5 to the end that the children of Israel bring their sacrifices, which they sacrifice in the open field, that they bring them to Jehovah, unto the entrance of the tent of meeting, unto the priest, and sacrifice them as sacrifices of peace-offerings to Jehovah.
And if his offering be a sacrifice of peace-offering, -- if he present [it] of the herd, whether a male or female, he shall present it without blemish before Jehovah. And he shall lay his hand on the head of his offering, and slaughter it at the entrance of the tent of meeting; and Aaron's sons, the priests, shall sprinkle the blood on the altar round about. And he shall present of the sacrifice of peace-offering an offering by fire to Jehovah; the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is on the inwards, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the flanks, and the net above the liver which he shall take away as far as the kidneys; and Aaron's sons shall burn it on the altar upon the burnt-offering which [lieth] on the wood that is upon the fire: [it is] an offering by fire to Jehovah of a sweet odour. And if his offering for a sacrifice of peace-offering to Jehovah be of small cattle, male or female, he shall present it without blemish. If he present a sheep for his offering, then shall he present it before Jehovah, and shall lay his hand on the head of his offering, and slaughter it before the tent of meeting; and Aaron's sons shall sprinkle the blood thereof upon the altar round about. And he shall present of the sacrifice of peace-offering an offering by fire to Jehovah; the fat thereof, the whole fat tail, which he shall take off close by the backbone, and the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is on the inwards, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the flanks, and the net above the liver which he shall take away as far as the kidneys; and the priest shall burn it on the altar: [it is] the food of the offering by fire to Jehovah. And if his offering be a goat, then he shall present it before Jehovah. And he shall lay his hand on the head of it, and slaughter it before the tent of meeting; and the sons of Aaron shall sprinkle the blood thereof on the altar round about. And he shall present thereof his offering, an offering by fire to Jehovah; the fat that covereth the inwards and all the fat that is on the inwards, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the flanks, and the net above the liver which he shall take away as far as the kidneys; and the priest shall burn them on the altar: [it is] the food of the offering by fire for a sweet odour. All the fat [shall be] Jehovah's. [It is] an everlasting statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings: no fat and no blood shall ye eat.
And this is the law of the sacrifice of peace-offering, which [a man] shall present to Jehovah. If he present it for a thanksgiving, then he shall present with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and fine flour saturated with oil, cakes mingled with oil. Besides the cakes, he shall present his offering of leavened bread with the sacrifice of his peace-offering of thanksgiving. And of it he shall present one out of the whole offering as a heave-offering to Jehovah; to the priest that sprinkleth the blood of the peace-offering, to him it shall belong. And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace-offering of thanksgiving shall be eaten the same day that it is presented; he shall not let any of it remain until the morning. And if the sacrifice of his offering be a vow, or voluntary, it shall be eaten the same day that he presented his sacrifice; on the morrow also the remainder of it shall be eaten; and the remainder of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burned with fire. And if [any] of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace-offering be eaten at all on the third day, it shall not be accepted, it shall not be reckoned to him that hath presented it; it shall be an unclean thing, and the soul that eateth of it shall bear his iniquity. And the flesh that toucheth anything unclean shall not be eaten; it shall be burned with fire. And as to the flesh, all that are clean may eat [the] flesh. But the soul that eateth the flesh of the sacrifice of peace-offering which is for Jehovah, having his uncleanness upon him, that soul shall be cut off from his peoples. And if any one touch anything unclean, the uncleanness of man, or unclean beast, or any unclean abomination, and eat of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace-offering, which is for Jehovah, that soul shall be cut off from his peoples.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Leviticus 17
Commentary on Leviticus 17 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 17
Le 17:1-16. Blood of Beasts Must Be Offered at the Tabernacle Door.
3, 4. What man … killeth an ox—The Israelites, like other people living in the desert, would not make much use of animal food; and when they did kill a lamb or a kid for food, it would almost always be, as in Abraham's entertainment of the angels [Ge 18:7], an occasion of a feast, to be eaten in company. This was what was done with the peace offerings, and accordingly it is here enacted, that the same course shall be followed in slaughtering the animals as in the case of those offerings, namely, that they should be killed publicly, and after being devoted to God, partaken of by the offerers. This law, it is obvious, could only be observable in the wilderness while the people were encamped within an accessible distance from the tabernacle. The reason for it is to be found in the strong addictedness of the Israelites to idolatry at the time of their departure from Egypt; and as it would have been easy for any by killing an animal to sacrifice privately to a favorite object of worship, a strict prohibition was made against their slaughtering at home. (See on De 12:15).
5. To the end that the children of Israel may bring their sacrifices, which they offer in the open field—"They" is supposed by some commentators to refer to the Egyptians, so that the verse will stand thus: "the children of Israel may bring their sacrifices which they (the Egyptians) offer in the open field." The law is thought to have been directed against those whose Egyptian habits led them to imitate this idolatrous practice.
7. they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils—literally, "goats." The prohibition evidently alludes to the worship of the hirei-footed kind, such as Pan, Faunus, and Saturn, whose recognized symbol was a goat. This was a form of idolatry enthusiastically practised by the Egyptians, particularly in the nome or province of Mendes. Pan was supposed especially to preside over mountainous and desert regions, and it was while they were in the wilderness that the Israelites seem to have been powerfully influenced by a feeling to propitiate this idol. Moreover, the ceremonies observed in this idolatrous worship were extremely licentious and obscene, and the gross impurity of the rites gives great point and significance to the expression of Moses, "they have gone a-whoring."
8, 9. Whatsoever man … offereth … And bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle—Before the promulgation of the law, men worshipped wherever they pleased or pitched their tents. But after that event the rites of religion could be acceptably performed only at the appointed place of worship. This restriction with respect to place was necessary as a preventive of idolatry; for it prohibited the Israelites, when at a distance, from repairing to the altars of the heathen, which were commonly in groves or fields.
10. I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people—The face of God is often used in Scripture to denote His anger (Ps 34:16; Re 6:16; Eze 38:18). The manner in which God's face would be set against such an offender was, that if the crime were public and known, he was condemned to death; if it were secret, vengeance would overtake him. (See on Ge 9:4). But the practice against which the law is here pointed was an idolatrous rite. The Zabians, or worshippers of the heavenly host, were accustomed, in sacrificing animals, to pour out the blood and eat a part of the flesh at the place where the blood was poured out (and sometimes the blood itself) believing that by means of it, friendship, brotherhood, and familiarity were contracted between the worshippers and the deities. They, moreover, supposed that the blood was very beneficial in obtaining for them a vision of the demon during their sleep, and a revelation of future events. The prohibition against eating blood, viewed in the light of this historic commentary and unconnected with the peculiar terms in which it is expressed, seems to have been levelled against idolatrous practices, as is still further evident from Eze 33:25, 26; 1Co 10:20, 21.
11. the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls—God, as the sovereign author and proprietor of nature, reserved the blood to Himself and allowed men only one use of it—in the way of sacrifices.
13, 14. whatsoever man … hunteth—It was customary with heathen sportsmen, when they killed any game or venison, to pour out the blood as a libation to the god of the chase. The Israelites, on the contrary, were enjoined, instead of leaving it exposed, to cover it with dust and, by this means, were effectually debarred from all the superstitious uses to which the heathen applied it.
15, 16. every soul that eateth that which died of itself (Ex 22:31; Le 7:24; Ac 15:20),
be unclean until the even—that is, from the moment of his discovering his fault until the evening. This law, however, was binding only on an Israelite. (See De 14:21).