One of the most common misconceptions about the Old Testament sacrificial system is that someone laid his hands on the head of an animal that was to be sacrificed in order to transfer sin to the animal. This, so the common thinking goes, is how sin was taken care of.
There are a few problems with this understanding. First, it reduces all of the sacrificial system to "dealing with sin." This says more about us than it does about the ancient Israelites. We're so focused on "evangelism" and "getting saved" and "dealing with our sin" that we don't have much space of building and maintaining a relationship with the God of the Universe. But the sacrifices of the OT were for this relationship maintenance. This is why YHWH was so angry about sacrifices: A jilted husband does not want to receive a gift from his hooker-wife. You can't maintain a relationship that's broken. Relationships are, if we would stop to think about it, more complicated than an initial meeting. The sacrificial system allows many ways for YHWH's people to interact with YHWH: presenting him with gifts, as a way to show that someone has completed a promise, to just say "Thanks!"
A second problem with this understanding is that it shows that we don't understand the nature of YHWH's presence. In the tabernacle and temple setup, YHWH's space is "Most Holy" or the "Holy of Holies." We could translate this Hebrew phrase as "completely Holy." Perhaps we can see the problem now: A person couldn't transfer his sin to an animal and then offer it to YHWH in the "completely Holy" space. NO! YHWH demanded the best, purest animals. How many times do the instructions require an animal "without defect?" You wouldn't dream of defiling an animal by putting your sins on it!
There is one exception that proves the rule: The Day of Atonement. This is an annual cleaning. You might think of it like "Spring Cleaning." But the goal isn't to remove all of the dust or clutter. Rather the sins of the past year that defiled the sanctuary were to be removed. "In this way he (Aaron) will make atonement for the Most Holy Place because of the uncleanness and rebellion of the Israelites (Lev 16:16." Notice what he's atoning: not the people, but the sanctuary. Like Spring Cleaning, the atonement act removes the mess from the sanctuary. In other words, it doesn't bring sin into the sanctuary, but removes sin from the sanctuary.
When the High Priest has finished this, he then takes a second goat. "He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites––all their sins––and put them on the goat's head. He shall send the goat away into the wilderness in the care of someone appointed for the task. The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a remote place; and the man shall release it in the wilderness (Lev. 16:20-22))." Note that the sin is removed now from the entire camp and released in the wilderness. "Get it away!" is the idea here.
Laying hands on an animal doesn't transfer sin––except on the Day of Atonement when the sin isn't brought into the sanctuary, but sent away. In the system set up with the tabernacle, where YHWH lives among his people, sin must be removed from YHWH's presence and the presence of his people.
So, what does laying hands on an animal accomplish? Let's put ourselves in the sandals of an Israelite. We bring our best animal to the Tabernacle as a gift to YHWH, a way to maintain our relationship with him, to say "thank you" for the ways that the has delivered us in big and small ways. Imagine the bustle that is probably going on. We show up with our animal and bring it to the front of the sanctuary with lots of other folks and their goats. We put our hands on its head to say: "This one is mine. It is my gift to you."
It would probably be helpful to take a minute to imagine and reenact this scene.
Go ahead, imagine for a minute . . .
If we think about it, we have rituals for gift giving, too. We wrap our gifts or stick them in a special bag. We identify who the gift is for and who its from. If its an occasion when we open the gift in the presence of the giver, there are more rituals to follow: We open the card first, We say "Thank you for you kind words." We then tear into the paper. At the end, we probably give a hug and express our thanks. Then, within an acceptable amount of time, we send a note in the mail to say "Thanks."
This laying on of hands was simply part of their ritual in making explicit that this gift is from me. This makes sense if sacrifices aren't primarily about "getting in" or "taking care of my sin." Rather, they show the givers' gratitude for all that YHWH has done, i.e. in saving and delivering. But most importantly (because it's the way the text presents the gifts) it is the way to show gratitude that YHWH lives among the people. What kind of God actually lives with his people?
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This also makes sense of Paul's admonition: Offer your bodies as living sacrifices . . . In other words, this is the way that you thank God for his presence in you and among his people: follow him with your whole self.
