Leviticus 16 - Yom Kippur [Day of Atonenent]
17/9/23
Scripture
Leviticus 16
Introduction
This chapter focuses on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) ritual. Unlike what many popular commentaries teach, this important Old Testament ritual was about “resetting” the tabernacle/temple sanctuary, its priesthood, and the Israelite people to a state of ritual purity…Christians will often look at this terminology and associate it with the forgiveness of sins, but that’s not what this chapter is about.
Michael S. Heiser1
S. Heiser, Michael. Notes on Leviticus: from the Naked Bible Podcast, BlindSpot Press, 191-2.
Questions
The cloud [vv1-2]
1 Then YHWH spoke to Moses after the death of Aaron’s two sons, when they had come near to the faces of YHWH and they died. 2 And YHWH said to Moses, “Tell your brother Aaron that he should not enter at any time into the sanctuary behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover [LXX ἱλαστήριον] that is on the ark, so that he might not die, because I appear in the cloud over the atonement cover.
Why did Nadab and Abihu die?2
What is behind the curtain? How often can Aaron enter the most sacred space, the “holy of holies”?
We remember that at the end of Exodus, after the Golden Calf apostasy…
And Moses was unable to go into the tent of assembly because the cloud settled on it and the glory of Yahweh filled the tabernacle.
Exodus 40:35.
…and Leviticus scroll in Hebrew is called va-yikra ["and he called"] [1:1]. Moses will come back into the presence of YHWH, he will enter the “holy of holies”, represented by his high priest, his brother, Aaron.
3 “Aaron must enter the sanctuary with this: a young bull as a sin offering and a ram as a burnt offering. 4 He must put on a holy linen tunic and linen undergarments must be on his body, and he must fasten himself with a linen sash, and he must wrap a linen turban around his head—they are holy garments, and he shall wash his body with water, then he shall put them on. 5 And he must take from the children of Israel community two he-goats as a sin offering and one ram as a burnt offering.
What do the holy garments, even the holy underwear, do? What about the robe, ephod, breastpiece the Urim and Thummim, the turban, the gold rosette and the diadem [8:7-9]?
The goat for Azazel [vv6-10]
The goat for Azazel is often translated as “scapegoat” and has become an idiom in English. This is not accurate.3
6 “And Aaron shall present the sin offering’s bull, which is for himself, and so he shall make atonement for himself and for his family. 7 And he shall take the two oats, and he shall present them to the faces of YHWH at the tent of assembly’s entrance. 8 Then Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats: one lot for YHWH and one for Azazel. 9 And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot for YHWH fell, and he shall sacrifice it as a sin offering. 10 But he must present alive to the faces of YHWH the goat on which the lot for Azazel fell to make atonement for himself, to send it away into the desert to Azazel.
Atonement might be better translated as “covering up” or, even better, “purging” or “driving out”.
The goat is for Azazel is not killed. It is not an offering to Azazel.
Who is Azazel? What is going on?
The mercy seat [vv11-19]
11 “And Aaron shall present the sin offering’s bull, which is for himself, and so he shall make atonement for himself and for his family; then he shall slaughter the sin offering’s bull, which is for himself. 12 And he shall take a censer full of burning charcoal from upon the altar to the faces of YHWH and two handfuls of incense of powdered fragrant perfumes, and he shall bring it from behind the curtain, 13 and he shall put the incense on the fire to the faces of YHWH so that the cloud of incense might cover the atonement cover, which is on the covenant text, so that he might not die. 14 And he shall take some of the bull’s blood, and he shall spatter it with his finger on the atonement cover’s surface on the eastern side, and to the faces of the atonement cover he shall spatter some of the blood with his finger seven times.
15 “And he shall slaughter the sin offering’s goat, which is for the people, and he shall bring its blood from behind the curtain, and he shall do with its blood as that which he did with the bull’s blood, and he shall spatter it on the atonement cover [LXX ἱλαστήριον] and to the faces of the atonement cover [LXX ἱλαστήριον]. 16 Thus he shall make atonement for the sanctuary from the children of Israel’s impurities and from their transgressions for all their sins; and so he must do for the tent of assembly, which dwells with them in the midst of their impurities. 17 And no person shall be in the tent of assembly when he enters to make atonement in the sanctuary until he comes out, and so he shall make atonement for himself and for his family and for all of Israel’s assembly.
What is behind the curtain?
Ἱλαστήριον is used twice in the NT. Here is the most interesting…
22 …For there is no distinction, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified as a gift by his grace, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God made publicly available as the mercy seat [ἱλαστήριον] through faith in his blood, for a demonstration of his righteousness, because of the passing over of previously committed sins…
Romans 3:22–25.
What are the atonement cover and the covenant text? What is going on? Who or what is THE ἱλαστήριον?
18 “Then he shall go out to the altar that is to the faces of YHWH, and he shall make atonement for it; and he shall take some of the bull’s blood and some of the goat’s blood, and he shall put it all around on the altar’s horns. 19 And he shall spatter some of the blood on it seven times with his finger, and he shall cleanse it and consecrate it from the children of Israel impurities.
Sent away into the wilderness [vv20-22]
20 “And he shall finish making atonement for the sanctuary and the tent of assembly and the altar; then he shall present the living goat. 21 And Aaron shall place his two hands on the living goat’s head, and he shall confess over it all the children of Israel iniquities and all their transgressions for all their sins, and he shall put them on the goat’s head, and he shall send its away into the desert with a man standing ready. 22 Thus the goat shall bear on it to a barren region all their guilt, and he shall send the goat away into the desert.
According to Heiser, “Azazel’s realm was somewhere out in the desert, outside the confines of holy ground. It was a place associated with supernatural evil”4. We remember from Exodus that Mount Sinai was in the wilderness, an area associated with evil, demon gods and the Nephilim. It was here, in the middle of all this that YHWH appeared to Moses [Exodus 3]. Moses brought the people to Sinai. This is where they are still.
Where does Jesus encounter the Satan? Where is the goat being sent? Why? What does the man do [v21]?
The purpose of Yom Kippur
23 “And Aaron shall enter the tent of assembly, and he shall take off the linen garments that he put on at his coming to the sanctuary, and he shall leave them there. 24 And he shall wash his body with water in a holy place, and he shall put on his garments and go out and sacrifice his burnt offering and the people’s burnt offering, and so he shall make atonement for himself and for people. 25 And he must turn into smoke the sin offering’s fat on the altar.
26 “And the person who sends out the goat for Azazel shall wash his garments, and he shall wash his body with water, and afterward he shall come to the camp. 27 And the sin offering’s bull and the sin offering’s goat, whose blood was brought to make atonement in the sanctuary, shall be brought outside the camp, and they shall burn their hide and their flesh and their offal in the fire. 28 And the person who burns them shall wash his garments, and he shall wash his body with water, and afterward he must come to the camp. 29 “And this shall be a lasting statute for you: in the seventh month, on the tenth of the month, you must deny yourselves and you must not do any work, whether the native or the alien who is dwelling in your midst, 30 because on this day he shall make atonement for you to cleanse you; you must be clean from all your sins to the faces of YHWH. 31 It is a Sabbath of a Sabbathion for you, and you shall deny yourselves—it is a lasting statute. 32 And the priest who is anointed and who is ordained to serve as a priest in place of his father shall make atonement; thus he shall put on the linen garments, the holy garments, 33 and he shall make atonement for the sanctuary’s holy place, and he shall make atonement for the tent of assembly and the altar, and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all of the assembly’s people. 34 And this shall be a lasting statute for you to make atonement for the children of Israel one time in a year from all their sins.” And he did as YHWH commanded Moses.
Sabbathation is not a real word but was devised convey the idea of an utter Sabbath. A complete stop. A cessation of all labour.
What is the significance? What is atoned for on this day? What is Leviticus 16 all about?5
What is the link with Jesus?
The ἱλαστήριον [“mercy set”] is a throne. This where YHWH appears in the cloud. Jesus is the ἱλαστήριον [Romans 3:25]. What we have in Leviticus was a symbol of the present time [Hebrews 9:8].
The people were purged. There was a reset. The people could approach YHWH without being destroyed BUT it was only a glimpse as only the High Priest could enter enter in AND it was just a picture [Hebrews 9:9].
Use Levitical language to explain how we enter into God’s presence through and in Jesus.
Is Leviticus reshaping your understanding of the NT?
More
More
Bible Project’s Guide to Leviticus»
Bible Project’s Leviticus Scroll podcasts»
Michael Heiser’s Naked Bible podcast 63: Introducing Leviticus»
S. Heiser, Michael. Notes on Leviticus: from the Naked Bible Podcast, BlindSpot Press, 191-2.
They had probably entered or gone to close to the holy of holies behind the curtain.
"The word “Azazel” in the Hebrew text can be translated “the goat that goes away.” This is the justification for the common “scapegoat” translation in some English versions. The scapegoat, so the translator has it, symbolically carries the sins of the people away from the camp of Israel into the wilderness. Seems simple enough. However, “Azazel” is really a proper name. In Lev 16:8 one goat is “for Yahweh,” while the other goat is “for Azazel.” Since Yahweh is a proper name and the goats are described in the same way, Hebrew parallelism informs us that Azazel is also a proper name. What needs resolution is what it means." Heiser, Dr Michael S. The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible. F First Edition Used. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015, 176-7.
S. Heiser, Michael. Notes on Leviticus: from the Naked Bible Podcast (p. 207). BlindSpot Press.
“To summarize Leviticus 16 with a very modern term, we could say that Leviticus 16 is essentially a “reset” button. The button is pressed because this ritual takes the sanctuary, the holy instruments, the vessels associated with service in the sanctuary and the Holy Place, and even the people, and it restores everything and everyone to the state of Leviticus 8.” S. Heiser, Michael. Notes on Leviticus: from the Naked Bible Podcast (p. 192). BlindSpot Press, 192.