Burnt offering (Judaism)
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A
burnt offering
in Judaism (Hebrew:
קָרְבַּן עוֹלָה,
korban olah), is a form of sacrifice first described in the
Hebrew Bible. The term is first used of the sacrifices of
Noah.
During the
First Temple
and Second Temple
periods, the burnt offering was a twice-daily animal sacrifice
offered on the altar
in the temple in Jerusalem
that was completely consumed by fire. The skin
of the animal, however, was not burnt but given to the priests respective of their priestly division. These skins are listed as one of the
twenty-four priestly gifts
in Tosefta Hallah.[1]
Contents
[hide]Etymology[edit]
The Hebrew noun
olah
(עֹלָה) occurs 289 times in the Masoretic Text
of the Hebrew Bible. It means "that which goes up [in smoke]".[2]
It is formed from the active participle of the Hiphil
form of the verb alah
(עָלָה), "to cause to ascend." It was sometimes also called kalil, an associated word found in Leviticus, meaning "entire".[2][3]
Its traditional name in English is "holocaust",[2]
and the word olah
has traditionally been translated as "burnt offering."[3][4][5]
The term was translated as holocauston
in the Septuagint. Today, some English
Bible translations
render the word as holocaust, and others translate it as "burnt offering". For example,
Exodus
18:12a is translated in the New American Bible
as Then Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, brought a holocaust and other sacrifices to God, while it is translated in the
New International Version
as Then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and other sacrifices to God.[6]
In
classical rabbinical literature, there are several different etymologies given for the term
olah,[7]
though all agree that it literally translates as (that which) goes up. Some classical rabbis argued that the term referred to
ascent of the mind
after making the sacrifice, implying that the sacrifice was for atonement for evil thoughts, while others argued that it was a sacrifice to the highest, because it was entirely given over to the deity.[7]
Modern scholars, however, argue that it simply refers to the burning process, as the meat goes up in flames.[7]
Hebrew Bible[edit]
The first uses of the
olah
for burnt offering refer to the sacrifices of Noah
"of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar" (Genesis 8:20) and to the near-sacrifice of Isaac
by Abraham: "offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains" (Genesis 22:22). The third pre-Levitical burnt offering is that of
Jethro, Moses' father in law (Exodus 18:12).
In the Law of Moses[edit]
The source of the commandment as part of the Law of Moses is stated in Exodus 20:24, after the
ten commandments:
. The law's requirements are further detailed in
Numbers
28:1-8:
The lambs were to be offered in the morning and at twilight.[8]
The actual ritual slaughter
of the lamb was prescribed in Leviticus:
The twice-daily
korban olah
was accompanied by a wine offering poured into the altar (Numbers 28). Additionally, cumulative korban olah
offerings were made on the Sabbath,[9]
the first day of each month,[10]
at Jewish New Year,[11]
Passover,[12]
First Fruits,[13]
the Day of Atonement
[14]
and the Feast of Tabernacles.[15]
The sacrificial animals were required to be bulls, rams, goats (as sin offerings) and
lambs.
Multiple forms of offering[edit]
A
korban olah
was also made as a sin offering on the appointment of a priest,[16]
on the termination of a Nazirite's vow, after recovery from
skin disease, by a woman after
childbirth, after recovery from a state of
abnormal bodily discharges, a
Gentile's conversion to
Judaism
or as a voluntary sacrifice, when the sacrificial animal could be a young bull, ram, year-old
goat,
turtle doves, or pigeons.
Order and preparation[edit]
The animals were first checked to ensure they were free from disease and
unblemished
(temimim
or tamimim,
ἀνώμους
in the Septuagint,
without spot
in the King James Version) as required by the law.[17]
Leviticus 22 identified animals "that are blind or broken or maimed, or have an ulcer or eczema or scabs" as 'blemished' - [these] you shall not offer to the Lord".[18]
The animals were brought to the north side of the altar, and ritually slaughtered. The animal's blood was carefully collected by a priest and sprinkled on the outside corners of the
altar. Unless the animal was a bird, its corpse was flayed, with the skin kept by the priests.
The flesh of the animal was divided according to detailed instructions given by the
Talmud
(Tamid 31), and would then be placed on the wood on the altar (which was constantly on fire due the large number of sacrifices carried out daily), and slowly burnt. After the flesh (including any horns and goats' beards) had been reduced to ashes, usually the following morning, the ashes were removed by a Kohen - as refuse - and taken to a ritually clean
location outside the Temple.[7]
Template:Leviticus 6:4
In the Book of Judges[edit]
In the
Neviim
section of the Hebrew Bible, particularly passages in the Book of Judges, present the practice of the burnt offering.[7]
In the story of Gideon, a
slaughter offering
of a young goat and unleavened bread is consumed by fire sent from heaven; in the story of Samson's birth, his father, who was intending to make a
slaughter offering
so that he could give a meal to an angel, is told by the angel to burn it completely instead.
In Hellenistic Judaism[edit]
The
Septuagint
mainly translates the Hebrew olah
with the familiar Greek pagan term holocaust, for example in Genesis 22:2 Isaac is to be sacrificed, "as a holocaust" (Greek: εἰς ὁλοκάρπωσιν). Josephus uses the term both for Abraham and Isaac,[19]
but also, more surprisingly in relation to the human sacrifice by Ahaz of his son to Baal.[20]
The practice is also referenced by Philo, but with significant changes.[21]
In Rabbinical Judaism[edit]
Chazal
sources, 3rd-6th Century CE, portray the olah
form of sacrifice, in which no meat was left over for consumption by the Kohanim, as the greatest form of sacrifice[7]
and was the form of sacrifice permitted by Judaism
to be sacrificed at the Temple by the Kohanim on behalf of both Jews[22]
and non-Jews.[7]
The priestly gift[edit]
Main article:
Twenty-four kohanic gifts
Unless the offering was a bird (olat haof), its corpse was flayed. The skin of the offering was then kept by the priests who were serving their shift as part of the rotation of the
priestly divisions. The
Tosefta
narrates that, as time evolved, more powerful priests forcibly took possession of the skins from the lesser priests. Subsequently, it was decreed by the Beth din shel Kohanim
(the court of the priests in Jerusalem) that the skins should be sold, with the monetary proceeds being given to the Temple in Jerusalem
(Tosefta 19).
Modern scholarship[edit]
Some passages in the
Book of Judges, dated by textual scholars to periods earlier than the
Priestly Code, appear to show the development of the principle and practise of
whole offerings;[7]
in the story of Gideon, a slaughter offering
of a young goat and unleavened bread is destroyed when fire sent from heaven consumes it; in the story of Samson's birth, his father, who was intending to make a
slaughter offering
so that he could give a meal to an angel, is told by the angel to burn it completely instead.
Most biblical scholars now generally agree that the intricate details of the
whole offering, particularly the types and number of animals on occasion of various feast days, given by the
Torah, were of a late origin, as were the intricate directions given in the Talmud.[7]
Whole offerings
were quite rare in early times, but as the ritual became more fixed and statutory, and the concentration of sacrifice into a single sanctuary (particularly after Josiah's reform) made sacrifices quite distinct from simply killing animals for food,
whole offerings
gradually rose to great prominence.[7]
The burnt offering is believed to have evolved as an extreme form of the
slaughter offering, whereby the portion allocated to the deity increased to all of it.[7]
In slaughter offerings, the portion allocated to the deity was mainly the
fat, the part which can most easily be burnt (fat is quite
combustible); scholars believe it was felt that the deity, being
aethereal, would appreciate aethereal food more than solid food—the burning of the fatty parts of animals being to produce smoke as a
sweet savour
for the deity.[7]
References[edit]
- ^ Jacob Neusner. The Comparative Hermeneutics of Rabbinic Judaism: Why this, not that?. p. 144.
- ^ a b c Schwartz, Baruch J. "Burnt Offering", in Berlin Adele; Grossman, Maxine (eds.). The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion. Oxford University Press. 2011. ISBN 978-0-19-973004-9. p.154.
- ^ a b Joseph H. Prouser Noble soul: the life and legend of the Vilna Ger Tzedek Count Walenty Potocki 9781593330972, Paperback. 1593330979 2005 p44 - 2005 "The term olah refers to the 'ascent' of the smoke and flames of the sacrifice itself. The sacrifice, in its transmuted form, reaches God.”2 Like “olah,” the term “kalil” is taken from the sacrificial cult described in Leviticus, ..."
- ^ Bernard Jacob Bamberger Leviticus: commentary Jewish Publication Society of America, Central Conference of American Rabbis 1979 p.9 "In English, olah has for centuries been translated "burnt offering." "
- ^ Lawrence H. Schiffman, Florentino García Martínez The courtyards of the house of the Lord: studies on the Temple scroll 2008 p354 "The term olah, literally referring to a sacrifice “which goes up,” is usually translated as “burnt offering.”
- ^ Holocaust word
- ^
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Jewish Encyclopedia
Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "Jewish_Encyclopedia" defined multiple times with different content (see the help page). - ^ Numbers 28:4
- ^ Numbers 28:9-10
- ^ Numbers 28:11-15
- ^ Numbers 29:1-16
- ^ Numbers 28:16-25
- ^ Numbers 28:26-31
- ^ Numbers 29:7-11
- ^ Numbers 29:12-38
- ^ Rabbeinu Yosef (1800–1874)Minchat Chinuch 1874
- ^ Numbers 28:3, 31
- ^ Leviticus 22:22
- ^ Louis H. Feldman Judaism And Hellenism Reconsidered 2006 - Page 387 "Moreover, in presenting his holocaust-thanksgiving offering juxtaposition Josephus was inspired by the parallel content and form of Lev."
- ^ Christopher Begg Josephus' Story of the Later Monarchy: (AJ 9,1-10,185) 2000 - Page 317 "... he even offered his own son as a whole burnt offering {(bXoKauTcoaE)6". Josephus likewise specifies the Biblical references to the "abominations of the nations"; Ahaz' deed was "according to the ... 9,43 where the cognate noun is used of the King of Moab's "consecrating his first-born son to God as a holocaust*"
- ^ Roberto Radice, David T. Runia Philo of Alexandria: An Annotated Bibliography, 1937-1986 1988 "From Philo's description of the sacrificial rites (especially the burnt offering) we may infer that he conformed strictly to the biblical text and appealed to ancient ritual, 'the practice of which by his time had undergone significant changes' (73)."
- ^ Deuteronomy 12:31, Leviticus 18:21, 20:2
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
public domain: Morris Jastrow Jr.,
J. Frederic McCurdy,
Kaufmann Kohler
and Louis Ginzberg
(1901–1906). "Burnt offering". Jewish Encyclopedia.
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