Leviticus 7:37&38 – “This is the law of the burnt offering, of the grain offering, of the sin offering, of the guilt offering, of the ordination offering, and of the peace offering, which the Lord commanded Moses on Mount Sinai, on the day that he commanded the people of Israel to bring their offerings to the Lord, in the wilderness of Sinai.”
When I was a teenager, my dad and I and about 40 other fathers and sons from our church traveled by bus from Indianapolis, Indiana, to Honobia, Oklahoma, for a gathering called the Kiamichi Men’s Clinic. Kiamichi was an annual men’s conference named after the mountain range in which it was located. It was known for rustic camping on forty acres with all day preaching, lots of worship, and male-focused spiritual formation. This was before the Promise Keeper’s movement, and at the time, it was the largest Christian conference for men. Ten thousand attended annually.
On Thursday evening of this week-long event, we would pile into buses and go to local small churches to have a meal, encourage the congregations, and worship. The churches we visited were scattered through the hills in an area that was heavily Native American. One worship service in particular stands out in my memory. With no air conditioning, a standing-room-only crowd of 500 men in a 300-seat sanctuary, and the heat index in the high nineties, we heard a great sermon. But the thing that made this night so memorable was the number of offerings taken and one very zealous elder’s passionate appeals to give.
The first offering took place early in the service as we were asked to bless the humble brothers and sisters of the church, who were living in near-poverty conditions. The plate was passed, and men gave. As sermon time approached, this same elder returned to the microphone and interrupted the program. He chastised us for not giving generously enough and pleaded, with tears in his eyes and a raised voice (I’m not exaggerating here), for us to give more. Another hymn was sung as the offering plates were passed again. Believe it or not, after the sermon, the same man jumped back onto the platform and appealed AGAIN for us to give even more, and with that the volunteer ushers passed the offering plates one last time during the closing song. I never found out how much money was raised that evening, but I know that my teen-aged mind wondered just how many offerings there could be in one service.
According to our reading from today, apparently a lot more than three offerings were a standard part of worship in Old Testament times. In these verses, the six major offerings involved in worshiping God are summarized from the descriptions we are given in Leviticus 6. Each offering had different rules and was given for different reasons, but they were all part of the requirements for worshiping God. It was a complex system of giving, and time does not permit a full explanation, but below is a brief description of each offering to help us understand the giving required of the Israelite people.
· Burnt offerings were offerings to make atonement (Hebrew “ka phar” – to cover) for the sins of the people. These offerings were burned completely on the Altar of Burnt Offering and a further description can be found in Leviticus 1 & 6:8-13.
· Grain offerings were offerings that were given voluntarily to “memorialize” or acknowledge God. They came in the form of fried, baked, or boiled bread; or grains ground into meal. It was always seasoned and unleavened. For further description of this offering see Leviticus 2 & 6:14-18.
· Ordination offerings were offerings that were specifically given for ordaining Aaron and his sons for their service as priests. This indicated an offering from the priests who were normally given a portion of each offering for their daily needs. For more specifics see Leviticus 6:19-23.
· Sin offerings were offerings for specific sins that an individual or community had unintentionally committed. They were given as purification so that one could enter into the presence of God. Extensive rules for this offering are found in Leviticus 4:1-13 & 6:24-30.
· Guilt offerings were given by the people to make restitution for their offenses. Every sin, accidental or not, had a price attached to it, and this offering made it right with God. For further reading on this offering see Leviticus 5:14-19 & 7:1-10.
· Peace offerings were gifts given as tokens of thanksgiving to God, often eaten in unity and fellowship between two people, parties, or families (i.e., peace with God and man). You can learn more about this offering in Leviticus 7:11-36.
Yes, that was the short explanation! And there is more to the offering requirements. The six listed above do not include the annual offerings given during harvest and other seasons of the year, in addition to holidays and festivals of worship. Some scholars estimate that Jewish people in the Old Testament gave up to thirty-three percent of their income when all the offerings were added up. What’s the point? The point, then and now, is that there is simply no way to divorce worship of God from giving to God. God designed offerings to be given habitually, routinely, and consistently because he always wants us to be reminded that giving is a part of our God following life. The more we practice giving to God and his church, the more our hearts are inclined to worship him with our offerings.
Pastor Mike Baker