Bible Lexicons

Girdlestone's Synonyms of the Old TestamentGirdlestone's OT Synonyms

Sacrificial Feast

We now come to the word Zevach [Assyrian, zibû; but naqu usually represents the word.] (זבח ), which is generally rendered sacrifice in the English, and θυσία, θύω, and θυσιάζω in the LXX. We certainly need greater uniformity of rendering for the Levitical terms than we possess at present. If the word sacrifice had been confined to the zevach, instead of being also occasionally applied to the minchah, the korban, the isheh, the chag or feast (Psalms 118:27, and Isaiah 29:1), the todah or praise (Jeremiah 17:26; Jeremiah 33:11), and the verbs aseh and kathar, present controversies might have assumed a very much milder form. The R. V. unfortunately does not help us much here.

The idea of a sacrifice is instinctively connected in our minds with that of a priest; [ in some French translations of the Bible a priest is called sacrificateur.] but this is a mistake. The verb zavach properly means to slay an animal for the purpose of food, and accordingly it is rendered kill or slay in Deuteronomy 12:15; Deuteronomy 12:21; 1 Samuel 28:24; 2 Chronicles 18:2; and Ezekiel 34:3. Although the verb has been also rendered to offer in thirty-seven passages, usually where the kindred substantive is found with it, yet in these passages it does not represent the act of the priest as such, but the act of the lay offerer, e.g. the head of the family, who presented and slew the animal before God's sanctuary. The word is generally used in connection with a sacred feast, in which the family or nation which offered the sacrifice (through their heads or representatives) proceeded to partake of the flesh of the victims, entering there by into communion with God. Thus the zevach or sacrifice was utterly distinct from the olah or ascending-offering, which was wholly burnt or turned into vapour, and from the sin-offering, which was partly burnt and partly eaten by the priest.

The various ceremonies connected with the sacrifice are described in Leviticus 17:5-7 and other passages. A man brought an unblemished animal to the do or of the sacred tent, pressed his hands on its head, and slew it. The priest, who in this and all other things acted on God's behalf, took the blood, which represented sensed the life of the animal (and therefore the life of the offerer), and shed it forth up on the altar as an atonement. He also burnt or vaporised the fat - to represent the fact that the richness or goodness of animal life proceeded from God, and was due to Him. A certain fixed portion of the flesh was then given to the priest, to be eaten by himself and his family, and the rest was eaten by the offerer and his household. Whether the feast was public or private, and whether the animal was offered by the elders of the nation or by the head of a family, these ceremonies were appointed in order to symbolise the union between God and man, who were thus made partakers of the same food. If it was impossible to perform the full rites connected with the sacrifice through distance from the 'tabernacle of the congregation,' or from the place which God should subsequently choose to put his name there, i.e. the Temple, [See 2 Samuel 7:1, 1 Kings 8:16; 1 Kings 8:29, where we have direct and unimpeachable references to Deuteronomy 12:10-11, al.] one point at any rate was to be observed - the blood of the slain animal was to be poured up on the earth and covered with dust (verse 13).

There can be little doubt that the rites connected with the zevach were designed to produce a moral effect up on the children of Israel. Every time that they slew an unblemished animal for food they were reminded of God's merciful disposition towards them; they were thus stimulated to live in conformity with his law, and to deal mercifully with their poorer brethren. nor can it be doubted that the death of the animal, followed by the sprinkling of the blood and the burning of the fat, would impress the pious Israelite with a recollection of the fact that sin brought death into the world, and that he himself had sinned. He would thus have what the Scripture calls 'a broken spirit' (Psalms 51:17); and his sacrifice would be a strong call to righteousness (Psalms 4:5), to obedience (1 Samuel 15:22), to joy (1 Samuel 27:6), and to mercy (Hosea 6:6). Where the sacrifice had not this spirit, it lost all its value and significance.

The connection between the zevach and the making a Covenant is brought out in various parts of Scripture, the sharing in food being a symbol of the oneness of the eaters. See, for example, Genesis 31:54, and Psalms 50:5. The Passover and the Peace-offering, which were special kinds of zevach, are referred to below.