Hophni and Pinchas were in BIG trouble.
They were regularly ripping off God’s holy sacrifices.
They were leading the people they were supposed to be serving into false doctrines and manmade traditions.
And they were desecrating the ground that surrounded the Sanctuary by having sex with the female Levite workers there.
Even Eli, the High Priest realized he didn’t possess the authority to mediate between God and his two scoundrel sons.
The Torah (specifically in Leviticus & Numbers) makes it clear there is no atonement available for the type of high-handed sins his sons were committing.
Even though Eli was the highest religious authority on earth at the time, he understood there was no sacrifice he could make for his sons in order to save them.
All he could do was warn them.
Which he did by posing the following question:
“But if a person commits
a sin against Adonai,
who can intercede for him?”–
1 Samuel 2:25
As I discussed yesterday, this question goes to the heart of the problem mankind faces when it comes to reconciling with a Holy God.
Who in the world possesses enough authority to mediate between man and God?
In Bible history, Moses was the first mediator who stood between God and man.
Recall when the children of Israel committed idolatry against the Lord…
God was going to destroy them.
But Moses persuaded God to do otherwise.
“The next day Moses said to the people,
‘You have committed a terrible sin,
but I will go back up to the Lord on
the mountain. Perhaps I will be able
to obtain forgiveness for your sin.‘
So Moses returned to the Lord and
said, ‘Oh, what a terrible sin these
people have committed. They have
made gods of gold for themselves.
But now, if you will only forgive
their sin—but if not, erase my name
from the record you have written!‘”
-Exodus 32:30-31
However, even Moses was limited in what he could do as a Mediator.
He could delay God’s wrath…
But he couldn’t take away their sins.
What’s interesting is there was a person who came before Moses who also realized the sin dilemma mankind faced.
“Even if I washed myself in melted snow
and cleansed my hands with lye,
you (God) would plunge me into the
muddy pit, till my own clothes would
detest me. ‘For He (God) is not
merely human like me; there is no
answer that I could give him if we
were to come together in court.
There is no arbitrator between us
who could lay his hand on us both.”
-Job 9:30-33
That’s right.
An ancient gentile named Job who appeared way before Moses realized what Eli understood…
That he was in trouble because there was no mediator between him and God.
After the Exodus, God gave Israel Moses to stand as a mediator between Him and the people.
But that only lasted until Moses died.
It wasn’t until Yeshua arrived on the scene that a permanent solution to mankind’s sin problem could be provided.
Yeshua was the answer to Eli’s question “if a person commits a sin against Adonai, who can intercede for him?”.
I wanted to point out that the issue of mankind needing a savior was brought up early in the Scriptures.
The gentile Christian church may accuse the “Old” Testament as being irrelevant to their New Testament faith because they hold to a theology that “the law has been abolished”.
They mistakenly assume the Hebrew Bible doesn’t address the matter of salvation.
And boy, are they so wrong!
Because it’s right here in the “Old” Testament that we find the very basis and foundation for the salvation that reaches its fulfillment in the New Testament.
In fact, I just showed it to you…
Unfortunately, it’s a part of Scripture your average Christian has no idea even exists.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“For God is one;
and there is but one Mediator
between God and humanity,
Yeshua the Messiah, himself human,
who gave himself as a ransom
on behalf of all, thus providing
testimony to God’s purpose
at just the right time.”
-1 Timothy 2:5
With Love and respect for your wisdom given to you by YHWH, I press upon you to be aware that Christians see Christ only through the eyes of the Old Testament or Torah!
We are fully aware that Jesus did not come to abolish the Law but to fulfil it.
We love the Jewish people with all our hearts and fully understand that you are the chosen people and God will live up to every promise he has ever made to Israel and his beautiful people.
That’s great to know Rob. And just to be clear, I am NOT Jewish myself. Just like you, I am grafted in to the common wealth of Israel through my faith in the Jewish Messiah. Be blessed!