Sacrifices and Offerings Under the Old Covenant

By DR. A.T. DOODSON

Doodson provides a detailed examination of the different sacrifices and offerings required under the Old Covenant, including the burnt-offering, meal-offering and the sin-offering, alongside an exploration of the roles and actions of the priests and the offerors.  The aim of this review is to provide the present-day application for worship under the New Covenant by Christians today and to gain an understanding of how these activities speak about Jesus Christ, who is both our Sacrifice and High Priest.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hayes Press
• Release date: Sep 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386585770

DR. A.T. DOODSON

Arthur Thomas Doodson was born in Lancashire, England in 1890.   Although born profoundly deaf, in his secular career he was an expert on tidal analysis and became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1933, and was also recognized as a Commander of the British Empire.   His work is best known for providing the British Army with a prediction of the best tidal and light conditions for the D-Day Landing in 1944. However, Doodson devoted his life not to science, but to Jesus Christ, and was an elder and leader amongst the Churches of God until his death in 1968, aged 78.   Doodson provided the impetus for the periodical "Young Mens Corner", which became Bible Studies in 1933 and is still published today, and was an editor and contributor for many years. 

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

The offerings which feature so prominently in the ordinances of the law provide a rich treasury for the student of the Scriptures, though their study is too frequently neglected because of the apparent complexity of the various ordinances. The truths of Leviticus are not generally found on the surface, and it is only the earnest student who delights unaided to dig for gems of truth to be found in that book. It is our purpose, therefore, to enlist the sympathy of fellow students in a survey of the offerings, as to their different objects, their relationships, the spiritual lessons to be derived, and, above all the glimpses they give of the Lord whose glorious Person and work are set forth by them.

The Epistle to the Hebrews gives sufficient warranty for not dismissing these teachings as Jewish things, for it gives a vital connecting link between the ordinances of the Old Covenant and those of the New Covenant, and makes us realise that there is something more than the Passover to be considered by a redeemed people. For even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service (Hebrews 9:1), and the word even (or verily or indeed) emphasises the fact that it was an essential part of the covenant for service to be thus rendered, and that all these things must find a correspondence in the day of reformation, or setting right. There is, alas, too often a view expressed that the New Covenant has done away with the ordinances of the Old Covenant to such an extent that the glorious liberty of the disciple must not be marred by any seeking of knowledge as to the way of service.

Such as hold these views have little sympathy with a study of the types and shadows of the law, because these reveal that the principles of God are much the same in every age, and that the worshipper must be as careful today as any Israelite in a past day as to his service and as to his way of approach. It is necessary today to remember that the service which is well pleasing to God must be offered with as much reverence and awe as ever God enjoined at mount Sinai (Hebrews 12:18-29). We are indeed not come to such a mount where a holy God speaks through the tangible things of creation, but we are come to One whose conception of His own holiness and righteousness found expression in His own Son. If indeed we are not called upon to witness that clouds and darkness are round about Him, we are expected to know, and to appreciate to our utmost power, that righteousness and judgment form the foundation of His throne (Psalm 97:2).

Unless there is a deep apprehension of the attributes of God, there can be but little understanding of the possibilities of serving Him; if we do not attempt to understand what is proper to offer to God we are in greater ignorance than those who were under the law. It was never intended that the annulment of the law should lead to such misconceptions of the sacrifices well pleasing to God as are found in this so-called day of liberty. If a better Covenant is associated with a better Priest and a better Sacrifice than any to be found under the Old Covenant, it is surely to be expected that such better things would be accompanied by a better apprehension of the things of God than was possible to men of an earlier age.

The Book of Leviticus is indissolubly joined with the Book of Exodus, both being part of the Law of Moses, and the first word And shows that the subject matter is intimately related to the closing chapters of the Book of Exodus in which the Glorious Presence of God has been seen in association with His House. The Book of Leviticus opens by declaring that Jehovah called unto Moses. Though God spoke much with Moses, the occasions when this expression is used are very noteworthy, whether at the Bush (Exodus 3:4), or at Sinai (Exodus 19:3 and 20) when the mountain quaked, or when he was called into the midst of the cloud for 40 days (Exodus 24:16), or, as in Leviticus, when God speaks from the place which He has chosen. The commands and the truths to be disclosed on these occasions are the weightiest of all, and on this occasion the purpose of God is to advise His people as to the mode of approach to Him now that He dwelt in their midst.

From the earliest days men had offered up burnt offerings and sacrifices, so that there is nothing essentially new about the offerings to be referred to, it is taken for granted that the people already know much about burnt offerings and peace offerings and so forth, but the people among whom God actually dwelt must be better instructed than their fathers, their apprehension of the claims of God must be deeper, their knowledge more detailed, their hearts more filled with reverence and awe now that God is so very near. Such must also be the object of our studies if we are to gain real benefit from them. It is the desire to please God which is a basis for sacrifice and offerings, and from the earliest times there have been men who sought a way of pleasing God. Cain and Abel both had this desire, but their apprehension of the truth and ways of God was not the same, so that Cain suffered the mortification of seeing his offering rejected.

God Himself pointed the moral, If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? Noah offered a burnt-offering (Genesis 8:20), and his doing so calls for no comment in the context, so that it appears that from the very earliest times the essence of the teachings as to the offerings was known to men. It may be noted, however, that the offerings made prior to the erection of the Tabernacle appear to show very little discrimination as to the purpose and character of the offering, so that Jacob,