Leviticus; The Law of Holiness and Grace

The New Beginning

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Pentateuch

Genre: Lessons with Q & A

Lesson: 27

Track: 27

Dictation Name: RR172P27

Date: Early 70s

Let us worship God. Our help is in the name of the Lord who made Heaven and earth. The hour cometh and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth. For the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. Let us pray.

Oh Lord our God, we come unto Thee, unto whom all vengeance and justice belongeth, rejoicing that Thou art on the throne, that Thy saving purpose shall be accomplished, Thy judgment made manifest unto all men and to all nations, and Thy kingdom shall come and Thy will shall be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Teach us to walk day by day in faith, in confidence in Thy kingdom, in the certainty of Thy victory and thee freedom of Thy presence and grace. Bless us to this purpose in Christ’s name, amen.

Our scripture this morning is Leviticus 16:1-3. Our subject; “The New Beginning.”

“1 And the Lord spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the Lord, and died;

2 and the Lord said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the vail before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat.

3 thus shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering.”

This chapter gives us the ritual of the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur. This is one of the great chapters of scripture in its implications. Moreover, it has, apart from the various sacrifices, in their meaning, in their direction, in their import, a meaning for us, for Christian Churches for all time. One of the very damaging aspects of religious thought has been the separation of the incarnation, the atonement, the resurrection, the ascension, and the last judgment. In common thought today, Christmas and Easter are very distinct, and each is celebrated without reference to the other. And this is a serious error with damaging repercussions.

In the early Church there were more than a few problems because of the Greco-Roman influences. Many of the doctrines were understood in a rather primitive, fragmentary fashion. But at this point in the unity of incarnation and atonement, resurrection and ascension, the last judgment, many of the early church fathers had a clear understanding. Thus, St. Ephrem, the Syrian, in all his writings on the incarnation, hail the unity of the birth and the crucifixion as God-saving acts. For example, in his very extensive study of Christ’s birth, Ephrem declared, “Let us praise Him that prevailed and quickened us by His stripes. Praise we Him that took away the curse by His {?}. Praise we Him that put death to death by His dying. Praise we Him that held His peace and justified us. Praise we Him who rebuked death that had overcome us. Glory be to God that cured weak humanity. His Son became a medicine that showeth sinners mercy. Blessed be He that dwelt in the womb and wrought therein a perfect temple that He might dwell in it, a throne that He might be in it, a garment that He might be arrayed in it and a weapon that He might conquer in it.” Throughout his long study of the incarnation, Ephrem tied together the whole life of Christ, from His birth to His ascension to the last judgment.

Now this is a very important fact. Today we have their separation, their disjunction. Much of this we owe to a very great churchman, St. Francis of Assisi. We owe much that is very good, and some things very bad to St. Francis. St. Francis separated the incarnation, the Christmas story, from the rest of scripture. He began the sentimentalization of Christmas by placing all the emphasis on the incarnation as a tremendous act of humility. Now, instead of seeing the unity of Christ’s life—the incarnation as God the Son invading the earth, God the Son at the cross making atonement, breaking the power of sin, God the Son destroying the power of death by His resurrection and God the Son ascending to the right hand of God the Father thence to come to judge the quick and the dead at the last judgment; the emphasis of the Apostle’s Creed. The emphasis shifted.

The emphasis became the humiliation that God undertook by becoming flesh. The humiliation of the cross, and a very dramatic thing symbolized this—the empty cross in the churches became the cross with a dead Christ. One churchman years ago told me when he was in France sitting, chatting with someone in a Catholic bookstore, and this old monsignor came in who was very much an old-fashioned man in his outlook. And they quickly offered him a chair. And, ah, one of the women bustled up to point to the table with all the crucifixes with the dead Christ, saying, “This is a new shipment. Aren’t they beautiful?” And the monsignor in a sudden rage reached up with his cane and swept them off all the table and said, “It is blasphemy! We worship the risen Christ!” But that is gone. The humiliation—that the emphasis.

Some years ago, one scholar, {?} wrote a book on the Spanish Christ, in which he pointed out that in Latin America where he had lived many years, Good Friday is the big day in the Holy Week calendar and Easter insignificant by comparison. The humiliation emphasized—thus began with this kind of thing, where St. Francis of Assisi played an important part; an emphasis on kenosis—the Kenotic Christ who emptied Himself, and we are to empty ourselves of everything. Of course, in Eastern Orthodox thought, this became even more powerful and the reinforced this strand in the last century to triumph in Christendom. So the emphasis on the humiliation of the incarnation and of the crucifixion and of the whole life of Christ substituted the invasion, the triumph over sin and death, and finally, the righting of all injustice with the last judgment. And Christendom was warped by these things.

That the Day of Atonement stressed precisely the note of victory, as we shall see as we go through the ritual in two or three successive studies. The sad fact is, in one way or another, the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, has lost its original thrust both in Judaism and in Christianity. And the implications are devastating.

We are reminded at once in the text of Nadab and Abihu and their sin and death. We are told in fact that this was given by God to Moses just after the two sons of Aaron when they offered before the Lord and died. Rabbi Hertz, who a generation ago was the chief rabbi of England, said of Nadab and Abihu, “That they were executed by God for intoxication, unholy ambition, arbitrary tampering with the service, and introducing strange fire into the sanctuary. The story of Nadab and Abihu is a parable for young Israel in every generation.”

Now the sacrifices for individual atonement were previously given and long practiced. Now the Day of Atonement ritual for the whole nation is given. So, atonement was not new. Yom Kippur was. And it was linked to the death of Aaron’s two sons. Why so?

In Genesis 4:1 we read, “And Adam knew Eve his wife and she conceived and bare Cain and said, ‘I have gotten a man from the Lord.’” This was the first child in history. And Eve’s statement is very, very important. Umberto Cassuto tells us in his analysis of the very literal meaning of Genesis 4:1, “The first woman in her joy of giving birth to her fist son, boasts of her generative power, which approximates in her estimation to the divine creative power, ‘the Lord formed the first man and I have formed the second man!’ Literally, ‘I have created a man with the Lord. I stand together, that is, equally with Him in the rank of creators.’” Eve, in other words, regarded Cain as a personal triumph and her future hope. God had created and now she had also created, and history was to have a new beginning in her son. But Cain became the first murderer, a man in flight from God and Man.

This is why circumcision, the first ritual, the sign of the covenant, was given. It was a symbolic castration, a denial of hope in generation of man’s salvation. Man could reproduce to the end of time and he would remain a rebel, a sinner before God. Man’s hope is only in regeneration and dying to himself, as it were, and living to God. Circumcision was thus, a renunciation of Humanistic hope. Men commonly corrupt their own futures and their own potentiality.

Frances Gies, in her study of knighthood, said that after the year 1050 it became hereditary. She said, “What had been a rank became a hereditary caste. Ability was replaced by birth.” She went on to say that in time, with the knights, their lives, their tournaments, everything, became an adjunct of theatrical production and partook of their character. When men seek to be God, they turn their lives into theater. They act out their imagination and they see their realization not in truth and service but in name and renown. The builders of the Tower of Babel said, “Let us make us a name.” All such plans, all such hope, God confounds. With Aaron, a hereditary priesthood was established, but its total reliance was to be on the Lord. The priests were to e substitutes for the One who was to come. Their every form of dress, their every step, act, word in the ritual was prescribed; but the family began to believe in institutionalized holiness and their bloodline as meritorious.

And now we see they have been confounded; Aaron with his sin with the golden calf, Nadab and Abihu with their sin and death, undercut any possible belief in a personal holiness, in the person or family as being holy in itself simply because it filled a holy function or office. Aaron is told that no high priest is admitted to the most holy place but once a year, on the tenth day of the seventh month.

There are references to the Mercy Seat. The term ‘Mercy Seat,’ is Luther’s translation which has been picked up by Protestant Churches. Actually, there is only one word in the original Hebrew, ‘kaphar’ (covering). It’s the covering to the Ark. (God’s atoning grace and love cover—not the sin—but the sinner, for sin does not exist in and of itself. There is no such thing as a sin without a sinner. So to separate the two and talk about hating the sin and loving the sinner is nonsense. Sin is not a thing in itself. The whole idea of separating the two is mythical. Sin is the symptom of an evil personality). But to return to the Mercy Seat, the Roman Catholic translation for the word is ‘the propitiatory,’ which is a good one; and the implications are clearly there in the original Hebrew word. The most recent Jewish rendering of the Torah gives it very simply as ‘the cover.’ Luther’s translation as ‘Mercy Seat’ is not literal, but not arbitrary. It is based on Psalm 99:1, “The Lord reigneth. Let the people tremble. He sitteth between the cherubims; let the earth be moved.” It was the place from whence mercy went forth. The sinner is covered, and the word ‘cover’ means also ‘atonement,’ ‘expiation,’ ‘propitiation,’ the sinner is covered from God’s judgment by God’s atoning grace and mercy. Man’s future is seen in terms of God’s grace and Man’s response of faithfulness in the exercise of dominion by means of God’s Laws must be his reaction. Man is restored to grace and regenerated to do God’s work. There was thus no validity to Eve’s hope in Cain; no hope in generation, only in regeneration. But this is the offense of the faith, that God saves us, not man saving himself.

One of the prominent women in America History was Vinnie Ream, who as a very young woman became one of the most famous sculptor of the last century; most famous for her outstanding sculpture of Abraham Lincoln. Once while travelling in Italy with George Brand, the great skeptic of his day, Vinnie went to church; she was a strong church-goer, she sang in choirs at home, but without much comprehension of the faith, although a very traditional church-goer.

[Recording interrupted]

…choirs at home, but without much comprehension of the faith, although a very traditional church-goer. When they left, George Brand said nothing out of respect for her. But she burst forth with the denunciation of a pastor whom she called, “The most stupid dunkey I have ever heard in my life!” Why? His sermon had been on Christ’s words, “Thy sins are forgiven thee.” Vinnie Reams went on to say, “What am I benefited if ever so many Heavenly beings say to me, ‘I pretend you have not done it,’ if I know that I have?” Vinnie Reams was under the illusion that somehow, by her goodness, she was going to qualify for Heaven.

Eve began life outside of Eden and was confounded in her hopes by Cain, her hope. The priesthood began its history confounded by the sins of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu. The new beginning is not of man, but of God by atonement. And Man has a new beginning in the atonement. The atonement is deliverance. It is victory, and the whole life of Christ must be seen as one of victory: the triumph of the incarnation—God’s invasion of history; the triumph of the cross—His victory over sin; the triumph of the empty tomb—His triumph over death; the triumph of His ascension—going to reign at the right hand of the Father, from whence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. It is the story of victory, and no part of that can be seen without falsification if the note of victory is not predominant. If we stress humiliation and follow the note of humiliation, we become the people of defeat, not of victory. Let us pray.

Oh Lord our God, we thank Thee that we are called to be the people of dominion and victory, that the life of our Lord was the great life of triumph; a triumph over sin and death, the destruction of all injustice in due time, the day of triumph for His kingdom and of vengeance for all His enemies. Make us joyful in our faith, triumphant in our lives, knowing that greater is He that is with us and in us is greater than he that is in the world. Oh Lord our God how great Thou art, and we praise Thee. In Christ’s name, amen.

Are there any questions now about our lesson? Yes.

[Audience] The biggest holiday in Latin America next to the Nativity is El Dia de Los Muertos, The Day of the Dead. Halloween here; not Halloween here. Well any rate, the Day of the Dead, they go and have picnics in the cemetery, and I remember as a boy, we were driven at night past a palace that was all lit up. And we were very curious as to who lived there, and it turned out to be the morgue, blazing with light and all Latin America is obsessed with death.

[Rushdoony] Yes, at the time that Mechai wrote his book on the Spanish Christ, he was very savagely attacked. More than a few Latin American scholars regarded it as a radically false book, that he didn’t understand their rituals. However, I can recall at the time, one professor commenting that Mechai had barely scratched the surface; that while he regarded Hispanic culture as in some respects, greater than Anglo culture, its own absorption with death had given it for a couple of centuries a perspective that had doomed it, had made its own advancement very difficult if not impossible.

[Audience] The difference between the Spanish culture and the Latin American culture—the Spanish culture started out as a triumph—started out dynamic! To expand the faith, and expand Spain’s power, et cetera. Latin American culture has never taken on a victory attitude since independence. It’s an, and I think to some extent this is the Indian influence, because the Indians were obsessed with blood and sacrifice before Christianity, and still are.

[Rushdoony] Yes, that’s a good point. Ah, the earlier Hispanic culture was very strongly victory-oriented. No one has done an adequate study here, I think partly because of a defensive attitude on the part of many Hispanic scholars. But, in varying degrees this Kenotic influence has undermined the whole of Western Christendom and not until it is broken can Christendom again become a strong and forceful culture. I don’t think it’s an accident that a third to a half of the peoples in this country are the impotent ones, incapable of dominating the country. When Christians have a retreatist, Kenotic attitude, they are programed for defeat. And I think this goes through Eastern Orthodoxy, Western Catholicism and Protestantism alike.

Any other questions or comments? Well if not, let us conclude with prayer.

Our Lord and our God, Thou hast summoned us to be the people of victory. Thou hast declared that Thy Word is truth and Thy Son the victor over sin and death; that all things are to be made new in Him and through Him. Make us strong therefore in Christ, strong in victory and dominion. Revive Thy Church, oh Lord and make it again a power to the ends of the earth. And no go in peace; God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost bless you and keep you, guide and protect you this day and always. Amen.