Sacrifices were also divided generally (1) into free, or obligatory; (2) public, or private; and (3) most holy or less holy, of which the latter were slain at the north and the former at the east side of the altar.[331] The offerer, according to the Rabbis, had to do five things--to lay on hands, slay, skin, dissect, and wash the inwards. The priest had also to do five things at the altar itself--to catch the blood, sprinkle it, light the fire, bring up the pieces, and complete the sacrifices. Sacrifices are chiefly dwelt upon in the Priestly Code; but nowhere in the Old Testament is their significance formally explained, nor for many centuries was the Levitic ritual much regarded.[332] The sacrifices commanded in the Pentateuch fall under four heads. (1) The burnt offering (_Olah_, _Kalil_),[333] which typified complete self-dedication, and which even the heathen might offer; (2) the sin offering (_Chattath_),[334] which made atonement for the offender; (3) the trespass offering (_Ashâm_),[335] which atones for some special offence, whether doubtful or certain, committed through ignorance; and (4) the thank offering, eucharistic peace offering (_Shelem_),[336] or "offering of completion," which followed the other sacrifices, and of which the flesh was eaten by the priest and the worshippers.[337] The oldest practice seems only to have known of burnt offerings and thank offerings, and the former seem only to have been offered at great sacrificial feasts. Even in Deuteronomy a common phrase for sacrifices is "eating before the Lord," which is almost ignored in the Priestly Code. Of the sin offering, which in that code has acquired such enormous importance, there is scarcely a trace--unless Hosea iv. 8 be one, which is doubtful--before Ezekiel, in whom the _Ashâm_ and _Chattath_ occur in place of the old pecuniary fines (2 Kings xii. 16). Originally sacrifice was a glad meal, and even in the oldest part of the code (Lev. xvii.-xxvi.) sacrifices are comprised under the _Olam_ and _Zebach_. The turning-point of the history of the sacrificial system is Josiah's reformation, of which the Priestly Code is the matured result.[338] It is easy to see that sacrifices in general were eucharistic, dedicatory, and expiatory.