This lesson will introduce the study of the first and most important sacrifice offered by the Hebrew people—the burnt offering. This sacrifice stands apart in its importance from all the other offerings of the Law of Moses. Its ritual will be explained in greater detail. The animals required for this offering and the use made of it will underscore the fundamental, spiritual lessons that the burnt offering was to teach the Hebrew people. It belonged to the “sweet savor” category of sacrifices and was therefore fundamentally a worship offering.
The name “burnt offering” in Hebrew is olah. It is translated into the Greek with the word holocautoma. We get the word “holocaust” from this Greek term. A holocaust means total destruction. However, this sacrifice was not conceived of as being totally destroyed. It was simply transferred to God in heaven in a pillar of smoke. It was the most God-ward of the sacrifices and was given completely for His divine pleasure.
The First and Most Important Sacrifice
The Description of the Burnt Offering
The burnt offerings were the first and the most important of the Hebrew sacrifices, and there are a number of reasons that lead to that conviction. It is not only because it appears first in the book of Leviticus but also because it was one of the purest and most comprehensive forms of worship to God. It belonged to the pleasing aroma, the sweet savor, sacrifices. As that fire ascended from the altar to God, the worshiper could spiritually conceive of God taking a deep, pleasing breath of that sacrifice simply because of the implications of the sacrifice itself. As He breathed deeply He seemed to say: “That smells good.” There were some deep spiritual values that were being expressed through the sacrifice.
Most God-addressed Sacrifice
It is the most important sacrifice because it was the most God-ward of the sacrifices. In other words, it was addressed exclusively to God, wholly and completely consumed for His individual pleasure. No part of this sacrifice was given to anyone else. It was for God alone. All other sacrifices of the animal and vegetable kingdom had others who participated in the privileges of the sacrifice. They received portions of the sacrifice, but this was not so in the case of the burnt offering. This one was exclusively and totally for God.The Sacrifice Is Not Conceived as Destroyed or Even Burned
Another reason that this sacrifice was important to Hebrew thinking derives from its not being conceived of as being consumed. In Leviticus 1:9 the statement is made: “It is a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the LORD.” In the original Hebrew of Leviticus 1:9 the statement was made, “ . . . and the whole shall be turned into smoke as it ascends unto God.” Thus the sacrifice was simply transferred to God as a sweet smelling incense. It was therefore being fumed to God as it ascended from the altar into heaven itself. As the word olah in Hebrew applies: “that which ascends.”It Symbolizes the Total Consecration of the Worshiper to God
The animal becomes a substitutionary stand-in for the worshiper. Then whatever happens to the animal is conceived of as happening to the worshiper. As this animal is consecrated in totality to God and is transferred to Him, incensed to Him, so the spiritually minded Jew with this sacrifice would be expected to say unto God, “As this animal is totally given for your pleasure and for your pleasure alone, so I want my life to be given only to you for your pleasure.” All of the sacrifices of the Law of Moses involved the concept of vicarious substitution. In other words, there was a stand-in, a substitute, who took the place of and stood in the stead of the worshiper himself. Therefore, what physically happened to the animal was expected to be a spiritual expression of the worshiper’s desire. “I want my life to be totally consumed for God’s pleasure.”
In Genesis 22, God had asked Abraham to offer Isaac to Him as a burnt offering. The history of this episode sheds much light on the nature of the burnt offering. In verse two God told Abraham: “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” God wanted Abraham to place Isaac on the altar and convert him into that sweet aroma that ascends to heaven. Abraham had offered burnt offerings before, and he knew exactly what was going to be left when the sacrifices was completed—ashes!
What did God want Abraham to learn from this experience? He was demanding, “Give me the boy Isaac without reservation. I want him to be totally mine.” Abraham departed from his home in Heron with Isaac. He took a three day journey with some of his servants, and they went to the foot of Mount Moriah. When they arrived there Abraham told the servants: “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you” (verse 5).
Abraham knew exactly what he was going to do: offer Isaac as a gift to God, a present to God. But he called it worship. Such an expression of worship defined the basic thrust of the burnt offering. There is an interesting postscript that Abraham adds: “We will worship and we will come back to you.” Abraham was expressing his faith that even though he offered Isaac, he was confident that somehow the boy would survive the offering. He knew that God had already made some promises to him and had already made a covenant with him in Genesis 12, 15, and 22. In Isaac, Abraham was going to have great descendants; a great nation was to be born out of the seed of this child Isaac.
Regardless, God was asking Abraham to reduce him to a pile of ashes. Abraham was going to comply, for he believed that God who is able to give life was also able to give it again. Therefore, in Hebrews 11:19, the writer explained Abraham’s faith in these words: “Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.” Abraham planned to offer his son and then step back and watch God raise him from the dead.
Let us initially view this episode from Abraham’s perspective. God said, “Abraham, I want that boy to be mine. Give me Isaac, no strings attached, no reservations. Give him completely to me.” Abraham consented. Then let us view the sacrifice from Isaac’s perspective as his father laid him on the altar. Isaac certainly did not understand. If he did understand, it was without any real understanding as to the purpose. But Abraham raised the knife and was ready to slay his son and convert him into that sweet aroma that ascends into heaven. But then God intervened and said, “Do the boy no harm.” And there was a ram, a male sheep whose horns were caught nearby. Abraham took this ram and placed him upon the altar in the place of Isaac. There is the substitution. The ram became the vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice in the place of Isaac.
What did God want Isaac to see in this event? “Isaac, that ram is taking your place, but I want you to understand out of this that you are not released from your responsibility. I want you to be my sacrifice. I want you to be a living sacrifice, where your whole life is dedicated and presented to me,” God seemed to say. Think as Isaac would as the fires’s first curl of smoke began to ascend from the altar that Abraham had built and the ram began to be consumed by the fire and was transferred as a column of incense to God. Isaac then understood that the ram was him. That is what God wanted—He wanted Isaac, but not Isaac reduced to ashes, not a sacrifice that was reduced to ashes, rather God wanted Isaac to be a living sacrifice, constantly presenting himself unto Jehovah God. Abraham named the spot where the ram was offered Jehovah Jirah — which means Jehovah provides. Isaac must have been very thankful that his God is called Jehovah Jirah! Clearly God did not cease to be the provider of substitute sacrifices when the events of Moriah were over. He has provided us with Jesus!
Quite evidently that is the reason the burnt offering had such deep significance for the Hebrew people, because it conveyed this concept to them: “This is your opportunity to commit yourself, to dedicate yourself and to give yourself to God.” In II Corinthians 8:5 we read of the brethren in Macedonia: “. . . they gave themselves first to the Lord . . .” Quite evidently, Jesus did the same. He gave Himself totally and completely to God without reservation. Jesus was a constant burnt offering out of the New Testament references made to it.
Most Common of Hebrew Sacrifices
The burnt offering was also the most common among the Hebrew sacrifices. It was central in all their worship activities. It was the most frequently offered. It was central in all of their individual and in their collective sacrifices. An individual could offer the burnt offering any time he wanted. But it was offered also on behalf of the nation every day, in the morning and in the evening. Every day those sacrifices were offered. God, in Leviticus 6:9,12 and 13, insisted that the fires of the sacrifice of the burnt offering must never be extinguished: “It must not go out.” Three times He says in those three verses, “. . . the fire must be kept burning on the altar,” (verse 9). Twice He says, “It must not go out.” In other words, five times He says, “I want your devotion as a nation of priests to be constant. Your worship through the giving of yourself to Me must never end. Your worship must not be seasonal or sporadic. I want those devotions to be a constant expression of your surrender to Me.” It was not simply a Sabbath function. It was every day of every month of every year that God wanted the people to be a part of this sacrificial commitment to Him. The altar from which all Hebrew sacrifices were presented was classically called the “altar of burnt offerings.” The burnt offering was also the central act of worship. It was the heart of Hebrew worship and all of their feast days, particularly the Sabbath day.Most God-centered and Spiritually Deep Sacrifice
As already mentioned, the burnt offering was the most God-centered and therefore the most deeply spiritual of the sacrifices. Israel had to recognize that God has a right to man’s highest devotion. Man owes to God his entire being—first in virtue of creation and then again in virtue of redemption from sin. Such convictions for the Hebrews were best expressed in personal consecration to God. The burnt offering is offered from believing hearts that are filled with unreserved love and devotion in recognition of God’s goodness to Israel.Consecration More Important Than Atonement
For these clear reasons the burnt offering takes precedence to the sin offering. Consecration, as already mentioned in the last lesson, is more important than atonement. For when atonement is needed, that means there has been a breakdown in the consecration. Worshipers have not been as devoted and sanctified as they should have been.Most Ancient Form of Man’s Worship to God
The burnt offering is the most ancient sacrifice mentioned in the Bible. As a matter of fact, it is the first sacrifice that we read about in the entire Bible. It seems evident that the sacrifice of Abel, offered to God in the shadows of the Garden of Eden, was a burnt offering (Genesis 4:1). When Noah came out of the ark after the flood, he offered to God burnt offerings from all the clean animals that were placed in the ark. Genesis 8:21, commenting on Noah’s sacrifices, says: “The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma . . . ,” and He made a covenant with Noah and his descendants. The covenant was that God would never again destroy the earth with a flood. He confirmed that covenant with the beautiful rainbow that forever stands to testify to the fidelity of God to His covenants. All the patriarchs were constant in presenting their burnt offerings to God.The Ritual, Ceremonial, Stage, Movement of the Sacrifice
The rituals of the burnt offering, the stages of the ritual, indicate the movements of these sacrifices from one aspect of its devotion to another. As we mentioned in our earlier lesson, there were specific rituals that were required in each sacrifice. It is in the unfolding of the rituals that we move from one action to the next, and those movements are important. Each action that was a part of the ceremonial conveys deep spiritual messages and has religious implications that the Hebrew was supposed to learn.
By way of review, let us look for a moment at the initial stages of the burnt offering ceremonial. There are four of them presented, but there were actually eight that completed the ceremonial. In our next lesson we will cover the last four stages. The stages are simply different actions that make up the ceremonial performed by the worshiper or the priest. Each action carries its own distinctive message.
Stage One: The worshiper presents himself and his sacrificial stand-in to God. From that moment the animal belongs to God, who then has the right to ordain its usage.
Stage Two: The worshiper lays one hand on the head of his substitute, vicarious victim.
Stage Three: The worshiper slays his vicarious victim.
Stage Four: The priest sprinkles the blood of the victim in the appropriate fashion upon the altar as ordained.
Stage One: The Presentation
Now let us go back and look at the stage of presentation. The word “present” (in English) is both a noun and a verb. It is a verb when it defines the action of offering a gift to someone. The accent is on the last syllable: pre - sent’. It becomes a noun when it defines the object that is given. The accent is then moved to the first syllable: pre’ - sent. So we pre’ - sent a pre - sent’. In the stage of presentation, the individual is seen as presenting himself and his animal as presents to God.
Such is actually what is intended by this stage in the ceremonial. As the worshiper appears before the Hebrew altar with his animal, he expresses this desire: “God, I want to give you this animal as representation of myself. I want to give myself to you.” This is generally the first stage of all the sacrifices except that of the trespass offering.
It is from that moment forward that this animal, having been given to God, is conceived of as belonging to God. It is no longer the worshiper’s animal. He has brought it from his herd, from his flock, maybe from the fowl that is in his pen. These are animals that belonged to him until he presented them unto God. From that moment forward they are God’s. Therefore, this presentation really finds the worshiper presenting himself to God, while simultaneously presenting his sacrifice.
Having made the presentation, the worshiper doesn’t then turn and walk away. He is still involved in the ceremonial, because through the ceremonial the Hebrew thinks of himself as being the object of the remaining stages of the offering. As the ritual moves from stage to stage the worshiper is either directly participant in person, or else participant in his representative stand-in. Mentally he is meditating on the spiritual implications of his actions and is concentrating his heart-felt devotions toward God as a worshiper. He is reflecting on his personal love for God and on God’s right to his highest devotion. He is not simply spending his time as he sees the ceremonial continue. He identifies with it.
Stage Two: The Worshiper Lays One Hand on the Head of the Victim
Stage number two: The worshiper will then lay one hand upon the head of his victim. That is not simply to indicate that this is the animal brought in, to designate ownership, as some have supposed. For, from the state of presentation, the animal belongs to God. Rather, by the laying of his hand on the head of his substitute, he is thereby appointing the animal to be his stand-in. A special function is being conferred on the animal. Such is characteristic of all of the blood-letting sacrifices. There will be the laying on of hands, whether of the individual Jew or of the priest on the Day of Atonement as he lays his hand on in representation of the nation.
Through the process of the laying on of the hand, the animal is appointed to accomplish a specific purpose. He is being assigned a function. There is an office that he is going to fulfill. In Leviticus 24:14 is another example of the laying on of hands. When a man was guilty of blasphemy, the individuals that heard his blasphemous words against Jehovah God would be the first to lay their hands upon that individual and assign to him the penalty of death. Then they would cast the first stone. So when the witnesses laid their hands upon the head of the blasphemer, they transferred to him the penalty due to his sin.
Another example of the laying on of hands is in Numbers 27:23. Moses called Joshua into his presence. He laid his hands upon him and transferred to Joshua the position of leadership over the nation of Israel, because Moses knew that he was going to die.
In a third example of the laying on of hands indicating to us that there is always some assignment or substitutionary process that is taking place, the Levites would take the place of the firstborn of all the other tribes of Israel. The father of the firstborn child of any tribe would bring his child to the Tabernacle. A Levite child would be brought simultaneously.
All firstborn sons belonged to God (Exodus 13:2,12), but God allowed for the substitution through the Levitical clan. The father would lay his hand upon the Levitical child, and that child would take the place of his own son.
On the great Day of Atonement, Aaron would lay both of his hands upon the head of the goat that was called Azazel. In Leviticus 16:21ff, it is said that Aaron would lay his hands upon the head of the goat and would confess over him all of the sins and iniquities of the children of Israel, and he would symbolically transfer all of those sins to the victim. Then the goat would be led out of the camp, and therefore, all of the sins symbolically were removed from the camp of Israel.
So, in the burnt offering, when the worshiper laid his hand on his victims head, he symbolically transferred to the animal his sins. For the sins of the worshiper, the animal would have to die in his place.
Stage Three: Slaying of the Substitute Victim
The third stage of the ceremonial involved the killing of the victim. It was the worshiper who was required to slay his substitute victim. Through the slaying of his victim he confessed his sin. He acknowledged his thankfulness to God for the grace of forgiveness as he transferred to that victim the responsibility of atoning for his sins. The worshiper was required to slay his substitute. The word “slay” in Hebrew is shahat. It is a sacrificial kind of slaying. The Hebrew word for “Thou shalt not kill” in the ten commandments: tiretsah. Therefore, there is a difference between manslaughter and the shahat, the killing of the sacrificial animal. Different words are used. This is a sacrificial slaying.
It was required that the worshiper kill his own victim because he was a stand-in for the worshiper. He realized that he was responsible for the death of his substitute. He saw immediately the terrible consequences of his sin. He saw that the life of this animal was given vicariously, substitutionally, in his stead. It made him conscious of the mercy and the grace of God because he should be the one to die. But God allowed the introduction of the substitute in his stead.
It was in this way that the Hebrew killed his own stand-in. By carrying out heaven’s penalty against his sin, he was expected to manifest his agreement with heaven’s judgment against his sin. The law had said, “The souls who sins is the one who will die” (Ezekiel 18:4). He so agrees with the judgment of God against his sin that he is literally saying, “Any creature that has the wrong that I did to its credit does not deserve to live.” Therefore, the worshiper so agrees with heaven’s judgment that he carried out heaven’s penalty against his sin. This was also how the Hebrew was able to die to his sin. In substance he was saying, “I hate my sin. I kill it. I want to destroy it. I repudiate it, and I destroy it in my substitute sacrifice.”
Quite evidently Christians must do the same thing to Christ because Christians die to their sin at the baptistry and then transfer their guilt to Jesus Christ. Therefore, the Hebrew kills his sacrifice before Jehovah (Leviticus 1:5). After all, this is a sacrifice that atoned for the wrong that the individual had done against God’s Law. It was his failure consecration to God that brought about the sin. God’s most righteous Law had to be defended. This is how the Jew had direct, hands-on contact with his substitutionary victim. The apostle Peter says much the same thing of us in relation to Christ: “. . . you , with the help of wicked men, put him to death . . .” (Acts 2:23). It was our sin that nailed Jesus to the cross (I Peter 2:24). We have to agree with and consent to His death if we want redemption, and it is simply our concurrence with God’s judgment against our sins.
We will cover the rest of the ceremonial of the burnt offering in our next lesson. In that lesson we will present the many ways this sacrifice has its primary fulfillment in Christ and then, by implication, to Christians also.