1 Kings 8:62-66

The Feast on the Sacrifices.

In this prodigious number of sacrifices—in round numbers 150,000 victims—3,000 oxen and 18,000 sheep forevery day of the festival (Keil); five oxen and twenty-five sheep forevery minute of each day (Thenius)—in this wholesale slaughter, which converted the court of the priests into one great shambles, and almost choked the sewers of the temple with blood, one feature is liable to be overlooked (note on 1 Kings 8:64 ), namely, that all these sacrifices were " peace offerings," with the exception, of course, of the usual burnt offerings. In all these—and king and princes and people alike brought their thousands—all was first given to God, but the bulk was given back by God to the sacrificers. With the exception of the fat, etc; burnt on the altar, and the blood (which was the life), poured out at its base, and the customary portion of the priests (Le 1 Kings 7:14 , 1 Kings 7:21 ; 1 Corinthians 9:13 ), all the rest was carried home by the offerer to provide a feast for him and his family. The peace offering was thus a social festival And the same remark applies to the still greater number—a quarter of a million—of paschal lambs offered year by year in later times. The blood was sprinkled as a memorial before God, but the lamb was roasted entire to provide a supper for the household ( Deuteronomy 16:1-7 ). In all these sacrifices God graciously entertained those who offered them with their own oblations—which He had first given them—at His own table. And herein we have an illustration of God's gracious way of dealing with our gifts and offerings. He accepts them at our hands, but gives them back for our use and enjoyment. We present our sacrifice, and He spreads banquet for our souls. It is a curious circumstance, and one that shows how entirely this principle has been overlooked, that "sacrifice," which properly means "something made sacred," "consecrated," has come to be a synonym for "loss," "privation." But this a true sacrifice can never be. There is no such thing as giving at a loss to the Lord of all. He insists on paying us back a hundred fold. All our offerings are in this sense peace offerings. He sends us away laden with our own gifts, "joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness of the Lord" ( 1 Kings 8:66 ). Let us now see how this holds good.

I. OF THE SACRIFICE OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST . This is the one veritable sacrifice of the world. Of all others it may be said, "Of thine own have we given thee." He alone "offered him self" ( Hebrews 9:14 ). "With his own blood" ( 1 Kings 8:12 ). Behold how this oblation comes back to us charged with blessing. " Once offered to bear the sins of many " ( 1 Kings 8:28 ); "Having obtained eternal redemption for us" ( 1 Kings 8:12 ). "By the obedience of one many are made righteous" ( Romans 5:19 ). Compare Hebrews 2:9 , Hebrews 2:10 ; Hebrews 12:2 ; Philippians 2:6-11 ; and especially John 10:11 , John 10:17 , and John 6:51 .

II. OF THE SACRIFICE OF OUR BODIES ( Romans 12:1 ). If in separating the body from common uses and yielding our bodies instruments of righteousness to God ( Romans 6:13 ), we seem to suffer inconvenience, privation, etc; it is not really, so. This sacrifice brings "joy and gladness of heart." Not unseldom are we conscious of the present gain. "Virtue is its own reward." The "testimony of the conscience" is no slight recompense. How great, for example, is the guerdon of purity!

"So dear to Heaven is saintly chastity

That when a soul is found sincerely so

A thousand liveried angels lacquey her,

Driving far off each thing of sin and guilt,

And in clear dream and solemn vision

Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear," etc.

There is a story told of George Herbert which shows how little sacrifices become great feasts. On his way to a musical gathering, he stopped by the way to help a poor waggoner out of the ruts. Arriving late and bespattered with mud, he was commiserated for the loss and inconvenience he had sustained. But he would not allow that it was loss. "The remembrance," he said, "will bring music into the heart at midnight."

III. OF THE SACRIFICE OF OUR ALMS . True, they are loss when given to serve self, or for the praise of men. "Verily I say unto you, they have ( i.e; er haust, ἀπέχουσιν ) their reward" ( Matthew 6:2 ). Such givers get what they bargained for; they receive "their good things" ( Luke 16:25 ). But then there was no oblation to God. A Scottish laird having put a crown piece by mistake into the plate, asked for it back again. On being told that he might put what he chose in, but take nothing out, he said, "Well, well, I suppose I'll get credit for it in heaven." "Na, na," was the just reply, "ye'll only get credit for the penny." But if the alms be hue offerings to God, then they have both a present and an eternal reward. Present, in hearing the widow's heart sing for joy, and in the blessing of him that was ready to perish" ( Job 29:13 ); eternal, in that "God is not unrighteous to forget," etc. ( Hebrews 6:10 ), and that a "cup of cold water only" shall in no wise lose its reward ( Matthew 10:42 ). Such gifts are the truest and safest investments ( Proverbs 19:17 ).

"We lose what on ourselves we spend,

We have as treasure without end

Whatever Lord, to Thee we lend."

There is on record an admirable prayer of Thomas Sutton, the pious founder of the Charterhouse, "O Lord, Thou hast given me a large estate, give me a large heart ." We cannot lose what we give away.

IV. OF THE SACRIFICE OF OUR OBLATIONS . We use "oblations" here in the liturgical sense of the word, i.e; of the oblations of bread and wine in the Holy Communion. For these were anciently, and should be still, solemnly offered to God, as our thank offerings, as a sort of first fruits of His creatures. And now consider how they are given back to us. "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion ( κοινωνία , the joint participation in) of the blood of Christ? the bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?" ( 1 Corinthians 10:16 .) We have presented to the Divine Majesty bread and wine, and He gives us in return the body and blood of our Lord ( ib ; John 11:24 , John 11:25 ).

V. OF THE SACRIFICE OF WORLDLY PROSPECTS , etc. Men often speak of the sacrifices they have had to make for the sake of their religion. And time was when great sacrifices were demanded; these are sometimes demanded still. But they involve no loss, no real and abiding injury. On the contrary, they are actually, and in the long run, a gain. "There is no man that hath left houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake and the gospel's, but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life". On which Bengel beautifully remarks that nature gives us each but one father and one mother, but the Church gives us many. (Cf. Romans 16:18 .) "What shall I do," said Amaziah, "for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel? .... And the man of God answered, The Lord is able to give thee much more than this" ( 2 Chronicles 25:9 ). Who had made more sacrifices than St. Paul? And yet who was it wrote of "having nothing, yet possessing all things?" ( 2 Corinthians 6:10 ). The man who had such loved and loving friends as Romans 16:1-27 . proves him to have had, cannot be called poor. Well might he write, "I have all and abound" ( Philippians 4:18 ). The sacrifices he had made procured him a continual feast. It is the same with all our sacrifices. The Great King cannot receive gifts, but he must return them "according to his royal bounty" ( 1 Kings 10:13 ). The Greatest Giver in the world will never be outdone in generosity by king Solomon.

HOMILIES BY A. ROWLAND