Mary's Lamb Offering
Welcome to Leviticus, the most unread book of the Bible:. Our first parasha is Vayikra and begins of course at Leviticus 1:1 and goes to 6:7. This parasha begins by outlining the rules for a person bringing an animal offering. First of all, it must be an animal without a blemish. Notice that we usually only think of the Priest as being the one who lays hands on the animal. This was done by the Priest at Yom Kippur when he laid both hands upon the goats. Also, it was done when the Priest had sinned himself and offered up a sin offering on his own behalf. But here, the person who brings the offering lays his hands upon the animal, in a show of transferring his sin to the animal. The Priest doesn't do that part on the person's behalf. The person who was bringing the offering did the killing of the animal at the door of the Tabernacle. If he brought a sheep, it was to be killed at the north side of the Altar. The blood is to be brought to the Altar by the Priest. Only the Priest could carry out this part of the sacrifice. The Torah lists three kinds of animal offerings here, a bull, a sheep and a bird. Right now we are speaking of voluntary offerings. It is a bit hard to 'force' someone into a 'freewill' offering:. But if one could afford to do so, of course the bull would be the best offering. If he did not have the means for a bull, then he could bring a lamb. If he was too poor for either of those two, then he could bring two birds. After that, we go to an offering of flour. The importance was not placed on what type of offering you could afford to bring, but the idea was the heart attitude you brought with it. It's possible to do right acts with a wrong heart, which gets you nowhere with YHVH.
Then we have a grain offering. This consisted of flour, oil and frankincense. If you offered a baked grain offering, it was to be made of flour and oil. There was not to be leaven or honey put in these offerings. There was to be salt put in all offerings. There were five different meal offerings that could be done. Some consisted of just one ingredient, others were baked differently. There was also an offering known as a grain offering that was made up of green ears of corn dried by fire and the corn crushed out of full ears. It was to have oil and frankincense put on it. There was also a shalom (peace) offering, sometimes called a shelamin offering. This would have been either a bull or a calf. Since this was not a sin offering, there was not any sin confessed, nor any need of laying on of the person's hands on the animal. The peace offering provided a portion for the Altar, a portion for the priest and a portion for the owner. Its name symbolizes the peace that results when everyone's needs are met and man is at peace with YHVH. We often think of frankincense as an oily perfume substance. It really is the hardened sap of a tree in the form of granules that were very small. The granules are actually called 'tears'. There were a couple of offerings that you do use leaven in, the Bikkurim offering and the offering on Shavuot (Pentecost). Two loaves of bread were offered up on Shavuot. On the second day of Passover (Pesach), the first offering of the new grain crop was brought. Unlike all other communal and private offerings, it consisted of barley. Before the barley offering was brought, no grain of the new crops could be eaten. It was not leavened and was burned on the Altar. Barley is referred to as the poor man's food. Now we are going to look at sin offerings as opposed to voluntary offerings. There was not an offering to cover 'intentional sin', only sin of carelessness or inadvertently sinning. Sometimes we sin simply because the issue isn't important enough, so we think, for us to watch over it. For example, if it is really important to you to not eat pork, you'll go out of your way to avoid it. You'll ask questions about what may be in a restaurant dish or a boxed item on your grocery list. If it is not that important to you, you'll just go about your day and if you see you 'accidentally' ate something that had pork in it, then you'll repent for eating it. If that commandment had meant what it should to you, you wouldn't have eaten that ingredient. Or, you plan your family get togethers, parties, etc. ahead of time on a Sabbath. When that time comes, you see you made it on a Sabbath and now you've obligated yourself to be somewhere else instead of where you should be.
If as before, the Sabbath is as important to you as it SHOULD BE, then you'll make sure your plans are made so they do not fall on Sabbath. It is called PLAN AHEAD. We miss the Torah teachings way too easily and are too slip shod about it. Put your flesh out a little bit when it interferes with the keeping of YHVH'S word, it won't kill you! The Priests were not any different than anyone else when it came to sin offerings. When they sinned, they had to offer up a bull on their behalf. The priest would dip his fingers in the blood and sprinkle it toward the veil of the Set Apart Place. Do you think YHVH had him sprinkle seven times for a reason? Remember the number seven is YHVH'S number for completion. All the blood of the bull was to be poured out at the bottom of the Altar. If the Priest sins, he brings guilt upon all the people. Notice in the offering the Priest offers up for himself, the skin is left on the animal and the animal is burned outside the camp. This is a clear picture of Yeshua's death outside the camp. The king must also bring a sin offering whenever he commits a sin. In YHVH'S eyes, he can sin just as easily as anyone else can. The only difference is, the king has to bring a male goat, symbolic of his position. Other people could bring a female goat or sheep. There are other sins that offerings were brought for. For instance, if someone touched the carcass of an unclean animal. Or maybe the man broke an oath that he made. If the person could not afford an animal offering in this case, he could bring two turtle doves or two pigeons. If that was not affordable to a person, they could bring a tenth part of an ephah of flour. He was not to put any oil upon it this time, nor frankincense, because it was a sin offering. The blood of the fowl sin offering, is sprinkled directly from the bird's neck onto the lower half of the Altar wall. The priest does not put any of the bird's blood on the tip of the horns of the Altar, as he did with the animal sacrifices. After sprinkling the blood on the Altar wall, he then presses the bird's severed neck against the Altar wall above the base and let's the blood run down the base. One of these birds of the two is considered a sin offering and one was considered a burnt offering. One is called an asham offering and one is a guilt offering. At the close of this parasha, it speaks of keeping something that doesn't belong to you, or takes something away from someone else. Also, if someone finds something and doesn't return it to its rightful owner, he is guilty. YHVH doesn't go by; finders keepers-losers weepers concept:. Not only is the person who did this guilty, but he has to return the item and add a fifth to it for compensation. Then he was to bring a ram to offer up as a guilt offering. The book of Leviticus can be a hard book to get through for animal lovers. But by the same token, it shows you just what "our sin" created. Our sin cost not only our spiritual lives, but the physical lives of hundreds of thousands of animals. If we had to put our beloved pet on the Altar every time we told a lie, or took something that didn't belong to us, (no matter how small) I don't believe we would sin quite so quickly. I believe personally, that people got attached to some of the animals they had to give up. Remember, the lamb had to be taken in the home and inspected for four days. You most likely raised that lamb from birth and now it's in your home. Your child has petted it and talked to it. Then ask yourself how Mary must have felt to watch 'her lamb' slain on the cross? Can you experience more pain than that? So let's all try to walk a little closer with Yeshua in the future, the most precious lamb of all!
Then we have a grain offering. This consisted of flour, oil and frankincense. If you offered a baked grain offering, it was to be made of flour and oil. There was not to be leaven or honey put in these offerings. There was to be salt put in all offerings. There were five different meal offerings that could be done. Some consisted of just one ingredient, others were baked differently. There was also an offering known as a grain offering that was made up of green ears of corn dried by fire and the corn crushed out of full ears. It was to have oil and frankincense put on it. There was also a shalom (peace) offering, sometimes called a shelamin offering. This would have been either a bull or a calf. Since this was not a sin offering, there was not any sin confessed, nor any need of laying on of the person's hands on the animal. The peace offering provided a portion for the Altar, a portion for the priest and a portion for the owner. Its name symbolizes the peace that results when everyone's needs are met and man is at peace with YHVH. We often think of frankincense as an oily perfume substance. It really is the hardened sap of a tree in the form of granules that were very small. The granules are actually called 'tears'. There were a couple of offerings that you do use leaven in, the Bikkurim offering and the offering on Shavuot (Pentecost). Two loaves of bread were offered up on Shavuot. On the second day of Passover (Pesach), the first offering of the new grain crop was brought. Unlike all other communal and private offerings, it consisted of barley. Before the barley offering was brought, no grain of the new crops could be eaten. It was not leavened and was burned on the Altar. Barley is referred to as the poor man's food. Now we are going to look at sin offerings as opposed to voluntary offerings. There was not an offering to cover 'intentional sin', only sin of carelessness or inadvertently sinning. Sometimes we sin simply because the issue isn't important enough, so we think, for us to watch over it. For example, if it is really important to you to not eat pork, you'll go out of your way to avoid it. You'll ask questions about what may be in a restaurant dish or a boxed item on your grocery list. If it is not that important to you, you'll just go about your day and if you see you 'accidentally' ate something that had pork in it, then you'll repent for eating it. If that commandment had meant what it should to you, you wouldn't have eaten that ingredient. Or, you plan your family get togethers, parties, etc. ahead of time on a Sabbath. When that time comes, you see you made it on a Sabbath and now you've obligated yourself to be somewhere else instead of where you should be.
If as before, the Sabbath is as important to you as it SHOULD BE, then you'll make sure your plans are made so they do not fall on Sabbath. It is called PLAN AHEAD. We miss the Torah teachings way too easily and are too slip shod about it. Put your flesh out a little bit when it interferes with the keeping of YHVH'S word, it won't kill you! The Priests were not any different than anyone else when it came to sin offerings. When they sinned, they had to offer up a bull on their behalf. The priest would dip his fingers in the blood and sprinkle it toward the veil of the Set Apart Place. Do you think YHVH had him sprinkle seven times for a reason? Remember the number seven is YHVH'S number for completion. All the blood of the bull was to be poured out at the bottom of the Altar. If the Priest sins, he brings guilt upon all the people. Notice in the offering the Priest offers up for himself, the skin is left on the animal and the animal is burned outside the camp. This is a clear picture of Yeshua's death outside the camp. The king must also bring a sin offering whenever he commits a sin. In YHVH'S eyes, he can sin just as easily as anyone else can. The only difference is, the king has to bring a male goat, symbolic of his position. Other people could bring a female goat or sheep. There are other sins that offerings were brought for. For instance, if someone touched the carcass of an unclean animal. Or maybe the man broke an oath that he made. If the person could not afford an animal offering in this case, he could bring two turtle doves or two pigeons. If that was not affordable to a person, they could bring a tenth part of an ephah of flour. He was not to put any oil upon it this time, nor frankincense, because it was a sin offering. The blood of the fowl sin offering, is sprinkled directly from the bird's neck onto the lower half of the Altar wall. The priest does not put any of the bird's blood on the tip of the horns of the Altar, as he did with the animal sacrifices. After sprinkling the blood on the Altar wall, he then presses the bird's severed neck against the Altar wall above the base and let's the blood run down the base. One of these birds of the two is considered a sin offering and one was considered a burnt offering. One is called an asham offering and one is a guilt offering. At the close of this parasha, it speaks of keeping something that doesn't belong to you, or takes something away from someone else. Also, if someone finds something and doesn't return it to its rightful owner, he is guilty. YHVH doesn't go by; finders keepers-losers weepers concept:. Not only is the person who did this guilty, but he has to return the item and add a fifth to it for compensation. Then he was to bring a ram to offer up as a guilt offering. The book of Leviticus can be a hard book to get through for animal lovers. But by the same token, it shows you just what "our sin" created. Our sin cost not only our spiritual lives, but the physical lives of hundreds of thousands of animals. If we had to put our beloved pet on the Altar every time we told a lie, or took something that didn't belong to us, (no matter how small) I don't believe we would sin quite so quickly. I believe personally, that people got attached to some of the animals they had to give up. Remember, the lamb had to be taken in the home and inspected for four days. You most likely raised that lamb from birth and now it's in your home. Your child has petted it and talked to it. Then ask yourself how Mary must have felt to watch 'her lamb' slain on the cross? Can you experience more pain than that? So let's all try to walk a little closer with Yeshua in the future, the most precious lamb of all!