Leviticus 1

CHAPTER 1

The Burnt Offering (1:1–17)

1–2 Since the time of Abel (Genesis 4:4), people had been bringing offerings to the Lord. An offering was a gift³ brought to God, either to divert His anger or to express thanksgiving. The first six chapters of Leviticus provide instructions regarding the five major offerings the Israelites were commanded to present to the Lord. The Lord gave the instructions to Moses, speaking to him from the Tent of Meeting (tabernacle), the Lord’s symbolic dwelling place. The overall purpose of these offerings was to enable the people to maintain their fellowship with the Lord by providing them a way to atone for their sins and receive His forgiveness. Many of the offerings were voluntary; they demonstrated the offerer’s desire to be reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:18–20).

The animals that were offered had to be males⁴ without defect (verse 3); only the best was to be offered to the Lord (see Exodus 12:3–7 and comment). Anything less would dishonor the Lord and indicate that the offerer’s motives were unworthy (Malachi 1:7–8,11–14). With all these offerings, the Lord was interested not in the value of the animal but in the motive of the offerer (see 1 Samuel15:22; Hosea 6:6; Amos 5:21–24).

Only domestic animals were suitable for sacrificing, mainly because their sacrifice represented an economic loss to the offerer. The offerer needed to demonstrate a willingness to give up something of value and thereby prove his love and devotion to the Lord; therefore a captured wild animal was not a suitable offering.

3–4 The first of the five major offerings was the burnt offering. A rich person might offer a bull from the herd (verse 3),and an ordinary person might offer a sheep or goat from the flock (verse 10); but a poor person might only be able to offer a dove or a young pigeon (verse 14). All these offerings were equally acceptable to the Lord, because He looked on the heart of the giver and not on the gift (see Micah 6:6–6; Mark 12:41–44). All of these animals were sacrificed on the altar of burnt offering (Exodus 27:1).

The burnt offering was totally consumed—totally offered to the Lord. Portions of other offerings could be given to the priests and the people to eat, but only the hide of the burnt offering was to be saved (verse 6) and given to the priests (Leviticus 7:8); all the rest of the animal had to be destroyed by fire. This was a symbol of the offerer’s total dedication to the Lord. Before the sacrifice took place, the offerer placed his hands on the animal’s head to identify himself with the animal and to signify the transfer of his sins to the animal. The animal would thus symbolically bear the sins of the offerer and die in his place (Exodus 29:10). By substituting an animal to take the punishment for the offerer’s sins, atonement would be made for him (verse 4). This principle of substituting life for life in order to atone for one’s sins is central to the sacrificial system of ancient Israel, and it is central to understanding what Jesus death on the cross accomplished for those of us who believe in Him (see Exodus 25:17–22; 27:1–8 and comments).

So important was the need for atonement for all of Israel that a burnt offering was offered each morning and evening by the priests (Exodus 29:38–43), and double on the Sabbath (Numbers 28:9–10). The burnt offering was not sacrificed to atone for a particular sin, as was the sin offering (Leviticus Chapter 4); rather, the burnt offering was to atone for sins in general—for one’s sinful nature, for one’s predisposition to sin. Thus everyone had a need to bring burnt offerings to the Lord on a regular basis.

The burnt offering was the primary sacrifice that provided atonement for sin in ancient Israel. Thus the burnt offering fore—shadowed the offering up of Jesus, who was Himself the final and totally sufficient atoning sacrifice for sin, after which no more sacrifices would ever be needed (Romans 3:23–25; Hebrews 9:25–26; 10:11–12; 1 John 2:1–2). The burnt offerings of Leviticus had to be repeated over and over; they could never completely remove the sin and guilt of the people (Hebrews 10:1–4). But Jesus sacrifice will never need to be repeated; He has atoned once for all for the sins of all those who believe in Him (Hebrews 10:19–23).

5–17 In the remainder of this chapter, the procedures for sacrificing the animals are described. The offerer himself was to kill the animal (verses 5,11); then the priests carried out the rest of the sacrifice.

When the sacrifice was complete, the smoke from the burning flesh was like an aroma pleasing to the LORD (verses 9,13,17). The Lord didn’t “smell” the smoke like we do,⁵ and the aroma might not have been so “pleasing” to human noses. But to say the “aroma was pleasing to the Lord” meant that the Lord had accepted the sacrifice, thus confirming that atonement had been made for the offerer and that the full punishment for his sins had been borne by the sacrificed animal. The offerer was now forgiven and restored to fellowship with God.

Any sacrifice offered to God in faith and in pureness of heart is an aroma pleasing to Him. But the most pleasing aroma of all came from the sacrifice of God’s Son on the cross (Ephesians 5:1–2). We too, as we offer ourselves to the Lord, are a pleasing aroma to Him; indeed, we are called to offer our bodies as living sacrifices totally dedicated to the Lord, just as the burnt offering was (Romans 12:1). Likewise, whatever gift we offer in addition to our own body is a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God (Philippians 4:18).

Further information concerning the burnt offering is given in Leviticus 6:8–13.