Why in the world did God command the Jewish people to offer animal sacrifices?
Not only do they appear inhumane and gross to us twenty-first-century Americans, but the Bible seems to be inconsistent. After all, Scripture pushes for the fair treatment of humans (“love your enemies”), yet not for animals. They get killed left and right.
To answer this objection, the biblical background to animal sacrifices is needed. For there is a rich theology and logic imbedded within the sacrifices, the end goal of which was to enter into God’s presence. Understanding this truth dissolves the objection.
First, sacrifices solve a particular dilemma: man’s inability to commune with God. In the Book of Exodus, when the Jewish tabernacle had been completed, a “cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle” (40:34). God’s presence took residence in the tabernacle, just as if the Garden of Eden had been planted again. Yet the tabernacle could not function as a “tent of meeting” between Israel and God yet. Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle and commune with God (v. 35). There needed to be a special process through which Israel could enter God’s presence.
God solved this crisis by offering two things: priesthood and sacrifices (Lev. 1-9). With these institutions in place, Moses and Aaron were able to enter the tabernacle (9:22-24). This prompted God to send out fire from the tabernacle to light the altar for sacrifices. God’s fiery presence had appeared previously on Mt. Sinai, and here it was shared with the altar of sacrifice. For sinful humanity to commune with all-holy God, the altar would need to be used.
The general flow for Israel’s sacrifices was purification, ascension, and peace. Or to put it another way: expiation, consecration, and fellowship. A man needed to have his sins removed and state his dedication to God before he could have fellowship with God.
This general flow summarizes the Israelites’ five types of sacrifices: purification/sin, reparation/guilt, ascension/whole burnt, tribute/cereal/grain, and peace offerings. The sacrificial process looked as follows.
A man would present his animal (e.g., a sheep) to the priest outside the tabernacle to begin the sacrificial process. This animal needed to be without blemish, meaning it had to be without disease, broken bones, skin issues, etc. The priest analyzed the animal to ensure this. If the animal had any blemishes, then it would not be used for sacrifice. This was because the animal symbolized moral purity and sinlessness. God could be approached only if the one approaching was blameless (see Ps. 15:2), but since the owner of the animal was sinful, he needed a substitute. The animal approached God on behalf of the owner.
The next phase was for the owner to lean his hand heavily upon the head of his animal. This was for identification purposes. The person owned the animal. Yet it went deeper than that. The sinful owner of the animal would become the blameless animal, through which, due to its sinlessness, he could commune with God.
The third step was for the owner to slaughter his animal. This might be a bit repulsive; however, remember that this was going to happen inevitably. He was planning to eat his animal one day.
Twenty-first-century Americans are often sensitive to this, being far removed from the killing of the cow that gave them their steak, but the ancient Jews were not. This process did not involve long-term pain for the animal, either, for if it was slit at the throat, the animal would lose consciousness quickly due to the blood loss.
Yet this still does not answer the main question: Why kill the animal? The reason is that sins deserve death (Ezek. 18:20). If the man had become the animal, then he was symbolically dying for his sins. It was a substitutionary act.
After the slaughter, the priest would take some of the animal’s blood and sprinkle it upon the various sacred objects within the Tabernacle: the altars, the veil, and the mercy seat. This characterized the purification/sin offerings and reparation/guilt offerings. This procedure may have been the oddest aspect of the sacrificial liturgy, and there was deep meaning behind it. The tabernacle functioned like a magnet, collecting all the defiling sins of Israel. God dwelled within the tabernacle, and since sins are committed against God, then sins were attached to the tabernacle. Since the life of the animal was within the blood (Lev. 17:11), sprinkling its blameless blood within the Tabernacle would obliterate the sin.
The fifth stage of the process was to lay the dead animal upon the fiery altar for burning. The ascension/whole burnt offering characterized this.
As odd as it may sound, burning the animal had a multiplicity of purposes. The first to consider is communion with God. God had appeared to Moses as a smoky cloud upon Mount Sinai, so the animal was being transformed into God’s smoky nature. The animal smoke then ascended to God’s heavenly throne, creating a communion between God and man. When the animal was burned up, it indicated a complete consecration to God. The man, who had become the animal, was completely dedicated to God. Nothing else was left.
The final phase of the sacrificial system involved the benediction. Aaron the priest would bless the people of Israel (Lev. 9:23). The prayer for blessing is listed in Numbers 6:22-27, where the priest asks that God be gracious to the worshiper. This blessing involved creational well-being, such as crops, health, etc., and concluded the sacrifices.
So the sacrificial system was not some illogical and immoral process. There was rich meaning to everything in it. Communion with God was through animal sacrifices, mediated by the priests. That was the way for God to be close to his sinful people. Without sacrifices, Israel could not go near the tabernacle (see Exod. 40:35).
This sacrificial system removed sins, but it did not completely satisfy God’s justice. People did not actually die as they deserved. Instead, these sacrifices worked more like a credit card, building up debt, which ultimately was paid for by Jesus. He is the new or high priest, who willingly offered up his life in exchange for ours. Jesus, the infinite and eternal God-man, lovingly suffered our deserved infinite punishment.
For more on the ancient Jewish sacrificial process, see here.