BURNT offering

BURNT offering

 

Burnt offering

The different animals for the burnt offering were bullocks, sheep, goats, turtle doves, and young pigeons. The person making this voluntary offering, laid his hand on the head of the offering so that it was accepted on his behalf as an atonement, and then slew it. The priests took the blood and sprinkled it around the great altar. 

In Solomon’s Temple there was a red line half way up the sides of the great altar, and some of the blood was sprinkled above and some below this line. After the blood was sprinkled, the person who brought the offering skinned the animal and cut it in pieces. This was apparently changed later so that it was the priest that performed this task, sometimes helped by others when there were too many offerings, as shown in 2 Chronicles 29:34—“The priests, however, were too few to skin all the burnt offerings; so their kinsmen the Levites helped them until the task was finished and until other priests had been consecrated, for the Levites had been more conscientious in consecrating themselves than the priests had been.” The entire offering was then burned by the priests. If the offering consisted of a goat, a sheep, or fowls, the ceremony was slightly changed.

The burnt offering was the only offering that was entirely burned. Thus it is sometimes called the “whole” burnt offering (Deuteronomy 33:10; Psalm 51:19). The burning was to be so gradual that it should last from morning to evening, or from one daily sacrifice to the next. It was commanded that the fire on the altar should never go out. The emphasis, however, was not on the fire, but on the continual burnt offering, which symbolized the consecration of the nation unto God.

The burnt offering is described in detail in Leviticus 1:1–17; 6:8–13. The purpose of the burnt offering is not clearly stated in the Bible, but most consider it as a symbol of entire and perpetual consecration to God. It was self-dedication, following upon and growing out of pardon and acceptance with God.

Freeman, James M., and Harold J. Chadwick. Manners & Customs of the Bible. North Brunswick, NJ: Bridge-Logos Publishers, 1998. Print.