You may be wondering why there are so many animal sacrifices in the Bible? I wondered the same thing for years. It seemed so… barbaric. However, when we look closer at the meaning behind the Biblical events, it is not as foreign as it first seems...
Sin Causes Separation
Where there is sin, there is some kind of separation. It can be a separation between us and God and between us and other people. Without any action to repair the damage caused by sin, the separation remains. Some sort of action is required to bridge the gap.
Sin is rooted in Pride; not trusting in God. We can tend to put more trust in ourselves, worrying about the future, holding onto the past, wanting to control too much, or worrying about what we can’t control. Sin is about not trusting in the Lord.
Sacrifice
Sacrifice helps to heal division. Between 2 people that are suffering divisiveness over an argument, there needs to be someone who reaches out to try and heal the division. It requires some level of trust. Sin makes things difficult, but Sacrifice can heal the damage. Good can overcome evil. Sacrifice is rooted in Love.
What Does this mean for us?
We may see no connection between sacrificing animals and us. Here is another way to think of it. Have you ever done any work and given part of what you made, or part of what you earned, or part of what you do, to someone else? Giving requires some sacrifice of your time and effort for someone else. Back then they gave from what they had.
Animals were their livelihood
For many in the Bible, their livelihood was shepherding and herding. Many did not have money as coins had not been invented yet. They bartered with what they had. If they needed large quantities of something else, they might trade whole animals. If they needed something smaller from the market, they might trade portions, like a butcher today provides cuts of meat for the buyers at a grocery store. It is not that different.
When they wanted to give something to the Lord for thanks, they gave from what they had, animals or grain.
The offering of Cain and Abel
Gen 4:2-7
2 …Abel became a herder of flocks, and Cain a tiller of the ground.
3 In the course of time Cain brought an offering to the LORD from the fruit of the ground,
4 while Abel, for his part, brought the fatty portion of the firstlings of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering,
Abel was a herdsman and Cain was a farmer. They both gave from their livelihood.
Does God need Animals and Grain?
When we see people in the Bible giving God animals and food, we may think ‘God does not need that.” and we would be correct. However, the problem was human Pride. Adam and Eve had fallen away from God due to their own selfish Pride and so does everyone else. They needed some kind of rehabilitation, a continual reminder to trust God.
When people keep all of their earnings for themselves, it can be tempting, like Pride, to rely fully on oneself. Giving some portion away to others or to the Lord can help remind us to trust in God. It is more for our good than for God.
Acts 20:35
by hard work of that sort we must help the weak, and keep in mind the words of the Lord Jesus who himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
Back to Cain and Abel… we see Cain in a struggle to trust God.
Gen 4:3-7
3 In the course of time Cain brought an offering to the LORD from the fruit of the ground,
4 while Abel, for his part, brought the fatty portion of the firstlings of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering,
5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry and dejected.
6 Then the LORD said to Cain: Why are you angry? Why are you dejected?
7 If you act rightly, you will be accepted; but if not, sin lies in wait at the door: its urge is for you, yet you can rule over it.
What was wrong with Cain’s offering?
The passage doesn’t say exactly what Cain did, but something was wrong. Maybe Cain gave a portion from his fields, but it wasn’t his best, or maybe he gave the best portion but in his mind, he was bitter about it, or maybe he wanted something in return. We don’t know exactly what it was, but something was seriously wrong as he was having a problem trusting in God. His anger and dejection led to jealousy and murder.
Gen 4:8-10
8 Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out in the field.”* When they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
9 Then the LORD asked Cain, Where is your brother Abel? He answered, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”
10 God then said: What have you done? Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground!
Do we want to keep everything we earn for ourselves or can we follow Abel’s example? Abel’s gift to God was the first tithe, giving back to the Lord. Sacrifices help us remember God and give back for all He has given us.
Animals Sacrificed to appease gods.
Animal sacrifice to God, out of trust, is the opposite of other religions of antiquity that had animal sacrifices to many gods out of fear. They offered sacrifices to their gods out of fear to stave off punishment or because they wanted something in return.
Offerings to God are to help us break away from our Pride, to trust in God, and build up a loving relationship with Him.
Noah’s Sacrifice
When we reach Noah we see God making a Covenant with him in the midst of animal sacrifice. Noah gives God from his best animals and God makes a permanent promise (Covenant) with Noah. Here, sacrifice is not a barbaric ritual, but Noah giving God the best from what he has in his life.
Gen 8:20-21
20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and choosing from every clean animal and every clean bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar.
21 When the LORD smelled the sweet odor, the LORD said to himself: Never again will I curse the ground because of human beings, since the desires of the human heart are evil from youth; nor will I ever again strike down every living being, as I have done.
Abraham’s Sacrifices
Abraham was a herdsman, a keeper of flocks. In his life we see him sacrifice to the Lord from the best of whatever he has, not just from his flock…
- We see him sacrifice his homeland to follow the Lord’s call
- He gives Melchizedek (king & priest) a tenth of everything (tithe)
- He makes a Covenant with an animal sacrifice
Gen 14:18-20
18 Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine. He was a priest of God Most High.
19 He blessed Abram with these words:
“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
the creator of heaven and earth;
20 And blessed be God Most High,
who delivered your foes into your hand.”
Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
Gen 15:7-9
7 He then said to him: I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as a possession.
8 “Lord GOD,” he asked, “how will I know that I will possess it?”
9 He answered him: Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River, the Euphrates,
The Ultimate Sacrifice
What would be the ultimate sacrifice for you? For Abraham, he waited 100 years to have a son with Sarah. Giving up his son Isaac would be everything to him as his family generation would end. Yet when God asked, Abraham listened and was willing to sacrifice his son. This trust did not happen overnight, but after many years of building trust with the Lord.
We might be horrified at the thought of sacrificing a child for God. In the end, God did not make Abraham do it. Why? Perhaps it was to give us a glimpse of the Lord’s ultimate sacrifice to come later.
A small sin can be healed with a small sacrifice. Redeeming all the sin in the world. That would require the ultimate sacrifice. In time, God will provide his own son as the sacrificial lamb.
The Passover Sacrificial Meal
As we continue throughout the Old Testament we see various animal sacrifices. If one was a shepherd, they would choose the best-unblemished lamb. Before the Exodus from Egyptian slavery, the Israelites had a final meal with the sacrificial lamb.
Exo 12:3, 5-8, 14
3 Tell the whole community of Israel: On the tenth of this month every family must procure for itself a lamb, one apiece for each household.
5 Your lamb must be a year-old male and without blemish. You may take it from either the sheep or the goats.
6 You will keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then, with the whole community of Israel assembled, it will be slaughtered during the evening twilight.
7 They will take some of its blood and apply it to the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.
8 They will consume its meat that same night, eating it roasted with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
…
14 This day will be a day of remembrance for you, which your future generations will celebrate with pilgrimage to the LORD; you will celebrate it as a statute forever.
In time, God’s son, Jesus would become the ultimate sacrifice. He stands in place of the sacrificial Passover lamb at the Last Supper. He becomes the lamb of God to take away the sins of the world.
Animal Sacrifice does not Suffice
So far, we have described animal sacrifice in terms of what people had available to them.
THE STORY IS ABOUT TO TAKE A SERIOUS TURN FOR THE WORSE
After the Exodus from Egypt, there was a devastating event that caused things to be more complicated.
The Golden Calf
After being in Egypt for 400 years. many of the people had given in to the culture and started worshipping their false gods.
Exo 32:7-8
7 Then the LORD said to Moses: Go down at once because your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, have acted corruptly.
8 They have quickly turned aside from the way I commanded them, making for themselves a molten calf and bowing down to it, sacrificing to it and crying out, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!”
The people had broken the 1st commandment in worshipping other gods and had corrupted the animal sacrifice.
This event causes a serious divide between the people and God. As a result, there is now a new priesthood formed (the Levites) and a new series of laws (in Leviticus) that are needed to try and rehabilitate the people away from their sin.
Rehabilitation with Animal Sacrifices
For those who wanted to worship false animal gods of Egypt, it became more difficult after the new Levitical laws, because now they must sacrifice the same animals in front of the new priests, to the Lord.
Lev 1:5
5 The bull shall then be slaughtered* before the LORD, and Aaron’s sons, the priests
The people had twisted the sacrificial offering in a way that now required supervision by the Levite priests.
Lev 17: 3-7
3 Any Israelite who slaughters an ox or a sheep or a goat, whether in the camp or outside of it,
4 without first bringing it to the entrance of the tent of meeting to present it as an offering to the LORD in front of the LORD’s tabernacle, shall be judged guilty of bloodshed—that individual has shed blood, and shall be cut off from the people.
5 This is so that such sacrifices as they used to offer in the open field the Israelites shall henceforth bring to the LORD at the entrance of the tent of meeting, to the priest, and sacrifice them there as communion sacrifices to the LORD.
6 The priest will splash the blood on the altar of the LORD at the entrance of the tent of meeting and burn the fat for an odor pleasing to the LORD.
7 No longer shall they offer their sacrifices to the demons* with whom they prostituted themselves. This shall be an everlasting statute for them and their descendants.
The main purpose of Leviticus is not to set up a permanent priesthood or permanently reprimand the people, but to rehabilitate the people away from their grave sins and return to the Lord.
The Temple and Animal Sacrifices
Unfortunately, instead of a temporary rehabilitation, this state of laws, animal sacrifices, and priestly service became the fixture of the culture for the next 1200+ years.
The people sought to build a permanent Temple in Jerusalem, but the Lord indicated He did not need a building.
2 Sam 7: 4-5
4 …that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan:
5 Go and tell David my servant, Thus says the LORD: Is it you who would build me a house to dwell in?
2 Sam 7:12-14
12 when your days have been completed and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, sprung from your loins, and I will establish his kingdom.
13 He it is who shall build a house for my name, and I will establish his royal throne forever.
14 I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. If he does wrong, I will reprove him with a human rod and with human punishments;
David’s son Solomon built the Temple in Jerusalem, but it is Jesus, God’s son, who ultimately fulfills the prophecy.
Jesus restores Sacrifice
When the Pharisees in Jesus’ time become too legalistic, Jesus reminds them of the original purpose of sacrifice…
Matthew 12:7
I desire mercy, not sacrifice
Matthew 22:37-40
37 He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.
38 This is the greatest and the first commandment.
39 The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
40 The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
The Levitical priesthood and Levitical animal sacrifices were supposed to be temporary. Jesus reminds them that the true Temple, His body, will remain after the building is gone.
John 2: 19-22
19 Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”
20 The Jews said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?”
21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body.
22 Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.
In the giving of Himself, His own body and blood, at the Last Supper, Jesus perfects the sacrifice. He takes the place of the animal sacrifice, He redeems us from sin, He defeats death at the Resurrection, and gives us new life.
Jesus didn’t denounce all sacrifices. Today, we can participate by joining in the same Eucharistic celebration that He did at the Last Supper, and we can offer our daily sacrifices to Him.
We can lovingly sacrifice what we have to trust in God.
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Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.