I previously referenced the idea that there were two kinds of sin in the Old Testament, particularly if you are looking in the Book of Leviticus.
Unintentional or inadvertent sins were not precisely what those words imply in English. The meaning of the Hebrew terminology has more to do with what it is not: a defiant sin. In other words, the sins covered by the ritual offerings and sacrifices were more than simply accidents. It could cover a host of things that were simply natural events, but which caused you to be ritually unclean.
The concept for several types of rituals were bound up in something that would never occur to modern western minds. There was a broadly defined sense of ritual impurity attached to things naturally exuded from a living organism. It could be blood and semen, of course, but it could be applied to honey from bees. Thus, for a grain offering, honey was not a permitted ingredient. On the other hand, it didn’t include something that sweat that was of no consequence in terms of what you lost or what it could do, such as blood or semen, which had the force of life in them.
Another distinction not obvious to us is the difference between offering and sacrifice. The latter term applies only to an animal that is slaughtered as part of a participatory meal set before God, whereas offering is anything you bring to God as a gift. Not every English translation will render these words faithfully, but in the Hebrew mind, there was a difference.
Another issue is the inclusion of salt in the grain offerings. It was flatly commanded in Leviticus 2:13. In that same passage, you will discover that God refers to the “salt of the Covenant”. It shows up again in Numbers 8:19 and 2 Chronicles 13:5, referring to a “covenant of salt”. It is a figure of speech referring to a covenant that has grave consequences.
You may be familiar with how the covenant God made with Abraham included animals cut in half and bled into a trough — a blood covenant. Among humans, such a ritual would see the two parties to the covenant/treaty wading through the blood to symbolize their recognition that if either of them violates the covenant, they deserve the same fate as the animals sacrificed in that way. In the case of a salt covenant, the reference is to having your cities destroyed and the land sowed with salt so nothing would grow there again. In human experience, you won’t live long enough to see the salt leeched down deep enough for the soil to become fertile again, so it might as well be forever.
Adding salt to offerings is a reminder that you have voluntarily signed onto this. It also gives new meaning to Jesus’ admonition that His followers should have salt in themselves (Mark 9:50) — be at peace with one another.
The English term “peace offering” in Leviticus would be better translated as “offering of well-being” for reasons we already understand. Peace with God — shalom — refers to stability, prosperity and safety. This offering is not to cover any kind of sin, but to give thanks for God keeping His promises. Notice that God gets the fatty portions of animals for those offerings. This is also the only offering we’ve encountered so far that includes the person making the offering sharing in the meal. It’s a fellowship meal; you already have peace with God.
Finally, let us note that there was never any hope of reconciliation for intentional sins under Moses and you would have to pay the consequences, but in Christ there is a sacrifice for all sins. This is why the Book of Hebrews lavishes so much attention on the superiority of the Covenant of Christ. There is always a way back to the Father through the Son.
