Known in English as the
Day of Atonement,
Yom HaKippurim
יום כפור
It occurs 9 days after
Yom Teruah/The Feast of Trumpets/Day of Blowing.
It is celebrated on the 10th day of the 7th month in the Hebrew calendar.
(5th October 2022).
It was given originally to the sons of Israel/Yisra’El.
“Speak to the children of Yisra’El, saying, ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you have a rest, a remembrance of Teru‛ah,” Wayyiqra/Leviticus 23:24
The Annual Moedim/Appointed Times of the Lord
were set in by our Heavenly Father to remind us of His Plan and Purpose for our lives now and eternally. The very same God Who granted favor and mercy to all humanity by sending the Messiah, Jesus/Yeshua, to die for our redemption; will also send Him again to destroy His enemies and to separate the wheat from the tares, the sheep from the goats, and to provide the ultimate atonement/redemption for those who are His.
When you see all these things begin to come to pass look up for your redemption draws near. Luke 21:28
What does His Word tell us about this Kadosh/Holy/set-apart day?
Are there things that we are supposed to do and see and hear?
In studying the Scriptures about Yom HaKippurim / Day of Atonement, we could pray in the words of King David: Heavenly Father, please “open our eyes that we might behold wonderful things from your Torah” and see our returning Messiah Jesus/Yeshua in this moed/appointed Day.
Gods’ Word was given to us to speak of Him and we should seek to hear its’ voice… His voice… especially during His appointed times/moedim.
What Does Scripture Say About Yom HaKippurim?
Yom HaKippurim
יום כּףּר,
Strong’s #3117 + #3725
means
“day [of] atonement”.
Atonement
is the Hebrew word kippur
and it comes from the word
kaphar
which means:
“to cover”.
The blood of atonement was used to cover and cleanse the spiritual uncleanness of the children of Israel/ Yisra’El.
Hebrews 10:4 tells us that the blood of bulls and goats will not take away sins. However there are numerous passages in the Torah, which tell us that the blood of bulls and goats will make atonement or temporary covering.
“For it is impossible for blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” Ibrim/Hebrews 10:4
In reality we know that the
Atoning Blood of Messiah has covered and cleansed us.
He is our atoning sacrifice.
Wayyiqra/Leviticus 16:1-34 tells us of the casting of lots for the “scapegoat”
The word translated as “scapegoat”
In Strong’s #5799
is the Hebrew word:
עזאזל
azazel.
This word is only used to describe the “scapegoat” in Leviticus 16.
There is some debate among scholars about the literal meaning of the word.
The Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon translates it as:
“for absolute removal”.
Strong’s translates it as “goat of departure”.
The NAS Concordance translating it as “entire removal”.
The Septuagint, an early Greek translation of the Old Testament,
took the Hebrew as;
ez ozel [“the goat that departs”]
and translated it as:
tragos apopompaios [“goat sent out”].
This translation was used by the Latin Vulgate, which rendered the word as:
caper emissarius, or “emissary goat”.
William Tyndale rendered the Latin as
“(e)scape goat”
in his 1530 Bible and his translation was later used by the authors of the KJV 1611.
We know that bulls and goats cannot remove sin (Hebrews 10:4) we now understand the purpose of the “scapegoat” was to somehow take the uncleanness associated with sin away from the camp. The person who releases the goat then had to bathe to remove the “stain” of being in contact with the goat.
According to Leviticus 16:29-31 and 23:27
It is a day to “humble your souls”
Heb: ועניתם את נפשׁתיכם
v’initem et napheshoteykhem
Some translations treat this as
“afflict your souls [nephesh]”.
If anyone does not humble himself on this day that person shall be cut off from among his people. Leviticus 23:29.
It is an extremely serious penalty to be cut off from Israel/Yisra’El so we should make an effort to understand what is meant by
“humbling our souls”.
There are two passages in the Tanakh/Old Testament, that use the same words. The first comes from the Psalms where David said:
Malicious witnesses rise up; They ask me of things that I do not know. They repay me evil for good, To the bereavement of my soul. But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth; I humbled my soul with fasting, And my prayer kept returning to my bosom. I went about as though it were my friend or brother; I bowed down mourning, as one who sorrows for a mother. Tehillim/Psalm 35:11-14
The 2nd is from Isaiah:
‘Why have we fasted and You do not see? Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?’ Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire, And drive hard all your workers. Behold, you fast for contention and strife and to strike with a wicked fist. You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high. Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself? Is it for bowing one’s head like a reed And for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the Lord? Yeshayahu/Isaiah 58:3-5.
Strongs #3665
kana: to be humble
Original Word: כָּנַע
Part of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: kana
Phonetic Spelling: kaw-nah’
2 Chronicles 7:14
HEB: וְיִכָּנְע֨וּ עַמִּ֜י אֲשֶׁ֧ר
NAS: by My name humble themselves and pray
KJV: by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray,
Yom HaKippurim/Day of Atonement
pictures Messiah because He is
the Great High Priest
Who will bring about
a permanent atonement and cleansing for His people.
“Therefore, since we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, יהושע the Son of Elohim, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who was tried in all respects as we are, apart from sin. Therefore, let us come boldly to the throne of favour, in order to receive compassion, and find favour for timely help.” Ibrim/Hebrews 4:14-16
He is the One Who “stands in readiness” to
lead away our uncleanness
with the scapegoat, the goat of removal.
He is the scapegoat that will
bear our sins and take them away
“For Messiah has not entered into a set-apart place made by hand – figures of the true – but into the heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of Elohim on our behalf, not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters into the set-apart place year by year with blood not his own. For if so, He would have had to suffer often, since the foundation of the world. But now He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the offering of Himself. And as it awaits men to die once, and after this the judgment, so also the Messiah, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time, apart from sin, to those waiting for Him, unto deliverance.” Ibrim/Hebrews 9:24-28
The self sacrifice that is necessary to atone for our sins is so far beyond what any of us is willing or able to do. It would take every single drop of our own blood to cover our own sins let alone for anothers’. Yet what purpose would this serve if we lost our lives in the process? The justice required by the Lord might be satisfied but His mercy and grace would not be fulfilled.
This Holiest of days in our Fathers Appointed Times/Moedim, is when the haCohen haGadol/the High Priest has to perform the sacrificial offering; to make atonement for the sins of the people through the shedding of innocent blood.
Hebrews 9:6-15
6But The Priests were always entering the outer Tabernacle and performing their ministry, 7But The High Priest would enter the inner Tabernacle once a year by himself with blood, which he was offering in the place of his soul and in the place of the evil doing of the people. 8But by this The Spirit of Holiness had taught that the way of holiness had not yet been revealed, as long as the first Tabernacle was standing.9And this was a symbol for that time in which gifts and sacrifices were offered, which were not able to perfect the conscience of him who offers them, 10Except in food and drink only, and in various washings, which are ordinances of the flesh that are established until the time of reformation.
11But The Messiah who has come has become The High Priest of the good things that he did, and he entered The Great and Perfect Tabernacle which is not made with hands, and was not from these created things. 12And he did not enter with blood of yearling goats and of calves, but with his own blood he entered the holy place one time and has achieved eternal redemption. 13For if the blood of kids and of calves and the ashes of a heifer were sprinkled on those who were defiled and it sanctified them for the purifying of their flesh, 14How much more therefore, will the blood of The Messiah, who by The Eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works that we may serve THE LIVING GOD?
15Because of this, he is The Mediator of The New Covenant, for in his death he is salvation to those who violated The First Covenant, that we, those who were called to eternal inheritance, would receive The Promise.
However much blood is in that sacrifice …it will eventually stop flowing and it will therefore never be enough.
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