TODAY IN THE WORD
In the fifteenth century, the Aztec people practiced human sacrifice on an unprecedented scale. They believed that human sacrifices were necessary to fuel the sun, and that without such sacrifices the forces of darkness would overpower their sun god, Huitzilopochtli.

The Aztecs mostly sacrificed prisoners of war, which led to continuous conflicts with neighboring peoples. Thousands of enemy prisoners might be killed in a single day!

Outside of God’s truth, the idea of sacrifice inevitably goes terribly wrong. But inside the Mosaic Law, animal sacrifices showed an awareness of sin and a truly repentant heart before the one true God.

Today’s reading describes the sin offering, a mandatory offering for unintentional sin, which is sometimes understood as sins of weakness, carelessness, or omission. Four examples are given at the start of chapter 5, including thoughtless oaths. Once a person became aware of such a sin, he demonstrated his penitent heart by bringing a sin offering. To offer it was to confess sin and seek forgiveness or purification, thus restoring fellowship with God.

The priests sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice seven times because seven was the number of perfection or completeness. Putting the blood on the horns of the altar also pointed to atonement or cleansing from sin–God’s perfect forgiveness. The different animals in the passage go along with social roles or wealth. For example, a male goat was expected from a leader, but only flour from a very poor person. Sin offerings for priests and the community were handled more seriously, and had to be burned outside the camp, while sin offerings for leaders and other private persons could be eaten by the priests as usual.

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TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Given our devotional’s topic, today might be a good day for an extended time of personal confession. Begin with the words of David: “O Lord, be gracious to me; Heal my soul, for I have sinned against Thee” (Ps. 41:4, NASB).

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