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SACRIFICE
SACRIFICE
worshippers. The offering would tlius be con- sidered elHcacious as l»riiiging tlie response whicli is naturally elicited by a gift or service. The command, ' none shall appear before me empty- handed ' (Ex 23'* 34-"), su^'gosts that the practice of approaching a monarch with gifts was regarded as typical of the approach to Jehovah with offer- ings. The use of .in;;? (gift) in a comprehensive .sense points to the same interpretation. With tills, doubtless, was also associated the conviction that by eating and drinking along with Jehovah friendly relations were both e.\pressed and strength- ened. That the sacred life-blood of the animal was conceived as cementing the union by constitut- ing a physical tie is more problematical (Schultz, AJTh, 1900, p. 269). But these interpretations were beginning to be challenged. The higher theo- logy excluded the idea of God as a fellow-guest. A striking saying, ascribed to Samuel, declares offerings worthless without obedience (1 S IS-'').
(p) The Burnt-offering, nSy (LXX oA«e«uiwju«, oxaxt^uraurn, cXoxxfirMuM, t>\cKupTtuffti\ ' that which ascenda,' is so called either as that wliich is elevated to tlic altar (Knobel, Oehler, Nowack), or wliich ascends in flame (Bulir, Keil, Delitzsch). It is usually synonymous with 'the whole Burnt-offering,' though originally the distinction may have obtained that the portion of any bloody sacritiGe consumed on the altar was designated the npv, while only the Burnt -offering consisting of an eotire victim was a "j'^s (Nowack, Arch. ii. 215).
If the bright side of human experience, which gives birth to joy and hope, had its characteristic rite in the Peace - offering, the Burnt - offering answered to the mood in which the predominant feelin" is grief, apprehension, or awe. In certain situations, of course, there is a combination of joyousness and solemnity, of hope and fear — as at the coronation of a monarch, or the conclusion of a national covenant with God, and in such cases the double aspect has its expression in the com- bination of the two types of offering (I S 10', Ex 24*). But on occasions of extraordinary solem- nity or gravity the Burnt -offering stood alone. The deliverance from the Flood, accompanied as it may be supposed to have been by overwhelming awe at the sweep of God's devastating judgment, was marked by the sacritice of the Burnt-offering (Gn 8""). Similarly on the occasion of a theophany, when the sense of privilege is overborne by the sense of danger in tlie presence of Jehovah, the Burnt-offering is the appropriate rite (Gn 22'", Jg Vi"'). At the beginning of a war, when the danger and the dubious issue are keenly realized, it alone bespeaks the Divine aid ; nor does the leader of the host embark without this appointed service on his hazardous enterprise (Jg Q-"). It would even seem that in perplexity it was used with the divinatory purpose, which in Babylonia had been one of the principal uses ( Jg 6"*-). When one was driven to extremity by the hatred of a powerful opponent, it miglit be offered in the hope of God interposing to change his heart (1 S 26'"). In time of peril it might be promised by way of vow on condition of success ( Jg 11). It has indeed been alleged that in periods of national calamity it was not oll'ered — the idea being tliat this was useless so long as the wrath of Jehovah was fierce against king or people ; but this view rests upon an incident in the life of David (2 S 24") when acting under proplietic guidance, and cannot well be supposed to represent the prevalent belief. (1) The sarrific.ial material had consisted, from very early times, in one or other of the following : the ox-kind, the goat, the slieep, the turtle-dove, and the young pigeon (Gn 15"). (2) The ritual of the Burnt-offering exhibits survivals of ancient usage. Though tlie usual custom now was to slay the victim beside the altar, there are traces of an older practice of slaying it upon the altar (Gn 22", cf.
1 S 14'^). The ritual of Gideon is peculiar : th« Hesh of the kid is boiled, it is then put in a basket along with unleavened cakes and placed on the altar, while the broth is poured either over it or on the ground ( Jg 6'''- -"). The token of accept- ance is its consumption by lire. In the later period the broth played no part, the flesh being consumed raw upon tlie altar.
(3) The signifirance of the Burnt-offering is sug- gested by what has been said of its occasions. Its object was to secure protection against tlireatened danger, success in the hazardous conflict, deliver- ance from the sore calamity ; and if in some in- stances it has the appearance of a thank-offerin" after deliverance, the dominant thought may still have been that security was sought against a recur- rence of the judgment. Furtlier, it is clear that the idea was to ensure safety by performing an act which was acceptable to God, and thus dispose Him to maintain the worshippers' cause. The intention was not inv.ariably to propitiate God in the sense of altering His attitude from hostility to clemency ; the sacrifices of Abraham and of David are rendered when God is already at peace with them, but they were always at least propitiatory in the secondary sense that they v.-ere designed to prevent God from changing His attitude of clemency into an attitude of hostility. As to how they were supposed to influence God we cannot very confidentlj' speak. The old Hebrew idea was that the food actually reached God in the form of the fragrant flre-distilled essence, and thus gratified Him as an agreeable gift (Gn 8-'). In this point of view it was more efficacious th.an the Peace- oft'ering, inasmuch as it paid to God greater honour, and made Him a more costly gift. Tlie story of the sacrifice of Isaac suggests the theory that the animal was substituted for a human victim, but it does not say that Isaac was to die for Abraham, and it therefore does not involve the idea that the animal victim was understood to bear the penalty due to the sin of the offerer. On this view, the animal victim represented only the substitu- tion of the less valuable for the more valuable gift. As in the case of the Peace-offering, it is certain that the reflexion which was rooted in the higher faith gradually worked its way to a nobler conception than that of gratifying God by the delights of a repast. Old forms of expression, such as 'sweet savour' and 'bread of God,' con- tinued to be used even when it liad come to be realized that the quality which pleased God was the piety which prepared the tire-food.