SACRIFICE
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SACRIFICE
(Lev., V, 7; xii, S). Concerning the sex, age, and
physical condition of the animals there were also exact
precepts; as a rule, they had to be free from (h^fect,
since only the best were fit for Jahwoh (Lev., xxii, 20
sqq.; Mai., i, 13 sq.). The material of the unbloody
sacrifices (usually additions to the bloody sacrifice or
subsidiary sacrifices) was chosen from either the solid
or the liquid articles of human food. The fragrant
incen.se, the symbol of prayer ascending to God, was
an exception. The sacrifice of solids {minchah) con-
sisted partly of toasted ears of corn (or shelled grain)
together with oil and incense (Lev., ii, 14 sqq.), partly
of the finest wheaten flour with the same additional
gifts (Lev., ii, 1 .sqq.), and partly of unleavened bread
(Lev., ii, 4 sqq.). Since not only leaven, but also
honey produced fermentation in bread, which suggests
rottenness, the use of honey was also forbidden (Lev.,
ii, 11; cf. 1 Cor., v, 6 sqq.). Only the bread of the
first fruits, which was offered on the feast of Pente-
cost, and the bread added to many sacrifices of praise
were leavened, and these might not be brought to the
altar, but belonged to the priests (Lev., ii, 4 sqq.; vii,
13 sq., etc.). On the other hand salt was regarded
as a means of purification and preservation, and was
prescribed as a seasoning for all food-offerings pre-
pared from corn (Lev., ii, 13). Consequently, among
the natural productions supplied to the (later)Temple,
was a vast quantity of salt, which, as "salt of Sodom ",
was asually obtained from the Dead Sea, and stored
up in a special salt chamber (Esd., vi, 9; vii, 22; Jo.se-
phu.s, "Antiquities", XH, iii, 3). As an integral por-
tion of the food-offering we always find the libation
(]Z1, ffirovBiiov^ lihamen), which is never offered
independently. Oil and wine were the only liquids
used (cf. Gen., xxviii, 18; xxxv, 14; Num., xxviii, 7, 14) :
the oil was used partly in the preparation of the bread,
and partly burned with the other gifts on the altar;
the wine was poured out before the altar. Libations
of milk, such as those of the Arabs and the Phoeni-
cians, do not occur in the Mosaic Law.
The fact that, in addition to the subsidiary sacrifices, unbloody sacrifices were also customary, has been unjustifiably contested by some Prot- estants in their polemics against the Sacrifice of the Mass, of which the sacrifices of food and drink were the prototypes. Passing over the oldest sacrifices of this kind in the case of Cain and Abel (see Mass, Sacrifice of the), the Mosaic cult recognized the following independent sacrifices in the sanctuary: (a) the offering of bread and wine on the showbread table; (b) the incense offering on the altar of incense; (c) the light offering in the burning lamps of the golden candle-stick. And in the outer court: (d) the daily minchah of the high-priest, which, like every other priestly minchah, had to be entirely con- sumed as a holocaust (Lev.,vi, 20 sqq. cf. Josephus, "Antiquit.", Ill, X, 7); (e) the bread of the first fruits on the second day of the Pasch ; (f ) the bread of the first fruits on the feast of Pentecost. Of the in- dependent unbloody sacrifices at least a portion was always burnt as a memorial (askara, memoriale) for Jahweh; the rest belonged to the priests, who consumed it as sacred food in the outer court (Lev., ii, 9 sq. ; v, 12sq.; vi, 16).
(3) The Riles of the Bloody Sacrifice.— The ritual of the bloody sacrifice is of special importance for the deeper knowledge of Jewi.sh sacrifice. Despite other differences, five actions were common to all the cate- gories: the bringing forward of the victim, the impo- sition of hands, the slaying, the sprinkling of the blood, and the burning. The first was the leading of the victim to the altar of burnt sacrifices in the outer court of the tabernacle (or of the Temple) "before the Lord" (Ex., xxix, 42; Lev., i, 5; iii, 1; iv, 6). Then followed on the north side of the altar the imposition of hands (or, more accurately, the resting of hands on the head of the victim), by which significant
gesture the sacrificer transferred to the victim his
personal intention of adoration, thanksgiving, peti-
tion, and especially of atonement. If sacrifice was
about to be offered for the whole community, the
ancients, as the representatives of the people, per-
formed the ceremony of the imposition of hands
(Lev., iv, 15). This ceremony was omitted in the
case of certain sacrifices (first fruits, tithes, the pas-
chal lamb, doves) and in the case of bloody sacrifices
performed at the instance of pagans. From the
time of Alexander the Great the offering of burnt
sacrifices even by Gentiles was permitted in recogni-
tion of the supremacy of foreign rulers; thus, the
Roman Emperor Augustus required a daily burnt
offering of two lambs and a steer in the Temple
(ch. Philo, "Leg. ad Caj.," §10; Josephus, "Contra
Ap.", II, vi). The withdrawal of this permission
at the beginning of the Jewish War was regarded as
a public rebellion against the Roman rule (cf.
Josephus, "De bello jud.", II, xvii, 2). The cere-
mony of the imposition of hands was usually pre-
ceded by a confession of sins (Lev., xvi, 21; v, 5 sq.;
Num., V, 6 sq.), which, according to Rabbinic tradi-
tion, was verbal (cf. Otho, "Lex rabbin.", 552). The
third act or the slaying, which effects as speedy and
complete a shedding of the blood as possible by a
deep cut into the throat, had also, like the leading
forward and the imposition of hands, to be performed
by the sacrificer himself (Lev., i, 3 sqq.); only in the
ciuse of the offering of doves did the priest perform
the slaying (Lev., i, 15). In later times, however,
the slaying, skinning, and dismemberment of the
larger animals were undertaken by the priests and
Levites, especially when the whole people were to
offer sacrifice for themselves on great festivals (II
Par., xxix, 22 sqq.). The real sacrificial function
began with the fourth act, the sprinkling of blood by
the priest, which, according to the Law, pertained
to him alone (Lev., i, 5; iii, 2; iv, 5; II Par., xxix,
23, etc.). If a layman undertook the blood-sprink-
ling, the sacrifice was invalid (cf . Mischna Sebachim,
II, 1).
The oblation of the blood on the altar by the priest thus formed the real essence of the bloody sacrifice. This idea was indeed universal, for "everywhere from China to Ireland the blood is the chief thing, the centre of the sacrifice; in the blood lies its power " (Biihr, "Symbolik des mo.saischen Kultus", II, Heidelberg, 1839, p. 62). That the act of slaying or the destruction of the victim was not the chiei element, is evident from the precept that the sacri- ficers themselves, who were not priests, had to care for the slaying. Jewish tradition also expressly designated the priestly sprinkling of the blood on the altar as "the root and principle of the sacrifice". The ex-planation is given in Lev., xvii, 10 sq.: "If any man whosoever of the house of Israel, and of the strangers that sojourn among them, eat blood, I will set my face against his .soul, and will cut him off from among his people: Because the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you, that you may make atonement with it upon the altar for your souls, and the blood may be for an expiation of the soul." Here the blood of the victim is de- clared in the clearest terms to be the means of pro- pitiation, and the propitiation itself is associated with the application of the blood on the altar. But the propitiation for the guilt-laden soul is accom- plished by the blood only in virtue of the life contained in it, which belongs to the Lord of death and life. Hence the strict prohibition of the "eating" of blood under penalty of being cut off from among the people. But inasmuch as the blood, since it bears the life of the victim, represents or symbolizes the soul or life of man, the idea of substitution finds clear ex- pression in the sprinkling of the blood, just as it has been already expressed in the imposition of hands.
