THE SACRIFICIAL
SYSTEM Sacrifices were offered before the first Tabernacle was built. Sacrifices were offered by: Adam, Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses.
In Judaism, it is taught then when a Jew sins against God, Satan in heaven demands of Only peaceful animals are allowed for sacrifice – ox, sheep, goats, pigeons and turtledoves, and only healthy strong ones are taken. All sacrifices – animal or flour – were salted. There are five kinds of sacrifices:
The first three of these are free will offerings a Jew could bring to God any time they wished. The last two were required whenever a Jew sinned. OLAH An unblemished male; either a bull, ram or goat was used if a person was able to afford one. The owner would bring the animal to the Temple courtyard. He would then lean over the animal, place his hands on the animal’s head and confess the sins for which he was bringing in the offering. Two cohanim were present; one to hand the knife to him and the other to catch the blood. After making a confession over the animal’s head, the person making the offering would then take the knife and cut the throat of the animal. The blood was collected and was sprinkled on the four corners of the alter. The organs of the animal were then removed and washed along with the rest of the body. The body and its organs were then burnt whole upon the altar. If a person could not afford to bring these animals then he could bring instead a turtledove or pigeon. The bird was brought to the cohen who killed the bird by pinching off the back of its neck. None of this offering was eaten. It also functioned to forgive sins:
MINCHA (Gift) If a person was so poor that he could not even afford a bird then he could bring Mincha offering (Mincha means gift). The Mincha offering was an offering of flour, about 5 lbs. The flour was placed in a special pan into which some oil had been poured. More oil was poured over the flour and mixed with a sweet spice. The pan was then handed to the cohen who brought the pan to the alter where it was measured out, three hands full, which was burnt on the alter. The flour was not allowed to rise, could not be sweetened and must be salted. The person offering this sacrifice eats none of his offering. The priests do eat the leftovers. It was taught that when the priests eat of this sacrifice, God forgave the sins of Israel. There was also another Mincha done by the priest once in his lifetime prior to his beginning service in the Temple in order to prepare him. This one was completely burnt and not eaten. The High Priest also offered a Mincha for himself every day. This would direct his thoughts to G-d and make him worthy to ask for forgiveness of Israel’s sins. SHELAMIM (Peace offering) The Shelamim, or peace offering was not brought to atone for sin, but instead to express happiness and gratitude to God. An ox or cow, ram or female sheep were used as an offering. They were slaughtered in the same fashion as the Olah, except the person would give thanks to God and sing praises when he laid his hands on the animal’s head. The blood that was collected was sprinkled on the four corners of the altar. Part of the animal was burned on the altar while the owner and the cohanim ate the rest. This sacrifice was also offered whenever God rescued you from a dangerous situation (Shalmay Toda) specifically:
CHATAT (Sin offering) The chatat was slaughtered on the north side of the altar – same place as the Olah, possibly to not embarrass the sinner.) This was required for sin done "by mistake," i.e.,
ASHAM (Trespass offering) There are six reasons for offering an Asham:
The sacrifice of Yom Kippur is separate and distinct from all the other sacrifices offered during the year. While the others reconciled the sinner on a day to day basis with God, Yom Kippur is the day that God would forgive all the sins of all the people in every generation – in essence this was their salvation sacrifice. Yom Kippur is the only time that the High Priest would enter into the presence of God in the Holy of Holies, doing this four times in all that day. He would remove four of his eight garments – all those with gold – and enter only with four white linen garments. He would change his clothes five times, dipping himself in a Mikveh each time. Special offerings were made in addition to the regular ones:
The High priest would turn to the curtain separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies, and sprinkled the blood of the bull sacrifice one time upward, then seven times downward. He would repeat this process with the blood of the goat sacrifice one time upward, then seven times downward. He then entered the Holy of Holies, took blood from the bull and the goat and put some on the four corners of the threshing floor. He also sprinkled this on the altar, repeating the process of sprinkling once upwards, then seven times downward. The miracles/signs that took place, showing God’s approval and forgiveness:
The Talmud however, records that many of these miracles ceased to occur about 40 years before the destruction of the second Temple, and never returned. This of course coincides with the time of the death of Yeshua:
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