היצמדות לעבודת ה' אמיתית

(21) The following rebuke may also have been delivered by the prophet at the gate of the Temple or inside the Temple compound itself: So said the Lord of hosts, God of Israel: Add your burnt offerings to your peace offerings, and eat meat. Burnt offerings are burned in their entirety upon the altar, whereas most of the meat of peace offerings is consumed by the one who brought it. Accordingly, God is saying: You delude yourselves into thinking that I accept your burnt offerings. You might as well consume your burnt offerings with your peace offerings in your popular celebrations. It would be a shame to waste the meat. (22) Sacrificial offerings should not be the main focus of one’s worship of God. For I did not speak to your fathers and I did not command them on the day that I took them out of the land of Egypt with regard to the matters of burnt offerings or peace offerings. The fundamental focus of the Torah is not on the sacrifice of offerings. Although clearly the Torah refers extensively to offerings, nevertheless the prophet is correct in saying that God did not command the people with regard to offerings when they left Egypt. The reason for the absence of this type of command at that time is that the sacrifice of offerings is not an objective in and of itself; rather, it is a means of achieving atonement from sin. As such, it has no place in an ideal world. It should be noted that the term “day” here means a period of time, not a specific date. (23)Rather, this matter I commanded them, saying: Heed My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people, and you will walk in the entire path that I will command you so that it will be good for you. God’s basic directive to the people of Israel was to follow His ways and to act as God’s chosen nation. Indeed, the Ten Precepts do not contain a single commandment pertaining to sacrificial offerings. Conversely, in verse 9 the prophet rebuked the people for transgressing several of the Ten Precepts. (24)But they did not heed, and they did not incline their ear; they followed their counsel, in the desire of their evil heart, and they faced backward and not forward. They constantly moved in the wrong direction, (25)from the day that your fathers came out from the land of Egypt until this day, and I sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily, time and again. (26)But they did not heed Me and did not even incline their ear.Rather, they stiffened their neck, and they did worse than their fathers.