We read Leviticus 16:1-18:30. From the Haftara we read Amos 9:7-15 and Ezekiel 22:1-16 and we read 1 Corinthians 6:9-20. 

This Parasha starts by listing the events on Yom Kipur, or the Day of Covering. Kipur comes from the Hebrew verb kipér כִּפֵר to atone, to cover.

Sins are laid on the head of a goat, which then faces certain death in the desert. Is it a coincidence that this day is described by God just after He gave His instructions about Passover? We may have celebrated Passover a hundred times, He may have been crucified and resurrected a hundred times, but if we don’t actually confess our sins, then it doesn’t make any sense. The Haftarah and also Paul in 1 Corinthians also say this. That is why Yom Kipur is necessary: confess your sins!

The word for sin is the Hebrew word chét חֵטְא, which comes from the Hebrew verb stem chata, חָטָא to sin, to go in a wrong direction. God has done everything for us to save us from our iniquities, now it is up to us to stand pure before Him.

In Amos, God promises that He will restore the people and the land. It is necessary that the land be restored from the iniquities of the people; first from the peoples who lived in the Promised Land before the people of Israel. God speaks about the land having vomited them out, so the land will also vomit out the people of Israel when they commit idolatry and all kinds of sexual sins. This indeed happened and they were taken away, out of the land.

Only at this time may they return, after many of the people have perished, just as the prophecy states (Amos 9:9 and on). The word for vomiting or spitting out is the Hebrew word qi’ קִיא. Doesn’t sound all that tasty…. God is a terrible God, Who also executes His punishments, His people have experienced this and also the believers from the Gentiles do not have to think that they can do but everything because they live under grace anyway. Forget about that, says the apostel Paul in his Corinthian letter.

What important scriptures to read now so in Passover week, what about our hearts and our relationship with Him, after all that we have just remembered and are still remembering in this week. His Word is His fence around our lives that protects us from wrongdoing. If we keep His commandments, then we are safe in His protection, however, if we do not keep them, then even according to Paul’s New Testament Corinthian letter, no grace can stand against that (verse 9, 10).

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)