PM Feb 6th Lev 1

February 6th

Leviticus, 1

A The Five offerings

The Burnt Offering

1: And the LORD called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying, 2: Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto the LORD, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock. 3: If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD. 4: And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. 5: And he shall kill the bullock before the LORD: and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 6: And he shall flay the burnt offering, and cut it into his pieces. 7: And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and lay the wood in order upon the fire: 8: And the priests, Aaron's sons, shall lay the parts, the head, and the fat, in order upon the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar: 9: But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD. 10: And if his offering be of the flocks, namely, of the sheep, or of the goats, for a burnt sacrifice; he shall bring it a male without blemish. 11: And he shall kill it on the side of the altar northward before the LORD: and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall sprinkle his blood round about upon the altar. 12: And he shall cut it into his pieces, with his head and his fat: and the priest shall lay them in order on the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar: 13: But he shall wash the inwards and the legs with water: and the priest shall bring it all, and burn it upon the altar: it is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD. 14: And if the burnt sacrifice for his offering to the LORD be of fowls, then he shall bring his offering of turtledoves, or of young pigeons. 15: And the priest shall bring it unto the altar, and wring off his head, and burn it on the altar; and the blood thereof shall be wrung out at the side of the altar: 16: And he shall pluck away his crop with his feathers, and cast it beside the altar on the east part, by the place of the ashes: 17: And he shall cleave it with the wings thereof, but shall not divide it asunder: and the priest shall burn it upon the altar, upon the wood that is upon the fire: it is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.

Leviticus, 2

The Meat Offering

1: And when any will offer a meat offering unto the LORD, his offering shall be of fine flour; and he shall pour oil upon it, and put frankincense thereon: 2: And he shall bring it to Aaron's sons the priests: and he shall take thereout his handful of the flour thereof, and of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense thereof; and the priest shall burn the memorial of it upon the altar, to be an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD: 3: And the remnant of the meat offering shall be Aaron's and his sons': it is a thing most holy of the offerings of the LORD made by fire. 4: And if thou bring an oblation of a meat offering baken in the oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, or unleavened wafers anointed with oil. 5: And if thy oblation be a meat offering baken in a pan, it shall be of fine flour unleavened, mingled with oil. 6: Thou shalt part it in pieces, and pour oil thereon: it is a meat offering. 7: And if thy oblation be a meat offering baken in the fryingpan, it shall be made of fine flour with oil. 8: And thou shalt bring the meat offering that is made of these things unto the LORD: and when it is presented unto the priest, he shall bring it unto the altar. 9: And the priest shall take from the meat offering a memorial thereof, and shall burn it upon the altar: it is an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD. 10: And that which is left of the meat offering shall be Aaron's and his sons': it is a thing most holy of the offerings of the LORD made by fire. 11: No meat offering, which ye shall bring unto the LORD, shall be made with leaven: for ye shall burn no leaven, nor any honey, in any offering of the LORD made by fire. 12: As for the oblation of the firstfruits, ye shall offer them unto the LORD: but they shall not be burnt on the altar for a sweet savour. 13: And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt. 14: And if thou offer a meat offering of thy firstfruits unto the LORD, thou shalt offer for the meat offering of thy firstfruits green ears of corn dried by the fire, even corn beaten out of full ears. 15: And thou shalt put oil upon it, and lay frankincense thereon: it is a meat offering. 16: And the priest shall burn the memorial of it, part of the beaten corn thereof, and part of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense thereof: it is an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

Leviticus, 3

The Peace Offering

1: And if his oblation be a sacrifice of peace offering, if he offer it of the herd; whether it be a male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before the LORD. 2: And he shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering, and kill it at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and Aaron's sons the priests shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about. 3: And he shall offer of the sacrifice of the peace offering an offering made by fire unto the LORD; the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards, 4: And the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away. 5: And Aaron's sons shall burn it on the altar upon the burnt sacrifice, which is upon the wood that is on the fire: it is an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD. 6: And if his offering for a sacrifice of peace offering unto the LORD be of the flock; male or female, he shall offer it without blemish. 7: If he offer a lamb for his offering, then shall he offer it before the LORD. 8: And he shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering, and kill it before the tabernacle of the congregation: and Aaron's sons shall sprinkle the blood thereof round about upon the altar. 9: And he shall offer of the sacrifice of the peace offering an offering made by fire unto the LORD; the fat thereof, and the whole rump, it shall he take off hard by the backbone; and the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards, 10: And the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away. 11: And the priest shall burn it upon the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire unto the LORD. 12: And if his offering be a goat, then he shall offer it before the LORD. 13: And he shall lay his hand upon the head of it, and kill it before the tabernacle of the congregation: and the sons of Aaron shall sprinkle the blood thereof upon the altar round about. 14: And he shall offer thereof his offering, even an offering made by fire unto the LORD; the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards, 15: And the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away. 16: And the priest shall burn them upon the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire for a sweet savour: all the fat is the LORD's. 17: It shall be a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither fat nor blood.

In today’s Bible readings we have the first few chapters of the Book of Leviticus. The Title for this book could be ‘The Worship of Jehovah’. This book Leviticus is the handbook of the Priests and Levites. It is a book which explains how Israel was to approach God through sacrifices and offerings. It records events from 1445–1444BC. In Leviticus God calls his people to draw near to him, but insists that they should be holy, both personally and ceremonially. It is the central book of the Pentateuch. Genesis & Exodus look forward to it and Numbers & Deuteronomy look back to it. Leviticus is God’s picture book were we can look and see the Beauty of the Person and the Glory of the Work of Christ. The Key Word is ‘Holiness’. We see that the way to approach God is by sacrifice and the way to walk with God is by holiness. In the first section of Leviticus the Lord gives to Moses the instructions on the five offerings. The Burnt offering, The Meat offering, The Peace offering, The Sin offering and The Trespass Offering. Today we will look at the first three. The first offering was the Burnt offering. It was an offering of total devotion because it was totally burnt up. It was an offering made by fire. It could be from cattle, herd or flock. And it was a voluntary offering. It was an offering of a male without blemish. All of these offerings have something to say about the life and work of Christ. The offering was burnt on the altar with timber as a starter. The blood was sprinkled around the altar. The offering was a sweet savour to the Lord. This offering spoke of Christ’s redemptive work upon the cross that was completely for the Fathers benefit. There was an aspect of what Christ accomplished that was wholly for God and men have no participation in it. The second offering was the Meat Offering. This was an offering made from fine flour, oil and frankincense. Then the priest will take a handful and burnt it on the altar. The meat that is left over was for the priests to eat. It was a very holy thing. Sometimes the offer would bring a meat offering baked in the oven. It was made out of unleavened cakes made of fine flour and oil. A third way of preparing this offering was meat baked in a pan. Again this was fine flour mixed with oil and baked. Lastly the offering could be the same ingredients but baked in a frying pan. The offering was brought to the priest and it was burnt on the altar it was an offering of a sweet smell. What was left could be eaten by the priests. But this food was very special only for the priests to eat. All of these offerings had no yeast and no honey in them. All of these offerings were seasoned with salt. This offering speaks of the work of Christ who was like a crop of wheat cut down in its prime. Crushed under the stone to produce very fine flour and mixed with the oil which is symbolic of the spiritual life the bread is baked either in an oven or in a pan or even in a frying pan and this heat produces something that is nourishment to men. Another key ingredient is frankincense, which is a beautiful fragrance and burns with a bright white light. How picturesque when applied to Christ. There is nothing of yeast in it because yeast had the idea of corruption. There can be no corruption associated with Christ. The priests were able to eat this food and in doing so are partakers of something that feeds the soul of men. The Peace Offering was an offering from the herd and it could be male or female without blemish. It was killed at the door of the Tabernacle and the blood was sprinkled around the altar. It was an offering made by fire to the LORD. It was specified that the blood and the fat was never eaten by Israel through all their generations. This offering spoke of the Peace that is brought about by the redemptive work of Christ. All of the three first offerings described here were sweet savour offerings. The other two were not a sweet savour. From these three offerings we see that Christ firstly died for God. His life and death were a sweet savour. Second we see that Christ grew in the earth was cut down and crushed and baked in the heat and in this way is food to men and lastly we see that Christ is an offering that bring peace to men.

Steve