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by _Paidion » Mon Feb 06, 2006 6:43 pm
Recently, I have been looking at a book which I purchased:
Offerings, Sacrifices and Worship in the Old Testament by J.H. Kurtz.
Much of the book gives detailed descriptions of the sacrifices. But in Book 2 THE BLEEDING SACRIFICE, chapter 1 "The Notion of Expiation", the author gives an alternative explanation of "covering" which I found fascinating. The author shows hiding from view is not the only purpose of a covering. A covering may also be protective, a means of shielding one from danger, a means to render something harmless and powerless. For example, a vicious animal might be covered with a cage to prevent it from harming other animals.
The Hebrew word for "cover" is "kaphar" (Strongs 03722), and first occurs
in Genesis 6:14
Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch.
Later the word began to be used figuratively. The author (p. 69) refers to the words of Jacob concerning Esau, "I will cover his face with a present".
Did Jacob want to hide Esau's face? Was his intention to thrust the present in Esau's face, thus preventing him from looking any longer at the wrong that had been done him? (Hofmann's, Schriftbeweis 11, 1, p.233) Kurtz says that we cannot interpret the passage this way, "for in that case he would have followed the analogy of Gen. xx.16, and said, "I will cover his eyes". Then Kutz adds "to say nothing of the fact that the meaning thus obtained could not possibly be applied to the sacrificial. Jacob determines to cover Esau's face, not that he may no longer see the wrong that Jacob has done, but that the anger in Esau's face may be broken, that is to say, rendered althogether powerless."
Kurtz also deals with the passage in Isaiah 28:18,19
Your covenant with death will be covered, And your pact with Sheol will not stand; When the overwhelming scourge passes through, Then you become its trampling place. As often as it passes through, it will seize you; For morning after morning it will pass through, anytime during the day or night, And it will be sheer terror to understand what it means.
Kurtz comments: "... the meaning is not that the covenant with death shall be rendered invisible, for even as an invisible (secret) covenant might answer its purpose quite as well;.... on the contrary, it is to be rendered powerless and nugatory." The context reveals that Kurtz is right. If you become the "trampling place" for the "overwhelming scourge" then your covenant with death, your protection from death is rendered powerless, and you shall die after all.
Kurtz comments further, p. 70, "And understood in this sense, the sacrificial covering was not merely an apparent, conventional, expiation of sin (which would have been the case if it had been merely removed from the sight of Jehovah), but a process by which it [sin] was actually rendered harmless, which is equivalent to cancelling and utterly annihilating."
Another passage which confirms Kurtz understanding:
Proverbs 16:6 In mercy and truth, is covering for iniquity; And by the fear of Yahweh one departs from evil.
Again, the idea is that if one's iniquity is covered, it is rendered inoperative. And this happens when "one departs from evil."
I am reminded also of the words from Hebrews 9:26
...but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
Paul quoted a Psalm of David, making reference to covering for sin. I wondered how to reconcile this concept with Paul's teaching concerning the death of Christ as a means to overcome sin. Now I see that there is no inconsistency when one properly understands "covering".
Paul, quoting Psalm 32: 1, 2
Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been sent away and whose sins have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account. Romans 4:7
Blessed is he whose transgression is taken away, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom Yahweh does not count iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. Psalm 32: 1,2
My understanding of the passages is that when actual sin is removed, it is rendered harmless, and therefore, God will no longer hold it against the transgressor.
So, as I see it, the bottom line is that our sins are indeed covered by the blood of Christ. But they are not covered in the sense that they are made invisible to God so that He no longer sees our sin but Christ's righteousness. (That was my understanding of the covering from fundamentalist teachers).
Rather, when we co-operate with the enabling grace of God made available throught the death of Christ, our sins are covered in the sense that they are rendered powerless. For we, by the grace of God, have forsaken them, and so they are removed. So God will no longer hold us accountable for past sins, but only for our present live sins (unless we forsake them also).
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Reason: Paidion
Avatar --- Age 45
"Not one soul will ever be redeemed from hell but by being saved from his sins, from the evil in him." --- George MacDonald
