Sacrifice in Easton's Bible Dictionary
The offering up of sacrifices is to be regarded as a divine
institution. It did not originate with man. God
himself
appointed it as the mode in which acceptable worship
was to be
offered to him by guilty man. The language and the
idea of
sacrifice pervade the whole Bible.
Sacrifices were offered in the ante-diluvian age.
The Lord
clothed Adam and Eve with the skins of animals,
which in all
probability had been offered in sacrifice (Gen.
3:21). Abel
offered a sacrifice "of the firstlings of his flock"
(4:4; Heb.
11:4). A distinction also was made between clean and
unclean
animals, which there is every reason to believe had
reference to
the offering up of sacrifices (Gen. 7:2, 8), because
animals
were not given to man as food till after the Flood.
The same practice is continued down through the
patriarchal
age (Gen. 8:20; 12:7; 13:4, 18; 15:9-11; 22:1-18,
etc.). In the
Mosaic period of Old Testament history definite laws
were
prescribed by God regarding the different kinds of
sacrifices
that were to be offered and the manner in which the
offering was
to be made. The offering of stated sacrifices became
indeed a
prominent and distinctive feature of the whole
period (Ex.
12:3-27; Lev. 23:5-8; Num. 9:2-14). (See ALTAR
-T0000185.)
We learn from the Epistle to the Hebrews that
sacrifices had
in themselves no value or efficacy. They were only
the "shadow
of good things to come," and pointed the worshippers
forward to
the coming of the great High Priest, who, in the
fullness of the
time, "was offered once for all to bear the sin of
many."
Sacrifices belonged to a temporary economy, to a
system of types
and emblems which served their purposes and have now
passed
away. The "one sacrifice for sins" hath "perfected
for ever them
that are sanctified."
Sacrifices were of two kinds: 1. Unbloody, such as
(1)
first-fruits and tithes; (2) meat and drink-
offerings; and (3)
incense. 2. Bloody, such as (1) burnt-offerings; (2)
peace-offerings; and (3) sin and trespass offerings.
(See
OFFERINGS -T0002770.)
Read More about Sacrifice in Easton's Bible Dictionary