Leviticus 3:1-17
The Peace Offering
1 ‘When his offering is a sacrifice of a peace offering, if he offers it of the herd, whether male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before the LORD. 2 And he shall lay his hand on the head of his offering, and kill it at the door of the tabernacle of meeting; and Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall sprinkle the blood all around on the altar. 3 Then he shall offer from the sacrifice of the peace offering an offering made by fire to the LORD. The fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails, 4 the two kidneys and the fat that is on them by the flanks, and the fatty lobe attached to the liver above the kidneys, he shall remove; 5 and Aaron’s sons shall burn it on the altar upon the burnt sacrifice, which is on the wood that is on the fire, as an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the LORD.
6 ‘If his offering as a sacrifice of a peace offering to the LORD is of the flock, whether male or female, he shall offer it without blemish. 7 If he offers a lamb as his offering, then he shall offer it before the LORD. 8 And he shall lay his hand on the head of his offering, and kill it before the tabernacle of meeting; and Aaron’s sons shall sprinkle its blood all around on the altar.
9 ‘Then he shall offer from the sacrifice of the peace offering, as an offering made by fire to the LORD, its fat and the whole fat tail which he shall remove close to the backbone. And the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails, 10 the two kidneys and the fat that is on them by the flanks, and the fatty lobe attached to the liver above the kidneys, he shall remove; 11 and the priest shall burn them on the altar as food, an offering made by fire to the LORD.
12 ‘And if his offering is a goat, then he shall offer it before the LORD. 13 He shall lay his hand on its head and kill it before the tabernacle of meeting; and the sons of Aaron shall sprinkle its blood all around on the altar. 14 Then he shall offer from it his offering, as an offering made by fire to the LORD. The fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails, 15 the two kidneys and the fat that is on them by the flanks, and the fatty lobe attached to the liver above the kidneys, he shall remove; 16 and the priest shall burn them on the altar as food, an offering made by fire for a sweet aroma; all the fat is the LORD’s.
17 ’This shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings: you shall eat neither fat nor blood.’”
The peace offerings were thanksgiving offerings, voluntarily given to God in thanks or in praise to Him. Sometimes, however, they were offered only in distressing times, not out of thankful hearts, to try to gain God’s favor. These were not acceptable to God because they were not given out of love and thankfulness from sincere hearts to Him. The peace or thanksgiving offerings are ritually described in detail here because God wanted the people to offer in a manner worthy of true thanksgiving by not missing the details. Unfortunately, this often devolved into just following a checklist of performance and missing the mark of the heart offered to the LORD. Whether burning the fat instead of allowing it to be eaten was for their health or merely signifying giving the best to God is not clear, but the prohibition against consuming the blood is explained in other places as the lifeblood of the sacrifice which was reserved for Christ offering His life in the blood (John 6:53) for us to partake of to atone for our sins which no animal blood ever could. Besides this, for health reasons the blood transmits many diseases as well. Either way, God had prohibited these as we see in Acts 15:29 as Leviticus 17:13, 14, like Genesis 9:4-5 originally told us from the beginning of creation. This was no new thing but planned in our conception in Eden’s Garden to not take the life of another man or beast. This is demonstrated later by Jesus telling us in John 6:53-54 to partake only of His blood and body for atonement and sharing in Him as our lifeblood of sacrifice and unity in thanksgiving to Him. This is the true offering of peace in thanksgiving to God alone for our lives.
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