THE BULL FOR THE HIGH PRIEST AND FOR THE WHOLE CONGREGATION
THE PURPOSE OF THIS DEVOTION IS
TO SHOW THAT THE SPIRITUAL SACRIFICES OF THE HEART ARE MADE ACCEPTABLE TO GOD BECAUSE THEY ARE GROUNDED IN THE SATISFIED JUSTICE OF GOD—THE FATHER—THEREBY OPENING TO THE PENITENT SINNER THE UNFAILING MERCIES OF GOD.
VA’YIKRA EL-MOSHE
VA’YI’DA’BEYR Y’’H EY’LAIV
MEY’O’HEL MO’EYD
LEY’MOR
DA’BEYR EL-BE’NEI YISRAEL
V’A’MAR’TA A’LEY’HEM
A’DAM KI’YAK’RIV MI’CHEM KAR’BAN LA’HO’VAH
MIN-HAB’HEY’MAH MIN-HA’BA’KAR U’MIN-HATZ’TZON
TAK’RI’VU ET- KAR’BAN’CHEM
And He called to Moses–
And from the tent of meeting ADONAI spoke to him,
saying,
Speak to the sons of Israel
and say to them
When a man from among you brings an offering to ADONAI
Let him take it from animals—from the herd or from the flock—an offering by which to draw near [to the LORD]. (Leviticus 1:1-2)
Psalm 51:19 (21):
AZ YA’LU AL-MIZ’BA’CA’CHA PA’RIM
Then will be offered up—on thy altar—Bulls.
Psalm 51 is the Psalm of the penitent sinner who has been brought to account before God for his deep sins of high-handed transgression, of iniquity and of straightforward sin.
The mercy to which David appealed was only possible because the justice of God had been satisfied by the sacrifice of the lowly lamb of Passover (“Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean”) and by the magnificent sacrifice of the Bull by which transgression of a High Priest or of the Entire Congregation was made right (“Then shall they offer bulls on thy altar”). The Bull was also the sacrifice of consecration for the Nation and for the Head of the Nation. During Sukkot, Bulls—70 of them—were offered for All Nations of the World.
All is predicated on a broken spirit and a contrite heart. All is made real by the confession of the sinner and the sincere request for forgiveness.
The message is plain—beginning from the first words of Leviticus—that the Way to God has been cleared of the debris of Sin by the shed blood of the Sinless Sacrifice.
Never let anyone minimize this in your understanding. It is only because of the Blood of the Lamb of God and the offering up of the Bull of God that your sin has been blotted out from your conscience and from the records of God in Heaven. (Colossians 2:14)
