The Various Levitical Offerings

Transcription

1 Th Various Lvitical Offrings Burnt Offrings Tribut Offrings Pac Offrings Sin Offrings Offnsiv Offrings Burnt Offrings Lv. 1:1 17 6: Th Hbrw word is ôlâh (äìè Éò ) [pronouncd oh-lawh] and this is a word consistntly translatd burnt offring and, occasionally, burnt sacrific. Ôlâh coms from th Hbrw word âlâh (ä ìè òè ) [pronouncd aw-lawh]; notic that th consonants ar xactly th sam; thy only diffr in vowl points. Th lattr word mans climb, ascnd, go up; it is oftn usd in connction with fir and smok. Th word for burnt sacrific is basd upon this word and prhaps it might b bttr translatd offrings ascnding by fir. This word occurs as arly as Gn. 8:30 (Noah offrd svral burnt sacrifics aftr th flood), svral tims in Gn. 22, a dozn tims in Exodus and svral hundrd tims thraftr. Ôlâh is translatd fairly consistntly, with th xcptions of Ezk. 40:26 2. To dtrmin th maning of a particular Hbrw word, it is oftn covrd in rasonabl dtail in th book of Gnsis. Whn this word is found in Gn. 22, it clarly idntifis th offring with Jsus Christ. This is th story of Yahwh tlling Abraham that h must offr his only bgottn son to God; thn, right bfor Abraham is to slit his sons throat, God rvals a scapgoat to Abraham to substitut for th dath of his son. Th parallls wr covrd whn w xgtd Gn. 22. Howvr, in any cas, th burnt offring is thrin idntifid with (1) th sacrific of on's first-born; (2) th sacrific of th son of promis; (3) th dath of th innocnt; (4) Th promiss of God for th tmporal and trnal futur; and, (5) th ram, who is sacrificd in Isaac's stad. 3. Anothr grat xampl of a burnt offring is in th closing vrss of Judgs 13. Th Angl of Jhovah has appard to Manoah and his wif (actually, to his wif only) and told hr that sh was about to giv birth to a child, although sh was infrtil. Manoah insists upon mting this Angl, not rally ralizing Who H was (H was Jsus Christ). Whn Manoah and his wif offrd up a burnt sacrific, suddnly thn Angl of Jhovah appard in th flam and ascndd into havn with th sacrific, providing us with anothr marvlous forshadowing of th cross. Judgs 13: Job, who likly pr-datd th Law (h was probably a contmporary of th Patriarchs) offrd burn offrings (Job 1:5), as did his frinds, incorrct as thy wr in thir assssmnt of his troubls (Job 42:7 9). 5. Moss, whn asking Pharaoh to tak th Isralits into th dsrt, rquird that thy tak thir livstock along so that thy could offrd burnt sacrifics to Yahwh (Ex. 10:25). 6. Part of th fllowship btwn Moss and his fathr-in-law includd a burnt sacrific (Ex. 18:12). 7. Immdiatly aftr th Tn Commandmnts wr issud, God rquird a tmporary sacrificial systm, which involvd burnt offrings (Ex. 20: :4 8). This is bcaus all gnrations at all tims must b awar that Yahwh rquird th dath of th innocnt on bhalf of th guilty. 8. Aftr th Tn Commandmnts had bn givn, God issud His dcrs concrning th Lvitical Pristhood. Th crmonis to conscrat (st apart) th Aaronic pristhood includd burnt offrings (Ex. 20:1 37). 9. Th first offring spokn of following th burnt offrings for h conscration of Aaron's sons wr th burnt offrings of th lamb, on to b offrd at twilight, th othr in th morning day and night forvr (Ex. 29:38 42 Num. 28:3 4, 23). 10. A spcific altar was built on which would b offrd all of th various offrings hrin numratd. Sinc it was calld th altar of burnt offring, this would indicat that burnt offring can b a collctiv trm which includs th othr Lvitical offrings to com (Ex. 29:28 31:9 s also Ex. 30:9 35:16). 11. Bginning with Lv. 1:3, a spcific class of offrings wr outlind known as th burnt offrings (this is <ôlâh usd for a mor spcific st off offrings). Most of th tim hraftr, th trm burnt offrings was spcific rathr than gnral (Lv. 6:12, 25 7:2 9:7). 12. Our Lord and His work upon th cross is dpictd by ths burnt offrings: a. H is a lamb without spot and without blmish (Lv. 1:3, 10 Hb. 9:14 I Ptr 1:19 2:22). b. As th sins of th offrr wr idntifid with th animal, so our sins ar idntifid with Jsus Christ (Lv. 1:4 II Cor. 5:21). As w will s, thr is no Hbrw word for sin-offring or for sin-barr. Both words a rightly translatd that way and th Hbrw word bhind thm is th simpl Hbrw word for sin.

2 c. Just as th dath of th burnt offring was a propitiatory offring (it covrd th sinnrs sins); so our Lord's 1 dath is a propitiation for our sins (Lv. 16:14 15 Rom. 3:25 I John 2:2). d. As did th burnt sacrific, our Lord bor our sins in His Own body on th cross (I Ptr 2:24). It was imprativ that th sacrific di and that our Lord di (Lv. 1:5 Mark 8:31 33).. Th dath of th animal was substitutionary (Gn. 22:13 14); th dath of our Lord was substitutionary (II Cor. 5:21). f. As th fir for th burnt offring was to rmain constantly burning, so His sacrific for us is trnal (Lv. 6:9, I Ptr 1:4 I John 1:7). 13. Svral diffrnt animals could b offrd in th class of burnt offrings: a. A mal bull, without dfct, would b slain, hav its blood sprinkld at th foot of th altar, th nit would b skinnd, cut into pics, and all would b offrd upon th altar (although th lgs and th ntrails wr washd first to mphasiz th crmonial clansing) Lv. 1:3 9. Th prist kpt th hid (Lv. 7:8). b. A shp or goat without dfct would b slain, hav its blood sprinkld about th altar, thn it was cut into pics and ths pics wr plac upon th altar and burnd (th ntrails and lgs wr first washd, howvr) (Lv. 1:10 13). c. A turtldov or pigon could b offrd; its had was wrung off, th blood draind at th sid of th altar, th crop and fathrs placd with th fat ashs, and th torn, but not svr bird was thn offrd (Lv. 1:14 17). Incidntally, an individual would offr two birds, on for a sin offring and on for a burnt offring (Lv. 5:7, 10). 14. Th fir of th burnt offring was to burnt continuously, day and night (Lv. 6:9, 12 I Chron. 16:40). 15. This is th only offring whr th ntir animal, apart from th hid, was burnt upon th altar (th hid covrd th prists; i.., it was a propitiation for th prists). Sinc th ntirty of th animal was burnd, it was calld th whol burnt offring (Lv. 1:6 9 Dut. 33:10 Psalm 51:19). 16. Th ashs of th burnt offring wr laid bsid th altar (Lv. 6:10). 17. Aftr an animal was chosn, h was rfrrd to as a burnt offring vn whil still aliv (Lv. 9:12 14:19). 18. Othr offrings wr oftn addd to th burnt offrings (likly thos offrings in th vning and morning). Lv. 6: Whn sacrifics and burnt offrings bcam crmonial, lacking maning, Samul warnd King Saul that God dsird obdinc mor than sacrific (I Sam. 15:22 23). 20. Just as th offring of Jsus Christ was on of grat sacrific to God th Fathr, so a burnt offring should involv som sacrific on th part of th offrr (II Sam. 24:24 25). 21. Thr ar tims whn burnt offrings ar unaccptabl to God (Psalm 51:16 Jr. 6:20 Amos 5:5); usually, ths ar tims of grat apostasy whn sacrifics to God hav bcom strictly crmonial (Isa. 1:11 13 Hos. 6:6) 22. At tims, th lack of burnt offrings was indicativ of tims of apostasy (Isa. 43:22 24). 23. At som point in tim, God would not longr rquir burnt offrings and sacrifics; this is at th first advnt of Jsus Christ, His Son (Psalm 40:6 10 Hb. 10:5, 8 9). 24. All th burnt offrings throughout tim cannot rmov th taint of sin from our livs; only th dath of Jsus Christ, Who gav Himslf on tim for us all (Hb. 10:10 12, 14). Othr than His dath on th cross, thir is no othr offring for sin (Hb. 10:18). 25. Ezkil dscrib a millnnial tmpl in Ezk , whr burnt offrings ar mntiond in Ezk. 40:38 39, 42 43:18, 24, 27 tc. Th purpos of ths burnt offrings is a mmorial to Jsus Christ and what H did for all of mankind of th cross (Ezk. 45:17). 26. Thr is no qustion but that th Nw Tstamnt tachs that our Lord offrd Himslf up as a sacrific on our bhalf (Eph. 5:2). 27. Th burnt offring is th first offring bcaus it symbolizs our Lord's dath upon th cross for us. Evryon must bgin thir spiritual lif at th cross. In Isral, vryon bgan thir spiritual lif at th altar of th burnt offring whn thy blivd in Yahwh for salvation. 2 1 Mrcy sat and propitiatory ar th sam Hbrw word. To b mor prcis, this particular passagin Lviticus dals with th sin-offring in contxt; howvr, as w hav sn, sin-offring is a typ of burnt offring (whn burnt offring is usd in th gnralizd sns. 2 I am not saying hr that vryon is litrally at th altar whn thy bliv in Yahwh; just as whn w in th church ag com to th cross of our Lord, it dos not man that w ar physically s tanding on Golgotha straing into a blacknd sky in th dirction of th cross.

3 Tribut Offrings Lv. 2:1 16 6: Both Scofild, in th KJV, and Frman, call this th mat offrings; th NIV Study Bibl rfrs to this as th grain offrings; othr prfr mal offrings or cral offrings. Th Hbrw word is minchâh (ä çè ðóîò ) [pronouncd min-khawh] (Strong's #4503 BDB #585), first found in Gn. 4:3 5. Th dfinition itslf will rquir svral points: a. Gn. 4:3 5 introducs us to minchâh. It can rfr to an offring of vgtabls, which was rjctd by God (Gn. 4:3, 5) or to mat (Gn. 4:4). b. Brown Drivr Briggs, on p. 585, call th KJV rndring of mat offring (.g., Lv. 2:1, 3 9) vry mislading, as it can rfr to an offring which is unqustionably a cral offring or a grain offring (Gn. 4:3 Num. 5:25 26). c. Jacob, having swindld his brothr Esau on two occasions, rturnd to his brothr with many prsnts in ordr to placat Esau (thinking him to b as grdy and as unforgiving as himslf). Th word translatd prsnt or gift is minchâh (Gn. 32:13, 18, 20 21). Ths gifts includd 200 fmal goats, 20 mal goats, 200 ws and 20 rams. This prsnt is dciddly non-vgtarian. Furthrmor, it could b translatd offring, but that dos not giv us a full pictur. It is bttr prsnt or a tribut brought to somon out of rspct in hops of placating that prson, doing obisanc to thm, tc. d. I prsonally would lik a rndring which would (1) diffrntiat it from qorbân and trûmâh (two words 3 also translatd offring), (2) allow for som consistncy whn minchâh is found, rgardlss of th contxt, and (3) to translat it without damaging its maning. Whn going from on languag to anothr, it is not always possibl to find on word which can consistntly rndr th word in qustion bcaus th word in qustion might hav svral divrgnt manings or diffrnt shads of manings, dpnding upon th contxt. Howvr, for minchâh, w can com up with a consistnt translation: tribut-offring or, simply tribut. Not only dos this squar with Gn. 4, 32, and 43, but it smooths out th translation of Judgs 3: Bcaus this word bcam so closly associatd with th offrings of grain or flour, it bcam synonymous in Jwish thought with a grain offring; howvr, this dos not man that minchâh originally mant grain offring nor dos it man it should b translatd that way. I would think that this rndring cam aftr th compltion of th Old Tstamnt canon. Th translation grain-offring crtainly 4 will not squar with its usag in I Sam. 26:19 II Sam. 8:2, 6 I Kings 4:21 10:25. Throughout th Old Tstamnt, w s minchâh usd almost sid-by-sid to man both an offring to God and tribut to man (II Kings 16:15 cpw 17:3 4 II Chron. 16:29 cpw 18:2, 6). 5. Minchâh is oftn usd in clos association with qâr bân (ï È ø È ) [pronouncd kor'-bawn]. Minchâh and Ó qâr bân ar found togthr in Lv. 2 and Lv. 6:20; but it is not found with minchâh anywhr ls in Lv. 6. Furthrmor, qâr bân actually took on a lif of its own, also bing transformd in maning by th tim of our Lord. By itslf, it mans offring; howvr, it is closly tid to th vrb approach, com nar, qîrav (á øç ò ) [pronouncd ki-rav] (rcall that th b and v ar th sam lttr; th diffrnc is a dagsh). Although I will stay with th word offring; th word approach is not a bad translation, as long as it is sn as an approach to God or a drawing nar to God. In fact, in many ways this is a bttr rndring of qâr bân, as th word offring implis somthing that w do for God, whras this is just a way that w ar allowd to approach Him; this is a mattr of grac shd upon us; it is not somthing that w do for God. Notic how vn that slight shad of maning dramatically changs on's prcption of what is occurring hr. On th on hand, you ar making a sacrific, taking somthing of yours and giving it to God; on th othr hand, this is a mattr of grac, a way to approach God, a way to hav fllowship with Him; thr is a world of diffrnc btwn thos two shads of maning. As a sid not, qâr bân is only found in Lviticus, Numbrs and two placs in Ezkil (and possibly twic in Nhmiah). Othr than that, w don't har of it until th Nw Tstamnt whr it is distortd. 2. As has bn mntiond, minchâh is usd in thr placs in Gnsis, which allowd us to gt a fix on its maning: 3 Although trûmâh is bttr rndrd contribution. 4 Do not think that th naming of ths pas sags prclud minchâh from rfrring to a offring of tribut of flour, oil and frankincns in th historical books; s I Kings 8:64 18:29, I would hav thought this would b pronouncd kawr'-bawn.

4 a. In Gnsis 4, Cain and Abl both brought offrings to God; Cain brought vgtabls and produc, as h was a farmr and Abl brought an animal which h sacrificd. It may hav bn too grusom to Cain to bring som innocnt animal and slit its throat in a rligious crmony, so h brought th hard work of his hands. Both offrings or sacrifics ar calld minchâh. Eithr rndring would sm apt, xcpt for th nxt two occurrncs of this word in Gnsis and for th fact that it is attachd to th word qâr bân in Lv. 2. b. Jacob uss this trm whn attmpting to brib his brothr Esau for swindling him in yars gon by. On could loosly rndr minchâh as a prsnt, and that would b a rasonabl rndring; in fact, prsnt would b a rasonabl, all-purpos dfinition; but it is not quit th nuanc which I would want. You don't xactly bring God a prsnt, as in Gn. 4:4, and you don't xactly bring an offring to your oldr brothr. This is found in Gn 32. c. Th third tim w find this word is in Gn. 43. Josph's lvn brothrs originally wnt to Egypt to gt grain and food for thir familis back in th land of Canaan arly on during th svn-yar dprssion. Josph dsird to s his brothr Bnjamin again and implord thm to bring Bnjamin back, and kpt Simon hostag until thy did (rcall that thy did not know who h rally was). Within th yar, thir stock ran out (thy wr xpcting things to improv by th nxt growing sason) so thy had to rturn to Egypt, hat in hands, as thy had not com back as thy had promisd with Bnjamin. In ordr to pay tribut to Josph and to show thir rspct for him, thy brought him a minchâh, which was a prsnt, but mor than that, it was a tribut, a show of rspct and rmors for not having followd his dirctions as h xpctd. 3. W should tak a glanc at th us of minchâh in Exodus also: a. Ex. 29:41says that th continual burnt offrings should b accompanid in th morning by a tribut (and it would latr b rvald that this tribut was a bloodlss offring). Th contnts of this offring wr dscribd in Ex. 29:40. b. Whn giving Moss instructions as to th purpos and th construction of th altar of incns, h was told not to offr on it a burnt offring, a tribut, tc. upon it (Ex. 30:9). c. Th first us of th brazn altar in rcordd in Ex. 40:29 whr th burnt offring and tribut wr offrd by Moss. 4. Bginning in Lv. 2, minchâh is usd as a construct in conjunction with qâr bân. Litrally, thy should b rndrd a tribut of approach; and lss litrally, but rasonably accurat a tribut of offring; and w hav optd, most of th tim to rndr it simply as a tribut offring. Bcaus of its constant association with qâr bân hr, it is latr usd alon, as in Gnsis, but with mor of a spcializd maning as a spcific typ of offring a tribut offring. This is a rasonabl linguistic strtch, as th words sin and guilt ar both translatd in a similar contxt as sin-offring and guilt-offring. 5. Now for th spcifics of th tribut-offring itslf: a. This tribut offring is mad up of fin flour, oil and frankincns, which, collctivly, spak of th Living Word and th writtn Word (Lv. 2:1 2). Th oil alon is th indwlling and th filling of th Holy Spirit (it is mixd into th flour) (Matt. 1:18 23); th flour is th body of our Lord; and th frankincns is th tranquilizing scnt to Yahwh. As th writtn Word, th flour is th word, which is insipid without th guiding and taching ministry of th Holy Spirit, and th frankincns is th rsult of th Word rsidnt in our human spirits. A prson who is filld with doctrin and has som sns of dirction and rsponsibility will not appar to vryon around him as a slf-rightous, stuffd-shirt pain-in-th-nck but h should b a wll of rfrshmnt to thos in his priphry. Many of us should b aiming toward th indwlling of th writtn Word bfor w vn go out in public; or, at last, bfor w start tlling vryon that w ar bornagain. Thr is no glory in bing an mbarrassmnt to Jsus Christ. b. Whn it coms to us, th fin flour stands for vnnss of charactr, a balanc in our livs; th oil is th filling of th Holy Spirit and th frankincns is th swt savor of our livs which is a rsult of th prvious th filling of th Spirit with an vnnss of charactr. Paul alluds to this in Phil. 4:18 whn h writs, But I hav rcivd vrything in full and hav an abundanc; I am amply supplid, having rcivd from Epaphroditus what you hav snt, a fragrant aroma, an accptabl sacrific, wll-plasing to God. Th involvmnt with th Holy Spirit would rquir that this kind of an offring b mad at Pntcost; this is confirmd by Lv. 23:16, 18. c. This offring was mad spcifically without hony, maning that th Living Word, th writtn Word and our livs do not rflct a natural human swtnss which can b a mattr of prsonal dvlopmnt or a prsonality trait. This crtainly dos not prclud graciousnss on our part. Lv. 2:11

5 d. To carry th analogy furthr, bakd caks (Lv. 2:4) spak of daily tsting for approval of our Lord and th unsn suffring which H facd (Isa. 53:3, 10). In our livs, it also spaks of th tsting and th finishing work of th holy spirit in our livs. For thos of you who do not cook, if you plac flour in th ovn by itslf and flour in th ovn mixd with oil, th lattr will cook into a cak or sorts and th formr will not apprciably chang.. Bing that this is a bloodlss sacrific, this dos not spak spcifically of th dath of Jsus Christ, as notd abov; th offrr is placing this sid-by-sid th burnt offring, which spaks of our salvation and our dlivranc; th tribut offring or approach spaks of som of th spiritual bnfits of bliving in Yahwh. But notic, th burnt offring is first and th bloodlss offring is nvr prsntd to God apart from th burnt offring. In Lv. 2, only v. 2 hints that this is offrd with th burnt offring, but this is statd outright in Ex. 29:41 40:29 Num. 14:10 15:1 16. f. An offring of th first fruits was not offrd on brazn altar (Lv. 2:12). g. A portion of th bloodlss tribut blongd to Aaron and his sons (Lv. 2: :16, 18). Two things ar in viw hr: (1) Aaron and his sons had to b rmunratd in thir ddication to Yahwh; and (2) whn w hav th Living Word and th writtn Word in our livs, our blssings ovrflow to othrs. h. Th brad or caks wr mad of unlavnd flour, without lavn or yast, both of which spak of th infiltration of fals doctrin and apostasy (Lv. 2:4 6:17 Mark 8:15 I Cor. 5:6 8). i. Th wafrs or cak was brokn into bits and oil was pourd upon it, spaking of (1) our Lord's body brokn for us (rcall th Eucharist), and th fact that w tak th writtn Word a littl at a tim. You do not go to church on tim and ingst all of th spiritual information that you nd for your lif. Evn gtting this information onc a wk is not sufficint (Lv. 6). j. Along with this bloodlss offring was to b salt; lgal covnants wr oftn ratifid with salt in th ancint world (Lv. 2:13). Th tribut offring with salt indicatd th ratification of th covnant btwn man and God; th immdiat contxt is God's Law; thn gnralizd maning applis to God's covnant with us, which w rally gt a much bttr undrstanding of in th Nw Tstamnt. W bcoms sons by adoption, and with this sonship coms crtain privilgs and crtain obligations and dutis. Th obligations and dutis hav no ffct upon whthr or not w ar savd, but w ar affctd whn it coms to disciplin. Whn on bcoms a blivr in Jsus Christ, w hav th option of turning our backs on God and falling into whatvr aras of sins w fl lik; howvr, God th Fathr will disciplin us, somthing w did not fac as unblivrs. k. This offring of tribut is said to b a tranquilizing scnt to God in svral placs (Lv. 2:2, 9). l. Th anointd prist offrs this bfor Yahwh (Lv. 2:9 6:22, 26). Our intrmdiary which allows us a lif bfor God in th Word is Jsus Christ, our High Prist. 6. As with th burnt offrings, God dos not dsir ritual without rality, tribut without maning (Isa. 1:13 Jr. 14:12 Amos 5:22 Mal. 1:10 2:13). 7. In th millnnium, tribut will b brought to Yahwh (Zph. 3:10 Mal. 1:11 3:3 4). 6 Pac Offrings Lv. 3:1 17 7: : Th first thing to not ar th dfinitions of th various words usd in rlationship to th pac offrings: a. Th first word to not is shlm (í ì å ) [pronouncd SHE-lm], a word not found until Ex. 20:24, although its cognat forms occur two dozn tims prior to this passag. On of its cognats is th vry familiar shâlôwm (í ì È ) [pronouncd shaw-lohm], th Hbrw word for pac and prosprity. Othr than th vowl points and th, which acts lik a vowl, w hav th sam word, which oftn mans that th manings ar closly rlatd. Shlm is found nowhr ls xcpt with rgards to spcific offrings, it is rasonabl to translat shlm as pac-offring. Howvr, this word is mor ncompassing than simpl pac with God. It rfrs to prosprity, as in prosprity from God; to an allianc, as in an allianc with God; to an allianc, as in an allianc with God; and fllowship, bcaus through th blood fo our Lord, w hav fllowship with God. Pac offring ncompasss all of that. Notic that prior to having a pac 6 You may hav noticd that in th last two points, th rfrncs to Malachi hav chckr-boardd; that is, on will b usd to affirm that God dos not dsir mpty sacrifics and right nxt to it will b a passag of tribut offrings in th millnnium; this is th contrast of Malachi, th last book in tim and in plac in th Old Tstamnt.

6 offring, you must hav a burnt offring; and prior to having tru tmporal pac with God, w must first hav spiritual growth and fllowship with God. This is first obtaind through th burnt and tribut offrings. b. Zvach (ç áç æ ) [pronouncd ZEHb-vakh] is on of th svral words for sacrific; its vrb cognat maning to slaughtr an animal for sacrific. Both of ths words ar found togthr in Ex. 24:5 29:28 Lv. 3:1, 3, 6, 9 4:10, 26, 31, 35 7:11, 13 15, , 29, 32, 34, 37 and in many othr passags. 2. S I Sam. 11:15 Sin Offrings Lv. 4:1 5:13 6: Th Offnsiv Offrings Lv. 5:14 6:7 7: <<Rturn to Top of Pag>> <<Sit Map>> <<Rturn to th Doctrinal Indx>> <<Rturn to th Lviticus Hompag>>