Chapter 7

The Day of Atonement

יוֹם כִּפּוּר

Yom Kippur · YOHM kee-POOR

Key 7: Reconciled to God

At a Glance

Meaning: The day of covering, cleansing, and reconciliation
When: 10 Tishrei, from evening to evening (Leviticus 23:32)
Duration: One day; about twenty-five hours of fasting in Jewish practice
Key Scriptures: Leviticus 16; Leviticus 23:26-32; Hebrews 9

Preparing live dates...

Dates follow Israel observance, with times at Jerusalem astronomical sunset.

What Scripture Says

Leviticus 16:2 (NKJV)

"for I will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat."

Only on this day, once a year, could the high priest enter the Most Holy Place behind the veil, where the ark of the covenant stood beneath the mercy seat.

Leviticus 16:7-10 (NKJV)

"one lot for the LORD and the other lot for the scapegoat."

Two goats were presented. One, chosen by lot for the LORD, was slain as a sin offering. The other, the scapegoat, was kept alive and later sent away into the wilderness.

Leviticus 16:21-22 (NKJV)

"The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land"

The high priest laid both hands on the live goat and confessed over it all the sins of Israel. Then it was led away, carrying those sins out of the camp.

Leviticus 16:30 (NKJV)

"For on that day the priest shall make atonement for you, to cleanse you, that you may be clean from all your sins before the LORD."

The purpose of the day was cleansing: of the sanctuary, of the priests, and of the whole people.

Leviticus 23:27-32 (NKJV)

"you shall afflict your souls"

The people were to humble themselves, traditionally understood as fasting, and do no work at all. It was "a sabbath of solemn rest," kept "from evening to evening."

In the Tabernacle and Temple

Leviticus 16 sets out the order of the day. The high priest bathed and put on plain linen garments rather than his robes of glory (Leviticus 16:4). He offered a young bull as a sin offering for himself and his household (Leviticus 16:6, 11). He entered the Most Holy Place with a censer of burning coals and incense, so that the cloud of incense covered the mercy seat (Leviticus 16:12-13). He sprinkled the bull's blood on and before the mercy seat seven times (Leviticus 16:14), then did the same with the blood of the goat for the people (Leviticus 16:15).

He then made atonement for the Holy Place, the tabernacle of meeting, and the altar, "because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel" (Leviticus 16:16-19). Finally, he laid his hands on the live goat, confessed Israel's sins over it, and sent it into the wilderness (Leviticus 16:20-22). Additional offerings for the day are listed in Numbers 29:7-11.

Leviticus 23:29 warned that anyone who would not humble himself on that day would be cut off from his people. The Day of Atonement was the most solemn day of Israel's year.

In the Days of Jesus of Nazareth

In the first century, the Day of Atonement was known simply as the Fast. Luke mentions it when he notes that sailing had become dangerous "because the Fast was already over" (Acts 27:9). The Mishnah later described the Temple service in detail: when the high priest spoke the sacred Name of God in his confession, the people in the courts bowed and fell on their faces.

At the moment Jesus died, Matthew records, "the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom" (Matthew 27:51). That veil separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place, the room the high priest entered only on this day.

Jewish Observance Today

Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the Jewish year. It lasts about twenty-five hours, from before sunset to after nightfall, and most of the day is spent in prayer in the synagogue.

Fasting
No food or drink for the whole day. Traditional practice also refrains from washing, anointing, leather shoes, and marital relations.
Seeking forgiveness
In the days before, people ask forgiveness from anyone they have wronged. The Mishnah teaches that the day atones for sins against God, but sins against another person require making things right with that person.
Kol Nidre
The evening service opens with Kol Nidre, a solemn declaration chanted three times.
Confession
The congregation confesses sins together, in the plural, "we have sinned," several times through the day.
White clothing
Many wear white as a sign of purity and humility.
Jonah
The book of Jonah is read in the afternoon: a story of repentance and of God's mercy toward Nineveh, a Gentile city.
Neilah
The day closes with Neilah, the closing of the gates, followed by one long blast of the shofar.

Fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth

Each connection is labeled: what the New Testament states directly, and what Christians interpret from the patterns of Scripture.

Once for All

Stated in the New Testament

"Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption" (Hebrews 9:12).

Our Great High Priest

Stated in the New Testament

"We have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God" (Hebrews 4:14), who now appears "in the presence of God for us" (Hebrews 9:24).

The Way Opened

Stated in the New Testament

Believers have "boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh" (Hebrews 10:19-20).

The Mercy Seat

Stated in the New Testament

Paul writes that God set forth Christ "as a propitiation by His blood, through faith" (Romans 3:25). The Greek word, hilasterion, is the same word Hebrews uses for the mercy seat (Hebrews 9:5).

Suffering Outside the Camp

Stated in the New Testament

The bodies of the sin offerings were burned outside the camp, and so "Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate" (Hebrews 13:11-12).

The Scapegoat

Theological interpretation

Many Christians see Christ in both goats: the one slain for sin, and the one that carried sins away, recalling "the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:6) and "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). Others, including Seventh-day Adventists, read the scapegoat differently. The identification is an interpretation.

The Key to Humanity

Reconciled to God

The Day of Atonement answers the deepest human problem: we are separated from God by sin, and we cannot cross that distance on our own. Once a year, one man went behind the veil with blood while the people waited outside. The New Testament says the veil is now torn. "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them" (2 Corinthians 5:19). The world, not one nation. The Day of Atonement is the key that tells humanity the way back to God is open, and it was opened from His side.

Seventh-day Adventist View

The Day of Atonement holds a central place in Seventh-day Adventist teaching. Adventists believe Christ ministers as High Priest in a real sanctuary in heaven (Hebrews 8:1-2). They teach that His sacrifice on the cross was complete, and that His priestly ministry has two phases, like the daily and yearly services of the earthly sanctuary. Based on Daniel 8:14, "For two thousand three hundred days; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed," they believe Christ began the second phase in 1844: a pre-advent judgment that reveals who belongs to Him and vindicates the justice of God. Adventists identify the scapegoat, Azazel, with Satan, who will bear final responsibility for the sins he caused, and they are clear that Satan makes no atonement for sin. This is a distinctive Seventh-day Adventist teaching, and other Christian traditions understand these passages differently.

Hebrew Words to Know

יוֹם כִּפּוּר

Yom Kippur

The Day of Atonement; from kippur, covering or atonement.

כַּפֹּרֶת

Kapporet

The mercy seat, the cover of the ark of the covenant.

כֹּהֵן גָּדוֹל

Kohen Gadol

The high priest.

עֲזָאזֵל

Azazel

The scapegoat, or the one to whom the goat was sent (Leviticus 16:8); its meaning is debated.

סְלִיחָה

Selichah

Forgiveness; the prayers for forgiveness said in this season.

Questions for Reflection

1.
The high priest went behind the veil once a year. What does it mean to you that the way into God's presence is now open?
2.
Jewish tradition teaches that wrongs against others must be made right with them. Is there someone you need to seek forgiveness from?
3.
Why do you think God made the Day of Atonement a day of complete rest, when the work of atonement was done entirely by the priest?

See Jesus in all the feasts