1Listen to this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who tell their husbands, “Bring us drinks!”
2The Lord Yahweh has sworn by his holiness,
“Behold, the days shall come on you that they will take you away with hooks,
and the last of you with fish hooks.
3You will go out at the breaks in the wall,
everyone straight before her;
and you will cast yourselves into Harmon,” says Yahweh.
4“Go to Bethel, and sin;
to Gilgal, and sin more.
Bring your sacrifices every morning,
your tithes every three days,
5offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened,
and proclaim free will offerings and brag about them;
for this pleases you, you children of Israel,” says the Lord Yahweh.
6“I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities,
and lack of bread in every town;
yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh.
7“I also have withheld the rain from you,
when there were yet three months to the harvest;
and I caused it to rain on one city,
and caused it not to rain on another city.
One field was rained on,
and the field where it didn’t rain withered.
8So two or three cities staggered to one city to drink water,
and were not satisfied;
yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh.
9“I struck you with blight and mildew many times in your gardens and your vineyards,
and the swarming locusts have devoured your fig trees and your olive trees;
yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh.
10“I sent plagues among you like I did Egypt.
I have slain your young men with the sword,
and have carried away your horses.
I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camp,
yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh.
11“I have overthrown some of you,
as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
and you were like a burning stick plucked out of the fire;
yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh.
12“Therefore I will do this to you, Israel;
because I will do this to you,
prepare to meet your God, Israel.
13For, behold, he who forms the mountains, creates the wind, declares to man what is his thought,
who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the high places of the earth:
Yahweh, the God of Armies, is his name.”
This passage is an example of material that relates to sacrifices. Most of the fine detail of such material is included in Leviticus, but some also in Numbers. In its ancient context the passage relates to what is called priestly material of the Pentateuch and the stipulations contributed towards ancient Israelite worship. The five main sacrifices are presented in Leviticus 1-5, the burnt offering, the grain offering, the fellowship offering, the sin offering and the guilt offering. These offerings were presented on various occasions, including to atone for sin, as voluntary measures and as scheduled offerings during regular national festivals throughout each year. In the Christian canonical biblical context, the sacrificial material is seen as part of the Old Covenant that has now been replaced by the New. According to the New Testament, Jesus himself has fulfilled the sacrificial requirements of the Old Covenant and there is no more need for any further sacrifices (e.g. Hebrews 10). Thus for Christians, in many ways this material is of historical interest and not something to be followed in practice. And yet, the Old Testament sacrificial material went further than just ritual. In fact, the idea was to sacrifice from what one had and serve Yahweh, the God of the Old Testament ultimately voluntarily and out of gladness, and to take care of one’s neighbor, including the weak and destitute (cf. e.g. Deuteronomy 12:4-7, 26; Hosea 12, Amos 4-5). In that sense, the related Old Testament themes do carry over to the New Testament and to Christians as exhortations of good practice, both in an individual and collective sense.