Musing - Can Prayer Replace Sacrifices?

Hebraic Musing - Can Prayer Replace Sacrifices?

Pharisaic Rabbinic Judaism was in trouble after the temple was destroyed in 70AD.  How could traditional Judaism survive without the sacrificial system as the bedrock of their worship liturgy?  The foundation in Lev.17:11 was no longer available – “For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life.” NIV   The temple was gone, now what?

Ben Zakkai and his worldwide center of Jewish learning quickly realized that converts would not be attracted to a Temple-less Judaism and would instead flock to Yeshua (and they did!).  It would have been great if he had understood that in light of Yeshua’s death, the Temple was no longer needed.   But Ben Zakkai came up with an answer to save Judaism.  How?  He sought to create a new Judaism—a bloodless, sacrifice-less, Temple-less Judaism.  He convinced his newly established Sanhedrin to replace the need for sacrifice with prayer, quoting from Hosea 6:6 (out of context) – “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.”  Thus he claimed there would be no need to rebuild the Temple.  Before this, sacrifice was central to Judaism; the focus of Jewish life had been the Temple and the sacrifices.  So, now, temple ritual was replaced with prayer service in synagogues which built upon practices of Jews in the Diaspora of the Babylonian exile.

Sadly one of the main arguments that Orthodox Jews use today to try and refute Messianic Judaism is that prayer and repentance are enough to atone for sin.  Of course this was not the Jewish view until after the Second Temple was destroyed.

A few years before this, the writer of Hebrews had already said – “By calling this covenant ‘new,’ he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.” Hebrews 8:13   Unfortunately some Bible teachers wrongly interpret this passage as God rendering the Torah, the Writings and the Prophets obsolete.  Impossible for two reasons: 
1) Yeshua said He did not come to destroy the Torah when He said “I have not come to abolish them(Law & Prophets but to fulfill them” in Matt 5:17 and went on in v.18 "I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.”  NIV
(2) almost all New Testament theology is based on the Hebrew Scriptures; Paul and the Gospel writers constantly quote them.  

What was obsolete, however, in light of the death of Yeshua, was the sacrificial system. Yeshua was the once-for-all-time and all-sin sacrifice.  Sadly Ben Zakkai could not see this.

Whenever God condemned sacrifice it was not because He is condemning the very system that He Himself established, but rather He is condemning the people for forsaking Him while still offering sacrifices. In the context of the Hosea passage, this is clear. He continues the verse about desiring mercy, not sacrifice with, “and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.” God was not against sacrifice, but was seeking to confront hypocrisy; He was seeking relationship with His people.  Even in the Babylonian Exile, the dream was always to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple. The book of Lamentations is about a broken-hearted prophet lamenting over Jerusalem’s demise. Ben Zakkai’s response is the opposite.  He cared not for Jerusalem nor the Temple, but preserving the traditions of the elders, the Oral Law.  It was successful and practical, but not the biblical response that we see after the first destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE.  

Even today, there is virtually no movement in traditional Judaism to rebuild the Temple.  The few who seek it are considered extreme.

 Points to ponder

How many people today still resort to and rely solely on “Prayer & Repentance”?

♫  O the blood of Jesus, It washes white as snow  ♫  

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd                                               October 24, 2017

Author: “Hebraic Insights – Messages exploring the Hebrew roots of our faith” 
“Biblical Marriage”   Weekly “Hebraic Musings”