Spring Sunday School Quarter: Worship, Sacrifices, and Offerings Unit 3: Special Offerings and the Sanctuary

By: Rev Adrian Grubbs

This quarter we have been trying to understand the sacrificial system in the Old Testament, because the New Testament writers used it to explain Jesus’ sacrifice – His life, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. As we have seen, there were many different types of sacrifices, but there was none for salvation. There were sacrifices for unintentional sins, intentional sins, sins of commission, and sins of omission. There were sacrifices of gratitude and praise, as well as sin offerings and peace offerings. Sacrifices might come from herds of cattle, flocks of sheep and goats, certain birds, and/or grain. With some sacrifices, the fat was burned on the altar while the carcass was burned in the ash-heap; but with others, the fat was burned on the altar, the hide was given to the priest, and the meat was consumed by the priests and the ones offering the sacrifice; but always, the blood belonged to God and was collected to consecrate the altar. In cases of intentional sins, the sacrificial offering had to be preceded by penance, punishment, and restitution. The O.T. sacrificial system was complicated, but certain aspects of the different sacrifices help to explain Christ’s sacrifice for us, but no one of them can explain it fully.

This month we will consider some special sacrifices for some special occasions. In 1 Chronicles 21 King David purchased a threshing floor for an altar and oxen for sacrifices for sin and well-being. This text is an edited version of a situation first reported in 2 Samuel 24. There are some differences in the two accounts. The first verse in the Samuel text says that the LORD incited David to take a census, but in Chronicles we are told that Satan caused him to do it. In the Hebrew the word “satan” is not used as a name for the Devil but to say that David was influenced by the “tempter,” or “adversary.” The idea is illustrated in cartoons with a little angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other. Anyway, the king ordered his top general to conduct a census to find out how many young men were eligible for military service. David knew he was wrong to order such a count, General Joab questioned him about it, but he did it anyway. We are not told why, but the LORD was very displeased. Could it have been that the King was counting on military power instead of faith in God’s power? However, the nation suffered for it. When a leader makes a poor decision, the constituents suffer the consequences. David realized he had done wrong, so he purchased oxen and threshing-floor from Ornan to make sacrifice to Yahweh – the oxen for a burnt offering and a peace [or, well-being] offering, and the threshing-floor on which to build an altar (by-the-way, that threshing-floor became the location for the temple). By this way David’s sin was forgiven, and Israel was relieved from further consequences for David’s sin.

One thing in common with the next three lessons is “the seventh month,” but in different years. It appears that Solomon dedicated the temple around 950 BC, Zerubbabel rebuilt and dedicated the altar in 520 BC, and Ezra and Nehemiah, after the wall was repaired in 444 BC, led the people in renewing their commitment to God’s covenant around 400 BC; each took place in the seventh month. Leviticus 23 describes three festivals and accompanying sacrifices that took place in the seventh month. The Israelites were on a lunar system, and each month began with the new moon; also, the seventh month began the new year. So, the seventh month began with a celebration of the new year with trumpets and the new month with sacrifice. The tenth day was the Day of Atonement with a series of sacrifices, and the fifteenth day began the festival of succoth – or tabernacles, or tents, or huts, or simply “the festival” – it was a seven-day celebration.

The first temple was completed in the eleventh year of Solomon’s rein and dedicated in the seventh month during Succoth. Normally this festival began with the sacrifices of 13 bulls, 2 rams, 14 male lambs one year old, grain offerings, and 1 male goat; these sacrifices were repeated for seven days, but with one less bull each day. For this occasion, the dedication of the temple, there were 22,000 oxen and 120,000 lambs – it seems extravagant, but that number was probably required to feed all the people (only a few of the oxen would be required for burnt offerings, and the rest would be communal sacrifices shared by all participants and priests). Make special note that the first burnt offerings were consumed by “fire from heaven” and the temple was filled with “the glory of the LORD.” Remember that when Moses dedicated the first tabernacle the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle so that no one could enter; also, recall that on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2 the Holy Spirit appeared as tongues of fire and filled the Christians, who are the LORD’s Temple.

Now jump a few centuries to Ezra 3. Jerusalem was conquered by the Babylonians in 586 BC; the royalty, the nobility, and many of the inhabitants of the city were taken captive to Babylon to live in exile. In 539 the Persians defeated Babylon and released all those in exile. There were four major phases of Jews returning to Jerusalem. In 538 Sheshbazzar, a descendant of King David, led the first group of exiles to Jerusalem. He started to restore the temple foundation but had to quit because of fierce opposition from the locals. In 520 Zerubbabel, the governor, and Jeshua, the priest, led the second wave of returnees. They rebuilt the altar and four years later completed construction of the temple. The altar, which once stood in front of the temple, was reconstructed in the seventh month, regular sacrifices were resumed, and the Festival of Succoth [tabernacles, or booths] was celebrated. The temple foundation was restored with the sounding of trumpets, singing praises, and reciting Psalm 136 (as in dedication of the first temple). Ezra 3:12 speaks of the weeping of the elders who actually remembered the first temple. Some have misread Haggai 2:3 to say that these elders were very sad that the second temple did not measure up to the first; but at this point the foundation was being restored. It may be that these elders were filled with tears of joy because work on the beloved temple had finally begun! There was much shouting and joyful tears that day.

There is much disagreement about the year for Nehemiah 10, but according to the last sentence in Nehemiah 7:39 it was in the seventh month. Nehemiah led the third wave of returnees to Jerusalem in 444 BC and in fifty-two days finished restoring the city walls. So, reconstruction of the altar, the temple, and the city wall had been completed, and Ezra the scribe and priest was called in to read and instruct the people on the torah. When the time came for the Festival of Succoth (fifteenth day of the seventh month), the people were moved to renew their commitment to God’s covenant. They pledged to keep the law, to avoid mixed marriages, to close the markets on the sabbath, to pay an annual temple tax, to provide kindling for the altar sacrifices, to present the first fruits, and to never neglect “the house of our God.”

Offering sacrifices was an important part of worship to the ancient Hebrews in the Old Testament, and the each of the different types of sacrifices serve to instruct us on the meaning of Jesus’ sacrifice for all time and for all people who will believe in Him.