Joy in the Messiah

  אַחֲרֵי מוֹת
Acharei Mot / After the Death
Leviticus 16:1-18:30
HafTorah Amos 9:7-15
Brit Chadasha Hebrews 9:11-28

     This Torah parsha is about the service for Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Leviticus 16:7-22 contains the ritual of the two goats, one offered as a sacrifice, the other sent away into the desert “to Azazel.” They were the same, chosen to be as similar as possible in size and appearance, yet so different. They were brought before the High Priest and lots were drawn, one bearing the words “to the Lord,” the other, “to Azazel.” The goat ‘To the Lord’ was offered as a sacrifice. The goat ‘to Azazel’ the High Priest confessed the sins of the nation. It was then taken away into the desert hills outside Jerusalem and let go into the wilderness. Tradition states that it was then either driven or plunged over a cliff to its death, never to return with the sins of the nation. 
     There are three teachings on the word ‘Azazel’ which appears nowhere else in Scripture. A steep rocky place, a desolate area” (el eretz gezerah, Leviticus 16:22. According to the Sages, this meant it was thus taken, or driven or went by Divine power to a steep ravine where it fell to its death. The second interpretation is that Azazel represents a demon, based on the verse in Leviticus 17:7.‘They shall no more offer their sacrifices to demons, after whom they have played the harlot. This shall be a statute forever for them throughout their generations.’  The word ‘demons’ can be referenced and translated into goat, hairy goat, satyr, Satan (Hebrew: הַשָּׂטָן ha-satan, or the opposer, formerly known as Azazel (Hebrew: עֲזָאזֵל). Azazel personifies evil and temptation and is known as the deceiver that leads humanity astray. This verse can also be transliterated as: ‘They shall not sacrifice-( לשעירים  lasseirim) to the hairy ones, to goats.’ This might reference the famous heathen god, Pan, which was represented as having the posterior horns, and ears of a goat; and the Mendesians, a people of Egypt, who had a deity which they worshipped under this form. Herodotus says that all goats were worshipped in Egypt, but the he-goat particularly.
      The third teaching and easiest to understand is ‘the goat that was sent away to the wilderness.’        Tradition states that a red cord would be attached to its horns, half of which was removed before the animal was sent away. If the rite had been effective, the red thread would turn to white. Could Isaiah 1:18 reference this? ‘“Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.’
     Yeshua being sinless is referenced as ‘white as snow’. ‘The hairs of His head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire…’’ Revelation 1:14. 
     Mark 9:2-3 ‘Now after six days Yeshua took Peter, James, and John, and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. ³ His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them. ⁴ And Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Yeshua.’
    There were two different and distinct processes that were done on Yom Kippur. First there was kapparah, atonement which is the normal sin offering. Second, there was taharah, purification, something normally done in a different way altogether. It was the removal of tumah, ritual defilement, which could arise from a number of different causes. It could be contact with a dead body, skin disease, or a discharge. Atonement has to do with guilt and purification has to do with contamination or pollution. These two are usually separate, but divinely on Yom Kippur they were brought together. 
     When Yeshua died, His death was the ransom payment for the sin of the whole world. He carried the sins to the edges of time, Jeremiah 31:34, from east to west, Psalm 103:12, and to the depths of the sea, Micah 7:18-19. He came not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many, Mark 10:45. 
     Yeshua accomplished this as our great High Priest. Numbers 35 deals with intentional and unintentional bloodshed. If it was willful homicide, the murderer had to be put to death, Numbers 35:33. But in the case of unintentional murder, the manslayer would flee to a city of refuge where he would remain for the rest of his life, Numbers 35:1-15. Only one thing could bring his release from shame and guilt – the death of the high priest. Numbers 35:28; ‘…remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest the manslayer may return to the land of his possession.’  Even though the homicide was accidental, the convicted was banished to one of the cities of refuge for the rest of his life – unless the high priest, the one who interceded for the nation died. The death of the high priest would release him and take the place of his own death.
      

Acharei Mot/After the Death
Leviticus 16:1-18:33
HafTorah Amos 9:7-15
Brit Chadasha Hebrews 9:11-28

     This week’s Torah Portion, Acharei Mot, (אחרי מות) means “After the Death.”  This phrase is found in the first verse of this week’s Torah Portion: ‘Now the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered profane fire before the Lord, and died…’Leviticus 16:1. This is referring to Leviticus 10:1-3.  Because of this act, God gave strict instructions regarding how the high priest Aaron was to approach the presence of God within the Holy of Holies in Leviticus 16:2 ‘…and the Lord said to Moses: “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at just any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark, lest he die; for I will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat.’
     The remainder of Leviticus 16 contains the instructions for Yom Kippur as we read in Leviticus 16:29-34 ‘This shall be a statute forever for you: In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether a native of your own country or a stranger who dwells among you. ³⁰ For on that day the priest shall make atonement for you, to cleanse you, that you may be clean from all your sins before the Lord. ³¹ It is a sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you shall afflict your souls. It is a statute forever. ³² And the priest, who is anointed and consecrated to minister as priest in his father’s place, shall make atonement, and put on the linen clothes, the holy garments; ³³ then he shall make atonement for the Holy Sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tabernacle of meeting and for the altar, and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. ³⁴ This shall be an everlasting statute for you, to make atonement for the children of Israel, for all their sins, once a year.” And he did as the Lord commanded Moses.’
     In Leviticus 17:11 we understand the sanctity of the blood. ‘For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.’
     Acharei Mot ends with the laws of sexual morality in Leviticus chapter 18.
     Back to Leviticus 17:7, God makes a strict law: ‘They shall no more offer their sacrifices to demons, after whom they have played the harlot. This shall be a statute forever for them throughout their generations.’
     The word ‘demons’ can reference and be translated into goat, hairy goat, satyr, ‘Satan (Hebrew: הַשָּׂטָן ha-satan, or the opposer, formerly known as Azazel (Hebrew: עֲזָאזֵל). Azazel personifies evil and temptation and is known as the deceiver that leads humanity astray. This verse can also be transliterated as: ‘They shall not sacrifice-  לשעירים  lasseirim, to the hairy ones, to goats.’ This might reference the famous heathen god, Pan, which was represented as having the posteriors horns, and ears of a goat; and the Mendesians, a people of Egypt, had a deity which they worshipped under this form. Herodotus says that all goats were worshipped in Egypt, but the he-goat particularly.
     In Leviticus 16:10 Aaron releases the goat to Azazel, the wilderness: ‘But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make atonement upon it, and to let it go as the scapegoat into the wilderness.’ (The name represents a desolate place).
    This Torah portions teaches us the importance, once again of studying Leviticus. This Book Vayikra ties into the Brit Chadasha and emulates our Savior, Yeshua HaMashiach.  The Scripture references on the High Priest, the Holy of Holies, that life is in the blood and the worship of other gods; all brings such clarity and distinction that if we are the people of Israel, the children of God, then we must walk in His covenant and listen, Shema, which brings us into obedience.
     The LORD is holy, He must be approached in a holy manner and can only be approached according to His commands and decrees. This is not about works, but rather about our obedience through the Savior, Yeshua who brings us to The Father.
     During this Torah portion, we are in the Counting of the Omer and the reading Psalm 119. Omer reading for day 3 Gimel is Psalms 119:17-24 and speaks frankly about those that stray. ‘You rebuke the proud (arrogant)—the cursed, who stray from Your commandments.’ Psalm 119:21. Those that stray are arrogant, proud and cursed.
     There is a clear distinction between good and evil, truth and falsehood, nobility and debasement, good and evil, clean and unclean. Absolute truth demands that we confront the paths of idolatry and evil in deed and thought. For which when we return to Adonai, we are cleansed and forgiven.
     The forgiveness of Yom Kippur that we see in this Torah portion is expressed in the Azazel offering. So, as we begin to understand the meaning of the Azazel service, we begin to truly appreciate the nature of the forgiveness and atonement of Yom Kippur, which is the highest level of forgiveness, coming from the very source of divine chesed (loving-kindness).
      Isaiah 53:6 states: ‘All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.’ This is the atonement service. What is it to stray, to turn from Elohim and worship other gods, the idols of our hearts? We have become proud and thus cursed when we turn from His commandments. The iniquity of our sins rests upon Yeshua HaMashiach, as the sins of Biblical Israel rested upon the goat sent into the wilderness.
     Revelation 9:20-21 ‘But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. ²¹ And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.’