Why did God require sacrifices in Old Testament times—and why were they so bloody? - Sacrifice - TouchPoints

Exodus 24:6-8Moses drained half the blood from these animals into basins. The other half he splattered against the altar. . . . Moses took the blood from the basins and splattered it over the people.

Leviticus 1:1-13“Bring it [the sacrificial animal] to the entrance of the Tabernacle so you may be accepted by the Lord. Lay your hand on the animal’s head, and the Lord will accept its death in your place to purify you, making you right with him.”

Leviticus 3:16“The priest will burn them on the altar. It is a special gift of food, a pleasing aroma to the Lord. All the fat belongs to the Lord.”

Leviticus 7:1-10“The animal sacrificed as a guilt offering must be slaughtered at the place where the burnt offerings are slaughtered, and its blood must be splattered against all sides of the altar. . . . The same instructions apply to both the guilt offering and the sin offering.”

1 Samuel 1:1-5Elkanah had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah did not. Each year Elkanah would travel to Shiloh to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of Heaven’s Armies at the Tabernacle. . . . On the days Elkanah presented his sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to Peninnah and each of her children. And though he loved Hannah, he would give her only one choice portion because the Lord had given her no children.

While there were a great many sacrifices and a lot of blood, our shock over these descriptions is mostly because we are shielded from the amount of animal death and blood required to feed any large population. It is important to remember that relatively few of the sacrifices were actually entirely consumed by fire. Much of the edible meat (“All the fat belongs to the Lord”) was actually consumed by the priests and their families and in some cases by those gathered for the sacrifice.

Leviticus 17:11“The life of the body is in its blood. I have given you the blood on the altar to purify you, making you right with the Lord. It is the blood, given in exchange for a life, that makes purification possible.”

The sacrificial system reminded Israel of the seriousness of sin before their holy God. Sin separates us from God and earns eternal death (Colossians 1:21). Forgiveness and salvation restore us to God, which brings eternal life. The offering of a sacrifice symbolized the person’s desire to be forgiven for sin and restored to fellowship with God. In Old Testament times, a life had to be given up (the animal’s) so that a life could be spared (the person’s). The blood of the sacrificed animal represented one life being poured out in substitution for another. This idea of a “substitute” foreshadowed Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins. Just as an animal died so a person wouldn’t have to, so Jesus died so we wouldn’t have to (Romans 5:6-11). The sacrifice of the animal was bloody and grotesque, but it reminded the sinner of how serious sin is and how deeply it can damage their souls.