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Animal Sacrifice and the Old Testament
In the Bible various verbs are used to designate the act of sacrifice. Two of them, tHS and Hbt, are used for the slaughter of animals for both secular (cf. Gen. 43:16; Num. 11:22) and sacred purposes, while the verbs Hbz (hence the name of the talmudic treatise Zevahim, dealing only with the slaughter of animals for sacrifice, as distinct from Hullin, which deals with slaughter for food), hlAh and byrch are only used for sacrifice. The last word, as does its cognate noun korban, expresses the idea "to bring near."
Although libation of wine and meal offerings played a prominent role in the rituals, the most important sacrifices were those of animals. The surrender of a living thing was a major factor in nearly every kind of sacrificial ritual; that life was being forfeited was signified by the extraction of animal's blood: "For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it for you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement, by reason of the life [that is in it]" (Lev. 17:11). The people were therefore forbidden to eat the blood (Lev. 17:10; also Gen. 9:4; Lev. 3:17; 7:26; Deut. 12:16, 23; 15:23), since life belonged only to God. The offering had to be the property of the person making the sacrifice (Lev. 1:2). Only domesticated animals raised for the purpose of providing food were acceptable, thus excluding both wild animals and work animals (contrast the allusions to slaying an ass at Mari, ARM II No. 37. 11.5-124). The sacrificial animal had to be without physical blemishes, which are defined and summarized in Leviticus 22:17-25 (see Blemish). An animal could not be offered before it was eight days old (Lev. 22:26-30).
SIN OFFERINGS
The sin offering was suited to the rank and circumstance of the person offering it. The high priest brought a young bull (Lev. 4:3) as did the congregation (4:14) except, apparently, when a ritual infraction was involved (Num. 15:24). A nasi ("ruler") brought a male goat (Lev. 4:23), and a commoner a female goat (Lev. 4:28; Num. 15:27) or a lamb (Lev. 4:32). If he was poor, he could bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons (one of the pair served as a burnt offering; Lev. 5:7), or, in extreme cases, even merely a tenth of an ephah of fine flour (Lev. 5:11-13; cf. Heb. 9:22).
The offerer executed the symbolic act of laying his hand on the offering (Lev. 4:4, and passim), thus identifying it with himself. The animal was slain on the north side of the altar (Lev. 4:24, 29; 1:11). The high priest collected the blood of his own, or of the congregation's sacrifice, in order to sprinkle some before the veil and some on the horns of the incense altar there (Lev. 4:5-7, 16- 18).
On the Day of Atonement he took his and the people's sacrificial blood into the Holy of Holies (Lev. 16:14-15). From all the other animals the blood was applied to the horns of the altar of burnt offering (Lev. 4:18, et al.); that of the birds was sprinkled on the side of the altar (Lev. 5:9). The remaining blood was poured or drained out at the base of the altar (Lev. 4:7, and passim). The choice parts of the entrails-the fatty tissue (blH, helev) over and on the entrails, the two kidneys and their fat, and the appendage to the liver-were all consumed on the altar (Lev.
4:8-10, and passim). In the case of a bull for the priest or the people, the carcass and the remaining entrails were disposed of by burning outside the camp (Lev. 4:11-12, 21). This rule prevailed for the bull in the ordination rites of Aaron and his sons (Ex. 29:10- 14; Lev. 8:14-17). Otherwise the priest received the edible flesh for food; it was to be eaten within the sacred precincts and very strict rules of ritual purity governed its handling (Lev. 6:25-30; cf. 10:16-20).
A sin offering of one male goat was required at each of the sacred festivals: the New Moon (Num. 28:15), each day of Passover (Num. 25:22-24), Shavuot (Num. 28:30), Rosh Ha-Shanah (Num. 29:5), the Day of Atonement (Num. 29:11; besides the special sin offerings for that day), and each day of Sukkot (29:16, 19, and passim). The high priest brought a bull for himself and then offered one of the two goats on the Day of Atonement. Rites of purification called for lesser sin offerings, lambs or birds, after childbirth (Lev. 12:6- 8), leprosy (Lev. 14:12-14, 19, 22, 31), unclean issues and hemorrhages (Lev. 15:15, 30), or defilement during the period of a Nazirite vow (Num. 6:10-11; for the strictly individual cases requiring sin offerings.
