Blood Sacrifice
CAN WE MAKE SUBSTITUTIONS FOR BLOOD SACRIFICE?
As we know, blood sacrifice is a central
theme in the Torah, when it comes to the atonement of sins.
But today, in an attempt to find a way around
the need for the temple and for sacrifices (and especially the sacrifice of the
Messiah) certain rabbis claim that even during the time of the Pentateuch it
was possible to atone for sins without blood, but with fine flour and money.
See for example the words of Rabbi Daniel
Asor: “Forgiveness of sins does not necessarily depend upon blood, but
on repentance and on the offering of fine flour, without any blood.”
Here he is referring to Leviticus 5:11.
Sounds reasonable, right?
Let us read what the verse actually says: “But if he cannot afford two turtledoves or two pigeons,
then he shall bring as his offering for the sin that he has committed a tenth
of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering. He shall put no oil on it and
shall put no frankincense on it, for it is a sin offering.” (Leviticus
5:11)
Can flour do the trick?
Superficially, and if we
ignore the context of this verse, the commandment does indeed allow those who
could not afford to purchase a lamb, kid, pigeon or a turtledove, to sacrifice
fine flour instead.
How can it be possible that fine flour could
substitute for a sin offering?
The truth is that the answer is very simple,
as we can find in the following verses, verses 12 and 13 (which Rabbi Asor
didn’t bother to quote): “And he shall bring it to
the priest, and the priest shall take a handful of it as its memorial portion
and burn this on the altar, on the LORD’s food offerings; it is a sin offering.
Thus the priest shall make atonement for him for the sin, which he has
committed in any one of these things, and he shall be forgiven. And the
remainder shall be for the priest, as in the grain offering.”
According to these verses, the priest should
take a handful of the flour, as a reminder, and burn it on the altar, on the
Lord’s food offerings (meaning, above the fire which was burning for God).
Then, the priest should make atonement for
the poor man.
Simply put, the priest, as part of his role
as a mediator between God and the people of Israel, mixed the flour with the
blood of the sacrifices that was already on the altar, and could thus atone for
people who could not afford to buy an animal of their own.
Nowhere in the Old Testament does it say that
fine flour on its own had the ability to atone for sins, or that the life of
the flesh is in fine flour.
The poor people could also enjoy the atoning
power of the altar, since it was possible to mix the flour they brought with
the blood which was already on the altar, so that the flour absorbed the blood,
and was then sacrificed.
There is not even one verse in the entire Old
Testament that implies that flour on its own has any sort of power to atone for
sins. Rabbi Asor completely and intentionally took this verse out of its
context.
What about money?
Rabbi Asor also quotes
Exodus 30:15-16.
It says: “The
rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half
shekel, when you give the LORD’s offering to make atonement for your lives. You
shall take the atonement money from the people of Israel and shall give it for
the service of the tent of meeting, that it may bring the people of Israel to
remembrance before the LORD, so as to make atonement for your lives.”
According to the Rabbi, this testifies that
sacrifice can be substituted with money for the atonement of sin.
But what does the verse really say? Does the
Law allow atonement for sins with money?
Rabbi Asor intentionally takes this verse too
clean out of its context, and completely ignores even the Sages.
The term “sin” does not appear at all in these verses and
even Jewish scholars have already proved that these verses have nothing to do
with atonement for sin, but are related to the ransom for God’s protection.
It is important to know that this is the only
place in the entire Old Testament where the term “atonement
money” appears, and the context is not about sin or
forgiveness, but actually a census of the people.
In Exodus 30:11 it says: “When you take the census of the people of Israel, then
each shall give a ransom for his life to the LORD when you number them, that
there be no plague among them when you number them.”
If you recall the census King David initiated
on his own in 2 Samuel 24, the census ended with a severe plague.
The atonement money was intended to provide
protection, and there is no connection with the forgiveness of anyone’s sins.
When Rashi discussed the meaning of Exodus
30:15, he said: “’To
atone for your souls’ so that you will not be smitten with a plague because of
the census.”
In other words, the word “atone” has no connection to atonement for sin.
In ‘Siftei Chachamim’, a rabbinical
collection of Rashi’s interpretations, Rashi’s meaning was explained:“and
not to atone for your sins, as in other atonements in the Law.”
Similarly, in Gur Aryeh’s interpretation to
Rashi, it says: “this is in regards to three different money offerings,
one of them pays for the animal sacrifice, and by that clarifies that the sacrifices
are the atoning ones.”
Ransom money is not the
same as atonement for sins
Do you understand? The
atonement money on its own had nothing to do with forgiveness of sins.
But, as Rashi himself said, the money that
streamed into the temple financed the work of the priests, and more
importantly, the purchasing of sacrifices for the people.
The final destination of the money only
supports this… with it, sacrifices could be bought that would make the
atonement for sins possible.
Like the Sages, other Jewish researchers
understood this. Rabbi Hertz for example, wrote in the commentary to Exodus 30
that the term, “to atone for your souls” is an expansion on the meaning of the
word “ransom”.
Rabbi Hertz explains it this way: “Money
paid by the man who is guilty of taking the life of another, under
circumstances other than murder.”
Jewish Bible Scholar, Jacob Milgrom, in his
interpretation to Numbers 31, wrote: “In God’s eyes, the ransom is a necessary
preventative step against a plague that could attack the people due to a
census.”
The Rashbam, Rashi’s grandson, said the same
things over 800 years ago. So even the Sages and other Jewish scholars
recognize that this refers to ransom money for protection, and not to atonement
for sins, as the Sages say themselves.
But modern rabbis like Rabbi Asor, prefer to
twist the Word of God and the Law, in an attempt to confuse you, so that you
will not recognize your need in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus.
The sacrifice of the Messiah cannot be
measured with money or flour.
The blood of the Messiah is extremely dear,
but the good news is that it’s given to us for free, and thanks to it, we can
enjoy forgiveness and atonement for our sins.
Why not accept God's gift of
salvation and become His child?
Open your heart and say this
prayer:
“Father God, I confess I am
a sinner and my sins have separated me from You.
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“Oh, the
Blood of Jesus”
Author: Anonymous
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWdRsinKm2YBluegrassShilohWorshipMusic
CLICK HERE
. . . to view complete playlist . . .
lyrics
1 Oh, the blood of Jesus,Oh, the blood of Jesus,
Oh, the blood of Jesus,
it must not suffer loss.
2 Oh, the word of Jesus,
Oh, the word of Jesus,
Oh, the word of Jesus,
it cleanses white as snow.
Oh, the word of Jesus,
Oh, the word of Jesus,
it cleanses white as snow.
3 Oh, the love of Jesus,Oh, the love of Jesus,
Oh, the love of Jesus,
it makes His body whole.
There is power, power, power, power,
Wonder working pow'r,
In the blood, in the blood, of the Lamb, of the Lamb,
There is power, power, power, power,
Wonder working pow'r,
In the precious blood of the Lamb.
Eitan Bar is a
native Jewish-Israeli who was born and raised in Tel Aviv, Israel (1984).
Graduated with his B.A. in Biblical Studies from Israel College of the Bible
(Jerusalem, 2009), his M.A. in Theology from Liberty University (2013) and is
now pursuing his Doctorate with Dallas Theological Seminary. Eitan currently
serves as ONE FOR ISRAEL's Director of Media & Evangelism.
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