SACRIFICE AND OFFERING

Our study of the terminology of sacrifice has shown that the dominant conception of sacrifice in the OT from first to last is that of a gift, present, or offering. The object of the gift, reduced to its simplest terms, may be said to be threefold — to secure and retain the favour of J", to remove His displeasure incurred, and to express gratitude for benefits received. In this, Hebrew sacri-fice differed from sacrifice elsewhere, even in the lowest religions, only in respect of the deity to whom it was offered.

The sacrificial worship of the earlier differs from that of the later period mainly in the greater freedom as regards the occasion and in particular the place of sacrifice, in the greater simplicity of the ritual, and in the joyousness of the cult as compared with the more sombre atmosphere of the post-exilic worship, due to a deepened sense of sin and the accompanying conviction of the need of expiation.

As regards, first of all, the place of sacrifice, every village appears to have had its sanctuary or 'high place' with its altar and other appurtenances of the cult, on which the recent excavations have thrown so much new and unexpected light (see High Place). Not that sacrifice could be offered at any spot the worshipper might choose; it must be one hallowed by the tradition of a theophany: ' in every place where I record my name I will come unto thee and I will bless thee' (Ex 20^* RV). With the abolition of the local sanctuaries by Josiah in B.C. 622-21, the Temple at Jerusalem became, and henceforth remained, the only legitimate place of sacrifice, as required by the legislation of Deuteronomy (122«).

The occasions of sacrifice were manifold, and in the days of the local sanctuaries, which practically means the whole of the period under consideration, these occasions were naturally taken advantage of to an extent impossible when sacrifice was confined to the Temple of Jerusalem. Only a few of such occasions, whether stated or special, can be noted here. Of the regular or stated occasions may be named the daily sacrifices of the Temple — a burnt offering in the morning followed by a cereal offering in the afternoon (2 K 16", cf. 1 K 18^'- 86, which, however, may refer to one or more of the large sanctuaries of the Northern Kingdom. e.g. Bethel or Samaria), the 'yearly sacrifice' of the various clans (1 S 20'), those at the recurring festivals, such as the new moon and the three agricultural feasts (Ex 23""- 342211.), at which the oldest legislation laid down that 'none shall appear before me empty' (23" 342°), that is, without an offering in token of gratitude and homage. Still more numerous were the special occasions of sacrifice — the installation of a king (1 S 11", the arrival of an honoured guest, family events such as the weaning of a child, a circumcision, a marriage, the dedication of a house (Dt 20'): no compact or agree-ment was completed until sealed by a sacrifice (Gn 31" etc.); at the opening of a campaign the warriors were 'consecrated' by a sacrifice (1 S IS'"-, Is 13' RV). One of the most fruitful occasions of sacrifice was un-doubtedly the discharging of a vow, of which those of Jacob (Gn 28M-a), Jephthah (see 6), Hannah (1 S I'O, and Absalom (2 S 15') may be cited as typical specimens, just as in Syria to-day, among fellahin and bedouin alike, similar vows are made to the welys of the local shrines by or on behalf of sick persons, childless women, or to avert or remove plague or other threatened calamity.

4. The varieties and material of sacrifice in THIS period. — Three varieties of sacrifice are met with in the older Hebrew literature, viz. the burnt offering, the 'peace' offering, and the cereal or 'meal' offering. The two former, appearing sometimes as 'burnt offer-ings and sacrifices' (Ex IS'^, jer 7^ etc.), sometimes as 'burnt offerings and peace offerings' (Ex 24', 1 S 13" etc.), exhaust the category of animal sacrifices, the special 'sin' and 'guilt' offerings being first definitely

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SACRIFICE AND OFFERING

named by Ezekiel (see §§ 13-15). The typical animal offering in the pre-exiUc period is that now termed • sacrifice ' (zebach) simply, now ' peace offering ' (Am 5^^) to differentiate it more clearly from the burnt offering, now still more explicitly 'sacrifice of peace offerings' (perhaps rather 'of recompense,' shelamim, § 2). Al-most all the special offerings and most of the stated ones were of this type. Its distinguishing feature was the sacrificial meal, which followed the sacrifice proper. After the blood had been returned to the Giver of lite (we have no details as to the manipulation of the blood in the earliest period, but see 1 S 14»2-34)_ and the fat burned upon the altar (1 S 2"; cf. Is 1"), the fiesh of the victim was eaten at the sanctuary by the sacrificer and his family (1 S l^-') or, in the case of a communal sacrifice, by the representatives of the community (922-25). The last passage shows that a special 'guest-chamber' was provided at the 'high place' for this purpose.

The underlying idea of this, by far the commonest, form of sacrifice was that of sharing a common meal with the deity. The worshippers were the 'guests' (Zeph 1') of God at His sanctuary, and as such secure of His favour. To this day among the Arabs ' the act of eating together is regarded as something particularly solemn and sacred," and, as is well known, creates a solidarity of interest between guest and host, and imposes upon the latter the duty of protecting his guest so long as, in Arab phrase, 'his salt is in his belly' (see Jaussen, Coutumes des Ardbes [1908], 86-88). This idea of table communion, as it is termed, is accordingly one which may be reckoned a common possession of the Semitic stock. Even to St. Paul the eating of meat that had been sacrificed to heathen deities appeared as an act of 'communion (AV 'fellowship') with demons' (1 Co 10™ Amer. RV). References to this solemn — one might almost say sacramental — eating of the sacri-fice are too frequent to require citation, but we may recall the favourite expression of Deuteronomy, 'ye shall eat (and drink) before the Lord your God' (12' etc.), often followed by the equally characteristic 'ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God.' Here we meet with the dominant note of Hebrew worship in this period, the note of joyousness above referred to — an element which not infrequently led to the excesses deplored by the prophets.

Much less frequent in the older documents is the men-tion of the burnt offering, more precisely the ' whole ' offering (see above, § 2). The fact that the whole was consumed upon the altar enhanced its value as a ' holy gift,' and accordingly we find it offered when the occasion was one of special solemnity (Gn 8*°, 1 K 3' etc.), or was otherwise extraordinary, as e.g. 1 S 6". In most cases the burnt offering appears in conjunction with the ordinary 'sacrifice' above described (Ex 18'^, 1 S 6", 2 S 6", 2 K 1613- "; cf. Is lu, Jer T^ 17M).

Apart from the special offering of the first-fruits, the cereal or meal offering (AV 'meat offering' § 2) is rarely mentioned as an independent offering in this period, but is frequently named along with the two more important offerings discussed above, as Jg 132s, Am 522, Jer 14" (with the burnt offering), 1 S 2^' 3", Is 1921 (BV 'oblation'), and often. 'When the Hebrew ate fiesh, he ate bread with it and drank wine, and when he offered flesh on the table of his God, it was natural that he should add to it the same concomitants that were necessary to make up a comfortable and generous meal' (,RS^ 222). The various forms which the meal offering might assume are attested for a later period by Lv 2, for which see § 11. One form occurring there is undoubtedly ancient, viz. parched ears of corn (2»; cf. Food, § 2).

Another very ancient lorm of offering, although not an altar-offering in the strict sense (yet strangely reckoned among the fire offerings, Lv 24'), is that named the presence bread (EV 'she'wbread'), which perpetuates