Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - Leviticus 3:1 - 3:1

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Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - Leviticus 3:1 - 3:1


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The Peace-Offerings. - The third kind of sacrifice is called שְׁלָמִים זֶבַח, commonly rendered thank-offering, but more correctly a saving-offering (Heilsopfer: Angl. peace-offering). Besides this fuller form, which is the one most commonly employed in Leviticus, we meet with the abbreviated forms זְבָחִים and שְׁלָמִים: e.g., זֶבַח in Lev 7:16-17; Lev 23:37, more especially in combination with עֹלָה, Lev 17:8 cf. Exo 10:25; Exo 18:12; Num 15:3, Num 15:5; Deu 12:27; Jos 22:27; 1Sa 6:15; 1Sa 15:22; 2Ki 5:17; 2Ki 10:24; Isa 56:7; Jer 6:20; Jer 7:21; Jer 17:26, etc., - and שְׁלָמִים in Lev 9:22; Exo 20:24; Exo 32:6; Deu 27:7; Jos 8:31; Jdg 20:26; Jdg 21:4; 1Sa 13:9; 2Sa 6:17-18; 2Sa 24:25; 1Ki 3:15, etc. זֶבַח is derived from זָבַח, which is not applied to slaughtering generally (שָׁחַט), but, with the exception of Deu 12:15, where the use of זָבַח for slaughtering is occasioned by the retrospective reference to Lev 17:3-4, is always used for slaying as a sacrifice, or sacrificing; and even in 1Sa 28:24; Eze 34:3 and Eze 39:17, it is only used in a figurative sense. The real meaning, therefore, is sacrificial slaughtering, or slaughtered sacrifice. It is sometimes used in a wider sense, and applied to every kind of bleeding sacrifice (1Sa 1:21; 1Sa 2:19), especially in connection with minchah (1Sa 2:29; Psa 40:7; Isa 19:21; Dan 9:27, etc.); but it is mostly used in a more restricted sense, and applied to the peace-offerings, or slain offerings, which culminated in a sacrificial meal, as distinguished from the burnt and sin-offerings, in which case it is synonymous with שְׁלָמִים or שְׁלָמִים זֶבַח. The word shelamim, the singular of which (Shelem) is only met with in Amo 5:22, is applied exclusively to these sacrifices, and is derived from שָׁלֵם to be whole, uninjured. It does not mean “compensation or restitution,” for which we find the nouns שִׁלֵּם (Deu 32:35), שִׁלּוּם (Hos 9:7), and שִׁלּוּמָה (Psa 91:8), formed from the Piel שִׁלַּם, but integritas completa, pacifica, beata, answering to the Sept. rendering σωτήριον. The plural denotes the entire round of blessings and powers, by which the salvation or integrity of man in his relation to God is established and secured. The object of the shelamim was invariably salvation: sometimes they were offered as an embodiment of thanksgiving for salvation already received, sometimes as a prayer for the salvation desired; so that they embraced both supplicatory offerings and thank-offerings, and were offered even in times of misfortune, or on the day on which supplication was offered for the help of God (Jdg 20:26; Jdg 21:4; 1Sa 13:9; 2Sa 24:25).

(Note: Cf. Hengstenberg, Dissertations. Outram's explanation is quite correct: Sacrificia salutaria in sacris litteris shelamim dicta, ut quae semper de rebus prosperis fieri solerent, impetratis utique aut impetrandis.)

The law distinguishes three different kinds: praise-offerings, vow-offerings, and freewill-offerings (Lev 7:12, Lev 7:16). They were all restricted to oxen, sheep, and goats, either male or female, pigeons not being allowed, as they were always accompanied with a common sacrificial meal, for which a pair of pigeons did not suffice.

Lev 3:1-2

In the act of sacrificing, the presentation of the animal before Jehovah, the laying on of hands, the slaughtering, and the sprinkling of the blood were the same as in the case of the burnt-offering (Lev 1:3-5). It was in the application of the flesh that the difference first appeared.

Lev 3:3-4

The person presenting the sacrifice was to offer as a firing for Jehovah, first, “the fat which covered the entrails” (Lev 1:9), i.e., the large net which stretches from the stomach over the bowels and completely envelopes the latter, and which is only met with in the case of men and the mammalia generally, and in the ruminant animals abounds with fat; secondly, “all the fat on the entrails,” i.e., the fat attached to the intestines, which could easily be peeled off; thirdly, “the two kidneys, and the fat upon them (and) that upon the loins (הַכְּסָלִים), i.e., upon the inner muscles of the loins, or in the region of the kidneys; and fourthly, “the net upon the liver.” The net (הַיֹּתֶרֶת) upon (עַל Lev 3:4, Lev 3:10, Lev 3:15; Lev 4:9; Lev 7:4; Exo 29:13), or from (מִן Lev 9:10), or of the liver (Lev 8:16, Lev 8:25; Lev 9:19; Exo 29:22), cannot be the large lobe of the liver, ὁ λοβὸς τοῦ ἥπατος (lxx), because this is part of the liver itself, and does not lie עַל־כָּבֵד over (upon) the liver; nor is it simply a portion of fat, but the small net (omentum minus), the liver-net, or stomach-net (recticulum jecoris; Vulg., Luth., De Wette, and Knobel), which commences at the division between the right and left lobes of the liver, and stretches on the one side across the stomach, and on the other to the region of the kidneys. Hence the clause, “on the kidneys (i.e., by them, as far as it reaches) shall he take it away.” This smaller net is delicate, but not so fat as the larger net; though it still forms part of the fat portions. The word יֹתֶרֶת, which only occurs in the passages quoted, is to be explained from the Arabic and Ethiopic (to stretch over, to stretch out), whence also the words יֶתֶר a cord (Jdg 16:7; Psa 11:2), and מֵיתָר the bow-string (Psa 21:13) or extended tent-ropes (Exo 35:18), are derived. The four portions mentioned comprehended all the separable fat in the inside of the sacrificial animal. Hence they were also designated “all the fat” of the sacrifice (Lev 3:16; Lev 4:8, Lev 4:19, Lev 4:26, Lev 4:31, Lev 4:35; Lev 7:3), or briefly “the fat” (הַחֵלֶב Lev 3:9; Lev 7:33; Lev 16:25; Lev 17:6; Num 18:17), “the fat portions” (הַחֲלָבִים Lev 6:5; Lev 8:26; Lev 9:19-20, Lev 9:24; Lev 10:15).

Lev 3:5

This fat the priests were to burn upon the altar, over the burnt sacrifice, on the pieces of wood upon the fire. עַל־הָעֹלָה does not mean “in the manner or style of the burnt-offering” (Knobel), but “upon (over) the burnt-offering.” For apart from the fact that עַל cannot be shown to have this meaning, the peace-offering was preceded as a rule by the burnt-offering. At any rate it was always preceded by the daily burnt-offering, which burned, if not all day, at all events the whole of the forenoon, until it was quite consumed; so that the fat portions of the peace-offerings were to be laid upon the burnt-offering which was burning already. That this is the meaning of עַל־הָעֹלָה is placed beyond all doubt, both by Lev 6:5, where the priest is directed to burn wood every morning upon the fire of the altar, and then to place the burnt-offering upon it (עָלֶיהָ), and upon that to cause the fat portions of the peace-offerings to evaporate in smoke, and also by Lev 9:14, where Aaron is said first of all to have burned the flesh and head of the burnt-offering upon the altar, then to have washed the entrails and legs of the animal, and burned them on the altar, הָעֹלָה עַל, i.e., upon (over) the portions of the burnt-offering that were burning already.