Burn versus Burn קטך-Qatar versus שרף-Saraph

We are going to revisit the High Priest version of the Hata’at (sin offering) that we looked at in Lesson Thirty Three because there is a connection I want to draw to Yeshua’s sacrifice on the cross. To start, let’s take a look at the following scripture:

“Then the priest shall burn the fat on the altar of burnt offering. But the hide of the bull and all its flesh, as well as the head and legs, the internal organs and the intestines—that is, all the rest of the bull—he must take outside the camp to a place ceremonially clean, where the ashes are thrown, and burn it there in a wood fire on the ash heap.”-Leviticus 4:10-12


As the above verses state, the high priest’s sin offering entails burning up the sacrificed bull’s fat on the brazen altar and then the rest of the bull is supposed to be taken outside the camp where another complete and destructive immolation is to take place.

The first point that needs to be made is that the word used for burn referring to the parts of the bull set on fire on the brazen altar and the word used for burn in reference to the rest of the bull that is cremated outside the camp are different in Hebrew. The Hebrew word for the brazen altar burning is Qatar and the word for the outside camp burning is saraph. There is a strong difference between these words.

In a nutshell, Qatar has a positive connotation and a saraph has a negative connotation. Qatar is specifically a sacrificial burning which has a very constructive purpose because it pays for sin and serves to appease G-d. On the other hand, saraph means destruction by fire, as trash is burned for example. In other words, the object being “seraph”ed is always something considered disgusting and absolutely worthy of the fiery destruction it is being subjected to. By the way, the angelic beings in the Bible known as seraphim come from this same word and what is interesting is that these seraphim are the ones who are commissioned to bring about destruction in accordance with G-d’s judgments upon a sinful world.

Now what is the significance of the remains of the bull being taken “outside of the camp” to be burned? First of all, “outside of the camp” is actually a literal physical radius of approximately 3000 feet encircling the wilderness tabernacle. The inside of the camp is considered to be pure and holy. Hence, any “seraph” or destruction by fire of something rendered unholy must take place outside of the camp. Let’s take a look at the following
Scripture from Hebrews. Things are about to take a turn for the awesome, so brace yourself.

“We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat. The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore.”- Hebrews 13:10-13

These verses specifically state that just as the sacrificial animals for the high priest’s sin offering were destroyed outside the camp, so was our savior Jesus destroyed outside the camp. So it is there where we must meet him. A major point can be gleaned from this. First, in terms of individual sin offerings, destroying the bodies outside the camp only occurred for the High Priest’s sin offering (it didn’t occur for the tribal leader and a common citizen). Now in the New Testament, who is said to be our high priest? Jesus is! Hence, as the Scripture plainly states He was crucified “outside the camp”. In other words, the author of Hebrews is clearly equating Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross with the sin offering. Jesus, as our high priest, gave Himself up for us as He was saraph “outside the camp”. This is why Jesus cried out on the cross, “My G-d, my G-d! Why have you forsaken me?” As payment for our sins, G-d had indeed abandoned Him to be destroyed outside the camp.

So when the book of Hebrews states that Jesus was offered up as our sin offering, it was NOT referring to some general or universal kind of sacrifice, it was specifically referring to the hata’at which we looked at in detail in the last lesson. Of course, this is not to imply that Jesus’ death did not fulfill the requirements for all of the other sacrifices. He did and so much more. His death even freed us from the curses of the law, the payment for those sins that the sacrificial system was of no avail to atone.

L-rd, thank you for sending your son Yeshua to be a sin offering for us.

Amen.