How our lives can become a ‘soothing aroma to the LORD’ (Leviticus 1–5)

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When the New Testament talks about shadows and patterns, they are representations of the original in heaven. What have here on earth are a foretaste of what is coming in the Messianic Age. This is why Christians continued to go to the Temple and make offerings even after Yeshua’s resurrection and return to heaven (e.g., Acts 21).

“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You, how much less this house which I have built!”
1Kings 8:27 NASB

Although the Tabernacle and later the Temple, which He commissioned, cannot contain God but He deigned to dwell there. He is also wants to dwell in our hearts, and when we invite Him to dwell within us, we become walking tabernacles of the Holy Spirit.

Here’s some key vocabulary we will be using in today’s lesson:

קֹדֶשׁ qodesh or kodesh (Strong’s lexicon No. H6944) means “apartness or sacredness.” We commonly translate this as “sanctified” (See Ex. 31:13 & Lev. 20:8).
קָרְבָּן qorban, qarban or korban (H7133a) means “that which approaches.” In this context, it is about approaching God. It doesn’t remove sin but it is allowed to enter God’s presence because it’s tahor.
טָהוֹר tahor (H2889) is often translated as “clean” but is better understood as “fit to move into God’s presence.”
טָמֵא tamé/tamei (H2931) is often translated as “unclean” but is better understood as “unfit to enter God’s presence.”

The realm of God is all about live, while the realm outside of God’s presence is about death. We approach God on His terms, not our own.

The Courtyard: Offerings

עוֹלָה ’olah (Lev. 1:1–17; 6:8–13): Burnt offering of bulls, sheep, goats, doves, or pigeons
מִנְחָה minkhah (Lev. 2:1–16: 6:14–23): Grain offering of cakes or wafers of fine flour
שְׁלָמִים shelamim (Lev. 3:1–17; 7:11–36): Peace offering of a goat or lamb, consumed that day
חַטָּאת khattat (Lev. 4:1–5:13; 6:24–30; Num. 15:1–24): Sin offering of a bull or lamb
אָשָׁם ’asham (Lev. 5:1–6; 7:1–17): Guilt/trespass offering

Other offerings:

זֶבַח zebakh: slaughtered animal
זֶבַח הַתּוֹדָה zebakh todah: thank
זֶבַח נְדָבָה zebakh nedavah: freewill
זֶבַח נֶדֶר zebakh neder: votive
תְּנוּפָה tenufah: wave
תְּרוּמָה tenumah: heave, lifted up
קָרְבָּן qarban: oblation (from קָרַב)
אִשֶּׁה isheh: fire
נֶסֶךְ nesekh: drink
כָּלִיל kholil: whole burnt
מֶלַח melakh: salt

שְׁלָמִים shelamim

The peace offering could be a goat or lamb, but it didn’t go on the altar. This offering symbolized fellowship and peace with God through shed blood. After some meat was ceremonially waved toward heaven and given to the priests, worshipers and their guests could share in the feast as a meal with God. It had to be consumed the same day it was offered.

These sacrifices are called שְׁלָמִים shelemim because they are offered not in expiation of sin, but to ensure the continual well-being, שלום shalom, of those who offer them. Or the name may allude to the fact that they are offered by a soul that is שלמה shelemah, “complete,” and not lacking due to sin, חטא ḥet, whose literal meaning is that there is something “missing” from the soul.
Ibn Ezra, from Michael Carasik, The Commentators’ Bible — The JPS Miqra’ot Gedolot: Exodus, Jewish Publication Society, paragraph 4914, emphasis added

This is a very profound observation from the 12th century Spanish Jewish commentator Abraham ben Meir Ibn Ezra. This shows up frequently in the TaNaKh¹ and the Apostolic Writings.

The apostolic letter from Ya’akob (James) imbues the sentiments of Ibn Ezra (James 1:2-8). When we have read this passage in the past is its emphasis on looking at what is happening in our lives with wisdom and maturity. The wise person asks for God’s advise and counsel on how to deal with life’s frequent challenges.

We also see this in Matthew 5:21–26, when Yeshua speaks about how we should give offerings to God. This is one of the “six antitheses” theologians hypothesize from the Sermon on the Mount/Plain (Matthew 5–7; Luke 6), based on the sections that start with, “You have heard it said … but I tell you….”. Yeshua was not contradicting the Torah in these parabolic teachings. Rather, He was looking for “truth in our inward parts” (Psalm 51:6), not just in out outward practices.

When He warns us to reconcile with our fellow man before we reconcile with Him. When we think about Cain and Abel and how much Cain hated Abel because Abel was doing what is right and Cain was not. God warned Cain to master his thoughts and his sin before it takes him off the rails. Unfortunately, he did not take God’s advise and he killed his brother instead.

Yom Kippur atones for our transgressions against God but doesn’t atone for our transgressions against each other. This is where the 40 days of repentence in the lead up to Yom Kippur comes from. It’s the reminder to take reconciliation seriously. It’s a time to take a real assessment of our relationships and to bring anything that has gone off the rails back on its proper track.

חַטָּאת khattat: Sin/purification

The sin offering was of a bull or lamb. It could also be translated as a purification offering, given the uses of the term for offerings presented after childbirth (Lev. 12:6), with the cleansing of healed tzatzarat (“leprosy”) (Lev. 14:19), after nazarite contact with a corpse (Num. 6:11), and after a nazarite finishes his/her term (Num. 6:14).

The term comes from the verb חטא khatah, “to miss the mark, to deviate; to purify.” That verb is used in instructions to purify the altar (Ex. 29:36) and cleanse a house (Lev. 14:49).

“Then the anointed priest is to take some of the blood of the bull and bring it to the tent of meeting, and the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle some of the blood seven times before the LORD, in front of the veil of the sanctuary. ‘The priest shall also put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense which is before the LORD in the tent of meeting; and all the blood of the bull he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering which is at the doorway of the tent of meeting.”
Leviticus 4:5–7 NASB

There are a lot of sevens in the feasts as well as the ceremonies of the Tabernacle. It harkens to the creation of the world as well as making oaths and promises. It points us to a sense of completion and resolution of things. It points to a time when there will be no more separation between God and men.

“‘Now if the whole congregation of Israel commits error and the matter escapes the notice of the assembly, and they commit any of the things which the LORD has commanded not to be done, and they become guilty; when the sin which they have committed becomes known, then the assembly shall offer a bull of the herd for a sin offering and bring it before the tent of meeting.”
Leviticus 4:13–14 NASB

In this section, we see how the congregation were called to “lean in” to accepting their responsibility when they done something wrong. So the leaders, when they lead their people astray, have to publicly repent of the sin, on behalf of the entire community. No one gets a pass just because of who they are. The scales of justice can never be pressed upon, either in favor of the rich and powerful or in favor of the poor and oppressed. The scales of justice must be balanced and equal before all.

When heaven hates qorbanot!

“Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”
Psalm 51:7 NASB

We can fool others with false piety but we can’t fool God if we bring an offering when our heart is not in it.

“Then it happened that as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?” But when Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. “But go and learn what this means: ‘I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT SACRIFICE,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.””
Matthew 9:10–13 NASB, quoting Hosea 6:6

When Yeshua tells the Pharisees, “Go and learn what this means…” is a rabbinic idiom for “educate yourself!” He reminds them that compassion for one’s fellow man is more important than keeping rules without compassion.

“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. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:1–2 NASB)

We need a change on both the inside and the outside that only God can accomplish.

How are qorbanot a ‘soothing aroma’?

This phrase is found quite often in the Scriptures.

“Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. The LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the LORD said to Himself, ‘I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.’”
Genesis 8:20–21 NASB

After all the violence of the Flood, the eight remaining human beings left on the earth, bring an offering to God. That offering was a source of comfort to Noah and his family and God was pleased with their gratitude.

“Then Isaac said to Jacob, ‘Please come close, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.’ So Jacob came close to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, ‘The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.’ He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him. And he said, ‘Are you really my son Esau?’ And he said, ‘I am.’ So he said, ‘Bring it to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, that I may bless you.” And he brought it to him, and he ate; he also brought him wine and he drank. Then his father Isaac said to him, ‘Please come close and kiss me, my son.’
So he came close and kissed him; and when he smelled the smell of his garments, he blessed him and said, “See, the smell of my son Is like the smell of a field which the LORD has blessed;”
Genesis 27:21–27 NASB

A “soothing smell” is a familiar smell, just as Isaac was soothed by the familiar smell of his son. This was soothing because Isaac wanted to be in his son’s presence.

However, the same smell would not be soothing if you didn’t want to be with the person emitting the familiar smell.

What is not a ‘soothing aroma’

The haftarah (parallel passage) for the Torah passage Vayiqra (Isaiah 43:21–44:23) delves even more deeply into what is a soothing aroma and what isn’t.

This experience of the qorbanot is something that we can experience every day. We can experience the sense of realizing that when have gone astray, that we have a way to come back, whether we have gone astray from our fellowship with other people or with God Himself.

God is not fooled if we are not true in ourselves to Him and to those around us. When we reconcile ourselves with God and with our fellow men, and the wall of separation is dismantled, that is when we experience real joy and peace.

Summary: Tammy