Slaughter offering
Type of animal sacrifice in Judaism
A slaughter offering in the Hebrew Bible (Hebrew: זֶבַח, romanized: zeḇaḥ) is a type of Jewish animal sacrifice. The term specifically refers to the slaughter of an animal to God followed by a feast or a meal. This is distinguished from the burnt offering, shechita, guilt offering, sin offering, korban sacrifice, and the gift offering (Hebrew minchah).
A common subcategory of this is the peace offering (Hebrew: Zevaḥ shelamim). Although shelamim is usually translated into English as peace-offering, the Hebrew word shalom, derived from the Semitic root Š-L-M, means much more than the English word "peace", and includes the concepts of harmony, health, and prosperity.
Etymology
Zevakh is derived from the Semitic root Z-B-Ḥ; the qal is זָבַח zāb̲aḥ means "to slaughter;" the piʿel (causative) form means "to sacrifice."
Types and occasions
There are three different subdivisions of slaughter offering:
Thank offering (Hebrew todah) - made in response to an unexpected positive change in circumstance
Votive offering - made in response to a positive change in circumstance, when a vow in hope of such a change had previously been made
Free-will offering - more spontaneous slaughter offerings
Slaughter offerings were also made in response to the ratification of solemn covenants, treaties, and alliances.
Ritual
As the meal resulting from a slaughter offering was seen as holy, the guests were required to change their garments if possible; impurity would have excluded them from participation. Sometimes festive garments, which were seen as having sanctity, were borrowed for this purpose from the priests, and rings, having the significance of amulets, were worn in honour of the deity. Like the other types of sacrifice, the act began with the imposition of the offerer's hands onto the sacrificial animal, which would then be killed, and its blood collected and sprinkled upon the altar; however, slaughter offerings could be killed anywhere within the Temple Courtyard, not only on the north side of the altar. Oxen, sheep, and goats, are explicitly identified by the Biblical text as being used for slaughter offerings, but unlike other types of sacrifice, there was no rigid insistence that the animal be unblemished, or on the gender of the animal.
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