The Yahwist sacrifice, judging by the description in the book of Leviticus, included three elements. First of all, and every sacrifice began with this, came prayer. A person who wished...
The Yahwist sacrifice, judging by the description in the book of Leviticus, included three elements. First of all, and every sacrifice began with this, came prayer. The person who wanted to offer a sacrifice laid his hands on the head of the sacrificial animal and said a prayer. In the case of the so-called sacrifice of reconciliation, or sacrifice of thanksgiving (the corresponding Hebrew word can mean both "peace" or "reconciliation" and "thanksgiving" in the sense of a return gift or payment), this was a prayer of praise or thanksgiving. Then the animal was slaughtered, after which the priest sprinkled the altar and all those taking part in the ritual with blood. The third element was the sacrificial meal itself, in which all those present also usually took part, at least when the sacrifice of reconciliation was involved (in the Synodal translation it is usually called a "peace offering"). During the meal, a separate, special portion of the sacrificial meat was intended for the priests and Levites taking part in the ritual.
This order becomes understandable if we remember that sacrifice was originally conceived as a form of communion with God and of human sanctification. By God's design, a human being is both a spiritual being and a natural one. As a spiritual being, he is the image of God, a self-aware person possessing freedom of will. Accordingly, for communion with God and for sanctification, a person must freely turn to God himself. That is why everything begins with prayer.
Without turning to God, at the level of ritual alone, sanctification is impossible for a person. On the other hand, a human being is not only spirit but also nature, animal nature, and after the fall he became much more animal than he had been before the fall. This human nature is sanctified through the sprinkling with blood and the eating of sanctified meat. By nature, after all, a person is closest precisely to animals, to those very animals God allowed him to eat after the fall.
God's presence sanctifies the animal placed on the altar, and the person, by then eating the sanctified meat, interacts with the nature sanctified by God on the bodily, and therefore natural, level. Animal nature acts on the bodily nature of fallen man, sanctifying it just as every sanctified nature acts on any other nature, sanctifying it in the process of interaction. If the fall had not happened, a person would not have needed such mediated action upon his bodily existence for its sanctification, but in the fallen state it is, as can be seen, the most adequate form of sanctifying human nature.
3 Directions concerning peace - offerings. A bullock or an heifer, Lev 3:1-5.
A lamb, Lev 3:6-11.
A goat, Lev 3:12-16.
No fat or blood to be eaten, Lev 3:17.
3:1 A peace - offering - This was an offering for peace and prosperity, and the blessing of God, either,
- obtained, and so it was a thank - offering, or,
- desired; and so it was a kind of supplication to God.
A female - Which were allowed here, tho' not in burnt - offerings, becausethose principally respected the honour of God, who is to be served with the best; but the peace - offerings did primarily respect the benefit of the offerer, and therefore the choice was left to himself. Burnt - offerings had regard to God, as in himself the best of beings, and therefore were wholly burned. But peace - offerings had regard to God as a benefactor to his creatures, and therefore were divided between the altar, the priest, and the offerer.3:2 At the door - 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, which place was not so holy as the other; as appears both because it was more remote from the holy of holies, and because the ashes of the sacrifices were to be laid here. 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, Lev 7:30, 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.
3:5 Upon the burnt sacrifice - Either,
3:9 The rump - Which in sheep is fat, and sweet, and in these parts was very much larger and better than ours.
3:11 Burnt it - The parts now mentioned; the rest fell to the priest, Lev 7:31.The food - That is, the fuel of the fire, or the matter of the offering.It is called food, Heb. bread, to note God's acceptance of it, and delight in it; as men delight in their food.
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,
3:17 All your dwellings - Not only at or near the tabernacle, not only of those beasts which you actually sacrifice, but also in your several dwellings, and of all that kind of beasts. Fat - Was forbidden,