Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 1:3
If his offering [be] a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD.
( a) Bullock (3 9)
3. a male without blemish ] In the sacrificial system of the Hebrews, the male animal is regarded as of more value than the female. It is prescribed for the Burnt-Offering, and for the principal feasts (Exo 12:5; Numbers 28, 29), but for the Peace-Offering and some others (Lev 3:1, Lev 4:28-32) a female may be brought. In some countries females were spared for purposes of breeding, and for the value of their milk, and when offered were considered a more costly oblation; generally, however, males were preferred. For details, cp. Dillm. in loc. and Daremberg et Saglio, Dict. des Antiq. Gr. et Rom. Art. Sacrificium. The necessity for the victim being without blemish was recognised by nearly all nations who brought animal sacrifices. Cp. Lev 22:20 and Deu 15:21; Deu 17:1.
that he may be accepted ] Here and in Lev 19:5, Lev 22:19; Lev 22:29 A.V. has translated of [ at ] his [ your ] own ( voluntary) will, but Lev 22:20-21, Lev 23:11, Exo 28:38 are translated as in R.V. The rendering of R.V. is the correct one in all these passages, the Heb. ( rn) being the same in all. The word is used in connexion with the Burnt-Offering and the Peace-Offering but not in reference to the Sin-Offering. In Lev 1:4 and it shall be accepted for him, the verb of the same Heb. root is used. Cp. Isa 56:7; Isa 60:7; Jer 6:20.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ch. Lev 1:3-17. The Burnt-Offering
For general remarks on the Burnt-Offering see on Lev 6:9. Three varieties may be brought, viz. ( a) Bullock (Lev 1:3-9), ( b) Sheep or Goat (Lev 1:10-13), ( c) Fowls (Lev 1:14-17).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
burnt – literally, that (offering) which ascends (as a flame).
A male without blemish – Males were required in most offerings, since the stronger sex which takes precedence of the other. But females were allowed in peace-offerings Lev 3:1, Lev 3:6, and were expressly prescribed in the sin-offerings of the common people Lev 4:28, Lev 4:32; Lev 5:6.
At the door of the tabernacle of the congregation – Wherever these words occur, they should be rendered: at the entrance of the tent of meeting. The place denoted is that part of the court which was in front of the tabernacle, in which stood the brass altar and the laver, and where alone sacrifices could be offered. See Cut to Exo. 26.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Lev 1:3
If his offering be a burnt sacrifice.
The burnt-offering
I. In its contrast to the other offerings.
1. It was a sweet savour offering; as such in perfect contrast with the sin-offerings. We are not here, therefore, to consider Christ as the sin-bearer, but as the man in perfectness meeting God in holiness. The thought here is not, God hath made Him to be sin for us, but rather, He loved us, and gave Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God of a sweet-smelling savour. Jesus, both in the burnt-offering and sin-offering, stood as our representative. When He obeyed, He obeyed for us: when He suffered, He suffered for us. But in the burnt-offering He appears for us, not as our sin-bearer, but as man offering to God something which is most precious to Him. We have here what we may in vain search for elsewhere: man giving to God what truly satisfies Him. We too often omit this thought when thinking of the offering of Jesus. We think of His death, but little of His life. We look but little into His ways. Yet it is His ways throughout His pilgrimage, even to the way He laid down His life, which God so delights in. Our views are so selfish and meagre. If we are saved, we seek no further. God, however, puts the burnt-offering first: for this was peculiarly His portion in Jesus. And just in proportion as a believer grows in grace, we shall find him turning intelligently to the Gospels; from them adding to the knowledge he has of the work of Jesus, greater knowledge of His ways and person; with earnest desire to know more of the Lord Himself, and how in all things He was a sweet savour to Jehovah.
2. But the burnt-offering was not only a sweet savour; it was also an offering for acceptance–that is, it was offered to God to secure the acceptance of the offerer. So we read–I give the more correct translation–he shall offer it for his acceptance. To understand this, we must recur for a moment to the position Christ occupied as offerer. He stood for man as man under the law, and, as under law, His acceptance depended on His perfectness. God had made man upright; but he had sought out many inventions. One dispensation after another had tried whether, under any circumstances, man could render himself acceptable to God. But age after age passed away: no son of Adam was found who could meet Gods standard. The law was mans last trial, whether, with a revelation of Gods mind, he could or would obey it. But this trial, like the others, ended in failure: there was none righteous, no, not one. How, then, was man to be reconciled to God? How could he be brought to meet Gods requirements? One way yet remained, and the Son of God accepted it. He took not on Him the nature of angels; but He took the seed of Abraham; and in His person, once and for ever, man was reconciled to God. In effecting this, Jesus, as mans representative, took mans place, where He found, man, under law; and there, in obedience to the law, He offered, for His acceptance.
3. The third point peculiar to the burnt-offering was, that a life was offered on the altar (Lev 1:5), in this particular differing from the meat-offering. Life was that part in creation which from the beginning God claimed as His. As such–as being His claim on His creatures–it stands as an emblem for what we owe Him. What we owe to God is our duty to Him. And this, I doubt not, is the thought here intended. Of course, the offering here, as elsewhere, is the body of Jesus, that body which He took, and then gave for us: but in giving God a life, in contradistinction to offering Him corn or frankincense, the peculiar thought is the fulfilment of the first table of he Decalogue. Thus the life yielded is mans duty to God, and man here is seen perfectly giving it. Am I asked what man ever thus offered? I answer, None but One–the man Christ Jesus. He alone of all the sons of Adam in perfectness accomplished all mans duty to Godward; He in His own blessed and perfect righteousness met every claim God could make upon Him.
4. The fourth and last feature peculiar to the burnt-offering is, that it was wholly burnt on the altar. In this particular the burnt-offering differed from the meat and peace-offerings, in which a part only was burnt with fire; nor did it differ less from those offerings for sin, which, though wholly burnt, were not burnt upon the altar. The import of this distinction is manifest, and in exact keeping with the character of the offering. Mans duty to God is not the giving up of one faculty, but the entire surrender of all. So Christ sums up the First Commandment–all the mind, all the soul, all the affections. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. I cannot doubt that the type refers to this in speaking so particularly of the parts of the burnt-offering; for the head, the fat, the legs, the inwards, are all distinctly enumerated. The head is the well-known emblem of the thoughts; the legs the emblem of the walk; and the inwards the constant and familiar symbol of the feelings and affections of the heart. The meaning of the fat may not be quite so obvious, though here also Scripture helps us to the solution (Psa 17:10; Psa 92:14; Psa 119:70; Deu 32:15). It represents the energy not of one limb or faculty, but the general health and vigour of the whole. In Jesus these were all surrendered, and all without spot or blemish.
II. Its varieties, that is, the different measures of apprehension with which it may be seen. There were, then, three grades in the burnt-offering. It might be of the herd, or of the flock, or of fowls. These different grades gave rise to several varieties in the offering, the import of which we shall now consider.
1. The first difference is in the animal offered. We have in the first grade, a bullock; in the second, a lamb; in the third, a turtledove. Each of these animals, from their well-known character, presents us with a different thought respecting the offering. The bullock, strong to labour–for great increase is by the strength of the ox–suggests at once the thought of service, of patient, untiring labour. In the lamb we have another picture presented to us; here the thought is passive submission without a murmur; for the lamb is the figure constantly chosen to represent the submissive, uncomplaining character of Christs sufferings. The turtledove is different from either of these, and gives again another view of the offering of Jesus. In this class the thought of labour is lost sight of: the unmurmuring submission, too, of the lamb is wanting: the thought is rather simply one of mourning innocence; as it is written, We mourn like doves; and again, Be harmless as doves. It may be asked, What do we learn by the goat, which was sometimes offered in one of the lower grades of the burnt-offering? If I mistake not, this emblem suggests a thought of the sin-offering, reminding us of Christs offering as scape-goat.
2. A second distinction between the different grades of the burnt-offering is, that while in the first grade the parts are discriminated, in the last this peculiarity is omitted: the bird was killed, but not divided. In the case of the bullock and the lamb, it is noticed that the offering is cut into its pieces. Here the legs, the head, the fat, the inwards, are all distinctly noticed and enumerated. In the last case–that of the turtledove–it is otherwise: he shall not divide it asunder. The legs, the head, the inwards, as we have already seen, represent the walk, the thoughts, the feelings of Jesus. In the first grade these are all apprehended: they are all lost sight of in the last. These grades represent, as I have said, measures of apprehension. Where the measure of spiritual apprehension is large, a saint will see the offering dissected: his eyes will be turning constantly to see the walk, the mind, the affections of Jesus. He will now observe, what once he regarded not, how Jesus walked, how He thought, what were His feelings. On the other hand, where Jesus is but little apprehended all the details of His walk and feelings will be unseen.
3. A third distinction between the different grades of the burnt-offering is, that while in the first grade the offerer is seen to lay his hand on the offering, in the other grades this act is not observed. Not a few see Christ as offering for us without fully realising that His offering was Himself. They see that He gave up this thing or that; that He gave much for us, and that what He gave was most precious. But they do not really see that He gave Himself, that His own blessed person was what He offered. This is clearly seen in the first grade of the burnt-offering. It is lost sight of, or unobserved, in the other grades.
4. A fourth distinction, closely allied with the one just considered, is, that in the first class the offerer is seen to kill the victim–in the last the priest kills it. In fact, in the last class, the priest does nearly everything, the offerer is scarcely seen at all; whereas in the first class it is just the reverse, there are many particulars noted of theofferer. The import of this is at once obvious, when we see the distinction between the priest and offerer. The offerer, as I have already observed, sets Christ before us in His person. The priest represents Him in His official character, as the appointed Mediator between God and man. Where the identity between the offerer and offering is apprehended, the offerer is seen to kill the offering; that is, Christ is seen in His person, of His own will laying down His life; as it is written–No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of Myself. On the contrary, where the identity of the offering and offerer is unseen or disregarded, the priest is seen to kill the victim, that is, Christs death is seen as the work of the Mediator; and is connected with His official character as Priest, rather than with His person as the willing offerer. So with believers, where there is only a limited measure of apprehension, little is known of Christ save His office as Mediator: He Himself, His blessed person, is overlooked or but little seen. Such are the chief varieties of the burnt-offering: how full are they of instruction to the believer; how clearly do they mark the different apprehensions among saints respecting the work and person of our Lord! Some, however–I speak of believers–are content to know nothing of this; and they would rather not be told their ignorance. They can see but one truth–the Paschal lamb–and anything further they neither care nor wish for. (A. Jukes.)
The burnt-offering
I. Characteristics.
1. Perfect.
2. Voluntary.
3. Vicarious.
4. Slain by offerer himself.
5. Blood sprinkled.
6. Wholly consumed.
II. Features which distinguish it from the sin-offering.
1. Nothing is said of the voluntary character of the sin-offering. Does not this throw light on the agony and prayer of Christ in Gethsemane?
2. Only parts of the sin-offering were to be burnt on the altar of burnt-offering (Heb 4:11-12; Heb 13:11-13; 2Co 5:21). This explains the suffering of Christ and His cry on the cross–Eloi, &c.
III. To observe these distinctions important, as bearing upon their typical signification.
1. The Epistle to the Hebrews proves that Christ and His work are typified in the whole Mosaic ritual.
2. The one represents our Lord in His consecration to His Fathers will; the other, as its name indicates, represents Him as the sin-bearer.
(1) His consecration has in it the elements of voluntariness and completeness, and that it was of sweet savour unto Jehovah.
(2) As sin.bearer He is represented as not being permitted to suffer even within the camp. Lessons:
1. As a burnt-offering our Lord is to us an example in our consecration to God, which should be–
(1) Perfect in its sincerity.
(2) Cheerful in its spirit.
(3) Unreserved in its degree.
2. As a sin-offering our Lord teaches us how hateful sin was to Him; yet He endured its imputation, being made sin for us, that we might be made Gods righteousness in Him. (D. C. Hughes, M. A.)
Significance of the burnt-offering
To be offered–
1. Orderly.
2. Openly.
3. Devoutly.
4. Cheerfully. (F. W. Brown.)
The burnt-offering
I. Consider the sort of victim required for this sacrifice: a bullock, or a sheep, or, in case of great poverty, a young pigeon or dove–the very purest, cleanest, and best of creatures–nothing else would answer. And even these had to be the finest and most desirable specimens. Pure and perfect as the bright world from which He came, Christ, our sacrifice, was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners–a Lamb without spot–the first, the purest, the gentlest, and the best in all the domain of the great God. He was the very Prince of creation, who knew no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth.
II. Consider next what was done with the victim selected. If a bullock, the Divine command was, Kill it before the Lord, and flay it, and cut it into his pieces. If from the flock, the word was Kill it on the side of the altar northward, and cut it into his pieces. Who was to do this is not clearly specified. Any one, good or bad, priest or private, the worst or best, may become the executioner of the Divine sentence. When Jesus was made an offering for us, earth and hell joined in the infliction of the sacrificial stroke. If a bird, the word of the Lord was, Wring off his head, and pluck away his crop with his feathers, and cleave it with the wings. Fit picture this of the end which awaits the unforgiven, and of what actually befell the blessed Saviour who was once offered to bear the sins of many. The plucking and tearing off of the skin was to show how naked the sinner is, and how completely he is exposed to the fires of Divine wrath, and how unprotected Jesus was when He submitted to bear our sins in His own body on the tree. But in addition to this terrible mutilation, the victim was yet to be put upon the altar and burned. The command was, The priest shall burn all on the altar. And a particular method was also to be observed in this burning. First, the head and the loose fat were to be placed upon the fire; the head from without, and the fat from within. After that the legs and the entrails were to be given to the flames; the outward and the inward together. Man has a double nature; and in all Divine services, and under all Divine inflictions, both departments fare alike. We cannot give our bodies to God and reserve our hearts, nor serve Him in the spirit without bringing that service out into controlling influence over the flesh also. The whole man must go or nothing. Nor is the ultimate doom of sin a mere bodily suffering, or the mere consuming of the exterior members; nor yet mere mental woe and spiritual grief. As the Saviour says, it is the destruction of both body and soul in hell. Christ as our sacrifice, suffered not only in the outer man, but in His whole inner and outer nature conjoined.
III. Consider further what was to be effected by the presentation of this particular kind of sacrifice. If the man who brought it would lay his hand upon its head, and so acknowledge it as that by which he hoped and prayed and trusted to be forgiven, the Lord said it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. That is, the devoting of such a victim to death and fire was to answer as a substitute for the death and burning of the sinner himself. What a beautiful illustration of our reconciliation to God through the death of His Son!
IV. There yet remains one other particular to be noticed with regard to this atoning offering; and that is the perfect freedom with which any and every one might avail himself of its benefits. It was confined to no special time, and demanded no specific juncture of affairs. It was as free at one season as at another, and could be resorted to whenever any one felt himself moved in that way. If the worshipper could not bring a bullock, a sheep would answer. And if too poor to furnish either, a dove or pigeon was just as acceptable. There was no reason why any one should not come and share the benefits of a full expiation through the burnt-offering of atonement. All that a man wanted was the consent and determination of his own heart–the motion of his own voluntary will. Now this was not accidental. It was meant to set forth a great gospel truth. It tells of the perfect freeness with which one and all may be saved, if only there is the proper effort made. It was the lifting up of the voice of mercy even in that remote antiquity, crying, Come; whosoever will, let him come. (J. A. Seiss, D. D.)
The burnt-offering; or, the Father glorified
I. THE BURNT-OFFERING is placed first in order, when the Lord spake unto Moses out of the Tabernacle, teaching that the primary and grand object of Christs death was the glory of God. The burnt-offering may be said to answer to St. Johns Gospel, where this object is very prominent (see Joh 12:27-33; Joh 17:1-4).
1. Atonement, as expiation of guilt, is not the prominent thought in burnt-offering, yet it is seen there, verifying Heb 9:22; and the sprinkling of the blood testifies to the righteousness of God in accepting the worshipper whose worship–like all else–needs the atoning blood, being in itself not only worthless, but tainted with sin; and worship is one prominent feature of burnt-offering as regards man. Now look at details.
2. Male without blemish. That is, highest order of offering, whether of herd or flock (Lev 1:3; Lev 1:10). Nothing with slightest taint or blemish must be used to represent Christ.
II. Acceptance was another prominent characteristic of burnt-offering. It was presented that the offerer might be accepted (Lev 1:3). Lo! I come . . . to do Thy will, O God (Heb 10:7; Psa 40:7), were the words of Jesus. He presented Himself for acceptance; He was obedient unto death (Php 2:8). His sacrifice was that of devotion and service, as typified in this offering. Thus was the Father glorified in the death of His beloved Son I See, too, how Fathers love drawn forth because He laid down His life for sheep (Joh 10:11; Joh 10:17), in obedience to Fathers will (Joh 6:38-40). Thus the Fathers glory seen to be bound up in the salvation of sheep; and His acceptance of Jesus ensures theirs (Lev 1:4; Eph 1:6).
III. Hand upon head of burnt-offering further shows identification of offerer and offering. The word rendered put (verse 4) signifies to lean with whole weight, which implies full reliance, trust, and transfer, so to speak, of whole being to Him, who both amply met Gods claim to entire devotedness to Him and made atonement for His people, that is, covered their failures with His atoning merits and sacrifice. Believers are in Him (1Jn 5:20), and thus God sees and accepts them.
IV. Kill, flay cut into his pieces (verses 5, 6). Significant actions. Not only death, but all laid bare to be exposed to searching fire of Gods holiness, and testify to the perfections of His Christ, whether in part or whole. Believers should look into Christ, and study His perfections in every detail. There is also a rightly dividing the Word of truth (2Ti 2:15), which testifies of Jesus the living Word. Again, His pieces, typifying members of His body, are laid bare before God; all within revealed, i.e., naked and opened . . . (Heb 4:13), to the Searcher ex hearts (Psa 7:9; Luk 16:15); and He requires holiness within (1Pe 1:15-16).
V. the priests, Aarons sons (verses 5-8) represent the Church of God, the children (Heb 2:13), an holy priesthood (1Pe 2:5): here seen as worshipping saints, offering to God what most acceptable to Him.
1. They sprinkle the blood, showing ground of acceptable worship (1Pe 1:2).
2. They put fire, and lay all in order upon the altar. Christ, the Head, in His entirety, with His rich excellency (fat), offering Him self (voluntary act), through the eternal Spirit (fire), without spot to God (Heb 9:14). Many waters cannot quench love (Son 8:7), such as His, glowing With the fire of the Spirit, shown in zeal and devotion to the Father s will. And no work for God, no offering acceptable, except through the fire of the Spirit (Rom 8:4; Rom 8:8-10; Rom 8:14), sent from above to dwell in believers, and kindle in them flame of love and zeal, which again ascends to heaven.
VI. The washing of inwards and legs (verse 9) rendered the offering typically what Christ is inherently and intrinsically. Perfectly clean and pure, not only in outward walk, but inwardly also; in exact accordance with the requirements of a holy God. Truth, wisdom found in Him who was both (Psa 51:6; Psa 15:2; Joh 14:6; Pro 8:11; Pro 8:30; 1Co 1:24).
VII. The priest shall burn all (verse 13). The whole of the burnt-offering was to be consumed upon the altar, because exclusively for God. God requires whole-heartedness in His service; want of devotedness to God is sin; we offend if we keep back part for ourselves, or for the world, instead of presenting all to Him; and these failures, sins, shortcomings, are all met by the precious One in the burnt-offering.
VIII. The ashes carried forth from beside the altar testify to the completeness of the work finished on Calvary, and to Gods complete acceptance of the perfect Sacrifice, His own unspeakable gift (2Co 9:15) to man. The clean place without the camp (chaps. 1:16, 6:10, 11) points to the new tomb (Mat 27:58-66), where the body of Jesus was laid; and He–the risen One–then entered into heaven itself, now to appear . . . (Heb 9:24).
IX. a sweet savour unto the lord (verses 9, 13, 17). As such the continual burnt-offering ascended (Num 28:3-8); and so the fragrant merits of Christs one all-sufficient sacrifice. For Christ also hath . . . given Himself for.., a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour (Eph 5:2). Yes, Jesus, who is feasting the Fathers eyes and heart, is the one in whom He smells a sweet savour or savour of rest (Gen 8:21). (Lady Beau-jolois Dent.)
The burnt-offering
Concerning this offering we note–
I. The principle that acceptable worship must be in accordance with divine direction. Not now the blood of bulls and of goats, but the blood of Christ is the sacrifice by which we come to God (Heb 10:9-10). The was is as distinctly and definitely described under the new dispensation as under the old (Joh 14:6). True religion is a revealed way of approach to God.
II. Its special significance. Its Hebrew name means, an ascending. The first symbol by which men sought communion with God expressed a voluntary and entire dedication of themselves to Him. They declared, by it, their aspiration after Him; their desire to do His will; their self-surrender to Him. It was this devotion of soul that made the offering a sweet savour unto Him.
III. The relation of the burnt-offering to christian worship.
1. This offering suggests the holiness of God.
2. The spirit of acceptable Christian worship: Pure.
3. The character of the acceptable Christian worshipper: Constant self-devotion to God. (A. E. Dunning.)
The burnt-offering
The burnt-offering was one of what might be called the common law offerings of mankind. There were two of these at least–the slain and the burnt-offering. It is not always possible to distinguish these in the early history of sacrifices. The former was one in which slain beasts were laid upon the altar in token of mans fellowship with God; the latter was one where the animals were burned with fire as incense to Jehovah, expressive of mans dependence, obedience, and need of forgiveness. The burnt-offering was the most significant of all these earlier sacrifices, and probably included at times all the others. It is fitting for this reason, as well as for its superior importance, that it occupy the first place in the directions of the sacrificial code for Israel. The law of burnt-offerings was one which now became invested with the new sovereignty of a statute. It was not superseded in its significance or any of its associations, but some of these were emphasised. Branches grew out of the stalk which had its roots in the first sinners heart and the earliest race history.
I. The idea of self-surrender underlay the gift of the burnt-offering. Save on great occasions, like that of a dedication of the Tabernacle or Temple, this was a voluntary offering. As men were urged onward into clearly marked modes of worship they were not deprived of their upward look. Before there is expiation or justification there must be a relation of fellowship between man and his Maker. The burnt-offering was the best symbol of this confidential self-surrender because it was the sacrifice of a living thing. The blood was regarded as the vehicle of the life. When the Hebrew came of his own choice thus before the Lord he made an offering of himself.
II. The idea of expiation underlay the offering of the burnt sacrifice. The Israelite who came before the altar to make a burnt-offering laid his hand upon the victim in token of his desire to have it accepted as a sacrifice for sin. The great breaches of the moral law were not atoned for by any ceremonial under the Hebrew code. The most flagrant sins which were atoned for or covered by sacrifice were those of carelessness, and had reference to a breach of ceremonial law. Therefore we are justified in emphasising in the burnt-offering the idea of self-surrender. The expiation of the murderers sin must come from a sacrifice God should make in His own Son. The sinner took refuge with God in the hope of the holier offering and Mediator God should provide.
III. The acceptable sacrifice of the burnt-offering requires the mediatorial office. The worshipper has accepted the offices of Gods mediator. God has received mans trust, his surrender, his obedience. The spirit of Abraham with raised hand above his only son is that which must fill the heart of every true worshipper under the Mosaic dispensation. He accepts Gods offering as a sacrifice, whether made before the foundation of the world, at the Tabernacle altar, or on Calvary. Obedience is the best element man furnishes in the atonement. Obedience to the unseen God is the arrow of which faith is the bow-string. (W. R. Campbell.)
The gospel of the burnt-offering
I. The offerer was to bring it to the door of the tabernacle.
1. A voluntary act.
(1) Christ died willingly.
(2) So should we in all our services be a willing people.
2. This points every way to Christ as the cause of our acceptance with God. He is both Door and Tabernacle, Altar and Priest.
3. We are to see God in all oar services, in and by Jesus Christ.
4. We are to worship God in His Church.
II. The sinner that brought the sacrifice was to lay his hand upon the head of it. This ceremony relates to the confession of sin, and the translation of the guilt of it upon the sacrifice (Isa 53:4-5; 1Jn 1:7; 1Jn 1:9).
III. The sacrifice must be killed and slain, and that upon the north side of the altar.
1. The death of Christ (Dan 9:26; Isa 53:10).
2. Christ was killed in Jerusalem and Mount Sion, which was on the sides of the north.
IV. The blood was pourer forth at the foot of the altar, and sprinkled upon it round about.
1. Christs blood was shed (Isa 53:12; Mat 26:28).
2. Sprinkled (Heb 12:24; 1Pe 1:2).
V. The priest is to flay it, and cut it into its pieces.
1. This related in general to the sufferings of Christ (Mic 3:2-3; Psa 22:15-16).
2. As the sacrifice, being dead and slain, did leave a skin for clothing to the priest by whose hand he died, so Christ, our true sacrifice, who was led as a lamb to the slaughter, leaves a garment of righteousness to clothe believers with (Rom 13:14).
3. Whereas the sacrifice in this action was laid open, and the inward parts of it discovered to open view: so is Christ fully and openly discovered in the preaching of the gospel (Gal 3:1).
4. The skin of the sacrifice went to the priest. It was part of his maintenance (see Corinthians 9:13, 14).
VI. The pieces were to be salted (Lev 2:13; Mar 9:49).
1. This signifies the perpetuity of the covenant of grace.
2. Its wholesomeness.
VII. The legs and inwards must be washed. So the bodies of believers are said to be washed with pure water, and their hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience.
VIII. The several parts of the offering must be laid upon the altar, and burnt with fire, till consumed. This is the fire of the justice and wrath of God from heaven, which seized upon Christ; and every part of Him was burnt: His head crowned with thorns, His side pierced with the spear, His hands and feet with nails, His whole body did sweat drops of blood, His soul was heavy unto death, yea, burnt to ashes, as it were, brought to the utmost extremity of misery. His saints also endure the fiery trial (1Pe 4:12).
IX. The ashes must be carried out of the camp into a clean place (Lev 6:10-11; see Heb 13:11-13). Christs crucified body was not buried within the city, but placed in a new sepulchre where never any man lay before (Joh 19:41). So the dead bodies of all His saints, when they are spent and consumed to ashes, are regarded and preserved in the dust by God as sacred relics, and He will raise them up again unto eternal life. Lessons:
1. See here the difference between Gods ceremonies and mens. Divine ceremonies are full of light and spirit; human ceremonies are full of darkness and vanity.
2. See the fierceness of the wrath of God against sin. It is nothing but death and blood and slaughter that will appease offended justice.
3. Direction under the guilt of sin what to do, and what course to take, to make atonement and reconciliation between God and thee. Go and bring your sacrifice to the Priest, and by Him unto God.
4. Unspeakable consolation unto them that have taken this course. (S. Mather.)
The burnt-offering
An offerer comes. Mark what he brings. If his offering be from the herd, it must be an unblemished male (Lev 1:3). It must be the choicest produce from his pastures–the primest flower from his fields. There must be strength in fullest vigour, and beauty without one alloy. Such are the properties required. The purport is distinct. Jesus is here. The victim chosen before worlds were framed is thus portrayed. Strength and perfection are main colours in His portrait. We next approach the chambers of the offerers heart. We read, He shall offer it of his own free will (Lev 1:3). There is no compulsion. There is no reluctance. His step is willingness. This is a picture of faiths happy actings. Its chariot-wheels move swiftly. It feels sins miserable need. It knows the value of redeeming blood. So it flies, with rapid wing, to plead it at the mercy-seat. The eager offerer puts his hand upon the victims head (Lev 1:4). Do any ask the meaning of this rite? It graphically shows a transfer. Some load oppresses, which is thus cast off. Some burden passes to anothers person. Here is again the happy work of faith. It brings all guilt, and heaps it on the Saviours head. One sin retained is misery now and hell at last. All must be pardoned by being brought to Christ. And He is waiting to receive. The victim, to which sins thus typically pass, must die (Lev 1:5). Can Jesus, who in reality receives our guilt, not lay down life? It cannot be. The holy Word stands sure: In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die (Gen 2:17). The sinners surety, then, cannot be spared. He gives His life to pay the debt–to satisfy the wrath–to bear the curse–to expiate the guilt. O my soul, Christ died is all your hope–your plea–your remedy–your life. Christ died opens your path to God. The victims blood is sprinkled round about upon the altar (Lev 1:5). The blood is evidence that life is paid. This token then is profusely scattered. The victim is next flayed (Lev 1:6). The skin is torn away. The sacrificing priest received this as his portion. Here is a picture of that heaven-pure robe, in which Christ decks each child of faith. His blood, indeed, removes all curse. But it is obedience, which merits all glory. Because He died, we live. Because He lived, we reign. The piercing knife divides the limbs. Members are torn from members, and all the parts, without, within, to which defilement usually adheres, are diligently washed (Lev 1:9). The type of Jesus must be clean. No shadow of impurity may darken it. The parts thus severed, and thus washed, are placed upon the altar. Consuming fire is brought. It preys on every limb. The raging flame devours, until this fuel is reduced to ashes (Lev 1:9). Let us now seek the truth, which echoes from this blazing pile. The Garden and the Cross unfold it. There Jesus presents Himself, laden with all the sins of all His chosen race. (Dean Law.)
The burnt-offering
If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male, without blemish. The essential glory and dignity of Christs Person form the basis of Christianity. He imparts that dignity and glory to everything He does, and to every office He sustains. We shall see, when we come to examine the other offerings, that a female was, in some cases, permitted; but that was only expressive of the imperfection which attached to the worshippers apprehension, and in nowise of any defect in the offering, inasmuch as it was unblemished in the one case, as well as in the other. Here, however, it was an offering of the very highest order, because it was Christ offering Himself to God. He shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord. The use of the word voluntary, here, brings out, with great clearness, the grand idea in the burnt-offering. It leads us to contemplate the Cross in an aspect which is not sufficiently apprehended. We are too apt to look upon the Cross merely as the place where the great question of sin was gone into and settled, between eternal Justice and the spotless Victim–as the place where our guilt was atoned for, and where Satan was gloriously vanquished. Eternal and universal praise to redeeming love the Cross was all this. But it was more than this. It was the place where Christs love to the Father was told out in language which only the Father could hear and understand. It is in the latter aspect that we have it typified, in the burnt-offering; and therefore it is that the word voluntary occurs. The guilty sinner, no doubt, finds in the Cross a Divine answer to the deepest and most earnest cravings of heart and conscience. The true believer finds in the Cross that which captivates every affection of his heart, and transfixes his whole moral being. The angels find in the Cross a theme for ceaseless admiration. All this is true; but there is that, in the Cross, which passes far beyond the loftiest conceptions of saints or angels; namely, the deep-toned devotion of the heart of the Son presented to, and appreciated by, the heart of the Father. This is the elevated aspect of the Cross, which is so strikingly shadowed forth in the burnt-offering. And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt-offering; and it shall be accepted for him, to make atonement for him. The act of laying on of hands was expressive of full identification. By that significant act the offerer and the offering became one; and this oneness, in the case of the burnt-offering, secured for the offerer all the acceptableness of his offering. The application of this to Christ and the believer sets forth a truth of the most precious nature, and one largely developed in the New Testament; namely, the believers everlasting identification with, and acceptance in, Christ. As He is, so are we, in this world. We are in Him that is true (1Jn 4:17; 1Jn 5:20). Nothing, in any measure, short of this could avail. And he shall kill the bullock before the Lord: and the priests, Aarons sons, shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation. It is most needful, in studying the doctrine of the burnt-offering, to bear in mind that the grand point set forth therein is not the meeting of the sinners need, but the presentation to God of that which was infinitely acceptable to Him. Christ, as foreshadowed by the burnt-offering, is not for the sinners conscience, but for the heart of God. Further, the Cross, in the burnt-offering, is not the exhibition of the exceeding hatefulness of sin, but of Christs unshaken and unshakable devotedness to the Father. Neither is it the scene of Gods outpoured wrath on Christ the Sin-bearer; but of the Fathers unmingled complacency in Christ, the voluntary and most fragrant sacrifice. Finally, atonement, as seen in the burnt-offering, is not merely commensurate with the claims of mans conscience, but with the intense desire of the heart of Christ, to carry out the will and establish the counsels of God–a desire which stopped not short of surrendering up His spotless, precious life, as a voluntary offering of sweet savour to God. The priests, Aarons sons, shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation. Here we have a type of the Church, bringing the memorial of an accomplished sacrifice, and presenting it in the place of individual approach to God. But, we must remember, it is the blood of the burnt-offering, and not of the sin-offering. It is the Church, in the power of the Holy Ghost, entering into the stupendous thought of Christs accomplished devotedness to God, and not a convicted sinner, entering into the value of the blood of the Sin-bearer. And he shall flay the burnt-offering, and cut it into his pieces. The ceremonial act of flaying was peculiarly expressive. It was simply the removing of the outward covering, in order that what was within might be fully revealed. It was not sufficient that the offering should be, outwardly, without blemish, the hidden parts should be all disclosed, in order that every sinew and every joint might be seen. It was only in the case of the burnt-offering that this action was specially named. This is quite in character, and tends to set forth the depth of Christs devotedness to the Father. It was no mere surface-work with Him. The more the secrets of His inner life were disclosed, the more the depths of His being were explored, the more clearly was it made manifest that pure devotion to the will of His Father, and earnest desire for His glory, were the springs of action in the great Antitype of the burnt-offering. He was, most assuredly, a whole burnt-offering. And cut it into his pieces. This action presents a somewhat similar truth to that taught in the sweet incense beaten small (chap. 16.). The Holy Ghost delights to dwell upon the sweetness and fragrance of the sacrifice of Christ, not only as a whole, but also in all its minute details. Look at the burnt-offering, as a whole, and you see it without blemish. Look at it in all its parts, and you see it to be the same. Such was Christ; and as such He is shadowed forth in this important type. And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and lay the wood in order upon the fire. And the priests, Aarons sons, shall lay the parts, &c. This was a high position–high communion–a high order of priestly service–a striking type of the Church having fellowship with God, in reference to the perfect accomplishment of His will in the death of Christ. As convicted sinners we gaze on the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, and behold therein that which meets all our need. The Cross, in this aspect of it, gives perfect peace to the conscience. But, then, as priests, as purged worshippers, as members of the priestly family, we can look at the Cross in another light, even as the grand consummation of Christs holy purpose to carry out, even unto death, the will of the Father. But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord. This action rendered the sacrifice, typically, what Christ was essentially, pure, both inwardly and outwardly pure. The members of His body perfectly obeyed and carried out the counsels of His devoted heart–that heart which only beat for God, and for His glory, in the salvation of men. Well, therefore, might the priest burn all on the altar. It was all typically pure, and all designed only as food for the altar of God. (C. H. Mackintosh.)
The burnt-offering
In the burnt-offering the atoning element of sacrifice fell into the background, though not wholly absent; there is no special manipulation of the blood, as in the sin-offering; all centres on the entire consumption of the sacrifice upon the altar, which was especially the altar of burnt-offering. The burnt-offering was, then, peculiarly the offering of worship. And the offerer was set forth as being a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God. The principal burnt-offering under the law was the daily, or continual, burnt-offering (Exo 29:38-42; cf. Num 28:3-8, Lev 6:9-12). Nothing was ever allowed to interfere with this continual burnt-offering. The great national offering of Israel, says Archdeacon Freeman, the morning and evening lamb, was simply the ancient burnt-offering, or the Mosaic offering of private persons, lifted into a new sphere of power and activity. The directions given in the two eases are, as far as they go (cf. Num 28:1-31, with Lev 1:1-13)
, perfectly coincident; even to the quantity of flour, wine, and oil. Insomuch that the lofty powers wielded by the continual sacrifice might well seem at first sight unaccountable. But they are fully accounted for when we call to mind the august circumstances with which this particular offering was surrounded. These, joined to the direct command and promise of God in respect of it, render an abundant account of the transcendent powers which are ascribed to it. And though we might on some accounts rather have expected to find the ox or the ram selected, for their physical superiority and greater value, as the national and all-containing sacrifice, we easily perceive, from the standing-ground of the gospel, the superior fitness for this purpose of the feeblest, meekest, and most unresisting of creatures. At the same time, even as the Divine strength was made perfect in the weakness of Christ, so this outwardly simple and single sacrifice was seen, on occasion, to carry within it all that was noble and powerful in the sacrificial sphere. On each Sabbath it expanded into two lambs, offered morning and evening; at the new moons, and other feasts, it became seven lambs, two young bullocks, a ram, and a goat; on each day, during the Feast of Tabernacles, fourteen lambs, from eight to thirteen bullocks, two rams, and a goat, became, in a word, fat burnt sacrifices, with incense of rams, bullocks, and goats. By all these was manifested forth the might that was veiled under the meekness of the lamb . . . It is of the utmost importance thus to have pointed out the function and capacities of the ancient burnt-offering, because the sacrificial work of Christ is to so great a degree interpreted to us by it, and specially by that loftily empowered instance of it, the Mosaic continual sacrifice. To this is to be referred whatever is said in the New Testament, and in the Liturgies, of His giving Himself, as a most unspeakably acceptable gift to God; as discriminated either from His giving or delivering Himself over for suffering and death, to wicked men and powers of evil, which is more especially set forth by the sin-offering; or again, as distinguished from His giving Himself to man as the life of his soul, which was represented by the peace-offering. The continual burnt-offering represents also our Lords perpetual presentation of His sacrifice in heaven, that sacrifice which St. Athanasius calls a faithful sacrifice, one which remains and does not pass away. (E. F. Willis, M. A.)
The burnt-offering
The leading feature of the burnt-offering consisted in its being wholly consumed upon the altar. What have we here but a type of the preciousness of Jesus, as exhibited in His wholehearted devotedness, His entire consecration to the will and service of His Father? Is not His language in the fortieth Psalm, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy will, O My God. Yea, Thy law is within My heart–precisely the language of the Burnt-Offering? Again, in John, I seek not My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. Who but Jesus could say, I do always those things that please Him? Isolated acts of devotedness we may and do see exhibited by many of His followers. But in the Man Christ Jesus we see one who through life, and in death could say, My meat and My drink is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work–One who loved and served the Lord His God with all His heart, His soul, His strength–One, therefore, who met in every respect the requirements of the type before us. Before the victim for the burnt-offering was placed upon the altar, it was flayed and cut into pieces, and the parts thereof, the head and feet, laid in order upon the wood. This was a testing process, and served to try the animals fitness for the sacrifice. Jesus was tried. Tried by man. Tried by Satan. Tried by God. His thoughts, the feelings of His heart, His words, His every act–all were laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom He had to do. Yet all bore the test. The minutest examination of His inner as well as His outer life failed to disclose aught but consisted with the purest and most perfect devotion to His Fathers will. He Himself could say, Thou hast proved Mine heart, Thou hast visited Me in the night, Thou hast tried Me and shalt find nothing. Whilst His Father from the excellent glory declared, Thou art My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. In other words, I rest in Thee and am satisfied. My holiness rests in Thee and is satisfied. My justice, My truth, all the essential attributes which I possess as Jehovah, all are satisfied. All My most righteous claims are met to the full. Thou art unto Me a perfect burnt-offering. A sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savour. But not only was the burnt-offering one of a sweet-smelling savour to God, it was rich also in results towards the offerer. It stood in his stead. All its perfectness was regarded as if it had been his. In its acceptance he was accepted. So with Christs sacrifice (see Eph 5:2; Rom 5:19). (F. H. White.)
The burnt-offerings aptly commence the sacrificial laws
First, they were probably the oldest form of sacrifice. In the next place, they had the very widest application, and could be presented by any person without distinction, a point which is the more significant as the offerer, sharing the sacred functions with the priests, had to perform several important parts of the ceremony himself. And lastly, though originally designed to convey merely the worshippers awe and his unconditional surrender to the Divine supremacy, they were, in the Levitical code, invested with the character of atonement (Lev 1:4), and were not only commanded on specified occasions, but left to the spontaneous impulse of the heart that yearns for peace and for the expiation of sins known to the transgressor alone. They were therefore meant to serve the highest ends of an inward religion. Thus modified, they marked a decided progress in the path of spiritual faith; they were, in fact, the forerunners of the expiatory offerings which form the very crowning point of the sacrificial system, and beyond which, even at the very next step, the mind leaves the fetters of the ceremonial law and enters the purer regions of freedom and elevation. Hence the Levitical holocausts lead us to a time when the deeprooted tendencies towards pagan idolatry had been conquered, and the intellectual efforts of the more thoughtful and more gifted among the Hebrews had been rewarded by the establishment of a religious creed, which, however far removed from absolute truth, and however repugnant to the true attributes of the Deity and the requirements of philosophy and reason, at least permitted the exercise of noble and exalted humanity, and even facilitated, more than any of the preceding and most of the later systems of theology, an insight into the moral government of the world, and the higher aims of human existence. Thus the very beginning of the Book reveals unmistakably the time and purposes of its composition, and forms the first link in that great chain of evidence which leads to the most pregnant and most interesting historical results. (M. M. Kalisch, Ph. D.)
The burnt-offering
Here we are so accustomed to fall short of Gods glory, and failure in glorifying Him is so much regarded as the necessary law of our condition, that even believers find it difficult to look on failure in devotedness as sin–sin that needs atonement as much as their most dire transgressions. Even after we have owned the blood of the Paschal Lamb as delivering from the judgment due to our natural condition, and after we have recognised the necessity of the Holy One bearing the curse earned by our transgressions, we nevertheless fail to estimate the want of perfect devotedness as being positive sin; and hence the appreciation of our own condition, as well as of the grace that meets it, becomes proportionately enfeebled. In order to correct this error–an error fatal to all right apprehension of God, and our relation both to His holiness and to His grace–the first lesson given to us in the Tabernacle respects the whole burnt-offering. In other offerings part was sometimes given to the priest, sometimes to the offerer; but the burnt-offering was all (the skin only excepted) rendered to God, and all burnt upon His altar. In the burnt-offering, therefore, there was a distinct recognition of the righteous claim of God on the unreserved devotedness of His creatures; but it was also the confession that that claim was responded to by none. When an offerer presented a victim to be accepted in his room, the very act of substitution implied that the offerer acknowledged himself to be destitute of the qualifications which were found in his offering; otherwise substitution would not be needed, for the offerer would stand in his own integrity. There was the confession, too, that the absence of these qualifications involved guilt–guilt deserving death; for otherwise the offering would not have been substitutionally slain–killed before Jehovah; and lastly, there was the acknowledgment that because no unreserved devotedness had been found in him, he needed an offering to be wholly given in his stead as a sweet savour of rest before Jehovah. The burnt-offering therefore may be regarded as the type of Christ in respect of that full, unreserved devotedness of service which caused Him, as the servant of Jehovah, in all things to renounce Himself, and to render every energy, and every feeling, and finally His life itself, as a whole burnt-offering unto God. (B. W. Newton.)
Right use of the grace of the burnt-offering
To use aright the grace of the burnt-offering requires, whilst we remain in the flesh, continued watchfulness: else we may sit down under the shadow of its mercies and slumber. When protection in the earth was by the especial gift of God granted to Cain, the opportunities which that protection gave were instantly used by him against God. It may be said, what else could be expected from the unregenerate heart of Cain? But it must be remembered that unregenerate energies are still found in the flesh even of the regenerate. In our flesh no good thing dwelleth, but sin–essential sin–is there. The flesh lusteth against the spirit. And although the protection vouchsafed to Cain was a temporary mercy only, and although no burnt-offering spread the power of its acceptance over his guilty head, and therefore in him unregeneracy might be expected to work and to bring forth its proper fruits, yet what shall we say of another–him who is first mentioned in Scripture as standing by the side of a burnt-offering altar? Noah offered whole burnt-offerings, and the Lord smelled a sweet savour of rest and made a covenant of blessing, and under it Noah rested: but to what did he devote his energies? To planting a vineyard for himself and cherishing its fruits, till he drank the wine thereof and became drunken and dishonoured. Can there be any other result, when the Church, forgetting its high and separate calling, finds its chief present use of the grace of redemption, in trying to sanctify to itself mere earthly joys? It was otherwise with the Apostle Paul. Who knew, as he, the value of the burnt-offering and the joy of its acceptance? Yet to him, to live was Christ; and he laboured on till he could say, I have fought the good fight, I have kept the faith, I have finished my course with joy. And why this difference? It was because the apostle better understood that the only true place of blessing was the new creation. His soul followed, as it were, the offering to the place into which its sweet savour ascended–even above the heavens. (B. W. Newton.)
Inferior offerings permitted
One offerer might bring a bullock–another an offering from the flock–another only an offering of fowls. There was evidently much mercy in this provision; for if poverty, or even disinclination, prevented an Israelite from bringing the highest offering, he was permitted to bring a lesser, in order that he might not be deprived entirely of the blessings connected with the burnt-offering. Antitypically, there ought to be in believers sufficient enlargement of faith to form a proper conception of Christ as the burnt-offering; bat if this be wanting, there may be a more feeble power of faith, not without its value, which is able to apprehend partially. Such a character of faith is likely to be prevalent at an hour of general weakness like the present. The superior worth of the bullock, as contrasted with the lesser offerings, is doubtless the point chiefly to be rested on. But there seems a peculiar suitability in such a type as the bullock, when our minds are directed to Christ as the Servant of Jehovah. If we are to consider the strength, the patience, the submissiveness, which characterised His service, or the value of that service in result, the bullock is evidently a far fitter type than either the sheep or the dove. When the offering was from the flock, and yet more, when it was taken from the fowls, we find, as might be expected, the ceremonies indicating far less distinct and discriminative apprehension of the value of the burnt-offering than in the former case. A distinct recognition of Him and His perfections, to whom the offering was rendered, was most material. Accordingly, in offering the bullock the offerer presented it at the door of the Tabernacle of congregation before Jehovah, and killed it before Jehovah. Great prominency is thus given to Jehovah; but in this second case there is no such presentation before Jehovah, no laying the hand on the head of the victim, no mention of its being presented for acceptance or for atonement. It was killed also in a different place, not simply before Jehovah, but on the side of the altar northward before Jehovah. In the former case the offerer advanced to the door of the Tabernacle of congregation before Jehovah; as if recognising Him, and all His attributes in their totality; but in this second case he slew the victim, not in front of the altar, or at the altar, but on the side of the altar northward–indicating, apparently, that his attention was directed, not to the manner in which all the attributes of God were recognised by the altar, as it looked eastward and westward, northward and southward; but that it was fixed peculiarly on its relation to Jehovah in some of His attributes. To speak generally the deficiency in this second class of offerings may be described thus: An insufficient apprehension of Him to whom the offering is brought. Insufficient appreciation of the value of the offering itself, both in its life and in its death. Thoughts not sufficiently discriminative as regards the altar, and the qualities that attach to the offering as there burned. Seeing, then, it is the great object of these ceremonies to expand truth, and to give distinctness of apprehension, that object fails of being attained, just in proportion as there is deficiency of apprehension or confusion of thoughts that should be distinguished. This is still more manifest in the offering from the fowls. (B. W. Newton.)
Kill it on the side of the altar northward
One obvious reason seems to be this–there was a necessity, for the sake of order, that there should be a separate place for killing the oxen and the sheep. No quarter of the heavens was sacred; and since, at other times, the sacrifice was presented on the east side, a variety like this answered the purpose of proclaiming that Jesus is offered to any soul in any nation, east or north, i.e., from east to west, north to south; His death is presented to the view of all, to be behoved by men as, soon as they see it. Look unto Me and be ye saved, all ends of the earth. (A. A. Bonar.)
The complete offering of self required by God
Give to God ourselves or nothing; and to give ourselves to Him is not His advantage bat ours. The philosopher said to his poor scholar, who told him he had nothing but himself to give: It is well, said he; and I will endeavour to give thee back to thyself better than I received thee. Thus doth God with us, and a Christian makes himself his daily sacrifice; he renews this gift of himself every day to God, and, receiving it every day bettered again, still he hath the more delight to give it, as being fitter for God the more it is sanctified by former sacrificing. Now that whereby we offer all other spiritual sacrifices, and even ourselves, is love. That is the holy fire that burns up all, sends up our prayers and our hearts and our whole selves, a whole burnt-offering to God. (Archbp. Leighton.)
Worthy offerings
There are some of the heathens that worship the sun for a god, and they would offer to the sun somewhat suitable; and therefore because they did so much admire at the swiftness of the motion of the sun, they would not offer a snail but a flying horse, a horse with wings. Now a horse is one of the swiftest creatures, and one of the strongest to continue in motion for a long time together; then, having added wings to the horse, they conceived he was suitable to be a sacrifice for the sun. So when we come to God to worship Him, to sanctify Him, to call upon His name, we must not bring the bare calves of our lips, but the fervency of our hearts; we must behave ourselves so as to give Him the glory that is fit for such a God to have. (J. Spencer.)
The best to be sacrificed
The Persian metal-workers will use little or no alloy with their gold, professing to despise, as base and beneath the name of gold, the metal alloyed with silver or copper employed by European and American jewellers, even though it be eighteen carats fine. Christ deserves the best of our best. (Sharpened Arrows.)
Hearty offerings
It is said of the Lacedaemonians, who were a poor and homely people, that they offered lean sacrifices to their gods; and that the Athenians who were a wise and wealthy people, offered fat and costly sacrifices; and yet in their wars the former always had the mastery over the latter. Whereupon they went to the oracle to know the reason why those should speed worst who gave most. The oracle returned this answer to them: That the Lacedaemonians were a people who gave their hearts to their gods, but that the Athenians only gave their gifts to their gods. Thus the heart without a gift is better than a gift without a heart. But both are desirable. (T. Secker.)
The motive in offering
There may be many things that move, and yet their motion is not an argument of life: a windmill, when the wind serveth, moveth, and moveth very nimbly too, yet this cannot be said to be a living creature; no, it moveth only by an external cause, by an artificial contrivance; it is so framed that when the wind sitteth in such or such a corner it will move, and so, having but an external motor and cause to move, and no inward principle–no soul within it to move it–it is an argument that it is no living creature. So it is also, if a man see another man move, and move very fast in those things which of themselves are the ways of God, you shall see him move as fast to hear a sermon as his neighbour doth, as forward and as hasty to thrust himself and bid himself a guest to the Lords table (when God hath not bid him) as any. Now the question is, What principle sets him at work? If it be an inward principle of life, out of a sincere affection and love to God and His ordinances that carrieth him to this, it argueth that man hath some life of grace; but if it be some wind that bloweth on him, the wind of state, the wind of law, the wind of danger, of penalty, the wind of fashion or custom, to do as his neighbours do: if these, or the like, be the things that draw him thither, this is no argument of life at all; it is a cheap thing, it is a counterfeit and dead piece of service. (J. Spencer.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 3. Burnt-sacrifice] The most important of all the sacrifices offered to God; called by the Septuagint , because it was wholly consumed, which was not the case in any other offering. See Clarke on Le 7:38.
His own voluntary will] lirtsono, to gain himself acceptance before the Lord: in this way all the versions appear to have understood the original words, and the connection in which they stand obviously requires this meaning.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
A burnt sacrifice, strictly so called, was such as was to be all burnt, the skin excepted, Lev 7:8; Gen 8:20; 1Ki 3:15. For Otherwise every sacrifice was burnt, more or less. The sacrifices did partly signify that the whole man, in whose stead the sacrifice was offered, was to be entirely and unreservedly offered or devoted to Gods service; and that the whole man did deserve to be utterly consumed, if God should deal severely with him; and directed us to serve the Lord with all singleness of heart, without self-ends, and to be ready to offer to God even such sacrifices or services wherein we ourselves should have no part nor benefit.
A male, as being more perfect than the female, Mal 1:14, and more truly representing Christ.
Without blemish; of which see Exo 29:1; Lev 23:22, &c.; to signify,
1. That God should be served with the best of every kind.
2. That man, represented by these sacrifices, should aim at all purity and perfection of heart and life, and that Christians should one day attain to it, Eph 5:27.
3. The spotless and complete holiness of Christ, Heb 9:13,14; 1Pe 1:18,19; 2:22. Of his own voluntary will. According to this translation, the place speaks only of free-will offerings, or such as were not prescribed by God to be offered in course, but were offered at the pleasure and by the voluntary devotion of any person, either by way of supplication for any mercy which he needed or desired, or by way of thanksgiving for any favour or blessing received. But it may seem improper to restrain the rules here given to free will offerings, which were to be observed in other offerings also. And the Hebrew word is by the LXX. Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic, and others, rendered to this purpose, for his acceptation, or that he may be accepted with God, or that God may be atoned, as it is Lev 1:4. And so this phrase is used Lev 23:11. At the door of the tabernacle of the congregation; in the court near to the door, where the altar stood, Lev 1:5. For here it was to be sacrificed, and here also the people might behold the oblation of it. And this further signified, that men could have no entrance, neither into the earthly tabernacle, the church, nor into the heavenly tabernacle of glory, but by Christ, who is the door, Joh 10:7,9, by whom alone we have access to God.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. a burnt sacrificeso calledfrom its being wholly consumed on the altar; no part of it was eateneither by the priests or the offerer. It was designed to propitiatethe anger of God incurred by original sin, or by particulartransgressions; and its entire combustion indicated theself-dedication of the offererhis whole naturehis body andsoulas necessary to form a sacrifice acceptable to God (Rom 12:1;Phi 1:20). This was the mostancient as well as the most conspicuous mode of sacrifice.
a male without blemishNoanimal was allowed to be offered that had any deformity or defect.Among the Egyptians, a minute inspection was made by the priest; andthe bullock having been declared perfect, a certificate to thateffect being fastened to its horns with wax, was sealed with hisring, and no other might be substituted. A similar process ofexamining the condition of the beasts brought as offerings, seems tohave been adopted by the priests in Israel (Joh6:27).
at the door of thetabernaclewhere stood the altar of burnt offering (Ex40:6). Every other place was forbidden, under the highest penalty(Le 17:4).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
If his offering [be] a burnt sacrifice of the herd,…. So called, because consumed by fire, see Le 6:9 even all of it except the skin, and therefore its name with the Greeks is “a whole burnt offering”, as in Mr 12:33 its name in Hebrew is , which comes from a word which signifies to “ascend” or “go up”, because not only it was carried up to the altar by the priest, which was common to other sacrifices, but being burnt upon it, it ascended upwards in smoke and vapour; it was typical of Christ’s dolorous sufferings and death, who therein sustained the fire of divine wrath, and his strength was dried up like a potsherd with it. Jarchi on Le 1:1 says, there were in the burnt offerings mysteries of future things:
let him offer a male; and not a female, pointing at the Messiah’s sex, and his strength and excellency, the child that was to be born, and the Son to be given, whose name should be Immanuel:
without blemish; or [perfect], having no part wanting, nor any part superfluous, nor any spot upon it, see Le 22:19 denoting the perfection of Christ as man, being in all things made like unto his brethren, and his having not the least stain or blemish of sin upon him, either original or actual, and so could, as he did, offer up himself without spot to God, Heb 2:17:
and he shall offer it of his own voluntary will; not forced or compelled to it, or with any reluctancy, but as a pure freewill offering; so our Lord Jesus Christ laid down his life of himself, and freely gave himself an offering and a sacrifice, and became cheerfully and readily obedient unto death:
at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, before the Lord; it was to be done openly and publicly, and in the presence of the Lord, to whom it was offered up; showing, that Christ’s sacrifice would be offered up to God, against whom we have sinned, by which his law would be fulfilled, his justice satisfied, and wrath appeased, and that his death would be public and notorious; see Lu 24:18.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Ceremonial connected with the offering of an ox as a burnt-offering. (vid., Gen 8:20) is generally rendered by the lxx or , sometimes or , in the Vulgate holocaustum , because the animal was all consumed upon the altar. The ox was to be a male without blemish ( , integer ; i.e., free from bodily faults, see Lev 22:19-25), and to be presented “ at the door of the tabernacle, ” – i.e., near to the altar of burnt-offering (Exo 40:6), where all the offerings were to be presented (Lev 17:8-9), – “ for good pleasure for him (the offerer) before Jehovah, ” i.e., that the sacrifice might secure to him the good pleasure of God (Exo 28:38).
Lev 1:4 “ he (the offerer) shall lay his hand upon the head of the burnt-offering.” The laying on of hands, by which, to judge from the verb to lean upon, we are to understand a forcible pressure of the hand upon the head of the victim, took place in connection with all the slain-offerings (the offering of pigeons perhaps excepted), and is expressly enjoined in the laws for the burnt-offerings, the peace-offerings (Lev 3:2, Lev 3:7, Lev 3:13), and the sin-offerings (Lev 4:4, Lev 4:15, Lev 4:24, Lev 4:29, Lev 4:33), that is to say, in every case in which the details of the ceremonial are minutely described. But if the description is condensed, then no allusion is made to it: e.g., in the burnt-offering of sheep and goats (Lev 1:11), the sin-offering (Lev 5:6), and the trespass-offering (Lev 5:15, Lev 5:18, 25). This ceremony was not a sign of the removal of something from his own power and possession, or the surrender and dedication of it to God, as Rosenmller and Knobel
(Note: Hence Knobel’s assertion (at Lev 7:2), that the laying on of the hand upon the head of the animal, which is prescribed in the case of all the other sacrifices, was omitted in that of the trespass-offering alone, needs correction, and there is no foundation for the conclusion, that it did not take place in connection with the trespass-offering.)
affirm; nor an indication of ownership and of a readiness to give up his own to Jehovah, as Bhr maintains; nor a symbol of the imputation of sin, as Kurtz supposes:
(Note: This was the view held by some of the Rabbins and of the earlier theologians, e.g., Calovius, bibl. ill. ad Lev. i. 4, Lundius and others, but by no means by “most of the Rabbins, some of the fathers, and most of the earlier archaeologists and doctrinal writers,” as is affirmed by Bhr (ii. p. 336), who supports his assertion by passages from Outram, which refer to the sin-offering only, but which Bhr transfers without reserve to all the bleeding sacrifices, thus confounding substitution with the imputation of sin, in his antipathy to the orthodox doctrine of satisfaction. Outram’s general view of this ceremony is expressed clearly enough in the following passages: “ ritus erat ea notandi ac designandi, quae vel morti devota erant, vel Dei gratiae commendata, vel denique gravi alicui muneri usuique sacro destinata. Eique ritui semper adhiberi solebant verba aliqua explicata, quae rei susceptae rationi maxime congruere viderentur ” ( l.c. 8 and 9). With reference to the words which explained the imposition of hands he observes: “ ita ut sacris piacularibus culparum potissimum confessiones cum poenae deprecatione junctas, voluntariis bonorum precationes, eucharisticus autem et votivis post res prosperas impetratas periculave depulsa factis laudes et gratiarum actiones, omnique denique victimarum generi ejusmodi preces adjunctas putem, quae cuique maxime conveniebant ” (c. 9).)
but the symbol of a transfer of the feelings and intentions by which the offerer was actuated in presenting his sacrifice, whereby he set apart the animal as a sacrifice, representing his own person in one particular aspect. Now, so far as the burnt-offering expressed the intention of the offerer to consecrate his life and labour to the Lord, and his desire to obtain the expiation of the sin which still clung to all his works and desires, in order that they might become well-pleasing to God, he transferred the consciousness of his sinfulness to the victim by the laying on of hands, even in the case of the burnt-offering. But this was not all: he also transferred the desire to walk before God in holiness and righteousness, which he could not do without the grace of God. This, and no more than this, is contained in the words, “that it may become well-pleasing to him, to make atonement for him.” with Seghol ( Ges. 52), to expiate (from the Kal , which is not met with in Hebrew, the word in Gen 6:14 being merely a denom. verb, but which signifies texit in Arabic), is generally construed with like verbs of covering, and in the laws of sacrifice with the person as the object (“for him,” Lev 4:26, Lev 4:31, Lev 4:35; Lev 5:6, Lev 5:10., Lev 14:20, Lev 14:29, etc.; “for them,” Lev 4:20; Lev 10:17; “for her,” Lev 12:7; for a soul, Lev 17:11; Exo 30:15, cf. Num 8:12), and in the case of the sin-offerings with a second object governed either by or ( Lev 4:35; Lev 5:13, Lev 5:18, or Lev 4:26; Lev 5:6, etc., to expiate him over or on account of his sin); also, though not so frequently, with pers., (Lev 16:6, Lev 16:24; 2Ch 30:18), and , (Exo 32:30), and with pers., to permit expiation to be made (Deu 21:8; Eze 16:63); also with the accusative of the object, though in prose only in connection with the expiation of inanimate objects defiled by sin (Lev 16:33).
The expiation was always made or completed by the priest, as the sanctified mediator between Jehovah and the people, or, previous to the institution of the Aaronic priesthood, by Moses, the chosen mediator of the covenant, not by “Jehovah from whom the expiation proceeded,” as Bhr supposes. For although all expiation has its ultimate foundation in the grace of God, which desires not the death of the sinner, but his redemption and salvation, and to this end has opened a way of salvation, and sanctified sacrifice as the means of expiation and mercy; it is not Jehovah who makes the expiation, but this is invariably the office or work of a mediator, who intervenes between the holy God and sinful man, and by means of expiation averts the wrath of God from the sinner, and brings the grace of God to bear upon him. It is only in cases where the word is used in the secondary sense of pardoning sin, or showing mercy, that God is mentioned as the subject (e.g., Deu 21:8; Psa 65:4; Psa 78:38; Jer 17:23).
(Note: The meaning “to make atonement” lies at the foundation in every passage in which the word is used metaphorically, such as Gen 32:21, where Jacob seeks to expiate the face of his angry brother, i.e., to appease his wrath, with a present; or Pro 16:14, “the wrath of a king is as messengers of death, but a wise man expiates it, i.e., softens, pacifies it;” Isa 47:11, “Mischief (destruction) will fall upon thee, thou will not be able to expiate it,” that is to say, to avert the wrath of God, which has burst upon thee in the calamity, by means of an expiatory sacrifice. Even in Isa 28:18, “and your covenant with death is disannulled” (annihilated) ( ), the use of the word is to be explained from the fact that the guilt, which brought the judgment in its train, could be cancelled by a sacrificial expiation (cf. Isa 6:7 and Isa 22:14); so that there is no necessity to resort to a meaning which is altogether foreign to the word, viz., that of covering up by blotting over. When Hoffmann therefore maintains that there is no other way of explaining the use of the word in these passages, than by the supposition that, in addition to the verb to cover, there was another denominative verb, founded upon the word a covering, or payment, the stumblingblock in the use of the word lies simply this, that Hoffmann has taken a one-sided view of the idea of expiation, through overlooking the fact, that the expiation had reference to the wrath of God which hung over the sinner and had to be averted from him by means of expiation, as is clearly proved by Exo 32:30 as compared with Exo 32:10 and Exo 32:22. The meaning of expiation which properly belongs to the verb is not only retained in the nouns cippurim and capporeth , but lies at the root of the word copher , which is formed from the Kal, as we may clearly see from Exo 30:12-16, where the Israelites are ordered to pay a copher at the census, to expiate their souls, i.e., to cover their souls from the death which threatens the unholy, when he draws near without expiation to a holy God. Vid., Oehler in Herzog’s Cycl.)
The medium of expiation in the case of the sacrifice was chiefly the blood of the sacrificial animal that was sprinkled upon the altar (Lev 17:11); in addition to which, the eating of the flesh of the sin-offering by the priests is also called bearing the iniquity of the congregation to make atonement for them (Lev 10:17). In other cases it was the intercession of Moses (Exo 32:30); also the fumigation with holy incense, which was a symbol of priestly intercession (Num 17:11). On one occasion it was the zeal of Phinehas, when he stabbed the Israelite with a spear for committing fornication with a Midianite (Num 25:8, Num 25:13). In the case of a murder committed by an unknown hand, it was the slaying of an animal in the place of the murderer who remained undiscovered (Deu 21:1-9); whereas in other cases blood-guiltiness (murder) could not be expiated in any other way than by the blood of the person by whom it had been shed (Num 35:33). In Isa 27:9, a divine judgment, by which the nation was punished, is so described, as serving to avert the complete destruction which threatened it. And lastly, it was in some cases a , such, for example, as the atonement-money paid at the numbering of the people (Exo 30:12.), and the payment made in the case referred to in Exo 21:30.
If, therefore, the idea of satisfaction unquestionably lay at the foundation of the atonement that was made, in all those cases in which it was effected by a penal judgment, or judicial poena ; the intercession of the priest, or the fumigation which embodied it, cannot possibly be regarded as a satisfaction rendered to the justice of God, so that we cannot attribute the idea of satisfaction to every kind of sacrificial expiation. Still less can it be discerned in the slaying of the animal, when simply regarded as the shedding of blood. To this we may add, that in the laws for the sin-offering there is no reference at all to expiation; and in the case of the burnt-offering, the laying on of hands is described as the act by which it was to become well-pleasing to God, and to expiate the offerer. Now, if the laying on of hands was accompanied with a prayer, as the Jewish tradition affirms, and as we may most certainly infer from Deu 26:13, apart altogether from Lev 16:21, although no prayer is expressly enjoined; then in the case of the burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, it is in this prayer, or the imposition of hands which symbolized it, and by which the offerer substituted the sacrifice for himself and penetrated it with his spirit, that we must seek for the condition upon which the well-pleased acceptance of the sacrifice on the part of Fog depended, and in consequence of which it became an atonement for him; in other words, was fitted to cover him in the presence of the holiness of God.
Lev 1:5-9 The laying on of hands was followed by the slaughtering ( , never to put to death), which was performed by the offerer himself in the case of the private sacrifices, and by the priests and Levites in that of the national and festal offerings (2Ch 29:22, 2Ch 29:24, 2Ch 29:34). The slaughtering took place “ before Jehovah ” (see Lev 1:3), or, according to the more precise account in Lev 1:11, on the side of the altar northward, for which the expression “before the door of the tabernacle” is sometimes used (Lev 3:2, Lev 3:8, Lev 3:13, etc.). (a young ox) is applied to a calf ( ) in Lev 9:2, and a mature young bull ( ) in Lev 4:3, Lev 4:14. But the animal of one year old is called in Lev 9:2, and the mature ox of seven years old is called in Jdg 6:25. At the slaughtering the blood was caught by the priests (2Ch 29:22), and sprinkled upon the altar. When the sacrifices were very numerous, as at the yearly feasts, the Levites helped to catch the blood (2Ch 30:16); but the sprinkling upon the altar was always performed by the priests alone. In the case of the burnt-offerings, the blood was swung “against the altar round about,” i.e., against all four sides (walls) of the altar (not “over the surface of the altar”); i.e., it was poured out of the vessel against the walls of the altar with a swinging motion. This was also done when peace-offerings (Lev 3:2, Lev 3:8, Lev 3:13; Lev 9:18) and trespass-offerings (Lev 7:2) were sacrificed; but it was not so with the sin-offering (see at Lev 4:5).
Lev 1:6 The offerer was then to flay the slaughtered animal, to cut it ( generally rendered in the lxx) into its pieces, – i.e., to cut it up into the different pieces, into which an animal that has been killed is generally divided, namely, according to the separate joints, or “according to the bones” (Jdg 19:29), – that he might boil its flesh in pots (Eze 24:4, Eze 24:6). He was also to wash its intestines and the lower part of its legs (Lev 1:9). , the inner part of the body, or the contents of the inner part of the body, signifies the viscera; not including those of the breast, however, such as the lungs, heart, and liver, to which the term is also applied in other cases (for in the case of the peace-offerings, when the fat which envelopes the intestines, the kidneys, and the liver-lobes was to be placed upon the altar, there is no washing spoken of), but the intestines of the abdomen or belly, such as the stomach and bowels, which would necessarily have to be thoroughly cleansed, even when they were about to be used as food. , which is only found in the dual, and always in connection either with oxen and sheep, or with the springing legs of locusts (Lev 11:21), denotes the shin, or calf below the knee, or the leg from the knee down to the foot.
Lev 1:7-9 It was the duty of the sons of Aaron, i.e., of the priests, to offer the sacrifice upon the altar. To this end they were to “ put fire upon the altar ” (of course this only applies to the first burnt-offering presented after the erection of the altar, as the fire was to be constantly burning upon the altar after that, without being allowed to go out, Lev 6:6), and to lay “ wood in order upon the fire ” ( to lay in regular order), and then to “ lay the parts, the head and the fat, in order upon the wood on the fire, ” and thus to cause the whole to ascend in smoke. , which is only used in connection with the burnt-offering (Lev 1:8, Lev 1:12, and Lev 8:20), signifies, according to the ancient versions (lxx ) and the rabbinical writers, the fat, probably those portions of fat which were separated from the entrails and taken out to wash. Bochart’s explanation is adeps a carne sejunctus . The head and fat are specially mentioned along with the pieces of flesh, partly because they are both separated from the flesh when animals are slaughtered, and partly also to point out distinctly that the whole of the animal (“ all,” Lev 1:9) was to be burned upon the altar, with the exception of the skin, which was given to the officiating priest (Lev 7:8), and the contents of the intestines. , to cause to ascend in smoke and steam (Exo 30:7), which is frequently construed with towards the altar ( local, so used as to include position in a place; vid., Lev 1:13, Lev 1:15, Lev 1:17; Lev 2:2, Lev 2:9, etc.), or with (Lev 6:8), or (Lev 9:13, Lev 9:17), was the technical expression for burning the sacrifice upon the altar, and showed that the intention was not simply to burn those portions of the sacrifice which were placed in the fire, i.e., to destroy, or turn them into ashes, but by this process of burning to cause the odour which was eliminated to ascend to heaven as the ethereal essence of the sacrifice, for a “ firing of a sweet savour unto Jehovah.” , firing (“an offering made by fire,” Eng. Ver.), is the general expression used to denote the sacrifices, which ascended in fire upon the altar, whether animal or vegetable (Lev 2:2, Lev 2:11, Lev 2:16), and is also applied to the incense laid upon the shew-bread (Lev 24:7); and hence the shew-bread itself (Lev 24:7), and even those portions of the sacrifices which Jehovah assigned to the priests for them to eat (Deu 18:1 cf. Jos 13:14), came also to be included in the firings for Jehovah. The word does not occur out of the Pentateuch, except in Jos 13:14 and 1Sa 2:28. In the laws of sacrifice it is generally associated with the expression, “a sweet savour unto Jehovah” ( : lxx): an anthropomorphic description of the divine satisfaction with the sacrifices offered, or the gracious acceptance of them on the part of God (see Gen 8:21), which is used in connection with all the sacrifices, even the expiatory or sin-offerings (Lev 4:31), and with the drink-offering also (Num 15:7, Num 15:10).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Law of the Burnt-Offering. | B. C. 1490. |
3 If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD. 4 And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. 5 And he shall kill the bullock before the LORD: and the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 6 And he shall flay the burnt offering, and cut it into his pieces. 7 And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and lay the wood in order upon the fire: 8 And the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall lay the parts, the head, and the fat, in order upon the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar: 9 But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.
If a man were rich and could afford it, it is supposed that he would bring his burnt-sacrifice, with which he designed to honour God, out of his herd of larger cattle. He that considers that God is the best that is will resolve to give him the best he has, else he gives him not the glory due unto his name. Now if a man determined to kill a bullock, not for an entertainment for his family and friends, but for a sacrifice to his God, these rules must be religiously observed:– 1. The beast to be offered must be a male, and without blemish, and the best he had in his pasture. Being designed purely for the honour of him that is infinitely perfect, it ought to be the most perfect in its kind. This signified the complete strength and purity that were in Christ the dying sacrifice, and the sincerity of heart and unblamableness of life that should be in Christians, who are presented to God as living sacrifices. But, literally, in Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female; nor is any natural blemish in the body a bar to our acceptance with God, but only the moral defects and deformities introduced by sin into the soul. 2. The owner must offer it voluntarily. What is done in religion, so as to please God, must be done by no other constraint than that of love. God accepts the willing people and the cheerful giver. Ainsworth and others read it, not as the principle, but as the end of offering: “Let him offer it for his favourable acceptation before the Lord. Let him propose this to himself as his end in bringing his sacrifice, and let his eye be fixed steadily upon that end–that he may be accepted of the Lord.” Those only shall find acceptance who sincerely desire and design it in all their religious services, 2 Cor. v. 9. 3. It must be offered at the door of the tabernacle, where the brazen altar of burnt-offerings stood, which sanctified the gift, and not elsewhere. He must offer it at the door, as one unworthy to enter, and acknowledging that there is no admission for a sinner into covenant and communion with God, but by sacrifice; but he must offer it at the tabernacle of the congregation, in token of his communion with the whole church of Israel even in this personal service. 4. The offerer must put his hand upon the head of his offering, v. 4. “He must put both his hands,” say the Jewish doctors, “with all his might, between the horns of the beast,” signifying thereby, (1.) The transfer of all his right to, and interest in, the beast, to God, actually, and by a manual delivery, resigning it to his service. (2.) An acknowledgment that he deserved to die, and would have been willing to die if God had required it, for the serving of his honour, and the obtaining of his favour. (3.) A dependence upon the sacrifice, as an instituted type of the great sacrifice on which the iniquity of us all was to be laid. The mystical signification of the sacrifices, and especially this rite, some think the apostle means by the doctrine of laying on of hands (Heb. vi. 2), which typified evangelical faith. The offerer’s putting his hand on the head of the offering was to signify his desire and hope that it might be accepted from him to make atonement for him. Though the burnt-offerings had not respect to any particular sin, as the sin-offering had, yet they were to make atonement for sin in general; and he that laid his hand on the head of a burnt-offering was to confess that he had left undone what he ought to have done and had done that which he ought not to have done, and to pray that, though he deserved to die himself, the death of his sacrifice might be accepted for the expiating of his guilt. 5. The sacrifice was to be killed by the priests of Levites, before the Lord, that is, in a devout religious manner, and with an eye to God and his honour. This signified that our Lord Jesus was to make his soul, or life, an offering for sin. Messiah the prince must be cut off as a sacrifice, but not for himself, Dan. ix. 26. It signified also that in Christians, who are living sacrifices, the brutal part must be mortified or killed, the flesh crucified with its corrupt affections and lusts and all the appetites of the mere animal life. 6. The priests were to sprinkle the blood upon the altar (v. 5); for, the blood being the life, it was this that made atonement for the soul. This signified the direct and actual regard which our Lord Jesus had to the satisfaction of his Father’s justice, and the securing of his injured honour, in the shedding of his blood; he offered himself without spot to God. It also signified the pacifying and purifying of our consciences by the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ upon them by faith, 1Pe 1:2; Heb 10:22. 7. The beast was to be flayed and decently cut up, and divided into its several joints or pieces, according to the art of the butcher; and then all the pieces, with the head and the fat (the legs and inwards being first washed), were to be burnt together upon the altar, v. 6-9. “But to what purpose,” would some say, “was this waste? Why should all this good meat, which might have been given to the poor, and have served their hungry families for food a great while, be burnt together to ashes?” So was the will of God; and it is not for us to object or to find fault with it. When it was burnt for the honour of God, in obedience to his command, and to signify spiritual blessings, it was really better bestowed, and better answered the end of its creation, than when it was used as food for man. We must never reckon that lost which is laid out for God. The burning of the sacrifice signified the sharp sufferings of Christ, and the devout affections with which, as a holy fire, Christians must offer up themselves their whole spirit, soul, and body, unto God. 8. This is said to be an offering of a sweet savour, or savour of rest, unto the Lord. The burning of flesh is unsavoury in itself; but this, as an act of obedience to a divine command, and a type of Christ, was well pleasing to God: he was reconciled to the offerer, and did himself take a complacency in that reconciliation. He rested, and was refreshed with these institutions of his grace, as, at first, with his works of creation (Exod. xxxi. 17), rejoicing therein, Ps. civ. 31. Christ’s offering of himself to God is said to be of a sweet-smelling savour (Eph. v. 2), and the spiritual sacrifices of Christians are said to be acceptable to God, through Christ, 1 Pet. ii. 5.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
b. THE BURNT OFFERING 1:317
TEXT 1:317
3
If his oblation be a burnt-offering of the herd, he shall offer it a male without blemish: he shall offer it at the door of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before Jehovah.
4
And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the burnt-offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.
5
And he shall kill the bullock before Jehovah: and Aarons sons, the priests, shall present the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is at the door of the tent of meeting.
6
And he shall flay the burnt-offering, and cut it into its pieces.
7
And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and lay wood in order upon the fire;
8
and Aarons sons, the priests, shall lay the pieces, the head, and the fat, in order upon the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar:
9
but its inwards and its legs shall he wash with water. And the priest shall burn the whole on the altar, for a burnt-offering, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto Jehovah.
10
And if his oblation be of the flock, of the sheep, or of the goats, for a burnt-offering; he shall offer it a male without blemish.
11
And he shall kill it on the side of the altar northward before Jehovah: and Aarons sons, the priests, shall sprinkle its blood upon the altar round about.
12
And he shall cut it into its pieces, with its head and its fat; and the priest shall lay them in order on the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar:
13
but the inwards and the legs shall he wash with water. And the priest shall offer the whole, and burn it upon the altar: it is a burnt-offering, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto Jehovah.
14
And if his oblation to Jehovah be a burnt-offering of birds, then he shall offer his oblation of turtle-doves, or of young pigeons.
15
And the priest shall bring it unto the altar, and wring off its head, and burn it on the altar; and the blood thereof shall be drained out on the side of the altar,
16
and he shall take away its crop with the filth thereof, and cast it beside the altar on the east part, in the place of the ashes:
17
and he shall rend it by the wings thereof, but shall not divide it asunder. And the priest shall burn it upon the altar, upon the wood that is upon the fire: it is a burnt-offering, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto Jehovah.
THOUGHT QUESTIONS 1:317
5.
When and why would a citizen of Israel make a burnt offering, i.e. for what purpose?
6.
Why no females of the herd or flock for an offering?
7.
The voluntary nature of this offering could teach something of its purpose. Explain.
8.
Just where was the door of the tabernacle? (i.e., east, west, north or south?) Cf. Exo. 29:42-43.
9.
In what sense before the Lord?
10.
What was indicated in placing the hands upon the head of the victim?
11.
Who accepted the sacrifice? For what purpose? Is at-one-ment a good definition of purpose?
12.
Who kills the young bull? Why? How?
13.
Just where was the blood to be sprinkled?
14.
All of this was done before the Lord. Why this thought is repeated so often?
15.
Is there some significance in skinning and cutting the animal into pieces?
16.
Wasnt the fire already upon the altar? (Cf. Lev. 6:13) What is meant in Lev. 1:7?
17.
Is there any possible symbolic meaning in the fire and the wood? Cf. Heb. 12:29; Psa. 90:8.
18.
Who washes the insides and legs of the flayed animal? Why?
19.
The whole animal is burnedwhy? It would seem that the stench from such burning would be anything but a sweet savor. Explain.
20.
In the case of sheep or goats the particular place for the slaying is prescribed. Why?
21.
If there were 100 worshippers per day who wanted to make a burnt offering it would seem the priests would have quite a busy timebut supposing there were 1,000 per day? Discuss.
22.
Why prescribe the use of turtledoves or young pigeons?
23.
Who kills this sacrifice? Why?
24.
To where is the blood applied?
25.
What is removed from the birds? Why?
26.
In what sense was the fowl cut but not severed?
PARAPHRASE 1:317
If your sacrifice is to be an ox given as a burnt offering, use only a bull with no physical defects. Bring the animal to the entrance of the Tabernacle where the priests will accept your gift for the Lord. The person bringing it is to lay his hand upon its head, and it then becomes his substitute: the death of the animal will be accepted by God instead of the death of the man who brings it, as the penalty for his sins. The man shall then kill the animal there before the Lord, and Aarons sons, the priests, will present the blood before the Lord, sprinkling it upon all sides of the altar at the entrance of the Tabernacle. Then the priests will skin the animal and quarter it, and build a wood fire upon the altar, and put the sections of the animal and its head and fat upon the wood. The internal organs and the legs are to be washed, then the priests will burn them upon the altar, and they will be an acceptable burnt offering with which the Lord is pleased. If the animal used as a burnt offering is a sheep or a goat, it too must be a male, and without any blemishes. The man who brings it will kill it before the Lord on the north side of the altar, and Aarons sons, the priests, will sprinkle its blood back and forth upon the altar. Then the man will quarter it, and the priests will lay the pieces, with the head and the fat, on top of the wood on the altar. But the internal organs and the legs shall first be washed with water. Then the priests shall burn it all upon the altar as an offering to the Lord; for burnt offerings give much pleasure to the Lord. If anyone wishes to use a bird as his burnt offering, he may choose either turtle doves or young pigeons. A priest will take the bird to the altar and wring off its head, and the blood shall be drained out at the side of the altar. Then the priest will remove the crop and the feathers and throw them on the east side of the altar with the ashes. Then, grasping it by the wings, he shall tear it apart, but not completely. And the priests shall burn it upon the altar, and the Lord will have pleasure in this sacrifice.
The Varieties Of Burnt Offering
The Ritual Of The Burnt Offerings
The Work Of The Priest:
Purpose: Acceptance and Atonement 1:3, 4
1. General view of the Tabernacle and court
2. The encampments of Israel around the Tabernacle
COMMENT 1:317
Lev. 1:3 This sacrifice is offered by the worshipper to God to make atonement for himself. It is of help to remember that our Lord offered Himself to God on our behalf. Cf. Heb. 9:14. Could we then say that the burnt offering symbolizes the offering of our Lord for us and the acceptance by God of this offering? We are accepted in Him, i.e. God accepts us because He accepted Christs offering (burnt-offering) of Himself in our place. It is not a matter of who we are but rather whose we are. We were in Christ when He died. God accepted the offering of Himself therefore He accepts us. The assurance of acceptance comes from the throne of God, on which the Risen One is seated. In that acceptance the believer is included. For He made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might become the righteousness of God in Him, (2Co. 5:21)
To continue this thought: the offering was to be: a male without blemish. It is a joy to remember that our Lord was a son of the herd (for so is the meaning of the word bullock) a malebut without blemish. When Jesus came to Calvary, i.e. to Gods altar to offer Himself, He did so of His own free will. No man took His lifeHe voluntarily laid it down. (Cf. Joh. 10:11; Joh. 10:17-18) It was God who needed to see the blood on the doorpost and lintel of the passover and it is God who needs to view our acceptance in the beloved that is in our burnt offering. To summarize the beautiful comparisons: (1) A male without blemish; (2) voluntarily given; (3) in the sight of God.
Lev. 1:4 The act of laying on of hands was expressive of full identification. By that significant act, the offerer and the offering became one; and this oneness, in the case of the burnt offering, secured for the offerer all the acceptableness of his offering. (C. H. MacKintosh) This is a most precious thought of assurance for the Christian. 1Jn. 4:17 states: As He was in the world, so are ye. We can think of this reference in several applications, as indeed we have, but the minimal meaning would be that as God honored and accepted His son so in Him He accepts us. As He was in the world, approved of and accepted by the Father so are ye. We are in Him that is true. 1Jn. 5:20. In the expression, It shall be accepted the word shall in the original is not in the future tense, but it is in the short or aorist tense, expressive of decision and certainty; for all the promises of God in Christ are yea and amen, to the glory of God by us. (Newberry)
Lev. 1:5 How well the young bull could typify our Lord! The bullock plowed the field, brought in the harvest, trod out the corn for the household. A life given in service for another and finally in sacrifice for the atonement. At the same time it is very important to recall that the burnt offerings primary purpose was not to meet the sinners surface need of forgiveness but to answer his needs at a deeper level. The burnt offering is not so much for the conscience of the offerer as for the heart of the Father. . . . the cross in the burnt offering is not the exhibition of the exceeding hatefulness of sin, but of Christs unshaken and unshakable devotedness to the Father; neither is it the scene of Gods out-poured wrath on Christ the sin-bearer, but of the Fathers unmingled complacency in Christ the voluntary and most fragrant sacrifice. (C. H. MacKintosh) The work of Aarons sons is most instructive: (1) Sprinkle the blood, (2) put the fire upon the altar, (3) lay the wood in order upon the altar, (4) lay the parts of the animal upon the wood that is on the fire. These parts are: the head and the fat. But this was only done after the offerer had slain and flayed the sacrifice. It is the worshipper who slays the sacrifice. It is not done for him, he must do it himself! We put Him to death! He died for my sins, but my sins were also the cause of His death. Had we not sinned He would not have died. God, who was the all-seeing One before whom this death took place saw both our sins and the sacrifice. So the enormity of the transgression was met by the value of the sacrifice; the very spear that pierced His side drew forth the blood to save. (Newberry) Was it by chance or design that the blood was sprinkled by the priests on every side of the altarnorth, south, east and west? Is it not better to think that His blood offers to us a complete or perfect protection no matter how we are approached by Satan. There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. Rom. 8:1-2
Lev. 1:6 We have unavoidably overlapped our discussion of Lev. 1:5-6. The original and primary purpose in flaying the animal was to show that there was indeed no defect within even as there was none without. The cutting of the victim into various parts was to further demonstrate its internal perfection. The more closely we examine our Lord the more we appreciate His utter perfection. Perhaps we could refer to the word of God as the dissecting knife in our hand used for this blessed purpose. Just where the animal was divided or how many parts were produced we are not told (except by tradition).
Lev. 1:7 Please pay attention to the alternate actions of the priests and worshipper. The fire on the altar of burnt-offering was never allowed to go out. Cf. Lev. 6:13. Hence the placing of the fire upon the altar was but an arrangement of the coals of fire in such a place as to be prepared to receive the offering. The fire on the altar was traditionally started by God Himself; indeed, our God is a consuming fire. (Heb. 12:29) Such fire could well be likened to the holiness and righteousness of God; if so, then the wood could emblematically be the sin of man which provokes the righteous indignation of God. When our sins and iniquities are set before God even as the sacrifice, they must be consumed by His indignation. This He did for us in our burnt offering.
Lev. 1:8 It should be important to note here, there are two actions in burning this sacrifice: (1) the head and the fat, (2) the dissected body of the animal. The skin and the entrails were burned without the camp. Whereas it would seem the head and the fat are not as vital a part of the offering as the body of the animal they are yet also offered. We find no obvious symbolic comparisons in this action. If no direct, obvious analogies suggest themselves we see no reason in forcing a comparison.
Lev. 1:9 A large quantity of water must have been used for the washing of the multitude of burnt offerings. After the head and skin and fat were removed the inside and legs of the animal were washed by the offerer, i.e. just prior to its being burned by the priests upon the altar. Purity is the keynote here; perfection and wholeness must be found without and within. Since our Lord is our burnt offering we would expect Him to pass mans examination of purity without and within, and indeed He does! As a ray of sunlight remains pure, whatever objects it might shine upon, so the pathway of our Lord Jesus was unsullied by any of the scenes through which He passed. (Newberry)
It is important to notice that in Hebrew there are three or four words which signify to BURN.
First, SAHRAPH, to consume by burning as in the sin offering, outside the camp (Lev. 4:12)
Second, MOKDAH, to consume by slow process, as the ascending offering was burning all night until the morning upon the altar (Lev. 6:9).
Third, HIKTEER, to convert by fire into incense, from Kahtar, to burn incense, which is the word here employed. This, again, is a priestly act, and by this is symbolized that Christ, in His entire service, person, experience, and walk, tested by the infinite holiness and righteousness of God, was found perfect and acceptable, a sweet savour unto God; and not only so, but also a savour of rest, for so the Hebrew word implies, being that on which God could rest with full satisfaction and delight, every attribute and perfection having been manifested, harmonized, and glorified thereby. To all this God has set His seal by raising Him from the dead, and setting Him on His own right hand. Thus the so-called burnt sacrifice is, properly speaking, the ascending offering, as it sets forth Christ, not only in life and death, but in resurrection and ascension. And in Heb. 3:1-19; Heb. 4:1-16 the Spirit of God invites the believer to have fellowship with God in His sabbatic rest. (Newberry)
Lev. 1:10-13 The instructions for the offerings from the flock parallel those of the herd. The exception is the mention made in the eleventh verse that the animal is to be slain on the north side of the altar.
We have found the word of T. Newberry in a little book entitled TYPES OF LEVITICAL OFFERINGS of real value; we quote him again here:
In the offerings from the FLOCK, Christ as the Son of God is presented especially in the excellency and perfection of His CHARACTER. First, as the LAMB of God without blemish and without spot, holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, the meek and the lowly One; or secondly, under the figure of a GOAT, according to Rom. 8:3, in the likeness of sinful flesh, though Himself sinlessthat is, made in all points like unto His brethren, yet without sin.
The offerer or worshipper, in drawing nigh to God, conscious of his own imperfection in character and conduct, approaches Him in the name of One in whom every human virtue and excellence was seen in full perfection, the chiefest among ten thousand, and the altogether lovely. To be accepted in the sweet savour of what Christ was in the estimate of God His Father, in the perfection of His life as well as in the value of His atoning death, this is signified by the offering of a SHEEP.
Under the figure of a GOAT for a burnt offering Christ is presented in another aspect, and as meeting a deeper need. The offerer in the apprehension of the sinfulness of his nature, his tendency to sin, and that in himthat is, in his fleshdwells no good thing, approaches God on the ground of the sacrifice of One in whom, though Himself sinless, God condemned sin in the flesh (Rom. 8:3). For not only was sin laid upon Him as the spotless Lamb, but, under the emblem of a goat, sin was imputed to Him so that on the cross, whilst He bare and put away the iniquity of our outward transgressions, He also met our deeper need in atoning, not simply for what we have done, but for what we are; or, as Scripture expresses it, He made HIM sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2Co. 5:21).
Lev. 1:14-17 All can make a burnt offering, even the most humble could purchase a turtledove or a pigeon for an offering. Indeed one of these would have been the choice of Mary and Joseph as they came to the Temple to worship. Please notice the details of this offering as carefully as the others: (1) the offering is made to Jehovah and was for the eyes of the Lord. As we have said before it is not so much am I satisfied with God, but is God satisfied with me. The most interested observer at Calvary was God Himself. Here is set forth the grounds upon which we can draw nigh to a righteous God. (2) The priest is to bring this offering to the altar and kills it by wringing its head off. The head is immediately burned on the altar. The blood is wrung out on the north side of the altar. The priest also removes the crop and the feathers. These are placed on the east side of the altar at the place where the ashes are gathered. (3) The fowls are cut or cleaved open but the body is not separated. The wings are left on the body. (4) It is burned in the same manner and for the same purpose as the others. Even though these birds are much less expensive than the animals, they are treated with the same care and are received with the same approval: it is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto Jehovah.
Is it by chance that we have so many beautiful points of comparisons in these offerings? We think not. Consider some of the most obvious: (1) John the Baptist was to identify our Lord as the Messiah in observing the Spirit descending upon Him. But since the Spirit is invisible a dove became the identifying sign. Thus do we identify our burnt offering. When we see the dove we think of Him. (2) The dove from the days of Noah forward has been the symbol of peace. The water of Gods wrath had receded and the new world made its appearancesuch was heralded by the dove with an olive branch in its beak. Is it too much to say that our Lord is our peace, in Him we have peace? (3) The dove-like attitude, (i.e. meek and quiet) that pervaded the whole life of Jesus points again to Him as our dove of acceptance. (4) Purity is also thought of as represented in the dove. Could we say undivided purity and peace in Him?
We are delighted to have had this little time in a careful study of this first chapter of a book we seldom read. How poor we have been for our neglect. Lets review the contents in a series of questions:
FACT QUESTIONS 1:317
5.
Is there some reason to say this burnt offering represents our Lords sacrifice for us? Cf. Heb. 9:14
6.
What is the primary emphasis of the burnt offering? i.e. for whose primary benefit was the offering made?
7.
List three beautiful comparisons found in this offering.
8.
What was the purpose of laying hands upon the offering?
9.
How do we relate 1Jn. 4:17 to this offering? Cf. 1Jn. 5:20
10.
Show how a bullock well represents our Lord.
11.
The burnt offering not only answers mans need for forgiveness, but meets him at a deeper level. Explain.
12.
List the four actions of Aarons sons as related to the sacrifice.
13.
Mention three actions on the part of the worshipper.
14.
In what sense did we put Jesus to death?
15.
The blood was sprinkled on all four sides of the altar. What does this mean?
16.
Why was the animal flayed? Why dissected?
17.
Read Lev. 6:13 and explain what is meant by the priests putting the fire on the altar.
18.
What is the possible significance of the fire and the wood? Cf. Heb. 12:29
19.
The animal was divided twice. Explain.
20.
Why was the animal washed? How compared with our Lord?
21.
Show the meaning of the particular Hebrew word to burn as here used.
22.
Why include turtledoves and pigeons in the possible objects for a burnt offering?
23.
Who kills the animals? Who kills the birds?
24.
Who sprinkles the blood for each?
25.
In what manner or way are these fowls severed?
26.
Show three points of comparison in our Lord and the turtledove.
27.
What do you consider is the best lesson in this chapter?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(3) If his offering be a burnt sacrifice.Having stated what is meant by animals, the directions now treat upon the different kinds of the offerings them-selves. First in order comes the burnt offering, which is divided into burnt offering from the beeves (Lev. 1:3-9), and burnt offering from the flock (Lev. 1:10-13). The ox takes precedence because it is the more costly and more important sacrifice. It had to be without disease or blemish of any kind. To offer a defective sacrifice was an insult and a deception. Hence the exclamation of the prophet, cursed be the deceiver which hath in his flock a male and voweth and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing (i.e., an animal with a blemish), Mal. 1:14. The offerer is to bring the animal to the entrance of the tent of meeting, as it should be rendered, that is, to the front of the Tabernacle where the brazen altar stood (Exo. 40:6).
Of his own voluntary will.The whole passage is better rendered, at the entrance of the tent of meeting shall he offer it, that he may be accepted before the Lord. (Comp. Exo. 28:38; Lev. 19:5; Lev. 22:19-20; Lev. 22:29; Lev. 23:11.) This meaning is unmistakably set forth in Lev. 22:19-21, where it is explicitly declared, ye shall offer for your acceptance a male without blemish of the beeves, of the sheep or of the goats, but whatsoever hath a blemish that ye shall not offer, for it shall not be acceptable for you. It is to be remarked that the phrase for your acceptance, or acceptable for you, is only used in connection with burnt offerings and peace offerings, but never with sin offerings.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. Burnt sacrifice The ‘olah is so called because it ascends to heaven in the consuming flames. It should always be translated whole burnt offering. It is a holocaust, because the sacrifice was entirely consumed. It symbolizes the devotement of the entire man soul, body, and spirit to the service of God. Perfect love to him is more than all whole burnt offerings. Mar 12:33. As fire purifies what it does not consume, it typifies the Sanctifier consuming inward sin and cleansing the indestructible essence of the soul. See notes on Mat 3:11 and Act 2:3.
Every sacrifice was in part a burnt offering, because Jehovah’s special portion was consumed by fire, the symbol of his presence. For the occasions on which it was presented see Concluding Note, (2.)
Without blemish Tamim, perfect. Defective sacrificial animals are described in chap. Lev 22:20-24, as the blind, broken, maimed, scabbed, having wens, or scurvy, parts lacking or superfluous; also the castrated, spoken of as cut, crushed, bruised, or broken. An animal was an imperfect offering under eight days old. Exo 22:30. What a sermon is this, preached morning and evening through the centuries, on the sinlessness of Jesus Christ, “the Lamb without blemish and without spot!” 1Pe 1:19.
Of his own voluntary will Of his own free choice: “not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth” a willing offering.
At the door of the tabernacle This precise spot is designated in order to prevent any secret idolatrous rites under the mask of the prescribed ritual. The prohibition of all other places for sacrifice was also a strong safeguard of the national unity. Another altar was a political secession. Jos 22:11-34.
Before the Lord That is, to Jehovah. The rendering in the Authorized Version is sustained by some scholars. It is true that all burnt offerings, being chiefly self-dedicatory, must be purely voluntary. But the Hebrew is the same here as in Exo 28:38, and Lev 22:20-21, and is correctly rendered in the Authorized Version. But in Lev 19:5; Lev 22:19; Lev 22:29, the word is rendered “own will,” as it is here.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Offering of a Bull-Ox ( Lev 1:3-9 ).
The bull-ox was the most costly of offerings, and would be made by the very wealthy offerer or when the offering was to be of supreme importance, e.g. when it was for a priest or for the community. But God in His goodness will later make provision for lesser offerings for those who could not afford the most costly. To the poor man two birds would have an equal ‘cost’ to him, in comparison with what he owned, as the bull ox to the wealthy man.
Lev 1:3
‘If his oblation be a whole burnt offering (‘olah – that which ascends) of the herd, he shall offer it a male without blemish, he shall offer it at the door of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted (literally, “for good pleasure for him (the offerer)”) before Yahweh.’
This refers to a male offering from ‘the herd’, therefore a bull-ox. First we have three general conditions. It has to be male, it has to be without blemish (or more literally ‘perfect and complete’) and it has to be offered at the door of the tent of meeting, that is, in the court of the tabernacle where the altar is. It was to be male because that represented the life-implanter, and because it represented vigorous strength. (It was because of these factors that the male was seen as superior). It was to be ‘perfect and complete’ or without blemish because nothing that was imperfect could be offered to God, and because indeed it was being offered in its perfection as the thing most worthy of God that man possessed, and it was to be offered ‘at the door of the tent of meeting’, that is in the courtyard of the tabernacle, both because it must be brought before God and because it must be offered in a holy place so that the important aspects of the offering should not be defiled. Once the process of the offering begins all that is involved in it is holy. When the offering is made all must be concentrated on God.
In Heb 9:14 this offering is pointed to as a type and shadow of Christ, Who was also without fault (Heb 2:10; Heb 9:14). He too was the lifegiver (Heb 10:14-17), was strong (Heb 2:18), and was the perfect offering. But unlike them He was not a dumb animal, but a responsive and obedient human being, perfect and complete in all the will of God (Heb 10:9). Because of what He was, and because of His willingness and obedience, His sacrifice of Himself could accomplish what no animal sacrifice could. They were but shadows. He was the Reality.
Each one of us therefore must come to God daily, in our own personal sanctuary (Mat 6:6), offering Jesus Christ to God in prayer as our whole offering as a token of our love, our worship, our gratitude, our submission and as indicating our dependence on Him for atonement and purity.
“Accepted before Yahweh.” To put it literally the offerer comes, “for good pleasure for him before Yahweh”.’ The translation ‘Accepted’ takes the good pleasure as coming from Yahweh because of his offering. Yahweh is pleased with the man’s offering and accepts his worship. The alternative possible translation ‘Voluntary’ takes the good pleasure as being the offerer’s. He comes because it is his good pleasure to do so.
As in our thoughts we see the strong and virile bull ox being led by the offerer into the court of the Tabernacle to be offered to Yahweh, with the offerer’s eyes fixed on God’s own earthly Dwellingplace, for such an approach would not, when rightly made in the best times, be made without deep thought, we can imagine the joy and gratitude in the heart of the offerer as he felt that he was offering to Yahweh the strength, virility and usefulness of himself and the whole of his family, and that God would receive it from his hand and bless them, while at the same time applying His atoning mercy. As he slew the offering he would recognise that thereby their sins were being punished in the death of the bull ox, and as the carcase of his bull ox was placed on the altar and the smoke of the offering ascended upwards, his praise too would rise upwards and his voice would cry out in his gratitude and praise to God.
For as the prophets and the psalmists would make clear, it was the reality that the offerings represented that was acceptable to God, not just the offerings blandly made. Without worship from a true heart the offerings were meaningless, without obedience the sacrifices were in vain (Isa 1:11-18; Hos 6:6; 1Sa 15:22; Amo 5:21-24).
Lev 1:4
‘And he shall lay his hand on the head of the whole burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.’
The bringer of the offering was then ‘to lay his hand’ on its head. This is a slight understatement. It was done by exerting hard downwards pressure on the offering. It was no light touch. This was the sign that he was identifying himself with the offering and was, as it were, becoming united with it. It is not done with offerings where there is no death involved (the live goat on the Day of Atonement is not an exception because it is vitally linked with one that was slaughtered, the two being seen together – Lev 16:21). Thus it signifies being united with it in its death. Although not mentioned this laying on of the hand is also to be assumed where the offering is of a sheep or goat, or of a bird, for identification with the offering was essential. The identification was personal and specific on behalf of himself and those he represented.
The laying on of the hand/hands generally indicated the identification of the someone or something on which the hand was laid as one who will act on one’s behalf, or of someone who will take over one’s own service (Num 27:18). In this case he was declaring the bull ox to be his representative, both in its dying and in its ascending to God. There was something of himself and his family in the offering. It was to be seen as representative of them, and as coming from them, and as dying for them, and as making atonement for them. It was both substitute and representative in a way that a grain offering could not be. It was a full act of worship, the symbol of their giving of themselves in totality to God as His servants, and a seeking of reconciliation through it. There are no real grounds for suggesting that the sin was seen as flowing from the offerer to the offering. Had it been so it could not have been wholly offered to God on the altar. This was not a sin offering. But any who were burdened with guilt may well have seen it that way.
“And it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.” It was ‘accepted’ for him (as representing his family group), received with pleasure and good favour. Yet it was certainly an ‘atonement’ offering. The verb in the piel means ‘to make atonement, to remove that from His sight which had brought displeasure to God’, and to restore the relationship between the man and his God. It probably comes from the verb ‘to cover’ (caphar – compare Gen 6:14 and the Arabic kafara) and the piel makes it intensive. It therefore indicates a total covering, a complete satisfaction and a dealing with what is amiss, an intensified covering. But a holy God could not ‘cover up’ sin by hiding it. Rather He dealt with it by providing a cover that neutralised it. He made sin as though it was not. Sin’s power and demand for death was then no more. It was not hidden, covered up, and waiting possibly to be uncovered. It was remembered no more. It was gone for ever. All that was wrong and evil about it was obliterated under the overpowering influence of God’s holiness, operative as a result of the death that had satisfied the demand of sin.
Others see the derivation of the verb as from Akkadian kuppuru, ‘to wipe away’. Or connect it with the Hebrew noun koper, a ransom, therefore ‘to deliver by a ransom’.
So as the man brought his offering in gratitude and worship on behalf of his family group who were seen as at one with him, he was also conscious of the need for at-one-ment, of being made ‘at one’ with God by their sin being ‘covered’ and neutralised (or wiped away, or being removed by a ransom being paid). And with the sin neutralised (or removed), the blood and the carcase was then holy, for it had required God’s holiness to be sufficient within it to neutralise the sin, it had become the place of God’s saving activity, indeed it was then so holy that it had to be dealt with in a holy place, and in extreme cases burnt outside the camp in a clean place because it was too holy for the camp.
In the same way it is Christ’s own perfect holiness that enables the sinner to be made perfect in God’s sight as a result of His death for sin (Heb 10:14). For we do not come to a bull ox, but to the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot (1Pe 1:19), and our sin is laid on Him and His righteousness is put to our account (2Co 5:21). We are declared righteous and covered with the cloak of righteousness in Him (Isa 53:11; Rom 3:24-26).
Lev 1:5
‘And he shall kill the young bull before Yahweh, and Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall present the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about on the altar that is at the door of the tent of meeting.’
The offerer himself kills the young bull-ox (‘son of a bull’). He is identifying himself with its death, indeed signifying that he is the cause of its death. And this is done as he slits its throat in the sight and presence of Yahweh. He acknowledges thereby the deserts of his sin. The blood is then caught in a bowl and the priests ‘give’ (‘present’) the blood, and sprinkle it round about the altar so that each side of the altar is splashed with the blood. This activity of the priests brings out that the blood is holy and cannot be presented by the offerer himself, an intermediary is needed, and also that the blood is special in its symbolism ‘It is the blood that makes the atonement for the whole person’ (Lev 17:11). It is the symbol and evidence of the death of the offering with which the offerer has identified himself, and its correct presentation is clearly of first importance, for whatever the offering or sacrifice might be the blood is always specially applied (although as we shall see in different ways). It is the final reminder that the wages of sin is death, and that that death is therefore being offered to God, a life offered in death, to meet the requirements of the Law for the punishment of sin.
The whole offering is then offered to God by fire, and with it the worship, love and self-dedication of the offerer. To speak of it just as a substitute is to undervalue it. It is a substitute and more. It is total consecration, a total giving of themselves, along with a plea for reconciliation because of a death suffered. However substitution was certainly an important aspect of Israel’s thinking, as witness the substitution of Levites for the first-born sons and the ransom made to cater for the difference in numbers (Num 3:44-48), and the substitution of a firstborn ass or man by a lamb (Exo 13:13).
The sprinkling (flinging the blood against all sides of the altar) is an indication of the application of the blood as something acceptable to God. It is an essential step in the making of atonement, in the making of men at one with God because sin has been dealt with. The idea may be to link it with the offering that is being offered up on the altar, without the blood itself ‘ascending up’, or indeed to surround the offering with the atoning blood. It needs to remain on the altar before Yahweh because of its atoning significance, while the remainder goes up to God.
The question may arise as to whether the application of the blood is purifying the altar or is an act of propitiation and is purifying the person who has brought the offering. Num 15:24-26 makes clear that such an offering results in forgiveness for the offerer for unwitting sin. So the latter is certainly true. But it may well be that we are also to see it as purifying the altar which has been tainted by man’s sin (see 8:15; Numbers 7)
Hebrews tells us that this is a type of what Christ did for us when He died on the cross. That He ‘through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God’, that He might cleanse and make us holy in conscience and spirit in order to make us fitted and ready for service (Heb 9:14). There too it speaks of full cleansing and consecration, and neutralisation of sin by His holiness (Heb 2:10-11; Heb 10:10; Heb 10:14).
Lev 1:6
‘And he shall strip/de-gut the burnt-offering, and cut it into its pieces.’
The offering is then stripped of its skin, and de-gutted so that the guts can be washed. The word may mean either or both. The offering needed to be de-skinned because the skin for all but the most important offerings goes to the priest. Then it was cut in pieces by the offerer. This was in order to prepare it for being offered, and made it manoeuvrable. Perhaps it was also seen as laying bare the bull-ox’s inwards so that it was known inside and out (compare how the bird is deliberately torn open, but not in half – Lev 1:17). All that it is, is to be laid open before God.
If we too would come to God we too must be fully laid open before Him so that all lies open before the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do (Heb 4:13).
Lev 1:7-9
‘And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar, and lay wood in order on the fire; and Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall lay the pieces, the head, and the fat, in order on the wood that is on the fire which is on the altar, but its inwards and its legs shall he wash with water: and the priest shall burn the whole on the altar, for a whole burnt-offering, an offering made by fire, of a pleasing odour to Yahweh.’
The priests then again take over. They put the fire in place on the altar (from the perpetually burning fire maintained on a part of the altar – Lev 6:13) and lay wood on top of it, and then they lay the pieces on the altar to be burnt up, including the head (which would have been separated in the skinning process), the fat, and the innards and the legs, but the latter two only after they have been washed by the offerer with water. Possibly mainly in mind here is the removal of the waste that is in the bowels and intestines, and the legs would also have been contaminated by contact with the ground. The purpose of the washing with water is therefore to remove contamination and earthiness, and symbolises the need for the inner cleansing of the offerer. It must be offered to God in pristine condition free from earthiness. Only then can the offering be a pleasing odour to Yahweh.
Note the specific instructions about the fire and the wood. The whole burnt offering must have the fire placed and the wood newly prepared for it (whereas the peace sacrifice can be placed on top of a whole burnt offering – Lev 3:5). Similarly with ourselves, each offering of ourselves that we make must be made afresh (compare Rom 12:1-2). There is no room for partial consecration.
It is ‘an offering made by fire (ishshah).’ Fire was the usual way by which an offering was made to God where the whole of what was offered was to be His and beyond the reach of man. It was to pass from this world. Furthermore fire regularly purifies, refines and cleanses. What was offered to God had to be made fully pure. Fire made it acceptable. ( Num 31:23; also compare Deu 13:16 where it denotes being offered to God permanently).
Note on An Offering By Fire.
Fire was regularly the way by which God revealed Himself to His servants. Consider the smoking furnace and the flaming torch of Gen 15:17; the burning bush of Exo 3:2; the pillar of fire which led them and was on the tabernacle (Exo 13:21; Exo 40:34; Exo 40:38; and on through the wilderness journey); the fire on Sinai (Exo 19:18; Exo 24:17). See also Deu 4:11-12; Deu 4:15; Deu 4:33; Deu 4:36; Deu 5:4-5; Deu 5:22-26; Deu 9:10; Deu 9:15; Deu 18:16. It is therefore very probable that the continually burning flame of the golden lampstand in the Holy Place, the fire on the incense altar and the continually burning fire on the bronze altar of whole burnt offering were also intended to be symbolic of God’s presence, a dim representation of the glory that they pleaded not to have to behold in full. Thus to burn strange fire before Yahweh, fire not appointed by Him, was a heinous offence punishable instantly by death. It did not adequately represent Him (Lev 10:1-2; Num 3:4; Num 26:61).
It would seem reasonable therefore that the consumption of things by fire in a holy setting would be seen as God taking them to Himself, for as we shall see it occurs not only on the altar, but whenever holy things are finally dealt with in a holy setting, and in Jdg 13:20 the angel of Yahweh ascended to God in the flame of the altar when the flame went upwards, burning and offering up the whole burnt offering and the grain offering. An offering by fire was thus one that on the whole went directly to God, while His priests were also to be maintained from a portion of them, ‘The priests the Levites, and all the tribe of Levi, shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel. They shall eat the offerings of Yahweh made by fire, even His inheritance (rightful due)’ (Deu 18:1).
Fire also dealt with those things that God ‘devoted’ to Himself in judgment (compare Deu 4:24) for Him to do with as He wanted. They were to pass from the sphere and control of this world into His control. Notice the continual emphasis on permanence. It was not just a matter of destruction. Consider Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 19:24); the idolatrous city (Deu 13:16); the cities of Midian taken to avenge Yahweh (Num 31:3; Num 31:10); Jericho (Jos 6:24); Aaron’s sons when they offered ‘strange fire’ (Lev 10:1-2); the men who complained against and displeased Yahweh (Num 11:1-3); the ‘leading men’ who claimed equality of holiness with the priests and blasphemously offered incense, the company of Korah (Num 16:35; Num 26:10); Achan (Jos 7:15; Jos 7:25); all idols ( Deu 7:5; Deu 7:25; Deu 9:21; Deu 12:3); His people when they become idolatrous (Deu 32:22). The fire of Gehenna and the lake of fire are equally symbols of God’s final dealing in judgment.
There are some, however, who consider that it should be translated ‘food offering’.
End of note.
“Of a pleasing odour to Yahweh.”
We may see from this that when we offer ourselves as living sacrifices to God (Rom 12:1-2) we must be particularly careful to do so thoroughly and totally each time we do it, ensuring full cleansing through the blood of Christ as we do so (1Jn 1:7-10). No part of our lives must be left out. We are to be a whole offering and thus pleasing to God. Compare how Paul saw himself and his companions as a pleasing odour to God, a ‘sweet odour of Christ’, because of their service on His behalf (2Co 2:15), and the provision sent to him as God’s servant were ‘an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God’ (Php 4:18) because they witnessed to their faithful love. And he also speaks of Christ as offering Himself for us as a ‘sweet smelling odour’ (Eph 5:2) on our behalf. Our service in Christ and through Christ and because of Christ is a sweet smelling odour to God.
So the offerer brings the bull-ox, lays his hand on it, slaughters it, cuts it up and washes its inner parts, while the priests catch the blood as its throat is slit, sprinkle it on the altar, set the fire and the wood, and lay the pieces on the altar together with head, fat and innards so that it is burnt up.
In the same way we must identify ourselves with Christ’s death for us, recognise that we have been crucified with Him and must therefore die to ourselves, and apply his death to each part of our lives which is displeasing to Him, seeking cleansing in His blood. He on His side, as our Priest, has already arranged for the reception and completion of our offering, which was offered once for all in Him (Heb 10:12), and He will now bring all that we are to God.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Lev 1:3. If his offering be a burnt-sacrifice of the herd The burnt sacrifice, as being the principal, is mentioned first: it was wholly consumed upon the altar, and therefore usually called an holocaust by the Greeks. There were four other sorts of sacrifices, meat-offerings, peace-offerings, sin-offerings, and trespass-offerings, mentioned in the subsequent chapters. The burnt-offering was the most important: it was made unto God every day by the children of Israel; Num 28:3 and typified Christ’s offering up his whole self to make atonement: wherefore it is said to make atonement, and procure reconciliation, Lev 1:4 not upon its own account, but by faith in the blood of Christ. It represented, morally, the entire and unreserved devotion of the offerer. See Rom 12:1. For a full view of the doctrine of sacrifices, we refer to Dr. Outram’s treatise De Sacrificiis; and for the qualifications of this sacrifice, a male without blemish, see note on Exo 12:5. It is evident from the two foregoing books, that sacrifices were not now first instituted. What we render, he shall offer it of his own voluntary will, Houbigant renders, ut faciat sibi eum placabilem, that he may render the Lord placable to him, which is agreeable to the LXX, and other ancient versions.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 119
THE BURNT-OFFERING
Lev 1:3-4. If his offering be a burnt-sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will, at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, before the Lord. And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt-offering; and it shall be accepted for him, to make atonement for him.
THE institution of sacrifices may be considered as nearly coeval with the world itself. As soon as man had fallen, he needed an atonement; and an atonement was provided for him by God himself; who promised, that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpents head: nor can we reasonably doubt, but that God himself, who, we are told, clothed our first parents with skins, appointed the beasts, whose skins were used for that purpose, to be offered up first in sacrifice to him. Whence, if God had not originally sanctioned it, should Abel think of offering up the firstlings of his flock? and why should that very sacrifice receive such a signal testimony of the divine approbation? Even the distinction between clean and unclean animals was known before the flood; and an additional number of the clean were taken into the ark, that there might be wherewith to offer sacrifice unto the Lord, when the deluge should be abated. Abraham also, and Melchizedec, and Job, all offered sacrifices, before the Mosaic ritual was known: so that Moses did not so much introduce new institutions, as regulate those which had existed before; and give such directions respecting them, as should suit the dispensation which his ritual was intended to prefigure.
Sacrifices are of two kinds, propitiatory, and eucharistical; the one to make atonement for sins committed; the other to render thanks for mercies received. Of the propitiatory sacrifices we have an account of no less than six different sorts; (all of which are stated in the seven first chapters of Leviticus;) the burnt-offering, the meat-offering, the sin-offering, the trespass-offering, the offering of consecrations, and the peace-offering [Note: Lev 7:37. They were not altogether propitiatory; but are numbered with the propitiatory, because they were in part burnt upon the brasen altar.]. It is of the first of these that we are to speak at this time.
We shall notice,
I.
The offering itself
[The burnt-offering was the most ancient and dignified of all the sacrifices, and at the same time the most frequent; there being two every day in the year, except on the Sabbath-days, when the number was always doubled. The things of which it consisted, varied according to the ability of the offerer: it might be taken from among the herd, or the flock, or of fowls [Note:, 10, 14.]: that so no one might have any excuse for withholding it at its proper season. By this accommodation of the offering to the circumstances of men, it was intended, that every one should evince the sincerity of his heart in presenting unto God the best offering that he could; and that no one should be discouraged from approaching God by the consideration that he was not able to present to him such an offering as he could wish. The turtle-dove or young pigeon was as acceptable to God as the ram or bullock, provided it was offered with a suitable frame of mind. Indeed the directions respecting the poor mans offering were as minute and particular as any [Note: 417.]: which shewed, that God has no respect of persons; and that his Ministers also must at their peril be as anxious for the welfare, and as attentive to the interests, of the poorest of their flock, as of the most opulent.
One thing was indispensable; that the offering, whether of the herd or of the flocks, must be a male, and without blemish. It was to be the most excellent of its kind, in order the more fitly to shadow forth the excellencies of our incarnate God; who alone, of all that ever partook of our nature, was truly without sin. Had the smallest imperfection attached to him, he could not have been a propitiation for our sins. The utmost care therefore was to be taken in examining the offerings which prefigured him, that they might, as far as possible, exemplify his spotless perfection.]
II.
The manner in which it was presented
Here also we notice very minute directions respecting,
1.
The offerer
[He must bring his sacrifice of his own voluntary will. He must feel his need of mercy, and be very desirous to obtain it. He must see that no mercy can be found, except by means of a sacrifice: and he must thankfully embrace the opportunity afforded him; not accounting God his debtor for the sacrifice offered to him, but himself a debtor to God, for his permission to approach him in such a way.
He must bring his sacrifice to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, before the Lord. Whilst, in doing this, he acknowledged that the Lord dwelt there in a peculiar manner, he publicly, before all the people, acknowledged himself a sinner like unto his brethren, and needing mercy no less than the vilest of the human race. Not the smallest degree of self-preference could be allowed; but all must be made to see and feel that there was but one way of salvation for ruined man.
Further, he was to put his hand upon the head of his offering. By this significant action, he still more plainly declared, that he must perish, if ever his sins should be visited upon him; and that all his hope of acceptance with God was founded on the vicarious sufferings of this devoted victim.]
2.
The offering itself
[This must be slain, (whether by the offerer or the priest, is uncertain [Note: We apprehend it was by the priest, or some Levite assisting him. See 5. The same ambiguity as to the meaning of the word, they, may be seen in 2Ch 29:22; but it is plain, from 4 of that chapter, that neither the priests nor the offerers killed the sacrifices; but the Levites killed them, and the priests received the blood.],) and its blood be sprinkled round about upon the altar. The slaughtered animal was then to be flayed, and cut into pieces, according to a prescribed rule: the inwards and the legs, which might be supposed to need somewhat of purification, were washed, and, together with the whole body, burnt upon the altar. The skin alone remained, as a perquisite of the priest [Note: Lev 7:8.]. Do we not see in these things a striking exhibition of the sufferings of the Son of God, who was in due time to become a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world? Death was the wages due to sin, and that too under the wrath of an offended God. True it is, that the consuming of an animal by fire was but a faint representation of that misery, which we must to all eternity have endured; and of that which our blessed Lord sustained, both in his body and in his soul, when he died under the load of our iniquities.
The partial washing of the sacrifice might probably denote the perfect purity of Christ; or perhaps it might intimate the concurrence of the Holy Spirit, through whose divine agency he was fitted for a sacrifice, and by whose almighty aid he was enabled to offer himself up to God: for it was through the eternal Spirit that he offered himself without spot to God.]
III.
The benefits resulting from it
[It was accepted for the offerer, to make an atonement for him. As there were two kinds of guilt, ceremonial and moral, so there were two kinds of absolution, one actual in the sight of God, the other merely external and shadowy. We observe then in relation to these sacrifices, that they cleansed from ceremonial defilement really, and from real defilement ceremonially. There were certain things, not evil in themselves, but made so by the special appointment of God, (such as the touching of a grave or a dead body;) and the persons who had done them were to be accounted unclean, till they were purified in the way prescribed: and their observance of the prescribed forms did really purge them from the defilement they had contracted, so that no guilt would be imputed to them, nor any punishment inflicted, either in time or eternity. On the other hand, there were things really evil, (as theft or perjury,) which subjected the offender to punishment by the laws of man: now the guilt of these crimes was not purged away by the appointed sacrifices, any further than the exempting of the person from the punishment denounced by law: his conscience still remained burthened with guilt; and he must, notwithstanding all his sacrifices, answer for his crimes at the tribunal of God. This is the distinction made for us by God himself, who says, that the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, did really sanctify to the purifying of the flesh: but they never could make a man perfect as pertaining to the conscience: in that sense, it was not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats could take away sins.
It may be asked then, What benefit was there to counter-balance the cost and trouble of the sacrifices? I answer, that an exemption from temporal judgments, whether inflicted by God or man, was a great benefit: but to be encouraged to come to God as a merciful and gracious God, and to have Christ so clearly and constantly exhibited before their eyes, was an unspeakable benefit, which would have been cheaply purchased by the cattle on a thousand hills.]
In this ordinance we may find,
1.
Much for our instruction
[Of all the subjects that can be offered to our view, there is not any that can bear the least comparison with that leading subject of the Gospel, Christ crucified: and I had almost said, that the New Testament itself scarcely unfolds it more clearly, than the ordinance before us. What would the most ignorant of the Jews imagine, when he saw the sacrifice led forth, the offerer putting his hand upon it, and the priest slaying it, and afterwards reducing it to ashes? Would he not see that here was a manifest substitution of an innocent creature in the place of the guilty, and that that very substitution was the means of reconciling the offender to his God? I will grant, that a person ignorant of the typical nature of those ordinances, might be led to ascribe the benefit to the ordinance itself, without looking through it to the sacrifice which it shadowed forth; but he could not be so blind as not to see, that acceptance with God was by means of a vicarious sacrifice. Yet, behold, we Christians, who live under the meridian light of the Gospel, need to be told, that we must be saved entirely through the atonement of Christ: yea, after all that a minister, or God himself, can say, the great majority of us will seek acceptance, in whole or in part, by our own righteousness. Go back to the Law: ask a Jew to teach you: let those whom you despise for their ignorance, be your preceptors. It is a shame and scandal that salvation by Christ is so little known amongst us [Note: 1Co 15:34.], and that the preachers of it are yet represented as setting forth a new doctrine [Note: Act 17:19.]. Be instructed then, ye opposers of Christ crucified, who are yet ignorantly seeking to establish your own righteousness: learn, even from the Law itself, to embrace the Gospel: and kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way.]
2.
Much for our imitation
[Every one whose conscience convicted him of sin, offered, of his own voluntary will, the best sacrifice he could; grudging nothing whereby he might honour God or promote his own salvation. An irreligious man might have asked, Wherefore is all this waste of cattle, which, instead of being consumed by fire, might be sold, or given to the poor? But the man who fears God, would reply, that nothing can be wasted which is in any way conducive to Gods honour and our salvation. This is the spirit that should animate us. We may be called to make sacrifices for God: our reputation, our interest, our liberty, our very lives, may be called for in his service: and shall we be backward to make the sacrifice? Alas! too many of us are rather for a cheap religion; and their chief anxiety is, to get to heaven at as cheap a rate as possible, and to sacrifice for God as little as they can: if they are poor, Their little cant be spared; and if they are rich, Their victim is too costly. Away with such low and niggardly thoughts: let the large and liberal spirit of Christianity possess your souls: let nothing that you have endured, move you; nor any thing that you can endure: be willing to be bound, or even to die, for the Lords sake. As for your lusts, let them be sacrificed, and utterly consumed: the sooner they are mortified, the better. And those things, which, if not called for by God in the way of his providence, you might innocently retain, bring to the altar with your own hands, and, of your own voluntary will, offer them to God: spare not any thing one moment, if it stand in competition with your duty, and the maintenance of a good conscience before God. In a word, present your own selves to him a living sacrifice; for that is your reasonable service; and it shall be accepted of your God [Note: Rom 12:1.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Observe the unblemished sacrifice! Was not this typical of the Lord Jesus? 1Pe 1:18-19 . Observe also, it was to be voluntary. I beg the Reader to remark with me, how sweetly this referred to the Lord Jesus. So grand and important a part of Christ’s mission, was the freeness of it in the conduct of our dear Lord, that I venture to believe the Evangelist John in his relation of the sufferings of Christ, had this in view in a very striking manner, through the whole of Christ’s passion. See Joh 18 throughout, and particularly Joh 18:11Joh 18:11 , verses. 2Co 9:7 . Observe also, the offering was to be at the door. Did not this imply the unworthiness of the giver? Deu 5:27 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Lev 1:3 If his offering [be] a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD.
Ver. 3. Burnt sacrifice. ] A whole burnt offering, Heb 10:6 purporting whole Christ suffering for us, Isa 53:12 and our sacrificing our whole selves to him as a “reasonable service.” Rom 12:1
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jehovah begins with the burnt offering and ends with the sin offering: we, in our approach, begin with the sin offering and end with the burnt offering.
burnt sacrifice. Hebrew. ‘olah. See App-43.
male. A female permitted in some other offerings, but not here, because of the type. Christ not the sinbearer here, as in Leviticus 4.
without blemish. Hebrew. tamim, said of all sacrifices, and the same of Noah, Gen 6:9.
his own voluntary will. Not the same as a freewill offering. This not a freewill offering. Hebrew here = “to be accepted for him”, i.e. in his stead. Compare Lev 1:4. Compare Exo 28:38. Exo 19:5; Exo 22:19, Exo 22:20, Exo 22:29; Exo 23:11, There was a double transfer: the unworthiness of the offerer was transferred to the victim; and the acceptableness of the offering was transferred to the offerer. This is confined to the burnt offerings and peace offerings; never with the sin offerings.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
burnt-sacrifice
The burnt-offering
(1) typifies Christ offering Himself without spot to God in delight to do His Father’s will even in death.
(2) it is atoning because the believer has not had this delight in the will of God; and
(3) substitutionary (Lev 1:4) because Christ did it in the sinner’s stead. But the thought of penalty is not prominent.; Heb 9:11-14; Heb 10:5-7; Psa 40:6-8; Php 2:8. The emphatic words Lev 1:3-5 are “burnt-sacrifice,” “voluntary,” “it shall be accepted for him,” and “atonement.” The creatures acceptable for sacrifice are five:
(1) The bullock, or ox, typifies Christ as the patient and enduring Servant 1Co 9:9; 1Co 9:10; Heb 12:2; Heb 12:3 “obedient unto death”; Isa 52:13-15; Php 2:5-8. His offering in this character is substitutionary, for this we have not been.
(2) The sheep, or lamb, typifies Christ in unresisting self-surrender to the death of the cross Isa 53:7; Act 8:32-35.
(3) The goat typifies the sinner Mat 25:33 and, when used sacrificially, Christ, as “numbered with the transgressors”; Isa 53:12; Luk 23:33 and “made sin,” and “a curse”; Gal 3:13; 2Co 5:21 as the sinner’s substitute.
(4,5) The turtle-dove or pigeon. Naturally a symbol of mourning innocency Isa 38:14; Isa 59:11; Mat 23:37; Heb 7:26 is associated with poverty in Lev 5:7 and speaks of Him who for our sakes become poor Luk 9:58 and whose pathway of poverty which began with laying aside “the form of God,” ended in the sacrifice through which we became rich; 2Co 8:9; Php 2:6-8. The sacrifice of the poor Man becomes the poor man’s sacrifice. Luk 2:24. These grades of typical sacrifice test the measure of our apprehension of the varied aspects of Christ’s one sacrifice on the cross. The mature believer should see Christ crucified in all these aspects.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
a burnt: Lev 6:9-13, Lev 8:18, Lev 8:21, Gen 8:20, Gen 22:2, Gen 22:8, Gen 22:13, Exo 24:5, Exo 29:18, Exo 29:42, Exo 32:6, Exo 38:1, Num 23:3, Num 23:10, Num 23:11, Num 23:19, Num 23:23, Num 23:24, Num 23:27, Num 23:30, Num 29:8-11, Num 29:13, Isa 1:11, Heb 10:8-10
a male: Lev 3:1, Lev 4:23, Lev 22:19-24, Exo 12:5, Deu 15:21, Zec 13:7, Mal 1:14, Luk 1:35, Joh 1:36, Eph 5:27, Heb 7:26, Heb 9:14, 1Pe 1:18, 1Pe 1:19
his own: Lev 7:16, Lev 22:19, Lev 22:21, Exo 35:5, Exo 35:21, Exo 35:29, Exo 36:3, Psa 40:8, Psa 110:3, 2Co 8:12, 2Co 9:7
at the: Lev 16:7, Lev 17:4, Exo 29:4, Deu 12:5, Deu 12:6, Deu 12:13, Deu 12:14, Deu 12:27, Eze 20:40, Joh 10:7, Joh 10:9, Eph 2:18
Reciprocal: Gen 15:9 – General Exo 29:11 – door Lev 1:10 – a male Lev 4:4 – bring Lev 6:25 – In the Lev 7:2 – in the place Lev 9:16 – manner Lev 16:3 – a ram for a burnt offering Lev 17:8 – that offereth Lev 19:5 – ye shall Num 5:16 – set her Num 8:8 – a young Num 15:3 – will make 1Ch 16:2 – the burnt 2Ch 29:31 – and as many Ezr 3:5 – willingly Ezr 6:9 – young bullocks Job 1:5 – offered Eze 40:39 – the burnt Eze 46:12 – a voluntary Mic 6:6 – with Heb 9:19 – the blood
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Lev 1:3. If his offering be a burnt-sacrifice This was called a holocaust by the Greeks, being wholly given to God and consumed upon his altar, the skin excepted, neither the priest nor offerer having any share of it, Lev 1:9, and 1Sa 7:9. It was the principal sacrifice, and is properly mentioned first, as being that which spoke most significantly the good-will of the offerer, and his enlargement of heart, 2Ch 29:31. These sacrifices signified that the whole man, in whose stead the sacrifice was offered, was to be entirely and unreservedly offered or devoted to Gods service; and that the whole man did deserve to be utterly consumed, if God should deal severely with him; and they direct us to serve the Lord with all singleness of heart, and to be ready to offer to God even those sacrifices or services wherein we ourselves have no part or benefit. A male As being more perfect than the female, (Mal 1:14,) and more truly representing Christ. Without blemish To signify, 1st, That God must be served with the best of every kind. 2d, That man, represented by those sacrifices, must aim at all perfection of heart and life, and that Christians would one day attain to it, Eph 5:27. 3d, The spotless and complete holiness of Christ. Of his own will According to this translation, the place speaks only of free-will-offerings, or such as were not prescribed by God to be offered in course, but were offered by the voluntary devotion of any person, either by way of supplication for any mercy, or by way of thanksgiving for any blessing received. But it may seem improper to restrain the rules here given to free-will-offerings, which were to be observed in other offerings also. At the door In the court near the door, where the altar stood, Lev 1:5. For here it was to be sacrificed, and here the people might behold the oblation of it. And this further signified, that men could have no entrance, neither into the earthly tabernacle, the church, nor into the heavenly tabernacle of glory, but by Christ, who is the door, (Joh 10:7; Joh 10:9,) by whom alone we have access to God.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1:3 If his offering [be] a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the {c} tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD.
(c) Meaning, within the court of the tabernacle.