In the last post we looked at the questions..
Do We Have Passover Faith?
Pesach Emunah
and
Are you one of His Am Segulah
His Treasured People?
We saw that we are His
Am Segulah
but what of the
Pesach Emunah?
Pesach or Passover
is all about Sacrifice
and here we will continue to look at the sacrifices required by our Heavenly Father prior to Him sending Messiah Jesus/Yeshua to become the perfect sacrificial substitute for us; which is what we remember at this season of Pesach/Passover..
and we are looking at how it is connected to Messiah in
the directions given to Moses recorded in Leviticus
in the Old Testament/Covenant.
The five offerings were:
1 Burnt.
2 Grain.
3 Peace. 4 Sin. 5.Trespass/guilt.
1, 2, and 3 were voluntary offerings
4 and 5 were obligatory offerings.
Previously we looked at the
Burnt Offering
and the Minchah
or Grain Offering.
Next is the
3 Shelamim – Peace offering.
Leviticus 3; 7.11–34
The third offering is the shelem, or Peace Offering.
zevah shelamim or Peace Offering.
זֶבַח הַשְּׁלָמִים zevah hashelamiym
The term
korban shelamim (קורבן שלמים)
is also used.
Note the word shelem
שֶׁלֶם
close to shalom,
שלום
meaning peace,
with which we are familiar.
Shelmim is the plural
recall the posts looking at the meaning of the added
IM ending to Hebrew words.
Strong’s Hebrew: 8002. שֶׁ֫לֶם (shelem) — a sacrifice for …
shelem: a sacrifice for alliance or friendship, peace offering.
Strong’s Hebrew: 8000. שְׁלַם (shelem) — to be complete
shelem: to be complete .
Phonetic Spelling: (sheh’-lem
Strong’s Hebrew: 5071 נדבה (ndabah) – freewill offering …
freewill, voluntary, offeringStrong’s Definitions ndabah, ned-aw-baw’;
Strong’s Hebrew: 4503. מִנְחָה (minchah) — a gift, tribute …
gift, oblation, meat offering, present, sacrifice. From an unused root meaning to apportion.
The shelmim, first discussed in Leviticus 3, included:
Thanksgiving Offerings. Lev 7:12,
Freewill Offerings. 7:16,
and
Wave Offerings. 7:30.
The offering could be cattle 3:1, sheep 3:7, or a goat 3:12.
It could be male or female, but must be without defect.
If it was a Thanksgiving Offering,
it could also include a variety of breads 7:12.
The purpose of the Peace Offering was to consecrate a meal between two or more parties before YHVH/God and share that meal together in fellowship of peace and a commitment to each others’ future prosperity. The portions unsuitable for eating were given to God, 7:19-27. Depending on the type of Peace Offering, the breast may have been given to the High Priest, 7:31 and the right thigh may be given to the priest officiating the meal, 7:32. The rest of the meal was to be eaten within one day by the fellowship of parties, 7:16, and the leftovers were to be burnt after two days, 7:17.
This was a free will offering eaten by the one bringing it and given as a way of expressing thanks to God on joyous occasions. Semikhah is performed though instead of viduy; and praise to the Lord is offered.
The Peace offering signified fellowship with God and reconciliation. In this sacrifice both the one bringing the offering and the priest ate of the freewill/voluntary offering.
Peace Offering – Leviticus 3:1-17; 7:11-34
It was a sweet aroma to YHVH/God.
It provided a communal meal with meat for the priests and those giving the offering.
Three types:
thanksgiving,
vow offering and
voluntary (free will) offering.
The meaning for us:
We are to thank Our Heavenly Father – blessing Him for all His provision in our lives, spiritually and physically.
The fulfillment in Messiah Yeshua:
He is our peace/shalom offering.
We can be reconciled to God/YHVH/Our Heavenly Father
only through Him.
Yehoveh Shalom.
He is our Shelamim
He is our
sar shalom our prince of peace
He said My Peace/shalom I give to you.
John 14:27
Shalom alechheim!
4 chatat/chattath – sin offering.
The fourth offering was called:
chattath, literally: sin or sin offering….
Purification (Sin) Offering.
Though often called the sin offering,
a better translation is purification offering.
This offering is sometimes seen as an
offering of atonement for unintentional sin; Lev. 4:2-3, 4:20.
In the same way it is sometimes viewed as guilt offering,
removing the consequences for lack of perfection
Lev. 4:13-14, 4:22-23.
As an atonement offering, it contained elements of a
Burnt Offering 4:25, yet at the same time had elements of a
Peace Offering 4:26.
Conversely, some of the sins for which one needed
atonement were not moral sins
but rather matters of ritual impurity 5:1-5.
The primary purpose of this offering is not to atone for sins but rather to: purify oneself for re-entering the presence of God. The elements of a Purification Offering could be any of the elements of the previous three types of offerings, though unlike the Peace Offering, the meal was not to be shared by the one offering the sacrifice.
Note that there is no exact sacrifice for deliberate intentional and willful sins against the Lord…
but instead, the punishment was by early death.
Sin Offering
chatat/chattath
– Leviticus 4:1-35; 6:24-30.
This offering was not considered a sweet aroma to YHVH/God. Only the fat and blood were offered on the altar; when the
sin offering/chatat/chattath
is for the whole congregation, the rest was
burned outside the camp.
The meaning for us:
All have sinned,
the penalty of sin is death
and sin requires the shedding of blood
Hebrews 1:3-4; Galatians 2:20; Romans 5:8-9.
The fulfillment in Messiah Yeshua:
Messiah Yeshua/Jesus is our sin offering.
We are sinful, and
He was willing to pay our death penalty for us.
He was crucified outside the city.
5 Asham – guilt offering
Unlike the English word guilt,
this does not refer to a matter of one’s conscience
but rather to something one owes on account of a sin.
Other names of this offering are the:
Trespass Offering or the Reparation Offering.
this was a required offering as part of the reparations for certain improper acts;
e.g. keeping another’s property by swearing falsely.
In each case the wrongdoer was required to restore the property plus an additional 20% to its rightful owner before he could offer the sacrifice and receive forgiveness.
Leviticus 5:14–6:7; 7:1-7
The
Trespass Offering
is similar to the sin offering, but dealing with specific sins, especially where restitution was possible.
The meaning for us:
We must repent each time we sin.
The rules of restitution teach us to do our best
to repair the damage caused by our sins.
To put things right.
The fulfillment in
Messiah Yeshua/Jesus:
Who died so that every sin can be
forgiven and covered!
Hallelujah!
Note that the sin offerings, chatat and asham,
were obligatory for atonement to be made.
They had to be offered by the anointed High Priest who would sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice seven times inside the Mishkan on the Golden altar opposite the curtain before the Holy of Holies. That fat was burned on the altar but unlike the other offerings, the rest of the animal its’ hide flesh and its’ body parts would be taken outside the camp to be burned with fire. Hebrews 13:12
A Jewish commentary states that the meat of the korbanot never spoiled even if it took days before it was burned upon the altar; and in spite of the presence of blood all over the Mishkan no flies swarmed the area because of its special holiness.
After the Messiah Yeshua had come as the
high priest/ha kohen ha gadol
of the re-new-ed covenant;
the sacrificial system was abandoned following the destruction of the 2nd temple in the year 70 A.D.
Even so, the instructions in the book of Leviticus continue to this day to exert influence on Jewish life, since nearly half of 613 Commandments are found in it and much of their Talmud is based on it.
The sacrificial system of the Old Testament was a means of
GRACE
by which the relationship
between YHVH/God and humanity
begins to be restored.
Ultimately, the sacrificial system was inadequate, and
none could repay the debt of life that was owed
until
Jesus Christ/Messiah Yeshua
defeated death once and for all.
Heb. 10:10.
Today, we live in the light of His perfect sacrifice for us
while also offering our own lives
as a
living and
holy sacrifice.
Romans 12:1; 1 Pet. 2:5.
New Testament/Covenant
brit chadashah.
The references in the brit chadashah
New Testament/Covenant,
concern the superiority of the sacrifice
of the Messiah/mashiach as
the once for all sacrifice for sins.
Instead of daily sacrifices and offerings, the Messiah came to fulfill the will of His and our Father God/YHVH, by becoming obedient to all that the Levitical Law required. He did this by offering Himself as the ultimate sacrificial victim truly without spot or blemish.
When He said
you have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings.
These are offerings according to the Torah then He added
behold I have come to do your will.
He abolishes the first in order to establish the second.
And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Hebrews 10:8
Moreover just as the blood of the sin offering was brought into the holy place by the anointed priest
so Jesus/yeshua presented his own blood in the holy place made without hands and then suffered outside the camp.
Hebrews 13:10 – 15
One of the roles of our Mashiach/ Messiah is that of the
High Priests, who offered
true atonement for our sins
by offering his own blood in the
holy of holies made without hands
In Hebrews 3:1 -2.
The importance of a blood sacrifice
Leviticus 17:11
Ki nefeshha-basar badam hi va ani netativ lakhem al-hamizbe’ach le khaper al-nafshotekhem ki-hadam hu banefesh ye’khaper.
The Lord requires a
blood sacrifice for
the issue of
sin.
Leviticus 17:11 agrees with the teaching in the
New Testament/brit chadashah.
in Hebrews 9 :22
Without the shedding of blood
there is NO remission
there is NO atonement without blood;
the substitutionary shedding of blood –
the life for life principle
is essential
to the true at one ment with the Lord God.
Jesus/Yeshua offered His own body up
to be the perfect sacrifice for sins.
By His shed blood we have complete atonement before Adonai/YHVH/Our Heavenly Father.
The Levitical system of the animals sacrifices including the elaborate Yom Kippur ritual, was meant to
foreshadow the truth
and abiding sacrifice of Yeshua/Jesus
as the means of reconciliation with the Father.
The old covenant /the brit yeshanah provides a shadow of the substance revealed in the new covenant/brit chadashah.
If the old covenant had been sufficient to provide a permanent solution to the problem of our sin; then there would never have been a need for a new covenant to supersede it.
Hebrews 8:7.
Unlike the old covenant sacrifices which merely covered sins – under the new covenant, the sins are taken entirely away.
Hebrews 7:27 9:12 9:25–28
There is no more need for continual sacrifices since Yeshua/Jesus provided the once and for all sacrifice for all of our sins.
Hebrews 9:11-14; 9:24–28; 10:11–20.
Jesus/Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah, is
the propitiation/expiation/answer for our sins.
The Greek word used in
Romans 3:25; 1John 2:2; 1John 4:10.
hilasterion
is the same word used in the Greek translation
of the Old Testament for the Mercy seat.
or
kapporet/cover of the arc of the covenant in the Holy of Holies
which was sprinkled with the blood of the sacrifice on Yom Kippur.
Hebrews 9:24
We need to be sure we have personally made
semikhah by
laying hands on Yeshua/Jesus
as our sacrifice for sins.
Have we made confession/viduy?
All have the need for deliverance from bondage through Him, which takes us back to the Israelites deliverance from Egyptian bondage.
This is the
faith/emunah
we need for
our personal
PassOver/Pesach,
to be His
treasured people/am segulah.
Without the full understanding of what has been done for us how can we appreciate the sacrifice?
This lack of understanding cripples the believer today from fully submitting to a risen savior, and also robs us of the fullness of the amazing miracle of the chaim/lifes that’s been made freely available to us.
Yes FREE to us
BUT
it cost Jesus/Yeshua EVERYTHING!
The priesthood that stood between worshiper and God has ceased. Hebrews 7:23–24, The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever.
This is the foundation for our faith in Him –
This is the gospel… the good news.
Yeshua/Jesus knew that He was destined to fulfill all that the Jewish prophets said about Him. He had eaten the Passover Pesach meal every year and this year He said in
Luke 22:15, I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before My suffering.
As He was nearing His death,
He commented to His twelve
disciples/talmidim /tahl-me-DEEM,
Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished. For He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. They will scourge Him and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again. Luke 18:31-33.
This prophecy in
Isaiah 53 does speak specifically of the Messiah Jesus/Yeshua: His death and resurrection are graphically portrayed in this prophecy where the meaning of His death, as a substitutionary atonement, is given. It was written over 700 years before Messiah was born, but the prophet accurately details His suffering and death by crucifixion as the Suffering Servant of the Lord.
He acknowledged this Himself at His last Passover Seder with His talmidim. Luke 22:37.
The sacrifice of Jesus Christ/Yeshua HaMashiach had fulfilled ALL the requirements of the Law for the sin offerings that were made at the Temple.
He also explained that, as the Law required, Yeshua/Jesus died outside the gates of the city: We have an altar from which those who are serving the present earthly tabernacle do not have authority to eat; for pertaining to those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest for a sin offering, the bodies of all these are burned outside the camp. For this reason, Jesus, in order that He might sanctify the people by His own blood, also suffered OUTSIDE THE GATE. Heb. 13:10-12.
The fact that Messiah Jesus/Yeshua
died outside the gates of the city of Jerusalem
verifies that
His body was a sin offering.
The Law of God specifically commanded that
all sin offerings were to be burned
outside the camp.
Lev. 4:1-2, 11-12, 21; 16:27.
After the blood of the sacrificial animals was sprinkled on the altar, the bodies of the sin offerings were taken across the Kidron Valley to a place high on the Mount of Olives east of the city of Jerusalem, where there was a special altar called the
Miphkad Altar.
This altar was located near Golgotha, where Messiah was crucified.
The Miphkad Altar and the sin offerings
which were sacrificed on it was really
a cardinal part of the Temple complex
that existed in the time of Messiah.
This altar was not one with a ramp leading up to a square elevated area, but it is described in the Mishnah as a pit in which the animals could be burnt to ashes (Parah 4:2).
The Miphkad Altar was located outside the walls of the Temple (as Ezekiel 43:21 states), but [the bridge across the Kidron Valley and] the roadway leading up to the altar (and including the altar itself) were part of the ritualistic furniture associated with the Temple services….
Messiah/Christ was crucified near the Miphkad Altar!
The location of this altar on the Mount of Olives
offered a direct view
of the entire Temple area.
On the Day of Atonement, those who stood at the site of this special altar could observe the high priest as he was standing near the veil of the Temple, ready to enter the Holy Place. That day they would have seen the veil tear from top to bottom and felt the earth quake!!
Even the bullock and the goat which were sacrificed on the day of Atonement (Leviticus 16) had to be killed near the Altar of Burnt Offering within the Temple and then their carcasses were required to be taken out the eastern gate to the Miphkad Altar at the Mount of Olives and there they were burnt to ashes (Leviticus 4).
The ashes of all the animals that were burned on the altar at the Temple were taken to the same place where the sin offerings were burned (Miphkad Altar) and were mingled with the ashes of the sin offerings and poured out at the base of the Altar, Leviticus 4:12, 21; 6:11 where the ashes could descend through a conduit system into the Valley of Kidron below.
As the supreme sin offering of God the Father, the body of Jesus Christ/Yeshua HaMashiach, was offered up when He was crucified on the Mount of Olives, near the altar where the bodies of all sin offerings from the Temple were offered up to God.
Thus, Paul wrote: But He, after offering one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time, He is waiting until His enemies are placed as a footstool for His feet. For by one offering He has obtained eternal perfection for those who are sanctified. Heb. 10:12-14.
As the
Lamb of God,
Yeshua HaMashiach/Jesus Christ
was sacrificed on the Pesach/Passover day,
Nisan 14/April 5, 30 AD.
The 14th Nisan is the night when the children ask,
Why is this night different
from all other nights?
The apostle Paul affirms that His death fulfilled the sacrifice of the Passover lamb:
For Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. I Cor. 5:7. according to the Old Testament requirements of the law.
The noun
πασχα pascha
means:
Passover,
the feast that celebrates the Exodus of Israel out of Egypt, and which in the Christian era became associated with the resurrection of the Messiah/Christ, and is now celebrated and more commonly known by the name Easter – which is the name of the pagan fertility goddess ishtar and has nothing to do with Jesus/Yeshua.
Although the noun
πασχα – pascha looks like it comes from the verb
πασχω – pascho, meaning: to experience things, technically,
the noun πασχα – pascha is a transliteration of the Hebrew noun פסח – pasah, meaning Passover,
but where in Greek/English, the verb connections seem obvious, a passing over, the Hebrew noun comes from a very distinct word:
The Hebrew verb פסח pasah means:
to have a shortage,
and that shortage may lead to:
an impaired mobility,
an intense desire,
or a debilitating indecisiveness.
The derived adjective
פסח piseah
is the common word for:
lame or cripple,
which means that every time
Yeshua/Jesus heals a lame person in the gospels,
there a bit of
פֶסַח /Passover/Pesach happening!!! wow!
The common Hebrew verb that means:
to be blind
is based on a verb that means:
to have too much;
namely skin where it shouldn’t be, in this case over the eyes.
Here we better understand the proverbial link between
the lame and the blind
because it generally describes:
everybody burdened by
not having enough of something – the lame,
and
everybody burdened by
having too much of something – the blind.
Here we must acknowledge that all humans are
born lame and most die blind!!
The verb פסח – pasah, is associated with:
being child-like and immature,
whereas the words that describe blindness are associated with: being too mature and cold of heart.
Pesach emunah – Passover faith….
have we got Passover faith?
Have we got the faith that the death angel will
Passover us too?
If we do it is because of
the Blood of the Passover Lamb
that we have applied to our lives
by faith.
A list of post titles with Passover/Pesach information is also at the top left on mmm homepage. Links below:
SONset – sunrise – sunset– SONrise – Apocalypse of the Tamid.
The Pesach Dalet in Time; a Man Between 2 Realms; Yonah and The Watches of the Night.