Leviticus 16 is thematically the very “center” of the Book of Leviticus. (Everything leading up to it, chapter 16, is equally and beautifully balanced by the things that follow it!)

And this too, the Book of Leviticus is the structural center of the whole Pentateuch, the Five Books of Moses! (Clearly, Leviticus being the third of the five!)

So this Day of Atonement Ritual (loaded with holy symbolism) is critically important to understanding Old Testament theology. The very “fulcrum” on which the Mosaic law balances!

It unlocks the “key” to New Testament theology too, at least when one considers that so much of the chapter points directly to Jesus! (The bullock, the goats – both of them, the “fit man,” and all that bloodshed! Even the High Priest as well!)

But there is one little verbal “hint” of how much God values the Day of Atonement. More apparent in Hebrew than in English, but nonetheless instructive, very enlightening.

In Leviticus 16:31 we read: “It (the Day of Atonement) shall be a SABBATH OF REST unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever.” Where afflicting one’s soul is a euphemism for “fasting.”

The hint?

“A Sabbath of rest!”

In Hebrew this phrase actually doubles the noun Sabbath! It is literally “the Sabbath of Sabbaths!” That’s how much God thinks of this Day!

That’s also the Hebrew way of expressing a thing in terms of “utmost importance!” (As in “King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Holy of Holies!”) And now … “Sabbath of Sabbaths!”

In case anyone thinks I am being too minute, too precise here … Leviticus 23:32 says the same thing (again) about the Day of Atonement! “It shall be unto you a SABBATH OF REST (Sabbath of Sabbaths), and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.” (Leviticus 23 is the great chapter where God discusses all the “Holy Days’ He has given Israel to observe. Israel’s “Calendar!”)

Wow!

That’s HOW MUCH God evaluates the Day of Atonement!

The Day Israel’s sins were forgiven! God’s gracious offer of “Atonement” having been made!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

I’d say each of us should also value the day we got saved!

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