The burnt offering
is one of the oldest and most common offerings in history.
It’s entirely possible that Abel’s offering in Genesis 4:4
was a burnt offering,
although the first recorded instance is in Genesis 8:20 when
Noah offers burnt offerings
after the hurricane flood.
God ordered Abraham to offer his son,
Isaac, in a burnt offering in Genesis 22,
and then provided a ram as a replacement.
After suffering through
nine of the ten plagues,
Pharaoh decided
to let the people go from bondage in Egypt,
but his refusal to allow the Israelites to take their livestock with
them in order to offer burnt offerings brought about
the final plague that led to the
Israelites’ delivery
(Exodus 10:24-29).
The Hebrew word for “burnt offering” actually means to
"ascend,“
literally to “go up in smoke.”
The smoke from the sacrifice ascended to God, “a soothing
aroma to the LORD”
(Leviticus 1:9).
Technically, any offering burned over an altar was a burnt offering, but in more specific terms, a burnt offering was the complete destruction of the animal (except for the hide) in an effort
to renew the relationship
between Holy God and sinful man.
With the development of
The law,
God gave the Israelites specific instructions as to the
types of burnt offerings and
what they symbolized.
Leviticus 1 and 6:8-13 describe the traditional burnt offering.
The Israelites brought a bull, sheep, or goat, a male
with NO defect, and
killed it
at the entrance to the tabernacle.
The animal’s blood was drained,
and the priest sprinkled blood around the altar.
The animal was skinned and cut it into pieces,
the intestines and legs washed, and the priest burned the pieces
over the altar all night.
The priest received the skin as a fee for his help.
A turtledove or pigeon
could also be sacrificed, although they weren’t skinned.
A person could give a burnt offering at
any time.
It was a sacrifice of general atonement—an acknowledgement
of the sin nature
and a
request for renewed relationship with God.
God also set times for the priests to give a burnt offering for the
benefit of the Israelites as a whole,
although the animals required for each sacrifice varied:
Every morning and evening (Exodus 29:38-42; Numbers 28:2)
Each Sabbath (Numbers 28:9-10)
The beginning of each month (Numbers 28:11)
At Passover (Numbers 28:19)
With anew grain/firstfruits offering
at the
Feast of Weeks
(Numbers 28:27)
At the Feast of Trumpets/Rosh Hashanah
(Numbers 29:1)
At anew moon
(Numbers 29:6)
The ultimate fulfillment
of the burnt offering is in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.
His physical life was completely consumed,
He ascended to God, and His covering
(that is, His garment)
was distributed to those who officiated over His sacrifice
(Matthew 27:35).
But most importantly, His sacrifice, once for all time,
atoned for our sins and
restored our relationship with God.
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