I've been doing some Old Testament research for my dissertation and came across this passage about sacrifice in Ancient Israel and its importance in relationship. Not something i've ever really thought about before...
Sacrifice – in many ways sacrifice is simply assumed by the biblical texts as the way of being in relationship with God. That is the relationship between God and the people of God is the basis for making sense of sacrifice, rather than the reverse.
Sacrifice does not create the relationship; rather sacrifice maintains or strengthens the already existing relationship. When humans perceive the relationship as torn or broken, sacrifice serves as evidence of the human desire to repair and restore it.
There is rarely the sense of appeasement of an angry deity through sacrifice in the biblical texts; rather, sacrifice serves as concrete evidence of human acknowledgement of the ruptured relationship and of the desire for restoration. In theological-speak, restoration of the divine-human relationship is atonement, to highlight the purpose of bringing the relationship back into equilibrium.
(C) Marty E. Stevens Theological Themes of the Old Testament
I personally think it's so easy to take for granted our relationship with God, is it too simplified to say he's not angry, but just disappointed with us, I think there must be times he gets angry when he looks down on his perfect creation and see's what humanity is doing to it. Yet he does want us to come back into relationship with him when we mess it up. But we dont have to go to the temple to perform a sacrificial rite. The Ultimate sacrifice has been made on our behalf through Christ our atoner, we just have to reacknowledge that and humbly come before God asking his forgiveness to repair and restore and ruptured relationships with him.
What a merciful and gracious God we have.
