Leviticus 3:1 - Exposition

Peace offering , Zebach shelamim, "sacrifice of peace offerings." The singular, shelem, occurs once ( Amos 5:22 ). The conditions to be fulfilled by a Jew who offered a peace offering were the following:—

1. He must bring either

2 . He must offer it in the court of the tabernacle.

3 . In offering it he must place, or lean, his hand upon its head.

4 . He must kill it at the door of the tabernacle.

5 . He must provide three kinds of cakes similar to those offered in the meat offering, trod leavened bread ( Leviticus 7:11-13 ).

The priest had:

1 . To catch the blood, and strike the sides of the altar with it, as in the burnt sacrifices.

2 . To place upon the burnt offering, smoldering upon the altar, all the internal fat of the animal's body, together with the kidneys enveloped in it, and, in the case of the sheep, the fat tails, for consumption by the fire.

3 . To offer one of each of the three different kinds of unleavened cakes, and one loaf of the leavened bread, as a heave offering.

4 . To wave the breast of the animal backwards and forwards, and to heave the leg or haunch upwards and downwards, in token of consecration (see notes on Le Leviticus 7:14 , Leviticus 7:30 , Leviticus 7:31 ).

5 . To take for his own eating, and that of his brethren the priests, the three cakes and loaf and haunch that had been heaved and waved.

6 . To return the rest of the animal, and the remaining cakes and loaves, to the offerer, to serve as a feast for him and his, to be eaten the same or the next clay, in the court of the tabernacle. The lesson taught by the peace off, ring was the blessedness of being in union with God as his covenant people, and the duty and happiness of exhibiting a joyous sense of this relation by celebrating a festival meal, eaten reverently and thankfully in the house of God, a part of which was given to God's priests, and a part consumed symbolically by God himself. The burnt offering had typified self-surrender; the meat offering, loyal submission; the peace offering typified the joyous cheerfulness of those who, having in a spirit of perfect loyalty surrendered themselves to God, had become his children, and were fed at the very board at which he deigned symbolically to partake. The most essential part of the meat offering was the presentation; of the burnt offering, the consumption of the victim on the altar; of the peace offering the festive meal upon the sacrifice. The combined burnt and meat offering was the sacrifice of one giving himself up to God; the peace offering, that of one who, having given himself up to God, is realizing his communion with him. In this respect the peace offering of the old dispensation foreshadows the Lord's Supper in the new dispensation. Several other names have been proposed for the peace offering, such as thank offering, salvation offering, etc. No name is more suitable than peace offering, but the word must be understood not in the sense of an offering to bring shout peace, but an offering of those who arc in a state of peace, answering to the Greek word αἰρνηική , rather than to the Latin word pacifica. "A state of peace anti friendship with God was the basis and sine qua non to the presentation of a shelem, and the design of that presentation, from which its name was derived, was the realization, establishment, verification, and enjoyment of the existing relations of peace, friendship, fellowship, and blessedness" (Kurtz, 'Sacrificial Worship').