Today's passage: Leviticus 3
Helpful thoughts:
- Chapter 3 gives instructions for Peace Offerings.
- Offerings from the herd or from the flock simply distinguish between cattle or sheep and goats.
- The “fatty portions” of the animal are the best and most savory meats. They are the best portions and therefore they were reserved for the Lord.
- This offering would result in a meal being shared by the one bringing the offering, the priest who took the blood and portions to the altar, and (With what was taken to the altar symbolically) the Lord. In peace, the three “communed” together with a meal.
Questions to consider:
- What similar instructions can you find between the burnt offerings and the peace offerings?
- Why was Eli rebuked in 1 Samuel 2:29? If Eli's sons (Hophni and Phinehas) were eating the choicest meats (fattening themselves), how had they usurped God's place in the peace offerings? What would they have been offering to him?
- How was peace being pictured in this sacrifice? Why are we able to commune with the Lord? What had to take place to bring us together?