The Two-Hundred-Ninety-Third (Origin of Sacrifices)

As promised, we’re going to start getting into the sacrificial system set forth by YHWH in His Law.  That’s not to say I’ve figured the whole system out through my studies thus far, but I will say I have found a lot of interesting things right off the bat!  I’ll also say that it seems every time I start to understand another piece, it always somehow fits into some seemingly random other part of scripture that you wouldn’t think has anything to do with sacrifices.

This week, we’re going to talk about some background to the sacrificial system.  We’ll also see some very interesting Hebrew word connections that help us better understand what sacrifices were all about.  What I’ve found, more and more, as I’ve studied this topic, is that much like other studies, or maybe even more so, the patterns and connections of the Hebrew words used in this case is integral to understanding it.  

Before we get into it though, I need to follow up on something I mentioned in a previous study.  I talked about how I was listening to a man named Rico Cortes talk about the sacrifices, and for sure, his teachings initially spurned me to start studying the topic myself.  However, as I watched him more it became clear to me that he leans more on man’s interpretation and explanations than coming straight from scripture.  

I don’t say this to judge him, because it’s a trap that many fall into.  I say it to ensure that if you start watching him yourself, you listen with the proper amount of context so you can separate his wheat from his chaff.  To help you understand what I mean, I’ll give an example.

Rico uses many published works of those who have studied the ancient near east and its associated religious, governmental, and sacrificial systems in order to form his teachings.  That’s not necessarily bad by any means, but the way he talks about these things suggests that YHWH was giving instruction, or Torah, to His people in the context of countering the pagan systems and traditions that were already present in the societies of the time.  It seems like Rico’s saying that because YHWH wanted to make His people different, and make Himself stand apart from the pagan gods, He gave sacrificial processes, for example, that were opposite to the sacrificial processes of the pagan gods.

To put it another way, it’s like Rico is suggesting that YHWH saw what man was doing and then created His processes and laws in response to it.  This suggests first, that there really isn’t a basis, spiritually or physically, for the processes and laws YHWH gave other than to look different than what man created, and second, that YHWH was not in control of what He was creating when He commanded these processes and laws.  It’s as if YHWH got to the point of establishing the covenant at Mount Sinai and said, “now, let’s see, what laws should I make that will make my people look different from those that are not my people?”

To be fair, Rico has not said this specifically in any of his videos that I’ve watched, so I can’t say whether or not that’s his view.  All I’m saying is that the language he uses, and how he talks about these things, along with his overwhelming tendency to continuously point out and praise the men whose writings he’s teaching from, highly suggests that he prioritizes, whether consciously or subconsciously, man’s teaching to understand scripture over the Holy Spirit’s teaching to understand scripture.  This is a dangerous place to be because when it comes down to it, with this mindset a person will tend to side with man’s teaching if there is a conflict that seems to arise between it and a pattern that’s evident in scripture.

Now, I’m not saying that we throw out all of man’s teachings.  Especially for the sacrificial system, there are some very smart people that have studied other cultures in the near east and their sacrificial and governmental processes, and their writings can certainly help us fill in some blanks as to the basis for some of the processes we see in YHWH’s Law, since for the most part the basis is not blatantly specified in scripture.  However, we must look at these people’s writings from the perspective of the fact that we know spiritual things affect physical things and vice versa, and from the perspective that we also know there is a group of rebellious spirits led by Satan that have come to man and interact with him in order to gain control over him.

This is where we start to get into the origins of the sacrificial system, because Satan obviously is knowledgeable of the spiritual aspects of how YHWH’s creation operates as well as the physical processes that are associated with those spiritual aspects.  For example, many of the pagan religions, even today, include ingesting blood as a part of their rituals.  Did YHWH give His people a commandment not to eat or drink blood because of those pagan rituals?  Of course not!  He gave that commandment because of the spiritual fact that the physical life of a being is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11), and because of that fact, there is something that happens in the spiritual realm when blood is used in certain ways.  In other words, the spiritual aspects of blood manipulation came before Satan teaching man the rituals that involve drinking or eating blood because they were “baked in” to creation by YHWH.  Additionally, YHWH’s commandments, like those involving sprinkling or pouring of blood on the altar, ark of the covenant, or veil, use those spiritual aspects to achieve what YHWH desired for His people.    

We’ll get into that, what YHWH desired for His people, a little later, but first, do you know what the very first reference in scripture to the sacrificial system is?  You might think it’s when Cain and Abel are giving offerings to YHWH, which ultimately ended in the first murder in the history of man (Genesis 4:2-8).  However, I’ll give you a hint: the very first reference to the sacrificial system does not include the word sacrifice or even offering.

The very first reference to the sacrificial system is when Adam and Eve were still in the garden.  If you notice, after they sinned, Adam and Eve created clothing out of plants in order to cover their shame; the shame which came as a result of their sin (Genesis 3:7).  The whole idea of nakedness being connected with shame from sin is certainly a topic for another day, but later on in the account of Genesis, we see that the garments of fig leaves were not appropriate or sufficient, according to YHWH, to cover the shame of their nakedness.  He made them garments of animal skins instead (Genesis 3:21).

As far as scripture is concerned, this is the first recorded killing of an animal in order to provide a covering, or really anything, for man.  YHWH Himself performed the sacrifice and made the covering.  This, quite literally, just came to me as I write, but I believe this event is part of the reason for some aspects of the blood manipulation that was required in YHWH’s sacrificial system.  

One of the things I often stop to think about as I study these things is what they actually looked like in practice.  For example, can you imagine how the altar, the veil, and the ark of the covenant looked after awhile when year after year (for the arc and the veil), and day after day (for the altar), there was blood poured, sprinkled, and smeared over them?  The original shine and brightness, and the original color, faded away to a dark crimson-brown, with no allowance in His Law to clean these sacred objects of the blood that was put upon them.  The priest couldn’t even enter the Holy of Holies, where the ark of the covenant was placed, except twice a year, both on the same day: Yom Kippur, or the Day of Redemption (Atonement).  And the only reason he entered was to sprinkle the blood on the ark.

When I think of YHWH slaughtering the animals and creating the clothing of animal skins for Adam and Eve, it makes me think that part of this blood sprinkling process in the tabernacle and temple was a reminder to Him of that time.  It was a reminder of when Adam and Eve were once innocent and able to walk with Him in the garden.  The blood sprinkled reminded Him of the blood He had to spill in order to cover their shame, the result of their sin, and as a result of that reminder He postponed His wrath for the people’s sins every year.

Yes, blood has a connection spiritually to the being in which it flows.  The memory aspect of the sprinkling doesn’t change that, but as you will see as we keep studying the topic of the sacrificial system, there are multiple layers of meaning to nearly every part.  There are connections across time and through people.  There are convergences at key aspects like locations, people, and procedures that not only help us understand all of scripture and YHWH’s plan for mankind and His restoration to him, but they also help us understand what to expect in our future.  Most of all though, it helps us truly understand the depth and meaning of our Savior Yeshua’s sacrifice for us.

The next thing to understand in order to help us see the purpose of the sacrificial system is something we alluded to earlier.  We can read all throughout scripture that until the Law was given at Mount Sinai, man knew to give sacrifices to YHWH.  Despite the fact that no formal process was written in scripture prior to the covenant at Mount Sinai, we see Cain and Abel giving offerings, as well as Noah (Genesis 8:20) and Abraham (Genesis 12:7-8, 13:18, 22:9).  In fact, we also see that the commandment not to eat meat with blood was given all the way back in time to Noah (Genesis 9:4).

Obviously, there was something known by YHWH’s people, those that were faithful to Him, about how and why to sacrifice before He gave the commandments of the sacrificial system to Israel.  We also know, through the account of the judgment on Aaron’s sons, that there was a right way and a wrong way to perform these sacrifices and procedures (Leviticus 10:1-2).  Overall though, when we see all these accounts of sacrifices, we see a connection being made between YHWH and man for each of them, and that tells us the ultimate meaning behind them.  

As you may have noticed in the language that we’ve been using so far, we’re using two different terms for the same thing: sacrifice and offering.  As you’ll find as we dig deeper into the sacrificial system, the underlying Hebrew words used are the only way to make distinctions between the different types of sacrifices made, because the English translations man has written all obscure the differences that are present.  In one statement, a Hebrew word is translated to sacrifice while in the next the same is translated to offering.  

We’ll get into all those specific Hebrew words in a follow on study, but for this study on the origins of sacrifice the key to understand is that no matter what word is used, this system is all about being close to YHWH.  It’s about YHWH having a relationship, an intimate relationship, with His people.  In fact, one of the Hebrew words that’s typically translated to offering literally means “something brought near.”  Its origin is a Hebrew verb that simply means “to approach or come near.”

All offerings are technically sacrifices, because a person, or people, is providing something from themselves to YHWH, whether it’s an animal, a spice, oil, or flour.  By definition, they have to give something up, to sacrifice it, in order to give it to Him.  Additionally, all sacrifices are technically offerings because they are brought near to YHWH by being brought in the vicinity of where He dwelt, which was the Holy of Holies.  However, not all offerings serve the same purpose in the overall process of YHWH having an intimate relationship with His people.  Some were like having a meal with Him, while some were for covering sin that separates us from Him in order to allow us to come near once again.

While we have focused on the physical aspect, or realm, of the sacrificial system thus far, the one that touches the spiritual by allowing YHWH, who is Spirit, to continue dwelling among His people, there is a more spiritually based aspect of this system as well.  For our purposes this week though, we have seen from scripture why the sacrificial system was put in place and where it started from.  We will have to get into the more spiritually based part of the system in a follow on study.  I hope this week’s study was a blessing to you!

We hope you have a great week!  Shabbat shalom and YHWH bless you!

- Rob and Sara Gene

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The Gospel

We are born sinful as a result of Adam and Eve's sin (Genesis 2:17, 3:6, 1 John 1:8)

The consequence of sin, which is unavoidable through our own works, is death (Romans 6:23)

Yeshua, the Son of YHWH, lived sinless and was put to death (Hebrews 4:15)

His death, therefore, cleanses us of sin that would have required our death

(2 Corinthians 5:21)

He rose on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:4)

Because of His resurrection, we are confident in our future resurrection and eternal life

(1 Corinthians 15:17-18, John 3:16)