Day 8: That Sweet Aroma!

 1897 Bible Pictures and What They Teach Us; Charles Foster

I know, I jumped out of place. This should be day 7, but I read the wrong chapters today! That's ok, tomorrow I'll go back and read what should have been read today. My blog entries will just be out of order.


Chewing through Leviticus has always been kinda hard for me. Today I read 15 chapters detailing the different offerings and all the ceremonial procedures for them. A lot of repetition. My eyes feel crossed and my brain hurts. And I still didn't understand the differences.


So I turned to the internet and looked up a few places that could explain them to me. I figured I could share that for today,. At least a summarized version.

• The Burnt Offering: This was the most common offering, and the first mentioned in Leviticus. It was the only offering that could not be eaten, and it offered up that sweet aroma that the Lord found so pleasing. The burnt offering was voluntary, and symbolized total surrender to God.

• The Grain Offering: This was also a voluntary offering, and the only one that did not require an animal sacrifice or shedding of blood. It was an offering of fine flour that offered up a sweet aroma to the Lord, symbolizing a living sacrifice.

• The Peace Offering: This was also voluntary, and offered a sweet aroma to the Lord. It symbolized fellowship or communion, and was the only offering that the person who offered it could eat the meat of the sacrifice.

• The Sin Offering: This was not voluntary, nor was the aroma pleasing to God. It was required as atonement for the sin nature in general.

• The Trespass Offering: This was also not voluntary, and not a pleasing aroma to God. It was a required sacrifice to pay the penalty for specific sins one had committed.

i obtained this information from the following sermon outline.