How were the first sacrifices made?

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Billyd

Senior Member
May 8, 2014
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#1
The first sacrifices recorded in scripture were made by Cain and Abel.

Genesis 4:2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. 3 In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.

The next sacrifices was made my Jacob.

Genesis 31:54 and Jacob offered a sacrifice in the hill country and called his kinsmen to eat bread. They ate bread and spent the night in the hill country. 55 Early in the morning Laban arose and kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned home.

Then we have the first description of a sacrifice.

Exodus 12:1 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 "This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household. 4 And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, 6 and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. 7 "Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. 10 And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. 11 In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD's Passover. 12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. 13 The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.

My question. We also know that Abraham offered a lamb that God had provided as a burnt offering (sacrifice). Were the sacrifices of Cain, Abel, and Jacob, like the bold part of the above Passover sacrifice? If not how were they done?
 

Locutus

Senior Member
Feb 10, 2017
5,928
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#2
They could be considered to be pre-figure or type.
 
Sep 6, 2017
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#3
I'm leaning towards one sacrifice of Abel's and that being the offering.

Cain's was just a offering, I don't think killing tomato's is a sacrifice.
 

Locutus

Senior Member
Feb 10, 2017
5,928
685
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#4
4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions....this looks like animal sacrifice.
 

Billyd

Senior Member
May 8, 2014
5,048
1,490
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#5
When we look at Abraham's sacrifice, we see him placing the wood on the altar, Isaac on the wood, and then beginning to slaughter Isaac before starting the fire.

Genesis 22:9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.

I believe that this shows that the sacrificial offering must be prepared before being offered. It also shows that the entire offering was to be consumed. All that would remain was the blood. Was Abel's offering done in the same way as Abraham's sacrifice?
 

FlSnookman7

Senior Member
Jun 27, 2015
1,125
135
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#6
Is it possible the 1st animal sacrifices were made by God to clothe Adam and Eve?

Gen 3:21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
 

MarcR

Senior Member
Feb 12, 2015
5,486
183
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#7
The first sacrifices recorded in scripture were made by Cain and Abel.

Genesis 4:2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. 3 In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.

The next sacrifices was made my Jacob.

Genesis 31:54 and Jacob offered a sacrifice in the hill country and called his kinsmen to eat bread. They ate bread and spent the night in the hill country. 55 Early in the morning Laban arose and kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned home.

Then we have the first description of a sacrifice.

Exodus 12:1 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 "This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household. 4 And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, 6 and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. 7 "Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. 10 And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. 11 In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD's Passover. 12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. 13 The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.

My question. We also know that Abraham offered a lamb that God had provided as a burnt offering (sacrifice). Were the sacrifices of Cain, Abel, and Jacob, like the bold part of the above Passover sacrifice? If not how were they done?
You skipped over the sacrifices Noah made when he left the ark Ge 8:19-20
And of Abraham Ge 12:7-8, 13:4, 13:18, 22:9ff,
And Isaac Ge 26:5
 

Billyd

Senior Member
May 8, 2014
5,048
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#8
You skipped over the sacrifices Noah made when he left the ark Ge 8:19-20
And of Abraham Ge 12:7-8, 13:4, 13:18, 22:9ff,
And Isaac Ge 26:5
Thanks Marc. Those indicate that an altar was built. Noah also shows that burnt offerings were offered on the altar. If we look at the way that Abraham was to offer Isaac, we see that the animals were slaughtered before the offering. When animals are slaughtered, the blood covers the alter. Looking back to Cain and Abel, Cain's offering had no blood to cover the altar. Although Cain brought his first fruits to the altar, there was no blood to cover the altar. I believe that this is why Cain's offering was useless.
 

Billyd

Senior Member
May 8, 2014
5,048
1,490
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#9
When we get to the Passover sacrifice, we find that God required the sacrificial lamb or goat to be perfect, slaughtered, the blood be smeared on the door post, and the entire lamb or goat to be consumed. If that were done, he would save them from the death of firstborn plague, and Pharaoh would release them.

From the beginning, God has required a sacrifice, where the blood covers the altar, be completely consumed. What does this mean to us today? Do we need a blood sacrifice? Must we completely consume it?
 

prove-all

Senior Member
May 16, 2014
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#10
The first Passover was when God shead blood to cover ther nakedness[a type of sin]

-

[Jesus]He ate the Passover and instituted the N.T. symbols, the bread and wine
 
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oldhermit

Senior Member
Jul 28, 2012
9,142
612
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Alabama
#11
I'm leaning towards one sacrifice of Abel's and that being the offering.

Cain's was just a offering, I don't think killing tomato's is a sacrifice.
No, both sacrifices are described in the text as sacrifices of first fruit.
 

posthuman

Senior Member
Jul 31, 2013
36,650
13,124
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#12
The first sacrifices recorded in scripture were made by Cain and Abel.

actually one might argue that the first sacrifices in scripture took place before Cain & Abel were born..

The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.
(Genesis 3:21)​

where'd He get these skins, then? doesn't this imply blood was shed?
what kind of animal did the skins come from? possibly a lamb?

amazing what God has done!!

[HR][/HR][HR][/HR]
you could also make the case that the first laying down of a life took place before this - when Adam took the fruit. this wasn't the sacrifice of an animal, of course, but Adam wasn't deceived ((1 Timothy 2:14)) so we should ask, how did he come to sin? it must have been a conscious choice, right? then why did he make this choice? the case could be made that he did this for Eve's sake - especially as Adam is the first human prefigure of Christ in the history laid out in scripture ((Romans 5:14)), if he, who did not know sin, took sin upon himself for the sake of Eve, not being deceived, but willingly forsaking his own life, knowing that the Lord is merciful, and trusting in Him to 'fix' things. not that Adam didn't sin by what he did, but during the trial and sentencing of the man and the woman, it is clear that Adam has great faith in God and His mercy, to restore all things, and that he has great insight.

i realize that this ((the matter of Adam)) isn't the type of sacrifice your'e talking about - and that this is a complex, wonderful matter, that i've done little justice to in trying to explain in just a few brief sentences, but i wanted to take the opportunity to point out that the notion that Adam sacrificed himself in a manner of speaking can be well supported from Genesis 3. its something that's been opened up to me in recent months and i hope just by bringing it up that some of you reading will start to think about it, and glorify God :)
 

posthuman

Senior Member
Jul 31, 2013
36,650
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#13
in Genesis 4:26 it's written that about the time Seth's son Enosh was born, "men began to call upon the name of the LORD"

i have no clear idea what this is meant to convey - could it have something to do with the earliest forms of blood sacrifice, too?