The Peace Offering
1 “‘If his offering is a sacrifice of peace offerings, if he offers it from the herd, whether male or female, he shall offer it without defect before Yahweh. 2 He shall lay his hand on the head of his offering, and kill it at the door of the Tent of Meeting. Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall sprinkle the blood around on the altar. 3 He shall offer of the sacrifice of peace offerings an offering made by fire to Yahweh. The fat that covers the innards, and all the fat that is on the innards, 4 and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the loins, and the cover on the liver, with the kidneys, he shall take away. 5 Aaron’s sons shall burn it on the altar on the burnt offering, which is on the wood that is on the fire: it is an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to Yahweh. 6 “‘If his offering for a sacrifice of peace offerings to Yahweh is from the flock, either male or female, he shall offer it without defect. 7 If he offers a lamb for his offering, then he shall offer it before Yahweh; 8 and he shall lay his hand on the head of his offering, and kill it before the Tent of Meeting. Aaron’s sons shall sprinkle its blood around on the altar. 9 He shall offer from the sacrifice of peace offerings an offering made by fire to Yahweh; its fat, the entire tail fat, he shall take away close to the backbone; and the fat that covers the entrails, and all the fat that is on the entrails, 10 and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the loins, and the cover on the liver, with the kidneys, he shall take away. 11 The priest shall burn it on the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire to Yahweh. 12 “‘If his offering is a goat, then he shall offer it before Yahweh. 13 He shall lay his hand on its head, and kill it before the Tent of Meeting; and the sons of Aaron shall sprinkle its blood around on the altar. 14 He shall offer from it as his offering, an offering made by fire to Yahweh; the fat that covers the innards, and all the fat that is on the innards, 15 and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the loins, and the cover on the liver, with the kidneys, he shall take away. 16 The priest shall burn them on the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire, for a pleasant aroma; all the fat is Yahweh’s. 17 “‘It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings, that you shall eat neither fat nor blood.’”
The third offering is the only one the worshiper eats, and the two things reserved for God are the fat and the blood.
The peace offering differs from the first two in one respect that changes its character entirely: most of it is eaten by the people who brought it.
The procedure opens the same way — the hand laid on the head, the killing at the door of the tent, the blood sprinkled on the altar Leviticus 3:2. What is burned is not the animal but specific portions: the fat covering the innards, the kidneys, and the covering of the liver Leviticus 3:3–4.
The rest goes back to the worshiper, and the later legislation says what he does with it — he eats it, with his household, in a meal that must be finished within a day or two Leviticus 7:15–16. The offering ends in a family dinner.
That is why this one may be male or female Leviticus 3:1. The burnt offering required a male; this one relaxes the specification, because its purpose is different. It is not primarily about atonement. It is about being on terms good enough to eat together.
Two reservations are made, and both are stated as permanent.
All the fat is Yahweh's Leviticus 3:16. In a subsistence economy fat is the most valuable part of an animal — the concentrated food, the thing that makes a lean year survivable. It is precisely what a hungry family would keep, and it is the part burned.
And the closing verse joins it with the other: you shall eat neither fat nor blood Leviticus 3:17.
The two prohibitions have different grounds. Blood is withheld because life is in it, and the book will explain that at length Leviticus 17:11. Fat is withheld because it is the best part, and the principle running through the offerings is that what is given is not the surplus.
So the peace offering is a meal shared with God in which he takes the richest portion and returns the rest. The worshiper does not eat alone and does not eat everything, and the arrangement is called a perpetual statute in all your dwellings — kept at home, wherever the family happens to be.
settled What this mark means