Yom Kippur is 10 days after Yom Teruah or Rosh Hashanah, whatever name you choose to use. Because the new moon wasn’t visible when the traditional calendar said it was Rosh Hashanah, those who count by the moon will observe Yom Kippur on another day than those who keep to the traditional calendar. By the traditional calendar, Yom Kippur is on Sunday evening and Monday. But by the lunar calendar (watching for the first crescent of the new moon to usher in the new month) Yom Kippur is Tuesday evening through Wednesday.
But calendars aside, what is Yom Kippur? It is the Day of Atonement, the day that the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies to offer atoning sacrifices for all of Israel (and all those who sojourn with Israel and have been grafted in, or born again – even way back in the old days). This is a solemn day. It is a day of afflicting ourselves. Some take that to mean fasting for the entire 24 hours. It is a day to spend on our knees in worship and repentance before our Creator. It isn’t that we are required to do this just once a year or only at holiday times, but these are special days that He outlined for us to keep for special purposes. We either choose to obey or not.
Yom Kippur is the day that the sins of the people are put on the head of the azazel (scapegoat) and it is sent out of the camp. A scarlet thread would be tied around the horn of the azazel in order to recognize it if it were to re-enter the camp. After a time the decision was made to push the azazel off of a cliff to its death to ensure that it would not return to the camp. The interesting thing is that this thread would be turned to white when they would go investigate to ensure that the goat was indeed dead. Does that sound familiar, something scarlet turning white as snow? It was understood that this was symbolic of the sins being forgiven. What is even more interesting is that it is recorded that roughly 40 years BEFORE the Temple was destroyed (in 70 CE) the scarlet thread no longer turned white at the bottom of the cliff. Something had happened, something had changed. What was it? I believe it was the atoning sacrifice of Yeshua the Messiah!
This is still a solemn day indeed. This is the only day in the year that the High Priest was to enter the Holy of Holies. At some point the priests decided it would be a good idea to tie a rope to the High Priest in the event that he died in the presence of the LORD. After all, who could go in and remove his body if he did die? * The High Priest would bring in with him the blood of the other goat (not the azazel) and sprinkle it on the Ark of the Covenant. It sounds bloody and gory if you don’t have a clear understanding of what the sacrifices mean and what they represent. That is a topic for another message.
I will include some articles that may be of interest for further reading. An article from the Karaite Korner website, an article on the fall holidays, and an article from MessianicJewishOnline. And I’ve mentioned it before but I think it bears repeating, Holidays of God, the Fall Feasts is a PDF from the RBC ministries that puts out the Our Daily Bread devotionals. Their booklet/PDF is a wonderful resource and the booklet has been available for free. There is also Holidays of God, the Spring Feasts.
May your Yom Kippur be a blessed and holy day, a day that HaShem moves deeply in your heart to reveal more of Himself to you. May you know the solemnity of this High Holy day that the G-d of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob set forth for His people and clearly stated that these were days to be kept forever, even in the new kingdom where Messiah reigns from Jerusalem.
Shabbat Shalom!
* editing note: I have discovered that this information was not factual. It is a common teaching and I opted to strike through rather than delete and alter the original message. There is no mention of this tradition in any rabbinic literature nor is there ever any mention of a high priest being struck down on Yom Kippur, therefore it is to be viewed as a false teaching. As far as I know, the rest of what is written is factual and objective. Aug 29, 2007
I asked this question before in other places. But from the answers i got i did not do a good job. Lets try this again.
According the Scripture the Feast of Atonement falls on the tenth day of the lunar month. According the U.S. Naval Observatory and Calendar.com and everyone the new moon was on the 29th of September. That would make the Wednesday the tenth day of the lunar month. So why is Yom Kippur held on Thursday? This is the eleventh day of the lunar month and a day late for the holy day. Is it not the same as the Atonement day spoken of in the scripture? I understand starting the evening before. The evening before is tonight.
Hello Clifford ~
This entry was written in 2006 so the specific days are different this year. On Wednesday October 1, 2008 the new moon was sighted from Israel. This means that 10 days later will be Yom Kippur. Since the day begins at sunset, Yom Kippur will begin (according to the lunar cycle) the evening of October 10, 2008 and continue through the day to the evening of October 11, 2008. This whole day (from sunset to sunset) will be Yom Kippur.
According to the traditional calendar that was established by the Rabbi’s many years ago, Rosh Hashanah/Yom Teruah was a few days earlier – September 29/30, 2008 and that makes Yom Kippur October 8/9, 2008. The reason for the difference in the two sets of dates has to do with calculations many centuries ago. Over time we’ve acquired a one or two day difference between the lunar cycle and the calendar every month.
According to various sources the new moon was calculated on the 29th of September where it wasn’t sighted in Israel till the first of October. This is because there are two ways to calculate the new moon. One way, the way I understand it had always been calculated in the old days, was to watch for the first sliver of the new moon. As soon as the first sliver, a 3% moon, was seen with the naked eye it was declared the new month. However, science today tells us that the moon is renewed when it is at 0% visibility, in complete darkness.
Some say that the rabbi’s calculated the new moon the same way the U.S. Naval Observatory and others do. That may be so, but the references I’m aware of in the Talmud speak of the first visible signs of the moon being the criteria. There is much debate over this issue and much relational damage has been done over this issue alone. It is one of those things that we’ll have to wait to resolve until the Master comes and sets all things straight.
I hope this answers your question.
Is it too late to celebrate the feast of tabernacles, yom kippur, and booths? I dont have alot of money about 600 dollars to my name without a job. On G-d tv they are taking in donations for planting trees. To me it seems like it would be better to donate the money to needy people. I want to offer some money, but I don’t know much about these festivals/feasts. I dont have enough to stay in a hotel or such and its really cold here and I think I have anemia (Im always really cold and have bad headaches and allergies). I dont know how well I would do outside. I get cold in my house which usually stays around 72 degrees or warmer. right now its in the low 50’s outside and Im freezing inside my house. Could you give me some information about these holy days and why Christians should celebrate them. Is it too late to give an offering? I want to do what’s right and what G-d wants me to do. I am a christian but i have been sinful in these past few days. I have that feeling where it feels like G-d is being silent with you and I hate it. I feel bad and repent my sins. its like a trap that I keep falling into even though I have fell in it so many times I keep making the same mistakes. I’ve been a Christian all of my life but just this year I have started to really “try” to be one.
Reading the bible, celebrating the Sabbath, Following the commandments. But have made so many mistakes, not doing the right things and not making the right choices. I feel like G-d is going to get mad at me and give up on me. I feel like a lost cause, so many times when i fail, I regret it deeply. I haven’t been baptized yet but I want to be, I feel like if I get baptized I will have the power to overcome my struggles through Jesus Christ. I don’t even have a church that I go to. I went to seventh day adventist church. Its a little way away and I dont know if it is close enough to walk to safely without sidewalk in some spots, I think. I don’t know what to do your help is appreciated so much. Thank you and G-d Bless you.
I don’t really think G-d will give up on me, It seems more like He is dissapointed in me. And I feel like if I keep failing to sin, how many times is too many before my chance to be obedient is gone. With how things are going it seems like we are near the end, I want to go to heaven and be with my father and not you know where because of my mistakes. Thank you again and G-d Bless you.
Shalom “I” ~
It’s never too late to worship G-d and to do good. It’s not too late to do teshuvah – to turn around, stop sinning and to obey the Father. The trick is to just get up and do it, and when we fail (because we all do fail) to acknowledge our failure, our sin, and to keep walking the path toward righteousness. Nobody said it’d be easy in this world, but with His help we can do it.
Good for you for wanting to take your faith seriously and for being obedient. Continue on the good path, keep fighting the good fight! We all make mistakes, the thing we need to focus on is not our failure but His holiness and do our best to obey Him. We all fail and there is mercy when we repent (do teshuvah).
You asked if it’s too late to keep the feasts? The dates have indeed passed, though there are still some who keep to the Lunar Calendar who may still be celebrating Sukkot for another day or two. But that does not mean that it’s too late to do good and to worship our Father in Heaven!! For this it is never too late.
If giving money for charity is important to you, then consider some of the charities that are important to you. A local food bank, a ministry that distributes the whole Bible, a ministry that cares for the poor, orphaned, homeless, widows, sick, elderly, etc. Maybe take some of your spare time and work with a group to do good deeds for people in need. Even when we don’t have money we all have time.
As far as what to do for the festivals, learn more about them and put them on your calendar for the spring. Be prepared when they come around, read the Scriptures every day (or at the every least, every week) and ask the Father to prepare your heart for the next cycle of festivals that are coming. He is faithful.
May you be blessed by His presence as you seek His face ~
Lisa
“I”, I just read your second entry. Your heart sounds sad for disobeying our Father and for breaking His heart. That is a good place to be because this is where we recognize our sin and how hurtful it is to us, but it’s more important to understand that our sin hurts the heart of our Father too. But don’t wallow in the failure, recognize it and ask Him to help you live rightly. Do teshuvah.
Be careful that your desire for Him isn’t based on fear, the fear of “what will happen to me?”. You know, I appreciate it when my children are obedient because they love me. It blesses my heart to know that they enjoy to obey because they love me. But to think that they would consider me a tyrant and they only obey me because they fear the consequences, that wouldn’t make my heart glad one little bit! Yes He is soverign and holy, He is G-d. Whether or not we’re near “the end” I don’t know. But I do know that His heart is blessed when we love Him and obey Him from a heart of love. Don’t focus on “the end” but focus on the Father. Perfect love casts out all fear so when we love Him we know that what He does is good and we trust Him to work all things out for good, even when it looks like it might be bad. He sees all things, we only see a fraction. Trust in Him, love Him and do what He asks.
Lisa,
I love Him and fear Him both at the same time. Thank you for your words of wisdom and encouragement. I appreciate it. Sometimes, when reading The Bible it seems like some of the worst ideas pop into my head (sinful things, things I dont want to be thinking). I have to sit it down for a while to kind of think it out of my head. It usually always comes back and kind of makes me dread reading The Bible. I’ve read most of it liking about 5 books, psalms and proverbs. I pray to stop having these thoughts that I have and try to cast them out of my head, but I still have them. I feel like the evil one is trying to stop me from reading and strengthening myself in G-d’s Words sometimes. Thank you once again. Much love and G-d bless you. p.s. Im going to try to look into some of these fests. Donating some of my time is a superb idea. I did use to about 3 years back and it was pretty great.
“I”,
When you find those thoughts creeping in, ask the Father to help you focus and pay attention. It’s true that HaSatan, may his name be blotted out, has many schemes to distract us and it’s also true that in today’s world we are very easily distracted. It takes effort for us to focus and pay attention, I struggle with that as well at times. But don’t give up! Keep on keeping on. Ask for help from the Father and surely He won’t deny you. But it’s not a magic incantation where He’ll magically make things work out, we still have to work at it too. He will give us the help we need but we need to do the work.
I’m glad to be of some encouragement. You may enjoy some of the audio files that are located in the right sidebar under “Audio Teachings”. Consider adding some of these to your regular schedule to find encouragement and some good teachings to consider.
Shalom,
Lisa