Blood Sacrifice

[CHRISTINE77]

In the Garden of Eden there was no death. Adam and Eve were cast out and had to raise crops and kill for their food, then had children. When Cain and Abel offered thier gifts to the Lord, God prefered the bloody sacrifice of the lamb. Why did God always want a blood sacrifice? Why was God contiually asking for a bloody sacrifice?

 

[avflf]

In the Garden of Eden there was no death. Adam and Eve were cast out and had to raise crops and kill for their food, then had children. When Cain and Abel offered thier gifts to the Lord, God prefered the bloody sacrifice of the lamb. Why did God always want a blood sacrifice? Why was God contiually asking for a bloody sacrifice?

Hey, God is God. Who are we to question His preferences? He was the first one to kill some animals to use their skins to cover Adam and Eve (Gen 3:21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them)., unless He skinned them alive. Look at Paul’s feable reply to the question he himself poses in Romans 9:19 *“Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?” *
Rom 9:20 “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?”
You’ll get the gist of what was being discussed by reading from:
Rom 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
Rom 9:14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
Rom 9:15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Rom 9:16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Rom 9:17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

 

[Catholic_Dude]

In the Garden of Eden there was no death. Adam and Eve were cast out and had to raise crops and kill for their food, then had children. When Cain and Abel offered thier gifts to the Lord, God prefered the bloody sacrifice of the lamb. Why did God always want a blood sacrifice? Why was God contiually asking for a bloody sacrifice?

The emphasis is not on bloody, but rather “first fruits,” meaning the top pick was offered. This detail is missing for Cain, who appears to not have his heart in the offering. It had nothing to do with animals versus crops.

 

[avflf]

The emphasis is not on bloody, but rather “first fruits,” meaning the top pick was offered. This detail is missing for Cain, who appears to not have his heart in the offering. It had nothing to do with animals versus crops.

And how were the “first fruits” offered? Leviticus gives you a good inkling how they were dispatched to God. “Heb 9:22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission”.
Lets face it, Old Yahweh was a keen connoisseur and enthusiast of blood letting ceremonies

 

[CHRISTINE77]

And how were the “first fruits” offered? Leviticus gives you a good inkling how they were dispatched to God. “Heb 9:22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission”.
Lets face it, Old Yahweh was a keen connoisseur and enthusiast of blood letting ceremonies

My point exactly. He seems to prefer blood to fruit.

 

[avflf]

My point exactly. He seems to prefer blood to fruit.

Not vegetarian, that’s for sure heh,heh,heh. Here’s what I wrote in my Bible

In the wide world and all alone
Our first parents had much to do;
They had to learn all sorts of things
And how to proliferate too.

The product of this new knowledge
Resulted in two bouncing boys,
Cain was born first, then came Abel, (a)
A prize every parent enjoys.

Cain, choosing to be a farmer,
Had to work hard with his hands
While Abel, a keeper of flocks,
Just watched them graze the lands. (b)

And when it came to ‘offerings’
God wasn’t happy with those of Cain; (c)
He rather enjoyed roasted lamb
And looked on bread with some disdain.

The older brother was livid,
As he felt this was most unfair,
So, when they were both in the field
Cain slew his brother, in despair. (d)

 

[CHRISTINE77]

Not vegetarian, that’s for sure heh,heh,heh. Here’s what I wrote in my Bible

In the wide world and all alone
Our first parents had much to do;
They had to learn all sorts of things
And how to proliferate too.

The product of this new knowledge
Resulted in two bouncing boys,
Cain was born first, then came Abel, (a)
A prize every parent enjoys.

Cain, choosing to be a farmer,
Had to work hard with his hands
While Abel, a keeper of flocks,
Just watched them graze the lands. (b)

And when it came to ‘offerings’
God wasn’t happy with those of Cain; (c)
He rather enjoyed roasted lamb
And looked on bread with some disdain.

The older brother was livid,
As he felt this was most unfair,
So, when they were both in the field
Cain slew his brother, in despair. (d)

I see you have an alphabet theme going on, is there more?. Nice poem by the way.

Seriously, I wonder why this is? I know we can read the bible on a number of levels. A little while ago there was an thread on Typology - that a lot of the Old Testament is full of types that are actually Christ. For example Abel was the a type of Christ, and even Abel’s sacrifice was a type of Christ. That kind of makes sense to me.

 

[ParkerD]

I see you have an alphabet theme going on, is there more?. Nice poem by the way.

Seriously, I wonder why this is? I know we can read the bible on a number of levels. A little while ago there was an thread on Typology - that a lot of the Old Testament is full of types that are actually Christ. For example Abel was the a type of Christ, and even Abel’s sacrifice was a type of Christ. That kind of makes sense to me.

Christine,
I hope you won’t mind my offering an opinion or two. I think your last statement was exactly correct. Abel may not have known totally why he was asked to sacrifice a lamb, but it is clear that such a sacrifice was a “type of Christ”. Christ was, of course, an unblemished Lamb who was the ultimate eternal sacrifice.

Cain seems to have done several wrong things from the outset of his trying to do what he himself thought was best rather than what he had been commanded. If we read 1 John 3:12 we find that something must be missing from the text in Genesis 4, since John writes “because his own (Cain’s) works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.”

We read in Genesis 4:7 “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?” So evidently Cain had not “done well” and the question is what had he not done well?

I think that it is pretty evident from the contrast and from the typology you noted, that God had commanded a sacrifice of a lamb to be a “type of Christ”, and instead Cain thought he would present something else as a sacrifice. (He could have traded his crops for a lamb.) We don’t know his motives, but God did and God said “if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.” Again, also look at 1 John 3:12.

One of the things that is clear to me in reading about Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel, is that God was at every moment a teacher, and wanted parents to also be teachers to their children, including teaching about the sacrifice the Son of God was going to make in their behalf, and to really learn to be grateful for that ultimate sacrifice. So when they obeyed the commandment to offer a sacrifice, they needed to put their whole soul into making the offering acceptable and righteous, by having the right motives within, and by teaching their children about why the law of sacrifice was important to them.

Thanks for the topic. It’s an interesting one.

 

[Rawb]

How I’ve heard it explained:

The wage of sin is death. Sin is so serious that the only thing that can cleanse us of it is the offering of life, to God. It’s just a rule of the universe, like the law of Gravity. Why God had to make it this way, or chose to make it this way, is a Mystery of His Will, but it is as it is. Suffering can help us to purge sin as well, but in a much smaller amount. This is why Catholics ‘offer it up’.

Now, the animals were imperfect sacrifices. The sacrifice of animals had to take place repeatedly. Christ was/is the perfect Sacrifice - His sacrifice was one time, and covers all sins for those willing to accept Him as their sacrifice.