had commanded moses, so he did. Moses kept every single thing that the lord said and he did everything that the lord said to a t. That brings us to the end of leviticus, chapter 16.
Speaker 1:Wherever you may be hearing this podcast pretty much anywhere that they have uh, you know that that they have podcasts. If they, however, they want you to spread the word over there, whether it's a like a comment, to share whatever it is over there, I ask for you to do that. Hey, share this with your family and friends. There's a brother out there who goes through books of the Bible, verse by verse. Hey, if the Lord tarries and if it's the Lord's will for me to get through with this, we are not going to skip a single verse, from Genesis to Revelation In these scriptures. We're going to go through each and every one of them. Pretty much, brothers and sisters, that is all for now. God bless, thank you, I'm sorry, thank you.