Day 30 -- Leviticus 5-7

In looking at the reading for today with all of its regulations regarding sacrifices, we need to again ask the question—How was this text good news to those who first heard it?
Sacrifice offered a release from blame. We noted yesterday how sin was literally transferred from the worshipper to the animal brought for sacrifice. It was simple enough matter of laying a hand on the head of the beast and seeing it killed. The animal died so the sinner did not have to.
The minute regulations found in our reading for today insured that it was all done right. No mistakes must be made that might foul up the transaction. But once the whole thing had been performed correctly, the act of sacrifice provided a method of disposing of blame for sinful actions done willfully or inadvertently and a psychological release for the worshipper from the feeling of shame that came with breaking God’s Law. God’s anger was satisfied. The sinner was forgiven. Now life in the covenant community could go on.
But in order for the sacrifice to work that way, it must be real and appropriate--it must fit the sin committed and the position of the person bringing it. Food--particularly meat-- was very precious to people in Bible times. The sacrifice of a domestic animal involved a painful surrender of something precious. That was a crucial part of sacrifice—the loss of something valuable. Not everyone could afford to offer a sheep or a goat, so there was a sliding scale—you brought what you could afford. There was justice built into the sacrificial system.
And once the animal was killed and the prescribed parts offered to God, the rest of the sacrifice had to be completely disposed of in the right way. Many of these regulations in our reading have to do with how this was to be done—whether by being burned or by being given to the priests to consume as their payment for performing the ritual of atonement. Our text stipulates that a portion was to be “allotted to Aaron and to his sons from the offerings make by fire to the LORD, once they had been brought forward to serve the LORD as priests; these the LORD commanded to be given them, when he anointed them, as a perpetual due from the people of Israel throughout their generations” (Exodus 7:35-36) In this way the sacrificial system also provided for the expert help needed to make it work.
So how then did regulations found in our reading from the Book of Leviticus function as good news to those first heard them? First, these ritual laws offered a sense of freedom that comes from being released from blame. They worked to restore righteousness to the individual sinner under the Law. Second, these regulations provided a way back into the life of the community for those who had been alienated from it. The second of these effects was probably more important than the first. In the Biblical world, individual peace was a by-product of peace and order in the whole community. The life of the community—family, kin, tribe, nation--always comes before the life of the individual.