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If we are honest with ourselves and with others, we want God to be unfair. We want Him to give us mercy. But if we don’t want Him to give others mercy, He will not give us mercy (Matt. 7:2; Mark 4:24; Luke 6:38). Neither atonement nor forgiveness are fair, yet we want it that way.
Contrary to popular belief, not all offerings of the Tabernacle are equal or identical. When we confuse them and lump them all together, it’s too easy to dismiss them and throw them out as obsolete. וַיִּקְרָא Vayiqra (“he called out,” Leviticus 1–5), the beginning reading from the Torah book by the same name, teaches us that God has a purpose in mind for each of the offerings. We’ll learn what each are and more about what God is trying to teach us.
4 kinds of offerings
Often called “sacrifices,” the best way to translate the Hebrew word קָרְבָּן qorban is “that which draws near.” The Hebrew word that does mean “sacrifice” is זֶבַח zebakh.
The first offering described in Vayiqra is the עֹלָה olah (“that which goes up,” i.e., burnt). It’s all burned up, all of it is consumed in fire. None of it is eaten. This is a voluntary offering for atonement. The one bringing the offering places his hands upon it and declares the reason for it before the officiant kills it for the priest to offer on one’s behalf.
The second offering is מִנְחָה minkha (grain). It is a voluntary offering but there is no atonement associated with this offering. The elements of flour and oil can be presented either pre-cooked or raw. The portions that are burned are mixed with incense and salt but can never include honey or fruit sweetening. The portions that are not burned are gifts to the priests.
The third offering type are שְׁלָמִים shelamim (“things that are complete or at peace”). The person bringing it places his hands on it and declares the reason for the offering before killing it and giving it over to the priest. It is not an atonement offering. The animal is carved up and part of it is burned up but part of it is eaten by the person bringing the animal, unless it’s the peace offering of Shavuot. The peace offering of Shavuot is shared by the priests and the entire community.
The fourth offering type is תֶחֱטָא בִשְׁגָגָה tekheta bishegagah (“sin with error or inadvertence,” i.e., unintentional goof). But the type of offering presented is different depending on who committed the sin: priest, congregation, king. The offering for unintentional sin of a priest, congregation at large, the leader of the community or a common person are not consumed and is split up and burned in different areas and the blood disposed of in various places.
There is a difference between atonement and forgiveness. Atonement covers over sin while forgiveness is a pardon or a removal of sin.
God can grant:
- Atonement only
- Forgiveness only
- Atonement and forgiveness
- Neither atonement nor forgiveness
Leviticus 5:1–4 has examples of passive, rather than active sins.
Power isn’t only in the blood?
Blood is not the only thing that can atone or forgive. This is important for Christians to understand. A grain offering also can atone for sins of omission. But what about this?:
“And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.” (Hebrews 9:22 KJV)
The writer of Hebrews was well-schooled in the Torah, thus the use of “almost all things.” From later in the book of Vayiqra, we an important exception to atonement by blood:
“And any man from the house of Israel, or from the aliens who sojourn among them, who eats any blood, I will set My face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people. ‘For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.’ “Therefore I said to the sons of Israel, ‘No person among you may eat blood, nor may any alien who sojourns among you eat blood.’ “So when any man from the sons of Israel, or from the aliens who sojourn among them, in hunting catches a beast or a bird which may be eaten, he shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth.” (Leviticus 17:10–13 NASB)
God accepted grain offerings instead of blood offerings depending on one’s circumstances. He even accepted other novel forms of sacrifice for forgiveness.
What offering does the LORD require?
Did the people of Nineveh in the days of Yonah (Jonah) make offerings of atonement in the Temple when they expressed repentance for their sins? No, yet God forgave them. Why? They repented with sackcloth, even making their animals wear sackcloth (Jonah 3:1–10). They were not Israelites. They had not the Temple, no Torah, no instruction. They paid the only way they knew how.
What about the bronze/copper serpent put on a pole as salvation for those in Israel bitten by venomous snakes in judgment for complaining about the LORD’s grace (Num. 21:5–9; cf. John 3:14)? All they had to do to be forgiven, because of Moshe’s intercession, was look at the serpent.
Let’s also look at an important healing by Yeshua that underscored His role as the Mashiakh (Messiah, Christ) and Heaven’s approach to mercy and atonement (Mark 2:1–12). Where was this man’s offering? There was no offering made at all, yet forgiveness was granted. Yeshua didn’t even tell the man to go to the priest.
Then there was the time when Yeshua forgave a woman who repented through tears, self-humiliation and costly outlay (Luke 7:36–50).
God did not write Torah for Heaven to follow but for us (Gal. 3:19). The LORD doesn’t have a sin problem; we do. He doesn’t lack self-control. We do. That is why He gave us Torah.
How could You forgive that mass murderer?
In 2Kings 21, we meet a king of Yehudah (southern kingdom of Israel, i.e., Judah) who was particularly reprehensible. The king’s name was Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah and his wife Hephzibah.
How evil was Manasseh?
“…Manasseh seduced them to do evil more than the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the sons of Israel. Now the LORD spoke through His servants the prophets, saying, “Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations, having done wickedly more than all the Amorites did who were before him, and has also made Judah sin with his idols;” (2Kings 21:9–11 NASB)
Manasseh killed anyone who actually believed in God, killing many prophets. How did God deal with Manasseh (2Chronicles 33:10–13)? How completely did Manasseh repent (2Chronicles 33:14–17)? The same man we read about in 2Kings is also the same king described in 2Chronicles.
Manasseh never made the prescribed olah or grain offerings to the LORD we just read about in Vayiqra, yet God accepts his repentance. Manasseh offered only peace offerings, yet God still forgave.
Manasseh was the most murderous and blasphemous king ever to sit on the throne of Judah. No king of Israel had more blood on his hand than King Manasseh. Yet God accepted Manasseh’s repentance and gave him 55 years on the throne of David and Yeshua the Messiah is descended from him.
God’s forgiveness surpasses the Torah (Matt. 5:17–20). When we compare ourselves to others, we apply our own standards of fairness, which mislead us. For example, if person A murdered one person and person B murdered 1,000 people, we would think that person A deserves more mercy than person B but that standard of fairness is not God’s standard of fairness. Both of them deserve death and only have one life to atone. If God was really fair, neither of them would live and none of us would, either.
Summary: Tammy