The Unblemished Sacrifice
22: 17-25
The unblemished sacrifice DIG: What do God’s values say about His expectations for approaching Him? What does the desire for perfection say about the value of the offering? Of the Recipient? Of the worshiper? Compare the descriptions that render both the sacrifices and priests unfit for the bronze altar (Leviticus 21:18-20 and Leviticus 22:22-24).
REFLECT: Why do you think ADONAI only accepts perfect sacrifices? In what area of your life are you giving less than your best? Where are you trying to just get by with offering God the leftovers of your life? What is keeping you from offering the LORD your best? What will you do today to begin giving Him your best? Who can you help with this?
After five days of testing, Yeshua qualified as the perfect Lamb of God without blemish.
Levitical sacrifices were to be unblemished animals. The Hebrew word translated unblemished is tamim, the same word which is sometimes rendered integrity, or sometimes as perfect. Since the beginning of Leviticus, every prescribed animal sacrifice has been required to be unblemished, but until now, we haven’t had a description of what constitutes a blemish. The Torah continues with a long list of defects that disqualify an animal from sacrifice. It is prohibited to even bring a blemished animal for sacrifice because it will not be accepted.402
ADONAI said to Moshe, “Speak to Aaron and his sons and to the entire people of Isra’el; tell them: ‘When anyone, whether a member of the house of Isra’el or a foreigner living in Isra’el, brings his offering, it can be either in connection with a vow (Hebrew: neder) or as a voluntary offering (Hebrew: nedabah) (22:17-18a).” Vows were an important element of Israelite religion, and making a vow, in itself a private act, was often interrelated with public worship. In First Samuel we learn that Elkanah and his family, on a pilgrimage to Shiloh to offer the annual sacrifices, attended to their private vows on the same occasion. The payment of a vow could take the form of a sacrifice. The appropriateness of the Peace Offering (to see link click Ak – The Peace Offerings: At Peace with God) for such a payment is suggested in Proverbs 7:14. There we read that a prostitute might lure an unsuspecting young man to her house by offering him a portion of her peace sacrifice, “I had to offer peace sacrifices today, and I fulfilled my vows. There were no restrictions regarding where the donor of a peace offering could eat his portion of the offering, so long as it was done promptly, and brought it to ADONAI as a burnt offering (22:18b). The burnt offering (see Ai – The Burnt Offering: Acceptance by God), in addition to being the mainstay of public worship, it also served as an individual sacrifice, often brought as a voluntary offering.403
Gentiles, or foreigners, also donated sacrificial offerings to YHVH. In the ancient Near East, it was customary to pay respect to the god of the host country. Solomon’s prayer (see the commentary on the Life of Solomon Bn – Solomon’s Prayer of Intercession: The fifth request – a prayer for foreigners), refers to the stranger from a distant land who, impressed with the reputation of the God of Isra’el, wished to worship Him in Jerusalem.404
In order for you to be accepted, you must bring a male without defect from the cattle, the sheep or the goats. It was better not to vow, than to try one’s best and fall short. You are not to bring anything with a defect, because it will not be accepted from you. Whoever brings a sacrifice of peace offerings to ADONAI in fulfillment of a vow or as a voluntary offering, whether it come from the herd or from the flock, it must be unblemished and without defect in order to be accepted. Deuteronomy 17:1 states the same requirement, but to the children of the Exodus generation. The disqualifying defects are then given in detail. If it is blind, injured, mutilated, has an abnormal growth or has festering or running sores, you are not to offer it to ADONAI or make such an offering by fire on the bronze altar to ADONAI (22:19-22).
In the center of this section lies an exception to the general prohibition. If a bull or lamb has a limb which is too long or short, you may offer it as a voluntary offering; but for a vow it will not be accepted (22:23). Voluntary offerings allow animals to be sacrificed even though deformed or stunted. Having one part of the animal shorter or longer than normal did not achieve the ideal sense of balance required for sacrifices involving the perfect fulfillment of a vow, but neither did it call into question the wholeness of the animal as the other blemishes and defects did. Hence, those types of animals could be used for sacrifices that were voluntary offerings, free expressions of gratitude to the goodness of YHVH. However, an animal with bruised, crushed, torn or cut genitals could not be offered to ADONAI. This was a similar disqualification for priests in 21:20. You are not to do these things in your land (22:24).405
Even if the sacrifice is not their own, but one that they brought to the Temple on behalf of a pagan, it must be unblemished. The Torah specifically warns: You are not to receive any of these from a Gentile for you to offer as bread for your God, because their deformity is a defect in them – they will not be accepted from you (22:25).
Why was it so important that the sacrifices were unblemished? It teaches us to always place our best in the service of the Lord. The human tendency is to live a life of self-service and offer to YHVH that which is leftover at the end. We give tithe if we can afford to after all our own appetites are satisfied. We give our time to the Kingdom if there is time left after we have spent ourselves on our own pursuits. The demand for only unblemished animals teaches us that ADONAI should receive the best of what we have to offer, not the leftovers. In the first chapter of Malachi, this message is brought home in a straightforward rebuke. The prophet scolds the northern kingdom of Isra’el for bringing to God blemished animals that even a human governor would reject.
A son honors his father and a servant his master. But if I’m a father, where is the honor due Me? and if I’m a Master, where is the respect due Me? I says ADONAI-Tzva’ot to you priests who despise My name. You ask: How are we despising your name? By offering polluted food on My bronze altar! Now you ask: How are we polluting you? By saying that the table of ADONAI doesn’t deserve respect; so that there’s nothing wrong with offering a blind animal as a sacrifice, nothing wrong with offering an animal that’s lame or sick. Try offering such an animal to your governor, and see if he will be pleased with you! Would he even receive you?” asks ADONAI-Tzva’ot (Malachi 1:6-8). Obviously not!
More importantly, in the B’rit Chadashah, the blemish on an animal unfit for sacrifice came to represent sin. The symbolism was interpreted thusly: Because man is blemished by sin (see the commentary on Genesis Ay – The Fall of Man), he must bring an unblemished animal in his place. Messiah is described as a lamb unblemished and spotless (First Peter 1:19) who offered Himself without blemish to God (Hebrews 9:14). In this Messianic interpretation of the sacrificial requirements, Yeshua’s perfect obedience to the Father made Him the unblemished, perfect lamb suitable for sacrifice.406
At the feast of the Passover (see Dy – Pesach), the man of the house was commanded to examine a lamb for the Passover meal (Exodus 12:3-6). For five days, from the tenth of Nissan to the fourteenth he was to examine the lamb to make sure it was without defect or blemish and worthy to be the Pesach sacrifice. Yeshua entered Jerusalem on Sunday, the tenth of Nisan and was examined by the Jews for five days. As far as the Jewish religious leaders were concerned, they had two goals. They would question Yeshua in front of the multitude to turn the people against Him, and they looked for a specific way to charge Him with a crime so they could put Him to death by Roman law. But it was not successful. After those five days of examination by the Pharisees, by the Sadducees, by the Torah-teachers and by the Herodians, Messiah answered all their objections and questions; therefore, He was found to be without defect or blemish (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Ix – The Examination of the Lamb). Yeshua ate the Seder meal on the night of the Passover, the same night that all the Jewish people ate it. But because the Son of God qualified as the Pesach Lamb, He was slaughtered on the day of the Passover, the fifteenth of Nisan.407
Yet the priesthood offering the sacrifices also had to be without blemish (see Dp – Priests with Defects). That both priest and sacrifice had to be unblemished implied some connection between them. Just as the sacrificial animals had to be unblemished to be accepted at the bronze altar, so too the priest that brought them had to be unblemished. The distinction between priest and sacrifice, then, begins to blur, especially when we consider the person of Messiah. He is the unblemished Lamb and the unblemished Priest all in one (see the commentary on Hebrews Ay – Messiah’s Qualifications as our Great High Priest). He brought His own blood to the altar of sacrifice. He is Priest and Sacrifice, unblemished and perfect on both counts.408
Dear Heavenly Father, Praise You for always being perfectly holy and loving! Your holiness means that You can always be trusted in all that You do and in all that you tell me. Though I may not understand why You are doing something, I can confidently rest in the fact that whatever You do, it is the very most loving and best for me.
When problems come up they usually look big. In the flesh we think: Big Problem – small God. But when the focus remains on God’s Almighty Holiness and love, then the situation is reversed: Big God – small problem. The prophet Habakkuk wondered why God would use the brutal Babylonians to crush Isra’el whom He loves (Habakkuk 1:13). When Habakkuk lifted His eyes to focus on his great God, his attitude became rejoicing and he felt God’s strength. Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the LORD, is my strength; He makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places (Hanukkah 3:17-19).
Jeremiah also questioned God’s fiery wrath. He blazed against Jacob like raging fire, devouring everything around (Lamentations 2:3c). Then Jeremiah realized that Holy God could not tolerate sin and was keeping His promise to punish evil. ADONAI has done what He planned; He has fulfilled His word that He commanded from days of old (Lamentations 2:17a-b). As Jeremiah lifted his eyes and focused on how merciful and faithful God always is, then he had hope. This I recall to my heart – therefore I have hope: Because of the mercies of Adonai we will not be consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning! Great is Your faithfulness. “ADONAI is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him” (Jeremiah 3:21-24).
When I wonder why sometimes in discipline, You may allow events to happen in this world that I cannot understand. But I know that I can always trust You in every detail to do what will bring the best result, for I know You love me. Now all discipline seems painful at the moment – not joyful. But later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it (Hebrews 12:11).
Please help me to remember to lift my eyes up to You, our wonderful, holy and loving Heavenly Father. Then I will have hope. Your heart is always full of compassion and Your mercies are new every morning. Nothing can separate me from Your awesome love! Thank You and praise You always! I have great hope as I focus on You! In the name of Your holy Yeshua the Messiah and the power of His resurrection. Amen
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