Enjoy Every Bit of that Sacrifice
1 “On the first day of the seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work. It is a day for you to blow the trumpets,
2 and you shall offer a burnt offering, for a pleasing aroma to the LORD: one bull from the herd, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without blemish;
3 also their grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, three tenths of an ephah for the bull, two tenths for the ram,
4 and one tenth for each of the seven lambs;
5 with one male goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for you;
6 besides the burnt offering of the new moon, and its grain offering, and the regular burnt offering and its grain offering, and their drink offering, according to the rule for them, for a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the LORD.
Numbers 29:1–6 (ESV)
Basically, it’s party time. This party that is being described here falls on this week. The weather is awesome, the harvest is coming in, and unlike the Tri-State, the hot days of summer are gone.
Now that you’ve worked all summer, take a break, blow the trumpets, and eat some steak. That’s right. That’s the funny thing about many of the sacrifices of the Old Testament. We think of sacrifice and we think of giving something up. We think of killing a sheep or a goat and it being bloody and gross and a dead animal.
It wasn’t exactly like that.
Yes, there are parts of it that are burned, and some of the offerings were burned up completely, but others weren’t. Other sacrifices were brought to the priest, alive, then killed in a ceremony, then butchered, separated, and grilled. The Levites would get certain cuts and your family would get certain cuts, and then you’d eat what you just brought to the sacrifice.
What? I thought sacrificing meant giving it up to God‽
It does! You’d offer it up to God as a pleasing aroma (think of driving past the old Shyler’s or some other yummy BBQ place!) and then you’d eat and enjoy it in the presence of the Lord.
I was watching that band play Saturday night at Because and you know what? Some of them were smiling. That electric guitar playing guy, on the very last song, you know what he did? He pulled out his in-ear monitor, played that guitar, and smiled real big.
It’s ok for us to enjoy our offering. God loves a cheerful giver. He loves it when we enjoy and savor the sacrifice we bring to Him.
As you go to work today and earn some money, just think of that! You’re earning some of what you get to sacrifice. We can enjoy it just like the ancient Jews. We can enjoy growing the crops, buying the bull, ram, seven lambs, and a several bowls of flour (for the gravy)!
It’s all a joy through the whole feast until the last of the trumpet blasts — going on the whole time they are sacrificing and eating.
—
You can get the Daily Bible Readings to your inbox via email every day by subscribing on our home page. Join the discussion on Facebook or Twitter.