REINTERPRETING PHYSICAL SACRIFICES AND OFFERINGS
Israel was especially zealous was in making sacrifices and offerings. Ancient Israel understood well that its covenant relationship with God and its righteousness depended on obedience to The Law of Moses which required blood sacrifices and various kinds of offerings. Many modern day Jews hold on to these laws as they wait for the temple to be rebuilt so that blood sacrifices can be renewed.
Most people do not live in agricultural societies that gives them ready access to animal sacrifices and burnt offerings which are the most visible and tangible features of worship. Therefore, they make their own logical attempts to understand the spirit of the law by assuming that money is the modern equivalent for blood sacrifices (e.g. oxen, cattle, sheep, goats, dove, pigeon, etc.) and agricultural offerings (e.g. grain, meal, flour, etc.). In their ignorance of the spirit of the law, they have replaced material Biblical sacrifices and offerings with another material offering: Money.
AUTHORS’ NOTE: See Religion is Commerce and its subordinate pages for a full discussion of the many ways money has become the standard for sacrifices, offerings, and worship.
In making these substitutions, people make the mistake of thinking that money is spiritual. It is not, of course, because money is a natural thing that can be seen and touched. In fact it is no more spiritual than sacrificial animals, grain or libations. By always focusing on natural sacrifices and offerings, religionists totally miss what God has in mind for spiritual sacrifices and offerings. They also violate other scriptures that warn about adding to or subtracting from scripture.
The only way to avoid these problems is to seek to understand the spiritual intent of the written word and resist trying to achieve righteousness by making physical offerings over and over again. We should learn this lesson from Jesus, who, as our High Priest, made a physical sacrifice only once and then sat down at the right hand of God.