The Guilt Offering (Leviticus 5:14-19; Leviticus 6:1-7)
“Now this is the law of the guilt offering, which is most holy: The guilt offering must be slaughtered in the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered, and the priest shall sprinkle its blood on all sides of the altar. And all the fat from it shall be offered: the fat tail, the fat that covers the entrails, both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which is to be removed with the kidneys. The priest shall burn them on the altar as an offering made by fire to the LORD; it is a guilt offering. Every male among the priests may eat of it. It must be eaten in a holy place; it is most holy.
The guilt offering is like the sin offering; the same law applies to both. It belongs to the priest who makes atonement with it. As for the priest who presents a burnt offering for anyone, the hide of that offering belongs to him. Likewise, every grain offering that is baked in an oven or cooked in a pan or on a griddle belongs to the priest who presents it, and every grain offering, whether dry or mixed with oil, belongs equally to all the sons of Aaron.
The Peace Offering (Leviticus 3:1-17)
Now this is the law of the peace offering that one may present to the LORD: If he offers it in thanksgiving, then along with the sacrifice of thanksgiving, he must offer unleavened cakes mixed with olive oil, unleavened wafers coated with oil, and well-kneaded cakes of fine flour mixed with oil.
Along with his peace offering of thanksgiving, he is to present an offering with cakes of leavened bread. From the cakes he must present one portion of each offering as a contribution to the LORD. It belongs to the priest who sprinkles the blood of the peace offering. The meat of the sacrifice of his peace offering of thanksgiving must be eaten on the day he offers it; none of it may be left until morning.
If, however, the sacrifice he offers is a vow or a freewill offering, it shall be eaten on the day he presents his sacrifice, but the remainder may be eaten on the next day. But any meat of the sacrifice remaining until the third day must be burned up. If any of the meat from his peace offering is eaten on the third day, it will not be accepted. It will not be credited to the one who presented it; it shall be an abomination, and the one who eats of it shall bear his iniquity.
Meat that touches anything unclean must not be eaten; it is to be burned up. As for any other meat, anyone who is ceremonially clean may eat it. But if anyone who is unclean eats meat from the peace offering that belongs to the LORD, that person must be cut off from his people. If one touches anything unclean, whether human uncleanness, an unclean animal, or any unclean, detestable thing, and then eats any of the meat of the peace offering that belongs to the LORD, that person must be cut off from his people.”
Fat and Blood Forbidden
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘You are not to eat any of the fat of an ox, a sheep, or a goat. The fat of an animal found dead or mauled by wild beasts may be used for any other purpose, but you must not eat it.
If anyone eats the fat of an animal from which an offering by fire may be presented to the LORD, the one who eats it must be cut off from his people. You must not eat the blood of any bird or animal in any of your dwellings. If anyone eats blood, that person must be cut off from his people.’”
The Priests’ Portion
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘Anyone who presents a peace offering to the LORD must bring it as his sacrifice to the LORD. With his own hands he is to bring the offerings made by fire to the LORD; he shall bring the fat, together with the breast, and wave the breast as a wave offering before the LORD.
The priest is to burn the fat on the altar, but the breast belongs to Aaron and his sons. And you are to give the right thigh to the priest as a contribution from your peace offering. The son of Aaron who presents the blood and fat of the peace offering shall have the right thigh as a portion.
I have taken from the sons of Israel the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the contribution of their peace offerings, and I have given them to Aaron the priest and his sons as a permanent portion from the sons of Israel.’”
This is the portion of the offerings made by fire to the LORD for Aaron and his sons since the day they were presented to serve the LORD as priests. On the day they were anointed, the LORD commanded that this be given them by the sons of Israel. It is a permanent portion for the generations to come.
This is the law of the burnt offering, the grain offering, the sin offering, the guilt offering, the ordination offering, and the peace offering, which the LORD gave Moses on Mount Sinai on the day He commanded the Israelites to present their offerings to the LORD in the Wilderness of Sinai.“
YIPES! Is this complicated? Well, yes and no. One of the ways of ensuring that the priests will not wander off in search of their fortunes is by ensuring that they benefit in some fashion from the offerings. There is a lot of work involved in maintaining the temple, cleaning it, carrying out ashes, and generally making sure that things take place according to God’s commands.
The priests benefit in several ways: the meat from the guilt offerings and the sin offerings belong to the priests. The priest making the offering keeps the skin of the animal offered. The grain offerings belong to the priests making the offerings. The right thigh and the breast from the peace offerings belong to the priests.
The fat from any offering is burned on the altar. The meat from a peace offering is to be eaten by people who are ritually clean and to be consumed that day; however, meat from an offering for a vow can be consumed the next day. After that, the meat must be burned. God forbids the Israelites from eating either fat or blood. What is the big deal about blood? Many pagan religions employ the drinking of blood in their rituals. God teaches that blood is life and wants His people to separate themselves from these pagan practices. Those eating peace offerings who are not ritually clean are to become outcasts. Meat that touches anything unclean is not to be eaten but to be burned.
When we are considering these regulations, it is helpful to remember that the Israelites did not enjoy the benefits of refrigeration. Meat that was kept too long would spoil and give someone food poisoning. But if God were to say, “Do not keep meat beyond a certain point because you might get food poisoning, someone somewhere would try doing just that to see if it would really happen.
APPLICATION: Sometimes the number of regulations in Leviticus seems mind – staggering. It helps if we remember that many pagan tribes practiced unspeakably awful rituals involving drinking blood, eating rotten meat and rancid fat, etc. God was trying to protect the Israelites in the only way He could that might work. The Israelites were not a bunch of earnest God- seekers; they were pagans who had spent four hundred years in Egypt and had absorbed much of the death -based Egyptian religious culture. When God took on training the Israelites, He really had a job on His hands!
We might read many of these regulations and feel superior; after all, we would not engage in some of those nasty practices. But God’s purpose in all these regulations was for people to obey Him. How well do we obey God and how many times do we argue with Him, second guessing Him, rebelling against Him? Recently one of my patients has suffered a series of medical catastrophes. I have prayed earnestly for this young man’s healing and have tried to follow God’s guidance; yet, the young man continues to suffer. At this moment, trusting God is a struggle; however, I must realize that God knows the end from the beginning and I do not. One pastor friend used to say that we were only in advertising; God was in management. That is still true. So, we go on trusting where we cannot see and believing that God can work all things for good, including medical disasters.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to follow hard after You all the days of our lives. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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