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were neither strangers (living in Israel temporarily) nor sojourners (permanent non-
Hebrew residents) (Num. 15:15). In Num. 16:3 and 33, it is clear that the “assembly” was
the worshiping, voting community (cf. 18:4).
Elsewhere, the word
%
is used to signify all the people of Israel. The whole
congregation of the sons of Israel complained that Moses had brought them forth into the
wilderness to kill the whole assembly with hunger (Exod. 16:31). The first occurrence of
the word also bears the connotation of a large group: “And God Almighty bless thee, and
make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude [
%
] of people
…” (Gen. 28:3).
B. Verb.
%
(
, 6950), “to gather.” The verb
%
which occurs 39 times, is derived
from the noun
%
. Like the noun, this verb appears in all periods of biblical Hebrew. It
means “to gather” as a
%
for conflict or war, for religious purposes, and for
judgment: “Then Solomon assembled the elders [
%
] of Israel …” (1 Kings 8:1).
TO ATONE
A. Verb.
(
!
, 3722), “to cover over, atone, propitiate, pacify.” This root is found in
the Hebrew language at all periods of its history, and perhaps is best known from the
term
'
$
“Day of Atonement.” Its verbal forms occur approximately 100 times
in the Hebrew Bible.
is first found in Gen. 6:14, where it is used in its primary
sense of “to cover over.” Here God gives Noah instructions concerning the ark, including,
“Cover it inside and out with pitch” (
RSV
). (The
KJV
translates, “Pitch it within and
without with pitch.”)
Most uses of the word, however, involve the theological meaning of “covering over,”
often with the blood of a sacrifice, in order to atone for some sin. It is not clear whether
this means that the “covering over” hides the sin from God’s sight or implies that the sin
is wiped away in this process.
As might be expected, this word occurs more frequently in the Book of Leviticus than
in any other book, since Leviticus deals with the ritual sacrifices that were made to atone
for sin. For example, Lev. 4:13-21 gives instructions for bringing a young bull to the tent
of meeting for a sin offering. After the elders laid their hands on the bull (to transfer the
people’s sin to the bull), the bull was killed. The priest then brought some of the blood of
the bull into the tent of meeting and sprinkled it seven times before the veil. Some of the
blood was put on the horns of the altar and the rest of the blood was poured at the base of
the altar of burnt offering. The fat of the bull was then burned on the altar. The bull itself
was to be burned outside the camp. By means of this ritual, “the priest shall make an
atonement [
] for them, and it shall be forgiven them” (Lev. 4:20).
The term “atonement” is found at least 16 times in Lev. 16, the great chapter
concerning the Day of Atonement. Before anything else, the high priest had to “make
atonement” for himself and his house by offering a bull as a sin offering. After lots were
cast upon the two goats, one was sent away into the wilderness as an atonement (v. 10),
while the other was sacrificed and its blood sprinkled on the mercy seat as an atonement