Bullock

The bullock — a young bull from the herd — stands at the heaviest end of the sacrificial scale. He is what the anointed priest brings when his own sin has tainted the people; what the assembly brings when the whole congregation has erred; what Aaron drives to the door of the tent of meeting on the Day of Atonement; what the tribes give twelve-and-twenty-four times over at the dedication of the altar; what Solomon multiplies past counting at the dedication of the temple; what Elijah lays on the wood at Carmel; and what Hosea, at the end, replaces with words.

The Priest's Sin-Offering

When the anointed priest sins so as to bring guilt on the people, he is to "offer for his sin, which he has sinned, a young bull without blemish to Yahweh for a sin-offering" (Le 4:3). The priest brings the bull "to the door of the tent of meeting before Yahweh; and he will lay his hand on the head of the bull, and kill the bull before Yahweh" (Le 4:4). Some of the blood goes "on the horns of the altar of sweet incense before Yahweh, which is in the tent of meeting; and all the blood of the bull he will pour out at the base of the altar of burnt-offering" (Le 4:7). "All the fat of the bull of the sin-offering he will take off from it" (Le 4:8). When the rite is for the whole congregation, "the anointed priest will bring of the blood of the bull to the tent of meeting" (Le 4:16), and the verdict closes: "Thus he will do with the bull; as he did with the bull of the sin-offering, so he will do with this; and the priest will make atonement for them, and they will be forgiven" (Le 4:20). The carcass is removed from the holy precincts: "But the flesh of the bull, and its skin, and its dung, you will burn with fire outside the camp: it is a sin-offering" (Ex 29:14).

The Consecration of the Priests

Aaron and his sons cannot serve until a bull's blood has cleansed the altar at which they will stand. "And you will bring the bull before the tent of meeting: and Aaron and his sons will lay their hands on the head of the bull" (Ex 29:10). "And you will kill the bull before Yahweh, at the door of the tent of meeting" (Ex 29:11). "And you will take of the blood of the bull, and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger; and you will pour out all the blood at the base of the altar" (Ex 29:12). The cleansing is repeated daily through the seven-day rite: "And every day you will offer the bull of sin-offering for atonement: and you will cleanse the altar, when you make atonement for it; and you will anoint it, to sanctify it" (Ex 29:36).

The Day of Atonement

On the tenth day of the seventh month the high priest's bull is the first animal in the chain. "And Aaron will present the bull of the sin-offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself, and for his house" (Le 16:6). The killing follows: "And Aaron will present the bull of the sin-offering, which is for himself, and will make atonement for himself, and for his house, and will kill the bull of the sin-offering which is for himself" (Le 16:11). The blood is then carried inside the veil — "and he will take of the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy-seat on the east; and before the mercy-seat he will sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times" (Le 16:14). Only after the priest's bull has gone in does the people's goat follow: "Then he will kill the goat of the sin-offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood inside the veil, and do with his blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy-seat, and before the mercy-seat" (Le 16:15).

The Festival Calendar

The festal calendar runs on bullocks. Each new moon brings "two young bullocks, and one ram, seven he-lambs a year old without blemish" (Nu 28:11). At Pentecost the bread is presented "with seven lambs without blemish a year old, and one young bull, and two rams: they will be a burnt-offering to Yahweh, with their meal-offering, and their drink-offerings, even an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to Yahweh" (Le 23:18). The Levites' purification calls for "a young bull, and its meal-offering, fine flour mingled with oil; and another young bull you will take for a sin-offering" (Nu 8:8). The general burnt-offering and peace-offering provision is the same: "And when you prepare a bull for a burnt-offering, or for a sacrifice, to accomplish a vow, or for peace-offerings to Yahweh" (Nu 15:8). Booths opens with "thirteen young bullocks, two rams, fourteen he-lambs a year old; they will be without blemish" (Nu 29:13) and closes seven days later, the count having descended to "one bull, one ram, seven he-lambs a year old without blemish" (Nu 29:36).

The Dedication of the Altar

When the tabernacle's altar is anointed, the tribes' offerings are tallied as totals: "all the oxen for the burnt-offering twelve bullocks, the rams twelve, the he-lambs a year old twelve, and their meal-offering; and the males of the goats for a sin-offering twelve" (Nu 7:87) — "and all the oxen for the sacrifice of peace-offerings twenty and four bullocks, the rams sixty, the he-goats sixty, the he-lambs a year old sixty. This was the dedication of the altar, after that it was anointed" (Nu 7:88).

Solomon, the Returnees, and Ezra's Silver

Solomon's dedication of the temple breaks past the calendar's measured pairs. "And the king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before Yahweh. And Solomon offered for the sacrifice of peace-offerings, which he offered to Yahweh, two and twenty thousand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the sons of Israel dedicated the house of Yahweh" (1Ki 8:62-63). The bronze altar can no longer hold what is brought: "The same day the king hallowed the middle of the court that was before the house of Yahweh; for there he offered the burnt-offering, and the meal-offering, and the fat of the peace-offerings, because the bronze altar that was before Yahweh was too little to receive the burnt-offering, and the meal-offering, and the fat of the peace-offerings" (1Ki 8:64).

When the second temple is dedicated the count is more sober but the pattern survives: "And they offered at the dedication of this house of God a hundred bullocks, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs; and for a sin-offering for all Israel, twelve he-goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel" (Ezr 6:17). The returnees from the captivity bring the same twelve-fold reckoning: "The sons of the captivity, who had come out of exile, offered burnt-offerings to the God of Israel, twelve bullocks for all Israel, ninety and six rams, seventy and two lambs, twelve he-goats for a sin-offering: all this was a burnt-offering to Yahweh" (Ezr 8:35). Artaxerxes' decree funds the program: "therefore you will with all diligence buy with this silver bullocks, rams, lambs, with their meal-offerings and their drink-offerings, and will offer them on the altar of the house of your⁺ God which is in Jerusalem" (Ezr 7:17).

Elijah at Carmel

Elijah frames the contest as a choice of bullocks. "Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bull for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under; and I will dress the other bull, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under" (1Ki 18:23). When his turn comes — "And he put the wood in order, and cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood. And he said, Fill four jars with water, and pour it on the burnt-offering, and on the wood" (1Ki 18:33).

Balaam's Seven Altars

Balak hires Balaam, and the prophet's first instruction is for animals: "And Balaam said to Balak, Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bullocks and seven rams" (Nu 23:1). "And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bull and a ram" (Nu 23:2). Balaam reports back: "And God met Balaam: and he said to him, I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered up a bull and a ram on every altar" (Nu 23:4). The cycle is repeated on Pisgah — "And he took him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar" (Nu 23:14) — and a third time: "And Balaam said to Balak, Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bullocks and seven rams" (Nu 23:29); "And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar" (Nu 23:30).

Gideon's Second Bull

Gideon is told to take the second bull from his father's herd and to put it on a properly built altar: "and build an altar to Yahweh your God on the top of this stronghold, in the orderly manner, and take the second bull, and offer a burnt-offering with the wood of the Asherah which you will cut down" (Jg 6:26).

Apostate Imitations

Northern Israel's substitute priesthood is recognizable by its consecration animal: "Haven't you⁺ driven out the priests of Yahweh, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made for yourselves priests after the manner of the peoples of [other] lands? So that whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams, the same may be a priest of [those that are] no gods" (2Ch 13:9). The bull is the right material; the priesthood it consecrates is not.

Bull-Blood Judged Insufficient

The same bull that the priest brings becomes, in the prophets' indictment, the wrong answer to the wrong question. "I will take no bull out of your house, Nor he-goats out of your folds" (Ps 50:9). "What to me is the multitude of your⁺ sacrifices? says Yahweh: I have had enough of the burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I do not delight in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats" (Is 1:11). The verdict carries forward into Hebrews: "For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify to the cleanness of the flesh" (He 9:13) — and then, more bluntly: "For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins" (He 10:4).

The faithful counter-claim still uses the bullock as its measure. "I will offer to you burnt-offerings of fatlings, With the incense of rams; I will offer bullocks with goats. Selah" (Ps 66:15).

The Bullocks of Our Lips

Hosea closes the prophets' line by substituting the offering. "Take with you⁺ words, and return to Yahweh: say to him, Take away all iniquity, and accept that which is good: so we will render [as] bullocks [the offering of] our lips" (Ho 14:2). The repentance that follows is verbal, not herd-counted: "Assyria will not save us; we will not ride on horses; neither will we say anymore to the work of our hands, [You⁺ are] our gods; for in you the fatherless finds mercy" (Ho 14:3).

In the Day of Wrath

The bullock furnishes the prophets' image of slaughter in judgment as well. "And the wild-oxen will come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls: and their land will be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness" (Is 34:7). And the eschatological feast in Ezekiel's oracle: "You⁺ will eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan" (Eze 39:18).

The Symbolic Face

In the throne-room visions, the ox stands among the four faces. "As for the likeness of their faces, they had the face of man; and the four of them had the face of a lion on the right side; and the four of them had the face of an ox on the left side; the four of them had also the face of an eagle" (Eze 1:10). The Apocalypse's parallel substitutes the calf: "And the first creature [was] like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face as of a man, and the fourth creature [was] like a flying eagle" (Re 4:7).

Wealth and Stock

Apart from the altar, the bullock is counted with the rest of a herd's wealth. Jacob's gift to Esau is tallied "thirty milch camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty she-donkeys and ten foals" (Ge 32:15).