Acharei Mot – Secret of Azazel and Ish Iti

The Twin Goats

The sin offering required only one goat, the priest was to lay his hand on the goat and confess his sin before the goat was slaughtered as a sacrifice:

Two identical goats were required on Yom Kippur, where one goat (to YHVH) was to be slaughtered, the blood was brought into the Holy of Holies (Lev 16:15).

Aaron was to lay his hands on the other live goat and confessed the sin of children of Israel before it was sent off to the wilderness (Lev 16:21).

It is apparent that what was decreed for one goat as the sin offering had to be accomplished by two identical goats on Yom Kippur. The two goats were actually one.

Joseph’s Coat

Joseph was sold by his brothers under the leadership of Judah, and they killed a goat and dipped Joseph’s coat into the blood:

Joseph’s coat is called כְּתֹנֶת פַּסִּים, which according to Rashi was made of wool. In contrast, the High Priest’s coat on Yom Kippur was made of linen.

While the High Priest was to wear the colorful garment of linen and wool all years around, on Yom Kippur alone, he must put on the white linen garment in order to enter into the Holy of Holies. It is apparent that this white linen garment is to contrast with the colorful garment of Joseph:

1936 = 44 x 44, where 44 is exactly the gematria of blood דָם. According to the rabbis, the high priest’s white garment atones for the sin of bloodshed (of Joseph).

The bloodshed finds its root in the first fratricide. The sheep offered by Abel would produce the wool, while the flax offered by Cain would produce the linen.

Linen is hard, symbolizing Gevurah (might – judgment); which is counteracted by wool which is soft, the Chesed (love – kindness), and Abel the man of love was killed by Cain the mighty.

Aaron therefore represents Rachmin (mercy) that reconciles the dichotomy of Chesed and Gevurah, therefore it is fitting for him to wear the colorful garments woven with wool and linen, except on Yom Kippur, when forgiveness reigns supreme.

It stands to reason that the idea of the High Priest wearing white linen garment (judgment) is to take upon himself the judgment that is due on the people, so that the children of Israel can be forgiven from their sins.

The sins are then symbolically transferred unto the head of the goat that is live:

Ish Iti

Once sins have been transferred to the live goat, a mysterious man known as Ish Iti אִישׁ עִתִּי (a designated man) was to lead the live goat into the wilderness which, according to the rabbis, was for the goat to be pushed off a cliff to die.

The obvious parallel is that in the Joseph story a mystery man was also designated in the wilderness to lead Joseph to his slaughters:

When the live goat was pushed off a cliff, the parallel with Joseph is that his brothers plotted to slay him by casting him off into a pit:

The word “slaying” הֲרֵגָה has a gematria of 213, which when combined with “to Azazel” yields a gematria of 358, exactly that of Mashiach מָּשִׁיחַ:

It stands to reason that both Joseph and the live goat to Azazel prototype the Mashiach that is to be slaughtered for the forgiveness of sins.

Azazel

The live goat was to be sent off to Azazal עֲזָאזֵל. The word can be broken up as עָז אֹזֵל, meaning: the goat that is gone. This can be derived from the following verse:

The parallel can be found with the ritual of the leper, that upon his cleansing, two clean birds were to be brought to the priest, where one bird was to be slaughtered, and the other was to be sent off to the open field (Lev 14:7).

The gematria:

988 is the gematria of יִכָּרֵת מָשִׁיחַ, meaning: the cutting off of Mashiach, as it is written:

988 is also the gematria of בְּרִית שָׁלוֹם, meaning: covenant of peace, for when Mashiach died as the atonement for his people, the covenant of peace is thus established.

The Twins

The twin goats also parallel the quintessential twins, Jacob and Esau.

Jacob is of the tent, i.e. the inner chamber, the Holy of Holies; to where the goat was to enter through the blood. Esau is of the field, i.e. the wilderness, to where the other goat was to be sent.

Jacob is called Ish Tam, the simple man; and Esau is called Ish Sadeh, man of the field, their gematria is 1371:

Astonishingly, this is exactly the same gematria of the twin goats, one is for YHVH, and one is for Azazel:

When Jacob entered into the inner chamber to face his father, Esau was wondering in the field hunting game.

The problem with Jacob is that he entered the chamber to deceive, as it is written:

Rashi on the spot gave it a positive spin, and said, with guile is in wisdom:

The gematria:

The sum is 358, the gematria of Mashiach מָּשִׁיחַ, for the rectification of Jacob’s guile is through the wisdom of Mashiach, when the blood of Mashiach entered into the Holy of Holies in truth and in righteousness.

Similarly, Esau is known as the slaughter for he kills, and the rectification is that the slaughter must be slaughtered, as a measure for measure, as it is written:

The gematria of slaughter מִקָּטֶל above is 179, where 179 x 2 = 358, exactly the gematria of Mashiach מָּשִׁיחַ. The four letters can be rearranged to spell מִּקְלָט, meaning the city of refuge, to where the man-slaughter can flee. It may be surmised that when the goat to Azazel was led into the wilderness, the primary rectification is for Esau, for to the wilderness shall Mashiach be taken, and from the wilderness shall Mashiach return:

Ish Iti Revealed

The goat to Azazel was to be led by a mysterious man known as Ish Iti אִישׁ עִתִּי, which literally means the man of my time, also translated as the designated man. The task of this man was to lead the goat to its death.

It stands to reason that this Ish Iti (man of my time) can also be called Ish Sadeh (man of the field), i.e. Esau, who is also called Edom.

According to Joshua 15:21-25, one of the inheritances of the tribe of Judah toward the border of Edom is called Kerioth קְרִיּוֹת.

The man that literally led Mashiach to his slaughter was Judas Iscariot, and Iscariot in Hebrew is: Ish Kerioth אִישׁ קְרִיּוֹת, meaning: man of Kerioth.

Since Kerioth is where Judah borders with Edom, there is some opinion that Judas Iscariot was the descendent of Edomite אֱדוֹם, as there was a forced conversion of Edomite into Judaism by John Hyrcanus I in 125 BC. In other word Judas Iscariot could be an Amalekite, for Amalek was the descendent of Edom (Gen 36:12).

It may be surmised that the “man of Kerioth” is the fulfillment of the “man of my time”, who in turn is the fulfillment of the “man of the field”, which is Esau. Since Esau the seller would sell his birthright for a bowl of lentil soup, it follows that Judas Iscariot the seller would sell Mashiach for 30 pieces of silver:

1057 is exactly the gematria of Judas Iscariot יְהוּדָה אִישׁ קְרִיּוֹת.

As it is written:

The gematria of this verse above is 1407, and when the gematria of Judas Iscariot is subtracted from it:

1407 – 1057 = 350

350 is exactly the gematria of Nazarene נָצְרִי, which is what Mashiach was called (Mat 2:23), i.e. the target of Ish Iti.

In prophesying about Judas Iscariot, it is written:

The parallel is now clear: my familiar friend lifted his heel against me, this was exactly what happened in the womb before the twin brothers were born:

Why would Jacob’s hand hold on to Esau’s heel, because Esau has lifted up his heel against his brother.

Similarly, the descendent of Edom (man of my time) would lift up his heel against the descendent of Jacob (Mashiach) as the fulfillment of this ancient prophecy.

Interestingly in this prophecy, this “man of my time” is called Ish Shelomi אִישׁ שְׁלוֹמִי, literally, man of my peace:

The average number is: 1488 / 2 = 744, which is exactly the gematria of Mashiach Yeshua, the target of the “man of my time” and the “man of my peace”:

Again, the average number of 744 / 2 = 372, which is exactly the gematria of “ben Ishai” בֶּן יִשַׁי, son of Jesse, a Messianic title.

Now, the sum of the three “men” is 2515:

If we subtract the gematria of Mashiach מָּשִׁיחַ (358) to represent the selling of Mashiach by the Ish:

2515 – 358 = 2157

2157 is exactly the gematria of this verse about this familiar friend:

If we further subtract the gematria of Yeshua יֵשׁוּעַ from 2157 to represent the selling of Yeshua:

2157 – 386 = 1771

Astonishingly, 1771 is exactly 23 x 77, where 23 is the gematria of the “living” and 77 is the gematria of the “goat”, i.e. עֵז הָחַי , i.e. Azazel, which is called the living goat: