|| כבד
This is an entry inserted between what we have just discussed in Blog 119, the idea of “having an impact,” and the next entries which will discuss ideas of understanding life, burdens, and haste somewhat more. The entire point of this entry is to indicate its seriousness. The section on the sacrifices will be distasteful to many, and I apologize. It is intentionally distasteful in Scripture; that is the point. Please bear with it. First we will look at some of the sacrificial offerings. Then, we will have some discussion. And, while I had intended to move to more topics, putting this together has involved more than anticipated. LORD willing, we will eventually get to all the topics that have come to me in these studies. See the screenshots below, which are a search in the NKJV Strong’s Version.
- This focuses just on the phrase in Leviticus.
- And, this is the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia.
- There are many writings on the internet about the different offerings קרבנות“corbanot.” This is not intended to be an all-inclusive discussion of the offerings. (Please note that in all the resources I have for research the word offerings as קרבנות does not actually occur in Scripture. When the plural does occur, it is with a pronoun ending, such as in Numbers 18:9, כל–קרבנם “all their offerings.” In discussions among moderns, the word corbanot is used.)
Leviticus 1:2-5
2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When any one of you brings an offering (h7133. קָרְבָּן qorḇân) to the LORD, you shall bring your offering (h7133. קָרְבָּןqorḇân) of livestock from the herd or from the flock.
3 “If his offering (h7133. קָרְבָּן qorḇân) is a {burnt offering} (h5930. עֹלָה ‘ôlâ) from the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish. He shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the LORD. 4 He shall lay his hand on the head of the {burnt offering} (h5930. עֹלָה ‘ôlâ), and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. 5 Then he shall kill the bull before the LORD, and Aaron’s sons the priests shall bring the blood and throw the blood against the sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting.
- קרב = come close
Leviticus 3:1-2 – (NKJV – Laws for Peace Offerings)
1 “If his offering (h7133. קָרְבָּן qorḇân) is a sacrifice of {peace offering} (h8002. שֶׁלֶםšelem), if he offers (h7126. קָרַב qâraḇ) an animal from the herd, male or female, he shall offer (h7126. קָרַב qâraḇ) it without blemish before the LORD. 2 And he shall lay his hand on the head of his offering (h7133. קָרְבָּן qorḇân) and kill it at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and Aaron’s sons the priests shall throw the blood against the sides of the altar.
Leviticus 3:6-8
6 “If his offering (h7133. קָרְבָּן qorḇân) for a sacrifice of {peace offering} (h8002. שֶׁלֶםšelem) to the LORD is an animal from the flock, male or female, he shall offer (h7126. קָרַב qâraḇ) it without blemish. 7 If he offers (h7126. קָרַב qâraḇ) a lamb for his offering (h7133. קָרְבָּן qorḇân), then he shall offer it before the LORD, 8 lay his hand on the head of his offering (h7133. קָרְבָּן qorḇân), and kill it in front of the tent of meeting; and Aaron’s sons shall throw its blood against the sides of the altar.
Leviticus 3:12-16
12 “If his offering is a goat, then he shall offer it before the LORD 13 and lay his handon its head and kill it in front of the tent of meeting, and the sons of Aaron shall throw its blood against the sides of the altar. 14 Then he shall offer from it, as his offering (h7133. קָרְבָּן qorḇân) for an {offering made by fire} (h0801. אִשָּׁה ’išâ) to the LORD, the fat covering the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails 15 and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys. 16 And the priest shall burn them on the altar as an {offering made by fire} (h0801. אִשָּׁה ’išâ) with a pleasing aroma. All fat is the LORD’S.
Leviticus 4:2-6
2 “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, If anyone sins (h2398. חָטָא ḥâṭâ’) unintentionally in any of the LORD’S commandments about things not to be done, and does any one of them, 3 if it is the anointed priest who sins, thus bringing guilt on the people, then he shall offer for the sin that he has committed a bull from the herd without blemish to the LORD for a {sin offering} (h2403. חַטָּאָה ḥaṭâ’â). 4 He shall bring the bull to the entrance of the tent of meeting before the LORD and lay his hand on the head of the bull and kill the bull before the LORD. 5 And the anointed priest shall take some of the blood of the bull and bring it into the tent of meeting, 6 and the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle from the blood seven times before the LORD in front of the veil of the sanctuary.
Leviticus 4:22-26
22 “When a leader sins (h2398. חָטָא ḥâṭâ’), doing unintentionally any one of all the things that by the commandments of the LORD his God ought not to be done, and realizes his guilt, 23 or the sin (h2403. חַטָּאָה ḥaṭâ’â) which he has committed is made known to him, he shall bring as his offering (h7133. קָרְבָּן qorḇân) a goat, a male without blemish, 24 and shall lay his hand on the head of the goat and kill it in the place where they kill the {burnt offering} (h5930. עֹלָה ‘ôlâ) before the LORD; it is a {sin offering} (h2403. חַטָּאָה ḥaṭâ’â). 25 Then the priest shall take from the blood of the {sin offering} (h2403. חַטָּאָה ḥaṭâ’â) with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of {burnt offering} (h5930. עֹלָה ‘ôlâ) and pour out (the rest of) its blood (דמו) at the base of the altar of {burnt offering} (h5930. עֹלָה ‘ôlâ). 26 And all its fat he shall burn on the altar, like the fat of the sacrifice of {peace offerings} (h8002. שֶׁלֶם šelem). So the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin, and he shall be forgiven.
Leviticus 4:27-31
27 “If anyone of the common people sins unintentionally in doing any one of the things that by the LORD’S commandments ought not to be done, and realizes his guilt, 28 or the sin which he has committed is made known to him, he shall bring for his offering (h7133. קָרְבָּן qorḇân) a goat, a female without blemish, for his sin (h2403. חַטָּאָה ḥaṭâ’â) which he has committed. 29 And he shall lay his hand on the head of the {sin offering} (h2403. חַטָּאָה ḥaṭâ’â) and kill the {sin offering} (h2403. חַטָּאָה ḥaṭâ’â) in the place of {burnt offering} (h5930. עֹלָה ‘ôlâ). 30 And the priest shall take (some) of its blood (דמה) with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of {burnt offering} (h5930. עֹלָה ‘ôlâ) and pour out all (the rest of) its blood at the base of the altar. 31 And all its fat he shall remove, as the fat is removed from the {peace offerings} (h8002. שֶׁלֶם šelem), and the priest shall burn it on the altar for a pleasing aroma to the LORD. And the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven.
Leviticus 4:32-35
32 “If he brings a lamb as his offering for a sin (h2403. חַטָּאָה ḥaṭâ’â) offering (h7133. קָרְבָּן qorḇân), he shall bring a female without blemish 33 and lay his hand on the head of the {sin offering} (h2403. חַטָּאָה ḥaṭâ’â) and kill it for a {sin offering} (h2403. חַטָּאָה ḥaṭâ’â) in the place where they kill the {burnt offering} (h5930. עֹלָה ‘ôlâ). 34 Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the {sin offering} (h2403. חַטָּאָה ḥaṭâ’â) with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of {burnt offering} (h5930. עֹלָה ‘ôlâ) and pour out all (the rest of) its blood (דמה) at the base of the altar. 35 And all its fat he shall remove as the fat of the lamb is removed from the sacrifice of {peace offerings} (h8002. שֶׁלֶם šelem), and the priest shall burn it on the altar, on top of the LORD’S {offerings made by fire} (h0801. אִשָּׁה ’išâ). And the priest shall make atonement for him for the sin (h2403. חַטָּאָה ḥaṭâ’â) which he has committed, and he shall be forgiven.
- In all of these passages, “blood” is דמ, though the places where indicated as “its blood,” the pronoun as noted is added, דמו, דמה.
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In some people there is a misconception that the offerings were simply one’s bringing an animal to a priest and the priest slaughtering it. So, I hope the previous passages bring home the point to you what we discussed last time. Not only does one bring the offering to the LORD, which is costly in terms of monetary expense for a generally very poor people, but the one bringing the animal lays his hand on the animal and he himself kills the animal. After the killing is when the priest takes over. If you have ever personally killed an animal, it is a very distasteful action. And that is the point. I put at the beginning the Hebrew “his hand” ידו and showed that it is a cognate permutation with כבד p.114 weigh; be important;; be open and receptive (C17). A very common translation of כבד is “heavy.” That is the point. This entire transaction is supposed to be very “heavy,” have great significance, be important, have great impact.
Another great misconception in the world is what a callous people the Israelites and people of old must have been. Animal rights people seem to be very offended by the idea of animal sacrifices, and indeed there is offense built into this, which, again is the purpose. But, please stop long enough to realize that these people for the most part had very little. They poured much into the keeping of their animals. They provided feed for them, they managed their waste. It took not only a great deal of resources, but time, and tender loving care to birth these animals, raise them, and maintain them. The people developed a real bond with the animals, just as you do your pet. And to have to slit its throat caused a great deal of anguish. It was a great heaviness כבד, a time of great importance. One more point, the sin offering requiring a bull(h6499. פַּר p̱ar) to be offered. This is to help free the person of unintentional sin. (None of the קרבנות, offerings were for intentional sin. There was no expiation for intentional sin.) To have to bring a bull or bullock was not only very expensive, but to be required to slaughter it oneself would be very כבד heavy indeed (and perhaps dangerous). That is the point, in order that one may “remember” the experience and sin no more.
My hope is that you may look into the deeper meaning of these passages, as we spoke about last time, and many times before (Remember PaRDeS – P is the simple, straightforward meaning of the passage. The Remez is the hint = the connection, and this is followed by the Drash, the drawing some conclusions into a midrash/message. After that the Sod, the hidden meaning becomes apparent.)
An unintentional sin may sometimes be the biases that we have grown up with. It may be our “assumptive reasoning.” It may be the Log in our eye that must be removed in order to “see” the person in front of us.
- (A brief pause for a comment, which you may 🤔 with me. We have referred to The Fiddler on the Roof recently a couple of times. If you watch it, or recall it from previous viewings, 🤔 in the screenplay or on stage, Tevye’s טביה horse going lame, and his pulling his milk cart himself, as well as parting with his horse and milk cow, the potential symbolism with the butcher, etc. טביה is the Yiddish form of Tobiah טוביה, the goodness of Yah.)
Maybe you noticed in the first screenshot a verse in Exodus with “lay his hand” that we passed over. Here it is, and remember “heavy;”
● Exodus 24:1-13 – (NKJV – The Covenant Confirmed)
1 Then he said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. 2 Moses alone shall come near to the LORD, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.”
3 Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do.” 4 And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered {burnt offerings} (h5930. עֹלָה ‘ôlâ) and sacrificed {peace offerings} (h8002. שֶׁלֶם šelem) of oxen to the LORD. 6 And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. 7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant (h1285. בְּרִית ḇerîyṯ) and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” 8 And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant (h1285. בְּרִית ḇerîyṯ) that the LORD has made (h3772. כָּרַת ḵâraṯ) with you in accordance with all these words.”
9 Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, 10 and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. 11 And he did not lay his handon the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank.
12 The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.” 13 So Moses rose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God.
Notice a couple of points here. First, if you read Scripture enough, you will know there are many places where it refers to the requirement of not seeing the LORD. I will give you only a couple of examples, but please look for more. Exodus 23:33; Judges chapter 13 (in this one, notice both the part about seeing God and the burnt offering עלה) In the Exodus 24 passage NKJV calls “the covenant confirmed,” you will have seen both the burnt offerings and that the LORD did not lay his hand on the elders, though they “beheld him.” The word ידו his hand indicates a setting of importance, as in כבד, but giving this gift fully over to God kept it from being “heavy consequences.” We will begin to see the understanding of life in these postings, and I refer you again to the book that I suggested in Blog 69, the book being The Universal Garden of Emuna by R. Shalom Arush. Think about an idea of paying a “full price,” which is the sacrificial way. We will get to it much more.
I will leave you with the thought of covenant, from the Exodus passage above, and you can see more points to follow:
- (A brief note – the verse in point #3 of כרת indicates this offering cannot be a steer, which might be more tame, but must be a “bull.”)
First, if you look up make a covenant or made a covenant, the verb is generally h3772. כָּרַת ḵâraṯ, as above, occurring many times. כרת is “to cut.”
If you look at the word covenant, h1285. בְּרִית ḇerîyṯ, please see that could be ב “in” + רית. There is no root רית, but please see that רית is a cognate permutation with כרת. The ר and ת are common to both, and the י and כ are both palatals, and thus interchangeable.
- See that כרת and ברית both occur in Gn9:11, God’s covenant with Noah.
- See that we get more understanding of what it is about in Gn15:9-21. In verse 18, it is clearly כרת and ברית. And very interestingly in verse 10, Abram cuts the animals in twain, though not the birds. The word for cut in the two occurrences in this verse is בתר. Look at the obvious inclusion of a permutation of בתר in ברית.
- ברת p.32 separate out parts;; CM separate; highlight (B38)
- בתר p.33 separate;; CM open/cover (B44)
Also, I did a very limited (maximum distance apart 5) search of ידו “his hand” with ברית “covenant:”
- Please read the context for these occurrences (occurrence verses in bold):
Ezekiel 17:11-21 (18)
Ezekiel 30:20-26 (22, 24) – in these, “hand” is obvious. In 22, הַנִּשְׁבָּ֑רֶת includes ברתand in 24 וְשָׁבַרְתִּי֙ includes ברת – as “break;” the root for both is:
שבר p.254 break up into small pieces; detail small numbers;; CM unify/separate (E14)
Psalms 55:16-22 (20) [20 in English = 21 in Hebrew]
- I found it very interesting that ברת and שבר had similar meanings. Of course, when I thought about it, it should be so. ש is “this is; which is,” and ת is “the mark of.” Both would be “pointing to” בר. We showed פר above. בר and פר should have similar meanings, being cognate with one another.
We may have been led back once again to the “rebellious son,” (¿ bull-headed son ?). It has my mind spinning with many thoughts; perhaps yours as well. Does this somehow relate to the commandment to honor your father and mother? It is, as Paul points out in Ephesians 6:2-3, the first commandment with a promise. The word “promise” does suggest covenant. Is the parent/child relationship considered as a “covenant relationship?” (Of the children in my family, i would say i was most rebellios.) Maybe a good point at which to stop and ponder.
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