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Leviticus 1:1-6:7

(Please take the time to read the portion completely as this "reflection" is designed to be a life application of only a small part of the Torah portion and is not an in depth commentary, nor does it touch the scheduled corresponding Haftorah and Brit Chadashah readings)

Rom 12:1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

How many times have we read this verse and thought about the "giving up of something" so that we can prove our love and devotion to our God?

The Meriam-Websters online dictionary defines sacrifice thusly:

1. an act of offering to a deity something precious ; especially : the killing of a victim on an altar
2. something offered in sacrifice
3. a: destruction or surrender of something for the sake of something else b: something given up or lost <the sacrifices made by parents>
4. LOSS <goods sold at a sacrifice>

I will submit to you that the overwhelming idea that we have today of sacrifice is number 3b and number 4. Those that spend time studying the verses of the TaNaK, think more in line with number 1. We know that Yeshuah was our sin sacrifice on the wood as our Pesach offering, but what do we really understand of the altar offerings as they are mandated in the Levitical system?

Let's take a more Hebraic look at what the words mean.

H2077 זבח zebach from H2076; a sacrifice:

H2076 זבח zabach a prim. root; to slaughter for sacrifice:

We can see that biblically the word sacrifice agrees with definition 1. So we see that sacrifice is almost always associated with the shedding of blood. Why is this important? Because life is in the blood. (B'rsheit 9:4) So why should we, as Shaul taught, be living sacrifices? Let's look deeper at the word "offering:"

H7133 קרבּן qorban from H7126; offering, oblation:

H7126 קרב qarab a prim. root; to come near, approach:

We can see from the root of Qorban that the idea is to come near or to be close to YHVH. That is a very different idea than the modern "give something away." It really has the connotation of exchanging something (Websters Def. 3a). So what are we exchanging? We are exchanging our state of separation due to sin, ie. disobedience to the Torah, for a closeness to YHVH.

H5930 עלה olah from H5927; whole burnt offering:

H5927 עלה alah a prim. root; to go up, ascend, climb:

So we can see a picture of the work of the Messiah. He came near to us and became our "life blood" so we could ascend to be with The Father and would no longer need any mediator apart from Him. In Yeshuah all the sacrificial system has its' meaning. What was the work of Messiah? To bring us back to the Father.

Today as you reflect on the meaning of sacrifice in your life, ask yourself this question:

Does my personal type of "sacrifice" (ie spiritual service) bring me closer to YHVH or just endear me to other people. The sacrifices are all about HIM. Shouldn't we be all about HIM too!

Shalom In Yeshuah,

Bill