The Peace Offering

Leviticus 3 and Leviticus 7 gives instructions to the children of Israel regarding the Peace Offering. What exactly was included in a peace offering? Why did someone bring this kind of offering to God? Who needed to make the offering? In the latest episode of Bible Backdrop, we take a look at these verses and go into some additional details.

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Transcript

Hello everyone and welcome back to the next episode of Bible Backdrop! I know that I normally start the regular episodes with a story, but since we’re continuing on the series about the sacrifices, it might start getting a bit repetitive. There are only so many stories to tell using the different sacrifices. I promise, I’ll pick up the stories again after I’m done with this series.

Moving on with the voluntary sacrifices in the Old Testament, the next one in the book of Leviticus is the Peace Offering. This is described in chapter 3 and along with some more details in chapter 7. 

The first question is: what exactly was a peace offering? Was it a peace between two people or a person and God? Looking through commentaries, it appears that there were 3 reasons for a peace offering. First, it could just be a freewill offering by a person, thanking God for His unsought generosity; second, it could be done in fulfillment of a vow. In 1 Samuel, Hannah gives a peace offering when she presents Samuel to Eli to serve before the Lord. Finally, it could be offered as a thanksgiving to God for deliverance in a time of dire need.

Starting in Leviticus 3, we see a few differences between the peace offering and the burnt offering. The peace offering could be a cow, a sheep or a goat and it could be male or female. No matter which one was offered, the one offering the sacrifice would lay his hands on the animal and then slit the animal’s throat. The priest would then sprinkle the blood onto the altar. The offering would be slightly different for each animal. If it was a cow, Leviticus 3:3-4 states: “From the sacrifice of the peace offerings he shall present an offering by fire to the Lord, 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, which is on the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he shall remove with the kidneys.” For a sheep, it was all the same except for verse 9 that says “From the sacrifice of peace offerings he shall bring as an offering by fire to the Lord, its fat, the entire fat tail which he shall remove close to the backbone…” The rest is exactly the same as for a cow. Verse 12 goes on to describe the sacrifice of a goat and gives the same direction as a cow.

While reading over this, I know some questions come up. First, what is the lobe of the liver? There are two interpretations I can find. The first one states that it describes the ‘caul’...a membrane that covers the liver, also known as the small omentum. However, another commentator states that the translation of the passage is “the redundance upon the liver which he shall take away with the kidneys.” In this case, it would be an appendage on the liver. From the right lobe of a sheep, there is such an appendage that projects upwards, like a finger, close to the right kidney fat. It is easily removed from the liver during the butchering process. Either one is possible.

Another question that comes up is, why is all the fat burned up? Doing a quick search, I got back a number of responses and almost all of them had a different explanation. One even said that is where the toxins of an animal are stored. Not really sure that would be a suitable sacrifice. Personally, I think it is the richest part of the animal; something of a delicacy. That would then make sense that it should be offered to God.

The description of the peace offering continues in Leviticus 7. Verses 11 through 14 states that, if this is a sacrifice of thanksgiving, then there would also need to be an offering of bread along with the animal sacrifice. There were four types of loaves given: unleavened cakes mixed with oil, unleavened wafers spread with oil, cakes of fine flour mixed with oil and, finally, cakes of leavened bread. This is certainly a departure from the grain offering that required all it’s offerings to be free of leaven. As discussed in the last episode, leaven was often a symbol of sin and pride. Why include it in the peace offering? After researching, it appears that the ban on leaven being offered only extended to those things being offered on the altar. According to verse 14, though, this portion was given to the priest: “Of this he shall present one of every offering as a contribution to the Lord, it shall belong to the priest who sprinkles the blood of the peace offerings.” This is part of the priest’s wages for his work. Still...it seems odd to include leavened bread. Probably the best explanation I could find stated that, since this is a peace offering between God and man, then the two types of bread are symbols. God (unleavened bread) and man (leavened bread) have come together to enjoy fellowship with one another in a spirit of thanksgiving.

Moving on, verses 15-21 describe how the flesh of the animal was to be consumed. Unlike the burnt offering, which destroyed the entire offering, the peace offering included meat for the one bringing the sacrifice and also for the priest. There were several rules regarding the eating of the sacrifice. If the offering was one for thanksgiving, then it had to be eaten the same day. However, if it was in fulfillment of a vow or a freewill offering, then it could be eaten over two days. It seems that God wanted His people, when giving thanks, to remember and absorb it immediately. Not ponder on it for two days. The vow or freewill offering, though, may have needed contemplation so it makes sense to eat the sacrifice over a longer period of time. In these verses, God states that it could be eaten on the day of the sacrifice and the next day. If there was anything left by the third day, it had to be burned with fire. Keep in mind that this is an arid, hot climate and meat will spoil quickly; so it makes sense that the meat would have to be consumed.

The rest of the instructions seems to show that the meat could be taken home to be eaten. This would make sense as the area around the Tabernacle was not very large and could get crowded quickly. It also explains the extensive instructions about not allowing someone who is unclean to consume the sacrifice and what to do if this happens. 

To wrap up the peace offering, verses 28-33 describe one final instruction to the person bringing the offering and then goes into the portion belonging to the priests. Verses 29-30 state: “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘He who offers the sacrifice of this peace offerings to the Lord shall bring his offering to the Lord from the sacrifice of his peace offerings. His own hands are to bring offerings by fire to the Lord.” Why is this passage so important? God is making the statement that the offering needs to be physically brought by the person making the offering; they could not send someone else to bring the offering. If they were rich and had slaves, they could not send a slave. It had to be the one making the offering. Every person, rich or poor, was in need of direct fellowship with God and personally should offer their thanks. 

Verses 31-34 then goes on to talk about the portion belonging to the priests. “The priest shall offer up the fat in smoke upon the altar, but the breast shall belong to Aaron and his sons. You shall give the right thigh to the priest as a contribution from the sacrifices of your peace offerings. The one among the sons of Aaron who offers the blood of the peace offerings and the fat, the right thigh shall be his portion. For I have taken the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the contribution from the sons of Israel from the sacrifices of their peace offerings, and have given them to Aaron the priest and to his sons as their due forever from the sons of Israel.” The passage talks about a wave offering and this is mentioned several times in Leviticus. There are several thoughts on how this was done. Some believe that the offering was held by the person making the offering while the priest guided their hands in a right to left waving motion. Others believe that the priest held it while making the same motion. There’s also the thought that it was shifted from the right hand to the left hand. Either way, idea seems to be that, even though it belonged to the priest, the portion was still dedicated to God. The right thigh, however, seems to be the priest’s wages for conducting the sacrifice. Why the right thigh? The only commentary I could find stated that the right thigh signifies the position and power of the priesthood. Jesus, our Great High Priest, sits at the right hand of the Father. Perhaps receiving the right thigh of the sacrifice is a reminder about the significance of the office of the priest and what that represents...a connection between God and man.

On that note, I think we’ll wrap up this episode on the peace offering. Looking ahead, we have two more types of offerings: the sin offering and the guilt offering. These are covered in Leviticus 4-6 if you want to read ahead. If you are enjoying Bible Backdrop, please subscribe and leave a 5 star review. Also, please tell a friend as word of mouth is still the best way for this podcast to grow. If you would like to get in touch with the show, you can e-mail me at BibleBackdrop@gmail.com. I’m always open to future topics, so let me know if there is something that interests you. Thank you again for listening and have a great week!