1 And the Lord called Moses, and spoke to him from the tabernacle of the testimony, saying:2 Speak to the children of Israel, and you shall say to them: The man among you that shall offer to the Lord a sacrifice of the cattle, that is, offering victims of oxen and sheep,


Chapter 1 In this section it principally deals with the sacrifices being offered to the Lord, among which is the rules of a burnt-offering. (Nicholas of Lyra)

1:1 Lord called Moses: This was done in order to show that the laws of Moses was found by the following propositions, and were not laid down by man, but given by God. (Nicholas of Lyra)  God spoke not by the thoughts of the mind, but a sensible voice, that came forth from his tent, and informed him through an angel. (Cornelius a Lapide) from the tabernacle: that is to say, from the propitiatory, as mentioned in Exodus 31. (Hugh of St. Cher)  There are within the text, images, in which the figure of the mysteries of heaven and in the testimony of the things are yet to come. (Interlinear Gloss)

1:2 speak to the children of Israel: Note, he does three things here to Moses. Commands, predicts, and warns.  Of the sacrifices he gives this command to the letter, foretells of Christ, and reminds us of moral precepts. (Hugh of St. Cher)  children of Israel: That is everyone one of them, including the Levites.  Note, when the children of Israel are mentioned in Scripture, if its about a matter of the temporal, then the Levites are excluded, and if its concerning spiritual things then they are included, as is evident from Deut. 28:12, Apoc. 7:7,  where they are numbered among tribe of Levi and sealed by God: (Cornelius a Lapide) shall offer: Namely, out of pure devotion. (Nicholas of Lyra)  a sacrifice: Hebrew has corban, which word signifies any gift or an offering that was made to God, or of beasts, or of the old corn of the land. It retains the use of this word in the Gospel of Mark 7:11. (Jac Menochius)

3 If his offering be a holocaust, and of the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish, at the door of the testimony, to make the Lord favorable to him: 4 And he shall put his hand upon the head of the victim, and it shall be acceptable, and help to its expiation. 5 And he shall immolate the calf before the Lord, and the priests the sons of Aaron shall offer the blood thereof, pouring it round about the altar, which is before the door of the tabernacle. 6 And when they have flayed the victim, they shall cut the joints into pieces, 7 And shall put fire on the altar, having before laid in order a pile of wood: 8 And they shall lay the parts that are cut out in order thereupon, to wit, the head, and all things that cleave to the liver, 9 The entrails and feet being washed with water: and the priest shall burn them upon the altar for a holocaust, and a sweet savor to the Lord.

1:3 offering: He called some sacrifices "offering" because not imposed as a legal obligation but offered in a spirit of devotion. (Theodoret of Cyrus)  holocaust: It is a burnt sacrifice totally burned for honor. (Nicholas of Lyra) testimony: because the ark of the covenant, in which the contents of the table is called a testimony. (Nicholas of Lyra)  To make the Lord Favorable to him: The Septuagint has, on the contrary, "acceptable to the Lord", that is, before the Lord. (Hugh of St. Cher)  The result of the burnt offering was to worship and honor God, but not to appease him. (Jac Menochius)  the door: That is to say to the entrance of the court of the priests. (Cornelius a Lapide)  Symbolically Apostolic doctrine.  without blemish: For Jesus was made a curse, that he might deliver us from the curse of the Law. (Interlinear Gloss)

Allegorically, the first is a sacrifice of the calf, that is Christ.  The second is the herd, that is, of the stock of the patriarchs, who plow the land and tame their flesh by the Cross. (St. Isidore of Seville) 

1:4 On the victim the offerer placed his hands- his actions, as it were, since hands are suggestive of actions, and he was making the sacrifice on account of his actions. (Theodoret of Cyrus)  The very laying on of his hands shows that the power which he had in his sacrifice shall be presented to translate into another, he having the power, and the office of offering sacrifice.  help: that is, useful. (Hugh of St Cher)

1:5 he shall immolate: Not in and of itself, but the only ones who were able to offer sacrifice by the priests, so that even the incense burn, as is clear 10:1. (Jac Menochius) sons of Aaron: the younger under their father, for they were the priests who minister.  Therefore in the Hebrew, it is considered: the sons of Aaron, the priests. (Nicholas of Lyra)  Symbolically they are members of the priest of truth, that is, of Christ. shall offer of blood: For, as the Apostle says, Heb. 9:22, "without shedding of blood there is no remission." (Jac Menochius)  round about the alter: Namely, holocausts. (Hugh of St. Cher)  door: Allegorically, Christ is the door which bestows Apostolic teaching. (Hesychius of Jerusalem)

1:6 The skin was removed for the purity of the sacrifice and because the sacrifice was as the food of God; however the skin did not use to be eaten. This rite can signify that everything is nude in front of God. (Cornelius a Lapide)  Mystically, we strip the skin of the victim, when we remove from the eyes of the mind the overcast of virtue; and we ‘cut it in his pieces,’ when we minutely dissect its interior, and contemplate it piecemeal.  We must therefore be careful, that when we overcome our evil habits, we are not overthrown by our good ones running riot, lest they chance to run out loosely, lest being unheeded they be taken captive, lest from error they forsake the path, lest broken down by weariness they lose the meed of past labors. (St. Gregory the Great Moral on Job)

1:8 For it is clear that all of the flesh should be burnt in the holocaust. (Jac Menochius)

1:9 entrails and feet being washed: Because the intestines contain impurities, and feet trodden with dirt. (Nicholas of Lyra)  sweet savour to the Lord: Speaking after the manner of the flesh, as God is delighted with roasted fragrance. (Jac Menochius)

Symbolically, the intestines have foul dung, in which filthy imaginations are shown.  The feet which signify works, cannot be separated from worldly affairs. (Rabanus Maurus)

Burnt offering from the flock

10 And if the offering be of the hocks, a holocaust of sheep or of goats, he shall offer a male without blemish: 11 And he shall immolate it at the side of the altar that looks to the north, before the Lord: but the sons of Aaron shall pour the blood thereof upon the altar round about. 12 And they shall divide the joints, the head, and all that cleave to the liver: and shall lay them upon the wood, under which the fire is to be put: 13 But the entrails and the feet they shall wash with water. And the priest shall offer it all and burn it all upon the altar for a holocaust, and most sweet savor to the Lord.

1:10 be of the flock: He continues from the holocaust of the flock, where sometimes a lamb was offered, but a young goat was sometimes offered too, and it was done the same way as from the calf. (Hugh of St. Cher)  This is treated consequently of the burnt offering of the oblation of the smaller animals, which is noted by saying, of sheep or of the goats, etc. (Nicholas of Lyra)  Symbolically, the herd is strong works, the sheep is the simple life, the goats are penance for sins. (Rabanus Maurus)

1:11 he shall immolate it at the side of the altar: namely, that which was in the court of the burnt offering, in the open air. (Nicholas of Lyra)

1:13 most sweet savour to the Lord: See note for Lev. 1:9. Symbolically this is where the contemplative life and instruction begins. (Interlinear Gloss)

Burnt offering of a bird

14 But if the oblation of a holocaust to the Lord be of birds, of turtles, or of young pigeons, 15 The priest shall offer it at the altar: and twisting back the neck, and breaking the place of the wound, he shall make the blood run down upon the brim of the altar. 16 But the crop of the throat, and the feathers he shall cast beside the altar at the east side, in the place where the ashes are wont to be poured out, 17 And he shall break the pinions thereof, and shall not cut, nor divide it with a knife, and shall burn it upon the altar, putting fire under the wood. It is a holocaust and oblation of most sweet savor to the Lord.

1:14 As you can see, he required offerings commensurate with one's wealth... Even birds were offered in holocausts, since a life of perfection and wisdom is possible also for the poor. (Theodoret of Cyrus)  Among turtledoves the older ones are better than the young; while with doves the case is the reverse. Wherefore, as Rabbi Moses observes (Doct. Perplex. iii), turtledoves and young doves are commanded to be offered, because nothing should be offered to God but what is best. (St. Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologica)  Symbollically, the turtle is the flesh of Christ, according to the words of Solomon: "Thy cheeks are beautiful as the turtledove's (Ps 1:10)."  By dove this indicates the Holy Spirit, hence, "Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending as a dove, This is my Son (Jn 1:33)." (St. Isidore of Seville)

1:15 blood run down: That is to say, upon the top, so that it might run down onto the ground.  Hence, in the Hebrew it has "on the side of the altar." (Cornelius a Lapide)

1:17 holocaust and oblation: The Hebrew has "make red-hot", namely, igniting the offering, which is completely consumed with fire. (Jac Menochius)

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Whether a suitable cause can be assigned for the ceremonies which pertained to sacrifices?

On the contrary, It is written (Lev. 1:13): "The priest shall offer it all and burn it all upon the altar, for a holocaust, and most sweet savor to the Lord." Now according to Wis. 7:28, "God loves none but him that dwells with wisdom": whence it seems to follow that whatever is acceptable to God is wisely done. Therefore these ceremonies of the sacrifices were wisely done, as having reasonable causes.

I answer that, As stated above (A[2]), the ceremonies of the Old Law had a twofold cause, viz. a literal cause, according as they were intended for Divine worship; and a figurative or mystical cause, according as they were intended to foreshadow Christ: and on either hand the ceremonies pertaining to the sacrifices can be assigned to a fitting cause.

For, according as the ceremonies of the sacrifices were intended for the divine worship, the causes of the sacrifices can be taken in two ways. First, in so far as the sacrifice represented the directing of the mind to God, to which the offerer of the sacrifice was stimulated. Now in order to direct his mind to God aright, man must recognize that whatever he has is from God as from its first principle, and direct it to God as its last end. This was denoted in the offerings and sacrifices, by the fact that man offered some of his own belongings in honor of God, as though in recognition of his having received them from God, according to the saying of David (1 Paral. xxix, 14): "All things are Thine: and we have given Thee what we received of Thy hand." Wherefore in offering up sacrifices man made protestation that God is the first principle of the creation of all things, and their last end, to which all things must be directed. And since, for the human mind to be directed to God aright, it must recognize no first author of things other than God, nor place its end in any other; for this reason it was forbidden in the Law to offer sacrifice to any other but God, according to Ex. 22:20: "He that sacrifices to gods, shall be put to death, save only to the Lord." Wherefore another reasonable cause may be assigned to the ceremonies of the sacrifices, from the fact that thereby men were withdrawn from offering sacrifices to idols. Hence too it is that the precepts about the sacrifices were not given to the Jewish people until after they had fallen into idolatry, by worshiping the molten calf: as though those sacrifices were instituted, that the people, being ready to offer sacrifices, might offer those sacrifices to God rather than to idols. Thus it is written (Jer. 7:22): "I spake not to your fathers and I commanded them not, in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning the matter of burnt-offerings and sacrifices."

Now of all the gifts which God vouchsafed to mankind after they had fallen away by sin, the chief is that He gave His Son; wherefore it is written (Jn. 3:16): "God so loved the world, as to give His only-begotten Son; that whosoever believes in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting." Consequently the chief sacrifice is that whereby Christ Himself "delivered Himself . . . to God for an odor of sweetness" (Eph. 5:2). And for this reason all the other sacrifices of the Old Law were offered up in order to foreshadow this one individual and paramount sacrifice---the imperfect forecasting the perfect. Hence the Apostle says (Heb. 10:11) that the priest of the Old Law "often" offered "the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: but" Christ offered "one sacrifice for sins, for ever." And since the reason of the figure is taken from that which the figure represents, therefore the reasons of the figurative sacrifices of the Old Law should be taken from the true sacrifice of Christ.

Reply to Objection 1: God did not wish these sacrifices to be offered to Him on account of the things themselves that were offered, as though He stood in need of them: wherefore it is written (Is. 1:11): "I desire not holocausts of rams, and fat of fatlings, and blood of calves and lambs and buckgoats." But, as stated above, He wished them to be offered to Him, in order to prevent idolatry; in order to signify the right ordering of man's mind to God; and in order to represent the mystery of the Redemption of man by Christ.

Reply to Objection 2: In all the respects mentioned above (ad 1), there was a suitable reason for these animals, rather than others, being offered in sacrifice to God. First, in order to prevent idolatry. Because idolaters offered all other animals to their gods, or made use of them in their sorceries: while the Egyptians (among whom the people had been dwelling) considered it abominable to slay these animals, wherefore they used not to offer them in sacrifice to their gods. Hence it is written (Ex. 8:26): "We shall sacrifice the abominations of the Egyptians to the Lord our God." For they worshiped the sheep; they reverenced the ram (because demons appeared under the form thereof); while they employed oxen for agriculture, which was reckoned by them as something sacred.

Secondly, this was suitable for the aforesaid right ordering of man's mind to God: and in two ways. First, because it is chiefly by means of these animals that human life is sustained: and moreover they are most clean, and partake of a most clean food: whereas other animals are either wild, and not deputed to ordinary use among men: or, if they be tame, they have unclean food, as pigs and geese: and nothing but what is clean should be offered to God. These birds especially were offered in sacrifice because there were plenty of them in the land of promise. Secondly, because the sacrificing of these animals represented purity of heart. Because as the gloss says on Lev. 1, "We offer a calf, when we overcome the pride of the flesh; a lamb, when we restrain our unreasonable motions; a goat, when we conquer wantonness; a turtledove, when we keep chaste; unleavened bread, when we feast on the unleavened bread of sincerity." And it is evident that the dove denotes charity and simplicity of heart.

Thirdly, it was fitting that these animals should be offered, that they might foreshadow Christ. Because, as the gloss observes, "Christ is offered in the calf, to denote the strength of the cross; in the lamb, to signify His innocence; in the ram, to foreshadow His headship; and in the goat, to signify the likeness of 'sinful flesh' [*An allusion to Col. 2:11 (Textus Receptus)]. The turtledove and dove denoted the union of the two natures"; or else the turtledove signified chastity; while the dove was a figure of charity. "The wheat-flour foreshadowed the sprinkling of believers with the water of Baptism."

Reply to Objection 5: The animals which were offered in sacrifice were slain, because it is by being killed that they become useful to man, forasmuch as God gave them to man for food. Wherefore also they were burnt with fire: because it is by being cooked that they are made fit for human consumption. Moreover the slaying of the animals signified the destruction of sins: and also that man deserved death on account of his sins; as though those animals were slain in man's stead, in order to betoken the expiation of sins. Again the slaying of these animals signified the slaying of Christ.

Reply to Objection 6: The Law fixed the special manner of slaying the sacrificial animals in order to exclude other ways of killing, whereby idolaters sacrificed animals to idols. Or again, as Rabbi Moses says (Doct. Perplex. iii), "the Law chose that manner of slaying which was least painful to the slain animal." This excluded cruelty on the part of the offerers, and any mangling of the animals slain.