“For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.”
(Hebrews 10:14)
The book of Leviticus outlines every detail required of the priests to bring God a holy offering on behalf of the Jewish people. Modern Christian readers likely find this section of the Bible cumbersome and difficult, if not outright tedious. Yet, understanding the Old Testament offerings is essential to understanding what Jesus accomplished on the cross.
Though there are many, the five primary categories of offerings for sin are burnt, grain, peace, sin, and guilt/trespass. Leviticus 1-5 explains them (i.e., what they are and why one offers them) in extraordinary detail, while chapters 6-8 describe the process by which the priests dutifully sacrificed them in the temple on behalf of the people. But if we look closer, we can see Jesus in the middle of each one.
The Burnt Offering
“When any one of you brings an offering to the LORD, you shall bring your offering of the livestock of the herd and of the flock.” (Lev 1:2)
Called the “korban olah” in Hebrew, the burnt offering was completely voluntary (1:3) with no specific number of allowances. It signified one’s complete dedication and obedience to God, plus a desire for God to purge them from the guilt of sin.
Of the five offerings, the priests accepted the burnt offering at the door of the tabernacle the most frequently: every morning and evening, every Sabbath, the first day of every month, and the special feasts (Num 28).
Type of Sacrifice. God required the burnt offering to be a male animal—usually domestic cattle (the costliest), rams, sheep, or goats (the least costly)—without blemish. Those who did not have the means to offer these animals could bring a dove or pigeon instead. The offering had to come directly from the worshiper’s herd or flock, or he had to purchase it (i.e., no borrowing or gifting).
However, there were specific exclusions. Worshipers could not bring horses, dogs, pigs, camels, and donkeys since people often used them in pagan offerings. Other excluded animals were rabbits, deer, and birds of prey.
Method of Sacrifice. At the time of sacrifice, the priest placed his hands on the animal’s head to symbolically place the worshiper’s sins on the innocent animal while the worshiper asked God for forgiveness. The priest then killed, skinned, and burned the animal until nothing remained.
Its Purpose. Ultimately, a burnt offering is a gift to the Lord. However, the general purpose was solely to atone for one’s sins. God meant the offering to be a life-changing event, which differs from a sin offering (see below).
How It Points to Jesus. Giving a burnt offering is akin to putting your faith and trust in Jesus. When we accept His gift of grace and choose to follow Him, our lives are never the same. The old is gone, and we become a new creation.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come.” (2 Cor 5:17)
The Grain Offering
The grain offering (Heb, minchah), sometimes called the meat or gift offering, was also voluntarily given along with the burnt offering and a drink offering (Num 28:1-15).
Type of Sacrifice. The offering could be made of uncooked flour, baked flour (which has its own rules depending on whether one uses a lid during preparation), or roasted grain from one’s harvest mixed with frankincense (Lev 2:4-16). If one chose flour, they presented it as an unleavened cake made of the finest flour mixed with oil and salt.
The ingredients of the cake are symbolic. Leavening is a substance that can profoundly change or puff up something (in baking, it makes the cake rise); therefore, one omitted it because it represented sin and pride.
On the other hand, salt is a preservative, and oil is pure. Therefore, salt preserves the word of God, and the oil signifies its holiness. The command to use the finest flour is an equivalent of the unblemished animal of the burnt offering. It was the best one they had.
Method of Sacrifice. Unlike the burnt offering, which the priests wholly sacrificed, they only burned a portion of the grain offering on the altar. The rest supported the other Levite priests, who ate it with other types of unleavened bread in “the court of the tabernacle of meeting (Lev 6:16).”
Its Purpose. Its purpose was to express one’s devotion to God and praise Him for His goodness, faithfulness, provision, and divine providence.
How It Points to Jesus. Followers of Jesus no longer need to give a grain offering to thank Him for His love and provision. We can thank Him through prayer, singing, dancing, and other forms of expression. However, our obedience to His word is the greatest way to thank Him (Jn 14:15).
A Peace Offering
The Hebrew word for peace is shalom, the root for shelamim—the peace offering. It, too, was a voluntary offering to express praise and thanksgiving to God.
Type of Sacrifice. Often, one would offer an unblemished male or female animal from their herd along with a grain offering.
Method of Sacrifice. The priests prayed over and laid their hands on the animal, killed it, and sprinkled its blood on the altar.
Unlike the burnt offering, God required the priests to burn only certain parts of the animal if it was cattle or a goat—the fat surrounding the entrails, the kidneys with their fat, and the “fatty lobe attached to the liver.” If the sacrifice was a lamb, the priests also burned the animal’s tail and all of its body fat (Lev 3). Birds were not accepted.
Priests then presented the breast meat as a wave offering and the right thigh as a heave offering to the Lord. The wave offering represented thanksgiving, while a heave offering (lifting it up and down) symbolized God’s ownership of everything we have.
The priests could then eat the meat that same day or the next day, but not the third day, which brought the punishment of guilt (Lev 7:18), likely food poisoning. They gave any remaining meat to the people.
Under no circumstances could the worshiper or anyone else eat the fat or blood of a peace offering, especially the blood. God warned that anyone who ate the blood would be “cut off from his people (Lev 7:27)” because of its “uncleanness.”
Its Purpose. The peace offering was another way to offer praise and thanksgiving to God. It also acknowledged His sovereignty.
How It Points to Jesus. Sacrificing an animal as an offering of peace to God is also no longer necessary, thanks to our peace with Him through the power of the Holy Spirit. He alone is our peace and comforter.
“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (Jn 14:27)
The Sin Offering
Leviticus 4 describes the sin offering (Heb, chatat). It was compulsory, unlike the others. It is very different from the burnt offering. The burnt offering covers all sin, while the sin offering covers unintentional daily sins—those committed carelessly or accidentally. The priests performed this sacrifice before the burnt and peace offerings.
Type and Method of Sacrifice. The offering itself varied depending on who sinned.
The High Priest or an Entire Community – A designated priest must pray and sacrifice a young bull without blemish, dip his finger in the bull’s blood, and sprinkle it seven times on the veil draped in front of the innermost room called the Holy of Holies and horns of the altar. He then poured out the remaining blood at the base of the altar.
As with the peace offering, the priest removed the fat and certain organs and burned them on the altar. He then carried the remainder of the bull outside the camp “to a clean place” and burned it over a fire to symbolize removing the sin from the people (Lev 3:1-12).
Sins committed by the high priest or a community are considered a more serious transgression than that of others because the sin affects the entire community.
Ruler or Official Leader – He must bring a male young goat without blemish, and the priest follows the same procedure, except for sprinkling blood on the sanctuary veil (v22-26). That step is omitted.
Individuals – The same procedure applied to a ruler’s sin is followed if any “common people” sin, except the individual must bring a young female goat or a lamb (v27-35).
The priests may eat any meat left from any of the sin offering sacrifices unless it atoned a priest or the entire community. In all cases, no meat was shared with the people.
Its Purpose. One gave a sin offering to obtain God’s forgiveness and receive cleansing from daily impurity.
How It Points to Jesus. Under the New Covenant that Jesus established, we offer a daily prayer for God’s forgiveness. It is not like when we first come to faith, but a daily cleansing of the sins we have committed that we may or may not be aware of. It is why Jesus exhorts us to take up our cross daily (Lk 9:23). Every day, we repent and continue our faith journey of following Him until we have finished our race.
“Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.” (Heb 12:1-2)
The Trespass Offering
The trespass offering (Heb, asham) is the second compulsory offering due to the violations it involved (Lev 5:1-4 and 6:5-7).
- Withholding testimony
- Touching something unclean due to a period of forgetfulness
- Violating an oath
- Creating a reckless oath, one he should not or could not keep
- Lying and defrauding
- Stealing and extortion
Type of Sacrifice. God forgave the first four violations when one offered a female lamb or goat or two turtledoves or pigeons. One bird was the guilt offering, and the other a burnt offering. If one could not bring an animal for sacrifice, a third option was offering one-tenth of an ephah (one gallon) of fine flour,
Method of Sacrifice. Priests performed the animal sacrifices the same as with the other offerings. But if one brings fine flour, the priest burned a portion of it and kept the remaining flour as a grain offering (thanksgiving).
The payment for the last two violations (lying and stealing) was more severe; it required restitution.
After confessing to the sin, one had to fully restore what they took to its owner, plus an additional one-fifth of its value (120% total). The trespasser was then required to present a ram to the Lord for sacrifice plus an additional valuation that the priest determined based on the taken item.
The payment for trespassing against “the holy things of the LORD (His property)” was even costlier. One had to offer a ram along with a “valuation in shekels of silver according to the [value of one] shekel of the sanctuary (Lev 5:15, with addition),” which equated to about four-tenths of an ounce. One also had to make restitution by paying an additional one-fifth of the value.
Its Purpose. Such terrible violations require a high cost, often more than one could afford. Therefore, the trespass offering—sacrifice and restitution—atoned for violating God’s “holy things” or others’ property.
How It Points to Jesus. The Bible repeatedly says the price for sin is death. Jesus came to pay that price, to die in our place and make restitution to the Father on our behalf. Because of His atonement, God forgives our trespasses when we come to salvation.
“And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” (Mt 6:12)
Everything Points to Jesus
Each of the five offerings expressed repentance, obedience, and thanksgiving, even if it cost more than one had. Thankfully, God had a second plan in mind.
Two thousand years ago, an angel appeared to a young woman named Mary and told her she would give birth to the Savior of the world and call His name Jesus (Lk 1:26-33). Many years later, He died on a cross, becoming the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. As our kinsman redeemer, He paid the price we cannot pay.
The Old Testament offerings point to what Jesus accomplished through His death and resurrection. He alone is the only way to true forgiveness of our sins, no matter its form. We must never forget that when we put our full faith and trust in Him, He fully forgives us. We no longer need to make a sacrifice to Him. He has already done it for us.
“So far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” (Ps 103:12)
“For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” (Heb 8:12)
