Atonement. Taking for males a white cock, 47 and for females a hen, the head of the

house prays: 'The children of men who dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death,

bound in misery and iron--them will He bring forth from darkness and the shadow of

death, and break their bonds asunder. Fools, because of their transgressions and

because of their iniquities, are afflicted; their soul abhorreth all manner of meat, and they

draw near unto the gates of death. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, that He

save them out of their distresses. He sends His word and heals them, and delivers them

from their destruction. Then they praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His

marvellous works to the children of men. If there be an angel with Him, an intercessor,

one among a thousand, to show unto men his righteousness, then He is gracious unto

him, and saith, Let him go, that he may not go down into the pit; I have found an

atonement (a covering).'

Next, the head of the house swings the sacrifice round his head, saying, 'This is my

substitute; this is in exchange for me; this is my atonement. This cock goes into death,

but may I enter into a long and happy life, and into peace!' Then he repeats this prayer

three times, and lays his hands on the sacrifice, which is now slain.

This offering up of an animal not sanctioned by the law, in a place, in a manner, and by

hands not authorised by God, is it not a terrible phantom of Israel's dark and dreary

night? and does it not seem strangely to remind us of that other terrible night, when the

threefold crowing of a cock awakened Peter to the fact of his denial of 'the Lamb of God

which taketh away the sin of the world'?

And still the cry of the Synagogue comes to us through these many centuries of past

unbelief and ignorance: 'Let one innocent come and make atonement for the guilty!' To

which no other response can ever be made than that of the apostle: 'Such an High-Priest

became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher

than the heavens'! (Heb 7:26)