GENTLE BREEZE
By NELLY FAVIS-VILLAFUERTE
Nelly Favis Villafuerte
Many Bible scholars consider the Feast of the Day of Atonement as the most significant and most solemn of all the Jewish feasts. This annual event was celebrated on the tenth day of the seventh month – the Hebrew month Tishri. Leviticus 16:29-34 describes the event. Thus: “This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves 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 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.”
Nelly Favis Villafuerte
Many Bible scholars consider the Feast of the Day of Atonement as the most significant and most solemn of all the Jewish feasts. This annual event was celebrated on the tenth day of the seventh month – the Hebrew month Tishri. Leviticus 16:29-34 describes the event. Thus: “This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves 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 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.”
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Going through Leviticus 16:1-27, we find the following special features of the Day of Atonement, the Jewish national day for the cleansing of sins: (1) It was the only day of the year when the high priest was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies was the innermost part of the Tabernacle where the Ark of the Covenant was found and which was revered by the Israelites as the dwelling place of God. The Tabernacle was the movable tent – the worship site constructed according to the design specifications that God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai. (2) To perform the sacrifice, the high priest was dressed in simple white linen garments and not in lavish and glittering robes. (3) Two male goats were needed – one was the sacrificial goat to die as a sin offering. The other (scapegoat) was not killed. Instead, the high priest laid both his hands on the head of the scapegoat and transferred all the sins of Israel to the scapegoat. Thereafter the scapegoat was sent to the wilderness. (4) Sprinkling of the “mercy seat” (solid gold lid of the ark of the covenant) with the blood of the sin offerings (goat and the bull).***
If we examine the sacrificial systems practiced by Israel vis-à-vis its neighbors like Egypt and Canaan, one astounding difference stands out. Israel’s sacrificial systems have a high tone of morality. In contrast, those of the neighbors’ sacrificial systems were characterized by human sacrifices, fertility rites, prostitution, orgies, and other immoral practices. In the Book of Leviticus, we see God Himself giving the instructions and rules governing the sacrifices in Israel. God is Holy and He is asking for no less than moral holiness from the Israelites.***
The Feast of the Day of Atonement is a reminder of the sins of Israel which separated the Israelites from God. In his abounding mercy, God was willing to accept a substitute – the death of an animal. One may ask: Is the system of animal sacrifices instituted by Moses still to be followed nowadays? Is the old covenant which is centered in the Tabernacle services already superceded? Is there a need today to perform repetitious rituals and sacrifices to seek atonement for our sins?***
From the Biblical standpoint, the answers to these questions can be found in the Book of Hebrews, more specifically Chapters 7, 8, 9, and 10. Let me quote some verses from the Book of Hebrews.- Hebrews 9:11-15: “When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our conscience from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! For this reason, Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance now that he has died as a ransom to set them free form the sins committed under the first covenant.”
- Hebrews 10:11-14: “Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”
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This column continues to give out copies of the Holy Bible for free to those who cannot afford to buy their own copies. If interested, please send your letter-request to Ms. Nelly Favis Villafuerte, 5233 Fahrenheit St., Palanan, Makati City. Kindly mention if it is the Tagalog, English, Cebuano, or Ilocano Bible that is preferred. Be joyful and forgiving! (Comments may be sent to Ms. Villafuerte’s email: [email protected].)