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It is taken for granted that the current reader has accomplished the goal of the first article: you have read the materials necessary to continue our study in this set of articles. Hopefully the goals were reached:
Almost everyone will point to Adam and Eve and the animals skins and say: "see there, that is the first sacrifice for sin". Where is the word "sin offering" mentioned in the text? Somehow I missed it. Well, then they will say: "Cain and Abel brought offerings and these were for sin". Again, where does it say that these were "sin offerings" or that they brought atonement? We could go on and mention Noah, but again such offerings have something in common with all that went before: the complete silence or mention of : "sin offering", or "atonement". Dear one, if we choose to read into anything we read what we want to "believe" then there is no purpose in continuing our study of anything. We are to draw out, exegete, the text to discern what is meant in the event under question.
For your information the first mention of "sin offering" and "atonement" in the Bible is found FOLLOWING THE GOLDEN CALF incident:
Exod 29:14
14 But the flesh of the bullock, and his skin, and his dung, shalt thou burn with fire without the camp: it is a sin offering.
Exod 29:33
33 And they shall eat those things wherewith the atonement was made, to consecrate and to sanctify them: but a stranger shall not eat thereof, because they are holy.
What should concern us is if these two related incidents are the first examples of "sin offering" and "atonements" known to man.
The punishment of an individual by crucifixion, for claiming to be "King of the Jews," "Son of God," or "The Christ;" which are the causes assigned by the writers of the New Testament for the Crucifixion of Jesus, would need but a passing glance in our study, were it not for the fact that there is much attached to it of a DOGMATIC and HEATHENISH nature. Therefore this topic demands more considerably more than a "passing glance." The doctrine of atonement for sin has been preached long before the doctrine was deduced from the Christian Scriptures; even longer than the writing of the Old Testament. Before the period assigned for the birth of Christ Jesus, the poet Ovid had assailed the demoralizing delusion with the most powerful shafts of philosophic scorn: "When thou thyself are guilty," says he, "why should a victim die for thee? What folly it is to expect salvation from the death of another."
The idea of expiation by the sacrifice of a god was to be found among the Hindus even in Vedic times. The sacrificer was mystically identified with the victim, which was regarded as the ransom from sin, and the instrument of its annulment. The Rig-Veda represents the gods as sacrificing Purusha, the primeval male, supposed to be coequal with the Creator. This idea is even more remarkably developed in the Tandya-brahmanas, thus:
"The lord or creatures offered himself a sacrifice for the gods."
And again, in the Satapatha-brahmana:
"He who, knowing this, sacrifices the Purusha-medha, or sacrifice of the primeval male, becomes everything" (Monier Williams: Hinduism, pp. 36-40).
Prof. Monier Williams, from whose work on Hinduism I quoted above, brings to our attention that long before Moses and any Old Testament there existed in pagan religion mystical allusions to the sacrifice of a representative man.
In the pursuit of truth I want to be above board and fair at all costs. This is not always done by those who publish or print their findings. You many not know it but many "opinions" are sold today and read as fact. This is not what we do at Bet Emet. We provide the facts and the evidence and let the reader make up his mind. I believe that you need to make an intelligent decision and that is impossible unless you have the facts.
Matt 24:24
24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
First of all you need to understand the word translated "Christs" in verse 24 only means "anointed" and not what you more than likely thought….a False Messiah. The warning is not to be deceived by many who present themselves as anointed of God for this or that purpose. Believe me, this is rampant today. One only needs to listen to the multitude of conflicting doctrines emanating from over the 2000 different Christian denominations that all preach different Jesuses.
To our question in point.
Answer for yourself: It is possible that in your Christian religious belief system you have, without knowing, accepted a belief in a sacrificial representative man that originated with sun worship and paganism, and have rejected or never known up to now the truths concerning these things addressed in this article?
In the pages that follow I will present OVERWHELMING evidence to help you see the truth. I will not tell you now which of the above 3 scenarios is true. I want you to see the evidence for yourself and you make up your own mind. Understand that faith is necessary and I consider myself a man of faith. However, faith is only necessary in the absence of facts and reproducible evidence. When one deals with facts and evidence little "needs to be hoped for" as Hebrews says except the common sense to recognize truth and facts when you see it. Unfortunately to come to knowledge that dispels the darkness of doubt and error one must read and often reading is technical. In the next pages you will encounter hundreds and hundreds of facts and evidence that will paint for you a picture that will be undeniable to the mind. And before some of our detractors say that faith is not to be intellectualized, let me remind you what Yeshua said was the Greatest Commandment……
Matt 22:36-38
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
Notice Yeshua said man was to love God FIRST with all his heart….what did he mean? Love God with my blood pumping organ? No!
Let us examine the Greek behind the English and see what we learn!
2588 kardia-heart
a) that organ in the animal body which is the center of the circulation of the blood, and, hence, was regarded as the seat of physical life
b) denotes the center of all physical and spiritual life
a) the vigor and sense of physical life
b) the center and seat of spiritual life
1) the soul or mind, as it is the fountain and seat of the thoughts, passions, desires, appetites, affections, purposes, endeavors
2) used of the understanding, the faculty and seat of the intelligence
3) used of the will and character
4) used of the soul so far as it is affected and stirred in a bad way or good, or of the soul as the seat of the sensibilities, affections, emotions, desires, appetites, passions
c) used of the middle or central or inmost part of anything, even though inanimate
If you read the above definitions you found something rather interesting…Yeshua said that the Greatest Commandment was to first love God with all your MIND. He tells us we are to use our seat of intelligence to understand God. So help me that is impossible from prayer alone or else there would not be over a billion Catholics in the world to day praying to Mary. So knowledge of God is very important…and let us understand we are concerned about knowledge that is true and not false.
Hosea 6:6
6 For I [God speaking] desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
There we find it again. More than any sacrifice, possibly more than any sacrificial representative man [but we are yet to determine that], God says He desires mankind possess the knowledge of Him more than any sacrifice. Wow! As we continue our study you will be able when finished to say unequivocally whether such sacrifices would include a "representative man" or not.
I would have you hold one thought before we move to the next article.
Answer for yourself: If it can be shown to you that this "representative man and his sacrifice" originated not with YHVH but with sun worship and pagans, then why then were not the Pagans the Lord's chosen people instead of the children of Israel who have rejected such crucified representative men since their origin and yet do so today? Wow, the implications of such a question let alone it's answers are devastating for the New Testament's doctrines and Paul's teachings. Shalom.