Have the Rules for Worshipping God Changed?

The Location of Sacrifices

Leviticus 17:1-9

These first nine verses contain instructions that all sacrifices must be brought “to the doorway of the tent of meeting to present (them) as offering(s) to the Lord before the tabernacle of the Lord.” (verse 4) They are no longer to be made in the open fields (verse 5). Nor are they to made as sacrifices “to the goat demons with which (those who sacrifice) play the harlot.” (verse 7) This also applied to strangers sojourning with then (verse 8). And all this was to be on penalty of being “cut off from (God’s) people.” (verse 9)

Thoughts on the Passage

This is day seven in self-quarantine due to the Coronavirus social distancing guidelines the governments have place on us. I must admit there is something to be gained from such a requirement. It allows time for reflection and some rest. And more time in the Word.

Some very interesting requirements here that we need to consider with respect to our own offerings to God. While we no longer sacrifice animals, the instructions God gave to Moses for the sacrifice of animals have some general principles that are transferable to our sacrificing of ourselves and our service for God and for the offering of our tithes and gifts to God.

There is something to be said for our offerings to be presented to God in His house of worship – for us, the local church. Clearly, we are not, however, as Matthew Henry will show us below, to limit our commitment of service and sacrifice to God only in His house today.

But I remember growing up learning that there are two schools of thought among pastors as to where one’s tithe and offerings should go. One school of thought was that everything goes to the local church and we are to trust them to distribute as the Church Body around the world needs it. That it, you don’t give to missionaries unless they are supported by your local church. The other school of thought is that giving of tithes and offerings can be made to the Church Body directly based on the needs God has shown you in your heart, but without neglecting the needs of your local church. Some have tried to find a compromise in saying that Scripture elsewhere (Malachi 3:10) requires that the “tithe” in its entirety go to the local church, and ones “offerings” (over and above the tithe) can go either to the local church or as God directs you worldwide. We’ll let you solve that one for yourself.  Personally, I follow the second school of thought with no compromise needed.

Another point of interest in this passage is that if the men of Israel did not sacrifice properly, they were to be “cut off” from the people.  Chuck Smith says the key thing here is that when we are sacrificing, we need to realize it is part of our relationship with God. We are not just to do it ‘on the side’ so to speak, or out of habit. It is a conscious decision each time to give our service and our/or our tithes and offerings to Him. So, we go to His house to do it.  That takes effort.  But we need that fellowship with Him and with others who are doing the same.

David Guzik gives us some background when he writes:

In the pagan world at that time, it was customary to offer sacrifice wherever one pleased. Altars were customarily built on high hills, in forested areas, or at other special places. . . .Yet now with a centralized place of worship, the Israelites were not allowed to offer any way they pleased – they had to come to the tabernacle and have their sacrifice administered by the priests.

There was a spiritual reality behind the pagan gods, but the reality was really demonic. In sacrificing to Baal, Ashtoreth, and others, they really worshipped demons. Paul says essentially the same thing in I Corinthians 10:20-21:

Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and the table of demons.

There is a sense in which all worship that is not directed to God is directed to the devil and his demons. 

Guzik goes on to say that the demonic background to sacrifice justified the severe punishment of being ‘cut off’ from the people in response to open idolatry

Robert Jamieson, in his commentary, sheds more light on the passage.  First, he indicates that there is a sufficient case to believe that the “they” in verse 5 referring to those sacrificing in the field really referred to the Egyptians, and thus to those Israelites that kept on to the Egyptian way of sacrificing.

The reference (in verse 7) to they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto ‘devils’ he says is literally, "goats." He continues:

The prohibition evidently alludes to the worship of the “hirei-footed” kind, such as Pan, Faunus, and Saturn, whose recognized symbol was a goat. This was a form of idolatry enthusiastically practised by the Egyptians, particularly in the nome or province of Mendes. Pan was supposed especially to preside over mountainous and desert regions, and it was while they were in the wilderness that the Israelites seem to have been powerfully influenced by a feeling to propitiate this idol. Moreover, the ceremonies observed in this idolatrous worship were extremely licentious and obscene, and the gross impurity of the rites gives great point and significance to the expression of Moses, "they have gone a-whoring."

Finally, Matthew Henry, takes all these thoughts about location, etc. and sets us straight with respect to what they mean for us when he writes:

It is certain that the spiritual sacrifices we are now to offer are not confined to any one place. Our Saviour has made this clear (John 4:21), and the apostle (I Timothy 2:8), according to the prophecy, that in every place incense should be offered, (Malachi 1:11). We have now no temple nor altar that sanctifies the gift, nor does the gospel unity lie in one place, but in one heart, and the unity of the spirit.

Christ is our altar, and the true tabernacle (Hebrews 8:2; 13:10); in him God dwells among us, and it is in him that our sacrifices are acceptable to God, and in him only, I Peter 2:5. To set up other mediators, or other altars, or other expiatory sacrifices, is, in effect, to set up other gods. He is the centre of unity, in whom all God's Israel meet.

Yet we are to have respect to the public worship of God, not forsaking the assemblies of his people, Hebrews 10:25. The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob, and so should we; see Ezekiel 20:40. Though God will graciously accept our family offerings, we must not therefore neglect the door of the tabernacle.

You have to love Henry. So, there you have it – from what God told the Israelites all the way to what God is telling us today. May you worship and sacrifice in a way acceptable to Him.  Take this time of self-isolation due to the coronavirus to worship him alone, or with your loved ones; but when it’s over add the worship of God in the presence of the saints in your local church to your spiritual agenda.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.