In Biblical narrative The first uses of the
olah for burnt offering refer to the sacrifices of
Noah "of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar", and to the near-
sacrifice of Isaac by
Abraham: "offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains". Another burnt-offering is that of
Jethro, Moses' father-in-law (). The
Nevi'im section of the Hebrew Bible, particularly passages in the
Book of Judges, presents the practice of the burnt offering. In the story of
Gideon, a
slaughter offering of a young goat and unleavened bread is consumed by fire sent from heaven. In the story of
Samson's birth, his father, who was intending to make a slaughter offering so that he could give a meal to an angel, is told by the angel to burn it completely instead.
Procedure Initially, the burnt-offering was required to be offered on an "altar of earth". After the
tabernacle was built, it was specified that the tabernacle's altar be used. The major types of sacrificial offerings, their purpose and circumstances, details of their performance and distributions afterwards are delineated in the
Book of Leviticus 1:1-7:38. The animals were required to be "unblemished"; the list of blemishes includes animals "that are blind or broken or maimed, or have an ulcer or eczema or scabs". The animals were brought to the north side of the altar, and
ritually slaughtered. The animal's blood was carefully collected by a priest and sprinkled on the outside corners of the
altar. Unless the animal was a bird, its carcass was flayed, with the skin kept by the priests. The flesh of the animal was divided according to detailed instructions given by the
Talmud (Tamid 31), and would then be placed on the wood on the altar (which was constantly on fire due to the large number of sacrifices carried out daily), and slowly burnt. After the flesh (including any horns and goats' beards) had been reduced to ashes, usually the following morning, the ashes were removed by a Kohen, as refuse, and taken to a
ritually clean location outside the Temple. The burnt-offering was offered together with a
meal offering and a
drink offering, whose quantities depended on the variety of animal being offered (bull, ram, sheep, or goat).
Occasions The schedule of obligatory sacrifices, including burnt-offerings, appears in the
Book of Numbers 28:1-30:1. These include daily offerings, as well as additional offerings for
Shabbat,
Rosh Chodesh,
Rosh Hashanah,
Passover,
Shavuot,
Yom Kippur, and
Sukkot. The sacrificial animals were required to be bulls, rams, goats (as
sin offerings) and
lambs. A
korban olah was also made as a sin offering on the appointment of a
priest, on the termination of a
Nazirite's vow, after recovery from
tzaraath, by a woman after
childbirth, after recovery from a state of
abnormal bodily discharges, a
gentile's conversion to
Judaism, or as a voluntary sacrifice, when the sacrificial animal could be a young bull, ram, year-old goat, turtle doves, or pigeons. ==In Hellenistic Judaism==