Moses, mediating Yahweh's covenant instruction to Israel within the Torah.
The Guilt Offering, Priestly Portions, and Holy Fellowship
Holy fellowship with the Lord requires holy sacrifice, holy eating, holy boundaries, and faithful priestly provision.
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Holy fellowship with the Lord requires holy sacrifice, holy eating, holy boundaries, and faithful priestly provision.
Leviticus 7 completes the opening offering instructions by showing that sacrifice is not finished when the animal is slain. The offering must be handled, eaten, timed, distributed, and guarded according to holiness. The guilt offering remains most holy. The fellowship offering includes thanksgiving, vows, and freewill worship, yet joyful participation must obey God's limits.
The fat and blood belong to the Lord, and priestly portions are assigned by divine command. The chapter teaches that gratitude, fellowship, restitution, and priestly provision all remain under God's holy rule.
Israel's covenant community and the Aaronic priesthood, especially priests responsible for handling guilt offerings, burnt offerings, grain offerings, sin offerings, and fellowship offerings, and worshipers who must understand holy eating, thanksgiving, vows, freewill offerings, and prohibitions concerning fat and blood.
Leviticus 7 completes the first major sacrificial instruction section of Leviticus. It continues priestly instruction begun in Leviticus 6 and concludes the regulations for guilt, fellowship, priestly portions, and holy participation in sacrificial meals.
Holy fellowship with the Lord requires holy sacrifice, holy eating, holy boundaries, and faithful priestly provision.
Moses, mediating Yahweh's covenant instruction to Israel within the Torah.
Israel's covenant community and the Aaronic priesthood, especially priests responsible for handling guilt offerings, burnt offerings, grain offerings, sin offerings, and fellowship offerings, and worshipers who must understand holy eating, thanksgiving, vows, freewill offerings, and prohibitions concerning fat and blood.
Leviticus 7 completes the first major sacrificial instruction section of Leviticus. It continues priestly instruction begun in Leviticus 6 and concludes the regulations for guilt, fellowship, priestly portions, and holy participation in sacrificial meals.
- Israel must learn that worship involves more than bringing sacrifices. Offerings must be handled, eaten, distributed, and timed according to God's holiness. Gratitude, vows, and fellowship must not become careless celebration detached from purity, obedience, and reverence.
Sacred meals, priestly portions, and sacrificial distributions were known in the ancient world, but Leviticus orders them under Yahweh's covenant holiness. Israel's sacrificial meals are not common feasts or manipulative rituals; they are holy acts of worship governed by divine instruction.
After the exodus, Sinai covenant, and tabernacle completion, Leviticus 7 teaches Israel how sacrificial worship is completed through holy handling, priestly provision, fellowship meals, and strict boundaries concerning uncleanness, fat, and blood. The chapter closes the opening sacrificial manual before the narrative turns to priestly ordination.
The Lord completes the sacrificial instruction by regulating the guilt offering, priestly portions, fellowship offering meals, uncleanness boundaries, fat and blood prohibitions, and the assigned portions for Aaron and His sons.
Theological exposition and fulfillment
Leviticus 7 clarifies the gospel by showing that guilt, thanksgiving, fellowship, holy eating, priesthood, blood, and provision all require God's appointed mediation. Christ fulfills the guilt offering by bearing guilt, fulfills priestly mediation by His eternal priesthood, and fulfills fellowship with God by making peace through His blood. Believers now draw near through His finished sacrifice, not through repeated offerings, and they respond with holy thanksgiving and cleansed communion.
The guilt offering is most holy, handled like the sin offering in priestly portion, blood, fat, and altar rites.
The priest receives the hide of the burnt offering and specified grain offerings, while other grain offerings are shared among Aaron's sons.
Thanksgiving fellowship offerings are accompanied by bread and eaten on the same day.
Vow and freewill fellowship offerings may be eaten into the second day, but not the third.
Holy meat must not be contaminated, and unclean persons must not eat fellowship offering meat.
Israel must not consume fat belonging to the Lord or blood representing life.
The breast and right thigh are assigned to Aaron and His sons as priestly portions from fellowship offerings.
The sacrificial instructions are summarized as the law of the major offerings commanded by the Lord at Sinai.
- 7:1-10: The guilt offering is slaughtered, its blood and fat handled at the altar, and its priestly portions assigned according to holy instruction.
- 7:11-15: Thanksgiving offerings include bread and must be eaten the same day, guarding gratitude from decay, delay, and casual handling.
- 7:16-18: Vow and freewill offerings allow a second day of eating, but the third day is forbidden and brings guilt if violated.
- 7:19-21: Sacrificial meat must not be defiled, and unclean persons must not participate in holy fellowship meals.
- 7:22-27: Israel must not eat the fat reserved for the Lord or the blood that represents life.
- 7:28-36: The worshiper brings the offering, the Lord receives the fat, and the priests receive the breast and right thigh as their due.
- 7:37-38: The chapter summarizes the laws of the offerings commanded by the Lord to Moses at Sinai.
Theological Argument
Leviticus 7 completes the opening offering instructions by showing that sacrifice is not finished when the animal is slain. The offering must be handled, eaten, timed, distributed, and guarded according to holiness. The guilt offering remains most holy. The fellowship offering includes thanksgiving, vows, and freewill worship, yet joyful participation must obey God's limits.
The fat and blood belong to the Lord, and priestly portions are assigned by divine command. The chapter teaches that gratitude, fellowship, restitution, and priestly provision all remain under God's holy rule.
From the most holy guilt offering to priestly portions, from fellowship meal categories to clean participation, from fat and blood prohibitions to the assigned breast and thigh, and finally to the summary of the sacrificial laws.
- 1.The guilt offering is most holy, showing that reparation-related sacrifice belongs fully to the sacred sphere.
- 2.The guilt offering shares priestly handling patterns with the sin offering, especially in blood, fat, and priestly eating.
- 3.Priests receive portions from offerings because God provides for those who serve at the altar.
- 4.Fellowship offerings express thanksgiving, vows, and freewill devotion, showing that peace with God includes grateful participation.
- 5.Holy meals are regulated by time because sacred food must not be treated like ordinary leftovers.
- 6.Eating fellowship meat while unclean profanes holy participation and brings covenant judgment.
- 7.Fat is prohibited because the richest sacrificial portions belong to the LORD.
- 8.Blood is prohibited because life belongs to God and is tied to atonement.
- 9.The worshiper personally brings the LORD's food offering, emphasizing active participation in worship.
- 10.The wave breast and right thigh are assigned portions, showing that priestly provision is not human generosity alone but divine ordinance.
- 11.The concluding summary binds the sacrificial system together as the LORD's commanded instruction at Sinai.
Theological Focus
- Guilt offering
- Most holy offerings
- Priestly portions
- Fellowship offering
- Thanksgiving
- Vows
- Freewill offerings
- Holy eating
- Clean and unclean
- Fat and blood prohibition
- Wave offering
- Priestly provision
- Sacred boundaries
- Sinai instruction
- Sacrifice Requires Holy Completion
- The Guilt Offering Is Most Holy
- Thanksgiving Is Holy Participation
- Fellowship Has Boundaries
- Life and the Best Portions Belong to God
- Priestly Provision Is Divinely Appointed
- Holy Things Must Not Be Treated as Common
- God's Worship Is Ordered by His Word
- Guilt
- Atonement
- Priesthood
- Holiness
- Fellowship With God
- Vows and Freewill Devotion
- Life Belongs to God
- Divine Ownership
- Christ Our Sacrifice
- Christ Our Priest
- New Covenant Communion
Theological Themes
The chapter shows that sacrifice is not merely the moment of slaughter. Handling, eating, timing, burning, distribution, and purity all matter before the Lord.
The offering associated with guilt, reparation, and atonement is treated with the same holy seriousness as the sin offering.
Thanksgiving offerings involve shared eating, but the meal remains governed by the Lord's holiness rather than human convenience.
Peace with God does not mean boundaryless access. Uncleanness, delay, fat, and blood are all regulated.
The fat and blood prohibitions reinforce that the Lord claims the richest portions and life itself.
The priests receive portions from offerings by the Lord's command, not by social preference or optional patronage.
Sacrificial meat, priestly portions, blood, fat, and holy meals must be handled according to sacred status.
The chapter concludes by identifying these laws as commanded by the Lord to Moses at Sinai, grounding all sacrificial practice in revelation.
Covenant Significance
Leviticus 7 closes the opening sacrificial instruction by showing how covenant worship is preserved through holy handling, holy eating, priestly provision, and reverent boundaries. The fellowship offering is joyful, but it is not casual. Priests are sustained, but their portions remain sacred. The people may participate in meals before the Lord, but only according to cleanness and divine command.
- The guilt offering confirms that wrongs requiring reparation are still handled within holy sacrificial worship.
- Priestly portions sustain the Aaronic ministry and teach that the Lord provides for His appointed servants.
- Fellowship offerings allow thanksgiving, vows, and freewill devotion to be expressed before the Lord.
- The timing rules protect sacrificial food from becoming common leftovers.
- Clean participation is required for holy eating within the covenant community.
- Being cut off from the people shows the seriousness of profaning holy participation.
- Fat and blood prohibitions preserve the Lord's claim over the richest portions and life itself.
- The wave offering and contribution establish formal priestly shares from the fellowship offering.
- The final summary links the offering laws to Sinai revelation and the Lord's command through Moses.
- Leviticus 3 gives the initial fellowship offering procedures whose meal and portion regulations are expanded here.
- Leviticus 5-6 introduce and continue the guilt offering, now completed through priestly regulations.
- Leviticus 17 explains the prohibition against blood by teaching that the life of the creature is in the blood and that God has given blood for atonement.
- Numbers 18 expands priestly portions and the Lord's provision for Aaron and His sons.
- Deuteronomy 12 later regulates sacrificial eating, blood prohibition, and worship in the land.
- Psalm 50 critiques sacrifices detached from true thanksgiving and obedience.
- Psalm 116 connects thanksgiving sacrifice, vows, and worship in the courts of the Lord.
Canonical Connections
Leviticus 3 introduced fellowship offering procedures, while Leviticus 7 expands the meal, timing, cleanness, and priestly portion regulations.
Leviticus 5-6 introduced guilt offering and restitution categories, and Leviticus 7 gives priestly procedure and portion rules.
Leviticus 17 explains the blood prohibition more fully by connecting blood with life and atonement.
Deuteronomy later regulates eating, sacrifice, and blood when Israel worships in the land.
Numbers develops the priestly portion system and the Lord's provision for Aaron and His descendants.
The Psalms connect thanksgiving sacrifice, vow fulfillment, and worship in the courts of the Lord.
The New Testament declares that Christ makes peace through His blood and grants access to the Father.
Paul uses sacrificial participation imagery when discussing communion in Christ, while grounding the Lord's Supper in the proclamation of Christ's death.
Hebrews explains that Christ fulfills and surpasses the repeated offering system summarized in Leviticus 7.
Cross References
Leviticus 7 clarifies the gospel by showing that guilt, thanksgiving, fellowship, holy eating, priesthood, blood, and provision all require God's appointed mediation. Christ fulfills the guilt offering by bearing guilt, fulfills priestly mediation by His eternal priesthood, and fulfills fellowship with God by making peace through His blood. Believers now draw near through His finished sacrifice, not through repeated offerings, and they respond with holy thanksgiving and cleansed communion.
- The guilt offering shows that guilt must be dealt with before God.
- The priestly portions show that access and mediation are ordered by God's appointment.
- The fellowship offering shows that peace with God leads to grateful participation.
- Holy eating teaches that communion with God requires cleansing.
- The fat prohibition teaches that the best belongs to the Lord.
- The blood prohibition teaches that life belongs to God and is tied to atonement.
- Christ's blood fulfills the life-for-atonement trajectory of Leviticus.
- Christ's once-for-all offering ends the need for repeated sacrifices.
- New Covenant communion is grounded in Christ's body given and blood poured out, not in the continuation of Old Covenant animal offerings.
- Do not preach fellowship with God apart from sacrifice, cleansing, and mediation.
- Do not treat Old Covenant fellowship meals as interchangeable with the Lord's Supper, though they provide important background categories.
- Do not reduce fat and blood prohibitions to diet or health · preserve their theological meaning.
- Do not turn priestly portions into a crude funding principle detached from holiness and divine appointment.
- Do not imply that thanksgiving replaces atonement. Thanksgiving fellowship rests within the sacrificial system God provides.
- Do not revive Old Covenant sacrificial meals as Christian obligation. Christ fulfills the sacrificial order.
- Do not make holy participation morbidly fearful · in Christ, reverence and assurance belong together.
Primary Emphasis
Leviticus 7 prepares for Christ by completing the sacrificial grammar of guilt, priesthood, holy food, thanksgiving, fellowship, blood, and appointed portions. Christ fulfills the guilt offering by bearing guilt, fulfills priestly mediation by His once-for-all priesthood, fulfills fellowship with God by reconciling His people, and fulfills the blood theology by giving His own life for atonement.
Chapter Contribution
Leviticus 7 completes the opening offering instructions by showing that sacrifice is not finished when the animal is slain. The offering must be handled, eaten, timed, distributed, and guarded according to holiness. The guilt offering remains most holy. The fellowship offering includes thanksgiving, vows, and freewill worship, yet joyful participation must obey God's limits.
The fat and blood belong to the Lord, and priestly portions are assigned by divine command. The chapter teaches that gratitude, fellowship, restitution, and priestly provision all remain under God's holy rule.
The guilt offering provides sacrificial mediation for covenant offenses requiring restitution.
Violations of sacred boundaries result in serious covenant consequences.
The fellowship offering expresses restored relationship between God and His people.
Israel's worship and daily life must conform to the commands established by the Lord.
Israel's worship is governed by ordered sacrificial regulations established by the Lord.
God provides for those who serve at the altar through designated portions of the offerings.
Participation in sacred meals requires ceremonial purity and reverence.
Sacrificial portions belong either to the Lord or to the priests and must be handled accordingly.
Certain portions of sacrificial animals belong exclusively to the Lord and must not be treated as ordinary food.
The sacred handling of the offering demonstrates the reverence required in approaching God.
The priesthood serves as the mediating body responsible for administering Israel's sacrificial worship.
God provides for those who serve in the sanctuary through portions of the offerings.
Blood represents life and functions as the means of atonement within the sacrificial system.
Communion with God occurs within the framework of sacrificial worship.
Gratitude toward God is a central expression of covenant devotion.
The guilt offering remains central to the chapter's opening section and is treated as most holy.
The guilt offering, sin offering, and priestly handling of blood reinforce atonement through God's appointed means.
The chapter assigns priestly responsibilities and portions from guilt, burnt, grain, and fellowship offerings.
Offerings, sacrificial meat, priestly portions, and holy participation are regulated by the Lord's holiness.
The fellowship offering displays peace and communion before the Lord through holy sacrificial participation.
Thanksgiving offerings show gratitude expressed through obedient worship.
The chapter regulates offerings connected with vows and voluntary devotion before the Lord.
The blood prohibition teaches that life belongs to the Lord and must not be consumed as common food.
The fat belongs to the Lord, and priestly portions are assigned by His command.
The completed offering system anticipates Christ's once-for-all sacrifice.
The priestly provisions and mediation anticipate Christ's greater and final priesthood.
The chapter's holy meal and fellowship categories provide background for understanding communion with God fulfilled through Christ, while the Lord's Supper remains grounded in Christ's direct institution.
Theological exposition and fulfillment
- Leviticus 7 clarifies the gospel by showing that guilt, thanksgiving, fellowship, holy eating, priesthood, blood, and provision all require God's appointed mediation. Christ fulfills the guilt offering by bearing guilt, fulfills priestly mediation by His eternal priesthood, and fulfills fellowship with God by making peace through His blood. Believers now draw near through His finished sacrifice, not through repeated offerings, and they respond with holy thanksgiving and cleansed communion.
Sense instruction, law
Definition instruction, law
References 7:1, 7:7, 7:11, 7:37
Why it matters The chapter repeatedly gives the law or instruction concerning offerings, concluding with the law of the major sacrifices.
Sense guilt offering, reparation offering
Definition guilt offering, reparation offering
References 7:1-2, 7:5-7, 7:37
Why it matters The guilt offering is called most holy and is handled with specific blood, fat, and priestly portion procedures.
Sense holiness, holy thing
Definition holiness, holy thing
References 7:1, 7:6
Why it matters The guilt offering is most holy, requiring restricted handling and priestly consumption.
Sense place
Definition place
References 7:2
Why it matters The guilt offering is slaughtered in the same place as the burnt offering, showing ordered altar geography.
Sense to slaughter
Definition to slaughter
References 7:2
Why it matters The guilt offering is slaughtered at the appointed place before the Lord.
Sense burnt offering, ascent offering
Definition burnt offering, ascent offering
References 7:2, 7:8, 7:37
Why it matters The burnt offering appears as the point of comparison for the guilt offering's slaughter place and priestly portions.
Sense blood
Definition blood
References 7:2, 7:14, 7:26-27, 7:33
Why it matters Blood is applied at the altar and forbidden for consumption, preserving the theology of life and atonement.
Cross-language bridge 1 link · View in lexicon
Sense to splash, throw, sprinkle
Definition to splash, throw, sprinkle
References 7:2
Why it matters The guilt offering blood is splashed against the altar sides.
Sense altar
Definition altar
References 7:2, 7:5, 7:31
Why it matters The altar receives the blood and the fat portions that belong to the Lord.
Sense fat, choicest part
Definition fat, choicest part
References 7:3-5, 7:23-25, 7:30-31, 7:33
Why it matters Fat portions are burned to the Lord and forbidden for Israelite consumption.
Sense fat tail
Definition fat tail
References 7:3
Why it matters The fat tail is included among the fat portions offered to the Lord.
Sense kidney
Definition kidney
References 7:4
Why it matters The kidneys are included among the internal fat portions burned to the Lord.
Sense liver
Definition liver
References 7:4
Why it matters The covering of the liver is removed with the kidneys and burned as part of the Lord's portion.
Sense to burn, make smoke ascend
Definition to burn, make smoke ascend
References 7:5, 7:31
Why it matters The priest burns the fat portions on the altar as the Lord's offering.
Sense offering by fire, food offering
Definition offering by fire, food offering
References 7:5, 7:25, 7:30, 7:35
Why it matters The offering by fire language marks what is presented to the Lord on the altar.
Sense priest
Definition priest
References 7:6-8, 7:14, 7:31-35
Why it matters The priest receives assigned portions and mediates the offering according to the Lord's command.
Sense to make atonement, cover, purge
Definition to make atonement, cover, purge
References 7:7
Why it matters The priest who makes atonement receives the flesh of the sin or guilt offering.
Sense sin offering, purification offering
Definition sin offering, purification offering
References 7:7, 7:37
Why it matters The sin offering is paired with the guilt offering in priestly portion instruction.
Sense skin, hide
Definition skin, hide
References 7:8
Why it matters The hide of the burnt offering belongs to the priest who offers it.
Sense grain offering, tribute offering
Definition grain offering, tribute offering
References 7:9-10, 7:37
Why it matters The grain offering has priestly portion regulations depending on preparation.
Sense pan, griddle
Definition pan, griddle
References 7:9
Why it matters Prepared grain offerings in a pan belong to the priest who offers them.
Sense fellowship offering, peace offering
Definition fellowship offering, peace offering
References 7:11, 7:13-15, 7:18, 7:20-21, 7:29, 7:32-34, 7:37
Why it matters The fellowship offering is central to the chapter's meal, thanksgiving, vow, freewill, and priestly portion regulations.
Sense thanksgiving, praise
Definition thanksgiving, praise
References 7:12-13, 7:15
Why it matters The thanksgiving fellowship offering expresses gratitude before the Lord and must be eaten the same day.
Sense unleavened bread
Definition unleavened bread
References 7:12
Why it matters Unleavened loaves and wafers accompany the thanksgiving fellowship offering.
Sense to mix
Definition to mix
References 7:12
Why it matters Unleavened loaves are mixed with oil as part of the thanksgiving offering.
Sense oil
Definition oil
References 7:12
Why it matters Oil accompanies the bread offerings associated with thanksgiving.
Cross-language bridge 1 link · View in lexicon
Sense thin wafer, cake
Definition thin wafer, cake
References 7:12
Why it matters Thin unleavened wafers are part of the thanksgiving bread offering.
Sense to mix, stir, soak
Definition to mix, stir, soak
References 7:12
Why it matters Fine flour cakes are mixed with oil as part of the thanksgiving offering.
Sense leavened, yeast-containing
Definition leavened, yeast-containing
References 7:13
Why it matters Leavened bread accompanies the thanksgiving fellowship offering, though leaven is excluded from altar-burning grain offerings in Leviticus 2.
Sense offering, something brought near
Definition offering, something brought near
References 7:13-14, 7:29, 7:38
Why it matters The offering is something brought near to the Lord in ordered sacrificial worship.
Cross-language bridge 1 link · View in lexicon
Sense to lift up, contribute
Definition to lift up, contribute
References 7:14, 7:32, 7:34
Why it matters A contribution portion is lifted or set apart from the fellowship offering for the priest.
Sense vow
Definition vow
References 7:16
Why it matters Some fellowship offerings are brought in connection with vows made to the Lord.
Sense freewill offering
Definition freewill offering
References 7:16
Why it matters A voluntary fellowship offering brought freely to the Lord, still governed by holy eating limits.
Sense to remain, be left over
Definition to remain, be left over
References 7:16-17
Why it matters What remains from fellowship offering meat is regulated by day and must be burned if left beyond the permitted time.
Sense to burn
Definition to burn
References 7:17, 7:19
Why it matters Leftover or defiled sacrificial meat must be burned rather than eaten.
Sense to eat
Definition to eat
References 7:6, 7:15-21, 7:23-27
Why it matters Eating is a major concern in the chapter, regulated by offering type, time, cleanness, and prohibitions.
Sense to accept, be pleased with
Definition to accept, be pleased with
References 7:18
Why it matters Improper eating on the third day makes the offering unacceptable.
Sense to reckon, account, count
Definition to reckon, account, count
References 7:18
Why it matters Improperly eaten offering meat will not be credited to the one who offered it.
Sense offensive thing, rejected sacrificial meat
Definition offensive thing, rejected sacrificial meat
References 7:18
Why it matters Meat eaten outside the appointed time becomes offensive and unacceptable.
Sense iniquity, guilt
Definition iniquity, guilt
References 7:18
Why it matters The one who eats improperly bears guilt.
Sense unclean
Definition unclean
References 7:19-21
Why it matters Uncleanness disqualifies a person from eating holy fellowship offering meat.
Cross-language bridge 2 links · View in lexicon
Sense clean, pure
Definition clean, pure
References 7:19
Why it matters Only the clean may eat the holy meat of the fellowship offering.
Sense to cut off
Definition to cut off
References 7:20-21, 7:25, 7:27
Why it matters The severe covenant consequence for eating holy meat while unclean or consuming prohibited fat or blood.
Sense people
Definition people
References 7:20-21, 7:25, 7:27, 7:38
Why it matters The offender may be cut off from the people, showing communal covenant consequence.
Sense animal, beast
Definition animal, beast
References 7:21, 7:26
Why it matters Animal uncleanness and animal blood are part of the chapter's holiness regulations.
Sense detestable thing
Definition detestable thing
References 7:21
Why it matters Contact with detestable or unclean things disqualifies participation in holy eating.
Sense bird
Definition bird
References 7:26
Why it matters The blood prohibition applies to birds as well as animals.
Sense dwelling, settlement
Definition dwelling, settlement
References 7:26
Why it matters The blood prohibition applies in all Israelite dwellings.
Sense wave offering
Definition wave offering
References 7:30, 7:34
Why it matters The breast of the fellowship offering is waved before the Lord and assigned to the priests.
Sense breast
Definition breast
References 7:30-31, 7:34
Why it matters The breast is waved before the Lord and given to Aaron and His sons.
Sense right side, right hand
Definition right side, right hand
References 7:32-33
Why it matters The right thigh is assigned as the priestly contribution from the fellowship offering.
Sense thigh, leg
Definition thigh, leg
References 7:32-34
Why it matters The right thigh is contributed to the officiating priest.
Sense anointing portion, allotted portion
Definition anointing portion, allotted portion
References 7:35
Why it matters The priestly portion is connected with the priests' anointing and installation.
Sense to anoint
Definition to anoint
References 7:36
Why it matters The priestly portions are assigned from the day Aaron and His sons are anointed.
Sense ordination, installation
Definition ordination, installation
References 7:37
Why it matters The ordination offering is included in the concluding list of sacrificial laws.
Sense to command
Definition to command
References 7:38
Why it matters The offering laws are rooted in the Lord's command to Moses at Sinai.
Cross-language bridge 1 link · View in lexicon
Sense Sinai
Definition Sinai
References 7:38
Why it matters The sacrificial laws are anchored in the Lord's covenant instruction at Mount Sinai.
Cross-language bridge 1 link · View in lexicon
Lexicon data: MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML (CC0) · Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (CC BY 4.0) · Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon (CC BY 4.0) · STEPBible Data (CC BY 4.0) · Full details
C.F. Keil & F. Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–91) — public domain
The Lord's holiness governs guilt, priestly provision, thanksgiving, fellowship meals, clean participation, fat, blood, and the whole sacrificial order.
God's people must not turn joyful worship into careless familiarity or treat holy participation as common consumption.
Reverent joy, obedient thanksgiving, cleansed fellowship, and holy stewardship before God.
- Offer thanksgiving to God with obedience, not merely emotion.
- Approach fellowship with God through cleansing and reverence.
- Refuse to treat holy things, worship, ordinances, or ministry resources casually.
- Honor God's claim over the best portions of life.
- Remember that life belongs to God and that Christ's blood secures true access.
- Support ministry with holy integrity and gratitude.
- Practice self-examination and gospel confidence when participating in the Lord's Supper.
- The chapter warns that holy fellowship becomes profaned when holy things are eaten casually, while unclean, outside God's time limits, or in disregard of His claim over fat and blood. Joyful worship without holiness becomes guilt.
- The fellowship offering was just a religious meal. - The fellowship offering was a holy sacrifice and holy meal regulated by blood, fat, priestly portions, cleanness, and time limits.
- Thanksgiving offerings were casual celebrations. - Thanksgiving was joyful but carefully ordered. The meat had to be eaten the same day and handled according to holiness.
- The timing rules are arbitrary food-safety laws only. - The rules may have practical implications, but the text frames them as holy offering regulations concerning acceptability, guilt, and covenant participation.
- The prohibition against fat is merely dietary health advice. - The chapter grounds the prohibition in sacrificial theology. The fat of the offering belongs to the Lord.
- The prohibition against blood is merely cultural taboo. - Leviticus later explains blood in relation to life and atonement. The prohibition protects the Lord's claim over life.
- Priestly portions are merely payment for religious professionals. - Priestly portions are appointed by God from holy offerings and must be handled as sacred provision.
- Being cut off is a minor warning. - Being cut off from the people signals severe covenant consequence for profaning holy things.
- The Lord's Supper is simply a continuation of the fellowship offering. - The Lord's Supper has sacrificial and covenant-meal background, but it is instituted by Christ as New Covenant remembrance and proclamation of His death.
- Do I treat fellowship with God as holy communion or casual familiarity?
- Is my thanksgiving shaped by obedience, or only by emotion?
- Where am I tempted to handle holy things as common things?
- What does the fat prohibition teach me about giving the best to the Lord?
- What does the blood prohibition teach me about life belonging to God?
- Do I approach covenant participation with reverence and cleansing in Christ?
- How does Christ fulfill the fellowship and guilt offering categories?
- How should the church guard the Lord's Supper from both superstition and casualness?
- Teach thanksgiving as holy worship.
- Guard the holiness of fellowship.
- Disciple the church in holy participation.
- Handle the Lord's Supper carefully.
- Teach God's claim over life.
- Treat ministry provision as sacred stewardship.
- Reject delayed obedience disguised as devotion.
The chapter moves the worshiper from mere festive feeling to thanksgiving governed by God's holiness.
The unclean person must not eat holy meat, teaching that fellowship with God requires cleansing.
Sacrificial meat, fat, blood, breast, and thigh all have assigned holy meaning and cannot be treated as common food.
Priestly portions are given by divine command, shaping a theology of provision for ministry.
The holy meal and blood categories prepare the church to understand communion with God through Christ's once-for-all sacrifice.
The concluding summary gathers burnt, grain, sin, guilt, ordination, and fellowship offerings into one ordered system.
Study holiness as divine character, covenant identity, and sanctified life across Scripture.
Study temple presence, worship, corruption, judgment, and renewal across Scripture.
Track judgment as covenant accountability, divine justice, and eschatological reckoning.
Trace servant identity, obedient mission, and suffering service across Scripture.
The Biblical World
Chapter At A Glance
The Lord completes the sacrificial instruction by regulating the guilt offering, priestly portions, fellowship offering meals, uncleanness boundaries, fat and blood prohibitions, and the assigned portions for Aaron and His sons.
Leviticus 7 closes the opening sacrificial instruction by showing how covenant worship is preserved through holy handling, holy eating, priestly provision, and reverent boundaries. The fellowship offering is joyful, but it is not casual. Priests are sustained, but their portions remain sacred. The people may participate in meals before the Lord, but only according to cleanness and divine command.
Leviticus 7 clarifies the gospel by showing that guilt, thanksgiving, fellowship, holy eating, priesthood, blood, and provision all require God's appointed mediation. Christ fulfills the guilt offering by bearing guilt, fulfills priestly mediation by His eternal priesthood, and fulfills fellowship with God by making peace through His blood. Believers now draw near through His finished sacrifice, not through repeated offerings, and they respond with holy thanksgiving and cleansed communion.
Reverent joy, obedient thanksgiving, cleansed fellowship, and holy stewardship before God.
Focus Points
- Guilt offering
- Most holy offerings
- Priestly portions
- Fellowship offering
- Thanksgiving
- Vows
- Freewill offerings
- Holy eating
- Clean and unclean
- Fat and blood prohibition
- Wave offering
- Priestly provision
- Sacred boundaries
- Sinai instruction
- Sacrifice Requires Holy Completion
- The Guilt Offering Is Most Holy
- Thanksgiving Is Holy Participation
- Fellowship Has Boundaries
- Life and the Best Portions Belong to God
- Priestly Provision Is Divinely Appointed
- Holy Things Must Not Be Treated as Common
- God's Worship Is Ordered by His Word
- Guilt
- Atonement
- Priesthood
- Holiness
- Fellowship With God
- Vows and Freewill Devotion
- Life Belongs to God
- Divine Ownership
- Christ Our Sacrifice
- Christ Our Priest
- New Covenant Communion
Cross References
Passages
Chapter opening: Leviticus 7:1-10
Lev 7:1 The Law of the Trespass-Offering embraces first of all the regulations as to the ceremonial connected with the presentation.
Lev 7:2 The slaughtering and sprinkling of the blood were the same as in the case of the burnt-offering (Lev 1:5); and therefore, no doubt, the signification was the same.
Lev 7:3-7 The fat portions only were to be burned upon the altar, viz. , the same as in the sin and peace-offerings (see Lev 4:8 and Lev 3:9); but the flesh was to be eaten by the priests, as in the sin-offering (Lev 6:22), inasmuch as there was the same law in this respect for both the sin-offering and trespass-offering; and these parts of the sacrificial service must therefore have had the same meaning, every trespass being a sin (see Lev 6:26).
- Certain analogous instructions respecting the burnt-offering and meat-offering are appended in Lev 7:8-10 by way of supplement, as they ought properly to have been given in ch. 6, in the laws relating to the sacrifices in question.
Lev 7:3-7 The fat portions only were to be burned upon the altar, viz. , the same as in the sin and peace-offerings (see Lev 4:8 and Lev 3:9); but the flesh was to be eaten by the priests, as in the sin-offering (Lev 6:22), inasmuch as there was the same law in this respect for both the sin-offering and trespass-offering; and these parts of the sacrificial service must therefore have had the same meaning, every trespass being a sin (see Lev 6:26).
- Certain analogous instructions respecting the burnt-offering and meat-offering are appended in Lev 7:8-10 by way of supplement, as they ought properly to have been given in ch. 6, in the laws relating to the sacrifices in question.
Lev 7:3-7 The fat portions only were to be burned upon the altar, viz. , the same as in the sin and peace-offerings (see Lev 4:8 and Lev 3:9); but the flesh was to be eaten by the priests, as in the sin-offering (Lev 6:22), inasmuch as there was the same law in this respect for both the sin-offering and trespass-offering; and these parts of the sacrificial service must therefore have had the same meaning, every trespass being a sin (see Lev 6:26).
- Certain analogous instructions respecting the burnt-offering and meat-offering are appended in Lev 7:8-10 by way of supplement, as they ought properly to have been given in ch. 6, in the laws relating to the sacrifices in question.
Lev 7:3-7 The fat portions only were to be burned upon the altar, viz. , the same as in the sin and peace-offerings (see Lev 4:8 and Lev 3:9); but the flesh was to be eaten by the priests, as in the sin-offering (Lev 6:22), inasmuch as there was the same law in this respect for both the sin-offering and trespass-offering; and these parts of the sacrificial service must therefore have had the same meaning, every trespass being a sin (see Lev 6:26).
- Certain analogous instructions respecting the burnt-offering and meat-offering are appended in Lev 7:8-10 by way of supplement, as they ought properly to have been given in ch. 6, in the laws relating to the sacrifices in question.
Lev 7:3-7 The fat portions only were to be burned upon the altar, viz. , the same as in the sin and peace-offerings (see Lev 4:8 and Lev 3:9); but the flesh was to be eaten by the priests, as in the sin-offering (Lev 6:22), inasmuch as there was the same law in this respect for both the sin-offering and trespass-offering; and these parts of the sacrificial service must therefore have had the same meaning, every trespass being a sin (see Lev 6:26).
- Certain analogous instructions respecting the burnt-offering and meat-offering are appended in Lev 7:8-10 by way of supplement, as they ought properly to have been given in ch. 6, in the laws relating to the sacrifices in question.
Lev 7:8-10 In the case of the burnt-offering, the skin of the animal was to fall to the lot of the officiating priest, viz. , as payment for his services. הכּהן is construed absolutely: “ as for the priest, who offereth - the skin of the burnt-offering which he offereth shall belong to the priest ” (for “ to him ”). This was probably the case also with the trespass-offerings and sin-offerings of the laity; whereas the skin of the peace-offerings belonged to the owner of the animal (see Mishnah, Sebach.
12, 3). - In Lev 7:9, Lev 7:10, the following law is laid down with reference to the meat-offering, that everything baked in the oven, and everything prepared in a pot or pan, was to belong to the priest, who burned a portion of it upon the altar; and that everything mixed with oil and everything dry was to belong to all the sons of Aaron, i. e. , to all the priests, to one as much as another, so that they were all to receive an equal share.
The reason for this distinction is not very clear. That all the meat-offerings described in ch. 2 should fall to the sons of Aaron (i. e. , to the priests), with the exception of that portion which was burned upon the altar as an azcarah, followed from the fact that they were most holy (see at Lev 2:3). As the meat-offerings, which consisted of pastry, and were offered in the form of prepared food (Lev 7:9), are the same as those described in Lev 2:4-8, it is evident that by those mentioned in Lev 2:10 we are to understand the kinds described in Lev 2:1-3 and Lev 2:14-16, and by the “dry,” primarily the קלוּי אביב, which consisted of dried grains, to which oil was to be added (נתן Lev 2:15), though not poured upon it, as in the case of the offering of flour (Lev 2:1), and probably also in that of the sin-offerings and jealousy-offerings (Lev 5:11, and Num 5:15), which consisted simply of flour (without oil).
The reason therefore why those which consisted of cake and pastry fell to the lot of the officiating priest, and those which consisted of flour mixed with oil, of dry corn, or of simple flour, were divided among all the priests, was probably simply this, that the former were for the most part offered only under special circumstances, and then merely in small quantities, whereas the latter were the ordinary forms in which the meat-offerings were presented, and amounted to more than the officiating priests could possibly consume, or dispose of by themselves.
Lev 7:8-10 In the case of the burnt-offering, the skin of the animal was to fall to the lot of the officiating priest, viz. , as payment for his services. הכּהן is construed absolutely: “ as for the priest, who offereth - the skin of the burnt-offering which he offereth shall belong to the priest ” (for “ to him ”). This was probably the case also with the trespass-offerings and sin-offerings of the laity; whereas the skin of the peace-offerings belonged to the owner of the animal (see Mishnah, Sebach.
12, 3). - In Lev 7:9, Lev 7:10, the following law is laid down with reference to the meat-offering, that everything baked in the oven, and everything prepared in a pot or pan, was to belong to the priest, who burned a portion of it upon the altar; and that everything mixed with oil and everything dry was to belong to all the sons of Aaron, i. e. , to all the priests, to one as much as another, so that they were all to receive an equal share.
The reason for this distinction is not very clear. That all the meat-offerings described in ch. 2 should fall to the sons of Aaron (i. e. , to the priests), with the exception of that portion which was burned upon the altar as an azcarah, followed from the fact that they were most holy (see at Lev 2:3). As the meat-offerings, which consisted of pastry, and were offered in the form of prepared food (Lev 7:9), are the same as those described in Lev 2:4-8, it is evident that by those mentioned in Lev 2:10 we are to understand the kinds described in Lev 2:1-3 and Lev 2:14-16, and by the “dry,” primarily the קלוּי אביב, which consisted of dried grains, to which oil was to be added (נתן Lev 2:15), though not poured upon it, as in the case of the offering of flour (Lev 2:1), and probably also in that of the sin-offerings and jealousy-offerings (Lev 5:11, and Num 5:15), which consisted simply of flour (without oil).
The reason therefore why those which consisted of cake and pastry fell to the lot of the officiating priest, and those which consisted of flour mixed with oil, of dry corn, or of simple flour, were divided among all the priests, was probably simply this, that the former were for the most part offered only under special circumstances, and then merely in small quantities, whereas the latter were the ordinary forms in which the meat-offerings were presented, and amounted to more than the officiating priests could possibly consume, or dispose of by themselves.
Lev 7:8-10 In the case of the burnt-offering, the skin of the animal was to fall to the lot of the officiating priest, viz. , as payment for his services. הכּהן is construed absolutely: “ as for the priest, who offereth - the skin of the burnt-offering which he offereth shall belong to the priest ” (for “ to him ”). This was probably the case also with the trespass-offerings and sin-offerings of the laity; whereas the skin of the peace-offerings belonged to the owner of the animal (see Mishnah, Sebach.
12, 3). - In Lev 7:9, Lev 7:10, the following law is laid down with reference to the meat-offering, that everything baked in the oven, and everything prepared in a pot or pan, was to belong to the priest, who burned a portion of it upon the altar; and that everything mixed with oil and everything dry was to belong to all the sons of Aaron, i. e. , to all the priests, to one as much as another, so that they were all to receive an equal share.
The reason for this distinction is not very clear. That all the meat-offerings described in ch. 2 should fall to the sons of Aaron (i. e. , to the priests), with the exception of that portion which was burned upon the altar as an azcarah, followed from the fact that they were most holy (see at Lev 2:3). As the meat-offerings, which consisted of pastry, and were offered in the form of prepared food (Lev 7:9), are the same as those described in Lev 2:4-8, it is evident that by those mentioned in Lev 2:10 we are to understand the kinds described in Lev 2:1-3 and Lev 2:14-16, and by the “dry,” primarily the קלוּי אביב, which consisted of dried grains, to which oil was to be added (נתן Lev 2:15), though not poured upon it, as in the case of the offering of flour (Lev 2:1), and probably also in that of the sin-offerings and jealousy-offerings (Lev 5:11, and Num 5:15), which consisted simply of flour (without oil).
The reason therefore why those which consisted of cake and pastry fell to the lot of the officiating priest, and those which consisted of flour mixed with oil, of dry corn, or of simple flour, were divided among all the priests, was probably simply this, that the former were for the most part offered only under special circumstances, and then merely in small quantities, whereas the latter were the ordinary forms in which the meat-offerings were presented, and amounted to more than the officiating priests could possibly consume, or dispose of by themselves.
Lev 7:11-12 The Law of the Peace-Offerings, “ which he shall offer to Jehovah ” (the subject is to be supplied from the verb), contains instructions, (1) as to the bloodless accompaniment to these sacrifices (Lev 7:12-14), (2) as to the eating of the flesh of the sacrifices (Lev 7:15-21), with the prohibition against eating fat and blood (Lev 7:22-27), and (3) as to Jehovah’s share of these sacrifices (Lev 7:28-36). - In Lev 7:12 and Lev 7:16 three classes of shelamim are mentioned, which differ according to their occasion and design, viz.
, whether they were brought על־תּודה, upon the ground of praise, i. e. , to praise God for blessings received or desired, or as vow-offerings, or thirdly, as freewill-offerings (Lev 7:16). To (lit. , upon, in addition to) the sacrifice of thanksgiving (Lev 7:12, “sacrifice of thanksgiving of his peace-offerings,” Lev 7:13 and Lev 7:15) they were to present “ unleavened cakes kneaded with oil, and flat cakes anointed with oil (see at Lev 2:4), and roasted fine flour (see Lev 6:14) mixed as cakes with oil, ” i.
e. , cakes made of fine flour roasted with oil, and thoroughly kneaded with oil (on the construction, see Ges. §139, 2; Ewald §284 a ). This last kind of cakes kneaded with oil is also called oil-bread-cake (“a cake of oiled bread,” Lev 8:26; Exo 29:23), or “cake unleavened, kneaded with oil” (Exo 29:2), and probably differed from the former simply in the fact that it was more thoroughly saturated with oil, inasmuch as it was not only made of flour that had been mixed with oil in the kneading, but the flour itself was first of all roasted in oil, and then the dough was moistened still further with oil in the process of kneading.
Lev 7:11-12 The Law of the Peace-Offerings, “ which he shall offer to Jehovah ” (the subject is to be supplied from the verb), contains instructions, (1) as to the bloodless accompaniment to these sacrifices (Lev 7:12-14), (2) as to the eating of the flesh of the sacrifices (Lev 7:15-21), with the prohibition against eating fat and blood (Lev 7:22-27), and (3) as to Jehovah’s share of these sacrifices (Lev 7:28-36). - In Lev 7:12 and Lev 7:16 three classes of shelamim are mentioned, which differ according to their occasion and design, viz.
, whether they were brought על־תּודה, upon the ground of praise, i. e. , to praise God for blessings received or desired, or as vow-offerings, or thirdly, as freewill-offerings (Lev 7:16). To (lit. , upon, in addition to) the sacrifice of thanksgiving (Lev 7:12, “sacrifice of thanksgiving of his peace-offerings,” Lev 7:13 and Lev 7:15) they were to present “ unleavened cakes kneaded with oil, and flat cakes anointed with oil (see at Lev 2:4), and roasted fine flour (see Lev 6:14) mixed as cakes with oil, ” i.
e. , cakes made of fine flour roasted with oil, and thoroughly kneaded with oil (on the construction, see Ges. §139, 2; Ewald §284 a ). This last kind of cakes kneaded with oil is also called oil-bread-cake (“a cake of oiled bread,” Lev 8:26; Exo 29:23), or “cake unleavened, kneaded with oil” (Exo 29:2), and probably differed from the former simply in the fact that it was more thoroughly saturated with oil, inasmuch as it was not only made of flour that had been mixed with oil in the kneading, but the flour itself was first of all roasted in oil, and then the dough was moistened still further with oil in the process of kneading.
Lev 7:13-14 This sacrificial gift the offerer was to present upon, or along with, cakes of leavened bread (round, leavened bread-cakes), and to offer “ thereof one out of the whole oblation, ” namely, one cake of each of the three kinds mentioned in Lev 7:12, as a heave-offering for Jehovah, which was to fall to the priest who sprinkled the blood of the peace-offering. According to Lev 2:9, an azcarah of the unleavened pastry was burned upon the altar, although this is not specially mentioned here any more than at Lev 7:9 and Lev 7:10; whereas none of the leavened bread-cake was placed upon the altar (Lev 2:12), but it was simply used as bread for the sacrificial meal.
There is nothing here to suggest an allusion to the custom of offering unleavened sacrificial cakes upon a plate of leavened dough, as J. D. Michaelis, Winer, and others suppose.
Lev 7:13-14 This sacrificial gift the offerer was to present upon, or along with, cakes of leavened bread (round, leavened bread-cakes), and to offer “ thereof one out of the whole oblation, ” namely, one cake of each of the three kinds mentioned in Lev 7:12, as a heave-offering for Jehovah, which was to fall to the priest who sprinkled the blood of the peace-offering. According to Lev 2:9, an azcarah of the unleavened pastry was burned upon the altar, although this is not specially mentioned here any more than at Lev 7:9 and Lev 7:10; whereas none of the leavened bread-cake was placed upon the altar (Lev 2:12), but it was simply used as bread for the sacrificial meal.
There is nothing here to suggest an allusion to the custom of offering unleavened sacrificial cakes upon a plate of leavened dough, as J. D. Michaelis, Winer, and others suppose.
Lev 7:15-18 The flesh of the praise-offering was to be eaten on the day of presentation, and none of it was to be left till the next morning (cf. Lev 22:29-30); but that of the vow and freewill-offerings might be eaten on both the first and second days. Whatever remained after that was to be burnt on the third day, i. e. , to be destroyed by burning. If any was eaten on the third day, it was not well-pleasing (ירצה “good pleasure,” see Lev 1:4), and was “ not reckoned to the offerer, ” sc.
, as a sacrifice well-pleasing to God; it was “ an abomination . ” פּגּוּל, an abomination, is only applied to the flesh of the sacrifices (Lev 19:7; Eze 4:14; Isa 65:4), and signifies properly a stench; - compare the talmudic word פּגּל faetidum reddere . Whoever ate thereof would bear his sin (see Lev 5:1). “ The soul that eateth ” is not to be restricted, as Knobel supposes, to the other participators in the sacrificial meal, but applies to the offerer also, in fact to every one who partook of such flesh.
The burning on the third day was commanded, not to compel the offerer to invite the poor to share in the meal ( Theodoret , Clericus , etc.) , but to guard against the danger of a desecration of the meal. The sacrificial flesh was holy (Exo 29:34); and in Lev 19:8, where this command is repeated, eating it on the third day is called a profanation of that which was holy to Jehovah, and ordered to be punished with extermination.
It became a desecration of what was holy, through the fact that in warm countries, if flesh is not most carefully preserved by artificial means, it begins to putrefy, or becomes offensive (פּגּוּל) on the third day. But to eat flesh that was putrid or stinking, would be like eating unclean carrion, or the נבלה with which putrid flesh is associated in Eze 4:14.
It was for this reason that burning was commanded, as Philo ( de vict. p. 842) and Maimonides ( More Neboch iii. 46) admit; though the former also associates with this the purpose mentioned above, which we decidedly reject (cf. Outram l. c. p. 185 seq. , and Bähr, ii. pp. 375-6).
Lev 7:15-18 The flesh of the praise-offering was to be eaten on the day of presentation, and none of it was to be left till the next morning (cf. Lev 22:29-30); but that of the vow and freewill-offerings might be eaten on both the first and second days. Whatever remained after that was to be burnt on the third day, i. e. , to be destroyed by burning. If any was eaten on the third day, it was not well-pleasing (ירצה “good pleasure,” see Lev 1:4), and was “ not reckoned to the offerer, ” sc.
, as a sacrifice well-pleasing to God; it was “ an abomination . ” פּגּוּל, an abomination, is only applied to the flesh of the sacrifices (Lev 19:7; Eze 4:14; Isa 65:4), and signifies properly a stench; - compare the talmudic word פּגּל faetidum reddere . Whoever ate thereof would bear his sin (see Lev 5:1). “ The soul that eateth ” is not to be restricted, as Knobel supposes, to the other participators in the sacrificial meal, but applies to the offerer also, in fact to every one who partook of such flesh.
The burning on the third day was commanded, not to compel the offerer to invite the poor to share in the meal ( Theodoret , Clericus , etc.) , but to guard against the danger of a desecration of the meal. The sacrificial flesh was holy (Exo 29:34); and in Lev 19:8, where this command is repeated, eating it on the third day is called a profanation of that which was holy to Jehovah, and ordered to be punished with extermination.
It became a desecration of what was holy, through the fact that in warm countries, if flesh is not most carefully preserved by artificial means, it begins to putrefy, or becomes offensive (פּגּוּל) on the third day. But to eat flesh that was putrid or stinking, would be like eating unclean carrion, or the נבלה with which putrid flesh is associated in Eze 4:14.
It was for this reason that burning was commanded, as Philo ( de vict. p. 842) and Maimonides ( More Neboch iii. 46) admit; though the former also associates with this the purpose mentioned above, which we decidedly reject (cf. Outram l. c. p. 185 seq. , and Bähr, ii. pp. 375-6).
Lev 7:15-18 The flesh of the praise-offering was to be eaten on the day of presentation, and none of it was to be left till the next morning (cf. Lev 22:29-30); but that of the vow and freewill-offerings might be eaten on both the first and second days. Whatever remained after that was to be burnt on the third day, i. e. , to be destroyed by burning. If any was eaten on the third day, it was not well-pleasing (ירצה “good pleasure,” see Lev 1:4), and was “ not reckoned to the offerer, ” sc.
, as a sacrifice well-pleasing to God; it was “ an abomination . ” פּגּוּל, an abomination, is only applied to the flesh of the sacrifices (Lev 19:7; Eze 4:14; Isa 65:4), and signifies properly a stench; - compare the talmudic word פּגּל faetidum reddere . Whoever ate thereof would bear his sin (see Lev 5:1). “ The soul that eateth ” is not to be restricted, as Knobel supposes, to the other participators in the sacrificial meal, but applies to the offerer also, in fact to every one who partook of such flesh.
The burning on the third day was commanded, not to compel the offerer to invite the poor to share in the meal ( Theodoret , Clericus , etc.) , but to guard against the danger of a desecration of the meal. The sacrificial flesh was holy (Exo 29:34); and in Lev 19:8, where this command is repeated, eating it on the third day is called a profanation of that which was holy to Jehovah, and ordered to be punished with extermination.
It became a desecration of what was holy, through the fact that in warm countries, if flesh is not most carefully preserved by artificial means, it begins to putrefy, or becomes offensive (פּגּוּל) on the third day. But to eat flesh that was putrid or stinking, would be like eating unclean carrion, or the נבלה with which putrid flesh is associated in Eze 4:14.
It was for this reason that burning was commanded, as Philo ( de vict. p. 842) and Maimonides ( More Neboch iii. 46) admit; though the former also associates with this the purpose mentioned above, which we decidedly reject (cf. Outram l. c. p. 185 seq. , and Bähr, ii. pp. 375-6).
Lev 7:15-18 The flesh of the praise-offering was to be eaten on the day of presentation, and none of it was to be left till the next morning (cf. Lev 22:29-30); but that of the vow and freewill-offerings might be eaten on both the first and second days. Whatever remained after that was to be burnt on the third day, i. e. , to be destroyed by burning. If any was eaten on the third day, it was not well-pleasing (ירצה “good pleasure,” see Lev 1:4), and was “ not reckoned to the offerer, ” sc.
, as a sacrifice well-pleasing to God; it was “ an abomination . ” פּגּוּל, an abomination, is only applied to the flesh of the sacrifices (Lev 19:7; Eze 4:14; Isa 65:4), and signifies properly a stench; - compare the talmudic word פּגּל faetidum reddere . Whoever ate thereof would bear his sin (see Lev 5:1). “ The soul that eateth ” is not to be restricted, as Knobel supposes, to the other participators in the sacrificial meal, but applies to the offerer also, in fact to every one who partook of such flesh.
The burning on the third day was commanded, not to compel the offerer to invite the poor to share in the meal ( Theodoret , Clericus , etc.) , but to guard against the danger of a desecration of the meal. The sacrificial flesh was holy (Exo 29:34); and in Lev 19:8, where this command is repeated, eating it on the third day is called a profanation of that which was holy to Jehovah, and ordered to be punished with extermination.
It became a desecration of what was holy, through the fact that in warm countries, if flesh is not most carefully preserved by artificial means, it begins to putrefy, or becomes offensive (פּגּוּל) on the third day. But to eat flesh that was putrid or stinking, would be like eating unclean carrion, or the נבלה with which putrid flesh is associated in Eze 4:14.
It was for this reason that burning was commanded, as Philo ( de vict. p. 842) and Maimonides ( More Neboch iii. 46) admit; though the former also associates with this the purpose mentioned above, which we decidedly reject (cf. Outram l. c. p. 185 seq. , and Bähr, ii. pp. 375-6).
Lev 7:19-21 In the same way all sacrificial flesh that had come into contact with what was unclean, and been defiled in consequence, was to be burned and not eaten. Lev 7:19, which is not found in the Septuagint and Vulgate, reads thus: “ and as for the flesh, every clean person shall eat flesh, ” i.e., take part in the sacrificial meal.
Lev 7:19-21 In the same way all sacrificial flesh that had come into contact with what was unclean, and been defiled in consequence, was to be burned and not eaten. Lev 7:19, which is not found in the Septuagint and Vulgate, reads thus: “ and as for the flesh, every clean person shall eat flesh, ” i.e., take part in the sacrificial meal.
Lev 7:19-21 In the same way all sacrificial flesh that had come into contact with what was unclean, and been defiled in consequence, was to be burned and not eaten. Lev 7:19, which is not found in the Septuagint and Vulgate, reads thus: “ and as for the flesh, every clean person shall eat flesh, ” i.e., take part in the sacrificial meal.
Lev 7:22-23 On the other hand, “ the soul which eats flesh of the peace-offering, and his uncleanness is upon him (for “whilst uncleanness is upon him;” the suffix is to be understood as referring to נפשׁ construed as a masculine, see Lev 2:1), “ shall be cut off ” (see Gen 17:14). This was to be done, whether the uncleanness arose from contact with an unclean object (any unclean thing), or from the uncleanness of man (cf.
ch. 12-15), or from an unclean beast (see at Lev 11:4-8), or from any other unclean abomination. שׁקץ, abomination, includes the unclean fishes, birds, and smaller animals, to which this expression is applied in Lev 11:10-42 (cf. Eze 8:10 and Isa 66:17). Moreover contact with animals that were pronounced unclean so far as eating was concerned, did not produce uncleanness so long as they were alive, or if they had been put to death by man; but contact with animals that had died a natural death, whether they belonged to the edible animals or not, that is to say, with carrion (see at Lev 11:8).
There is appended to these regulations, as being substantially connected with them, the prohibition of fat and blood as articles of food (Lev 7:22-27). By “ the fat of ox, or of sheep, or of goat, ” i. e. , the three kinds of animals used in sacrifice, or “ the fat of the beast of which men offer a firing to Jehovah ” (Lev 7:25), we are to understand only those portions of fat which are mentioned in Lev 3:3-4, Lev 3:9; not fat which grows in with the flesh, nor the fat portions of other animals, which were clean but not allowed as sacrifices, such as the stag, the antelope, and other kinds of game.
Lev 7:22-23 On the other hand, “ the soul which eats flesh of the peace-offering, and his uncleanness is upon him (for “whilst uncleanness is upon him;” the suffix is to be understood as referring to נפשׁ construed as a masculine, see Lev 2:1), “ shall be cut off ” (see Gen 17:14). This was to be done, whether the uncleanness arose from contact with an unclean object (any unclean thing), or from the uncleanness of man (cf.
ch. 12-15), or from an unclean beast (see at Lev 11:4-8), or from any other unclean abomination. שׁקץ, abomination, includes the unclean fishes, birds, and smaller animals, to which this expression is applied in Lev 11:10-42 (cf. Eze 8:10 and Isa 66:17). Moreover contact with animals that were pronounced unclean so far as eating was concerned, did not produce uncleanness so long as they were alive, or if they had been put to death by man; but contact with animals that had died a natural death, whether they belonged to the edible animals or not, that is to say, with carrion (see at Lev 11:8).
There is appended to these regulations, as being substantially connected with them, the prohibition of fat and blood as articles of food (Lev 7:22-27). By “ the fat of ox, or of sheep, or of goat, ” i. e. , the three kinds of animals used in sacrifice, or “ the fat of the beast of which men offer a firing to Jehovah ” (Lev 7:25), we are to understand only those portions of fat which are mentioned in Lev 3:3-4, Lev 3:9; not fat which grows in with the flesh, nor the fat portions of other animals, which were clean but not allowed as sacrifices, such as the stag, the antelope, and other kinds of game.
Lev 7:24-27 The fat of cattle that had fallen (נבלה), or been torn to pieces (viz. , by beasts of prey), was not to be eaten, because it was unclean and defiled the eater (Lev 17:15; Lev 22:8); but it might be applied “ to all kinds of uses, ” i. e. , to the common purposes of ordinary life. Knobel observes on this, that “in the case of oxen, sheep, and goats slain in the regular way, this was evidently not allowable.
But the law does not say what was to be done with the fat of these animals. ” Certainly it does not disertis verbis; but indirectly it does so clearly enough. According to Lev 17:3. , during the journey through the desert any one who wanted to slaughter an ox, sheep, or goat was to bring the animal to the tabernacle as a sacrificial gift, that the blood might be sprinkled against the altar, and the fat burned upon it.
By this regulation every ordinary slaughtering was raised into a sacrifice, and the law determined what was to be done with the fat. Now if afterwards, when the people dwelt in Canaan, cattle were allowed to be slaughtered in any place, and the only prohibition repeated was that against eating blood (Deu 12:15-16, Deu 12:21.) , whilst the law against eating fat was not renewed; it follows as a matter of course, that when the custom of slaughtering at the tabernacle was restricted to actual sacrifices, the prohibition against eating the fat portions came to an end, so far as those animals were concerned with were slain for consumption and not as sacrifices.
The reason for prohibiting fat from being eaten was simply this, that so long as every slaughtering was a sacrifice, the fat portions, which were to be handed over to Jehovah and burned upon the altar, were not to be devoted to earthly purposes, because they were gifts sanctified to God. The eating of the fat, therefore, was neither prohibited on sanitary or social grounds, viz.
, because fat was injurious to health, as Maimonides and other Rabbins maintain, nor for the purpose of promoting the cultivation of olives, as Michaelis supposes, nor to prevent its being put into the unclean mouth of man, as Knobel imagines; but as being an illegal appropriation of what was sanctified to God, a wicked invasion of the rights of Jehovah, which was to be punished with extermination according to the analogy of Num 15:30-31. The prohibition of blood in Lev 7:26, Lev 7:27, extends to birds and cattle; fishes not being mentioned, because the little blood which they possess is not generally eaten.
This prohibition Israel was to observe in all its dwelling-places (Exo 12:20, cf. Lev 17:10), not only so long as all the slaughterings had the character of sacrifices, but for all ages, because the blood was regarded as the soul of the animal, which God had sanctified as the medium of atonement for the soul of man (Lev 17:11), whereby the blood acquired a much higher degree of holiness than the fat.
Lev 7:24-27 The fat of cattle that had fallen (נבלה), or been torn to pieces (viz. , by beasts of prey), was not to be eaten, because it was unclean and defiled the eater (Lev 17:15; Lev 22:8); but it might be applied “ to all kinds of uses, ” i. e. , to the common purposes of ordinary life. Knobel observes on this, that “in the case of oxen, sheep, and goats slain in the regular way, this was evidently not allowable.
But the law does not say what was to be done with the fat of these animals. ” Certainly it does not disertis verbis; but indirectly it does so clearly enough. According to Lev 17:3. , during the journey through the desert any one who wanted to slaughter an ox, sheep, or goat was to bring the animal to the tabernacle as a sacrificial gift, that the blood might be sprinkled against the altar, and the fat burned upon it.
By this regulation every ordinary slaughtering was raised into a sacrifice, and the law determined what was to be done with the fat. Now if afterwards, when the people dwelt in Canaan, cattle were allowed to be slaughtered in any place, and the only prohibition repeated was that against eating blood (Deu 12:15-16, Deu 12:21.) , whilst the law against eating fat was not renewed; it follows as a matter of course, that when the custom of slaughtering at the tabernacle was restricted to actual sacrifices, the prohibition against eating the fat portions came to an end, so far as those animals were concerned with were slain for consumption and not as sacrifices.
The reason for prohibiting fat from being eaten was simply this, that so long as every slaughtering was a sacrifice, the fat portions, which were to be handed over to Jehovah and burned upon the altar, were not to be devoted to earthly purposes, because they were gifts sanctified to God. The eating of the fat, therefore, was neither prohibited on sanitary or social grounds, viz.
, because fat was injurious to health, as Maimonides and other Rabbins maintain, nor for the purpose of promoting the cultivation of olives, as Michaelis supposes, nor to prevent its being put into the unclean mouth of man, as Knobel imagines; but as being an illegal appropriation of what was sanctified to God, a wicked invasion of the rights of Jehovah, which was to be punished with extermination according to the analogy of Num 15:30-31. The prohibition of blood in Lev 7:26, Lev 7:27, extends to birds and cattle; fishes not being mentioned, because the little blood which they possess is not generally eaten.
This prohibition Israel was to observe in all its dwelling-places (Exo 12:20, cf. Lev 17:10), not only so long as all the slaughterings had the character of sacrifices, but for all ages, because the blood was regarded as the soul of the animal, which God had sanctified as the medium of atonement for the soul of man (Lev 17:11), whereby the blood acquired a much higher degree of holiness than the fat.
Lev 7:24-27 The fat of cattle that had fallen (נבלה), or been torn to pieces (viz. , by beasts of prey), was not to be eaten, because it was unclean and defiled the eater (Lev 17:15; Lev 22:8); but it might be applied “ to all kinds of uses, ” i. e. , to the common purposes of ordinary life. Knobel observes on this, that “in the case of oxen, sheep, and goats slain in the regular way, this was evidently not allowable.
But the law does not say what was to be done with the fat of these animals. ” Certainly it does not disertis verbis; but indirectly it does so clearly enough. According to Lev 17:3. , during the journey through the desert any one who wanted to slaughter an ox, sheep, or goat was to bring the animal to the tabernacle as a sacrificial gift, that the blood might be sprinkled against the altar, and the fat burned upon it.
By this regulation every ordinary slaughtering was raised into a sacrifice, and the law determined what was to be done with the fat. Now if afterwards, when the people dwelt in Canaan, cattle were allowed to be slaughtered in any place, and the only prohibition repeated was that against eating blood (Deu 12:15-16, Deu 12:21.) , whilst the law against eating fat was not renewed; it follows as a matter of course, that when the custom of slaughtering at the tabernacle was restricted to actual sacrifices, the prohibition against eating the fat portions came to an end, so far as those animals were concerned with were slain for consumption and not as sacrifices.
The reason for prohibiting fat from being eaten was simply this, that so long as every slaughtering was a sacrifice, the fat portions, which were to be handed over to Jehovah and burned upon the altar, were not to be devoted to earthly purposes, because they were gifts sanctified to God. The eating of the fat, therefore, was neither prohibited on sanitary or social grounds, viz.
, because fat was injurious to health, as Maimonides and other Rabbins maintain, nor for the purpose of promoting the cultivation of olives, as Michaelis supposes, nor to prevent its being put into the unclean mouth of man, as Knobel imagines; but as being an illegal appropriation of what was sanctified to God, a wicked invasion of the rights of Jehovah, which was to be punished with extermination according to the analogy of Num 15:30-31. The prohibition of blood in Lev 7:26, Lev 7:27, extends to birds and cattle; fishes not being mentioned, because the little blood which they possess is not generally eaten.
This prohibition Israel was to observe in all its dwelling-places (Exo 12:20, cf. Lev 17:10), not only so long as all the slaughterings had the character of sacrifices, but for all ages, because the blood was regarded as the soul of the animal, which God had sanctified as the medium of atonement for the soul of man (Lev 17:11), whereby the blood acquired a much higher degree of holiness than the fat.
Lev 7:24-27 The fat of cattle that had fallen (נבלה), or been torn to pieces (viz. , by beasts of prey), was not to be eaten, because it was unclean and defiled the eater (Lev 17:15; Lev 22:8); but it might be applied “ to all kinds of uses, ” i. e. , to the common purposes of ordinary life. Knobel observes on this, that “in the case of oxen, sheep, and goats slain in the regular way, this was evidently not allowable.
But the law does not say what was to be done with the fat of these animals. ” Certainly it does not disertis verbis; but indirectly it does so clearly enough. According to Lev 17:3. , during the journey through the desert any one who wanted to slaughter an ox, sheep, or goat was to bring the animal to the tabernacle as a sacrificial gift, that the blood might be sprinkled against the altar, and the fat burned upon it.
By this regulation every ordinary slaughtering was raised into a sacrifice, and the law determined what was to be done with the fat. Now if afterwards, when the people dwelt in Canaan, cattle were allowed to be slaughtered in any place, and the only prohibition repeated was that against eating blood (Deu 12:15-16, Deu 12:21.) , whilst the law against eating fat was not renewed; it follows as a matter of course, that when the custom of slaughtering at the tabernacle was restricted to actual sacrifices, the prohibition against eating the fat portions came to an end, so far as those animals were concerned with were slain for consumption and not as sacrifices.
The reason for prohibiting fat from being eaten was simply this, that so long as every slaughtering was a sacrifice, the fat portions, which were to be handed over to Jehovah and burned upon the altar, were not to be devoted to earthly purposes, because they were gifts sanctified to God. The eating of the fat, therefore, was neither prohibited on sanitary or social grounds, viz.
, because fat was injurious to health, as Maimonides and other Rabbins maintain, nor for the purpose of promoting the cultivation of olives, as Michaelis supposes, nor to prevent its being put into the unclean mouth of man, as Knobel imagines; but as being an illegal appropriation of what was sanctified to God, a wicked invasion of the rights of Jehovah, which was to be punished with extermination according to the analogy of Num 15:30-31. The prohibition of blood in Lev 7:26, Lev 7:27, extends to birds and cattle; fishes not being mentioned, because the little blood which they possess is not generally eaten.
This prohibition Israel was to observe in all its dwelling-places (Exo 12:20, cf. Lev 17:10), not only so long as all the slaughterings had the character of sacrifices, but for all ages, because the blood was regarded as the soul of the animal, which God had sanctified as the medium of atonement for the soul of man (Lev 17:11), whereby the blood acquired a much higher degree of holiness than the fat.
Lev 7:28-29 Jehovah’s share of the peace-offerings . - Lev 7:29. The offerer of the sacrifice was to bring his gift ( corban ) to Jehovah, i.e., to bring to the altar the portion which belonged to Jehovah.
Lev 7:28-29 Jehovah’s share of the peace-offerings . - Lev 7:29. The offerer of the sacrifice was to bring his gift ( corban ) to Jehovah, i.e., to bring to the altar the portion which belonged to Jehovah.
Lev 7:30-33 His hands were to bring the firings of Jehovah, i. e. , the portions to be burned upon the altar (Lev 1:9), viz. , “ the fat (the fat portions, Lev 3:3-4) with the breast, ” - the former to be burned upon the altar, the latter “ to wave as a wave-offering before Jehovah . ” חזה, τὸ στηθύνιον (lxx), i. e. , according to Pollux , τῶν στηθῶν τὸ μέσον, pectusculum or pectus ( Vulg .
cf. Lev 9:20-21; Lev 10:15), signifies the breast, the breast-piece of the sacrificial animals, the brisket, which consists for the most part of cartilaginous fat in the case of oxen, sheep, and goats, and is one of the most savoury parts; so that at the family festivities of the ancients, according to Athen. Deipnos . ii. 70, ix. 10, στηθύνια παχέων ἀρνίων were dainty bits.
The breast-piece was presented to the Lord as a wave-offering ( tenuphah ), and transferred by Him to Aaron and his sons (the priests). תּנוּפה, from נוּף, הניף, to swing, to move to and fro (see Exo 35:22), is the name applied to a ceremony peculiar to the peace-offerings and the consecration-offerings: the priest laid the object to be waved upon the hands of the offerer, and then placed his own hands underneath, and moved the hands of the offerer backwards and forwards in a horizontal direction, to indicate by the movement forwards, i.
e. , in the direction towards the altar, the presentation of the sacrifice, or the symbolical transference of it to God, and by the movement backwards, the reception of it back again, as a present which God handed over to His servants the priests. In the peace-offerings the waving was performed with the breast-piece, which was called the “ wave-breast ” in consequence (Lev 7:34; Lev 10:14-15; Num 6:20; Num 18:18; Exo 29:27).
At the consecration of the priests it was performed with the fat portions, the right leg, and with some cakes, as well as with the breast of the fill-offering (Lev 8:25-29; Exo 29:22-26). The ceremony of waving was also carried out with the sheaf of first-fruits at the feast of Passover; with the loaves of the first-fruits, and thank-offering lambs, at the feast of Pentecost (Lev 23:11, Lev 23:20); with the shoulder and meat-offering of the Nazarite (Num 6:20); with the trespass-offering of the leper (Lev 14:12, Lev 14:24); with the jealousy-offering (Num 5:25); and lastly with the Levites, at their consecration (Num 8:11.)
In the case of all these sacrifices, the object waved, after it had been offered symbolically to the Lord by means of the waving, became the property of the priests. But of the lambs, which were waved at the feast of Pentecost before they were slaughtered, and of the lamb which was brought as a trespass-offering by the leper, the blood and fat were given up to the altar-fire; of the jealousy-offering, only an azcarah ; and of the fill-offering, for special reasons, the fat portions and leg, as well as the cakes.
Even the Levites were given by Jehovah to the priests to be their own (Num 8:19). The waving, therefore, had nothing in common with the porricere of the Romans, as the portions of the sacrifices which were called porriciae were precisely those which were not only given up to the gods, but burned upon the altars. In addition to the wave-breast, which the Lord gave up to His servants as their share of the peace-offerings, the officiating priest was also to receive for his portion the right leg as a terumah , or heave-offering, or lifting off.
שׁוק is the thigh in the case of a man (Isa 47:2; Sol 5:15), and therefore in the case of an animal it is not the fore-leg, or shoulder (βραχηίων, armus ), which is called זרע, or the arm (Num 6:19; Deu 18:3), but the hind-leg, or rather the upper part of it or ham, which is mentioned in 1Sa 9:24 as a peculiarly choice portion ( Knobel ). As a portion lifted off from the sacrificial gifts, it is often called “the heave-leg ” (v.
34; Lev 10:14-15; Num 6:20; Exo 29:27), because it was lifted or heaved off from the sacrificial animal, as a gift of honour for the officiating priest, but without being waved like the breast-piece-though the more general phrase, “to wave a wave-offering before Jehovah” (Lev 10:15), includes the offering of the heave-leg (see my Archaeologie i. pp. 244-5).
Lev 7:30-33 His hands were to bring the firings of Jehovah, i. e. , the portions to be burned upon the altar (Lev 1:9), viz. , “ the fat (the fat portions, Lev 3:3-4) with the breast, ” - the former to be burned upon the altar, the latter “ to wave as a wave-offering before Jehovah . ” חזה, τὸ στηθύνιον (lxx), i. e. , according to Pollux , τῶν στηθῶν τὸ μέσον, pectusculum or pectus ( Vulg .
cf. Lev 9:20-21; Lev 10:15), signifies the breast, the breast-piece of the sacrificial animals, the brisket, which consists for the most part of cartilaginous fat in the case of oxen, sheep, and goats, and is one of the most savoury parts; so that at the family festivities of the ancients, according to Athen. Deipnos . ii. 70, ix. 10, στηθύνια παχέων ἀρνίων were dainty bits.
The breast-piece was presented to the Lord as a wave-offering ( tenuphah ), and transferred by Him to Aaron and his sons (the priests). תּנוּפה, from נוּף, הניף, to swing, to move to and fro (see Exo 35:22), is the name applied to a ceremony peculiar to the peace-offerings and the consecration-offerings: the priest laid the object to be waved upon the hands of the offerer, and then placed his own hands underneath, and moved the hands of the offerer backwards and forwards in a horizontal direction, to indicate by the movement forwards, i.
e. , in the direction towards the altar, the presentation of the sacrifice, or the symbolical transference of it to God, and by the movement backwards, the reception of it back again, as a present which God handed over to His servants the priests. In the peace-offerings the waving was performed with the breast-piece, which was called the “ wave-breast ” in consequence (Lev 7:34; Lev 10:14-15; Num 6:20; Num 18:18; Exo 29:27).
At the consecration of the priests it was performed with the fat portions, the right leg, and with some cakes, as well as with the breast of the fill-offering (Lev 8:25-29; Exo 29:22-26). The ceremony of waving was also carried out with the sheaf of first-fruits at the feast of Passover; with the loaves of the first-fruits, and thank-offering lambs, at the feast of Pentecost (Lev 23:11, Lev 23:20); with the shoulder and meat-offering of the Nazarite (Num 6:20); with the trespass-offering of the leper (Lev 14:12, Lev 14:24); with the jealousy-offering (Num 5:25); and lastly with the Levites, at their consecration (Num 8:11.)
In the case of all these sacrifices, the object waved, after it had been offered symbolically to the Lord by means of the waving, became the property of the priests. But of the lambs, which were waved at the feast of Pentecost before they were slaughtered, and of the lamb which was brought as a trespass-offering by the leper, the blood and fat were given up to the altar-fire; of the jealousy-offering, only an azcarah ; and of the fill-offering, for special reasons, the fat portions and leg, as well as the cakes.
Even the Levites were given by Jehovah to the priests to be their own (Num 8:19). The waving, therefore, had nothing in common with the porricere of the Romans, as the portions of the sacrifices which were called porriciae were precisely those which were not only given up to the gods, but burned upon the altars. In addition to the wave-breast, which the Lord gave up to His servants as their share of the peace-offerings, the officiating priest was also to receive for his portion the right leg as a terumah , or heave-offering, or lifting off.
שׁוק is the thigh in the case of a man (Isa 47:2; Sol 5:15), and therefore in the case of an animal it is not the fore-leg, or shoulder (βραχηίων, armus ), which is called זרע, or the arm (Num 6:19; Deu 18:3), but the hind-leg, or rather the upper part of it or ham, which is mentioned in 1Sa 9:24 as a peculiarly choice portion ( Knobel ). As a portion lifted off from the sacrificial gifts, it is often called “the heave-leg ” (v.
34; Lev 10:14-15; Num 6:20; Exo 29:27), because it was lifted or heaved off from the sacrificial animal, as a gift of honour for the officiating priest, but without being waved like the breast-piece-though the more general phrase, “to wave a wave-offering before Jehovah” (Lev 10:15), includes the offering of the heave-leg (see my Archaeologie i. pp. 244-5).
Lev 7:30-33 His hands were to bring the firings of Jehovah, i. e. , the portions to be burned upon the altar (Lev 1:9), viz. , “ the fat (the fat portions, Lev 3:3-4) with the breast, ” - the former to be burned upon the altar, the latter “ to wave as a wave-offering before Jehovah . ” חזה, τὸ στηθύνιον (lxx), i. e. , according to Pollux , τῶν στηθῶν τὸ μέσον, pectusculum or pectus ( Vulg .
cf. Lev 9:20-21; Lev 10:15), signifies the breast, the breast-piece of the sacrificial animals, the brisket, which consists for the most part of cartilaginous fat in the case of oxen, sheep, and goats, and is one of the most savoury parts; so that at the family festivities of the ancients, according to Athen. Deipnos . ii. 70, ix. 10, στηθύνια παχέων ἀρνίων were dainty bits.
The breast-piece was presented to the Lord as a wave-offering ( tenuphah ), and transferred by Him to Aaron and his sons (the priests). תּנוּפה, from נוּף, הניף, to swing, to move to and fro (see Exo 35:22), is the name applied to a ceremony peculiar to the peace-offerings and the consecration-offerings: the priest laid the object to be waved upon the hands of the offerer, and then placed his own hands underneath, and moved the hands of the offerer backwards and forwards in a horizontal direction, to indicate by the movement forwards, i.
e. , in the direction towards the altar, the presentation of the sacrifice, or the symbolical transference of it to God, and by the movement backwards, the reception of it back again, as a present which God handed over to His servants the priests. In the peace-offerings the waving was performed with the breast-piece, which was called the “ wave-breast ” in consequence (Lev 7:34; Lev 10:14-15; Num 6:20; Num 18:18; Exo 29:27).
At the consecration of the priests it was performed with the fat portions, the right leg, and with some cakes, as well as with the breast of the fill-offering (Lev 8:25-29; Exo 29:22-26). The ceremony of waving was also carried out with the sheaf of first-fruits at the feast of Passover; with the loaves of the first-fruits, and thank-offering lambs, at the feast of Pentecost (Lev 23:11, Lev 23:20); with the shoulder and meat-offering of the Nazarite (Num 6:20); with the trespass-offering of the leper (Lev 14:12, Lev 14:24); with the jealousy-offering (Num 5:25); and lastly with the Levites, at their consecration (Num 8:11.)
In the case of all these sacrifices, the object waved, after it had been offered symbolically to the Lord by means of the waving, became the property of the priests. But of the lambs, which were waved at the feast of Pentecost before they were slaughtered, and of the lamb which was brought as a trespass-offering by the leper, the blood and fat were given up to the altar-fire; of the jealousy-offering, only an azcarah ; and of the fill-offering, for special reasons, the fat portions and leg, as well as the cakes.
Even the Levites were given by Jehovah to the priests to be their own (Num 8:19). The waving, therefore, had nothing in common with the porricere of the Romans, as the portions of the sacrifices which were called porriciae were precisely those which were not only given up to the gods, but burned upon the altars. In addition to the wave-breast, which the Lord gave up to His servants as their share of the peace-offerings, the officiating priest was also to receive for his portion the right leg as a terumah , or heave-offering, or lifting off.
שׁוק is the thigh in the case of a man (Isa 47:2; Sol 5:15), and therefore in the case of an animal it is not the fore-leg, or shoulder (βραχηίων, armus ), which is called זרע, or the arm (Num 6:19; Deu 18:3), but the hind-leg, or rather the upper part of it or ham, which is mentioned in 1Sa 9:24 as a peculiarly choice portion ( Knobel ). As a portion lifted off from the sacrificial gifts, it is often called “the heave-leg ” (v.
34; Lev 10:14-15; Num 6:20; Exo 29:27), because it was lifted or heaved off from the sacrificial animal, as a gift of honour for the officiating priest, but without being waved like the breast-piece-though the more general phrase, “to wave a wave-offering before Jehovah” (Lev 10:15), includes the offering of the heave-leg (see my Archaeologie i. pp. 244-5).
Lev 7:30-33 His hands were to bring the firings of Jehovah, i. e. , the portions to be burned upon the altar (Lev 1:9), viz. , “ the fat (the fat portions, Lev 3:3-4) with the breast, ” - the former to be burned upon the altar, the latter “ to wave as a wave-offering before Jehovah . ” חזה, τὸ στηθύνιον (lxx), i. e. , according to Pollux , τῶν στηθῶν τὸ μέσον, pectusculum or pectus ( Vulg .
cf. Lev 9:20-21; Lev 10:15), signifies the breast, the breast-piece of the sacrificial animals, the brisket, which consists for the most part of cartilaginous fat in the case of oxen, sheep, and goats, and is one of the most savoury parts; so that at the family festivities of the ancients, according to Athen. Deipnos . ii. 70, ix. 10, στηθύνια παχέων ἀρνίων were dainty bits.
The breast-piece was presented to the Lord as a wave-offering ( tenuphah ), and transferred by Him to Aaron and his sons (the priests). תּנוּפה, from נוּף, הניף, to swing, to move to and fro (see Exo 35:22), is the name applied to a ceremony peculiar to the peace-offerings and the consecration-offerings: the priest laid the object to be waved upon the hands of the offerer, and then placed his own hands underneath, and moved the hands of the offerer backwards and forwards in a horizontal direction, to indicate by the movement forwards, i.
e. , in the direction towards the altar, the presentation of the sacrifice, or the symbolical transference of it to God, and by the movement backwards, the reception of it back again, as a present which God handed over to His servants the priests. In the peace-offerings the waving was performed with the breast-piece, which was called the “ wave-breast ” in consequence (Lev 7:34; Lev 10:14-15; Num 6:20; Num 18:18; Exo 29:27).
At the consecration of the priests it was performed with the fat portions, the right leg, and with some cakes, as well as with the breast of the fill-offering (Lev 8:25-29; Exo 29:22-26). The ceremony of waving was also carried out with the sheaf of first-fruits at the feast of Passover; with the loaves of the first-fruits, and thank-offering lambs, at the feast of Pentecost (Lev 23:11, Lev 23:20); with the shoulder and meat-offering of the Nazarite (Num 6:20); with the trespass-offering of the leper (Lev 14:12, Lev 14:24); with the jealousy-offering (Num 5:25); and lastly with the Levites, at their consecration (Num 8:11.)
In the case of all these sacrifices, the object waved, after it had been offered symbolically to the Lord by means of the waving, became the property of the priests. But of the lambs, which were waved at the feast of Pentecost before they were slaughtered, and of the lamb which was brought as a trespass-offering by the leper, the blood and fat were given up to the altar-fire; of the jealousy-offering, only an azcarah ; and of the fill-offering, for special reasons, the fat portions and leg, as well as the cakes.
Even the Levites were given by Jehovah to the priests to be their own (Num 8:19). The waving, therefore, had nothing in common with the porricere of the Romans, as the portions of the sacrifices which were called porriciae were precisely those which were not only given up to the gods, but burned upon the altars. In addition to the wave-breast, which the Lord gave up to His servants as their share of the peace-offerings, the officiating priest was also to receive for his portion the right leg as a terumah , or heave-offering, or lifting off.
שׁוק is the thigh in the case of a man (Isa 47:2; Sol 5:15), and therefore in the case of an animal it is not the fore-leg, or shoulder (βραχηίων, armus ), which is called זרע, or the arm (Num 6:19; Deu 18:3), but the hind-leg, or rather the upper part of it or ham, which is mentioned in 1Sa 9:24 as a peculiarly choice portion ( Knobel ). As a portion lifted off from the sacrificial gifts, it is often called “the heave-leg ” (v.
34; Lev 10:14-15; Num 6:20; Exo 29:27), because it was lifted or heaved off from the sacrificial animal, as a gift of honour for the officiating priest, but without being waved like the breast-piece-though the more general phrase, “to wave a wave-offering before Jehovah” (Lev 10:15), includes the offering of the heave-leg (see my Archaeologie i. pp. 244-5).
Lev 7:34-36 The wave-breast and heave-leg Jehovah had taken of the children of Israel, from off the sacrifices of their peace-offerings: i. e. , had imposed it upon them as tribute, and had given them to Aaron and his sons, i. e. , to the priests, “as a statute for ever,” - in other words, as a right which they could claim of the Israelites for all ages (cf.
Exo 27:21). - With Lev 7:35, Lev 7:36, the instructions concerning the peace-offerings are brought to a close. “ This (the wave-breast and heave-leg) is the share of Aaron and his sons from the firings of Jehovah in the day (i. e. , which Jehovah assigned to them in the day) when He caused them to draw near to become priests to Jehovah, ” i. e. , according to the explanation in Lev 7:36, “ in the day of their anointing.
” The word משׁחה in Lev 7:35, like משׁחה in Num 18:8, signifies not “ anointing ,” but share, portio , literally a measuring off, as in Aramaean and Arabic, from משׁח to stroke the hand over anything, to measure, or measure off. The fulness with which every point in the sacrificial meal is laid down, helps to confirm the significance of the peace-offerings, as already implied in the name זבח sacrificial slaughtering, slain-offering, viz.
, as indicating that they were intended for, and culminated in a liturgical meal. By placing his hand upon the head of the animal, which had been brought to the altar of Jehovah for the purpose, the offerer signified that with this gift, which served to nourish and strengthen his own life, he gave up the substance of his life to the Lord, that he might thereby be strengthened both body and soul for a holy walk and conversation.
To this end he slaughtered the victim and had the blood sprinkled by the priest against the altar, and the fat portions burned upon it, that in these altar-gifts his soul and his inner man might be grounded afresh in the gracious fellowship of the Lord. He then handed over the breast-piece by the process of waving, also the right leg, and a sacrificial cake of each kind, as a heave-offering from the whole to the Lord, who transferred these portions to the priests as His servants, that they might take part as His representatives in the sacrificial meal.
In consequence of this participation of the priests, the feast, which the offerer of the sacrifice prepared for himself and his family from the rest of the flesh, became a holy covenant meal, a meal of love and joy, which represented domestic fellowship with the Lord, and thus shadowed forth, on the one hand, rejoicing before the Lord (Deu 12:12, Deu 12:18), and on the other, the blessedness of eating and drinking in the kingdom of God (Luk 13:15; Luk 22:30). Through the fact that one portion was given up to the Lord, the earthly food was sanctified as a symbol of the true spiritual food, with which the Lord satisfies and refreshes the citizens of His kingdom.
This religious aspect of the sacrificial meal will explain the instructions given, viz. , that not only the flesh itself, but those who took part in the meal, were all to be clean, and that whatever remained of the flesh was to be burned, on the second or third day respectively, that it might not pass into a state of decomposition. The burning took place a day earlier in the case of the praise-offering than in that of the vow and freewill-offerings, of which the offerer was allowed a longer enjoyment, because they were the products of his own spontaneity, which covered any defect that might attach to the gift itself.
Lev 7:34-36 The wave-breast and heave-leg Jehovah had taken of the children of Israel, from off the sacrifices of their peace-offerings: i. e. , had imposed it upon them as tribute, and had given them to Aaron and his sons, i. e. , to the priests, “as a statute for ever,” - in other words, as a right which they could claim of the Israelites for all ages (cf.
Exo 27:21). - With Lev 7:35, Lev 7:36, the instructions concerning the peace-offerings are brought to a close. “ This (the wave-breast and heave-leg) is the share of Aaron and his sons from the firings of Jehovah in the day (i. e. , which Jehovah assigned to them in the day) when He caused them to draw near to become priests to Jehovah, ” i. e. , according to the explanation in Lev 7:36, “ in the day of their anointing.
” The word משׁחה in Lev 7:35, like משׁחה in Num 18:8, signifies not “ anointing ,” but share, portio , literally a measuring off, as in Aramaean and Arabic, from משׁח to stroke the hand over anything, to measure, or measure off. The fulness with which every point in the sacrificial meal is laid down, helps to confirm the significance of the peace-offerings, as already implied in the name זבח sacrificial slaughtering, slain-offering, viz.
, as indicating that they were intended for, and culminated in a liturgical meal. By placing his hand upon the head of the animal, which had been brought to the altar of Jehovah for the purpose, the offerer signified that with this gift, which served to nourish and strengthen his own life, he gave up the substance of his life to the Lord, that he might thereby be strengthened both body and soul for a holy walk and conversation.
To this end he slaughtered the victim and had the blood sprinkled by the priest against the altar, and the fat portions burned upon it, that in these altar-gifts his soul and his inner man might be grounded afresh in the gracious fellowship of the Lord. He then handed over the breast-piece by the process of waving, also the right leg, and a sacrificial cake of each kind, as a heave-offering from the whole to the Lord, who transferred these portions to the priests as His servants, that they might take part as His representatives in the sacrificial meal.
In consequence of this participation of the priests, the feast, which the offerer of the sacrifice prepared for himself and his family from the rest of the flesh, became a holy covenant meal, a meal of love and joy, which represented domestic fellowship with the Lord, and thus shadowed forth, on the one hand, rejoicing before the Lord (Deu 12:12, Deu 12:18), and on the other, the blessedness of eating and drinking in the kingdom of God (Luk 13:15; Luk 22:30). Through the fact that one portion was given up to the Lord, the earthly food was sanctified as a symbol of the true spiritual food, with which the Lord satisfies and refreshes the citizens of His kingdom.
This religious aspect of the sacrificial meal will explain the instructions given, viz. , that not only the flesh itself, but those who took part in the meal, were all to be clean, and that whatever remained of the flesh was to be burned, on the second or third day respectively, that it might not pass into a state of decomposition. The burning took place a day earlier in the case of the praise-offering than in that of the vow and freewill-offerings, of which the offerer was allowed a longer enjoyment, because they were the products of his own spontaneity, which covered any defect that might attach to the gift itself.
Lev 7:34-36 The wave-breast and heave-leg Jehovah had taken of the children of Israel, from off the sacrifices of their peace-offerings: i. e. , had imposed it upon them as tribute, and had given them to Aaron and his sons, i. e. , to the priests, “as a statute for ever,” - in other words, as a right which they could claim of the Israelites for all ages (cf.
Exo 27:21). - With Lev 7:35, Lev 7:36, the instructions concerning the peace-offerings are brought to a close. “ This (the wave-breast and heave-leg) is the share of Aaron and his sons from the firings of Jehovah in the day (i. e. , which Jehovah assigned to them in the day) when He caused them to draw near to become priests to Jehovah, ” i. e. , according to the explanation in Lev 7:36, “ in the day of their anointing.
” The word משׁחה in Lev 7:35, like משׁחה in Num 18:8, signifies not “ anointing ,” but share, portio , literally a measuring off, as in Aramaean and Arabic, from משׁח to stroke the hand over anything, to measure, or measure off. The fulness with which every point in the sacrificial meal is laid down, helps to confirm the significance of the peace-offerings, as already implied in the name זבח sacrificial slaughtering, slain-offering, viz.
, as indicating that they were intended for, and culminated in a liturgical meal. By placing his hand upon the head of the animal, which had been brought to the altar of Jehovah for the purpose, the offerer signified that with this gift, which served to nourish and strengthen his own life, he gave up the substance of his life to the Lord, that he might thereby be strengthened both body and soul for a holy walk and conversation.
To this end he slaughtered the victim and had the blood sprinkled by the priest against the altar, and the fat portions burned upon it, that in these altar-gifts his soul and his inner man might be grounded afresh in the gracious fellowship of the Lord. He then handed over the breast-piece by the process of waving, also the right leg, and a sacrificial cake of each kind, as a heave-offering from the whole to the Lord, who transferred these portions to the priests as His servants, that they might take part as His representatives in the sacrificial meal.
In consequence of this participation of the priests, the feast, which the offerer of the sacrifice prepared for himself and his family from the rest of the flesh, became a holy covenant meal, a meal of love and joy, which represented domestic fellowship with the Lord, and thus shadowed forth, on the one hand, rejoicing before the Lord (Deu 12:12, Deu 12:18), and on the other, the blessedness of eating and drinking in the kingdom of God (Luk 13:15; Luk 22:30). Through the fact that one portion was given up to the Lord, the earthly food was sanctified as a symbol of the true spiritual food, with which the Lord satisfies and refreshes the citizens of His kingdom.
This religious aspect of the sacrificial meal will explain the instructions given, viz. , that not only the flesh itself, but those who took part in the meal, were all to be clean, and that whatever remained of the flesh was to be burned, on the second or third day respectively, that it might not pass into a state of decomposition. The burning took place a day earlier in the case of the praise-offering than in that of the vow and freewill-offerings, of which the offerer was allowed a longer enjoyment, because they were the products of his own spontaneity, which covered any defect that might attach to the gift itself.
Lev 7:37-38 With Lev 7:37 and Lev 7:38 the whole of the sacrificial law (ch. 1-7) is brought to a close. Among the sacrifices appointed, the fill-offering (המּלּוּאים) is also mentioned here; though it is not first instituted in these chapters, but in Exo 29:19-20 (Exo 29:22, Exo 29:26, Exo 29:27, Exo 29:31). The name may be explained from the phrase to “ fill the hand ,” which is not used in the sense of installing a man, or giving him authority, like בּיד נתן “commit into his hand” in Isa 22:21 ( Knobel ), but was applied primarily to the ceremony of consecrating the priests, as described in Lev 8:25.
, and was restricted to the idea of investiture with the priesthood (cf. Lev 8:33; Lev 16:32; Exo 28:41; Exo 29:9, Exo 29:29, Exo 29:33, Exo 29:35; Num 3:3; Jdg 17:5, Jdg 17:12). This gave rise to the expression “to fill the hand for Jehovah,” i. e. , to provide something to offer to Jehovah (1Ch 29:5; 2Ch 29:31, cf. Exo 32:29). Hence מלּוּאים denotes the filling of the hand with sacrificial gifts to be offered to Jehovah, and as used primarily of the particular sacrifice through which the priests were symbolically invested at their consecration with the gifts they were to offer, and were empowered, by virtue of this investiture, to officiate at the sacrifices; and secondly , in a less restricted sense, of priestly consecration generally (Lev 8:33, “the days of your consecration”).
The allusion to the place in Lev 7:38, viz. , “ in the wilderness of Sinai, ” points on the one hand back to Exo 19:1, and on the other hand forward to Num 26:63-64, and Num 36:13, “ in the plains of Moab ” (cf. Num 1:1, Num 1:19, etc.) The sacrificial law, therefore, with the five species of sacrifices which it enjoins, embraces every aspect in which Israel was to manifest its true relation to the Lord its God.
Whilst the sanctification of the whole man in self-surrender to the Lord was shadowed forth in the burnt-offerings, the fruits of this sanctification in the meat-offerings, and the blessedness of the possession and enjoyment of saving grace in the peace-offerings, the expiatory sacrifices furnished the means of removing the barrier which sins and trespasses had set up between the sinner and the holy God, and procured the forgiveness of sin and guilt, so that the sinner could attain once more to the unrestricted enjoyment of the covenant grace. For, provided only that the people of God drew near to their God with sacrificial gifts, in obedience to His commandments and in firm reliance upon His word, which had connected the forgiveness of sin, strength for sanctification, and the peace of fellowship with Him, with these manifestations of their piety, the offerers would receive in truth the blessings promised them by the Lord.
Nevertheless these sacrifices could not make those who drew near to God with them and in them “perfect as pertaining to the conscience” (Heb 9:9; Heb 10:1), because the blood of bulls and of goats could not possibly take away sin (Heb 10:4). The forgiveness of sin which the atoning sacrifices procured, was only a πάρεσις of past sins through the forbearance of God (Rom 3:25-26), in anticipation of the true sacrifice of Christ, of which the animal sacrifices were only a type, and by which the justice of God is satisfied, and the way opened fore the full forgiveness of sin and complete reconciliation with God.
So also the sanctification and fellowship set forth by the burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, were simply a sanctification of the fellowship already established by the covenant of the law between Israel and its covenant God, which pointed forward to the true sanctification and blessedness that grow out of the righteousness of faith, and expand through the operation of the Holy Spirit into the true righteousness and blessedness of the divine peace of reconciliation. The effect of the sacrifices was in harmony with the nature of the old covenant.
The fellowship with God, established by this covenant, was simply a faint copy of that true and living fellowship with God, which consists in God’s dwelling in our hearts through His Spirit, transforming our spirit, soul, and body more and more into His own image and His divine nature, and making us partakers of the glory and blessedness of His divine life. However intimately the infinite and holy God connected Himself with His people in the earthly sanctuary of the tabernacle and the altar of burnt-offering, yet so long as this sanctuary stood, the God who was enthroned in the most holy place was separated by the veil from His people, who could only appear before Him in the fore-court, as a proof that the sin which separates unholy man from the holy God had not yet been taken out of the way.
Just as the old covenant generally was not intended to secure redemption from sin, but the law was designed to produce the knowledge of sin; so the desire for reconciliation with God was not to be truly satisfied by its sacrificial ordinances, but a desire was to be awakened for that true sacrifice which cleanses from all sins, and the way to be prepared for the appearing of the Son of God, who would exalt the shadows of the Mosaic sacrifices into a substantial reality by giving up His own life as a propitiation for the sins of the whole world, and thus through the one offering of His own holy body would perfect all the manifold sacrifices of the Old Testament economy. Induction of Aaron and His Sons into the Priestly Office - Leviticus 8-10 To the law of sacrifice there is appended first of all an account of the fulfilment of the divine command to sanctify Aaron and his sons as priests, which Moses had received upon the mount along with the laws concerning the erection of the sanctuary of the tabernacle (Ex 28 and 29).
This command could not properly be carried out till after the appointment and regulation of the institution of sacrifice, because most of the laws of sacrifice had some bearing upon this act. The sanctification of the persons, whom God had called to be His priests, consisted in a solemn consecration of these persons to their office by investiture, anointing, and sacrifice (ch.
8), - their solemn entrance upon their office by sacrifices for themselves and the people (ch. 9), - the sanctification of their priesthood by the judgment of God upon the eldest sons of Aaron, when about to offer strange, fire-and certain instructions, occasioned by this occurrence, concerning the conduct of the priests in the performance of their service (ch.
10). Consecration of the Priests and the Sanctuary (cf. Ex 29:1-37). - The consecration of Aaron and his sons as priests was carried out by Moses according to the instructions in Ex 29:1-36; Exo 40:12-15; and the anointing of the tabernacle, with the altar and its furniture, as prescribed in Exo 29:37; Exo 30:26-29, and Exo 40:9-11, was connected with it (Lev 8:10, Lev 8:11).