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Burnt offerings

Posted by ESC on December 16, 2001 at

In Reply to: Burnt offerings posted by Paul Taylor on December 16, 2001

: Can anyone tell me where the term "burnt oferings" originated. Im sure it is either Biblical or Shakespearean.

Everything is either from Shakespeare, the Bible, or nautical. This one is from the Bible.

SACRIFICE - "An offering to a deity of animal or vegetable life or of food, drink, incense, etc. The offering of one's possessions in sacrifice to a deity or deities was common to virtually all ancient societies.The Israelite sacrificial system contained five main sacrifices. The burnt-offering was a public ceremony, performed each morning and evening, with special offerings on the Sabbath and various other religious holidays. In this ceremony, the offered animal, always an unblemished male, was completely burned, nothing being left for the priests or the worshipper who provided the sacrifice."

Other offerings were the meal offering, or cereal-offering, where a portion was mixed with oil and frankincense and offered in the fire, the rest going for the priests' consumption; the peace-offering, where only the fat of the entrails, the kidneys, an a portion of the liver were burnt and the remainder was divided between the priests and the family of the offerer; the sin-offering, for sins committed unknowingly, the fat of the entrails, the kidneys, and the appendage of the liver burnt and the remainder eaten; and the guilt offering, made in atonement for sins, which not always unwitting, seem to be restricted to a certain class of sins, such as failure to testify on some matter before the courts, accidentally touching some unclean thing, neglecting to pay religious taxes or failure to return borrowed property.

From the "Layman's Bible Encyclopedia" by William C. Martin, M.A., B.D., (The Southwest Co., Nashville, Tenn., 1964)

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