We are in chapter one of Leviticus with our word for today. שָׁחַט slaughter, slay, kill. It is used 80 times in the Old Testament, 2 times in our chapter. We find our word used for the purpose of eating animals. 1 Samuel 14:31-32, 34 They struck down the Philistines ... the people were very faint. The people pounced on the spoil and took sheep and oxen and calves וַיִּשְׁחֲטוּ and slaughtered them on the ground … And Saul said, “Disperse yourselves among the people and say to them, ‘Let every man bring his ox or his sheep וּשְׁחַטְתֶּ֤ם and slaughter them here and eat.’” So every one of the people brought his ox with him that night וַיִּשְׁחֲטוּ and they slaughtered them there. We also see our word used in the sense to kill a large number of people indiscriminately (Jeremiah 52:10). Most of the time our word is used for the purpose to offer as a sacrifice to God with almost all of these found in the book of Leviticus. A good example is in chapter 9 where we find our word used for the sin offering, burnt offering and peace offerings (Leviticus 9:8, 12, 15, 18). This is how our word is used twice in our chapter today. Leviticus 1:4-5 He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. וְשָׁחַ֛ט Then he shall kill the bull before the Lord, and Aaron's sons the priests shall bring the blood and throw the blood against the sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting … If his gift for a burnt offering is from the flock, from the sheep or goats, he shall bring a male without blemish, וְשָׁחַ֨ט and he shall kill it on the north side of the altar before the Lord, and Aaron's sons the priests shall throw its blood against the sides of the altar. What I find interesting is that the people who bring their animal to be sacrificed are the ones who are to kill it. This would make worship a very memorable experience. The priests would then do the rest so that the worship was done according to God’s direction. Another thing I find interesting is that God has always condemned the practice of offering children as a sacrifice. Isaiah 57:4-5 Are you not children of transgression, the offspring of deceit, you who burn with lust among the oaks, under every green tree, who שֹׁחֲטֵ֤י slaughter your children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks? Ezekiel 16:20-21 And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your whorings so small a matter that you וַֽתִּשְׁחֲטִ֖י slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them? Ezekiel 23:36-39 Declare to them their abominations. For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. With their idols they have committed adultery, and they have even offered up to them for food the children whom they had borne to me. Moreover, this they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and profaned my Sabbaths. וּֽבְשַׁחֲטָ֤ם For when they had slaughtered their children in sacrifice to their idols, on the same day they came into my sanctuary to profane it. Notice that this practice was done as part of idol worship. It was something that the true God despised because of his love for people. What is interesting is that what he didn’t require of people he himself did by sending his son to be killed and become the sacrifice for our sins. I’ll close with these great reminders. 1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit. Hebrews 10:10, 12-13 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all … But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.
