There is a widely diffused notion that P regards propitiatory offerings as effectual only in the case of unintentional or, at most, hastily committed sins. This view is based upon Nu 15”f-, where in point of fact a distinction is expressly drawn be- tween unwitting offences and those that are com- mitted ‘ with a [defiant] high hand.’ It is only for the first of these that the propitiatory usages have efficacy. The man who sins wilfully is guilty of blasphemy against Jahweh, and is to be cut off without pity (v.°°*).
Such is indeed the theory of this passage (Nu 15“), but it is impossible to regard it as the meaning of P everywhere.* How could it have failed to be seen that, if every wilful transgression was to be punished by cutting off the offender, the undeniably universal sinfulness of man would have speedily led to the extinction of the whole nation ? But such a reflexion as this was unneeded. The offences enumerated in Ly 5” [Eng. 61#-] as calling for guilt-offerings (denial of a deposit, or of the finding of a lost article, perjury, extortion) surely do not belong to the category of unwitting or hastily committed sins. It may be added that the Psalms also furnish on almost every page evi- dence that even in the post-exilic theocracy the belief of the prophets in a grace of God which can take away even heinous guilt has not died out.
(ii.) A stage lower than the propitiatory offerings
* The result of such an assumption would be that the notion of atonement (and forgiveness of sins) is not really taken into consideration at all by P. This conclusion is drawn by A. Ritschl (Lehre von der Rechtfertigung und Versdhnung, ii.% [1889] 68 ff., 184 ff.), according to whom the ‘covering’ (kap- para) needed was not against the wrath of God on the sinner, but against the destroying majesty (holiness) of God, to which man, owing to his creaturely weakness, could not otherwise draw near. The procuring of the kappara [Ritschl would prefer to see the term ‘atonement’ avoided here] is thus simply the condition of safely approaching God with an offering, and al- ways implies the undisturbed continuance of the covenanted grace of God, without which no sacrifice is possible. But, quite apart from the oft-recurring (Lv 420. 26 etc.) formula ‘and he shall be forgiven [after the atoning acts have been performed],’ the theory of Ritschl is shattered by the fact that the ‘ cover- ing’ of the man by the priest is, of course, only the later trans- formation given to the prophetic formula, according to which God covers the guilt. In both cases the point is that the guilt is to be declared powerless—in other words, it is an atoning act that is in view. Cf., further, on the whole question, A. Cave, The Scriptural Doctrine of Sacrifice and Atonement, Edin- burgh, 1890; A. Schmoller, ‘Das Wesen der Siihne in der alttest. Opferthora ’ (SK, 1891, p. 205ff.). Stade’s definition (Geschichte Israels, ii. 57), ‘ Atonement means reconsecration or restoring, by means of rites, a sacred character that has been lost,’ while it is quite applicable to a great many cases, needs, in view of what is said above, to be enlarged.
722
RELIGION OF ISRAEL
stands the burnt-offering (72y) or whole-offering (53), But, as wholly belonging to Jahweh, it retains a higher significance than the meal- offering. At one time presented also as a pro- pitiatory offering, it has in P the significance of a general ‘adoration offering,’ a testimony to the normal relation between Jahweh and the people. Hence it has its place after the propitiatory offer- ings, since the latter are appointed for the purpose of removing any disturbance of the normal relation. But, even unpreceded by propitiatory offerings, the burnt-offering may be presented as a dutiful expression of absolute dependence on the covenant God, and of the consciousness of owing all blessings to Him. Thus we find it especially in the form of the so-called 7A or ‘continual’ offering, tc. the offering every morning and evening of a yearling lamb, along with food-offering and drink-offering (Ex 29%, Nu 28*#:), On the Sabbath (v.%) and still more at the New Moon (v.*) this regular offering undergoes material enlargement.
(iii.) A third Late of offering meets us in the meal-offerings (anoY Lv 3. 7°), of which the fat is burned, the blood sprinkled on the altar, the breast ‘waved’ * and given along with the right leg (as a so-called ¢érdémah) to the priests, while the rest of the flesh is eaten by the offerers. A special branch of the shélamim is supplied by the ‘thanksgiving offerings’ of Ly 74%, But to P all shélamim- offerings are only offerings of the second rank, since they are not appropriated by Jahweh (7.¢. the priests) alone, but are meant to be consumed also by the laity—in other words, are destined for profane use. The small value attached to the meal-offering by P as compared with the place it still holds in Deuteronomy (cf. above, p. 661) is explained by the completely changed conception of the cultus which had already been produced by the programme of Ezekiel (45! etc.). The private cultus that once prevailed, whose central point was the joyous sacrificial meal, has now been displaced by the official cult performed with scrupulous regularity by the priests + in the name (it might be without even the presence) of the theocratic community. It was quite in the spirit of the Priests’ Code, that when the temple square was stormed by Pompey the priests continued unflinchingly the performance of their functions until they were cut down at the altar; and that during the siege by Titus the daily burnt-offering was continued morning and evening even after the city had long been brought to the extreme of famine.