Lamb

The ‘she,’ lamb, is a young sheep or goat. It is the most significant sacrificial animal in the Bible. It is also mentioned with another Hebrew name which is the name of the adult of this species: ‘ke•ves,’ sheep. In many references the ‘seh’ is mentioned as a ‘year-old sheep.’ The detailed rules of the offering ritual are found mainly in the Books of Leviticus and Numbers. Whereas the ordinary ritual requires a young lamb, the sacrificial lamb of certain holidays such as Yom Kippur’ (The Day of Atonement), and Passover, in particular, must be ‘without blemish.’ The Hebrew word for this phrase is ‘ta•min,’ which also means innocent or perfect:

“Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year; you shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats”

This Old Testament ‘seh’ has everything required to mirror in the image and character of the Messiah and, indeed, he is innocent, perfect, with no blemish and he is prophesied to pay with his life for the sin of all of us:

“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, but he humbled himself and opened not his mouth; he was brought like a lamb to the slaughter, and like a sheep, that is dumb before its shearers, he did not open his mouth”

The sacrificed ‘seh’ is the most important metaphor in the New Testament. It is called in Hebrew ‘Seh Ha•Elohim,’ The Lamb of God:

The next day, he saw Jesus coming to him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”