bread,
between the evenings, Christian Passover, Law Moses, Law of Moses, animal
sacrifice, Abraham covenant, Israel exodus
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Exodus
24:5 indicates that ‘par’, generally translated bull or bullock, was sacrificed
at the confirming of the Sinai Covenant. The Gesenius, Brown-Driver- Briggs
Hebrew Lexicon indicates this is "a bull, especially a young bull".
The account of Hebrews 9:19 indicates the Old Covenant was confirmed with the
offering of a ‘calf’, (Greek, moschos).
Only two cases of ‘par’ in the NKJV are
translated something other than what would indicate some sort of full-grown
male bovine animal. One is Judges 6:25 where the word is used along with ‘showr’
which also indicates a bull. Here ‘par’ is translated ‘young’. In this case the
age of the bull is given as seven years. That is hardly a calf. The other is in
Hosea 14:2, where the NKJV text says "calves of our lips". The
meaning is ‘sacrifice of our lips’ or the praise we give to God. ‘Calf’ is not
intended at all.
Psalms 22:12 indicates a ‘par’ is a strong
animal. Psalms 69:31 indicates it typically has horns and hooves. Bovine hooves
harden a short time after birth. Horns are a different story. Different breeds
will develop horns at different ages. However, they don’t tend to be fully
developed until the animal is full sized. They begin to poke through the skin
at about six months. This would not indicate a calf.
The KJV tends to call a ‘par’ a bullock,
which indicates a young bull. This might seem odd considering the frequency of
words used in conjunction with ‘par’ that seem to indicate a young ‘par’. A
young bullock would be a young, young bull. This probably would indicate a
calf.
In fact ‘ben’, Hebrew for ‘son’, is
used in connection with ‘par’ in the following scriptures: Ex 29:1, Lev
4:3, 14, 16:3, 23:18, Num 8:8, 15:24, 29:13, 17, 2Chr 13:9, Eze 43:19, 23, 25,
45:18, 46:6. Since ‘par’ indicates a male already, ‘ben’ is interpreted as
intending ‘young’, i.e. a son. There are also a number of instances where ‘par’
is paired with ‘baqaraqar aqar’ again interpreted as ‘young
bull’. ‘Baqar’ indicates a connection with a herd. This animal would be
running with the heard likely still with its mother. So in many cases it seems
the original Hebrew feels the need to clarify particular instances of ‘par’
as meaning ‘young par’ and specifically includes something to indicate that.
This would tend to indicate a calf. ‘Par’ then by itself would not tend to
indicate that.
The Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon goes on to
indicate a yearling is often intended for ‘par’. This would be an animal
that might draw a cart. This would typically be a full-grown animal, not a
calf.
In Hebrews 9:19 ‘moschos’ is used
and typically translated 'calf'. The primary definition according to
Thayer is "a tender juicy shoot". If talking of humans it indicates a
‘boy or girl’. Liddell & Scott indicate "young shoot or twig…
leaf-stalk, petiole". Calf is actually the main secondary meaning
when an animal is indicated. This word can also refer to a young bull. It can
also refer to a young cow or heifer.
Other Greek words can give us a clue as to
the general usage of ‘moschos’. A ‘moschion’ is a young calf.
‘Moschinos’ indicates calf-skin or calf-meat. ‘Moschothutes’ is a slaughter of
calves. Interestingly ‘moscheuo’ is to plant a sucker.
There is an obvious difference in
emphasis between ‘moschos’ and ‘par’. Exodus 24:5 (par) is talking of at
least a mostly grown strong animal with developed horns. Hebrews is likely
talking of a young immature animal (‘moschos’), still running with its
mother in the herd. Considering that there is also no indication of a goat in
the Exodus account the animal sacrifice in Exodus 24 does not reflect the
sacrifice described in Hebrews 9:19.
Unfortunately though not everything is
totally clear or simple. As it turns out the translators of the Septuagint used
‘moschos’ for ‘par’ in Exodus 24:5. We have to assume the people that
created the Septuagint were very knowledgeable of both languages, but word
meanings do change over time. The Septuagint was written about 700 years after
the bulk of Psalms and over 1000 years after Exodus.
Another factor we should consider is that
the Moab covenant was confirmed on a new moon (Deu 1:1-3, 26:16-18, 30:19). The
offering on the typical new moon (Num 28:11) consisted of two young (running
with the herd) ‘par’, one ram, seven lambs, some flour mixed with oil, some
wine and a goat.
This is not an exact match with Hebrews
9:19, but certainly has more matching elements than that of Exodus 24. Two
‘young par’ or ‘par’ running with the herd would fit very well with the calves
(‘moschos’) specified in Hebrews 9:19. Although only one goat was
specifically required in Numbers 28:15, Exodus 24 indicates no goats at all.
Two goats could have been offered on the occasion of Deuteronomy 1. It wouldn’t
be a stretch to presume that the occasion of the confirmation of the Moab
covenant was not a standard run of the mill New Moon observance.
Actually, the Talmud tractate Pesachim 76b-77a
mentions the goatS of the new
moons. Even though Numbers 28 only
expects one, it was evidently practice to offer at least two. “I will tell you: It is necessary for him [to
teach about] the he-goats of New Moons”.
All in all it
seems the animal offered at the confirming of the Sinai covenant was likely a
young but full-grown bull. The bovine animal indicated in Hebrews is a young
sexually immature animal.