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Listen "#94 | Leviticus and Atonement: The Day of Atonement Part 1"
Episode Synopsis
In this episode we explore how the purification offering is used during the Day of Atonement, as well as the additional azazel goat - often called the scapegoat - in Leviticus 16. The Day of Atonement happened once a year, and it was an intensified version of the purification offering. Only this time, instead of the High Priest stopping at the altar of incense, they went directly into the presence of God to apply the blood of the bull (for himself and his family) and the goat (for all of Israel) to the Ark of the Covenant. The implication is that the impurities caused by the unintentional sins of the people that were to be addressed with a purification offering by the sinner seeped into the Holy of Holies and contaminated the Ark. Once a year, the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies with the blood of the purification offering to cleanse and purge the Ark of those impurities. He then took the blood of the bull and the goat and applied it to the horns of the altar of sacrifice in the courtyard.
The second goat used in the Day of Atonement had the hands of the high priest laid on its head and the iniquities, transgressions, and sins of all Israel confessed over it. It was then sent out into the dessert where it would die of natural causes (although a tradition emerged of forcing the goat off a cliff to ensure it dies and did not come back into the camp).
This entire system functions like a parable intended to show us that access to the presence of God was not made available to the people. But this is not what God wanted. The sacrificial system is like a training ground to teach Israel that being in God's presence required a response from them, and that being out of alignment with his presence created impurities - death - in them. The end goal was for Israel to have unhindered access to God and be in alignment with his presence.
Key Passages
Leviticus 16:1-10
Hebrews 9:6-10
Explainer Video on how to use www.biblehub.com and www.blueletterbible.org
Leave us a question or comment at our website podcast page.
* Intro Music: "Admirable" Carlos Herrera Music
The second goat used in the Day of Atonement had the hands of the high priest laid on its head and the iniquities, transgressions, and sins of all Israel confessed over it. It was then sent out into the dessert where it would die of natural causes (although a tradition emerged of forcing the goat off a cliff to ensure it dies and did not come back into the camp).
This entire system functions like a parable intended to show us that access to the presence of God was not made available to the people. But this is not what God wanted. The sacrificial system is like a training ground to teach Israel that being in God's presence required a response from them, and that being out of alignment with his presence created impurities - death - in them. The end goal was for Israel to have unhindered access to God and be in alignment with his presence.
Key Passages
Leviticus 16:1-10
Hebrews 9:6-10
Explainer Video on how to use www.biblehub.com and www.blueletterbible.org
Leave us a question or comment at our website podcast page.
* Intro Music: "Admirable" Carlos Herrera Music
In God we trust