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.
Pastoral Entry
תּוֹרָה is not a burden — at least, not in its own self-understanding. Ps 119:97 ('Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day') and Ps 1:2 ('his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night') describe תּוֹרָה as the object of love and delight, not merely obligation. The root meaning — direction, instruction, what is pointed out — frames it as the gift of a teacher to a student, not the edict of a tyrant to a subject.
YHWH gives תּוֹרָה as the covenant people's guide for life in the land; it is the shape of covenant loyalty. Deut 33:4 ('Moses commanded us a law') names it as Israel's possession — תּוֹרָה is part of what Israel is given when it is constituted as YHWH's people. The prophets' critique (Isa 1:10; Hos 4:6: 'my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me; and since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children') is not of תּוֹרָה itself but of Israel's abandonment of it.
The NT's relationship to תּוֹרָה is not simple abolition: Matt 5:17-18 ('I have not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them') is Jesus' direct address to the question, and the answer is fulfillment.
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.
Pastoral Entry
The Hebrew *ʾāšām* carries a double weight that most English readers miss: it names both the subjective state of guilt and the specific sacrifice required to resolve it. This is not mere moral failure or regret — the term points to a legally constituted liability before God that requires concrete resolution in the sacrificial system. In the Levitical system (Lev 5–6), the *ʾāšām* offering was prescribed for violations involving the sacred domain — desecrating holy things, false oaths, and wrongs committed against a neighbor — where the offense created a measurable debt.
The offerer brought a ram without blemish (Lev 5:15), and restitution to the wronged party was required alongside the sacrifice (Num 5:7). This dual requirement, payment to God and to neighbor, is a distinctive feature of the guilt-offering legislation. It insists that guilt before God and damage to human community are not separable problems. The word reaches one of its most theologically significant registers in Isaiah 53:10, where the Servant's soul is made an *ʾāšām* for the people.
Major elements of guilt-offering theology, including the bearing of liability, the costliness of the remedy, and the restoration it accomplishes, converge in that verse and provide a canonical pathway toward later cross theology. The *ʾāšām* does not let the conscience rest until the debt is discharged. That is precisely its pastoral usefulness: it names the seriousness of sin with precision and points with equal precision to the one sufficient remedy.
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.
Pastoral Entry
קֹדֶשׁ is the Old Testament's primary word for holiness — the quality, space, or status that belongs uniquely to God and to whatever or whoever He claims for Himself. Its root sense is separation, apartness, a being-cut-off-from the ordinary order. But to leave it there is to mistake the boundary fence for the garden it encloses. קֹדֶשׁ is not merely a word of exclusion; it is a word of presence. The ground at the burning bush is holy because God is there. The tabernacle's innermost chamber is the Most Holy Place because God dwells there. The Sabbath day is holy because God set it apart. The nation Israel is holy because God called them out from the nations to live near Him. In every case the holiness comes from outside — from God — and settles on what He touches.
This is why קֹדֶשׁ spans so wide a range of referents in the Old Testament: places, persons, times, objects, garments, oil, water, food. Holiness is not a moral disposition that creatures manufacture; it is the radiating reality of God's own being, extending to whatever He claims, consecrates, or inhabits. The Psalms move with this instinct: to worship before God in holy splendor is to approach the luminous weight of His presence, not simply to observe a ritual code. Isaiah's vision of the thrice-holy God is the word at full volume — the כָּבוֹד that fills the temple is the overflow of קֹדֶשׁ itself.
For the pastor and teacher, the crucial distinction is between קֹדֶשׁ as a status declared by God and קֹדֶשׁ as a life shaped in response to God. Both are present in the Old Testament. Leviticus grounds the summons — 'You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy' — in who God already is. The command does not produce holiness from human effort; it calls God's people to live in alignment with the holiness they have already been given. This tension — declared and demanded, received and pursued — is not a contradiction. It is the very shape of covenant life with a holy God.
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.
Pastoral Entry
מָקוֹם (maqom) is the Hebrew word for place — the most ordinary spatial concept in the language, appearing 401 times in the OT. But the word carries extraordinary theological weight because the OT consistently gives specific locations theological significance: the maqom where God appears, the maqom God chooses for his name to dwell, and the maqom that Jacob discovered was 'none other than the house of God and the gate of heaven.' In Hebrew thought, place is never merely neutral geography; the right maqom, at God's appointment, is the place of encounter.
Genesis 28:16-17 is the foundational maqom text: 'Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the Lord is in this maqom, and I did not know it." And he was afraid and said, "How awesome is this maqom! This is none other than the house of God (beth Elohim), and this is the gate of heaven (sha'ar hashamayim)."' Jacob has slept in what seemed an ordinary location — a stone for a pillow, a field on the road to Haran. But the dream reveals that the maqom is the intersection of heaven and earth, the stairway on which the angels of God ascend and descend. The ordinary maqom becomes the holy maqom when God appoints it.
Exodus 3:5 gives the maqom its most explicit holiness: 'Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the maqom on which you are standing is holy ground (admat qodesh).' The burning bush is on ordinary ground — but the presence of God makes it holy. The maqom is not inherently holy; it becomes holy by divine presence. Moses cannot approach it casually; the shoes come off, the distance is maintained. This is the OT's spatial theology in a single verse: ordinary ground, divine presence, sacred space.
Deuteronomy 12:5 introduces the 'chosen maqom' formula: 'But you shall seek the maqom that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there.' The temple theology of the OT turns on the maqom God chooses — a specific, particular place where his name dwells, to which the people bring their offerings and worship. The tabernacle and the temple are the maqom habachirah (the chosen place) — not built by human initiative but erected in response to divine designation.
For the preacher, מָקוֹם (maqom) is the word that insists that God is not a vague everywhere-spirit but one who makes himself specifically present in particular places, and that those places must be approached with appropriate awe.
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.
Pastoral Entry
עָלָה is the Hebrew verb for ascent — for going up, climbing, rising, mounting, and being lifted. Its range is vast: it describes a man climbing a mountain, a people going up to worship, a king marching out to war, smoke rising from an altar, a nation coming up out of Egypt, the sun breaking over the horizon, a thought coming up in the heart, and a burnt offering being presented before God. In 894 occurrences it moves through nearly every terrain of Israelite life, which means that when the Old Testament thinks about movement, orientation, or direction toward God, this verb is almost always present.
What makes עָלָה theologically rich is that spatial ascent in the Old Testament is rarely only spatial. To go up is to draw near to God. The sanctuary sits on the mountain. Jerusalem is always approached from below. The temple mount is elevated. To ascend is to move toward the Holy — not as an abstract spiritual exercise, but as an embodied, directional act of worship. Israel went up to the three great festivals. The Psalms of Ascent (מַעֲלוֹת, Psalms 120–134) gave the pilgrim people words for the journey. Ascent was not merely geography; it was theology made physical.
At the same time, the verb carries genuine cultic weight through its use in sacrificial contexts. When עָלָה describes the burnt offering (עֹלָה), it points to what goes up completely — the whole animal consumed, ascending in smoke, rising toward God. The same verbal root underlies both the pilgrimage and the offering. Both involve movement upward, both involve cost, and both involve coming before the living God.
Pastorally, עָלָה is a word that refuses to let Israel — or the church — treat nearness to God as a passive, horizontal, or costless thing. There is a direction to worship, a journey to approach, an orientation to holiness. The preacher who sits with this verb long enough will find it challenging cheap familiarity with God while also welcoming the weary traveler who is still on the road, still ascending, still on their way to the mountain.
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.
Pastoral Entry
דָּם is the OT's word for blood in all its theological dimensions — life, death, covenant, and atonement. Lev 17:11 is the load-bearing verse: 'the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.' The logic is precise: because blood is life, the shedding of blood is the giving of life in substitution.
The animal's life is given in place of the worshiper's. This is why the prohibition on eating blood (Lev 17:14; Deut 12:23) is so strict — blood belongs to God because life belongs to God. The covenant-blood at Sinai (Exod 24:8, Moses sprinkling the people: 'Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you') shows the other dimension: דָּם does not only deal with sin, it seals relationship.
The same substance that atones also binds. This dual function explains the NT's use of Christ's blood: it is simultaneously the ransom that deals with sin (Heb 9:14) and the new covenant seal (Luke 22:20; 1 Cor 11:25).
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.
Cross-language bridge 1 link · View in lexicon
Pastoral Entry
מִזְבֵּחַ (mizbeach) is the Hebrew word for altar — the place of sacrifice. It derives from the root zabach (to slaughter, to sacrifice), and the local Hebrew index currently counts about 403 occurrences. The mizbeach is the point at which the gap between the holy God and the sinful person is addressed: through the sacrifice on the altar, the worshipper comes to God not on their own terms but on the terms God has provided. The altar texts repeatedly state how approach to God works — not through human achievement but through sacrifice.
Genesis 22:9 is the OT's most theologically dense altar text: 'Abraham built the mizbeach there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the mizbeach, on top of the wood.' The mizbeach of Moriah is where the theology of substitutionary sacrifice takes its most compressed narrative form: the son is bound, the knife is raised, and then God provides the ram caught in the thicket (22:13). The mizbeach that was built for Isaac becomes the mizbeach on which a substitute is offered. The NT reads this as the most explicit OT anticipation of the cross — where the Son is offered and where God himself provides the substitute.
Exodus 20:24-25 gives the basic theology of the mizbeach: 'An altar (mizbeach) of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings... If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stones, for if you wield your tool on it you profane it.' The mizbeach belongs to God, is built according to God's specification, and cannot be improved by human craftsmanship — the hewn stone profanes it. The altar is God's provision for approach, not a human achievement.
Malachi 1:7-10 is the OT's most pointed prophetic critique of the mizbeach: 'You offer polluted food on my altar (mizbeach)... You have profaned it by thinking the Lord's table may be despised.' The priests are bringing blind, lame, and sick animals — the ones that can't be sold — as if the mizbeach is a waste disposal rather than a place of costly worship. The prophetic rebuke makes explicit what the altar always required: the best, not the leftovers. The theology of the mizbeach is inseparable from the theology of the offering placed on it.
For the preacher, מִזְבֵּחַ (mizbeach) is the word that insists approach to God is never on our own terms: it requires a sacrifice that God provides and accepts, and the worship placed on the altar must be the best, not the remainder.
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.
Pastoral Entry
אִשֶּׁה (isheh) is the Hebrew term for the fire-offering: any sacrifice that ascends to YHWH on the altar through fire. It is the broadest sacrificial category in Leviticus — the burnt offering, the grain offering, the peace offering, and the sin offering can all be described as isheh. The defining feature is the fire: the offering goes up (olah, from the same root as ascension) to YHWH through the medium of flame, and the result is the reach nichoach (pleasing/soothing aroma) that YHWH accepts.
Leviticus 1:9 gives isheh its paradigmatic form: 'and the priest shall wash its entrails and its legs with water. And the priest shall burn all of it on the altar as a burnt offering (olah), a fire-offering (isheh), a pleasing aroma (reach nichoach) to YHWH.' The three-term description — olah + isheh + reach nichoach — is the Levitical grammar of accepted sacrifice: the upward-going (olah), the fire-medium (isheh), and the divine reception (reach nichoach). All three together describe the complete act of sacrificial communion with YHWH.
Leviticus 9:24 gives isheh its YHWH-kindled form: 'And fire came out from before YHWH and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar, and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.' The fire for the first offering at the Tabernacle comes from YHWH himself: he lights the altar. Thereafter the priests are commanded to keep this fire burning continually (Lev 6:13: 'fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it shall not go out'). The isheh at the altar is YHWH's own fire, maintained by the priests — the fire does not belong to the worshiper; it belongs to YHWH.
Numbers 28:3-4 gives isheh its daily-tamid form: 'This is the fire-offering (isheh) that you shall offer to YHWH: two male lambs a year old without blemish, day by day, as a continual burnt offering (olat tamid). One lamb you shall offer in the morning and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight.' The tamid-isheh is the daily covenant-maintenance sacrifice: two lambs, every day, morning and evening, on YHWH's altar. The tamid-isheh is Israel's acknowledgment that the covenant requires daily renewal — the fire never goes out, the offering never ceases, the reach nichoach rises to YHWH continuously.
Leviticus 10:1-2 gives isheh its judgment form: 'Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire (esh zarah, strange fire) before YHWH, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before YHWH and consumed them, and they died before YHWH.' The esh-zarah (H784+H2114) of Nadab and Abihu is the counter-isheh: fire offered to YHWH that YHWH did not authorize. The same fire that lit the altar in Leviticus 9:24 (divine acceptance) consumes the sons in Leviticus 10:2 (divine judgment). The isheh-fire is holy — approach it rightly, and it becomes reach nichoach; approach it wrongly, and it consumes.
For the preacher, אִשֶּׁה (isheh) gives the congregation the grammar of approach to a holy God: every isheh declares that access to YHWH comes through substitution, fire, and the mediation of the priestly system — pointing forward to the one offering that ends all offerings.
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.
Pastoral Entry
כֹּהֵן (kōhēn) is the Hebrew word for priest — the person who serves in the sanctuary, mediates between the holy God and the people, offers sacrifices, teaches the law, and maintains the purity of the covenant community. The etymology is disputed but the functional definition is consistent throughout the OT: the priest is the one who draws near (qārab) to God on behalf of the people and who brings the people near to God through the sacrificial system.
The Aaronic priesthood (the sons of Aaron, bĕnê ʾahărôn) was the specific priestly line instituted at Sinai, with the high priest (hakkōhēn haggādôl) as its head. The priestly functions included: offering sacrifices (both for sin and for communion), maintaining the tabernacle/temple, pronouncing the Aaronic blessing (Num 6:24-26), teaching the law (Deut 17:8-11; Mal 2:7: 'the lips of a priest guard knowledge'), and discerning clean and unclean (Lev 10:10-11).
The high priest uniquely entered the Most Holy Place on Yom Kippur to make atonement for the whole people (Lev 16). The NT's high priesthood Christology — Christ as the great high priest (Hebrews) — is the direct fulfillment of the kōhēn institution. Christ is the priest who is also the sacrifice, who enters the heavenly Most Holy Place not with the blood of bulls and goats but with his own blood, making a once-for-all atonement that does not need to be repeated.
The OT kōhēn is the necessary background without which the NT priestly Christology is incomprehensible.
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.
Pastoral Entry
כָּפַר is the Hebrew verb behind atonement — the act by which sin's claim on a person is covered, removed, and the relationship with God restored. The root image may be physical covering (pitching a boat so water cannot enter), but the theological use is precise: sin stands between the sinner and God, and atonement is the act that covers it so the relationship can be restored under God's provision.
Lev 17:11 is the load-bearing text: God provides blood as the atoning agent because life belongs to Him, and He accepts life on the altar on behalf of life that has forfeited its standing. Atonement is not the sinner earning favor back — it is God providing, through prescribed means, what sinners cannot cover for themselves. The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur, from כִּפּוּר the related noun) is the annual enactment of this reality for the entire covenant community.
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.
Pastoral Entry
חַטָּאָה is the most theologically dense word in the Hebrew sin vocabulary. The local OT index currently counts about 299 uses, and the word carries a range that no single English translation can capture: it names an offense, habitual sinfulness, the penalty for sin, and the sacrifice that addresses it. BDB summarizes the core semantic as 'a missing of the mark' — the verb חָטָא (H2398) means to miss, to go wrong, to deviate from the path — and the noun form accumulates around that root all the weight of the OT's understanding of what sin is, what it costs, and what it requires.
The most striking feature of חַטָּאָה is that the same word can refer both to the sin and to the sin offering. In Leviticus, the חַטָּאָה is the specific sacrifice prescribed for unintentional sins — the animal whose blood addresses what the worshiper's act has disrupted. This semantic double-occupancy is not an accident of vocabulary; it is a profound theological statement.
The word that names the problem and the word that names the remedy are the same word. The same word field holds the diagnosis and the appointed remedy. This pattern reaches its fulfillment in 2 Corinthians 5:21, where Paul says God made Christ 'to be sin (ἁμαρτίαν, the Greek equivalent) for us' — the one who had no sin became the חַטָּאָה, the sin offering. The OT vocabulary prepares the canonical connection between the named problem and the appointed remedy.
For the preacher, חַטָּאָה is the word that insists sin is never merely a behavior pattern or a disposition. It is an objective disruption that requires an objective remedy — the breach calls for the offering. The 299 occurrences spread across Torah, prophets, writings, and poetry; no part of the Hebrew Bible is untouched by the reality this word names.
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.
Cross-language bridge 1 link · View in lexicon
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.
Cross-language bridge 1 link · View in lexicon
Pastoral Entry
שֶׁמֶן (shemen) is the Hebrew word for oil — olive oil as daily provision, ritual anointing oil, the oil of consecration for priests and kings, and the figurative richness and fruitfulness of YHWH's blessing. The local Hebrew index currently counts about 193 H8081 uses. The most theologically concentrated uses are the anointing of the king with shemen (1 Sam 10:1, 16:13) and Psalm 45:7's shemen sasson (oil of gladness), which Hebrews 1:9 applies to Christ as the anointed one above all others.
Psalm 45:7 gives shemen its most christologically rich use: 'You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness (shemen sasson) above your companions.' The anointing with shemen sasson is the reward of righteousness: the righteous king is anointed with a joy-oil that sets him above all others. Hebrews 1:9 quotes this verse and applies it to Christ: 'God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.' The shemen sasson of Psalm 45:7 is the ultimate anointing — Christ's anointing by the Father, above all messianic predecessors.
Exodus 30:22-32 gives shemen its consecration use: YHWH gives Moses the formula for the sacred anointing oil (shemen ha-mishchah) — a specific blend of myrrh, cinnamon, aromatic cane, cassia, and olive oil — to be used exclusively for the tabernacle, its vessels, Aaron, and his sons. The shemen ha-mishchah is the sacred anointing that sets apart for YHWH's service: 'by it the tabernacle and all its furnishings are consecrated... Aaron and his sons you shall anoint and consecrate, that they may serve me as priests' (v. 26-30). The shemen marks the boundary between ordinary and holy — it is the substance of consecration.
First Samuel 16:13 gives shemen its kingship-anointing use: 'Then Samuel took the horn of oil (shemen) and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of YHWH rushed upon David from that day forward.' The shemen-anointing and the Spirit's arrival are simultaneous — the oil is the visible sign of the invisible Spirit-anointing. The mashiach (anointed one, H4899) is the king anointed with shemen; and the Spirit who comes upon David at the shemen-anointing is the same Spirit who comes upon Jesus at his baptism (Luke 3:22). The Messiah is the anointed one — the one upon whom the Spirit rests as signified by the oil.
Psalm 23:5 gives shemen its pastoral-abundance use: 'You anoint my head with shemen; my cup overflows.' In the context of the shepherd-psalm's table prepared in the presence of enemies (v. 5), the anointing with shemen is the sign of honor and welcome given to the honored guest by the host — and by YHWH the shepherd to his sheep. The cup overflows alongside the head-anointing: YHWH's provision is not measured but extravagant.
For the preacher, שֶׁמֶן (shemen) holds together the physical (olive oil as daily provision, the widow's jar of 1 Kgs 17), the ritual (the sacred anointing oil of Exodus 30), the royal (David's anointing and the Spirit's coming), and the eschatological (Christ anointed above all, Ps 45:7 / Heb 1:9). The shemen is the substance of consecration, provision, and gladness.
Sense oil
Definition oil
References 7:12
Why it matters Oil accompanies the bread offerings associated with thanksgiving.
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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.
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Pastoral Entry
רוּם is one of the most spatially and theologically vivid verbs in the Hebrew Bible. Its basic meaning is to be high, to rise, to be elevated — and it generates a rich cluster of applications: physical height (mountains are high), social elevation (a person is lifted up in honor), cultic offering (contributions are lifted up as a wave-offering), and above all, divine exaltation.
God is the one who is high (rām, the adjective from the same root), who dwells on high (mārom), and who exalts the lowly while bringing down the proud. The theological use of rûm centers on the great reversal: Hannah's song in 1 Samuel 2 and Mary's Magnificat both articulate the same structure — God brings down the proud, exalts the humble, fills the hungry, sends away the rich.
This reversal pattern is not incidental; it is a recurring OT description of how God orders society. The Psalms return to it repeatedly: 'though the Lord is high (rûm), he looks upon the lowly, but the proud he knows from afar' (Ps 138:6). Divine exaltation and divine opposition to human pride are two faces of the same theological reality. The Hiphil stem (to cause to be high, to exalt) is used for both human and divine lifting up: God exalts the poor from the dust (1 Sam 2:8; Ps 113:7), Israel is called to exalt the Lord (Ps 34:3; 99:5,9), and the suffering servant is 'lifted up and exalted' (Isa 52:13).
This last use is crucial: the servant's rûm comes through humiliation, not around it — the exaltation follows and vindicates the suffering.
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.
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Pastoral Entry
נְדָבָה is the noun form of the root נָדַב (nādab — to give willingly, H5068), and it names specifically the freewill offering: the gift brought to God not because it was required by law but because the worshipper's heart overflowed with devotion. In the Levitical calendar, nĕdābôt (freewill offerings) occupied a distinctive place alongside the required sacrifices — they were voluntary additions, brought when the worshipper was moved to give more than the law demanded.
The theological significance of the nĕdābâh is precise: it reveals what the heart does when obligation alone does not require it. The required offerings show covenant faithfulness; the freewill offering shows love. Psalm 54:6 captures this exactly: 'I will sacrifice a freewill offering to you. I will give thanks to your name, Yahweh, for it is good.' The nĕdābâh here is not compensation for sin or payment of a vow — it is thanksgiving, the gift that comes purely from a full heart.
The freewill offering also has a prophetic-eschatological dimension. Hosea 14:4 records God's promise: 'I will love them freely' — the verb is from the same root, nādab — naming the divine freewill gift as the source from which human freewill devotion flows. And Psalm 110:3 — the Messianic Psalm about the Lord's Anointed — describes his people as offering themselves 'willingly' (nĕdābôt) in the day of his power.
The freewill offering, fully realized, is the worship of the eschatological community.
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.
Pastoral Entry
שָׂרַף (saraph) is the Hebrew verb for burning — and in its theological range it covers sacrificial fire, divine judgment, the destruction of idols, and the flaming holiness before YHWH's throne. The word is currently indexed about 117 times in the local Hebrew index. At its center is a cluster of theological truths: fire from YHWH accepts the sacrifice (Lev 9:24), fire from YHWH judges the profane (Lev 10:2), fire consumes the enemies of YHWH's people (Num 11:1), and the seraphim (from saraph) burn before the throne of the Holy One (Isa 6:2).
Leviticus 9:24 gives saraph its sacrificial-acceptance form: 'And fire came out from before YHWH and consumed (saraph) the burnt offering and the fat on the altar, and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.' The divine fire that consumes the first offering on the altar at the tabernacle's consecration is the sign of YHWH's acceptance of Israel's worship. The fire that saraph's the sacrifice is the fire of divine approval — it vindicates the offering and its offerers. The people's response is worship: shouting and falling on their faces.
Leviticus 10:2 gives saraph its judgment-against-the-profane form: 'And fire came out from before YHWH and consumed (saraph) them, and they died before YHWH.' Nadab and Abihu, who offered unauthorized fire before YHWH (esh zarah, strange fire, v. 1), are sarph'd by the fire of YHWH. The same fire that accepted the sacrifice (9:24) consumes the unauthorized priests (10:2). YHWH's fire does not discriminate: it consumes what is offered to it — whether the rightful sacrifice or the transgressing priests who approach with unauthorized fire.
Isaiah 6:2-3 gives saraph its throne-room form — through the seraphim: 'Above him stood the seraphim (seraphim, the burning ones, from saraph). Each had six wings... And one called to another and said: Holy, holy, holy is YHWH of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.' The seraphim — beings whose very name means burning ones — attend the throne of the thrice-holy YHWH. Their burning nature is appropriate to their assignment: only the burning can stand before the infinitely holy.
Numbers 11:1-3 gives saraph its wilderness-judgment use: 'And the people complained in the hearing of YHWH about their misfortunes, and when YHWH heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of YHWH burned among them and consumed some of the outlying parts of the camp.' The place was named Taberah (from saraph, burning) because YHWH's fire burned there. The saraph of judgment in the wilderness accompanies every major act of Israel's murmuring: the fire reveals that YHWH's holiness is not indifferent to covenant disloyalty.
Deuteronomy 12:3 gives saraph its idol-destruction mandate: 'you shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and burn their Asherim with fire (tisrefu ba'esh), and cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their name out of that place.' The saraph of idols is the necessary corollary of the saraph of sacrifice: if YHWH's fire accepts his offerings, it must also destroy what competes with him. The purification of the land requires the saraph of everything that has been offered to false gods.
For the preacher, שָׂרַף (saraph) gives the congregation the dual character of the divine fire: the same holiness that accepts the sacrifice also judges the profane. YHWH is a consuming fire (Deut 4:24) — and approaching him requires the right fire, the right offering, the authorized approach.
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.
Pastoral Entry
אָכַל (akal) is the Hebrew verb for eating — one of the most theologically freighted acts in Scripture, appearing 815 times. The first prohibition in the Bible concerns akal (Gen 2:17: do not eat from that tree). The first sin in the Bible is akal (Gen 3:6: she took and ate). The covenant meals of the OT involve akal before YHWH. The fire that consumes sacrifices is akal. And the eschatological vision of Isaiah 25 is a great meal — akal at the table of YHWH on his holy mountain. Eating in Scripture is never merely biological; it is always relational, moral, and covenantal.
Genesis 2:16-17 sets the akal frame for all of human history: 'Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat (akal tokhal), but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat (lo tokhal).' The permission is vast (every tree, freely); the prohibition is single and specific. Genesis 3:6 then gives the transgression: 'She took of its fruit and ate (vatokhal), and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate (vayokhal).' The entire fall narrative is concentrated in two instances of akal. What was eaten with permission (vayokhal, Gen 2:16) becomes the pattern for the one act of eating done without permission (vatokhal, Gen 3:6).
Deuteronomy 12 develops the theology of sacral akal — eating in the presence of YHWH at the chosen place: 'There you shall eat (akaltem) before YHWH your God, and you shall rejoice in all that you put your hand to, you and your households, in which YHWH your God has blessed you' (Deut 12:7). The meal at the sanctuary is the redemptive reversal of the meal in the garden: eating with YHWH in the right place, of the right food, with joy — a re-ordered akal in the presence of the one who set the original akal-boundaries.
Exodus 3:2 uses akal for the fire that consumes without destroying: the bush burned with fire but 'the bush was not consumed' (lo ukal). The same verb governs the fire of holiness that purifies rather than annihilates. The Levitical fire that akal the sacrifice (Lev 9:24, fire from before YHWH came out and consumed/akal the burnt offering) is the holy akal that transforms the offering into acceptable worship.
Isaiah 25:6-8 is the eschatological akal: 'On this mountain YHWH of hosts will make for all peoples a feast (mishteh) of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine.' The akal of the end is the meal that reverses all the wrong eating of history — communion with YHWH at his table, on his mountain, for all peoples.
For the preacher, אָכַל (akal) asks: what are you eating and with whom? Every akal in the OT maps onto the primal distinction between eating in the right place, of the right thing, before YHWH, and eating the forbidden thing apart from YHWH.
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.
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Pastoral Entry
רָצָה describes the pleased acceptance of something offered — the inner disposition of delight, satisfaction, and favorable reception. When God is the subject, rātsāh describes his pleasure in an offering (Lev 7:18; Ps 51:19), his acceptance of a person (Job 33:26), or his delight in a people (Ps 44:3). When humans are the subject, it describes both appropriate acceptance (Ruth 2:13: Ruth speaking of her favorable reception by Boaz) and the satisfaction of a debt (Isa 40:2: 'her iniquity is pardoned, she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins' — the verb for paying off or being satisfied).
The cultic use of rātsāh is pervasive: sacrifices are accepted or not accepted by God depending on the offerer's heart. Leviticus repeatedly specifies that an offering must be rātsōn (the noun from the same root: acceptance, favor, will) before God. Amos 5:21-22 shows the negative: 'I hate, I despise your feasts... your burnt offerings and cereal offerings, I will not accept (rātsāh) them.'
The prophetic critique of empty ritual is framed as God's refusal to rātsāh offerings that are not accompanied by justice and truth. The noun rātsōn (good pleasure, favor, acceptance, will) is perhaps even more theologically important than the verb. 'The year of the Lord's favor/acceptance' (šĕnat-rātsôn, Isa 61:2) is the jubilee-year proclamation that Jesus reads in Luke 4:19 and claims to be fulfilling.
The rātsōn of God — his accepting, favorable, pleased will — is the ground of the covenant relationship.
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.
Pastoral Entry
עָוֺן is the OT's word for sin as a condition, not just an act. The bent-root behind it — עָוָה, to twist, to make crooked — describes what sustained sin does to a person: it warps the moral shape, bends the character, creates a distortion that becomes structural. This is different from committing an error (חַטָּאת) or staging a rebellion (פֶּשַׁע). עָוֺן is the accumulated state of someone whose life has been bent away from YHWH's design.
The word's range includes the guilt that attaches to that bent condition and even the punishment the condition deserves — making it the most comprehensive of the three primary sin-words. Exod 34:7 places עָוֺן at the head of YHWH's forgiveness declaration: 'forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.' That ordering matters: the hardest category — the deeply bent condition — leads the list of what YHWH forgives.
Isa 53:6 is the pastoral summit: 'YHWH has laid on him the iniquity of us all.' The Servant does not merely absorb our acts; he bears our עָוֺן — the accumulated, twisted, bent moral state of a whole people. This is why the atonement is genuinely good news: it is not superficial pardon for surface failures but the bearing of the deep-root condition that makes every other sin possible.
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.
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Sense clean, pure
Definition clean, pure
References 7:19
Why it matters Only the clean may eat the holy meat of the fellowship offering.
Pastoral Entry
כָּרַת (karat) is the Hebrew verb for cutting — and its most theologically significant use is the phrase כָּרַת בְּרִית (karat berith, to cut a covenant), a frequent covenant idiom and the standard Hebrew expression for establishing a formal covenant. The 'cutting' refers to the covenant-ratification ceremony in which animals are divided and the parties pass between the pieces — a self-curse ritual meaning 'may I be like this animal if I violate the terms.' Every covenant in the OT — with Noah, Abraham, Israel at Sinai, David, and the new covenant — is a karat berith.
Genesis 15:18 gives karat its Abrahamic form: 'On that day YHWH cut a covenant (karat berith) with Abram, saying: To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates.' The context of Genesis 15:9-17 shows the ceremony: Abram cuts the animals (v. 10), waits (v. 11-12), and then a smoking firepot and flaming torch (representing YHWH's presence) pass between the pieces (v. 17). YHWH alone passes between the pieces — the covenant is unconditional from YHWH's side. The Abrahamic karat berith is the basis for every subsequent covenant promise in Scripture.
Exodus 24:8 gives karat its Sinai-blood form: 'And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said: Behold the blood of the covenant (dam ha-berith) that YHWH has cut with you in accordance with all these words.' The blood of the Sinai covenant ratification (oxen slaughtered, blood sprinkled on the altar in v. 5-6, then on the people in v. 8) is the karat-seal of the Mosaic covenant. The people's 'we will do and obey' (v. 7) is their covenant-oath; the blood-sprinkling is the covenant-ratification. Moses's statement ('this is the blood of the covenant') is precisely what Jesus echoes at the Last Supper (Matt 26:28).
Jeremiah 31:31 gives karat its new-covenant form: 'Behold, the days are coming, declares YHWH, when I will cut (vekhartiy) a new covenant (berith chadashah) with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.' The new covenant is itself a karat berith — another cutting, another act of divine covenant-initiative. The berith chadashah (new covenant) is contrasted with the Sinai covenant (v. 32: 'not like the covenant I cut [karat] with their fathers on the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of Egypt, my covenant they broke') — this time the Torah will be written on the heart (v. 33), and YHWH will forgive their iniquity (v. 34).
The negative use of karat — to cut off — is the covenant-curse form: 'that person shall be cut off (nikhreta) from his people' (Gen 17:14, Lev 7:20, Num 15:30). The karet-penalty (excision from the covenant community) is the severest non-capital penalty in the Torah — the violator loses their place in the covenant people. The same cutting that forms the covenant (karat berith) severs the covenant-breaker (nikhreta).
For the preacher, כָּרַת (karat) gives the congregation the grammar of covenant-formation: YHWH is the one who initiates every karat berith; his covenant-cut binds him to his people with the full weight of self-curse oath.
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.
Pastoral Entry
עַם names the gathered, bound-together people — not merely a crowd of individuals occupying the same space, but a community constituted by shared identity, shared story, and shared belonging. The BDB root-gloss points toward kinship — the word carries the weight of being knit together. When the Old Testament calls Israel עַם, it does not simply mean a demographic or a population count. It names a relational reality: people who belong to one another because they belong to the same God.
The word moves across a wide range of uses. It describes national Israel as a covenant people — gathered, shaped, addressed, and held by YHWH. It is the congregation assembled before God at Sinai, at the Tent of Meeting, before the ark. It describes troops and armies — those who move and act together under command. It names foreign peoples and nations — Gentile עַמִּים stand alongside and in contrast to Israel. And in its most concentrated theological sense, עַם is the people of God: the elect community whom God chose not because of their size or virtue, but because of His own love and His oath to the fathers.
Where עַם appears in the Old Testament it is rarely neutral. It is almost always relational and almost always directional. The people are going somewhere — following, rebelling, being gathered, being scattered, being redeemed. They are led by a shepherd-king or abandoned under bad shepherds. They stand before God or wander from him. The word therefore carries both the grace of belonging and the weight of accountability. To be עַם is not a passive status. It is a living position within a covenant relationship that demands response, fidelity, and return when the people stray.
Pastorally, עַם resists two opposite errors. Against individualism, it insists that God has always worked through a people — not merely a collection of personal spiritual journeys, but a bound community with a shared name, shared inheritance, and shared vocation. Against tribalism, the word across the canon ultimately opens outward: the nations are not excluded forever; the vision of Scripture moves toward a gathered people from every tribe and language and tongue.
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.
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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.
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Pastoral Entry
תּוֹעֵבָה (toevah) is the Hebrew word for abomination — what is morally and religiously repulsive to YHWH, the divinely-calibrated measure of what is detestable. The local index currently counts about 118 occurrences, spanning cultic (idolatry, blemished sacrifice), ethical (lying, unjust weights, shedding innocent blood), relational (sexual sins), and social abominations. The word is YHWH's moral vocabulary at its most direct: this is what he calls disgusting.
Proverbs 6:16-19 gives toevah its most memorable ethical catalog: 'There are six things YHWH hates, seven that are a toevah to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.' The seven toevot are not ceremonial violations but character and conduct failures: pride, deception, violence, scheming, eagerness for evil, false testimony, and divisiveness. The toevah-list is a moral anatomy of the covenant-breaker.
Deuteronomy 7:25 gives toevah its idolatry-warning use: 'the carved images of their gods you shall burn with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them or take it for yourself, lest you be ensnared by it, for it is a toevah to YHWH your God. And you shall not bring an abomination (toevah) into your house and become devoted to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest and abhor it, for it is devoted to destruction.' The idol is a toevah — and the person who brings a toevah into their house becomes like the toevah. Moral contagion is embedded in the toevah-concept: what is abominable corrupts those who embrace it.
Ezekiel uses toevah 43 times, more than any other biblical book. Ezekiel 5:9 — 'I will do with you what I have never done, and the like of which I will never do again, because of all your toevot' — establishes the toevot as the grounds for Jerusalem's most severe judgment. Chapters 8-11 catalog the toevot in the temple: idol worship in the inner court, women weeping for Tammuz at the temple gate, men with backs to YHWH's temple worshipping the sun (Ezek 8:10-16). The temple itself, the holiest place in Israel, has been filled with toevot — and YHWH abandons it (Ezek 10-11). The toevah in the holy place is the most extreme form of defilement: the sacred space corrupted by what is abominable to the God who dwells there.
Proverbs 11:1 and 12:22 give toevah its social-ethics application: 'A false balance is a toevah to YHWH, but a just weight is his delight. Lying lips are a toevah to YHWH, but those who act faithfully are his delight.' The toevah in commercial life (false weights) and speech (lying lips) is the everyday counterpart to the idols and the temple abominations: YHWH calls dishonest commerce and false speech as abominable as the worship of other gods. Covenant faithfulness in daily life is the inverse of the toevah.
For the preacher, תּוֹעֵבָה (toevah) gives the congregation the moral vocabulary of what is genuinely repulsive to YHWH — and it is more comprehensive than the ceremonial categories often assumed. The seven toevot of Proverbs 6 are primarily about character and social integrity, not ritual purity.
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.
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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.
Pastoral Entry
מָשַׁח (mashach) means to anoint — to rub or smear with oil as an act of consecration and commissioning. Its significance in the OT is not primarily the oil but what the oil signifies: the marking-out of a person for a specific role, and the pouring of the Spirit of YHWH upon the one so marked. The noun mashiach (H4899 — anointed one, Messiah) is derived from this verb, and carries the word's full weight into eschatological hope.
First Samuel 16:12-13 is the definitive anointing narrative: 'Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him (David) in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord (ruach YHWH) rushed upon David from that day forward.' The structure of the event is determinative for all subsequent anointing theology: mashach (the oil applied to the person) is followed immediately by the rush of the ruach (Spirit). The oil does not contain the Spirit — but the anointing is the sign and occasion of the Spirit's coming. This is why mashiach (the anointed one) is always implicitly a Spirit-bearing figure: the one marked with oil is the one on whom the ruach has come.
Isaiah 61:1 gives mashach its prophetic-messianic form: 'The Spirit of YHWH is upon me, because YHWH has anointed me (meshachani) to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.' The speaker of Isaiah 61 is a prophetic figure — possibly the Servant of Isaiah 42-53 in his Spirit-anointed mission. The mashach here is the divine commissioning of a specific saving-and-liberating mission. Luke 4:18-21 quotes this passage as the text of Jesus's inaugural sermon in Nazareth: 'Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.' Jesus applies Isaiah 61:1's mashach to himself: he is the one YHWH has anointed to bring good news, bind the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty.
Psalm 2:2 gives mashach its royal-messianic form: 'The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against YHWH and against his mashiach (anointed one).' The mashiach of Psalm 2 is the Davidic king who is YHWH's son (v. 7: 'You are my Son; today I have begotten you') and the heir of the nations (v. 8: 'Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage'). Psalm 2 is the royal psalm that opens the entire Psalter's messianic trajectory. Acts 4:25-26 and 13:33 apply it to Jesus explicitly.
For the preacher, מָשַׁח (mashach) gives the congregation the word that names what the Messiah is: the one anointed by YHWH for a specific mission, marked by the Spirit, and sent to accomplish what no human effort could achieve. The anointed one is not self-appointed but YHWH-appointed; the Spirit is not self-generated but poured from above.
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.
Cross-language bridge 1 link · View in lexicon
Sense ordination, installation
Definition ordination, installation
References 7:37
Why it matters The ordination offering is included in the concluding list of sacrificial laws.
Pastoral Entry
צָוָה is the Hebrew verb that runs like a spine through the Old Testament's portrait of God. It is what God does when He speaks with authority and intent — He commands, He charges, He constitutes what must be. This is not the word for suggestion, invitation, or advice. When צָוָה appears, the one speaking is the one with ultimate right to determine how things will be, and the one hearing is accountable to respond. Its most common nominal form, מִצְוָה (mitzvah), is the word Israel used for every one of those binding declarations given at Sinai and beyond.
But to hear צָוָה only as a legal word is to miss its relational weight. The first occurrence in Genesis 2 is God charging the man in the garden — not yet a lawgiver to a rebellious people, but a Creator setting the shape of life for his creature. That first command comes before transgression, before Sinai, before a legal code. It comes from the mouth of the one who made everything and knows how it all is meant to work. God commands because He is Creator and King, not merely because covenant needs regulations.
In the Mosaic material, this verb saturates every layer of Torah. The Lord commanded Moses; Moses commanded Israel; Israel is charged to keep, observe, and do what was commanded. The repeated rhythm is covenantal: God speaks, Moses mediates, the people are entrusted with a life-giving word. Deuteronomy especially drives this home — the commandments are not a burden laid on a slave but a gift given to a people who know the One who gave them. Keeping what God commands is itself described as life, blessing, and flourishing.
Pastorally, this word opens a window onto the character of the God who commands. He does not command arbitrarily or cruelly. He commands because He is faithful, because He knows what is good, and because the shape of life He commands is the shape of life that actually works under His reign. The pastoral challenge is to recover the emotional and relational register of this word — not obligation without love, but a Maker and Covenant Lord who speaks precisely because He cares about how His people live.
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.
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 2 links · 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
| v.10 | H1101בָּלַלQal · Participle passiveH1961הָיָהQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.11 | H7126קָרַבHiphil · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.12 | H1101בָּלַלQal · Participle passiveH4886מָשַׁחQal · Participle passiveH7246רָבַךְHophal · Participle passiveH1101בָּלַלQal · Participle passive |
| v.13 | H7126קָרַבHiphil · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.14 | H1961הָיָהQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.15 | H398אָכַלNiphal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussiveH3240יָנַחHiphil · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.16 | H398אָכַלNiphal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussiveH398אָכַלNiphal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.17 | H8313שָׂרַףNiphal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.18 | H398אָכַלNiphal · Infinitive absoluteH398אָכַלNiphal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussiveH7521רָצָהNiphal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussiveH2803חָשַׁבNiphal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussiveH1961הָיָהQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussiveH5375נָשָׂאQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.19 | H5060נָגַעQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussiveH398אָכַלNiphal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussiveH8313שָׂרַףNiphal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussiveH398אָכַלQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.2 | H7819שָׁחַטQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussiveH7819שָׁחַטQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussiveH2236זָרַקQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.20 | H398אָכַלQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.21 | H5060נָגַעQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.23 | H1696דָבַרPiel · Imperative · ImperativeH398אָכַלQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.24 | H6213עָשָׂהNiphal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.25 | H398אָכַלQal · ParticipleH7126קָרַבHiphil · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.26 | H398אָכַלQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.27 | H398אָכַלQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.29 | H1696דָבַרPiel · Imperative · ImperativeH935בּוֹאHiphil · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.3 | H7126קָרַבHiphil · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.30 | H935בּוֹאHiphil · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.32 | H5414נָתַןQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.33 | H1961הָיָהQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.34 | H3947לָקַחQal · Perfect · Indicative |
| v.35 | H7126קָרַבHiphil · Perfect · Indicative |
| v.36 | H6680צָוָהPiel · Perfect · Indicative |
| v.38 | H6680צָוָהPiel · Perfect · Indicative |
| v.6 | H398אָכַלNiphal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.7 | H3722כָּפַרPiel · Imperfect · Indicative/jussiveH1961הָיָהQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.8 | H7126קָרַבHiphil · Perfect · IndicativeH1961הָיָהQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.9 | H644אָפָהNiphal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussiveH6213עָשָׂהNiphal · Perfect · IndicativeH1961הָיָהQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
Aspect in Hebrew is grammatical form, not tense. Perfect = completed action; Imperfect = incomplete/ongoing. Stem modifies action type (Qal=simple, Niphal=passive, Piel=intensive).
Morphology: OSHB WLC (Open Scriptures, CC BY 4.0) · STEPBible TEHMC (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0)
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
Canon-Wide Connections
Cross-reference data: OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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.
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 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.
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.
C.F. Keil & F. Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–91) — public domain
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).