Yom Kippurim 2024

Yom Kippurim is the holiest day of the Jewish religious year, observed on the 10th of Tishri. It is a day of atonement and repentance, where people afflict their beings and do no work. Yom Kippurim is mentioned in Leviticus 16 and 23 as a Sabbath of rest and a time for making atonement. It is a day for reconciliation with Yahweh and for cleansing from sins. It is a day that is observed by both natural-born Israelites and strangers within their ranks. Yom Kippurim, the Day of Atonement, the one time a year that the High Priest could go into the Holy of Holies to make an atoning sacrifice for the entire nation of Israel. But where does this come from in Scripture? How do we celebrate it today? Should we celebrate it today? And how does that relate to us even though the Temple is no longer standing? All of that coming up in this teaching on Yom Kippurim. So this teaching is going to be all about Yom Kippurim. This is the Day of Atonement, the one time a year that the High Priest would be able to go into the Holy of Holies. There's a whole process behind it and we'll get into all that. But before we get started, I just want to let you know that we put all this information together in one convenient post on our website at GodHonestTruth.com. In that post you'll be able to see the draw slides that you see here on your screen. You see the on-demand video and the notes that we took for this subject. So if you'd like some further information, go to GodHonestTruth.com, click on the post for Yom Kippurim. Or even easier, go down below in the description and you'll find a convenient link located in the description box down there. And that should be there for you whether you're on a video platform or an audio podcasting platform. Just click on that link and it'll take you directly to the post. So what is Yom Kippurim? Well, according to the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, Yom Kippur, or Yom Kippurim, is the holiest day of the Jewish religious year. On the 10th of Tishri, it is the earnest and consecrating close of the 10 penitential days, which begin with the judgment of God on Rosh Hashanah, the day of atonement, like the time for repentance in general, is especially devoted to the renewal of religious and moral life. So according to here, the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, and a lot of those within Judaism, Yom Kippur, or Yom Kippurim, is supposed to be the holiest day of the year. It goes on to say that when the New Year's Day, and here they're referring to Rosh Hashanah, which again, if you missed that, go back and check that out. We're teaching last week on Yom Teruah, otherwise known as Rosh Hashanah. A lot of Jews consider Yom Teruah or Rosh Hashanah to be New Year's Day, even though it's not, it's in the middle of the year, so it can't be the beginning of the year. Anyways, go back and watch our episode last week on that particular feast day. Anyways, they say when the New Year's Day became the day of God's judgment, no doubt under Babylonian influence, the atoning character of Yom Kippur became still stronger. So according to a lot of those within Judaism, these two days really match up and connect in a way like no other. It's the 10 Penitential Days, the 10 Days of Awe, etc., etc., so there's really a connection between Yom Kippurim and Yom Teruah, which they also call Rosh Hashanah. Now, I'll say some foundation for what we're going to be studying tonight and learning about so that you know some of the terminology and some of the concepts as we get into that. Yom Kippurim is made out of two different Hebrew words. The first one, Yom, which we got into last week with Yom Teruah. Yom means a day, something as opposed to night, but it also a lot of times means the 24-hour period, not just the daylight time, but the whole 24 hours. And specifically, the way scripture defines day, they define it as from sunset until sunset. As we see in Genesis, it says the evening, the dark part, and then the morning, the light part, for one day. So evening and morning, that is one day. That is a day, Yom. Going on, Kippurim. Now, this is an interesting word, which we'll get into some more, but Kippurim in a nutshell means atonement or being reconciled or expiation, as we're seeing here, but only when it's in the plural form. There is a singular form, the Kippur, but we're going to be talking about the plural form, which means atonement or expiation. This comes from Strong's H3725, Kippur, and it means expiation, according to Strong's definition, but only in the plural form, meaning it has the im on the end. So instead of Kippur, it's Kippurim. From Browndriver Briggs, the abstract plural, again, in the plural, Kippurim means sin offering of the atonement or day of the atonement. You see this is Hebrew lexicon, pretty much the same thing, redemption, atonement, according to the Klein Dictionary, means the same thing, to atone for, make atonement, expiate. Now, this word has come up over and over a couple times already in this dross, but what does expiate mean? We don't really use this word a lot in our English vocabulary, especially over here in America. So what does expiate mean? Well, from Merriam-Webster, expiate means the act of expiating something. Okay, so what does that mean? It means the act of extinguishing the guilt incurred by something. So if you expiate something, you extinguish the guilt incurred by something or someone. Or another definition I've got here, expiation means the act or process of making atonement for something. Pick up on that, atonement. The etymology of atonement is actually very neat, especially if you're someone like me who's a nerd. But coming from Etym Online, atonement comes from 1510s, meaning the condition of being at one with, specifically, other people or other beings. Okay, so it's now obsolete from atone and mint, the theological meaning reconciliation is from the 1520s. Now, this word atonement actually comes from three different words, from the word at and the word one, or as it used to be pronounced, atone, and the word mint, which is a suffix from Latin. But anyway, the word atone means to be in harmony, agree, be in accordance. It means to be in accord, literally, at one, a contraction of at and one. So, atone means at one. Now, you remember back in Genesis, it talks about the man leaving his father and his mother, and he shall plead to his wife, and they shall be one. They shall be at one with each other. Later on in Brit Hadashah, we see that Yeshua is praying to Yahweh, and he's praying that the disciples would be one, just as he and the father are one. So, again, that sense of being at one. And then the suffix mint comes from the Latin origin. It's representing Latin momentum, which was added to verb stems to make nouns indicating the result or product of the action or verb, or, I'm sorry, a result or product of the action of the verb. So, atonement means the result or action of being at one. Further, from Theopedia, the word atonement is almost the only theological term of English origin. It was likely first used in Tyndale's English translation as derived from the adverb phrase atonement, meaning in accord, literally, at one. So, atonement means being at one, being in accord. Again, we see in the Brit Hadashah and some various translations, it says the disciples were gathered together in one place, and they were all in one accord. So, again, atonement meant being in accord. Now, as it relates to Yom Kippurim, it means being in accord with Yahweh, making atonement, reconciliation, expiation for our sins, or at least it used to until we got to Yeshua. More on that later. But, yeah, it means being in accord with Yahweh. But Yom Kippurim, we want to base everything off of scripture, right? Everything we do, everything we believe, all of the doctrines we come up with should be scripturally based. So, when it comes to this subject of Yom Kippurim, where do we find it in scripture? I am so glad you asked, because it's fairly easy to find. Leviticus chapter 16, verses 29 and 31. And this shall be for you a law forever. In the seventh new moon, on the tenth day of the new moon, you afflict your beings and do no work, the native or the stranger who sojourns among you. For on that day he makes atonement for you, to cleanse you, to be clean from all your sins before Yahweh. It is a Sabbath of rest for you, and you shall afflict your beings a law forever. So, here we've got the Moedim, the set-apart time, the appointed time of Yom Kippurim being established. It says in the seventh new moon, on the tenth day of the new moon, then you celebrate Yom Kippurim. How do you do that? By afflicting your beings and you do no work. This applies, according to scripture right here, this applies to the native, those who are natural-born Israelites, and also the stranger, the Goyim, the Gentile, who is within your ranks. Again, from Leviticus chapter 23, verses 26 to 32. And Yahweh spoke to Moshe, saying, on the tenth day of the seventh new moon is Yom Kippurim. It shall be a set-apart gathering for you, and you shall afflict your beings, and shall bring an offering made by fire to Yahweh. And you do no work on that same day, for it is Yom Kippurim, to make atonement for you before Yahweh your Elohim. For any being who is not afflicted on that same day, he shall be cut off from his people. And any being who does any work on that same day, that being I shall destroy from the midst of his people. You do no work, a law forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. It is a Sabbath of wrath to you, and you shall afflict your beings. On the ninth day of this new moon at evening, from evening to evening, you observe your Sabbath. So that's rather interesting. It's talking about Yom Kippurim being a Sabbath. This is in addition to the weekly Sabbath, wherever that may fall. It may be on the same day, it may be back to back, but Yom Kippurim is going to be its own separate Shabbat, or Shabbaton, shall we say. Now you can see here, this is going to be getting into some of the conflict, or the, oh, how should I say this, not conflict, but the differences between the phrase Yom Kippurim and Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur is a term that's thrown around a lot for this Moab nowadays. But it wasn't always like this. And you can see that from the very beginning, the scriptures, the actual Hebrew text uses Yom Kippurim. You have a very good transliteration here in the scriptures 2009 translation, where it says Yom Kippurim. And that's actually how it's pronounced and written in the Hebrew text. If you can read Hebrew, I've put it up there on the screen for you right there. And literally in the Hebrew, it says Yom Kippurim, not Kippur, it's Kippurim. So where does this whole Yom Kippur come from? Again, Kippurim is in the plural, whereas Kippur is in the singular. But we look at the Jewish encyclopedia and they say on the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippurim, they say that in the Bible, Talmud and liturgy, the term Yom Kippur is late rabbinic. Kippurim is in the Bible, it's in the Talmud and it's in the liturgy. But the term Kippur in the singular is late rabbinic. So even after the time of the apostles, after the time of Yeshua, that's when sometime after that, it's when they started referring to it in the singular as Yom Kippur. What kind of, how should I say this? How much emphasis should we place on this distinction? Not much. I don't think so, because Yom Kippur is in the singular. This whole Day of Atonement is one day. It's a singular day. So why does the scriptures, the Hebrew text, use it in the plural? That's a very good question to ask. We actually covered this a little bit back in our Dawnhead episode on the word Elohim when we spoke about invariant nouns. One of the things we touched on is the concept of abstract plural, or the plural of intensity, majestic plural, things like that. According to Decenius' Hebrew grammar, he states in this entry for abstract plural, says here in the second entry, the tolerable numerous abstract plurals may be divided into two classes. They sum up either the conditions or qualities inherent in the idea of the stem, or else the various single acts of which an action is composed. The summing up of several parts of an action is expressed in haqqanamim, embalming, and kippurim, atonement. And the third entry they've got here is the pluralist, excelente, or maestatus, as has been remarked above, is properly a variety of the abstract plural, since it sums up the several characteristics belonging to the idea, besides possessing the secondary sense of an intensification of the original idea. So just like with Elohim, every time Elohim is used with Yahweh, it's always understood in a singular context. Even though it's plural in construction, it's still singular in usage. The same way with Yom Kippurim. Even though Kippurim is in the plural, it's still understood as a singular day, because it's the plural of intensity and everything that entails. It's not just one entailment. It's all these entailments that go into it. So it's a singular day, it's a singular event, but the word is in the plural construction. So we went over where it comes from in scripture. We went over the differences between Yom Kippur and Yom Kippurim. We went over some various terms that we'll be using and we already have used. But what about the process for the Yom Kippur ceremony? Well, it's actually a pretty lengthy ceremony back in the Tanakh. But we're going to summarize it for you real quick right here. If you would like to read the entire process, again, it's fairly easy to find. Go back to Leviticus and you can find out all about this. But basically just summarizing the key points of Yom Kippur, I'm sorry, Yom Kippurim. I did it. But like we said before, this is the only time of the year that the high priest could enter the very holy of holies that was in the tabernacle in the wilderness and also the holy of holies in the temple after the temple was built. The high priest starts out by bathing and putting on linen garments, which a lot of time is taken to be a white outfit. These linen garments were assumed to be white. We don't know for sure, but it would make sense that I'll be white, being pure as snow, things like that, right? But anyways, assumed to be white. So he puts on these linen garments and then the high priest is to take a bull for atonement for himself and for his house. So he takes care of himself before he goes out to serve the populace, the rest of Yisrael, his brothers and sisters. Then he has to cast lots regarding two different goats. Now, one of these is going to come up as a goat to Yahweh and then a goat to Azazel, which we'll get into here in just a little bit. Anyways, these two goats, the high priest takes and casts lots for them and the goat, which the lot fell for Yahweh, is prepared to be a sin offering. And then the goat, which the lot fell for Azazel, is prepared to send into the wilderness. So the two goats are getting ready to go through with their part in the ceremony. Then the high priest is to slay the bull for himself and his household. Then he brings the burning incense into the Holy of Holies to cover the lid of atonement. And then he sprinkles some of that bull's blood on the lid of atonement. And remember, that bull's blood was for him and his household. So he cleanses himself before he goes out and serves everyone else. This is a good thing to take upon our own lives. We talked about judgment in a previous episode and how we should cleanse our own selves before we go off and judge someone else. Yeshua states this very same thing in Matthew 7 when he's talking about, Judge not lest you be judged. First, take the speck out of your own eye so that you can help your brother take the log out of his eye. Right? Cleanse yourself before you go out and help other people. This is exactly what's happening here with the ceremony for the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippurim. The priest takes this bull and makes atonement for him and his household before he goes out and helps everyone else. So once he sprinkles the bull's blood on the lid of atonement, then the high priest slays the goat that's selected for Yahweh and sprinkles its blood inside the veil and then sprinkles his blood on the lid of atonement. So now the lid of atonement has the bull's blood for the high priest and his household and then the blood of the goat that was for Yahweh sprinkled on it as well. Then the high priest sprinkles the bull's blood and the goat's blood on the slaughter place. Basically, whatever's left after he goes into the Holy of Holies and sprinkles that blood on the lid of atonement, whatever's left he goes out to the slaughter place and puts the blood there, thus getting rid of whatever blood is left. Next, the high priest lays his hands on the goat for Azazel and confesses the sins of the people over it and then sends the goat out into the wilderness. He then removes the linen garments and bathes himself. So the high priest is doing a lot of wardrobe changes and a lot of bathing during the ceremony. He then comes out and prepares the ascending offerings and burns the fat of the sin offering. The skin and the flesh left over from the bull and the goat are then burned with dung outside the camp or outside the city as it was when the temple was built. And in a nutshell, that is the ceremony as it was laid out in scripture back in the Tanakh. So we went over this whole process. We know what a bull is. We saw what the bull is used for in this process. We saw the two goats that one was selected to be for Yahweh and the other was selected as a goat to Azazel. But who is Azazel or what is Azazel? How do we determine this? How do we better understand this word Azazel? Well, according to the Jewish encyclopedia, Azazel was a scapegoat upon which the high priest laid the sins of the people who was sent forth into the wilderness to Azazel, a demon, according to Ibn Ezra, related to the goat-like demons or satyrs and its arrival at the rock of Hadudo where it was cast down the precipice was signalized as the moment of the granting of pardon to the people by the waving of a wisp of snow white wool in place of one of scarlet over the temple gate, crowds of young people waiting on the hills of Jerusalem to celebrate the event by dancing. So this gives two different interpretations for what this word Azazel means. There are actually three, but the two main ones is number one, Azazel is a demon by the name of Azazel, one of the fallen angels. Also, the word Azazel is interpreted as a place or a rock or a cliff that the goat for Azazel would be taken to and then dispatched. In one way or another, usually from what I've read, it would be pushed over this cliff and the goat would end up breaking its neck. The goat that took on all the sins of the people. Going on, the Catholic encyclopedia states that Azazel, the obscure Hebrew word Azazel, which occurs nowhere else in the Bible, various attempts have been made to interpret its meaning. Some have taken it for the name of a place where the man who took the goat away used to throw it over a precipice. Others take it for the name of an evil spirit. And in fact, a spirit of this name is mentioned in the Apocryphal Book of Chemak and later in Jewish literature. On this interpretation, which though by no means new, finds favor with modern critics, the idea of the ceremony would seem to be that the sins were sent back to the evil spirit to whose influence they owe their origin. So here again, we've got two different interpretations put forth, one for an evil spirit or a demon and the other for a physical place that the goat was taken to. This place went by the name of Azazel. Now we do find some references to a fallen angel by the name of Azazel being spoken about. But we don't find it in scripture. We find it in one of the Apocryphal Books, the Book of Enoch. In the Book of Enoch, chapter 10, verses 6 through 7, it states this. Again, the Lord said to Raphael, bind Azazel hand and foot, cast him into darkness and opening the desert which is in Judea, cast him in there. Throw upon him hurled and pointed stones, covering him with darkness. And then another reference in the Book of Enoch, chapter 10, verse 12, all the earth has been corrupted by the effects of the teaching of Azazel. To him, therefore, ascribe the whole crime. Now once again, this word Azazel, the only time we find it in scripture is in the portion talking about the process for the Day of Atonement, the ceremony for the Day of Atonement. We don't find it anywhere else in scripture. The only other places we find it is going to be in the Apocrypha, like here in the Book of Enoch, and other places like the Talmud. Now I didn't include it in these slides here, but if you go look in the notes that we took, there is some links and some quotes from the Talmud talking about this place where they took the goat and it was actually a place, not a demon. So take that for what it's worth. That's the Talmudic interpretation of Azazel, in a cliff that they took this goat to. But anyways, this word Azazel, like I said, only occurs one time in all of scripture, and it's the Strong's word H2799, Azazel. It means a goat of departure according to Strong's definition, meaning the scapegoat or scapegoat. Browndriver Briggs has Azazel as the proper name of a spirit haunting the desert, a fallen angel, or an entire removal of sin and guilt from sacred places into the desert on the back of a goat. So Browndriver Briggs puts forth both of those interpretations. Justine is this Hebrew lexicon. I really like this entry. Anyways, for their entry on Azazel, they have, I have no doubt that it should be rendered averter. So Azazel, according to Justine's Hebrew lexicon, says that instead of interpreting it as a place or an evil spirit or demon, instead they give it as an averter. Take the sins and they're averted, right? Anyways, it goes on in this entry for Azazel to say that this name was used for that of an evil demon inhabiting the wilderness who had to be appeased by sacrifices of a very ancient and Gentile rite. The name Azazel is also used by the Arabs as that of an evil demon. So maybe this whole interpretation of Azazel being a demon comes from the Arabs instead of actual scripture or even Judaism. They also go on to say that Azazel can be understood as the place into which the goat should be sent and the place to which the goat should be sent. So they give three different interpretations here. One is an alternate way of understanding what Azazel actually means and then the other two interpretations that we have been discussing. One thing I'd like to point out here in this entry is that when talking about Azazel being understood as a demon, this goat for Azazel being a goat for a demon, Nesemius here writes, No such idea as this can be admitted by anyone who indeed believes in the inspiration of scripture. God could never mix up idolatrous rites with his own worship. And I like that. I love that actually. Because think about it. This goat for Azazel, whatever Azazel is, right? This goat for Azazel is pretty much a form of sacrifice, an offering, if you would. And we don't offer sacrifices or offerings to demons or even to false gods who don't exist. It's only to Yahweh. That's one of the problems I have with this whole idea of Azazel being a demon or an evil spirit. Instead, I think it makes a lot of sense to think of Azazel as being the place where the goat was dispatched or killed. Whether that be a large rock that was pushed over or a cliff. And that probably changed. Because remember, when this ceremony was given, the people were out in the wilderness between Egypt and the Promised Land. So that location would have been probably one place out in the wilderness. And then when they got into the Promised Land, it would have been another place. And then even after that, it was a while before the temple was established. So it could have even been a third place at that point. But anyways, for what it's worth, my interpretation here is that Azazel means the location where the goat was dispatched, not an evil demon. However, you may have a different opinion. And that's perfectly all right. We're still brothers and sisters in Messiah. This is my own opinion, to put it that way. You have yours. So you interpret the way that you think the evidence fits best. Anyways, finally, in the Klein Dictionary for Azazel, they define it as the rock from which the scapegoat was hurled. And the Klein Dictionary is a very Jewish kind of dictionary. So they go along with the Talmud a lot of times, too. And if you read, like I was referencing before, you read in the Talmud, they discuss this goat being taken to a precipice or a cliff and then being pushed over and dispatched in a physical place where this goat was taken. But all this leads up to the climax of the atoning sacrifice. And what or who was that atoning sacrifice? It was Yeshua. So how does Yeshua and Yom Kippurim relate to one another? Well, there's various connections here, and it's very strong connections, OK? Let's look at Exodus chapter 25, verses 8 through 9 and verse 40. And they shall make me a set-apart place, and I shall dwell in their nets, according to all that I show you, the pattern of the dwelling place and the pattern of all its furnishings make it exactly so. So see and do according to the pattern which was shown to you on the mountain. Now here, Yahweh is giving instructions to Moses for the construction of the tabernacle. And he's telling Moses to model it and construct it according to how he was shown on the mountains. And if you recall, Moses was actually able to see some sides of the heavenly places in the tabernacle there. But then we go on to Hebrews chapter 8, verses 4 through 5. For if indeed he were on earth, speaking of Yeshua, he would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gift according to the Torah, who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly, as Moshe was warned when he was about to make the tent, for he said, see that you make all according to the pattern shown you on the mountain. So he says that if Yeshua was here on earth, he would not be a priest and that the tabernacle was just a shadow of that which is in the heavens, which was shown to Moshe. And Moshe pretty much came up with a replica. That was the tabernacle that we know that they used back during their journey in the wilderness and before the temple was built. The temple was built. So going on to Hebrews 9, 6 through 7. And these having been prepared like this, the priest always went into the first part of the tent, accomplishing the services. But into the second part, the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for sins of ignorance of the people. So here we see the high priest, like we mentioned before, there's only one time a year that he went into the holy of holies. Yeshua is not a priest here on earth, but he is our high priest now. Even though he's not physically with us here on earth yet, he is a high priest in the heavenly that Moshe was able to get a vision of back on the mountain. That heavenly temple or that heavenly tabernacle is where Yeshua is our high priest. And he went into the holy of holies because he is so pure and unblemished and sinless. He is our high priest. He is our atoning or kippurin sacrifice. Starting to see some of the connections here. Hebrews chapter 9, verses 11 through 14. But Messiah, having become a high priest of the coming good matters through the greater and more perfect tent, not made with hands, that is not of this creation, entered into the most set-apart place once for all, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, having obtained everlasting redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the defiled, sets apart for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Messiah, who through the everlasting spirit offered himself unblemished to Elohim, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living Elohim. We just got on saying that Yeshua is our high priest. He became a high priest. He was not born as the Levites were into the priesthood. He became a high priest. He was of the tribe of Judah. But he became a high priest. He was not a Levite, so he could not be a priest here on earth. His priesthood is after the priesthood of Melchizedek. And we're actually told that in scripture as well. If you go back and read the story of Abraham and Melchizedek, we can already see that long before Moses, long before Sinai, there were priests of the Most High already in existence, which is fairly interesting, something interesting to study out. But Yeshua is in this priesthood after the order of Melchizedek. He is now our high priest, having become a high priest. Hebrews 9, 24 through 25. For Messiah has not entered into a set-apart place made by hand, figures of the true, but into the heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of Elohim on our behalf, not that he should offer himself often as the high priest enters into the set-apart place year by year with blood not his own. So Yeshua entered by his own blood. Not like the priests on earth who enter with the blood of bulls and goats. Yeshua entered by his own blood once and for all. We also read in 1 John 4, verse 10. And this is love, not that we love Elohim, but that he loved us and sent his son to be an atoning offering for our sins. To be an expiating offering for our sins. To be a kippurim offering for our sins. See how that all plays out? See the connections there about the high priest and the sacrifice, the blood, the quality of it, getting into the set-apart place, the holy of holies. How beautiful is that? How does it all come together? And this is just a brief overview of the connections. It could go into its own teaching, own drash about the connections just between Yeshua and kippurim. I don't want to make it too long. It's already going to be long enough. To go a little bit further down this road, something that's really neat to think about once you put it all together and have all this evidence is that Yeshua, we generally understand that he was crucified on the cross about the year 30. Somewhere between 30 and 33, 35, something like that. Depends on who you ask. According to a couple of different entries on the Wikipedia article, it states that Humphrey's and Waddeson therefore suggest a scenario where Jesus was crucified and died in April of 33 A.D. However, another entry there states that Cassiodorus states that Jesus was born in 3 B.C. and died in 31 A.D. And then according to Bristanico.com, they say that he died in 30 A.D. or 30 C.E. is the one we use. So somewhere between 30 and 31, that's when it's generally understood that Yeshua died. Now, another thing that we add to this whole connection, is that the temple, the second temple that was there when Yeshua was there, it was destroyed in the year 70 A.D. And this is not something that's up for debate. It's a historical fact. And we see here from Wikipedia.org that it was likewise destroyed during the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. Talking about the temple. And according to Bristanico.com, the rebellion against Rome that began in 66 C.E. soon focused on the temple and effectively ended with the temple's destruction on the 9th or 10th of 70 C.E. All this came to a screeching halt in 70 C.E. when the temple was destroyed in a devastating war with the Romans. That's according to MyJewishLearning.com. Two points that we're going to point out real quick. Yeshua died about 30 C.E. or A.D. And the temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. What's the difference there? That's a difference of 40 years. So, yeah, we didn't say, we didn't warn you about being, having to do math during this teaching. But, yeah, there's a little bit of math. So, why is this whole difference important? Why is this 40 year difference important? Well, a very interesting fact from the Talmud. It's not scripture. It's from outside of scripture. But from the Talmud. All relating back to Yeshua and Kippurim or Atonement. We read in the Talmud in Yoma 39b. The sages taught, during the tenure of Shimon HaZadik, the law for God always arose in the high priest's right hand. After his death, it occurred only occasionally. But during the 40 years prior to the destruction of the second temple, the law for God did not arise in the high priest's right hand at all. So, too, the strip of crimson wool that was tied to the head of the goat that was sent to Azazel did not turn white. And the westernmost lamp of the candelabrum did not burn continually. Let that sink in for a minute. They're stating that 40 years before the temple was destroyed, the temple was destroyed in 70. 40 years before that was 30 CE. So, the Talmud, a Jewish publication, that denies Yeshua being the Messiah. The Talmud states that 40 years before the destruction of the temple, the crimson string that was tied to the goat for Azazel stopped turning white. Their sacrifices for atonement were no longer being accepted. So, put two and two together, what do you think that actually symbolizes? Well, obviously, it symbolizes Yeshua being our Messiah, making that atoning sacrifice for us. So, no longer would we need the blood of bulls and goats. We have Yeshua. He is our kippurim sacrifice. He is our atoning sacrifice. He is our expiating sacrifice. His blood, not the blood of bulls and goats. So, what's the reason why the crimson string stopped turning white? Well, it's because that was no longer our atoning sacrifice. Yeshua was now our atoning sacrifice from that point on into the future. For some reason, Jews, those within Judaism, rather, still just haven't got this. That's some pretty hard evidence for Yeshua being the Messiah, our atoning kippurim sacrifice. So, you've learned all this stuff about where kippurim came from. You examined some of the phrases. We went over the terminology, the difference between kippur and kippurim. But you're thinking to yourself, okay, we see it's in Scripture. We see it's one of the commanded melodim. We see that we're commanded to celebrate it and to observe it. So, how do we celebrate or observe Yom Kippurim? Well, according to Scripture, there are very few parameters that we have to go by in order to observe it according to Yahweh's commandments. Number one, you afflict your being. Well, how do you do that? Well, you could do it by fasting, which we'll get into in just a moment, which means no sweets, coffee, bathing, marital relations. This is another way you can afflict your being. There's various ways you can afflict your being. If you have a love of chocolate and you have chocolate every day, you could refrain from chocolate for Yom Kippurim. Just a way, find some way to afflict yourself. You could refrain from wearing nice or comfortable clothing. Wear a sackcloth, right, as the phrase goes. You could maybe get into some of these aesthetic practices, although I'd be kind of cautious about which ones you do, trying to find out where they exactly come from. But some of these aesthetic practices involve sleeping or sitting on hard surfaces, such as stone, tile, hardwood floors, things like that. You could turn off the heat or the air conditioning in your home for the day. Now, don't go overboard. Use common sense. If you live in an extremely hot area and you might die of dehydration and heat stroke, okay, that's not common sense. Maybe leave the AC on for that. If you're in the Arctic Circle, then maybe leave your heat on. You don't want to die of hypothermia, right? Freeze to death just for Yom Kippurim. But find ways to afflict your being. Also, you don't do any work. It's a Shabbaton. And this is not included in the scriptural commandments for Yom Kippurim. This is something I just added. But the entire theme of Yom Kippurim is repentance, going back to Yahweh, atoning for our sacrifices. So, I would suggest this personally, that you focus on repentance, because that is the theme there. Repentance to Yahweh for how you have sinned and done wrong. Repentance to others, your wife, your peers, your people that you go to church with, your children, co-workers, anyone that you need to make atonement with. If you've done them wrong or if you have conflict, try to make things right. Have a focus on repentance because that is the grand theme of Yom Kippurim. Now, going back and talking about fasting real quick, let's discuss that topic because it's fairly large when it comes to Yom Kippurim. If we go back and look at Leviticus chapter 16, verse 29, this shall be for you a law forever. In the seventh new moon, on the tenth day of the new moon, you afflict your beings and do no work, the native or the stranger who sojourned among you. Now, this word here for afflict in the Hebrew is Strong's H6031, anah, anah. And according to Strong's definition here, it means to depress literally or figuratively to abase self, self-afflict, chasing yourself, deal hardly with, etc., etc. Brown, Drover, Briggs, it kind of goes right along the same thing. To be occupied, be busy with, be bowed down, be afflicted, be put down, become low, be depressed, downcast, be afflicted, humble oneself, be afflicted. So, anah means afflict or humble or be depressed or downcast. According to Desenius' Hebrew lexicon, to cry out, use of that of the soldiers in battle to lift up their voice, to answer, to reply, to signify, to imply anything by one's words, to bestow labor upon anything, to exercise oneself in anything, to be afflicted, depressed, or oppressed. And finally, with Klein's Dictionary, to be bowed down, be afflicted, was low, was humble, was afflicted, be humbled himself, was afflicted, be humbled, oppressed, afflicted, etc., etc. Now, notice something that you did not see in those definitions. You did not see anywhere the word fast because anah does not mean to fast. And unfortunately, this is where those within Judaism thinks that the commandment for fasting on Yom Kippurim comes from. They read the commandment to afflict yourself on Yom Kippurim and they take that to mean fast on Yom Kippurim. But that's not what it means. We look at anah in other places such as Genesis chapter 15, verse 13. And he said to Abraham, Know for certain that your seed are to be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and shall serve them and they shall afflict them four hundred years. This is when Yahweh is talking to Abraham, prophesying and speaking of the coming slavery in Egypt. He says that the Egyptians shall afflict them for four hundred years. That word is anah. Well, once again, the Egyptians did not make them fast for four hundred years. It's just they afflicted them in various ways. Yet another way to say it is they shall humble them for four hundred years. It's in Genesis chapter 16, verse 9. And the messenger of Yahweh said to her, Return to your mistress and humble yourself under her hand. Again, the word is anah. And humble yourself and anah yourself under her hand. The angel here is not telling Hagar to go back to Sarah and fast herself to Sarah. That makes no sense. No, he's telling her to humble herself. We look at Exodus chapter 1, verse 12. But the more they afflicted them, the more they increased and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel. This again is speaking about the captivity in Israel and how the Egyptians were treating the Israelites. It says the Egyptians, the more they afflicted them, the more they anahed them. Well, it makes no sense to think that the more that the Egyptians made the Israelites fast, the more the Israelites increased and grew. That makes no sense at all. So anah does not mean fast. It's not synonymous with fast. Instead, you could think of it as, but the more they humbled them, the more they increased and grew. Exodus chapter 10, verse 3. And Moshe and Aaron came in to Pharaoh and said to him, Thus said Yahweh, Elohim of the Hebrews, Till when shall you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go so that they serve me. So once again, the word anah is used here when Moses is speaking to Pharaoh. But it's not meaning to fast. Because there is an actual word for fast in Hebrew, and that's the word zum. And in fact, we can actually see this Hebrew word for fast, zum, used in the same sentence as this Hebrew word for afflict or humble, anah, all in one verse in Ezra chapter 8, verse 21. If it doesn't put it clear for you here, I'm not exactly sure what will. But here you can see both words used together as two separate actions. They're fasting and they're humbling themselves. Now, fasting can lead to humility. But fasting is not the only way to humble ourselves. There are other ways that we can do that. There are other ways that we can afflict ourselves besides fasting. Even though fasting may be an affliction, but it's not the only affliction. And therefore, fasting is not synonymous with affliction. So fasting is not synonymous with the word anah. Again, Isaiah chapter 58, verse 3. They say, why have we fasted, zum, and you have not seen? Why have we afflicted, anah, our beings and you took no note? Look in the day of your fasting, zum, you find pleasure and drive on all your laborers. Again, using two different words for two different concepts. Fasting is not the same thing as anah. And anah does not mean solely fasting. So with that being understood, we can clearly see that in the commandment for Kippurim, the commandments that are listed, fasting is not commanded. What are we commanded to do? We're commanded to humble ourselves, to afflict ourselves. We could use fasting as that method of afflicting ourselves. But there are other means as well. As long as we're afflicting ourselves, we are following the commandments. We are being obedient. So there is no commandment to fast. Now, in one part of the Brit HaYadoshah, we see the Apostle Paul, and in this verse, he's talking about the fast. And most people interpret it as being a reference to Yom Kippurim. But anyway, as you look at Acts chapter 27, verse 9. And much time having passed, and the family now being dangerous, because the fast was already over, Shaul advised them. Now, a lot of people, a lot of commentaries interpret this as being the feast of, I'm sorry, the Miladim of Yom Kippurim. But it's not didactic from the text. However, it might be, and that's fine too. If it is, that's fine. If it's not, that's fine as well. Think about it like this. The Jews understand Yom Kippurim as having a commandment to fast. Clearly, that's not from Scripture. So if it's not from Scripture, that is a tradition. And traditions, in and of themselves, are not bad. It's how they're used, where they come from. And fasting's not bad. They've been doing it all throughout Scripture. So fasting is actually a good thing. But it's not commanded on Yom Kippurim. That's the point. However, it could very well have been a Jewish tradition during the time of Paul. And Paul was a very well-educated and learned Pharisee. So he would have understood and known most, if not all, of the Jewish traditions that were going on during this time. And so when he was writing these letters, and Luke, when he was writing the journeys of Paul, especially here in the book of Acts, they very well could have referenced Yom Kippurim by fast. But once again, there is no command to fast on Yom Kippurim. That's just a tradition. There is no commandment. It's just understood as a tradition from Judaism. Once again, fasting's good, but it's not commanded. So, celebration. Once again, if you're going to do it according to Scripture, number one, you afflict your being. You can do that through various means. Not just fasting, and you're not commanded to fast, but you can afflict your being through fasting. You can refrain from various things like sweet coffee, bathing, marital relations, chocolate, coffee. I mean, what have you. I love my coffee in the mornings, but that might be a way that I afflict myself on Yom Kippurim. You can also refrain from wearing nice or comfortable clothing. You could incorporate various aesthetic practices, but again, try to research whatever practice you're doing so that you know where it came from. It's not going to be like some sort of pagan thing. And also, make sure you do no work because Yom Kippurim is a Shabbaton. Afflict your being, do no work. Tenth day of the seventh month. So, there you go. And then the last one, this is one that I personally added as a way to celebrate or observe Yom Kippurim is during the day, focus in your mind on repentance. Because once again, that is the overarching theme of Yom Kippurim. Now, some ideas from Judaism that you may or may not incorporate into your observance of Kippurim. Those within Judaism generally have a large feast on the eve of Yom Kippur. Why do they have a very large feast? Well, because they think it's a commandment to fast on Yom Kippur. So, they eat a big meal, eat a whole lot and then do 28 hours, 24 hours of fasting and then eat another big meal after Yom Kippur is over. They focus and spend a lot of time in prayer on Yom Kippur. Again, that's not commanded in scripture, but prayer is good anytime. They have and attend worship services. They have a blowing of the shofar with just about every single Maled. They're asking for forgiveness, not just from Yahweh, but also from others around them. They do a lot of volunteering and charity work. They do a lot of wearing of white. Now, again, this goes back to the assumption that the high priest wore white when he went to the Holy of Holies. There's no reason to disbelieve that the high priest did this, but it's not specifically laid out in scripture. It just says the linen garments. Again, tradition has it that the high priest wore all white when he went to the Holy of Holies. So, those who've been Judaism for Yom Kippurim wear white. They also wear no animal hides as a way of afflicting their beings. They don't bathe as a way of afflicting their beings. And they also do a process for this little thing called kaparot. Now, if you don't know what kaparot is, it's basically they take a chicken and they swing it over their head while the chicken is still alive. And this is supposed to be the offering for atonement now that the temple is not standing. And then after they're done swinging the chicken over their head over their head while reciting a blessing or a prayer, they then discuss the chicken and either eat it themselves or usually donate it to the poor. So, the poor and needy will have something to eat on Yom Kippurim. However, let's not do that. We don't need no chicken swinging for the atonement of our sins. We have Yeshua. And we even have evidence that he is the atoning sacrifice even from the Jewish publication called the Talmud. So, in summary, the 10th of the 7th month is Yom Kippurim. It is a day of rest and afflicting yourself, but more properly understood in my opinion, it's a day of humbling yourself. Because we're all human and each and every one of us could probably do with some more humbling. It's called Yom Kippurim by scripture is only later referred to as Yom Kippur. Yom Kippurim is a remembrance of Yeshua's sacrifice and Yahweh making a way for us to be atoned back to Yahweh. And once you think about it, Yeshua is, I'm sorry, those of us within the messianic mindset are the only ones who can truly celebrate and observe Yom Kippurim nowadays. Because those within mainstream churchianity, they think all that long stuff's going away with. Those within Judaism don't accept Yeshua as the Messiah and our heavenly high priest. However, those of us within the messianic mindset take all of that. We accept Yeshua as our high priest in the heavens. We take the entire Bible, not just the last third. We have a high priest. We have that sacrifice. So we're the only ones who really can observe Yom Kippurim. Yeshua is our atoning sacrifice that entered once into the heavenly temple or heavenly tabernacle, however you want to put that. And once again, we are the only ones who can truly and correctly celebrate Yom Kippurim now. Because we have Yeshua as our high priest who is in the only temple that exists at the moment, is in the holiest of holies, and Yeshua is our atoning or Kippurim sacrifice. And that's just the God honest truth. So thank you so much for joining us during this teaching. We really do hope that you learned something out of this. Even if you celebrated Yom Kippurim before, we hope that we were able to cover as much as possible. And once again, if you have further questions or want some further information, we have additional information in the notes that we took for this subject. It's all on Godhonesttruth.com or click on the link down below in the description to take you directly to that post. If we happen to forget anything, let us know down in the comments. And after you put it down in the comments, make sure you hit that subscribe button, ring the bell, hit that thumbs up, and also hit the share button and share this teaching around with someone that you may know. 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