Chapter 3

The Peace Offering

• • “If you are making a peace offering from the herd, it can be male or female, but must be without defect. You are to lay your hands on the animal’s head and kill it at the entrance of the Tabernacle. The priest will sprinkle the blood on all sides of the altar. These are the parts of the animal that are to be burnt on the altar: the fat around the internal organs, the two kidneys and fat surrounding them, and the long lobe of the liver. It will be a special gift and pleasing aroma to the Lord.”

• • • Guzik writes, “In the peace offering, the blood of the animal was offered to God along with the fat (which was considered to be the prime portion)…There was no mention made of what to do with meat portions of the animal. This was because the meat portion was to be shared, with a part given to the priests and part given to the one who brought the offering who ate it as part of a fellowship meal with God…This was not an offering to make peace with God (this was the purpose of the sin offering of chapter four), but an offering to enjoy peace with God. The whole reason Jesus made peace between the Father and the believer is so that the peace could be enjoyed…The greatest peace offering ever made happened when Solomon dedicated the temple, offering 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep (1 Kings 8:63). That must have been history’s greatest barbecue. Hezekiah gave a festival where 2,000 bulls and 17,000 sheep were given for peace offerings (2 Chronicles 30:24).”

• • “If you are making a peace offering from the flock, it can be male or female, but must be without blemish. If you are offering a sheep, lay your hands on its head and kill it at the entrance of the Tabernacle. The priests will sprinkle its blood on the sides of the altar. Remove the backbone and burn the entire fat tail, the fat surrounding the internal organs, the kidneys with the fat around them, and the long lobe of the liver on the altar as an offering to the Lord. If you are offering a goat, you must lay your hands on its head and kill it at the entrance to the Tabernacle. The priests will sprinkle its blood on the sides of the altar. The fat around the internal organs, the kidneys with the fat surrounding them, and the long lobe of the liver are to be burned on the altar.”

• • • “Sheep were smaller, easier to raise, and less expensive than cattle. Apart from the exceptions mentioned in these verses, offerings of sheep followed the same pattern as those of cattle. Sheep in this part of the ancient Near East had broad, fatty tails that were burned on the altar with the rest of the fat.” (NLT Illustrated Study Bible)

• • “All fat belongs to the Lord. You must never eat any fat or blood. This is a permanent law for you to be observed throughout your generations, no matter where you live.”

• • • Guzik writes, “There was a spiritual significance to this command relevant to the peace offering. We enjoy peace with God by giving Him the best (represented by the fat) and by giving Him our lives (represented by the blood)…Even as it was impossible to remove all the blood from an animal, so was it impossible to remove all the fat from meat – this speaks of removing as much as one can practically…There was a practical significance to this command. The prohibition of eating fat was good for Israel from the standpoint of blood-cholesterol and heart disease. It was especially good because tapeworms were often found in the fatty tissues and by obeying this command, the ancient Israelites avoided these dangerous parasites.”