Sacrifice

This week we continue on our study of the concept of "sacrifice" and how it should be understood. We left off talking about Ezekiel 4.4 and the concept of "the Suffering of the Tzaddik." A tzaddik is a righteous one who stands out in his or her generation. We said that their suffering might cause people to repent, and that is true to some extent, but there is more to this picture. In Sanhedrin 39a of the Talmud there is a story about a heretic who says G-d is a "prankster" in making Ezekiel lie on his left and right side. He thought this was strange behavior and mocked the idea that G-d was wise and just.

Rabbi Abuha answered saying that the "earth belongs to the L-rd. When a country rebels against a king, he will kill them all if he is cruel, if he is merciful he will kill half of them, if he is filled with mercy, he will cause the great ones among them to suffer. So, also G-d chastised Ezekiel in order to wipe out the sins of Israel". Biblically, there is the idea that the Tzaddik suffers on behalf of the community and that there is a communal resposibility for one another. The sin of one is the sin of all. On Yom Kippur the High Priest says that he has sinned together "with all of Israel." He says this whether he has sinned or not personally. This gives one the impression that we should care for one another and learn to rebuke each other when we see sin in our community.

This is not to shame the person, but to get them to come back to the ways of G-d and that their behavior is connected to the community. Yeshua is definitely the Messiah and the "suffering servant" seen in the scriptures. If we can have the concept that Ezekiel brought a temporary atonement for his people in his time, and G-d said he did, how much more with Yeshua. G-d would violate His own word by offering Yeshua as a "sacrifice" as understood by most people today. That is not the proper definition. It has to be something else and much deeper than that. So, the story of the Akeda in Gen. 22 is a picture of this. In Jn 11.47-52 it says that the people were believing in Yeshua and the Caiaphas and the rulers were concerned about it.

He said "Don't you know nothing at all nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. And thus he spoke not of himself: but being High Priest that year, he prophesied that Yeshua should die for that nation: and not for that nation only, but also He should gather together in one the children of G-d that were scattered abroad." Blood denotes "life" in biblical thought. This concept is conveyed in the Altar and the Korbanot and you come to G-d for life. It's not that there is the "death of something" to "pay for" something you did. That is not the concept G-d is conveying in the scriptures with the Torah, the korbanot and the Temple, or Yeshua as the "Suffering Servant " or Tzaddik.

These concepts presented here the last two weeks challenge what the majority thinks on "sacrifice" but it was necessary to bring this out in response to the question about sacrifices. If you would like to know more, contact us at our website OTM@SBCGLOBAL.NET . Now, go and study.