There have been some great questions in the last couple of days. While it is difficult to read through all the offerings, sacrifices, rules, and regulations, you are reading them! And for that we praise God. Here are a few of the questions and some responses.

QUESTION: When it says a person was turned out of the community for not doing the offering correctly , where did they go and for how long did they have to stay away?

RESPONSE: There are probably some specific Scriptures that address how long they were to say away and where they went, but we can’t call them to mind. If someone else knows the answer, let us know.

QUESTIONS: Were all these offerings we have been reading this week for each individual person, man or woman if they needed to do a sin offering or other offering ? Or , was it for each tribe or household? With all the thousands of people and only one tent of meeting, how could this be done for each individual? The priests would be busy 24/7 and with one altar, it would take all night to burn the body of one bull or goat, etc. How did they do this?

QUESTIONS: The last few days my eyes keep crossing. It seems like I'm reading the same thing over and over and over again. For any sin at all--kill somebody--steal--work on the sabbath--sneeze wrong, they had to make some kind of animal sacrifice to atone for it. OK fine, but it doesn't end there. A sacrifice each day, each month and then several for the handful of feasts. Then wave offerings, peace offerings, free-will offering... All done with animal sacrifices. Then just for fun let throw in some grain offerings and drink offerings.

Our eyes were crossing too (well maybe not Phil's eyes). It does get rather repetitive doesn't it? And remember the Chronological Bible combines the books of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy when things overlap. So imagine reading each of those books separately. You are right about even the smallest sin had to be atoned for. There was a penalty to pay.

1.) How on earth did their flocks and herds not dwindle down to nothing with so many animals sacrificed? Especially those specifically one year old?

Quite possibly, God took care of that. Those animals probably reproduced in profusion. Remember God can supernaturally provide. Deuteronomy 29:

During the forty years that I led you through the desert, your clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet.

2.) How on earth did Aaron and his sons keep up with all this? I can just see in my brain the group of them having to quite literally set up an assembly line of animal sacrifices going thru the Tent of Meetings. How much of a mess it would have been to continually drop blood on the alter from all of those sacrifices. Not to mentions some of those animals are pretty darn big. Getting rid of the carcasses, the continual removal of the ashes. Continually replenishing the firewood for the fire. Seems as if they would be way busier than most of our mothers on Thanksgiving.

Again, God took care of dividing up the chores. Earlier Jethro, Moses' father-in-law suggested that Moses let others help him. He had many, many Levites to help him with the animal sacrifices.

Exo 18:24-26
And Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law, and did all that he had said. And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. And they judged the people at all times. The hard causes they brought to Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves.
It is almost unfathomable to picture the mess, the burning of the animals, keeping the firewood, etc. Only God could have miraculously provided for all this.

3.) I keep seeing the phrase "...an aroma pleasing to the Lord". Surely He doesn't mean burnt animal fat, right? Surely there's some other meaning here.

While the burning of animal fat may not be pleasing to us, it was to God. Another thing to consider here is that no matter what the smell, it was the obedience of the people in making the sacrifices that was pleasing to Him. Just as your statement "All I can say is THANK GOD FOR JESUS!!" was without a doubt pleasing to the Lord.

4.) Along the same lines, the phrase "...offering made to the Lord by fire". This phrase also seems ... unusual.

For whatever the reason, God wanted some of the offerings completely burned.

All I can say is THANK GOD FOR JESUS!! If I were held to the same standards as the Isrealites, I wouldn't have made it to 21 let alone 43.

Heads of households did the sacrifices for the entire family, so each individual person didn't necessarily offer an animal for each sin committed. Some of the sacrifices were to be done weekly and some monthly, while others were during the special feast days. One major thing to consider concerning all the animal sacrifices...just because God commanded that these sacrifices be done, doesn't mean that all the people obeyed and kept the letter of the law. Think about our world today. How many truly committed Christians are there, following Jesus completely, doing everything He commanded us to do? Things were pretty much the same then as they are now. So, percentage wise, maybe there weren't such long lines all day and all night to offer up these sacrifices.
Thanks for listening,

Thanks for asking!