He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.
Leviticus 1:4 ESV
Coverings in scripture are associated with protection and submission to authority. Let me give you a few examples.
The covering of pitch that Noah put on the ark in obedience to God’s instruction protected him and his family from the Flood. The Hebrew word for “cover” in Genesis 6:14 is kafar, the same word used for “atonement” in Leviticus 1:4.
The covering of the priest's robes protected the priest from God's holiness while he served in the holy place. The miter he wore on his head said “Holy to YHWH” and indicated his submission to God’s authority even as he bore authority over the twelve tribes on his shoulders.
A woman's head covering was a sign to everyone who saw it that she was under the protection of her husband or father. In the trial of the woman suspected of adultery, the removal of her headcovering represented the removal of her husband's protection, directly exposing her to God's judgment. When he accused her of adultery, he formally withdrew his protection, and she acknowledged this before the priest by removing her headcovering. In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul talked about how a woman’s headcovering, when she prayed or prophesied before the congregation, signaled her submission to authority and may have even offered some kind of protection against spiritual forces.
Kafar, the Hebrew word for atonement, literally means to cover. It is the root of the word kapporet, which is the covering of the Ark of the Covenant and often translated as “mercy seat”. Atonement, in the Biblical sense, doesn’t refer to making restitution to someone that you have wronged, but to creating a covering for something that protects it or signals its submission to authority or both.
When a man brings a sacrifice to the altar, he puts his hand on its head, in part to symbolically transfer his guilt to the animal, but also to delegate his authority--and therefore his responsibility--to it. When the animal is killed and its blood used to atone on the altar for the man, it accomplishes two things. First, the blood placed on the altar covers over the man's sin, symbolically at least and possibly in a real spiritual sense, to allow the man to be in God's presence. Without such a covering, a man in a state of sin or uncleanness could be destroyed by the proximity of divine glory. Second, that man’s authority is returned to God along with the blood. He puts all that God has delegated and entrusted to him on the altar, showing both his submission to and faith in God, and he walks away forgiven, refreshed, and honored by his family and community.
This aspect of atonement at the earthly altar is a reflection of Yeshua’s greater atonement, which not only covers over sin, but removes it entirely. Being completely sinless, he was able to skip the “middle man” of a sacrificial animal and shed his own blood. He surrendered his own life and his rule over the earth to his Heavenly Father to wipe the spiritual slate clean for all those who voluntarily place themselves under his authority-covering. He could do this because he trusted that submitting himself to the will of the Father would be rewarded with even greater authority. He who is faithful with little will be trusted with much more.
Come to God in humble honesty and place all of your worries, laurels, and grudges on his altar. Trust that he will give back to you much more than you surrendered. What you gain might look very different than what you expect, but this is what it means to trust him. Whatever he gives back to you will be worth more in the end than anything you could possibly lose.
See "Authority, Coats, & Coverings" for more on the topic of coverings and authority.
Copyright 2024 Jay Carper, American Torah