David Peterson notes an important intertextual connection in the biblical storyline between the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16 and the Servant of the Lord who is led like a lamb to the slaughter in Isaiah 53:
“Leviticus 16:22 is the only text where an animal is explicitly said to ‘bear on itself’ the iniquities of God’s people…[and] the Servant of the Lord in Isaiah 53:12 is the only person in the Old Testament who is said to ‘bear’ the sins of others…The language of ‘carrying’ and ‘bearing’ in verses 4, 11, 12 [in Isaiah 53] points to the Servant’s death as substitutionary, just as the death of animals in the sacrificial system appears to have been substitutionary. This terminology in the context suggests that the Servant bears the sins of others by enduring its consequences for them.” (David Peterson, “Atonement in the Old Testament,” in Where Wrath and Mercy Meet: Proclaiming the Atonement Today, ed. David Peterson, pp. 15, 22)
Leave a comment