Shadows of Penance, by John Carberry

Sin was widespread in Old Testament times.1 It entered the world with the fall of Adam
and Eve when they disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden (Gn 3:11, Rom 5:12, Wis 2:24).2 The
Israelites were prone to evil (Ex 32:22). Sin is an offense against God and against his Church
(Lk 15:18, 21).3 Penance provides pardon for those sins.4 How did humans reconcile with God
after sinning before the time of Christ? There are many examples of this in the Old Testament.
The Israelites would have to confess their guilt of rebelling against God or injuring others in
order for God to remember his covenant with them (Lv 26:40-42, Nm 5:7, Ps 78:7-8). The
people of Nineveh were about to be destroyed in their city because of their sinfulness, but by
repenting and changing their ways, God saved them from their sins (Jon 3:4-10). King David
committed adultery (2 Sm 11:4) and murder (2 Sm 11:15), but God later forgave him (2 Sm
12:13).5 What was the procedure or the ritual in the Old Testament for a sinner reconciling with
God?

God established Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement (Lv 16:1-34, 23:26-32, Ex 30:10,
Nm 29:7-11, Heb 9:7, 10:3-4), during the time of Moses in order to cleanse the Israelites of their
sins (Lv 16:30).6 Atonement has a Latin origin (ad unamentum) denoting unity or reconciliation
between God and humans. God commissioned Aaron, the high priest, to both send a scapegoat
out into the desert to Azazel (Satan) and then offer up another goat in sacrifice to God. The High
Priest performed this ritual on the same day each year, the tenth day of the seventh month, when
he was required to mortify himself (Lv 16:29, Nm 29:7). The high priest could only enter the
sanctuary of the meeting tent on this day (Lv 16:2).7 He was required to select two male goats,
one for sending out into the desert and another for sacrifice (Lv 16:6-10). The one goat was the
scapegoat. The high priest was required to confess the sins of the Israelites while laying his
hands on the head of the scapegoat. He then had it led into the desert by an attendant (Lv 16:21).
The high priest slaughtered the goat of sacrifice and offered it to the Lord, sprinkling its blood on
the Ark of the Covenant (Lv 16:9, 15-19, 27-28). Men in the Old Testament appeased God by
public sacrifices to expiate the debt brought about by their sins.8 Pope Benedict XVI says that
Jesus’ high-priestly prayer (Jn 17:1-26) on Holy Thursday realizes the Yom Kippur liturgy.9
During the Day of Atonement as well as at other times during the year when the priest made sin
or guilt offerings, the priest made atonement for the people’s sins and these sins were forgiven
(Lv 4:20, 31, 35, 5:6, 13, 18).

Christ fulfills both the rituals of the scapegoat and the goat of sacrifice. Beginning his
ministry at his baptism by John in the Jordan River, Jesus is driven out into the desert (Mt 4:1-11,
Mk 1:12-13, Lk 4:1-13). Christ mortifies himself by fasting for forty days. He is the scapegoat
who takes upon himself all of the sins of the world, and he confronts Satan, the tempter, in the
desert. Unlike Adam and Eve who were tempted in the Garden of Eden, Christ triumphs over
Satan,10 and is faithful to his Father. Jesus allows himself to be tempted in order to show us how
one should behave when subjected to temptation.11 Three years later, Jesus becomes the offering
on the cross who will take away the sins of the world (Jn 1:29). He reconciles man to God
through his sacrificial offering of his body to the Father.12 “The human heart is converted by
looking upon him whom our sins have pierced” (Jn 19:37, Zec 12:10).13 On the day of his
Resurrection, Christ commissions his apostles to receive the Holy Spirit and to forgive or retain
other’s sins (Jn 20:22-23). In Christ, the merits of his Redemption exist and find their efficacy.14
This divine dimension of redemption brings justice to bear upon sin and restores to love the
creative power in man. His mercy gives man access to the fullness of life and holiness that
comes from God.15 Christ was sacrificed for the sins of both the priests and people. The priest
brings the blood of the calf and goat to the Holy of Holies (Heb 9:3-7, Ex 26:33, 40:2-3, 34), just
as Christ opens the kingdom of heaven with his blood. The bodies are burnt outside the camp,
just as Christ suffered outside the gate (Heb 13:12, Lv 4:12). The scapegoat can denote either
Christ’s divinity or the base concupiscence that we must cast away.16 The scapegoat represents
the beginning of Christ’s ministry, and the end of his ministry is represented by the goat of
sacrifice, just as in the beginning of his public life, Jesus is baptized, whereas his redemptive
work is accomplished by the baptism of his Passion.17

The Day of Atonement offers many similarities to the Sacrament of Confession. The
high priest had to confess all of the sins of Israel (Lv 16:21). In order to confess the sins of Israel,
he must know the sins of Israel. Therefore, the Israelites must have acknowledged or confessed
their sins to the high priest or an attendant of the high priest (Lv 5:5). The attendant assists the
high priest in the ritual (Lv 16:21) just as priests assist the pope and the bishops in hearing
confessions. The atonement ritual must be made by an ordained priest (Lv 16:32) just as
Confession can only be heard and absolved by an ordained priest, regardless of his state of
holiness.18 The atonement ritual was performed annually (Lv 16:29, Ex 30:10, Heb 9:7, 10:3-4)
just as a person is required to confess mortal sins at least once a year.19

The Day of Atonement offers a link between the Eucharist and Confession, the
slaughtering of the goat of sacrifice and the confessing of Israel’s sins over the scapegoat. Holy
Eucharist and Confession are the two sacraments that we frequently receive. Usually, Holy
Eucharist follows Confession. Repentance precedes partaking of the sacrifice. In Redemptor
Hominis, Saint John Paul II discusses this close link when he refers to Saint Paul’s statement that
a person should examine himself before eating of the bread and drinking the cup (1 Cor 11:28).20
Mark introduces Jesus in his Gospel with the words repent and believe in the gospel (Mk 1:15).
Repentance is the preliminary action on our part to reconciling ourselves to God.

The Day of Atonement in the fiftieth year, or the Year of Jubilee, was special. At that
time, landowners had to return the land to the original owner, slaveholders had to free their
slaves, and lenders had to forgive debts (Lv 25:8-55). The Jubilee points to Christ’s directive in
the “Our Father” to ask the Father for forgiveness of our debts as we forgive others their debts
(Mt 6:12, 18:21-35, Lk 6:36-37, 11:4, Jas 2:13).

“When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself” (Jn 12:32, 8:28, Is
52:13). The seraph (Hebrew, fiery) serpents offer another sign of the sinfulness of Israel as they
journeyed in the desert. Because of the complaints of Israel and their desire to return to their
sinful ways in Egypt, God sent seraph serpents into the desert, which bit and killed many of the
Israelites. Recognizing their sinfulness, the Israelites repented and asked God for relief. God
told the Israelites to make a seraph and mount it on a pole, and those bitten who looked upon it
will recover (Nm 21:4-9, Wis 16:5-12, 1 Cor 10:8). Like the Garden of Eden, the serpent
represents Satan, or sin (Gn 3:1-7). King Hezekiah eventually destroyed the seraph many
centuries later because the people began to worship it like a pagan god (2 Kgs 18:4). Like Christ,
who would be raised up on the cross, representing our sinfulness, those who believe in him will
be forgiven, not because of their own worthiness, but rather because of Christ’s redemptive
actions (Jn 3:13-16). Christ ransomed us from the curse of the law by becoming the curse on the
tree for us (Gal 3:13, Dt 21:23, Jos 10:26, 2 Cor 5:21, Is 35:10, Ps 69:19).21 The Church
celebrates the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross each year on September Fourteenth. The
readings include both the story of the seraph serpents and Christ’s comparison of his being raised
up on the cross with Moses raising up the bronze serpent on a pole in the desert. The miracle of
the serpent, which Moses lifted up in the desert, is renewed and brought to perfection on the
Cross.22 We venerate the cross because of what it represents, the figure of Christ extended on it,
and because it was contacted by his limbs and saturated with his blood.23

The death sentence for certain crimes in the Old Testament can also provide us with a
better understanding of what sins are considered serious. Obviously, any sin that carries capital
punishment must be considered grave. The Church defines mortal sin as an action whose object
is grave matter, which is committed with full knowledge (1 Tm 1:13) and deliberate consent.24
The Old and New Testaments are remarkably consistent. Only mortal sins were punished with
death.25 Paul’s mortal sins, those that keep one from heaven, follow the same capital crimes of
Mosaic Law. Murder and premeditated murder of the Old compares to Paul’s hatred, rivalry,
jealousy, outbursts of fury, and dissensions (Gal 5:9, Ex 21:12-14, Lv 24:17, Nm 35:16-21).
Other examples include idolatry or worship of false gods (1 Cor 6:9, Ex 22:19, Lv 20:2, Dt 13:7-
11, 17:2-5), fornication (1 Cor 6:9, Eph 5:5, 1 Tm 1:10, Lv 21:9, Rv 21:8, 22:15), ɧoɱosɛҳųαƖity
(1 Cor 6:9, Gal 5:9, Lv 20:13) and adultery (1 Cor 6:9, Lv 20:13, Dt 22:22-23). The death
sentence of the Old Testament foreshadows the loss of eternal life of the New Testament.

“Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have; do not spare them, but
kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey” (1 Sm 15:3, 18).
The so-called ban, destruction of the entire clan or group of people under Amalek’s leadership, is
likewise hard to understand at first glance. The order under the ban sounds like the My Lai
massacre that occurred in South Vietnam in 1968. The order given by Samuel to King Saul
sounds cruel and unusual, and Samuel reproves King Saul (1 Sm 15:10-23) for allowing Agag
and the best of Amalek’s livestock to live (1 Sm 15:8-9). The reason for the intended order was
to punish Amalek’s clan for his treatment of the Israelites, barring their way on their return from
Egypt (1 Sm 15:2). Only by recognizing the signs of this allegory can we begin to understand
the meaning of this order. When we compare Amalek to serious sin and his people and
possessions to the near occasion of sin (Sir 21:2, Ez 14:3), we can understand how we must not
only avoid the evil and temptations (Ez 3:20) around us but also stay away from those
surrounding areas and circuмstances that draw us into that sin. The evil of Amalek, as well as
those who follow evil rather than good, ends in their destruction (Ez 9:4-6). But the lesson to us
is summarized by Saint Paul who teaches us that our battle is not against human forces, but
rather against the rulers of this world of darkness. These evil spirits are fought with the shield of
faith, the helmet of salvation, the armor of truth and justice and the sword of the word of God
(Eph 6:10-17).

John Carberry is the author of Parables: Catholic Apologetics Through Sacred Scripture
(2003) and Sacraments: Signs, Symbols and Significance (2023).

1 CCC, 401.
2 CCC, 402 & 413.
3 CCC, 1440.
4 CCC, 1422.
5 CCC, 1481.
6 CCC, 578.
7 CCC, 433.
8 Pius XI, Miserentissimus Redeptor (Merciful Redeemer), 8.
9 Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth, Part Two, Holy Week, pp. 77-82. CCC, 2746-2751 & 2758.
10 CCC, 566.
11 John Paul II, Reconciliatio et Paenitentia (Reconciliation and Penance), 26. CCC, 2846-2849 & 2863.
12 CCC, 613.
13 CCC, 1432.
14 CCC, 1476.
15 John Paul II, Dives In Misericordia (Rich in Mercy), 7.
16 Aquinas, Thomas, Summa Theologica, II, I, Q102, A5, Reply to Obj 6 & III, Q22, A5.
17 CCC, 565.
18 CCC, 1441-1445, 1456, 1461-1467. Trent Council, The Council of Trent, “The Most Holy Sacraments of Penance and Extreme Unction,” Chapter VI, p. 95, “Canons Concerning the Most Holy Sacrament of Penance,” Canon 10, p. 104.
19 CCC, 1457 & 2042. Fourth Lateran Council, The Lateran Council IV (1215), Constitution 21. Trent Council, The Council of Trent, “The Most Holy Sacraments of Penance and Extreme Unction,” Chapter V, p. 94, “Canons Concerning Penance,” Canon 8, p. 103.
20 John Paul II, Redemptor Hominis (Redeemer of Man), 20.
21 CCC, 580.
22 John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae (Gospel of Life), 50.
23 Aquinas, Thomas, Summa Theologica, III, Q25, A4.
24 CCC, 1857-1861 & 1874. John Paul II, Reconciliatio et Paenitentia (Reconciliation and Penance), 17. Aquinas, Thomas, Summa Theologica, II, I, Q100, A9.
25 Aquinas, Thomas, Summa Theologica, II, II, Q13, A2C.