Emphasis Preaching Journal

The tradition of animal sacrifice as an offering to God starts in the earliest days of the Old Testament, with the story of Cain and Abel. Cain, the farmer, made a burnt offering of the fruits of the field while Abel, the shepherd, sacrificed a young lamb. Abel's sacrifice was acceptable to God, while Cain's was not. Later Moses refined the practice of animal sacrifice by making it the special responsibility of the priestly tribe under Aaron. Even at the time of Jesus, this ancient ritual continued with sacrificial animals brought to the temple for slaughter and burning.