Leviticus 7

Leviticus 7:3

Pacian of Barcelona: What is the tail, except the end of the body? And that man sacrifices well who continues his offering of good works right to the end of the required action. So the tail of a beast must be offered on the altar so that we will carry out to the end every good work that we begin. Exposition of the Old and New Testament, Leviticus

Paterius: What is the tail, except the end of the body? And that man sacrifices well who continues his offering of good works right to the end of the required action. So the tail of a beast must be offered on the altar so that we will carry out to the end every good work that we begin. — EXPOSITION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT, Leviticus 7

Leviticus 7:7

Augustine of Hippo: When the Scripture exposes and speaks of the law of the sacrifice of the ram offered by the crime, what does it mean what it says next: As is the sacrifice for sin, so is the sacrifice for the crime: its law is the same. The question arises of knowing what difference there is between sin and crime, because if there were no difference, it would not be said: As is the sacrifice for sin, so is the sacrifice for crime. Well, although the law and its sacrifice do not differ in anything, since for both the same law governs, however, these two things that have the same sacrifice, sin and crime, if they were not differentiated into anything and were two names for the same thing, the Scripture would not worry so much about saying that the sacrifice of both is the same. Well, sin may be the execution of evil, and crime, the abandonment of good. And as in a life worthy of praise one thing is to turn away from evil and another to do good, as the Scripture recommends us with these words: Depart from evil and do good, (Ps. 36,37) so, too, in a life worthy of reproach, one thing it is to turn away from good and another to do evil, and that would be the crime, and this would be sin. For the rest, if we discuss the word itself, what else sounds delictum (crime) but derelictum (left)? And what does the offender leave but the good? The Greeks have also put two usual words to designate this plague. Because delictum (crime), in Greek, corresponds to paraptoma and plemmalleia. In this passage of Leviticus plemmalleia appears. When the Apostle says: If anyone commits a crime, (Galatians 6,1) the paraptomati appears in the Greek. Now, if we analyze the origin of these terms, we see that paraptomate is understood as the one who commits the crime, from where the corpse comes, a word that the Latins derived from cadendo (to fall), and in Greek ptoma comes from apò tou piptein, is say, to fall. For that reason, whoever does evil sinning, before falling from good by committing crimes. On the other hand, plemmalleia is a term that designates something akin to negligence. Because negligence is said in Greek améleia, since one does not care what one is negligent about. That is why in Greek it is said: ou méléi moi: «I do not care». And the particle pla, which is added to form plemméleia, means “out of”. And so améleia, which means “negligence,” seems like it amounts to “without care”, and plemméleia “out of care,” which is almost the same. Therefore, some of our translators chose to translate plemméleian for negligence and not for crime. And in the Latin language, what else is negligitur (one looks with negligence) but what is non-legitur (not chosen), that is, non eligitur (not chosen)? That is also why Latin authors have said that the law (legem) comes from legendo (choosing), that is, choosing (choosing). Through these clues follows in a certain way that delinque (delinquit) who leaves (derelinquit) the good and leaving it falls well, because it is negligent (neglegit), that is, does not choose (non eligit). With regard to the word sin, which in Greek is called amartía, it does not occur to me at the moment, in either of these two languages, where it comes from. It may also seem that crime is what is done imprudently, through ignorance, and sin, which is done consciously. This difference seems supported by the following texts of Scripture: Who knows their crimes? (Ps. 18,3) And this other: Well, you knew my imprudence. And the author immediately adds: And my crimes are not unknown to you (Ps. 68,6), as if repeating the same idea in another way. And it is not in disagreement with this the sentence of the Apostle mentioned before: If someone commits some crime. By speaking here that “if one incurs,” it means that he has fallen imprudently. That sin belongs to the sphere of consciousness says the apostle James, giving a kind of definition of it: He who knows how to do good and does not do it, commits a sin (St 4,17). Well, be that that is, or whatever the difference between sin and crime, if there were no difference between them, the Scripture would not say what it says: As is the sacrifice for sin, so is sacrifice for the crime: its law is the same (Leviticus 6,37 7,7). In spite of what has been said, those two words are often used interchangeably, so that sin is called crime, and crime, sin. Thus, when it is said that in baptism sins are forgiven, it is not necessary to understand that crimes are not also forgiven. And in spite of everything the two words are not used, because in the term sin both concepts are included. In this same sense, the Lord says that his blood will be shed for many for the forgiveness of sins (Cf Matthew 26,28). Since he does not mention crimes, is there anyone who dares to say that by his blood crimes are not forgiven? The same thing must be said of the text of the Apostle when he says: Because judgment, starting from a single one, leads to condemnation; but grace, based on many crimes, leads to justification (Rm 5,16). Evidently, under the name of crimes, sins are also understood. In the text of Leviticus itself, in which we are forced to find or see some difference between crime and sin, the following is read, when God speaks of the sacrifices to be offered for sins: But if the whole assembly of the children of Israel sin out of ignorance and the fact remains hidden from the eyes of the assembly and does something that should not be done against any precept of the Lord and commit a crime and the sin they committed was known to them (Leviticus 4,13.14). When he says here and commits a crime, he immediately adds: the sin they committed, that is, the same sin that was previously called a crime. Then he continues: But if a leader sins and unintentionally does something that should not be done against any precept of the Lord his God and delinquent (Leviticus 4,22). And the same then: But if any person of the people of the earth sin without wanting it, doing something that should not do against any precept of the Lord and commits crimes and warns of the sin he committed (Leviticus 4,27.28). The same in another passage: Whoever makes an oath distinguishing with his lips doing evil or doing good according to all the things that man distinguishes by swearing and does not notice and know and commit one of these sins and confess the sin with whom he sinned against him, and he will offer a sacrifice for the things he committed against the Lord, for the sin he committed (Leviticus 5,4-6). And shortly afterwards he adds: And the Lord spoke to Moses saying: If a person deceives by forgetfulness and sins unintentionally against the holy things of the Lord, and because of his offense he will offer to the Lord a ram of the flock, without blemish, for a price, according to the price of silver shekels, of the holy shekel, for the crime that he committed, and for the sin he committed against holy things, he will restore what was defrauded and add a fifth more, and give it to the priest; and the priest will make atonement for him with the ram of the crime and he will be forgiven (Leviticus 5,14-16). The text continues: Whoever sins and does something that should not be done against any precept of the Lord and does not realize and become guilty and accept his sin, and offer a ram of the flock, without defect, according to the price of money, as a sacrifice for the crime to the priest; and the priest will make atonement for him because of the mistake he made without realizing it, and he will be forgiven, because he did commit a crime before the Lord. And he continues saying: And the Lord spoke to Moses saying: “Whoever sins and scornfully disregards the precepts of the Lord and lies in relation to what concerns the neighbor about something entrusted or deposited or stolen, or does some injury to the neighbor or find something lost and lie about it and swear unjustly about anything that man usually does, sinning in those things, it will happen that when he has sinned and committed and will return what he has stolen or the injury he caused or what is entrusted or given to him in deposit, or the lost object that he found or all the things for which he swore unjustly; he will return it in full and add a fifth more, returning it to whoever had it on the day he was convinced. And for his offense he will offer to the Lord a ram of the flock, without blemish, for a price, for what he committed, and the priest will make atonement for him before the Lord and he will be forgiven any of all the things he did and the crime that he committed (Leviticus 6,1-7). In conclusion, almost always that Scripture mentions sins, it also says that those sins are crimes. Therefore, it is evident from many passages of Scripture that, on the one hand, these two terms are used interchangeably, and on the other, that there is some difference between them, when the sacred text says: As is the sacrifice for sin, so it is also the sacrifice for the crime. — QUESTIONS ON LEVITICUS, Q. 20 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Leviticus 7:23

Augustine of Hippo: You will not eat cow, sheep or goat fat. The fat of animals killed or destroyed by wild beasts may be used for anything, but it can not be eaten as food. Everyone who eats fat from the animals that tend to offer themselves as victims for the Lord, that individual will be exterminated from his people. About fat, the Scripture had said before: All fat is for the Lord (Leviticus 3,16). And we had asked ourselves if it would refer only to the fat of every pure animal - because about the fat of impure animals there is no problem - and what was to be done with the fat, which the Scripture forbids to eat. Now he says what must be done with the fat of a dead animal and an animal torn apart by wild beasts, and says that it can be used for anything. For anything, obviously, for which fat is necessary. Therefore, the question remains to know what is done with the fat of other animals that are pure and that can be eaten. By saying that every person who eats the fat of the animals offered to the Lord will be exterminated from his people, it seems that it is only said that it is forbidden to eat the fat of the pure animals offered in sacrifice, even though we have heard that Jews do not eat any fat. But here we do not inquire what the Jews thought, but what the Scripture prescribes. Finally, they do not know what to do Correctly with the fat, from which they are deprived, nor how they have to get rid of it, since it says: All the fat is for the Lord, if they want to understand not only the fat here of sacrificed animals, but also of animals that are not offered in sacrifice, even if they are impure. — QUESTIONS ON LEVITICUS, Q. 21 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Leviticus 7:29

Augustine of Hippo: What does it mean if, in speaking of the sacrifices of salvation, the text warns again and says that the one who offers the gift of the sacrifice of his salvation should give the priests the victim’s chest and leg, but So that the fat of the breast is offered to the Lord with the part that covers the liver, and, on the other hand, when speaking before the sacrifices of salvation, the Scripture ordered that the part that covers the liver along with the fat of the belly and kidneys and of the loins (Cf Leviticus 4,9), and omitted the relative to the fat of the chest? Does he mention here what he omitted there? But why does he speak here and there of the part that covers the liver? Is there perhaps a difference between what was said earlier about the sacrifice of salvation and what is added here of his salvation, as if one thing were salvation and another salvation? — QUESTIONS ON LEVITICUS, Q. 22 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Leviticus 7:33

Pacian of Barcelona: What does it mean that the priest, by a precept of the law, receives not only the right shoulder, but receives it “separated”? Not only is his work useful; it is also unique. Not only does he do what is right among wicked men, but he surpasses those who live well and are subject to him by the honor of his orders and thus surpasses them in his virtuous life. When the breast and the shoulder are given to him as food—since he is bidden to consume part of the sacrifice—he learns to sacrifice something of himself to God. Not only should he think right thoughts in his breast, but also by the work of his shoulder draw his hearers to things above. Nothing in this present life should he desire, nothing should he fear. He should despise the pleasures of this world and reject the fear within, and he should scorn fear as he meditates on the pleasures of inner sweetness. Exposition of the Old and New Testament, Leviticus

Paterius: What does it mean that the priest, by a precept of the law, receives not only the right shoulder, but receives it “separated”? Not only is his work useful; it is also unique. Not only does he do what is right among wicked men, but he surpasses those who live well and are subject to him by the honor of his orders and thus surpasses them in his virtuous life. When the breast and the shoulder are given to him as food—since he is bidden to consume part of the sacrifice—he learns to sacrifice something of himself to God. Not only should he think right thoughts in his breast, but also by the work of his shoulder draw his hearers to things above. Nothing in this present life should he desire, nothing should he fear. He should despise the pleasures of this world and reject the fear within, and he should scorn fear as he meditates on the pleasures of inner sweetness. — EXPOSITION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT, Leviticus 8