BELI.ATICI.
Sacrifice, properly so called, is the solemn inflic-
tion of death on a living creature, generally by effusion of its blood, in a way of religious worship; and the pre- senting of this act to the Deity as a supplication for the pardon of sin, and a supposed mean of compensation for the insult and injury thereby offered to his majesty and government. Among the Hebrews it was an ottering made to God on his altar by the hand of a lawful min- ister. Sacritice differed from oblation: in a sacrifice there was a real change or destruction of the thing of- fered, whereas an oblation was but a simple offering or gift. (The following article is based upon that in Smith's Diet, of the Bible.) See also Sacrificial Offering.
I. Scripture Terms.— 'I'he following are the original words used in the Bible to express the sacrificial act :
1. nnji;, minchdh, from the obsolete root nj^, "to give;" used in Gen. xxxii, 13, 20, 21, of a gilt from Ja- cob to Esau (Sept. ^wpoi>); in 2 Sam. viii, 2, 6 (^kvia), in 1 Kings iv, 21 (Cwpa), in 2 Kings xvii, 4 {j.iavaci.), of a tribute fnim a vassal king ; in Gen. iv, 3, 5, of a sacrifice generally (Swpov and jvaia, indifferently); and in Lev. ii, 1, 4, 5, C), joined with the word korbav, of an unbloody sacrifice, or "meat-offering" (generally Siopov S'vTia). Its derivation and usage point to that idea of sacrifice which represents it as a eucharistic gift to God our King. See Minchah.
2. "iS"^!^, korbdn (derived from the root 31p, "to approach," or [in Hiphil] to "make to approach"); used with minchdh in Lev. ii, 1, 4, 5, 6 (Sept. Suipop Bv- <T(a), generally rendered Sutpov (see Mark vii, 11, Kop- l3di>, o t(TTi Cwpoi') or Trpo(T(popd. The idea of a gift hartUy seems inherent in the root, which rather puinfs to sacrifice, as a symbol of communion or covenant be- tween God and man. See Corisan.
8. n3T, zebach (derived from the root nst, to " slaugh- ter animals," especially to "slay in sacrifice"), refers emphatically to a bloody sacrifice, one in which the shedding of blood is the essential idea. Thus it is op- posed to minchdh in Psa. xl, (3 ((Bvrriai' Kni Trpooipopdv), and to oldh (the whole burnt-offering) in Exod. x, 25; xviii, 12, etc. With it the expiatory idea of sacrifice is naturally connected. See Victim.
4. In the New Test, the com])rehensive term is Srvir'ia (from ^i'w, which seems radically to express the fum- iny up of the sacrificial smoke), wliich is used botli of the victim offered and of the act of immolation, whether literal or figurative.
Distinct from these general terms, and often appended to them, are the words denoting special kinds of sacri- fice. See Offering.
5. nViy, oldh (Sept. generally uXoKarnopa), the " whole burnt-offering." See Burnt-offering.
6. D?'^;, shelem (Sept. Bvffia (TwTi]piov), used fre- quently with n'ZI, and sometimes called 'S'^p; the " peace-" or " thank-offering." See each of these words.
7. rsan, chattdth (Sept. generally inpi ufuipTiac), the " sin-offering"' (q. v.).
8. D'^X, ashdm (Sept. generally 7rX?////(fX£(a), the " trespass-offering" (q. v.).
9. n^"X, ishsheh (from "CVi, fre), a "sacrifice made by fire ;'' spoken of every kind of sacrifice and offering, as commonly burned (Lev. ii, 3, 10), and even of those not consumed by fire (xiv, 7, 9); but usually in the rit- ual formula, " a sacrifice of sweet odor to Jehovah" (i, 9, 13, 17; ii, 2, 9; iii, 5; comp. Exod. xxix, 41; Lev. viii, 21 ; briefly, Exod. xxix, 18, 25; Lev. li, 16). See Fire.
10. ni'Fl, toddh, is used in a figurative sense only, " a sacrifice of praise." See Praise.
11. 3n, chdfi (from 55ri, to dance in religious joy), is properly a festival only ; but by metonymy is occasion- ally used for the sacrificial victims of such occasions (Exod. xxiii, 18 ; Psa. cxviii, 27 ; Mai. ii, 3). See Fes- tival.
The term "sacrifice" is sometimes used figuratively
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for deep repentance (Psa. li, 17), for the good works of believers (I'liil. iv, 1!S ; Heb. xiii. l(j). ami for the duties of prayer and praise (Rom. xii, 1 ; Heb. xiii, 15 ; 1 Pet. ii, 5).
II. Origin of Sacrifice. — Did it arise from a natural instinct of raan, sanctioned and guided by God, or was it the subject of some distinct primeval revelation? This is a question the importance of which has proba- bly been exaggerated. There can be no doubt that sacrifice was sanctioned by (iod's law, witli a special typical reference to the atonement of Christ; its uni- versal prevalence, independent of, and often opposed to, man's natural reasonings on his relatii)n to God, shows it to have been primeval, and deeply rooted in the in- stincts of humanity. Whether it was first enjoined by an external command, or whether it was based on that sense of sin and lost communion with God which is stamped by his hand on the heart of man, is a histori- cal question, perhaps insoluble, probably one which can- not be treated at all, except in connection with some general theory of the method of primeval revelation, but certainly one which does not affect the authority and the meaning of the rite itself. We need not dis- cuss here the theory of tlie old English deists, such as Blount and Tyndale, that, as cruel men delighted in bloodshed, so they conceived God to be like themselves, and sought to please and appease him by the slaughter of innocent beasts; or the specious improvement of this theory which Spencer (fle Leg. Ilebr. Rit. 1. iii, diss, ii) framed, that men sacrificed originally because of the savage wildness of their nature, and that (iod accepted and ratified their grim worship to restrain them from what was worse. The question is now proposed in this form : Did sacrifice arise from the natural religious in- stinct of man, with or without (for both views are held) an unconscious inspiration of the Divine Spirit, or did it originate in a distinct divine revelation? Those who advocate the former view speak of sacrifice as the "free expression of the divinely determined nature of man" (Neumann). "Man sacrifices because of his inaliena- ble divine likeness, according to which he cannot cease to seek that communion with God for which he was created, even through such an effectual self-sacrifice as is exhibited in sacrifice. Sacrifices have thus been as little an arbitrary invention of man as prayer. Like prayer, they have originated in an inner necessity to which man freely surrenders himself" (Oehler, in Her- zog's Real-Eiicykl. x, G17).