The Old Testament Sacrificial System

A Simple Overview of the MEANINGS of the Old Testament Sacrifices

Reference to sacrifice is widespread throughout the Bible. Whilst the first record of offerings being made (by Cain and Abel) occurs in Gen 4:3-5, implementation of the full sacrificial system does not occur until the period of the Exodus with the erection of the Tabernacle. The types of sacrifice and the procedures associated with each of them are detailed primarily in Lev 1-7. Regulations for when to offer them are found in various parts of Leviticus and Numbers. Numerous articles may be found describing the intricacies of the sacrificial system, but in this post I want to try to present a structured overview.

The sacrificial system as a whole functions to atone, that is, to bring man into harmony with God. From a New Testament perspective it could not ultimately accomplish this as 'it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins' (Heb 10:4). However the sacrificial system provided a mechanism whereby individuals and the Israelite nation as a whole could experientially live in harmony with God, although perceptive individuals were aware of its incomplete nature (cf. Psa 51:16). The different types of sacrifices were widespread among the different cultures in the ancient Near East, but in the Old Testament they form a composite system which acts to create a powerful image of atonement.

A Threefold Division

There are a number of different sacrifices, most of them detailed in Lev 1-5, but a basic threefold division is clear: burnt offering, sin offering and fellowship offering. There are several passages where the offering of all three is explicitly mentioned, e.g. Lev 8, 9 (the ordination of Aaron and his sons), Num 6 (the completion of a Nazirite vow) and Num 7 (the dedication of the Tabernacle). I suggest that the primary distinction between the three basic types of sacrifices is as follows. The burnt offering is a gift to God as one's Creator, as totally Other in nature, as incomparably greater. In offering this, an individual or community asserts their total insignificance relative to God. The sin/guilt offering is a gift to God as one's Ruler, and acknowledges failure to live in full obedience as a subject of his kingdom. The fellowship offering requires the previous two offerings to be made first. Once the individual or community has reaffirmed their dependent created status and their (unworthy) subject status in God's kingdom, God graciously permits them to enjoy his presence in the time-honoured ancient Near Eastern manner of sharing a meal: they are now 'at one' with God.

The offering of sacrifices is not dissimilar to (modern) gift-giving between human individuals. A single act of gift-giving may have multiple purposes, such as recognition of the status of the recipient (cf. burnt offering), apology for causing offence, appeasement, restitution (cf. sin/guilt offering) and relationship building (cf. fellowship offering). In modern gift-giving the recipient is usually expected to ascertain the motives for the gift by themselves, based on the nature of the gift and the manner and context of its giving. In contrast, the sacrificial system in the Old Testament explicitly unpacks the transaction via the different types of sacrifice. Let us have a look at each one in more detail.

The Burnt Offering

The burnt offering fundamentally acknowledges God's superiority in every way over the giver. The more costly the offering, the more forcefully the donor asserts God's greatness. Gratitude should also be evoked, because the donor is only giving from what they have ultimately received from God. These dynamics find a New Testament parallel in the action of the sinful woman in anointing Jesus (Luke 7:36-50). However, it is possible to abuse the offering to seek to make it transactional, 'I have shown you honour, now do this for me' (see for example Barak's offerings in the narrative of Balaam, Num 23-24). In some cultures, the burnt offering served as a sin offering as well, and possibly during laxer periods of Israelite history (frequently only burnt offerings are mentioned, but the term could be construed to include sin offerings also, as burning of the fat is central to that sacrifice). In the Old Testament sacrificial system the sacrifices are clearly distinguished from each other, with the sin offering being given separate prominence.

The actual offering was usually bull or ram, but birds and even grain could also be offered, recognising the wide variation in the economic circumstances of the giver. However, the animal or bird had to be from the list of clean creatures, must be without blemish, and only male animals could be offered, all symbolising respect towards the recipient. Moreover, the offering must belong to the giver and hence have cost them at least the value of its nurture. In contrast to the sin and guilt offerings, the priests had no right to a share, as they share the same status as the giver with respect to their Creator. However, in recognition of their work in presenting the sacrifice, they were permitted to keep the hide of any animals offered, and to keep all but a memorial portion of grain offerings.

The twice-daily burnt offerings were kept continually burning on the altar (with the help of added fat from other offerings) as a memorial to God's greatness and presence. Num 8:1-28 prescribes the offering of a lamb (presumably male) in the morning and another in the evening. However, by the time of Ahaz the evening offering seems to have become a grain offering (2 Kgs 16:15), and in Ezekiel's vision of the new temple, only a morning offering is mentioned (Ezek 46:13). Extra burnt offerings were also prescribed for Sabbaths, New Moons and each of the annual festivals.

Burnt offerings were also made by individuals in addition to the regular prescribed offerings, for example, by Gideon (Judg 6) and Samuel (1 Sam 7:9). The community as a whole also made burnt offerings to celebrate major events, sometimes in huge quantities, as, for example, at the dedication of the Second Temple after the return from exile, where the relatively impoverished returnees offered 100 bulls, 200 rams, and 400 male lambs (Ezra 6).

The Sin/Guilt Offering

The closely-related sin and guilt offerings acknowledge God as Ruler, and the failure of the giver to live in full obedience to him. As with burnt offerings, many cultures in the ancient Near East made sin offerings. However the Old Testament sin offering is distinctive by its prevalence, and its necessity even where no explicit sin could be identified. Surrounding cultures tended to make propitiatory sacrifices for sin to primarily seek relief from personal or national disaster.

The Old Testament sin and guilt offerings are always (male) animals or birds, and hence blood is always shed. The best part, the fat, is offered up to God by burning. The material value of the offerings tends to be much less than that of burnt offerings, as the sacrifice is a symbol of shortcoming, and no matter how expensive the sacrifice, the failure cannot be undone. For these sacrifices there is also a distinction between the priest and the laity, as the priests form the executive of God's kingdom, adminstering his law. The priests therefore get to keep the offering minus the fat as their wages for that work. Their work in offering up these sacrifices for the laity is carried out in the public 'office', i.e. in the courtyard by the altar of burnt offering. However the priests themselves (either individually or as part of the whole community) also fail to obey God's law, and so must offer sin offerings for themselves. In this case the offering is bigger (a young bull), perhaps to indicate the greater seriousness of their failure, and after the fat is burnt, the remains are disposed of by burning them outside the camp, as it would not be right for the priests to benefit from their own failings. The blood is taken into the Holy Place and sprinkled on the incense altar, i.e. offences by those administering the law involve the inner private 'office'. Once a year the high priest must make a special sacrifice, entering the Most Holy Place: God's private sanctum.

The difference between sin and guilt offerings is subtle and not fully obvious from the text. Guilt offerings seem to relate to specific offences and always involve a financially significant (and hence punitive) sacrifice of either a male lamb, when the individual did not themselves cause the breach, e.g. for skin diseases (Lev 14) and on interruption of a Naziritic vow (Num 6), or a ram (i.e. a mature male lamb) when the individual bears responsibility for the breach (Num 5:7). Sin offerings include both calendric offerings, acknowledging inherent sinfulness, and offerings for specific sins. The offering is often of minimal financial cost to the individual (a goat for the whole tribe/community, or a bird for an individual) and therefore a symbolic acknowledgement of failure rather than an attempt at restitution, and at national festivals always contrasts with much more lavish burnt offerings.

The Fellowship Offering

The fellowship offerings are much more free in nature, and even defective animals may be eaten, as the point of the offering is simply to eat together in God's presence, and in the presence of his officials, i.e. the priests, who receive a share of each offering. The related vow and freewill offerings must, however, be perfect if they are animals, although the only freewill offerings explicitly mentioned are materials for the tabernacle rather than animals!

Human Sacrifice

Whatever one's motivation for offering a burnt offering, if one wishes to offer as costly an offering as possible, the natural conclusion is that one should offer one's own children, particularly one's eldest son. The Old Testament affirms the logic of this conclusion (see below), whilst emphatically rejecting its execution (Lev 18:21). Child sacrifice was prevalent in the surrounding area, for example by the king of Moab (2 Kgs 3:27), and even at times in Judah (Ahaz, 2 Chr 28:3).

God tests the depth of Abraham's commitment to him by calling him to offer up his firstborn son Isaac (firstborn, that is, in terms of inheritance) as a burnt offering (Gen 22). At the point of sacrifice, God stops him and offers a wild ram (i.e. from his own flock) as a substitute. Once again, at the time of the Israelite exodus from Egypt, God demonstrates his rights to anything we possess, whether because he is our Creator or because he is our Ruler, by the plague on the Egyptian firstborn. The Israelites are spared, under the protection of the blood of the Passover lamb, but nevertheless God still demands their firstborn, who must be redeemed with silver and substituted for by the Levites. Abraham's offering of Isaac, and the whole sacrificial system, find their fulfilment in Jesus' offering of himself. Isa 53:10 considers Jesus' death a guilt offering, and it is no coincidence that the substitute ram for Isaac is the prototypical guilt offering.

 

The sacrificial system is fulfilled through Jesus' death with respect to sin and guilt offerings. The burnt offering too is redundant, replaced by a sacrifice of praise (Heb 13:15). And the sense of communion and shalom experienced by the Israelites when they ate their fellowship-offerings at the Temple should be an ongoing experience in every Christian's life, as we await the final fulfilment of all God's promises in the wedding-feast of the Lamb (Rev 19:9).