There are three types of holocaust.
With a lowercase ‘h,’ the word holocaust refers to the sacrifice of an animal (or otherwise) that is completely burnt to ash.
hólos, “whole” + kaustós, “burnt” = holocaust. The burnt whole.
This is different than a sacrifice that results in a communal meal. In the Old Testament, there were many times that a sacrifice would result in a meal for the priests. But other times, they are instructed to have a ‘burnt offering,’ or a korban, which is something totally and utterly devoted to the Lord.
In the second century BC, Antiochus IV Epiphanes broke into the temple in Jerusalem and erected The Altar of Holocausts, and the fact that there are no hardcore bands with that name is a shame.
On it, AIVE burnt a bunch of pigs, which were unclean animals to the Jewish people. This was like spitting in the face of the Jews. In Daniel, Matthew, and Mark, this is referred to as ‘the abomination of desolation.’
Researching all of this for a sermon on Sunday led me to reflect on the nature of sacrifices and what their true purpose is/should be.
Years ago, when I first learned that the priests ate many of the sacrificed animals, I thought What the heck, that’s not really a sacrifice then! They still got to eat it!
But let’s think about this for a second: First, the animals would come from a tribe other than the Levites, who didn’t own any land or crops or animals. It was a sacrifice from someone else in the community to support the priests.
And second, think about how much more conscientious the priests would be as they consumed that meal. Imagine sitting down to eat food after going through laborious ritual to remind yourself that this food is first and foremost God’s food, and you’re simply benefitting from it with your life.
Your entire being and sustenance comes from God.
Imagine how much more aware of that fact you’d be while eating a sacrificed bull.
Now, it’s the holocaust I have more problems understanding. Why would God want us to waste a perfectly good animal?
At worst, this seems like a foolish superstition. Ward off the anger of the gods by sacrificing perfectly good animals. The technical term for this is a apotropaic magic, or rituals done to ward off evil or wrath. Which really is the heart of superstition. Do some random thing so that bad things don’t happen to you.
Burning up entire herds of animals seems like a superstitious waste: they don’t nourish anyone or anything; they don’t contribute to the life of the world. And perhaps this is why God doesn’t demand korbans from us anymore.
But then I realized that, this is only a waste if God is not real.
Throughout the Bible, we are told that the scent of sacrifice (which to us would smell like blood and death and rot) is an aroma to God’s nostrils. When we give something of value up to God, it is not wasted because it is bringing joy to God.
It is showing Him that we trust Him enough to have an abundance mindset over a scarcity one. If we were scared of running out of food — as the ancient Israelites often were when they stocked up on manna — then we would inherently be saying we don’t trust God enough to provide for us.
But to sacrifice good animals, reducing them to ash, shows that we are not scared of running out of food because we believe in a God of abundance. He hasn’t let us starve yet, and He won’t in the future.
A holocaust is an act of faith.
There are two types of animal holocausts: One is terrified of an angry God, so it superstitiously burns up good animals to ward off bad luck. The other is an act of gratitude, faith, and abundance.
But what about in the New Testament, where Paul says to give ourselves as a burnt offering to God?
What if we are the holocaust?
What if we are to be the ‘burnt whole’?
I struggle with making metaphorical, or ancient symbolism tangible in my own life. I don’t know how to give myself to God fully, as a burnt sacrifice.
But I know it involves giving up my own desires and letting them be replaced by what God wants for me.
I think it includes trusting that my life will bring sustenance to others, the same way the bulls of the Old Testament gave their lives to sustain the priests who ate them.
It means that I, myself, will need to make sacrifices of certain things, and let go of a scarcity mindset. (Just to steer us clear of any sort of prosperity theology, this doesn’t mean that I expect riches and profit in and of myself, but that I believe in a God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills and He will take care of me.)
And it takes trust to believe that when I do this, it will not be wasted.
The burning of my whole self will hurt, and it will take a lifetime to burn me down to an ash, but it will be worth it, if God is real, and good, and a God of Abundance.
The Holocaust of God
The last type of holocaust is the holocaust of God (another metal band name?). What are we to do with a God who gave Himself as the totally consumed sacrifice? In what category does that God fit?
The ancient view of the gods were as angry and superstitious: Give to them to avoid the bad things. But the view of God presented in Jesus is this: A God who gives Himself to the people to avoid the bad things. That’s ridiculous.
God has become the holocaust for God’s people: A sacrifice that was totally destroyed in order to give to them a future.
So it’s to this type of God that we should be able to give everything.
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Day 17 of 100 blogs