And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year. And he did as the LORD commanded Moses.
Ver. 34. For all their sins once a year.] For whereas in their private sacrifices they durst not confess their capital sins for fear of death, due to them by the law, God graciously provided and instituted this yearly sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the whole people, without particular acknowledgment of any. There are of good note who think, a that this anniversary fast, called "the fast" by a specialty, Act 27:9 was instituted in reference unto, and solemn remembrance of, the fall of Adam; which happened, say they, on the tenth day of the world, answering to the first of November. But how strangely are the Jews at this day besotted, if that be true of them that some b report, viz., that at this their feast of reconciliation, they use to bribe Satan, that he may not accuse them for their sins; and that this is one thing for which they do yearly afflict their souls, namely, the translation of the Bible out of Hebrew into Greek, by the Septuagint!
a Arch. Ussher, Annales Vet. Test., p. 2.
b Alex. Ross's View of Religions.