SACRIFICE.
Origin of Sacrifice (§ 1).
Old- Testament Data (§ 2).
Bloody Sacrifices and Meal Offerings (§3).
The Burnt Offering and Communal Meal (§ 4).
Sin and Guilt Offerings (§ 5).
Development of Israelitic Sacrifice (§6).
Ancient peoples generally, including the Hebrews, were convinced that worship of a deity consisted not only in words, but above all in offering something dear to the worshiper, which he i. Origin of denied himself in favor of his god. The
Sacrifice, sincerity and earnestness of worship were usually measured by the extent of self-denial which man was willing to make for the object of worship, particularly^ where the deity in question had been offended by some transgression of man, so that propitiation had become necessary. In the earlier forms of religion the gods are supposed not only to be well pleased with such sacrifices of gratitude or expiation,- but actually to need them, since they are regarded as hungry and thirsty, and thus as dependent to a certain extent on man and his offerings. Even "when, at later stages of development, the worthlessness of material goods to the deity is recognized, the conviction still survives that their surrender by man for the sake of his divinity is as pleasing as any other form of renunciation and self-mortification. »The attempt has been made to derive all sacrifice from ancestorworship or from the communal meal of the god and his worshipers,\ but both these theories are untenable and can not be brought into harmony with the data of the Old Testament. The real solution of the theory of sacrifice, the origin of which is prehistoric, must be sought in the childlike dependence of man upon the gods.
In the oldest portions of the Old Testament Yahweh is represented as at least enjoying the savor of the sacrifices (Gen. viii. 21; Lev. i. 9, 13, 17); when he becomes manifest to man, he must receive hospitality in the form of a sacrifice (Judges vi. 17
Sacrifice
THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
t.qq., xiii. 15) ; and his wrath must be averted by the same means (Gen. viii. 20-21; I Sam. xxvi. 19). The whole, or burnt, offering is 2. Old- at least as ancient as the communal Testament meal (e.g., Gen. xxxi. 54); and it was Data. the custom from the earliest times to express gratitude to the divinity by both bloody and bloodless sacrifices (Gen. iv. 3-4). As early as the patriarchal period the sacrificial meal , arose, sealing" " human organizations in the sight of the divinity and employed especially in covenants, alliances, and treaties of peace. All important undertakings were accompanied by sacrifices (Gen. xlvi. 1), and religious festivalswere inconceivable without them (Ex. x. 25).' Like the feasts, moreover, the sacrifices tended to become periodical. The covenant of the children of Israel at Sinai was also accompanied by a formal sacrifice (Ex. xxiv. 5 sqq.; cf. Ps. 1. 5); and from the time of Moses to the exile the worship of Yahweh in Israel was never without sacrifice. - The place in which sacrifice should be offered was from the very first a matter of moment, altars being erected preferably in places where there had been some divine manifestation (Gen. xxviii. 10 sqq.; Ex. xvii. 8 sqq.; Judges vi. 11 sqq.). As early as Moses the center of Israeli tic sacrifice was the tabernacle of Yahweh, and Lev. xvii. 1 sqq. even forbade the killing of an animal at any other place, although Deut. xii. 10 sqq. restricted this prohibition to sacrificial victims. In Ex. xx. 24, on the other hand, a number of places of sacrifice are implied, even though Ex. xxiii. 14 sqq. (cf. xxxiv. 23 sqq.) indicates that the central sanctuary already existed. Many Canaanitic shrines were likewise transferred to the worship of Yahweh, but pagan rites were still performed at them, so that it again became necessary to restrict sacrifice to the central tabernacle. The concept of a central seat of Yahweh was never abandoned (cf. Joel iii. 16; Amos i. 2; Isa. xxviii. 16, xix. 1, xxxi. 9, xxxiii. 14), and centralizing reforms were also proclaimed by the theocratic kings Asa (II Chron. xiv. 3, but cf. xv. 17), Jehoshaphat (II Chron. xvii. 6, but cf. xx. 33), Hezekiah (II Kings xviii. 4, 22), and Josiah (II Kings xxiii. 8). This centralization of worship made sacrifice more formal and solemn at the expense of spontaneity. See Altar; Hexateuch.
The sacrifices of the Israelites were of two general types, bloody and unbloody, the former being animals and the latter the fruits of the land. Bloody sacrifices, moreover, are also classified \(Ex. xx. 24) as burnt offerings and peace offerings, one object of the latter being the communal meal. Human sacrifices, permitted by the other Semites, were forbidden by the Mosaic code, although there is an obvious allusion to such a custom at 3. Bloody an early period in the account of the Sacrifices contemplated sacrifice of Isaac by and Meal Abraham (Gen. xxii.; cf. Mic. vi. 7; Offerings. Lev. xvii. 11; II Kings iii. 27; and see Family axd Marriage Relations, Hebrew, § 10; Gezer; Jephthah; Moloch). The sacrifice of animals, on the other hand, was widespread among the Israelites, although, unlike other Semites, they sacrificed only domestic animals, and
of these only those which were ritually clean. ' The only birds that might be sacrificed were doves, these often instead of more expensive offerings in the case of the poor (Lev. v. 7, xii. 8), although any small clean birds might be used in the ceremony of cleansing a leper (Lev. xiv. 4 sqq.). The sex of the sacrificial victim, generally a male, was also prescribed in many cases; and the animal was required to be without blemish, except in the case of voluntary offerings, where slight imperfections were overlooked (Lev. xxii. 19 sqq.). The calf, lamb, or goat should be at least eight days old (Lev. xxii. 27; Ex. xxii. 30), and rabbinical authority required an age of less than three years, while in some cases the age was set at a year (Lev. ix. 3, xii. 6, xiv. 10; Num. xv. 27, xxviii. 3, 9, 11). Meal (A. V "meat ") offerings were in the form of ears of corn parched or bruised, with the addition of oil and incense (Lev. ii. 14 sqq.); or as fine flour (Lev. ii. 1 sqq.); or as unleavened cakes (Lev. ii. 4 sqq.). The use of leaven or honey (both of which undergo fermentation) was forbidden, except in the sacrifice of firstfruits and certain thank-offerings (Lev. ii. 11-12, vii. 13, xxiii, 17; II Chron. xxxi. 5). The meal offering might, however, be seasoned with salt (Lev. ii. 13), as might, according to the Septuagint of Lev. xxiv. 7, the showbread. According to some readings of Mark ix. 49, all offerings were salted, as were burnt offerings (Ezek. xliii. 24). Drink offerings are mentioned in the codes only in connection with other offerings, although there are traces of simple libations of water (I Sam. vii. 6; II Sam. xxiii. 17). The only instance of such libations in the developed ritual of the Hebrews, however, was the pouring-out of water from the Pool of Shiloah at the altar during the feast of tabernacles. Oil and wine were also important in libations (Gen. xxviii. 18, xxxv. 14; Num. xxviii. 7, 14; Ecclus. 1. 15) . All the materials of sacrifice proper were necessities of life, and the peace offering is accordingly even called the bread of God (Lev. iii. 11, 16, xxi.
6, 8, 17, xxii. 25; Num. xxviii. 2, 24; Ezek. xliv. 7), while the altar of burnt offering was the " table that is before the Lord " (Ezek. xii. 22; cf. Mai. i.
7, 12).
The ritual of the sacrifice varied according to the purpose of the offering, and in the case of sacrifice of animals a distinction must be drawn between burnt offerings and communal meals. The burnt offering, or " whole burnt offering " (Deut. xxxiii. 10; I Sam. vii. 9; Ps. Ii. 21), is fully 4. The described in Lev. i. 3 sqq., and consti- Burnt Offer- tutes a very ancient, perhaps even the ing and most primitive, form of sacrifice, ex- Communal pressing in the widest sense adoration Meal. of the divinity, and in a manner including all the other and more special forms of sacrifice. »/This general character rendered the burnt offering the form best adapted for daily sacrifice in the name of the nation, and a yearling lamb was accordingly offered each morning and each evening (Ex. xxix. 38-42; Num. xxviii. 3-S)- Even gentiles, excluded from all other sacrifices, might offer burnt offerings, though they were forbidden to be present during the ceremony. After the time of Alexander the Great the pagan rulers of