The Torah reading Vayera (“and He appeared,” Genesis 18–22) aptly describes how the Creator of the Heavens and Earth shows up “in the fullness of time.”

We will see messianic parallels between the “days of Lot” in Sodom, the “days of Noah” and the Day of the LORD preceding the return of Yeshua (Jesus), the Son of Man (Matthew 24; Luke 17).

In Vayera, we see how Abraham and his son Yitzkhak (Isaac), the promised one, trust in God’s promise. In Hebrews 11, we learn that Abraham’s trust was not only in the LORD the promiser but also in the LORD as resurrector. 

We will also see how Abraham has a very eventful lunch date with the Lord and intercedes for Sodom. God never sends judgement without knowing the intricacies of what is going on. We can learn from Abraham’s righteous example and pray for God’s mercy and deliverance for the righteous who live in the most wicked cities. Because of Abraham’s righteous prayer, Lot and his family were saved from the judgement the rest of Sodom reaped. 

When Abraham offered up his “only son” we see that God not only “shows up” at our time of need but that the Lord is prepared to pay the “ultimate price” while we were “yet sinners.” God’s salvation comes with a very steep price. 

Sodom Inc. weighed and sealed

In Genesis 18:16–19:38, Sodom was “weighed in the balance and found lacking,” to borrow words prophet Daniel interpreted about another evil kingdom. Abraham and God bargain over the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah, which is one of the most consequential bargains in history. 

We learned in the last lesson that Lot “pitched his tent towards Sodom” and eventually moved right into Sodom. Yet Lot maintained his dignity and was distinguishable from the other citizens of Sodom. 

““And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. “It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.” (Luke 17:26–29 NASB)

Days of Noah = Days of the LORD

Building on what we studied in Parashat (Torah passage) Noach, we will see that Yeshua and later the Apostle Peter both compare the time of the end to the time of Noah and even the time of Sodom and Gomorrah. One pattern they noted was that how unexpected both the flood and the fires of Sodom were. When your community is under stress, that stress will test and reveal the truth under the veneer. 

The description of eating, drinking, buying, selling, plating, building and marrying suggests an obliviousness to the conditions of the world around them. The people were oblivious to the impending judgment. 

Are we so consumed with the busyness of modern life and squabbling over trivialities that we have become a part of the world? 

Why are we going over this again? When God repeats something, it’s because God wants us to make note and pay attention. It means that God is establishing something. 

When we die, that is our Day of the LORD because when we die the next thing we will experience is judgement. 

If we stumble in life, are we learning from those stumbles? When God tests us, do we try to cram for the test to pass by the skin of our teeth or do we study God’s word regularly so that we are prepare to pass the tests He puts on us? 

“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called u...

The Torah portion לח לח Lech-Lecha (Genesis 12-17) includes Abraham being called out of Ur of the Chaldeans. But there’s a specific event in Genesis 14 that deserves special focus: Abraham’s encounter with the mysterious Melchizedek. We meet this ancient pre-Israel king of Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) again in the books of Psalms and Hebrews. Why is he so important, and what does he have to do with Yeshua haMashiakh (Jesus the Christ)?

At this point, Lot and Abraham have separated. Lot has chosen to go to the land towards Sodom and Abraham stays in the Promised Land to the west.

As we read through Genesis 14, we find out that war came to Sodom where Lot and his family were now living. The kings who had come to war against Sodom and the other cities of the area, had kidnapped Lot and his family and taken all their possessions as well.

“Then a fugitive came and told Abram the Hebrew. Now he was living by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner, and these were allies with Abram. When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he led out his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. He divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus. He brought back all the goods, and also brought back his relative Lot with his possessions, and also the women, and the people.” (Genesis 14:13–16 NASB)

Abraham with his 318 men as well as several other local allies and their trained me and chased down the invaders and conquered them and sent them back to the east where they belonged.

“Then after his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High. He blessed him and said, ‘Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.’ He gave him a tenth of all. The king of Sodom said to Abram, ‘Give the people to me and take the goods for yourself.’ Abram said to the king of Sodom, ‘I have sworn to the LORD God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take a thread or a sandal thong or anything that is yours, for fear you would say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ I will take nothing except what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their share.'” (Genesis 14:17–24 NASB)

My King is righteous

I was asked to specifically focus on the story of Melchizedek. There are many ideas and opinions about who Melchizedek, King of Salem, is and I don’t believe most of them.

I limit my attention to what the Scriptures tell us about him. Melchizedek’s name is in two parts:

* Melchi means my king

* Zedek means righteous or may be a reference to a pagan diety.

We don’t actually know for certain what town Salem is, but in Psalm 76, we are given a big clue. Keep in mind that this was written by Asaph many centuries after the events recorded in Genesis 14.

“God is known in Judah; His name is great in Israel. His tabernacle is in Salem; His dwelling place also is in Zion. There He broke the flaming arrows, The shield and the sword and the weapons of war. Selah.” (Psalms 76:1–3 NASB)

“‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. … That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.'” (John 3:3, 6 NASB)

The Torah reading Noakh, covering Genesis 6:9–11:32, is a testimony of the origin of Abraham and Israel, of different people groups and of languages. This is real history, not legend or allegory. That is important, because it’s a testimony about the intentions and actions of the Creator.

And the “days of Noah” (Matt. 24:36–44; Luke 17:22–37) teach us how we become “born again” via the Mashiakh (Christ) of God.

We see some key genealogies in this section, including Noach, Shem and Abraham. The names listed are not just random names. The meanings of their names tell a message.

Our modern culture attacks the historical account of the Flood. Often, investigators follow the evidence where their ideology takes them, imposing a worldview on it. There are many examples where huge amounts of water moved not just huge amounts of dirt but rock as well. The Grand Canyon is one of the greatest testimonies of the global Flood. Yet scholars from the late 1700s increasingly refuse to accept that they have been wrong about the Flood and have created very fanciful tales to try to obfuscate that truth. 

Thanks to recent geological events such as the explosion of Mt. St. Helens, we see how water moves and buries large amounts of natural matter such as trees in multiple layers of sediment in a matter of days or weeks, not the millions of years fantasy we are taught in our culture. 

God is indeed revealing some of His secrets and confounding the “wise.” Even those who don’t believe in God or want anything to do with God are seeing from observation of the natural world that there’s so much order and structure that there must be a master architect in control of it all.

Flood survivors ≈ ‘new creation’

Apostle Paul wrote that when we let our old way of life “die” — leave its desires behind — we become a “new creation” (2Cor. 5:17; Eph. 2:10, 15; 4:24; Col. 3:10; Gal. 6:5). We are different from who we were before. We had to be “born again” (John 3:1–8).

The new creation is not accidental, and the original creation was not accidental either (Isa. 45:12, 18; Gen. 2:1–3). Everything we see was made with profound intention and God will see it all to completion. 

This model we see in the account of the Flood will also be observed by those who live to see the Day of the Lord, not with water, but with fire. 

We see all sorts of proof of a worldwide flood which destroyed all people, land and many sea creatures:

* Rock layers, like those seen in the Grand Canyon. 

* Geological layers of sediment cross states, oceans and continents. Little signs of erosion between the layers.

* Fossils are creatures buried in sediment and transformed into rock by chemical processes.

* Many fossils show little signs of decomposition and burial in the midst of running, eating, giving birth and digesting.

* Increasing discoveries of “biomaterial fossils” such as flexible blood vessels in T. Rex bones and DNA (tiny.cc/biomaterial-fossils-list).

* The world has groups of core (“proto” per evolutionists) languages with few agreed linkages. Typical tree of languages has about a dozen languages of tongues....

The promiscuous wife of a prophet of Israel and the mother of mankind walk into a Bible lesson…. The joke is on us if we don’t catch why the Hoshea (Hosea) was told to marry a harlot and connect her predicament of being discovered to the test given to Chavah (Eve) at the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Bad (Genesis 3–4).

Here’s a hint: “Nakedness” is an important symbol of a spiritual condition used in teachings in the Hebrew and Apostolic scriptures.

How can God tell a righteous prophet to marry a prostitute when the Torah commands that people who were found guilty of prostitution were supposed to be executed for it? When we play the harlot, God shows His immense mercy in that, although He has to expose our sin for our own sakes, He doesn’t kill us. 

Hosea is one of the two least liked prophets in rabbinic Judaism (Ezekiel is the other). The Sages have certain rules on how a prophet conducts themselves in office and Hosea breaks those rules. 

The major issue Rabbinic Judaism has with Hosea’s story is that God commands Hosea, who is supposed to be a righteous man, to marry a prostitute. This instruction by God to Hosea to them is absurd on its face. 

Three children are born to Gomer while she is married to Hosea: Jezreel, Lo-ammi and Lo-ruhamah. Only Jezreel is referred to being born specifically from Hosea. 

Why did God say He would no longer have mercy or pity on Israel? 

Based on what we read in Hosea 4, Gomer wasn’t a mere harlot. She was most likely a temple prostitute. Men would feign to worship their false gods by having sexual relations with her. The Northern Tribes of Israel at this time was steeped in the worship of Canaanite gods that they mixed with the worship of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob purposefully and methodically to confuse the people so they would not leave Israel to worship the true God properly in Jerusalem. 

 

Historical Context:In Israel, they built them two golden calves, appropriated God’s holy name on them. They also gave their god many wives who had many sons and daughters who were worshipped as well. They also shifted the timing of the holy days so they would never coincide with the holy days at the Temple in Jerusalem, which effectively severed most, if not all the ties, between Judah and Israel, even though they were the same family, same ethnic tribe. The kings of Israel did not want their people to possibly go back to Jerusalem and go back to Judah and to the true God. 

The priesthood in the north also went to the highest bidder, it was not a hereditary process. By Hosea’s time, this split has been in effect for several centuries/generations. 

“Then she conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. And the LORD said to him, “Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel, that I would ever forgive them. “But I will have compassion on the house of Judah and deliver them by the LORD their God, and will not deliver them by bow, sword, battle, horses or horsemen.”” (Hosea 1:6–7 NASB)

Gomer represents the Northern Tribes of Israel prophetically. It is governed by priests and aristocratic leaders, all of whom are men. God will not show Israel’s leaders any mercy. God knows the leaders of Israel will never repent honestly of their grievous sin against God. They will make a political show of it, but never really change and follow through. 

There is a small sliver of hope in this prophesy. Hosea changes his tone, when he speaks about the distant future. 

“Yet the number of the sons of Israel Will be like the sand of the sea, Which cannot be measured or numbered; And in the place Where it is said to them, “You are not My people,” It will be said to them, “You are the sons of the living God.”

And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel will be gathered together, And they will appoint for themselves one leader,

This is the second part of a study on how we go into the Creator’s presence by way of the Messiah and how the Creator’s presence goes into us and through us into the world around us by way of the Messiah.

Teachings of Sukkot and Shemeni Atzeret (Tabernacles and the Eighth Day) and of Yeshua’s ministry on Earth are that God desires His dwelling place to be with us — better, within us — not foreign to us. A heart transformed welcomes the Kingdom of God and the fact God can see everything in us. The Holy One provides us a way out of temptation to forsake Him when we cry for help from Heaven’s tag team of comforters, Yeshua the Son of Man and the Spirit.

In Leviticus, a significant topic is the qorban,or offering. It strictly means “that which approaches.” What approaches is not you. We wouldn’t just stroll into the Most Holy Place and have a lunch with the LORD. What does go in is a very special qorban, but only the blood of that qorban, not the qorban itself.

In Hebrews 10, we have a picture of what it means to go “through the veil,” as in the veil of the Tabernacle/Temple that separates the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. It is made clear in Leviticus 16 that it was the blood of a special goat qorban that entered beyond the veil. In Hebrews 10, we are told that the blood of Christ went through the veil once and for all and made it possible for us to walk with Him into the presence.

Today is Shemeni Atzeret, Hebrew for “the gathering of the Eighth [Day].” Sukkot, the Festival of Tabernacles or Booths, lasts for seven days, but an eighth day is tagged on. What is it?

“Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘On the fifteenth of this seventh month is the Feast of Booths for seven days to the LORD. ‘On the first day is a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work of any kind. ‘For seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the LORD. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation and present an offering by fire to the LORD; it is an assembly. You shall do no laborious work.” (Leviticus 23:33–36 NASB)

In times past, we have discussed the meaning of the number eight. The Hebrew word for eightis שמנה shemoneh (H8083), thought to come from the verbשמן shaman(H8080), which means to shine, as if to be made waxy or oily. A related word is שֶׁמֶן shemen (H8081), or oil. What is reaching its fulness — or anointed into fulness — that needs to be memorialized on this day? It is a time to acknowledge how God’s blessings overflow in us for our sake.

“Of [the assembly of believers in Yeshua as the Messiah] I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.” (Colossians 1:25–28 NASB)

What do we see in Leviticus that teaches us how we become complete? There is a direction we should be go — toward the presence of the Holy One of Israel. But whether it’s due to inattention (sin), an incitement (transgression) or malice (iniquity), we do not stay on the right path. God has to direct us back.

“For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan,

What does it mean to be “in Christ,” and what does it mean to have “Christ in you”? We go into the Creator’s presence by way of the Messiah. The Creator’s presence goes into us by way of the Messiah.

Among the biblical symbols of Sukkot (festival of Tabernacles, or Booths) is the tent, the temporary dwelling. It reminds us of who we are, where we’ve been and where we’re going. The sukkah is also a visual representation of how to have “Messiah in us” and to be “in Messiah” at the same time.

Most of us have times when we wish we could hit the reset button before the Creator of Heaven and Earth. The biblical fall appointments with Him — Yom Teruah (Trumpets), Yom Kippur (Atonement), Sukkot (Tabernacles) and Shemeni Atzeret (Eighth Day) — are memorials of how the Holy One is resetting the people of God collectively and individually. We go into the Creator’s presence by way of the Messiah. The Creator’s presence goes into us by way of the Messiah.

“Of [this assembly] I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.” (Col. 1:25-28 NASB)

The world claims to desire “hard facts” but we live on a whole lot of faith. When we enter into a skyscraper and use the elevator without thought, we are acting in faith. We did not see the construction of the building, there’s no guarantee whatsoever. Someone else designed and built it and we have faith it won’t fall down when he walk up the stairs. When we buy a bag of chips and simply break into it and start nibbling, we are acting on faith that the food company who made it isn’t trying to kill us.

This idea that God is an absentee landlord who simply made us and sent us on our merry way to fumble around on our own is not backed up by evidence, yet many people believe that fable, too.

Lessons from the sukkah

God told the people He wanted to live with them in a tent, just as they were living in tents around it. It was His house with very specific invitations on entry, even the High Priest only entered once a year, symbolically covered in blood and literally covered in the smoke of incense, where the smoke of the incense mingled with the heavenly cloud. That is an excellent picture of being in Christ.

This is why we can enter in with confidence but not with arrogance. There is a way into the land of rest, but you might not want to enter in. You can be confident of its existence but you have to desire to go in and to go in the right way. If we forsake the offering of Christ, there is no other way into the presence of God.

Among the biblical symbols of Sukkot is the tent, the temporary dwelling. It reminds us of who we are, where we’ve been and where we’re going.

“‘You shall live in booths for seven days; all the native-born in Israel shall live in booths, so that your generations may know that I had the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.’”(Leviticus 23:42–43 NASB)

God is their deliverer. They were called to live in booths to remind themselves of God’s protection. They were in transit between Egypt and the Promised Land, the house of bondage and the land of rest. This picture of the sukkah is a picture of being in transition, a temporary situation, not a place where you live for all time.

Hundreds of years later and after becoming puffed up with what was thought to be permanent residence,

Temporary shelters, branches of palm, willow and myrtle, and citrus fruit — the symbols of the Sukkot, the biblical festival of Tabernacles, or Booths. Plants clean the air and subtly effect us by their fragrance. We see them as physical things that are useful to us in the physical realm, while God uses references of them in the Bible to teach spiritual lessons as symbolic representations of people.

In this study, we’ll explore what each of these symbols teach us about ourselves and how the Holy One of Israel wants to recreate us.

Sukkot is seven days plus one. The first and eighth days are holy days, and we are called to live in booths, which are temporary dwellings, during the first seven days. The general rule is the booths should be uncomfortable enough that one would not want to live in them if it started raining or snowing. 

Four plant species are customarily waved, shaken and displayed during Sukkot. There are two species of plant specifically named in Leviticus 23: date palm and willow. The myrtle and olive came later and the citron, which is called an etrog in Hebrew, came into use even later than that. 

At the time of Moses, the most common fruits in the land of Israel are listed in Deuteronomy 8. The etrog and other citrus fruits were not used at that time, as the etrog is native to China not to the Promised Land. 

We see in Nehemiah 8:13–18 that Nehemiah added the use of olive and myrtle tree to the Sukkot celebration along with an unknown “oil” tree. 

Plants clean the air and subtly effect us by their fragrance. We see them as physical things that are useful to us in the physical realm, while God uses references of them in the Bible to teach spiritual lessons as symbolic representations of people. 

The book of Judges gives us some more details about the spiritual nature of different trees. Read through Judges 4:1–9. 

Date palm (tamar): Righteous judgment

Jericho was also known as the city of palms, which Joshua conquered. The palm tree was closely associated with the prophetess Deborah, who by all accounts, was very well known as a woman of wisdom, judgement and greatness. Psa. 92:12 also refers to the righteous and wise as a palm tree. The righteous also produce fruit even in their old age. 

When Messiah came into Temple at the Triumphant Entry, the people were waiving palm leaves, which were still heavily associated with righteousness and His role as the judge of all. 

Myrtle (hadas): Pleading before the judge

In Isaiah 41:14–24, we read how the people are thirsting and desiring God. When we fast on Yom Kippur, you experienced literal thirst and hunger and that was not on accident. 

We also see that Queen Esther was intimately associated with the myrtle. Her real name was Hadassah, a Hebrew word related to the word for myrtle. Her name was changed to hide her Jewish identity. 

“’For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?’ Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, ‘Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa, and fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens also will fast in the same way. And thus I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish.’ So Mordecai went away and did just as Esther had commanded him.” (Esther 4:14–17 NASB)

Esther already called for a fast but she adds that she will also pray and plead to God for peace and security for her people. 

The angel in the book of Zechariah is standing in a myrtle grove asking for God to judge a situation (Zechariah 1:7–17). The myrtle represents fasting, prayer and pleading a case to a king or judge. 

Willow (arabim): Sadness and stress

At times we can feel so lost or out of control that there seems to be no way back to normal. The “lyrics” of the “Song of Moshe” (Moses), recorded in the Torah reading Ha’azinu (Deuteronomy 32), foretold of a time when Israel would wander so far from the One Who freed them from slavery in Mitzraim (Egypt) that the would appear to be lost forever.

While this is not an uplifting number, Israel is commanded to memorize it. That’s because the song shows the only way they would be able to return to the LORD.

Let’s find out more about why the redeemed from the world on the Day of the LORD will be singing the Song of Moshe and the Song of the Lamb (Rev. 15:3–4).

Moses is not the only one who invokes God as a witness against the people. Samuel will do the same thing when he gives his last discourse. 

““For I proclaim the name of the LORD; Ascribe greatness to our God!’” (Deuteronomy 32:3 NASB)

Moses is elevating God’s status above himself and the people. 

““The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He.’” (Deuteronomy 32:4 NASB)

In Hebrew, the word perfect implies complete. It does not mean without flaw. There are a lot of things that God made that aren’t so good. I am not saying this to upset you but to make you think about something. 

God put one tree in the Garden of Eden that we don’t like, we call it the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Bad. God’s work was complete and He is without iniquity, yet we see here that God made Bad. God made evil. He said that Himself. I am not putting words in God’s mouth. He tells us so in verses such as Isaiah 45:7. 

“I am the one who has prepared light and made darkness, who makes peace and creates evils; I am the Lord who does all these things.” (Isaiah 45:7 NETS)

Nothing happens to us without His permission. Nothing. He has many tools at his disposal to shepherd us, including tools that hurt us. 

When we read Deuteronomy 32, remember this is the God Moses is teaching about. Moses is warning the children of Israel that they will follow foreign gods and God will come down on them harshly for their sin. He gives us great blessings but if we rebel, God can also bring great discipline on us. 

Moses wants them to memorize this song so they can remember who God is when they walk in righteousness and who God can be if they rebel against Him and walk in iniquity. 

When the children of Israel chose to be vile and foolhardy, God will inflict armies from other nations who are vile and foolhardy to attack them. 

When Moses warns that God will destroy them for their iniquity until there’s none left, that is when God will relent. 

We don’t just need to remember to worship Him but to fear Him as well. We never want to be at the point where God says, “I am finished with you.” 

When God “hides His face” He then shows us what will happen when He does that. He is showing them what will happen to them as a direct result of their refusal to memorize the truths of this song. 

Affluence destroys people and nations. It produces lazy, self-absorbed, arrogant people, who don’t respond to sound teaching. The nature of struggle forces us to work for something and maintain it. Struggle encourages hard work, selflessness and humility. 

““How could one chase a thousand, And two put ten thousand to flight, Unless their Rock had sold them, And the LORD had given them up?

‘Indeed their rock is not like our Rock, Even our enemies themselves judge this.’” (Deuteronomy 32:30–31 NASB)

Israel realizes that their God should be better then their “gods” but they are weaker. The people of Israel should be able to discern their own failure and what actually caused it. 

How does God respond when they realize this?

Every mistake, goof up in our Torah walk can fall into one of three categories: sin, transgression or iniquity. Sin is missing the mark on accident. Transgression is doing something wrong when you know better. Iniquity is when you do something wrong as an act of rebellion.

יוֹם הַכִּפֻּרִים Yom haKippurim (Day of Coverings, aka Day of Atonement) is more like an appointment than a festival. It’s a time God expects us to show up and meet with Him. 

God uses affliction to mark who belongs to Him and who doesn’t. That affliction is an important part of this day. Bringing closure to the old and starting anew is a crucial part of this day as well. But there’s more. 

Yom Kippur is discussed in Leviticus 16. People wear white on Yom Kippur in honor of the priest who was commanded to wear white on Yom Kippur. This is tradition and not a requirement. 

The High Priest slaughters a bull, a goat and a ram. He places the sins, transgressions and iniquities of the people on the living goat. How does the priest do this? Does he know every single sin of every person in the congregation? No. What does Aaron say then? What does he say to transmit the sin of the congregation to the scapegoat? 

In Jewish tradition, we are told that Aaron would make a general declaration under different categories of sin that God would take away. It is to draw to mind how many sins we have committed in secret or in public. Hearing Aaron’s words would bring to mind examples in your own life how you have fallen short. 

We need to remember our sins otherwise our repentance for those sins can’t be sincere. We need to discard both the outside influences that whisper to us to do wrong and our own internal hearts desire that entice us to the wrong way. 

It isn’t Yom Kippur that determines our path of the coming year. It’s what happens the day after. Do we merely “borrow” the prayers of repentance of Yom Kippur, or do we own those prayers and internalize them? 

“and make atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for the altar. He shall also make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. Now you shall have this as a permanent statute, to make atonement for the sons of Israel for all their sins once every year.” And just as the LORD had commanded Moses, so he did.” (Leviticus 16:33–34 NASB)

All the sin offerings that one can do through the year are mainly for “oops.” Only Yom Kippur pays for iniquitous sins. You have to worry about your iniquity and rebellion because that sin hangs over you until Yom Kippur. You have time to show God before Yom Kippur that you have repented and know how bad and stupid that iniquity is.

All parents want their children to avoid iniquity and rebellion and God wants us to avoid that, too. 

Yom Kippur doesn’t take away our ability to sin. If one part of me is contaminated by sin, all of me is contaminated by sin. If one part of you is clean, all of you is clean. 

Hebrews 10:1–10 discusses this in great detail. 

We understand that sacrifices don’t repair the relationship, but doing God’s will is what repairs our relationship with God. 

Yom Kippur doesn’t take our ability to sin away from us so how can God forget our sins? God makes a willful decision not to remember our sins. He erases the sins from our record. 

The Day of Atonement is not about me. The High Priest does all the work. The Day of Atonement is for the High Priest. 

The tool that blots out our sin from God’s record book is not the scapegoat or the sacrificial goat. We can’t erase it ourselves either. 

All the prophets and authors of our Torah understood is that the sacrifices don’t really solve the problem and wrote about it at length. 

No matter how many times you say “I’m sorry” it doesn’t change anything if you aren’t really sorry...

The reason for the high holy day of Yom Teruah, the Day of Blowing (Trumpets) aka Rosh HaShanah (New Year), is not as obvious as all the others. As we "look under the hood," we find that it calls us to accept godly change without hesitation.