What Were These Old Testament Sacrifices?

by Michael Shackleton · December 18, 2012

In the Eucharistic Prayer we pray that God will look upon our offerings ‘as you once were pleased to accept the gifts of your servant Abel the just, the sacrifice of Abraham our father in the faith, and the offering of your high priest Melchizedek’. What sacrifices are referred to, and can we accept them as myth or fact? Maria Kolbeck

A panel of mural depicting Abraham preparing to sacrifice his son Isaac in St John Nepomucene Church in Bohemia, New York.(CNS photo by Gregory A. Shemitz, Long Island Catholic)

Biblical scholars would not dispute that Abaham really existed and that he was called personally by God to leave his home in Mesopotamia: Yahweh said to Abram, Leave your country, your family and your father’s house for the land I will show you. I will make you a great nation (Gn 12:1-2).

Abraham and his family trekked to the land of Canaan because he relied on God to keep his promise of a new land and a new nation. But his faith in God was dramatically tested when God ordered him to sacrifice his only son Isaac to him (Gn 22). How could he become the patriarch of a nation if his only son was slain? Yet he was prepared to obey.

Although God prevented the fatal blow, he was pleased with Abraham’s unbloody sacrifice. The man had been severely challenged yet shown immense faith and obedience, so that he became acknowledged as our father in faith.

Abel’s sacrifice was acceptable to God but Cain’s was not, possibly because Abel made it whole-heartedly and Cain did not (Gn 4:1-16). This narrative could have some basis in ancient myth but the Jewish authors of Genesis, who wrote it a long time later, included it in our salvation history which has the true God as its origin.

Melchizedek features in Gn 14:18-20. He was king of Salem (Jerusalem) and a priest of God Most High, before the Jewish Levitical priesthood was established. As such, his offering of bread and wine, a mysterious prelude to the Eucharistic sacrifice, was accepted by God.

Compare this with Christ’s high priesthood. Hebrews 5:5-6 reads: Nor did Christ give himself the glory of becoming high priest but he had it from the one who said to him You are my son, today I have become your father, and in another text: You are a priest of the order of Melchizedek, and for ever.

In praying that God will look favourably on our Eucharistic offering, we are confident that he will do so.