What the Sacrifices of the OT Teach Us

The Ceremonial Law, pt. 1

INTRODUCTION

Many of you really loved the stream with Gideon and Hasan from last week on the “older brother” and Genesis...I am going to do a bit of a “part 2” on Exodus/Leviticus focusing on the sacrificial system for Thanksgiving week.

I will be posting a bunch of my notes on Substack over the next week, so be sure to become a subscriber on substack and subscribe/hit the notification bell on YouTube so you don’t miss it!

Parts of this series will be behind a paywall, which you can subscribe to here.

OVERVIEW

St. Thomas distinguishes the ceremonies of the old law into four categories: sacrifices, sacred things, sacraments, and observances.

When we look at the worship of the Old Law, we can consider “the worship itself, the worshippers, and the instruments of worship.” (ST.I-II.Q101.A4) The worship itself consists in the sacrifices, i.e., “those things which were immolated to God.” (Col.C2.L4.n118) The instruments of worship are the sacred things (e.g., the tabernacle, vessels, temple, etc.), which also includes religious festivals. The worshippers can either be considered in the preparation of the person for worship or the mode of life that distinguishes them from those who do not worship God. In the first case, there are the sacraments which consecrated them to the worship of God. There are three sacraments of the Old Law, the Paschal Lamb, Circumcision, and the Sacrament of Orders In the second case, there are the observances that set them apart from the nations who did not worship God, i.e., “the unique customs in the life of the people of Israel, things such as food, clothing and the like.” (ibid.)

THE LITERAL VS. FIGURATIVE CAUSE OF THE CEREMONIES

According to St. Thomas, the ceremonies of the Old Law had a two-fold function. First, there is a certain “literal” cause of the ceremonies. This was to actually engage in the worship that is due to God, “in respect of the Divine worship which was to be observed for that particular time: and these reasons are literal: whether they refer to the shunning of idolatry; or recall certain Divine benefits; or remind men of the Divine excellence; or point out the disposition of mind which was then required in those who worshipped God.” (ST.I-II.Q102.A2)

Second, there are “figurative” causes to the ceremonies of the Old Law. These ceremonies were meant to foreshadow something, whether of Christ (allegorical), morals, or heaven (anagogical).

While it may not be immediately apparent, this division is quite useful for Catholic theology. Hence, when considering the literal casues for the institution of the different ceremonies in the Old Law, we can actually learn about the nature of the worship of God. As an example, by looking at the four kinds of sacrifice, we are able to discover the four ends of sacrifice, i.e., adoration (holocaust), propitiation (sin-offering), thanksgiving (thanksgiving offering), and impetration (votive-offering), along with their relative value. These arguments can be of demonstrative value in theology, whereas the figurative causes of the sacraments derive their demonstrative value only from some other source, e.g., if the new testament, tradition, etc., explains the figure.

THE SACRIFICES

Here, we can ask a number of different questions about the sacrifices of the old covenant,

1. What is a sacrifice?

2. What is the cause of the sacrifice?

3. Were these sacrifices pleasing to God?

4. What were the kinds of sacrifices?

5. What was sacrificed?

6. How was the sacrifice done?

7. What was eaten after the sacrifice?