Among biblical scholars, the sacrificial offerings and rites for sin or purification prescribed in the Torah or law have generally been understood to have the purpose of making it possible for a holy, just, and righteous God to tolerate and overlook the sins of his people so that he may bless and forgive them. Those offerings and rites are said to accomplish this objective either by allowing for the punishments to which sinners are liable to be inflicted on an animal victim as their substitute or by cleansing the sanctuary from the pollution generated by the sins of God’s people so that he may continue to dwell in their midst. In reality, however, both of these interpretations of the purpose of those offerings and rites must be rejected as having no basis in the biblical texts.