4 The Chosen People | SEPTEMBER 2019
All of this was done year after year on the Day of Atonement in the Holy
of Holies to atone for Israel’s sins. These sacrifices provided a picture of
the coming, once-for-all sacrifice of the Messiah, “for it is impossible for
the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4). Praise
the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that now “we have confidence to
enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which
He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh” (vv. 19–20).
TEMPLE IMPLEMENTS
Forty years after Jesus’ death and resurrection, the Romans burned
Jerusalem to the ground in AD 70, destroyed the Temple stone by
stone, took its treasures, and captured the remaining Jewish survivors
as slaves. Jesus predicted these events (Luke 19:41–44), which are etched in
stone in the Arch of Titus at the Roman Forum next to the Colosseum.
Most of us are familiar with the Indiana Jones movie, Raiders of the Lost
Ark, in which Harrison Ford makes haste to find the lost ark before the
Nazis find it. While this makes for great entertainment, we do not know
exactly what happened to all of the items from the Temple, and where they
are now. As far as we know, the Ark of the Covenant was never recovered
after the destruction of Solomon’s temple by the Babylonians in 587 BC.
The rabbis disagree over whether it was taken away to Babylon or hidden
to prevent capture. The spot in the Second Temple where the ark should
have stood was marked by a single slab of stone, where the high priest
would place the censer of incense once a year on the Day of Atonement.1
The haunting site would have reminded the High Priest that the words of
Ezekiel the prophet had come to pass and the glory of God was removed
because of the sins of His chosen people. (Ezekiel 10:18, 11:22)
According to Josephus, the menorah was touted as a spoil of war during
the triumphal procession of Vespasian and Titus. The Arch of Titus in
Rome depicts soldiers carrying the seven-branched golden menorah, as
well as the gold trumpets, the fire pans for removing the ashes from the
altar, and the table for the showbread. Afterwards, it was on show at the
Temple of Peace in Rome and remained there until Rome was conquered
in 455 by Vandal armies. The exact fate of the menorah after this is unknown.
Some say that it was melted down into chunks of gold, others say
that it was taken to Carthage, or that it sank in a shipwreck. More likely
than not, the menorah was taken as a spoil of war again by the Vandal
army during the conquest of Rome and taken to Carthage,2 and then
to Constantinople in 533 by the Byzantine army.3 It is possible that the
menorah was later sent back to Jerusalem but there is no record of this.4
Today, the whereabouts and final fate of the golden menorah are still
unknown, as is the table for the showbread, and the altar of incense. The
ark of the covenant, of course, has been a source of mystery, rumor, and
legend since the destruction of the Temple. We do not know where it is!
WHERE IS THE HOLY OF HOLIES
There are several theories as to the exact spot where the Holy of
Holies stood. All of them are, of course, on the Temple Mount in
Jerusalem.
At the top of the Temple Mount today, there stand three structures. The
most famous is the Dome of the Rock, with its large, golden dome, easily
recognized from most of the photos of Jerusalem. Just to the south of it
YOM KIPPUR
God commanded that once a year, on the
tenth day of the Hebrew month Tishrei,
Israel’s high priest was to enter the Most
Holy Place—the Holy of Holies—and atone for the
sins of the Jewish people. This day, called the Day of
Atonement, or in Hebrew, Yom Kippur (literally the
Day of Covering), was the most solemn day of the
Hebrew calendar, and it remains the most sober and
reflective holiday among Jewish people today.
The Lord gave Moses strict instructions for Aaron
and succeeding high priests to follow regarding
how to enter the holy place and how to perform the
atoning sacrifices on the Day of Atonement. First, the
high priest was required to ritually cleanse himself
in water. Then he had to adorn himself with special
linen vestments: a tunic, turban, undergarments, and
sash around his waist (Leviticus 16:3–4).
After the high priest readied himself, he then filled
an incense burner with coals so that smoke would
rise and cover the Ark of the Covenant as he entered
the Holy of Holies (v. 13). No one was even permitted
to be in the Tabernacle or Temple once the high
priest entered this holy room (v. 17).
The first offering the Lord instructed the high priest
to make in the holy place was a bull offering to atone
for his sins and those of his family. The high priest
would dip his finger in a bull’s blood, sprinkle it
on the east side of the mercy seat (the Ark’s lid or
cover), and then sprinkle it seven times in front of
the mercy seat (vv. 11, 14).
After the bull offering, the high priest would cast lots
between two goats, “one lot for the Lord and the other
lot for the scapegoat” (v. 8). The goat on which the
“lot for the Lord” fell would then be offered as a sin
offering for the people of Israel. He would sacrifice
the goat on the altar, take its blood into the Holy of
Holies, and sprinkle it on and in front of the mercy
seat, just as he did with the bull’s blood (v. 15).
After the sacrifices and sprinkling of the blood in the
Holy of Holies, the high priest would exit the room
and sprinkle more blood on the altar itself. He would
sprinkle some of the bull’s blood and the goat’s blood
“on the horns of the altar on all sides” seven times to
cleanse it “from the impurities of the sons of Israel”
(vv. 18, 19).
Last, the high priest would take the live scapegoat
and place both his hands on the goat’s head,
symbolically transferring Israel’s sins onto the
goat. Someone would then take the goat into the
wilderness and release it (vv. 20–22). According
to Jewish tradition the one leading the goat into
the wilderness would push the animal down a cliff
emphasizing the role of the animal in removing the
sins of the Jewish people.