an offering: anything a worshiper brings near and presents to God as a gift
This is the Bible's broad, all-purpose word for a sacrificial gift. It does not name one particular rite. A burnt offering (עֹלָה), a grain offering (מִנְחָה), a peace offering, an animal from the herd, a bird, even a vow gift or a contribution of gold can all be called by this one word. What ties them together is not what the gift is but what is done with it: it is carried forward and placed before God. It works like an umbrella term, the heading under which every named kind of sacrifice belongs, which is why it stands at the very opening of the laws of offering and gathers all of them under itself.
The heart of the word is the verb it comes from, which means "to bring near" or "to draw close." An offering is, quite literally, the near-brought thing. The worshiper does not send the gift from a distance; he approaches and presents it in person at the altar or the tent of meeting. The picture behind the word is an ancient one, of coming before a king and laying down tribute, and Israel's worship is cast in that same shape: a gift brought near and set before the LORD.
Because it is the umbrella term, the same word covers gifts in settings that shade slightly differently:
- the ordinary altar offerings of daily worship
- the lavish dedication gifts the tribal leaders brought when the altar was first set up
- gifts handed over to the sanctuary that are dedicated to God without ever being burned, like the silver dishes, the gold pans, and the war-spoil of gold the soldiers gave
They are one kind of thing, a gift drawn near to God, seen in different moments of Israel's life.
The word survived into Jesus' day. Its Aramaic form, heard as the term behind the practice Jesus criticizes in Mark 7, named property a person had declared an offering to God so as to withhold it from his own parents.