Lamb

A lamb in scripture is almost always a yearling male sheep (Hebrew kebes), the standard sacrificial offering. Two lambs were offered every morning and every evening in the temple — the tamid, or continual offering — so that the smoke of an unbroken sacrifice rose over Jerusalem from sunrise to sunset. At Passover each household chose a lamb on the tenth of Nisan, kept it under inspection for four days to confirm it was without blemish, and slaughtered it at twilight on the fourteenth (Exo.12). Its blood marked the doorpost; its flesh was roasted and eaten in haste. Isaiah saw a suffering servant "like a lamb that is led to the slaughter" (Isa.53). John the Baptist, watching Jesus walk by at the Jordan, says simply: "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (Joh.1.29). Revelation extends the figure into glory: the slain Lamb stands at the centre of heaven's worship (Rev.5), still bearing the marks of slaughter and yet alive, receiving the praise that belongs only to God.