by Noel Rude
“And forgive us our debts even as we forgive our debtors by bludgeoning our own sons with punishment equal to what our debtors deserve.”
Is that what he said? No, of course not, rather he taught us to pray (Mat 6:12), “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” How do we forgive our debtors? We simply forgive. We show mercy—all, of course, if our debtors repent and seek forgiveness.
Does God forgive that way? Apparently not—not, at least, according to the doctrine of substitutionary atonement. God cannot or will not forgive. He does not repent of the revenge he would exact for our sins. But his rage might be deflected if another steps forth to take the punishment. And in this view, that someone is Jesus Christ. The wages of sin are thus meted out in full, but not on those who have sinned, or, as put in the Racovian Catechism (Rees 1818:305), “For where a creditor is satisfied, either by the debtor himself, or by another person on the debtor’s behalf, it cannot with truth be said of him that he freely forgave the debt.”
What is important is that the wages of sin be meted out. Justice—justice alone—justice without mercy. Mercy on us, yes, but not on God’s own son who took the punishment upon himself. But as Gregory Boyd asks (in Beilby & Eddy, eds., 2006, page 104),
… how are we to understand sin and guilt literally being transferred from a guilty person to an innocent person (or to innocent animals with the Old Testament sacrifices)? What sort of justice is it that punishes an innocent person (or animals) for what another person did? How are we to reconcile the idea that the Father needs to exact payment from or on behalf of his enemies with Jesus’ teaching (and example) that we are to love unconditionally and forgive without demanding payment?
Along these same lines, how are we to reconcile the idea that God cannot be reconciled with sinners without his wrath being satisfied with blood with the pervasive scriptural depiction of God forgiving people without needing his wrath appeased (e.g., Lk 15:11-32)? If God must always get what is coming to him in order to forgive (namely, “a kill”),[1] does God ever really forgive? And how is the view that God requires a kill to have his rage placated essentially different from the pagan or magical understanding of divine appeasement found in primordial religions throughout history?
But according to Jesus, if we wish to be forgiven we are to forgive those who seek reconciliation (Luke 17:3-4): “Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.”
And the criterion for forgiveness by God is the same—repentance and turning from the sin (1John 1:9): “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Such understanding was Paul’s commission to teach—a teaching he ascribed to Jesus (Acts 26:18): “To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.”
There is no hint of substitutionary atonement in the teaching of Jesus.
Matthew 6:14-15—“For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
Mark 11:25-26—“And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.”
Luke 11:4—“And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us.”
Luke 6:37—“Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven…”
Such also is the lesson in Jesus’ parable in Matthew 18:21-35—verse 35: “So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.”
If Jesus did not ask us to have our sons bear the penalty of the sins of those who have sinned against us—why should we not think God forgives with the same freedom he asks us to forgive?
True—we sin and suffering inevitably ensues. The law of cause and effect works mechanically. Cain killed his brother and “the voice of thy brother’s blood[s] crieth unto me from the ground.” (Gen 4:10) David committed murder and adultery and he repented—there was no sacrifice he could give for all that (Psalms 51:16-17): “For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” And God forgave (2Sam 12:13): “And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.”
Nevertheless the damage was done. Uriah would remain dead and bereft of progeny. Bathsheba’s child would die, and David’s family would be terribly dysfunctional.
But sin has wages beyond the damage left in its wake (Rom 6:23), “For the wages of sin is death”—not the first death (Heb 9:27), “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment…”—the wages of sin is death before the judgment seat of God (Mat 10:28): “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell [ἐν γεέννῃ].”
David escapes this second death which is the wages of sin (Rev 20:6): “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.” David died the first death—as Peter noted (Act 2:29-34): “Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. … For David is not ascended into the heavens…” But with his sins forgiven David will arise in the first resurrection (Jer 30:9): “But they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them.” David escapes the second death which is the wages of sin. Neither he nor his family escaped the suffering his sins caused.
In the story of the twelve patriarchs we see differing approaches to failure. Reuben suggests a substitutionary sacrifice (Gen 42:37): “And Reuben spake unto his father, saying, Slay my two sons, if I bring him not to thee: deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him to thee again.” Judah, on the other hand, assumes personal responsibility (Gen 43:9): “I will be surety for him; of my hand shalt thou require him: if I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame for ever…” Of the two leading patriarchs, Judah and Joseph, Joseph was the sinless one and Judah received redemption through repentance.
Forgiveness of sin in the Tanakh
Is it that in the Old Testament God forgave sin through substitutionary animal sacrifices, whereas after Jesus died we are forgiven through the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ?
Offering (קָרְבָּן qorbān)
in Leviticus
Leviticus 1
עֹלָה
Burnt Offering
‘ōlāʰ
τὸ ὁλοκαύτωμα
Leviticus 2
מִנְחָה
Grain Offering
minḥāʰ
ἡ θυσία
Leviticus 3
שְׁלָמִים
Peace Offering
šǝlāmîm
ἡ θυσία τοῦ σωτηρίου
Leviticus 4
חַטָּאת
Sin Offering
ḥaṭṭā’t
ἡ ἁμαρτία
Leviticus 5
אָשָׁם
Trespass Offering
’āšām
ἡ πλημμελεία
Sacrifice, rather than a payoff for sin, was a form of worship, as in the beginning (Gen 4:3-4), “And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof.”
The word for offering (מִנְחָה minḥāʰ) occurs twice in this passage and eight more times in Genesis where it is translated ‘present’ or ‘gift’ with the sense of appeasement, as in Jacob’s “present for Esau his brother” (Gen 32:13, 20, 21; 33:10) or as when Jacob said “and carry down the man a present” (Gen 43:11, 15, 25, 26).
Nevertheless there is no sense in Genesis 4 that Cain and Abel were seeking the expiation of sin through sacrifice. It was rather a gift to God on whose good side it is good to be. The next instance of sacrifice in Genesis involved Noah (8:20-21): “And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.”
These were burnt offerings (עֹלֹת ‘ōlōt, plural of עֹלָה ‘ōlāʰ). The word occurs seven times in Genesis—once here and six times in the account of the binding of Isaac (Gen 22:2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 13). In either instance, once again, there is no hint of a substitutionary sacrifice. God had cursed the ground (Gen 3:17), “…cursed is the ground for thy sake…” and now he says (Gen 8:21), “I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake…” One must assume that it is not the smoke itself but that something of value has been completely relinquished to God—both in Noah’s case and even more so in Abraham’s case.
The burnt offering (עֹלָה ‘ōlāʰ) is an active participle of עָלָה ‘ālāʰ ‘he went up’, as in (Ex 19:3), “And Moses went up [עָלָ֖ה ‘ālāʰ] unto God…” The animal is completely burnt up and thus a gift only to God.
How was the ground cursed? “Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee…” (Gen 3:18). I would suggest that this refers to the choking off of converts (Mat 7:16; Heb 6:8). Not many were made between Adam and the Flood—now somehow the way would be open via the Flood and Noah’s faithfulness. The burnt offerings were an act of devotion after the fact and the “sweet savour” [2] indicated how pleasing this was to God.
The covenant with Abraham was cut (Gen 15:18), “In the same day the LORD made [כָּרַ֧ת kārat ‘cut’] a covenant with Abram,” and in it animals were cut in two (Gen 15:8-11):
And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. And he took unto him all these, and divided [וַיְבַתֵּ֤ר wayǝbattēr ‘and he cut in two’] them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he [בָתָֽר ḇātar ‘he cut in two’] not. And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.
There is nothing in all this, however, indicating or symbolic of a substitutionary sacrifice. We see gifts and symbols, and, if anything, the binding of Isaac argues that God does not want a human sacrifice—be it Abraham’s son or God’s own.
The next instance of a sacrifice is the Passover lamb. It was a “Passover sacrifice” (זֶבַח־פֶּסַח zebaḥ-pésaḥ) as the Israelites were to explain to their children (Ex 12:27): “That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the LORD’S passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped.”
There is no sense that it substituted even in type as a recipient of the punishment Israel’s sinners deserved. It is called a service (עֲבֹדָ֥ה ‘ăbōdāʰ) in verses 25 & 26 of Exodus 12; ἡ λατρεία in the Septuagint—as in Romans 12:1—“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service [τὴν λογικὴν λατρείαν ὑμῶν].” It was a sign of Israel’s obedience. Consider Rabbi Bachya at Exodus 12:13 (translation from ArtScroll Chumash):[3]
It was not the blood that prevented the plague, nor its absence that caused it. The Torah teaches that whoever unequivocally placed his trust in Hashem and did not fear Pharaoh or his decrees, but fearlessly slaughtered Egypt’s god in public and placed the pesach-offering’s blood on his doorposts, thereby demonstrating that he was righteous and worthy of being protected from the plague.
In Leviticus only the sin offering (חַטָּאת ḥaṭṭā’t) and trespass offering (אָשָׁם ’āšām) had anything to do with sin. These had to do with sins of ignorance (Lev 4:2 – “If a soul shall sin through ignorance…”)—such as the priest making a mistake in a ritual. Sins which did not incur the death penalty, such as theft and dishonesty, require full restitution plus 20%, as in Lev 5:16, “And he shall make amends for the harm that he hath done in the holy thing, and shall add the fifth part thereto…” Then he brings his trespass offering. And didn’t Jesus concur? In the sermon on the mount he said (Mat 5:23-24):
Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
Here “thy gift” (τὸ δῶρόν σου) is קרבניך qorbǝnéyḵā ‘thy offering’ in the Shem-Tob Matthew—thus implying one of the Leviticus offerings.
For sins that carry the death penalty—sins such as adultery and murder—there is no making amends and no sacrifice or offering (Deut 24:16): “The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.” Thus also Numbers 35:30-32:
Whoso killeth any person, the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses: but one witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to die. Moreover ye shall take no satisfaction [כֹפֶר ḵṓper ‘ransom’] for the life of a murderer, which is guilty of death: but he shall be surely put to death. And ye shall take no satisfaction [כֹפֶר ḵṓper] for him that is fled to the city of his refuge, that he should come again to dwell in the land, until the death of the priest.
Money cannot buy forgiveness (Psalms 49:6-7): “They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him [כָּפְרוֹ kop̄rô]…”
The whole of Ezekiel 18 is instructive on this subject—the following must suffice here:
4 Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die. … 20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. 21 But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
In Ezekiel 33 God explains forgiveness—and there is no sacrifice and substitution involved.
11 Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? 12 Therefore, thou son of man, say unto the children of thy people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression: as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness; neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sinneth. 13 When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it. 14 Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right; 15 If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die. 16 None of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him: he hath done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live.
When David committed both adultery and murder he simply prayed (Psalm 51:16-17): “For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”
Even capital crimes can be forgiven by God—he is that merciful. Nevertheless David, as we have seen, suffered from the consequences of his sins and in the resurrection he yet faces the prospect of reconciling with Uriah.
The patriarchs built altars and sacrificed wherever they were, whereas after God would choose a place to put his name, only there would Israel sacrifice (Deut 12:5-6, 13-14), and hence when in exile there could be no sacrifice. The great sin of Jeroboam the son of Nebat was to set up an alternate site for sacrifice (1Kings 12:25-33), and thus the woman at the well would say to Jesus (John 4:20), “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” Jesus said to her (verses 21-22), “Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.”
Of the first covenant—the one made before the sin of the golden calf—God says (Jer 7:21-23):
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh. For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices: But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.
And indeed in the words of that first covenant (Exodus 20-23) there is no tabernacle and no Levitical priesthood and no mention of sacrifice except (Ex 20:24-26):
An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee. And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.
כפר kpr
Verb constructions (בִּנְיָנִים)
1
כָּפַר kāp̄ar ‘cover over, daub’ (Gen 6:14)
3
כִּפֶּר kipper ‘cover over (figurative), pacify, make propitiation’ (about 94 occurrences)
4
כֻּפַּר kuppar ‘be covered, disannulled, purged’ (Ex 29:33; Num 35:33; Is 6:7; 22:14; 27:9; 28:18; Prov 16:6)
7
הִתְכַּפֵּר hitkappēr ‘cover oneself’ (1Sam 3:14)
+
נִכַּפֵּר nikkappēr ‘be covered’ (Deut 21:8)
Nominalizations
כָּפָר kāp̄ār
‘village’ < ‘covering, roof’ (Josh 18:24; Songs 7:11; 1Chr 27:25)
כֹּֽפֶר kṓp̄er
‘covering, pitch, village, henna; ransom’ (Gen 6:14; plus 16 occurrences)
כְּפִיר kǝp̄îr
‘village (Neh 6:2); young lion (perhaps as covered with a mane)’ (32 occurrences in all)
כִּפֻּרִים kippurîm
‘atonements’ (Ex 29:36; 30:10; Lev 23:27, 28; 25:9; Num 5:8; 29:11)
כַּפֹּֽרֶת kappṓret
‘cover of the ark, mercy seat’ (27 occurrences)
כְּפוֹר kǝp̄ôr
‘bowl (1Chr 28:17; Ez 1:10; 8:27); frost’ (Ex 16:14; Ps 147:16; Job 38:29)
Cognates
Aramaic
כְּפַר ܟܦܰܪ kǝp̄ar ‘wash away, rub off’
Arabic
كَفَرَ kafara ‘cover, hide’; كَفَّارَةٌkaffāra ‘expiation’; كَافِرٌkāfir ‘infidel’ (one who covers the Islamic version of truth)
Akkadian
kapāru ‘wipe off, smear on, clean, purify magically’; kāpiru ‘cauker’; kupru ‘bitumen’
Ugaritic
kpr ‘henna’ < ‘rubbed on’ – see The Palace of Baal B ii 2 in Gibson (1978)
ESA
kfr ‘dig, cave’
Ge‘ez
ከፈር käfär ‘basket’
God says (Hosea 6:6), “For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.” And so in a nutshell let us observe that a blood sacrifice was the ancient form of worship, that there was no sacrifice even symbolic of the forgiveness of sins worthy of death, and that sacrifices were not integral to the first covenant.
Atonement
About the only theological word we have in English that is not derived from Latin is “atonement”. William Tyndale coined it: at + one + ment. See Andreasen (1990). In our King James Version it perhaps most often translates some derivative of the Hebrew כפר kpr. The etymological sense is ‘cover over, cover up’ (the modern negative connotation notwithstanding). Maybe the sense in Scripture is not that we can repair the past or undo our sins or bring Abel’s generations back. Rather, as James says (James 5:20, RSV) “…whoever brings back a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” Peter says it too (1Pet 4:8, NIV): “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”
A key verse is Leviticus 17:11 (it occurs amid an admonition not to eat blood): “For the [soul] of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement [לְכַפֵּ֖ר lǝḵappēr] for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement [יְכַפֵּֽר yǝḵappēr] for the soul.”
Nevertheless atonement comes not just via a blood sacrifice. There is also this (Ex 30:12): “When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom [כֹּ֧פֶר kṓp̄er] for his soul unto the LORD, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them. This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs:) an half shekel shall be the offering of the LORD.”
Even with the burnt offering (עֹלָ֑ה ‘ōlāʰ), for which there is no association of sin, atonement is nevertheless achieved (Lev 1:4), “And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering [הָעֹלָ֑ה hā‘ōlāʰ]; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement [לְכַפֵּ֥ר lǝḵappēr] for him.”
Atonement is mentioned again and repeatedly in regard to the sin offering (חַטָּאת ḥaṭṭā’t) and the trespass offering (אָשָׁם ’āšām), but let us remember that these constitute the last act in reconciliation (Mat 5:23-24), a sort of statement before God and man that one has made amends for his sin. And for sins for which there are no making amends (such as adultery and murder)
The Sin and Guilt Offerings and Atonement
Leviticus 4
Sin Offering (חַטָּאת ἡ ἁμαρτία)
וְכִפֶּ֧ר עֲלֵהֶ֛ם הַכֹּהֵ֖ן וְנִסְלַ֥ח לָהֶֽם׃
v. 20 ‘…and the priest shall make an atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven them.’
וְכִפֶּ֨ר עָלָ֧יו הַכֹּהֵ֛ן מֵחַטָּאת֖וֹ וְנִסְלַ֥ח לֽוֹ׃
v. 26 ‘…and the priest shall make an atonement for him as concerning his sin, and it shall be forgiven him.’
וְכִפֶּ֥ר עָלָ֛יו הַכֹּהֵ֖ן וְנִסְלַ֥ח לֽוֹ׃
v. 31 ‘…and the priest shall make an atonement for him, and it shall be forgiven him.’
וְכִפֶּ֨ר עָלָ֧יו הַכֹּהֵ֛ן עַל־חַטָּאת֥וֹ אֲשֶׁר־חָטָ֖א וְנִסְלַ֥ח לֽוֹ׃
v. 35 ‘…and the priest shall make an atonement for his sin that he hath committed, and it shall be forgiven him.’
Leviticus 5
Trespass Offering ( אָשָׁםἡ πλημμελεία)
וְכִפֶּ֥ר עָלָ֛יו הַכֹּהֵ֖ן מֵחַטָּאתֽוֹ׃
v. 6 ‘…and the priest shall make an atonement for him concerning his sin.’
וְכִפֶּ֨ר עָלָ֧יו הַכֹּהֵ֛ן מֵחַטָּאת֥וֹ אֲשֶׁר־חָטָ֖א וְנִסְלַ֥ח לֽוֹ׃
v. 10 ‘…and the priest shall make an atonement for him for his sin which he hath sinned, and it shall be forgiven him.’
וְכִפֶּר֩ עָלָ֨יו הַכֹּהֵ֜ן עַל־חַטָּאת֧וֹ אֲשֶׁר־חָטָ֛א מֵֽאַחַ֥ת מֵאֵ֖לֶּה וְנִסְלַ֣ח ל֑וֹ
v. 13 ‘And the priest shall make an atonement for him as touching his sin that he hath sinned in one of these, and it shall be forgiven him…’
וְהַכֹּהֵ֗ן יְכַפֵּ֥ר עָלָ֛יו בְּאֵ֥יל הָאָשָׁ֖ם וְנִסְלַ֥ח לֽוֹ׃
v. 16 ‘…and the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering, and it shall be forgiven him.’
וְכִפֶּר֩ עָלָ֨יו הַכֹּהֵ֜ן עַ֣ל שִׁגְגָת֧וֹ אֲשֶׁר־שָׁגָ֛ג וְה֥וּא לֹֽא־יָדַ֖ע וְנִסְלַ֥ח לֽוֹ׃
v. 18 ‘…and the priest shall make an atonement for him concerning his ignorance wherein he erred and wist it not, and it shall be forgiven him.’
there is no sacrifice.
Once when Israel had been afflicted by famine, God revealed to David that it was because Saul had slain the Gibeonites—Canaanites who had tricked Joshua into unwisely making a treaty (Joshua 9). Even so God expects Israel to abide by her word—something Saul had failed to do (2Sam 21:3-6), “Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? and wherewith shall I make the atonement [אֲכַפֵּ֔ר ’ăḵappēr], that ye may bless the inheritance of the LORD? And the Gibeonites said unto him, We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house; neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel. And he said, What ye shall say, that will I do for you. And they answered the king, The man that consumed us, and that devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel, Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, whom the LORD did choose. And the king said, I will give them.”
This seems to fly in the face of Numbers 35:30: “Moreover ye shall take no satisfaction [כֹפֶר ḵṓp̄er ‘ransom’] for the life of a murderer, which is guilty of death: but he shall be surely put to death.” And, as we saw, Ezekiel 18:20, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.” David needed to appease the Gibeonites, but if he hung innocent men he surely erred in his method. God’s law is perfect (Psalms 19:7)[4] and David was a man after God’s own heart (1Sam 13:14; Acts 13:22), but this does not mean that he never made mistakes or sinned.
God also ordained a day of Atonement on the 10th of the seventh month, a day of fasting and ritual (Lev 23:28): “And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement [יוֹם כִּפֻּרִים yôm kippurîm – ἡμέρα ἐξιλασμοῦ], to make an atonement [לְכַפֵּר lǝḵappēr – ἐξιλάσασθαι] for you before the LORD your God.” The word is in the plural—yôm kippurîm—but generally today it is referred to in the singular as “Yom Kippur.” The word is singular also in the Septuagint. It occurs without the prefix (ἐξ) in the New Testament (ὁ ἱλασμός ‘appeasing, propitiating’) and only in First John:
1John 2:2—“And he is [a] propitiation [ἱλασμός] for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”
1John 4:10—“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be [a] propitiation [ἱλασμὸν] for our sins.”
And the verb in the Septuagint, ἐξιλάσασθαι, also occurs without the prefix in the New Testament (ἱλάσκομαι ‘render propitious, appease’) and only in Hebrews 2:17 (RSV),[5]
16 For surely it is not with angels that he is concerned but with the descendants of Abraham. 17 Therefore he had to be made like his brethren in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make expiation [ἱλάσκεσθαι] for the sins of the people. 18 For because he himself has suffered and been tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.
And in Luke 18:13: “And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me [ἱλάσθητί μοι] a sinner.”
The atonement ritual is given in Leviticus 16 where, among other things, two goats are selected and distinguished by lot (Lev 16:8): “And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat [לַעֲזָאזֵל la‘ăzā’zēl].” As usual the Torah is meticulous in regard to practice and silent on the meaning behind it all. And so we speculate.
Again it was William Tyndale who translated עֲזָאזֵל ‘ăzā’zēl as “scapegoat.” The word occurs only here (four times in this chapter), and has given rise to much speculation: is it derived from a Semitic root, such as the Arabic عزل ‘zl ‘remove’? [6] Does it refer to the goat or the place or angel where the goat is sent? Does it refer to the devil? And why two goats? Why goats and not lambs?
Here is my speculation. The two goats represent Israel—some of whom are sacrificed, living or otherwise (Rom 12:1), and whose souls remain “under the altar” (Rev 6:9). Others, like the goat which was to remain alive (Lev 16:10), are sent into the wilderness of exile to bear their sins just as this goat (verse 22): “And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.”
Numbers 14:34-35—“After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise. I the LORD have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.”
Ezekiel 4:4-6—“Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity. For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.”
Ezekiel 23:49—“And they shall recompense your lewdness upon you, and ye shall bear the sins of your idols: and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.”
Or as Paul puts it for an individual (1Cor 5:5), “To deliver such an one unto [the] Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”[7]
The goat “for the LORD” becomes a sin offering and the goat to be sent to Azazel provides atonement (Lev 16:9-10 RSV):
And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the LORD, and offer it as a sin offering [חַטָּאת ḥaṭṭā’t]; but the goat on which the lot fell for Aza’zel shall be presented alive before the LORD to make atonement over it [לְכַפֵּר lǝḵappēr], that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Aza’zel.
Not that the slaughtered goat doesn’t also make atonement—it does when its blood is brought within the veil (verse 16) thus symbolizing the souls under the altar (Rev 6:9).[8] The priest also must slaughter a bullock to make atonement for himself before he enters the most holy place (verses 11-14).
For those who like to make connections, there are the two goats that Rebecca had Jacob use to deceive Isaac. Thus in regard to Rebecca’s words to Jacob (Gen 27:9), “Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good [טֹבִים ṭōbîm] kids of the goats…,” the Midrash allegorizes:[9] “Rabbi Chelbo said, “‘Good for you,’ because by them you are taking the blessings and good for your children because by them He atones for them on the day of Atonement, as it is written (Lev 16:30), “For on that day shall the priest make an atonement…” etc.
There is also a Midrash on the Day of Atonement in the New Testament book of Hebrews. There Jesus is not only the goat sacrificed as a sin offering, he is also symbolized by the high priest who entered the Holy of Holies once a year on that day. Aaron sacrificed a bullock for his own atonement—Jesus, however (Heb 8:12), “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.” The resurrected Jesus enters the heavenly sanctuary—not every Day of Atonement—but, let me suggest, even as the Day of Atonement is the fifth annual Sabbath of the sacred year, so also Jesus enters and begins serving as our heavenly high priest on the eve of the fifth millennium (verses 24-26):
For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world:[10] but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
It is the blood that atones for the soul (Lev 17:11)—but how? My thought is that forgiveness is assured when we resist unto blood (Heb 12:4). It is not a light matter, just some whooping it up celebration—no, rather, as Dr. Samuel Johnson put it, “The prospect of hanging concentrates the mind wonderfully.” If anything, let me suggest, this was the impression God wanted on the Day of Atonement. We are reconciled because Jesus resisted unto death and was qualified to be an advocate for us even as Moses was for Israel at Sinai when God said to Moses (Ex 32:10), “Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.” Moses answer (verse 32): “Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin-; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.”
Similarly Paul says of Christ (Rom 5:10), “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.”
Not that—as some will say—“Jesus dunnit!” No, it is his on-going advocacy—as John explains (1John 2:1-2): “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate [παράκλητον] with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation [ἱλασμός] for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”
Some Difficult Scriptures
There is neither time nor space here to attend to all the passages in the New Testament that seem—or have been interpreted—to argue for the substitution or imputation interpretation. A few, however, are in order. Those who reject the Trinity and Incarnation, and who agree that the Scripture does not favor one person being punished for another’s sins, are encouraged to study these and others on their own. Where I take these difficult passages most surely will not want to go. To begin let us consider the following.
Matthew 20:28.
Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
We find the same statement in Mark 10:45. This word “ransom” (λύτρον), in probably the
most pertinent passages, translates the Hebrew kopher (כֹּפֶר kṓp̄er). If one vows to God the soul
Evaluation of Souls
Leviticus 27
Age
Value in Silver
Male
20 – 60 years
50 shekels
5 – 20 years
20 shekels
1 month – 5 years
5 shekels
60 years and above
15 shekels
Female
20 – 60 years
30 shekels
5 – 20 years
10 shekels
1 month – 5 years
3 shekels
60 years and above
10 shekels
(life) of a person, his own or another’s, the evaluation is as given in Leviticus 27. Because all the firstborn already belong to God, but were rejected after the sin of the golden calf, Levi was chosen instead (Num 3:44-45): “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel…” The firstborn, therefore, must be redeemed and the price, as in Leviticus 27, was five shekels (Num 18:15-16):
Every thing that openeth the matrix in all flesh, which they bring unto the LORD, whether it be of men or beasts, shall be thine: nevertheless the firstborn of man shalt thou surely redeem, and the firstling of unclean beasts shalt thou redeem. And those that are to be redeemed from a month old shalt thou redeem, according to thine estimation, for the money of five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs.
It is interesting that at age 17 (Gen 37:2) Joseph was sold for 20 of silver (verse 28), just as in Leviticus 27. Jesus was betrayed for 30 of silver (Mat 26:14-16; Mark 14:10-11), suggesting perhaps the price of a slave (Ex 21:32): “If the ox shall push a manservant or a maidservant; he shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.”
Also when a census was taken, every man 20 and above in age was required to pay half a shekel as a ransom for his soul [כֹּפֶר נַפְשׁוֹ kōp̄er nap̄šô / λύτρα τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ] “…that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them.” (Ex 30:11-16).
But, as we have seen, there is no ransom for a sin unto death—even an accidental killing (Num 35:31-32): “Moreover ye shall take no satisfaction for the life [כֹפֶר לְנֶפֶשׁ kṓp̄er lǝnép̄eš / λύτρα περὶ ψυχῆς] of a murderer, which is guilty of death: but he shall be surely put to death. And ye shall take no satisfaction [כֹפֶר kṓp̄er / λύτρα] for him that is fled to the city of his refuge, that he should come again to dwell in the land, until the death of the priest.”
Therefore the ransom in Matthew 20:28 and Mark 10:45 was not a ransom for sin but rather as in Leviticus 27:2, “When a man shall make a singular vow…” The same was true of Jesus (Titus 2:14), “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” How does he redeem us from all iniquity (lawlessness)?
When he inspires us to be zealous of good works.
Matthew 26:27-28.
And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
We also read of this in Mark 14:23-25, Luke 22:20, and in 1Cor 11:23-30. So what is the blood of the covenant? We read of it in Exodus 24:
5 And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the LORD. 6 And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 7 And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient. 8 And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words.
And this is recalled in chapter 9 of the book of Hebrews (New American Standard Bible ©1995):
15 For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. 16 For where a covenant is, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it. 17 For a covenant is valid only when men are dead, for it is never in force while the one who made it lives. 18 Therefore even the first covenant was not inaugurated without blood. 19 For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the Law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20 saying [Ex 24:8], “THIS IS THE BLOOD OF THE COVENANT WHICH GOD COMMANDED YOU.” 21 And in the same way he sprinkled both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry with the blood. 22 And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
Here many translations render the Greek word diathḗkē (ἡ διαθήκη) as a “will” or “testament”—but such is never justified elsewhere in the Bible—Old or New Testament. Rather in the ancient world a covenant was sealed by blood (Gen 8:20-22; 9:1-17; 15:8-21), the thought being that one in essence died to that covenant: “Till death us do part” (as in the Book of Common Prayer). The blood of the covenant—shedding the blood of an animal—symbolizes that the parties will die before breaking it.
Jesus is not the husband of this new covenant—he is the mediator—and it is his willingness to go to the death that serves as the symbolic blood of that covenant. And how is that covenant involved in the remission of sins? As it says in the new covenant chapter (Jer 31:33): “But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
John 1:29.
The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
Again in verse 36 John exclaims, “Behold the Lamb of God!” If there is a sacrifice that pictured Jesus death, surely it was the Passover. Jesus died when the Passover lamb was to be sacrificed. And Paul plainly says (1Cor 5:7), “For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us…” Peter says that we are not redeemed with corruptible things (1Pet 1:19-21), “But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.”
The book of Revelation speaks of those made (Rev 7:14) “…white in the blood of the Lamb,” of those who overcame the devil (Rev 12:11) “…by the blood of the Lamb,” and of Christ as (Rev 13:8) “…the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”
But what connection does the Passover lamb have with sin? Did the Passover lamb take away the sin of Egypt? Or of Israel? Did the Passover lamb have anything directly to do with sin?
Unlike the goat sacrificed on the Day of Atonement, the Passover was not a sacrifice for sin. It is not called a sin offering. It came about via a tit for tat bargain God made with Pharaoh (Ex 4:22-23): “And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn: And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.”
There is a mixing of levels here. The collective nation Israel is God’s firstborn son, yet what the blood of the Passover lamb protected was the firstborn of individuals. Just as it was every firstborn Egyptian that died, so it was every firstborn Israelite that was protected. And in so doing—in sparing the lives of Israel’s firstborn—God redeemed, purchased, came into possession of those firstborn (Exodus 13:11-15) which he later rejected in favor of the Levites (Numbers 8:14-18). The firstborn were the priests, but after the sin of the golden calf God said (Num 3:45), “Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of their cattle; and the Levites shall be mine: I am the LORD.” All the firstborn of cattle would go to the Levites and the firstborn of man and unclean beast would have to be redeemed (Num 18:15): “Every thing that openeth the matrix in all flesh, which they bring unto the LORD, whether it be of men or beasts, shall be thine: nevertheless the firstborn of man shalt thou surely redeem, and the firstling of unclean beasts shalt thou redeem.”
So then what was the bargain God made involving “the lamb slain from the foundation of the world”?
Let us say that God purchased the spiritual firstborn of his kingdom from among those enslaved of this world. Isn’t this what Paul means when he says (1Cor 6:20), “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” And again he says (1Cor 7:23), “You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.”
Here is how Paul puts it (Gal 4:3-5): “Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” Perhaps the “law” he is talking about here is not the law of God but rather the law of our nature mentioned elsewhere by Paul. Just as Israel was enslaved in Egypt, so we are enslaved by our own perverse natures.[11]
Romans 6:20—“For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.”
Romans 7:23—“But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.”
Romans 8:2—“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”
Like the firstborn who were saved from death in Egypt, those being redeemed now are counted as an assembly of firstborn (Heb 12:23), a holy priesthood (1Pet 2:5) and a royal priesthood (verse 9, 10), “Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.”
The reference Peter makes here is to Hosea 1:10: “Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people [לֹא־עַמִּי lō’-‘ammî], there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.”
And Hosea in turn invokes the Torah (Deut 32:20-21): “And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith. They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people [בְּלֹא־עָם bǝlō’-‘ām]; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.” Or as it is put in (Rev 18:4), “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” We were not only enslaved to our lusts but also to society and the spirit behind it as well (Rev 9:11).
In the context of Jeremiah’s new covenant, Ephraim, who was the youngest of the 13 patriarchs, will at that time be the firstborn (Jer 31:9): “They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.”
And it was Ephraim under Jeroboam that led Israel to sin and be cut out of the covenant.
So if Christ is our Passover sacrifice, then this is not a substitutionary sacrifice in which Christ is punished with what we deserve (or with all our sins imputed to him). It is rather a symbolic payment God made for those enslaved to sin. It purchases a royal priesthood whereby God will remove the sin of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and thereby take away the sin of the world.
Like Moses who pleaded for Israel, so Christ at God’s right hand pleads for the world—and especially for the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Mat 15:24): “I am not sent but unto the lost
The Sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat
חַטֹּאות יָרָבְעָם בֶּן־נְבָט
1Kings 13:34 And this thing became sin unto the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth.
1Kings 14:16 And he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin.
1Kings 15:30 Because of the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and which he made Israel sin, by his provocation wherewith he provoked the LORD God of Israel to anger.
1Kings 15:34 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin.
1Kings 16:2 Forasmuch as I exalted thee out of the dust, and made thee prince over my people Israel; and thou hast walked in the way of Jeroboam, and hast made my people Israel to sin, to provoke me to anger with their sins;
1Kings 16:19 For his sins which he sinned in doing evil in the sight of the LORD, in walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he did, to make Israel to sin.
1Kings 16:26 For he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin, to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger with their vanities.
1Kings 16:31 And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him.
1Kings 21:22 And will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger, and made Israel to sin.
1Kings 22:52 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin:
2Kings 3:3 Nevertheless he cleaved unto the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin; he departed not therefrom.
2Kings 10:29 Howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them, to wit, the golden calves that were in Bethel, and that were in Dan.
2Kings 10:31 But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the LORD God of Israel with all his heart: for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin.
2Kings 13:2 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin; he departed not therefrom.
2Kings 13:6 Nevertheless they departed not from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who made Israel sin, but walked therein: and there remained the grove also in Samaria.)
2Kings 13:11 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD; he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin: but he walked therein.
2Kings 14:24 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.
2Kings 15:9 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his fathers had done: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.
2Kings 15:18 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not all his days from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.
2Kings 15:24 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.
2Kings 15:28 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.
2Kings 17:21-23 For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drave Israel from following the LORD, and made them sin a great sin. For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them; Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.
2Kings 23:15 Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove.
sheep of the house of Israel.” According to Matthew 1:21, the child was to be called Jesus (יֵשׁוּעַ yēšûaʕ from יְהוֹשֻׁעַ yǝhôšū́aʕ ‘Yah shall save’), “…for he shall save [יֹושִׁיעַ yôšîaʕ] his people from their sins.”[12]
What sins? How about those mentioned in Ezekiel 37:23? “Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.”
Again what sins? How about the sin of Jeroboam the son of Nebat? All Israel and Judah need saved from their sins—but it was the sin of Jeroboam that caused the northern kingdom to forsake going up to Zion to keep the festivals that led to its casting away. If Jesus (a new Joshua) is not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, these would be the chief sins he would be called upon to save his people from. The sin was in refusing to go up to Zion (1Kings 12:28): “Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.” And the sin will be taken away when (Jer 31:6), “For there shall be a day, that the watchmen[13] upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the LORD our God.”
Yes,