Why did people sacrifice animals in Old Testament times? - Sacrifice - TouchPoints

Genesis 3:21The Lord God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife.

Genesis 4:1-7Now Adam had sexual relations with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant. When she gave birth to Cain, she said, “With the Lord’s help, I have produced a man!” Later she gave birth to his brother and named him Abel. When they grew up, Abel became a shepherd, while Cain cultivated the ground. When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord. Abel also brought a gift—the best of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift, but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected. “Why are you so angry?” the Lord asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected? You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”

When Adam and Eve sinned, they experienced guilt and shame for the first time. God used animal skins to cover their naked bodies when they felt shame at being naked. A life was taken to cover the shame of sin and the separation from God that it led to.

Genesis 8:20Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and there he sacrificed as burnt offerings the animals and birds that had been approved for that purpose.

The first people understood that blood sacrifice was necessary to cover (atone for) sin.

Leviticus 10:17“Why didn’t you eat the sin offering in the sacred area?” he demanded. “It is a holy offering! The Lord has given it to you to remove the guilt of the community and to purify the people, making them right with the Lord.”

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.”

Hebrews 9:22Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.

Hebrews 10:1-9The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared. But instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year. For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. That is why, when Christ came into the world, he said to God, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings. But you have given me a body to offer. You were not pleased with burnt offerings or other offerings for sin. Then I said, ‘Look, I have come to do your will, O God—as is written about me in the Scriptures.’” First, Christ said, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings or burnt offerings or other offerings for sin, nor were you pleased with them” (though they are required by the law of Moses). Then he said, “Look, I have come to do your will.” He cancels the first covenant in order to put the second into effect.

In order for sins to be atoned for and forgiven, death—the shedding of blood—is required. Before the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ, animal sacrifices fulfilled this function in a partial and temporary way.

Exodus 12:3, 23“Announce to the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each family must choose a lamb or a young goat for a sacrifice, one animal for each household. . . . For the Lord will pass through the land to strike down the Egyptians. But when he sees the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe, the Lord will pass over your home. He will not permit his death angel to enter your house and strike you down.”

In the case of the final plague on Egypt in the Exodus, animals were used as substitutes for people so that people’s blood would not be shed.

Genesis 15:9-10, 17The Lord told him, “Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” So Abram presented all these to him and killed them. Then he cut each animal down the middle and laid the halves side by side; he did not, however, cut the birds in half. . . . After the sun went down and darkness fell, Abram saw a smoking firepot and a flaming torch pass between the halves of the carcasses.

Psalm 50:5“Bring my faithful people to me—those who made a covenant with me by giving sacrifices.”

Through the offering of sacrifices, God ratified (sealed) his covenant relationship with his people. The handling of the sacrificial animals (splitting them in two) led to the expression “cutting a covenant” with the sacrificed lives of the animals emphasizing the seriousness of the agreement.