Leviticus 3

Leviticus 3:1

PEace-offering,] Sacrifices of thanksgiving offered for Peace, (by which word the Hebrews signifie all prosperitie;) and those either generally, or particularly, for there were generall sacrifices for all, and particular for Prince, or Priests, or the people by themselves; and some of them were for reconciliation, when God was offended for sinne; Judges 20. 26. 1 Chron. 21. 26. and some for thanksgiving, when he was at peace with them, and pacified towards them: the former were first offered, for no works or service can be acceptable with God, unlesse an expiation and reconciliation for sinne goe before, and by these Peace-offerings are signified: 1. Christ his Oblation of himselfe, as bearing upon him the chastisements of our peace, Jeremiah 53:5. and so becoming our Peacemaker with God, Matth. 3. last. Eph. 2. 14. and 2. the Sacrifice of Praise, which was fit to be joyned with an offering for Peace, that so while we beg new grace we may shew our selves gratefull for former favours: And the Hebrew writers conceive, they were called Peace-offerings, because part of them was offered to God, part was given to the Priest, and part to him who brought it to be offered; signifying an agreement among all who were at it, and were sociably partakers of the same thing.

Leviticus 3:2

at the doore] That is, where the brasen Altar was, on the East side of the Court; wherein they differ from whole burntofferings and sin-offerings, which were offered on the right side of the Court, or towards the North, Leviticus 1:11. & 6. 21, 25. & 7. 2. and the reason of it is, because part of the Peace-offering, to wit, the fat and breast were to be waved before the Altar, upon the hands of him that came to offer it, Leviticus 7:30. and he himselfe to offer it to God, and the Priest was to take it out of his hand; and it was not lawfull for the people to come into the Priests Court, therefore the offering was to be made at the entrance of the Court, whither they might come; and it was to be offered here, because it was not of the most holy things of which only the Priest did eate, (for he that offered it ate a part of it.)

Leviticus 3:3

of the peace-offering] That is, part of the Peace-offering, for of this sacrifice one part was burnt, another was reserved for the Priest, and the third belonged to him that brought it; for the right shoulder, and the breast, Leviticus 7:30. with the two jawes, and the mawe were the Priests, and the rest his, at whose cost the oblation was made, Lev. 7. 15, 16. and hence it was, that in this offering Turtle-doves, and young Pigeons were not permitted to the poorer sort to offer, as they were in the whole burnt-offering, because in them being so small this division could not conveniently be made.

the fat which covereth the inwards] The fat as the best of the Sacrifice is offered up unto the Lord, and so teacheth, that the best is still to be given him.

Leviticus 3:4

the two kidneys] It was not sufficient to sacrifice the eare, or foot, or any outward part, which might be parted without losse of life, but the inward parts must be offered, without which the creature cannot live, because the persons for whom the sacrifice was offered, deserved death, and without the death of Christ could not be redeemed; and the sacrificing of these inward parts, signifying the mortifying of the inward lusts and affections of the flesh, Galatians 5:24. having their root in the reines or kidneys, they are therefore here mentioned, for more serious consideration of that part.

Leviticus 3:6

male or female] In the Peace-offering it was indifferent to offer either male or female, which might be accepted here; because these are by way of thanksgiving for externall blessings, but in whole burnt offerings, only the male as the chiefe. Chap. 1. 3. See Chap. 4. vers. 32. where a female is expressely prescribed, as also Chap. 5. vers. 6.

Leviticus 3:8

upon the head] See Annot. on Exodus 29:10.

Leviticus 3:9

the whole rumpe] Even to the back-bone, over against the reines or kidneys (as the Hebrew Text importeth.) This was peculiar to the peace-offering, of a sheepe, a lambe, or ram; but if the peace-offering were an oxe or a goate, it was not so. The offering of the rumpe some interpret to be an intimation of perseverance to the end; but it rather sheweth that there is not the meanest part of the creature, but God hath a right unto it; and that be a thing never so contemptible in it self, God can make it honourable by applying it to his service, in sacrifice, as here; in a Sacrament, as in Circumcision, Gen. 17.

Leviticus 3:11

the food] Heb. bread. Whatsoever is burned may be said to be food to the fire which devours it; but the sacrifice is called food or meat, in respect of God, who takes delight in it as a man doth in his meate, when he is refreshed by it: See Malachi 1:12. which sets forth Gods love, who reckons himselfe as a guest at their feasts.

Leviticus 3:13

before the Tabernacle] At the doore of the Tabernacle.

Leviticus 3:16

all the fat is the LORDS] It is certaine tha the fat of uncleane beasts neither ought, not could be consecrated to the Lord, nor of cleane beasts which might not be used in sacrifice, as Harts, and wild Oxen; and it is certaine, that the fat that is mixed with the flesh of cleane beasts, they might eat, Deuteronomy 32:14. for they were onely forbidden the fat which covereth the inward vitall parts; to wit, the heart, liver, lungs, kidneys, and small guts with a continued net or caule, and so might easily be separated from the other flesh. And this fat was so strictly forbidden to the Jewes, that they might in no case eate it, no not if they killed their beast at home, for it is called a law to them in all their dwellings, and joyntly forbidden with bloud, which they might not eate in any case, any where. But this some understand onely of the fat of goats, sheep, and oxen, as Josephus saith in his third Booke of Antiquities, Chap. 10. That cleane beast which might not be offered unto God, they might eate its fat, but the fat of them that might be offered to God, they might not, and that upon paine of death, Leviticus 7:25. But if the beast were killed at home, the fat ought not to be consecrated to the Lord, because it is no where commanded; but as the bloud was to be poured on the ground, so was the fat to be burned with a profane fire, unlesse haply they might use it to make candles of it, or to other profane or common, but honest uses; as is granted, in almost the like case, Leviticus 7:24.

Leviticus 3:17

neither fat nor bloud] These two are prohibited as not wholesome enough to be mans meate, (as some conceive,) and though they be both forbidden together, yet it is with this difference, that not all fat is forbidden to be eaten, Nehemiah 8:10. but onely the fat of the oxe, or sheepe, or goat offered in sacrifice, Leviticus 7:23. (and this chiefly, the fat of the inwards) or of beasts that die of themselves, or are torne of wilde beasts, vers. 24. and the fat was the fitter for sacrifice, because it would soone take fire, and goe up in the flame; but for bloud, that was more generally forbidden, Leviticus 17:14. 1 Sam. 14. 32, 33, 34. which might be, first, for distinction of the Jews from the Heathens, who used to drink the bloud of their sacrifices: secondly, for morall admonition against crueltie: thirdly, for mysticall intimation of reverence to the bloud of our Saviour, signified by the bloud-shedding of the sacrifices; as David would not drinke of the water of the well of Bethlehem, but poared it out in an offering before the Lord, because it was equivalently (as he called it) the bloud of those who fetched it with the perill of their lives, 2 Samuel 23:17.