Yom Ha-Kippurim – the great Day of
Atonement
Another very special day!
André H. Roosma
13 Sept. 2013
Today it is celebrated (update: in 2015 on 22/23 Sept.;
2016: 11/12 Oct.; 2017: 29/30 Sept.; 2018: 18/19 Sept.; 2019: 8/9 Oct.; 2020:
27/28 Sept.; 2021: 15/16 Sept.; 2022: 4/5 Oct.; 2023: 24/25 Sept.; 2024:
11/12 Oct.; 2025: 1/2 Oct.): the great Day of Atonement, or Yom Ha-Kippurim
as the Hebrew of the Bible calls it, often abbreviated to Yom Kippur
(see Leviticus 16; cf. Hebr.9-12).
Israel was to celebrate it on the tenth of the seventh month
(Leviticus 23: 27-28; 25: 9).
As usual, I had a closer look at the meaning and etymology of this
expression: יֹום
הַכִּפֻּרִים
- Yom Ha-Kippurim. The Yom part is easy; that is a day. The
crux is in Ha-Kippurim. The usual explanation is that Kippur
[3725] comes from the verb
kaphar [3722], meaning:
to cover, purge, make an atonement, make reconciliation, cover over
with pitch. Strong’s dictionary had: to cover (specifically with bitumen); figuratively to
expiate or condone; to placate or cancel: - appease,
make (an) atonement, cleanse, disannul,
forgive, be merciful, pacify, pardon, to pitch, purge (away), put off, (make) reconcile (-liation). The prefix ha- adds emphasis.
An important related word is the word פַר - phar - a bull (specifically a young bull; in Old English: a fearr) that was
sacrificed to make atonement. I’ll come back to that.
Furthermore, it is interesting to see that the word kaphar [3723] is also used to denote a
village (as covering an area and not being
concentrated like a city; think e.g. of the village name כָפַר־נַחוּם
- Kaphar-nachum - the village of
comfort, where Jesus often came). And with a different vowelization:
kopher [3724] is -
amongst others - a price of a life or a ransom (and a word for asphalt or pitch, all clearly related to
kaphar as well).
Another interesting and related word we encounter in the old ritual for
Yom Ha-Kippurim, where blood of a sacrifice was taken by the High
Priest into the Holy of Holies, the place where God was present in a special
way. There, it was sprinkled at the pure golden kapporet, the
atonement lid or covering (also translated as: mercy
seat) on top of the Ark of the Covenant (see Leviticus 16).
I like to look at the old Semitic script and see whether its pictures
shed some additional light on it.1 In that script, Kippur would
have been written:    , literally:
hand-of-authority - opening - God. That hand-of-authority can be a
commanding hand, but here it is especially a blessing hand.
That hand is blessing the פַר / - phar - the atoning
sacrifice. Kippur then is the fully accepted atonement. We can also
read Kippur - as a hand of
blessing authority () that
created an opening () towards God (). And, when we look
at the hands of Messiah Yeshu‘ah,
we see an additional meaning of His hands bearing the ‘openings’
or ‘holes’ that remained of the big nails by which He was nailed
to the cross.
A remarkable detail: I mentioned the atonement lid or covering on top of the
Ark of the Covenant, the kapporet, in the old script:  . There
-literally- the kippur - the atonement was fulfilled (). And that referred already to the cross of atonement... On that cross
Yeshu‘ah atoned our sins and bore
all our brokenness. So, yes, that open blessing hand can cover us as
well as take away our sins and reconcile us to God the Father.
It is noteworthy that the Bible speaks of Ha-Kippurim - plural.
Yeshu‘ah reconciled everything
for all of us. He paid the ransom, His blood was shed, the price for
all of our lives (cf. what I noted on kopher)! He has carved even us on the palms of His hands (Yesha‘-yahu (Isaiah) 49:
16a)! What a miracle! What an unfathomably great Love!
Hallelu YaH !
Yes, that’s why it says: Ha-Kippurim:    . The Kippurim offered to us is worthy of our attention,
awe and worship! And He and His Kippurim is worthy a big
celebration, for any and every Israelite as well as Christian, yes,
for every inhabitant of this world! Again I say:
Hallelu YaH ! and
Hallelu Yeshu‘ah !
Notes
Also the name of the cypress (German: Kiefer) and the
name of the isle of Cyprus (where cypresses grew in abundance) are derived
from the Semitic root kaphar. The pitch which was mentioned, was most
likely made from the resin of this sweet smelling tree. The flowers or the
dust from these made people color (blood)red, such that kapher was also
used to denote a bright red color. Also the name of the gopher wood
from which the ark of Noach was made (the means for the rescue of mankind!)
was related, says Fürst (A Hebrew & Chaldee lexicon to the Old Testament,
1885, p.689). Note that wood of cedar and cypress was used abundantly in
the construction of the temple.
A word that is sometimes
mentioned together with kapporet is in post-Babylonian Hebrew פָרֹכֶת -
parokhet (mostly transliterated as parochet) - the veil in
front of the Holy of Holies. Some dictionaries say that this would be derived
from a verb parakh, which signifies to break apart (I do not
see the link!). Closer analysis shows that parokhet (with kaph) appears to be
influenced by Aramaic (with likely contamination by the word kapporet). The original Paleo-Hebrew form most likely corresponded to פָרֹחֶת
- parochet, with chet instead of kaph.
In the old script:  - the tent-cloth/curtain as closure of the opening towards God.
It was this tent-cloth, this veil or curtain, that was rent when Yeshu‘ah died at the cross, opening for us the
way to God. The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews (10: 20) relates that
veil or curtain ()
to the flesh of Yeshu‘ah, and that
is entirely in line with the symbolism of the old Semitic characters.
In the meantime, this small side-track draws our attention to that simple
explanation of kippur, namely as the blessing ( ) of God providing for us an opening () towards
Himself (). Again I say:
Hallelu YaH !
Previous article: ‘Feast of
Trumpets - Zikhron Teru‘ah
– A very special day!’.
|
,
a living document by André H. Roosma, 1st
English version: 18 April 2011 (
