Leviticus 3:1 ¶ And if his oblation be a sacrifice of peace offering, if he offer it of the herd; whether it be a male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before the LORD. 2 And he shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering, and kill it at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and Aaron’s sons the priests shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about. 3 And he shall offer of the sacrifice of the peace offering an offering made by fire unto the LORD; the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards, 4 And the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away. 5 And Aaron’s sons shall burn it on the altar upon the burnt sacrifice, which is upon the wood that is on the fire: it is an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.
A peace offering could be male or female. One observation from
this is that in the church there is no distinction between male and female when
it comes to God’s blessings or privileges just as there is no distinction
racially or of social status.
Galatians 3:28 There is
neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male
nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Peace with God, as man has been in open rebellion against the king
of the universe since Adam and Eve’s transgression in disobedience, is
fundamentally important. Here is how Christ is our peace offering, making peace
between Jew and Gentile and the new person in the Church composed of both and
God.
Ephesians 2:11 ¶ Wherefore
remember, that ye being in time
past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is
called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands
[Jews];
12 That at that time ye were
without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers
from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who
sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
14 ¶ For he is our peace, who hath made both one [Jew
and Gentile], and hath broken down the
middle wall of partition between us;
15 Having abolished in his flesh the
enmity, even the law of
commandments contained in
ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man [the Church,
composed of both Jew and Gentile believers],
so making peace; 16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in
one body [the Church] by the cross,
having slain the enmity thereby: 17 And
came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
18 For through him we both have access
by one Spirit unto the Father.
God wanted animals that were physically without blemish and I
believe that is because Christ was spiritually without blemish. As the Old
Testament reflects the physical aspects of Law so the New Testament reveals
more fully the spiritual aspects of God’s Grace, His unmerited mercy.
The peace offering represents reconciliation and communion with
God. This is only possible now through Christ. The peace offering, more fully
expounded on in chapter 7, represents a propitiation to God with propitiation
meaning to appease someone’s anger and renew fellowship with them, which we can
only achieve through faith in Christ, who is the propitiation of God’s wrath
upon rebellious and wicked mankind.
Romans 3:19 ¶ Now we know
that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law:
that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before
God. 20 Therefore by the deeds of the
law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 21 But now the righteousness of God without the
law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ
unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23 For all have sinned, and come short of the
glory of God; 24 Being justified freely
by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in
his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are
past, through the forbearance of God; 26
To declare, I say, at
this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him
which believeth in Jesus.
Peace offerings were not just made by the people but by leaders
such as Nahshon the son of Amminadab and captain of the children of Judah in
Numbers 7:17; Joshua in 8:31; and David in 2Samuel 6:17: 2Samuel 24:25 where we
see the intent of the offerer.
2Samuel 24:25 And David
built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace
offerings. So the LORD was intreated for the land, and the plague was stayed
from Israel.
Leviticus 3:6 ¶ And if his
offering for a sacrifice of peace offering unto the LORD be of the
flock; male or female, he shall offer it without blemish. 7 If he offer a lamb for his offering, then
shall he offer it before the LORD. 8 And
he shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering, and kill it before the
tabernacle of the congregation: and Aaron’s sons shall sprinkle the blood
thereof round about upon the altar. 9
And he shall offer of the sacrifice of the peace offering an offering
made by fire unto the LORD; the fat thereof, and the whole rump, it
shall he take off hard by the backbone; and the fat that covereth the inwards,
and all the fat that is upon the inwards, 10 And the two kidneys, and the fat that is
upon them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with
the kidneys, it shall he take away. 11
And the priest shall burn it upon the altar: it is the food of
the offering made by fire unto the LORD. 12
And if his offering be a goat, then he shall offer it before the
LORD. 13 And he shall lay his hand upon
the head of it, and kill it before the tabernacle of the congregation: and the
sons of Aaron shall sprinkle the blood thereof upon the altar round about.
14 And he shall offer thereof his offering,
even an offering made by fire unto the LORD; the fat that covereth the
inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards, 15 And the two kidneys, and the fat that is
upon them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with
the kidneys, it shall he take away. 16
And the priest shall burn them upon the altar: it is the food of
the offering made by fire for a sweet savour: all the fat is the LORD’S.
17 It shall be a perpetual
statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither
fat nor blood.
The fat is a food offering to the Lord. Elsewhere it is called the
bread of God (Leviticus 21:8, 22; Numbers 28:2) as some commentators interpret
the passages. Do not confuse this with Christ being the bread from God, the
bread of life, in type in John 6:33-34.
Ezekiel
44:7 In that ye have brought into my
sanctuary strangers, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be
in my sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house, when ye offer my bread, the fat
and the blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all your
abominations.
The
heathen in the ancient world practiced drink offerings with blood.
Psalm 16:4 Their sorrows
shall be multiplied that hasten
after another god: their drink offerings of blood
will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips.
While the religions of Canaan are gone today in the form they were
in when Israel entered into the Promised Land we can look at Hinduism as a
mirror of the ancient religious world. The practice of sacrifice is fundamental
to Hinduism. It is called Yajna. The gods that supposedly demand blood
sacrifices are considered fierce and angry. Among these is Kali who was the
inspiration for the famous and controversial Thuggee bandits from whom we get
the word, Thug. It is possible that they were mere inventions of the British
Colonial regime in India in their later incarnation but they are mentioned in
medieval writings as early as the 1300s although they may have been ordinary
thieves then.
It is clear that in the practice of animal sacrifice God wanted
His worship with animals as representatives of Himself as the Christ to come to
be specific and separate from the heathen around Canaan. God was pleased with
animal sacrifice from the time of Abel as an example of His own blood offering
to Himself for man’s rebellion but Satan counterfeited these practices in his
religions as he did so many things in trying to divert God’s plan for
reconciling mankind to Himself.
It is
forbidden to eat or drink blood before, during, and after the Law given to
Moses.
Before;
Genesis 9:4 But flesh with
the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
Here,
in verse 17, under the Law. And then, when we are no longer justified by the
Law.
Acts 15:19 Wherefore my
sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned
to God: 20 But that we write unto them,
that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from
things strangled, and from
blood.
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