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Glory · Exodus & Covenant
The sacrifices taught Israel a hard lesson with every offering: sin costs a life, and the worshiper must own it, laying a hand on the victim's head before it dies in his place. Yet the same sacrifices repeated year after year proved they could never actually cleanse the conscience. The whole system was a shadow waiting for the once-for-all offering it pointed toward.
https://glorystudy.com/questions/what-did-the-sacrificial-system-teach-israel · Scripture quoted from the World English Bible
Leviticus 1
As you read: Who brings the animal, and what the laying on of hands means before it is killed.
1Yahweh called to Moses, and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying,
2“Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘When anyone of you offers an offering to Yahweh, you shall offer your offering of the livestock, from the herd and from the flock.
3“‘If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without defect. He shall offer it at the door of the Tent of Meeting, that he may be accepted before Yahweh.
4He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.
5He shall kill the bull before Yahweh. Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall present the blood and sprinkle the blood around on the altar that is at the door of the Tent of Meeting.
6He shall flay the burnt offering, and cut it into pieces.
7The sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar, and lay wood in order on the fire;
8and 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;
9but its innards and its legs he shall wash with water. The priest shall burn all of it on the altar, for a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to Yahweh.
10“‘If his offering is from the flock, from the sheep, or from the goats, for a burnt offering, he shall offer a male without defect.
11He shall kill it on the north side of the altar before Yahweh. Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall sprinkle its blood around on the altar.
12He shall cut it into its pieces, with its head and its fat. The priest shall lay them in order on the wood that is on the fire which is on the altar,
13but the innards and the legs he shall wash with water. The priest shall offer the whole, and burn it on the altar. It is a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to Yahweh.
14“‘If his offering to Yahweh is a burnt offering of birds, then he shall offer his offering of turtledoves, or of young pigeons.
15The priest shall bring it to the altar, and wring off its head, and burn it on the altar; and its blood shall be drained out on the side of the altar;
16and he shall take away its crop with its filth, and cast it beside the altar on the east part, in the place of the ashes.
17He shall tear it by its wings, but shall not divide it apart. The priest shall burn it on the altar, on the wood that is on the fire. It is a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to Yahweh.
Leviticus 16:6-22
As you read: Two goats: one slain for the sanctuary, one sent away carrying Israel's sins into the wilderness.
6“Aaron shall offer the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house.
7He shall take the two goats, and set them before Yahweh at the door of the Tent of Meeting.
8Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats; one lot for Yahweh, and the other lot for the scapegoat.
9Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for Yahweh, and offer him for a sin offering.
10But the goat, on which the lot fell for the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before Yahweh, to make atonement for him, to send him away for the scapegoat into the wilderness.
11“Aaron shall present the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house, and shall kill the bull of the sin offering which is for himself.
12He shall take a censer full of coals of fire from off the altar before Yahweh, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the veil:
13and he shall put the incense on the fire before Yahweh, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the testimony, so that he will not die.
14He shall take some of the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat on the east; and before the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.
15“Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the veil, and do with his blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat.
16He shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions, even all their sins; and so he shall do for the Tent of Meeting, that dwells with them in the midst of their uncleanness.
17No one shall be in the Tent of Meeting when he enters to make atonement in the Holy Place, until he comes out, and has made atonement for himself and for his household, and for all the assembly of Israel.
18“He shall go out to the altar that is before Yahweh and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the bull’s blood, and some of the goat’s blood, and put it around on the horns of the altar.
19He shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and make it holy from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.
20“When he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place, the Tent of Meeting, and the altar, he shall present the live goat.
21Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, even all their sins; and he shall put them on the head of the goat, and shall send him away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness.
22The goat shall carry all their iniquities on himself to a solitary land, and he shall let the goat go in the wilderness.
Hebrews 10:1-18
As you read: Why the yearly repetition could never take away sin, and what Christ's single offering accomplished instead.
1For the law, having a shadow of the good to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect those who draw near.
2Or else wouldn’t they have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having been once cleansed, would have had no more consciousness of sins?
3But in those sacrifices there is a yearly reminder of sins.
4For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.
5Therefore when he comes into the world, he says, “Sacrifice and offering you didn’t desire, but you prepared a body for me;
6You had no pleasure in whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin.
7Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come (in the scroll of the book it is written of me) to do your will, O God.’”
8Previously saying, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you didn’t desire, neither had pleasure in them” (those which are offered according to the law),
9then he has said, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He takes away the first, that he may establish the second,
10by which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11Every priest indeed stands day by day serving and often offering the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins,
12but he, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God;
13from that time waiting until his enemies are made the footstool of his feet.
14For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
15The Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying,
16“This is the covenant that I will make with them: ‘After those days,’ says the Lord, ‘I will put my laws on their heart, I will also write them on their mind;’” then he says,
17“I will remember their sins and their iniquities no more.”
18Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
Before anything else, the altar taught the price tag: 'the life of the flesh is in the blood', and God gave that life 'to make atonement for your souls', 'for it is the blood that makes atonement by reason of the life.' Every morning sacrifice said the same thing over breakfast fires across the camp. Forgiveness was never cheap; someone innocent always bled so the guilty could keep living.
“For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that makes atonement by reason of the life.”Leviticus 17:11
The worshiper did not send an animal; he brought one, his own, from his own herd, and 'he shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.' The gesture transferred the burden: this death stands for mine. Isaiah says it happened at the cross too, that Yahweh 'has laid on him the iniquity of us all.'
““Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘When anyone of you offers an offering to Yahweh, you shall offer your offering of the livestock, from the herd and from the flock.”Leviticus 1:2
“He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.”Leviticus 1:4
“All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way; and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”Isaiah 53:6
“For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”2 Corinthians 5:21
On the Day of Atonement Aaron confessed 'all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, even all their sins' over the live goat, putting them on its head. Then 'the goat shall carry all their iniquities on himself to a solitary land'. One goat died under judgment; the other removed guilt out of sight. Together they pictured both payment and removal, so that Israel could hear: 'from all your sins you shall be clean before Yahweh.'
“Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, even all their sins; and he shall put them on the head of the goat, and shall send him away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness.”Leviticus 16:21
“The goat shall carry all their iniquities on himself to a solitary land, and he shall let the goat go in the wilderness.”Leviticus 16:22
“for on this day shall atonement be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins you shall be clean before Yahweh.”Leviticus 16:30
If the offerings worked, they would have stopped being offered, Hebrews argues, because worshipers 'once cleansed, would have had no more consciousness of sins.' Instead there was 'a yearly reminder of sins', for 'it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.' David already knew this: God's delight was never the animal but 'a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.'
“For the law, having a shadow of the good to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect those who draw near. Or else wouldn’t they have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having been once cleansed, would have had no more consciousness of sins? But in those sacrifices there is a yearly reminder of sins. For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.”Hebrews 10:1-4
“For you don’t delight in sacrifice, or else I would give it. You have no pleasure in burnt offering.”Psalms 51:16
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”Psalms 51:17
The shadow gave way to the substance: 'by which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.' He 'offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God', and 'by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.' Where sins are remitted, 'there is no more offering for sin.' John names Him 'the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!'
“by which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”Hebrews 10:10
“but he, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God;”Hebrews 10:12
“For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.”Hebrews 10:14
“Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.”Hebrews 10:18
“The next day, he saw Jesus coming to him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”John 1:29