Foreword З

Acknowledgements 4

Orientation to the Reader 5

Contents 7

Introduction 19

CHAPTER I THE DAY OF ATONEMENT AND THE TEXTS OF THE PENTATEUCH 27 The name of the ceremony 27 The place of the celebration in the liturgical calendar of Israel 28 -Picture of the Jewish Feasts of the Pentateuch 28 The content of the Pentateuch 31 - The contents of Leviticus 16 32 I. Preliminaries to the celebration: vv. 1-10 33 1. Introduction: historical and religious reason of the ritual: vv. 1-2 33 The Most Holy Place 35 The cloud 36 The kapporet 37 2. The animal sacrifices for the High Priest and the people, and the sacred garments: v. 3-5 38 The animals of the High Priest and the people 38 The apparel of the High Priest (v. 4) 40 3. Essential sketch of the principal ritual: v. 6-10 41 The young bull of the priesthood 41 The two goats 41 The lot 42 The goat for Azazel 44 II. Description of the principal rites of the day 46 4. Detailed description of the ceremonies to be accomplished: vv. 11-28 46 a) Ritual of incense and of blood (vv. 11-19) 46 Ritual of incense (w. 12-13) 47 Ritual of blood fw. 14-19) 48 -The altar of w. 18-19; cf v. 33 49 -The implications of the order: "until he comes out" (Lev 16:17) 50 -The use of the verb kipper on the Day of Atonement 52 -The word taher, "clean" 54 -The word qodes, "holy " 55 —The verb nazah (hizzah) 57 Conclusion and exegetical summary regarding the rite of blood (vv. 14-19) 60 b) The expulsion of the living goat (w. 20-22) 60 c) Final ablution of the participants in the ritual (vv. 23-28) 62 The burnt offering for the priesthood and the burnt offering for the people (v. 24) 63 III. Final Summary Systematization 66 5. Duties of the people and conclusion (vv. 29-34) 66 - The content of Leviticus 23:27-32 67 - The content of Leviticus 25:9 69 The seventh sabbatical year 70 The Jubilee 71 - The content of Numbers 29:7-11 73 Conclusion 75 Excursus 1. The Apparel of the High Priest on the Day of Atonement 77 The garments of the High Priest 78 —The four undergarments commons to every priest 78 —The four overgarments exclusive to the High Priest 78 The moment and place for change of garments 80 —According to the structure of the text 81 —According to the meaning of the employed terms 83 -According to the rabbinic tradition of the Mishnah 85 —Remarks 86 —The usage of the garments 86 Correspondences between the garments of the High Priest and the curtains of the tabernacle 89 Components and material of the tabernacle 90 Components and material of the temple 91 Purpose of the change of garments on the Day of Atonement 91 The directions for bathing the body 92 The entrances and exits of the High Priest 93 Conclusion 94 Significance of the garments' removal 96 Typological perspective 98 E. G. White and the typology of the priestly garments 100

CHAPTER II HISTORICO-LITERARY CRITICISM AND THE HISTORICAL PROBLEM 107 Literary criticism of the Day of Atonement 107 Three classes of analysis 107 a) Linguistic 110 b) In form 111 c) In content 112 Additional general considerations about the critical-literary method in its application to Lev 16 113 Historical criticism of the Day of Atonement 115 Negative arguments 116 The celebrations of the seventh month 116 The celebrations of the first month 120 Positive arguments 124 Conclusion 127 Excursus 2. The Modern Methods of Interpretation, and the Present Methodological Crisis 129 The critic method: history and procedure 129 Philosophical Origin of the Historical-Critical Method 130 External and internal critics 133 Integrative methods 134 Other or Intermediate currents 134 The present crisis in biblical theology 137 Excesses in both integrative and critical schools of interpretation 139 Present efforts to escape the criticism of subjectivity 141 Conclusion 143

CHAPTER III THE DAY OF ATONEMENT AS RELATED TO THE CONTAMINATION AND PURIFICATION OF THE SANCTUARY 149 I. Contamination of the Sanctuary and Suppression of Worship 149 II. Contamination of the Sanctuary and the Death Sentences 150 Theological value of some Hebrew terms related to the death sentence 151 1) Death Sentence and the Term Kipper 151 2) Death Sentence and the Term Ba'ar 154 3) Death Sentence and the Term Stir 154 4) Death Sentence and the Term Nasa' 155 Conclusion 156 Kinds of Sins 157 Pardonable and unpardonable sins 157 Kinds of sins, and the animals sacrificed 158 Degrees of responsibility in the faults committed 161 Sins requiring restitution 164 -Deliberate sins and repentance 165 -Special circumstances in which sin could not be atoned 166 Conclusion 167 III. Contamination of the Sanctuary and the Day of Atonement 167 Use of the Term Kipper in Sacrifices for Sin 167 Criteria for Contamination and Purification in the ОТ 169 First Category—Contamination Contact With Dead Animals and Certain Other Situations 170 Second Category—Contamination by Contact With a Human Corpse, Blood, and Genital Sicknesses 172 Third Category—Contamination by Leprosy (Lev 13-14) 173 Conclusion 174 Areas and Degrees of Sanctity and of Contamination 175 Conclusion 178 Paradoxical Nature of Sacrifices 179 Contamination by Blood 180 Substitutional Interchange 183 Conclusion 184 Legal Transfer of sin to the Sanctuary 185 Structural Evidences 185 —The book of Leviticus 185 —Inverted reference 186 Ritual Evidences (Substitution) 187 —Transference by imposition of hands 188 —Silence in the text on the imposition of hands 189 Conclusion 192 Comparative Etymological Evidences (Bearing of Sin and Its Eradication) 192 Conclusion 196 High Priest's Robes and Bathings 197 Apparel of the high priest 197 Double bathing of the high priest 198 Manifestations of God's glory and the holiness of the sanctuary 199 Holiness and glory in the inaugural consecration of the sanctuary 200 Maintenance of the glory and holiness of the sanctuary 201 Holiness and glory in cases of rebellion 202 Holiness and glory on the Day of Atonement 203 Conclusion and additional prophetic projections 206 Three Great Periods of Atonement in Israel 207 General Conclusions 210 Excursus 3. The Presumed "Contagion " of Holiness 213 The meaning of the verbal form yief das 213 Two possibilities 214 The sanctification conferred by the glory of God's presence (Num 16:35-38[16:35-17:3]) 216 The usage of garments and sacrifices in Ezek 44:19 and 46:20 216 Conclusion 218 Excursus 4. Theological and Moral Principles of the Death Penalty 219 I. Since the introduction of sin into the world, humanity is under the death penalty 220 II. Tension between justice and mercy 221 Answer destined to complete a partial vision of God's judgments 221 Answer destined to complete a partial vision of divine love 221 III. God can advance or postpone His judgments 222 Problems of deferred judgments 222 Problems of premature judgments 223 IV. If it was necessary to destroy rebels on certain occasions, why would not God do it Himself? 224 Conditions required of the Israelites to execute evildoers 225 Reasons why the Creator ordered persons to be put to death 225 V. The role of the church with respect to these laws in the New Dispensation 226

CHAPTER IV AZAZEL 231 I. Etymological discussion of the word Azazel 231 A. Azazel as name of a place 233 B. Azazel as the specific name of the goat 235 C. Azazel, an abstract term pointing out only the role of the goat 236 D. Azazel as a supernatural being opposed to God 239 a) Azazel as a fallen angel in ancient literature 239 b) Azazel as a deity or demon of the desert 241 c) Two present interpretations 242 (a) Azazel as "god-goat" 242 (b) Azazel as being "a fierce god" 244 Evaluation 247 Objections 249 Conclusion 257 II. Similar Rites of the Ancient World 258 The different extrabiblical rites 259 Babylonian parallels of the living goat 260 The Hittite parallels of the scapegoat 263 Conclusion 264

CHAPTER V EARTHLY AND HEAVENLY CORRESPONDENCES OF THE SANCTUARY AND OF THE DAY OF ATONEMENT 269 Typological Projections in Jewish Literature 269 The Earthly Sanctuary and the Heavenly One 271 In the Old Testament 272 In the New Testament 275 Typological Correspondence of the Defilement and Cleansing of the Sanctuary 277 Human Affairs described as coming up before God 277 Heavenly Records of Human Acts 280 The books in heaven Correspondence between the records of the earthly sanctuary and of the heavenly one 281 Book of God's Designs and Covenant or Law, or Book of Inheritance: the Word of God 281 —The commitment of the people to the covenant 283 —The heavenly pattern of the book, and its purpose 283 —The inheritance and the book: its value in the judgment 284 The genealogical records 285 The Book of Life 285 Records of devotion and good works 289 Records of sins 290 Book of death 290 The Final Judgment Based on the Heavenly Books 291 The confession or denial of the Son of Man 292 The divine remembrance of human works 295 Some Significant Theological Projections 296

CHAPTER VI THE SANCTUARY AND THE HEAVENLY JUDGMENT IN THE PROPHETS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 301 I. The Elimination of Sin and Sinners in Critical Times 301 The Investigative Judgment of Northern Kingdom of Israel 301 The Vision of the Glory of God and of His Judgment in His Temple 303 The Vindication of the Saints and the Destruction of the Enemies 309 Call to be prepared for the final crisis 311 The Coming of God to His temple, and the Investigative Judgment 313 -The coming of the Lord to the temple of the Old Covenant 314 —The previous investigative judgment and the coming of the Lord to the temple of the new covenant 317 The Construction of the Temple and the Heavenly Judgment 320 The heavenly investigative judgment 322 The change of apparel 325 Joshua and Zerubbabel as types or figures of the Messiah to come 327 The elimination of sin and of the violators of the covenant 328 The delaying of the Glory for the second temple foretold 330 The messenger who would precede His coming 331 II. The Heavenly Prince and the Cleansing of the Sanctuary according to the Visions of Daniel 332 Present Basic Difficulties to Recognize the Kind of Purification of the Sanctuary Foretold 333 The Identity of the Oppressor Power 336 Jesus' interpretation of Daniel's prophecy 339 —A unique application? 341 —The expression: "let the reader understand" 343 —A double interpretation? 345 The Heavenly Prince and His Sanctuary 346 —Clothed as on the Day of Atonement 348 —His priestly activity 349 The work of the impostor power and the committed transgression 351 —The nature of the transgression 352 The cleansing or vindication of the heavenly sanctuary 354 The prophetic dates 355 Conclusion 361 Excursus 5. The Historical Fulfilment of the Prophetic Periods in Daniel and Revelation 364

CHAPTER VII THE SANCTUARY AND THE HEAVENLY JUDGMENT IN THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 372 Problems in understanding the nature of the heavenly sanctuary 372 Greek Beliefs 373 Hebrew and Christian Beliefs 374 Basic Similarities and Differences between Greek and Biblical Thoughts 376 Modern Difficulties to Accept the Biblical Approach 377 Spatial Dimension and the Divine Omnipresence 377 Discussions in Hebrews dealing with the nature of the heavenly sanctuary 319 Conclusion 382 The Christological and Liturgical Interpretations of the Sanctuary 383 Problems regarding the nature of Christ 385 The liturgy of the sacrifice 388 Conclusion 390 Ecclesiological interpretations of the sanctuary 391 The associations of the temple with the church 393 The title 'elohim: "God" 395 Nature and Limits of these associations 396 Convergent movements 399 Double projection 402 Conclusion 404 Antithetical or Correspondence Typology 406 Correspondence in contrasts 407 Limitations in typology 407 Sacrifice: Contrast and Correspondence 410 Levitical Sanctuary: not a Barrier to God 411 —The approaching of God 411 —The permanent service 413 -The taking away of sins 414 The true barrier separating both ministries 415 Conclusion 416 Horizontal Correspondence 417 Typological correspondence as a whole between the two systems 420 The three moments in the atonement according to the two systems 421 The Usage of terminology 423 The cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary 426 The ministry of the blood of Christ 431 The expressions "every day" and "every year" 434 Conclusion 436 Meaning of some expressions 436 "Within the veil" (Heb 6:19; cf. 10:20) 437 "Throne of grace " (Heb 4:16) 438 "The right hand of God" (Heb 10:12; cf. 1:3,13; 8:1; 12:2) 442 Conclusion 444 Similar structure of Leviticus and the Epistle to the Hebrews 444 Conclusion 446

CHAPTER VIII THE SANCTUARY AND THE HEAVENLY JUDGMENT IN REVELATION 452 Present basic difficulties in the understanding of Revelation 452 Schools of interpretation 453 The present interest 455 The temporal and spatial problems 458 The tension between the nearness of the end and the delay 462 A new vision 463 Other deficiencies 464 Basic results obtained 465 Typological projection of the Jewish Feasts 466 The trumpet of the Jubilee proclaiming liberty 468 The expulsion of Azazel 469 The Sanctuary in Revelation and in the Epistle to the Hebrews 472 The Vision of the Throne of Rev 4-5 474 First Interpretation. The vision of the throne as taking place in the first apartment of the heavenly sanctuary 476 Problems 477 Second Interpretation: The vision of the throne as representing the complete ministry of salvation 479 Third Interpretation: The vision of the throne as revealing the final ministry of Jesus in the Most Holy Place: the investigative judgment 482 Special convocations of the heavenly council and its correspondence with the earthly sanctuary 483 The connection of Rev 4-5 with other judgment visions 488 The place and the time of the heavenly judgment according to Revelation and Daniel 491 The open door and the closed one in the heavenly temple 494 "As if it were a sea of glass, like crystal" 495 The seven lamps and the seven candelabra 497 The relations between the candelabra, the church and the seven lamps in the judgment scene 498 The Lord's Day 503 The analysis of the seven churches and the door that Jesus opens 506 The closed door of the Bride's Parable and the message to the seventh Church 508 The open door to the entire heavenly temple 514 The open door and its spiritual link with the church in both dispensations 514 The open door and its spiritual link in Revelation 516 Graphic Summary of the movement from the Holy to the Most Holy in Revelation 520 Conclusion 520 The members of the Heavenly Judgment 522 The twenty-four elders 523 A strictly symbolical personification of the twenty-four elders 526 The value of the number 526 The value of the denomination "elders" 529 Conclusion 531 A real heavenly counterpart of the elders 531 The value of the number twenty-four 532 The heavenly counterpart of the elders 532 Conclusion 538 The twenty-four elders within the book of Revelation 540 The bowls of gold with the prayers of the saints 541 Other occasions in which they appear in Revelation 542 The crowns of gold 543 Conclusion 545 The four living beings 547 The angels 549 The book that the Lamb opens in the Court 550 Book of God's designs and covenant, or law, or book of inheritance: the Word of God 553 In the coronation of the king and in the sabbatical year 556 In the allocation of the inheritance 559 The transfer of the heritage 560 The verification 562 The value of the Book of the Law in the heavenly judgment 564 The breaking of the seals 567 The witnesses of the sealed document 568 The content of the seals 570 Purpose 578 The seventh seal 580 The coals of fire 581 The silence in heaven 582 The judgments of the trumpets 583 In the context of the Old Testament 585 In the context of Revelation 586 —The judgments upon Egypt and Babylon 586 Methodological criteria to interpret the trumpets 588 Historical and theological background of the trumpets 589 —Historical fulfilment 593 The purpose of the judgments of the trumpets in the heavenly court 595 The order of the seals and the trumpets 598 The vision of the book that Zechariah saw 599 The millenarian judgment and the judgment of the trumpets 600 Conclusion 601 Explicative parentheses of the seals and the trumpets 603 The announcement of the time of judgment and the sealing 605 The relation of the prophetic commitment of John with the three angel's messages and the book of Daniel 606 Contrasts 609 "Another angel" 610 The order to prophesy "again" 610 The experience produced by the eating of the little book 611 The Nature of the Sealing and its Relation to the Day of Atonement and the Judgment 615 Conclusion 617 Identification of the 144,000 vindicated in the judgment 617 The time factor in both groups 620 Reason and meaning of the number 622 Characteristics of the 144,000 624 Conclusion 630 The Measurement of the Heavenly Temple 632 The temporal factors involved 632 —The temporal sequence of Rev 11:1-2 633 —In the spatial context represented 634 The meaning of the measurement 635 The measurement of the temple and the cry of the martyrs of the fifth seal 637 The measurement of the temple and the period of silence of the seventh seal 640 The measurement of the temple and the measurement of the city 641 The time of the nations 643 The Two Witnesses, Prophets, Candelabra and Olive Trees 645 The voice that identifies the two witnesses 645 The humiliation of the two witnesses 647 The annihilation of the two witnesses 647 Resurrection and exaltation of the two witnesses 652 Identification of the two witnesses 652 —Contextual plurality 654 —The testimony of the two testaments 655 Its relation to the vision ofZechariah 657 Summary of the measurement of the temple and the testimony of the two witnesses 659 General Conclusion 660 Excursus 6. The New Proposed Literary Patterns for Revelation 1-11—The Feasts and the tamid—and their Problems 663 The Jewish Feasts 663 The Rabbinic Tamid: "Continuous" Priestly Ministry 669 The order of Rev 1-8 is different from the Tamid of the Mishnah 669 The sacrifice and the opening of the door 670 The presumed break of the song and the blowing of the trumpets 671 Excursus 7. The Judgment and the Lamb's Wedding 673 The white garments and the heavenly judgment 673 The open door and the order of watching 675 The tension between washing their clothes and receiving the clothes 675 The Wedding of the Lamb, the Judgment and the White Clothes of the Righteous 677 The Ten Virgins 678 The inspection of those who entered by faith the ceremony of the Wedding, and the Day of Atonement 679

Summary and Final Conclusion 681

Author Index 687

Scripture Index 693

Index of Nonbiblical Texts 719

This book, The Day of Atonement and the Heavenly Judgment is the most comprehensive work dealing with the Hebrew ritual, and its theological, typological and eschatological projections of the message of the sanctuary as much in the Old as in the New Testament. Actually, all the important issues dealing with the significance of the Hebrew ritual in law, history and prophecy, are studied carefully. Thus, the writer did not spare any effort to understand the principal issues under discussion in the book of Leviticus, Daniel, Hebrews and Revelation, as in many other legal and prophetic messages in both testaments. For this volume, the author consulted for many years the principal libraries in Europe and the United States. The opportunity of studying and working on several continents, allowed him to understand different cultures and the way people deal with theological issues in diverse countries. This is why the reader will find in this work a careful consideration of many different approaches presented in the study of the Israelite sanctuary and of its fulfillment in the heavenly priestly ministry of Jesus, and specific answers to the different problems there involved.