Table of Contents

The Temple: Its Ministry and Services
Alfred Edersheim

Chapter 16
The Day of Atonement

• Weakness of the Law --How 'the commandment' bears testimony to its inherent 'weakness and unprofitableness'--Specially so in the services of the Day of Atonement
• The Day of Atonement --Peculiar solemnity of that day
• Its Names --Significance of its occurrence on the 10th day of the seventh month, and previous to the Feast of Tabernacles
• The Teaching of Scripture about the Day --The high-priest officiating in a peculiar white dress
• Numbers 29:7-11 --Threefold sacrifices of the day--Their order--Number of priests employed
• The Duties of the High-priest --The high-priest prepares for the Day of Atonement seven days before its occurrence, and takes up his abode in the Temple--The night of the fast--The high-priest himself performs all the day's services
• The Morning Service --How often he changed his raiment and washed his body or else his hands and feet--The ordinary morning service--The high-priest puts on his linen garments for the first time
• The Sin-offering --The sin-offering for the high-priest and his family--Confession over it--The ineffable name of Jehovah is ten times pronounced on that day
• Choosing the Scape-goat --Mode of casting the lot over the two goats--The two are really one sacrifice--A tongue-shaped piece of scarlet cloth is tied to the horn of the goat for Azazel
• The Goat Shown to the People --This goat standing before the people, waiting till their sins should be laid upon him
• The Confession of Sin and the Sacrifice --Confession of sin for the priesthood, and sacrifice of the bullock
• The Mercy-seat --The high-priest enters the Most Holy Place for the first time to burn the incense--Prayer of the high-priest on coming out--The high-priest enters the Most Holy Place a second time with the blood of the bullock
• The Sprinkling of the Blood --And a third time with that of the goat for Jehovah
• The Cleansing Completed --The sprinkling towards the veil, of the altar of incense, and of that of burnt-offering
• The Scape-goat --The high-priest lays the personal sins and the guilt of the people on the so-called 'scape-goat'--Peculiar mode of confession over it
• The Goat Sent into the Wilderness --The goat is led away into the wilderness--And pushed over a precipice
• The Meaning of the Rite --Meaning of the scape-goat
• The Teaching of Scripture --Reference to the coming of Christ, as He who would take away sin
• The Term 'la-Azazel' --Meaning of the expression la-Azazel
• The Carcasses Burnt 'Outside the City' --The high-priest's reading and prayers in the Court of the Women
• The High-priest in Golden Garments --The high-priest puts on the golden garments to offer the festive, burnt-, and other sacrifices--He again puts on his linen garments to enter the Most Holy Place for the fourth and last time
• The Mishnah --On the afternoon of the day, dance and song of the maidens of Jerusalem in the vineyards
• The Day of Atonement in the Modern Synagogue --Views of the Synagogue about the Day of Atonement.