Burnt Offering or Sacrifice

Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:

The offering which was wholly consumed by fire. For ceremonies (Lev. 8; 9; 14; 29).

Concise Bible Dictionary:

See OFFERINGS.

From Manners and Customs of the Bible:

The different victims for the burnt offering were bullocks, sheep, goats, turtle doves, and young pigeons. The person making this voluntary offering, when he offered a bullock, put his hand on the victim’s head, and then slew the animal. The priests took the blood and sprinkled it all around the great altar. In Solomon’s Temple there was a red line half way up the sides of the great altar; some of the blood was sprinkled above and some below this line. See Lightfoot, Works, (Ed. Pitman,) 9:75. After the blood was sprinkled the person offering flayed the animal and cut him in pieces. In after times the priests and Levites sometimes did this (2 Chron. 29:3434But the priests were too few, so that they could not flay all the burnt offerings: wherefore their brethren the Levites did help them, till the work was ended, and until the other priests had sanctified themselves: for the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests. (2 Chronicles 29:34)). The entire offering was then burnt by the priests. If the offering consisted of a goat, a sheep, or fowls, the ceremony was slightly changed.
The burnt offering was the only offering that was entirely burnt. Thus it is sometimes called the “whole” burnt offering (Deut. 33:1010They shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law: they shall put incense before thee, and whole burnt sacrifice upon thine altar. (Deuteronomy 33:10); Psa. 51:1919Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar. (Psalm 51:19)). The burning was to be so gradual that it should last from morning to evening, or from one daily sacrifice to the next. It was commanded that the fire on the altar should never go out.
The burnt offering is described in detail in Leviticus 1:1-17; 6:8-131And the Lord called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying, 2Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock. 3If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord. 4And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. 5And he shall kill the bullock before the Lord: and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 6And he shall flay the burnt offering, and cut it into his pieces. 7And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and lay the wood in order upon the fire: 8And the priests, Aaron's sons, shall lay the parts, the head, and the fat, in order upon the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar: 9But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the Lord. 10And if his offering be of the flocks, namely, of the sheep, or of the goats, for a burnt sacrifice; he shall bring it a male without blemish. 11And he shall kill it on the side of the altar northward before the Lord: and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall sprinkle his blood round about upon the altar. 12And he shall cut it into his pieces, with his head and his fat: and the priest shall lay them in order on the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar: 13But he shall wash the inwards and the legs with water: and the priest shall bring it all, and burn it upon the altar: it is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the Lord. 14And if the burnt sacrifice for his offering to the Lord be of fowls, then he shall bring his offering of turtledoves, or of young pigeons. 15And the priest shall bring it unto the altar, and wring off his head, and burn it on the altar; and the blood thereof shall be wrung out at the side of the altar: 16And he shall pluck away his crop with his feathers, and cast it beside the altar on the east part, by the place of the ashes: 17And he shall cleave it with the wings thereof, but shall not divide it asunder: and the priest shall burn it upon the altar, upon the wood that is upon the fire: it is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the Lord. (Leviticus 1:1‑17)
8And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 9Command Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the burnt offering: It is the burnt offering, because of the burning upon the altar all night unto the morning, and the fire of the altar shall be burning in it. 10And the priest shall put on his linen garment, and his linen breeches shall he put upon his flesh, and take up the ashes which the fire hath consumed with the burnt offering on the altar, and he shall put them beside the altar. 11And he shall put off his garments, and put on other garments, and carry forth the ashes without the camp unto a clean place. 12And the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it; it shall not be put out: and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering in order upon it; and he shall burn thereon the fat of the peace offerings. 13The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out. (Leviticus 6:8‑13).
The design of the burnt offering is not clearly stated in the Bible, and learned Jews differ in reference to it; some affirming that it was for evil thoughts, others that it was for a violation of affirmative precepts. Many Christian divines regard it as a symbol of entire and perpetual consecration to God; self-dedication, following upon and growing out of pardon and acceptance with God. See Fairbairn's Typology, vol. 2, p. 316.

Related Books and Articles:

151. The Burnt Offering
The Offerings of Leviticus: 2. Burnt Offering
Christ as Seen in the Offerings: The Burnt Offering
The Burnt Offering
Leviticus 1
Short Papers on the Offerings: No. 3 - the Burnt-Offering
Short Papers on the Offerings: No. 4 - the Burnt Offering

Ministry Nuggets:

• It was not the priest's part but the offerer's to present the victim at the entrance of the tent of meeting, or at the brazen altar (“The Offerings of Leviticus: 2. Burnt Offering” by W. Kelly)
• That action means that the offerer was identified with all the value of the sacrifice. In other words, if God accepted the sacrifice, He accepted the one who brought it (“Christ as Seen in the Offerings: The Burnt Offering” by R.F. Kingscote)
• Fire signifies generally God's testing judgment. Fire and the sweet savor go together….The more He was tested, the more His perfections came out—the more the sweet savor came out before God. (“Christ as Seen in the Offerings: The Burnt Offering” by R.F. Kingscote)
• The washing in water accomplished for the offering inwardly and outwardly the purity which was intrinsically true only of Christ. (“The Offerings of Leviticus: 2. Burnt Offering” by W. Kelly)
• Where sin was not the urgent question, grace exercised the heart which gave according to its means. (“The Offerings of Leviticus: 3.”)
• If the several forms of the offering represent the differing degrees of faith in the offerers, as we may suppose, Jehovah as truly accepted the least measure of the burnt-offering, as the greatest; His eye beheld the same perfect sacrifice in all. (“The Offerings of Leviticus: 3.”)
• {crop and feathers removed} there is a marked falling short of the complete idea of the burnt-offering where all rose up to God as a savor of rest. Poverty of faith has its effect now at any rate. (“The Offerings of Leviticus: 4. Burnt Offering” by W. Kelly)
• Part of the fowls was "cast away," and "into the place of the ashes." Weak faith does not undo the perfecting of the saints before God. (“The Offerings of Leviticus: 4. Burnt Offering” by W. Kelly)
• God sees all that are His according to Christ, His standard; but the weaker the faith, the more the believer mingles the sense of drawback because of his failures with the blessedness to which the Holy Spirit bears His testimony. Hence the distinctness of what the burnt-offering means is impaired, In the soul's apprehension it is made to approach an offering for sin. (“The Offerings of Leviticus: 4. Burnt Offering” by W. Kelly)
• will the work of Christ be of any more value in God's sight when we are in glory than it is today? Not one atom. (“Christ as Seen in the Offerings: The Burnt Offering” by R.F. Kingscote)
• Did not the Father always love the Son? To be sure He did. Yet He says, "Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life." There was a fresh cause, a new motive, so to speak, for the Father's love to flow out toward the Son (“Christ as Seen in the Offerings: The Burnt Offering” by R.F. Kingscote)
• That is the other side, and is the aspect that is presented in this burnt offering—an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. I am sure we lose very much in our own souls through not looking at that aspect of the sacrifice of Christ—what it is to God, and not merely what it is for us. (“Christ as Seen in the Offerings: The Burnt Offering” by R.F. Kingscote)
• The burnt offering stands first, because it shows how a sinner by nature can be accepted before a holy God on the ground of sacrifice. (“Christ as Seen in the Offerings: The Burnt Offering” by R.F. Kingscote)
• The burnt offering is that which typifies Christ coming to do the will of God, at all cost to Himself, in spite of all that awful suffering and agony of the cross. He came to accomplish the will of God and to glorify Him, even in death. (“Christ as Seen in the Offerings: The Burnt Offering” by R.F. Kingscote)
• It is an offering neither for sin nor for guilt, but God glorified where sin was by a victim, the blood of which covered it from God's eyes, as the fire consumed it and brought out nothing but sweet savor. (“The Offerings of Leviticus: 2. Burnt Offering” by W. Kelly)
• in no case did a soul of man, not even the high priest, eat of the burnt-offering. It was offered to God, assuredly on behalf of His people for their acceptance, but only to God. (“The Offerings of Leviticus: 4. Burnt Offering” by W. Kelly)