Inaugural Sacrifices

(Leviticus 9:1 - 9:24)

On the eighth day Moses called together Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel.  He instructed Aaron, "Take a male calf for a sin offering and a ram for the burnt offering-- both without defect -- and sacrifice them to Jehovah.  Tell the people of Israel, 'Select a male goat for a sin offering and for the burnt offering, a calf and lamb, both yearlings and without defects.  And, for the peace offering, bring a bull and a ram, for the grain offering, flour moistened with cooking oil.  These will be sacrifices to Jehovah -- for today he is going to make an appearance before you!'"

The people presented these sacrifices at the entrance to the Tabernacle, per Moses' instructions.  The whole community came forward and congregated in front of the Sanctum.  Moses told them, "This is what Jehovah demands of you that he may, in all his glory, appear before you."  Moses instructed Aaron, "Approach the Sacrificial Altar and make your sin offering and the burnt offering, in order to make atonement for yourself and for the people.  Then, make the sacrifices that were brought by the people, so that you may achieve atonement for them, in accordance with Jehovah's instructions."

Aaron thus approached the altar and slaughtered the calf of his own sin offering.  Aaron's sons offered him the blood of sacrificed calf.  Aaron dipped his finger in the blood and dabbed it on the horns of the altar.  The rest of the blood he poured out at the base of the altar.  On top of the altar he burned the fat, the kidneys, and the long lobe of the liver of the sin offering, as Moses was instructed by Jehovah.  (The meat and the hide of the calf were burned outside of camp.)

Then Aaron slaughtered the ram of the burnt offering.  His sons offered him its blood and he dashed it against all the sides of the altar.  Then they offered him the cut-up pieces of the burnt offering, including the head, and he burned them on top of the altar.  The internal organs and the legs he also burned on the altar with the rest of the offering, but only after they were washed in water. 

Next, Aaron presented the people's offerings.  The goat that was to be the people's sin offering he slaughtered and sacrificed it as he had done with his own sin offering.  Then he made the burnt offering and did so according to proper procedure.  He presented as well the grain offering, taking a handful of it and sprinkling it upon the altar, on top of the morning's customary burnt offering.  He slaughtered the bull and the ram of the peace offering.  His sons offered him the blood, which Aaron dashed on all sides of the altar.  The fat of each of the sacrificed animals, the fat of the broad tail and the fat surrounding it, the kidneys, and the long lobe of the liver were placed on top of the breasts and burned.  The breasts and right thighs (the priests’ share) Aaron elevated above the altar and presented to Jehovah, as Moses had instructed.

Afterwards, Aaron raised his hands over the people and gave them his blessing.  Completing the sin offerings, the burnt offerings, and the peace offerings, he stepped away from the altar.  Moses and Aaron entered the Sanctum and blessed the people when they came out.  Then, all the people witnessed the glorious presence of Jehovah.  With his appearance, the fire flared up upon the altar and consumed the burnt offering and the fat that was on top of it.  Everyone saw this, and when they did, they shouted for joy and fell to the ground in worship.

Notes
1.  Jehovah's insistence on the sacrifice as the primary means of worship is emphasized here.  Important, too, is the proper procedure for the sacrifice.  The modern mind wonders why all this attention to superfluous detail.  Adherence to ritual makes the bloody slaughter of some animal a matter of importance, lends it dignity, gravity, and solemnity.  Doing things in a certain prescribed manner can make even an offensive, heinous, or ostensibly immoral act seem right and proper.  Executions, even today, must be carried out with set procedures, or else they will seem acts of murder.  In more traditional times men used to commit adultery following certain rules and conventions that lent, in their minds, quasi-legitimacy to their lustful liaisons.

2.  The redundant descriptions of sacrifices are recorded in order to reassure the people that all the priestly rituals originate with Jehovah and are done on direct orders from him and, therefore, must be followed without question and must never be changed.  The truth is that they were probably established by the priests and evolved during many years, centuries even -- but no worshiper must suspect that.  Their rightness and legitimacy rests upon their being the absolute will of God Almighty and ancient, unalterable practice.

3.  After the sacrifices have been made, Moses and Aaron enter the Sanctum.  It must be remembered that the Sacrificial Altar is positioned in the Tabernacle courtyard just outside the entrance to the Sanctum.  Inside the curtained Sanctum is the menorah, the table for the showbread, the Incense Altar, and the curtained Inner Sanctum, where rests the Sacred Chest of Records (or Ark of the Covenant) housing, among other things, the tablets upon which the Ten Commandments are inscribed and specimens of manna.  What Moses and Aaron did after they entered the Sanctum is not revealed.  Did they have contact with Jehovah, who is supposed to come down to earth and sit upon the Judgment Seat, the lid to the Sacred Chest of Records?  Did he materialize?  Or did his voice speak to them?  Regardless of what occurred, when they appeared again, Moses and Aaron blessed the people.  Jehovah then manifested himself before the people.  How, is unclear, save that as a result of his presence the fire on the altar flared up.   This apparently impressed the people sufficiently that they cried out in joy and fell to the ground in worship.  Did Jehovah actually make a personal, physical appearance? Or did something spectacular occur?   Did the fire come out of Jehovah’s body, as some translations suggest?  It seems more likely that all the people saw was the flaring fire -- pretty lame, pretty underwhelming, one would think, but then again the masses are often moved to wonder by small things presented in the proper setting in the proper way.  The people were told to expect an appearance from Jehovah.  They were put in a credulous frame of mind.  A fire flaring up might be more than enough to convince them of a godly visitation.  Imagining the scenario, one unfortunately feels as if the whole thing is a conjurer's trick -- the witch doctor pretends to have an audience with the god, blesses the people in his name, then, to impress the ignorant and unsuspecting, surreptitiously tosses something into the fire to make it flare up, a miracle eliciting a worshipful awe, but not really a very sophisticated trick.  (Of course, the fire may have been the work of Jehovah, or, the fall-back possibility, the incident is fictitious.)