Shalom Mishpocha! As promised, please see below a general transcript of the teaching for last week’s parasha, “Acharei Mot.” Xxxx
Acharei Mot. Lev.16:1–18:30; Ezek.22:1–19; Amos.9:7–15; Eph.6
“The LORD spoke to Moses following the death of the two sons of Aaron who died when they approached the LORD.” (Lev. 16:1)
This was not a good time for God to speak to Moses with instructions for Aaron who was immersed in grief. The death of his sons was something grievous that only anyone who has lost a child can understand. Both had been struck down by God for offering “strange fire” to Him. Whatever their sin specifically had been is not known although we can speculate, and have various clues but clearly it was something so grievous to a holy God as to result in their deaths. In addition, although God is a God of second chances and new beginnings, we are also accountable for our actions and at that we can only rest our case.
When Aaron built a golden calf for the Israelites to worship in Ex.32, severe judgment came upon the people. Yet Aaron went on to serve as high priest. Why should he escape punishment, since he was the one who made the idol yet others seemed to be judged but he not?
Yet, although he was not punished at that exact time, Aaron would later die in the wilderness and never enter Canaan. And here is the second point. Aaron also endured the loss of two of his adult sons as direct judgment from God. It was because of this that he was not allowed to grieve privately whilst the rest of the community could.
God used an unlikely person in Aaron to serve Him as high priest. But then, that is so typical of God who “uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.” Aaron, the man who led the Israelites astray to worship a golden calf, was the very person who God chose to lead Israel in worship. We see this so often in Scripture where He uses the least likely people to accomplish tasks for His glory. Take for example David, a shepherd boy turned king; Paul, a persecutor of believers who became the greatest theologian and man of God in all of church history; Peter, a fisherman-turned-evangelist; Mary Magdalene, a demon-possessed woman who became the first to see the resurrected Yeshua; and many others. “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong” (1 Cor. 1:27). In the same way He can use each and every one of us because He does not look to our limitations but to our potential.
Following the incident with the golden calf, Aaron had learnt his lesson well and on this occasion stood strong and submitted himself to the perfect will of God rather than to the fear of man or to his own weak inclinations. To do things anything other than God’s way always leads to catastrophe.
This week’s parasha opens with God’s mishpatim to Aharon, in particular with the preparations for the annual Yom Kippur sacrifice emphasising the sufficiency of the blood sacrifice for atonement of our sins.
In Lev. 17:11 we read that, “… the life of the flesh is in the blood, and Adonai has given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.”
There is an ancient prayer that no longer exists within traditional Yom Kippur services, because it points to Yeshua the ‘Suffering Servant’ as portrayed in Isa 53: “Our righteous anointed is departed from us: horror hath seized us, and we have none to justify us. He hath borne the yoke of our iniquities and our transgression, and is wounded because of our transgression. He bears our sins on his shoulder, that he may find pardon for our iniquities.
We shall be healed by his wound, when the Eternal will create Him (the Mashiach) as a new creature.”
For most Jewish people, the idea of blood atonement for sin is something alien and barbaric. It is a mishpat they have decided in the most part to ignore or abandon, and as such it leads to eternal consequences. Yet, the Bible conveys it to us as a reminder that the problem of sin is just as real today as it was in the time of Moses.
This connects to the second thing I want to focus upon regarding the strangest and dramatic event set out in this week’s parasha in Lev. 16:7-22 concerning the ritual of the two goats. On Yom Kippur, one was offered as a sacrifice and the other was sent away into the desert “to Azazel” a cliff top where it was thrown over.
Both goats were chosen that were similar in size and appearance. They were brought to the High Priest and lots were drawn, one bearing the words “to the Lord,” the other, “to Azazel.” The one on which the lot “to the Lord” fell was offered as a sacrifice. Regarding the other, the Azazel, the high priest confessed the sins of the nation, after which it was taken away to the designated hill top where it plunged to its death.
The sages connected the two goats who were identical in appearance but different in fate as symbolic of the identical twins of Isaac, Jacob (Yacov) and Esau (Eisav). First, the word se’ir, “goat,” is linked in the Torah with the name Eisav (Esau) who lived in the land of Seir. The word se’ir is also related to sei’ar, meaning “hairy,” as Esau was described in the Torah at his birth. (Gen.25:25).
But, there is an amazing thing contained in the Talmud where it states that a red cord was tied around the neck of the scapegoat, (Azazel) and “red” (Edom) was Esau’s other name. Accordingly, the cord turned white as the goat was led away out of the city to the hilltop where it was thrown over symbolising that the sins of the nation had been cleansed, but this was only a temporary remission for sins that had to be repeated on an annual basis.
What is remarkable is that during the last 40 years before the destruction of the 2nd Temple (in AD 70), the red cord failed to change colour until the eventual destruction of the Temple 40 years later. This 40-year gap commenced the exact time when Yeshua was crucified!
The Jewish people relegate the tradition of the scarlet cord as merely a quaint tradition (for obvious reasons) but we also have verification provided in both the Jerusalem and the Babylonian Talmud. The Jerusalem Talmud states:
“Forty years before the destruction of the Temple, the western light went out, the crimson thread remained crimson, and the lot for the Lord always came up in the left hand. They would close the gates of the Temple by night and get up in the morning and find them wide open.”
And in the Babylonian Talmud we read:
“Our rabbis taught: During the last forty years before the destruction of the Temple the lot [‘For the Lord’] did not come up in the right hand; nor did the crimson-colored strap (cord) become white; nor did the western-most light shine; and the doors of the Hekel [Temple] would open by themselves.”
The scarlet thread was a symbolical reference to Isa.1:18 a known messianic reference: ““Come now, let us reason together,” says Adonai. “Though your sins be like scarlet, they will be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they will become like wool.” Here, Isaiah was referring to a time when God would make provision for a full remission of sin that we know in the fullness of time was fulfilled by Yeshua.
All of this is something that most orthodox Jews are either unaware of or studiously refuse to acknowledge because of the implications.
But, for us it is clear why the scarlet thread attached to the neck of the scapegoat failed to turn white. Through Yeshua, the doors of salvation have been thrown wide open to receive the whosoever who truly repents of their sins and accepts Him as their personal Saviour and Lord.
The Azazel appears nowhere else in the Tanakh other than in this passage but is provided full coverage in the NT. In John 1:29 Yeshua is proclaimed as being the sacrifice for humanity as the Lamb of God who took away our guilt and shame. The parallels between Yeshua and the scapegoat are compelling. 2Cor.5:21 says, “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” Our sins were laid on Yeshua – He bore our sins just as the scapegoat bore the sins of the Israelites. In Isai.53:6 it prophesies Yeshua’s acceptance of our sin “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
After the sins were laid on the scapegoat, it was cast out and driven into the wilderness. So too with Yeshua who was crucified outside the gates of Jerusalem. Isaiah 53 prophesied that the Messiah would be despised and rejected by men … He poured out His life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (53:3a, 12). Yeshua embodied everything the scapegoat represented – the removal of sins from the perpetrators.
So how does all this connect to Jacob and Esau and how is this relevant to Yom Kippur and atonement?
Esau in the Torah is portrayed as someone who was impulsive and driven by the emotion of the moment. Jacob in contrast was a person who gave careful consideration to his actions and was cautious in making decisions. Both Jacob and Esau had many flaws but what is significant is that they were both equally in need of God’s forgiveness even though at the end of the day, “Jacob have I have but Esau I hated” an idiomatic statement meaning God’s love for Jacob was equivalent to hate compared to His love for Esau. Does that mean that God has favourites? No, but His favour is extended towards us according to the choices we make in life; to what measure are we are willing to allow Him access into our lives? This was the difference between Jacob and Esau. They were both sinners and in need of redemption, but only Jacob allowed God painfully through many struggles to have His perfect way. (I guess we can all identify with that?!) Sadly, Esau remained an unregenerate and wild person, rebellious, impetuous and without any desire ever to walk in holiness or submission to the perfect will of God.
This is the moral dilemma we are faced with symbolised by the two goats.
Raphael ben Levi
