ATONEMENT
523
ATONEMENT
Unitarian views, Christian Examine?; :, SG7 ; xviii, 142; xxviii, C3 ; xxxiv, 1-16; xxxvi, 3M ; xxxvii, 403. See Expiation; Redemption; Satisfaction. ATONEMENT, DAY OF (d^MSl dl'i, yom hak- kippurim' ', rfa?/ n/7Ae expiations ; Sept. i)pina i£i\aofiov, Vulg. f/tVs expiationvm or'dies propitiations), the Jewish day of annual expiation for national sin. In the Tal- mud this day is called n^TlS tVWP), great fasting, and so in Philo, vnartiag iop-i) (Lib. de Sept. v, 47, ed. Tauehn.) ; and in Acts xxvii, 9, ?/ vi]<jTtia. The Tal- mudical writers, however, often designate it merely as N-T, the day; a circumstance which has suggested to some commentators the notion that by rjfikpa (Heb. vii, 27) the apostle intended this atonement day. Though perhaps originally meant as a temporary day of expiation for the sin of the golden calf (as some would infer from Exod. xxxiii), yet it was permanent- ly instituted by Moses as a day of atonement for sins in general ; indeed, it was the great day of national humiliation, and the only one commanded in the Mo- saic law, though the later Jews, in commemoration of some disastrous events, especially those which occurred at and after the destruction of the two temples, insti- tuted a few more fast days, which they observed with scarcely less rigor and strictness than the one ordained by Moses for the purpose of general absolution (Hot- tinger, Solen. expiationum diei, Tigur. 1754). See Fast.
I. The Time. — It was kept on the tenth day of Tisri, that is, from the evening of the ninth to the evening of the tenth of that month, five days before the Feast of Tabernacles. See Festival. This would corre- spond to the early part of October. See Calendar (Jewish). This great fast, like all others among the Jews, commenced at sunset of the previous da}', and lasted twenty-four hours, that is, from sunset to sun- set, or, as the rabbins will have it, until three stars were visible in the horizon. — Kitto, s. v. See Day.
II. Commemorative Signification.— Some have infer- red from Lev. xvi, 1, that the day was instituted on account of the sin and punishment of Nadab and Abi- hu. Maimonides (Jfore Nevochim, xviii) regards it as a commemoration of the day on which Moses came down from the mount with the second tables of the law, and proclaimed to the people the forgiveness of their great sin in worshipping the golden calf Oh v.).
III. Scriptural Prescriptions respecting it. — The mode of its observance is described in Lev. xvi, where it should be noticed that in v. 3 to 10 an outline of the whole ceremonial is given, while in the rest of the chapter certain points are mentioned with more details. The victims which were offered, in addition to those strictly belonging to the special service of the day, and to those of the usual daily sacrifice, are enumerated in Num. xxix, 7-11 ; and the conduct of the people is emphatically enjoined in Lev. xxiii, 2G-32. The cere- monies were of a very laborious character, especially for the high-priest, who had to prepare himself during the previous seven days in nearly solitary confinement for the peculiar services that awaited him, and abstain during that period from all that could render him un- clean, or disturb his devotions. It was kept by the people as a solemn sabbath. The}- were commanded to set aside all work and "to afflict their souls," under pain of being "cut off from among the people." It was on this occasion only that the high-priest was per- mitted to enter into the Holy of Holies.
1. Having bathed his person and dressed himself entirely in the. holy white linen garments, he brought forward a young bullock for a sin-offering and a ram for a burnt-offering, purchased at his own cost, on ac- count of himself and his family, and two young goats for a sin-offering with a ram for a burnt-offering', which were paid for out of the public treasury, on account of the people. He then presented the two goats before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle and cast lots
upon them. On one lot the word iliiTP (i. e.for Je- hnrali) was inscribed, and on the other ^TNT"3 (i. e, for Azazel). He next sacrificed the young bullock as a sin-offering for himself and his family. Taking with him some of the blood of the bullock, he filled a censer with burning coals from the brazen altar, took a hand- ful of incense, and entered into the most holy place. He then threw the incense upon the coals and envel- oped the mercy-seat in a cloud of smoke. Then, dip- ping his finger into the blood, he sprinkled it seven times before the mercy-seat, eastward. ^ (See Lev. xvi, 14. The English version, "upon the mercy-seat," appears to be opposed to even- Jewish authority. [See Drusius in loc. in the Critici Sacri."] It has, how- ever the support of Ewald's authority. The Vulgate omits the clause ; the Sept. follows the ambiguity of the Hebrew. The word eastward must mean either the direction in which the drops were thrown by the priest, or else on the east side of the ark, i. e. the side toward the vail. The last clause of the verse may be taken as a repetition of the command, for the sake of emphasis on the number of sprinklings : "And he shall take of the blood of the bullock and sprinkle it before the mercy-seat, on the east ; and seven times shall he sprinkle the blood with his finger before the mercy- seat.") The goat upon which the lot "for Jehovah" had fallen was then slain, and the high-priest sprinkled its blood before the mercy-seat in the same manner as he had done that of the bullock. Going out from the Holy of Holies, he purified the holy place, sprinkling some of the blood of both the victims on the altar of incense. (That the altar of incense was thus purified on the da}' of atonement we learn expressly from Ex. xxx. 10. Most critics consider that this is what is spoken of in Lev. xvi, 18 and 20. But some suppose that it is the altar of burnt-offerings which is referred to in those verses, the purification of the altar of in- cense being implied in that of the holy place mention- ed in ver. 16. Abenezra was of this opinion [see Drusius in loc.]. That the expression "before the Lord" does not necessarily mean within the taber- nacle, is evident from Ex. xxix, 11. If the golden altar is here referred to, it seems remarkable that no mention is made in the ritual of the cleansing of the brazen altar. But perhaps the practice spoken of by Josephus and in the Mishna of pouring what remained of the mixed blood at the foot of the large altar was an ancient one, and was regarded as its purification.) At this time no one besides the high-priest was suffer- ed to be present in the holy place. The purification of the Holy of Holies, and of the holy place, being thus completed, the high-priest laid his hands upon the head of the goat on which the lot "for Azazel" had fallen, and confessed over it all the sins of the people. The goat was then led, by a man chosen for the purpose, into the wilderness, into "a land not inhabited." and was there let loose.