Scripture Daily

Context No. 1226 of 4322 · Leviticus

Context · Reflection

Leviticus 1:1-9: in context

1The LORD called to Moses, and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying, 2“Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘When anyone of you offers an offering to the LORD, you shall offer your offering of the livestock, from the herd and from the flock. 3“‘If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without defect. He shall offer it at the door of the Tent of Meeting, that he may be accepted before the LORD. 4He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. 5He shall kill the bull before the LORD. Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall present the blood and sprinkle the blood around on the altar that is at the door of the Tent of Meeting. 6He shall skin the burnt offering and cut it into pieces. 7The sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar, and lay wood in order on the fire; 8and Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall lay the pieces, the head, and the fat in order on the wood that is on the fire which is on the altar; 9but he shall wash its innards and its legs with water. The priest shall burn all of it on the altar, for a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to the LORD.

The book of Leviticus opens with the laws of sacrifice, and the first is the burnt offering. A worshiper brings an unblemished male animal to the tabernacle door, lays his hand on its head, and it is accepted for him to make atonement. The animal is killed, the priests sprinkle its blood on the altar, and the whole animal, cut in pieces and washed, is burned entirely on the altar, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

Two details carry the meaning. First, the worshiper lays his hand on the animal's head. This is an act of identification; the offerer presses his hand on the creature and, in effect, transfers himself to it, so that what happens to the animal happens in his place. The animal becomes his substitute, dying the death he deserved, so that atonement is made for him. It is the central logic of sacrifice, and it points forward to the one who would bear our sins in his own body, the true substitute on whom our hand of faith is laid. Second, this offering is wholly burned, the entire animal given up on the altar, nothing kept back for the worshiper to eat, unlike other offerings. The burnt offering is total; it represents complete surrender, the whole self given to God. Together the two speak of the gospel and the response it calls for: a substitute who takes our place through the hand of faith laid on him, and a life given wholly back to God in response. The animal died in the worshiper's place, and the whole of it ascended to God. The atonement is by substitution; the fitting answer is total surrender.

Have I laid the hand of faith on the true substitute who took my place, and does my response match the whole burnt offering, my whole self surrendered and given back to God?

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