Leviticus 3

Le 3:1-17.

THE

PEACE

OFFERING OF THE

HERD.

1. if his oblation be a sacrifice of peace offering--"Peace"

being used in Scripture to denote prosperity and happiness generally, a

peace offering was a voluntary tribute of gratitude for health or other

benefits. In this view it was eucharistic, being a token of

thanksgiving for benefits already received, or it was sometimes votive,

presented in prayer for benefits wished for in the future.

of the herd--This kind of offering being of a festive character,

either male or female, if without blemish, might be used, as both of

them were equally good for food, and, if the circumstances of the

offerer allowed it, it might be a calf.

2. he shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering--Having

performed this significant act, he killed it before the door of the

tabernacle, and the priests sprinkled the blood round about upon the

altar.

3. he shall offer of the sacrifice of the peace offering--The

peace offering differed from the oblations formerly mentioned in this

respect: while the burnt offering was wholly consumed on the altar, and

the freewill offering was partly consumed and partly assigned to the

priests; in this offering the fat alone was burnt; only a small part

was allotted to the priests while the rest was granted to the offerer

and his friends, thus forming a sacred feast of which the Lord, His

priests, and people conjointly partook, and which was symbolical of the

spiritual feast, the sacred communion which, through Christ, the great

peace offering, believers enjoy. (See further on

Le 19:5-8; 22:21).

the fat that covereth the inwards--that is, the web work that

presents itself first to the eye on opening the belly of a cow.

the fat . . . upon the inwards--adhering to the

intestines, but easily removable from them; or, according to some, that

which was next the ventricle.

4-11. the two kidneys . . . of the flock . . .

the whole rump--There is, in Eastern countries, a species of sheep

the tails of which are not less than four feet and a half in length.

These tails are of a substance between fat and marrow. A sheep of this

kind weighs sixty or seventy English pounds weight, of which the tail

usually weighs fifteen pounds and upwards. This species is by far the

most numerous in Arabia, Syria, and Palestine, and, forming probably a

large portion in the flocks of the Israelites, it seems to have been

the kind that usually bled on the Jewish altars. The extraordinary size

and deliciousness of their tails give additional importance to this

law. To command by an express law the tail of a certain sheep to be

offered in sacrifice to God, might well surprise us; but the wonder

ceases, when we are told of those broad-tailed Eastern sheep, and of

the extreme delicacy of that part which was so particularly specified

in the statute [PAXTON].

12. if his offering be a goat--Whether this or any of the other

two animals were chosen, the same general directions were to be

followed in the ceremony of offering.

17. ye eat neither fat nor blood--The details given above

distinctly define the fat in animals which was not to be eaten, so that

all the rest, whatever adhered to other parts, or was intermixed with

them, might be used. The prohibition of blood rested on a different

foundation, being intended to preserve their reverence for the Messiah,

who was to shed His blood as an stoning sacrifice for the sins of the

world [BROWN].