Expert: Messianic Rabbi Yochanan Levine - 5/18/2011

Question
If Yeshua's death was to be an atonement for sin wouldn't it have made more sense for him to die on Yom Kippur?
Also, if sin can only be forgiven via blood sacrifice what do you make of the bloodless flour offering which was offered for forgiveness of sins? (Leviticus 5:11-13)

Answer
Hi Alex,

An important question.
The standard Christian understanding of the atonement does not fit the biblical model. Not occurring on Yom Kippur is the least of the problems.

For a biblical sacrifice to be accepted it must be offered within the Temple precincts. The Temple was destroyed in 70 CE. This is why Jews do not do sacrifices. That's the only place one can be made. Y'shua was not executed within the Temple precincts.

For a biblical sacrifice to be accepted it must be offered by the Levitical priesthood. Y'shua was "offered" by Pagan soldiers.

For a biblical sacrifice to be accepted it must be not be performed on defiled lands. Golgotha was utterly defiled.

For a biblical sacrifice to be accepted it must not be human sacrifice. Such are forbidden in the Torah. Y'shua was a human.

For a biblical sacrifice to be accepted it must be offered according to very strict requirements. None of these requirements were nor could have been met in the death of Y'shua.

The Christian claim that only blood sacrifices can be used for atonement is, as you note, incorrect.

Well before 70 CE (and before Y'shua's life in 30's) Jews had already begun "lifting up the sacrifice of praise" in the synagogues. After 70 the rabbis ruled that the sacrifice of prayer and intention are actually more pleasing to God than the sacrifices at the Temple. While Judaism is saddened by the loss of the Temple and pray for it return, this aspect posed no problem at all. As Prophet Isaiah wrote:

Isaiah 1:11  To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.
1:12  When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?
1:13  Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.
1:14  Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.
1:15  And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.
1:16  Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
1:17  Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
1:18  Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
1:19  If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:
1:20  But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

It was never about the sacrifice of animals! It was always about the "sacrifice of self."

As for the "atonement" consider these verses:

Micah 6:6  Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old?
6:7  Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
6:8  He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

Rebbe Y'shua confirms this here:

Matthew 22:35  Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
22:36  Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
22:37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
22:38  This is the first and great commandment.
22:39  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
22:40  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Y'shua is Cohen Gadol (High Priest and Mediator). He represents us before HaShem as the priests of Israel have always done, and yet he is greatest of them all and his priesthood will never be replaced.

Shalom,

~ Messianic Rabbi Yochanan Levine
http://templebethhashem.org/yeshiva