Yahweh’s nostrils quiver at the aroma of burnt offerings.
I think that’s mistaken. There is plenty of prophecy that laments sacrifices without change of heart. Isaiah 1:11 NIV The multitude of your sacrifices— what are they to me?” says the Lord. “I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.
I have an idea it’s possible that the “priests” offered those sacrifices because they were concerned about the peoples’ “bad behavior”. I don’t know that the priests were as has been characterized as “blood thirsty” — that’s my take. I really have nothing to back that up in scholarship.
There is plenty of prophecy that laments sacrifices without change of heart. Isaiah 1:11 NIV
Well that’s from the ethical prophetic perspective of Isaiah. The composers of the Priestly Source of the Torah believed that the sacrifice worked on a functional level. I’m not sure how much they actually cared about internal attitudes. They seem to have been more concerned about ritual impurity than personal ethics. Consequently I don’t think it’s a matter of “blood thirstiness”. Spilt blood has power. Like electricity. It doesn’t matter what mood you’re in when you hit the switch.
I think this gets to the heart of the conflict between Jews in Jesus’ day. To the conservative Sadducees what mattered was the Temple sacrifice. As long as it survived all was well. If they had to collaborate with the Romans to make that happen, so be it. It was the Jewish sectarians like Jesus and the Qumran community who insisted that personal repentance mattered. Both views had traditions they could look back on to bolster their claims.
To the conservative Sadducees what mattered was the Temple sacrifice
This is an interesting characterization to me. Umberto Cassuto (1883 – 1951) believed that the Sadducees were members of the aristocracy and influenced by what he called ancient universal wisdom, and especially by Greek thought. They chose to use the more generic appellatives of Elohim when referring to the godhead. The Pharisees on the other hand belonged to the lower classes and supported the national outlook meticulously “preserving the national form of the Faith” instilling in the people a sense of direct contact with YHWH their God.
I find these two base traditions somewhat compelling when thinking about Paul’s approach and the New Testament in general to a mystical Jesus as a more personal savior. Paul seems to be influenced by both Hellenistic and Judaic traditions.
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