When Worship Costs Something

Leviticus 1

GOD INSTRUCTS MOSES ON BURNT SACRIFICES (1:1-2):
- God called Moses to the Tabernacle (Tent of Meeting) and gave him instructions for how the Israelites were supposed to offer sacrifices.
- They could either bring an offering from their herd or from their flock.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR OFFERING OXEN (1:3-9):
- If an Israelite wanted to offer an ox to the Lord, he was to bring a male ox without blemish to the entrance of the Tabernacle.
- After placing his hand on the ox’s head, the sacrificer was to kill the ox.
- The priests were to take the blood and throw it against the bronze altar.
- Then the one offering the animal was to skin it and cut it in pieces.
- After washing the entrails and the legs, the pieces were to be arranged on wood on the altar and burned.
- The offerings went up to heaven as a “pleasing aroma” to the Lord.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR OFFERING SHEEP AND GOATS (1:10-13):
- If an Israelite man wanted to offer a goat or a sheep, he was to bring the animal to the Tabernacle and kill it on the north side of the bronze altar.
- The priests were to take the blood and throw it against the sides of the altar.
- The animal was then to be chopped into pieces and, after its legs and entrails were washed, burned with wood on the altar as “a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord.”
INSTRUCTIONS FOR OFFERING BIRDS (1:14-17):
- In addition to goats, sheep, and oxen, the Israelites could offer turtledoves and pigeons.
- If a bird offering was brought to the priests, the priests were to wring off the bird’s head and drain its blood on the side of the altar.
- The bird’s crop was to be removed and thrown with the ashes on the east side of the altar.
- The priest was then to tear the bird open by its wings (but not sever it) and burn it on the altar as a “food offering with a pleasing aroma” to the Lord.