Commentary - Leviticus 3:1-5

Bird's-eye view

After the ascension offering in chapter one, which is all about consecration and total dedication to God, and the grain offering in chapter two, which speaks of the dedication of our labors, we come to the peace offering. This sacrifice is different. It's not primarily about atonement for sin, though that foundation is always assumed. Rather, the peace offering is about fellowship, communion, and celebrating a restored relationship with the living God. It is a shared meal, a covenant feast. God gets His portion, the priests get theirs, and the worshiper gets to sit down and eat the rest in the presence of the Lord. This is God proclaiming from the very beginning His ultimate intention: not just to forgive sinful humanity, but to bring us to His table for a meal. This whole chapter is a glorious picture of what Christ accomplished. He is our peace, and because of His sacrifice, we have been invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

The details here are not tedious regulations for some forgotten butcher shop religion. They are dripping with gospel significance. The laying on of hands, the splashing of the blood, the offering of the fat, it all points forward to the one perfect sacrifice that would secure a peace that passes all understanding. This is a peace that not only reconciles us vertically to God but is the only possible foundation for true horizontal peace among men. Without peace with God through the blood of His Son, all our attempts at peace on earth are just rearranging deck chairs on a sinking ship.

Outline

Context In Leviticus

Leviticus is the instruction manual for how a sinful people can live in the presence of a holy God. Exodus ends with the glory of God filling the tabernacle, so potent that Moses himself cannot enter. So the question is, how do we get in? Leviticus answers that question. It begins with the sacrificial system, which is God's gracious provision for dealing with sin and enabling worship. The offerings are not ladders for man to climb up to God, but rather a gracious invitation from God for man to draw near.

The peace offering follows the burnt offering (total consecration) and the grain offering (dedication of work). This order is significant. First, we are wholly God's. Second, our work is for Him. And third, on that basis, we can have fellowship with Him. You cannot have the fellowship meal of the peace offering without the substitutionary blood of the other sacrifices. This is why in the New Testament, our communion at the Lord's Table is predicated on the finished work of Christ on the cross. The peace offering is a central part of this system, demonstrating that the goal of redemption is not just a not-guilty verdict, but a seat at the Father's table.

Clause-by-Clause Commentary

v. 1 ‘Now if his offering is a sacrifice of peace offerings, if he is going to bring near one from the herd, whether male or female, he shall bring it near without blemish before Yahweh.

The first thing to notice is the nature of this offering. It is a "sacrifice of peace offerings." The Hebrew word is shelamim, which is related to that glorious word shalom. This isn't just the absence of conflict; it is wholeness, completeness, flourishing, and fellowship. This offering is brought when things are right between the worshiper and God, or to celebrate that they have been made right. It is a fellowship offering. Unlike the burnt offering, where the whole animal went up in smoke, this one is shared. God gets a part, the priest gets a part, and the worshiper and his family get to feast on the rest. This is a picture of communion.

The animal could be a male or a female from the herd. This shows a certain latitude. This wasn't as stringent as some other offerings, perhaps indicating the free and celebratory nature of it. But one requirement was absolute: it had to be "without blemish." You don't bring your sick, three-legged cow to a fellowship meal with the King of the universe. You bring your best. This points directly to Christ, our perfect, spotless Lamb, the only offering worthy to secure our peace with God. An imperfect sacrifice cannot secure a perfect peace.

v. 2 Then he shall lay his hand on the head of his offering and slaughter it at the doorway of the tent of meeting, and Aaron’s sons the priests shall splash the blood around on the altar.

Here we have two crucial actions. First, the worshiper lays his hand on the head of the animal. This is an act of identification. In the sin offerings, this symbolized the transfer of guilt. Here, in the peace offering, it is more an act of dedication and representation. "This animal stands for me. Its death is my death, and its acceptance is my acceptance." The worshiper is not a spectator; he is a participant. He himself is the one who slaughters the animal, right at the entrance to God's house. This is not a sterile, detached religion. It is bloody, visceral, and personal. The cost of peace is death.

Second, the priests, Aaron's sons, take the blood and splash it around the altar. The blood represents the life of the animal, and its application to the altar is the central atoning act. Life has been given up. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins, and consequently, no peace with God. The blood makes fellowship possible. We cannot waltz into God's presence on our own terms. We must come by way of the blood. For us, this means we only have peace with God through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. The priests are the mediators, applying the blood on behalf of the people, a role Christ fulfills perfectly as our great High Priest.

v. 3 From the sacrifice of the peace offerings he shall bring an offering by fire near to Yahweh, the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails,

Now we see what God's portion of the meal is. It is an "offering by fire," and specifically, it is the fat. The text is very particular: the fat covering the entrails and all the fat that is on them. In the ancient world, the fat was considered the richest, the best part of the animal. It represented the health, energy, and essence of the creature. By giving the fat to God, the worshiper is acknowledging that the very best belongs to Him. God is not to be given leftovers. He is to be honored with the choicest portion.

This is a principle that runs through all of Scripture. We are to give God our first and our best, not what is convenient or what remains after we have satisfied ourselves. This act of giving the fat to God is an act of worship that declares His supreme worthiness.

v. 4 and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, which is on the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he shall remove with the kidneys.

The description of God's portion continues with more detail. The kidneys and the fat around the loins, along with the lobe of the liver. In Hebrew thought, the kidneys and other internal organs were often associated with the deepest emotions and the seat of the will, the very center of the person. Think of how the Psalms speak of God testing the "heart and kidneys" (Psalm 26:2). So, in offering these parts, the worshiper is symbolically offering the innermost parts of his being to God. He is offering not just the best in substance (the fat), but the best in terms of his inner self. True fellowship with God requires this kind of total, internal surrender. It's not just an external action; it's a matter of the heart, the kidneys, the liver, the whole man.

v. 5 Then Aaron’s sons shall offer it up in smoke on the altar on the burnt offering, which is on the wood that is on the fire; it is an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to Yahweh.

The priests take these specified parts and burn them on the altar. Notice that it is offered "on the burnt offering." The peace offering rests upon the foundation of the burnt offering. The fellowship rests upon the foundation of total consecration. You can't have one without the other. This is a crucial point. Many people want the peace and fellowship of Christianity without the radical, all-consuming consecration that must come first. They want the dinner party without the cross.

And the result of this offering? It is a "soothing aroma to Yahweh." This phrase doesn't mean that God has a physical nose that enjoys the smell of barbecue. It is an anthropomorphism, a figure of speech, that communicates God's good pleasure and acceptance. When the sacrifice is offered in faith according to His instructions, God is pleased. He accepts the worship. This is what Christ's sacrifice accomplished in full. He was the ultimate soothing aroma to the Father (Eph. 5:2), the one offering that perfectly pleased God and thereby secured our everlasting peace.

Application

So what do we do with this? We are not to go out and buy a goat. Christ has come, and so we no longer worship God by means of actual physical sacrifices. But the principles here are eternal. First, true peace, with God and with each other, is only possible through a blood sacrifice. Christ is our peace offering. Any attempt to build peace on another foundation, whether it's political negotiation or just being nice, will ultimately fail. We must preach Christ crucified.

Second, our fellowship with God is a feast. The Christian life is not a dour, grim affair. It culminates in a meal. This is why we celebrate the Lord's Supper every week. It is our peace offering, a fellowship meal where we eat and drink in the presence of God, celebrating the peace Christ has won for us. When we come to the Table, we are reenacting the glorious truth of Leviticus 3.

Finally, God deserves our best. Not just our external actions, but our innermost being, our kidneys and our liver. Our worship must be wholehearted. We are to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, which is our spiritual act of worship. And when we do this, resting in the finished work of our great High Priest, our lives become a soothing aroma to God, not because of our own merit, but because we are in Christ, the beloved Son in whom the Father is well pleased.