cheenc03a.pdf

SACRIFICE
similar instances have been adducer1 from the records
oi Assyrian kings (Shalmaneser, ,Vonolith, obv. 17).
The slaying of .*gag, whom Samuel hewed in pieces
before Yahwe in Giigal (I S. has sometimes been
regarded as a sacrifice of this kind ; 1 but it is doubtful
whether this interpretation is correct (see below, 5 13
end).
The many accounts of sacrifices in the hooks of
Samuel and Kingr are in large part taken from old
and good sources, and give us comg.
In
paratively full and trustworthy informa-
'OUrCeL
tlon for the period which they cover.
By their side we may place the similar dercriptionr in
Tudees. and in the ~atriarchal stom ar narrated by T
&d" E (rg, Gen. i57 8). The.laws in the same
sources (especially in Ex. 34 and 21-23) dealing with
feasts and offerines. with the other-not inconriderable-remains
of early collections of law p~eserved
in Dr. and H, represent the usage of Israelite and
Judzan sanctuaries in the time of the kings ; the condemnation
of many customs in the reform legislation
of the seventh century bears witness to the prevalence
of the practices so zealously prohibited. The prophets.
fimlly, paint vivid pictures of the religion of their contemporaries,
with all its abuses.
The regions E. of the Jordan first occupied by
Israelite tribes are capable of supporting .. enornlour
~
flocks upon their rich nnd extensive
ciaiaation, pastures2 Much of the land is very
fertile and abundantly rewards cultivation
; but the conditions do not constrain nomadic
tribes taking possession of the country to become
tillers of the roil. The case was different in Western
Palestine. In the S. indeed. in the Negeb and the
Wilderness of Judah, the nrw comers continued to be
chiefly shepherds even after they adopted fixed habitations
; but in the central highlands (hlt. Ephraim) and
in the N. they were soon compelled to get most of their
living from the roil. They learned from the older
population of the country to raise ciopr of grain and
pulse and to cultivate the fig, the olive, and the vine.
With the arts of agriculture they learned also the
religion of agriculture. To the sacrifices and festivals
of their nomadic forefathers were now added the proper
offerings for the bounty of the land and the season
feasts of the husbandman's year (see FEASTS, $5 4/).
Animal sacrifice is still the most important part of
worship, as we see clearly from the historical books ;
neat rattle, kept as plough-beasts, are added to the
victims from the flock.3 First-fruits or tithes of grain
and ~ ine and oil must be consecrated in therr season
according to an established ritual. The worship was
offered at the 'high placer.' that is, in general, the old
Canaanite holy placer (see HIGH PLACE, 55 2-4).
The most general term for offering, whether of
animals or of other things, is rninhdh, qj~, 'gift'
11, Species (Q bDpov, more frequently duola), a word
of sacfice : "01 confined to religious uses.4 In dis~
tinction from other specifically
named-such as 'dlih, ~66a&-rninhEh
sometimes refers particularly to oblations of bread,
meal, oil. and the like (see 3 ~q).-nimal sacrifices
fall into two main classes : 'dlah, EV 'burnt offering,'
in which the victim was all consumed by fire; and
.&ah. EV ordinarily iracrifice,' in which. after the
e.rfa had been burnt upon the alw, the Herhwas eaten.
There species are often enumerated together, as in Jer.
17x6: 'they shall come . . . bringing burnt offerings
ritual see below, B 2,
SACRIFICE
and sacrifices and oblations and frankincense . . . unto
the house of Yahrh.'
The Heb. dboh, n?!,
i.0rdinrrily rendered in@ by hria,the
The occasions of sacrifice were of differem kinds isce
above, g 2, and below, $5 15). a"d distinctive nnmes
for some of them were proballiy early in use ; peculiaritier
of ritual, too, nb doubt belonged to certain varieties
of sacrifice, as to the Passover or the covenant sacrifice
(cp Gen. 1598 Jer. 3413 f ), but, however ancirnt
the custom itself may be, our knowledge of the details
of the sacrificial ritual comer chiefiy through later
sources. For this reason, as well as to avoid repetition.
the species of sacrifice and their characteristic rites will
be considered below in their place in the completed
systen, (g 23s).
One term is, however, so certainly old and so frequent that it
-.not be parred over here ; riz. s1m. n>t (A*. 5 94, g.n.r.
any PI. i$/enrfnr (EV 'peacF off.ringr'). I" many parsger
iZ/