A Prophecy of Esau and Jacob

Leviticus 3

¹ “‘And if his oblation be a sacrifice of peace offering, if he offer it of the herd, whether it be a male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before the Lord. — a sacrifice of peace offering; the peace offering consisted of two kinds, the peace offering from the herd (Leviticus 3:1-5), and the peace offering from the flock (Leviticus 3:6-15);

— as in the case of the burnt offering (Leviticus 1:3), the ox is mentioned first, because it is most costly and more important; whether it be a male; whilst in the case of the burnt offering (Leviticus 1:3; Leviticus 1:10) only the male was allowed, there is no distinction of sex here, nor is there any limitation of age. All that was required was that it should be without any defect;

— they were called peace-offering, because in them God and his people did, as it were, feast together to ireflect prosperity and happiness generally, in token of friendship. The peace-offerings were offered by way of supplication; and “thank-offering” is sometimes used as another class of peace-offering.

² And he shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering, and kill it at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation; and Aaron’s sons the priests shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about. — not on the north side of the altar, where the burnt-offering was killed, as also the sin-offering, and the trespass-offering, but in the very entrance of the court where the brazen altar stood;

— and Aaron’s sons the priests shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about; in like manner as the blood of the burnt offering was;

³ And he shall offer from the sacrifice of the peace offering an offering made by fire unto the Lord: the fat that covereth the inwards and all the fat that is upon the inwards,

⁴ and the two kidneys and the fat that is on them which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys — it shall he take away. 

⁵ And Aaron’s sons shall burn it on the altar upon the burnt sacrifice, which is upon the wood that is on the fire: it is an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the Lord. 

— and Aaron’s sons; after the offerer has killed the victim, taken out the choice parts and offered them to the officiating priest, the latter shall burn it, that is, the whole collection of the fat pieces described in Leviticus 3:3-4, upon the ashes of the continual burnt offering, which was the daily offering of the lamb.

⁶ “‘And if his offering for a sacrifice of peace offering unto the Lord be of the flock, male or female, he shall offer it without blemish. — of the flock; that is, of sheep or goats; they might be either male or female, provided only that they were without any defect; to give to God means to give the best.

⁷ If he offer a lamb for his offering, then shall he offer it before the Lord. — if he offer a lamb for his offering; which was of the flock, it must be of the first year; this is a principle that whereever this word is used in the law, it signifies one of the first year;

⁸ And he shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering and kill it before the tabernacle of the congregation; and Aaron’s sons shall sprinkle the blood thereof round about upon the altar. — and he, the man that brought the offering, shall lay his hand upon the head of the lamb;

⁹ And he shall offer from the sacrifice of the peace offering an offering made by fire unto the Lord; the fat thereof and the whole rump, it shall he take off hard by the backbone: and the fat that covereth the inwards and all the fat that is upon the inwards,

¹⁰ and the two kidneys and the fat that is upon them which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys — it shall he take away. — as in verse 4 above, livers and kidneys are always taken away; but why?

¹¹ And the priest shall burn it upon the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire unto the Lord. 

¹² “‘And if his offering be a goat, then he shall offer it before the Lord. — and if his offering be a goat; the directions about the goat as a peace offering are the same as those about an ox.

¹³ And he shall lay his hand upon the head of it and kill it before the tabernacle of the congregation; and the sons of Aaron shall sprinkle the blood thereof upon the altar round about. 

¹⁴ And he shall offer thereof his offering, even an offering made by fire unto the Lord: the fat that covereth the inwards and all the fat that is upon the inwards, 

¹⁵ and the two kidneys and the fat that is upon them which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys — it shall he take away. — as in verse 4 and 10 above, livers and kidneys are always taken away; but why? Maybe they were considered as delicacies, and God wants them to be returned so that the families of the offerers could enjoy in the celebration?

¹⁶ And the priest shall burn them upon the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire for a sweet savor; all the fat is the Lord’S. 

¹⁷ It shall be a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither fat nor blood.’” — that is, the law not to eat the fat or blood of sheep or goats, is to be binding upon the Israelites throughout all their future generations, and is applicable to any place wherever they may dwell.—

Leviticus 4

¹ And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,

² “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, ‘If a soul shall sin through ignorance against any of the commandments of the Lord concerning things which ought not to be done, and shall do against any of them, — if a soul sin through ignorance; the next kind of sacrifices appointed were for the expiation of particular sins, and are therefore called sin-offerings; the first sort of these were for sins of ignorance.

— and shall do against any of them; it must be something done, and not merely said: hence the Jews say, that as the neglect of circumcision, and of the Passover, does not come under this exemption, because they ought to know;

— but what about if a man eats the fat that is above the kidneys, thinking it is the fat that is above the heart; or that lies with a woman forbidden by the law, thinking her to be his wife; or that commits idolatry, by bowing to the idol, thinking that the law only forbids sacrifice, incense, and libation, but not bowing; or that profanes the Sabbath, thinking it is still before evening on Friday.

³ if the priest who is anointed shall sin, bringing the sin upon the people, then let him bring for his sin which he hath sinned a young bullock without blemish unto the Lord for a sin offering. — even the chief priest could be a frail being, and often does, like the rest of the people; or to which he was liable as they; or “to make the people guilty” as it could be read; “so that the people sin” or “making the people to sin;”

⁴ And he shall bring the bullock unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord, and shall lay his hand upon the bullock’s head and kill the bullock before the Lord. — and the priest shall bring the bullock; that is, the high priest himself; it is evident that God never had any infallible priest in his service upon the earth;

⁵ And the priest who is anointed shall take of the bullock’s blood and bring it to the tabernacle of the congregation; — and bring it to the tabernacle of the congregation; out of the court where the bullock was slain, into the holy place, where were the veil that divided between the holy of holies, and the altar of sweet incense;

⁶ and the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle of the blood seven times before the Lord, before the veil of the sanctuary. — the treatment of the blood was special in this sin-offerings; the high priest himself sprinkled the blood seven times within the tabernacle and smeared it on the horns of the altar of incense;

— seven times; a number of completeness; and prescribed here, either to show that his sins needed more than ordinary purgation, and more exercise of his efforts and repentance; before the veil; the inner veil dividing between the holy place and the holy of holies;

— whereas the other ‘inferior’ sin-offerings, it was smeared on the horns of the altar of burnt-offering outside the tabernacle; Leviticus 4:25, Leviticus 4:30, Leviticus 4:34; and no mention of sprinkling of the blood seven times;

⁷ And the priest shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar of sweet incense before the Lord, which is in the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall pour all the blood of the bullock at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. — and the priest shall put; that is, the high priest. —

⁸ And he shall take off from it all the fat of the bullock for the sin offering: the fat that covereth the inwards and all the fat that is upon the inwards, 

⁹ and the two kidneys and the fat that is upon them which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys — it shall he take away,

¹⁰ as it was taken off from the bullock of the sacrifice of peace offerings; and the priest shall burn them upon the altar of the burnt offering. — the priest was to lift off “all the fat” from the sacrifice, that is, the same fat portions as in the peace-offering, and burn it upon the altar of burnt-offering.

¹¹ And the skin of the bullock and all his flesh, with his head, and with his legs, and his inwards, and his dung” — The skin of the bullock, and all the flesh, together with the head and the shank and the entrails (Leviticus 1:9) and the dung;

— in fact the whole bullock, was to be carried out by him (the sacrificing priest) to a clean place before the camp, to which the ashes of the sacrifices were carried from the ash-heap (Leviticus 1:16), and there burnt on the wood with fire.

¹² even the whole bullock shall he carry forth outside the camp unto a clean place, where the ashes are poured out, and burn him on the wood with fire; where the ashes are poured out shall he be burned. — — outside the camp; during the Second Temple this third place is outside Jerusalem, called the place of ashes;

¹³ “‘And if the whole congregation of Israel sin through ignorance, and the thing be hid from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done something against any of the commandments of the Lord concerning things which should not be done, and are guilty,

¹⁴ when the sin which they have sinned is known, then the congregation shall offer a young bullock for the sin, and bring him before the tabernacle of the congregation.

¹⁵ And the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands upon the head of the bullock before the Lord; and the bullock shall be killed before the Lord. — the elders of the congregation represent the whole congregation;

¹⁶ And the priest who is anointed shall bring of the bullock’s blood to the tabernacle of the congregation; 

¹⁷ and the priest shall dip his finger in some of the blood and sprinkle it seven times before the Lord, even before the veil. — the treatment of the blood is again special in this sin-offerings; the high priest shall sprinkle the blood seven times within the tabernacle before the veil and smear it on the horns of the altar of incense;

¹⁸ And he shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar which is before the Lord, that is in the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall pour out all the blood at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 

¹⁹ And he shall take all his fat from him and burn it upon the altar.

²⁰ And he shall do with the bullock as he did with the bullock for a sin offering; so shall he do with this. And the priest shall make an atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven them.

²¹ And he shall carry forth the bullock outside the camp and burn him as he burned the first bullock: it is a sin offering for the congregation. — and the priest that is anointed shall bring of the bullock’s blood; that is, the high priest, as the Targums of Jonathan explain it:

— again, outside the camp; during the Second Temple this place is outside Jerusalem, called the place of ashes;

²² “‘When a ruler hath sinned, and done something through ignorance against any of the commandments of the Lord his God concerning things which should not be done, and is guilty, — when a ruler hath sinned, that is, the king, judge, or subordinate, was the party concerned in this sin;

²³ or if his sin wherein he hath sinned come to his knowledge, he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a male without blemish. — he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a male without blemish; his offering was to be a “kid of the goats”

²⁴ And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the goat, and kill it in the place where they kill the burnt offering before the Lord: it is a sin offering.

²⁵ And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out his blood at the bottom of the altar of burnt offering. — the priest shall sprinkle the blood; but no mention of seven times;

²⁶ And he shall burn all his fat upon the altar, as the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings; and the priest shall make an atonement for him concerning his sin, and it shall be forgiven him.

²⁷ “‘And if any one of the common people sin through ignorance while he doeth something against any of the commandments of the Lord concerning things which ought not to be done, and be guilty,

²⁸ or if his sin which he hath sinned come to his knowledge, then he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a female without blemish, for his sin which he hath sinned.

²⁹ And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering, and slay the sin offering in the place of the burnt offering. 

³⁰ And the priest shall take of the blood thereof with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out all the blood thereof at the bottom of the altar. — the priest shall put the blood upon the horns of the altar; but no mention of any sprinking of blood;

³¹ And he shall take away all the fat thereof, as the fat is taken away from off the sacrifice of peace offerings, and the priest shall burn it upon the altar for a sweet savor unto the Lord; and the priest shall make an atonement for him, and it shall be forgiven him. 

³² “‘And if he bring a lamb for a sin offering, he shall bring it a female without blemish. — and if he bring a lamb; those who were unable to bring a goat might offer a female sheep as the less valuable animal, provided it was without blemish;

³³ And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering, and slay it for a sin offering in the place where they kill the burnt offering.

³⁴ And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out all the blood thereof at the bottom of the altar. 

³⁵ And he shall take away all the fat thereof, as the fat of the lamb is taken away from the sacrifice of the peace offerings, and the priest shall burn them upon the altar, according to the offerings made by fire unto the Lord; and the priest shall make an atonement for his sin that he hath committed, and it shall be forgiven him.

~ by Joel on December 13, 2023.

Posted in Books of Moses