You Shall Afflict Your Soul?

Feasts of Israel Series: Part 19

The excited cries of the shofars slowly faded into the evening sky as the Feast of Trumpets came to an end. A somberness took over the community until the Feast of Atonement dawned on the tenth day of Tishri. This intervening time between feasts became known as “The Days of Awe,” during which the people prepared their hearts for what was to come.

No one but the high priest would be administering the rituals for the Feast of Atonement. So, what kind of preparation was required of everyone else?

The answer was in the Lord’s instructions for the feast:

“This shall be a statute forever for you: In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls. . . . For on that day the priest shall make atonement for you, to cleanse you, that you may be clean from all your sins before the Lord. . . . and you shall afflict your souls” (Leviticus 16:29–31, emphasis mine).

But really. Affliction?

Right here, let me say affliction should be a four-letter word. The Dictionary of Biblical Languages defines it as being disturbed or feeling anxiety and distress.¹

Who wants to receive that sort of treatment, much less inflict it on him- or herself?

Down through the ages, some people took verses like these to argue physical bodily harm increases our godliness. Self-flagellation was turned into a religious act in some circles, proving through the degree of suffering they endured, the height of their faith or the depth of their sorrow.

But was God even talking about our bodies in these Levitical scriptures?

Body or Soul

Six times, in reference to the Feast of Atonement, the Lord used basically the same words. In every case, it wasn’t their bodies He told them to afflict, but their souls. (Leviticus 16:29, 31; Leviticus 23:27, 29, 32; Numbers 29:7).

Had God been referring to the body, He would have used a word like basar, meaning flesh. Instead, He used nephesh (Hebrew for soul). The Apostle Paul reinforces the distinction in the New Testament. He argues that, while bodily discipline provides some physical benefit, it can give no more than the appearance of piety (Colossians 2:23, 1 Timothy 4:8).

What is our soul then? Our nephesh? It’s our inner self. The part of us that feels and thinks and desires and chooses. What does God intend this inner affliction to do for us? And what does it have to do with the upcoming Feast of Atonement?

Affliction and the Feast

The rituals of the Great Day of Atonement painted a picture of sin being covered over and carried away. The forgiveness this worked would not have its full effect unless the people first experienced repentance.

Repentance requires a person to acknowledge and admit wrong-doing. If they came to the altar without a knowledge of their sin, there would be nothing for which to atone. The innocent, after all, don’t need forgiveness. The guilty do. Mercy would be offered, but only received when needy hands reached out to accept it.

The Days of Awe allowed time for reflection—letting people experience repentance in the depth of their souls. That way, they’d be ready to receive the gift God provided on the Day of Atonement.

Guilt and My Soul

While our bodies can sense physical distress, it is our souls which feel the sting of guilt, sorrow, and regret. This is the affliction necessary to produce repentance—one which empowers our ability to turn away from the disobedience or ignorance that caused them.

Full repentance engages all three aspects of my soul—my mind, my will, and my emotions. My mind must look upon what I have done (or failed to do) with a clear-eyed admission that it was wrong. My emotions need to actually feel remorse and sense the weight of guilt. Finally, my will must first lay down resistance to the process then rise up in determination to change.

Sparing one part of my soul from this afflicting process leaves that piece untouched when the cleansing blood of atonement flows. My will can’t overcome a mind that continues to justify my actions and refuses to admit guilt. My mind can’t understand why forgiveness doesn’t keep me from returning to the same mud puddle to play if my heart has sheltered itself from the pain of remorse. And a will that refuses to humble itself and engage in the process, threatens to fix my head and heart in a permanent state of either denial or horror.

Why should we focus on guilt as New Testament believers? Didn’t Paul write, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1)? He did, but the two concepts are not the same. Think of courtroom proceedings. A person is first pronounced guilty and then he or she is condemned to appropriate punishment.

In the context of the feasts of Israel, during the Days of Awe the people hold themselves accountable. They agree the Judge has rightfully pronounced them guilty. But at the Feast of Atonement, those declared guilty watch as the Judge condemns a substitute to the punishment attributed to them.

The Reason for the Season

The few humbling days of reflection and repentance prepared the people for the stupendous rituals yet to come. The Feast of Atonement would be a day unlike any other, both in variety and in numbers of bloody sacrifices at the brazen altar. As difficult as those days might seem, they would be followed by the most joyous and celebratory of all the year’s festivals—the week-long Feast of Tabernacles. The more seriously they had taken the afflicting of their souls, the sweeter the culminating festival would be.

“Before that grand festival of harvesting and thanksgiving Israel must, as a nation, be reconciled unto God, for only a people at peace with God might rejoice before Him in the blessing with which He had crowned the year.”

Alfred Edersheim²

How Long, Oh Lord?

Scripture doesn’t say this affliction should linger from the first to the tenth day of Tishri. Tradition made these days into a season of reflection (much as many Christians have used the seasons of Advent or Lent to lead up to important holidays). The verses we looked at in the beginning only required it as a component of the actual Day of Atonement.

For Old Testament Israel, the distress was followed by relief during the course of a single day during the year. Because the ultimate and permanent fulfillment to all the feast’s sacrifices came in the person of the Messiah, Jesus, we can now experience forgiveness immediately upon reaching full repentance. Like jumping with a bungie cord, we must suffer the distress of diving into repentance before we can feel the joy of being zipped back up and out of danger.

So, let’s allow repentance to have its perfect work, bringing our minds, wills, and emotions all to the altar. Let us admit our guilt with our minds, feel remorse in our emotions, and determine in our wills to turn from what has hurt either God or man. Then we’ll feel the cleansing flow of Jesus’ atoning blood cover us like a flash flood of forgiveness. In an instant, the breach between us and our heavenly Father will snap shut and our access to His heart will be restored.

1. Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (electronic ed.). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
2. Alfred Edersheim, The Temple: its Ministry and Services as they were at the time of Jesus Christ (Arcadia Press 2017, 1874) 108.