Offerings are gifts presented to God to express or to alter the offerer's relationship to God (Leviticus 1:2-3; 2:1-2; 3:1-2; 4:1-3). Offerings included certain clean animals (Leviticus 1:2, 14), grains (Exodus 29:41; Leviticus 2:12), and liquids such as oil, frankincense, or incense (Leviticus 2:1; 6:15; Nehemiah 13:9). Some offerings involved libations such as wine (Numbers 15:5), condiments such as salt (Leviticus 2:13), and precious metals such as silver, gold, or certain pieces of jewelry (Exodus 35:22; Numbers 7:13-14; 31:50-52; Ezra 8:28). However, strict laws regulated each type and occasion of offering. The sacrificial animals had to be without defect (Leviticus 1:10; 4:28; 22:17-25; Numbers 6:14; cf. Malachi 1:8). Honey was precluded from any offering by fire (Leviticus 2:11) but included in tithes and firstfruits (2 Chronicles 31:5). Leaven was allowed only in the offerings assigned to the priests (e.g., Leviticus 7:13-14; cf. Amos 4:5). The offerings were put on an altar where they were burned or cooked (Leviticus 1:5-9; 2:1-10) and, in some cases, eaten (Leviticus 6:16, 26; 7:16; 1 Corinthians 9:13; 10:18; cf. Exodus 12:1-11). The specific OT system of offerings (cf. Exodus 29:10-18; Leviticus 1:1-7:38) was divinely instituted and thus unique to Israel in its carefully prescribed ritual. It included both obligatory and voluntary offerings and was necessary to maintain one's proper relationship within the theocracy of Israel. It provided a visible means to express obedience, worship, devotion, thanksgiving, fellowship, and commitment to God; it made temporary provision for sin through confession, forgiveness, cleansing, and reconciliation (cf. OT "atonement" in Leviticus 1:4; 17:11; Hebrews 9:10; 10:1-14); it represented substitution for the offerer through a sacrificial animal (Leviticus 1:4; cf. 1 Peter 3:18) and it foreshadowed NT principles of man's relationship to God, especially through Jesus Christ's own substitutionary sacrifice for sinners (Matthew 26:26-28; Romans 3:22-26; 2 Corinthians 5:18-21; Hebrews 4:14-10:22).
This topic is from the Lockman Foundation.