The Price of Freedom

On May 2, 2017 the citizens of Israel celebrated 69 years of statehood since Israel first declared its independence in May of 1948, a day after the British lowered their flag and left the Promised Land. The young Jewish nation has had an uphill battle from the beginning but has continually seen the protection and blessing of God as Israel continues to thrive and succeed despite the dangers and complexities of the Middle East.

Israeli Independence Day is usually marked by families and friends having picnics in the park and enjoying the liberty of living in a free and democratic society. While everyone enjoys barbecues in the park, the skies are generally filled with Israeli aircraft in various formations, providing a breathtaking air show. Israeli Independence Day is about celebrating freedom and this freedom is never taken for granted but is always tied to the cost of freedom which is remembered on Israeli Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers, which takes place one day before Independence Day. This year, Israeli Memorial Day was observed on May 1, 2017.

Israeli Memorial Day

On Sunday evening, April 30, I attended a Memorial Day ceremony to honor the fallen soldiers of Israel, which took place at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem. The Israeli President, Reuben Rivlin, spoke at the event and he emphasized the heavy cost of living in our own country as he addressed the many families who have lost loved ones throughout modern history fighting for and defending the nation of Israel.

At one point, the president talked about the significance of this year marking the 50th anniversary since the city of Jerusalem was set free (1967) and the holiness of this freedom that we now enjoy in Israel. President Rivlin then added these words:

We know that there is a price to our existence here, to our freedom. There is a price and we, with awe and terror, are ready to pay that price. Dear families, we live this privilege, you have all paid the price, the price of our freedom was purchased in blood. – President Reuben Rivlin, April 30, 2017

President Rivlin was reminding us all, especially those families who have lost loved ones, that freedom has a price and this price is the blood of those who have died serving our country.

As I listened to President Rivlin’s words I was reminded of the high honor that I personally have to live in the renewed state of Israel. It also struck me that the freedom and security that the modern state of Israel enjoys has come at a great cost. Since 1860, when the first Jewish neighborhood was built outside of the Old City walls of Jerusalem, 23,544 men and women have died establishing and defending the right for the Jewish people to live in the Land of Israel.

There have been many financial transactions and building projects throughout the decades of establishing the country of Israel, however, the greatest price by far that has been paid has been the blood of the thousands of men and women who have died defending this nation. The blood of those who have died defending Israel is unmatched in gold or silver. President Rivlin so beautifully tied together the thousands of men and women who gave their lives for the nation of Israel with the sanctity that their memory deserves by equating their lives with their blood that has purchased our freedom.

The reality of how freedom is gained and maintained by the blood of men and women who voluntarily give their lives for the sake of the nation that they serve, beautifully illustrates the biblical teaching of sacrificial atonement and the significance of the blood. This week’s Torah Portion contains detailed instructions regarding sacrifices and atonement (Lev. 16) as well as warnings and regulations regarding how to handle the blood of animal sacrifices (Lev. 17).

Regulations for Sacrifices

In Leviticus 17, the LORD gave Moses instructions for the priests and the people regarding how to properly handle blood sacrifices. Whenever the people of Israel offered sacrifices to the LORD, they were to do so at the place of the Tabernacle and not at any place that they deemed fit. God wanted to protect the people from falling into idolatry by providing the proper boundaries for offering sacrifices (Lev. 17:7). Anyone who ignored this command and made sacrifices at other places was to be cut off from the people of Israel (Lev. 17:8-9).

At no time were the Israelites ever to drink the blood of an animal. It was completely forbidden for the Israelites, or anyone in their community, to drink the blood of an animal. Any person who drank blood was to be cut off from his people (Lev. 17:10). The reason for forbidding the drinking of blood is clearly explained in the text:

For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement. – Lev. 17:11

The blood is what gives the flesh life and blood cannot be disconnected from an atoning sacrifice that is made.

Life Is In The Blood

The phrase “for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement” in the Hebrew reads as follows: “כי הדם הוא בנפש יכפר” – “ki ha’dam who ba’nefesh ye’cha’per.” This phrase is not easily translated, however, a more literal translation would read in the following manner: “for it is the blood which atones for a life.” Blood and life are equated in this verse as it also is in Genesis 9:4, “Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.” Without blood, the flesh is nothing. It is the blood that gives flesh its life. It is the blood of the sacrifice that makes atonement and not the flesh itself.

As I was studying Leviticus 17:11, I read a Jewish commentary which explains the significance of the wording in this verse in connection to atonement. The commentator made the following statement: “…the blood is the legal ‘price’ that must be paid to effect expiation.” (Drazin, Israel & Wagner, Stanley M. Onkelos on the Torah. Leviticus. Gefen Pub. Jerusalem. 2011. p.135) Since the blood itself is equated to the life of the animal, the blood is understood as the price to be paid in order to make expiation, i.e. to make atonement.

It was the blood of the sacrifices that provided atonement according to God’s instructions in the Torah. The preciousness of each sacrifice was continually illustrated by the life that was taken and evidenced by the blood which was sprinkled on the altar of the LORD at the doorway of the tent of meeting (Lev. 17:6). It was the blood that provided atonement and paid the price for one’s sin to be covered, thereby providing forgiveness.

Purchased By The Blood

The Bible upholds the sanctity of blood by equating it with the most precious and valuable earthly creation, life. God commanded blood sacrifices from the nation of Israel as a continual reminder that atonement from sin is not free but is paid for by another life. Blood sacrifices, which were the legal price of atonement according to the Law, provided the foundation for the ultimate purchase of blood by the Messiah for all of humanity.

God’s holy standard has never changed from the day that He first created Adam and Eve until today. The price of sin is still death and the purchase price from the penalty of sin is still the blood of atonement. At the giving of the covenant at Sinai, God instituted blood sacrifices from animals. At the giving of the New Covenant, God instituted a blood sacrifice in the Messiah:

If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth; knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Messiah. – 1 Peter 1:17-19

When Yeshua was crucified nearly 2000 years ago, His perfect blood was freely given for all who would believe on Him.

Yeshua is often referred to as “the Lamb of God” in the New Testament because He was killed on Passover and because He laid His own life down as the final sacrifice for sin. In the book of Revelation, the Apostle John recorded a scene in heaven where Yeshua the Messiah appears as the “Lamb of God” and is being worshipped by the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders in heaven:

And they sang a new song, saying,“Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.” – Revelation 5:6-9

The Messiah paid the ultimate price by dying for the sins of the world and providing reconciliation between God and man for all who believe.