So, I've started listening to a podcast called "Lord of Spirits" - and learning all sorts of fascinating stuff.
The episode I've just finished is The Priest Shall Make Atonement.
It turns out that "atonement" is a made-up word for purposes of translation of a Greek word which itself was made-up for purposes of translation from the Hebrew - so it's a concept which is easy to misunderstand. It also turns out that, upon examination of Leviticus, that the goat killed on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) is NOT a sin offering - indeed, it's not even a sacrifice; only its blood is needed.
Jesus is presented as a type of BOTH goats involved in the Day of Atonement ritual; both goats had to be perfect because the one chosen for its blood had to be perfect, and it was chosen by lot.
It turns out that Matthew, the most 'Jewish' of the gospels, deliberately portrays Jesus as the goat which is driven out into the wilderness; by the time of the first century, the goat had a scarlet rope wrapped around its neck, was struck by reeds, vilified and spat upon as it was driven out of the city - all of which imagery Matthew deliberately evokes. The line in Matthew where the Jews utter the words "His blood be upon us and our children" is actually the opposite of anti-Semitic - it's a GOOD thing to be covered in Jesus' blood!
In Luke, Jesus' walk to Emmaus is also symbolically significant; a famous battle occurred there, where the Maccabees defeated the Seleucids - enabling then to reconsecrate the Temple after Antiochus Epiphanes had defiled the altar by sacrificing pigs to Zeus on it. Jesus' walk occurred just after His blood had sanctified the world. Jesus's ascension into heaven after 40 days is a final parallel to the Day of Atonement; having taken on the sins of the world as the goat driven into the wilderness, Jesus left the world which He had just sanctified, taking our sins with Him.
It's the multitude of little details like this, by the way, which makes it rather far-fetched to imagine that the gospels were freely altered wholesale in the early centuries after they were composed; much of this would not have been understood by the (largely) Gentiles who would have done the altering, and would have unwittingly been lost.
I'm not typically very interested in podcasts, but this one blows my mind on a regular basis (and transcripts are generally available).
The episode I've just finished is The Priest Shall Make Atonement.
It turns out that "atonement" is a made-up word for purposes of translation of a Greek word which itself was made-up for purposes of translation from the Hebrew - so it's a concept which is easy to misunderstand. It also turns out that, upon examination of Leviticus, that the goat killed on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) is NOT a sin offering - indeed, it's not even a sacrifice; only its blood is needed.
Jesus is presented as a type of BOTH goats involved in the Day of Atonement ritual; both goats had to be perfect because the one chosen for its blood had to be perfect, and it was chosen by lot.
It turns out that Matthew, the most 'Jewish' of the gospels, deliberately portrays Jesus as the goat which is driven out into the wilderness; by the time of the first century, the goat had a scarlet rope wrapped around its neck, was struck by reeds, vilified and spat upon as it was driven out of the city - all of which imagery Matthew deliberately evokes. The line in Matthew where the Jews utter the words "His blood be upon us and our children" is actually the opposite of anti-Semitic - it's a GOOD thing to be covered in Jesus' blood!
In Luke, Jesus' walk to Emmaus is also symbolically significant; a famous battle occurred there, where the Maccabees defeated the Seleucids - enabling then to reconsecrate the Temple after Antiochus Epiphanes had defiled the altar by sacrificing pigs to Zeus on it. Jesus' walk occurred just after His blood had sanctified the world. Jesus's ascension into heaven after 40 days is a final parallel to the Day of Atonement; having taken on the sins of the world as the goat driven into the wilderness, Jesus left the world which He had just sanctified, taking our sins with Him.
It's the multitude of little details like this, by the way, which makes it rather far-fetched to imagine that the gospels were freely altered wholesale in the early centuries after they were composed; much of this would not have been understood by the (largely) Gentiles who would have done the altering, and would have unwittingly been lost.
I'm not typically very interested in podcasts, but this one blows my mind on a regular basis (and transcripts are generally available).
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