Leviticus · chapter 3 of 27
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Leviticus 3 describes the peace offering, which could come from the herd, the sheep or the goats, always without blemish. The worshiper lays a hand on the animal and slaughters it at the entrance of the tent, and the priests splash the blood and burn the fat on the altar. The chapter ends with a lasting rule: no eating of fat or blood.
If the burnt offering speaks of surrender and the grain offering of gratitude, the peace offering speaks of fellowship. It is the sacrifice in this section from which the worshiper also ate a portion, as later chapters will show. The chapter follows the same order of animals as chapter 1, but with a new emphasis: God and his people sharing a table.
If someone brings an animal from the herd as a peace offering, male or female, it must be without blemish. He lays his hand on its head, slaughters it at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and the priests splash the blood around the altar. From the animal the worshiper offers to the Lord the fat covering the entrails, the two kidneys and the fatty lobe of the liver, and the priests burn it on the altar.
The same rule applies to the flock. If it is a lamb, the entire fat tail is offered as well, along with the fat of the entrails, the kidneys and the liver. If it is a goat, it is slaughtered before the Lord and its fat is burned in the same way. In each case the text calls it food, an offering by fire to the Lord.
The chapter closes with a lasting law for all generations and in all their dwellings: all the fat belongs to the Lord, and the Israelites are not to eat either fat or blood.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
The worshiper lays a hand on the animal's head and slaughters it at the entrance of the tent, while the priests splash the blood around the altar. As with the burnt offering, the animal stands in the place of the one who brings it.
The priest burns these portions on the altar as food, a pleasing aroma, and all the fat is the Lord's. The best of the animal is reserved for God, a way of acknowledging that he comes first at the table of fellowship.
It is a lasting rule for all generations: no one is to eat fat or blood. Blood, the symbol of life, belongs to God, and the fat is the choicest part. Later the book will explain the meaning of blood more fully.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Cattle, lambs and goats, male or female, always without blemish. — Leviticus 3:1
Answer: At the entrance of the tent of meeting. — Leviticus 3:2
Answer: The fat of the entrails, the two kidneys with their fat and the fatty lobe of the liver. — Leviticus 3:3-4
Answer: The entire fat tail. — Leviticus 3:9
Answer: To the Lord. — Leviticus 3:16
Answer: Fat and blood. — Leviticus 3:17
The peace offering reminds us that God does not only want to forgive: he wants fellowship. The worshiper did not just give something up but celebrated in the Lord's presence. In a Sunday school class you can ask what place the shared table and joy hold in our church life.
It also teaches us to reserve the best for God and to respect the value of life. For the Christian, true peace with God does not depend on an animal: Paul says Christ is our peace through the blood of his cross. That peace is lived out and celebrated with gratitude in community.
Leviticus 3 joins atonement and fellowship: someone who approaches the Lord with a substitute may sit at his table. Leviticus 4 turns to the problem that makes atonement necessary, sin committed unintentionally, and to the sin offering.
The Hebrew term is related to the idea of well-being and wholeness, so many versions call it a peace offering or fellowship offering. It was a sacrifice of gratitude and relationship with God, in which one part was burned and another was shared in a meal.
The text only states that all the fat is the Lord's. The fat was regarded as the best part of the animal and was reserved for him on the altar. Eating it would have meant taking for oneself what had been set apart for God.
The New Testament teaches that peace with God comes through Christ and his blood shed on the cross. What the peace offering anticipated, fellowship with God on the basis of a sacrifice, is fulfilled completely in him.