Firstlings, Sacrifices, and Burnt Offerings
Part two of the Tanners' rebuttal treats the question of Israelite festivals as they relate to King Benjamin's speech. Since much of this section deals with the issue of comparing ancient and nineteenth-century paradigms, and since I am currently preparing an article dealing with this subject for another publication, I will reserve my comments for a future time. There is one issue, however, which is simply too good to pass by, and that is the reference to sacrifice in Mosiah chapter two.
Mosiah 2:3 reads, "And they also took of the firstlings of their flocks, that they might offer sacrifice and burnt offerings according to the law of Moses" (Mosiah 2:3). In 1887 M. T. Lamb countered, "According to the law of Moses, the firstlings of their flocks were never offered as burnt offerings or sacrifices. . . . This one little blunder, then, proves beyond the chance of question that the Book of Mormon could not have been inspired." Moreover, "This passage is precisely such a passage as Joseph Smith or any other ignorant man like him might have written; it could not have been found in the book if God . . . had to do with its preparation."28 Following Lamb's lead, the Tanners add that this verse "actually shows that the author of the Book of Mormon really didn't understand the law of Moses" and "was unfamiliar with the biblical material concerning offerings. Moreover, it appears that he was not even aware of the other kinds of Jewish offerings commanded in the Bible" (p. 96). However, these criticisms are doubly flawed since Book of Mormon critics have both misunderstood the nature of the Mosaic provisions and built their criticisms upon an interpretation of the Book of Mormon text which is highly questionable.
First, while firstlings, as we currently understand their use in ancient Israel, were probably not offered as the olah or burnt offering in ancient Israel, as Anderson notes, "It would not be accurate to say that the requirements for the burnt offering, peace offering, and reparation offering were rigidly fixed; there was room for variability"; "for the burnt offering one had to offer a male animal from the herd or flock. . . . The peace offering could be either a male or a female from the herd or flock."29 There is no question, however, that the firstlings of clean domesticated animals were sacrificed in the peace offering, as were other animals. "In early Palestinian experience the firstlings of the flock and herd were sacrificed at the local sanctuary."30 In fact, "Any domesticated animal from the herd or flock, male or female (Leviticus 3:1, 6, 12), was permissible" for the peace offering.31 Under Mosaic law the firstlings (i.e. firstborn animals) of flocks and herds were dedicated to the Lord (Exodus 13:12, 15) and were given to the Levites. The Israelites were forbidden from using them for work or gain (Deuteronomy 15:19-20) and were required to bring them to the temple during their pilgrimage festivals, where they would be sacrificed (Deuteronomy 12:5-6). Their blood was sprinkled upon the altar and their fat was burned (Numbers 18:17-18). What was left then was given to the individual and his family to eat that same day (Deuteronomy 15:19-20). Thus Lamb and the Tanners grossly misunderstand the sacrificial role of firstlings when they claim that the firstlings were not sacrificed. While apparently not used for the burnt offering, firstlings could and frequently were used along with other animals in the sacrificial peace offering. The Book of Mormon correctly states that the Nephites brought their firstlings to the temple to be sacrificed, for firstlings clearly were sacrificed at the temple.
Mosiah 2:3 is also consistent with the commandments given to Moses in Deuteronomy:
But unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come: And thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and heave offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks. (Deuteronomy 12:5-6)
These verses indicate that the Israelites were to bring the firstlings of their flocks and herds to the temple along with other unspecified animals to fill various sacrificial and dedicatory purposes. It is noteworthy that although this verse mentions several forms of sacrifice associated with temple worship (burnt offerings, heave offerings, freewill offerings, etc.), the only animals actually mentioned are the firstlings, even though the firstlings were, as far as we know, never offered as the burnt offering under Mosaic law. However, the mere mention of "burnt offerings" in this biblical passage clearly implies animals other than firstlings, even if no other animals are explicitly mentioned. Similarly, it is reasonable to interpret the Mosiah 2:3 reference to "sacrifice and burnt offerings" as an allusion to two distinct forms of sacrifice--the sacrifice of firstlings in the so-called peace offering and the burnt offering taken from other animals.32 Thus, the Nephites, in accordance with the legal prescriptions of Mosaic law, "took of the firstlings of their flocks, that they might offer sacrifice" and they also took other animals to offer as "burnt offerings according to the law of Moses" (Mosiah 2:3).33
Second, there are legitimate reasons to reject Lamb's and the Tanners' interpretation of this Book of Mormon passage, especially in light of biblical passages which use similar language. Using language reminiscent of the Book of Mormon, Moses told Pharaoh, "Thou must give us also sacrifices (zebah) and burnt (olah) offerings, that we may sacrifice unto the Lord our God" (Exodus 10:25).34 In reference to the term used for sacrifice in this and numerous other biblical passages (zebah), Gary Anderson, an authority on Old Testament sacrificial practices, warns that "one should not infer that the zebah, 'slain sacrifice,' [KJV "sacrifice"], refers to any slain sacrificial animal. In spite of its name, which is quite general, this sacrifice designation often occurs in the pair zebah and ola [i.e. "sacrifice and burnt offerings"]. In this type of usage there can be no doubt that zebah refers specifically to the selamim [peace] offering."35 In fact, scholars usually assume that these references to the burnt offering and the peace offering must be understood as cliches or "merisms for the entire sacrificial system."36 Mormon is, of course, abridging the account of these events.
There are several reasons why the sacrifice of the peace offering may have been particularly appropriate for the occasion described in Mosiah 1-5. According to Anderson, the peace offering was "emblematic of moments of joy or celebration."37 King Benjamin's people sacrificed and gave thanks to the Lord for blessing them "that they might rejoice" (Mosiah 2:4). Other elements of King Benjamin's speech indicate that this was a time of joy and great rejoicing (3:4; 4:3, 11-12). The peace offering was also particularly appropriate during important national events, such as the coronation of new kings, the renewal of the authority of an already functioning leader, or other times of national or spiritual renewal.38 Likewise, the people of King Benjamin offer sacrifice following a period of serious contention and apostasy led by false prophets and teachers (Words of Mormon 1:12-18). These sacrificial practices may have been viewed as adding legitimacy to King Benjamin's or Mosiah2's position and authority. The peace offering was particularly appropriate for the celebration of victory, such as Saul's victory over the Ammonites at Jabesh Gilead,39 or at the "successful conclusion of a military campaign."40 Similarly, the people of King Benjamin gather to the temple for sacrifice after the Lord has delivered them from their enemies, the Lamanites (Mosiah 2:4; see also Omni 1:24; Words of Mormon 1:13).
There were at least three different kinds of peace offerings. These included the thanksgiving offering, the vowed sacrifice, and the freewill offering.41 Although "all three sacrifices were motivated by the same general circumstances," Levine notes that, "the todah [i.e. thanksgiving offering] was particularly appropriate for expressing gratitude over one's deliverance from danger or misfortune."42 "Its purpose was to render an expression of thanks for deliverance or blessings granted."43 One is immediately reminded of King Benjamin again, during whose reign the people gathered to "offer sacrifice and burnt offerings . . . And also that they might give thanks to the Lord their God . . . who had delivered them out of the hands of their enemies" (Mosiah 2:3-4). Benjamin's pointed references to giving thanks may also be relevant here (Mosiah 2:19-20).
Notes for the Above
28. M. T. Lamb, The Golden Bible: Is It from God? (Salt Lake City: Ward and Drummand, 1887), 109-10; see also William E. Biederwolf, Mormonism under the Searchlight (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1947), 16; James Tolle, Is the Book of Mormon from God?(Pasadena, Tex.: Haun Publishing Company, 1957), 18; Marvin Cowan, Mormon Claims Answered (Salt Lake City: Marvin Cowan, 1975), 34; Tanner and Tanner, Covering Up the Black Hole in the Book of Mormon, 61-62.
29. Gary A. Anderson, "Sacrifice and Sacrificial Offerings," in The Anchor Bible Dictionary, ed. David Noel Freedman, 6 vols. (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 5:875.
30. "First-born," in The Interpreter's Bible Dictionary, 4 vols. (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1962), 2:271. Menahem Haran argues that it was held by some Jewish authorities that, "not every type of sacrifice would be deemed suitable for solitary altars. Many offerings were held to be reserved for the temple, and it was obligatory to take them exclusively to the temple altar. Such were the firstlings of cattle and sheep," the various forms of the peace offering, including the thanksgiving offering, and possibly others (Temples and Temple-Service in Ancient Israel: An Inquiry into Biblical Cult Phenomena and the Historical Setting of the Priestly School [Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 1985], 16). This would account for the specific mention of firstlings in Mosiah 2:3 in the context of a temple gathering.
32. Critics are clearly mistaken when they claim that the peace offering was not really a sacrifice, for it certainly was, although it probably had no expiatory value.
33. For similar Book of Mormon references see 1 Nephi 5:9; 7:22; 3 Nephi 9:19. One can also interpret Mosiah 2:1-4 as a brief summary of why the people of Zarahemla gathered together. They did so: (1) to go up to the temple (Mosiah 1:1), (2) to hear the words of King Benjamin (Mosiah 1:1), (3) to offer sacrifice of their firstlings, (4) to offer burnt offerings according to the law of Moses (Mosiah 1:3), and (5) to give thanks unto the Lord their God.
34. See also Exodus 18:12; Joshua 22:26, 28; 1 Samuel 6:15; 15:22; 2 Kings 5:17; 10:24; 1 Chronicles 29:21; Isaiah 1:11; 56:7; Jeremiah 6:20; 7:20-22; Ezekiel 40:42; 44:11; Psalms 50:8; 51:16.
36. Ibid., 878, 882; Baruch Levine, In the Presence of the Lord: A Study of Cult and Some Cultic Terms in Ancient Israel (Leiden: Brill, 1974), 21-22.
43. E. E. Carpenter, "Sacrifices and Offerings in the OT," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 4:268. "In many contexts the term thanksgiving offering is used as a virtual synonym for peace offering (e.g. II Chron. 29:31; Jer.17:26; cf. II Chron. 33:16)" (EJ 14:604).
Source: Matthew P. Roper, “A Black Hole That's Not So Black.”