The Death of the Messiah (Continued)

Sacrifices and Offerings (Continued)

The Offerings

The rituals regarding the five major offerings are described in the first seven chapters of the book, although further details are added in other places in the Pentateuch. There is also another major offering commanded in the book of Numbers. These are all listed below. There was no exact timetable prescribed for when the rituals should be performed, except for those that took place at the great Festivals (like the Day of Atonement), although some were adopted for daily morning and evening sacrifices.

The Primary Offerings were:

1. The whole burnt offering (Leviticus 1) also called the ‘ascending offering’ i.e. ‘that which goes up’.

2. The meat offering (Leviticus 2) also called the ‘cereal offering’ or ‘gift offering’.

3. The peace offering (Leviticus 3), a sacrifice for alliance or friendship.

4. The sin offering (Leviticus 4), a sacrifice for sins of ignorance.

5. The trespass offering (Leviticus 5) also called the ‘guilt offering’.

6. The red heifer (Numbers 19) for purification.

The five Levitical offerings were divided into two classes, sin offerings and sweet savor offerings. The first three, the ‘burnt’, ‘meat’ and ‘peace’ offerings were sweet savor offerings, while the last two were expiatory offerings. This second group of offerings was generally offered before the sweet savor offerings, because it was necessary to deal with sin before the penitent could stand before God and make an acceptable offering to bring pleasure to Him. The Red Heifer offering, because of its purpose and its effectiveness, was only performed as the need arose, and there were always several years between the sacrifices.

The expiatory offerings, also described as sin offerings, were designed to secure atonement and forgiveness from God. The phrase, ‘to make atonement’ occurs 29 times in the book of Leviticus, almost invariably relating to the sin and trespass offerings. They were efficacious only when offenses were inadvertent or unwitting. They did not apply to defiant acts or premeditated crimes. Whenever an individual Israelite, a tribal leader, a priest, the Chief Priest, or the Israelite community at large was guilty of an inadvertent offense or of failing to do what the law required, expiation through sacrifice was demanded. In substance, chapters 4–5 prescribe two principal sacrifices: the object of the ‘sin offering’ was to remove the culpability borne by the offender, that is, to purify the offender of his guilt. The ‘guilt offering’ or ‘trespass offering’ was actually a penalty paid in the form of a sacrificial offering to God. It applied when one had unintentionally misappropriated property that belonged to the sanctuary (or been contributed to it). In certain cases it was also required when one had sworn falsely concerning his responsibility toward the property of others for a false oath involved God in the transgression. The sacrifice did not relieve the offender of his duty to make full restitution for the loss he had caused another. In fact, the offender was fined 20 percent of the lost value, which is a double tithe. The ‘guilt offering’ merely squared the offender with his God, whose name he had taken in vain.

It is clear that the ‘trespass offering’ or ‘guilt offering’ was designed to make atonement for sinful actions, whereas the ‘sin offering’ was designed to restore the offender to fellowship. The ritual not only demanded a life but in some cases the complete burning of the carcass ‘outside the camp’. The sacrifices of the Day of Atonement were sin offerings. The sin-offering speaks of Christ; ‘who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree’ (1 Pet. 2:24) and who “was made sin for us” (2 Cor. 5:21).

Depending on the circumstances of the transgression the sacrifice could either be a ram, a lamb, a kid or the offering of the poor, that is, two doves or two pigeons. The transgressors brought the offering in evidence of their penitence and remorse, the priest made atonement, and God assured the forgiveness.

The expiatory offerings, along with all the other offerings, have something to say in respect of the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary. Firstly, the trespass offering required a substitutionary death - an animal took the punishment for the sins of the offender. This prefigured the work of Christ where He was “wounded for our transgressions” (Isa.53.4). The Bible declares that Christ was judged for the sins we committed. He “was delivered (up to death) for our offences (trespasses)” (Rom. 4:25); (compare also. Eph. 1:7 and Col 2:13). The Scriptures uses three words to indicate the different kinds of wrongdoing of which we are guilty – ‘sins’, ‘iniquities’, ‘transgressions’. The death of Christ provides the answer for them all. Daniel prophesied it - the coming Prince was to: “... finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity” (Dan. 9:24).

Secondly, a debt has to be paid. In the trespass offering, besides the life laid down, the value of the trespass, in the priest’s estimation of it, was paid in shekels of the sanctuary to the injured party; together with a fifth part more. If the trespass offering had simply called for the sacrifice of an animal or bird then the injured victim would still have suffered loss. But a compensatory payment was demanded by the Law. It had to be made in shekels of the sanctuary; “and all your valuations shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary” (Lev. 27.25).

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