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va-Yikra: Leviticus 1:1 – 5:26
1:2 Speak to the Israelites and say to them “When one of you draws near/offers an offering/closening to YHWH
This week we begin with sefer Torat Kohanim, so called because much of it is essentially an instruction book for the priests with little narrative woven in. In context, Exodus closed with God’s presence returning to the Tabernacle after the sin of the Golden Calf. JEPD or not, it makes sense that the Torah would stop here to tell us a little about how God was actually served in the Tabernacle. What follows, is an interpretation of what different foods meant to the Israelites when they offered them to God.
Table Summary (Mouse-over links for Hebrew)
| Cattle offering |
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| Upwards-Burnt offering- |
unblemished male cattle, |
male sheep, goats |
birds (turtledoves, pigeons) |
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| Meal Offering
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excellent fine flour |
oven- cakes (unleavened, round) wafers (flat/thin), |
griddlepan (shallow, flat, fry pieces), |
Pan (deep fry) |
| Meal of First Produce-oil and frankincense |
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| Well-being Offering-unblemished |
cattle male or female, |
sheep or goat |
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| Choice Fat |
is YHWH’s, |
no blood either |
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| Sin Offering |
Annointed priest- bull, |
Community-bull |
Chieftan- male goat |
Person-female goat, female sheep |
| Guilt Offering/Sin Offering- |
confess guilt and bring female sheep or goat |
or if poor, two turtledoves/two pigeons (one Sin, one Upwards-Burnt) |
or if destitute 1/10 ephah(21 L) flour w/o |
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| Trespass Offering- |
ram or silver |
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| Guilt Offering accidental sin, not sure if transgressed- |
ram |
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It is quite clear that Leviticus sees God as an omnivore who prefers (the scent of) meat. Second of all, the English word “sacrifice” is inappropriate since the same word in Hebrew, Korban, is used for both flesh and grain offerings. Korban is used in parallel with Zevah/butcher (19:6 vs. 7:16). What is a Korban? Does it bring you closer, as the root (QRB) implies? In modern Hebrew, the word means victim.
- There are 5 animals that may be offered: cattle, sheep, goats, turtledoves, and pigeons.
- Animals offerings must be unblemished as God gets only the best. The Upwards-Burnt offering and non-private Sin offerings are all male (symbols of power and importance). The Well-Being Offering may be either male or female. The Personal Sin Offering and Guilt/Sin Offering (female, symbols of prosperity and fertility).
- This makes Sin Offerings a kind of regressive tax as the poorer people can less easily part with female animals.
We see that there are 5+2 kinds of offerings: Upwards-Burnt (Olah), [Meal (Minhah), Firstfruits (Minhat Bikkurim),] Shelamim(Well-Being), Sin (Hattat), Trespass (Meilah), and Guilt (Asham).
- Olah- Male, unblemished, burned entirely, never eaten neither by priests nor offerers. Name for “Olah” is that the scent goes up (oleh) entirely to God. The offering is meant to appease God and attain an affirmative answer for a plea. Possibly at one point related to Avlah (sin). See Leviticus 1:4, Job 1:5, Ps 58:3. Done at the opening of the Tent of Meeting. This optional offering brings you closer to God as you give up your animal entirely to Him(see note).
- Minhah- The Hebrew for grain offering, Minhah idiomatically means gift, denotes something laid down, and connotes the grain offering. It is a gift given to king (Judges 3:15), an important person (Gen 32:14), or a prophet (I Kings 5:1). If from the root MNH= To give (in Arabic), or from NHH=to bring. High Priest ordination- burns entirely, citizen offering- remainder goes to priests.
- There are 5 kinds of meal offerings: flour (solet), cakes, wafers, griddlepan-made, and pan-made.
- The meal offering is made with oil and frankincense (to make it rich an palatable) except for the Guilt/Sin offering (to make it austere). It can be offered in various forms. They can never be leavened (leaven is associated with evil ferment). The honey in question is likely date ferment or fruit water, not from bees. Maimonides said it was used by the idol worshipers.
- The Minhah shows that God can be worshipped for the fruit of the land, whether grain or flesh Notice that there is as much variety in the grain offerings. Even the Sin offering may be grain!
Minhat Bikkurim-barley (first grain to ripen=Aviv, spring) toasted (easy to grind), crushed carmel. To thank God for his role in bringing you the harvest.
Shelamim-Offerer gets to eat most of the meat (eat in purity), God gets blood and Helev/fat, priest gets chest and thigh. Could mean various things: Peace, Health, Harmony, Completeness, Trustworthiness, or Satisfaction (Everyone gets a piece of it). In Ugaritic, ShLMM is coupled with SRF (Olah), implying that the name may have originated from the offering having been a gift of well-being (Matanat Brakhah).
Hattat-Obligatory offering (vs. optional Olah and Shalem). For an unintentional sin that you become aware of (Intentional sins are punished, no atonement). The meat goes to the priest and the blood goes on the sanctuary articles, as opposed to the offerer. Female animal. Ht’T may mean sin or expiation, but likely means sin. It’s only mentioned in the P source. Some prophets said it can’t atone for sins. Accomodations are made for poorer offerers for the Sin Offering. Hence, even though a female animal is relatively more valuable than a male, even the poor can be accomodated for this mandatory offering.
Asham- Same as Hattat but if you don’t know whether you sinned or not and you offer a ram.
Meilah- The Tresspass offering may be substituted for silver. Just like BeGeD is clothing and BeGiDaH is treason, Me’iL is a coat and Me’iLaH may be tresspass. There is some evidence that it means desecration as evidenced by the crimes: for stealing or misusing a consecrated item or for making a false oath or breaking an oath involving YHWH’s name.
Certain parts of the animals are forbidden to be eaten: Choice Fat and Blood. These parts always belong to God.
From this, I hope to have made clear that each of the offerings was carefully thought out to relate to its purpose. Although we will likely never return to animal sacrifice (without also starting World War III), the concept of investing your acts with meaning remains important. For example, notice that the Hatat is the name for a sin offering. There is no “sinner” offering. By using ritual to make some positive act of thanks or atonement, the Torah seeks to change your status. A sin offering removes sin, not from you, but from the sanctuary. The term here for atonement is KaPaRaH כפרה, which more closely means “to cover”.
To tie it all together the offerings are an answer to the question: “How do we communicate with God?” If we want to give thanks, show gratitude, or apologize, how do we do it? The priestly system drew on the traditions of the surrounding nations and created a system that focused less on feeding the diety, than on expressing a feeling of joy, sadness, or regret.
This sytem historically was limited by Josiah when he centralized the cult and further by the destruction of the Second Temple when the cult was forever ended. Nonetheless, we can still learn from it that we must have some way of expressing ourselves to the one who is greater than ourselves.
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