Origin of Yom Kippur: Not Moses, but a

Murder in the Temple?

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While tradition says that observance of the Day of Atonement was initiated by Moses,
careful reading of the Bible indicates that the holiday was a much later contrivance.

Yom Kippur, according to tradition, was first observed in the Sinai

Desert, during the Israelites’ journey from Egypt to the Promised
Land, which some sources date to about 1440 B.C.E. But a careful
reading of the Bible shows that the Day of Atonement must have
been established later, much later – quite possibly, around 400 B.C.E.
God punished two of Aaron’s sons for using unsanctioned fire during a ritual by burning
them alive in the Tabernacle, according to Leviticus 10 (“Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu
took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire
before the Lord, contrary to his command. So fire came out from the presence of the Lord
and consumed them”). To cleanse the Tabernacle of this defilement, God commanded
Moses to instruct Aaron to conduct a complicated ceremony (Lev. 16). This ceremony, the
text says, must be repeated every year on the 10th day of the Hebrew month of Tishri – the
date on which Yom Kippur is marked to this day.

Evidence that commemoration of the Day of Atonement actually began much later is
circumstantial, but compelling.

Had the holiday existed from the time the Israelites wandered the desert, continuing
through the conquest of the Holy Land, the era of the Judges, the First Temple period, exile
in Babylonia and the return to Zion, and the establishment of the Second Temple – we
would expect it to be mentioned here and there. But references to it in the Bible are
confined to two short accounts which seem to be belated additions to more general lists of
holidays (Lev. 23 and Numbers 29). A third reference to Yom Kippur, in Leviticus 25,
evidently refers to a completely different holiday, celebrated every 50 years, in which
slaves are freed and debts are forgiven.

It may simply be omission that Yom Kippur is not mentioned in the rest of the Bible. But in
the passages dealing with events observed during the month of Tishri, the silence on the
Day of Atonement is glaring.

For example, when King Solomon built the First Temple, the two-week long celebration
that is described (in 1 Kings 8 and 2 Chronicles 7) included the date on which Yom Kippur
is observed. Did Solomon party on the holiday that year?

Then, when the prophet Ezekiel describes the occasions that should be marked once the
Jews return from their exile and the Temple is rebuilt, not only does he not mention Yom
Kippur: He speaks of two additional dates on which the Temple itself is to be ritually
cleansed (ostensibly due to the unabsolved sins of the Jewish community), but one of them
is just nine days before Yom Kippur. Why would he add a new date so close to another day
of atonement, assuming it already existed?
The odd nonappearance in the sources of Yom Kippur continues after the Exile. The
returning Jews reached Jerusalem on the first day of Tishri, and spent their first two weeks
building an altar in preparation for the festival of Sukkot. Yom Kippur fell within this
period – but is not mentioned (Ezra 3).

What Ezra didn’t say

In 516 B.C.E., the Temple was rebuilt. When the prophet Ezra reaches Jerusalem on the
first day of Tishri, in what is thought to be 457 B.C.E., he reads the Torah to the people.
They learn that they must prepare for Sukkot two weeks later. But he makes no mention of
Yom Kippur (Nehemiah 8).

This is tell-tale, since Yom Kippur falls four days before Sukkot; in the Torah, indeed, the
Day of Atonement is mentioned as occurring right before Sukkot. It indicates that Ezra’s
Torah didn’t have a reference to Yom Kippur, or the passages in which it is mentioned.

We do know that the holiday was observed by the 3rd century B.C.E., because it’s
mentioned in the Septuagint – the Greek translation of the Torah. Perhaps, after the time of
Ezra, someone – probably a temple priest – “invented” Yom Kippur and added Leviticus 16
into the biblical text.
Between the time of Ezra and the compilation of the Septuagint, there was a 200-year
window. But we may be able to narrow the time-frame down, since during this period there
was not only one Jewish Temple in the Land of Israel, but two: one in Jerusalem and one at
Mount Gerizim in Samaria.

Those 200 years were marked by mounting antagonism between the two communities,
which, at some point, split up into followers of two distinct religions: Jews and Samaritans.
As we move forward in time, therefore, the likelihood of a holiday whose observance was
initiated in one temple being adopted by adherents of the other diminishes. Since both Jews
and Samaritans mark Yom Kippur, albeit with some differences - the day was probably
added to the Hebrew calendar at the beginning of this 200-year period, probably around
400 B.C.E.

This is not a well-documented era in Jewish history. Indeed, the period covered in the Bible
ends at around 413 B.C.E., when Nehemiah died. Nevertheless, from letters sent by a Jew
living in Elephantine in southern Egypt, dated to 408 B.C.E., we know that the man who
took Nehemiah’s place as governor of Judah was a Persian named Bagoas, and that the high
priest at the time was named Johanan (the Bible calls him Jonathan, which is probably a
transcription error).

The Roman-Jewish historian Josephus Flavius recounts a story pertaining to these

individuals, which may hold the key to the origins of Yom Kippur.

When Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem in 444 B.C.E., he found that the Jews in the city were
mixing with the local population. Even worse, Jeshua, son of Joiada the high priest and heir
to the priesthood, married the daughter of his enemy Sanballat the Horonite, governor of
Samaria: “And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son in law
to Sanballat the Horonite: therefore I chased him from me,” he writes (Nehemiah 13:28).
When Joiada died, Nehemiah replaced him with Jeshua’s younger brother, Johanan. But
then, in 413 B.C.E., Nehemiah himself died.

According to Josephus, in his book “The Antiquities of the Jews,” Bagoas conspired with
Jeshua to have him replace his younger brother as high priest. When Johanan learned of
this, he confronted his brother in the Temple and killed him. When Bagoas subsequently
heard what had happened, he rushed to the Temple. “Have you had the impudence to
perpetrate a murder in your temple!” Bagoas shouted as he made his way into the holy
sanctuary. Those in attendance pleaded with him not to enter as his presence would defile
the Temple. He ignored their cries, declaring, “Am not I purer than he that was slain in the
temple?”

Josephus doesn’t say what happened after this shocking event took place. But clearly, this
was a huge crisis. The Temple had to be cleansed, but how?

After looking through the Bible and not finding reference to a ceremony that could make
amends for what had happened, Johanan and his fellow priests must have looked elsewhere,
until they found the text that constitutes what is now the bulk of Leviticus 16, describing
the ritual carried out by Aaron.

We don’t know where the text came from, but there are certain indications that it originated
in a source that was different from the rest of Leviticus (for example, what is called “the
Holy of Holies” is here and only here called “The Holy”). Also, the ceremony described in
Leviticus 16 is quite different from all other religious rituals described in the Bible,
especially those related to the scapegoat – that is, the practice of transferring the sins of the
people to a goat, and then sacrificing the animal to a deity called Azazel.

Yet while the Leviticus ritual stands out as strange in the Bible, similar rituals were
practiced in the ancient Near East, as early as the 24th century B.C.E.

The passage may have been inserted into the biblical story of Aaron as an “emergency”
measure allowing for expiation after two of his sons were killed in the Tabernacle, in order
to lend substance to the sacrificial ceremony. The parallel to the murder of a priest by his
brother in the Temple is striking. Then five verses were added to indicate that this ritual
was to be observed annually on the 10th of Tishri.

According to Josephus, Johanan was succeeded by his son Jadua. His other son, Menashe,
was appointed by Sanballat to be high priest of the Samaritan temple. If this actually
happened, then Menashe may have taken the ritual and the updated text of Leviticus with
him to Mount Gerizim, which would explain how both the Jews and the Samaritans both
celebrate Yom Kippur.

Whether ancient Israelites in the desert, Johanan the high priest, or one of his successors
established this holiday, it was marked in this way for about 470 years, until the Romans
destroyed the Temple in 70 C.E. After that, the rabbis had to reinvent the holiday – with no
temple, priests, sacrifice or scapegoats.
 Yom Kippur: Not for Atonement or Fasting
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Yom Kippur has only one purpose: rest. In this respect it joins the other festivals of Passover (Pesach), Feast of
Weeks (Shavuot), Festival of Booths (Sukkot), and the first day of the seventh month (Rosh Hashanah). Here is the
traditional translation:
“In the tenth day of the seventh month, you will afflict your souls, and do no work… for on this day he [the priest]
will atone for you, to cleanse you from all your sins before the Lord, and you will be clean. It is a Sabbath of rest to
you, and you will afflict your souls, and any work you will not do…and he [the priest] will atone for the holy
sanctuary and the tent of meeting and the altar and for all the people…to make atonement for the Israelites from all
their sins once in a year.” (Leviticus 16:29–34)
This seems like a reasonable translation until it appears to be saying that the sanctuary, the tent of meeting, and the
altar also need atoning. Something must be wrong with the translation.
I have placed in bold the suspect words in the passage.

The first is afflict. The Hebrew word for afflict is anah, which is always translated in connection with Yom Kippur as
meaning “to fast.” Strong’s Concordance shows many other meanings, such as “abase self, deal hardly with, humble,
ravish,” and the Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament says it means “to be wretched, emaciated, submit
to, bowed, weak, humiliate, castigate oneself.” Logic says that combining “doing no work” and “resting” with fasting,
humbling, or castigating oneself makes no sense. How can you both rest and punish the body at the same time?
Second, it is the soul that is central to the command for the rest day: “Afflict (anah) your souls.” (Leviticus 16:29)
The Hebrew word for soul is nephesh, which is a substance and has a specific location. “The soul (nephesh) of the
flesh is in the blood.” (Leviticus 17:11) The priest burns animal blood as a sacrifice to atone for the soul: “And I have
given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement for your
souls.” (Leviticus 17:11)
Third, the word translated atonement is the Hebrew kaphar, meaning “cover.” Kaphar is usually used with al, “on,”
and this is another clue that atone for is not the correct translation. The true translation of Leviticus 17:11 should be,
“The soul of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to cover on your souls, for it is the blood
that covers in [“in” is the proper translation] the soul.”
Kaphar leads us to the main point of this explanation of Yom Kippur. Kaphar is directly related to kippur of Yom
Kippur. Therefore, the actual translation and purpose of Yom Kippur should be Day of Covering, which is
accomplished by resting the body along with its soul (Leviticus 16:29). Continuing the very straightforward
translation, resting leaves the soul refreshed or naphash in Hebrew, the word from which nephesh, soul, is derived.
Exodus 23:12 says animals, too, are to rest. There is even a suggestion that the soul substance is present in the
Lord. Leviticus 26:11 has the Lord saying, “And I will set My dwelling in the midst of you, and My soul will not
reject you.” Therefore, when the Bible says the Lord rested on the seventh (Sabbath) day of creation in Genesis 2:2,
perhaps it is referring to the Lord resting His soul like people and animals.
Now, as to what is done on Yom Kippur, translating anah as “afflicting” doesn’t make sense when combined with the
soul, nephesh. However, the related ancient languages of Akkadian and its variety Middle Assyrian provide logical
concepts for “rest.” The exact cognate enû in the Akkadian translates “to shift, to change.” One associated quote
attesting to the rest concept in the Middle Assyrian nomenclature is, “Like the dead, (lie still and) do not change the
side [lit. “kidney”] on which you sleep” [1]. So rather than afflicting the soul, anah from the Akkadian may suggest
changing the position of the body by resting to affect the soul. That makes sense. It might be something like, “You
will change your soul and all work you will not do, a Sabbath of rest it will be to you, and you will change your soul.”
This would be a direct statement that resting leads to changing or altering the soul substance to a calmed condition.
The real bombshell from this passage that unearths a whole can of worms for the world’s major religions is the
mistranslation of “sin,” the last of the questionable words in the command for Yom Kippur. On this day the priest is to
use animal blood to cover on the people from all their “sins.” Let me leave you with this thought and ask you to find
out the whole story and the true meaning of “sin” in my book Talking With God, pages 249-254. If sin is wrongdoing,
why don’t an apology or punishment suffice? Why perform an animal sacrifice to fix the problem, and what effect
does that have on mitigating it?
—

[1] Gelb, I., Jacobsen, T., Landsberger, B. and Oppenheim, A., 1958. enû. In: The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental
Institute of the University of Chicago, 6th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, p.176.
 Yom Kippur is not a biblical holiday
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Like Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur does not exist in the Bible. It replaces another day known as Yom Hakippurim.
Yom Kippur is singular, “day of atonement,” while Yom Hakippurim is plural, “day of atonements.” The biblical
Yom Hakippurim is mentioned in Leviticus 16:29–31, 23:27–32, and Numbers 29:7–11. No work was permitted on
this day, special sacrifices were offered, and the Israelites were obliged to te’anu et nafshoteikhem. This is improperly
translated as “you must afflict your souls.”[1]
Yom Hakippurim was primarily a day when priests offered sacrifices for a number of misdeeds or possible misdeeds,
while the average Israelites were essentially passive; they only te’anu et nafshoteikhem. Priests atoned for their
misdeeds, those of Israelites, the Tabernacle, and the altar. Hence the day had the plural “atonements.”
What do the Hebrew words imply? What was the obligation of regular Israelites on Yom Hakippurim? The
first te’anu is the same word ye’anu in Exodus 1:12, which describes the “afflictions” Israelites suffered under
Egyptian slavery. The second, whose root is nefesh, is a word used today for “soul,” but it didn’t have this intent in
the Torah. The Torah’s nefesh indicates a person or life.[2] Israelites were required to inflict themselves as their
ancestors were inflicted in Egypt.
It is significant is that the Torah does not explain how people should afflict themselves. Perhaps everyone was
expected to do so in their own way. It was only later, that the rabbis defined the term as the avoidance of six things:
eating, drinking, washing, anointing one’s body, wearing leather shoes and having sex.

When the Temple was destroyed in 70 CE and sacrifices were discontinued, Yom Hakippurim could no longer be
observed because the only ceremony of this biblical holiday was sacrifices. It ceased and was replaced by Yom
Kippur when individuals, not priests atone for their misdeeds. Before the temple was destroyed, before Yom Kippur
existed, Yom Hakippurim was not a sad day. In fact, during the afternoons of Yom Hakippurim, people went out to
the fields to celebrate and dance. Many men watching the girls dance took the opportunity to introduce themselves to
the girl who fascinated them and many marriages resulted from the joy of Yom Hakippurim.

Unetaneh Tokef
Let’s examine one High Holiday prayer.

Rabbis and Jews generally invented stories to explain the origin of some prayers. Rather than analyzing the depth of
prayers, which could alienate people who do not want to undertake this exercise and frustrate others who would not be
able to understand the raison d’être of the prayer, the story teaches a simple moral lesson that could easily be
understood. One of the most moving poem/prayers of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Unetaneh Tokef, is a good
example. The name can be defined as “And let us recognize the power (of this day’s holiness).” The legend states that
the poem was composed by a rabbi who suffered martyrdom. The legend teaches that during this holy day, Jews
should devote themselves to the important lessons of Judaism even to the extent of willing to martyr themselves for
the sake of Judaism.
The problem with this teaching is that it doesn’t always make sense to give up one’s life for Judaism. Some scholars
say that when Maimonides and his family lived in Morocco and were told to either become Muslims or die, he
adopted Muslim manners outside his home while being a Jew at home[3]. He did so until he and his family were able
to escape to Israel and then to Egypt where he finally settled.
There are also difficulties in the ideology and theology of the poem. There is a seeming contradiction between the
poem saying that a person’s fate is sealed on Yom Kippur, while it later says that “repentance, prayer, and charity help
the hardship pass.” Additionally, the primary image of the prayer/poem is God possessing tablets or scrolls in which
he inscribes the deeds and destinies of human beings. This notion predates Israel. The people of ancient Mesopotamia
held the identical idea. This image of God is somewhat disturbing. Do we want to portray God anthropomorphically,
like a forgetful king who needs to write himself notes to prompt him to remember to act? Another central idea of the
poem is that God is involved in producing evil. Is God responsible for the holocaust? Did God cause men and women
to have cancer? Another idea is that “penitence, prayer, and charity avert the evil decree.” Yet, experience has shown
that this is simply untrue. Another disturbing picture in the poem is that of people going passively before God like
ignorant, unthinking sheep, a view that is antithetical to the heroism of Abraham who argued with God about Sodom
and Gomorrah.

However, these images can be understood metaphorically. The poem is telling its readers that this is a time to wake
up, to take notice, to see the fragility of life, to consider how judgments are formed and sealed, to change, to abandon
despair and apathy, to set goals, to reshape our character, to challenge and take control of our fate and our destiny, to
reject the notion that we are helpless before nature and God, decide to control our reactions to events that we cannot
control.
Victor Frankl, who survived years in a Nazi concentration camp, understood this when he wrote: “Human freedom is
not freedom from conditions, but freedom to take a stand toward the condition.”

Yes, Yom Kippur is not a biblical holiday. It replaced Yom Hakippurim which the Romans destroyed in 70 CE when
they destroyed the temple and caused sacrifices to cease. Yes, in contrast to the joy of Yom Hakippurim, Yom Kippur
is a sad day, a day of reflection, a day that prompts us to improve. But Yom Kippur is an important day, a day that
shows that Rome was unable to destroy Judaism as it intended. It is also a day that prompts us “to take a stand” and to
be all that we can and should be.

[1] The Holy Scriptures by The Jewish Publication Society of America.

[2] While Leviticus 2:1 speaks about a nefesh offering a sacrifice, it does not mean that a disembodied spirit does
so, but rather a man doing it.
[3] Maimonides by Yellin, Abrahams, and Dienstag, especially page 34.
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Historical Dimensions of Yom Kippur – Part 4

Does Ezekiel in 572 B.C.E. Know of Yom Kippur?

Project TABS Editors

Jews at what some believe to be Ezekial’s Tomb in Kifel, Iraq, 1932

O ne possible reference to the date of Yom Kippur (not a direct reference to the holiday itself) in Nach occurs in Ezekiel
40:1. This verse marks the beginning of Ezekiel’s vision of the future Temple, and includes a date for the prophecy.

‫וּתנוּ ְבּרֹא‬
ֵ ָ ְ ָ‫ָ נ‬ ֵ ‫ א ְבּ ֶﬠ ְ ִרי ְ ָח‬In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, the fourteenth
ָ‫ְבּ ַא ְר ַבּע ֶﬠ ְ ֵר ָ נ‬ ֶ ֹ‫ ַ ָ נָ ֶבּ ָﬠ וֹר ַ ח‬year after the city had fallen, at the beginning of the
‫ ַא ַחר ֲא ֶ ר ֻ ְכּ ָת ָ ִﬠיר‬year, the tenth day of the month…

Although the verse is missing the number of the month,[1] the term Rosh Hashanah (as we know it today,) sounds like the
beginning of the Jewish calendar year, while the tenth of the month would be the date of Yom Kippur. Does this mean that the
prophecy about the Temple came to Ezekiel during Yom Kippur? It is actually unclear. There are at least three interpretations of
this passage in Ezekiel.

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1. Nissan

Since all the books of Tanach, including Ezekiel (see Ezek. 45), count Nissan as the first month, most academic scholars assume
that Ezekiel is referring to the month of Nissan. Rosh Hashanah would be a reference to the first month of the year,[2] as we
find in Exodus 12:2:

‫וֹ‬ ִ ִ ָ ֳ ֹ ֶ ָ ֶ ַ ֶֹ ַ This month shall mark for you the beginning of the
ַ ‫ ַדּ ְבּ ֶ ָכּ ֲﬠ‬. ָ ָ ַ ֵ ְ ָ ְ ֶ ָ months; it shall be the first of the months of the year
ֶ ָ ְְִ ֶ ַ ֶ ֹ ַ ֹ ‫ֹ ֶבּ ָﬠ‬ ֵ ֵ ָ ְ ִ for you. Speak to the whole community of Israel and
. ִ ‫ָ ֹ ֶ ַ ָבּ‬ ֵ ְ ֶ ִ say that on the tenth of this month each of them shall
take a lamb to a family, a lamb to a household.

Intriguingly, the Septuagint actually has the words in the first month (Greek: ἐ τῷ πρώτῳ η ι), in the place of Rosh
Hashanah (the beginning of the year). Most probably, the Septuagint text reflects a Hebrew vorlage (version the translator
used) that read: . Whichever one of the above possibilities is correct, it seems clear that the peshat of the
verse is a reference to the tenth of Nissan.

2. Av

Avraham Ibn Ezra, in his gloss on Daniel 10:2, where the phrase the first month is used, writes:

Only we do not know whether this month refers to

the month of Nissan or whether it is the first month
of the third year of the kingdom of Cyrus, as it is [in
the verse (Ezek. 40:1)]: ‘In the twenty-fifth year of
: our exile, at the beginning of the year [on the tenth of
the month], which means the tenth of the fifth
month (=Av), for this was when the Temple was
burnt.

According to this, Ibn Ezra believes that there is an alternative dating system at play in these post-exilic passages, with Daniel
counting from the reign of Cyrus and Ezekiel from the conquest of the Temple and its destruction by the Babylonians.

3. Tishrei

Referencing this verse, and noting that it is odd to call the tenth of any month the beginning of the year, Chazal write (b.
Arachin 12b)

? In what year would the tenth of the month be the

. : beginning of the year? It can only be a jubilee year.

The Talmud, in search of an occasion in the Jewish calendar where the tenth of the month marks a new beginning of some
process or ritual that would qualify it to be called a rosh hashanah , explains this verse to be referring to a Jubilee year. The
tenth of the seventh month (Yom Kippur) in a Jubilee year marked the moment all servants were freed and all land was

returned to its original owners[3]—a new beginning for these Israelite families.

Moreover, although the Torah describes Yom Kippur as occurring in the seventh month, since Tishrei is the first month in the
rabbinic calendar, the rabbis may have understood that in this chapter at least, Ezekiel was working with the rabbinic calendar,

referring to the actual celebration of Rosh Hashanah that would occur on Yom Kippur on the Jubilee year.[4]

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This rabbinic interpretation offers a creative[5] solution for the meaning of the verse, but in some ways only serves to exacerbate
the mystery of the absence of any reference to the celebration of Yom Kippur in Nevi’im and Ketuvim. If the date in Ezekiel
really meant to say that he received this prophecy on Yom Kippur, it seems exceedingly odd that he would simply call it rosh
hashanah on the tenth, making no mention of it being Yom Kippur or the fast or something that would indicate that this day
is the Day of Atonement referenced in Leviticus.

Read our short series on the Historical Dimensions of Yom Kippur

1 – Yom Kippur: A Celebration of Liberty on the Jubilee Year
2 – Yom Kippur: A Festival of Dancing Maidens
3 – The Absence of Yom Kippur in Nevi’im and Ketuvim
4 – Does Ezekiel in 572 B.C.E Know of Yom Kippur?

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Footnotes
Published September 12, 2013 | Last Updated September 21, 2020

[1] Throughout Tanach the formula generally includes a day and month; it does not rely only on associating the date with a holiday.

[2] Jacob Milgrom argues, in his commentary on Leviticus pp. 2164-2165, that there was a beginning of the year festival in the month of Nisan that lasted 10 days.

[3] Leviticus 25:9

[4] See the comments of Rashi and Rabbeinu Gershom ad loc.

[5] It seems odd that Ezekiel would reference the Jubilee Yom Kippur since this Jubilee occurs post-exile and would be impossible to observe. Sensitive to this
problem, Radak (ad loc.) suggests that the date was symbolic.

‫פ‬ ‫פ‬ Since the bondsman would go from bondage to freedom on the Yom Kippur of the
’ Jubilee year, the Holy One showed [Ezekiel] the end of the exile and the rebuilding of
‫פ‬ the Temple on the Yom Kippur of the Jubilee year, since with this God would forgive
the iniquity of Israel and their sins would be recounted no longer.

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Historical Dimensions of Yom Kippur Part 3

The Absence of Yom Kippur in Nevi’im and Ketuvim

Project TABS Editors

I n contrast to other holidays like Passover and Sukkot, Yom Kippur is never mentioned anywhere in all of Nach (the
Prophets and the Writings). This means from a traditional perspective we have well over 800 years of scripture/records
with no mention of the holiday. In truth, Shavuot seems to go unreferenced in Nach as well, but its absence is less
surprising than the absence of Yom Kippur, since there are no narratives that explicitly occur during this period of time where
the holiday should be referenced. The absence of Yom Kippur, on the other hand, stands out when one surveys biblical
passages where one may have expected to see it referenced.

1 Kings 8:65-66
This passage describes the two week celebration Solomon held when dedicating the Temple. The two weeks are traditionally
understood to have lasted from Rosh Hashanah through to the end of Sukkot.

ָ ְ ‫ַ יַּ ַﬠ ְ ֹ ָ ֵﬠת ַ ִ י ֶ ת ֶ ָח‬ So Solomon and all Israel with him a great

‫יִ ְ ָ ֵ ִﬠמּוֹ ָ ָ ָ וֹ ִ ְלּ וֹ ֲח ָ ת ַﬠ ַ ַח‬ assemblage, [coming] from Lebo-hamath to the Wadi
‫ִ ְ ַ יִ ִ ְפ ֵ י יְ ָ ֱ ֵ י וּ ִ ְ ַﬠת יָ ִ י‬ of Egypt observed the Feast[1] at that time before
‫ַ יּוֹ‬ . ‫ְ ִ ְ ַﬠת יָ ִ י ַ ְ ָ ָﬠ ָﬠ ָ יוֹ‬ the Lord our God, seven days and again seven days,
ֶ ‫ַ ְ ִ י ִ י ִ ַלּח ֶ ת ָ ָﬠ ַ יְ ָ ֲ וּ ֶ ת ַ ֶמּ‬ fourteen days in all. On the eighth day he let the
‫ַ יֵּ ְ וּ‬ people go. They bade the king good-bye…

If there was a party that ran through Yom Kippur, what did they do on that holiday? The Rabbis, noticing[2] this problem,
actually suggest that they skipped over it, however, with such a radical departure from Torah law one might have wanted, even

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expected, the pesuqimto explain this.

Ezekiel 45:18-25
Ezekiel describes a ritual of purifying the Temple rather reminiscent of the Yom Kippur ritual. However, this purification is, in
Ezekiel’s description, to be done on the first day of Nissan, not the tenth of Tishrei (i.e. Yom Kippur). Additionally, Ezekiel
goes on to describe Temple holidays, including Pesach and Sukkot, but skips over Yom Kippur entirely.

ֶ ‫ַפּ‬ ַ ִ ֶֹ ַ ָ ֶ ְ ִָ ִ ְ ָֹ ֲ ַ ָ ֹ 18 Thus said the Lord God: On the first day of the first month, you
ַ ִ ֵֹ ַ ַ ָ ְ . ָ ְ ‫ְ ִ ֵ ָת ֶ ת ַ ִמּ‬ ִ ָ ָ ָ shall take a bull of the herd without blemish, and you shall cleanse the
ָ ָ ‫ִפּ ת ָ ֲﬠ‬ ַ ְַ ֶ ְ ‫ְ ַ ת ַ ַ ִת‬ ֶ ‫ַ ַ ָ ת ְ ָ ַת‬ Sanctuary. 19The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering
ֶ ‫ַ ֲﬠ‬ ֵ ְ .‫ַ ְפּ ִ ִ ת‬ ֵ ָ ֶ ‫ְ ַ ת ַ ַﬠ‬ ‫ַ ִמּ ְ ֵ ַ ְ ַﬠ‬ and apply it to the doorposts of the Temple, to the four corners of the
.‫ֶ ת ַ ָ ִת‬ ֶ ְ ‫ִ ֶפּ ִת ְ ִ ַפּ‬ ֶֹ ִ ֵ ֶֹ ַ ‫ְ ִ ְ ָﬠ‬ ledge of the altar, and to the doorposts of the gate of the inner court.
ָ ַ ‫ַ ָפּ‬ ֶ ָ ֶ ְִ ֶֹ ַ ָ ‫ְ ַ ְ ָ ָﬠ ָﬠ‬ ִָ 20 You shall do the same on the seventh day of the month to purge the
ַ ַ ִ ָ ַ ָ ‫ְ ָﬠ‬ . ֵ ֵָ ‫ת‬ ַ ִָ ‫ת‬ ֻ ְ Temple from uncleanness caused by unwitting or ignorant persons. 21
ָ ֶ ֵ ְ ‫ְ ִ ְ ַﬠת‬ .‫ַ ָ ת‬ ‫ַפּ‬ ֶ ָ ָ ‫ָ ַﬠ‬ ‫ְ ַﬠ‬ ‫ַ ֲﬠ‬ On the fourteenth day of the first month you shall have the passover
ַ ִ ִ ְ ִ ֵ ‫ְ ִ ְ ַﬠת‬ ִ ‫ִ ְ ַﬠת ָפּ‬ ָ ַ ָ ֶ ‫ַ ֲﬠ‬ sacrifice; and during a festival of seven days unleavened bread shall be
ָ ֵ ָ ְ ִ . ַ ִ ‫ְ ַ ָ ת ְ ִﬠ ִﬠ‬ ִ ָ ַ ‫ִ ְ ַﬠת‬ eaten. 22 On that day, the prince shall provide a bull of sin offering on
‫ַ ְ ִ ִﬠ‬ . ָ ֵ ָ ִ ֶ ֶ ְ ֶ ‫ָ ַ ִ ַ ֲﬠ‬ ָ ֵ ְ ‫ַ ָפּ‬ behalf of himself and of the entire population; 23 and during the seven
ִ ָ ַ ‫ִ ְ ַﬠת‬ ֶ ֵ ָ ֶ ‫ַ ֲﬠ‬ ָ ֶ ֶֹ ַ ָ ‫ָﬠ‬ ָ ִ ֲ ַ days of the festival, he shall provide daily—for seven days—seven bulls
. ֶ ָ ַ ְ ָ ְ ‫ְ ַ ִמּ‬ ָֹ ָ ‫ַ ַ ָ ת‬ and seven rams, without blemish, for a burnt offering to the Lord, and
one goat daily for a sin offering. 24 He shall provide a meal offering of
an ephah for each bull and an ephah for each ram, with a hin of oil to
every ephah. So, too, during the festival of the seventh month, for
seven days from thefifteenth day on, he shall provide the same sin
offerings, burnt offerings, meal offerings, and oil.

Ezra 3:1-7
This section of the book of Ezra describes the construction of the new altar upon which the repatriated exiles offered sacrifices.
The altar was dedicated during the month of Tishrei, and yet again only Sukkot is mentioned.

‫ָ ָﬠ‬ ְ ָ ֵַ ִ ‫ֶ ָﬠ‬ ֵ ָ ְ ִ ֵ ְ ‫ַ ְ ִ ִﬠ‬ ֶֹ ַ ִַַ When the seventh month arrived—the Israelites being settled in their
ָ ֶ ְ ָָ ֶ ַ ֵ ַָָ . ָ ָ ְ ֶ ָ ֶ ִ ְ towns—the entire people assembled as one man in Jerusalem. 2 Then
ֵ ֱ ַ ְ ִ ‫ֶת‬ ְִַ ָ ֶ ְ ֵ ִ ְ ַ ְ ֶ ֶ ָ ְֻ ִ ֲֹ ַ Jeshua son of Jozadak and his brother priests, and Zerubbabel son of
ִ ֶ ֹ ‫ְת ַ ת‬ ‫ֹ ת ַ ָת‬ ָ ‫ְ ַ ֲﬠ ת ָﬠ‬ ֵ ָ ְ ִ Shealtiel and his brothers set to and built the altar of the God of Israel
ֶ ֵ ‫ֲﬠ‬ ָ ֵ ְ ִ ‫ָֹת‬ ְ ‫ַ ִמּ ְ ֵ ַ ַﬠ‬ ִַָ . ִ ֱ ָ to offer burnt offerings upon it as is written in the Teaching of Moses,
ֶֹ ַ ‫ֹ ת‬ ָ ַ ‫ֹ ת‬ ָ ‫] ַ ַ ֲﬠ [ ָﬠ‬ ‫ת‬ ָ ֲ ָ ‫ֵ ַﬠ ֵמּ‬ the man of God. 3 They set up the altar on its site because they were in
ְ ‫ְ ַֹת‬ ‫ת ַ ָת‬ ֻ ַ ַ ‫ֶת‬ ‫ַ ַ ֲﬠ‬ . ֶ ‫ְ ָ ָﬠ‬ fear of the peoples of the land, and they offered burnt offerings on it to
ִ ָ ‫ַֹת‬ ֵ ֵ ֲ ַ ְ . ְ ַ ְ ‫ְ ִ ְ ַפּ‬ ‫ְ ִ ְ ָפּ‬ the Lord, burnt offerings each morning and evening. 4 Then they
ָ ְָ ֵ ַ ‫ְ ֹ ִ ְת‬ ִ ָ ֻ ְ ַ ָ ְ ֵ ‫ֲﬠ‬ ָ ְ ִ ָ ֳ ֶ ְ celebrated the festival of Tabernacles as is written, with its daily burnt
‫ְ ַ ֲﬠ ת ֹ ת‬ ֵ ֵ ‫ַ ְ ִ ִﬠ‬ ֶֹ ַ ָ ֶ ִ . ָ ַ offerings in the proper quantities, on each day as is prescribed for it, 5
. ָֻ ֹ ָ ְ ַ ֵ ְ ָ ַ followed by the regular burnt offering and the offerings for the new
moons and for all the sacred fixed times of the Lord, and whatever
freewill offerings were made to the Lord. 6 From the first day of the
seventh month they began to make burnt offerings to the Lord, though
the foundation of the Temple of the Lord had not been laid.

The passage explicitly states that the altar was in use from the beginning of the month, yet no mention of Rosh Hashanah or
Yom Kippur is made.

Nehemiah 8:2, 9-18

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This chapter describes the reading of the Torah done by Ezra the scribe before all of the Judeans. This reading begins on the
first of Tishrei and yet, when referencing the holidays they celebrated together as a community, only Sukkot and Shemini
Atzeret are referenced, not Rosh Hashanah and not Yom Kippur.

‫ְ ַﬠ‬ ִ ֵ ָ ‫ִ ְפ ֵ ַ ָקּ‬ ָ ַ ‫ֶת‬ ֵֹ ַ ָ ְ ‫ֶﬠ‬ ִ ָ‫ַ יּ‬ 2 On the first day of the seventh month, Ezra the priest brought the
. ‫ַ ְ ִ ִﬠ‬ ֶֹ ַ ָ ֶ ְ ַֹ ְ ִ ִ ֵ ֹ ְ ָ ִ Teaching before the congregation, men and women and all who could
listen with understanding.

ִ‫ַ ֵֹפ ְ ַ ְ ִ יּ‬ ֵֹ ַ ָ ְ ‫ַ ִ ְ ָ ָת ְ ֶﬠ‬ ְָ ֶ ְ ֶ ֹ‫ַיּ‬ 9 Nehemiah the Tirshatha, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites
ֶ ֵ ֱ ָ ַ ֹ ָ ‫ַיּ‬ ‫ָ ָﬠ‬ ָ ְ ‫ֶ ת ָ ָﬠ‬ ִ ִ ‫ַ ְמּ‬ who were explaining to the people said to all the people, This day is
‫ֶת‬ ‫ְ ָ ְ ָﬠ‬ ‫ָ ָﬠ‬ ָ ִ ִ ְ ִ ַ ְ ְ ַ ‫ִ ְת‬ ַ holy to the Lord your God: you must not mourn or weep, for all the
‫ְת‬ ִ ַ ְ ַ ְ ִ ְ ֶ ָ ֶ ֹ‫ ַיּ‬. ָ ַ ְֵ ִ people were weeping as they listened to the words of the Teaching. 10
ֵֹ ֲ ַ ‫ַיּ‬ ָ ִ ָ ֵ ְ ‫ָ ת‬ ְ ִ ְ ‫ַ ְ ַת ִקּ‬ He further said to them, Go, eat choice foods and drink sweet drinks
ִ ְ ַ ִ‫ְ ַ ְ ִ יּ‬ . ֶ ְ ‫ָ ֻﬠ‬ ִ ָ ְ ‫ֶ ְ ַת‬ ִ ֵ ‫ֵ ָﬠ‬ ַ ְ and send portions to whoever has nothing prepared, for the day is holy
ָ ְ ֵ‫ַ יּ‬ . ֵ ‫ֵ ָﬠ‬ ַ ְ ֹ ָ ‫ִ ַיּ‬ ַ ֹ ֵ ‫ָ ָﬠ‬ ָ ְ to our Lord. Do not be sad, for your rejoicing in the Lord is the source
ִ ָ ְ ָ ְ ִ ‫ָ ת ְ ַ ֲﬠ ת‬ ַ ַ ְ ‫ת‬ ְ ִ ְ ֹ ֱ ֶ ‫ָ ָﬠ‬ of your strength. 11 The Levites were quieting the people, saying,
. ֶ ָ ִ ֶ ֲ ִָ ְַ ִ ֵ Hush, for the day is holy; do not be sad. 12 Then all the people went
to eat and drink and send portions and make great merriment, for they
understood the things they were told.

ִ ֲֹ ַ ‫ָ ָﬠ‬ ָ ְ ‫ת‬ ָ ָ ֵ ָ ‫ַ ֵ ִ ֶ ֶ ְפ‬ ‫ַיּ‬ 13 On the second day, the heads of the clans of all the people and the
. ָ ַ ְֵ ִ ֶ ִ ְ ַ ְ ‫ַ ֵֹפ‬ ָ ְ ‫ֶﬠ‬ ֶ ִ‫ְ ַ ְ ִ יּ‬ priests and Levites gathered to Ezra the scribe to study the words of the
ֶ ֲ ֶֹ ְַ ָ ְ ִָ ֶ ֲ ָ ַ ‫ָת‬ ְ ְ ִ‫ַ יּ‬ Teaching. 14 They found written in the Teaching that the Lord had
… ‫ַ ְ ִ ִﬠ‬ ֶֹ ַ ָ ֶ ‫ת‬ ֻ ַ ֵ ָ ְ ִ ֵ ְ ְ ֵ commanded Moses that the Israelites must dwell in booths during the
festival of the seventh month…

ִ ‫ת‬ ֻ ַ ְ ֵ‫ת ַ יּ‬ ֻ ִ ְ ַ ִ ִ ָ ַ ָ ‫ַ ָקּ‬ ָ ‫ַ יַּ ֲﬠ‬ 17 The whole community that returned from the captivity made booths
ַ ‫ַיּ‬ ‫ַﬠ‬ ֵ ָ ְ ִ ֵ ְ ֵ ִ ַ ֵ ֵ ִ ‫ֹ ָﬠ‬ and dwelt in the booths the Israelites had not done so from the days
ִ ֱ ָ ‫ַת‬ ‫ְ ֵ ֶפ‬ ָ ְ ִ‫ַ יּ‬ .ֹ ְ ָ ְ ָ ְ ִ ִ ְ ַ of Joshuab son of Nun to that day and there was very great rejoicing.
‫ִ ְ ַﬠת‬ ָ ‫ַ יַּ ֲﬠ‬ ֲ ַ ָ ‫ַיּ‬ ‫ַﬠ‬ ִָ ‫ַיּ‬ ִ ְ 18 He read from the scroll of the Teaching of God each day, from the
. ‫ַ ְ ִ ִ ֲﬠ ֶ ֶ ת ַ ִמּ ְ ָפּ‬ ‫ַיּ‬ ִָ first to the last day. They celebrated the festival seven days, and there
was a solemn gathering on the eighth, as prescribed.

In this text there is reference to Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret but still no Yom Kippur. This is rather surprising
considering the prominent place given to Yom Kippur in our current Jewish calendar. Why this is remains a mystery.

Read Our short series on the Historical Dimensions of Yom Kippur

1 Yom Kippur: A Celebration of Liberty on the Jubilee Year
2 Yom Kippur: A Festival of Dancing Maidens
3 The Absence of Yom Kippur in Nevi’im and Ketuvim
4 Does Ezekiel in 572 B.C.E Know of Yom Kippur?

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Footnotes
Published September 11, 2013 | Last Updated September 24, 2020

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[1] (=Sukkot)

[2] 193 ‫לק ב‬ ‫לקו שמעונ‬

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The Scapegoat Ritual and Its Ancient Near Eastern

Parallels
In the scapegoat ritual of Yom Kippur and the bird ritual of the metzora, sin/impurity is transferred onto
an animal and it is sent away. These biblical examples have parallels in Eblaite, Hittite, Ugaritic, and
Neo-Assyrian apotropaic rituals.

Dr. Noga Ayali-Darshan

Sending the scapegoat into the wilderness. ClipArt ETC/USF

The Scapegoat Ritual in Leviticus 16

T he ritual of cleansing the Tabernacle, which was to take place every Yom Kippur,[1] features the sent-away goat ( ‫ע‬
‫ל‬ ‫ ;המ‬a rabbinic term) ritual. Aaron is to take two billy goats from the Israelites (v. 5) and stand them at the
entrance before the tent of meeting (v. 7). He places lots on the two goats, one for YHWH and the other for Azazel (v.

8). He brings forward the goat intended for YHWH, which will be a ḥaṭtạ̄ ’t ( ‫א‬ ), a sin or purification offering (v. 9).[2]
The second billy goat is treated differently:

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ַ ַ ‫ָ ֳﬠ‬ ֵ ָ ‫ַ ֲﬠ‬ ָ ַ ָ ‫ָﬠ‬ ָ ‫ָﬠ‬ ֶ ֲ ‫ ְ ַ ָשּׂ ִﬠ‬: Lev 16:10

while the billy goat designated by lot for Azazel shall be left
. ָ ָ ְ ‫ַ ִמּ‬ ֵ ָ ‫ֹת ַ ֲﬠ‬ ַ ַ ְ ָ ‫ְ ַ ֵפּ ָﬠ‬ ָ ‫ִ ְ ֵ ְ־‬ standing alive before YHWH, to make expiation with it and to send it
off to the wilderness for Azazel.

The means through which the second goat expiates is clarified later in the chapter:

: Lev 16:21
ֹ ‫( ] ָ ָ [ ַﬠ‬ ) ֵ ְ ‫ַ ֲ ֹ ֶת‬ ַ ָ ְ Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live billy
ָ ‫ְ ֶת‬ ֵ ָ ְ ִ ֵ ְ ‫ֶ ת ָ ֲﬠ ֹת‬ ָ ‫ָﬠ‬ ָ ַ ‫ַ ַ ְ ִ ְת‬ ‫ַ ָשּׂ ִﬠ‬ goat and confess over it all the iniquities and transgressions of the
ַ ִ ְ ‫ַ ָשּׂ ִﬠ‬ ֹ ‫ָֹת ַﬠ‬ ‫ֹ ָת ְ ָ ַת‬ ַ ָ ְ ֶ ‫ִפּ ְ ֵﬠ‬ Israelites, whatever their sins, putting them on the head of the billy
: goat; and it shall be sent off to the wilderness through a designated
ָ ‫ֶת‬ ָ ‫ַ ָשּׂ ִﬠ ָﬠ‬ ָ ְָ . ָ ָ ְ ‫ַ ִמּ‬ ִ ‫ִﬠ‬ ִ ְַ
:
... ָ ְ ‫ַ ִמּ‬ ‫ֶ ת ַ ָשּׂ ִﬠ‬ ַ ִ ְ ְֵָ ֶ ֶ ֶ ‫ֲﬠ ָֹת‬ man. 16:22 Thus the billy goat shall carry on it all their iniquities to an
ָ ְ ‫ֶת‬ ַ ְָ ָָ ְ ֵ ְַ ֵ ָ ‫ַ ֲﬠ‬ ‫ֶ ת ַ ָשּׂ ִﬠ‬ ֵַ ַ ְ ַ ְ inaccessible region; and the billy goat shall be sent off to the
. ֶ ֲ ‫ַ ַמּ‬ ֶ ָ ֵ ֵ ֲ ַ ְ ִ ‫ַ ָמּ‬ wilderness… 16:26 He who sent off the billy goat for Azazel shall wash
his clothes and bathe his body in water; after that he may reenter the
camp.

Traditional commentaries through the ages have struggled to understand the rite, which is unusual in the biblical corpus.
Animal rituals, especially in the Priestly text, are almost always sacrifices, i.e., offerings to God. Nevertheless, one parallel law
does appear in the Priestly text.

Sending Away One of Two Birds to Purify a Metzora (Lev 14)

Leviticus 14:1 7 lays out the process of purification for a metzora , a person who had been suffering from a serious skin disease
(often translated as leprosy in older Bible translations),[3] part of which includes a ritual involving two birds:

‫ַ ת‬ ִ ‫ִ ֳפּ‬ ֵ ְ ֵ ַ ‫ַ ִמּ‬ ַ ָ ְ ֵֹ ַ ָ‫ ְ ִ וּ‬: Lev 14:4 The priest shall order two live clean birds, cedar wood, crimson

. ֹ ֵ ְ ‫ֶ ֶ וּ ְ ִ ת ַ ַﬠת‬ ‫ְ ֹ ת ְ ֵﬠ‬ threads, and hyssop to be brought for him who is to be cleansed.

One bird is slaughtered and the live bird, together with the other objects, is dipped in the blood, which is then sprinkled on the
person being purified, after which he or she is considered pure. Then,

. ֶ ‫ַ ַ ָ ַﬠ ְפּ ֵ ַ ָשּׂ‬ ‫ֶ ת ַ ִצּ ֹפּ‬ ַ ִ ְ ... : 14:7 …and he shall send off the live bird in the open country.

This ritual, and that of the scapegoat, stand out as unique in the biblical corpus. Many biblical scholars have noted that the
slaughter of the first bird takes place outside the camp (v. 3) and is not called a ḥaṭtạ̄ t. This indicates that the bird rite reflects
an earlier stage than that of the scapegoat law in Lev 16, as it does not conform to the school of laws of the Jerusalem Temple

which demanded that the ḥaṭtạ̄ t sacrifice be made within its precincts.[4] Even so, the rituals are conceptually connected.[5]

How are we to understand the meaning of these sending away rituals? Archaeology has uncovered texts from many different
ancient Near Eastern societies that have parallel rituals that shed light on the meaning of these biblical rites.

Near Eastern Rituals of Sending Away an Animal

Sending away rituals generally involve dispatching to an uninhabited place an animal carrying on its body abstract evils such
as impurity, bad words, curses, etc. or plagues and disease. After the evils or disease are transferred from a place or people to
that dispatched animal, its release purifies the territory and/or cures the people.

Here are some examples from several cultures of the 3rd, 2nd and 1st millennia B.C.E.:

An Eblaite Goat Ritual

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The most ancient example of a sending away ritual was uncovered in the Ebla archives (Tell Mardikh in Modern Syria) from the

twenty-fourth century B.C.E. A tablet describes a ritual in which an animal is sent away in order to purify the house of the dead
prior to a royal wedding:

We purify the mausoleum before the entrance of (the gods) Kura and Barama. A goat, a silver bracelet
(hanging from) its neck, towards the steppe of Alini we let it go.[6]

Here the goat is sent out, dressed up in a decorative silver bracelet,[7] and carries with it the impurity, allowing the gods, and
later the king and queen, to enter the mausoleum as part of the wedding ceremony.

A Multi-animal Ritual from Hatti

A Hurro-Hittite rite for purifying the king and queen, recorded in the latter half of the 2nd millennium B.C.E. by the name The
Ritual of Šamuha and found in the archives of Hattuša (Bogazköy in modern Turkey), states:

[The exorcist] releases [one bull] for [the king], but one cow, ewe, and nanny goat [fo]r the queen’s
implements—[all] as a nakušši ( sent-away )[8]—and [th]en declares as follows:
Whatever evil word, false oath, curse, (or) [im]purity has been committed in the sight of the deity—may
these nakuššis [c]arry them [off] from before the deity. May the deity and the ritual patron (=king and
queen) be purified of these things! [9]

According to this text, the exorcist lets loose a number of live animals, referred to as nakuššis, which carry off abstract evils,
and by doing so, purifies the patients and the deity alike. Interestingly, the purification of the deity here is consistent with the
Priestly view propounded in the Pentateuch that the impurity of the Temple is caused by human sin.[10]

A Mouse Ritual from Hatti

A Luwian-Hittite ritual from the same age and site, transmitted by the old woman Ambazzi, describes how the exorcist sends a
mouse that is tied with a red thread, previously bound upon the patrons (i.e., the patients), into an uninhabited region:

She (=the exorcist) wraps a small piece of tin in a thread and binds it around the right hand and foot of
the (ritual) patron[s]. Then (she) takes it from them, binding it around a mouse, (saying):
I have taken the [e]vil from you. I have bound it around the mouse. May [th]is [mo]use carry it to the
high mountains, to the deepest valle[ys], to the long roads.
Then they release the mouse, (saying):
Zarni[za], Tarpattašši—You, take this for yourself, and we shall [gi]ve you (something) [el]se to
[e]at. [11]

This ritual has several significant connections with the Israelite scapegoat ritual. Firstly, it notes specifically that the mouse is to
be sent into an uninhabited region, just as the biblical scapegoat is to be sent to inaccessible region (‫)ארץ גזירה‬. At the same
time, however, the mouse is said to be an offering for the minor gods Zarniza or Tarpattašši.[12]

This is highly reminiscent of the biblical description of the scapegoat, in which the sins are carried by the animal to the
wilderness area, while dedicated to Azazel, thereby transferring the impurity from YHWH’s realm to another.[13] Secondly, this
rite—as other Luwian-Hittite rites which are not cited here—includes the tying of a thread around the sent-away animal and a
pronouncement over it. This thread is associated here with the evil whose transfer to the mouse effects the removal of the evil.
[14] While this custom is absent in the Bible, it is a part of the Mishnaic scapegoat ritual (Yoma 4:2).[15]

An Ugaritic Goat Ritual

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In the latter half of the second millennium B.C.E., Ugarit (Ras Shamra in Modern Syria) had the following comprehensive
wording for, apparently, the same practice of sending away an animal when a danger threatens the city and its citizens:

If a city is captured (or) if the people die, (all) the people shall take a goat and lead it far off.[16]

In contrast to the rituals of sending away a live animal into an uninhabited area practiced in the Syro-Anatolian region, the

Mesopotamian equivalents usually include an animal carcass (or its skin) for transporting impurity.[17] Nevertheless, a few
Neo-Assyrian rites points to a closely-corresponding worldview of the Syro-Anatolian rituals, including the biblical one.

A Neo-Assyrian Frog Ritual

A ritual recorded on a Neo-Assyrian tablet describes how a frog is brought to a sick person, who must then pronounce the
following words three times:

Frog, you know the grain -disease which seized me, [but I do not know it]. Frog, [you know] the li bu-
disease which seized me, [but I do not know it]. When you (try to) hop off and return to your waters,
you will return [the evil to] its steppe. [18]

After the sick person spits into the frog s mouth three times, symbolically passing the illness onto it through the patient s saliva,
the exorcist takes the frog to the steppe, where he ties a red-and-white thread to its feet, fastening them with thorns. This sent-
away frog thus carries away the person s illness to its own natural habitat which, although it is in fact water, is twice referred to
as a steppe.

A Neo-Assyrian Billy Goat Ritual

In this Neo-Assyrian ritual, a billy goat is tied to the head of the sick person s bed and the following morning led alive into the
steppe—together with a bough, a staff adorned with red-dyed wool, and a full cup of water. The red-colored staff and cup are
laid down along the way, while the billy goat is taken to the end of the journey with the bough. Only then it is slaughtered, and

the ritual is completed with its carcass.[19] Notably, the fact that it is led into the steppe —i.e., the perimeter of the inhabited
world—while still alive, diverges from the Mesopotamian customary practice of transporting impurity and is a reminiscent of

what is done in the biblical and other Syro-Anatolian scapegoat ritual.[20]

Apotropaic Sending-Away Rituals and the Biblical Texts

The extant ancient Near Eastern texts describe an apotropaic practice of sending away a live animal to an uninhabited region in
order to ward off any malevolence threatening people or a place, such as evil, impurity, or plague. As the examples noted above
and others reveal, the affliction, after having been removed from the body of the patients, is loaded onto the sent-away
animal, with either a verbal accompaniment or with threads tied around its body. Following the release of the live animal, it is
sometimes said that the entity, whether a god or a person, that encounters it receives the malevolence it carries. Thus, finally,
the patient is purified.

This fits with the meaning of the sent away animals in the metzora and scapegoat rituals. In the former the impurity of the
person is transferred to the bird, and in the latter the impurity of the temple / the sins of the people are transferred to the billy
goat. When the animals are sent out into the uninhabited wilderness, the impurities go along with them, no longer able to
harm people.

A Shared Ritual Tradition

Some may argue that the biblical scapegoat rite was influenced by Hittite culture, despite the substantial geographic and

chronological disparities between the two cultures, but this is unlikely. Rather, this practice s wide distribution, from the 24th
century onward, among the inhabitants of Ebla and Ugarit, as well as the Luwians and the Hurrians—in contrast to its rarity in

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Mesopotamia demonstrates that this is another shared practice of the Syro-Anatolian region, which the ancient Israelite
civilization is part of.[21]

Additional examples for this shared cultural region include the purification by blood and the burning of sacrifices on altars,
which have been found or are echoed in neighboring cultures stretching from Asia Minor through Syria and down to the Sinai

Peninsula.[22] In speaking of such practices, it is best not to speak of the Israelites borrowing the custom either directly or
through nomadic mediators, but of Israel inheriting them from their predecessors of the 2nd millennium Syro-Anatolian region.

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Footnotes
Published April 29, 2020 | Last Updated September 25, 2020
[1] For the transition from an emergency rite to the annual rite celebration of Yom Kippur, see n. 5, below.

[2] Editor’s note: For some discussion of the meaning of this term, see the opening sections of Yitzhaq Feder, A Sin Offering for Birth Anxiety, TheTorah (2016),
esp. the bibliography in fns 2 and 3.

[3] Editor’s note: For some discussion of this illness, see Yitzhaq Feder, Tzara at in Light of Its Mesopotamian Parallels, TheTorah (2019); Chaim Trachtman,
Tzara at as Cancer, TheTorah (2016).

[4] See Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus 1 16, Anchor Bible 3 (New York: Doubleday, 1991), 887 889; David P. Wright, The Disposal of Impurity: Elimination Rites in the
Bible and in Hittite and Mesopotamian Literature (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1987), 79 80. Note also the ceremony of the red heifer which also has a crimson thread,
cedar wood and hyssop, while taking place outside the sanctuary, is still referred to as a ḥaṭtạ̄ t (Num 19:1 10).

[5] The commands in Lev 16:29 34a (appended, apparently, by the Holiness School editors), testify for its local development from an ad-hoc rite to the annual rite
celebration of Yom Kippur, independent of human deeds. cf. Israel Knohl, The Sanctuary of Silence: The Priestly Torah and the Holiness School, trans. Jackie
Feldman and Peretz Rodman (Minneapolis, MN; Fortress Press, 1995); trans. of : (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1992) 27 28;
Milgrom, Leviticus 1 16, 1061 65; Christophe Nihan, From Priestly Torah to Pentateuch: A Study in the Composition of the Book of Leviticus (Tübingen: Mohr
Siebeck, 2007), 345 350; David Frankel, Recasting the Temple Purification Ritual as the Yom Kippur Service TheTorah (2014). By this, the Jerusalem Temple priests
succeed to reduce some of its ancient magical gestures, turning it into a cult par excellance.

[6] ARET XI, 12, 39 40; cf. Ida Zatelli, The Origin of the Biblical Scapegoat Ritual: The Evidence of Two Eblaite Texts, VT 48 (1998): 254 263.

[7] Moshe Weinfeld posits a link between the crimson thread tied to the scapegoat’s head in the Mishnaic ritual (m. Yoma 4:2) and the silver bracelet around the
goat’s neck. See, Moshe Weinfeld, / / [Things Which the Satan / Evil Inclination / Nations Criticize], in :
‫פ פ‬ ‫פ‬ [Atara le-Hayim: Studies in Talmudic and Rabbinic Literature in Honor of Professor Haim Zalman
Dimitrovsky], ed. Israel M. Ta-Shma, Daniel Boyarin, Menachem Hirschman, Shamma Y. Friedman, and Menachem Schmelzer (Jerusalem: Magnes, 2000), 105 111
[p. 111]. Nevertheless, a distinction should be made between the ornamentation with which the living animal is adorned apparently to make it attractive to those
who receive it, men or gods and the crimson thread.

[8] The translation of nakušši as a sent-away animal follows Gurney’s (Oliver R. Gurney, Some Aspects of Hittite Religion, Schweich Lectures 1976 [Oxford: British
Academy, 1977] , 51) derivation of the noun from the Hurrian root nakk- = let go, dispatch. Support for this is found in the parallelism between the Hurrian nakk-
and Hittite tarna- (= release ) in the bilingual text The Song of Release (CTH 789). Having said that, not all the animals designated nakušši were sent away (see
Jared L. Miller, Studies in the Origins, Development and Interpretation of the Kizzuwatna Rituals [SBT 46; Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2004], 465 n. 776). Thus, for
example, at a certain point in the rite described by Mastigga (#36 according to Miller), the Old Woman takes the nakušši to herself following its consecration to the
Sun-god. In an Alalakh ritual (AIT 126, 10 16; cf. Bernd Janowski and Gernot Wilhelm, Der Bock, der die Sünden hinausträgt: Zur Religionsgeschichte des Azazel-
Ritus Lev 16, 10.21f., in Religionsgeschichtliche Beziehungen zwischen Kleinasien, Nordsyrien und dem Alten Testament im 2. und 1. Jahrtausend: Akten des
Internationalen Symposion, Hamburg 17. 21. März 1990, OBO 129, ed. Bernd Janowski, Klaus Koch, and Gernot Wilhelm (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht,
1993], 153), the nakušši appears to serve as a sacrifice. These cases, though outliers, demonstrate that the meaning of the term or at least its precise ritual
connotation remains obscure. Another less convincing suggestion adduces an Indo-European etymology linked to the sense of damage : see E. Emmanuel
Laroch, Hittite nakkuš-nakkuššiš, in Kaniššuwar: A Tribute to Hans Güterbock on his Seventy-Fifth Birthday May 27, 1983, ed. Harry A. Hoffner and Gary M.
Beckman, Assyriological Studies 23, (Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 1986), 137 140.

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[9] CTH 480. Rene Lebrun, Samuha, foyer religieux de l’empire hittite, Publications de l'Institut orientaliste de Louvain 11 (Louvain-la-Neuve: Institut Orientaliste,
1976), 125, 132, with corrections from CHD L-N 375. Cf. also now: S. Görke S. Melzer (ed.), hethiter.net/: CTH 480.1 (INTR 2016-02-03).

[10] Jacob Milgrom, ‫ת‬ ‫ן‬ ‫[ תפ‬The Function of the Ḥaṭtạ̄ t Sacrifice], Tarbiz 40 (1971): 1 8; idem, Israel’s Sanctuary: The Priestly Picture of Dorian Gray,
Revue Biblique 83 (1976): 390 399.

[11] CTH 391. Birgit Christiansen, Die Ritualtradition der Ambazzi: eine philologische Bearbeitung und entstehungsgeschichtliche Analyse der Ritualtexte CTH 391,
CTH 429 und CTH 463, SBT 48 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2006), 38 41, and cf. 65 66. Cf. Birgit Christiansen (ed.), hethiter.net/: CTH 391.1 (INTR 2017-02-07).

[12] In lines II 34 42, the minor god Alauwaim. We do not know much about these gods.

[13] According to the plain meaning (peshat) of the biblical text in Leviticus (see the cited verses above), Azazel is a counterpart to YHWH; while one goat is
dedicated to YHWH and therefore is to be sacrificed in the Temple, the other is dedicated to Azazel and is sent to the wilderness. See, e.g., ibn Ezra for Lev. 16:8 and
17:7; Hans Duhm, Die bösen Geister im Alten Testamemt (Tubingen: Mohr, 1904), 56; Hayim Tawil, Azazel the Prince of the Steepe: A Comparative Study,
Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 92 (1980): 43 59. (The article was published with a typo in the title, steepe instead of steppe. ) For further
bibliography and other interpretations of Azazel, see Janowski, Azazel, in DDD, 128-131; idem and Wilhelm, Der Bock, der die Sünden hinausträgt.

[14] Cf. Wright, The Disposal of Impurity, 58; The affinities between this rite and 1 Sam 5 6 have also been noted, the golden mice there apparently being disease
carriers, taking the illnesses to the god of the enemy’s land.

[15] See Weinfeld, Things Which the Satan ; and cf. Noga Ayali-Darshan, The Origin and Meaning of the Crimson Thread in the Second Temple Period Scapegoat
Ritual in Light of an Ancient Syro-Anatolian Custom, JSJ 44 (2013): 530 552.

[16] KTU 1.127. The rendering lead is based on the Arabic root ḥadā: see Manfred Dietrich and Oswald Loretz, Mantik in Ugarit: Keilaphabetische Texte der
Opferschau, Omensammlungen, Nekromantie (Münster: Ugarit Verlag, 1990), 32 38. An alternative, but less probable, translation is: They see afar : see, e.g.,
Dennis Pardee, Ritual and Cult at Ugarit (Atlanta: SBL, 2002), 131.

[17] Perhaps the best-known practice is the purification of the Babylonian temple by a carcass, as part of the New Year ceremony. For this and other examples, see
Wright, The Disposal of Impurity, 60 74; JoAnn Scurlock, Animals in Ancient Mesopotamian Religion, in A History of the Animal World in the Ancient Near East,
ed. Billie Jean Collins (Leiden: Brill, 2002), 361 387; idem, Translating Transfers in Ancient Mesopotamia, in Magic and Ritual in the Ancient World, ed. Marvin
Meyer and Paul Mirecki (Leiden: Brill, 2002), 209 223.

[18] AMT 53/7 + K 6732:2 9 // K2581:21' 24'. Scurlock, Animals in Ancient Mesopotamian Religion, 373; idem, Translating Transfers in Ancient Mesopotamia,
211.

[19] KAR 33; Erich Ebeling, Tod und Leben nach den Vorstellungen der Babylonier (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1933), 73 75 [#19]; cf. Scurlock, Animals in Ancient
Mesopotamian Religion, 374 75; idem, Translating Transfers in Ancient Mesopotamia, 211 12.

[20] See Weinfeld, Social and Cultic Institutions in the Priestly Source against their ANE Background, 113. For an alternative view, see Tawil, Azazel the Prince of
the *Steppe.

[21] Cf. Itamar Singer, The Hittites and the Bible Revisited, in I Will Speak the Riddles of Ancient Times : Archaeological and Historical Studies in Honor of
Amihai Mazar on the Occasion of his Sixtieth Birthday, ed. Aren M. Maeir and Pierre de Miroschedji (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2006), 2:723 756, esp. 744. Cf.
also Miller, Studies in the Origins, 461 69. They all agree that a geo-cultural alliance arose between Anatolia and the northern and southern Levant which also
extended to Greece in the second millennium B.C.E.

[22] For a discussion of the cultus, see e.g., Daniel Schwemer, Akkadische Rituale aus Hattuša: Die Sammeltafel KBo xxxvi 29 und verwandte Fragmente (THeth 23;
Heidelberg: C. Winter, 1998), 81 116. For purification via blood, see Yitzhaq Feder, A Levantine Tradition: The Kizzuwatnean Blood Rite and the Biblical Sin
Offering, in Pax Hethitica: Studies on The Hittites and their Neighbors in Honour of Itamar Singer, SBT 51, ed. Yoram Cohen, Amir Gilan and Jared L. Miller
(Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2010), 101 114 [110 114]; idem, The Expiatory Use of Blood in Hittite and Biblical Ritual ; Volkert Haas, Ein hurritischer Blutritus und
die Deponierung der Ritualrückstände nach hethitischen Quellen, in Religionsgeschichtliche Beziehungen zwischen Kleinasien, Nordsyrien und dem Alten
Testament im 2. und 1. Jahrtausend: Akten des Internationalen Symposion, Hamburg 17. 21. März 1990, OBO 129; ed. Bernd Janowski, Klaus Koch, and Gemot
Wilhelm (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1993), 67 85.

Dr. Noga Ayali-Darshan is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Hebrew and Semitic Languages at Bar Ilan
University. She holds a Ph.D. from the Hebrew University and is the the author of Treading on the Back of the Sea
[Hebrew], recently published in a revised English edition: The Storm-God and the Sea: The Origin, Versions, and
Diffusion of a Myth throughout the Ancient Near East (Mohr-Siebeck, 2020).

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‫ין פ‬

Expiating with Blood

Is the book of Leviticus primitive? I believe so, though an analysis of the meaning of the word kipper
suggests that these sacrificial laws may be more relevant than we often realize.

Dr. Yitzhaq Feder

Studies of the heads of sheep and a cow, Jan van Ravenswaay, 1848. Christies.com

O h no…here it comes. It’s that time of year again. When God calls out to Moses ( ‫) י‬, heralding the beginning of
Leviticus, many readers (especially those who are not anthropologically inclined) are ready to tune out the ensuing
litany of animal sacrifices, bodily emissions, incest laws and other less-than-inspiring topics that occupy the Torah
portions for several weeks. Indeed, Maimonides himself argued that these laws are relics from an early phase of Israelite

civilization,[1] confirming our suspicions: these rules are primitive.

Actions Speak Louder: The Meaning of Sacrifices and Ritual

Perhaps here more than other Torah texts, academic biblical studies are indispensable, offering to provide historical context –

and hence meaning – to these obscure and archaic sources.[2] But what does it mean to speak of meaning in relation to ritual
texts? In addressing this question, scholars of ritual studies have pointed out that rituals appeal to a more basic non-verbal level

of expression in which the body takes the place of words as the instrument of expression.[3]

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Infants understand these signals (e.g. that putting on shoes means leaving the house ) long before they understand verbal
language, and these bodily signals continue to convey important messages alongside speech into adulthood.

For example, to take romantic advice from an expert in mammalian communication, Gregory Bateson points out that if a man
says I love you to a woman, she’ll probably pay more attention to his body language (and intonation) than his words.[4] The
following remark of Ludwig Wittgenstein helps clarify how these observations relate to ritual practice:

In magical healing one indicates to an illness that it should leave the patient. After the description of any such magical cure

we’d like to add: If the illness doesn’t understand that,then I don’t know how one ought to say it.[5]

In this sense, ritual gestures are primitive, not in the sense of outdated or simplistic, but that they appeal to a more
fundamental level of communication whose scope is much wider than verbal language. It is this more primal level of
communication which offers a means for interacting with impersonal forces and states, such as sin, guilt and impurity.

Concretizing the Abstract

Indeed, these seemingly abstract notions are themselves conceptualized in terms of concrete images.[6] One salient image of sin
is that of a burden, underlying the common biblical expression to bear sin ( ‫ע‬ ), which can refer both to the burden

carried by the transgressor as well as the act of forgiveness by which another person or God relieves this burden.[7]

An alternative metaphor for sin is that of a debt which needs to be repaid.[8] As will be shown below, this debt metaphor
underlies the key term kipper ( ‫) פ‬, used in reference to the sin ( ) and guilt ( ) offerings outlined in Leviticus 4–5, as

well as the Yom Kippur ritual described in chapter 16.[9]

No Expiation without Blood – The Meaning of kipper

The use of blood in the sin offering provides an illuminating illustration of the role of metaphoric thinking in biblical ritual.
Though all of the biblical offerings involve some form of blood manipulation, the sin offering’s distinguishing characteristic is
the smearing of blood on the horns of the altar (for offerings of individuals) and blood sprinkling in the sanctuary (for
collective offerings).[10] The results of these sin offerings are stated in a fixed formula which is repeated throughout Leviticus 4:

the priest shall expiate (kipper) for him/ them and he/ they shall be forgiven (vv. 20, 26, 31, 35).[11]

Recognizing that these blood rites are the main step in achieving expiation (expressed by the verb kipper) and forgiveness, the

Rabbis coined the formula: There is no expiation without blood [12] ( ‫פ‬ ). This association raises two
interrelated questions: What exactly is the meaning of kipper, and why is it related to blood? In modern research, these
bloody questions have provoked a startling amount of ink-shed.

Semitic Etymology

The typical English translation of kipper as atone is not very helpful, for atone is not a familiar word in English outside of
its biblical usages. Most scholarly attention has been directed towards apparently related terms in other Semitic languages.
Whereas the biblical term – at least in ritual contexts – has an abstract usage of mitigating sin (sin is not a physical thing), the
Semitic etymology lead us to a concrete sense which would could be more original, allowing a more precise rendering of kipper.

Two possible etymologies stand out:

1. The Arabic verb kafara meaning to cover (up).

2. The Akkadian verb kuppuru meaning to wipe (away).

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Both offer suggestive images that could potentially be applied to sin. However, the problem remains that biblical Hebrew never
employs kipper in such concrete usages.[13]

Here we must heed the warning of the great biblical scholar James Barr (1924-2006): Etymology is not, and does not profess to
be, a guide to the semantic value of words in their current usage, and such a value has to be determined from the current usage

and not the derivation. [14]

Biblical Context

My approach is to focus on the numerous attestations of the root k-p-r in the Tanakh.[15]Leaving aside the more abstract
usages, which refer to removing sin, it is possible to identify two social situations in which these terms are used. While these
usages are not as concrete as the Semitic parallels mentioned above, they nevertheless allow for a more nuanced appreciation
for the meaning of k-p-r, based on its use in mundane situations:

1) appeasement of an adversary or judge (propitiation),

2) compensation for bloodguilt (expiation).

The difference between these two usages is as follows: whereas appeasement seeks to placate the subjective anger of an
adversary, compensation addresses the objective loss. For example, verbal forms of k-p-r can refer to appeasement as in
Proverbs 16:14:

The king’s anger is a messenger of death, but the wise man can assuage it ( ‫)י פ נ‬.

In relation to bloodguilt, these verbal forms take on a different nuance, referring to making compensation for the bloodguilt.
Instead of focusing on quelling the anger of the offended party, these sources address the source of guilt, the blood-stain
which must be removed. For example, the law in Numbers 35:33 rejects the possibility of a monetary ransom in cases of
premeditated murder:

You shall not incriminate the land in which you live, for blood incriminates the land and the land will
not be expiated ( ‫ ) א יְ ֻ ַפּ‬for the blood that was shed on it except by means of the blood of him who shed
it.

Likewise, the noun koper can refer to a bribe to avoid a negative judgment (1 Samuel 12:3), but it can also refer to a
substitution payment in cases of bloodguilt (such as a habitually goring ox) in which the negligent owner would otherwise be
sentenced to death (Exodus 21:30).

But why is bloodguilt associated with compensation?

The Biblical View of Homicide: Paying back with Blood

The relationship between compensation and bloodguilt can only be properly understood on the background of the biblical view
of what is necessary to be done when a homicide occurs. Briefly, the fundamental belief is that innocent blood (‫נ י‬ ) demands
retribution against the murderer. For example, Abel’s spilled blood calls out for vengeance against Cain (Genesis 4:10), though
typically the biblical sources do not personify the blood, treating it as an invisible stain that must be removed lest collective

punishment strike the community.[16]

In particular, it is the responsibility of the victim’s kin to act as the redeemer of blood ( ‫) א‬, to free the victim’s blood
from its state of discord. For this reason, it was forbidden for the relatives to accept monetary compensation to appease their
(subjective) outrage, despite the fact that this was an accepted practice throughout the ancient Near East. Only by addressing

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the objective guilt – by repaying the blood-debt – could collective retribution be averted. As God warns Noah (Genesis 9:6):
The one who spills the blood of man, by man his blood shall be spilled ( ‫פ‬ ‫) פ‬.

Paying Back the Gibeonites with the Blood of Saul’s Sons

An illustration can be taken from 2 Samuel 21 in which David discovers that the famine afflicting Israel was caused by Saul’s
massacre of the Gibeonites. In his appeal to the Gibeonites, David pleads: With what can I make amends ( ‫פ‬ ) so that
you will bless the allotment of the Lord? They respond: We have no claim of silver or gold against Saul and his household,
and we have no claim on the life of any man in Israel… May seven of (Saul’s) male offspring be handed over to us so that we
will impale them before the Lord. The Gibeonites will not be appeased with monetary gifts; only by means of the blood of
Saul’s offspring can compensation be made for the bloodguilt.

This widely-attested belief that a blood-debt can only be repaid in blood is essential for understanding the significance of blood

in the sin-offering ritual.[17] In other ancient Near Eastern cultures, such as Babylonia, the use of monetary compensation in
cases of bloodguilt was the norm, so much so that the Akkadian term blood (dāmu) was used in reference to monetary
payment, i.e. blood-money. (Incidentally, this terminology also entered Mishnaic Hebrew through Aramaic influence, in the

term , meaning damages and, more generally, payment .[18])

However, according to the biblical conception, blood represents not only the debt incurred by the murderer, but also the
currency by which it must be paid back. This significance of blood as a payment to remove culpability is taken up by the sin-
offering ritual. It is remarkable that the common English translation of kipper in cultic contexts is expiate – from Latin ex-
pio meaning pay-off. This rendering accurately captures the underlying metaphor of sin as a debt that demands
compensation.[19]

Conclusion – Expiation Metaphors in Modern Times

These metaphoric notions debt and payback to depict guilt and punishment are still common in everyday speech and even
in newspaper headlines.

Headline: The debt has been repaid: Israel killed the youths’ murderers. This headline, employing a debt metaphor for blood
retribution, followed the military operation to capture the perpetrators of the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers
this past summer, which resulted in the terrorists’ death.

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Though we may also employ more abstract terms like justice, these more concrete images seem to more powerfully capture
the intuitive sense that misdeeds should be punished in proportion to their wickedness.[20] The sacrificial system gives
credence to these intuitions, not only treating sin as an objective reality, but also providing a means of undoing its negative
consequences. By invoking the imagery of blood as payment and the terminology of compensation (kipper), the sin-offering

provides a means to evade divine punishment.[21]

One may add that this approach also has therapeutic value. Instead of ignoring such feelings of guilt and moving on with life,
as would be encouraged by a modern perspective which denies that sin has any objective reality, the book of Leviticus addresses
the intuitive sense that wrongful deeds demand rectification and enables the repentant person to confront his or her past not
only in thoughts and words, but also through concrete actions.

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Footnotes
Published March 16, 2015 | Last Updated September 12, 2020

[1] Guide for the Perplexed 3:32.

[2] Jacob Milgrom ( ) has contributed more than any other modern scholar to a renaissance in modern studies of Leviticus, represented in his magnificent three
volume Anchor Bible commentary: J. Milgrom, Leviticus (New York: Doubleday, 1991–2001), as well as his commentary for a non-specialist audience: Leviticus: A
Book of Ritual and Ethics(Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2004).

[3] See e.g. C. Bell, Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice (New York: Oxford University, 1992), 94–101. For further discussion, see my book: Blood Expiation in Hittite and
Biblical Ritual: Origins Context and Meaning (Atlanta: SBL, 2011), ch. 4.

[4] Steps to an Ecology of the Mind (Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson, 1987), 379.

[5] L. Wittgenstein, Remarks on Frazer s Golden Bough (ed. R. Rhees; trans. A.C. Miles; Gringley-on-the-Hill, England: Doncaster, 1991), 6e–7e.

[6] The role of metaphor in conceptualization became a major area of cognitive linguistic research following the publication of G. Lakoff and M. Johnson, Metaphors
We Live By (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1980). For a recent overview of the application of this theory to biblical studies, see J. Jindo, Toward a Poetics of the
Biblical Mind: Language, Culture and Cognition , VT 59 (2009), pp. 222–243.

[7] Baruch J. Schwartz, The Bearing of Sin in the Priestly Literature, in Pomegranates and Golden Bells. Studies in Biblical, Jewish and Near Eastern Ritual, Law,
and Literature in Honor of Jacob Milgrom (eds. D.P. Wright, D.N. Freedman and A. Hurvitz; Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1995), pp. 3–21.

[8] Gary A. Anderson, Sin: A History (New Haven: Yale University, 2009), though he views this metaphor as developing only in the exilic or Second Temple Period.

[9] For a rebuttal to Milgrom s translation of ‫את‬ as purification offering, see Feder, Blood Expiation, 99–108.

[10] Rabbinic commentators were quite aware of the distinctiveness of the sin offering s blood rite, e.g. Rashi on Ex 29:16.

[11] \ \ ‫ פר‬. For an exhaustive discussion of the various types of sin offering, see Roy Gane, Cult and Character: Purification Offerings, Day
of Atonement and Theodicy (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2005).

[12] E.g. b. Zevahim 6a; Menahoth 93b. Admittedly, the Rabbis applied this principle also to the blood rites of other offerings, yet it seems clear that the sin offering
was the prototypical case, based on the association of blood and kipper in Lev 4 and 16. This connection is also found in the New Testament: Without shedding of
blood there is no forgiveness (Hebrews 9:22) and has featured prominently in Christian theology.

[13] For more detailed discussion, see my article On kuppuru, kippēr and Etymological Sins that Cannot be Wiped Away, Vetus Testamentum 60 (2010): 535–545.

[14] The Semantics of Biblical Language (London: Oxford University, 1961), 107. Raanan Eichler makes a similar point in his TABS essay, The Zer.

[15] The following is a radically condensed summary of my detailed argument in Blood Expiation, ch. 5.

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[16] A salient example is the case of an unknown murderer described in Deut 21:1–9, which requires the community to perform the rite of breaking a calf’s neck to
avoid collective guilt, literally so that the blood(guilt) will be expiated for them ( ‫פר‬ ). For an interpretation of this ritual, see Blood Expiation 180–184. For
further discussion and sources, see my Blood Expiation, pp. 173 – 86; also The Mechanics of Retribution in Hittite, Mesopotamian and Ancient Israelite
Sources, Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 10 (2010): 138–149.

[17] Other examples of the explicit connection of the verb kipper with bloodguilt include: Num 35:33 (quoted above); Deut 21:8 (see previous note); 32:43. A similar
principal is expressed in Gen 9:6.

[18] E.g. m. Ketubot 12, 1–2; m. Bava Qamma 5, 4; 8, 1–2. See M. Sokoloff, A Dictionary of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic, Ramat Gan 2002, p. 152, sub. ‫י‬ (= price,
payment ); idem.,A Dictionary of Jewish Babylonian Aramaic (Ramat Gan: Bar-Ilan University, 2002), 343, sub. ‫י‬ (= price, value, payment )

[19] It is doubtful that the Latin translators understood the relationship between blood and kipper as elucidated here. Rather, they were simply rendering the Hebrew
verb in a sense that seemed appropriate for the ritual context. Regarding the translation of kipper, see Blood Expiation, 252–256.

[20] For the intuitiveness of the just deserts notion of punishment (advocated by Immanuel Kant), see K.M. Carlsmith, J.M. Darley and P.H. Robinson, Why Do
We Punish? Deterrence and Just Deserts as Motives for Punishment, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 83 (2002): 284–299.

[21] Though some readers may be uncomfortable with this point, it seems to be taken for granted that this is a legitimate reason to sacrifice the animal. Nevertheless,
it should be pointed out that the meat of sin offerings for minor sins (which were the most common) was given to the priests for consumption (Lev 6:17–23).

Dr. Yitzhaq Feder is a lecturer at the University of Haifa. He is the author of Blood Expiation in Hittite and Biblical
Ritual: Origins, Context and Meaning (Society of Biblical Literature, 2011). His upcoming book, Contagion and
Cognition: Defilement as Embodied Discourse in the Hebrew Bible, examines the psychological foundations of
impurity in ancient Israel.

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