theterminator wrote:
There is atonement through repentance (II Samuel 12:13-14, Jonah 3:10, Lev. 26:40-42, Ezek. 18:21-32, 33:11-16), kindness (Prov. 16:6, Daniel 4:24), prayer (Hos. 14:2-3,I Kings 8:46-50, Daniel 9:19), removal of idolatry (Is. 27:9), punishment (Is. 40:1, Lam. 4:22), death (Is. 22:14), flour offerings (Lev. 5:11-13), money (Ex. 30:15), jewelry (Num. 31:50), and incense (Num. 17:11-12).
in judaism is there like a hierarchy for things which have greater atoning powers?
is the atoning power from blood more powerful than prayer for example?
Terminator,
The ritual temple sacrifices were the central act of Jewish annual observances, the passover and day of atonement.
I remember reviewing the verses you cited in the past and they need some scrutinizing. For example, Numbers 31 relates a time when the army attacked Israels enemies:
48 Then the officers who were over the units of the army—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—went to Moses 49 and said to him, “Your servants have counted the soldiers under our command, and not one is missing. 50 So we have brought as an offering to the Lord the gold articles each of us acquired—armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings and necklaces—to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord.”
51 Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted from them the gold—all the crafted articles. 52 All the gold from the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds that Moses and Eleazar presented as a gift to the Lord weighed 16,750 shekels
Here the jewels are called an atonement, but it is doubtful that they count as an atonement for sins, because I think the Bible looks on the attack with approval rather than as sin. One possibility if you check earlier in the chapter is that the Atonement concerns ritual purity, rather than sin.