569. The Meaning of the Offering

We see that an offering must be complete, flawless.

This means that there are people who sacrifice their lives and give their souls to idol-worship, which is in a place where they have no meaning in life and see that their whole future is nothing but pain and agony.

This happens for various reasons. Some have come to that state by losing their property so they feel there is no point to continue living without property and think that this is the worst suffering in the world.

Alternatively, they are deep in debt and cannot repay and they cannot stand the shame from the debtors, which afflicts them terribly. They, too, think that this is the worst suffering in the world, and for this reason they have no desire to go on living. Hence, they commit suicide.

It follows that the offering of the sacrifice is not for the Creator but for themselves. This is called “making an offering to idol-worship.”

Sometimes, a person is lost because of the above-mentioned causes and says that now he agrees to serve the Creator in complete devotion because he sees that corporeal life gives him no vitality but to retire from all the corporeal matters because he is bare and indigent, so he gives himself up to spirituality.

In that, too, although now he is making an offering to the Creator, there is still a flaw in this offering because the corporeal life he gives as an offering is flawed, so he is not deficient. If there were no flaw in the offering, he would not sacrifice the corporeal life but would take it for himself and not for the Creator.

A flawless offering means that it has no flaws, and yet he gives his soul to the Creator in order to give contentment to his Maker. Specifically that offering is called “My fire is a fragrance for the Lord,” since he has no consideration of himself, but all his intention is only for the sake of the Creator.