Hebrew
Highlights 68 - KIPPUR
Shalom. This is Yuval
Shomron, coming to you from Jerusalem.
LEV 23:27-32 "On exactly the
tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement; it shall be a holy
convocation for you, and you shall humble your souls and present an offering by
fire to the Lord. Neither shall you do
any work on this same day, for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement on
your behalf before the Lord your God. If
there is any person who will not humble himself on this same day, he shall be
cut off from his people. As for any
person who does any work on this same day, that person I will destroy from
among his people. You shall do no work
at all. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your
dwelling places. It is to be a Sabbath
of complete rest to you, and you shall humble your souls; on the ninth of the
month at evening, from evening until evening you shall keep your Sabbath."
Today on Yom Kippur in Israel,
nobody goes to work, except a few policemen, firemen, ambulance drivers, and so
forth. In fact, no one goes anywhere,
except for a walk to the nearest synagogue.
The streets are absolutely deserted.
Although there is no law forbidding driving, now one dares to venture
out in their automobile for fear of getting stones thrown at them.
This is the one day of the year
that all of Israel stops and reflects on their sins, praying for
forgiveness. In the days of the temple,
the high priest would symbolically place the sins of the people on a goat and send
him out of the camp. (Hence the idiom,
“scapegoat”.)
Today most of the people in Israel
also fast from food and water for 24 hours.
This is not commanded in the scriptures, but humbling one’s soul is, and
fasting seems to be a good way to do that.
The Hebrew word for “atonement” is
“kapara”, hence the name “Yom Kippur”.
“Kapara” is of course mentioned in the New Testament, sometimes
translated as “propitiation”.
HEB 2:17-18, “Therefore, He had to
be made like His brethren in all things, that He might become a merciful and
faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the
sins of the people. For since He Himself
was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those
who are tempted.
Some people have the mistaken idea
that Yeshua was not able to sin. In
point of fact, He had to be made just as us, susceptible to temptation, in
order to overcome sin, and defeat it by not giving in to that temptation. He, like the scapegoat, took on the sins of
all mankind, and took them out of the camp.
As we see in 1JO 2:2, although
Yeshua was sent to the people of Israel, His victory over sin was for all
mankind, “and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours
only, but also for those of the whole world.”
Most of us already know that we do
not deserve God’s forgiveness, but our Heavenly Father provided for us a
scapegoat out of His heart’s good motive, as we see in 1JO 4:10, “In this is
love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the
propitiation for our sins.”
Today is a good day not only to
reflect on our own sins, but to forgive others.
If you join the House of Israel in fasting today, may your fast be
focused on God and His goodness.
Shalom,
Shalom , from Jerusalem.