Leviticuschapter 3
17 verses · Moses, by tradition · 15th to 13th century BC · The Law
Key verse
He is to lay his hand on the head of the offering and slaughter it at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. Then Aaron’s sons the priests shall sprinkle the blood on all sides of the altar.
It stands in A peace offering from the herd, verses 1 to 5.
The chapter
Chapter summary
The peace offering. A fellowship sacrifice eaten with the LORD. Bullock or sheep or goat, male or female, without blemish. The fat, the kidneys, the caul above the liver are burned on the altar; the flesh is eaten in fellowship the same day (or the next). Unlike the burnt offering, the worshipper shares in the meal. This is the sacrifice of thanksgiving, vow, or freewill (ch. 7). JFB emphasises the communion dimension: God, priest, and people all partake. Paul's language of ‘fellowship’ and ‘communion’ in 1 Corinthians 10 reaches into the peace-offering category of the Old Testament altar.
Context
Law · Moses · Leviticus overview
The world of this chapter
- Who
- Israelite households who would take meat home from an offering, and who kept flocks of the broad tailed sheep of that country
- Where
- The tabernacle courtyard at Sinai, and then the tents of the camp where the meat was eaten
- When
- Israel encamped at Sinai, the third of the offerings set out to the whole nation. c. 1445 BC on the traditional dating, in the first month of the second year after the Exodus. This site's published dossier carries a second position, that the priestly material was compiled later, with its holders named
Historical context
The speech is still the LORD's to Moses for the Israelites. The chapter gives the peace offering, and it takes a bull at verse 1, a sheep at verse 6 and a goat at verse 12.
What separates this sacrifice from the others is stated later at 7:15, where the meat goes back to the household that brought it. This is the one offering an ordinary family ate from.
A first hearer would have known the sheep of verse 9 by sight. The broad tailed sheep kept in that region carries a tail heavy with fat, and the law claims the whole of it, cut off close to the backbone.
Fat was reckoned the best part of an animal, so the portion a family would most want is the portion the altar takes. Verse 11 calls the burned part food, and Leviticus 21:6 calls the same thing the food of their God, which gives the altar the shape of a table.
Verse 17 carries the rule out of the sanctuary and into the house, since wherever you live puts it in every kitchen in Israel.
Significance
This was the sacrifice that ended in a meal. A household brought an animal, the altar took the fat, the priest took his portion, and the family ate the rest, so worship and dinner were the same occasion.
The closing statute reached further into daily life than anything else in these chapters. Fat and blood were barred from every table in Israel, and the ban was repeated at 7:23 to 7:27 and again at 17:10 to 17:14.
Where the chapter sits
Leviticus 3 falls in The five offerings (chapters 1–7). Burnt, grain, peace, sin, trespass, the sacrificial vocabulary of Israel's worship.
After it: Consecration of the priesthood, chapters 8–10.
The whole shape of Leviticus→The structure of this chapter
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A peace offering from the herd
This offering stands third in the list a worshipper is given in chapters 1 to 5, and it moves to last when the same five are handed to the priests at 7:11. Male or female is accepted here, where the burnt offering of 1:3 required a male. The hand goes on the head, the animal is killed at the door and the blood is sprinkled round about, exactly as in chapter 1. What separates this sacrifice from the rest is stated later at 7:15, where the flesh goes back to the man who brought it, so this is the one offering the offerer eats from.
Leviticus 3:1
“And if his oblation be a sacrifice of peace offering,.... The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan render it, the "sacrifice of holinesses", or "sanctifications"; so called, not because they were more holy than other sacrifices; for they were what the Jews (c) call the lighter holy things, in distinction from the most holy things, such as the meat offerings were, Lev 2:10 but as Ainsworth suggests, either because none but holy persons might eat of them, Lev 7:19 though this also was enjoined in other sacrifices, or because hereby the name of God was sanctified.”
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Leviticus 3:1
“The peace-offering (like the burnt-offering, Lev 1:3, and the Minchah, Lev 2:1) is here spoken of as if it was familiarly known before the giving of the Law. “Peace-offering” seems preferable to “thank-offering,” which occurs in several places in the margin of our Bible. “thank-offering” appears to be the right name for a subordinate class of peace-offering.”
Leviticus 3:2
Lay his hand upon the head of his offering - See this rite explained in Exo 29:10 (note), and Lev 1:4 (note). “As the burnt-offering, (Leviticus 1).,” says Mr. Ainsworth, “figured our reconciliation to God by the death of Christ, and the meat-offering, (Leviticus 2)., our sanctification in him before God, so this peace-offering signified both Christ’s oblation of himself whereby he became our peace and salvation, (Eph 2:14-16; Act 13:47; Heb 5:9; Heb 9:28), and our oblation of praise, thanksgiving, and prayer unto God.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Leviticus 3:2
“And the reason of this difference is not obscure, both because part of this sacrifice was to be waved by the hands of the offerer, chap. vii, 30, who might not come into the court; and because this offering was not so holy as the others, which were to be eaten only by the priest, whereas part of these were eaten by the offerer.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
The parts claimed are inward parts nobody sees, the fat over the entrails, the two kidneys with the fat by the flanks, and the caul above the liver. Verse 5 lays them on the burnt sacrifice already burning, so the peace offering goes onto a fire the daily offering lit. It is called a sweet savour, a phrase that falls sixteen times in Leviticus and never once on the sin offering or the trespass offering.
Leviticus 3:3
“The fat that covereth the inwards” refers to the caul or transparent membrane which has upon it a network of fatty tissue: “the fat upon the inwards” refers to the small lumps of suet found upon the intestines of healthy animals.
Leviticus 3:4
“The caul above the liver - Probably the membrane covering the upper part of the liver.”
1 more voice on this verse
Leviticus 3:4
“To command by an express law the tail of a certain sheep to be offered in sacrifice to God, might well surprise us; but the wonder ceases, when we are told of those broad-tailed Eastern sheep, and of the extreme delicacy of that part which was so particularly specified in the statute [PAXTON].”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Leviticus 3:5
“Aaron’s sons shall burn it - As the fat was deemed the most valuable part of the animal, it was offered in preference to all other parts; and the heathens probably borrowed this custom from the Jews, for they burnt the omentum or caul in honor of their gods.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Leviticus 3:5
“After it; for the daily burnt-offering was first to be offered, both as more eminently respecting God's honour; and as the most solemn and stated sacrifice, which should take place of all occasional oblations, and as a sacrifice of an higher nature, being for atonement, without which no peace could be obtained, nor peace offering offered with acceptance.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
A lamb laid on the burning wood
The same rite runs again for a sheep, and the text writes it out in full rather than saying as before. Nothing changes in the hand on the head, the place of killing or the blood on the altar. A man who can bring a bullock and a man who can bring one lamb are given identical words, and the animal is the only thing that differs between them.
Leviticus 3:6
“And if his offering, for a sacrifice of peace offering unto Lord, be of the flock,.... As it might be: and be either male or female; which he pleased: he shall offer it without blemish; See Gill on Lev 3:1.”
Leviticus 3:7
“If he offer a lamb for his offering,.... Which was of the flock, and must be of the first year; this is a rule laid down by Maimonides (i), that where ever this word is used in the law, it signifies one of the first year: then shall he offer it before the Lord; bring it into the court, and present it to the priest. (i) Maaseh Hakorbanot, c. 1. sect. 14.”
Leviticus 3:8
“And he shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering,.... The Targum of Jonathan adds here, as before,"his right hand with strength:" and kill it before the tabernacle of the congregation; in the court, in any part of it; for, as Gersom says, all places were right for this; the man that brought it killed it, or the butcher, as the Targum of Jonathan says here also as on Lev 3:2, and Aaron's sons shall sprinkle the blood thereof round about upon the altar; upon the four horns of it; see Gill on Lev 3:2.”
The sheep yields one part the bullock did not, the whole fat tail taken off hard by the backbone. Broad-tailed sheep of that country carry a tail weighted with fat, and the law claims it whole. Verse 11 calls the burnt portion the food of the offering made by fire, and Leviticus 21:6 calls the same thing the bread of their God, which gives the altar the shape of a table.
Leviticus 3:9
“And by the precept of the law, the tail of the victim is commanded to be offered in sacrifice. In the tail, of course, is the end of the body; and he sacrifices well who brings the sacrifice of a good work to the end of the required action.”
Gregory the Dialogist· written before 604· 40 Homilies on the Gospels (Homily 25)patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Leviticus 3:9
“The whole rump - The whole fat tail: i. e., the tail of the kind of sheep well known in the East, and often weighing 15 lbs. and even as much as 50 lbs., when the sheep has been increased by artificial fattening.”
Leviticus 3:10
“And the two kidneys,.... The same direction is given here as about the bullock of the peace offering; see Gill on Lev 3:4.”
Leviticus 3:11
“And the priest shall burn it upon the altar,.... The fat of the tail, of the inwards, the two kidneys, and the caul of the liver: it is the food of the offering made by fire unto the Lord; or "bread"; this part of the offering that was burnt belonged to the Lord; it was his food, and what was accepted of by him, and therefore is elsewhere called the bread of God, Lev 21:8.”
1 more voice on this verse
Leviticus 3:11
“It is the food of the offering - We have already remarked that God is frequently represented as feasting with his people on the sacrifices they offered; and because these sacrifices were consumed by that fire which was kindled from heaven, therefore they were considered as the food of that fire, or rather of the Divine Being who was represented by it. “In the same idiom of speech,” says Dodd, “the gods of the heathens are said, Deu 32:38, to eat the fat and drink the wine which were consumed on their altars.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
A goat, and all the fat is God's
A goat is the third animal named and the cheapest of the three. Birds are received for the burnt offering at 1:14 and from the poor for the sin offering at 5:7, and no bird appears anywhere in this chapter. Commentators tie the omission to the meal that follows, since a bird furnishes no feast for a household, and the chapter itself gives no reason.
Leviticus 3:12
“See Lev 1:10 note. Birds were not accepted as peace-offerings, most probably because they were, by themselves, insufficient to make up a sacrificial meal.”
Leviticus 3:13
“And he shall lay his hand upon the head of it,.... His right hand, according to the Targum of Jonathan, as before; the same directions are given for the killing of it, and for the sprinkling of its blood, as in the offerings of the bullock and lamb.”
The goat's list drops the tail, since a goat's tail carries no fat worth burning, and everything else stands as before. Verse 16 closes all three cases in one sentence, that all the fat is the LORD'S. Fat was reckoned the best of the animal, so the portion a man would most want is the portion he never receives.
Leviticus 3:14
“And he shall offer thereof his offering,.... The same rules are laid down about taking the fat off of several parts as in the sacrifice of the bullock; but nothing is said of the fat of the rump and tail, as is said of the lamb.”
Leviticus 3:16
“Rather, as food of an offering made by fire for a sweet savour, shall all the fat be for Yahweh. Our bodily taste and smell furnish figures of the satisfaction with which the Lord accepts the appointed symbols of the true worship of the heart.”
1 more voice on this verse
Leviticus 3:16
“Shall burn them - The parts mentioned, among which the tail is not one, as it was in the sheep. because that in goats is a refuse part. All the fat - This is to be limited, 1. To those beasts, which were offered or offerable in sacrifice, as it is explained, chap. vii, 23, 25.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
A lasting rule: no fat, no bloodv. 17
The rule walks out of the sanctuary and into the house, because throughout all your dwellings puts it in every kitchen in Israel. It is repeated at 7:23-27 and again at 17:10-14, and the blood half of it is given a reason at 17:11, that the life of the flesh is in the blood. The fat is given no reason anywhere in the book. Acts 15:20 and 15:29 carry the blood rule into the first council of the church, which is worth knowing where a reader assumes every rule in Leviticus stopped.
Leviticus 3:17
“Blood - See Lev 17:11 note. Throughout all your dwellings - The suet was neither to be eaten in sacrificial meals in the sanctuary, nor in ordinary meals in private houses.”
1 more voice on this verse
Leviticus 3:17
“Blood - Was forbidden partly to maintain reverence to God and his worship; partly out of opposition to idolaters, who used to drink the blood of their sacrifices; partly with respect to Christ's Blood, thereby manifestly signified.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
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On this page
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Andrew Bonar, A Commentary on Leviticus; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.