5 Sacrifices

The book of Leviticus focus on three themes: holiness, atonement, and worship.  The opening 7 chapters deal with the various sacrifices and offerings that Israel was to offer to God.  Here is a brief guide to the 5 sacrifices and offerings and what they were all about.

1. Burnt offering -  effected atonement, emphasized total devotion to the Lord
2. Grain offering -  petition for God's blessing, and a dedication of the fruit of his/her labor to God
3. Fellowship (peace) offering -  offered in the fulfillment of vows, emphasized covenantal fellowship
4. Sin/purification offering -  offered in "repentance" for unintentional sins (negligence, ritual impurity)
5. Guilt/reparation offering -  atonement for unintentional sins against God's commandments

Future posts will focus on a chapter-by-chapter look at Leviticus and will delve more deeply into each of these sacrifices.  We will discuss what they meant to Israel then, and what they mean to us today.


Ray Stedman, says this about the book of Leviticus, "That word wholeness has power to awaken desire within us. We long to be whole people. Don't you? Don't you want to be what God made you to be, with all the ingredients of your personality expressed in balance? That is what the book of Leviticus is all about."

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