Journal: Tyndale Bulletin
Volume: TYNBUL 50:1 (NA 1999)
Article: Spirituality In Offering A Peace Offering
Author: Nobuyoshi Kiuchi

TynBul 50:1 (1999) p. 23

Spirituality
In Offering A Peace Offering

Nobuyoshi Kiuchi

Summary

Study of the symbolic meaning of the offerings in Leviticus has been hampered by the fact that the text rarely spells out the significance of the rituals or rites. This study proposes an approach to the text of Leviticus that, taking the peace offering as an example, investigates the motive of the offerer. On the basis of explicit references in Leviticus 7:12 and 7:16 to three kinds of motive it is argued that Leviticus 3 has the purpose of turning the Israelites to the Lord, and that the shedding of blood symbolises the atonement for general sinfulness. This leads to the conclusion that the motive or purpose of an offerer and the ritual are inseparable, and that the prescriptive text of Leviticus 3 itself assumes that the inner motive of an offerer must be expressed outwardly in making a peace offering.

Introduction

It is taken for granted in scholarship that the offering of a sacrifice has some symbolic meaning. Yet this being so, it seems that in this century, except for some recent significant contributions,1 not much advance has been made in the study of the symbolic meaning of sacrifices or of the significance of individual components of their rituals. The difficulty for a modern reader is partly due to the fact that the meaning of the sacrifice or ritual is not sufficiently spelled out, being presupposed by the ancient Israelites.2 It is to be hoped that such a study will be pursued in the future.

TynBul 50:1 (1999) p. 24

However, is it not necessary to view the relationship between a sacrifice and its symbolic meaning in such a way that one regards the heart of a worshipper (his emotion and will) as representing the sacrifice and one does not merely suppose that representation is carried out by the sacrifice and ritual? The representation thus works two ways:

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