The OT Sacrificial System, A Pattern of What Was To Come

Jesus celebrated the Passover with His disciples on the very night that he was betrayed by Judas, one of Jesus' own chosen disciples. The Gospel of John records one stirring event that night that has been imitated again and again by Christian communities as they remember and celebrate the Lord's Supper  in Holy Week. Jesus laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel wrapped around Him. This was, of course, the lowly task of a servant in the household of a great lord and certainly not the work of the Messianic King—or at least so the disciples thought.

Peter objected to what Jesus was doing, saying, "You shall never wash my feet."

Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.". . . And then he went on to explain, "You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. - John 13:8,13-16 ESV

The writer of Hebrews 8 uses this same word, example (hypodeigmä in Greek), to describe the entire Old Testament sacrificial system. He also calls it but a shadow (skia in Greek) of the heavenly things. God had given Moses specific instruction to make everything according to the pattern (typos in Greek) given to him. The tent had to be just so in size with a specific number of rooms. In each room certain specific objects were to be fashioned and placed. The high priest, in turn, was to be dressed in specific clothing and he had detailed instructions about how and when to carry out his duties.

The ministry or service that the high priest performed, says Hebrews, was not what goes on in heaven before God. All these rituals and sacrifices were but copies or shadows of what was to come when Christ, the true promised Messiah, came. They pointed forward to the substance or the living body and ministry of Christ (Col. 2:17). The entire law, Hebrews will go on to say, was but a shadow of the good things to come. It was not the true form (icon in Greek). 

In the next chapter he will use yet one more word to describe the various gifts and bloody sacrifices offered by the high priest for himself and the worshippers. He calls them all a parable ( parabolē in Greek) for that particular time, a period that came to an end when Christ, the true High Priest, fulfilled his duties upon the cross (John 19:30). 

So Hebrews practically exhausts the Greek language in order to point out that the whole sacrificial system, with the Tabernacle and later the Temple, the high priest and his helpers, the thousands of sacrifices of bulls, sheep and goats and all the various rituals—the entire system— was not and never was intended to be anything other than a . . . 

• shadow
• example
• copy
• pattern and
• parable

. . . of what was to come and what Christ completed once and for all in the presence of God, in the heavenly places. Watch how again and again the writer makes that point. In the words of Christ, "It is finished!" No more sacrifices, no more blood and no more death. It is over. The debts are paid. And what a comfort it is for all of us who put our faith and trust in Jesus, our true High Priest. 

We Need To Say Something About Pastoral Leadership

As I said in my earlier post, Jesus often taught through the use of mashal —Hebrew for parable, simile, etc. One such mashal is the parable of the Good Shepherd in John 10.

"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers." This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. - Jhn 10:1-6 ESV

In a variety of mashals in the O.T. the people of God are frequently compared to a flock of sheep led by both good and bad shepherds. In turn, the LORD is portrayed as Israel's rightful Shepherd.

• You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. - Psa 77:20 ESV

• Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock. You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth. - Psa 80:1 ESV

• For thus says the LORD: "Behold, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and I will bring distress on them, that they may feel it." Woe is me because of my hurt! My wound is grievous. But I said, "Truly this is an affliction, and I must bear it." My tent is destroyed, and all my cords are broken; my children have gone from me, and they are not; there is no one to spread my tent again and to set up my curtains. For the shepherds are stupid and do not inquire of the LORD; therefore they have not prospered, and all their flock is scattered. - Jer 10:18-21 ESV

• "For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD. ... And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the LORD; I have spoken. - Eze 34:11-15-24 ESV

• But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. - Mic 5:2-4 ESV

It is quite common among Christians to call their spiritual leaders pastors or shepherds. By this they mean to say that these men are under-shepherds of Jesus, the Good Shepherd. When Jesus first spoke this mashal to his opponents, especially the Pharisees, they did not understand what he was saying to them. Their presuppositions about Jesus completely prevented it. Above all, they could not even begin to imagine that he was the LORD Himself who had come among His sheep to rescue, gather and lead them.

All this compels me to explore in coming postings about spiritual leadership. What really is a pastor, a shepherd? What are his primary duties? And how may he prove himself to be a capable and responsible under-shepherd as he cares for some members of the LORD's flock assigned to him.

The Power Of Proverb And Parable

Do you enjoy proverbs? There are hundreds and hundreds. Samples:

• Every compliment is a facelift. 
• Look closely; beauty is within the detail. 
• Doubters ask questions believers have answered—unsatisfactorily
• Scared to death, rare; afraid to live, epidemic. 

The Bible, as you may know, has an entire book called Proverbs. It begins in this way:

The proverbs (Hebrew: mashal) of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel: To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth—Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles. - Pro 1:1-6 ESV

The Hebrew word for proverb is mashal. A mashal is an analogy, a byword, a taunt or word of derision (Isa. 14:3-4). It may also refer to a riddle or a parable. So Asaph speaks:

A Maskil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth! I will open my mouth in a parable (mashal); I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. - Psa 78:1-3 ESV

 Here is an example of an intriguing mashal as analogy from The Book of Proverbs.

There are three things which are too wonderful for me, four which I do not understand: the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a serpent on a rock, the way of a ship in the middle of the sea, and the way of a man with a young woman [b’almah]. This is the way of an adulterous woman: she eats and wipes her mouth, and says, “I have done no wrong.” - Proverbs 30:18-20

In the above three verses, King Solomon compares a man with an almah to three other things: an eagle in the sky, a serpent on a rock, and a ship in the sea. What do these three things all have in common? They leave no trace. After the eagle has flown across the sky, determining that the eagle had ever flown there is impossible. Once a snake has slithered over a rock, there is no way to discern that the snake had ever crossed there (as opposed to a snake slithering over sand or grass, where it leaves a trail). After a ship has moved across the sea, the water comes together behind it and there is no way to tell that a ship had ever passed through there. Similarly, King Solomon informs us that once a man has been with an almah there is also no trace of the fornication that had occurred between them. Therefore, in the following verse (verse 20) King Solomon explains that once this adulterous woman has eaten (a metaphor for her fornication), she removes the trace of her sexual activity by exclaiming, “I have done no wrong.”

This book of wisdom has several passages about the ways of prostitutes and adulterous women, all meant to warn young men about the dangers of these relationships. For instance, he uses the entire seventh chapter of Proverbs to warn them.

And now, O sons, listen to me, and be attentive to the words of my mouth. Let not your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her paths, for many a victim has she laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng. Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death. - Proverbs 7:24-27 ESV

A mashal may also be a story-parable. The best known, perhaps, is the one Nathan told King David when he confronted him about this very thing, his adulterous relationship with Bathsheba.

And the LORD sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, "There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him. Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him." - 2Sam 12:1-4 ESV

In this manner Nathan was able to say to David in a deeply meaningful way,"You are the man! . . . You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites" (2 Sam. 12:7-12).

Again and again the Lord Jesus taught in this mashal tradition, using metaphor, simile, comparison and parable. In my following postings I will meditate upon one of the most informative of Jesus' mashalim, the parable or mashal of the Good Shepherd in John 10:1-6, a mashal that he had to explain in detail because his disciples could not grasp its meaning.

Christmas Parable

December is such a busy month. There is so much going on that we are liable to forget that the season is all about a Child born into a wonderful family, sent by our heavenly Father to rescue us all from eternal death. What follows is a parable that I published a couple years back. I'd like to share it again. A parable is a short fictitious story that illustrates a moral attitude or a religious principle. This story is based upon a reported newspaper account.

Arlene and I are so excited about us finally being a family, not just a married couple. You will have to forgive me if I don't stop talking about Megan, our new baby daughter. There has never been a little girl more wonderful than her. I know, I know. I'm carrying on like a new daddy, but that's what I am and I can't stop bubbling and acting foolish. I brag about her whenever I have the chance.


A couple years ago Arlene and I argued endlessly about having children. She wanted a baby, but I felt it was too soon. "We’re young and I’m just getting a good footing in my career," I said. "There will be time later to have a family." 


When we had a family I wasn't going to do what my dad had done, abandon his kids. I reminded her that her boss recently gave her a nice raise and told her how proud he was of her performance. Why would she want to spoil all that by having a baby?


Besides we had big financial responsibilities. We had only moved into our new house. We had a hefty mortgage to pay. We also had two new car payments to make. "We need to wait for a few more years," I pleaded.


We went back and forth like that on the way to a party at George and Susan’s place. George and Susan are good friends of ours. We’re all part of a small Bible study group from our church. We get together nearly every week to study and share. This was our annual Christmas get-together.


In addition to the six regular couples, that night we had invited Jose and Maria, a young homeless couple our church has taken in. They’re from Columbia. Jose is a carpenter, but he had lost his job. Maria cleans houses. A month before she had given birth to their first child, a little boy they named Santiago.


George had picked them up for the party. They brought baby Santiago along, because they couldn’t afford a baby sitter. Maria had just nursed him so when they got there he was sound asleep. Susan told her to put her baby down on their bed in their master bedroom and turn out the lights. She left the door open and was sure they could hear if he cried.


Shortly after that the rest of us began to arrive, all at the same time. It was a very cold night. A “blue norther” had dropped the temperature down to around the twenty degree mark so we were all wearing our winter coats. Since we’d been to George and Susan’s house many times, when we came in we just threw our coats on their bed without bothering to turn on the lights. No one mentioned that the baby was also there.


We each put our pot-luck dishes in the kitchen and got to hugging and laughing, talking and visiting. We were especially interested in Jose and Maria. Bill said he knew a contractor who was interested in giving Jose a job. Jose was excited.


To put us in the mood, Susan led us in some Christmas carols and then said it was time to eat. Maria said she wanted to see how Santiago was doing before we ate. If he was awake she wanted to show him off. She went back to the bedroom, turned on the lights and immediately began screaming. I'll never forget the sound of her cries. I still hear them now two years later. “Oh Dios! Oh Dios! Mi niňo! Mi niňo!”


We all ran back to crowd into the room. She was sitting on the bed holding her baby. Tears were streaming down her face. He was all blue. He wasn’t breathing. We had suffocated him with our coats. 

Susan is a nurse. She tried to give Santiago artificial respiration, but it was no good. We drove Jose, Maria and Santiago to the ER, but it was all too late. Nothing could be done.


That was a very difficult Christmas for us. We were heartbroken. Susan was especially distraught because she had not warned us the baby was on her bed. It took many months for all of us to get past our guilt about baby Santiago. Our pastor worked with us. Jose and Maria took it especially hard. After about a year they were finally able to meet with all of us to tell us they knew it was an accident. No one was at fault. Baby Santiago was with Jesus. We must leave what happened in the hands of God.


That incident really got Arlene and me talking again about children and family and work and where our lives were going. We realized that all the talk about making money and having a big house was nowhere as important as we had made it out to be.


That’s when we decided to go ahead with having a baby. And that’s how we came to have little Megan. She’s such a precious gift from God and we're so humbled by her.


By the way, Jose did get that job. And just last week he and Maria told us they’re pregnant again.