Sin & Sacrifice in Ancient Israel Ryan White Part 5€¢William Gilders Sacrifice in Ancient Israel....
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Sin & Sacrifice in Ancient Israel Part 5 Ryan White
Transcript of Sin & Sacrifice in Ancient Israel Ryan White Part 5€¢William Gilders Sacrifice in Ancient Israel....
Sin & Sacrifice in Ancient Israel
Part 5Ryan White
Resources
• Jacob Milgrom
• Mary Douglas
• Gary A. Anderson Sin: A History
• Henry P. Smith The Hebrew View of Sin
• Baruch Schwartz The Bearing of Sin in Priestly Literature
• Jeremiah Unterman For the Image of God as Redeemer of Israel
• Margaret Barker Atonement: The Rite of Healing
• Jonathan Klawans Purity, Sacrifice, and the Temple
Resources
• Marcel Mauss The Gift
• Henri Hubert and Marcel Mauss Sacrifice
• Gordon Wenham The Book of Leviticus
• Yitzhaq Feder Blood Expiation in Hittite and Biblical Ritual
• Allen Ross Holiness to the LORD
• Dennis Pardee Divinatory and Sacrificial Rites
• William Gilders Sacrifice in Ancient Israel
Dealing with the Critics
Pre-Israel
Ancient Israel
Judaism/Christianity
• Theologically Evolved
• Attained the goal
• Understands the
spiritual
• Remove the Magic
• Weaning off sacrifice
• Control of laity• Magic to counteract demons
• Violence-driven
• Food for the gods
4,400 year old skull with regrowth of bone
It takes 15 years of schooling to become a Neurosurgeon today
Interesting Facts:• Built in 30 years, contains ~2.3 million stone
blocks weighing from 2 to 70 tons each.• Outer surface had 144,000 marble stone
casings, flat to within 1/100th of an inch an weighing 15 tons each. Highly reflective.
• Located at the center of land mass on earth.• Slightly concave (0nly pyramid like this), its
curvature matches that of the earth exactly.• Built facing true north and located on an
underground stone mountain (support)• Cornerstones used ball & sockets to last
through earthquakes, heat, cold, just like modern bridge design.
• Numbers designed into it – 3.14159, 365.24, 5449 (Isaiah 19:19-20)
Great Pyramid of Giza – Oldest knownPyramid ~4,600 years old.
Ancient man’s cognitive ability≥ Modern man’s
cognitive ability
Pre-Israel
Ancient Israel
Judaism/Christianity
• Theologically Evolved
• Attained the goal
• Understands the
spiritual• Remove the Magic
• Weaning off sacrifice
• Control of laity• Magic to counteract
demons
• Violence-driven
• Food for the gods Ezekiel 38-48Restoration
Not Evolution
Rejected system
OR
Rejected Priesthood?
Paul himself offered sacrifices • Acts 18:18, Acts 21:23-26
Yeshua taught to sacrifice after resolving the conflict with your brother
• Matthew 5:23-24
The prophets opposed improper sacrifices• Malachi 1• 2 Samuel 24:24• Isaiah 61:8
‘ Sacrifice ‘ ?
קרּבן H7133
H7126
Psalm 50:12-14
Demonology
Idolatry
Incantations
Chthonic worship
Purpose of the Sacrificial System
• Attract God’s presence to the earth• Audience with the King
• Maintain God’s presence in the midst of the camp• Act of restitution for crimes• Reconfirming of the covenant
bond
Attracting the Deity
The eleventh tablet of the standard Babylonian (Ninevite) version of the Epic of Gilgamesh:
(155) I let out to the four winds and I offered a sacrifice. (156) I made an offering at the mountain top. (157) I set up cult vessels by sevens. (158) Under them I poured reed, cedar and myrtle. (159) The gods smelled (its) sweet savor. (161) The gods, like flies, around the offerer gathered.
Basic Sacrifice Procedure
1. Select an animal2. Ensure your ritual cleanliness3. Bring your animal to the tabernacle, to the priest4. Lay your hand on the animal’s head5. Kill your animal6. Priest manipulates the blood7. Part of the animal or all of the animal is placed on the altar8. Covenant meal of the sacrifice (as applicable)9. Thus atonement is made on behalf of him and forgiveness is
rendered (if applicable)
Animal Selection#1
Animal Selection#1
Blemish in Justice
(Leviticus 19:35)
Consequences
(Malachi 1:13-14)
Animal Selection#1
Matthew 25:31-33
Animal Selection – Income Source#1
• Milk• Plowing fields• Grinding grain• Transport• Offspring
• Wool• Offspring
• Milk• Cheese• Lawnmower• Offspring
• Source of manure
• Offspring
Animal kingdom as a
microcosm of the world
Unclean animals = Gentiles• Allowed for usage while alive, but
prohibition against corpses prevented Israel from profiting from their death (skins, meat, etc) (cf. Lev 19:16)
Kosher animals = Israelite laity• This explains why Lev 17 equates
unsanctioned slaughter to murder
Only 3 ruminants & 1 type of fowl are permissible on the altar
• Like the kohenim, they had had to be without blemish
1. Select an animal2. Ensure your ritual cleanliness3. Bring your animal to the tabernacle, to the priest4. Lay your hand on the animal’s head5. Kill your animal6. Priest manipulates the blood7. Part of the animal or all of the animal is placed on the altar8. Covenant meal of the sacrifice (as applicable)9. Thus atonement is made on behalf of him and forgiveness is
rendered (if applicable)
Basic Sacrifice Procedure
Ritual Cleanliness#2
TzavParturientTsarot
Corpse Defilement
Ritual Cleanliness
“Death and Sex are contrary to His nature”
#2
1. Select an animal2. Ensure your ritual cleanliness3. Bring your animal to the Tabernacle, to the priest4. Lay your hand on the animal’s head5. Kill your animal6. Priest manipulates the blood7. Part of the animal or all of the animal is placed on the altar8. Covenant meal of the sacrifice (as applicable)9. Thus atonement is made on behalf of him and forgiveness is
rendered (if applicable)
Basic Sacrifice Procedure
#3
1. Select an animal2. Ensure your ritual cleanliness3. Bring your animal to the tabernacle, to the priest4. Lay your hand on the animal’s head5. Kill your animal6. Priest manipulates the blood7. Part of the animal or all of the animal is placed on the altar8. Covenant meal of the sacrifice (as applicable)9. Thus atonement is made on behalf of him and forgiveness is
rendered (if applicable)
Basic Sacrifice Procedure
Single hand
• Due to the animal’s size, and there being multiple animals in the tabernacle, the possibility to make mistake could occur
• Thus “this is mine”, not “this is me” – eliminates confusion of ownership• This is why the action was not performed with the bird or the
grain (Lev 1:14-17, 5:7-11)• Judaism teaches binyan av’ to always use 2 hands based off
Lev 16 (but this doesn’t follow the actual text).
“The Gesture of Hand Placement in the Hebrew Bible and in Hittite Literature”
Author(s): David P. Wright
#4
1. Select an animal2. Ensure your ritual cleanliness3. Bring your animal to the tabernacle, to the priest4. Lay your hand on the animal’s head5. Kill your animal6. Priest manipulates the blood7. Part of the animal or all of the animal is placed on the altar8. Covenant meal of the sacrifice (as applicable)9. Thus atonement is made on behalf of him and forgiveness is
rendered (if applicable)
Basic Sacrifice Procedure
Slaughter of the Animal#5
- Controlled Manner of Slaughter
Ezekiel 34:15-16
1. Select an animal2. Ensure your ritual cleanliness3. Bring your animal to the tabernacle, to the priest4. Lay your hand on the animal’s head5. Kill your animal6. Priest manipulates the blood7. Part of the animal or all of the animal is placed on the altar8. Covenant meal of the sacrifice (as applicable)9. Thus atonement is made on behalf of him and forgiveness is
rendered (if applicable)
Basic Sacrifice Procedure
Blood Manipulation
Blood is used for:• Olah – consecration/dedication of the altar or person (note: also used in certain
chatta't)
• Chatta't - expiation, purgation. Removes impurity from the altar or the temple and provides restitution by means of blood payment.
• Asham - form of graduated chatta't with emphasis on sins against fellow man
• Shelamim - Payment by means of blood for the fulfillment of a vow. Also the blood could be used to come into blood/threshold covenants to enjoin an alien into the family (indexes members of the household together into a common covenant bond)
#6
1. Select an animal2. Ensure your ritual cleanliness3. Bring your animal to the tabernacle, to the priest4. Lay your hand on the animal’s head5. Kill your animal6. Priest manipulates the blood7. Part of the animal or all of the animal is placed on the altar8. Covenant meal of the sacrifice (as applicable)9. Thus atonement is made on behalf of him and forgiveness is
rendered (if applicable)
Basic Sacrifice Procedure
Olah - Whole Burnt Offering
Total consecration of the gift to YHVH
Personal audience with the king
Connection with the Chatta’t
Malachi 1 : 8
Suet• From the POV of the butcher, the suet is a hard casing that covers the soft,
innermost parts of the animal’s innards
Liver-Lobe• The word used suggests ‘surplus, excess, what is not required, a remnant• See Zechariah 14:2
Kidneys• Weighty part, associated with glory, with the Shekinah
Intestines (genitals)• Used in swearing of an oath
1. Select an animal2. Ensure your ritual cleanliness3. Bring your animal to the tabernacle, to the priest4. Lay your hand on the animal’s head5. Kill your animal6. Priest manipulates the blood7. Part of the animal or all of the animal is placed on the altar8. Covenant meal of the sacrifice (as applicable)9. Thus atonement is made on behalf of him and forgiveness is
rendered (if applicable)
Basic Sacrifice Procedure
Covenantal Meal
Eating of flesh was for
special occasions
#8
1. Select an animal2. Ensure your ritual cleanliness3. Bring your animal to the tabernacle, to the priest4. Lay your hand on the animal’s head5. Kill your animal6. Priest manipulates the blood7. Part of the animal or all of the animal is placed on the altar8. Covenant meal of the sacrifice (as applicable)9. Thus atonement is made on behalf of him and forgiveness is
rendered (if applicable)
Basic Sacrifice Procedure
Atonement by means of Sacrifice#8
Remorse & prayer/confession
Remove the effect of your sin from the temple
Penal payment for crimes committed
Act of righteousness/Almsgiving - Acts 10:4
