Commentary - Leviticus 7:11-21

Bird's-eye view

In this portion of Leviticus, the Lord provides Moses with the specific regulations for the peace offering. Unlike the offerings that dealt primarily with sin and guilt, the peace offering was a celebration of fellowship restored. It was a covenant meal, a time of communion between God and His people. The details here are not tedious minutiae; they are the grammar of worship. God is teaching His people how to properly say "thank you," how to fulfill a vow, and how to express spontaneous joy before Him.

The passage outlines three types of peace offerings: the thanksgiving offering, the votive (or vow) offering, and the freewill offering. Each has its own timeline for consumption, emphasizing the freshness and holiness of the meal. The inclusion of both unleavened and leavened bread is significant, pointing forward to the whole work of Christ. Finally, the strict warnings about uncleanness serve as a potent reminder that fellowship with a holy God is a serious privilege. One cannot come casually or defiled into His presence. This is not about arbitrary rules, but about the profound reality of God's holiness and the necessity of our purity to enjoy communion with Him.

Outline

Clause-by-Clause Commentary

v. 11 ‘Now this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings which shall be brought near to Yahweh.

The section opens by establishing the subject: the torah, or law, for the peace offering. This isn’t just a suggestion; it is the binding instruction for how to have table fellowship with the living God. The name itself, peace offering, comes from shalom. This is not just the absence of conflict, but positive, flourishing well being. Atonement has been made through other sacrifices; this is the celebration that follows. This is the family meal after the reconciliation. All true worship follows this pattern: first guilt is dealt with, then consecration, and finally, communion. The peace offering is the communion part of the worship.

v. 12 If he brings it near for thanksgiving, then along with the sacrifice of thanksgiving he shall bring near unleavened cakes mixed with oil and unleavened wafers spread with oil and cakes of well stirred fine flour mixed with oil.

The first category is the thanksgiving offering. This is a response to a specific blessing or deliverance from God. When God acts on your behalf, you don’t just send up a quick, disembodied thought. You throw a feast, and you do it His way. The offering is accompanied by various kinds of unleavened bread. Unleavened bread in Scripture often represents a break with the old, a haste to leave Egypt behind. It speaks of purity from the corrupting influence of sin (the old leaven). The oil is a consistent symbol of the Holy Spirit, of richness and consecration. So, this is a pure, Spirit-filled offering of thanks.

v. 13 With the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving, he shall bring near his offering with cakes of leavened bread.

And here we have a fascinating addition. Along with the unleavened bread, the worshiper is to bring leavened bread. If unleavened bread represents our break from sin, leavened bread represents ordinary, daily life. Leaven is not always a symbol of sin; it can also symbolize pervasive influence, like the kingdom of God (Matt. 13:33). Here, both are brought together. This points to the gospel reality that Christ, our unleavened bread, was made sin for us, so that we, who are still leavened in our daily lives, can be brought into fellowship with God. We come, not pretending we are perfect, but bringing our ordinary lives to be consecrated by the perfect sacrifice.

v. 14 Of this he shall bring near, one of every offering as a contribution to Yahweh; it shall belong to the priest who splashes the blood of the peace offerings.

A portion of each kind of bread is given to the Lord, which in practice means it is given to the priest. This is the terumah, or contribution. This reminds the worshiper that the priests, who minister before God on their behalf, must be supported by the people. The priest who applies the blood, the agent of atonement, gets to share in the meal. This is a picture of how our Great High Priest, Jesus, not only makes atonement for us but also presides over the feast that celebrates it.

v. 15 ‘Now as for the flesh of the sacrifice of his thanksgiving peace offerings, it shall be eaten on the day of his offering; he shall not leave any of it over until morning.

The thanksgiving offering has the strictest time limit. It must all be consumed on the same day. Why? This emphasizes the immediacy and freshness of gratitude. Thanksgiving is not something to be put in the refrigerator for later. It is vibrant, present, and urgent. This rule also necessitates a shared meal. One man and his family likely couldn't eat an entire bull or lamb in one day. He had to invite others, the poor, the Levite, his neighbors. True thanksgiving is never a private affair; it overflows into generous hospitality.

v. 16 But if the sacrifice of his offering is a votive or a freewill offering, it shall be eaten on the day that he brings near his sacrifice, and on the next day what is left of it may be eaten;

The other two types of peace offerings, the votive (fulfilling a vow) and the freewill (a spontaneous act of worship), have a slightly more lenient timeline. The meat can be eaten on the day of the sacrifice and the next day. A vow is a serious, premeditated promise to God. A freewill offering is pure, unprompted devotion. These are expressions of a settled, ongoing relationship with God, and so the fellowship meal can be extended. But the extension is limited. The holiness of the meal must still be respected.

v. 17 but what is left over from the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burned with fire.

Anything not eaten by the third day is to be destroyed by fire. It cannot be thrown out with the garbage. It is holy, set apart for God, and must be disposed of in a holy way. Fire is a means of purification and consumption. This prevents the holy from being profaned or treated as common. There is a lesson here about not letting our worship grow stale or letting holy things become mundane through neglect.

v. 18 So if any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings should ever be eaten on the third day, he who brings it near will not be accepted, and it will not be counted to his benefit. It shall be an offensive thing, and the person who eats of it will bear his own iniquity.

Here the consequences of disobedience are laid bare. Eating the meat on the third day is not a minor infraction. It nullifies the entire sacrifice. God will not accept it. The word for "offensive thing" is piggul, which means a foul, abominable thing. The act of worship becomes an act of rebellion. Instead of bringing blessing, it brings iniquity upon the worshiper. This is a stark reminder that we must worship God on His terms, not ours. The third day is significant; Christ was raised on the third day. To go past the appointed time is to move beyond the pattern of life and into the realm of corruption and death, which God abhors.

v. 19 ‘Also the flesh that touches anything unclean shall not be eaten; it shall be burned with fire. As for other flesh, anyone who is clean may eat such flesh.

The principle of holiness is now applied to contamination. Holiness is transferable only in a negative sense. An unclean thing touching a holy thing makes the holy thing unclean. A holy thing touching an unclean thing does not make the unclean thing holy (Hag. 2:12). The contaminated meat must be burned. The rule is simple: only the clean may eat the clean flesh. Fellowship with God requires purity. You cannot bring the filth of the world to the Lord's table.

v. 20 But the person who eats the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings which belong to Yahweh, in his uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from his people.

Now the focus shifts from the state of the meat to the state of the worshiper. If a person is ceremonially unclean and partakes of this holy meal, the penalty is severe: to be "cut off." This likely means excommunication from the covenant community, and perhaps even a divine sentence of death. This is the Old Testament equivalent of Paul's warning about taking the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner (1 Cor. 11:27-30). To treat the symbols of fellowship with God lightly, while you yourself are in a state of defilement, is a capital offense. It is to profane the name of Yahweh.

v. 21 When anyone touches anything unclean, whether human uncleanness or an unclean animal or any unclean detestable thing, and eats of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings which belong to Yahweh, that person shall be cut off from his people.’ ”

The text concludes by summarizing the sources of uncleanness: contact with human death or disease, unclean animals, or any other "detestable thing." The list is comprehensive. The point is that the world is full of things that can defile us. We must be vigilant. To come from touching the world's defilement and then immediately try to have communion with a holy God without being cleansed is an act of high-handed rebellion. It demonstrates a complete failure to understand who God is and what He requires. The sentence is repeated for emphasis: that person shall be cut off. God is serious about holiness, because He is serious about having a real, unblemished relationship with His people.

Application

Leviticus is not a dead book for Christians. These laws of the peace offering are rich with gospel truth. We no longer offer bulls and goats, because Christ is our peace offering. He has made peace by the blood of His cross (Col. 1:20). The Lord's Supper is our peace offering meal, our covenant fellowship with God and with one another.

These verses teach us how to approach that table. We should come with thanksgiving, ready to celebrate our deliverance. We should come fulfilling our vows, living as the people we promised to be. We should come with freewill offerings of praise. The time limits on the meal remind us that our fellowship must be fresh and vibrant, shared generously with others. We cannot hoard the grace of God.

And most pointedly, the warnings about uncleanness are for us. We are to examine ourselves before we eat the bread and drink the cup. We cannot live a life of compromise with the world, touching every unclean thing, and then expect to have sweet fellowship at the Lord's table. We must confess our sins, be cleansed by the blood of Christ, and come to the table clean. To do otherwise is to invite the judgment of God. This is not to make us fearful in a slavish way, but to make us sober, joyful, and holy, as befits those who are invited to dine with the King.