312 - Studies In Old Testament Sacrifice

Studies In Old Testament Sacrifice
By Roland De Vaux
120 pp. Cardiff, University of Wales Press, 1964. 15s.

This volume is an expanded form of the four Elizabeth James Lectures which Père de Vaux gave at University College, Cardiff, in October, 1961. It is not "a complete and systematic study of Old Testament sacrifice and its place in the cult," but a study of the "origin, history, and religious significance of the different sacrifices prescribed by the Old Testament laws or practiced by the Israelites." Although most of the material in the book can be found in the author's Ancient Israel, Its Life and Institutions (New York, 1961), pp. 415-456, its value is greatly enhanced by the bibliographical references in the voluminous footnotes to source materials and pertinent literature on the problems discussed in the text.

Père de Vaux, who is director of the Dominican École Biblique in Jerusalem and editor of the famous Revue Biblique, deals specifically with the Passover, holocaust and communion sacrifices, human sacrifices in Israel, and expiatory sacrifices. He clearly shows that most of the rites of the Old Testament sacrifices were taken over from non-Israelite sources. The Passover sacrifice was an early Israelite rite which had close affinities with ancient Arab sacrifices. These similarities bear witness to a common origin and determine the primitive character of the Passover. According to the author, "it is a sacrifice of nomad or semi-nomad shepherds, offered for the good of the flock in spring, when goats and sheep drop their young, and when the journey to the summer pastures is undertaken" (p. 17). It is strange that when the fixed date of the Passover is discussed "as the fourteenth day of the first month of the year" (p. 12), no mention is made of a possible alternate date "in the second month on the fourteenth day" (Num. 9: 10-11; cf. II Chron. 30: 2).

313 - Studies In Old Testament Sacrifice

The evidence drawn from the Bible, the Ras Shamra texts, and Phoenician inscriptions indicates that the holocaust, that is, the whole burnt-offering, and the communion sacrifices, which in Israel included the thank-offering, the free-will offering, and the votive offering, were common to the Canaanites and Israelites alike, and that they were practiced among Moabites (cf. Num. 23; II Kings 3: 27) and Aramaeans of Damascus (cf. 11 Kings 5: 17), but were unknown in Mesopotamia and Arabia. The historical and moral character of Israel's religion modified these foreign cultic forms and gave them a new value: Passover became a memorial of the salvation of the people, and the holocaust and communion offerings, which were simply meals offered to a god in Canaanite religion, became for the Israelites expressions of complete dedication to God and joyful thanksgiving for his many mercies.

Child sacrifices to Moloch (cf. II Kings 16: 3 & 21: 6), which are severely condemned in Deuteronomy, Kings, and the prophetic literature, were illegitimately practiced in Jerusalem from the end of the eighth century to the beginning of the seventh century B.C. under the influence of Canaanite cults.

The expiatory sacrifices seem to have no parallels among the neighboring people of Israel. They arose as a result of the moralism of the Yahwistic faith and under the influence of the prophetic movement (cf. Is. 53: 10). The inner conviction that God alone could pardon the sinner who had transgressed the divine law came to be expressed in the rites of the expiatory sacrifices which were unique in Israel.

This clear, definitive study of the Old Testament sacrificial system not only helps us to understand this difficult aspect of Old Testament religion, but it gives us new insights into the nature of Christ's sacrifice on the cross and its meaning for us who share in his sufferings.

Charles T. Fritsch
Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton, New Jersey