An Offering for Sin

An important part of the law of Moses is the detailed instructions for different kinds of offerings or sacrifices. In the first seven chapters of Leviticus, we learn about how to perform the following:

1. Burnt offerings (olah: עֹלָה), in which the entire animal is consumed on the altar, representing ascension to heaven (Leviticus 1).
2. Meat offerings, also called grain offerings (minchah: מִנְחָה), consisting of unleavened bread or simply flour. They represent a recognition that God is the giver of the harvest (Leviticus 2).
3. Peace offerings (shelem: שֶׁלֶם) are partially burned on the altar, but most of the animal is eaten by the worshipper and the priest in a shared meal, representing communion with God and with each other (Leviticus 3). A peace offering can also be offered as a form of thanksgiving (Leviticus 7:12-15).
4. Sin offerings (chatta’ah: חַטָּאָה) are given when an individual or the entire congregation breaks one of God’s commandments inadvertently (Leviticus 4).
5. Trespass offerings (asham: אָשָׁם), given when a person has wronged someone else. In this case, a person makes restitution for the harm they have caused and then offers a sacrifice (Leviticus 5; 6).

Nephi tells us that his people kept the law of Moses (2 Nephi 25:24), which included offerings. At various points in his family’s journey, his father “built an altar of stones, and made an offering unto the Lord,” as an expression of gratitude (1 Nephi 2:7; 5:9; 7:22). When his descendant, King Benjamin, called all of the people together at the end of his life, “they also took of the firstlings of their flocks, that they might offer sacrifice and burnt offerings according to the law of Moses; And also that they might give thanks to the Lord their God” (Mosiah 2:3). After the death of Jesus, He instructed the people, “ye shall offer up unto me no more the shedding of blood; yea, your sacrifices and your burnt offerings shall be done away, for I will accept none of your sacrifices and your burnt offerings,” indicating that this was still a common practice among them (3 Nephi 9:19).

Abinadi explained that all of the “performances and ordinances” in the law of Moses were “types of things to come” (Mosiah 13:30-31). And Book of Mormon prophets used the practice of sacrifice to teach their people about the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

• Lehi said, “Redemption cometh in and through the Holy Messiah. … Behold, he offereth himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law” (2 Nephi 2:6-7).
• Abinadi quoted the following passage from Isaiah: “when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin he shall see his seed” (Mosiah 14:10; Isaiah 53:10).
• Alma contrasted the symbolic sacrifices in the law with the ultimate sacrifice of the Savior:

For it is expedient that there should be a great and last sacrifice; yea, not a sacrifice of man, neither of beast, neither of any manner of fowl; for it shall not be a human sacrifice; but it must be an infinite and eternal sacrifice. …

And behold, this is the whole meaning of the law, every whit pointing to that great and last sacrifice; and that great and last sacrifice will be the Son of God, yea, infinite and eternal.

Alma 34:10, 14

Another Book of Mormon prophet, Amaleki, described consecration in terms evocative of the first type of offering:

And now, my beloved brethren, I would that ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved.

Omni 1:26

So the sacrifices in the law of Moses were not only representative of the ultimate sacrifice the Son of God made to atone for our sins and transgressions. They were also a pattern for the life of discipleship and consecration we strive to live as we seek to grow closer to Him.

Today, I will remember the symbolism of the offerings specified in the law of Moses. I will be grateful for the ultimate sacrifice anticipated by all of these offerings. I will offer my mind and heart to God, living the consecration which those sacrifices represent.