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THE BURNT OFFERING!
In Prescott, in the early 1950's, my mom bought
a two story house on a double size lot for $3,200. On a waitress' salary
this was a big step, a step she wasn't sure she could afford to take. But
the house had a bedroom downstairs for my mom and two bedrooms upstairs. One
of the bedrooms upstairs was for my twin sister, the other one was for my older
brother and myself. Then, on the back edge of the oversize lot it had a
place for chickens to roost even though it was only four blocks from downtown.
With a chicken coop in the back it wasn't long
before we had a half-dozen chickens. The idea, as I recall, was so that
we could have eggs anytime we wanted them. But one day my mom directed
me to go out back and kill one of the chickens. She would then boil some
water dunk the dead chicken in the water and pluck the feathers off of it.
So I went outside, found the short-handled ax
that came with the property, grabbed the chicken my mom had in mind and proceeded
to chop off its head. Have you ever tried to chop off the head of a chicken
with a very dull ax? It was horrible! It was one of those gut-wrenching
experiences that I never want to repeat for as long as I live. The chicken,
judging from all of its squawking and squabbling, didn't like it either! But,
on the plus side, he provided a meal for almost everyone in the family!
Just as the above bloody experience is forever
etched on my heart and mind, the sacrificial offerings we find in the first chapter
of Leviticus must have been unforgettable experiences. By comparison
they make our morning services, even the second service, look awfully tame.
For in Leviticus the worshipper did not just listen
to the minister and sing a few hymns. He was very much a part of the worship
service. He had to choose an unblemished animal from his own flock, bring
it to the tent of meeting, kill it with his own hands, dismember it, and watch
it go up in smoke.1
Even if he had the right tools such as a sharpened
ax or knife, and even it he had done it before, it must have been one of those
experiences that left its imprint on the worshiper. For he knew that this
act, this burnt offering, played a significant and profound role in his relationship
with the Lord.
Yet because Israel understood the purpose of the
burnt offering so well, Moses, in large part, neglects to tell us its purpose! He
tells us how to conduct the service for this most common of all the sacrifices
but fails to spell out its objective in detail. We read:
The LORD called to Moses from the Tabernacle and
said to him, 2 "Give the following instructions to the Israelites:
Whenever you present offerings to the LORD, you must bring animals from your
flocks and herds.
"If your sacrifice for a whole burnt offering
is from the herd, bring a bull with no physical defects to the entrance of the
Tabernacle so it will be accepted by the LORD. 4 Lay your hand on its head
so the LORD will accept it as your substitute, thus making atonement for you. 5
Then slaughter the animal in the LORD's presence, and Aaron's sons, the priests,
will present the blood by sprinkling it against the sides of the altar that stands
in front of the Tabernacle. 6 When the animal has been skinned and cut
into pieces, 7 the sons of Aaron the priest will build a wood fire on the
altar. 8 Aaron's sons will then put the pieces of the animal, including
its head and fat, on the wood fire. 9 But the internal organs and legs
must first be washed with water. Then the priests will burn the entire sacrifice
on the altar. It is a whole burnt offering made by fire, very pleasing to the
LORD.
"If your sacrifice for a whole burnt offering
is from the flock, bring a male sheep or goat with no physical defects. 11
Slaughter the animal on the north side of the altar in the LORD's presence. Aaron's
sons, the priests, will sprinkle its blood against the sides of the altar. 12
Then you must cut the animal in pieces, and the priests will lay the pieces of
the sacrifice, including the head and fat, on top of the wood fire on the altar. 13
The internal organs and legs must first be washed with water. Then the priests
will burn the entire sacrifice on the altar. It is a whole burnt offering made
by fire, very pleasing to the LORD.
"If you bring a bird as a burnt offering
to the LORD, choose either a turtledove or a young pigeon. 15 The priest
will take the bird to the altar, twist off its head, and burn the head on the
altar. He must then let its blood drain out against the sides of the altar. 16
The priest must remove the crop and the feathers and throw them to the east side
of the altar among the ashes. 17 Then, grasping the bird by its wings,
the priest will tear the bird apart, though not completely. Then he will burn
it on top of the wood fire on the altar. It is a whole burnt offering made by
fire, very pleasing to the LORD.
What do we know for sure about this offering? First
of all it is to be noted that the sacrificed animal had to be a perfect male. This
requirement underlines the significance of the burnt offering. For in some
offerings a slightly blemished animal could be offered (see 22:23) and in the
case of the sin offering an ordinary person, as opposed to a leader, was instructed
to offer a she-goat (see 4:22 - 31). But this was never allowed with the
burnt offering, it always had to be an unblemished male animal.
Second, we know that the worshiper wasn't required
to bring an animal from his herd. He could bring the burnt offering from
the flock, from either the sheep or the goats. Or if not an animal from
the herd or flock, the worshiper could offer a dove or a young pigeon. So
different animals could be offered in accordance with ones income. If someone
was wealthy, then the more expensive animal was offered. If a person was
impoverished a pigeon or dove could be caught and brought in as the burnt offering. Clearly,
no one was barred from access to God on the basis of income.2
Third, the sacrifice had to be brought to the
Tent of Meeting. For in every sacrifice there were three parties involved,
the worshiper, the priest, and God. God, of course, is omnipresent, but
in the historical context he chose to dwell among the Israelites and his address
was simply The Tabernacle. Then too, the priest had a role to play in the
sacrifice since he was one who sprinkled the blood on the sides of the altar
and placed the animal on the altar itself.
Fourth, when the worshiper entered the Tent of
Meeting he placed his hands on the animal's head. The word "lay" is
actually a weak translation of the Hebrew word which could just as easily be
translated as "press." The worshipper was not simply to touch
the animal as if he was identifying himself as the owner of the animal. He
was to actually lean on the animal.
It is as this moment in the action that the worshiper
took time to pray. In 16:21 it is to be noted that Aaron prayed as he laid
his hands on the scapegoat. As the High Priest, he identified with the
animal and spent time in confessing all the sins of Israel. The goat was
then taken out into the wilderness so as to carrying with it the sins of the
nation. So when a worshiper laid his hands on the head of the sacrificial
animal he bonded with it and spent time in prayer.
In regards to these elements, the first case is
dealt with in detail. The two subsequent cases are explained more briefly. But
in all three the text spells out the role of the worshiper and the priest.
Now in regards to the purpose of the burnt offering
you might be thinking that it is spelled out for us as well. For the 4th
verse tells us:
Lay your hand on its head so the LORD will accept it (on your behalf) as your
substitute, thus making atonement for you. (NLT)
But some commentators play down the atoning value
of the burnt offering. They argue that the sin offering as seen in chapter
4 and the guilt offering as seen in chapter 5 are the offerings that atone for
sin. Hence there must be some other reason for the burnt offering.
But the fourth verse insist that the burnt offering,
in some sense, atones for us. But it must do so, as others argue, in a
slightly different way than the sin offering or the guilt offering. The
view is that the offerings in chapters four and five deal with specific sins
whereas the burnt offering atones for sin in a more general sense. To see
this we need to go back to a few examples that would have been very familiar
to the Israelites who had been rescued from Pharaoh's grip.3
In Genesis 8:20 - 22 we read:
Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking
some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings
on it. 21 The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never
again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of
his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures,
as I have done. 22 "As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease." (NIV)
After Noah came out of the ark he built an altar
and sacrificed a burnt offering to the Lord. On the basis of this offering
God's attitude toward man was reversed. Instead of a warning being issued
there is a promise that the harvests will not fail, and a covenant is made with
future generations that the earth will never again be destroyed by a universal
flood.
Thus the burnt offering, as seen in this passage,
was not designed to deal with a specific sin, nor was it intended to change man's
sinful nature. What it did was that it made fellowship possible between
sinful man and our Holy God. It propitiates (smoothes over) God's wrath
against sin. In this sense, I see it as a general purpose offering.
Another passage that I believe the Israelites
would have been familiar with is found in Job 1:1 - 5. We read:
There was a man named Job who lived in the land
of Uz. He was blameless, a man of complete integrity. He feared God and stayed
away from evil. 2 He had seven sons and three daughters. 3 He owned
seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred teams of oxen, and
five hundred female donkeys, and he employed many servants. He was, in fact,
the richest person in that entire area.
Every year when Job's sons had birthdays, they
invited their brothers and sisters to join them for a celebration. On these occasions
they would get together to eat and drink. 5 When these celebrations ended-and
sometimes they lasted several days-Job would purify his children. He would get
up early in the morning and offer a burnt offering for each of them. For Job
said to himself, "Perhaps my children have sinned and have cursed God in
their hearts." This was Job's regular practice.
By this time in Job's life his sons and daughters
had left the nest. We know this for two reasons. First of all, it
is clear from these introductory remarks that his sons were old enough to throw
their own parties and issue their own invitations. And judging by v. 4a,
as well as v. 13, his children had their own homes. He had raised them
to leave the nest and had succeeded in this primary responsibility of parents.
The second reason we know that they had left the
nest is that Job was suffering from no illusions in regards to his children. Unlike
some parents of younger children he knew his sons and daughters were far from
perfect. He knew they were entirely capable of saying and doing some things
they would later regret. In short, Job had watched his children long enough
to be a realist.
Consequently, he made it a habit of sacrificing
a burnt offering for each of them. He placed his hands on the young bull
and prayed on behalf of one of his children - asking God to accept this sacrifice
on their behalf. He didn't do this because he was aware of specific sins in their
life he did it simply because he knew that his children were prone to wander.
Then, as you know, Job was tested by Satan, tested
to the point that some would have immediately caved-in and cursed God. Job,
however, hung in there with very little real help from his friends. Then
at the end of the book we see another very interesting example of a burnt offering. In
Job 42:7 - 8 we read:
After the LORD had finished speaking to Job, he
said to Eliphaz the Temanite: "I am angry with you and with your two friends,
for you have not been right in what you said about me, as my servant Job was. 8
Now take seven young bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer
a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and
I will accept his prayer on your behalf. I will not treat you as you deserve,
for you have not been right in what you said about me, as my servant Job was."
I suspect God, like an Old Testament professor,
could have easily cataloged their theological follies. He could have noted, "When
you said . . . you were so far off base theologically I just wanted to weep." Because
their counsel was so bad so often God wisely chose to atone for everything with
a burnt offering they would never forget!
What about you? Do you yourself enter God's presence
with a contrite heart?4 On your part, does worship begin with confession
of your sins? Do you claim forgiveness in Christ who is God's perfect burnt
offering? And how about your children and grandchildren? Do you
offer sacrifices on their behalf?
1 Leviticus is concerned that the priest which
were clean and holy be safeguarded against contamination. Therefore the
worshiper undertook the messier task associated with sacrifice. You
will note that he washed the hind legs and the viscera of the animal to remove
any traces of excrement.
2 The flexibility that is built into the instructions of
the burnt offering can easily be violated. For this reason, it would
be wise to skip over to the book of Malachi and read what God has to say about
those who disregard His instructions. It is for this reason that I prefer
the Italian pronunciation for the last book in the Old Testament - Ma' la chi.
3 The atoning value of the burnt offering is also seen in
Leviticus 16:24b.
4 See Psalm 51:15 - 17 where the psalmist tells us
that a burnt offering is worthless if it is not accompanied by a broken and
contrite spirit.LEVITICUS - GOD'S GUIDEBOOK TO WORSHIP 1/22/06
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