A couple of years ago, I listened to a series of four teachings by Dan Lancaster (from the organization First Fruits of Zion, FFOZ) entitled, "What About the Sacrifices?" It is a deep dive into the sacrificial system from Leviticus, looking at all of the various elements of it, and attempting to help us 21st century folks understand it better. I would bet that most of us, myself included, have heard very little about the sacrificial system from our pulpits, and that our understanding of it is shallow at best. About a year ago, I came across a book entitled "Jesus and the Forces of Death" and again, it dealt heavily with the sacrificial system, with an emphasis on the ancient Israelite understandings of clean/unclean and pure/impure. Very recently I have found myself in conversations about this topic again and so as I am prone to do, I want to write out what I've learned so that I am clear in my own mind about the details of the system as well as the importance I feel there is in understanding the sacrificial system as a modern Gentile.
First - there are a few different types of sacrifices:
- The 'Old Offerings' - 'Old' here is meant to denote those offerings which were happening before the construction of the tabernacle/temple. These offerings were typically made at individual altars (for example Exodus 20:22-24) prior to the building of the tabernacle/temple:
- Burnt Offering (Korban Olah) - this is a voluntary (typically) sacrifice brought on the part of the worshipper who wishes to show complete devotion to God; it could also be an appeal for forgiveness or favor; it is the equivalent of presenting a gift to God. No part of the animal was reserved for consumption as in other sacrifices.
- Grain Offering - this is sometimes referred to as the 'cereal' offering or even the 'meat' offering, even though meat doesn't mean the same thing as we mean it today, it just referred to the 'meat' of the grain, which was the best part. This is a remembrance offering, or a memorial offering if you will. It is to remember the covenant made at Mount Sinai between God and Israel. Some of it was to be dedicated to God, but some of it is to be consumed by the worshipper, and some part of it was to be for the priests. It is a ceremonial meal offering of sorts, a literal communion with God. Read about all of the stipulations in Leviticus 2.
- Well-Being Offering (3 kinds) - all three of these have to do with gratitude, and again, these typically had a meal element to them, with some portion being consumed by the worshipper and sometimes some portion by the priests
- Thank Offering - this is offered in response to acts of divine beneficence (good fortune, so to speak)
- Votive Offering - this is offered out of gratitude, specifically after an answer to prayer
- Free-Will Offering - this is offered completely voluntarily, but think spontaneously; a joyful offering to God so-to-speak
- The 'New Offerings' - these denote the offerings that were enacted after the tabernacle/temple was built
- Sin (purification) Offering - this is, to me, is where things get interesting. The 'sin offering' had nothing to do with forgiving sins, rather it was made in order to cleanse a worshipper from the impurity of sin, thus making them eligible for participation in temple service. God cannot abide in the presence of the unholy/impure/unclean. This offering is to make it so that the person entering the temple did not defile that space with their uncleanness/impurity. This is a critical thing to understand. Remember, Hebrews 10:4 tells us that is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin. This sacrifice was never meant to take away sin. More on this in a bit - but it ultimately about atonement, another concept that needs some refinement. Now, that isn't to say that there was no forgiveness of sins. Yom Kippur (day of atonement) was the one time a year the high priest entered the holy of holies and it was on that day that God forgave the sins of the entire nation. Forgiveness did exist, but the blood of bulls and goats did not forgive sin - God alone decided whether sins were forgiven. He was not obligated to forgive sins as a result of offerings, nor did the person offering the sacrifice think/believe that God was obligated to forgive their sin as a result of the sacrifice.
- Guilt (reparation) Offering: this is an offering for when you sin against someone else. In addition to the sacrifice of an animal, it also typically involved repayment of some kind to the person or persons who were harmed by the transgressor's actions, or to the temple (think of something like a fine). This was also an offering for someone who intentionally defiled God's dwelling place...that means unknowingly defiling God's dwelling place by entering in a state of impurity or damaging something while performing service in the temple. This would look like participating in temple service, and then later realizing that you were in a state of impurity while doing so. Of all of the sacrifices, this one feels the most obscure - there is a lot of discussion on it in Leviticus 5-6 and it is wide-ranging and difficult to pin down.
I want to underscore that major parts of the sacrificial system have nothing to do with sin. I was recently reading a commentary on Acts written by a theologian named David Pawson and while I've enjoyed Pawson's work in other areas (including having previously quoted him in other posts) - he really put his foot in his mouth by suggesting that the priests who came to faith in Jesus would have been out of a job as a result of that decision. Nonsense - they would have been able to perform their duties as before with no changes. Why? Because what Jesus has done for us is categorically different than what sacrifices at the temple were meant for. More on that later.
Distinctions of Clean/Unclean, Pure/Impure
These four ideas: clean, unclean, pure and impure, are all important to understand, and of foremost importance is that they all have to do with temple service. As I mentioned before, God cannot abide alongside sin, and impure, unclean things are a direct result of sin. Death, for example, is a result of the curse, which is a result of sin. If you touched a dead body, the Torah stipulates that you must perform a purification ceremony and would be considered unclean, and therefore ineligible for temple service, for a period of 7 days. Many of the stipulations of Torah have to do with mitigating or eliminating impurity and uncleanness from the Temple, so that God's presence can remain there. There are 613 commandments in Torah and 293 of those commandments have to do with the temple. So almost half of the commandments have to do with the temple - and many of those have to do with purifying oneself in order to be eligible to enter the temple (from mensuration, from nocturnal emissions, from touching a dead body, and on and on). There is more to be said on this - if you want to read all about it, I highly recommend Matthew Theissen's book, "Jesus and the Forces of Death".
The Function of Blood
The primary function of the sacrifices was to cleanse that which was unclean, and thus unfit to be near to God. Whether it is our sin or the defilement that unclean things inherently carry, sacrifices and blood were used as the means of cleansing things from impurity and unholiness. One function of the blood was as a cleansing agent.
A second function of the animal's blood was as an intermediary. According to scripture, the blood of a living creature contains its 'nephesh' or spirit (literally translated as 'breath'). To have blood in you was to have the very essence of life. To present a proper sacrifice, the animal being presented first had to be unblemished, and for some animals there were other stipulations (a certain number of years old, etc). The animal was presented to the priest who then humanely slit the animal's throat, catching the blood that came from the wound. That blood was then spattered all over the altar. It was thought that the person presenting the sacrifice was vicariously entering the presence of God through the undefiled blood of the animal. Human blood wouldn't do as 'no one is without sin'. Animals don't have the capacity to sin so their blood was used as substitute. The point of it, however, is not to appease God, as if he was a blood-thirsty deity demanding a blood sacrifice to appease his wrath...rather, the blood acted as an intermediary, granting the one making the sacrifice the ability to draw near to God. The blood is about nearness. With that in mind, let's talk about atonement, and you'll see why this matters.
And Finally...Atonement
I could ramble about atonement but instead, I want to share a longer quote from Dan Lancaster about atonement because first, he is clear and articulate. Second, this is as good of an explanation about what the Biblical idea of atonement is, as I've seen:
"Let's talk about atonement because our Torah portion begins by telling us to collect a half-shekel from every male numbered in the census. [...] It says, "when you take the census of the people Israel, then each shall give a ransom for his life, when you number them, so there shall be no plague among them when you number them," Exodus 30:12. How does a half-shekel atone for anyone? When it says it will be a "ransom" it actually uses the word 'kopher' which means 'atonement'. How does a half-shekel atone for them? In Exodus 30:16 it's actually called 'kasaph ha-kippurim' or 'the money of atonement', like 'yom ha-kippurim', or 'the day of atonement'. So this seems to imply a bribe or something. If that works, maybe instead of fasting on the day of atonement, maybe we could just pay the money of atonement. To put it another way, why did the messiah have to die to atone for sins if you can just contribute some silver as money for atonement? That's not how the half-shekel worked, it's not an atonement for sin. Neither is it an atonement for souls to gain entrance in the world to come. The Torah says it's an atonement so that, "there be no plague among them when you number them." That's a very limited range of atonement. It's merely intended to prevent bad luck from falling on the community for taking a census. When King David had his commanders take a census he did not have an atonement plan. What happened? A plague! He did not use the 'money of atonement' method. How does the money atone? It still sounds kind of like a bribe. If money of atonement atones to keep away the plague, we should have raised funds to pay God to keep away COVID. It turns out that we have mostly misunderstood the meaning and mechanism of atonement. If you start in the New Testament where it's easy to conflate 'atonement' with 'forgiveness of sins', and then read that definition onto the Torah, it's easy to get confused. Atonement does not mean forgiveness of sins in either the Torah or the Levitical system. Instead, let's take a look at how these half-shekel coins are supposed to accomplish atonement for their contributors. The Torah says, "you shall take the atonement money from the sons of Israel and shall give it for the service of the tent of meeting, that it may be a memorial for the sons of Israel before the Lord, to make atonement for yourselves", Exodus 30:16. In other words, the silver is supposed to bring the individuals who donated it, to God's remembrance and when God remembers you, He acts on your behalf. Not that God forgets anything or anyone...the Bible uses the language of 'remembering' to indicate 'acting in accordance with one's promises or obligations.' So it says, "God remembered Noah." It's just a Biblical idiom that means, "God acted on Noah's behalf." Here on Earth when we are waiting for God to act on our behalf and answer our prayer it can feel like He has forgotten us. He has not forgotten us! But we use that language, and that idiom; we pray "please remember us". We mean, "act on our behalf". Atonement comes through remembrance and remembrance comes through bringing a prompt for remembrance into the presence of God. In next week's Torah reading, the mystery of the money of atonement is explained. We find out how the money is supposed to be a remembrance. It tells us that they used the silver that they collected during the census to make silver sockets and hooks in the tabernacle. That silver stayed continually in the presence of God because it was in the tabernacle. It was like a token of each donor, in the presence of God, continually bringing that person's remembrance, to speak, before the Lord. It's the same with the breast-piece and the ephod of the high priest. In last week's Torah portion, we learned that the names of the twelve tribes were engraved on two large gemstones that rested on the shoulders of the high priest. The Torah says that he "bore the names upon his shoulders before the Lord for a memorial." Not that God forgets anything. By causing the Lord to 'remember' the names of the sons of Israel, the priest prompted him to remember his covenant promises and act accordingly. Likewise, the high priest wears the names of the sons of Israel in the breast-piece of judgement over his heart when he enters the Holy Place for a memorial before the Lord continually (Exodus 28:29). It's like the high priest is wearing a name tag that says, "Hi, I'm the twelve tribes of Israel." Merely wearing the breast-piece as he entered God's presence was supposed to prompt God to remember his obligations to the nation and to act on their behalf. And that's how the priesthood functioned! All of the mechanics of sacrifice, sanctification, purification, and atonement...all of these only made it possible to get that priest into the presence of God where he could do his job of reminding the Lord about the covenant. Again, it's not like God forgot about the covenant without the priest there to remind him. Instead, the daily ceremony indicates the need for an on-going, day-by-day relationship. That relationship takes place in God's presence. The high priest represented the whole nation in that relationship. So if you understand this, you are much, much closer to understanding the Biblical meaning of atonement. Once the priest is in the presence of God standing in his presence in God's dwelling place, then he in position to bring you to remembrance before God, for good, for blessing, for protection, for covering, for forgiveness...the forgiveness of sins! These are all of the things that we ordinarily associate with atonement. These transactions happen in the presence of God. That's the incredible value of having God dwelling in our midst, in his sanctuary, accessible to us through a priest who can bring our remembrance before him. That's what the Jewish people lost with the destruction of the temple." (source)
I find this to be incredible insight. Think about what Jesus is doing for us right now. First, according to Hebrews, Jesus is currently a high priest, not of the line of Aaron but of the line of Melchizedek - the earthly tabernacle/temple is a copy of the heavenly one...the Aaronic priesthood is also a copy of the heavenly priesthood. Jesus is a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 7:13-17). According to Romans 8:34, Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the father interceding on our behalf. Jesus is bringing our (those who are have faith) remembrance before God continually; he is making atonement for us! This is how we are to properly understand atonement, and what Jesus accomplished through death and resurrection.
I've heard a number of preachers explain atonement as "at ONE-ment" with God - bringing two things that are separated, back together...and while that's not entirely incorrect, it just doesn't (for me anyway) capture the totality of the idea. Jesus is continually reminding God of his covenant with Israel, and by extension with humanity ("through you [Abraham] I will bless all the nations of the earth", Genesis 12). He is bringing our needs and desires before God. He is bringing our confessions and our repentance before God...so that God will graciously act on our behalf unto blessing, protection, forgiveness, etc.
Putting these ideas together
Let's focus on understanding the role of the sacrificial system in Jesus' work on the cross. Leviticus has a very specific set of rules for the eligibility of a sacrifice - unblemished animal without defect, the sacrifice must be performed at the tabernacle/temple, etc. Jesus' death doesn't fit into these categories - he was whipped and beaten prior to his death (blemished), he was killed by the Romans on a cross (not in the temple) and then there's the pesky little fact that Torah forbids human sacrifice. Under no circumstances can Jesus' death be considered a sacrifice according to the sacrificial system that God himself detailed out for Israel. How then can it be understood? It must be understood symbolically. What Jesus did is symbolic of the sacrificial system...but unlike the sacrificial system that was administered by the priests of Aaron, Jesus' voluntary death on a cross actually is considered efficacious, by God, for the forgiveness of sins. Not only that, but Hebrews tells us that, "for by one sacrifice he [Jesus] has made perfect those who are being made holy." (Hebrew 10:14) Jesus has made a way for all sins to be forgiven, past, present and future. His death is a sin sacrifice because God considers it so - God recognizes the efficacy of his death to cover over sin...and that is the only thing that makes it so.
To put a bow on this point - God's mercy in forgiving sins was always, and continues to be the only way in which we can be forgiven. On the Day of Atonement, the high priest went into the Holy of Holies to plead for God's forgiveness of the sins of the entire nation of Israel. God was not obligated to forgive, and no sacrifice, either by the high priest on that particular day, nor the sacrifices offered by individuals at any point in the year, obligated God to anything. It is his grace and mercy alone. The same can be said as it relates to Jesus. We do not obligate God or Jesus to forgive us, simply by asking, or by righteous behavior, or even by repentance. Those things are necessary, but ultimately Jesus is completely justified in his judgement because he knows the heart.
Earlier on, I said that what Jesus did on the cross was categorically different than what the sacrificial system was meant to accomplish. The sacrificial system was meant to cleanse, either the sinner or the temple, for the purposes of drawing near to God. Remember was Lancaster said, "All of the mechanics of sacrifice, sanctification, purification, and atonement...all of these only made it possible to get that priest into the presence of God where he could do his job of reminding the Lord about the covenant." Jesus' death and resurrection also makes it possible for us to draw near to God, but it additionally gives him the power to forgive sins - it is categorically different than a sacrifice made at the earthly temple.
I've talked in previous posts about Jesus' three identities and this general discussion on the sacrificial system underscores how important it is that those identities be kept separate. During his life, he performed the role of prophet...telling what was to come and turning the hearts of men back to God. In his current role, he is high priest, intercessing for the faithful in the temple located at the height of the heavens. We have the benefit of the written word to continue to tell us about his deeds while he was alive, and that is still turning the hearts of men toward God, but his current function is not as a prophet. His future role is that of a king and/or judge. God, recognizing the efficacy of Jesus' voluntary suffering on behalf of humans, has given Jesus the role of judge (John 5:26-27). Jesus alone will have this authority and what he will be judging is whether or not we are trusting in Him. His death and resurrection was accredited by God as being efficacious for the forgiveness of sins and so ultimately, he is the one who decides whether your sins are covered or not. Mercifully, that is a not a role he is in right now...right now he is waiting patiently...but it won't be like that forever. At some point he will take on that role as judge and king (the Day of the Lord) and at that point, there will be no more chances. All of the work he did as prophet and priest will be completed.
This was a good exercise for me and I hope it helpful for others. I cannot recommend "What About the Sacrifices?" highly enough - Leviticus and the sacrificial system is so foreign to us, but Lancaster makes it accessible and understandable.
Sources:
https://meetinggodinthemargin.com/2020/03/11/leviticus-chapter-5-61-7-the-guilt-offering/
https://derek4messiah.wordpress.com/2010/03/19/sacrifices-the-older-and-the-newer/
https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13764-sin-offering
https://www.bethimmanuel.org/audio/blood-bulls-and-goats
https://www.bethimmanuel.org/audio/single-sacrifice-sin
https://www.bethimmanuel.org/audio/two-cows-atonement-and-glory
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