Atonement
Atonement
An atonement is thought to be the reparation for an offense or injury : satisfaction.
In the Bible we see the Hebrew word for atonement is Kaphar (כָּפַר).[1] The same letters also produce the word village (כָּפַר) as a covered or a protected place, walled.[2] The garden of Eden was also a protected place containing the Tree of life. This word Kaphar or Kopher with the same Hebrew letters KafPeiReish(כָּפַר) is translated as the word ransom[3] where the word (כָּפַר) is also said to mean the "price of life".[4]
The root כָּפַר (Kaphar) threads through approximately one-hundred four Old Testament verses, which are said to form a "unified biblical motif of covering, appeasing, ransoming, and reconciling."
So, this Hebrew word "kaphar" (כָּפַר) can just mean "to cover" and is often translated as "atonement." It signifies the act of covering over an offense, making it unseen, or expiating sins.
Sin is going the wrong way, literally moving away from the way of God and his Garden, his tree of life. The term kafar can mean turning around and going back instead of away. If sin is unrighteousness, repenting and seeking righteousness is a step back toward God like the prodigal son returning to serve his father.
Atonement is not about erasure of sin or even paying a debt but includes concepts like altering a direction, going in that correct direction and healing from the temporal consequences of doing things incorrectly.
After thinking in a wrong way for a period of time their may need to be a renewal of the mind.[5]
Repenting, atonement, and true justification are about a renewing of the mind, literally rewiring the brain in accordance with the light, shunning the darkness.
The priest and atonement
What power does the priest bring to the sacrifice?
The answer is none. He is merely a third party who is instrumental in providing a means to distribute the gifts of the people to the whole nation without directing favor to any one person or group.
What the priest gives is not from his own pocket or estate but from the free will gifts and contributions of others. If he redistribute what he is given freely for a purpose of winning favor from those who council him or desire to benefit from those to whom he may distribute his action may be classified as strange fire.
Romans rose to power and influence by funding the welfare systems of Rome through temples like the temple of Jupiter as we saw with Julius Caesar. If funds are given through a third part the credit of the gift is also attributed to the whole nation unless the gift is published as philanthropic.
- 6:3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
The welfare offered by the priests and Levites may be individual welfare, care for the widows, orphans and needy of society or merely poured out to provide for the general welfare of society as we se apostle Paul doing when he brought aid during the dearths in Greek cities where Christians lived.
Understanding the social welfare role of the priest including the Levites is essential in understanding the purpose nature of the sacrifices of the people.
Exodus 30:16 "And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls."
Footnotes
- ↑ 03722 ^רפכ^ kaphar \@kaw-far’\@ a primitive root; v; AV-atonement 71, purge 7, reconciliation 4, reconcile 3, forgive 3, purge away 2, pacify 2, atonement … made 2, merciful 2, cleansed 1, disannulled 1, appease 1, put off 1, pardon 1, pitch 1; 102
- 1) to cover, purge, make an atonement, make reconciliation, cover over with pitch
- 1a) (Qal) to coat or cover with pitch
- 1b) (Piel)
- 1b1) to cover over, pacify, propitiate
- 1b2) to cover over, atone for sin, make atonement for
- 1b3) to cover over, atone for sin and persons by legal rites
- 1c) (Pual)
- 1c1) to be covered over
- 1c2) to make atonement for
- 1d) (Hithpael) to be covered
- כ ך KAF K Crown: To Actualize Potential power from spiritual to physical realm [to cover, strength] 20
- פ ף PEI Communication: The Oral Torah The mouth, blow, edge . [Mouth speak open word] 80
- ר REISH Process of Clarification The "head" or "beginning". Life's revelation. [Head... Person head highest] 200
- 1) to cover, purge, make an atonement, make reconciliation, cover over with pitch
- ↑ 03723 כָּפָר kaphar [kaw-fawr’] from 03722, Greek 2584 Καπερναουμ; n m; [BDB-499a] [{See TWOT on 1025 @@ "1025c" }]
AV-village 2; 2
- 1) village
- Song of Solomon 7:11 "Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages <03723 see Atonement>.
- ↑ Kafar as Ransom
- Exodus 21:30 If there be laid on him a sum of money <03724>, then he shall give for the ransom of his life whatsoever is laid upon him.
- Exodus 30:12 When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom <03724> for his soul unto the LORD, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when [thou] numberest them.
- Job 33:24 Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom <03724>.
- Job 36:18 Because [there is] wrath, [beware] lest he take thee away with [his] stroke: then a great ransom <03724> cannot deliver thee.
- Psalms 49:7 None [of them] can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom <03724> for him:
- Proverbs 6:35 He will not regard any ransom <03724>; neither will he rest content, though thou givest many gifts.
- Proverbs 13:8 The ransom <03724> of a man s life [are] his riches: but the poor heareth not rebuke.
- Proverbs 21:18 The wicked [shall be] a ransom <03724> for the righteous, and the transgressor for the upright.
- Isaiah 43:3 For I [am] the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt [for] thy ransom <03724>, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.
- ↑ 03724 ^רפכ^ kopher \@ko’- fer\@ from 03722; n m; AV-ransom 8, satisfaction 2, bribe 2, camphire 2, pitch 1, sum of money 1, village 1; 17
- 1) price of a life, ransom, bribe
- 2) asphalt, pitch (as a covering)
- 3) the henna plant, name of a plant (henna?)
- 4) village
- ↑ Romans 12:2 "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."
- Colossians 3:12-13 "12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; 13 forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye."