Old Testament Offerings, Remarks on Leviticus

When reading Leviticus, we learn about the Old Testament offerings made by the Levitical priest to the Lord. The Leviticus priests were Aaron’s sons and were chosen to be responsible for performing the sacrifices for the offerings to the Lord. Aaron was the older brother of Moses, chosen by God to be the first High Priest of Israel. The Lord spoke to Moses, Aaron in turn spoke to the people.

The people took the animals and killed them. The priests were assigned to carry out the rituals. The animals that were chosen were without blemish.

How the offerings were carried out

The priests would put the fire on the alter. A man would bring the offering and lay their hand on the animal and slaughter it, but it was the Levitical priests who then laid the portions of the animal on the wood, handled the blood and splattered it on the altar, then prepared the fat for burning, with the rest becoming a shared meal for the people and priests.

So, the person making the offering to the Lord started the sacrifice by killing the animal, and then the Levitical priests performed the specified duties with the blood and the animal parts.

The offerings are divided into two categories, voluntary and mandatory.

Voluntary Offerings

Burnt Offering:

The person making this act of worship does so for an unintentional sin. They are showing their devotion to G-d. They sacrifice a bull, ram, male dove or young pigeon with no defect.

Fellowship Offering:

The person making this act of worship does so to show thankfulness and includes a shared meal. They sacrifice any animal from a herd or flock without defect.

Grain Offering:

The person making this act of worship does so to recognize G-d’s goodness. They too are showing their devotion to G-d. They sacrifice grain, fine flour, oil incense, baked bred and salt. It is accompanied with a burnt offering, fellowship offering and a drink offering.

Mandatory Offerings

Sin Offering:

The person making this mandatory atonement does so an unintentional sin. They are either confessing, asking forgiveness or cleansing themselves of their sin. Depending on the person, the person will sacrifice a young bull if they are a priest, a male goat if they are a leader, a female goat if they are a regular person or a tenth of an ephah of flour if they are poor.

Guilt Offering:

The person making this mandatory atonement does so for an unintentional sin requiring restitution. They make restitution by paying 20% fine. They a sacrifice a ram.