Yom Kippur is the tenth day of the month of
Tishri. It is the most important and holiest day of the Jewish year.
It is the Day of Atonement when the High Priest goes into the Holy
of Holies to atone for the sins of all the people.
The Marriage Supper of the Lamb will happen
on Yom Kippur when Jesus comes to take His Bride back to Himself. A
Jewish wedding is called a private Yom Kippur.
This year 2003 Yom Kippur begins on Sunday
evening, October 5, and continues until Monday night, October 6,
2003.
40 Days Before Yom Kippur
From 28
August 2003 to 6 October 2003 is 40
days: 4 days (28 to 31 Aug) plus 30 days (1-30 Sep) plus 6
days (1-6 October 2003).
27 August 2003 is the final day of the
Chinese Hungry Ghost Festival. Planetary Society declares August 27,
2003 Mars Day. The Hindu pilgrims believe, based on the date and the
alignment of the sun, moon and Jupiter, that taking a bath in one of
the four locations in India will absolve them of their sins. It is
considered the most auspicious day to bathe in Nasik's Godavari
River. This year 39 people were killed in river stampede at India
pilgrimage on this date. It is an important date for idol
worshippers.
According to Jewish tradition, the
month of Elul is the time that Moses spent on Mount Sinai preparing
the second set of tablets after the golden calf incident (Ex. 32;
34:27-28). He ascended on Rosh Chodesh Elul and descended on the
10th of Tishri, at the end of Yom Kippur, when repentance was
complete. Elul marked the beginning of a period of 40 days that
Moses prayed for God to forgive the people for worshipping the
golden calf.
Moses was with God for two periods of forty days and forty nights
each. The first period was recorded in Exodus 24:18 through Exodus
31:18. At the end of which, God gave Moses the first set of tablets,
wherein contained the Ten Commandments written by the finger of God
(Exodus 31:18). But the first set was destroyed at the foot of Mount
Sinai when Moses cast them down upon seeing the people worshipping
the golden calf (Exodus 32:19) that
they
had created, and committing the sins centred around the idol.
After the golden calf was destroyed, Moses
went up Mount Sinai on Rosh Chodesh Elul
(the first day of the 12th month of the
Civil
Calendar) and prayed to God for a second
period of forty days and forty nights (Exodus 34) so that God would
spare His people and return His full Presence to be among them.
God responded favorably to Moses’ prayers
by commanding Moses to write a new set of tablets - wherein were
inscribed the Ten Commandments.
And the LORD said to Moses, "Cut two
tablets of stone like the first ones, and I will write on these
tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you
broke." Exodus 34:1
He also restored His Presence to His people
by authorizing the construction of the Tabernacle as the Dwelling
Place of His divine Presence in the midst of them.
When Moses went up the second time to receive the Ten Commandments,
the Israelites blew the shofar in the camp. They did this to remind
themselves that Moses had once again gone up Mount Sinai, so that
they would not again commit the tragic mistake in misjudging the
time of Moses' return, and fall into idol worshipping again.
Therefore, the Israelites in later
generations accepted upon themselves the custom of blowing the
shofar, beginning with Rosh Chodesh Elul
to remind themselves that the people of Israel in the desert had
sinned, had repented, had been forgiven by God and restored to their
former level of holiness. This blowing of the shofar would arouse in
their hearts and minds the importance and effectiveness of true
repentance.
|
Feast |
No. Of
Days |
|
Rosh
Chodesh Elul
28-29 August 2003
(Thu-Fri)
|
30
days
of Returning to God |
Rosh Hashanah
(also Rosh Chodesh Tishri)
27 September 2003 (Sat)
|
10
Days of Awe
or Days of Repentance |
|
Yom
Kippur
6
October 2003
(Mon)
|
|
Total |
40 days |
|
Note the Feast begins at
sunset on the day before the date shown.
|
Counting from Tishri, the month of Rosh Hashanah (The Jewish New
Year), Elul is the twelfth and last month of the year. Like the
names of the other months of the Hebrew Calendar, Elul is known as
the month of "Returning to God" or "Repentance."
Although the Israelites believe that God
always watches over the world, and is always waiting for their
return, they also believe that He is more accessible during the
40-day period beginning with the start of the month of Elul and
culminating in the first ten days of the Month of Tishri.
Elul is the month given each year to
prepare for the Days of Awe. These days, also known as the Ten Days
of Repentance, begin with Rosh Hashanah, and end with Yom Kippur.
This follows the principle behind
Isaiah 55:6: "Seek the LORD while He may be found, call
upon Him while He is near." We therefore should make special efforts
to renew our commitment to Him during this period of the year when
He is "closest" to us.
True Repentance
We want to continually move closer to God,
but our sin causes us to move away from God. The result of sin is a
detriment and a failure in our relationship with God. But repentance
is a generous gift from God, which allows us to correct and change
our improper actions. The Law of the Lord tells us that no matter
how far we stray or how many times we sin, God will wait for us to
return to Him in true repentance.
There are four basic steps in true
repentance:
- Leaving the Sin
- Regret
- Confession before God
- Acceptance for the future
1. Leaving The Sin
Leaving the sin consists of stopping the
commission of the sinful act. One cannot truly repent if one
continues to do the sin, even if he or she is able to perform the
next three steps perfectly.
2. Regret
Regret consists in sincerely regretting one's wrong action.
One must be genuinely ashamed and embarrassed over one's sins.
3. Confession Before God
Confession before God consists of an oral confession spoken
out loud, in which one formulates in words the commitments and
attitudes one has reached in his or her heart. One should say, "I
have sinned, I have done such and such; I deeply regret my actions,
and I declare before God, Who knows my innermost thoughts, that I
will never do this sin again."
4. Acceptance For The Future
Acceptance for the future consists of
resolving in one's heart never to commit the sin ever again.
The above four steps work only for sins
committed against God. For sins committed against other people, one
must first ask forgiveness from that person(s) before God will
accept him or her. This is the source of the practice by many Jews
to contact all of their family, friends and co-workers during this
period to ask for forgiveness for anything they may have done to
upset them during the past year(s).
These four steps are of course only valid
if we do in true repentance after the act of sin.
One cannot say in advance: "I can do this sin, then repent and He
will forgive me..." It simply doesn't work that way as it may in
other belief systems.
On the other hand, one should keep in mind
that repentance is an ongoing process that cannot be accomplished
overnight. No matter how many times a person may stumble in his or
her journey with God, that person has to simply pick himself or
herself up and keep trying to stay on the path of righteousness.
What God is really looking for is the
sincerity of the heart of the person during repentance!
About The Month Of Elul
What does the name of the month Elul mean?
Elul has been interpreted as an acronym, with its Hebrew letters
"Aleph," "Lamed," "Vav," "Lamed" representing the words "Ani L'Dodi
V'Dodi Li" (Song of Songs 6:3). These words mean "I am my Beloved's
and my Beloved is mine" and herein "my Beloved" refers to God, and
"I" refers to His people. God wants us to become His beloved sons so
that we can enjoy sweet communion and fellowship with Him.
According to Jewish tradition, the Day of
Creation of the first Man is called Rosh Hashanah. But Man was
created on the sixth day of the Creation of the Universe. Hence, by
simple calculation, it follows that the Day of Creation of the
Universe was five days earlier - the twenty-fifth of Elul. After
repentance, we will be renewed as a new creation before God.
About another significance of twenty-fifth
of Elul, it was the day Nehemiah finished rebuilding the wall of
Jerusalem in 52 days (Nehemiah 6:15). Our walls of salvation will be
rebuilt and restored.
The 40 days
before Yom Kippur is for us to get closer to God by returning to Him
in true repentance. We will be renewed, rebuilt and restored.
Source:
International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia
http://www.jewfaq.org/frames/elul.htm