© Copyright Double Portion Inheritance, March 2009
This blog is an excerpt of my article entitled: “The Yom Kippur Twin Goats Fulfilled in Messiah.”
Many within Judaism discredit Yahuwshuwa as their Messiah because they say that he was a “human sacrifice.” And since the Scriptures forbid this practice, how could a crucified Savior be sanctioned by Elohiym? Abraham was commanded by YaHuWaH to offer up his own son, Yitzchaq (Isaac) on the altar as a sacrifice.
Obviously, this was only a test of his obedience, and he did not have to go through with it. But we must ask ourselves the question “Why would our righteous Elohiym give us the suggestion that such a command was within the parameters of his will, to sacrifice a human being?”
To give you the short answer, a human sacrifice is when someone’s life is taken from them against their will. When someone lays down his/her life as a ransom for another (becomes the scapegoat), he is not a human sacrifice. The Towrah has a name for it, and it is called “A Freewill offering.” This word is used sixteen times in the Tanakh (Old Testament). The Hebrew Concordance defines the term “Freewill offering” as follows:
#H5068 nadab naw-dab' a primitive root; to impel; hence, to volunteer (as a soldier), to present spontaneously:--offer freely, be (give, make, offer self) willing(-ly).
#H5069 ndab ned-ab' (Aramaic) corresponding to 5068; be (or give) liberal(-ly):--(be minded of...own) freewill (offering), offer freely (willingly).
Our Messiah illustrated that he was going to offer himself up as a “Freewill offering,” and that this was a commandment from the Father:
Yahuwchanon (John) 10:18 No man takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
The Babylonian Talmud even explains this. In the Babylonian Talmud, (Makkot 23b-24a), it says:
“Though the number 613 is mentioned in the Talmud, its real significance increased in later medieval rabbinic literature, including many works listing or arranged by the mitzvot. Three types of negative commandments fall under the yehareg ve’al ya’avor, meaning ‘One should let himself be killed rather than violate it.’”
These Towrah commands, (for which the Talmud states we should be willing to die for, rather than to violate) are as follows: murder, idolatry, and forbidden sexual relations.
This begs the question: “Which of these commandments did Yahuwshuwa allow himself to be killed for, rather than to violate them?”
Well, first of all, we know that YaHuWaH married the nation of Yisra’el in Exodus 19, (when he took vows with them on Mount Sinai). Then, Mosheh (Moses) returned after forty days with the Ten Commandments in stone “Written with the finger of Elohiym.” When Moses returned to find the entire nation whoring with the molten calf, they were committing spiritual adultery.
This is why Moses broke the tablets, to symbolize that YaHuWaH was divorcing them as a nation. From that point moving forward, instead of having Melchizedek as their eternal High Priest, the sons of Aharown (Aaron) became their temporary High Priest, year after year on Yom Kippur.
However, the sons of Aaron were mere mortal men, who could die behind the veil in the Holy of Holies, (because they were imperfect). Since the possibility existed that the High Priest could die behind the veil, this would render the nation unaccepted in any given year on Yom Kippur.
Consequently, YaHuWaH had a dilemma. He would not violate his covenant promises to Abraham and his descendants. Therefore, he had to remain married to the backslider (Jeremiah 3:14). Yet, in Jeremiah 3:8, he officially divorced Yisra’el, even though he promised to marry them again at a later time in the future (Isaiah 62:4).
But this would mean that he would be violating Deuteronomy 24:1-4 & Jeremiah 3:1, where it states that once a wife has been divorced by her husband, (if she marries another), she may never go back to her first husband. In Hosea 2:7, we read that Yisra’el went after her lovers (false gods), but in the last days, she would lament, and declare that things were better with her “first husband,” and thus, she would return to him.
Yet, how could this happen without YaHuWaH violating Deuteronomy 24:4? In order for him to honor his covenant with Abraham, and still be true to his Towrah, he had to die, rather than to violate it!
Aha! The Talmud even says that one should let himself be killed rather than to violate the Towrah!
Now we understand why our Messiah, Yahuwshuwa allowed himself to be killed! Had he not laid down his life as a ransom, he could not have been the kinsman redeemer for Yisra’el, as well as the ransom for Judah!
Hebrews 9:26 reveals that he sacrificed himself, not somebody else.
Ibriym (Hebrews) 9:26 For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world, has he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
Giving One’s Life as a Ransom is a Towrah Principle
The first mention of a “ransom” being offered in exchange for the life of a person is seen in the Towrah:
Shemoth (Exodus) 21:30 If there be laid on him a sum of money, then he shall give for the ransom (pidyowm) of his life whatsoever is laid upon him.
The word used in the above verse is as follows in the Hebrew Strong’s Concordance:
#6306 pidyowm pid-yome' or pidyom {pid-yome'}; also pidyown {pid-yone'}; or pidyon {pid-yone'}; from 6299; a ransom; --ransom, that were redeemed, redemption.
The second time that this word “ransom” is used is related to Yom Kippur, when Mosheh (Moses) was commanded to collect ransom money (redemption price) for the children of Yisra’el:
Shemoth (Exodus) 30:12 When you take the sum of the children of Yisra’el after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom (kopher) for his soul unto YHWH, when you number them; that there be no plague among them, when you number them.
The Hebrew word in the above verse is as follows, which is a root word for “kippur” (atonement):
#3724 kopher ko'-fer from 3722; properly, a cover, i.e. (literally) a village (as covered in); (specifically) bitumen (as used for coating), and the henna plant (as used for dyeing); figuratively, a redemption-price:--bribe, camphire, pitch, ransom, satisfaction, sum of money, village.
The Patriarch Yowb (Job) was shown a glimpse of the Messiah, (who was the lamb slain in eternity). For those who had found favor with YaHuWaH, even though they might be scheduled to go down to the pit, there was a ransom paid for them, so that they could be released.
Yowb (Job) 33:24 Then he is gracious unto him, and said, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom (kopher).
Here in Proverbs, we read that the wicked shall be a ransom (kopher) for the righteous:
Mishle (Proverbs) 21:18 The wicked shall be a ransom (kopher) for the righteous, and the transgressor for the upright.
Our Messiah, (who was sinless and perfect), was counted as a transgressor, so that he might bare the sins of many:
Yeshayahuw (Isaiah) 53:12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he has poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
This concept of the wicked becoming a ransom for the righteous was first seen in the Exodus when YaHuWaH caused the first born of Egypt to die in place of the first born of Yisra’el:
Yeshayahuw (Isaiah) 43:3 For I am YHWH your Elohiym, the Holy One of Yisra’el, your Saviour: I gave Egypt for your ransom (kopher), Ethiopia and Seba for you.
Another Hebrew word which relays this concept of “ransom” can be seen in this prophecy in Hosea:
Howshea (Hosea) 13:14 I will ransom (padah) them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.
This word “padah” is also used to mean “ransom” as seen in the Hebrew Strong’s Concordance:
#6299 padah paw-daw' a primitive root; to sever, i.e. ransom; gener. to release, preserve:--X at all, deliver, X by any means, ransom, (that are to be, let be) redeem(-ed), rescue, X surely.
Now that we have found in the Towrah, the concept of one laying down his life as a ransom (kopher), our Messiah’s own words are not a brand new concept, exclusive to the Renewed Covenant (Briyth Chadashah):
Mattithyahuw (Matthew) 20:28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
In the Greek Strong’s Concordance, the word “ransom” in the above verse is as follows:
#3083. lutron loo'-tron from 3089; something to loosen with, i.e. a redemption price (figuratively, atonement):--ransom.
And finally, the Apostle Shaul (Paul) wrote to Timothy that Yahuwshuwa had given his life as a “ransom.” Shaul, being a Pharisee and a student of the Towrah, knew very well the concept of the owner of the ox giving up his life in exchange for the life of those who had been killed by the ox.
1st Timotiyos (Timothy) 2:6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
The word used in the above passage is also similar as it also means the following:
#487. antilutron an-til'-oo-tron from 473 and 3083; a redemption-price:--ransom.
The Dictionary defines the word ransom:
Noun:
1.) the redemption of a prisoner, slave, or kidnapped person, of captured goods, etc. for a price.
2.) the sum or price paid or demanded.
3.) a means of deliverance or rescue from punishment for sin, especially the payment of a redemptive fine.
Verb (used with object)
4.) to redeem from captivity, bondage, detention, etc. by paying a demanded price.
5.) to release or restore on receipt of a ransom.
6.) to deliver or redeem from punishment for sin.
Here is an example in the Towrah of how the word ransom is used. In the Towrah, if a man’s ox (symbolized by the first letter in the Hebrew Alphabet) called the א “Aleph” kills another human being and the animal’s owner was aware that this ox had the habit of trying to gore people to death in times past, then the ox would be killed and the owner of the ox would be killed also.
If there was a sum of money laid upon the owner of the ox, then he would give his life as a ransom as well as the amount of money that was required:
Shemoth (Exodus) 21:
28 If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die: then the ox shall be surely stoned, and his flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be quit.
29 But if the ox were known to push with his horn in time past, and it has been testified to his owner, and he has not kept him in, but that he has killed a man or a woman; the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death.
30 If there be laid on him a sum of money, then he shall give for the ransom of his life whatsoever is laid upon him.
The א “Aleph” or the ox, (the Red Heifer) is a picture of the Ten Lost Tribes of Yisra’el (Hosea 4:16, 10:11), and they were known to kill the prophets who came to them. Yahuwshuwa is the owner of the א heifer (ox) and he came to give his life as a ransom for the א heifer (ox) as well as those whom the א heifer (ox) had killed.
In Numbers 19, the law of the Red Heifer is detailed for when somebody had touched a dead body. The Red Heifer had to be escorted “outside” of the city limits of Jerusalem and then killed.
The House of Ephrayim had been divorced by YaHuWaH in Jeremiah 3:8 and they were considered “outsiders” by the House of Judah. If any member of the House of Ephrayim (Gentiles) went near the temple, rabbinic tradition said that they would be killed. This is why Yahuwshuwa became the Red Heifer, to cleanse those who were worthy of being killed and who were “afar off from the covenant” (Ephesians 2:17).
The person who had touched a dead body would cleanse himself with the ashes of the Red Heifer on “the third day” and on the “seventh day” he would be clean. Our Messiah died on the 4th day of the week and then on the 3rd day from his crucifixion, he cleansed the House of Yisra’el when he resurrected on the 7th day of the week (Sabbath).
Those who had taken his body down from the cross would have been unclean and they would not have been able to partake of the Passover sacrifice that year. But since he became the Red Heifer for them, they were able to partake of the Passover Lamb!
Mishle (Proverbs) 13:8 The ransom of a man’s life are his riches: but the poor hears not rebuke.
Mattithyahuw (Matthew) 20:28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
#H6299 padah paw-daw' a primitive root; to sever, i.e. ransom; gener. to release, preserve:--X at all, deliver, X by any means, ransom, (that are to be, let be) redeem(-ed), rescue, X surely.
Yowb (Job) 33:24 Then he is gracious unto him, and says, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.
Yahuwchanon (John) 10:18 No man takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father (Towrah).
Yahuwshuwa gave his life as a ransom, as well as the “The bride price” that was required to redeem the lost sheep of Yisra’el:
Mattithyahuw (Matthew) 27:
6 And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood.
7 And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in.
8 Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day.
9 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Yirmeyahuw (Jeremiah) the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Yisra’el did value;
10 And gave them for the potter’s field, as YHWH appointed me.
*Note: In Jeremiah 19:11, the word of YaHuWaH came to Jeremiah:
“...Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter’s vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury.”
Then, in Jeremiah 32:9, the redemption price for the House of Judah was valued at seventeen shekels of silver, which is the equivalent of thirty pieces of silver mentioned in Zechariah 11:12 & Matthew 27:9. Historical evidence for this fact can be found in this article:
This is why Matthew attributes this prophecy to Jeremiah, because it began with the word of YaHuWaH which came to him.
The “potter’s vessel” made of clay, symbolizes the House of Judah, who would be broken, (without remedy), just as Messiah’s body was broken when he was sacrificed for them!
Due to a different order of books in the Minor Prophets, the scroll of the Minor Prophets, beginning with the book of Jeremiah and ending with the book of Zechariah were all in one scroll originally, hence the reason why Matthew attributes this prophecy to Jeremiah, even though it is in the book of Zechariah. We can read here about the “bride price” which was required for the divorced Ten Tribes of Yisra’el (Ephrayim):
Zekaryahuw (Zechariah) 11:
10 And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people.
11 And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of YHWH.
12 And I said unto them, If you think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.
13 And YHWH said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prized at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of YHWH.
Yahuwshuwa purchased the House of Judah and the House of Ephrayim with his own blood. He paid the bride price, just like Jeremiah and just like Zechariah!
So you see, he was not a human sacrifice, for he allowed himself to be killed rather than to violate the Towrah!
In order for him to obey the Towrah by becoming the kinsman redeemer for both Houses of Yisra’el, he had to die in place of brother Judah (symbolic of Onan) who refused to become the kinsman redeemer for Tamar.
And when he resurrected, he would then become the “promised son” (typified in Shelah) as well as the “living heir,” typified in Judah, the Father, whose tribe is after the order of Melchizedek!
Yahuwshuwa also took the sins of the ox א (the Red Heifer) for the House of Ephrayim was called a “heifer” in Hosea 10:11, and they were known kill the prophets who were sent to them. He also had a “bride price” laid upon him to redeem Yisra’el and to make her his bride again!
The bride price was thirty pieces of silver (equal to seventeen shekels) as foretold by the prophet Jeremiah & Zechariah. And finally, Yahuwshuwa fulfilled the role of the “kinsman redeemer” for the backsliding wife, Yisra’el who became a harlot (typified in Tamar).
He also fulfilled the “scapegoat” and bore the shame of Judah for his unwillingness to perform the duty of a kinsman redeemer for the other Ten Lost Tribes of Yisra’el. The Heavenly Father (typified in Judah) put on human flesh and became “the Son” who was sent as a scapegoat to Yisra’el (typified in Tamar).
YaHuWaH himself performed the duty of a kinsman redeemer for Yisra’el and he gave his life as the sacrificial goat (the ransom) for the House of Judah.
And now we can see why Yahuwshuwa called himself “the first and the last” in Revelation 1:8; for he came to represent the “the firstborn” symbolized by the first letter in the Hebrew Alphabet, the א “Aleph.” He also came to represent the last-born, symbolic of the last letter in the Hebrew Alphabet, called the ת “Taw!”
Those who have tried to prove that Yahuwshuwa is not the Mashiyach (Messiah) because they rationalize that he was a human sacrifice, can now be shown that his life was given as a “ransom” (according to Exodus 21:30) for those who died at the hands of the wild ox. And who is the wild ox? The wild ox is the whole house of Yisra’el (both houses) who killed all the prophets who were sent to them:
Mattithyahuw (Matthew) 23:37 O Yerushaliym (Jerusalem), Yerushaliym (Jerusalem), you that kill the prophets, and stone them which are sent unto you, how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not!
The Towrah commands that the life of the owner of the ox be given as a ransom, and that a sum of money be laid upon the children of Yisra’el for their redemption.
The Pharisees understood this concept from the Towrah:
Yahuwchanon (John) 11:50 Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.
The life of Yahuwshuwa our Messiah was given as a ransom of the people, and therefore, he was not a human sacrifice!
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