Leviticus 1:2

Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them,.... For unto no other was the law of sacrifices given; not to the Gentiles, but to the children of Israel: if any man; or woman, for the word

Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto the LORD, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock. Speak unto the children of Israel.

There are divers kinds of sacrifices here prescribed; some by way of acknowledgment to God for mercies either desired or received; others by way of satisfaction to God for men’ s sins; others were mere exercises of piety and devotion. And the reason why there are so many kinds of them was, partly respect to the childish estate of the Jews, who by the custom of nations, and their own natural inclinations, were much addicted to outward rites and ceremonies, that they might have full employment of that kind in God’ s service, and thereby be kept from temptations to idolatry; and partly to represent as well the several perfections of Christ, be true sacrifice, and the various benefits of his death, as the several duties which men owe to their Creator and Redeemer, all which could not be so well expressed by one sort of sacrifices. Of the flock, or, of the sheep; though the Hebrew word contains both the sheep and goats, as appears both from the use of the word, 27:9 38:17 and from , and other places of Scripture. Now God chose these kinds of creatures for his sacrifices, either, 1. In opposition to the Egyptian idolatry, to which divers of the Israelites had been used, and were still in danger of revolting to again, that the frequent destruction of these creatures might bring such silly deities into contempt. Or, 2. Because these are the fittest representations both of Christ and of true Christians, as being gentle, and harmless, and patient, and most useful to men. Or, 3. As the best and most profitable creatures, with which it is fit God should be served, and which we should be ready to part with, when God requires us to do so. Or, 4. As things most common and obvious, that men might never want a sacrifice when they needed or God required it.

Leviticus 1:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto the LORD, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, [even] of the herd, and of the flock.Ver. 2. Bring an offering.] Whereby they were led to Christ; as the apostle showeth in that excellent Epistle to the Hebrews, which is a just commentary upon this book.

(2) Speak unto the children of Israel.—The directions for the different sacrifices specified in Leviticus 1:2; Leviticus 3:17, are not in the first instance communicated to the priests who should teach them to the people, but are directly addressed to the people themselves. Ye shall bring your offering . . . —Or, from the cattle ye shall bring your offering, from the oxen and from the flock, that is, if the offering be of quadrupeds in contradistinction to the “fowl” mentioned in Leviticus 1:14, they are to be of oxen and small cattle (tzön), i.e., sheep and goats.

Verse 2. Bring an offering] The word קרבן korban, from קרב karab, to approach or draw near, signifies an offering or gift by which a person had access unto God: and this receives light from the universal custom that prevails in the east, no man being permitted to approach the presence of a superior without a present or gift; and the offering thus brought was called korban, which properly means the introduction-offering, or offering of access. This custom has been often referred to in the preceding books. See also Clarke on "Leviticus 7:38". Of the cattle] הבהמה habbehemah, animals of the beeve kind, such as the bull, heifer, bullock, and calf; and restrained to these alone by the term herd, בקר bakar, which, from its general use in the Levitical writings, is known to refer to the ox, heifer, c. And therefore other animals of the beeve kind were excluded. Of the flock] צאן tson. SHEEP and GOATS for we have already seen that this term implies both kinds; and we know, from its use, that no other animal of the smaller clean domestic quadrupeds is intended, as no other animal of this class, besides the sheep and goat, was ever offered in sacrifice to God. The animals mentioned in this chapter as proper for sacrifice are the very same which God commanded Abraham to offer; see Genesis 15:9. And thus it is evident that God delivered to the patriarchs an epitome of that law which was afterwards given in detail to Moses, the essence of which consisted in its sacrifices; and those sacrifices were of clean animals, the most perfect, useful, and healthy, of all that are brought under the immediate government and influence of man. Gross-feeding and ferocious animals were all excluded, as were also all birds of prey. In the pagan worship it was widely different; for although the ox was esteemed among them, according to Livy, as the major hostia; and according to Pliny, the victima optima, et laudatis sima deorum placatio, Plin. Hist. Nat., lib. viii., c. 45, "the chief sacrifice and the most availing offering which could be made to the gods;" yet obscene fowls and ravenous beasts, according to the nature of their deities, were frequently offered in sacrifice. Thus they sacrificed horses to the SUN, wolves to MARS, asses to PRIAPUS, swine to CERES, dogs to HECATE, &c., &c. But in the worship of God all these were declared unclean, and only the three following kinds of QUADRUPEDS were commanded to be sacrificed: 1. The bull or ox, the cow or heifer, and the calf. 2. The he-goat, she-goat, and the kid. 3. The ram, the ewe, and the lamb. Among FOWLS, only pigeons and turtle-doves were commanded to be offered, except in the case of cleansing the leper, mentioned Leviticus 14:4, where two clean birds, generally supposed to be sparrows or other small birds, though of what species is not well known, are specified. Fish were not offered, because they could not be readily brought to the tabernacle alive.

2. oblation] Heb. korban, from a root signifying ‘to come near’; a general term for anything brought near to God, whether sacrifice, or other sacred gift. It occurs frequently in chs. 1–7, also in Leviticus 9:7; Leviticus 9:15, Leviticus 17:4, Leviticus 22:18; Leviticus 22:27, Leviticus 23:14, Leviticus 27:9; Leviticus 27:11 (in Leviticus 27:11 ‘sacrifice’ A.V.); Numbers 5:15 (the meal offering of jealousy), Leviticus 6:14; Leviticus 6:21 (the offerings of the Nazirite), 7 (the offerings of the princes, parts of which were not for sacrifice), Leviticus 9:7; Leviticus 9:13 (the passover), Leviticus 15:4; Leviticus 15:25, Leviticus 18:9 (‘oblation’ A.V.), Leviticus 28:2, Leviticus 31:50 (‘oblation’ A.V., the spoil of Midian). In the Pent., the word occurs only in Lev. and Num.; outside the Pent, it is found in Ezekiel 20:28; Ezekiel 40:43; Nehemiah 10:35; Nehemiah 13:31. In Neh. the first syllable of the word has the vowel ŭ ?; both R.V. and A.V. translate ḳ ?urban hâ‘çẓ ?im by ‘wood offering.’ R.V. renders ‘oblation’ except in Ezekiel 20:28 and Neh.; A.V. generally has ‘offering’; other renderings are noted in the list of passages given above. The verb from the same root is used in the Hiph.; it is applied to the action both of the layman and the priest, and is translated ‘offer.’ The verse refers only to animal sacrifices, and serves as an introduction to the Burnt-Offering, and to the Peace-Offering of ch. 3. of the herd and of the flock] i.e. large and small cattle. An offering of birds (Leviticus 1:14-17) is not mentioned here.

Speak unto the children of Israel - It is important to observe that these first instructions Lev. 1:2–3:17 are addressed expressly to the individual who felt the need of sacrifice on his own account.

2. If any man — Not any Israelite merely. Numbers 15:14. Here we may discover an early provision for admitting heathen to the worship of Jehovah as proselytes of the gate.