The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 196

. 2. It was ordinMily an ojferimg made by fire (1 8am. ii. 28). The holy fire kindled by God (Levit. ix. 24), and which for long centuries was never suffered to go out (Levit. vi. 18), the elemen( which at that time, and ever since, has been re- garded in the East as an image of the Godhead, if not a sign of His presence, this consumed everything. The tongues of flame not only carried the smoke and smell of the sacrifice-hecatomb, holocaust, whatever it was-up into the blue sky and to the throne of God, but they, so to speak, devoured the victim; they feasted on the sacrifice. 8. It was an offering of life. Not only was this e. me.tter of fact-that the victim was first slain, then offered on the altar, but this idea was expressed in the ritual of the sacrifice. The blood was poured out at the foot of the altar, or sprinkled on its horns, or borne into the most holy place. But the blood is the life of the flesh (Levit. xvii. 11), and hence the sprinkling of the blood was the core and centre of all sacrifice. (See Bii.hr, Symbolik, ii. pp. 199 sqq.) The very sepMation of the elements age.in-the blood poured in one place, the flesh or fat burnt at another -pictured death; for when the blood is withdrawn from the body death ensues. The consuming fire, too, spoke of death. So that in sacrifice men offered to God the most mysterious and precious of man's possessions and of God's gifts, the life, the >/mxfi, which came from God and went back to God. It was an old and reason- able belief that the gods would have our nearest and dearest-see Tennyson's beautiful poem, "The Victim "-hence the gift to the altar was the life. 4. It was an offering for life. The full significance of sacrifice, we may readily believe, the Jew did not know. It is doubtful whether even the high priest com- prehended the blessed meaning of those solemn rites in which he bore a part. But this they did know, that the life offered at the altar was an atonement for their life. The lex talionis, "an eye for an eye," &c. (Exod. xxi. 24), had taught them this. So had much of their expressive ceremonial, e.g., the laying of the hands on the head of the victim, &c. (Levit. iii. 2; iv. 4, &c.) So above all had the express words of Scripture, "The life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar for an atonement for your souls (Heb. lives, same word as above), for it is the blood that maketh atonement for the soul " (Heb. thro11gh the life, sc. of the blood) Levit. xvii. 11. They understood, that is, that sacrifice was not only euchar- istic, but that it was also deprecatory and in some way expiatory. They hoped that it would somehow reconcile them and restore them to communion with God, the Life, the Anima animantiwm. More than this, however, the Jewish worshipper did not see in the sacrifice. But for us who turn our gaze to Mount Moriah from the hill of Calvary, it has an additional significance. We may see in it- 6. A picture of the offering of Jesus Ghrist. An imperfect pioture, no doubt-a. shadow, a type, a parable, but still the outline is clear and distinct. We see here the priest, the victim, the altar, the mactation, the blood-pouring, the elevation, the death. AIi a picture, indeed, all sacrifice" showed the Lord's death" (1 Cor. xi. 26) much more vividly and touchingly than the Holy Colll.llluuion does. 6. A pleading of the death of Ghrist. This is the cro,vn and blossom of sacrifice. It was an avaµV7J"''• a silent but eloquent memorial before God. Only thus can we o.dequately explain the elaborate sacrificial system of Moses. From any other point of view se.crifioes are, as Coleridge confessed, an enigma. But see in them tokens, memorials, pleadings of the one vicarious death, and all is clear. Then we can comprehend why they should have offered thousands of viotims "year by year con- tinually." Every bullock, every sheep, was, though the worshippers knew it not, 11, mute reminder of the one sacrifice for sin. Ee.eh was a foreshndowing of the death; the deo.th of Him who is" the life" (John xiv. 6); en.eh spoke to the heart of God of the preoious blood of Christ. Let us trace the parallel a little more in detail. 1. The Alta'!' prefigwrea the Gross. (1) In its position. The true altar of incense is in heaven. The altar of sacri- fice was altogether of this world; it was in the truest sense " an altar of eo.rth." But while outside the temple of heaven, the oross was yet in the court of the l)riests.  198 THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. [ OB. IX. 10-28.