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277 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

277 Num.

xiv. 17-20). There Moses' own self -abnegating love, which willingly offered up his life for his people, disclosed the very qualities of God as far as they touch both the mystery of sin and the divine forgiveness, and this became the key to the comprehension of the Biblical idea of Atonement. The existence of sin would be incompatible with a good and holy God, but for His long-suffering, which waits for the sinner's return, and His condoning love, which turns man's failings into endeavors toward a better life. Each atoning sacrifice, therefore, must be understood both as an appeal to God's forgiving mercy, and as a monition to the sinner to repentance. " Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon " (Isa. lv. 7). It was quite natural that, during the Exile, when no sacrifice could be offered, other means of obtain:



ing forgiveness and peace should be Substitutes resorted to. First of all, prayer rose As Moses for in value and prominence. Sacrifice, interceded for his people, praying and fasting for forty days and forty nights in order to obtain God's pardon (Ex. xxxii. 30 Dent, ix. 18, 25), so did every prophet possess the power Abraham, of obtaining God's pardon by his prayer. as a prophet, prayed for the life of Abimelech (Gen. xx. 7); Pharaoh, after a confession of his sin, asked Moses and Aaron to pray to God for the withdrawal of the plague of hail (Ex. ix. 27, 28); acknowledging their sin, the people ask Samuel to intercede for them (I Sam. xii. 19); and Jeremiah is expressly warned: "Pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them" (Jer. xi. 14; compare ib. xv. 1). See Prayer. The great dedication prayer of King Solomon requires on the part of the sinner only a turning of the face in prayer in the direction of the Temple in order to meet with a response from heaven and with forgiveness of his sin (I Kings viii. 30, 33, 35, 48-50). The very idea of sacrifice is spurned by the Psalmist (Ps. 1. 8-14, li. 12-20 [A. V. 11-19]): "Sacrifice and offering thou dost not desire "(xl. 7 [A. V. 6]); "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit " (li. 18 [A. V. Throughout the Psalms sincere repentance and 17]). prayer form the essentials to Atonement. Prayer is "as incense" and "the evening sacrifice" (Ps. cxli. 2); with the Lord is forgiveness, "He shall redeem FastIsrael from all his iniquities " (Ps. cxxx. 4-8). ing especially appears to have taken

Fasting,

the place of sacrifice

Alms-

Zach.vii.

5).

(Isa.

lviii.

1-3;

Another means of Atone-

ment in place of sacrifice is offered to King Nebuchadnezzar by Daniel: "Break off thy sins by almsgiving ["zedakah" (A. V., "righteousness")], and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor" (Dan. iv. Most efficacious seemed to be 24, Hebr. [A. V. 27]). the atoning power of suffering experienced by the giving,

Suffering,

righteous during the Exile. This is the idea underlying the description of the suffering servant of God in Isa. liii. 4, 12, Hebr. " The man of sorrows and acquainted with grief ... he hath borne our pains [A. V., "griefs"], and carried our sorrows. But he was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for . . " our iniquities .

.

.

"The

Atonement

chastisement for [A.

v., "of"] our peace was upon were we [A. V., "we are "] healed." sheep had [A. v., " have "] gone astray we had [A. V., " have "] turned every one to his own way." "And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." " He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people was he stricken." "He bare the sin of many and made intercession for the trans-

him



and with

" All

we

his stripes

like





gressors."

Whoever may have formed the subject of this song— whether Zerubbabel or some other

tragic

—

martyr of the Babylonian Exile the seer, in embodying it in his message of comfort to his people, desired to assure them that of greater atoning power than all the Temple sacrifices was the suffering of the elect ones who were to be servants and witnesses of the Lord (Isa. xlii. 1-4, xlix. 1-7, 1. 6). This idea of the atoning power of the suffering and death of the righteous finds expression also in IV Mace, vi. 27, xvii. 21-23; M. K. 28a; Pesik. xxvii. 174ft; Lev. R. xx. and formed the basis of Paul's doctrine

of the atoning blood of Christ (Rom. iii. 25). It was the inspiration of the heroic martyrdom of the Hasidim or Essenes (Ps. xxix. 2, cxvi. 15; Philo, "Quod

Omnis Probus Liber," § xiii.). The principle of Atonement by sacrificial blood was, on the whole, adhered to during the second Temple. Job's intercession on behalf of his friends is accompanied by their burnt offering, which is to atone for their sins xlii. 8; compare i. 5). In the Book of Jubilees Noah and Abraham make Atonement for the earth

(Job

and

for

man by means of

sacrificial

In Sibyllines

626

blood

(vi. 2,

vii.

the heathen are told to offer hecatombs of bulls and rams to obtain God's pardon for their sins (compare Ps. lxxvi. 12; Isa. lvi. 7); but in Sibyllines iv. 29, 161, the Essene view, deprecating sacrifice, seems to be exNevertheless, the conception of Atonement pressed. underwent a great change. The men Postof the Great Synagogue— disciples of Biblical the Prophets and imbued with the Atonespirit of the Psalms had made prayer ment. an essential element of the Temple service and whereas the Hasidean liturgy, accentuating divine forgiveness and human repentance, took little notice of sacrifice, the Levites' song and the prayers introduced as parts of the worship lent to the whole sacrificial service a more symbolic character. Accordingly, each of the two lambs ("kebasim") offered every morning and evening as a burnt-offering (Num. xxviii. 3, 4) was declared by the school of Shammai to be "kobesh," intended " to subdue " the sins of Israel (see Micah 3,

xvi. 22).

iii.

etseq.,

—



19: "Yikbosh 'avonotenu " = " He will subdue our iniquities," A. V.) during the 3'ear until the Day of Atonement should do its atoning work. By the school of Hillel the lamb was to be "kobes," "to wash Israel clean" from sin; see Isa. i. 18; Jer. ii. 22; Pesik. vi. 61J; Pesik. R. 16 (ed. Friedmann, p. vii.

and 81, p. 195; and more especially the notes by Buber and Friedmann, ad loe. Compare also the expression "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world " (John i. 29). " The morning sacrifice atoned for the sins committed during 84)

the previous night, the afternoon sacrifice for the sins committed in the daytime" (Tan., Pinhas, 12). The whole idea of sin was, in fact, deepened. It was regarded rather as a breaking-away from the

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