Hope of Israel Ministries (Ecclesia of YEHOVAH):

The Twice Daily Temple Sacrifice -- A Picture of Our Daily Prayer and Praise

by Natan Lawrence

The main atonement offering in the Levitical system is what is called the Tamiyd, the daily perpetual morning and evening offering as noted in Leviticus 6:8-13 and Leviticus 29:38-42:

"The LORD said to Moses:  'Give Aaron and his sons this command: ‘These are the regulations for the burnt offering: The burnt offering is to remain on the altar hearth throughout the night, till morning, and the fire must be kept burning on the altar. The priest shall then put on his linen clothes, with linen undergarments next to his body, and shall remove the ashes of the burnt offering that the fire has consumed on the altar and place them beside the altar.

"Then he is to take off these clothes and put on others, and carry the ashes outside the camp to a place that is ceremonially clean. The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not go out. Every morning the priest is to add firewood and arrange the burnt offering on the fire and burn the fat of the fellowship offerings on it. The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out'" (Leviticus 6:8-13, NIV).

"This is what you are to offer on the altar regularly each day: two lambs a year old. Offer one in the morning and the other at twilight. With the first lamb offer a tenth of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with a quarter of a hin of oil from pressed olives, and a quarter of a hin of wine as a drink offering. Sacrifice the other lamb at twilight with the same grain offering and its drink offering as in the morning -- a pleasing aroma, a food offering presented to the LORD. For the generations to come this burnt offering is to be made regularly at the entrance to the tent of meeting, before the LORD. There I will meet you and speak to you" (Leviticus 29:38-42, ibid.).

This twice daily offering, known as the continual burnt offering (Hebrew: olah tamiyd), was offered at the door of the Tabernacle or Temple. The word continual (Hebrew: tamiyd) means “continually.” The Hebrew word for burnt offering is olah meaning “ascent, stairway or steps,” and derives from the basic Hebrew verb, alah, meaning “to go up, climb or ascend.”

The communal sacrifice of the Tamiyd was the most important ritual sacrifice of the Sinai Covenant. It was a single sacrifice of two yearling lambs, one offered in a morning liturgical worship service and the second in an afternoon liturgical worship service; each lamb offered together with a meal offering and wine (Exodus 29:38-42; Numbers 28:3-9). It was the compulsory communal daily sacrifice for the atonement and sanctification of the covenant people Israel.

The olah Tamiyd, “whole burnt offering of the standing” (“standing” as in continual/perpetual) was the only compulsory communal sacrifice of the Sinai Covenant before the failure of Israel in the making of the Golden Calf, and remained the premier sacrifice when the ritual of animal sacrifice was expanded after the Golden Calf incident (Exodus 29:38-42; 32:1-35). It was so important that no other sacrifice was to take precedence over it. All other sacrifices, including the Passover and Sabbath sacrifices, were offered in addition to the Tamiyd, a command repeated fifteen times in the Torah of Moses (Numbers 28:10, 15, 23, 24, 31; 29:6, 11, 16, 19, 22, 25, 28, 31, 34, 38).

The Tamiyd was offered up by all of Israel -- even though everyone may not have been present at the time of the offering at the Temple. According to the Tractate Tamiyd 3:1 in the Mishnah, all Israel participated to the extent that all Israelite adults all over the ancient world contributed funds with which the lambs to be slaughtered were purchased and the Temple as an organization was funded. During the time of the Second Temple the public offerings were funded by an annual Temple tax, collected by the Temple administrators, from every adult Judahite. The Biblical basis for this tax was drawn from Exodus 30:11-16.

Notes Terry Harman --

"Consistently, every morning and evening, when the Tamiyd lamb was being placed on the altar by assigned priests, other priests were tending to the menorah -- trimming the wicks, removing the soot and replenishing the olive oil to keep the menorah burning brightly until the next time of offering. The coordination of preparing the lamb, the gathering and positioning of the hot coals, the tending to the wicks and oil and the placing of the incense on the golden altar were perfectly timed to be simultaneous. This was not done haphazardly but timed to consistently happen at the same time every day -- the third hour (9:00 am Tamiyd 3:7) and the ninth hour (3:00 pm Tamiyd 4:1; Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 14.4.3)" (The Daily Tamid Offering: Part 2).

When John the Baptist identified the Messiah as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29) to the Judean crowd on the banks of the Jordan River, he was not identifying the Messiah with the annual Passover sacrifice of lambs and kids (Exodus 12:5) but instead with the daily offering of the two unblemished male lambs of the Tamiyd sacrifice. According to rabbinic teaching, this single sacrifice of two lambs was to last so long as the Sinai Covenant endured, and when it ended in the coming of the Messianic era only the “Thanksgiving” (Toda in Hebrew) communion sacrifice of peace would continue.

This was a sacrifice presented to YEHOVAH God as a request for peace with Him. The worshipper and his household, the officiating priest, and the priests on duty all partook of it. YEHOVAH received, as it were, the pleasing smoke of the burning fat. The blood, representing the life, was also given to Him. It was as if the priests and the worshippers sat at the meal together with YEHOVAH God, signifying a peaceful relationship -- see Leviticus 7:29, 32; Deuteronomy 27:7.

Time in First-Century Judea

In 1st century A.D. Jerusalem, as in all the cities of the Roman Empire, the nighttime hours were divided into 4 time periods called “Watches”:

#1: Evening watch Sundown to 9:00 pm
#2: Midnight watch 9:00 pm to Midnight
#3: Cockcrow watch Midnight to 3:00 am
#4: Dawn watch 3:00 am to Dawn

The end of each watch, and the beginning of the next was signaled by a trumpet blast. The Third Watch was from Midnight to 3:00 am. At the close of the Third Watch a signal was given by the Roman guards at the Antonia Fortress next to the Temple. A trumpet was blown to signal the end of the Watch and the change of the guard. The Romans called the trumpet blast at the end of the Third Watch the “gallicinium” in Latin, “cockcrow.”

If the Messiah was referring to the gallicinium in Latin, or alektorophonia in Greek, in Matthew 26:74, his time reference was to the trumpet signal of the “cockcrow” that was a precise military signal, and Peter denied the Messiah at 3 in the morning (Anchor Bible: The Gospel According to John, page 828). The Messiah spoke of the four night watches in Mark 13:35: "So stay awake, because you do not know when the master of the house is coming: evening, midnight, cockcrow or dawn."

There is no article associated with the Greek word for cockcrow in Matthew 26:74. The word “cockcrow” in Greek is formed from the Greek word for “cock” alektor and the word for “sound” phoneo. In Greek alektorophonia was a trumpet signal that announced the end of the third watch and the beginning of the fourth and last night watch.

The “cockcrow” Peter heard must be the trumpet blast signaling the end of the third watch that was given at the Temple (Mishnah: Sukkot, 5:4; M. Yoma, 1:8) and at the Roman fortress Antonia. Mark records that the Messiah told Peter he would betray him before the cockcrows twice (Mark 14:30), and in the high priest’s courtyard, as Peter denied the Messiah the third time, Mark records Peter heard the second “cockcrow” (Mark 14:72).

THE TAMIYD DAILY SACRIFICE
(Also Known As the Perpetual Sacrifice)

Notice in the chart above that the daily sacrifice of the Tamiyd corresponds with the death of the Messiah: Yeshua was condemned at about the time the first Tamiyd lamb was brought out to the altar and given a drink from a golden cup. The Messiah was crucified at the third hour Israelite time, (9:00 am) as the first Tamiyd lamb was sacrificed in the Temple. The second lamb was brought to the altar at noon, given a drink and sacrificed at the ninth hour (3:00 pm). The “whole land” turned dark from an eclipse of the sun from noon to three in the afternoon (Matthew 27:45; Mark 14:33; Luke 23:44), and the Messiah gave up his life at the ninth hour/three in the afternoon just as the second Tamiyd lamb was sacrificed (Matthew 27:46; Mark 14:34). The Tamiyd was one single sacrifice of two lambs and the Messiah was one single sacrifice.

Tamiyd was the name given to the sacrifices that were to be offered every day in the Temple. So each day, the offerings would begin with the sacrifice of the morning lamb and finish with the sacrifice of the evening lamb. All the other sacrifices would come in between the two. The morning lamb would be offered up at the third hour of the day. With its death, the Temple trumpets would sound and the Temple gates would be opened. Then at about the ninth hour, the evening sacrifice would be slain and offered on the altar, at which time all the sacrifices would be finished.

The Messiah was crucified at the same hour as the morning sacrifice, nine in the morning. So as the morning lamb was slain on the altar, the Lamb of YEHOVAH God was lifted on the altar of the tree, and the trumpets sounded to announce the sacrifice, and the Temple gates were opened. So the sacrifice of the Messiah began with the offering up of the morning lamb and ended with the offering of the evening lamb. And it all took place during the six hours of the Temple sacrifices, in between the two lambs, from the first sacrifice to the last.

The Lamb of YEHOVAH God is all in all, covering every moment, every need, every sin, every problem, and every answer. He is the Tamiyd, which means continual, daily, perpetual, always, and forever. And so he will be there for you always and will be your answer continuously, every day, always, and forever. For the Messiah is the Lamb, and not only the Lamb -- but your Tamiyd!

In this offering, the fire consumes the entire animal, and the word olah refers to the smoke of this whole burnt offering ascending to heaven, which is a “pleasing aroma” to YEHOVAH. The olah was an offering or gift (Leviticus 1:2, Hebrew: qorban) to YEHOVAH God and had to be a perfect specimen without defect:

"If his offering is a burnt sacrifice of the herd [or flock -- see previous verse], let him offer a male without blemish; he shall offer it of his own free will at the door of the Tabernacle of Meeting [later, the Temple] before the LORD" (Leviticus 1:3).

If an Israelite sinned, he could bring this gift-offering to the door of the Tabernacle or Temple where he would place his hands upon the head of the animal, after which the priests would slaughter it, and sprinkle its blood around the altar of sacrifice just inside the door of the Tabernacle or Temple (Leviticus 1:2, 4, 5). The meat was then prepared and arranged on the altar and entirely burnt (Leviticus 1:6-17). When the sinner laid his hands on the animal, it was as if he were transferring his sins onto the innocent, blemish-free animal, where upon YEHOVAH God accepted it as an atonement for the person’s sin (Leviticus 1:4).

The two lambs, offered one in the morning and one in the evening, provided a continual lamb presence on the altar before YEHOVAH God. Those who did not come to the Temple prayed in synchronicity in their homes facing Jerusalem.

Like two book ends, the Tamiyd opened the day's offerings, and closed it. These two offerings were the foundation of the two main prayer services in the Temple, and are still today the theme from where the Jewish synagogue service and daily personal prayers were conceived. When Luke in the Book of Acts mentions, "And day by day, attending the Temple together and breaking bread in their homes…" (Acts 2:46), he informs us that the disciples attended these lamb offering-based services. Peter and John are also mentioned going to the Temple’s evening service -- "Now Peter and John went up together to the Temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour" (Acts 3:1). This is important information as it teaches us that the disciples of the Messiah continued to attend Temple services and liturgies even after the Messiah’s resurrection. They had never stopped.

Pointing to the Messiah

The writer of Hebrews clearly teaches that this offering (along with all the other offerings in the sacrificial system) pointed to the Messiah, our Great High Priest, whose atoning death on the tree fulfilled all the types and shadows of the Levitical, sacrificial system:

"Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are -- yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Every high priest is selected from among the people [of Israel] and is appointed to represent the people [of Israel] in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness.

"This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people. And no one takes this honor on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was. In the same way, Christ did not take on himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him, 'You are my Son; today I have become your Father.' And he says in another place, 'You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.' During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission" (Hebrews 4:14-5:7).

Read also Hebrews 7:1 to 10:18.

At his last Passover on earth, the Messiah was nailed to the tree at the time the priests offered the morning offering. All day while the Messiah was on the tree, throngs of locals and pilgrims offered their Passover lambs. The Mishnah records that at the end of the ordeal towards mid-afternoon, the high-priest who worked hard in the hot Jerusalem sun says, "I thirst", and is offered a drink. At the end of the whole thing this same high-priest declares, "it is finished'. The Messiah, the High-Priest, repeated these very words while on the tree, then remitted his spirit to the Father at the very time of the evening offering that closed the day's services:

"Now it was the third hour, and they crucified him" (Mark 15:25).

"Now when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, 'Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?' which is translated, 'My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?'" (Mark 15:33-34).

"After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, 'I thirst!' Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to his mouth. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, 'It is finished!' And bowing his head, he gave up his spirit" (John 19:28-30).

 As the Messiah was put in the tomb just before dusk, Judahite families put their striped and pieced unleavened breads in their ovens.

The Tamiyd is therefore a perfect picture of the intercessory role of the Messiah in our lives. As Paul wrote of him in the Letter sent to the Messianic believers of Jerusalem, "He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them" (Hebrews 7:25).

Yeshua the Messiah, the innocent righteous victim, truly stands at the right hand of the Father always ready to intercede for us because, "The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much" (James 5:16).

Besides the obvious antetypes pointing to the Messiah’s death on the tree, what else can we learn from the olah tamiyd offering rituals? What are the spiritual implications and the lessons to be learned for the redeemed believer living in the twenty-first century? Matthew Henry, in his commentary on Numbers 28:1-8, sums it up very nicely:

"The particular law of the daily sacrifice, a lamb in the morning and a lamb in the evening, which, for the constancy of it as duly as the day came, is called a continual burnt-offering (v. 3), which intimates that when we are bidden to pray always, and to pray without ceasing, it is intended that at least every morning and every evening we offer up our solemn prayers and praises to God" (emphasis added).

This olah tamiyd sacrifice was connected to the rising and setting of the sun as implied by the words of the psalmist (Psalm 113:3). At the same time, the priest was to burn incense on the incense altar as part of the olah tamiyd sacrifice:

"Aaron must burn fragrant incense on the altar every morning when he tends the lamps. He must burn incense again when he lights the lamps at twilight so incense will burn regularly before the LORD for the generations to come" (Exodus 30:7-8).

After the Temple

The biblical writers foresaw a time coming when either there would be no Tabernacle or Temple in which to offer the sacrifices and incense, or the designated place of worship would be inaccessible to the Israelite. In this situation, Hosea admonishes sinful Israel to return to YEHOVAH God and to offer up the sacrifices of our lips, while expecting YEHOVAH God to graciously receive them and take away their iniquity (Hosea 14:2).

While the Temples stood, the Tamiyd was a public offering for the entire community of Israel. Every morning and evening (9:00 am and 3:00 pm) the congregation of Israel offered up a lamb as a whole or burnt offering to symbolize their intention to be consecrated to YEHOVAH God in everything they did. To love the LORD with all their heart, mind, and strength.

During the time of public sacrifice at the Temple, in the morning and evening Tamiyd, regardless of where YEHOVAH's people resided in the ancient world, Israelites were reciting a series of blessings or prayers known as the Eighteen Benedictions. Accordingly, the whole of Israel was united in praising YEHOVAH God as the Mighty Redeemer of Israel; pleading with the LORD to heal their afflictions; asking to be granted pardon and forgiveness for their transgressions; for the nation of Israel to flourish; for salvation to be realized; and for the resurrection of the dead. At 9:00 am and again at 3:00 pm the people lifted their voices toward heaven and asked YEHOVAH God to intercede on their behalf as a nation. The Psalms resonate with images of morning and evening prayers and praise to the Most High Who neither forsakes nor abandons His children Israel.

According to Alfred Edersheim:

"...it is not correct to designate sacrifices as 'prayers without words.' The sacrifices were in no sense prayers, but rather the preparation for prayer. The Tabernacle [as also the later Temples] was, as its Hebrew designation shows, the place 'of meeting' between God and Israel; the sacrificial service, that which made such meeting possible; and the priest (as the root of the word implies), he who brought Israel near to God. Hence prayer could only follow after the sacrifice; and its appropriate symbol and time was the burning of incense" (The Temple: Its Ministry and Services As They Were at the Time of Jesus Christ, p. 157).

Paul embraced the idea of "the sacrifices of our lips" when he admonished the saints to become as “living sacrifices…unto God” (Romans 12:2). In John’s vision of heaven, he sees the prayers of the saints as being like sweet smelling incense before the throne of the Almighty One (Revelation 5:8). Not only does YEHOVAH view the prayers of the righteous as incense, but their praises of Him as a sacrifice or a thanksgiving offering as well (Jeremiah 33:11; Hebrews 13:15). The psalmist goes on to connect the dots between the olah tamiyd sacrifice, incense, prayer and praise when he writes,

"Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice" (Psalm 141:2).

So how is the non-priest to offer incense before YEHOVAH God? This is done through prayer and worship. The prophet Malachi offers an answer:

"For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same My Name shall be great among the Gentiles [northern 10 tribes]; and in every place incense shall be offered unto My Name, and a pure offering, for My Name shall be great among the heathen, saith the LORD of Hosts" (Malachi 1:11).

The Bible prohibits offering sacrifices anywhere YEHOVAH has not placed His Name. What’s more, the Messiah has fulfilled the sacrificial system by his death on the tree once and for all, and has become our Great High Priest. So how, then, do the nations of Israel offer up sacrifices in every place as Malachi prophesies except by prayer and praise? The same is true, of course, for the redeemed believers of Israel who are now part of the Messiah’s royal priesthood, as Peter testifies:

"...you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 2:5).

However, since there is no longer either a Temple or a Levitical priesthood, and yet the saints of Israel are called priests of YEHOVAH God and the Messiah (Revelation 1:6; 5:10; 20:6), how, then, shall we as the saints of the Most High fulfill our priestly duties if not by serving our Heavenly Father and the Messiah through our daily prayer and praise?

The Apostles' Example

The example of the apostles in the book of Acts confirms that Christian-Israelites should pray three times a day. "Now Peter and John went up together into the Temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour" (Acts 3: 1). The ninth hour was three in the afternoon, as we have seen. Cornelius, who was "a devout man, and one that feared God" and prayed always, "saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him" (Acts 10:3). He also was praying at the ninth hour, or 3:00 pm in the afternoon (see also Acts 10:30).

Was it the custom of the apostle Peter to pray at noon? In the same chapter we read, "The next day about noon...Kefa [Peter] went up onto the roof of the house to pray" (Acts 10:9, Jewish New Testament). Yes he did! Other versions say the "sixth hour." The "sixth hour" was noon-time! No one can deny how powerfully YEHOVAH used Peter in His service. Even his shadow passing over the sick made them well (Acts 5:12-16).

And in regard to morning prayer, we find that the apostles and believers were assembled together "all with one accord in one place," on the day of Pentecost, no doubt in prayer and praising YEHOVAH God, when the spirit of YEHOVAH first came upon the Church. What time of day was this? It was "but the third hour of the day" (Acts 2:15). This was nine o'clock in the morning!

The point is, of course, not that YEHOVAH expects us to pray at precisely 9:00 am, 12:00 noon, and 3:00 pm -- not at all. But we should try to pray three times on our knees every day, morning, noon and at evening -- giving YEHOVAH God the best part of the day. This is the spiritual principle involved. If we do this, how much more will YEHOVAH in mercy shower down His spirit upon us and fill us with the spirit of faith, love and humbleness? How much more will YEHOVAH use us in doing His work, and fill us with spiritual strength and power? Let us follow the example of the early New Testament Church in this regard, and we, too, can be literally "all filled with the holy spirit" and speak the "word of God with boldness" (Acts 4:31).

The example in the Bible of all YEHOVAH God's spirit-led servants was of praying with intensity, with fervor, with dynamic energy, and spiritual strength, and gripping emotion, with surcharged feeling and commitment. Have you begun to pray in this way, consistently, repeatedly, often? This kind of prayer leads to supernatural power and spiritual deliverance! It unlocks the doors of heaven, and opens heaven's gates of blessing, encouragement, and prosperity. It makes things happen!

Developing the right habits of prayer is not easy. In the Scriptures, we read that the men of YEHOVAH God prayed on their knees, with arms outstretched towards YEHOVAH. They also generally set us an example of praying THREE TIMES A DAY, as a custom, or habit, on their knees, even when their lives were threatened!

David said, "Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud. and He shall hear my voice" (Psalm 55:17).

Daniel, a man beloved in YEHOVAH's sight, prayed three times on his knees every day, despite the danger and peril of losing his life. Even though the Persian king had made a law that no man should petition or pray for 30 days, except to the king, Daniel remained faithful to YEHOVAH God:

"But though Daniel knew about it, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs bedroom, with its windows open toward Jerusalem, and PRAYED THREE TIMES A DAY, just as he always had, giving thanks to his God" (Daniel.6:10).

When you pray in a private place, lift up your voice -- don't hold back in timidity or embarrassment. Pray before YEHOVAH three times a day. It is amazing how soon your self or ego will dissipate, as you pray with emotion, with fervor, with feeling. Put your heart in your prayers!

If we pray three times a day, consistently, on our knees, this will help us to "fill up" with YEHOVAH's spirit -- to keep spiritually rejuvenated, refurbished, super-charged. Three times a day should not be that difficult, if we set our minds and heart to it! Is eternal life worth it? Three times a day to keep strong and healthy spiritually and to maintain real spiritual POWER and IMPACT in our lives!

David said: "But unto thee have I cried, O LORD; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent [precede] thee" (Psalm 88:13). He said: "Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice" (Psalm 141:2). Prayers of the saints are a sweet smelling sacrifice to YEHOVAH God. We should pray during the best parts of the day and at least commune with our Father and the Messiah at the times the ancient Hebrews offered their sacrifices -- every morning, and evening.

And as the "meal offerings" given to YEHOVAH God were of unleavened fine flour, mixed with oil, so our prayers should be humble, not puffed up or vain, and made in fine detail, not coarse and crude crumbs, mixed with the oil of YEHOVAH's spirit, offered with thanksgiving and praise to our heavenly Father.
 

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