Leviticus 4-7
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Leviticus 4-7
The following is Pastor Nate’s teaching transcription from Calvary Monterey’s 8/31/21 Tuesday Night Service. We apologize for any transcription inaccuracies.
Leviticus 4 - The Sin Offering
1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, ‘If anyone sins unintentionally in any of the Lord’s commandments about things not to be done, and does any one of them’…”
Leviticus 4:1 says, "And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, "Speak to the people of Israel saying if anyone sins unintentionally in any of the Lord's commandments about things not to be done and does any one of them.'" And then he goes on but we'll stop right there at the end of verse two.
This new section in Leviticus starts here in 4:1 with "and the Lord spoke to Moses" and we won't see this phrase repeated until 5:13, where again, the Lord will speak to Moses. So what you have is about a chapter and a half of God speaking in uninterrupted fashion to Moses. Now so far, we've looked at the prescription for the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the peace or fellowship offerings. And now we continue in these introductory chapters to the book of Leviticus with the sin offering.
Now, of course, as Christians, we aren't going to exercise or live out any of these offerings, these directions aren't for us in our Christian era. But, what we can learn or see about the seriousness of sin through the sin offering is important for us today. At the end of this description, there will be atonement that the priest offers to the worshiper and forgiveness that the priest offers to the worshiper. Now, at first glance, this sin offering sacrifice strikes us as interesting because it says, "If anyone sins unintentionally in any of the Lord's commandments." And that might lead us to believe that intentional sin has no sacrifice or something like that. But though there are very serious sins that require serious penalties, sometimes even penalty of death, the reality is that this unintentional sin might not mean exactly or precisely what we think of it with our modern understanding of unintentional.
The root word here that is used comes is a word that means to wander off like sheep. And in the rest of the chapter, it'll be clear that there are "unintentional" sins that are very intentional in nature, such as defrauding your neighbor or making an oath and then choosing not to keep it or deciding not to testify at a trial or in court when you know the information that should be shared with the judge or the community. So these are intentional things. So the idea of unintentional here isn't just accidental or unknowing, it seems that the idea is more of an idea of I am entering into sin, but this sin is not emblematic of a choice to persistently live in rebellion against God.
So the idea here is that there's a sacrifice for sin that the people would enter into. And when they became conscious of, when they were awakened to the reality of their sin, whether it was accidental and purely unintentional, or whether it was, as I said earlier, something along the lines of lying or stealing or cheating, these things that are intentional but weren't meant for this individual worshiper to be a pattern now of perpetual rebellion against God. When that worshiper came alive to the reality of their sin, they were to deal with it by going to that tabernacle or the house of the Lord giving themselves over to the sacrificial process and offering this sin, offering to the Lord. Now, in our culture and society, we often resist the idea of even being sinful in the first place. And I think that if we could really know the impact of sin upon our lives, if we could really catch a glimpse of how far sin runs within us, we would be absolutely shocked.
And with live in a heightened sense of the fear of the Lord, a respect for God because sin is so damaging and pernicious in its effects upon our lives. I think we barely have known or discerned the problems that sin causes within our lives. So even though the people of Israel were chosen by God, even though they were in the covenant with God, when they sinned, they began losing some of the benefits of God's presence. So they needed to deal with that sin by bringing this sin sacrifice or offering to the Lord. Now as Christians, we don't offer a sacrifice, but we are told not to grieve the holy spirit. We want the full power of and ministry of, the spirit of God working in our lives. Now we don't lose our salvation through our sin, but the personal power and full presence of God's spirit can be affected through our sin.
If you imagine the presence of God coming to a place where he would, at times even leave, the glory of God departing from the temple or the tabernacle in Israel because of their sin. We might think of ourselves as the temple of the holy spirit, the tabernacle of God's presence today and we don't want to do anything that would harm God's presence inside of us. Again, without the idea of losing our salvation or some other concept like that. But just the idea that we want the spirit to have free rein in our lives. So when sin comes into our lives, we want to deal with it. I think in many ways to mature in Christ means that we become more sensitive to sin, but simultaneously become more conscious of forgiveness and atonement and redemption and the cleansing that Christ offers by his blood.
For the Anointed Priest
3 if it is the anointed priest who sins, thus bringing guilt on the people, then he shall offer for the sin that he has committed a bull from the herd without blemish to the Lord for a sin offering. 4 He shall bring the bull to the entrance of the tent of meeting before the Lord and lay his hand on the head of the bull and kill the bull before the Lord. 5 And the anointed priest shall take some of the blood of the bull and bring it into the tent of meeting, 6 and the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle part of the blood seven times before the Lord in front of the veil of the sanctuary. 7 And the priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense before the Lord that is in the tent of meeting, and all the rest of the blood of the bull he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 8 And all the fat of the bull of the sin offering he shall remove from it, the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails 9 and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys 10 (just as these are taken from the ox of the sacrifice of the peace offerings); and the priest shall burn them on the altar of burnt offering. 11 But the skin of the bull and all its flesh, with its head, its legs, its entrails, and its dung— 12 all the rest of the bull—he shall carry outside the camp to a clean place, to the ash heap, and shall burn it up on a fire of wood. On the ash heap it shall be burned up.
Now he after introducing the sin offering goes on in verse three to say, "If it's the anointed priest who sins thus bringing guilt on the people, then he shall offer for the sin that he has committed a bull from the herd without blemish to the Lord for a sin offering. He shall bring the bull to the entrance of the tent meeting before the Lord and lay his hand on the head of the bull and kill the bull before the Lord. And the anointed priest shall take some of the bull and bring it into the Tent of Meeting. And the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle part of the blood seven times before the Lord in front of the veil of the sanctuary. And the priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the Altar of Fragrant Incense before the Lord that is in the Tent of Meeting. And all the rest of the blood of the bull, he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering that is at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. And all the fat of the bull of the sin offering, he shall remove from it. The fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys, just as these are taken from the ox of the sacrifice of the peace offerings. And the priest shall burn them on the Altar of Burnt Offering. But the skin of the bull and all its flesh with its head, its legs, it's entrails and all the rest of the bull, he shall carry outside the camp to a clean place to the ash heap and shall burn it up on the fire of wood on the ash heap it shall be burned up."
Now what we just read there was the description of the sin offering for the high priest. He calls him in verse three "the anointed priest", and the reason that we know that that is the high priest is because later in chapter eight, which we'll get to in another study, the high priest is mentioned as the only one who is anointed on his head. So he's the anointed priest. And if the high priest as the people's representative to God, if he sinned, then he needed to deal with it in a very special way. He needed to offer this sin offering for himself. He represented the people before God, so if he had sin in his life that was undealt with, then he was harming not just himself, but the people's relationship with God. His life impacted their lives. In other words, the high priest could not just shrug off his own personal sin. And this sacrifice would teach him to be more careful in his life before the Lord. God had a requirement for this man and he needed to live a life that it was holy unto God. But he would not be a perfect man, so God made a way for his sin to be dealt with, a sin offering and sacrifice.
Now, this idea that the spiritual leadership is held to a high standard is repeated in the New Testament itself. If you look at Paul's requirements for elders or bishops or pastors, which are synonymous terms in a sense in the New Testament. What Paul tends to focus on is the character, the maturity of the man that would occupy that position. He has to be able to teach, but that's really all Paul has to say about his gifting or his skillset, but in the other descriptions, it's about, "He can't be a drunkard, he can't be violent, he can't lash out in anger. He needs to manage his own household well, because if he can't do that, how can he manage in the house of God?" The pastor or bishop or elder is held to a high standard. I hesitate to say higher standard because it's not that you'll find anything that's a requirement of the pastor, bishop or elder that you can't see also repeated for the general congregation. It's just that that man is meant to be an exemplary Christian if he's going to occupy that post. He's held to a life or a calling of holiness.
Jesus said in Luke 12:48, "Everyone to whom much is given of him much will be required." And these high priests had been given so much. They got to go in to the holy of holies and experience God and much was required of their lives. James says in James 3:1, "That the person that teaches in the church will be judged with greater strictness." So there is the New Testament idea that those in positions of spiritual leadership in the body of Christ, they've got to make sure to maintain a life of holiness. There is a high requirement set upon their lives. So for the high priest, back in the days of Leviticus, he when he offered his sin sacrifice did not offer a lesser sacrifice like many of the others that we'll read about in a moment, but he had to actually offer a bull. The most expensive animal sacrifice that could be offered is what the high priest had to offer to the Lord.
Now generally, as we read that description of how the sacrifice worked, it's very similar to some of the other sacrifices that we've already read about with a couple of differences from say the burnt offering sacrifice that we looked at in our last study. One is that the blood was taken and scattered about side the tabernacle, that was different. And then the entire sacrifice had to be burnt and then taken outside the camp. The ashes were holy to God, so they had to be taken to a clean same place outside the camp. And then the ash heap had to be burnt up completely. Now this is interesting, the idea of going outside the camp, because there is a slight allusion to Jesus here because Jesus, it says in Hebrews 13:11-12 was also suffered outside the gate or outside the camp in order to sanctify the people through his blood. So really Jesus is emblematic in so many ways of all these sacrifices but especially the sin sacrifice.
For the Whole Congregation
13 “If the whole congregation of Israel sins unintentionally and the thing is hidden from the eyes of the assembly, and they do any one of the things that by the Lord’s commandments ought not to be done, and they realize their guilt, 14 when the sin which they have committed becomes known, the assembly shall offer a bull from the herd for a sin offering and bring it in front of the tent of meeting. 15 And the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands on the head of the bull before the Lord, and the bull shall be killed before the Lord. 16 Then the anointed priest shall bring some of the blood of the bull into the tent of meeting, 17 and the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it seven times before the Lord in front of the veil. 18 And he shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar that is in the tent of meeting before the Lord, and the rest of the blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 19 And all its fat he shall take from it and burn on the altar. 20 Thus shall he do with the bull. As he did with the bull of the sin offering, so shall he do with this. And the priest shall make atonement for them, and they shall be forgiven. 21 And he shall carry the bull outside the camp and burn it up as he burned the first bull; it is the sin offering for the assembly.
Now verse 13, we get the continuation of the sin sacrifice with, "If the whole congregation of Israel sins unintentionally. And the thing is hidden from the eyes of the assembly. And they do any one of the things that by the Lord's commandments are ought not to be done. And they realize their guilt. When the sin, which they have committed becomes known, the assembly shall offer a bull from the herd for a sin offering and bring it in front of the Tent of Meeting. And the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands on the head of the bull before the Lord, and the bull shall be killed before the Lord. Then the anointed priest shall bring some of the blood of the bull into the Tent of Meeting. And the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it seven times before the Lord in front of the veil. And he shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar that is in the Tent of Meeting before the Lord. And the rest of the blood, he shall pour out at the base of the Altar of Burnt Offering that is at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. And all its fat, he shall take from it and burn it on the altar, thus, shall he do with the bull. As he did with the bull of the sin offering so shall he do with this. And the priest shall make atonement for them and they shall be forgiven. And he shall carry the bull outside the camp and burn it up as he burned the first bull, it is the sin offering for the whole assembly."
So very similar to the sacrifice that the high priest would offer for himself, now we have a sacrifice, another bull that is offered for the whole congregation. And there would be moments that they would offer this sacrifice very regularly throughout the year at the various feasts and festivals that they would celebrate. And this was beautiful and good for the people of Israel, because quite often, they did engage in national or congregational, to use the words that are here, sin. There would be times where as a people, they would collectively rebel against God, so this sacrifice, another big one, was designed for the whole group of people together. I think it's hard for us at times to remember as believers today, especially in the West, that we are not just individual believers before God, but we are part of a community. We are part of a community that is meant to live out the ethics of Christ here on earth.
And I am sure you've come to points in your life where you've realized, "I'm not doing the things that I think I need to be doing. I'm not doing the things that the Lord has asked me to do. Or I'm doing things that he's told me not to do." Well there are times where that awakening happens not just in an individual, but in an entire congregation or in a group of churches or in the church at large to a heightened degree. And in those moments, you might find that there's a reckoning process where the church or the congregation or the denomination or a group of people are going to the Lord and saying, "Together, we need you to forgive us of this sin. We have neglected this area of obedience or we have partaken in this area of disobedience for way too long. And now we need your grace and we need your forgiveness." And in my experience, this is often a very sloppy kind of process because some people will think, "Well, we're not guilty." Other people will think, "We're very guilty." And there will be back and forth and dialogue and discussion, but Jesus makes a way for us to be cleansed, not just individually, but corporately as well. And this is hinted at here in this particular congregational sin offering.
For Leadership
22 “When a leader sins, doing unintentionally any one of all the things that by the commandments of the Lord his God ought not to be done, and realizes his guilt, 23 or the sin which he has committed is made known to him, he shall bring as his offering a goat, a male without blemish, 24 and shall lay his hand on the head of the goat and kill it in the place where they kill the burnt offering before the Lord; it is a sin offering. 25 Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out the rest of its blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering. 26 And all its fat he shall burn on the altar, like the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings. So the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin, and he shall be forgiven.
Then in verse 22, he says, "When a leader sins, doing unintentionally anyone of all the things that by the commandments of the Lord, his God ought not to be done. And realizes his guilt or the sin which he has committed is made know to him, he shall bring as his offering a goat, a male without blemish. And he shall lay his hand on the head of the goat and kill it in the place where they kill the burnt offering before the Lord, it is a sin offering. Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the Altar of Burnt Offering and pour out the rest of its blood at the base of the Altar of Burnt Offering. And all its fat, he shall burn on the alter, like the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings. So the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin and he shall be forgiven." So at this point, we've seen the sin offering for the high priest, we've seen a sin offering for the congregation, and now we have thirdly, a sin offering for a leader. When any leader sins. And many of the comments already made about the importance of leadership and then being spiritually pure would apply here as well.
Now, the leaders in Israel at this time would have been other priests who weren't the high priest, also judges that Moses had installed to help him govern and lead the nation. And of course in the future, you'd have kings and prophets who would also rise up. Now when they sinned, they weren't to offer a bull like the high priest or the whole nation was supposed to offer, but here they would offer a goat before the Lord. So it's still expensive, still important sacrifice, but lesser in value. So it kind of shows the mind of God, the importance in how sin impacts the entire community. So early on, leaders should see the sin and deal with it in their lives. And again, the high priest, they took the blood into the tabernacle for their sacrifice of sin, but not the leaders, the blood of their sacrifice was put on the horns of the Altar of Burnt Offering outside the tabernacle.
For the Common Person
27 “If anyone of the common people sins unintentionally in doing any one of the things that by the Lord’s commandments ought not to be done, and realizes his guilt, 28 or the sin which he has committed is made known to him, he shall bring for his offering a goat, a female without blemish, for his sin which he has committed. 29 And he shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and kill the sin offering in the place of burnt offering. 30 And the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out all the rest of its blood at the base of the altar. 31 And all its fat he shall remove, as the fat is removed from the peace offerings, and the priest shall burn it on the altar for a pleasing aroma to the Lord. And the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven. 32 “If he brings a lamb as his offering for a sin offering, he shall bring a female without blemish 33 and lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and kill it for a sin offering in the place where they kill the burnt offering. 34 Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out all the rest of its blood at the base of the altar. 35 And all its fat he shall remove as the fat of the lamb is removed from the sacrifice of peace offerings, and the priest shall burn it on the altar, on top of the Lord’s food offerings. And the priest shall make atonement for him for the sin which he has committed, and he shall be forgiven.
Verse 27, "If anyone of the common people sins unintentionally in doing any one of the things that by the Lord's commandments ought not to be done, and realizes his guilt or the sin which he has committed is made known to him, he shall bring for his offering a goat, a female without blemish for his sin which he has committed. And he shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and kill the sin offering in the place of the burnt offering. And the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the Altar of Burnt Offering and pour out all the rest of its blood at the base of the altar. And all its fat, he shall remove as the fat is removed from the peace offerings. And the priest shall burn it on the altar for a pleasing aroma to the Lord. And the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven.
If he brings a lamb as his offering for a sin offering, he shall bring a female without blemish and lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and kill it for a sin offering in the place where they kill the burnt offering. Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the Altar of the Burnt Offering and pour out all the rest of its blood at the base of the altar. And all its fat, he shall remove. The fat of the lamb is removed from the sacrifice of peace offerings and the priest shall burn it on the altar on top of the Lord's food offerings. And the priest shall make atonement for him for the sin which he has committed and he shall be forgiven." All right, so now we have just the general population, not the high priest, not the congregation as a group, not the leaders, but anyone he says there in verse 27.
He could bring a goat, but this individual had the option of bringing a female goat as well. And the beautiful thing is that at the end of all of this, all of these sacrifices, it says in verse 35 that he shall be forgiven, that is the conclusion. And we talked a little bit in the first study about the forgiveness that was offered through these Levitical sacrifices. It seems difficult or strained to say that there was no forgiveness offered through these sacrifices. And of course, we're tempted to say so because as Christians, we understand that it's the blood of Jesus that cleanses us from all sin, but there seems to have been something very real that was taking place through this sacrificial system. So I'd encourage you to go back and listen to that teaching because we talked about how likely these sacrifices, now we know for sure they weren't dealing with a sin nature, like the sacrifice of Jesus deals with. They were also pointing forward to the ultimate sacrifice of Christ, but there was actually something real and that was happening for these believers in that moment. They could walk away knowing and feeling the forgiveness of God and the atonement that the Lord had won for them through this substitutionary sacrifice.
Now in this sin offering, before we move on into chapter five, what are some of the things that the worshiper or that we can learn from this sacrifice about God and about sin? Well, first of all, we learned that sin is offensive to God. It requires death, that's the ultimate payment for sin. We also see that God requires a pure and costly offering to atone for sin. And of course, Jesus is that ultimate, pure and costly sacrifice. We also see that all who approach God must have their sin completely removed by means of a substitutionary sacrifice. And of course, Jesus fulfills that ultimately for us. And I think we would also confess that the joy of being a New Testament Christian, is that Jesus has fulfilled all of these things and we don't have to live in this era. We get the opportunity to focus on the forgiveness and the grace that is ours in Christ.
Leviticus 5 - The Sin & Guilt Offering
1 “If anyone sins in that he hears a public adjuration to testify, and though he is a witness, whether he has seen or come to know the matter, yet does not speak, he shall bear his iniquity;
Now as we move on into chapter five, what we have are some more examples or some specific instances of intentional or unintentional sins. So really, we're still talking at the beginning of this chapter about the sin offering, but some instances where they would want to use the sin offering says in verse one, "If anyone sins and that he hears a public adoration to testify, and though he's a witness, whether he's seen or come to know the matter yet does not speak, he shall bear his iniquity." So this is the first example that has held out there in verse one. In those days, a witness was especially important. They're still important in our modern time, but in days without contracts or written word or video, audio recordings, witnesses needed to testify in order to keep the legal process moving forward.
And if someone refuse to testify or witness, then they were involved in holding back justice in Israel. So not witnessing or not testifying of what you know or a deal that's been done, that was a sin. So if you'd seen a couple of landowners make an agreement to sell a portion of land one to the other for a certain price, and you'd witnessed this whole thing, you were called perhaps into the city gate to watch the deal go down and then a dispute arose over that land and you refused because you were friends with the person that was getting away with some kind of shady deal. You refused to testify to what you'd seen or heard, you would be guilty of sin. So you needed to offer a sin sacrifice to the Lord. And again, as I mentioned earlier, the sin sacrifice was for unintentional sin, but this is very intentional in the way we think about it. So likely it means a person has wandered from God and they come to the realization, "I should never have done that. I'm so guilty for getting in the way of the process of justice. I should not have done this, I need to deal with this sin." That's more than likely the idea of the unintentional sin.
2 or if anyone touches an unclean thing, whether a carcass of an unclean wild animal or a carcass of unclean livestock or a carcass of unclean swarming things, and it is hidden from him and he has become unclean, and he realizes his guilt; 3 or if he touches human uncleanness, of whatever sort the uncleanness may be with which one becomes unclean, and it is hidden from him, when he comes to know it, and realizes his guilt;
In verse two, we have another example he says, "Or if anyone touches an unclean thing." Whether a carcass of an unclean wild animal or a carcass of unclean livestock or a carcass of unclean swarming things, and it is hidden from him and he's become unclean and he realizes his guilt. Or if he touches human uncleanness or whatever sort the uncleanness may be with which one becomes unclean. And it is hidden from him when he comes to know it and realizes his guilt. So now we have a second example of a person that should offer a sin sacrifice. This is accidental defilement.
4 or if anyone utters with his lips a rash oath to do evil or to do good, any sort of rash oath that people swear, and it is hidden from him, when he comes to know it, and he realizes his guilt in any of these;
Now, when we get later into the book of Leviticus, we're going to see lots of examples of a way that someone could become ceremonially unclean before God in ancient Israelite society. So I'll reserve those comments for that portion of our study in Leviticus. But here he's saying, "If that happens," and we'll read about it later, "This is what this person needs to do, a sin offering." Or verse four, "If anyone utters with his lips a rash oath to do evil or to do good, any sort of rash oath that people swear, and it is hidden from him. "When he comes to know it and realizes his guilt in any of these." So now we have a third example, a person who offers a rash oath. They're speaking with their mouth, something that they cannot possibly commit to. And of course, as believers we need to be disciplined with the things that we say.
Moses was kept out of the promised land because of his rash speech at the rock where he struck it twice and misrepresented God. We're responsible for our speech and guilty of sin when we say something that we know is sinful, wrong or misrepresents God, or we make even a promise or a vow that we're not to be able to keep. Jesus said that our word as Christians, we should not be making a bunch of oaths, but our yes should be yes and no our no should be no, this doesn't mean that we can't sign contracts and things like that. It just means that when we make a commitment, it's solid, we're going to keep the commitment that we've made. So yes is yes and no means no on the lips of a believer. But here is a person who realizes, "I made an oath, but I couldn't keep it."
5 when he realizes his guilt in any of these and confesses the sin he has committed, 6 he shall bring to the Lord as his compensation for the sin that he has committed, a female from the flock, a lamb or a goat, for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin.
And then a fourth example, he says, "When he realizes his guilt in any of these and confesses the sin he's committed, he shall bring to the Lord as his compensation for the sin that he's committed a female from the flock, a lamb or a goat for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin." So this person, they realize their offense, it says in verse five, "They realized their guilt." And now that they're conscious of it, they bring a female lamb or a goat as a sin offering to the Lord. Again, they're not just going to shrug off their sin. They'll likely be slower to speak in the future because this is a costly consequence of their sin. And they bring this sacrifice and they confess their sin to the Lord.
Confession is still part of the life of those who are faithful to God, those who believe in him. It says First John 1:9, which I quoted last week as well, "If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." What this does not mean is that every time you sin, you lose your position of forgiveness before God until you confess it again, and when you confess, then you get saved or justified all over again. What this does mean, however, is that as a Christian, you might be born again, positionally justified in the sight of God, but for all practical purposes and sanctification purposes in life, when you sin God is waiting for the confession of that sin to occur for his cleansing practical flow to come into your life. You are just as justified as you were before, but the sense of forgiveness and the growth that comes through dealing with sin is going to be held back to some degree until that confession occurs.
So we're not offering an animal sacrifice, but we are to confess our sins. Now, what is the confession of sins? It's not merely the recognition of facts. I see that this should not have been done and I did it. No, confession was and is an acknowledgement of both the character of sin and the character of God who is offended by that sin. This worshiper in bringing the sacrifice was saying, "I know that what I did was inappropriate in the sight of a holy and righteous God. And I'm his person, I'm in covenant with him and I should not have entered into something that was so unbecoming of his nature that he's deposited and given to me. So confession has that element within it. We're looking for a restoration of fellowship with our father. We want to get in the light where he is, so we confess our sin.
7 “But if he cannot afford a lamb, then he shall bring to the Lord as his compensation for the sin that he has committed two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. 8 He shall bring them to the priest, who shall offer first the one for the sin offering. He shall wring its head from its neck but shall not sever it completely, 9 and he shall sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering on the side of the altar, while the rest of the blood shall be drained out at the base of the altar; it is a sin offering. 10 Then he shall offer the second for a burnt offering according to the rule. And the priest shall make atonement for him for the sin that he has committed, and he shall be forgiven. 11 “But if he cannot afford two turtledoves or two pigeons, then he shall bring as his offering for the sin that he has committed a tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering. He shall put no oil on it and shall put no frankincense on it, for it is a sin offering. 12 And he shall bring it to the priest, and the priest shall take a handful of it as its memorial portion and burn this on the altar, on the Lord’s food offerings; it is a sin offering. 13 Thus the priest shall make atonement for him for the sin which he has committed in any one of these things, and he shall be forgiven. And the remainder shall be for the priest, as in the grain offering.”
But he goes on back in Leviticus 5 and says in verse seven, "If he cannot afford a lamb, then he shall bring to the Lord as his compensation for the sin that he's committed two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. And he shall bring them to the priest who shall offer first the one for the sin offering. He shall ring its head from its neck, but shall not sever it completely. And he shall sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering on the side of the altar, while the rest of the blood shall be drained out at the base of the altar, it is a sin offering. Then he shall offer the second for a burnt offering according to the rule. And the priest make atonement for him for the sin that he's committed and he shall be forgiven.
But if he cannot afford two turtledoves or two pigeons, then he shall bring as his offering for the sin that he's committed a 10th of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering. He shall put no oil on it and shall put no frankincense on it for it's a sin offering. And he shall bring it to the priest, and the priest will take a handful of it as its memorial portion and burn this on the altar on the Lord's food offerings, it is a sin offering. Thus, the priest shall make atonement for him for the sin which he's committed in any one of these things, and he shall be forgiven. And the remainder shall be for the priest as in the grain offering."
So here we have some alternatives in offerings that could be offered. You've got some turtledoves, and then if they're still even poorer than those who could afford turtledoves, a grain offering would suffice. An extremely poor person who couldn't even afford two birds could offer this grain offering before the Lord. Now, some have made a big fuss about the idea that a grain offering for a sin seems inappropriate because without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sins, but it's possible that the reason that the worshiper was told or the priest was told rather to take the grain offering that's a sin sacrifice and put it on top of the other offerings is because those other offerings did have blood. So it's almost as if the poor worshiper is borrowing the blood of other sacrifices, even though what they're offering is a bloodless sacrifice of the grain. And again, at the end of all of this atonement and forgiveness is found.
The Guilt Offering
14 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 15 “If anyone commits a breach of faith and sins unintentionally in any of the holy things of the Lord, he shall bring to the Lord as his compensation, a ram without blemish out of the flock, valued in silver shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, for a guilt offering. 16 He shall also make restitution for what he has done amiss in the holy thing and shall add a fifth to it and give it to the priest. And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering, and he shall be forgiven.
Now verse 14, we have a different offering, the guilt offering, but it's very similar to the sin offering. It says the Lord spoke to Moses in verse 14 saying, "If anyone commits a breach of faith and sins unintentionally in any of the holy things of the Lord, he shall bring to the Lord as his compensation a ram without blemish out of the flock, valued in silver shekels, according to the shekel the sanctuary for a guilt offering. He shall also make restitution for what he has done amiss in the holy thing, and shall add a fifth to it and give it to the priest. And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering, and he shall be forgiven." So with this guilt offering, we're going to see two sort of facets to it. One area of guilt would be guilt in the way that worship was conducted. They did something wrong. They did not follow God's commandments and they realize it and they're guilty for it. And then we're going to see the idea of guilt in a sin against somebody else.
So how is this different from the sin offering? It's difficult for us to delineate the difference in a lot of different ways, but it seems that the guilt offering, I mean, it is what it sounds like. There's a sense in this worshiper that they have done something wrong either to God or to man, they are experiencing or are awake to their guilt. And with that guilty conscience, they come to God to offer a sacrifice in order to make things right. But because it's guilt, there's something specific about what they've done. So especially for sins that are financial in nature, what we're going to see is there's this 20% payment or one fifth payment or restitution to try to make things right that they've previously done wrong. So they want to make right the sin that they have committed. So that's a difference of nuance in this guilt offering.
17 “If anyone sins, doing any of the things that by the Lord’s commandments ought not to be done, though he did not know it, then realizes his guilt, he shall bear his iniquity. 18 He shall bring to the priest a ram without blemish out of the flock, or its equivalent, for a guilt offering, and the priest shall make atonement for him for the mistake that he made unintentionally, and he shall be forgiven. 19 It is a guilt offering; he has indeed incurred guilt before the Lord.”
It says in verse 17, "If anyone sins doing any of the things that by the Lord's commandments ought not be done, although he did not know it, then realizes his guilt." So again, the guilt offering, "He shall bear his iniquity. He shall bring to the priest a ram without blemish out of the flock or its equivalent for a guilt offering. And the priest shall make atonement for him for the mistake that he made unintentionally, and he shall be forgiven. It is a guilt offering and he has incurred guilt before the Lord." So again, this person, he's either committed something against God in his worship system or against another human being. He's defrauded in some way, he realizes that guilt and he comes to the Lord and he offers his sacrifice to God. Guilt in the biblical sense is not just a feeling but a condition. Some people don't feel guilty but they are guilty, but their conscience has been hardened before the Lord, but this person has come awake to their guilt against God.
Leviticus 6 - Offering Regulations
1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “If anyone sins and commits a breach of faith against the Lord by deceiving his neighbor in a matter of deposit or security, or through robbery, or if he has oppressed his neighbor 3 or has found something lost and lied about it, swearing falsely—in any of all the things that people do and sin thereby— 4 if he has sinned and has realized his guilt and will restore what he took by robbery or what he got by oppression or the deposit that was committed to him or the lost thing that he found 5 or anything about which he has sworn falsely, he shall restore it in full and shall add a fifth to it, and give it to him to whom it belongs on the day he realizes his guilt. 6 And he shall bring to the priest as his compensation to the Lord a ram without blemish out of the flock, or its equivalent, for a guilt offering. 7 And the priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord, and he shall be forgiven for any of the things that one may do and thereby become guilty.”
But now in 6:1-7, the guilt offering continues with, as I've been saying guilt against a person, he says, "The Lord spoke to Moses saying, 'If anyone sins and commits a breach of faith against the Lord by deceiving his neighbor in a matter of deposit or security or through robbery or if he's oppressed his neighbor or has found something lost and lied about it, swearing falsely, in any of all the things that people do and sin thereby. If he has sinned and has realized his guilt and will restore what he took by robbery or what he got by oppression or the deposit that was committed to him or the lost thing that he found or anything about which he has sworn falsely, he shall restore it in full and add a fifth to it, And give it to him to whom it belongs on the day he realizes his guilt. And he shall bring to the priest as his compensation to the Lord of ram without blemish out of the flock or its equivalent for a guilt offering. And the priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord. And he shall be forgiven for any of these things that one may do and thereby become guilty.'"
So here we have the guilt against your neighbor because you've committed some crime against them. And there's a lot of different types of crimes that he mentions, many of them financial in nature. But notice there in verse two he says, "Is a breach of faith against the Lord by deceiving your neighbor." So the idea is that unfaithfulness to the Lord happens when you are unfaithful to another human being. When you defraud someone, the Lord himself is offended in the way that you've treated that person.
So in these sins, they were to offer this guilt offering, but they were also to make restitution. They were to pay the person back once they became conscious of the crime they'd done. They pay the person back and they add a fifth, 20% to whatever had been taken. So you take a piece of land, you give it back, but you also evaluate the land and whatever it's worth, you take 20% of that value and you also gift it to the person. And the reality is a truly repentant person does not mind any of this at all. As Christians were to pray, as Jesus said, Matthew 6:12, "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. So we desire to go above and beyond at seeing things set right. And we want to give forgiveness, but also get forgiveness for our trespasses.
Jesus said in Matthew 5 that, "When we come to the alter and remember our brother has something against us, we're to leave our gift at the alter and go and be reconciled first to our brother, and then come and offer our gift. We're not to have these long standing sins that we've committed against someone else that are undealt with where we've not made things right in their site." And you might remember the story of Zacchaeus. When Zacchaeus gave his life to the Lord, he announced that he would give half his goods to the poor, and if he's defrauded anyone, he'd restore it fourfold and Jesus said, "Today salvation has come to this house." Jesus was blessed and impressed with Zacchaeus' commitment to make things right, to pay restitution. And for him, it wasn't a fifth, it was fourfold.
So beautifully, the guilt offering made a way for people's guilty consciences to be dealt with. Of course, we know as Christians that Jesus is our guilt offering today. He's presented that way in Isaiah 53 as a guilt offering, "It was the will of the Lord," Isaiah 53:10, "To crush him. He has put him to grief when his soul makes an offering for guilt." It says in Isaiah 53:10. So Jesus is our offering for guilt. And I think as you're reading of these sacrifices, both the sin sacrifice but here the guilt sacrifice or offering, it becomes obvious that God is conscious of the injustice that happens in his world and is pleased when the offender seeks the forgiveness and grace and tries to make things right with the offended himself included. God is the offended, so the offender should come to him for grace and mercy.
Regulations for the Burnt Offering
8 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 9 “Command Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the burnt offering. The burnt offering shall be on the hearth on the altar all night until the morning, and the fire of the altar shall be kept burning on it. 10 And the priest shall put on his linen garment and put his linen undergarment on his body, and he shall take up the ashes to which the fire has reduced the burnt offering on the altar and put them beside the altar. 11 Then he shall take off his garments and put on other garments and carry the ashes outside the camp to a clean place. 12 The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it; it shall not go out. The priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and he shall arrange the burnt offering on it and shall burn on it the fat of the peace offerings. 13 Fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it shall not go out.
Now, continuing on in 6:8 and following, we now have awesome commands to Aaron and his son. So these are some requirements for the priests. And as we read through this, honestly, you're going to think, "We've already read this before, haven't we?" Because it's fairly repetitious. And gain, these first seven chapters in Leviticus are kind of an overview of the entire sacrificial system, but it seems that what we have from this point all the way through chapter seven are some nuanced instructions for the priests on how to do things. Again, the Bible didn't give them hyper-detail on how to skin a bull for instance for the sacrifice, they could kind of learn how to do that, but there were some specifics that God wanted them to follow. So some of those specifics are mentioned here in the passage that is following. So all five offerings that we've looked at so far, the burn offering, the meal offering, the grain offering, the fellowship offering, the sin offering, the guilt offering, these offerings are going to be mentioned again in this section and kind of overlap with stuff that we've already read up to this point. And even the order will be a little bit different perhaps because it's the order of importance in God's sight. And maybe it's the order of a demand for these sacrifices, but we'll just see some specific directions for the people of Israel or for the priests in their sacrifices and offerings.
It says in verse eight, "The Lord spoke to Moses saying, 'Command Aaron and his sons saying, 'This is the law of the burnt offering.' The burnt offering shall be on the hearth upon the altar all night until the morning. And the fire of the altar shall be kept burning on it. And the priest shall put on his linen garment and put his linen undergarment on his body. And he shall take up the ashes to which the fire has reduced the burn offering on the altar and put them beside the altar. Then he shall take off his garments and put on other garments and carry the ashes outside the camp to a clean place. The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it. It shall not go out. The priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and he shall arrange the burnt offering on it and shall burn on it the fat of the peace offerings. Fire shall be kept burning on the alter continually, it shall not go out.'"
So concerning the burnt offering, here were some directions for the priests. One thing that's interesting is that they were to wear linen garments while they served the Lord. In Ezekiel 44 of all places were told that they would wear these garments partly so that they would not sweat, the idea being that they wouldn't work themselves up. This was not human effort, but it would be kind of a spirit fueled ministry there in the tabernacle. But the idea as well is that they are covered, these men as they serve the Lord, they're wearing clothing. That sounds normal to us, but in the societies from which they emerged, many of those societies attached sexual activity to their worship systems and were often very inappropriate. So the idea here is that they're wearing holy garments, they're covered, they're pure before God.
Then in verse 12 and 13, we also learn about this burn offering that they were to keep the fire going at all times. Why did the fire have to keep on burning? Well, it doesn't say, but some have thought that it's so that the fire would burn and rage so heavily that the smoke would be forced upward because the fire was so strong rather than lazily wafting throughout the camp. Others have thought that as we'll see in 9:24 that God started the fire by consuming the first sacrifice. And they wanted to keep that divine fire burning. Others have thought that it's a sign of uninterrupted worship, that there should never be a moment where to pray without ceasing. So never a moment where we stop worshiping the Lord. Others have thought of it as a reminder of the need constantly for atonement. And others have thought that it means that atonement is always available. God is saying, "Hey, that fire there, it's always ready. You can approach me at any time." And others have thought that it was a reminder of God's presence in the midst of the people. I for one think it might've been all of those things, but for whatever reason, God told them to keep the fires burning, which would have been a lot of work, a lot of wood to cut in order for these sacrifices to be always burning, always ready to be burning.
Regulations for the Grain Offering
14 “And this is the law of the grain offering. The sons of Aaron shall offer it before the Lord in front of the altar. 15 And one shall take from it a handful of the fine flour of the grain offering and its oil and all the frankincense that is on the grain offering and burn this as its memorial portion on the altar, a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 16 And the rest of it Aaron and his sons shall eat. It shall be eaten unleavened in a holy place. In the court of the tent of meeting they shall eat it. 17 It shall not be baked with leaven. I have given it as their portion of my food offerings. It is a thing most holy, like the sin offering and the guilt offering. 18 Every male among the children of Aaron may eat of it, as decreed forever throughout your generations, from the Lord’s food offerings. Whatever touches them shall become holy.” 19 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 20 “This is the offering that Aaron and his sons shall offer to the Lord on the day when he is anointed: a tenth of an ephah of fine flour as a regular grain offering, half of it in the morning and half in the evening. 21 It shall be made with oil on a griddle. You shall bring it well mixed, in baked pieces like a grain offering, and offer it for a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 22 The priest from among Aaron’s sons, who is anointed to succeed him, shall offer it to the Lord as decreed forever. The whole of it shall be burned. 23 Every grain offering of a priest shall be wholly burned. It shall not be eaten.”
Then in verse 14, we have regulations for the grain offering. It says, and this is the law of the grain offering, "The sons of Aaron shall offer it before the Lord in front of the altar. And one shall take from it a handful of fine flour of the grain offering and its oil and all the frankincense that is on the grain offering and burn this as its memorial portion on the altar, a pleasing aroma to the Lord. And the rest of it, Aaron and his sons shall eat. It should be eaten unleavened in the holy place. In the court of the Tent of Meeting, they shall eat it. It shall not be baked with leaven. I have given it as their portion of my food offerings. It is a thing most holy like the sin offering and the guilt offering every male among the children of Aaron May eat it as decreed forever throughout your generations from the Lord's food offerings. Who had ever touches them shall become holy.
The Lord spoke to Moses saying, 'This is the offering Aaron and his sons shall offer to the Lord on the day that he is anointed: a 10th of an ephah of fine flour as a regular grain offering, half of it in the morning and half in the evening. It should be made with oil on a griddle. You shall bring it well-mixed in baked pieces like a grain offering and offer it for a pleasing aroma to the Lord. The priest from among Aaron's sons who was anointed to succeed him shall offer it to the Lord as decreed forever. The whole of it shall be burned. Every grain offering of a priest shall be holy burned, it shall not be eaten.'"
So here we have the specific laws for the grain offering. It could be offered as we've seen already in different forms, find flour, oven-baked cakes, cakes baked in a pan or baked in a frying pan or on a griddle or crushed roasted heads of new grain. So the priest would not put just a portion before the Lord, but for him, his sacrifice he'd offer all of it before God and give it completely to the Lord. And he would do this in the morning and in the evening. So the idea is that even the priests themselves were offering sacrifices. They were givers and they would eat some of the grain offering of the worshipers, but not of their own grain offering.
Regulations for the Sin Offering
24 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 25 “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the sin offering. In the place where the burnt offering is killed shall the sin offering be killed before the Lord; it is most holy. 26 The priest who offers it for sin shall eat it. In a holy place it shall be eaten, in the court of the tent of meeting. 27 Whatever touches its flesh shall be holy, and when any of its blood is splashed on a garment, you shall wash that on which it was splashed in a holy place. 28 And the earthenware vessel in which it is boiled shall be broken. But if it is boiled in a bronze vessel, that shall be scoured and rinsed in water. 29 Every male among the priests may eat of it; it is most holy. 30 But no sin offering shall be eaten from which any blood is brought into the tent of meeting to make atonement in the Holy Place; it shall be burned up with fire.
Then in verse 24, it says, "The Lord spoke to Moses saying, 'Speak to Aaron and his sons saying, this is the law of the sin offering.'" So now we have some specifics for the sin offering. He says, "In the place where the burnt offering is killed shall the sin offering be killed before the Lord; it is most holy. The priest who offers it for sin shall eat it. In a holy place, it shall be eaten in the court of the Tent of Meeting. Whatever touches its flesh shall be holy. And when any of its blood is splashed on a garment, you shall wash that on which it was splashed in a holy place. And the earth and where a vessel in which it is boiled shall be broken. But if it is boiled in a bronze vessel, that shall be scoured and rinsed in water. Every male among the priests may eat of it; it is most holy. But no sin offering shall be eaten from which any blood is brought into the Tent of Meeting to make atonement in the holy place; it shall be burned with fire."
So some specifics for the sin offering, and again, it was paramount that the people of Israel deal with their sin. And some of these specifics for the sin offering, especially God's expectations saying "it is most holy", they might've come because the sin offering was offered pretty frequently at their various festivals and at different moments throughout their worship calendar. So perhaps God is saying, "Hey look, don't take this sacrifice for granted. Don't go through the motions. It is a most holy sacrifice." So maybe he's emphasizing this, it's before the Lord so as to create an urgency within them no matter when they offer it to God. And I think that's a great spirit for us to have when we come to the lord, that there's still an urgency that is fresh within us, even if we're repeatedly seeking the Lord.
Leviticus 7 - Offering Regulations
1 “This is the law of the guilt offering. It is most holy. 2 In the place where they kill the burnt offering they shall kill the guilt offering, and its blood shall be thrown against the sides of the altar. 3 And all its fat shall be offered, the fat tail, the fat that covers the entrails, 4 the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins, and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys. 5 The priest shall burn them on the altar as a food offering to the Lord; it is a guilt offering. 6 Every male among the priests may eat of it. It shall be eaten in a holy place. It is most holy.
Now in chapter seven, we have a continuation of the regulations for the priests in offering these different sacrifices and in verse one through 10, it's the regulations for the guilt offering, which we've already looked at in detail. So now we have the requirements for the priests. verse one, "This is the law of the guilt offering; it is most holy. In the place where they kill the burn offering, they shall kill the guilt offering and its blood shall be thrown against the sides of the altar. And all its fat shall be offered, the fat tail, the fat that covers the entrails, the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins, and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys. The priest shall burn them on the altar as a food offering to the Lord; it is a guilt offering. Every male among the priests may eat of it. It shall be eaten in a holy place; it is most holy."
So again, we're back to the guilt offering, the sin is being dealt with, but also not just the sin being atoned and forgiven, but also the guilt being dealt with. And I just love this about the Lord. He is so faithful to remove, to wash even the guilt, the stain, the shame that exists within our lives as a result of the sin that we have committed. And again, the ritual process had a different element in the guilt offering where they throw the blood against the alter, and then they incinerate it the whole sacrifice on the alter. And the priests could actually eat this one, it says there in verse six.
7 The guilt offering is just like the sin offering; there is one law for them. The priest who makes atonement with it shall have it. 8 And the priest who offers any man’s burnt offering shall have for himself the skin of the burnt offering that he has offered. 9 And every grain offering baked in the oven and all that is prepared on a pan or a griddle shall belong to the priest who offers it. 10 And every grain offering, mixed with oil or dry, shall be shared equally among all the sons of Aaron.
Continuing on with the guilt offering in verse seven it says, "The guilt offering is just like the sin offering. There is one law for them. The priest who makes atonement with it shall have it. And the priest who offers any man's burnt offerings shall have for himself the skin of the burnt offering that he's offered. And every grain offering baked in the oven and all of that is prepared on a pan or a griddle shall belong to the priest who offers it. And every grain offering mixed with oil or dry shall be shared equally among all the sons of Aaron." So again, the guilt offering, specific directions for the priests are mentioned here. And what's said here in the little paragraph we just read is that they get to eat and partake of the guilt offering, interestingly enough, including in taking the skins of the sacrificial animals for themselves. And these of course would be valuable. So this is a payment of sorts to the priests. And you can imagine when worship was popular, when the fear of the Lord was prevalent in the nation, the priests could take these skins, sell them, trade with them and be gainfully employed through these skins.
So basically, this helps you understand that the higher the demand was for worship, the more sacrifices were being offered, the more people wanted to be in fellowship with God, the more priests the nation could afford to have. So you'd have a lot more priests and a lot more activity as a result of basically these guys being provided for and able to be out there in doing the work of the Lord.
Regulations for the Peace Offerings
11 “And this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings that one may offer to the Lord. 12 If he offers it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the thanksgiving sacrifice unleavened loaves mixed with oil, unleavened wafers smeared with oil, and loaves of fine flour well mixed with oil. 13 With the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving he shall bring his offering with loaves of leavened bread. 14 And from it he shall offer one loaf from each offering, as a gift to the Lord. It shall belong to the priest who throws the blood of the peace offerings. 15 And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten on the day of his offering. He shall not leave any of it until the morning.
Now in verse 11, you have the peace offering, it says, "And this is the law of the sacrifice of the peace offerings that one may offer to the Lord. If he offers it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the thanksgiving sacrifice, unleavened loaves mixed with oil, unleavened wafers smeared with oil, and loaves of fine flour well mixed with oil. With the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving, he shall bring his offering with loaves of Leaven bread. And from it, he shall offer one low from each offering as a gift to the Lord. It shall belong to the priest who throws the blood of the peace offerings. And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten on the day of his offering. He shall not leave any of it until the morning."
So the peace offering or the fellowship offering, that was mostly about this accompanying meal that they would eat. And we talked about that in our last study when we looked at the peace offering. And here, when they offered that meal, there were some directions as to how they would eat that meal. So God records them here for the priest. Part of it was a time of thanksgiving that they would have before God, and it's appropriate for God's people to be thankful for God's provision in their lives. And they were to actually eat it on the day of the offering. It had to be partaken of the same day, there were some that could be stored up till the next day, but this offering had to be eaten the same day, probably as a way to encourage sharing with those who were poor that were there in worship. If they could save it as priests for themselves the next day, then the poor would not be able to partake as often.
16 But if the sacrifice of his offering is a vow offering or a freewill offering, it shall be eaten on the day that he offers his sacrifice, and on the next day what remains of it shall be eaten. 17 But what remains of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burned up with fire. 18 If any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offering is eaten on the third day, he who offers it shall not be accepted, neither shall it be credited to him. It is tainted, and he who eats of it shall bear his iniquity.
But verse 16, "If the sacrifice of his offering is a vowel offering or a freewill offering, it shall be eaten on the day that he offers his sacrifice. And on the next day, what remains of it shall be eaten. But what remains of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burned up with fire. If any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offering is eaten on the third day, he who offers it shall not be accepted, neither shall it be credited to him, it is tainted and he who eats of it shall bear his iniquity." So again, this val as a freewill peace offering could be eaten the day of, but also on the following day, and here, this person is accepted before the Lord. But if you ate it on the third day, then it would disqualify the worshiper and the person who offered this sacrifice. When Solomon dedicated the temple, he offered 142,000 peace offerings. So you can imagine that since it took a couple of days to eat these peace offerings, the festival, the feast just lasted for weeks as they celebrated the Lord.
19 “Flesh that touches any unclean thing shall not be eaten. It shall be burned up with fire. All who are clean may eat flesh, 20 but the person who eats of the flesh of the sacrifice of the Lord’s peace offerings while an uncleanness is on him, that person shall be cut off from his people. 21 And if anyone touches an unclean thing, whether human uncleanness or an unclean beast or any unclean detestable creature, and then eats some flesh from the sacrifice of the Lord’s peace offerings, that person shall be cut off from his people.”
Now, verse 19, he says, "Flesh that touches any unclean thing shall not be eaten. It shall be burned up with fire. All who are clean may eat flesh, but the person who eats of the flesh of the sacrifice of the Lord's peace offerings while an uncleanness upon him, that person shall be cut off from his people. And if anyone touches an unclean thing, whether human uncleanness or an unclean beast or any uncleaned testable creature, and then eat some flesh from the sacrifice of the Lord's peace offerings, that person shall be cut off from his people." Now again, as we move through Leviticus, we're going to see the clean or unclean laws articulated more specifically, but here we get the general idea that the meat itself, the sacrifice itself and the worshiper needed to be ceremonially clean before God. Brothers and sisters, to fellowship with God, to engage with God is a serious thing. God is looking for clean lives before him, and we should want God to be washing our lives. We should want purity and cleanliness before the Lord.
22 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 23 “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, You shall eat no fat, of ox or sheep or goat. 24 The fat of an animal that dies of itself and the fat of one that is torn by beasts may be put to any other use, but on no account shall you eat it. 25 For every person who eats of the fat of an animal of which a food offering may be made to the Lord shall be cut off from his people. 26 Moreover, you shall eat no blood whatever, whether of fowl or of animal, in any of your dwelling places. 27 Whoever eats any blood, that person shall be cut off from his people.”
"The Lord," verse 22, "Spoke to Moses saying, 'Speak to the people of Israel saying you shall eat no fat of ox or sheep or goat. The fat of an animal that dies of itself, and the fat of one that is torn by beasts may be put to any other use, but on no account you shall eat of it. For every person who eats of the fat of an animal of which a food offering may be made to the Lord shall be cut off from his people. Moreover, you shall eat no blood, whatever, whether a foul or an animal in any of your dwelling places. Whoever eats any blood, that person shall be cut off from his people.'" So here, God gives a direction about these offerings related to what they're allowed to eat, not just when the offering is given, but of these potential offering animals in the course of everyday life. So they weren't supposed to eat the fat or the blood when offering it as a sacrifice, but neither were they to eat the fat or the blood of these types of animals during the course of the everyday life in Israel.
Now a couple of things about that, first of all, I just love the idea that God is worthy enough. God is holy, God is righteous, and it is God's rightful place to tell his people what they can consume and what they should not consume. It is God's rightful position to set those dictates upon our lives. And I think as Christians, we should be the first to say, "God has every right to control my diet." So to speak. And of course, I'm not just talking about what we're physically actually eating, but what we consume, what we watch, what we listen to, what we read, the things that we allow into our eye gate or ear gate. These are things that we should say, "God gets to control what we're setting our eyes and our ears upon. It is his right, he is worthy, it is proper for him to make those regulations upon my life."
But then the other thing that I love about this is here's God telling ancient Israel, "Hey, don't eat the fat of these animals and donate the blood of these animals." And both of those things, I just say, "Well, that's gross. Why would I want to eat the fat or drink the blood?" But in a sense, God is saying, "You think those are the best things?" And in that culture, they did. "You think that that's some great delicacy. You think that you'll be satisfied with that, but trust me, it's not the best part of these animals. I don't want you to eat the stuff that's bad for you. I want you to consume something that is better and more nutritive for life." And that's so often the way it is with sin. We think that we'll be satisfied. We think that we want these things, but they actually just harm us. And there's something so much better that God has for us.
28 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 29 “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, Whoever offers the sacrifice of his peace offerings to the Lord shall bring his offering to the Lord from the sacrifice of his peace offerings. 30 His own hands shall bring the Lord’s food offerings. He shall bring the fat with the breast, that the breast may be waved as a wave offering before the Lord. 31 The priest shall burn the fat on the altar, but the breast shall be for Aaron and his sons. 32 And the right thigh you shall give to the priest as a contribution from the sacrifice of your peace offerings. 33 Whoever among the sons of Aaron offers the blood of the peace offerings and the fat shall have the right thigh for a portion. 34 For the breast that is waved and the thigh that is contributed I have taken from the people of Israel, out of the sacrifices of their peace offerings, and have given them to Aaron the priest and to his sons, as a perpetual due from the people of Israel. 35 This is the portion of Aaron and of his sons from the Lord’s food offerings, from the day they were presented to serve as priests of the Lord. 36 The Lord commanded this to be given them by the people of Israel, from the day that he anointed them. It is a perpetual due throughout their generations.”
Now verse 28, "The Lord spoke to Moses saying, 'Speak to the people of Israel saying whoever offers the sacrifice of his peace offerings to the Lord shall bring his offering to the Lord from the sacrifice of his peace offerings. His own hands shall bring the Lord's food offerings. He shall bring the fat with the breast, that the breast may be waived as a wave offering before the Lord. The priest shall burn the fat on the altar, but the breast shall be for Aaron and his sons. And the right thigh, you shall give to the priest as a contribution from the sacrifice of your peace offerings. Whoever among the sons of Aaron offers the blood of the peace offerings and the fat shall have the right thigh for a portion. For the breast that is waved and the thigh that is contributed, I have taken from the people of Israel, out of the sacrifices of their peace offerings. And they've given them to Aaron, the priest, and to his sons as a perpetual due from the people of Israel. This is the portion of Aaron and of his sons from the Lord's food offerings from the day they were presented to serve as priests of the Lord. The Lord commanded this to be given them by the people of Israel from the day that he anointed them. It is a perpetual due throughout their generation.'"
So here's God stipulating the portions of each animal sacrifice that would be perpetually given to Aaron and his sons, so the entire Levitical priesthood, as long as they remained in operation. And actually when you read through the Old Testament, this began to be expanded even as the years went by, but this was the basic minimum that the people of Israel were to give to the priests as they worshiped the Lord. God was providing for his men, not just so he could provide for these men, but so that the worship of God could occur so that sin could be dealt with so that people could know the Lord. And I hope you're seeing that through all of these sacrifices. This is not a stiff God who from far away is demanding this kind of allegiance. It is a loving God who in his holiness knows that sin must be dealt with in order for him to have fellowship with us. He wants us to engage with him. So he's willing to create this elaborate system so that people can be pointed to the ultimate blood of his own son that would wash away the sin of the world. But this is a God who is making a means so that we could enter into fellowship with him. When I read the book of Leviticus, I come away saying to myself, "This God, he wants to know me."
Summary of the Offerings
37 This is the law of the burnt offering, of the grain offering, of the sin offering, of the guilt offering, of the ordination offering, and of the peace offering, 38 which the Lord commanded Moses on Mount Sinai, on the day that he commanded the people of Israel to bring their offerings to the Lord, in the wilderness of Sinai.
Now let's close out our study today with verse 37 and 38 of Leviticus 7, it says, "This is the law of the burnt offering, of the grain offering, of the sin offering, of the guilt offering, of the ordination offering and of the peace offering; which the Lord commanded Moses on Mount Sinai, on the day that he commanded the people of Israel to bring their offerings to the Lord, in the wilderness of Sinai." I know that this was a long study that we just went through today. But part of the reason I wanted to get all the way through the seventh chapter is because we're now going to enter into a new section of the book of Leviticus. Leviticus 1 begins with "God saying to Moses on Mount Sinai" and chapter seven ends with "God saying to Moses on Mount Sinai". So this first seven chapter section of Leviticus gives us a broad overview of these different types of sacrifices. And now we're going to get into some of the intricacies of their laws, their priesthood, and the uncleanliness laws, and try to glean from them timeless principles that apply to our lives today. God bless you church. See you again.