Lite commentary
This section is a priestly manual that follows the offering laws in Leviticus 1-5. The repeated phrase “This is the law of” shows that these are not optional customs but the Lord’s own instructions for worship at the tabernacle. The Hebrew word behind “law” means instruction, and here it refers to God’s ordered direction for how holy offerings must be handled.
The first instructions concern the burnt offering and the altar fire. The offering remained on the altar through the night, and the fire was never to go out. The priest wore linen garments to remove the ashes, then changed clothes before taking them outside the camp to a clean place. Even the ashes of what had been offered to God were treated carefully. The continual fire was not a magical sign but a practical and holy reminder that the altar was always ready for sacrifice and covenant access to the Lord.
The grain offering was divided between the Lord and the priests. A memorial portion, with oil and frankincense, was burned on the altar as a “soothing aroma,” meaning an acceptable offering to the Lord, not that God needed food. The rest belonged to Aaron and his sons and had to be eaten unleavened in a holy place. This showed that priestly food from the altar was itself holy. But when a priest offered his own grain offering at his anointing and succession, it was wholly burned and not eaten. The priest who served others before God was himself under God’s holy authority.
The sin offering and guilt offering are both called “most holy.” They were slaughtered in the same place as the burnt offering, and their blood and meat were handled under strict rules. Some sin offerings could be eaten by the priests in a holy place, but if the blood was brought into the sanctuary to make atonement, the meat had to be burned and not eaten. The text does not explain every reason for these differences, but it clearly states the required practice. The washing of garments, breaking of clay vessels, and cleansing of bronze vessels show that holiness and impurity were not treated casually in Israel’s worship. Sacred things had to be contained, cleansed, or disposed of according to God’s command.
The guilt offering also required blood to be splashed on the altar and the fat portions to be burned to the Lord. Its meat belonged to the priest who made atonement. The passage also explains other priestly portions: the hide of a burnt offering and certain grain offerings were given to the priests. This was not profiteering from religion. It was the Lord’s appointed way of sustaining those who served at his sanctuary.
The peace offering receives especially detailed instruction because it included a fellowship meal. Thanksgiving offerings were accompanied by both unleavened breads and leavened bread. This cautions us against saying simply that leaven always represents evil; in this law, leaven was allowed in the accompanying bread, though not in the most holy priestly portion. The meat of a thanksgiving peace offering had to be eaten the same day. Votive and freewill peace offerings could be eaten on that day and the next day, but leftovers on the third day had to be burned. Sacred meat was not to become ordinary leftovers. If third-day meat was eaten, the offering was not accepted and the eater bore iniquity. If someone ate peace offering meat while unclean, that person would be cut off from his people. That phrase points to serious covenant exclusion, not merely private feelings of guilt.
The Lord also forbade Israel to eat the fat of ox, sheep, or goat, and he forbade them to eat any blood. Fat from an animal that died naturally or was torn by beasts could be used for other purposes, but it still could not be eaten. The fat, the choicest portion, belonged to the Lord when claimed in sacrifice. The blood represented life and was reserved for God’s appointed use in atonement. These were covenant boundaries tied to worship, not random food preferences. Eating forbidden fat or blood brought the severe sanction of being cut off from the people.
The final peace offering instructions emphasize personal participation. The worshiper brought the Lord’s gifts with his own hands. The fat was burned to the Lord, while the breast and right thigh became appointed portions for Aaron and his sons. The passage closes by summarizing the laws for the burnt offering, grain offering, sin offering, guilt offering, ordination offering, and peace offering, and by locating them at Mount Sinai. These laws belonged to Israel’s covenant worship in the wilderness, where the holy God dwelt among his redeemed people through sacrifice, priesthood, and sanctuary.
Key truths
- God himself defines acceptable worship; Israel was not free to improvise at the altar.
- Holy things had to be handled according to holy boundaries; place, time, touch, purity, eating, and disposal all mattered.
- Atonement in Israel’s worship required blood, altar, sacrifice, and appointed priestly mediation.
- The priests were sustained by the Lord’s gifts, but they were also under strict holy obligations.
- Peace with God included thanksgiving and fellowship, but never careless treatment of sacred things.
- Fat and blood were reserved for the Lord because the choicest portion and life itself belong to him.
Warnings, promises, and commands
- The altar fire was to be kept burning continually and not extinguished.
- The priests had to handle ashes, garments, sacred food, blood, vessels, and offerings according to the Lord’s commands.
- Most holy portions had to be eaten only by permitted priests and only in holy places.
- Certain sin offerings whose blood entered the sanctuary had to be burned, not eaten.
- Peace offering meat had to be eaten within the appointed time; third-day leftovers had to be burned, and eating them made the offering unacceptable and brought guilt on the eater.
- Anyone who ate peace offering meat while unclean would be cut off from his people.
- Israel was not to eat the fat of ox, sheep, or goat, and was not to eat blood; eating forbidden fat or blood brought the sanction of being cut off.
Biblical theology
This passage belongs to the Mosaic covenant at Sinai and regulates Israel’s tabernacle worship. It shows how a holy God provided real, ordered access for a sinful covenant people through sacrifice and priestly mediation. These rituals are not direct church law, but they reveal enduring truths about holiness, atonement, reverence, gratitude, and mediated access to God. Later Scripture shows that these sacrifices were shadows pointing beyond themselves: Christ’s self-offering fulfills the need for total consecration, true atonement, cleansing from guilt, and lasting peace with God, without erasing the original meaning of these laws for Israel.
Reflection and application
- We should not treat worship as something we invent for ourselves; this passage teaches reverence for God’s appointed way of approach.
- Those who lead and serve in holy things must remember that service to God brings responsibility, not privilege without accountability.
- Christians are not under these sacrificial regulations, but we should learn from them that grace is never permission to be careless with God’s holiness.
- The peace offering reminds us that thanksgiving and fellowship with God must be joined to purity, obedience, and reverence.
- The prohibition of fat and blood teaches that life and the best portion belong to God, calling us to honor him rather than claim everything for ourselves.