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Question Title Posted By Question Date
ashes of burnt offerings Nathan Friday, April 7, 2017

Question:

We read in the OT where there were many burnt offerings. My question is what was done after the sacrifice with the ashes? Were they scattered, were they considered holy, were they just washed off from the altars or what?

Thanks for your reply.



Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OMSM(r), LTh, DD

Dear Nathan:

The answer to your question comes from the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, with the bold referring specifically to your question:

[Burnt Offerings are] wholly animal, and the victims were wholly consumed. They might be from the herd or the flock, or in cases of poverty birds might be substituted. The offerings acceptable were: (a) young bullocks; (b) rams or goats of the first year; (c) turtle-doves or young pigeons. These animals were to be free from all disease or blemish. They were to be brought to the door of the tabernacle, and the offerer was to kill them on the north side of the altar (if a burnt offering), except in the public sacrifices, when the priest put the victims to death, being assisted on occasion by the Levites (II Chron. xxix. 34). The blood was then sprinkled around the altar. The victim, if a large animal, was flayed and divided; the pieces being placed above the wood on the altar, the skin only being left to the priest. If the offering was a bird a similar operation was performed, except that the victim was not entirely divided. The fire which consumed the offerings was never allowed to go out, since they were slowly consumed; and the several kinds of sacrifice furnished constant material for the flames. Every morning the ashes were conveyed by the priest to a clean place outside the camp (Ex. xxix. 38-42; Lev. i., vi. 8-13, ix. 12-14; Num. xv.).

Interesting question. Thanks.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary


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