Tuesday, September 1, 2020

Zevachim Shelamim - - He is our Peace (Sacrifices 3)


A couple of weekends ago my extended family had a wedding. What a privilege it was to attend, to celebrate with family via the ceremony and the wedding supper afterwards!  It has been common in families for generations to commemorate a marriage with a celebratory meal. Have you ever thought about why? One of the most universal conventions of humankind has been to commemorate with a shared meal, around a table, the sealing of a bond. In addition to wedding suppers, think presidential "state dinners". 

Ponder with me about altars. In the Christian church service, what takes place there? And....why THERE? Marriage, baby dedication, communion ritual, people announce their decision to follow Christ, people gather to pray, ordination of church leaders, to name a few. 

 One of my favorite, recently-discovered vocal artists is Steffany Gretzinger, who has a song, "Remember", in which she sings "You took the altar, and made it a table." From ancient times the altar has been considered a touch point between heaven and earth, a gate, a mystical portal between this earthly realm and the heavenly. In the Jewish sacrificial system, anything that touched the altar became ritually set apart, consecrated to God, and entered His presence. The whole of the sacrifices were celebratory, covenantal feasts. 

Remember, although animals were sacrificed on the altar, the korbanot were about life, not about death. The blood of the animal represented life, and was a vehicle to enable mortal man to draw near to God. The Hebrew word "zevach" means, in a general sense, a "feast of meat". In the parallel context with the korbanot, sacrifices, it means a "covenantal feast".  God, the Holy One of Israel, is the covenantal partner with the Jewish people (and later with all who believe on His Son). As the Jews would continually re-dedicate themselves to God, they would bring zevachim to the covenantal center, the Temple, for a covenantal feast, a feast to celebrate the rejuvenation of their bond with Him. 

The Hebrew word for "altar" is "mizbayach", which means "the place the zevach is brought". If the only purpose for the altar were atonement (as most Christians understand), you would think the word would be "makhaper", "place of atonement". The very name "mizbayach" in Hebrew represents the fullness of this touch point between God and man. 
Today, we are focusing on the zevachim shelamim (shared sacrifices of peace). See Leviticus 7:11-21. Shelamim (sh'lamim) is a plural word from the root "shalom". Even most Protestants know what the word "shalom" means. It is a customary Jewish greeting, meaning "peace". When Jesus greeted His disciples after his resurrection He said "shalom" - - "Peace be unto you". The shelamim are peace offerings, offered to express thanks or gratitude to God for his bounties and mercies, for His deliverance, or to mark the fulfillment of a vow.

Remember how the first korban we studied was completely burnt up? Well, this one is different. With the shelamim, part of the animal (the "choice fats) was burnt on the altar. Some of it (the brisket) was given to the priests for their use. The rest was shared - - eaten by the one making the offering and his family/friends, as a celebratory meal. Shelamim were the only category of sacrifice eaten by the one who offered it. The shelamim offering was a voluntary offering. It was also the only one of the five categories of sacrifices NOT commanded by God. (After all...are thanksgiving and gratitude true, if commanded?) Shelamim were never mentioned in Scripture in conjunction with transgression, expiation or atonement. 

I neglected to mention this in the post "The Approach". Well, actually, I had not learned it yet. So, I will mention it here. Did you know that loaves of bread and wine were presented at the offering of every Temple sacrifice?! (See Numbers 15:1-14 and Numbers 6:14-15) Think about the implications of that...."You took the altar, and made it a table.

Examples of shelamim we see in Scripture: 
1 Kings 19:21  Elisha prepared 12 oxen as a feast for the local people 
1 Samuel 28:24  The woman of Ein Dor prepared a "veal meal" for King Saul. 
Genesis 31:44   Joseph and Laban shared a covenantal meal. 
1 Samuel 11:15  Saul and his men 
1 Samuel 1:21-28 Hannah brought a peace offering as she fulfilled her vow to consecrate Samuel to God
Exodus 12:7-8  And...Passover.  

Now, when evangelical Christians think of the Passover sacrifice/meal, we think strictly of atonement, don't we?
However, although Jesus died, was buried and was resurrected during the Passover season, thereby securing our salvation, Passover was a type of peace offering.  How is this so?  The meat of the slaughtered animal was eaten by the family, and bitter herbs and unleavened bread were also eaten.  Did Jesus Christ become full atonement for us?  Yes, He did.  He also fulfilled the peace offering, by eternally making peace with God on our behalf.
{In the following passage, the ( ) words are mine, as are the underlined passages.}

But now, you (Gentiles) who were once far off have ben brought near 
through the shedding of the Messiah's blood.
For He Himself is our shalom - - 
He has made us both one and has broken down the m'chitzah (dividing wall)
which divided us
by destroying in His own body the enmity occasioned by the Torah (Law)
with its commands set forth in the form of ordinances.
He did this in order to create a union with Himself
from the two groups in a single, new humanity
and thus make shalom (peace),
and, in order to reconcile to God both (Jewish believers and Gentile believers) in a single body 
by being executed on a stake as a criminal
and thus in Himself killing that enmity.
Ephesians 2:13-16 (CJB)

"Nothing can separate what you bring together.  Now and forever, I will remember . . . "
                   "Remember", by Steffany Gretzinger  https://youtu.be/1azGmqJN7ok

Sources: 





"Making Sense of Sacrifices, Part 2", by Dr. Jennifer Scrivner, Beth HaShomer Ministries

Monday, August 17, 2020

Korban Olah - - a Burnt Offering (Sacrifices 2)

 

    I'm always blessed and inspired by my pastor's messages, but one thing he said in yesterday's sermon really made me think.  He was talking about how many Christians are praying for revival in our country, when he asked, "Would we be ready for it, when it comes? and What if it does not look like what we expect?"  He gave the example of the Day of Pentecost, when hundreds and hundreds were speaking to each other in their native tongues, and were able to understand any language they heard.  What if that happened again, for example?  Would we, as Baptists, go "Oh no, NO!  Speaking in tongues ceased after the apostolic era!"  What if the early Church had rejected Pentecost, because it fell "outside the box"?

    Here's a parallel story.  It may seem as though I am rambling, but I will get to the point, eventually... A few months ago, I attended a Messianic Jewish Yom Kippur service.  To be clear, Messianic Jews are people of Jewish descent who worship Jesus as their Messiah.  These congregations also include Gentile believers who want to honor God by participating in some of the elements of Jewish tradition.  I had never been to such a Yom Kippur service.  It featured worship music/singing, preaching from both the Old and New Testaments, and an incense-burning ceremony at the end.  This latter was intended to focus our hearts on drawing near to God, while letting our spirits dwell on His holiness.  Malachi 1:11 prophesied about such an occasion as this when he wrote (referring to both Jewish and Gentile believers) - - 

For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same My Name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto My name, and a pure offering: for My Name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts.

    Although foreign to mainline Protestants, incense-burning has been an integral part of worship for both Jewish and some Christian sects for hundreds of years.  When I was in Jerusalem, in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, I witnessed three Christian priests (3 different Christian denominations), walk near the place Catholic, Coptic and Russian orthodox tradition holds Christ was buried, each priest swinging a brazier of sweet-smelling incense.

Why?

     It is a curious thing that God, although Spirit, has a keen sense of smell (Genesis 8:21).  I am spending so much time on this point, because it is totally foreign to most of my evangelical readers.  The smell, the smoke of the Olah, the Burnt Offering, was delightful to God, and was a key element of this sacrifice.  Let's dig in.

    First of all, burning incense is not an Olah offering, despite my anecdotal personal experience related above.  Nor is Olah what many of my readers will think of when we think of a "burnt offering."  Most evangelical main-liners have a very one-dimensional view of all Old Testament offerings, viewing all of them as being atonement offerings.  This is not an accurate understanding.

    In Hebrew, the word OLAH is spelled with the following four characters: Ayin ("See"), Vav ("the connection"), Lamed ("Ascending"), Hei ("by God’s Grace"). It literally means  “See the rising of the smoke of the Burnt Offering that connects us to the grace of God”.  The Korban Olah is "the sacrifice which rises".

    The Korban (remember what this word means?) Olah was offered morning and night, twice a day, and it was the only offering Gentiles were allowed to offer at the Temple. This offering signifies complete abandonment to God.  See if you can find that message symbolically in the details of this Temple ritual.

    The oldest and commonest korban, the Korban Olah was not brought by the worshipper to compensate for any sin or guilt.  The worshipper had nothing to gain by bringing this offering, nor did he "profit" in any way.  The male animal was completely surrendered to God, symbolizing the worshipper's complete submission to God's will.  No choice cuts of meat were retained by the giver.  Only the hide of the animal was retained, and that was given to the priest who performed the sacrifice (Leviticus 7:8).  No ritual purification was received by the giver; no expiation was given either.  The altar fire, kept burning day and night in the Temple, completely consumed the Olah burnt offering.  And, the smoke produced ascended to Heaven as a sweet-smelling savor, before the LORD (Exodus 29:18).

    This voluntary offering was brought with great joy of heart, the worship from a glad heart, longing to draw near to God.  It is first described in Leviticus 1:10-11, mentioned by King David in Psalm 27:6 and is also mentioned in Psalm 51:19.  It was this type of offering Noah offered in Genesis 8:20, Abraham offered in place of Isaac, on Mt. Moriah (Genesis 22:2), and Jethro {father-in-law of Moses) offered, in Exodus 18:12.

    These types of offerings were also practiced by the early Christians.  One notable instance is recorded in Acts 18:18 and in 21:23-24 of Paul taking a temporary Nazarite vow, along with four other devout Jewish believers in Jesus.  The details of this vow included offering a korban olah, as well as other korbanot, as described in Numbers 6.  

    What are some other New Testament applications of this information, to transform this post from esoteric knowledge to practical application in the walk of faith?  As Christians we are unable to offer a literal korban olah (not yet anyway), since there has been no Temple since 70 C.E.  All Temple sacrifices obviously ceased at that time, nor have they resumed.  An end-times Temple will be rebuilt, however, according to New Testament prophecies.  There is a cadre of priests in Jerusalem who practice the sacrificial rites, to keep the knowledge of them alive, in preparation for that inevitability.

    The apostle Peter speaks of Christ followers as "living stones", a living altar, if you will, a holy priesthood, offering up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God (1 Peter 2:5).  Similarly, the apostle Paul, in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-23 describes what these spiritual sacrifices should look like: rejoicing in all circumstances, praying continually, giving thanks in everything.  In 2 Corinthians 2:14-17, Paul goes on to describe our Christian lives as a pleasing aroma unto God.  In Romans 12:1, he speaks of our lives as "a living sacrifice".  May all of us who bear the name of Jesus Christ (Yeshua HaMashiach) do so daily, with the reckless abandon born out of an all-consuming love for Him.  


Sources:

Making Sense of Sacrifices - Part 1, Dr. Jennifer Scrivner, Beth HaShomer Ministries

https://www.mechon-mamre.org/jewfaq/qorbanot.htm

https://www.openbible.info/topics/sweet_smelling_savor_scripture

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnt_offering_(Judaism)#:~:text=Say%20to%20them%3A%20These%20are,you%20shall%20offer%20at%20twilight.

https://myvalleynews.com/what-is-the-nazarite-vow/