Exodus 29:18 “And thou shalt burn the whole ram upon the altar: it is a burnt offering unto the LORD: it is a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the LORD.”
Pastor, Can you please explain how the burnt offering becomes sweet aroma to the Lord? Why do the Lord want to kill and burn animals?
Exodus closes with the glory of the Lord filling the tabernacle that His people built. Proper response to God’s presence is worship. Through Leviticus God instructs His people in how He is to be worshiped. Leviticus continues a major theme of Exodus—that God is holy and His people are to be holy. This manual of worship is highly detailed but makes clear that details are important to God. Leviticus gives instructions on the consecration of priests and clearly demonstrates the consequences of not worshiping God as He instructs. Although Israel has been set apart as God’s people, they are still a sinful people. Leviticus provides numerous pictures of how sinful human beings can commune with a holy God. Sacrifice is a pivotal concept in Israel’s worship.
The practice of slaying an animal for a sacrifice was not unique to the Israelite tradition. The slaughtering of an animal as a “religious” expression was a common practice in the ancient world, particularly in the ancient Near East. However, the purposes for offering sacrifices in Israel could not have been more different from the motivations for sacrifice among Israel’s neighbors. The rationale for sacrifices in the ancient world was confined to the maintenance and sustenance of the gods, as the gods were believed to have the same appetites and desires as humans. The motivation to present food to a god was to gain that god’s favor. Pagan worship was self-serving at its core, as the person presenting the offering was using the gift for his own advantage. The offering of sacrifice from the pagan conception was actually no different than magic—a mechanism employed to effect a supernatural intervention. It is thus not surprising that in Mesopotamia, for example, the magician was as important as the priest.
The purpose of the Israelite sacrificial system was twofold—to offer a gift to God and to effect atonement. The word “atonement” addresses the need for reconciliation in the disturbed relationship between God and humans brought about by sin. The need for atonement is necessitated by the universality of sin, the seriousness of sin, and humanity’s inability to remove or deal with sin. The word “atonement” is closely related to and frequently occurs in context with the prominent theological terms “forgiveness” and “reconciliation.” It specifically addresses the need for removal of sin (expiation) in order to effect reconciliation with God.
Sacrificial offerings preceded the era of the Mosaic law. God had prescribed offerings from the time of Abel (Gn 4). After the flood, Noah offered burnt offerings (Gn 8:20), as did Abraham (Gn 22:9). In harmony with the OT prophets (cp. Hs 6:6; Am 5:21-24; also 1 Sm 15:22), Jesus focused on the motivation underlying the sacrificial act and taught that the offering was only acceptable to God when the worshiper’s devotion was genuinely heartfelt (Mt 5:23-24; 9:13; 12:7; Mk 12:33). The OT sacrifices to God were types of the ultimate, climactic sacrifice made by Jesus Christ, the Son of God. His sacrifice can never be repeated (Rm 6:10; Heb 7:27; 9:12; 10:10), and now the most desirable sacrifice that anyone, rich or poor, can bring to God is a consecrated life (cp. Rm 12:1; 15:15-16; 2 Co 2:14-17; Php 2:17; 4:18; 2 Tm 4:6; Heb 13:15; 1 Pt 1:15-16; Rv 6:9).
Adherence to the OT sacrificial system made the nation of Israel a holy nation and distinct from other nations. Perhaps no other category of laws would contribute more to Israel’s distinctiveness than the dietary laws (chap. 11). As God classified the world at creation, so God’s holy people were expected to classify their world. The driving force behind this novel consideration was surely the notion that Israel had been called to be a holy people. Observation of these laws goes beyond the more limited notion of personal purity in that it distinguishes not only clean people from those who are not, but also Israelites from other nations. The main reason for the purity instructions was to keep Israel separate from the neighboring nations (Lv 18:3; 20:24, 26). The dietary laws prevented Israelites from participating in pagan worship to foreign gods, as well as made the possibility of intermarriage with a nonbeliever less likely (cp. 11:44-45; Dt 14:2, 21).
As for the aroma being sweet, look at the following passaged
Ephesians 5:2 (NKJV) And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.
2 Corinthians 2:14-16 (NKJV) 14 Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. 15 For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things?
Philippians 4:18 (NKJV) Indeed I have all and abound. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God.
The Aroma speaks of the death of Jesus, who has “given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma”. (Ephesians 5:2)
Till the fullness of time came when God sent His son, the animal sacrifices were symbolic of what Jesus would eventually do; of what was needed for man to be set right with God.
Before wallowing in pity for the animals and thereby pointing a finger at God, accusing Him of not providing ethical treatment for animals, it is good to be reminded that man’s fall caused the need for blood to be shed in the first place. All animals were placed under man’s authority. Man caused this, and God did not kill his pet dog to redeem us, but God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ, His own son, was sent to die for us, to redeem us.
John 3:16-17 (NKJV) 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
My understanding is that in the aroma reminded God of the day when we will be restored to him through Jesus’s atoning sacrifice.
Q&A 