Leviticus 7
-Verses one through eight deal with the priest’s part in the
guilt offerings. This most holy stipulation from the LORD involved sprinkling
blood around the altar in the place where the burnt offering was offered. The animal’s
fat on its tail, entrails, two kidneys, the loins, and the lobe of the liver were
to be offered up in smoke. The priests who made the atonement with the animal were
allowed to eat of it in the holy place. They were also allowed to have the
skin. This could possibly harken back to the original covering for sin, which
the LORD Himself did for Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:21).
-Verses nine and ten deal with the priest’s part in the
grain offerings. These offerings were prescribed to the sons of Aaron as they
were the presenters of it.
-Next, in verses eleven through twenty-one the peace
offering was covered as to the priest’s portion and the matter of when the
flesh could be eaten. Mandatory thanksgiving peace offerings were to be eaten the
day of the sacrifice. The flesh of votive or freewill offerings could be eaten
on the second day after sacrifice, but eating on the third day was considered
absolutely unclean with severe ramifications. Also, if any of the flesh touched
an unclean thing, it was not allowed to be eaten but burned with fire. A person
had to be ritually and ceremonially clean to partake of the flesh. This
included washing and is a reminder of our baptism into Christ with Living Water
(Jeremiah 2:13; 17:13, John 4:10-14; 7:38, 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, Galatians
3:27).
-Then, the LORD gave commands concerning the eating of fat
from the ox, the sheep, or the goat. If anyone ate of the fat of an animal
being offered to the LORD with fire he was to be cut off from his people out of
the camp. Even the eating of fat from an animal torn up by a beast was outlawed.
Plus, the prohibition of eating of any blood is again reiterated. The resulting
penalty for this was a banishment from the people of God. The people were to
bring their offerings with their own hands before the LORD and then a wave
offering, symbolizing the return of God’s grace to the people and the priests,
was ordained. Again, the priests would keep certain portions for their
nourishment and provision from these peace offerings. These offerings were
consecrated to the sons of Aaron of the Levitical line as their due forever
from the sons of Israel. The priests were given no land allotments or other
source of income. They served the LORD in full-time duty as a go between holy
God and sinful man. At the end of the chapter, all the offerings are again
listed with the ordination offering introduced. This offering is detailed in
the next chapter as a sacrifice made at the ceremony when priests were inducted
into their office (Leviticus 8:22).
-*Application* These ritual offerings were given to the
children of Israel for the remembrance of the great things God had done for
them in their past, was doing in their present situation, and would do in the
future with the coming of Messiah in regards to redemption. Sin matters to God,
and He goes to great lengths to declare His holiness in stark contrast to our
broken estate. The beautiful thing is that He chooses to take pity on us and
rescue us from our own demise through the sacrifice of His one and only Son.
The problem with Israel, and us as well, is that we begin in fervent
application to His gifts of grace and benevolent commands and then tend to
minimalize, even forgetting sometimes, His presence. What was dynamic becomes
routine and even mundane. God gets upset with this. The essence of a
Spirit-filled walk with God is to tune into Him continually realizing that He
is holy and we are in desperate need of His mercy constantly. Hopefully we can
determine today to walk faithfully forevermore in His statutes, which are
designed to demonstrate His perfect glory and bring about our own well-being in
proper relationship and fellowship with the Sovereign. It is an on-going passionate
concern, not a one-time emotional event or flippant ritualistic routine.
Verse to Memorize:
Leviticus 7:37-38
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