“Then you shall bring the bull before the tent of meeting. Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the bull. Then you shall kill the bull before the LORD at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and shall take part of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, and the rest of the blood you shall pour out at the base of the altar. And you shall take all the fat that covers the entrails, and the long lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, and burn them on the altar. But the flesh of the bull and its skin and its dung you shall burn with fire outside the camp; it is a sin offering.
“Then you shall take one of the rams, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram, and you shall kill the ram and shall take its blood and throw it against the sides of the altar. Then you shall cut the ram into pieces, and wash its entrails and its legs, and put them with its pieces and its head, and burn the whole ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the LORD. It is a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the LORD.
Comment: Both Judaism and Christianity are based upon blood being shed and sprinkled throughout the whole of life. In Christianity we have the blood of Jesus shed in the ‘terrible’ but oh so significant event which we call “Good Friday’, but which can also be seen as an horrific event! In Judaism we have a repeated series of ineffective events – very significant in showing how serious sin is, but not effective to doing what was needed to erase sin. As the old hymn says (and the book of Hebrews ch 10 gives this a Biblical basis!)
Not all the blood of beasts on Jewish altars slain could give the guilty conscience peace or wash away the stain. But Christ, the heavenly Lamb, takes all our guilt away; A sacrifice of nobler name, and richer blood than they.
The bull was a sin offering but the ram was to be a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the LORD. We know that a large percentage of what we call ‘taste’ is detected through the olfactory nerves (smell) and not that we can ever think that we ‘feed’ God but our lives are meant to be pleasing to God! In perhaps a more profound sense the sacrifice of Jesus satisfied God so that blood doesn’t need to be shed any more to please God – He is totally satisfied with Jesus in the Easter Event and restores His Father/Child relationship with individuals as they place their hands on (trust, rely upon) the Head of the sacrificed (Ram) Lamb of God! Tomorrow we read about the second ram.
Prayer: Please help me to understand how the Old Testament writings foreshadow and foretell the coming of Your Messiah.
As I read it! 