Special holiday reading for Yom Kippur on 10 Tisrei, 5765 - September 25, 2004 Yom Kippur Minchah: Holiday Torah reading Leviticus 18:1-30; Haftarah: Jonah 1:1 to 4:11; Mei Kituvim: Job 19:1-29; Brit Chadashah: Romans 7:1 to 8:39

The Bagel: Justification of life. Are you justified for life? It is one thing to be justified, or think you are justified, one year at a time. It is quite another to be justified permanently. The readings suggest something more.

Torah:
Leviticus 18:1-30. In the Minchah Torah reading, Adonay spelled out the type of life in the Land: "My rules alone shall you observe, and faithfully follow My laws: I the LORD am your God. You shall keep My laws and My rules, by the pursuit of which man shall live: I am the LORD" (Leviticus 18:4-5 Tanakh JPS). The equation was thus. Instead of following the customs of the Egyptians or the Canaanites, Israel was to follow the rules of G-d. If they did, then they lived. If they didn't then trouble. The ultimate trouble was death. "The soul that sins shall die" (Ezekiel 18:4). This principle holds true for all time. If a person could keep the Torah absolutely 100% at all times, then that person can live. If not, then death follows. Since, everyone dies that is a good indication that everyone has failed to meet the conditions for life. No one is justified by their performance.

Haftarah:
Jonah 1:1 to 4:11. In the Haftarah reading, Jonah knew that there was a form of justification apart from the works of the Law. He knew that Adonay is a G-d of Chesed (compassion) and can justify people in sin. Part of the package of that justification is the enablement by G-d so that those ungodly people can repent and turn from a sinful lifestyle. The wicked Ninevites repented at Jonah's preaching and changed their ways. Jonah thought that their wicked ways had gone too far and that they should only be condemned.

Jonah knew of Adonay's compassion because when he ran away from G-d's Presence and then was captured by the great fish, he knew he could call upon the Merciful G-d. He did and his prayer entered the Heikal or Kodesh Ha Kodeshim (Holy of Holies) of G-d's throne in heaven. Jonah was justified and released from his condemnation. He knew this was going to be the case in Nineveh. When it did it made Jonah angry. "Why should those evil Ninevites get off Scott-free?" he reasoned. But Adonay answered Jonah with a question designed to show that it was just to have compassion on them: "Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand...." (Jonah 4:11 NASB)? By this we learn that the scope of G-d's compassion is wide and that He is able to justify wicked people who repent.

Mei Kituvim:
Job 19:1-29. In the reading of the Kituvim, Job responded to the press of many accusations. His friends tried to prove how unjust Job was and that was why he was suffering so. In the midst of those proofs, Job cited his own proof of ultimate justification: "But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that he will stand upon the earth at last. And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God" (Job 19:25-26 NLT). The Redeemer is the Goel - the One who can redeem the soul. This was the One who sustained Job through the long series of torturous accusations. Job knew that in spite of what they said he would be justified in the end because he had a Redeemer.

Brit Chadashah:
Romans 7:1 to 8:39. When we get to the Brit Chadashah, there is no doubt where the long-term justification lies:

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Romans 8:1-4 NLT).