We shall also understand that all these sacrifices were perfected and fulfilled in the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

All the sacrifices were offered in the Temple. In the religious life of the Jews, the two chief places for the religious worship and observances, were the synagogue and the Temple. It was in the synagogue that the people congregated for prayer which was an important factor of divine worship; secondly, it was used to discuss social questions and current problems and pass judgement in strifes and thirdly the synagogue served as a catechetical centre, to teach the laws of Moses and instruct children about their religion. From the age of five children began their studies in the synagogue.

There were synagogues in almost all the villages of Palestine while in the towns the number was proportionate to the population. It is said that there were over 300 synagogues in the city of Jerusalem during the time of Jesus. No offering of sacrifice was permitted in the synagogue.

The Temple in Jerusalem was the venue for all the prayers of the Jewish people, their offerings and sacrifices and the celebrations of their feasts. The priesthood was connected with the sacrifices offered and with the Temple, so priests and Levites were essential. The main altar, 45' in length, 45' in breadth, and 15' in height, was built up in the open space in front of the Temple. It enclosed the holy places, the Holy of Holies and the portico . It was on this altar that all the objects for the sacrifices were offered. There was a ramp for the priests to walk up to the high altar. Along this ramp the priest went up with the blood of the animal for sacrifice and the parts of its body to be burnt in the fire. He sprinkled the blood on the sides and corners of the altar and then placed the parts of animal flesh on the stack of wood prepared beforehand and set fire to it. The priests took turns to do this. The offering of the sacrifice was the focal point of all the observances and worship of the Jews.

The sacrificial offering had two chief purposes. In the first place it was the human means to approach God and to develop the relationship between God and man.Through it man was enabled to go close to God. A filial relationship and closeness and fervour became possible through these sacrificial offerings. Secondly, the animals for sacrifices (oxen, goats, pigeons, turtle doves) were substitutes for the individual or the community who was offering the sacrifice and expressed the sincerity of the offerer. This sincerity is the essence of sacrifice. In a complete surrender to God lies the true offering of sacrifice. In place of this self -offering that man has to give to God, he offers the life of an animal as a symbol. Accordingly, when he offered an animal, it was himself he offered. He considered giving the life of an animal that is sacrificed as an offering of his own life. To express that the animal for the sacrifice stood in his place, for him and as his very own, he prayed, placing his hand on the head of the animal and declared publicaly that it was a substitute for him. This animal offering was a sign and symbol of complete self-surrender. The offerer achieved identification with the object of sacrifice.

According to the belief that all life consists in the blood ( Lev 17: 11-14), all the blood of the animal of sacrifice was poured on the altar, thereby acknowledging that all of one's life was given to God. Burning the animal in the fire prepared on the altar, was also a sign of one's self-surrender. Thus animal sacrifice became the offering of an individual or community to God.

At the time of Jesus, all the sacrifices offered were according to the prescriptions laid down in the book of Leviticus chapters 1 to 7. From these regulations it is possible to understand the things used for such sacrifices. There were two kinds of sacrifices in vogue at that time. Blood offerings and bloodless offerings. In the blood offerings there were specially prescibed birds and four-footed animals. Among the four-footed animals, were oxen, sheep and goats. As for the birds, pigeons and turtle doves were allowed to be sacrified. For the bloodless offerings, pulses, liquids and perfumes were the stipulated items. Olive oil, wine, fine wheat flour, baked unleavened bread, incense, the first fruits offered in connection with the Paschal feast, the first sheaves harvested from the fields, 2 loaves of bread made of flour to be offered in connection with Pentecost, the bread of offering placed on the table of gold in the holy place in the Temple - these were objects that could be offered in the bloodless offerings.

Let us try to understand a little more about the blood-offering. There were 4 kinds of animal offerings made in the Temple.

1) Burnt offering

2) Offering for well-being

3) Sin offering

4) Offering for expiation
 

The animal chosen as victim for the sacrifice is killed and its blood fully poured out on the altar.Likewise all the parts of its body are burnt in the fire on the altar. This ceremony is symbolic of the complete surrender to God. Since the best and the costliest is sacrified to God as offering, the community or the individual is fully sacrified to God. The essence of offering is, therefore, the perfect and complete suurender of the individual or the community.
 
 

The blood of the victim is poured out on the altar. Only certain inner organs and the fat are burnt on the altar. The meat is consumed by the priest and the one offering the sacrifice. In this way God and man together partake in the same offering.Having a meal together is a sign of love and peace. Thus through an offering of well-being ,people enter a state of unity, love and cordiality.
 
 

Sin offerings are offered as reparation for the sins committed by the priestly class, kings and the Israelite people. They believed that through these offerings they received pardon from God. Those sacrifices offered in reparation for sins could be burnt offerings or grain offerings.
 
 

These are offerings made as penance and restitution for particular acts of wrong doing. Offerings of restitution are mostly like sin offerings.The victim goes to the priest who offers the offering of restitution.

It is good to know the manner in which animal offerings were made. The altar on which offerings were made was in front of the Temple. The animals to be sacrified were placed on the tables and arranged in rows to the right in front of the Temple. It was absolutely necessary that the animal was without any spot or blemish. The priests or levites examined the animal and after ascertaining it was free from blemish, tied it up and laid it on the table with its head turned south and face toward the west. In other words, it was placed with its head inclined to the left, facing south.The priest stood behind the animal to be slaughtered turning towards the west. The priest then proceeded to slaughter the animal. Other priests received all the blood of the slain animal into silver vessels. By pouring the blood, which represented life, around the altar, it was believed that life was surrendered to God and that God had accepted this surrender of the slaughtered animal. After the blood was collected, the animal was hung on a pillar so that all the blood would be drained off. Later it was skinned and placed on the table again and cut into pieces without breaking any bone. The portions to be burnt on the altar (all of the animal if it was a burnt offering), were then washed and salted and taken to the upper section of the altar by the priests. There it was placed on the firewood stacked on the altar and burnt. According to the regulations governing the offering of a sacrifice, either the flesh and the entire body or portions of it were burnt on the altar. If it was a burnt offering, the animal was burnt whole on the altar. If it was an offering of well-being, the fat and other impotant portions were burnt and shared between the priest and the one who offered the sacrifice. The regulations regarding the lambs slain on the feast of the Pasch were different. The lambs were slaughtered and the blood poured on the altar. When all the blood was drained off, the lamb was taken home and roasted on fire and the whole family ate the festive paschal meal together.

Though it was the priest who performed the animal offering in the Temple, the offering was made for the whole community, or arranged for by individuals for particular purposes.

Two lambs were sacrificed daily for the entire Israel community, one in the morning and the other in the evening. They were burnt offerings. Early in the morning the rites of worship began with the sacrificial offering of a lamb. A second lamb was sacrificed in the evening bringing the Temple worship of the day to a close. On days of the Sabbath, the first of every month, and the chief feasts, the burnt offerings made for the whole community would be double that of every day. The special sin offering was made by the chief priest himself once a year in reparation for the sins of the whole community. It was on that day that the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies with the blood of the lamb slaughtered for the sake of the whole nation, and sprinkled the blood in the presence of God; the entire Israel nation was thus purified and became reconciled to God and achieved peace.

The expenses for the daily offerings for the whole community were met from the tax paid to the Temple by every adult Jew. It was with this same money that other expenditure of the Temple was met.

Besides the sacrifice offered for the whole community every morning and evening, there was a continuous stream of sacrifices offered during the whole day by individuals who arranged for them for their own intentions.

All the sacrificial offerings of the Old Testament were fulfilled in the one sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary. The animal sacrifices of the Old Testament were offered to attain self -surrender, purification and divine favour. All of them were symbols and signs of the sacrifice yet to be fulfilled in Jesus. All the Old Testament sacrifices were fulfilled in the only sacrifice of Jesus. The true purpose and merits of all these sacrifices reached perfection in the sacrifice of Jesus. There the priest and the victim are united in one and the same person of Jesus and it becomes the sacrifice of the total surrender of the whole human race to God the Father, a sacrifice of total purification, of divine union and expiation for all the sins of humankind. By the merits of the sacrifice on the cross, the sins of the entire mankind have been expiated, the whole human race reconciled to God,the relationship between God and man,lost by sin, has been restored and the Father-son relationship re-established. Since Jesus is the Son of God, his sacrifice is an eternal sacrifice. Another sacrifice, therefore, becomes unnecessary. All the characteristics of the Old Testament sacrifices were included in the sacrifice of the cross (and all their purposes achieved). The sacrifice of Jesus was burnt-offering, an offering of well-being , a sin offering, and an offering with restitution. Jesus has merited the perfection of all these offerings by the sacrifice of the cross. Thus all Old Testament sacrifices are henceforth meaningless, all of them were fulfilled in Jesus. No more are different kinds of animal sacrifices necessary as in the Old Testament. The eternal sacrifice offered by Jesus contains in itself all possible graces and merits. It is this eternal sacrifice that is offered daily and continuously on all the altars of the world.

If the Old Testament, Moses and the prophets spoke of the coming of the Messiah in the fullness of time, Old Testament sacrifices also spoke of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Jesus, who came to complete the law and the prophets, also fulfilled the Old Testament sacrifices through his sacrifice on the cross.

In the next issue we shall explore the chief feasts of the Jewish people and how they were fullfilled in the life of Jesus.