“Serving Sacrifices
to Deity”
It is a mistake to assume that λατρευω connotes the idea of generic service. Λατρευω always refers to a specific kind of service,
service performed for deity. But in the LXX, λατρευω can be narrowed more specifically than
that. It refers to serving deity with sacrifices, whether to the God of Israel
or to other gods. A study of all the contexts to which λατρευω or λατρεια appears in the LXX reveals that the
activity connected with the terms is sacrificing, which is made explicitly
clear in more than two dozen passages.
The connection between λατρευω/λατρεια and sacrificing is first made clear in the story of Moses
and his demands to Pharaoh in Exodus 3-12. In these chapters, λατρευω/λατρεια is used seventeen times, and
its meaning is clearly explained at least four times. For example, in Ex 3:12,
God tells Moses on Mount Horeb, “When you have brought the people out of Egypt,
you shall worship God at this mountain.” Here, the Hebrew for “worship God” is תַּעַבְדוּן
אֶת־הָאֱלֹהִים, and the LXX is λατρευσετε
τω θεω. NASB translates the Hebrew as “worship God,”
but the translation “worship” only confuses the modern reader, who may think
that “worshipping God” involves praying, singing, or liturgy. What exactly was
this GK to be performed on that mountain? Ex 3:18 identifies this activity as “that
we may sacrifice to the Lord our God” (ινα θυσωμεν
τω θεω ημων).
The idea that λατρεθω/λατρεια involves
the offering of sacrifices to God is reiterated frequently throughout the ten
chapters of the story. (See Ex 3:12 [λατρευω] = 20:24; 24:5 [θυω];
Ex 8:1 [λατρευω] = 8:4 [θυω]; 8:16 [λατρευω] = 8:21, 27-29 [θυω];
10:24 [λατρευω] = 10 :25-26 [θυσια];
Ex 12:25-26 [λατρεια] = 12 :27 [θυσια])
Besides the Exodus
narrative, many other LXX passages must not serve (λατευειν)
their children to the god Molech, i.e., as a sacrifice (cf. 2 Kgs 17:29-33; Ex 20:31-32).
In Jo 22:27-29, an altar is built as a reminder “that we do perform the service
of the Lord (του λατρευειν λατρειαν κυριω) in
his presence with our burnt offerings and sacrifices and offerings.” In 1 Mc 1:43,
the GK involves sacrificing to idols (cf. Ex 20:28-32). In 1 Mc 2:29, 22, the λατρεια involves offering sacrifice on an altar (2:15, 23-24).
In 1 Esd 4:52-54, the service of the priests involves burnt offerings on the
altar. The opposite of “serving” (λατρεια) foreign gods is to “tear down their altars” (Dt 7:5;
12:2-3), destroy their sacred pillars that were likely a part of sacrificial
ceremonies (Ex 23:24; Dt 7:5; 12:2-3; cf. Ex 24:4; 2 Kgs 17:10), and to seek
the Lord at His dwelling place by bringing offerings and sacrifices (Dt
12:2-6).
While the LXX provides abundant evidence that λατρευω/λατρεια is “to serve sacrifices to
deity,” a few verses draw a possible connection between λατρευω/λατρεια and feasting (Ex 18:12; Dt
12:2-7). For example, the Exodus story of the Hebrews “serving” God on Mount Sinai
is twice identified as celebrating a feast (Ex 5:1; 10:9). However, this
connection of λατρεια
with
feasting is probably due to the idea that sacrificing to God is the same as
offering good to God. Alternatively, the connection may be due to the idea that
the edible proceeds of the sacrificial process were used for feeding the devotees.
The two ideas of offering sacrifice and feasting are thus tied together. (Thomas
Richard Wadsworth, “A Worship Service or an Assembly: An Investigation of the
Terminology Used to Describe Church Meetings in the New Testament” [PhD Thesis;
Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary [May 2022], 215-18)
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