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built, as well as accommodations for the priests and Levites. This tract of land is referred
to as “the holy oblation” (Ezek. 48:20;
RSV
, “holy portion”), since it belongs to God just
as much as the
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which was given to Him as a sacrifice.
%
(
, 7133), “offering; oblation; sacrifice.”
+
is found in various
Semitic languages and is derived from the verb “to come/ bring near.” It is found in
ancient Akkadian in the sense of “a present,” while a form of the verb is found in Ugaritic
to refer to the offering of a sacrifice. Found throughout the history of Hebrew, in late or
modern Hebrew it is used in the sense of “offering” and “consecration.” In the
Septuagint, it is often rendered as “gift.”
While the root, “to come/bring near,” is found literally hundreds of times in the Old
Testament, the derived noun
%
occurs only about 80 times. All but two of the
occurrences in the Old Testament are found in the books of Numbers and Leviticus. The
two exceptions are in Ezekiel (20:28; 40:43), a book which has a great concern for ritual.
The word occurs for the first time in Lev. 1:2.
+
may be translated as “that which one brings near to God or the altar.” It is not
surprising, then, that the word is used as a general term for all sacrifices, whether animal
or vegetable. The very first reference to “sacrifice” in Leviticus is to the
%
as a
burnt “offering”: “If any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord, ye shall bring your
offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock. If his offering be a burnt sacrifice
…” (Lev. 1:2-3; cf. Lev. 1:10; 3:2, 6; 4:23). The first reference to
%
as a “meat
[cereal] offering” is in Lev. 2:1: “And when any will offer a meat offering unto the Lord,
his offering shall be of fine flour.…”
What is perhaps the best concentration of examples of the use of
%
is Numbers
7. In this one chapter, the word is used some 28 times, referring to all kinds of animal and
meat [cereal] offerings, but with special attention to the various silver and gold vessels
which were offered to the sanctuary. For example, Eliab’s “offering was one silver
charger, the weight whereof was a hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy
shekels, … both of them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meat offering; One
golden spoon of ten shekels, full of incense; One young bullock, one ram, one lamb of
the first year, for a burnt offering” (Num. 7:25-27).
In the two uses found in Ezekiel, both are in the general sense of “offering.” In Ezek.
20:28 the word refers to the pagan “provocation of their offering” which apostate Israel
gave to other gods, while in Ezek. 40:43,
%
refers to regular animal sacrifices.
%$
(
, 7133), “wood offering.”
+$
is closely related to
%
, and it is
found in Neh. 10:34; 13:31. Here it refers to the “wood offering” which was to be
provided for the burning of the sacrifices in the Second Temple. Lots were to be cast
among the people, priests, and Levites to determine who would bring in the “wood
offering” or fuel at the scheduled times throughout the year.
(
, 5930), “whole burnt offering.” This word has cognates in late and
biblical Aramaic. It occurs about 280 times in biblical Hebrew and at all periods.
In its first biblical occurrence
identifies a kind of “offering” presented to God:
“And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every