Leviticus 1:2: Are Animal Sacrifices Repulsive?

 

In a culture where we are accustomed to buying meat packaged in plastic wrap, the whole description of slaughtering animals seems repulsive and unbelievable. What was intended by such inordinate waste (for so it would seem) of such valuable animals that could otherwise have served Israel in so many other ways?

The whole idea of sacrifice is so foreign to our day that we tend to think of a sacrifice as a loss we have suffered or something we have deprived ourselves of. But that negative concept was not how the Israelites regarded a sacrifice. It was not a matter of giving up something for some greater good; it was, rather, a joyous dedication of something valuable to one's Lord.

The word sacrifice comes from the Latin "to make something holy." It also implied something brought near to the altar or presence of God. Nowhere does the Bible tell us how sacrifices originated; instead, we find Cain and Abel already offering sacrifices in Genesis 4.

But there was more to it. Animal sacrifices were used mainly in connection with the human problem of sin. So serious was the problem of sin that life itself was forfeited. To indicate this forfeiture, an animal was substituted for the person's life. However, this animal's life could never be compared to a person's life; hence the act had to be repeated constantly, for sin was ever with Israel. But the impact of the sacrifice was enormous: the individual was declared forgiven and set free of the debt and the guilt that would have hung over his head from there on out had he or she not been delivered or ransomed by a substitute. Just as the blood symbolized the death of a life (Lev 17:11), so the life of the animal was given in exchange for the life of the sinner. Anything less than such a payment would devalue sin in the eyes of the people. What the worshiper offered to God, therefore, had to be the best, the most perfect of its kind, and it had to cost the presenter something.

Sacrifices are not as gross as our culture sometimes makes them out to be, since we are so far removed from the slaughter process by which our meat is made available for us. While we are shocked by the presence of blood and the scene of death, the Old Testament offerer concentrated on freedom from the debt of his or her sin and found new life in exchange for a forfeited life.

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For a more detailed discussion of the seven major sacrifices in Leviticus 1--7, see Walter Kaiser Jr., "The Book of Leviticus: Introduction, Commentary, and Reflections," in The New Interpreter's Bible, ed. Leander E. Keck (Nashville: Abingdon, 1994), pp. 1005-55.