THE SINAI COVENANT

Part III: The Ordinances and Sacrifices of the Law of the Covenant

Biblical Period 3

Lesson #10

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Gracious Lord,

You created man and woman to live eternally with You, but when our original parents became deprived of Your fellowship in their Fall from grace, You in Your mercy gave them a temporary remedy for the sin that would have condemned them to eternal death—the eternal separation from you.  In Your mercy You accepted the death of an animal and the shedding of that sin sacrifice to cover the sins of man.  But the blood sacrifice of an animal offered an imperfect remedy.  No animal could be a perfect enough offering to completely remove the stain of sin, and without a perfect sacrifice the Gates of Heaven were closed—for Old Testament humanity only the abode of the dead awaited the righteous and the non-righteous.  In the Covenant at Sinai You defined the sacrificial system not only as a means of temporary salvation but to instruct and prepare Your Covenant people for the perfect sacrificial offering of the Lamb of God, Your blessed Son who, on the altar of the Cross, offered His precious blood in a perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world.  Dear Holy Spirit, guide us in our study so that we may be instructed in God the Father’s perfect plan of salvation in Christ Jesus.  We pray in the name of God—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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“If any member of the House of Israel or any resident alien consumes blood of any kind, I shall set my face against that individual who consumes blood and shall outlaw him from his people.  For the life of the creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you for performing the rite of expiation on the altar for your lives, for blood is what expiates for a life.  That is why I told the Israelites: None of you will consume blood, nor will any resident alien consume blood.” Leviticus 17:10-12

 

The Sinai Covenant was established on the 50^th day after the Exodus from Egypt.  The Children of Israel arrived at the holy mountain on "the very day"--the third day of the third month which was Sivan (May/June) and are told to take 3 days to purify themselves. The day they arrived would have been the 48^th day after Israel left Egypt. To count three days as the ancients counted, the count began with the first day as day #1 since there was no concept at that time of a 0-place value.  The Covenant Yahweh formed with Israel as His holy nation on that 50^th day is a 3-fold Covenant, which can be expressed in its simplest terms as Creed, Code, and Cult:

1. Creed: “what to believe”

2. Code: “what to do”

3. Cult: “how to worship”

 

Question: Is the Sinai Covenant the oldest known form of codified law in the region?

Answer: Definitely not.  Older codes include:

¨      Lipit-Ishtar Law Code = c. 2000 BC; Mesopotamia

¨      Egyptian Law Codes = c. finds date back as far as c. 2000 BC

¨      Laws of Ur = c 2000 BC, Mesopotamian city on the Persian Gulf and home of Abraham

¨      Hammurabi's Code = written between 1900 - 1700 BC; Babylon in Mesopotamia.  This code includes the law of lex talionis = ["an eye for an eye.."] law of equivalent retaliation which is also found in the Mosaic code [law limited the scope of retribution].

¨      Eshnunna code =  believed to be older than Hammurabi's Code and at least 5 centuries older than The Sinai Covenant

¨      Ras Shamra Tablets = [Canaanite city on the coast just opposite the tip of Cyprus] = c. 1400 BC

¨      Ugarit Law Code = Ugarit was a Canaanite city contemporary to Ras Shamra c. 1400 BC.

¨      Hittite Legal Code = possibly contemporary to the Sinai Code, dates to c. 1300BC and provides many parallels to the Sinai Code.  At the height of their empire the Hittites ruled from south of the Black Sea to include Asia Minor [Turkey] and into modern Syria.

¨      Assyrian Law Code = 99 articles on three tablets found at Ashur and dating c. 1300 BC

 

Initially the code of Sinai was unified and concise as expressed in Exodus 21:1-31:18, and aside from the animal sacrifices to sanctify the altar and to consecrate Aaron and his sons to the high priesthood only one kind of animal sacrifice was required for the people as a whole; that sacrifice was the Daily Burnt offering known as the Tamyid sacrifice [Exodus 29:38-45].  But after the sin of the Golden Calf there is a radical change in the requirements and obligations of the Covenant.  Israel's relationship with God has been fundamentally altered by the sin of the people:

¨      The law is expanded: The Law of the Sinai Covenant becomes the most thorough attempt in history to use religion as a regulator of every detail of life. The Law is expanded to include every aspect of life. Diet, and hygienic are regulated.  The medical law includes the first mention of quarantine as a form of disease control as well as disinfecting, which includes fumigation and if necessary destruction of the contamination by fire, as well as the treatment of venereal disease and other skin diseases.  There is a regulation that is the reverse of “natural family planning” which instead increases the likelihood of fertility [Leviticus 15:19 &28].  There are also expanded moral and social laws; laws regulating menstrual and natal hygiene, public sanitation, sexual inversion and bestiality--all of which are made subjects of divine ordinance and guidance.   The sacrifices are expanded to 7 classes of sacrifice including sin offerings for unintentional sin [there is no sin offering for what we would call mortal sin.  See Numbers 15:27-31]. The great scholar E. Renen in his classic work, History of the People of Israel, writes that the Law of Sinai became "the tightest garment into which life was ever laced" [page 163].

¨      The restrictions against drinking blood and eating flesh from the Covenant with Noah in Genesis 9:5 is repeated in Leviticus 3:17; 7:26; 17:10-12; and Deuteronomy 12:16: "If any member of the House of Israel or any resident alien consumes blood of any kind, I shall set my face against that individual who consumes blood and shall outlaw him from his people.  For the life of the creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you for performing the rite of expiation on the altar for your lives, for blood is what expiates for a life..  That is why I told the Israelites: None of you will consume blood, nor will any resident alien consume blood." Leviticus 17:10-12.

¨      The annual holy days of obligation are expanded from the 3 Pilgrim feasts of Unleavened Bread, Feast of Weeks [Pentecost], and Feast of Tabernacle, to include 4 other feast for a total of 7 annual feast days.

¨      The Levites are chosen in place of the dispossessed "firstborn" sons to form the ministerial priesthood in support of the Aaronic line of high priests, and

¨      Finally, the most radical change is that Yahweh separates Himself from Israel!

 

These laws will not only ensure Israel's health in the 40 years of enforced wandering in the wilderness but will become the daily lessons in obedience to the commands of Yahweh.  It is in the crucible of the desert that Israel will be molded by the Law into the holy people God has called to be His own possession.

 

Question: But what exactly was Israel's sin in the incident of the Golden Calf?  Hint: God's announcement to Moses in 32:7-10 is that Israel has fallen into sin focuses on 3 central points.

Answer:

1.      God informs Moses that the people have turned away from His commandments [Exodus 32: 8]. The first commandment was to "You shall have not other gods before me" in Exodus 20:2. God had repeated the command not to worship an idol in 20:23; 23:13, 23:32, and 23:33.

2.      In 32:9 Yahweh accuses Israel of being a "stiff-necked people" incapable of obedience to the covenant.  God seems inclined to destroy the people and start over by making a new nation with Moses.

3.      It is because of Moses' successful intercession that God has compassion on the people, "remembering" the promised made to the Patriarchs beginning in Genesis 12:1-3, and being moved by Moses' offer of self-sacrifice in Exodus 32:32-34. 

 

There must be, however, accountability for sin and God's judgment falls on the people.

Question: How many Israelites perish in the revolt?

Answer:  3,000 are slain by the Levites how rally to God’s cause.

 

Nevertheless,  the central themes of the subsequent narratives in Exodus focus on Yahweh's great compassion and faithfulness and a new start for Israel as a Covenant people-- but a Covenant people who, because of their "stiff-necked" condition, require more discipline.   The laws and regulations of the 10 Commandments will total 611, the number value [in Hebrew the gematria] of the Hebrew word "Torah", which means “teaching” or “instruction” (not “law”).  In the Middle Ages the great Jewish rabbi Maimonides will expand the number to include the "shema", the first profession of faith [Deuteronomy chapter 6] raising the number to 614 [6 + 1 + 4 = 10] Commandments of the Law of Moses. 

 

Question: What is the most radical change in the relationship between Yahweh and Israel after the sin of the Golden Calf?

Answer: Before the sin of the Golden Calf the people had unlimited access to Yahweh.  Now God will separate Himself from the people. Before the sin of the Golden Calf Yahweh had instructed Moses "Have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them" [Exodus 25:8].  The purpose of the Tabernacle was to be a place where God's people would have unrestricted access to Him, just as Adam and Eve had unrestricted access to God before their Fall from grace.  Before the Golden Calf Yahweh had instructed Moses: "There I will meet you and speak to you; there also I will meet with the Israelites" [Exodus 29:42-43].  But after the sin of the Golden Calf Yahweh announces He will bring judgment on the whole nation.

 

Question: Moses does not hide from his obligation as the Covenant mediator.  What does he do to dispel Yahweh’s wrath?  What does this action foreshadow in Salvation History?  Hint: see Exodus 32:30-35.

Answer: Moses offers his life as a sacrifice for the lives of his people.  It isn’t that Yahweh has changed His mind and relents in bring judgment on the whole nation because Moses offers himself in sacrifice for the sins of the people: Exodus 32:30-35 "Oh this people has committed a great sin by making themselves a god of gold.  And yet, if it pleased you to forgive their sin..! If not, please blot me out of the book you have written [the Book of Life; see Psalms 69:27-8; 139:16; Daniel 7:10; 12:1; Malachi 3:16; Philippians 4:3; Hebrews 12:23; Revelation 3:5; 13:8; 17:8; 20:12, 15; 21:27]."  Instead, God has elicited this response from Moses to bring him to the point of freely offering his self-sacrificial love for his kinsmen.  Moses has become the man Yahweh created him to be—unlike Adam, this son of Abraham willingly offers his own life in a blood sacrifice for the sins of the people.  His self-sacrificial love prefigures the sacrifice of Jesus the Messiah for the sins of “the people” of the earth. 

 

Yahweh will judge only those who have sinned against Him but the Tabernacle will now become a place where God is set apart from the people. 

 

Question: Now that the people will no longer have unlimited access to God who will come to Him as their Covenant mediator?

Answer: Only Moses will have unrestricted access, and only the High Priest will enter God's presence in the Holy of Holies once a year at the Feast of Yom Kippur [the Feast of Atonement] where the High Priest will offer a bull, in memory of the sin of the Golden Calf, as a sacrifice for himself and a lamb and a goat in sacrifice for the sins people  [see Leviticus chapter 16].

 

Question: Everything has changed since the sin of the Golden Calf.  It is as much a fall from grace as the sin of Adam and Eve in Eden.  What change is there in the revelation of God’s glory to the people?  How does the sin of Israel compare to the sin of Adam and Eve?

Answer: In the cosmic creation of Genesis chapter 1, Creation was fashioned as a “house” of God where He could have interaction with His masterpiece of Creation—man.  The cosmoic/earthly paradise was in effect a cosmic Temple with the Garden of Eden serving as the most holy Sanctuary in which the presence of God came into direct contact with man who is made in God’s image and likeness.  Later, the desert Tabernacle and the Holy of Holies will serve the same function.  Unfortunately, sinless and immortal man changed his divine destiny when he chose his own sovereignty over God’s sovereignty and was expelled from the Sanctuary that was Eden—expelled from God’s presence and perfect communion with Him.  Israel experiences the same fall from grace in the incident of the Golden Calf—losing the blessing of God’s uninterrupted and unseparated presence among His people.  In the first encounter at Sinai all the people saw God's glory descend on the mountain in fire and smoke, but when Moses ascends the mountain the second time after the incident of the Golden Calf there is no display.  Only Moses will see God's glory passing by.  In chapter 34 when Moses returns back down the mountain at the end of another 40 days the people only see a reflection of God's glory on Moses' radiant face. From now on the covenant that God makes with the Children of Israel will be maintained through the role of the mediator chosen by Yahweh as His prophet-representative to the people.  There are other connections between Eden as God’s holy Sanctuary and the desert Tabernacle’s Holy of Holies.  In Genesis 3:8 Yahweh was “walking in the garden” at the liturgical hour of the day when He communed with His masterpiece of creation.  The same Hebrew words are used to describe God’s presence in the holy Tabernacle fashioned at Sinai and later the Temple in Jerusalem [see Leviticus 26:12; Deuteronomy 23:15; and 2 Samuel 7:6-7].  But like our original parents, Israel, God’s masterpiece from among the nations of the world—chosen to be His holy people, fall from grace and become separated from His continual presence.  The veil or curtain that divides the Holy of Holies [the sacred space which housed the Ark of the Covenant and where God’s presence rested upon the Mercy Seat] from the rest of the Tabernacle symbolized this separation between God and His chosen people [Exodus 26:31-32, 36-37; 36:35-38]. 

 

Question: What significant event in salvation history signifies the restoration of God’s continual and unseparated presence in the lives of His people?  See Matthew 27:51; Mark 15:37; Luke 23:45.

Answer: At the moment Jesus gave up His life on the Cross for the sins of man the veil of the Sanctuary was torn from top to bottom as a “sign” that Jesus’ atoning death had removed the separation between God and man.

 

Question: There is a significant exchange between God and Moses when, on the mountain for the second time, Moses makes a special request of Yahweh.  What is his request and how is it fulfilled?

Answer: Moses petitions God to let him see God's glory.  To protect Moses Yahweh covers Moses' face with His own hand so Moses can see only the back parts of God's glory and then Yahweh proclaims "Yahweh, Yahweh, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin.  Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished." [Exodus 34:6-7].   

 

God is merciful in sparing Israel as a nation, but Israel is still accountable for her sin through the curses of the Covenant, which the sin of the Golden Calf has imposed upon the people.  This sin results in the break in the perfect Communion Yahweh had planned for His covenant people, just as the sin in Eden became a barrier between Yahweh and our first parents.  The fall of Adam and Eve left mankind in need of a redeemer to remove original sin and now the sin of the Golden Calf leaves Israel in need of a redeemer to remove the curse of disobedience to the Covenant.  Just as Yahweh provided for the safety of the "promise seed" after the sin in Eden so too now the liturgical and sacrificial requirements of the Covenant and the expanded law looks forward to the future redeemer.  The people wanted to sacrifice to the gods of Egypt, now their just punishment will be to sacrifice the very animals that were sacred to the Egyptians, cattle, sheep, and goats-- animals considered by the Egyptians in certain cases represent the physical manifestation of the Egyptian gods themselves.  Now these animals, and only these animals, would be offered in sin sacrifices and communion offerings [along with turtle doves and pigeons for the poor] until the one true and perfectly holy sacrifice to fulfill Genesis 3:15 would come in the fullness of time.  In the meantime, it is through the mediator/prophet that God will display His glory to the Covenant people. 

 

YAHWEH’S HOLY SANCTUARY

 

THE 7 CLASSES OF FURNITRUE OF THE HOLY TABERNACLE

 

“…these maintain the service only of a model or reflection of the heavenly realities; just as Moses, when he had the Tent to build, was warned by God who said: ‘See that you work to the design that was shown you on the mountain.’” Hebrews 8:5

 

1.      The Ark of the Covenant: an acacia wood box approximately 3 and 1/2 feet by 2 and 1/2 feet.  It must be covered inside and outside with pure gold and it will house the tablets of the Law. 

 

2.      The Mercy Seat: Moses is instructed to place the Kapporeth, on top of the Ark of the Covenant. This lid is known as the "mercy seat" or "seat of atonement".  It is from the Mercy Seat that God will meet His people. The Hebrew word translated as “mercy seat” is pronounced kap-po-reth, and means to cover, in two ways; as a noun, meaning a lid, or a top, but also, based on the Hebrew root from which it was derived, as a verb meaning to pardon, or to atone for, as in to cover a debt. The Hebrew word kap-po-reth is used exclusively in the Scriptures for the Mercy Seat, for nothing else.

The figures of two golden cherubim are to be mounted on the top of the lid of the mercy seat. Exodus 25:10-22; 26:34; Leviticus 16:12-15.

 

3.      The Golden Table of the Bread of the Presence: an acacia wood table approximately 2 feet long by 1 and 1/2 feet wide by 1 and 1/2 feet high.  It must be covered with pure gold and will hold 12 loaves of unleavened bread, one loaf for each tribe of Israel.  Exodus 25:23-30; 37:10-16; Lev. 24:5-9.

 

4.      The Golden Menorah lamp stand: Made of pure gold with its cups for the holy oil shaped in the form of calyxes and petals.  It must have one central trunk with six branches from each side of the main branch, three branches on a side.  It is a visual representation of the burning bush of Exodus chapter 3. Exodus 25:31-40; 37:17-24; Leviticus 24:2-4.

 

5.      The Bronze Altar of burnt offerings: Made of acacia wood and covered with bronze this altar measured circa 7 and 1/2 feet wide, by 7 and 1/2 feet deep, by 4 and 1/2 feet high. Exodus 27:1-8; 38:1-7

 

6.      The Golden Altar of Incense: Made of acacia wood covered with pure gold it measured approximately 2 feet by 2 feet square and 3 feet high.  Exodus 30:1-10/ 37:25-28.

 

7.      The Bronze Basin: Made entirely of bronze from the mirrors of the women.  It would hold the holy water for ritual purification before entering the Holy Place of Yahweh's dwelling.  Exodus 30:17-21; 38:8.

 

THE ARK OF THE COVENANT and the SEAT OF ATONEMENT

“You must make me an ark of acacia wood, […].  There I shall come to meet you; from above the mercy-seat, from between the two winged creatures which are on the ark of the Testimony, I shall give you all my orders for the Israelites.” Exodus 25:10, 22

 

The Ark of the Covenant served 3 purposes:

1.      It was a receptacle to hold the 10 Commandments,

2.      It was a support for the “Seat of Atonement” as the earthly throne of Yahweh

3.      It was the most holy altar of Yahweh.

 

As the visual reminder of the presence of God with His chosen people, the Ark of the Covenant was a receptacle which held and preserved the two tablets of the Ten Commandments [Exodus 25:16].  This purpose gave the Ark its other name—the “Ark of Testimony” or the “Ark of the Covenant”, recalling the Covenant which Yahweh formed with Israel at Mount Sinai [Exodus 19-31].  The tablets are called “the tablets of the Covenant” in Deuteronomy 9:9, 11, 15; and the words engraved on them are called “the words of the Covenant” [Exodus 39:28].  The Ark would also come to hold a pot of the manna with which Yahweh had physically sustained Israel in her desert journey and the branch of the High Priest Aaron which had miraculously come to life and blossomed [see Hebrews 9:4].

 

The Ark served as a support for the “Seat of Atonement” or “Mercy Seat”, in Hebrew the Kapporeth [Exodus 37:1-9].  The Kapporeth was placed on the top of the Ark, enclosing the tablets of the Ten Commandments within the chest of the Ark, making the tablets a treasure entrusted to Israel.  The divine testimony of God hidden in the Ark became the guarantee of the fulfillment of the promises of the Covenant made at Sinai.  But the Kapporeth was more than a lid to cover the 10 Commandments. This is evident from its name which means in Hebrew not simply “covering” but instead “seat” of atonement, which some scholars translate as “Mercy Seat”. This title denotes not a physical or material covering but a spiritual covering of something.  But what is “covered” can not be the tablets of the Law.   After all it is not the Law that must be covered—the whole purpose of the Law was that it was to be revealed continuously as the voice and will of Yahweh, but the question of sin was a serious issue.  The Kapporeth instead was meant to provide a covering for the sins of Israel, the Covenant people.  Israel must come to Yahweh as the sinless Bride and therefore united with Yahweh in the covenantal union she must have recourse to atonement for sins, as Yahweh sat enthroned upon the “Seat of Atonement”, the highest means of atonement in the Old Covenant.  And yet that atonement could only be offered for unintentional sin—the blood of an animal was not perfect enough to offer expiation for mortal or deadly sins [Numbers 15:22-31].  It was in that function of the atonement for sins that the Kapporeth was a foreshadow of the true act of expiation which would be offered in the fullness of time by Christ Jesus, the Bridegroom of His New Covenant Bride, the Universal Church, upon the “mercy seat” of the Cross when His pure and holy sacrifice would cleanse the sins of all mankind for all time in all the ages of man. 

 

In Exodus 40:34-35 the glory of Yahweh came down and overshadowed the Kapporeth in the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle as Yahweh took His place upon His earthly throne [also see Exodus 25:22 and Numbers 7:89].  Like the angelic cherubim who surround the throne of Yahweh in the heavenly Tabernacle [Revelation 4-5], of which the earthly Tabernacle is only a copy [Exodus 25:8-9; 27:8; Numbers 8:4; Hebrews 9:23], two cherubim were placed by Yahweh’s command on top of the Kapporeth and images of cherubim were also woven into the inner curtain that hung in front of the entrance to the Holy of Holies in which the Ark rested.  In the Tabernacle Yahweh was enthroned between the cherubim, ready to offer mercy and forgiveness to His covenant Bride Israel.

 

The third purpose of the Ark of the Covenant was its use as Yahweh’s holiest Altar of sacrifice.  The other two altars were the bronze Altar of Burnt Offerings in the courtyard [Exodus 27:1-8; 29:36-37], and the golden Altar of Incense [see Exodus 30:1-10; Leviticus 4:7].  But what was the means of atonement carried out upon this earthly throne of mercy known as the “Seat of Atonement” to bind Israel the Bride to Yahweh the Bridegroom?  Once a year, on Yom Kippur, the “Day of Atonement” [Leviticus chapter 16] the “mercy seat” served as the 3^rd holy Altar of Yahweh when the holiest of sin-offerings was sprinkled on the Kapporeth. In the ordinary sacrifices on ordinary days and during the days of the 7 Sacred Feasts of Yahweh, the blood of the sacrificed victims was sprinkled and then poured out at the corners of the great bronze Altar of Burnt Offerings in the courtyard of the Temple or sprinkled upon the horns of the golden Altar of Incense that stood in the Holy Place in front of the curtain woven with cherubim that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies in which the Ark of the Covenant rested.

 

The Ark of the Covenant was the highest or most holy of the altars of Yahweh for 3 reasons:

1.      It covered the testimony of God contained in the two tablets of the 10 Commandments.

2.      The glory of Yahweh rested upon it between the wings of the golden cherubim that overshadowed the Ark making it the earthly throne of God.

3.      As the site of the atonement of Israel on the Feast of Atonement it became Yahweh’s earthly “throne of grace”, establishing the institution of atonement [given in Leviticus 17:11] and serving as the foreshadow of Christ’s act of atonement when He served as both the sinless victim as well as the enthroned King on the earthly Altar and “Mercy seat” of the Cross.

 

Yahweh had promised in Exodus 20:24 that He would come down to Israel at the moment of sacrifice at the bronze Altar of Burnt Offerings in the courtyard of the Tabernacle/Temple and would, in the cloud of smoke that rose from the burning sacrificial victim, receive the offerings of the Covenant people both individually and collectively and recompense them by His blessings.  But on the Altar of the “Seat of Atonement/ Mercy Seat” He did not come in the form of the visible rising cloud.  Instead He came invisibly in a manner that could not be seen in the natural world but in a manner that required the obedient faith of the Covenant believers.  This is the same way He comes to us today in the sacrifice of the Eucharist.  He comes invisible to transform what we have offered Him into a visible reality through the miracle of transubstantiation.  What was bread and wine become the very Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ.  Belief in the miracle of His coming still requires the obedient faith of the Covenant believers just as it did for the first generation of believers.

 

In Exodus 40 the Sanctuary is erected and consecrated: “The cloud then covered the Tent of Meeting and the glory of Yahweh filled the Dwelling [Tabernacle].  Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting since the cloud stayed over it and the glory of Yahweh filled the Dwelling.”  This same supernatural phenomomen occurs when Yahweh’s presence, witnessed in the Glory-Cloud takes possession of the Temple in Jerusalem when that sacred space is consecrated in 1 Kings 8:10-11 and the same language of possession—the “over-shadowing” of the Holy Spirit in the Glory-cloud is expressed in Luke 1:35 when God the Holy Spirit fills and indwells the womb of the Virgin Mary in Luke 1:35.  In the Greek translation of the Old Testament the word episkiazo = “to overshadow” is used in both accounts of Exodus 40:34-35 and Luke 1:35.

 

No longer do the people have direct access to God therefore it is necessary to establish the holy offices of covenant representative and mediator.  Moses’ position so long as he lives will be the Covenant mediator and voice of God to the people.

Question: Priests and later Kings will be the people's representatives to God but what holy office will be God’s representative/covenant mediator to the people?

Answer: the Prophet will belong to God.  In Deuteronomy 18:13-22 Yahweh establishes the holy office of the prophet [navi in Hebrew].  But Yahweh also promises the coming of a future prophet who will be like Moses to his people [see Deuteronomy 18:17-19]!

                                               

When the Tabernacle is complete and all the sacred furniture is in place God took possession of the Holy of Holies and He sent holy fire to consume the burnt offering on the altar of sacrifice [Leviticus 8:24].

 

Question: What does the animal offered in sacrifice represent?

Answer: The sacrifice represents repentance of sins committed and the desire to be reconciled with God.

Question: In the New Covenant how do we offer repentance for sins and the desire to be reconciled with God?

Answer: Through the Sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist.

Question: What does the fire on the altar that consumes the sacrificial animal and the rising smoke represent?  Every sacrifice was salted so that there was a great white cloud of smoke.

Answer:  It is as a sign to the people that God has accepted their sacrifice.  The essence of the animal’s life and the contrition of the repentant sinner rise in the white cloud to heaven.

 

Later in Leviticus 10:1-20 Aaron's two sons usurp God's sovereignty by making a sacrifice of their own, outside of the covenant ordinances.  This time fire comes as a sign of God's disapproval and the fire consumes Aaron's two eldest sons.  The sin of Aaron's sons was the sin of disobedience.  They understood the Law and the requirements of their office as priests but their disobedient hearts caused them to neglect their covenant duty, just as Cain refused to offer in sacrifice what God required.  Hosea 6:6 provides the reason for the inadequacy of the spiritual life of Aaron’s sons and the what led to their destruction "..for faithful love is what pleases me, not sacrifice; knowledge of God, not burnt offerings.” [also see Psalms 51:16-17; 1 Samuel 15:22-23; Ecclesiasticus 34:18-20; and Amos 5:21-25]

 

The Book of Leviticus

 

The Hebrew title of the book is wayyikra (why-yee-kra) also spelled wayyiqra, which is from the first word of the text and translates as: “And He called.”  The title "Leviticus" comes from the word Levi, the tribe of Moses' kinsmen that has now received the inheritance of the dispossessed "firstborn" sons.  Therefore, Leviticus means "that which pertains to the Levites" or priests.  The Book of Leviticus contains the addition laws and sacrifices imposed after the sin of the Golden Calf.  The Tamid daily sacrifice and the remembrance sacrifices of the 3 feast days are expanded to include 5 other classes of sacrifice with 4 more “remembrance” feast day sacrifices added bringing the classification of sacrifices to a total of 7 different classes of sacrifices and offerings [see the chart “Levitical Sacrifices”. 

SUMMARY OF THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS

 

TIME LINE BC

 

___2000________________1600_______________1350_________________1000__

Abraham -------?Exodus?----------                                 David

                                                            ?Sinai experience?                                conquers

                                                                                                                        Jerusalem

 

It is important to distinguish the difference between an offering and a sacrifice, even though the designation seems to be used interchangeably.  An offering [minah in Hebrew] is the broader category. It refers generally to anything that is brought as a donation to Yahweh and indirectly to the priests. It can simply be a gift or a tribute and is primarily a cereal offering.  A sacrifice [in Hebrew zevach, the same word used for "feast" in 1 Samuel 20:29], however, refers only to offerings that are burned in fire, either totally consumed in fire as in the Tamid daily sacrifice, also called a "holocaust", or partially consumed on the altar such as in the sin sacrifice when parts of the animal are totally consumed like the fat and the majority of the flesh is roasted on the altar and then eaten by the priests. 

 

The 'Ola is the poor persons sacrificial burnt offering and consisted of either turtle doves or pigeons often paired with a cereal offering [see Matthew 2:23-24].  The sacrifices and offerings were an external sign of an inward condition of the offerer: "Sacrifice gives you no pleasure, burnt offerings you do not desire.  Sacrifice to God is a broken spirit, a broken, contrite heart you never scorn." Psalms 51:16-17.  Every sacrifice burnt on the altar was salted so that a great cloud of smoke rose above the sacrifice as the "essence" of the sacrifice, the condition of the offerer's contrite heart, rose up to heaven and was accepted by Yahweh.  It was the contrition and the “change of heart” that was “pleasing” to Yahweh and brought about restored fellowship, not the death of the animal [see Psalms 51:16-17].

 

Question: At the Ascension of Jesus the Messiah what did the believers who were present witness? See Acts 1:9.

Answer: Jesus' glorified body was consumed in a great cloud that rose up to heaven.  His sin sacrifice had been accepted by God the Father.  In Hebrews 10:14-18 the sacred writer attests to this perfect sin sacrifice quoting Jeremiah 31:33-34: "By virtue of that one single offering, he has achieved the eternal perfection of all who are sanctified. The Holy Spirit attests this to us, for after saying: 'No this is the Covenant I will make with them, when those days have come,' the Lord says: 'In their minds I will plant my Laws writing them on their hearts, and I shall never more call their sins to mind, or their offences.'  When these have been forgiven, there can be no more sin offerings." Jesus' sacrificial death, resurrection and ascension to the Father is the final sin sacrifice offered for the sins of the world for all time and continues for all generations.  Jesus perfect sacrifice on the cross fulfilled all the sacrifices of the Old Covenant including the “peace” or “thanksgiving” offering which is why we call the living representation of His sacrifice the “thanksgiving” or Eucharistic sacrifice [see the Catechism of the Catholic Church # 1322-1344].

 

Note: In the Old Covenant sin sacrifices, an individual would place his or her hands on the animal and publicly confess his or her sins before the priest.  Then the animal died in place of the offerer and his/her sins were “covered” by the sacrificial blood of the victim.  All sins sacrifices had to be eaten by the priests.  Other sacrifices like the Passover lamb and the Toda or Thanksgiving [Eucharistia in Greek] sacrifice had to be eaten by the offerer and his family.  Only the holocaust offering was not eaten and was entirely consumed by the flames of the altar [i.e., Tamid sacrifice].  Today in the sacrifice of the Eucharist we still have to eat the flesh of the Lamb of sacrifice!

 

 

The Levitical Sacrifices & Offerings of the Sinai Covenant

 

Sin: There is no single word for "sin" in the Old or New Testament. The O.T. Hebrew words for sin are: hatta’t = to miss the mark, awon =iniquity (damage to sinner only), asam =sin liability in harming another but not malicious, segagah =straying off the path, pasa =mortal sin, open rebellion against God. New Testament Greek words for sin: harasitia = venial (unintentional sin), and harartema = mortal sin (intentional disobedience to the Law of God. Michal Hunt, Copyright © 1997, revised 2004 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.

 

The Sabbath requirement and the 3 Pilgrim Feasts are expanded to the observance of 7 annual holy days of obligation, but only 3 feasts require attendance at God's holy altar at the Tabernacle created in the desert and later the Temple in Jerusalem:

 

 

 

* The 3 pilgrim Feasts: every Israelite male, 13 years or older, must present himself to Yahweh three times a year at the Temple in Jerusalem at the Feast of Unleavened Bread (the 7 day feast following the Passover sacrifice), the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), and at the Feast of Tabernacles (Booths). See Exodus 23:14-17 & Deuteronomy 16:16. Passover (which begins the liturgical year), the Feast Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Firstfruits all fall within an 8 day period and the last feast of the year, the Feast of Tabernacles (which ends the liturgical year), also covers an 8-day period.  If the 7 Sacred Feasts are a blueprint for God’s plan of salvation then we are presently in the period of “the long summer harvest”, and the laborers in God’s vineyard are gathering souls into God’s storehouse of heaven.

Michal Hunt, Copyright © 1997, revised 2005 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.

 

Purim (Adar = February/March), which celebrates the salvation of the Jews from gentile persecution in the Book of Esther (Esther 9:18-32), and Hanukkah (or Chanukah), celebrated in the month of Kislev (December), the feast of the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem described in the Book of Maccabees, are not festivals ordained by God but are instead festivals proclaimed by the people to celebrate an historical event which demonstrated God’s divine intervention and protection of the Covenant people.   Jesus observed the Feast of Hanukkah in John 10:22.

 

Please note that sometime shortly after the resurrection of Christ the Jews began to celebrate the Feast of Firstfruits on the day after the Feast of Unleavened Bread, on the 16^th of Nisan.  This meant that from then on Firstfruits and Pentecost would no longer fall annually on a Sunday.  The Karaite sect of Judaism, which claims descent from the Sadducees, continues to celebrate Firstfruits on the day after the first Sabbath of Passover week, on a Sunday, and Pentecost on a Sunday 50 days later just as commanded in Leviticus 23:11.  The Karaites are also the only Jews who continue to celebrate the Feast of Firstfruits.  Both Orthodox and Reform Jews count Pentecost as 50 days from the 16^th of Nisan.

 

The Law of Holiness in the book of Leviticus ends with a summary of the blessings that will come to Israel if she lives in obedience to the Covenant as well as the curses that will result from disobedience:

Question: What are the blessings of obedience?  Read Leviticus 26:3-13?

Answer: fruitful harvests, peace from war, fertility, long life, and the promise of continual fellowship with Yahweh.

Question: What are the curses of disobedience? Read Leviticus 26:14-46

Answer: In the Old Covenant they were temporal punishments like poor health, unfruitful harvest, oppressed by enemies, continual disobedience will mean 7 times more punishment, the destruction of your Tabernacle, scattered among the nations by exile.

 

Question: Even if they do suffer the Covenant curses what does Yahweh promise in Leviticus 26:40-46?

Answer: If Israel will repent she will be returned to her former blessings in the Covenant.

 

It has been said that it took one night to get Israel out to Egypt but it took forty years to get Egypt out of Israel.  In Exodus Israel is redeemed and established as a holy nation; and in Leviticus Israel is taught how to fulfill their priestly call.  They have been led out from the land of bondage in Exodus and into the sanctuary of God in Leviticus.  They move from redemption to service, from deliverance to dedication. The period of time covered is about one month.

 

The Book of Numbers

 

The Hebrew title is bemidbar (bay-med-bar); which means “in the wilderness” and is taken from the fifth Hebrew word in Num. 1:1. The period of time covered is about 39 years [Israel was 10 months at Sinai]. It records Israel’s movement from the last 20 days at Mt. Sinai, the wanderings round Kadesh Barnea, and finally the arrival on the plains of Moab in the 40^th year.  The beginning order of events in the Book of Numbers is not chronological as events have been in the structure of the Pentateuch as a whole.  For example the census that begins in chapter 1 situates the event on the 1^st day of the second month of the second year.  But Numbers 7:1 looks back to the time of the dedication of the Tabernacle and the consecration of the Levites a month earlier on the 1^st day of the first month of the second year [see Exodus 40:17], just 14 days before Passover, and then in Numbers 9:1-5 continues with the celebration of the Passover 14 days later.  After the Passover account the book moves forward in a chronological and historical pattern.

 

SUMMARY OF THE BOOK OF NUMBERS