QB - Animal Sacrifices

In light of the last "But What About," a friend asked:

Why DID God constantly demand animal sacrifices in the OT? He's always asking for burnt offerings around the clock. That never sat well with me. It doesn't make sense. I don't see God wanting me to go out back and kill a bunch of His creatures. Why did He demand it back then?

What a great question!!!  It has a logical answer, as well, I promise.

For one, let me start by saying that God loves His Creation.  He loves the creepy crawly spider, the gross and slimy eel, and yes, He even loves the sheep, goats and bulls that He demanded Israel hand over day after day, night after night. 

Why, then, would He wish them to be slaughtered in such droves in a seemingly barbaric fashion?  You don't thoughtlessly slaughter cute, cuddly creatures simply to make yummy-smelling smoke that somehow glorifies God, right?

Right.  Sort of.

You see, God never demanded animal slaughter from the Israelites as a people until they got sucked into the social constructs of Egypt.  While they were slaving away under Pharoah for 400 years, they picked up some nasty habits from their overlords - chief among them the worship of cattle as gods.

God, having made a covenant with the Israelites that He would be their God and they would be His people, didn't take too kindly to His family suddenly forgetting about Him in lieu of thoughtless beasts.  Thus, in order to remind them that these animals were not, in fact, worthy of adoration, God demanded that the Jews prove their loyalty (not to Him, but to themselves) by burning the objects of their idolatry.

Did God WANT to hurt the cattle?  Of course not.  Did He want to see them slaughtered and burned?  No.  However, God understood that in order for His wayward family to make a clean break with the unholy practices of the Egyptians, they'd need to rebel against the ingrained customs that had caused them to turn from His Love.

Basically, God was asking a drug addict to flush his stash down the toilet to prove he was really through with meth.

And at first, the Israelites said, "Sure, God, we'll totally do this!  No problem!"

They offered the requested sacrifices (which were, unsurprisingly, the same animals most revered by the Egyptians) amidst joy and celebration.  Why?  Because God had just rescued them from Pharoah.  In their joy and feelings of euphoria, they probably thought they could do anything God requested of them at that point.

Unfortunately, their break from Egyptian tradition was short-lived. 

While Moses was up on Mt. Sinai receiving the 10 Commandments from God, the restless Israelites decided they wanted to throw a party.  With 400 years of Egyptian partying under their belts, they knew they couldn't have a proper party without erecting a ginormous golden statue of Apis (yes, that's an Egyptian god).  So what did these Israelites do?  They collected as much gold as they could and crafted it into a big old idol.

---

Apparently God's favorite meth-head was at it again.

And to make matters worse, the Israelites attempted to cover up their sin of idolatry by proclaiming that the Calf of Apis was really just a representation of the God of Israel.  Any and all resemblance of this idol to the idol they just swore never to worship again was PURELY coincidental.

And just like you don't buy that, God didn't, either.

So in order to ensure they broke up with idolatry for good, He commanded them to burn (day AND night) the objects of their folly.  This sacrifice was not to promote animal cruelty, but to remind the Israelites that animal worship was a rupture to their covenant with God.

And none of the animal was wasted through sacrifice.  After the Levites offered the sacrifice in accordance with the Law (which is the slaughter of these animals in as painless a way as possible), the carcass was distributed back for the purpose of utilizing it practically (meat for food, hide for clothing / tents, etc).

So yes, animal sacrifice was demanded by God in the Old Testament.  However, it wasn't demanded because God enjoys inflicting pain upon animals.  It was demanded because God needed to correct the erroneous idolatry of His children.