FEAST OF ATONEMENT— "THE TEMPLE"— —GOAT IN WILDERNESS

 The Feast of Atonement 

The goat sent into the wilderness

     From the book “The Temple”

     by

    Alfred Edersheim D.D. Ph.D.

....This i not the place to discuss the various views entertained

of the import of the scape-goat. But it is destructive of one and

all of the received interpretations, that the sins of the people

were confessed not on the goat which was killed, but on that

which was 'let go the wilderness,' and that it was this goat -

not the other - which 'bore upon him all the iniquities' of the

people....

The blood sprinkled had effected this; but it had done no more,

and it could do no more, for it 'could not make him that did the

service perfect, as pertaining to conscience. (Heb.9:9). The

symbolical representation of perfecting was by the live goat,

which, laden with confessed sins of the people, carried them away

into 'the wilderness' to 'a land not inhabited' ....

Thus viewed, not only the text of Lev.16, but the language of

Heb.9 and 10, which chiefly refer to the Day of Atonement,

becomes plain. The 'blood,' both of the bullock and of the

goat which the high-priest carried 'once a year within 'the

sacred veil,' was 'offered for himself (including the priesthood)

and for the errors (or rather ignorances) of the people.' In the

language of Lev.16:20, it reconciled 'the Holy Pace, and the

tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar,' that is, as

already explained, it rendered on the part of priests and people

the continuance of sacrificial worship possible. But THIS LIVE

scape-goat 'let go' in the wilderness, over which, in the ex-

haustive language of Lev.16:21, the high-priest had confessed and

on which he had laid 'all the iniquities of the children of

Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins,' meant

something QUITE DIFFERENT....

After this it is comparatively of secondary importance to

discuss, so far as we can in these pages, the question of the

meaning of the term 'la-Azazel.' Both the interpretation which

makes it a designation of the goat itself (as 'scape-goat in our

Authorised Version), and that which would refer it to a certain

locality in the wilderness (Thus the book of Sifra paraphrases

it: 'rough place in the mountains') being, on many grounds,

wholly untenable, two other views remain, one of which regards

Azazel as a person, and denoting Satan; while the other would

render the term by 'complete removal.' .....

We may here at once state, that the later Jewish practice of

pushing the goat over a rocky precipice was undoubtedly an

innovation, in no wise sanctioned by the law of Moses, and not

even introduced at the time the Septuagint translation was made,

as its rendering of Lev.16:26 shows. The law simply ordained that

the goat, once arrived in 'the land not inhabited,' was to be

'let go' free, and the Jewish ordinance of having it pushed over

the rocks is signally characteristic of the Rabbinical perversion

of its spiritual type. The word Azazel, which only occurs in Lev.

16, is by universal consent derived from a root which means

'wholly to put aside,' or, 'wholly to go away,' Whether,

therefore, we render 'la-Azazel ' by 'for him who is wholly put

aside,' ... or 'put wholly aside or away,' the truth is still the

same, as pointing through the temporary and provisional removal

of sin by the goat 'let go' in 'the land not inhabited,' to the

final, real, and complete removal of sin ....

While the scape-goat was being led into the wilderness, the

high-priest proceeded to cut up the bullock and the goat with

whose blood he had previously 'made atonement,' put the 'inwards'

in a vessel which he committed to an attendant, and sent the

carcasses to be burnt 'outside the city,' in the place where the

Temple ashes were usually deposited. Then, according to

tradition, the high-priest, still wearing the linen garments,

went into the 'Court of the Women,' and read the passages of

Scripture bearing on the Day of Atonement, viz. Lev.16; 23:27-32;

also repeating by heart Numb.29:7-11. A series of prayers

accompanied this reading of the Scriptures. 

The most interesting of these supplications may be thus summed up

:- Confession of sin with prayer for forgiveness, closing with

the words, 'Praise be to Thee, O Lord, Who in Thy mercy forgivest

the sins of Thy people Israel;' prayer for the permanence of the

Temple, and that the Divine Majesty might shine in it, closing

with - 'Praise be to Thee, O Lord, Who inhabitest Zion;' prayer

for the establishment and safety of Israel, and the continuance

of a king among them, closing - 'Thanks be to Thee, O Lord, Who

hast chosen Israel;' prayer for the priesthood, that all their

doings, but especially their sacred services, might be acceptable

unto God, and He be gracious unto them, closing with - 'Thanks be

to Thee, O Lord, Who hast sanctified the priesthood;' and,

finally (in the language of Maimonides), prayers, entreaties,

hymns, and petitions of the high-priest's own, closing with the

words: 'Give help, O Lord, to Thy people Israel, for Thy people

needeth help; thanks be unto Thee, O Lord, Who Hearest prayer.' 

These prayers ended, the high-priest washed his hands and feet,

put off his 'linen,' and put on his 'golden vestments,' and once

more washed hands and feet before proceeding to the next minis-  

try. He now appeared again before the people as the Lord's

anointed in the golden garments of the bride-chamber. Before he

offered the festive burnt-offerings of the day, he sacrificed

'one kid of the goats for a sin-offering,' probably with special

reference to these festive services, which, like everything else,

required atoning blood for their acceptance. The flesh of this

sin-offering was eaten at night by the priests within the

sanctuary. Next, he sacrificed the burnt-offerings for the people

and that for himself, and finally burned the 'inwards' of the

expiatory offerings, whose blood had formerly been sprinkled in

the Most Holy Place. This, properly speaking, finished the

services of the day. 

But the high-priest had yet to offer the ordinary evening

sacrifice, after which he washed his hands and his feet, once

more put off his 'golden' and put on his 'linen garments,' and

again washed his hands and feet. This before entering the Most

Holy Place a fourth time on that day to fetch from it the censer

and incense-dish which he had left there. On his return he washed

once more hands and feet, put off his linen garments, which were

never to be used again, put on his golden vestments, washed hands

and feet, burnt the evening incense on the golden altar, lit the

lamps on the candlestick for the night, washed his hands and

feet, put on his ordinary layman's dress, and was escorted by the

people in procession to his own house in Jerusalem. The evening

closed with a feast.

If this ending of the Day of Atonement seems incongruous, the

Mishnah records something yet more strange in connection with the

day itself. It is said that on the afternoon of the 15th of Ab,

when the collection of wood for the sanctuary was completed, and

on that of the Day of Atonement, the maidens of Jerusalem went in

white garments, specially lent them for the purpose, so that rich

and poor might be on an equality, into the vineyards close to the

city, where they danced and sung. The following fragment of one

of their songs has been preserved:

 

     'Around in circle gay, the Hebrew maidens see; 

     From them our  happy youths their partners choose. 

     Remember! Beauty soon its charm must lose - 

     And seek to win a maid of fair degree.

     When fading grace and beauty low are laid, 

     Then praise shall her who fears the Lord await; 

     God does bless her  handiwork - and, in the gate, 

     "Her works do follow her," it shall be said.'

We will not here undertake the melancholy task of describing what

the modern synagogue has made the Day of Atonement, nor how it

observes the occasion chiefly in view of their gloomy thoughts,  

that on that day man's fate for the year, if not his life or

death, is finally fixed. But even the Mishnah already contains 

similar perverted notions of how the day should be kept, and what

may be expected from its right observance. Rigorous rest and

rigorous fasting are enjoined from sundown of one day to the

appearance of the first stars on the next. Neither food nor drink

of any kind may be tasted; a man may not even wash, nor anoint

himself, nor put on his sandals.

The sole exception made is in favour of the sick and of children,

who are only bound to the full fast - girls at the age of twelve

years and one day, and boys at that of thirteen years and one

day, though it is recommended to train them earlier to it. In

return for all this 'affliction' Israel may expect that death

along with the Day of Atonement will finally blot out all sins!

That is all - the Day of Atonement and our own death! Such are

Israel's highest hopes of expiation! It is unspeakably saddening

to follow this subject further through the minutiae of Rabbinical

ingenuity - how much exactly the Day of Atonement will do for a

man; what proportion of his sins it will remit, and what merely

suspend; how much is left over for after-chastisements, and how

much for final extinction at death. The law knows nothing of such

miserable petty misrepresentations of the free pardon of God. In

the expiatory sacrifices of the Day of Atonement every kind of

transgression, trespass, and sin is to be removed from the people

of God. Yet annually anew, and each time confessedly only

provisionally, not really and finally, till the gracious promises

should be fulfilled: I will forgive their iniquity, and I will

remember their sin no more.' Accordingly it is very marked, how

in the prophetic, or it may be symbolical, description of

Ezekiel's Temple all mention of the Day of Atonement is omitted

for Christ has come 'an high-priest of good things to come,' and

'entered in once into the Holy Place,' 'to put away sin by the

sacrifice of Himself.' 

                               .............

End of quotes from Edersheim

The Day of Atonement is probably not mentioned as such in Ezekiel

because in those last chapter we see the 1,000 reign, Jesus the

Messiah has come, Satan the goat to be sent into the wilderness,

has indeed been sent, chained up, to work his deception no more

till the thousand years is completed (Rev.20).

The proofs for the second goat, the one sent into the wilderness,

being representative of Satan the Devil is:

First and mainly, only one goat is said to be chosen "for the

Lord" and that the live goat is never killed and its blood never

enters the Temple, and especially the Holy of Holies, behind the

curtain of the Temple. The goat for the Lord is killed and its

blood enters the throne room of God. That goat and its blood is

fully the Messiah's sacrifice for the sins of the whole community

- the whole world, as put in a collective manner on that day of

Atonement.

Secondly, the very fitting symbolism of the live goat having a

part in all sins committed by ALL the collective people, having

sins therefore justly placed on his head, and sent out alive, but

into a wilderness, where nothing but sin so to speak, can he have

for company. It is fitting that Satan be chained up with the

guilt of his part in all sins ever committed, and to dwell with

those sins for a thousand years. With no contact with the human

race for a thousand years, we can see how a daily torment will be

agonizing for the originator of sin - Lucifer, the light bringer

who became the bringer of darkness.

Before Satan is chained and the world is at one with God, it

would seem (because there is not much hope for the world to

REPENT of its sins and rejection of the Lord and His word) all

the prophecies of the book of Revelation will come to pass, and

the people of earth will experience the GREATEST time of trouble

that they will have ever experienced, and such a time of

tribulation will never be the like again on earth. All this

foretold in the many prophecies of the Bible, and explained in

detail on this Website.

Part of the affliction that God's children feel on this special

day of fasting, the feast day of atonement, on the 10th day of

the 7th month in the Jewish calendar, is the sober reflections of

what the people of this earth will have to go through to bring

them to REPENTANCE, and into a mindset where they will be willing

to have God rule them.

This feast day is NOT so much a personal repentance feast as is

the Passover and days of Unleavened Bread, BUT as a time to FEEL

for the world at large and its sins, and how the world at large

needs to be at-one with the Eternal, and how it one day will be,

but what will lead up to that time of at-one-ment with God, will

be truly horrific.

Judaism and the so-called "days of Awe" (from Trumpets to

Atonement), 10 days of "repentance" was borrowed from the

Babylonians, when in their 70 year captivity in the 500 B.C.

time. The ancient heathen had a same period of time in the fall

of the year, a time of moaning and groaning. This custom the Jews

brought with them from Babylon and hence still observe this ten

day period. The time for God's children to have an extended

period of intra-spection is before and leading up to the Passover

service on the 14th day of Nisan (first month in Jewish calendar)

and on into the feast of Unleavened Bread.  It is not at the time

from Trumpets to Atonement. The fall feasts of God are to

basically a JOYOUS period, for what those feasts proclaim in the

plan of salvation by God for mankind. There is a sober tone to

them of course. The Day of Trumpets and Jesus' return carries

with it some grave news for many people on earth. So then the

Feast of Atonement has an affliction part, but BOTH feasts carry

the main theme of the GOOD that lies ahead for the world.

Rejoicing in the GOOD should be the main theme of the fall

festivals of the Lord.

From Trumpets to Atonement should NOT be observed and practiced

as the orthodox Jews of today practice that period of time.

The feast of Atonement will come to pass.

For one thousand years the world will be AT ONE with the Creator,

the sacrifice of Jesus, and His office of High Priest, and His

blood to cover all sins, will shine forth as never before. The

sending of Satan and his deceptions into the nothingness of the

wilderness, away from the people of God, will accomplish the

prophecies that state the earth will be filled with the knowledge

of God as the waters cover the sea-beds.

God speed that day and age!!

For the revealed details of the age to come, see the studies on

the Feast of Tabernacles.

Keith Hunt