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TEACHINGS
THE AZAZEL SCAPEGOAT AND THE GOAT DEDICATED TO hwhy
This is the commandment of the high priest regarding the azazel scapegoat and the goat dedicated to hwhy at the Holy Temple during Yom Kippur:
Leviticus 16:3-34
Lev 16:3 By this shall Aaron come into the holy place: by a bullock, a son of the herd, for a sin offering, and a ram for an elevation offering. 4 Shall put on a holy linen coat, and shall have linen breeches upon his flesh, and by a linen belt shall gird, and by linen mitre shall wrap: they are holy garments; And shall bathe ta-his flesh in the water, and put them on.
5 And from ta the congregation of the sons of Israel shall take two kids of the goats for a sin offering, and one ram for an elevation offering. 6 And Aaron shall bring ta-a bullock of the sin offering, which is for him, and atone by unto himself, and by unto his house. 7 And take ta-the two kids, and stand them to the face of hwhy at the entrance of the Tent of Appointment. 8 And Aaron shall put upon the two kids, lots; one lot for hwhy, and one lot for the Azazel. 9 And Aaron shall bring ta-the kid upon which fell upon him the lot for hwhy, and offer him of a sin offering. 10 And the kid, which fell upon him the lot fell for the Azazel, shall stand alive to the face of hwhy, to atone upon him, and to send away him for an Azazel to the wilderness. 11 And Aaron shall bring ta-the bullock of the sin offering, which is for him, and atone by unto himself, and by unto his house, and shall slaughter ta-the bullock of the sin offering which is for him: 12 And shall take full, of the censer, coals of fire from upon the altar from of the face of hwhy, and his fists full of incense of sweet incense beaten small, and bring from the house of the vail: 13 And put ta-the incense upon the fire to the face of hwhy, and cover the cloud of the incense ta-the mercy seat which is upon the testimony, and shall not die: 14 And take from the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle by his finger upon the face of the mercy seat eastward; and to the face of the mercy seat shall he sprinkle from the blood by his finger seven times. 15 And shall kill ta-the kid of the sin offering, which is for the people, and the bringing of ta-his blood to with housing of the vail, and do ta-his blood as which was done for the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle him upon the mercy seat, and to the face of the mercy seat: 16 And shall atone upon the holy place, from the uncleanness of the sons of Israel, and from their transgressions for all their sins: and so shall be done for the Tent of Appointment, the one dwelling with them in the midst of their uncleanness. 17 And any Adam shall not be in the Tent of Appointment in his going to atone in the holy place, until he comes out, and atone by unto himself, and by unto his household, and by unto all the assembly of Israel. 18 And shall go out to the altar which is to the face of hwhy, and atone upon him; and take from the blood of the bullock, and from the blood of the kid, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about. 19 And sprinkle upon him from the blood by his finger seven times, and cleanse him, and sanctify him from the uncleanness of the sons of Israel.
20 And of ending from atoning ta-the holy place, and ta-the Tent of Appointment, and ta-the altar, and the bringing of ta-the living kid: 21 And Aaron shall lay ta-two of his hands upon the head of the living goat, and the confessing upon him ta-all the iniquities of the sons of Israel, and ta-all their transgressions of all their sins, and put them upon the head of the kid, and send away by the hand of a fit-timely man to the wilderness: 22 And bear the kid upon him ta-all their iniquities to a land uninhabited: and send ta-the kid in the wilderness.
23 And Aaron shall come to the Tent of Appointment, and shall strip off ta-the linen garments, which was clothed, in his going to the holy place, and leave them there: 24 And bathe ta-his flesh in the water in the holy place, and clothe ta-his garments, and come out, and offer ta-his elevation offering, and ta-an elevation offering of the people, and atone by unto him, and by unto the people. 25 And ta-the kheylev fat of the sin offering shall he burn as incense to the altar.
26 And the the one sending ta-the kid for the Azazel shall wash his garments, and bathe ta-his flesh in the water, and after thus shall come to the camp.
27 And ta the bullock of the sin offering, and ta-the kid of the sin offering, which was the bringing of ta-their blood to atone in the holy place, shall carry to with outside of the camp; and they shall burn in the fire ta-their skins, and ta-their flesh, and ta-their dung. 28 And the one burning them shall wash his garments, and bathe ta-his flesh in the water, and after thus shall come to the camp.
29 And this she shall be for you a statute of ages: in the seventh month, in the tenth of the month, ye shall afflict ta-your souls, and any work you shall not do, the native, and the stranger that is strangering in your midst: 30 For in this day shall atone upon you, to cleanse you, from all your sins to the face of hwhy, you shall be clean. 31 She is a shabbath of rest to you, and ye shall afflict ta-your souls, a statute of ages.
32 And the priest shall atone, whom shall anoint him, and whom shall consecrate ta-his hand to act as priest instead of his father, shall clothe ta-the linen garments, the holy garments: 33 And atone ta-the holy sanctuary, and ta-the Tent of Appointment and ta-the altar shall atone, and upon the priests and upon all the people of the assembly shall atone. 34 And this she shall be, to you, for a statute of ages to atone upon the sons of Israel from all of their sins once in the year. And did as which hwhy commanded ta-Moses.
The Aleph-Tavs were mostly on the goat dedicated to hwhy. There is a reason for this.
According to the Torah, the Azazel, or scapegoat, was to take on the sins of the Israelites to be taken to away from the camp to die.
Fast forward to Passover day where Yeshua was with Pilate. Pilate, every year on Passover, lets the Jewish people choose one person to go free. Pilate chose one of them to be Yeshua, and he chose another person named Barabbas, who was a notorious murderer via insurrection.
Yeshua was the Son of the Father. He would have been called "Bar Abba", meaning son of the father, and Barabbas' name in Hebrew was "Bar Abba". Yeshua and Barabbas, the "Two Bar Abbas" were symbols of the two goats for Yom Kippur.
In the Gospels, the majority of the people wanted Barabbas released, which Pilate honored. Based on this decision, between the two symbolic goats for Yom Kippur, that would make Barabbas the Scapegoat and Yeshua dedicated to hwhy. That means that Barabbas would have to take on the sins of the people.
There was one catch that the Jews, especially the Pharisees and the Saducees, did not realize. Or did they?
A few hours earlier during the night, Yeshua was confronted with Caiaphas, the high priest at the time, and he rented his high priest garment. According to the Torah, when Caiaphas rented his garment, he disqualified himself as the high priest. Guess who was next in line for the high priesthood? It was not Caiaphas' relative, but by right, it should have gone to Jonathan the Baptist. Jonathan was the son of a legitimate priest:
Luke 1:5 In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6 And they were both righteous before hwhy, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of hwhy.
Elizabeth was of the line of Aaron, which means her son, John the Baptist, was of the line of Aaron, and based on the account would have been next in line to the high priesthood.
Abijah, John's father, was descended from one of the priests that returned to Jerusalem from Babylonian captivity:
Nehemiah 12:1 These are the priests and the Levites who came up with Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra, 2 Amariah, Malluch, Hattush, 3 Shecaniah, Rehum, Meremoth, 4 Iddo, Ginnethoi, Abijah,... 7...These were the chiefs of the priests and of their brothers in the days of Jeshua.
So John the Baptist was of the priestly line of Abijah as well.
Johnathon was beheaded by Herod. However there was a relative close to him. Elizabeth, of the line of Aaron, had a Levitical cousin, and her name was Mary. She bore her firstborn son...Yeshua. He became the next in line, by right, to obtain the role of high priest. When Caiaphas nullified himself by tearing his high priest garment, Yeshua became the new high priest.
There is one requirement in the Torah for the high priest:
Numbers 18:1
Num 18:1 So hwhy said to Aaron, "You and your sons and your father's house with you shall bear ta-iniquity connected with the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you shall bear ta-iniquity connected with your priesthood.
The priests of the line of Aaron and his sons were to bear these iniquities (iniquity means the provision to sin, not sin itself). Therefore, Yeshua was of the line of Aaron's family. That means when Yeshua took over the high priesthood, He bore the iniquities connected with the sanctuary and the priesthood. The high priest bore the iniquities and sins from the sacrifices that were offered up to hwhy, and those elements represented the sins and iniquities of the Israelites. The priests ate some of the elements that bear the iniquities and sins. Therefore, they bore them, and now Yeshua, the current High Priest, bore their iniquities and their sins. He was the goat dedicated to hwhy, and being High Priest, He bore the sins and iniquities, and not the scapegoat. Remember that Yeshua was not born in the line of Judah via Joseph, but was legally adopted into it.
So when Barabbas became the Azazel scapegoat, did he take on the sins and iniquities for the people according to the Torah of the scapegoat? No, he did not. Did he die according to the Torah of the scapegoat? No, he did not. Barabbas did not die that day, and he did not take on the sins, as would have been required for the role of the scapegoat.
Yeshua became the goat dedicated to hwhy, but He also bore the iniquities and sins that the scapegoat, Barabbas, should have taken, and took them to the cross and crucified them there. Thus Yeshua altered the process for the Yom Kippur ritual for the High Priest regarding the two goats. Yeshua did all of this on Passover.
Also, There was a reason the curtain at the temple was rent
Matthew 27:50
Mat 27:50 And Yeshua cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. 51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom....
What was Yeshua's latest title before being crucified? The High Priest. That curtain was to cover the entrance while the high priest was to do his duty during Yom Kippur. When that curtain was rent, Yeshua was saying to them that He is the High Priest and He is the only one that can do the temple ceremonies on Yom Kippur. But since I am not going to be here, I will rent the curtain as a token stating that the high priest's services on Yom Kippur will not be honored here again.
After Yeshua died and was resurrected, when Yom Kippur came later that year and the next thirty nine years- forty years- the Yom Kippur ritual could not be honored, because Yeshua was the current High Priest, and He was residing in the Kingdom of Heaven and not in Jerusalem. Those that were high priests in Jerusalem, after Yeshua's death and resurrection, were illegitimate to do the Yom Kippur activities hereafter. Only Yeshua could do it. That is why the scarlet thread did not turn into white, and that is why the lot to hwhy was in the wrong hand.
This is the account of it in the Rabbinical writings regarding the two elements:
"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" (Jacob Neusner, The Yerushalmi, p.156-157).
"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 become white; nor did the western most light shine; and the doors of the Hekel [Temple] would open by themselves" (Soncino version, Yoma 39b).
Rico Cortes of Wisdom in Torah was asked by a Rabbi years ago why Yeshua was not sacrificed in the temple if He was considered the symbolic goat dedicated to hwhy. He thought of it for a while while he was away and returned back a time later and responded that He was a sacrifice for the individual sins. He is correct on that.
I want to add that Yeshua was a human being and not an animal. If He was sacrificed at the temple, He would have defiled the temple and nullify Himself as the Messiah.
I will also say that Yeshua would have defiled the temple and nullify Himself as the Messiah. He also could not be a Yom Kippur sacrifice, because He became the current High Priest on Passover before He was crucified, and a high priest cannot kill himself, especially on Yom Kippur.
I want to end on a statement that Ralph Messer from one of his emails regarding Yom Kippur that I thought was enlightening:
"Yom Kippur is commemorated as a solemn day of fasting and prayer, repentance and forgiveness, and atonement by blood. In Hebraic thought, your future is not contingent upon your past. Therefore, at Yom Kippur, repentance is made for future sins of the upcoming year, not past sins. When the temptation to sin presents itself to you, the prayers of repentance from Yom Kippur go before you and help you resist the sin. You literally experience God going before you to defeat sin in your life".
He is saying that Yom Kippur is to atone for future sins. This is just what Yeshua did by symbolically being the goat dedicated to hwhy and took the sins to atone for us by His Blood. When He died on the cross, He paid the price for past sins, but He also died playing the role of the goat dedicated to hwhy for future sins. He did this not just for His generation but for future generations as well.
HALLELU YAH!
ONE FINAL NOTE:
Ever since Yeshua became our current High Priest, He has been continuing to atone for our sins every year on the tenth day of the seventh month in the Kingdom of Heaven.
HALLELU-YAH!!!
I hope this teaching was an enlightenment to you.
Any questions or comments can be written to
the.aleph-tav.project@msn.com
SHALOM
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