There are a great many differences between our way of life and that of the Israelites of the Exodus, but some of them are not readily apparent because they are so different that they do not appear comparable. Our assessment of wealth is usually in terms of money, even for a man who possesses land and houses. The pastoral Israelite assessed his wealth in cattle and goods although he had the equivalent of a standard coinage in the silver shekel which was used as a measure of value.
It was therefore natural that sacrifices should be mainly of cattle. Because they were. the ritual involved was a constant reminder of death. Some sacrifices provided the means of livelihood for the priests as well as the visible reason for the ritual of worship. So it would seem equally natural that with a changing way of life there should be a change in the mode of providing for the needs of the temple service. In New Testament times it was already an established custom to collect cash contributions from the worshippers.
With the abolition of the Temple worship and the Mosaic ritual, there still existed the need for worship which found expression in very different ways.
Most of the New Testament was written before the Temple ritual ceased but those who received the letters were too far from Jerusalem to participate in the Temple services and many of the recipients were Gentiles whose ideas on sacrifice were derived from the heathen temple services which were often associated with practices that were abhorrent to Christians.
At the end of the epistle to the Hebrews wherein is announced the formal withdrawal of the Mosaic law, there is an appropriate reference to the “new” sacrifices under the New Covenant. “By him, therefore, let us offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips which make confession to His name” (Heb. 13:15). The basic idea here is that expressed earlier by Hoshea, “Take with you words, and return unto the Lord: say unto Him, take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously : so will we render as bullocks the offering of our lips” (Hos. 14:2). The King James version has the pictures phrase, “So will we render the calves of our lips,” which beautifully depicts the sacrificial nature of the simple confession of a sinner.
In a world that values everything in cash, a sacrifice of words may seem a very cheap offering, yet from God’s point of view such a confession sincerely expressed is the one thing in all His creation that is not His. The contrast between such an immaterial offering and the sacrifices of animals is very well put by the Psalmist, “If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine and the fullness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats ? Offer unto God the sacrifice of thanksgiving ; and pay thy vows unto the most High ; and call upon me in the day of trouble. I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me” (Psalm 50:12-15).
It is perhaps harder than we realise to be obviously eternally grateful for the blessings we receive. A man is so often appraised by his fellows at his own estimation that he tends to advertise his achievements and he is consequently assessed as a person of some ability. There is then a real sacrifice when the praise for attainment goes to God and not to the individual, and such a sacrifice is in reality what the animal sacrifice was in symbol—a sacrifice of self.
The same conclusion in the Epistle to the Hebrews mentions other sacrifices, which are not on the same exalted plane but nevertheless are expressions of the same essential humility that is far from natural in most men. So continuing the Apostle wrote, “But to do good and to communicate forget not : for with such sacrifices God is well pleased” (Heb. 13:16). This is the opposite of the proverb “What I have I hold.”
Communicate here has not the modern sense of transmitting information, but of disbursing relief to the wants of the needy, not in the hard sense of “charity” but in a brotherly family fashion. This perhaps is nearer to the common idea of sacrifice, it is something that costs the giver in terms of valuable things.
The Apostle appropriates the language of sacrifice to ministrations to himself which appear to have overflowed beyond the bounds of actual need, “But I have all things, and abound: I am filled having received from Epaphroditus the things that came from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God (Phil. 4:18).
What congregational collections went to the provision of those comforts we may not be told but from the other references to collection for the poor at Jerusalem we can be reasonably sure that for some it was a sacrifice like the widow’s mite. But such giving only comes from those who have first given themselves to the Lord (II Cor. 8:5).
If we seek for equivalents of these forms of sacrifice in the Mosaic law we shall find them mainly in the Burnt Offerings and the peace offerings, but the equivalents are not exact and the other sacrifices all have some points of similarity.
The congregational sacrifice under the Mosaic law finds its counterpart in the Breaking of Bread and as if to emphasise its all-embracing character Jesus associated it with both Passover and Covenant. There was, however, but one sacrifice, which is memorialized in symbolic fashion by the bread and the wine. The fuller consideration that this unique service requires must be dealt with in a separate article.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One