Day of Atonement

The Day of Atonement (Hebrew: Yom Kippur) was an exceptionally hallowed ancient Israelite festival. It focused on a number of symbols and rituals that pertained to the Atonement, such as the sacrifice of a bull and a goat, the confession of sins on the head of a second goat (the scapegoat), the sprinkling of blood on the altar, and the high priest’s entrance into the temple’s Holy of Holies. The directive regarding the scapegoat was straightforward: “Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat. . . . And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited” (Lev. 16:21–22). It was during the Day of Atonement that the high priest made atonement for the tabernacle and the altar, for the priests, and for men and women. “This shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year” (Lev. 16:34).

Confession of iniquities on the head of the goat.

Several symbols belonging to the Day of Atonement pointed to Jesus Christ’s Atonement. For example, the high priest sacrificed animals to make atonement for Israel’s uncleanness, transgressions, and sins (see Lev. 16:6, 11, 15–20); this anticipated Jesus offering Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the world (see Heb. 7:27; Alma 34:8); His sacrifice was “neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood” (Heb. 9:12). Elder Bruce R. McConkie summarized, “The chief symbolisms, the most perfect similitudes, the types and shadows without peer, were displayed before all the people once each year, on the Day of Atonement.”79