Shalom all,

This evening, September 20, at sundown, Jews in Israel and around the world will enter Yom HaKippurim – the Day of Atonement, the tenth day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei. It is the culmination of the Ten Days of Repentance that began with Rosh Hashanah – a day set apart for fasting, prayer, repentance, and serious reflection before God.

The biblical foundation of Yom HaKippurim is found especially in Leviticus 16, where the Torah describes the annual Day of Atonement, and in Leviticus 23, which calls it a “holy convocation” and a day to humble oneself before God (v. 27). The Day of Atonement was not simply another appointed day in Israel’s calendar. It was the annual culmination of the biblical sacrificial system: the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies, atonement was made for the sanctuary and for the people, and the sins of Israel were symbolically carried away. Its purpose was to restore the relationship between a holy God and a sinful people.

Yom HaKippurim also carries a biblically prophetic significance. The Day of Atonement looks beyond the annual ritual toward the ultimate purposes of God for Israel: cleansing from sin, reconciliation with God, repentance, and redemption. The prophetic Scriptures repeatedly connect Israel’s future restoration with a profound spiritual turning toward God. Zechariah 12, for example, speaks of a future day when God pours out upon the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem “a spirit of grace and supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.” (v. 10); Zechariah 13:1 then declares that “a fountain” will be opened for the cleansing of sin and impurity.

For those who read the Hebrew Scriptures through the lens of Messiah Yeshua, this prophetic dimension becomes especially significant. The New Testament later interprets the Day of Atonement’s priesthood, blood sacrifices, entrance into the Holy of Holies, and removal of sin in relation to Messiah’s atoning work. Hebrews 9–10 explicitly develops this connection. Yet the prophetic promise itself remains striking: the story of Yom HaKippurim ultimately points toward Israel’s cleansing, repentance, restoration, and reconciliation with God.

Yet beneath the rituals lies a profoundly personal question: What happens when we stop looking at the failures of others and honestly examine ourselves before a holy and merciful God? That question is captured with extraordinary simplicity in Psalm 130: “If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be revered.” (Psalm 130:3–4)

The psalmist begins not with the sins of others, but with his own. If God were to keep a perfect account of every iniquity, who could stand before Him? The answer is both humbling and hopeful: “There is forgiveness with you.”

This understanding of forgiveness is rooted deeply in the Older Testament’s revelation of God’s character. When God revealed Himself to Moses in Exodus 34:6-7, He declared Himself to be: “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth … who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin.”

Again and again, Scripture returns to these characteristics. Psalm 86:5 declares: “For You, Lord, are good and ready to forgive, and abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon You.” Psalm 103:10-12says that God: “has not dealt with us according to our sins” and He removes our transgressions “as far as the east is from the west.”

And perhaps most beautifully, the prophet Micah asks: “Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity…?” The prophet answers his own question: “He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in unchanging love.” Then comes the extraordinary promise: “He will again have compassion on us”; He will tread our iniquities underfoot and will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. (Micah 7:18-19)

There is a striking connection here with Psalm 130, which begins: “Out of the depths I have cried to You, O LORD.” Micah’s prophecy ends with God casting our sins into: “the depths of the sea.” The person who cries to God from the depths discovers that God is able to remove the very sins that brought him there.

This is the God whom Yom HaKippurim invites us to encounter: holy, but merciful; righteous, but compassionate; aware of our iniquities, yet willing to forgive.

And this is where the prophetic significance of the Day of Atonement becomes particularly powerful. The biblical story does not end with Israel merely repeating an annual ritual. The prophets point toward a day of deeper cleansing and repentance, when God Himself brings about a profound spiritual transformation. Zechariah speaks of a future outpouring of “grace and supplication,” mourning, and then cleansing from sin.

In other words, Yom HaKippurim points both backward and forward: backward to God’s provision for atonement, and forward to the prophetic hope of complete cleansing, repentance, restoration, and redemption.

We should note that there is an important paradox in Psalm 130. The psalmist does not say that God’s forgiveness makes sin insignificant. Rather, he says: “If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?” Sin matters precisely because God is holy. But mercy means that God’s holiness is not the end of the story. This is why the psalm continues: “But with You there is forgiveness, that You may be revered.” Forgiveness should produce reverence.

The biblical term, often translated “fear of God”, needs to be understood as: awe, humility, reverence, and the recognition that we stand before Someone greater than ourselves. Knowing that God is merciful should not make us careless about our conduct. It should make us more willing to confront it honestly.

The psalm reaches its climax by moving from the individual to the entire nation: “O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with Him is plentiful redemption. And He will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.” (Psalm 130:7-8)

This is a remarkable progression: guilt → confession → forgiveness → hope → redemption. The psalmist does not leave Israel removed from God when sin separated them from Him. He directs Israel toward hope, because God’s nature is characterized by steadfast love and plentiful redemption. That message seems particularly appropriate this Yom HaKippurim.

And it is precisely here that Psalm 130 and the prophetic significance of Yom HaKippurim converge. The ultimate hope is not simply that Israel will survive another year, nor merely that an annual ritual will be completed. It is that God will redeem Israel from her iniquities. The prophetic picture is one of God bringing His people through repentance and mourning into cleansing and restoration.

A time for introspection:- Israel enters this Yom HaKippurim after a period in which the country has experienced extraordinary military involvement, loss, fear, uncertainty, and responsibility. Soldiers have been required to make difficult decisions; families have endured separation and loss; civilians have experienced danger; and the country as a whole has been forced to confront questions about security, responsibility, morality, and the future.

There are legitimate differences of opinion about military policy, particular operations, the conduct of the war, and the decisions made by political and military leaders. Yom HaKippurim does not require us to settle those disagreements. It does, however, give us an opportunity to ask a different kind of question: What should I examine in myself?

Before considering the failures of governments, armies, commanders, political leaders, opponents – or anyone else – we can consider our own words, attitudes, actions and omissions: Has fear or anger hardened us? Have we spoken about other human beings in ways we would not want God to hear? Have the pressures of war diminished our compassion? Have we confused strength with righteousness? Have we failed to acknowledge our own mistakes, because we have become preoccupied with the mistakes of others? We need to remove the log from our own eyes before we can see clearly enough to remove the speck from someone else’s eyes. (Matthew 7:3-5)

And perhaps most importantly: Are we willing to allow God’s mercy to change us? This is not an argument for abandoning convictions or ignoring legitimate security concerns. Nor does moral introspection require us to treat every action or every side in a conflict as morally equivalent.

Rather, it is an invitation to recognize that human beings can be called upon to exercise great power while remaining subject to a higher moral accountability. For those serving in the IDF, that responsibility can be especially profound. The reality of military service can involve decisions made under extraordinary pressure, sometimes with incomplete information and terrible alternatives. Unlike some societies that exalt a culture of death, Israel values life does and goes to extraordinary lengths in carrying out its responsibility to protect it. It reminds us of the moral seriousness that accompanies such responsibility.

For everyone else, there is also a responsibility: how we speak, how we judge, how we respond to suffering, how we treat those with whom we disagree, and whether we retain compassion in circumstances that naturally provoke anger.

Ultimately, Yom HaKippurim is not a celebration of human perfection. It begins with the recognition that none of us is perfect. Psalm 130 gives voice to that reality: “If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?” And then comes the answer: “But with You there is forgiveness.”

That is the hope. The God before whom we examine ourselves is not portrayed in Scripture as eager to destroy the repentant sinner. He is the God who is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, ready to forgive, and rich in redemption.

And because He is merciful, we can face the truth about ourselves without despair. We can confess without pretending. We can repent without humiliation becoming hopelessness. We can ask forgiveness – and extend forgiveness to others. And we can enter the coming year determined, with God’s help, to live differently.

Perhaps this is especially important during times of war. When the world around us becomes filled with conflict, it becomes easy to focus exclusively on what others have done wrong. Yom HaKippurim gently turns our gaze in another direction. Look inward. Listen. Examine. Repent.

And then, having encountered the mercy of God, begin again. For the psalmist, the final word is not guilt, but redemption: “With Him is plentiful redemption.” And the prophetic hope of Yom HaKippurim reaches even further: beyond confession toward cleansing, beyond mourning toward restoration, and beyond judgment toward reconciliation with God. Zechariah’s vision of a future outpouring of grace and supplication and the opening of a fountain for cleansing gives this ancient holy day an enduring prophetic dimension. 

And so Psalm 130:4 captures the heart of Yom HaKippurim in one sentence: “With You there is forgiveness” – and recognizing that forgiveness should lead us not to complacency, but to reverence, repentance, humility, and a renewed commitment to live rightly.

Forgiving is “for giving”. For those who have received forgiveness, it is now your turn. Don’t hold onto what you need to give.

Bless, be blessed and be a blessing. 

Marvin

©20.10.2026 / 9 /Tishrei 5787