There is much misunderstanding when comes to animal sacrifices under the Old Covenant. Traditional Christians usually teach that the offering of the blood of animals provided a "covering" to mankind. Which isn't true. There are no Scriptures that even imply such an application. We know that God has never taken pleasure in the blood of animals. Never.
So what is it about "animals sacrifices"? What was the value of animal sacrifices?
It really is simple. So simple that, that unless you truly put Christ first, you will never know why. Which is the danger of Messianic Judaism. While they "claim" to extol the value of Jesus Christ, they deny it in their theology. Christ always takes a "backseat" to their "love" for what condemns them. It is rooted in their lack of self awareness and their lack of value in Jesus Christ.
Animals were unwillingly subjected to the "plight" of man. The very things crafted by God to help man..... SUFFERING for man. Man, himself, was required to execute judgement against innocent animals for their own sins. Which is an allegory to Christ willingly subjecting Himself to the judgement of men in the Crucifiction. There was ZERO merit in the atoning value of animals. There was never any doubt that the ONLY actual merit of the shedding of blood would be found in God dying for humanity. The selfless sacrifice of animals was so design that man might use his own self awareness to gather just a little sense of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ long before it ever took place.
Animal sacrifices were to ancient Jews what the prayer services are to their modern descendants: the most popular
expression of divine worship. About 150 of the Torah's 613 laws deal with sacrifices. "Maimonides, the greatest
medieval Jewish philosopher, believed that animal sacrifices were instituted to wean people from the ancient and
horrific practice of human sacrifice. In fact, when God stopped Abraham from sacrificing Isaac (B'resheet 22:11-13),
the Patriarch immediately sacrificed a ram instead. The most famous sacrifice was the one offered on Passover, and
known as the Paschal lamb. It commemorated God's deliverance of the Jews from Egyptian slavery. A Jew would bring
a lamb to the Temple/Beit ha-Mikdash in Jerusalem, and give it to a priest, who would slaughter the animal, sprinkle
its blood upon the altar, and burn the entails and fat. The remainder would be returned to the person who had
donated the lamb. The animal was then taken back to the donor's family, which would eat the lamb, along with
matzah, bitter herbs, and other foods. The festive meal was interspersed with lengthy discussions of the Exodus
from Egypt. The roasted shankbone that Jews still place on the Seder plate on Passover commemorates this
Paschal lamb.
Some sacrifices were brought every morning and afternoon. To this day, the morning and evening religious services
(
shakharit and
minkha) commemorate these daily Temple offerings. Because the afternoon sacrifice was offered
about 12:30 P.M., Jewish law forbids
minkha to be prayed before then. Other sacrifices were offered by those
wishing to atone for violations of the Torah laws through negligence. Still others were gift-offerings to God.
In general, some parts of the sacrificed animal were reserved for the priests to eat; others were given to the person
who brought the sacrifice. One kind of sacrifice, however, involved the animal being wholly burned, and came
to be known in English as a holocaust.
Only Kosher, domesticated animals---cattle, sheep, goats, and birds---could be used for sacrifices. The rabbis explained:
"The bulls flees from the lion, the sheep from the wolf, the goat from the tiger. Said the Holy One, blessed be He,
'You shall not bring before Me such as pursue, but only such as are pursued'" (
Vayikra Rabbah 27). By law, the sacrificed
animals had to be without blemish (Vayikra 3:6, and 22:17-25).
Besides animals, people brought offerings of their first fruits, wheat and barley to the Temple. When the Second Temple
was destroyed in 70 C.E., many Jews despaired of ever gaining forgiveness of their sins; there was no place, after all
where they could offer sacrifices.
Shabbat Shalom
