The Scarlet Cord - Moriel Ministries

Feature Article
the
“Come now, and let us reason together,”
Says the LORD, “Though your
sins are as scarlet, They will be as
white as snow; Though they are
red like crimson, They will be like
wool. (Isaiah 1:18)
Every year, on the Day of Atonement
before the Temple was destroyed, the High
Priest would put on a special white tunic
with a red sash wrapped around his waist.
He would wear this only once a year. He
would take the two scapegoats (called
seir la’azazel in Hebrew) and bring them
through the streets of Jerusalem, foreshadowing
Christ where people would spit on
them, kick them, hit them with stones and
curse them for their sin. One would be sacrificed;
the other would be taken into the
wilderness and pushed from a precipice.
But before that, the High Priest would take
the scarlet sash and cut it in half into two
cords; one he would tie between the horns
of the seir la’azazel released into the wilderness,
the other he would hang before the
“Qodesh Qodeshim”—the Holy of Holies
in the Temple.
The Jews believed that if their sin was
Jacob Prasch
Scarlet Cord
forgiven on the Day of Atonement—Yom
Kippur—the scarlet cord would turn white.
We are told in the Mishnah (Jewish history)
that for the forty years before the Temple
was destroyed—in other words, from the
time Yeshua was rejected as Messiah until
the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD, which
both Jesus and Daniel predicted—it never
turned white. Talmudic Judaism itself admits
that the sins of the Jewish people were
no longer forgiven on the Day of Atonement
once Yeshua was rejected.
We need to understand Old Testament
atonement, or Yom Kippur. If the Hebrews
had real faith and real repentance, the blood
of the scapegoats would cover their sin until
the Messiah came and removed them; it
was a temporary provision.
It Speaks of Salvation
“…your sins are like scarlet, they shall
be white as snow” speaks of salvation.
Consistently throughout Scripture we have
the scarlet cord speaking about salvation.
‘The priest shall take cedar wood and
hyssop and scarlet material and cast
it into the midst of the burning heifer.
(Numbers 19:6)
Notice that the scarlet cord—the scarlet
fabric—is thrown into the fire with hyssop.
Hyssop is paschal. When the Passover
lamb was sacrificed they would dip hyssop
into the towel and take the paschal blood
and mark the bloody doorposts and lintels
in the form of a cross. David, in his Psalm
of penitence said, “Purify me with hyssop,
and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall
be whiter than snow” (Ps. 51:7). We have
the hyssop, the blood, the cedar (which is
the wood from which the cross may have
been made) and the scarlet cord.
“…then the priest shall give orders to
take two live clean birds…
(As there are two goats there are two
birds.)
“…and cedar wood and a scarlet
string and hyssop for the one who is
to be cleansed.…As for the live bird,
he shall take it together with the cedar
wood and the scarlet string and
the hyssop, and shall dip them and the
live bird in the blood of the bird that
was slain over the running water. (Leviticus
14:4, 6)
The running water is a picture of washing
with the blood, but we also have the
hyssop and the scarlet.
Judah recognized them, and said,
“She is more righteous than I, inasmuch
as I did not give her to my son
Shelah.” And he did not have relations
with her again. It came about at the
time she was giving birth, that behold,
there were twins in her womb. Moreover,
it took place while she was giving
birth, one put out a hand, and the
midwife took and tied a scarlet thread
on his hand, saying, “This one came
out first.”
(This almost certainly had to be an act of
providence or divine intervention in itself.
Christian and Jewish obstetricians who
have looked at this have said that normally
this would not happen.)
But it came about as he drew back his
hand, that behold, his brother came
out. Then she said, “What a breach
you have made for yourself!” So
he was named Perez. Afterward his
brother came out who had the scarlet
thread on his hand; and he was named
Zerah. (Genesis 38:26-30)
Notice that only the second born has the
scarlet thread; only the second born has salvation.
But the hand came out first. I am not
a Calvinist, nonetheless the Scriptures are
clear: “those whom He foreknew” (Rom.
8:29; 11:2). The Lord knows who is going
to get saved even before we get saved.
No place, however, is this scarlet cord
more prominent or important than in
the narrative of Rahab the harlot.
Moriel Quarterly • September 2012