BURNT-OFFERING
931
BURNT-OFFERING
Burnt-offering (nV-r, olah' , from fibv, alah', to ascend; Chalcl. Xnbr), a sacrifice which owed its He- brew name to the circumstance that the whole of the offering was to be consumed by fire upon the altar, and to rise, as it were, in smoke toward heaven. There was in use also the poetical term ^3, halW, perfect (Deut. xxxiii, 10 ; 1 Sam. vii, 9 ; Psa. li, '21 ; comp. Judg.xx,40); Chald. B^ttS; Gr. oAojeaurwpa (Mark xii, 33; Heb. x, 6; also 6\oKavrw<nc, seldom bXoieap- TrwTicor bXoKaoTTiDpa, in Philo oXoieavorov, holocaust >. entire bwrnt-tffering, alluding to the feet that, with the exception of the skin, nothing of the sacrifice came to the share of the officiatin jc priest or priests in the way of emolument, it being whoVg mil entirely consumed by fire. Such burnt-offerings are among the most an- cient (Philo, ii, 211) on record (Hesiod, 77/ ogn. 535 sq.). We find them already in use in the patriarchal times; hence the opinion of some that Abel's offering (Gen. iv, 4) was a burnt-offering as regarded the firstlings of his flock, while the pieces of fat which he offered were a thank-offering, just in the manner that Moses afterward ordained, or, rather, confirmed from ancient custom (Lev. i, sq.). It was a burnt-offering thai Noah offered to the Lord after the Deluge (Gen. viii, 20). Throughout the whole of the book of Genesis (sec xv, 9, 17 ; xxii, 2, 7, 8, 13) it appears to be the only sacri- fice referred to; afterward it becam • distinguished as one of the regular classes of sacrifice under the Mosaic law. As all sacrifices are divided (see Heb. v, 1) into "gifts" and "sacrifices for sin" (i. e. eucharistic and propitiatory sacrifices), of the former of these the burnt- offering was the choicest specimen. Accordingly (in Psa. xl, 8, 9, quoted in Heb. x, 5), we have first (in ver. 8) the general opposition as above of sacrifices (Qvaiat, propitiatory) and offerings (-rpoafopai) ; and then (in ver. 9) "burnt-offering," as representing the one, is opposed to "sin-offering," as representing the other. Similarly, in Exod. x, 25 (less precisely), " burnt-offering" is contrasted with "sacrifice." (So in 1 Sam. xv, 22 ; Psa. 1, 8 ; Mark xii, 33.) On the other hand, it is distinguished from "meat-offerings" (which were unbloody) and from "peace-offerings" (both of the eucharistic kind), because only a portion of them were consumed (sec 1 Kings iii, 15; viii, 64, etc.). In accordance with this principle, it was enact- ed that with the burnt-offering a "meat-offering" (of flour and oil) and "drink-offering" of wine should be offered, as showing that, with themselves, men dedi- cated also to God the chief earthly gifts with which He had blessed them (Lev. viii, 18, 22, 26 ; ix, 16, 17 ; xiv, 20; Exod. xxix, -10; Num. xxviii, 1, 5). See each of these terms in its alphabetical place.
Originally and generally all offerings from the ani- mal kingdom seem to have passed under the name of olah, since a portion at least of < m rt) sacrifice, of what- ever kind — nay, that very portion which constituted the offering to God — was consumed by fire upon the altar. In process of time, however, when the sacri- fices became divided into numerous classes, a more limited sense wras given to the term !"I5"', it being solely applied to those sacrifices in which the priests did not share, and which were intended to propitiate the anger of Jehovah fur some particular transgres- sion. Only oxen, male sheep or goats, or turtle-doves and young pigeons, all without blemish, were lit for burnt-offerings. The offerer in person was obliged to carry this sacrifice first of all into the fore-court as far as the gate of the tabernacle or t smple, where the ani- mal was examined by the officiating priest to ascer- tain that it was without blemish. The offerer then laid his hand upon the victim, confessing his sins, and dedicated it as his sacrifice to propitiate the Almighty. The animal was then killed (which might be done by the offerer himself ) toward the north of the altar (Lev. i, 11), in allusion, as the Talmud alleges, to the com-
ing of inclement weather (typical of the Divine wrath) from the northern quarter of the heavens. Alter this began the ceremony of taking up the blood and sprink- ling it around the altar, that is, upon the lower part of the altar, not immediately upon it, lest it should extinguish the tire thereon (Lev. iii. 2; Deut. xii, 27;
2 Chron. xxix, 22), See Sacrifice. In the Talmud (tract Zebachim, see. i, eh. li various laws arc pre- scribed concerning this sprinkling of the blood of the burnt-offering; among others, that it should be per- formed about the middle of tile altar, below the red line, and only twice, so as to form the figure of the Greek V: also, that the priest must first take his stand east of the altar, sprinkling in that position first to the east and then to the west; which done, he was to shift his position to the west, sprinkling again to the east and west ; and, lastly, only round about the altar, as prescribed in Lev. i, 5. The next act was the skin- ning or flaying of the animal, and the cutting of it into pieces — actions winch the offerer himself was allowed to perform (Lev. i, (J). The skin alone belonged to the officiating priest (Lev. vii, 8). The dissection "f the animal began with the head, legs, etc.. and it was divided into twelve pieces. The priest then took the right shoulder, breast, and entrails, and placing them in the hands of the offerer, he put his own hands be- neath those of the former, and thus waved the sacri- fice up and down several times in acknowledgment of the all-powerful presence of God (tract Cholin, i. 3), The officiating priest then retraced his steps to the altar. placed the wood upon it in the form of a cross, and light- ed the fire. The entrails and legs being cleansed with water, the separated pieces were placed together upon the altar in the form of a slain animal. Poor people were allowed to bring a turtle-dove or a young pigeon as a burnt-offering, these birds being very common and cheap in Palestine (Maimonides, Moreh 7V< vochim, iii, 46). With regard to these latter, nothing is said about the sex, whether they were to be males or fe- males. The mode of killing them was by nipping off the head with the nails of the hand. The following kinds of burnt-offering may lie distinguished.